Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt recently sat down with Final Fantasy XIV Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida and Sage Sundi to talk about everything from investors to “hardcore communication”.
There’s really not a lot of information that players would be jumping to see, but it’s a nice Q and A telling us how some things work internally and how they’ve changed as a result of Final Fantasy XIV’s launch.
Check out the full write up over at Gamasutra!
December brought change for Final Fantasy XIV that no one saw coming. Hiromichi Tanaka, the game’s Producer stepped down, taking full responsibility for the poor condition of the game. The development team was reshuffled and former Director Nobuaki Komoto shifted to Lead Game Designer. We were then introduced to Naoki Yoshida, someone who no one had really heard of before. Now known to players as “Yoshi-P”, he took on the role of Producer/Director for Final Fantasy XIV.
Since then, he’s written numerous letters on the Lodestone which outline the changes the team is working on as well as a few personal touches here and there. He’s already had several interviews with Japanese media outlets such as Famitsu and 4Gamer. He has just recently completed a visit to Square Enix’s headquarters in London to talk with a few European fan sites. Now, it’s our turn.
We were invited to Square Enix’s El Segundo offices to sit down and chat with the team behind Final Fantasy XIV including Naoki Yoshida, Sage Sundi, Yasu Kurosawa and Robert Peeler.
Please note that the questions, and more importantly the answers, are not direct quotes from Square Enix. There is a translation process and the answers are always somewhat disjointed for that reason. So with that disclaimer, on to the questions…
German website JPGames.de recently sat down with Sage Sundi and Hiromichi Tanaka to talk about Final Fantasy XIV.
The interview that followed isn’t necessarily a goldmine of information, however, something important to come out of this interview is clarification that Final Fantasy XIV will not be going Free 2 Play as previously “reported”. (but you all knew that right?) In fact, when asked about it they gave a response similar to the one they gave before, saying that they have no plans to use a micro transaction model because it’s unfair to players. In fact, people are likely to spend more money than they would on a subscription based model if the game was F2P. By keeping a monthly subscription fee, the game is more fair, and more affordable for everyone.
Head on over to JPGames.de for the full interview.
Ah – New York City Comic-con. The crowds, the cosplayers, the video games… But where’s the comics? Unfortunately, I didn’t see many, but right on the center of the show floor at the Javits Center in New York City was Square-Enix’s dual booths and in full effect.
It’s a bit of a shame – None of the Final Fantasy XIV merchandise that was premiered at the Tokyo Game Show was available at this event, so unfortunately that left me a bit dry in the merchandise department. Fortunately, Square-Enix’s presence at the show did not end there.
To the right there was another booth that held presentations every 2 hours for the new Dues Ex title, Dungeon Siege III, and of course Final Fantasy XIV. I stuck around for the XIV presentation – It appears that the presentation was identical to the one at PAX, however there was a good deal of emphasis on the new Snakebyte controllers. In addition to this, there was a long row of kiosks where you could not only test out Final Fantasy XIV, but also the controllers.
Oh, I know, this sounds rather uneventful. I’ll make it up to you, however! I had a chance to speak with both Sage Sundi and Yasu Kurosawa at the event, and later schedule an interview with them. While Yasu unfortunately could not attend the interview, I did have the honor of speaking with Sundi for a good 24 minutes. He answered questions about the community for Final Fantasy XIV, the Japanese cigarette taxes, where ARE those darn male Miqo’te!?, and of course what he sees for the future of XIV.
The Success of an MMORPG
The success of an MMORPG depends on a lot of factors, including in-game economy. Final Fantasy XIV is no exception to this. Since the Disciples of Hand and Land are front-and-center, full-fledged Disciplines, a healthy player-based economy will become ever more important.
RMT
Who are these people? They make illegal profits off of Square-Enix’s game, as defined by Square-Enix’s User Agreement. They can muck up the economy, spam chat channels, and can ruin game/economy balance if no action is taken against them.
So, who’s fighting them and keeping the in-game economy working well?
This is where the Special Task Force excels. I am confident that they do their job and do it well. That being said, this is an ongoing battle and they appreciate any assistance they can get. This is where we come in! They depend on us, the community, to submit reports!
“I want to help! Where can I find this form?”
Currently, you can find the form here:
“Report to Special Task Force” form
“Reports to the Special Task Force can be used to report illegal activity within FINAL FANTASY XIV.
*The Special Task Force exists for the purpose of dealing with illegal activity in FINAL FANTASY XIV and working to create a healthy gameplay environment.”
I am hoping that in the future Square-Enix will put these forms, in-game, in the Help Desk menu. I believe that the easier it is for players to make reports, the more likely they will. Ultimately, it would be more beneficial for S-E and the Final Fantasy XIV service, to provide in-game “Report to Special Task Force” forms. This would be of particular advantage to players who play full-screen and those who do not wish to open their internet browser, disrupting the course of their gameplay session.
Why the community should take time to submit reports
We want a healthy player-based economy from the start of Final Fantasy XIV’s service, especially since crafters and gatherers play a vital role in the game. The more stable the economy is, the more rewarding Disciples of Hand and Disciples of Land disciplines will be. When you submit these reports, you’re doing your part to help the STF; they make sure that the economy is kept in balance.
To date, I have seen no MMORPG give this much significance to Crafting, Gathering, and Fishing; this is revolutionary, and I love it! It has been said that in the future Disciples of Hand and Land will have mid-level Class Quests, which include their own storyline cutscenes (in the style of traditional Final Fantasy games).
I really want to see the Disciples of Hand and Disciples of Land disciplines work well. It is my belief that this can only be achieved by having a healthy player-based economy. So, do your part to keep the economy stable… submit reports and twhart the efforts of Arrr-’Em’Tee.
Special Thanks
I would like to thank Sage Sundi and the Special Task Force for all their hard work.
It’s a lazy Wednesday afternoon. You are sitting at your computer, getting excited for the start of open beta, and you get a message.
“We might need you to go to PAX. Can you go?”
One week ago, I never would have imagined that I’d be sitting here typing up an interview done with Sage Sundi and Yasu Kurosawa, unless that interview was done in Japanese with Famitsu or 4Gamer. And yet, here I am, getting ready to share with you the interview Urthdigger and I had with the two FFXIV producers. It is very surreal.
Before I begin the interview, I want to thank the people at Square Enix once again for setting us up with some interview time. Talking with people at Square Enix is like talking with old friends. You all share the same love for the game. You all want it to grow, thrive, and survive. I don’t envy their long days in the convention halls but hopefully more people were exposed to the game this weekend.
Gamestrailer.com has released a two-part video interview with Tanaka and Sundi. Not a whole lot of new information here, but always nice to get some video shots of the game and Tanaka and Sundi themselves. They are able to deny some speculations and confirm that there will be no PvP nor voice chat at launch – although they leave the door open to add them later. They speak a little more about the Guildleve and Class (not job) leveling systems, but nothing new. Overall a decent interview. For those wondering, the voice you hear in the videos translating is Saori Hill (a member of SE’s UK community team). The videos are after the jump.
These big game shows are a lot like Christmas. You get a bunch of really good stuff all at once but there is something of a let down after it’s all over. However, sometimes there are still little treats that come in the mail a bit late.
Once again, Dengeki has delayed the online release of their interview. They also interviewed Final Fantasy XIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Global Online Producer Sage Sundi at gamescom last week and a small portion of their interview was published in yesterday’s Dengeki PlayStation. The full interview was posted on their site today and it is three pages long! It really makes you wonder how much more we’d be able to ask if we could do interviews without the need of a translator.
In general, the interview covers a lot of the things we’ve already heard from other interviews. However, there are a few specifics not mentioned elsewhere so let’s get into it!
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