Last week, before attending the fan event where a potential PlayStation 5 version of the Final Fantasy XIV was mentioned, I was able to have an extensive chat with Naoki Yoshida - the director and lead producer of the game from A Realm Reborn onwards. During this fifty-minute conversation, we spoke about many things, from the beginning of when he first took over the project to the way that future content and even crossovers are decided upon.
Yoshida is often attributed as the person who rescued Final Fantasy XIV following its disastrous launch. For this first piece, I'll cover Final Fantasy as it was told through the conversation, the direction the game took and the reasons behind it, including the simple point that with Final Fantasy XIV, the developers are also the players.
Final Fantasy XIV, A Realm Reborn and the Way to Success
One of my very first questions was a simple but loaded question. After thanking Yoshida for the opportunity (a huge one for myself because I've openly been a Final Fantasy fan for over two decades - literally a fanboy up until XIII) I asked him what he sees as the driving factor behind the success of Final Fantasy XIV, which now has more users and subscribers than ever before.
His response covered several aspects, particularly touching on the game design of Final Fantasy XIV and how it's made to suit the players, giving them the freedom to come and go as they need and ensuring that those who do take a break aren't penalised.
Chris Wray: I suppose the first thing I want to talk about is the growth of Final Fantasy XIV. It's bigger than it's ever been before. You've got more users, more subscribers, than ever before. What do you see as the driving reason behind this success?
Naoki Yoshida: That's a difficult question because so many different elements have combined. You may think it's been more of a natural thing given you're talking about an MMO title but what we're trying to do with Final Fantasy XIV is releasing a major update every 3.5 months. It's hard to keep up the pace, releasing a great amount of content with a wide range of features, with us also working on releasing a major expansion every two years. We are trying to give out lots of different type of content, lots of different ways for players to play.
On top of that, it's how Final Fantasy XIV as game design is established. It's not about forcing players to keep playing the game consistently. If you just consume everything with each major patch then you've played everything, then you can play other games, you can spend your time and plan around your timing. If you want to come back to Final Fantasy XIV, you can come back and catch up easily. Everybody has different hobbies and ways they want to spend their time, they're quite busy.
Thanks to the game cycle we've established, it's easier to accommodate the players, to let them use their own time which is kind of unique to Final Fantasy XIV. By keeping that up, it's brought the world of Final Fantasy XIV to the stage that we're in now.
During our conversation, Yoshida also spoke about the original release of the game and the driving factor behind A Realm Reborn. Within this was both the complaints of fans and how they drove the development team, but also the support of those who stuck with the game even during the initial launch. This also tied into the question of what has made Final Fantasy XIV a success.
NY: You may know that the original release was a massive failure, but we came back to the market because of the players who are so passionate about the game, who have love towards it and were so supportive. That really helped us and we wanted to create really great content for them.
They saw that and it created a synergy with them, they brought in new players through word of mouth and they brought in more. We saw the really great circulation of this synergy, we're all working together: The development team, community and everybody, so I think that's the biggest reason that we have succeeded with Final Fantasy XIV.
Talking more on A Realm Reborn and particularly the development of this major update, Yoshida spoke of his position around when the game released, original fan complaints and the effect they had on the team, how it shaped A Realm Reborn and the future of Final Fantasy XIV.
CW: So how exactly was it that you came to move from the original to what we see now and what primarily did you focus on?
NY: Looking back to when the original Final Fantasy XIV was released, I was more in the development team, I was outside and looking at how they were trying to manage the situation. The feedback that the development team received from players was that even though they had different functions, there wasn't the core element that let people have fun. That was the biggest complaint and led to players doubting the original development team.
We really thought it was important to establish a comeback to the market by creating A Realm Reborn using our theme park idea. So the development team does have their own wishes and ideas, but there has to be a lot of elements and factors within an MMORPG. We wanted to create the new concept of making this game more story-driven, which let us reach A Realm Reborn.
Live-Service, Working with Others and the Theme Park of Game Design
Speaking with Yoshida, I was left with no doubt that one core reason that Final Fantasy XIV has proven to be one of the most successful live-service/MMORPG titles is the fan-focused approach to game design. Not only do the developers of Final Fantasy XIV have a major passion for the game they're making, but the person heading up the project also seems to first-and-foremost focus on what would be best for the fans, not the bottom line. An aspect that has helped the bottom line better than most could have expected.
This is where I personally see live-service, as well as a number of non-live-service titles failing. Content is created for the sake of padding the game out with content. It's laborious and simply not fun. In keeping with this thought, we spoke about live-service games and this approach.
CW: I see Final Fantasy XIV as a prime example of a live service game gone right. With some others, it seems that the games are simply dropped or the right content isn't released. Do you see the path to success is from content that makes players want to come back, not just content that's simply there to do?
NY: There are different types of games out there. One is the offline title - just release it and that's it - and the other type is live service like an MMORPG. Having worked on both, I think the type of service is different. Of course, we create both the offline and online titles so we want players to enjoy the games. That kind of thinking works into the development of both types of game.
Speaking about the console game, we refer to it as the rollercoaster cycle. You build up the excitement quickly, starting to play it and get to the peak of it quickly, but then it starts to tail off. You can still have this excitement in a short amount of time but it still generates excitement.
What's different in an MMORPG or online title, which can also be said for battle royale games, is that we're creating a theme park. For the online title, it's important to have different types of activities so that people will want to come back to the gameplay - because I did a rollercoaster last time, this time I want to try out a merry-go-round. That's the basic mindset we have for an online service so that it repeatedly engages players.
In respect of working with the players and understand what they want from a game like Final Fantasy XIV, Yoshida also spoke about the research the developers do by looking at competing 'theme parks'. With this, as earlier mentioned, the development team are also a part of the audience and with developing content, the direction off fun starts with having fun when brainstorming.
NY: All we are doing is offering those services to players. That's why we need to understand what the players want. It's very important, even in such as the food industry, where if you own a restaurant and you may want to ask your customers what they like and what they want to have on the menu. It's the same for a game service as well. So since we are giving a service to players, it's important for us to understand what they like and don't like.
So Chris, if something is like a theme park and somebody builds another type of theme park next to us, it's really important for us to go in and research what they're offering. This is also because the players have the freedom to do anything. They may come to us but they could also go there and naturally start to compare them. It's really important for us to see what we can offer, to make us unique, but also to research and study our competitors. It's crucial to have the mindset where we see our surroundings and help raise us to the next level.
CW: As somebody who bought the game when it was released I think that's where you've succeeded - getting fun to the players, consistently adding variety and value. The MMO market is full of failed titles, a pitfall you avoided by focusing on getting fun content to players. Is it partly you having fun when designing developing it?
NY: So yes, we want to have fun when creating content in our games. When we do our brainstorming session with our developers, everybody's eyes light up which is cool to say. If we can make these ideas real, maybe we can have the players feeling like that too. I think it's my responsibility to reach out to possible parties and speak to them. At the end of the day, we want the game to be fun but also want the development process to be fun as well.
Looking back at how it was for MMO titles where some development teams were seen in conflict with the community, they'd be seen as trying to control the players. Here, we have this common thing we love and we are all like-minded people. We want the players of Final Fantasy XIV to see it as their own title, something they can take pride in. Ultimately, we want to create an environment that is happy for everybody.
It can be difficult to do but if somebody wants to create a large-scale online service in the future, I think this kind of mindset is really important and a great factor for success.
For more from my conversation with Naoki Yoshida, including the cool ideas and hopes of future crossovers as well as the general future of Final Fantasy XIV, turn over the metaphorical page!
Crossovers - From NieR: Automata to (hopefully) Blizzard and Keanu Reeves
One aspect that has caught the attention of players within Final Fantasy XIV have been crossovers featured within the game. A number make a lot of sense, particularly crossovers with other Final Fantasy titles, despite no core Final Fantasy title taking place in the same world. You've seen small links with all Final Fantasy titles from XI to XV, some considerably larger than others like the Return to Ivalice raids in Stormblood.
What has been more of a surprise, at least to me, are the links to other titles like Yo-Kai Watch, Monster Hunter: World and the recent collaboration with Yosuke Saito and Yoko Taro of Platinum Games to create the NieR: Automata raids. I asked about the possibility of further collaboration from other Square Enix IP's, with a surprise turn to non-Square Enix IP's.
CW: What I find interesting is your ability to draw on other Square Enix IP's, such as NieR, will you be looking at working with other IP's as well?
NY: We just want to be careful when talking about 'the next crossover partner' because something could be looked at as confirmation. So the reason why we did this crossover is that the developers have a great amount of respect to the partner title or IP's. We can create great quality content by working together with partners and their title.
It's not that we're trying to generate buzz from players or media. Our main focus and basis for a crossover are that we want to work with somebody who can create content together with us. I don't really want to specify just one or two titles, I want to work with as many great developers and creators as possible. I have a couple of ideas, but these are strictly personal ideas and this isn't any confirmation of working with these people or IP's.
CW: Oh, I completely understand that. These are just ideas you have.
NY: So, because I'm a big fan of Blizzard and now World of Warcraft has announced a new expansion with the word Shadow in it, it would be cool to do some kind of crossover. Also, Diablo IV has been announced and Diablo is the first online title I was really immersed in. It would be cool, again, to work with them. Speaking for our sound director, (Masayoshi) Soken, he's a massive fan of Overwatch so he would say he wants to crossover with Overwatch.
Crossovers with titles like World of Warcraft, a natural competitor to Final Fantasy XIV in the MMORPG space, would be incredibly interesting in their own right. Of course, both titles would be set to benefit from such a crossover. Whether we will see such a thing happen, though, is a whole other matter.
What was interesting is, again, the conversation working into how the developers are also the players but then also how many developers from other teams play Final Fantasy XIV, the prominence of Yoshida and how it could potentially lead to future crossovers. One in particular that grabbed my attention, though only a (supremely) cool idea, was the idea of Keanu Reeves featuring within Final Fantasy XIV.
NY: Also, the developers, including myself, are the players as well. When we feel fun with some games, we want to work with them and we believe that we can create something great for the player who will also have fun. It's cool to have this mindset because when you have fun with something, you want to release it and generate something for others to have the same sort of fun.
On the other hand, it can be sad because there are so many FFXIV players in other development teams as well. For example, there are players of FFXIV in the development teams of Anthem and Cyberpunk. At events, people can ask me to play their game and spend some time together. It would be really cool to work with them. So, one example we could say is that we could maybe have Keanu Reeves in Final Fantasy XIV one day.
CW: If you did that, I'd just be stood there looking at and talking to Keanu Reeves all day, thinking "I'm happy with this", huge fan of his [laughs].
NY: [laughs] I'm a big fan of Keanu Reeves too!
The Future of Final Fantasy XIV - Big Changes and More to Come
Of course, these ideas for potential crossovers are just that, ideas. As awesome as it would be to see Yoshida and the development team working with CD Projekt Red, Blizzard and others, life is never that kind to me and these things are rarely that easy. What is controlled by the development team is specifically the direction that Final Fantasy XIV will take in the future.
CW: So how do you see the future of Final Fantasy XIV and what you will be driving towards?
NY: Now we've expanded more and more, exploring uncharted territory, we do feel like we're reaching the point of truly being a unique MMORPG. We have no intentions of stopping any time soon and want to continue expanding, reaching out further and further.
CW: Right, Let's make this a long one. So, you've mentioned that post-Shadowbringers you have some cool ideas for the future. Do you have anything solid about what the future of Final Fantasy XIV looks like? For example, expanding on dungeons or concerted efforts to a larger degree than in the past.
NY: So there are two big aspects we can talk about at the moment. The first is how the narrative will develop and the second is how game content can expand in the future.
Storyline wise, we are currently nearing the end of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark arc, so we are nearing the climax of the storyline. Our hope is to make a very clean ending to the current arc that the players will enjoy. Of course, this doesn't mean it's the end of Final Fantasy XIV. We may expand for another arc that goes across for several expansions, or we may take one expansion and make a one-off sort of storyline. We haven't reached any conclusion yet, we're still discussing it.
What we don't want to do is keep continuing and resuscitating it just for the sake of continuing it. All we want to do is bring out a great story experience for the players, one with a great conclusion, that's the centre of our thinking.
It's interesting to hear that the current story of Final Fantasy XIV is coming to an end. As said, this doesn't mean the end of the game, it gives the game freedom to expand and explore whole new areas and themes. Going by what the development team has achieved with the game so far, a fresh start that everybody can experience together could be fantastic.
I find it refreshing to hear somebody point out that they know when to end something. All too often the success of one thing will lead to it being dragged out and when the conclusion finally comes, it simply falls flat, having arrived way too late.
NY: On the second point, about the game content, for the ones we've already established - like instances for example - we have no idea to change drastically. The developers have already started to see how they need to work on these, the workflow is established and polished already. Rather than tweaking or changing, it'll be good for us to deliver new areas and content.
Looking at the current status of the game, we think we've got enough amount and variation of content already. We're hoping to change the direction a little bit to more social aspects, we want players to feel like Final Fantasy XIV is their home so they want to come back to the game. To enhance that feeling, we included features like playing instruments in the game or gpose, letting players take great pictures. The direction we want to explore is that kind of aspect and the story that we've talked about.
Do I completely like the move towards making more social aspects? I'm honestly not sure yet. If it comes at the expense of the varied content we've seen in raids, events and more, it would be an issue. Frankly, with the track record of Final Fantasy XIV, Yoshida and the development team behind the game, I can't see this happening. What also makes me think this is from what has been said about Yoshida in the past and the genuine enthusiasm he has for the game and its fans.
While the future of Ivalice is uncertain, particularly as the current story of Final Fantasy XIV comes to an end, we can be safe in the knowledge that Final Fantasy XIV itself will continue strong, with the direction of the game continuing to serve what the fans should keep enjoying and finding fun.
The post Final Fantasy XIV, Designing Success and the Future Thinking – Naoki Yoshida Interview by Chris Wray appeared first on Wccftech.
Refference- https://wccftech.com
0 Comments