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[Interview] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: Gamescom Roundtable Interview
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
There’s certainly a lot in FFXIV’s 18-month development pipeline. An imminent launch in China, Mac client, DirectX 11 update and Gold Saucer content are all in the pipeline. During Gamescom, columnist Gareth Harmer grabbed a seat at a roundtable interview, where Game Director Naoki Yoshida outlined his plans for the future.
Read more of Gareth Harmer's Final Fantasy XIV: Gamescom Roundtable Interview.
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Comments
Interesting interview.
Gotta call BS on his remarks about not feeling any pressure. This bit:
"I never really felt it as a pressure to myself...", "so it’s not like there’s no more pressure, because I didn’t have it in the first place".
Give me a break. Does he want us to think he's superhuman or something?
He commented on several occasions about how he was "nervous" and "stressed" during the development of ARR, about its success, about how it would be received, etc. For crying out loud, a fan created an image reminding him to look after his own health, because of how hard he was pushing himself on it.
And seriously, when you're talking about a situation where another failure like FFXIV 1.0 would, in Yoshi-P's own words, "be like at the level of destroying the company", there is no way you are not feeling any stress. Source.
Under those conditions, with that much riding on your shoulders, I'd say "feeling pressure" is a given for anyone. Something equivalent to "destroying the company" hanging in the balance, with him being the one calling the shots, and he didn't feel any pressure? Puhlease.
That's false bravado talking, and was really quite silly and unnecessary for him to say.
Also, I love how he reiterates that he has no problem with F2P, that F2P is not out of the question down the road, acknowledges that one reason they didn't go that route is because of the perception of a game going F2P because it's doing poorly... and then immediately gets in front of it by saying "if we do it, it won't be because the game is doing poorly!". So... he's pre-emptively trying to massage public opinion on something that, presumably, isn't even on the table yet. Interesting.
Now, surely the usual suspects will rush in to spin that all out of context, to make it sound like he actually said the exact opposite, or never said it at all... or somehow meant something entirely different than what he said... which only they somehow are privileged to know. 'cause that's kinda how it goes with those people: "If it can be taken in any way as a negative, spin it completely out of context, even if it means contradicting the person who actually said it."
Regardless, he's acknowledged yet again that F2P would not be off the table, he's openly supportive of it, considers it a perfectly viable business model, not inferior to Subscriptions, and it's something they'd implement if it was beneficial to the project.
All in all... neat interview. Still, I miss the 1.0-1.23 era Yoshi-P... the guy who didn't pad so much of what he says with PR fluff, and was straight-talking and frank in his views and opinions. I felt like I was "listening to" someone who was genuine, passionate and up-front. Lately, I feel more like I'm hearing someone with an entire PR department behind him, feeding him his answers.
They just have no reason to go Free 2 Play. Period!
I mean.... the FF fanbase is huge and they have over 1 million people paying and playing the game. Run on both PC and Playstation platform and thus have a huge reach.
Almost all servers are full.
Final Fantasy XI is also still doing great.
He is just saying and answering as he did, to cover his own ass in the future. As so many have been burned on the stake in recent years. John Smedley for example. I am looking at you.
It's better to say that it's not off the table, so that IF for some reason the game is going bad in some years for now and they go F2P, he wouldn't be burned on the stake as a liar.
Why don't you read and quote my whole post, instead of only quoting two lines and pulling it out of contex!!
Trolling much? Got some kind of agenda?
FFXIV isn't going F2P:
1. Square Enix doesn't owe the middle man any money whatsoever.
2. SE can afford to maintain the game with the own in-house funds (They're a powerhouse sitting on money)
3. FFXI is testament (going 12 years strong on a P2P sub) to this.
FFXIV is the only game I actually get excited over when they're discussing new patches -- even the minor ones. I even stay up to watch Letters from the Producer Live in Japanese, despite only knowing a little bit of the language.
Even the minor patches have more content than most other games have in full patches, and their full patches tend to have more new systems and systems updates than entire expansions for other games have had in the past.
Though my utmost favorite thing about the game is that I can be a genuine merchant and feel like I'm selling things as a shop keeper with the fantastic economy they have. Sales don't plummet, profit is high and there's even a variety of meta-crafting that people can dive into if they want to be competitive and not just be a shopkeep.
I've tried to play auction houses in other games, but the economy is usually non-existent in them after a month. Though it seems with each new patch, the economy just gets stronger and strong in this game. Have to restock every morning. Honestly feels like I'm playing Recettear or something similar on Steam each time I log into the game.
CAPITALISM... HOOO!
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
Nice interview. Love it or hate, FFXIV ARR has a clear path for itself and that's rare nowadays.
But by the way... "I never really felt it as a pressure to myself...", "so it’s not like there’s no more pressure, because I didn’t have it in the first place". Get out! The guy cryed his lungs out on the ARR presentation - nothing wrong with that, mind you! -, it seemed to me that he holded up a huge load of pressure...
They're doing a great job! Kudos for that!
My FFXIV ARR referral code for new EU accounts: 5JPF7ZQ3
Step into the amazing world of Eorzea! Use this reference code on a new account and we'll both get goodies for it!
Umm.... ooookay?
I'm not trolling at all. Nor do I have an agenda. This is a message forum, and I'm discussing something you posted.
You, however, are seriously over-reacting for no reason. Lay off the knee-jerk reactions, take a breath, and relax. I did read your entire post.
You explain that you don't see any reason for them to go F2P because the game is doing so well. FFXI is also still doing fairly well ("with a subscription" is implied here, I assume). He's saying what he is so that if/when they ever have to make that change down the line, they won't face the backlash that someone like Smedley has in the past for the many things he's said, and then gone back on at a later date.
You're saying it's better to get in front of that now, so that if they do make the change down the road, he can't be called out for claiming they wouldn't. I made the same observation.
Although, as an aside... According to many of the game's more "enthusiastic" fans.. he already has said that, with the whole "he said he'd shut the game down before going F2P!" mantra that went around for quite a while. While none who made that claim could ever cite or point to the actual quote where he said that, you better believe that will be brought up, and he'll be called a liar, should the time come that they make that announcement.
Again, I did read your post. If you'd calmly read my response, I'm actually agreeing with you for the most part.
The only exception I take, and it's a minor one, is when you say "they have no reason to go F2P". All I'm saying to that is, "for now maybe, but you don't know what they might already be planning behind the scenes for down the road". That's not even so much a disagreement with what you said, as it is a way of saying "well, that's what we know at face value.. there's no way of knowing what's being planned or discussed behind closed doors".
My point was, there's a reason he gave such a long and detailed response to a very simple question. There's no reason to "get out in front of something", if there's nothing to get out in front of. People who continue insisting "it will never go F2P!" are indulging in wishful thinking, nothing more; and they may well find themselves very disappointed somewhere down the line. In no way can what Yoshi-P is saying be honestly interpreted as "FFXIV will never go F2P". His response to such a simple question makes that abundantly clear.
He was asked, simply: "Do you still have faith in the subscription model?"
All he had to say to that was "Yes, absolutely. We felt Subs were the right model for this game and, with the success the game has seen, I still believe that decision was the right one". Hell, even just saying "Yes, absolutely" would have been a perfectly complete and acceptable answer.
Instead, he went on for 5, nearly 6 paragraphs, explaining all this about F2P and whether they'd consider it, and how he felt about it, and how it's something they could try down the road, but that it would be to try something different, but nothing to do with how well the game is doing.. and on and on. He was offering answers, at length, to questions he was never even asked.
The quote, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" fits perfectly here.
That's all I was getting at. There's absolutely nothing for you to have been so defensive about.
Edited to add...
When I think about it more... Yoshi-P's sorta undermined a favored argument of many fans. A common assertion (which is no more than assumption, really), is that the game wouldn't go F2P unless it was doing poorly and they were losing too many subs. However, Yoshi-P pretty much pulled the rug out from under that argument when he explained:
"That’s why I’m not saying we will always stick to the subscription model; maybe one day we will switch to free-to-play. I’m not saying that day will never come – it possibly could – but it’s not because we have trouble with the game or user numbers are decreasing, it’s because it’s another business model that I want to try out in a positive way."
So, right there, he's pretty much saying sub numbers wouldn't be a factor in such a move.
He also gives some insight to what their thinking is in the rest of his explanation. The most informative part, I think, is how he notes that players are moving more toward paying for what they are playing now, rather than what they might play in the future. Just off the top of my head... that could maybe mean they'd consider a more "a la carte" approach... perhaps like what LoTRO does, where you play for free, and purchase content in "packs" as you go. TSW is sorta doing the same thing with its issue updates. You don't have to buy them unless/until you've decided to do the content.
Regardless, people hanging their hopes of "never going F2P" on how many subs ARR has should really reconsider. Per Yoshi-P, it's not a factor.
Food for thought.
Complaints/Desires
1) Add name changes.
2) Try to add more material to the game that isn't super grindy. That's a big fault with it right now.
3) Add more direction. For players coming back after a couple of patches, even with the little "recommendation" window at the start up of the game, it can be a bit overwhelming. I ended up Googling a lot of stuff.
4) I think the main characters need more back story and flaws. They're kind of shallow and so it makes the main story-line often boring when not purely focused on the "greater threat".
5) Desperately need more character customization. Especially concerning base appearance.
6) Why did this game warrant PvP again?
7) Markets are still crazy. One moment they're hot, the next you're being undersold so hard you'd be better off selling all of your hard earned material to a vendor.
Things I Like
1) Newer dungeons are great and always look forward to the next grouping.
2) The story is often interesting when not heavily character driven from the "good guy" perspective.
3) The housing is super cute.
4) Lots of animations and added "character" for the PCs. Makes them seem more alive and interesting with variances in demeanor. For instance, the allowance of a default stance alteration.