Final Fantasy XIV: E3 2012 'Version 2.0' Interview with Naoki Yoshida

MikeB

We sat down with Final Fantasy XIV's Naoki Yoshida during this year's E3 to discuss Square Enix's plans for the relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV. Read on to find out what we've learned!

I came into our interview open about the fact that not only have I never played Final Fantasy XIV, but that outside of the game’s infamous history, I knew very little about it. If you don’t manage to make it through this entire article, know that I came away with this: I’m now actively interested in seeing where Square Enix takes the game. Final Fantasy XIV is on my radar.

It was pretty clear to me from coming into the room that the team was not interested in spinning Final Fantasy XIV’s failures. Everyone was aware of the game’s problems, and it appeared they were more than eager to share their plans with us for rectifying them. It was a breath of fresh air, to say the least, given the way these things tend to go.

Read more of Michael Bitton's Final Fantasy XIV: E3 2012 'Version 2.0' Interivew with Naoki Yoshida.

gilgamesh42

man i love final fantasy i wish this game was f2p

Coolit

I think it's an understatement to say its the same game, it looks amazing and I for one will be trying this again when 2.0 is launched. Got the love the fact they have taken a clearly flawed game and completely re-developed it, not many companies would do this. 

Badem

I subbed to the game at launch and played on and off until they started charges again, I could not find enough to keep me attached to the game.

 

One of the glaring issues I had was the , for lack of a better phrase, 'Lack of Community'. Finding linkshells to join is nigh on impossible, there is no ingame recruitment ongoing. This needs to be addressed IMHO to allow people to make friends ingame and play together.

 

I resubbed after the 10 days 'welcome back' purely to get my Legacy, however I now need to pay to 90 days before then end of this month since they are removing it on 30th June 

kaguhoO

seems they really did alot of work

now i will def try this game as i am a huge ff fan

gilgamesh42

  oh what the heck ill buy this game next week  >.> 

Badem

Originally posted by Coolit

I think it's an understatement to say its the same game, it looks amazing and I for one will be trying this again when 2.0 is launched. Got the love the fact they have taken a clearly flawed game and completely re-developed it, not many companies would do this. 

Think in another interview Oshi explained why they could not let it fail, but serious Kudos to Square for sticking with the game, even when they knew it was not right,

 

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/e3-2012-a-chat-with-final-fantasy-xivs-naoki-yoshida/

Ravenia77

I played this game on and off. Honestly Reguardless of the flaws I had fun. I played it on a low end laptop with graphics set to low (the game looked like ff8 no lie) Getting a Linkshell isn't hard. they did a server merge but had to close seberal servers due to "too many characters" which were open after a few mnths. You may want to join asap to get into the legacy program $10 a mnth for 8 characters a server for up to 40 characters game wide. Plus the 7th umbral age is one time only event. After 2.0 its going to not be in the game. Yoshida is an avid mmo gamer and told his staff to play other mmo and learn what ppl like. only reason i'm not playing is my 2 year old broke my wired 360 controler. (no mouse for laptop).

 

good read, nice to see a non-mmo gamer pleased with ffxiv. I'm a non final fantasy fan and i liked it.

Ravenia77

Ul'dah is the main hub of ffxiv, shout there for an LS you should have issues. 

 

also gilgamesh42 writes:

man i love final fantasy i wish this game was f2p

 

f2p mmo tbh suck... i played 20 of them in 3 years. you either pay more... or the content is crappy (if u can do the content) or the maintaince is crappy. or the service is crappy. 

 

on mabinogi i spent over $60 just for basic stuff... extra storage a shop the "account with the 3 revives u get" 2 pets one being a mount. and the ability to make an elf. i'm better off paying a flat 12.95 a mnth for 100x more stuff....

Cybermank

You shouldn't write an article about and evaluate with 5.1 a game that, as you said, you've never played.

SwampDragons

I am really looking forward to the 2.0 update.

I really wanna play it now but I know I will just get disapointed, better to wait until Oktober - November when 2.0 is supposedly to be released.

And they have said that they will give a free trail for the old accounts.

hcoelho

well i guess ill buy it know, since its cheaper. After the 2.0 the price will go up again, i bet.

Does anyone knows a place selling it for cheap ? 

 

spadge3k00

so pardon me for being a bit dumb but its not still free is it ??

Lumm

This could be the greatest MMO comeback ever. From the work they have done since the new dev took over is just amazing, they have basically created an entire game from the group up in less than 2 years. Grats to square-enix you may pull off a miracle many of us never seen coming.

alvaruz

Well if 2.0 really worth it, I will come back!

MattVid

I have just recently resubbed to the game (mainily to get the legacy status) and have high hopes for the face-lift. We'll see how it plays out, even the current game seems to be going in a much better direction, but still has some glaring issues. Hopefully the class system is just trashed and completely redone, all the new "job" stuff mixed with the silly weapon system and shared skills just seems horrible. That is probably my number one complaint right now, besides the difficulty of just using hotbars and targetting.

 

Out with the old and in with the new, it will be impressive if Square can pull this monster failure out of the ditch ... though, somehow, I have managed to keep going back and playing. Can't wait to try out 2.0.

 

redcloud16

I had lost interest in everything to do with FFXIV after I bought it for 15 bucks at Gamestop (in the middle of the subscription waiving). It was cool, but just awful. 

I heard they were revamping them and didn't believe it would be anything to look at. 

Then I saw the spreadsheet of what they were planning. And slowly they have convinced me to give them another chance with all the work they have done, because the game is actually looking to be pretty awesome. 

Also the fact that Yoshida knows what an MMO is as opposed to the former guy in charge. . .

Hyanmen

Originally posted by redcloud16

Then I saw the spreadsheet of what they were planning. And slowly they have convinced me to give them another chance with all the work they have done, because the game is actually looking to be pretty awesome. 

Also the fact that Yoshida knows what an MMO is as opposed to the former guy in charge. . .

Pretty much. It is sad for the people who are still so butthurt about the initial release that they won't even consider 2.0 regardless of it's final quality.

Not that being cautious is a bad thing at this point.

jessie360

Getting rid of Tanaka was the best decision they could do.  Yoshida is a man who knows how to get results.  I will definitely give this game a go when 2.0 is out.  Something about the Final Fantasy series in MMO format that piques my nostalgia meter.  I expect this to be a superior experience to FFXI. 

CaptainSoap

It's being sold all over the internet like amazon for 20 bucks or less. The price will raise and you have until june 30th to subscribe for a 90 subscription plan to qualify for legacy.

Deathofsage

No offense to the author. I wish they'd've sent someone in who had experience with XI and current XIV.

I understand you avoided XIV because you disliked XI and XIV by association but many of us tried XIV in the hopes we'd find the best of XI in it.

Many of XIV's initial players wanted XI 2.0 and were sad when we didn't get it.

Besides Chocobo racing, and raising, I want to know if 2.0 is taking any cues from Grandpa XI .

Deathofsage

Originally posted by Cybermank

You shouldn't write an article about and evaluate with 5.1 a game that, as you said, you've never played.

Comments like these make me look for a Like link.

MikeB

Originally posted by Deathofsage

Originally posted by Cybermank

You shouldn't write an article about and evaluate with 5.1 a game that, as you said, you've never played.

Comments like these make me look for a Like link.

I did not write our FF14 review, so I'm not sure what you two are trying to get at here.

hcoelho

Originally posted by Soaapy

It's being sold all over the internet like amazon for 20 bucks or less. The price will raise and you have until june 30th to subscribe for a 90 subscription plan to qualify for legacy.

Would you explain this further ? i'm clueless about the game and its abouts.... 

 

I'm just  getting interested because it's a different aproach from the normal MMO genre. 

tollbooth

It's unfortunate you didn't try ffxi.  I think most people who played it long enough to get a character to 75 would agree it's one of the best mmo's ever.  The fact it's not going to be like ffxi is about the biggest turn-off they could market.

Deathofsage

I meant that the person that wrote this article said they hadn't played XIV and shied away from it in part due to its similarities to XI.

A large portion of XIV's players tried the game hoping for the best of XI.

Without playing the game, that person doesn't know XIV's weakenesses beyond the "everyone knows XIV sucks".

As a for-instance. I enjoyed Behest in the current incarnation. If you're doing guildleves, or just grinding solo or with one or two others, you can try to stay near the npc camps or gates and talk to npc's on half-hour intervals for a sort of free guildleve that gives you a chunk of experience in a fashion very similar to a guild leve.

It makes it easier for a solo player to gain experience. Especially at lower levels, where many felt using their leves was a "waste".