A big a part of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn’s success has been right down to its narrative. Not simply how the story flows from one beat to the following, however the way it manages to expertly weave its characters and plot into every motion you undertake and work in direction of. It makes the narrative really feel really interactive – affected by you as a participant.
More than with many MMOs, intrigue as to the long run path of Final Fantasy XIV’s plot leads to gamers sticking round for the lengthy haul, dedicating themselves to enjoying their half within the unfolding occasions. Having such an impact on gamers isn’t any simple feat.
To learn how the workforce behind the game has managed it, we talked to FFXIV’s important situation author, Natsuko Ishikawa, and lore developer Banri Oda. Together, they focus on the preliminary challenges of making a narrative for an MMO, but in addition reveal how laborious it has been to work on FFXIV after its preliminary failure, which they had been capable of reverse in time.
SE7EN.WS: How difficult is it to create a story and backdrop that works for therefore many various incentives, enjoying types, and outlooks?
Natsuko Ishikawa: That gamers’ experiences fluctuate tremendously is certainly one level that we attempt to maintain a continuing consciousness of. Currently, there are not any main branching variations within the story between totally different gamers, however we do nonetheless wish to give a broad scope for roleplaying by way of the emotional method and attachment gamers must the actions they carry out in numerous conditions. The dialogue choices in conversations are one try at creating that.
One different factor we’re conscious of on the identical time is that this can be a game within the Final Fantasy sequence. For instance, we don’t suppose that the participant characters ought to be capable to change into criminals or carry out vicious and brutal actions which might be laborious to look at. The story is critical and options a whole lot of tragedy and hardship, however additionally it is a story of strolling in direction of the sunshine, and that underpins our pondering.
How do you be certain the writing is targeted and that you simply’re continually tying all the pieces again to your underlying basis?
Banri Oda: I believe crucial factor is that the participant characters ought to be the protagonists of the story. This might sound like one thing that’s so apparent it goes with out saying, nevertheless it’s vastly essential. It’s very simple for characters like these in FFXIV, who may be freely customised by the participant and that don’t communicate in cutscenes, to change into mere bystanders within the story.
Because of that, once we write the story, we actually concentrate on making it really feel like occasions are centred across the Warriors of Light (the participant characters) themselves, however with out fixing down the personalities of these characters, to offer breadth of alternative for roleplaying.
How a lot time do the writing groups spend conferring with the game designers on the place to take the game sooner or later and tips on how to promote that sense of roleplaying?
Oda: It goes with out saying that we’ve got a really shut working relationship with the occasion planners who implement the quests, but in addition with the battle workforce that put collectively the roles and boss battles, the extent design workforce who put collectively the maps and dungeons, and even the totally different designer groups.
Creating a game with out observing your gamers is like shopping for a gift for somebody you don’t know
Of course, we clarify the situation plot on to the opposite groups by assembly head to head, and work very laborious so that everybody has grasp of the characterisations and storylines.
We additionally steadily get concepts from different groups, reminiscent of together with parts from the boss battles within the story or writing in among the spots within the new subject maps that the designers make.
Do you’re taking inspiration from how the game is being performed, or do you like to keep away from being overly influenced by the playerbase?
Ishikawa: Creating a game with out observing your gamers is like shopping for a gift for somebody you don’t know. I’m very proactive in taking a look at questions like ‘What kind of people are we trying to deliver an experience to?’, ‘What kind of experience are they looking for?’, and ‘How have they reacted to past content?’.
Those sorts of promoting discussions are finished for all games, however for FFXIV the state of affairs adjustments with each new replace, so we collect info on them and their reactions pretty usually.
However, in the event you discuss simply the situation writing, then the outcomes of these participant surveys have little or no direct affect on the story itself. This is as a result of if we had been to vary the path of the story primarily based on participant emotions in direction of particular characters or plot factors at particular instances then the entire narrative construction would change into relatively warped and transfer away from the massive themes that we’re making an attempt to depict.
What are the most important variations in writing for an MMO versus writing for a single-player game?
The failure of the unique model is a beneficial a part of FFXIV’s inheritance
Ishikawa: I believe the complications we get writing FFXIV will not be as a lot to do with it being an MMO as with having characters that the participant can design freely and with the story being continually up to date.
This implies that it is rather tough to get the protagonists to carry out as characters. For instance, if we needed a [playable character] to excessive 5 with an [NPC] it’s not really easy as a result of totally different gamers may have totally different physiques.
Sometimes they’ll be about the identical peak because the NPC, however different participant characters can be a lot greater and have to crouch down to achieve their hand, whereas others nonetheless can be shorter and have to stretch. It would incur a fantastic improvement price to make a system that covers all the chances.
On prime of that, if we had been to do that after which add a brand new enlargement which included new races and jobs, we must return and tweak the system we had created to work with all the brand new variations as effectively. Because of those sorts of issues, we’re at all times very conscious to work issues in a approach that retains the actions of the PCs to a minimal, whereas nonetheless giving the sensation that they’re actively collaborating in story occasions.
Are the narratives of those expansions written into the lore and general construction of the world from the earliest phases of improvement?
Oda: It’s fairly uncommon for an MMO, however FFXIV is a story-driven game. In order to enter the brand new areas, to tackle the dungeons in them and even to take part in raids, you don’t simply must have raised your stage, however to have accomplished sure important situation quests too. Because of this, the primary situation plot is the primary and largest factor for the enlargement packs.
The start line for what worlds and dungeons there will likely be and what bosses you battle is the plot. Accordingly, it’s at all times the very first thing that we sort out in improvement.
Do you consider that FFXIV would benefit from the form of high quality narrative parts that it does now if it wasn’t for the failure of the game’s preliminary launch?
Ishikawa: As you say, the failure of the unique model is a beneficial a part of FFXIV’s inheritance. I can not actually visualise what FFXIV can be like now if we had not had that have.
Witcher & Wizardry
“I have taken a huge amount of inspiration from Western fantasy RPGs,” FFXIV lore developer Banri Oda says, “starting with old stuff like Wizardry and moving on to series like The Elder Scrolls and The Witcher. Of course, I like films and TV too, and am absorbed in all the same series that everyone is at the moment.”
However, I don’t suppose that’s the complete motive that we’ve got come to have the story that we do right now. Because FFXIV: A Realm Reborn was such a giant redesign, everybody concerned was looking for a solution to the query of what kind the game ought to lastly take.
There had been many various opinions, reminiscent of, ‘We don’t really want a narrative, gamers will simply wish to go off and whack wandering monsters whereas they must hearken to it’, and ‘They probably won’t learn it anyway, so simply make it brief’.
However, the design for A Realm Reborn was finally not one which gamers are involved about each second of treasured time and simply spend all of it searching monsters within the wilderness. Once we had been assured of that path, we slowly modified and improved the weather that weren’t conducive to story improvement, and eventually managed to deliver it to the standard you see right now.
What we worth extremely is the general game expertise that gamers have, and we’re not simply out to make a deeper story. Because of that method, we’ve got not merely put all our assets in direction of exhibiting the story and can in all probability not be doing so in future.
But we do wish to present a tremendous story in FFXIV and the story that the game has now’s all right down to the undertaking employees and the various important however unglamorous enhancements that they’ve continually made.
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