The director of Final Fantasy XIV talks with blue mages, world tours and "modern" MMOs



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Yoshida gives the keynote speech at the recent European Fans Festival of Final Fantasy XIV, dressed as the new class "Gunbreaker".

Final Fantasy XIV is preparing for a new expansion later this summer. The period before this expansion, The shadows, brought new classes like the Blue Mage and will soon open worlds with the opportunity to visit other servers. Kotaku Questions were e-mailed to the director of the game, Naoki Yoshida ("Yoshi P"), on the new job categories, on whether visits to the world could disrupt economies and multiplayer games that he is watching closely.

On the introduction of Blue Mages:

Naoki Yoshida: The Blue Wizard is only able to acquire a balance because this is what we now call "limited work" and there are no plans to remove the limited aspect of the work.

However, we plan to increase the maximum level of the Blue Mage – and this does not have to be programmed with a development version. So, at some point in the 5.x fix pack, players can expect new blue magic to be gained, additions to Masked Carnivale, and even new content to process.

I would say that we are only in the chapter "So, you want to be a blue mage?" From this work – there is a lot of content for the future blue mage that our players can enjoy.

On the idea of ​​"limited" jobs:

Heather Alexandra, Kotaku: But how do you decide what is or is not limited? For Blue Mage, it seemed difficult to control when players unlocked certain skills. Is there any other work you want in the game but you only see working as a restricted class? Beastmaster, for example?

Yoshida: The process of developing one of these jobs does not begin with the fact that we are wondering what will be the next limited job. However, we are attentive to two things: ensuring that players appreciate the job or the type of job we are putting in place, and that it is an interesting and fun experience. During this process, if we come to a potential job that, in our opinion, does not necessarily match the standard game of a party, we will then consider if we do a limited job.

With Blue Mage, for example, we come up against the problem where the learning of monster actions is the main pillar of the work, but we can potentially see a huge power disparity between Blue Mages based on the blue magic they have learned – even if their level of employment is the same. In other words, too much disparity in the number of skills learned in blue magic would create problems if blue mages were able to queues normally for tasks.

In addition, the blue magic is interesting because it is powerful. However, if we allow the Blue Mages to queue for the last raid, we would need to weaken much of the blue magic to properly adjust the class to combat, and I think it would be boring for the Blue Mage. To avoid problems, we created this work as a limited job, which allows us to work around the problem while maintaining a pleasant job.

By using this concept of limited jobs, I feel that this could potentially open up opportunities to explore the addition of jobs such as Puppetmaster and Beastmaster.

On the comparisons to Final Fantasy XI and make a "modern" MMO:

Yoshida: Every time we compare FFXI with FFXIV, I think it's important to have some knowledge of MMORPG history. FFXI is part of the first generation of MMORPG, and the game itself is heavily structured on a "time to win" model. It is assumed that players will spend a lot of time in the game. The game world therefore offers the freedom to venture without guiding the player through.

However, because you have the freedom, people end up getting lost or just spend a lot of time moving around. In addition, it was impossible to progress in almost all the content without a game. This type of gaming experience lasted long enough. [in the MMO space]. While this has created some very strong experiences and memories that have helped to shape the development of the MMORPG genre, it has also created a problem in the opposite way: the players have not been able to play the game. game because they could not dedicate themselves. the weather.

When we redrawn FFXIV for A reborn kingdom following the failure of FFXIV 1.0, I had a very strong state of mind to do A reborn kingdom the last game of the second generation of MMORPG. Modern gamers are busy and time has become far more valuable than money – many forms of entertainment, not just video games, compete for time. With this in mind, the basis of FFXIV is designed to provide players with a high quality experience, even if they play only in shorter sessions. In addition to this base, we create content that offers the opportunity to those who wish to spend more time playing, without making it a mandatory experience. It's the difference in gaming experience when we compare FFXI and FFXIV.

I myself grew up immersed in the first generation MMORPGs. I would therefore like to have the opportunity to create a game that fits this mold, but I'm sure it would be hard to sell nowadays …

On the next World Visit system and whether or not this can affect server savings:

Alexandra: I know players who fear that their servers will see an increase in the number of robots when opening the doors. Does the team do anything to prepare for this sort of thing and fight it in the future?

Yoshida: I think there is no doubt that the economy will fluctuate, but I do not think that the number of breeding robots will suddenly increase in numbers around the world. Unless there is a sudden increase in the number of players, supply and demand should not change dramatically. In the beginning, the game economy will increase, and I think players will move from one world to another to sell and buy items. However, each of these economies will set an inflation price on the market and the initial fluctuations should stabilize.

Honestly, I am a little more concerned about the very sharp fluctuations in market prices over a short period than by an increase in the number of robots.

By the way, we have always applied countermeasures against robots and every week we report to our players and continue to ban tens of thousands of thousands of characters determined to participate in these activities. We will continue to exercise due diligence to mitigate this type of activity.

On the other multiplayer games, it follows:

Yoshida: I regularly check all varieties of online games, but I currently feel that Monster Hunter: World has great potential. The ease of matching content and the unique gaming experience that provides almost instant enthusiasm work very well in today's gaming era, and I believe the potential of the title is even greater.

Another strong example would of course be the World of Warcraft. Looking at the various challenges they have faced with their latest expansion package, I feel that they have some foresight that can be seen in a few years and continue to remain strong.

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