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Final Fantasy XIV - What can one expect from this Square-Enix's next-gen MMO?
ic0n67
Member Posts: 776
Today I'm going to talk about Nobuaki Komoto, the director of FFXIV and his last work Chains of Promathia expansion (and a little bit of FFIX too- the first Final Fantasy he worked on!).
1. Nobuaki Komoto and FFXI
Before starting to direct the 14th installment to the Final Fantasy franchise, Nobuaki worked on as an event planner and scenario writer for FFIX and parts of FFXI- mainly the missions and quests for the Bastok city storyline. Later he was chosen to be the director of the second expansion to the FFXI, Chains or Promathia. One can clearly see his influence in how the expansion turned out, however unfortunately the lack of experience he had in directing games as well.
The emphasis in Chains of Promathia (from now on CoP) is clearly put to story and missions. Huge part of the development time was put to mission and story content- actually one could say that the whole expansion is centered around it. This is no surprise, seeing what his earlier role was in the making of games he was a part of.
Nobuaki Komoto at E3 2009
One interesting thing to note in CoP is that almost every area in it has been developed for the storyline purposes, and has quite few interactive elements included: In one mission for example the player has to climb up a mountain in a way that resembles more the gameplay of Crash Bandicoot rather than an MMO. Later the player has to also slide down an icy slope.
The whole expansion, at times, feels like a single player RPG with multiplayer elements rather than an "MMO". I think that this is what mr. Komoto was aiming for when making the expansion, too.
However, unfortunately that was also the downfall of the expansion- it focused too much on a sector which wasn't really a part of the core of the game. While missions and quests were a something that made FFXI unique to other MMORPG's, one does not need to complete them to progress their character. When the main way of progressing character was fighting monsters for experience and doing events for good rewards, the missions weren't as important to most of the players. Pair this with the insane difficulty for some missions, and you have lots of players not bothering with the missions at all, the main part of the whole expansion!
Chains of Promathia, the second expansion for Final Fantasy XI.
Later on, after the dev team had finished implementing the missions they could focus on actual content that has something to do with the "core" gameplay of the game, which saved the expansion from being a total failure for many. That is what I think Komoto forgot when directing the expansion, and focused too much on what he knows best: event planning and scenario writing.
So, why did SE decide to make the director of FFXIV the same guy who made the not-so-popular CoP expansion? It can't be because it was successful, because it wasn't.. so what could they possibly have in mind?
2. FFXIV - A story driven MMO!?
I can only assume that the higherups in SE HQ liked what they saw in CoP, but realized that the core of the game was too far from one that could allow this kind of expansion to be made- missions and quests weren't really a part of the everyday things players did in FFXI, like leveling.
So, what if the whole game was designed in a way that it would allow missions to be linked to the character progression and maybe things like endgame and crafting? It'd interesting to see how it would work out at least..!
What did the dev team say in the Q&A session at E3? "We wanted to make the best FF game first, and decided on making it an MMO after that."
Many theories can be made from that comment, but when looking at CoP- that almost felt like a co-op single player FF at times- one could come to a conclusion that they're trying to implement the missions into the game in a way like never seen before in an MMO.
IGN also interviewed mr. Komoto at E3, and one comment he said might actually reveal more about the direction of the game than we originally thought:
"In FFXIV we hope to expand the system from FFXI and have your character develop- through the story"
Sounds exactly like what he would say!
Well, there are still things we don't have answers for- like how does one implement grind to that kind of MMO, or if there will be that at all. No matter what though, there has to be some time consuming process included or we'd clear the content way too fast- be it grind or something else. Only time can tell.
Also, while this has nothing to do with the story, didn't FFIX put some kind of emphasis to weapons developing your character? That was the first Final Fantasy Komoto worked on, so.. we might be seeing similar system return? Who knows...~
That's all about Nobuaki Komoto- next time I'll talk more specifically about the endgame (and low and midgame) of FFXI and what we could expect from FFXIV endgame- camping monsters for hours with 100 other players in a small zone, or diverse instanced events that do not include camping at all?!
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Hyanmen/4096_Nobuaki-Komoto-the-director-of-FFXIV.html
Comments
OMG!!!! HE IS THE FUCKER RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT SHIT!!! This ass has been on my bat-to-face list for a while now.
Why did you respond to what you said?
Please check out my channel. I do gaming reviews, gaming related reviews & lets plays. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/user/BettyofDewm/videos
Okay first off the original post was the article for everyone to read ... idk ... seems like a nice thing to see some info out there and to post it on the forums so everyone can stay informed.
Then as I'm reading the article for the first time I see something I want to comment on so I do ... idk ... people like to read and then comment happens all the time. you just did it as a matter of fact assuming you read what was said. I am just referencing a small portion of the article so since i'm am I quote it so everyone know exactly what the comment is in reference to. It is how it is done, not my fault other people do it too.
So ... there is your answer so now you can go be a dick in the other post that the exact same freaking thing happend where you decided to thank the person instead of being an asshole. Just saying.
Okay first off the original post was the article for everyone to read ... idk ... seems like a nice thing to see some info out there and to post it on the forums so everyone can stay informed.
Then as I'm reading the article for the first time I see something I want to comment on so I do ... idk ... people like to read and then comment happens all the time. you just did it as a matter of fact assuming you read what was said. I am just referencing a small portion of the article so since i'm am I quote it so everyone know exactly what the comment is in reference to. It is how it is done, not my fault other people do it too.
So ... there is your answer so now you can go be a dick in the other post that the exact same freaking thing happend where you decided to thank the person instead of being an asshole. Just saying.
It is kind of confusing because the first initial post almost makes it seem like you wrote it.. as you no where in that post say it was not you. (other then the link you provide at the bottom, some people do not read all the way :P )
MMORPG players do not want better story because once you have gone through it once, its not going to keep you playing for months or years. By going on and on about story, you can pretty much tell that the gameplay is going to follow the boring old turn based skill bar crap that keeps getting reskinned year after year.
It seems like these predominately single player RPG companies are ignoring the core problems with the mmo genre and simply trying to add a subscription fee to the type of games they already produce.
I don't see what exactly would be wrong about making a 'multiplayer' RPG that lasts longer than your basic single player RPG does. I'm sure that we'll at least get enough content for our money.
However, this does not tell anything about the gameplay yet- only that more emphasis is put on story than before.
The post only talks about what is highly likely to come from FFXIV, I won't start speculating needlessly about how the combat system might be when there really isn't enough info about it available. Maybe if mr. Komoto excelled in the combat aspect in other FF's, then I would make a post about that.
Sorry, you are wrong. FFXI proves it. The game is still going strong, people still play the game now 7 years later. And guess what, the game has a huge STORY mechanic. Matter of fact, that is one of the things I LOVED about FFXI and wished all other MMOs would have mirrored. You wonder why people say WoW is getting boring or WAR or AoC? Because the story is non existant. You can only play so much, max your character so much before you wonder what the point of it all is.
Giving your character a story that they are a part of, which FFXI does extremely well, makes the game all the better and gives it a nice lifespan.
Sorry, you are wrong. FFXI proves it. The game is still going strong, people still play the game now 7 years later. And guess what, the game has a huge STORY mechanic. Matter of fact, that is one of the things I LOVED about FFXI and wished all other MMOs would have mirrored. You wonder why people say WoW is getting boring or WAR or AoC? Because the story is non existant. You can only play so much, max your character so much before you wonder what the point of it all is.
Giving your character a story that they are a part of, which FFXI does extremely well, makes the game all the better and gives it a nice lifespan.
But isnt killing 15 birds or stealing a letter from a group of thieves or giving your characters faction leader a reach-around all part of the storyline in other mmos??
Ive been duped!
If only they used the fact that it's a 3D game to their advantage, then I would consider them a proper 'story'.
But now they're just interactive books with some "ho ho ho! good day adventurer!" voices added. If I want to read a book, I go and do it instead of looking at my monitor.
Okay first off the original post was the article for everyone to read ... idk ... seems like a nice thing to see some info out there and to post it on the forums so everyone can stay informed.
Then as I'm reading the article for the first time I see something I want to comment on so I do ... idk ... people like to read and then comment happens all the time. you just did it as a matter of fact assuming you read what was said. I am just referencing a small portion of the article so since i'm am I quote it so everyone know exactly what the comment is in reference to. It is how it is done, not my fault other people do it too.
So ... there is your answer so now you can go be a dick in the other post that the exact same freaking thing happend where you decided to thank the person instead of being an asshole. Just saying.
It is kind of confusing because the first initial post almost makes it seem like you wrote it.. as you no where in that post say it was not you. (other then the link you provide at the bottom, some people do not read all the way :P )
Yeah sorry for the missunderstanding. I did read all teh way to the bottom but some how missed the link, But yeah it sounded like you had wrote it.
But any aight so it makes sence now...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
But yeah back on toppic.
I do think that story line play's alot in a game....but also so does gameplay, I play'd FFXI for almost a year before I started to even touch teh story line....I mostly ground? grinded...? anyways yeah...but the storyline when you got into it was exelant.
Hopefully we'll get a good balance of both!
Please check out my channel. I do gaming reviews, gaming related reviews & lets plays. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/user/BettyofDewm/videos
Okay first off the original post was the article for everyone to read ... idk ... seems like a nice thing to see some info out there and to post it on the forums so everyone can stay informed.
Then as I'm reading the article for the first time I see something I want to comment on so I do ... idk ... people like to read and then comment happens all the time. you just did it as a matter of fact assuming you read what was said. I am just referencing a small portion of the article so since i'm am I quote it so everyone know exactly what the comment is in reference to. It is how it is done, not my fault other people do it too.
So ... there is your answer so now you can go be a dick in the other post that the exact same freaking thing happend where you decided to thank the person instead of being an asshole. Just saying.
It is kind of confusing because the first initial post almost makes it seem like you wrote it.. as you no where in that post say it was not you. (other then the link you provide at the bottom, some people do not read all the way :P )
Yeah sorry for the missunderstanding. I did read all teh way to the bottom but some how missed the link, But yeah it sounded like you had wrote it.
But any aight so it makes sence now...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
But yeah back on toppic.
I do think that story line play's alot in a game....but also so does gameplay, I play'd FFXI for almost a year before I started to even touch teh story line....I mostly ground? grinded...? anyways yeah...but the storyline when you got into it was exelant.
Hopefully we'll get a good balance of both!
That's because the majority of the storyline is spread out between a huge distance of levels, but people are too stuck up in their grind to ever take a break and do them... or prefer to do the whole thing at once. FFXI gives the player the oppertunity to have a break and do something different during the course of their adventure (much like the genkai quests) yet many people ignore it and grind day in and day out then complain there is no story when it's just their ignorance.
Okay first off the original post was the article for everyone to read ... idk ... seems like a nice thing to see some info out there and to post it on the forums so everyone can stay informed.
Then as I'm reading the article for the first time I see something I want to comment on so I do ... idk ... people like to read and then comment happens all the time. you just did it as a matter of fact assuming you read what was said. I am just referencing a small portion of the article so since i'm am I quote it so everyone know exactly what the comment is in reference to. It is how it is done, not my fault other people do it too.
So ... there is your answer so now you can go be a dick in the other post that the exact same freaking thing happend where you decided to thank the person instead of being an asshole. Just saying.
It is kind of confusing because the first initial post almost makes it seem like you wrote it.. as you no where in that post say it was not you. (other then the link you provide at the bottom, some people do not read all the way :P )
Yeah sorry for the missunderstanding. I did read all teh way to the bottom but some how missed the link, But yeah it sounded like you had wrote it.
But any aight so it makes sence now...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
But yeah back on toppic.
I do think that story line play's alot in a game....but also so does gameplay, I play'd FFXI for almost a year before I started to even touch teh story line....I mostly ground? grinded...? anyways yeah...but the storyline when you got into it was exelant.
Hopefully we'll get a good balance of both!
That's because the majority of the storyline is spread out between a huge distance of levels, but people are too stuck up in their grind to ever take a break and do them... or prefer to do the whole thing at once. FFXI gives the player the oppertunity to have a break and do something different during the course of their adventure (much like the genkai quests) yet many people ignore it and grind day in and day out then complain there is no story when it's just their ignorance.
yeah I'm deffinitly not complaining. I love grinding (thats why in wow I ground from lvl 1 to 68) But yeah I hear people complain all the time about FFXI "to much grinding, to hard, nothing to do if i'm only on for a hour...and so on"
and its like.....you are so wrong. In my humble opinion FFXI is THE BEST MMO OUT THERE!
*sigh* I quite about a year ago and wish I hadn't.
I quite and my LS broke up about 2 months later, and then wings of godess came out and most people in the servers "wen't to the past" and I tried getting back into it a lill while ago...but without your old friends its just not the same.
Please check out my channel. I do gaming reviews, gaming related reviews & lets plays. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/user/BettyofDewm/videos
Okay first off the original post was the article for everyone to read ... idk ... seems like a nice thing to see some info out there and to post it on the forums so everyone can stay informed.
Then as I'm reading the article for the first time I see something I want to comment on so I do ... idk ... people like to read and then comment happens all the time. you just did it as a matter of fact assuming you read what was said. I am just referencing a small portion of the article so since i'm am I quote it so everyone know exactly what the comment is in reference to. It is how it is done, not my fault other people do it too.
So ... there is your answer so now you can go be a dick in the other post that the exact same freaking thing happend where you decided to thank the person instead of being an asshole. Just saying.
It is kind of confusing because the first initial post almost makes it seem like you wrote it.. as you no where in that post say it was not you. (other then the link you provide at the bottom, some people do not read all the way :P )
Yeah sorry for the missunderstanding. I did read all teh way to the bottom but some how missed the link, But yeah it sounded like you had wrote it.
But any aight so it makes sence now...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
But yeah back on toppic.
I do think that story line play's alot in a game....but also so does gameplay, I play'd FFXI for almost a year before I started to even touch teh story line....I mostly ground? grinded...? anyways yeah...but the storyline when you got into it was exelant.
Hopefully we'll get a good balance of both!
That's because the majority of the storyline is spread out between a huge distance of levels, but people are too stuck up in their grind to ever take a break and do them... or prefer to do the whole thing at once. FFXI gives the player the oppertunity to have a break and do something different during the course of their adventure (much like the genkai quests) yet many people ignore it and grind day in and day out then complain there is no story when it's just their ignorance.
yeah I'm deffinitly not complaining. I love grinding (thats why in wow I ground from lvl 1 to 68) But yeah I hear people complain all the time about FFXI "to much grinding, to hard, nothing to do if i'm only on for a hour...and so on"
and its like.....you are so wrong. In my humble opinion FFXI is THE BEST MMO OUT THERE!
*sigh* I quite about a year ago and wish I hadn't.
I quite and my LS broke up about 2 months later, and then wings of godess came out and most people in the servers "wen't to the past" and I tried getting back into it a lill while ago...but without your old friends its just not the same.
Your friends are what makes games fun
. too many people blame games on bad gameplay, while i admit bad gameplay can be a huge factor, what makes me quit MMOs much faster than anything else is how the community is allowed to interact with each other. This is also why i believe people throw around the phrase "The game starts when you hit max level", because prior to that they are just soloing quests by themselves and until they hit max level they have absolutely NO reason to cooperate with one another.
FFXI not only gave you ample oppertunity to meet and interact with other people, but promoted it.
OK the OP was well written and interesting whoever wrote it.
On the subject of a story in an MMO I think this is where FFXI stands apart from other MMOs and I would certainly like to see them try and keep that intact for XIV. I loved getting the CGI movies during quests in XI even if they didn't give you any stats or if I even knew what was happening, it gave me that feeling of playing ye ole RPG's when you finished a quest or something significant you got to see a little movie, why woulldn't that be cool in an MMO??
I do agree that it could have been done better, CoP was flawed in many ways, particuarally in how difficult it was to the point where many people I played with just ignored it. I have to believe that SE is smart enough to deal with that issue in XIV.
If the plan is to "make the best FF ever" then you better believe there is going to be a huge epic story involved, it wouldn't be Final Fantasy otherwise.