FF14 is about to increase once more – we play, and meet up with its director.
Back in February I spent a weekend at Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest. While the modest occasion was hardly the spectacle of Blizzcon or the madness of EVE Fan Fest, for FF14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida it have to be one thing else.
He arrived on the occasion as a silhouette towards a purple, pulsing gentle. Fans have been screaming having simply witnessed the latest trailer for Stormblood, the brand new FF14’s growth which is out this month. When the lights got here up he was dressed as a Samurai, one in every of Stormblood’s new character courses. The crowd ignited like he was a pop star.
By rescuing Final Fantasy 14 from full catastrophe, Naoki Yoshida has made it. He’s one in every of video gaming’s celebrity administrators.
By rescuing Final Fantasy 14 from full catastrophe, he’s made it. He’s one in every of video gaming’s celebrity administrators. It’s no shock that many followers are wildly theorizing and hoping that he’ll sooner or later tackle a non-MMO FF title.
I first met Yoshida in 2011. At that time he hadn’t lengthy taken over the practice wreck that was FF14’s authentic launch, and Square Enix principally deployed him on an apology tour. He spent it explaining his plan, since work hadn’t actually begun. I used to be skeptical, however even again then his ardour impressed.
“I can’t believe it’s six years since that first interview,” Yoshida laughs after I convey it up. I joke (in truth) that I didn’t have any gray hairs again then and do now.
Quite a bit has modified, however Yoshida nonetheless offers detailed, multi-part solutions to each query, even the dumb ones he has to reply repeatedly, equivalent to “why did you decide to avoid free to play?” I get the impression he likes the media tour gauntlet even lower than most, however he works bloody onerous to reply effectively all the identical, even within the usually tough group interview state of affairs.
“I do remember that first time we met and did that interview,” Yoshida muses, “and I primarily do not forget that I discussed that I wished to make one thing good in order that we are able to regain the belief of the followers.
“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that was my mission, but that’s something that I strongly believed in; I thought that if I worked hard, I would be able to regain that sort of trust from our players. I just believed in that, because of course there were no results to show for it yet.”
What adopted that mission assertion was an entire sport overhaul that was virtually remarkable. FF14 was rebuilt and relaunched from the bottom up – and that relaunch was so profitable that the sport has now seen over 6 million players. Where most MMOs would’ve lurched in the direction of free-to-play to maintain gamers engaged, FF14 caught to its authentic subscription plan. It’s onerous to consider it labored.
The fame this achievement rewarded is clearly making an attempt in addition to gratifying for Yoshida, however he sees accepting it as an absolute necessity.
“When we did the transition from 1.0 to 2.0 there was a lot of criticism,” he recollects. “I did feel that I needed to stand in front of the development team so I could take the damage, so I could be their shield so that they could be relaxed while developing the game.”
He and his crew at the moment are slowly working to alter that, he says. Fan fest was one instance the place eccentric and hilarious characters like musician Masayoshi Soken have been as a lot part of the festitivites as Yoshida. Now that the sport is sweet and going from power to power, Yoshida doesn’t have to fret about defending his crew a lot.
“I want to show that there are just so many developers behind me that pour in their heart and soul, their effort into building this game. By recieving the reaction from our fans it will motivate them as well, and encourage them,” he explains.
“The changes that we’re making with Stormblood are actually looking at the big picture, our future. This is so that we can expand FF14 even further.” – Naoki Yoshida
“We’re happy that the fans are so welcoming of the developers too. But that actually leads to one problem,” Yoshida laughs. “Japanese builders are very shy individuals!
“We don’t want to make it stressful for our developers, so unless the developer him or herself speaks up and says I want to be in front of people, we don’t demand them to stand in front of people. We’re really thankful for the positive reaction we recieve from fans.”
FF14’s newest growth Stormblood introduces the Samurai and Red Mage character jobs, boosts the extent cap, provides swimming each above and under the water floor (with hints that FF10’s Blitzball could seem later as a minigame), plus a bunch of latest story content material and the brand new world areas to go along with it. It appears like an amibitious growth of the FF14 universe.
I haven’t had time to essentially throw myself into FF14 correct for the reason that authentic launch of A Realm Reborn, the rebooted model of the sport. I did get a number of hours to check out Stormblood, nonetheless, and walked away impressed. The Red Mage is my kind of class, a dynamic-feeling DPS beast that’s based totally round combo magic assaults however that may additionally rush in shut with a rapier to deal close-quarters injury earlier than utilizing a transfer to leap again to a protected magic-casting distance.
“After doing a bunch of typical Western fantasy castles and cities, the FF14 inventive crew has been unleashed on creating the FF14 model of the far East.
My favorite of the Stormblood additions is the new nation of Doma and the encircling areas. After doing a bunch of typical Western fantasy castles and cities, the FF14 inventive crew has been unleashed on creating the FF14 model of the far East, resulting in Japanese model fantasy cities which might be attractive to take a look at and discover.
“The changes that we’re making with Stormblood are actually looking at the big picture, our future,” Yoshida explains.
“This is so that we can expand FF14 even further in the future. I feel that’s a big challenge to take on. Of course change can always be scary, but this is something that we just have to believe in – we have to believe in the future process. As long as we’re creating an interesting final game to play, we believe that players will try it out. They will take it into their own hands when they play.”
Whatever you manufactured from the formidable however stumbling FF15, FF14’s inventory solely appears to be rising, and far of its energy appears derived from that preliminary failure. When I ask Yoshida to mirror on what has modified since he was drafted in to repair the flagging challenge, he chuckles.
“There’s all of those workers members that I’ve labored with, and having the ability to accomplish a lot with their assist, I really feel that I’ve regained and virtually strengthened the idea that even when you hypothetically make a mistake in a sure space you’ll be able to work onerous to speak and just be sure you work onerous to rectify.
“If you continue to make good games, you can eventually get back and succeed. Back then that was just a belief, but now… actually experiencing all of this made it more real. It actually took away the fear to challenge new things – in a good way, of course.”
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