Yoshida explains why Lightning is coming to Final Fantasy XIV

The reaction to Lightning’s inclusion in Final Fantasy XIV was largely expected, according to producer/director Naoki Yoshida. Speaking with fellow network site, RPG Site, Yoshida discussed a variety of topics, including his reasoning for including Lightning in the XIV universe.

[Godmars290]

Misguided belief in her popularity?

[Summons75]

because she isn't number one in japan or anything.....clearly japanese people are lying /s

[minimur12]

when writing titles, could people please write their first names aswell, I thoughtit was shuhei yoshida doing the explaining - got a bitconfused.

[CrossingEden]

or is it YOUR misguided belief that your opinion means more then the entirety of the japanese FF fanbase, but of course polls don't mean anything right

http://www.novacrystallis.c...
http://www.ffdream.com/news...

[Godmars290]

Yes. Its my opinion as stated in a public forum. I feel that Square put more effort in promoting Lightning as a character than they did in defining her as one. That the game she was in was more about telling players how good it was suppose to be than allowing them to experience and figure it out for themselves.

Lightning has been inserted into the general public consciousness of Japan at least, has been featured non-gaming related fashion magazines, so of course the chances would be good that she'd top a semi-random poll better than characters such as Tifa or Aeris who earned their places among the fandom over time.

[Mr_Nuts]

Why don't you just admit higher ups told you to put her in the game because they have been obsessed for years to shove her down peoples throats so we'll finally love her....when in fact it's just making the majority of us hate her even more.

I'd understand if Cloud, Squall, Zidine, Tidus got their own missions where they appeared but that isn't happening.

Costumes/weapons from FF13 fair enough but Lightning herself...why ruin it.

By the way he didn't really explain did he....he pretty much danced his way round the question

[caseh]

Lightning was the only redeeming factor in FF13, the remainder of the game was horrendous.

[ps3_pwns]

dude lightnig sucked big time lol. Id rather the aussie lady with the blue hair or afro dude or even snow is better then lightning.

[Dno]

actually your wrong and you telling people of wrong facts just gets to me so let me correct you.

In ff14 (for those of us that actually played it) know that names like cloud strife and squall leonhart are names that you cannot use. The reason the dev team gave was they "may" be used in the future.

So Lighting is basically the start of what the producer calls a theme park MMO with lots of different things taken from lots of different games. Omislash is in the game and so is the goldensaucer.

SO in short there will be themes and characters of the many ff games this one is just here first because ff13-3 is coming soon.

[Mr_Nuts]

But then why start with her

By the way the key word is "may"...this is square enix were talking about. You know the same company who told us ages ago we MAY get a FF7 remake.

Untill they come then I'm not buying into it

[despair]

Whats the big deal its another character and they said it will be a natural thing to include her, I think we should see how its done before actually complaining. Plus if we do see other characters from other FF games then the bitching will stop. I like Lightning and so do others so how about actually giving them a chance to do her justice in ARR.

[Dno]

@ mr_nuts

I already told you why they started with her not gonna do it again, read my last post.

Actually again I remember SE saying that was only a tech demo. they NEVER once said they would remake ff7. Your info is horrid my dude.

However buying the game is up to you. You have every right to skip it but I would try it in open beta next month for free if I was you because the game is amazing. I been playing for a while and I love it lighting, cloud or not the game stands on its own.

[Ksar]

Lightning is the favourite female character in Japan and Europe. That's why she's in FFXIV:ARR.

http://www.novacrystallis.c...
http://www.ffdream.com/news...

That's all. You can complain but still, there's a substantial majority of people happy with that.

[Mr_Nuts]

Do that Poll again when FFXV comes out and Stella will be number 1...it's pretty much just who's "in" at the moment. Japan love anything FF so it's obvious the most recent FF game's main character will be number 1

Beside that poll is just from Japan...not Europe

Think it's safe to say there's more people who hate her then like her.

[Ksar]

Sorry, but you're wrong. If you were right, tifa, Celes or Tina shouldn't be in third or fourth position.

[CrossingEden]

look up the definition of a loud minority

[rainslacker]

Dunno if you've ever been to an anime or gaming convention, but Lightning tends to get a lot of love from the cosplayers, the cosplayer picture takers, and AMV's, so yeah, the loud minority CrossingEden mentions is appropriate.

I personally don't hate her, and I don't think she's the best FF character ever, and she's not my personal favorite, but some of you just have to accept that you are in the minority when it comes to how much people like the character.

Whether those people's reasons for liking her are sound and based on reality is a wholly different subject.

[khellendros1]

I have Rikku, Tifa, Celes, Rinoa, Lightning, and Rydia on my list.

[caseh]

Celes, Tifa, Lightning and Terra for me in no particular order.

[pompombrum]

Who exactly were asked in this poll. Square execs?

[kingdip90]

They should just remake ff7 with updated graphics... sure a world that big with modern graphics would be hard to make but the effort would pay off I'm sure. Squares current buisness model surely isn't working after all

[Firan]

While some fans want it, would it actually sell well? I mean it would be pretty much the same game. I personally wouldn't buy it unless it was cheap.

[khellendros1]

Don't understand the Lighting hate. I'm not a huge fan of FF13 but I think Lightning is the best aspect of the universe. She's in my top 10 favorite FF characters.

[rhap]

The problem is exactly that: she's related to FF13, a really bad Final Fantasy game. It's not a bad RPG, but a bad FF since it lack exploration, depht and charm, which always made FF franchise cool to expect a new game.

I've nothing against her, the problem is the game, but I understand SE point. They want to advertise FF13-3. It's like what Capcom did when they choose to have the new Dante in PASBR instead of the old one. Pure marketing.

[CrossingEden]

final fantasy 13 isn't a bad final fantasy game -_- it's actually quite a good game it just doesn't follow the norm which is perfectly ok in my book, sorry if i prefer not to randomly go into town hubs while constantly being pursued by people trying to kill me who also, control the towns

[despair]

FF 13 is a good Final Fantasy game, fans just want more of the same and that's the main reason they hate FFXIII, I know many people who never liked FF games and loved FFXIII and then people like me who are massive FF fans (been playing FF games for nearly 20 years) who also liked 13.

Its not the best game in the series and its not the worst, its a good game that has gotten too much bad press IMO.

[rainslacker]

Square admitted to cutting out much of her back story Most of it was only grazed upon in flashbacks. Her character did come off kind of bland due to the blandness of the story presentation, which led to a lot of FF13 hate, but she herself was not a bland character, and the story was pretty decent. Unfortunately you had to research that to really understand it, which isn't the proper way to tell a story. This was true of a few of the characters, and worse, the character motivations and world ethos as a whole as well.

Edit: I'd be surprised if even half the people complaining on here even planned on playing ARR. I personally don't care if she's there, and I've been considering getting ARR, but I'm hesitant because I don't want to get sucked into another MMO.:(

[rhap]

We had Cloud in classic FFT and it wasn't very well explained why he was there, but it was a cool cameo. That's the big difference. Characters like Kefka, Cloud, Terra, Shadow, Kain, Auron, Aeris, Seifer, etc, doesn't really need a big explanation of events, everyone is going to love the cameo and only a few gonna complain, but looks at how they need to explain and make a big post on forums "explaining" why they choose Lightning.

When the character and the game he cames from is good, the majority likes it and there's no need for explanations. Just throw in the cameo.

[despair]

That's the hypocrisy of the reactions in this case, they would've been salivating if any of the characters you mentioned were included and wouldn't care how they fit but one character that they are not happy with and the uproar on "canon" and fitting the story start to show its ugly head.

[chadwarden]

Because Lightning is THE best!

[haymoza]

Why oh why do they continue to shove her down our throats. Let's move on to other characters already.

[Rai]

can't believe one whole console generation square focused so much on this one character...

[ps3_pwns]

yep and people praising lightning are only making it worst for ff series. you guys need to shut up about her or risk getting less sales for the games. only reason she popular is because that's the only ff game these new age kids played and remember for this whole generation.

[Elda]

IMO I think Lightning is in FFXIV due to Squares love & obsession with the FF-XIII character,they (Japan) see her as a Goddess I presume,I like FF-XIII & the character Lightning but 1 game was enough I will say Square went overboard with the 2 extra games (FF-XIII-2 & LR FF-XIII) & now including Lightning in FFXIV-I think playing Lightning in FF-XIII & Dissidia 2 was enough.

[strigoi814]

WTHell..stop it SE lightning is not as popular as you expect it to be..

[Iceman X]

All this hate, when yet the game sales says something entirely different. FF13 and FF13-2 sells like hotcakes. And for people that played the game and beat it, it really is a great game, graphics, story and gameplay. Some people will never be satisfied.

[ps3_pwns]

the games suck they even got bad ratings lol. the only exciting parts abut the game is when snow would come in with his hero talk. or hat aussie lady the older one

[Summons75]

No they didn't. Critics praised the first game then praised the second for tackling the few real problems the first one had. Only haters and troll site who were biased to start gave it had reviews. Sales are good, reviews are good, and most new and old fans enjoyed it. Haters are the minority but your mouths are just loud. Sure it's be not the best final fantasy but it was enjoyable.

[Elda]

@Iceman..I agree...I enjoyed playing FF-XIII it's one of my favorites out of the FF franchise,it seems though alot of people on game forums discuss their hate for FF-XIII & say that majority of people hate FF-XIII which I think is wrong,both games combined sold about 10 mill copies,maybe 2 mill out of 10 may have disliked FF-XIII,I think the people who disliked FF-XIII are the minority not every gamer in the world go into game forums discussing their likes & dislikes for games,also S-E is a business why would they waste their time & money on games they knew weren't going to be played or bought by fans of FF-XIII,imo I thought FF-XIII was enough,I didn't enjoy FF-XIII-2,but LR looks a bit interesting.

[Xof]

...I keep reading XIV as XV, and get tricked into reading something stupid.

[GABRIEL1030]

C'mon, we need a new chapter, a true FF XV, not more bad FF XIII !

[contradictory]

so i can now play as the cool character who appeared on that shitty game? YAAAY!

seriously though Lightning as a character was okay
if only XIII wouldn't have sucked so hard...

[Funnymonkey013]

Lets just say that lighting as a whole the worst main FF char. To date she is nothing but a joke and really it pississ me off that they made her of off cloud that's just not right and pretty much y she is a failer her being moody a lone Wolf and kinda cold but ends up opening to people is cloud only and it does not fit a female cloud at all. Instead of her having her own personality she has a personally of cloud and that's y I never liked her or try to feel anything 4 her. Heck that girl from FFX-2 with the two dudes I forgot thier names has a much better personality then lighting and I don't even like her as well.

[swishersweets20031]

*facepalm*

please stop.. just stop.