Fixing Final Fantasy XIV: The Yoshida Interview - Gamasutra

In this extensive interview, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida -- brought onto the project to try and rescue it from a disastrous launch -- details the work ahead of him and explains why he thinks he can save the game.

[bwazy]

Square Enix still owes me $80 for ripping me off on my collectors edition. What I thought I'd get inside was the best MMO since Guildwars and Vanilla WoW, but what I got was a steaming pile of shit on a golden pedestal.

[Reibooi]

Have you played the game in the last month or so? Yoshida has made MASSIVE leaps foward in fixing the game. He basically threw out everything teh old team was doing with the exception of the stuff that made sense and started focusing on what needed and still needs to be fixed. He just gets it. Every issue he brings up is stuff players have been talking about and want fixed he isn't bringing up random crap that no one cares about.

In his time in control he has added Real quests, NM's a nearly totally revamped UI which is far faster and easier to use, massive improvements to the market wards that now function almost like a auction house, better control over the contents of local leves, re balancing of levequests, completely redoing how you gain SP and EXP in combat(I.E making it easier and make sense as opposed to being luck) really I could go on and on.

He is now focusing on completely redoing the jobs and combat system so the jobs will seem far more unique from each other and in the process plans to add new dungeon and raid environments into the game.

The main problem this game had was that Tanaka was in charge and he had no idea what he wanted. He didn't know if he wanted a FFXI-2 or a tottally new game and teh result was a massive Clusterf**k of ideas that just didn't mesh and he wasn't doing anything that would fix it. Yoshida however has a clear vision of where he wants the game to go and it's great. Once he gets everything he wants into the game in about a years time the game will be one of the better MMO's on the market as he is taking what works and expanding on it and coming up with new and fun ideas. I have hope for the future of the game with Yoshida in charge of it.

[bwazy]

Yea, I've tried playing it again, yesterday actually. The game is still a sluggish disaster that fails to immerse you in their world. With bad gameplay and a denial fanbase of SE's most loyal fanboys, this game just won't EVER appeal to the mass (or even niche) market. By the time they even come close to fixing this game, SWTOR AND Guildwars 2 will have been released, nuff said

[Reibooi]

Honestly have no idea what you are talking about when you say sluggish. The menus have all been sped up to the point of being as fast as any other game out there and if you are referring to the game play itself again I have no idea what you are talking about. Assuming you have a PC capable of running the game at a good clip the game runs fine i see no sluggishness at all. And i'm on playing the game daily.

I will agree that the game still does of poor job of immersing you in the world however that's what all the new quests being added to the game is helping and Yoshida has said that every single patch that comes out will have new quests which will help on that front.

I assure you I'm not a fanboy. I just enjoy the basic concepts behind the game and I find it interesting to be playing the game as it undergoes a major overhaul. Most of the community seems to be positive both in game and on the forums.

And SE was never aiming for a mass market game. They didn't with FFXI and that game has been going on near 10 years. All they need to go is get a solid enough player base to cover costs and make a little profit and that's it. Not every MMO is gonna be a WoW and unlike most devs who aim for that SE already knows that and is just trying to make a game the fans will like which is more then you can say for most devs who abandon their games if they fail.

I also don't think The Old Republic or Guildwars 2 will have any bit of impact. Just because they are MMO's doesn't mean they will pull people away. Rift had massive hype in the MMO world and the population of FFXIV didn't at all take a hit with the release of that game.

[KillaManiac]

Ya i bought the CE edition and this was easily my most anticipated title since the second it was announced.

I will try it again once PS3 version comes out (if it does) since they said that is when they believe it will be a finished product.

[LoveNintendoWii]

A Wii makeover will really give it the spark it so desperately needs!

[bwazy]

So I can strangle myself with the nunchuk add on? Great fucking idea guy who loves small penis!

[LoveNintendoWii]

Why thank you man who thinks SIXAXIS is a sex position!

[bwazy]

Thats one more position that you'll ever be getting in life.