[Zyuu]

Awhile ago I attended Gamescom in Germany and got to interview the Square Enix team about Final Fantasy XIV. I was limited to 45 minutes of time, but they gave me the chance to email a couple of questions that was left from the FFXIVCore.com community which they promised to answer in due time.

Well, that time has come and I present you with a mini interview (twelve questions and answers), answers are courtesy of Square Enix and the questions asked are from the community here at FFXIVCore.com. Enjoy!


Q1: Will we be able to fly somehow either by ourselves free roaming or scheduled transport airships like in FFXI?

A: At present, we have no plans for free-form aerial movement for players. We are, however, looking into a number of different types of flying transportation.


Q2: How will player run guild/linkshells work? What features can we expect and what benefits can a guild/linkshell get through progression if any?

A: For the time being, we are still keeping this information secret. But, we are very adamant about creating an entirely novel system.


Q3: Will the races hold the same benefits as they did previously in FFXI, or will the stat bonuses be different and play a larger role? In addition, will faction choice play a bigger role? In FFXI we had separate mission lines and friendly competitions such as ballista. Will we see something similar or something dramatically different than FFXI system for different factions?

A: The bonuses among races will be of a different variety than those seen in FFXI. But players need not be concerned with this when choosing a race based on aesthetics.

There is also an element of freedom in that players will not pledge their allegiance to a single city-state. This means that the guildleves or skills available will differ region to region, which all being accessible. Of course, this applies quests as well.


Q4: Will the artifact story line quests return for each class from FFXI? If not, will similar quest lines carry on a system of “right of passage” such as limit break quests?

A: Character development along the lines of the Armoury system and skill levels will incorporate familiar concepts from FFXI as well as entirely new elements.


Q5: What do you expect the cap level to be in FFXIV at the start and/or at the end?

A: This has yet to be decided. We will be setting the level cap after looking at the Beta phase results and other considerations.


Q6: Will there be a cooldown timer or anything that limits how often we can change class?

A: There is no real concept of static "classes" in the traditional sense. Rather, there may be somewhat of a restriction placed on the changing of weapons or tools mid-combat.


Q7: Will there be something like a Mog House? Maybe this time around we will have an actual HOUSE, and not a little tiny room!

A: Nothing is set in stone yet. There are a number of possibilities that we are still looking into.


Q8: Limit Breaks were powerful combat moves featured in several Final Fantasy titles. In FFXI we saw Weapon Skills and Magic Burst. Do you have any plans to include a similar system in FFXIV?

A: This has not been decided at this time. But it's safe to say that players can expect to see a completely new and revolutionary system.


Q9: Are there any plans to add female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te?

A: Well, the character model designs are finished... But further details regarding their implementation have yet to be decided.


Q10: Will this FFXIV be more "new person friendly" than FFXI was? (Once everyone had been playing for years, it was hard for new people who started to be able to play, even with the "level sync" system that was added in later. Not to mention, finding armors/weapons in the Auction House was nearly impossible for new players. Barely anyone used the "mentor" system in FFXI either, or rather, there were barely any hosts.)

A: We are developing in-depth introductory tutorials for new players. We are also designing the game while keeping in mind those users who enjoy playing solo, as well as those who can only log in for short periods of time. There will also be plenty of content for newcomers.

But, on the other hand, there will also be complex battles requiring large numbers of people for players more interested in content of that nature.

Our main goal is really to create a variety of ways in which to enjoy the game.


Q11: Will mobs actually drop armors/weapons like most MMOs or is FFXIV going to be like FFXI where you can only obtain these in Auction House or Crafting, or Raids?

A: The complete details of this are still undecided.

As in FFXI and other MMORPGS, some monsters will drop armor and weapons. However, items that drop in this manner are always a target for RMT exploitation. So to avoid any kind of player exclusion, most instances of these drops will yield items which cannot be passed between players.

To put it broadly, there will be a number of ways available to obtain a number of different items.


Q12: Is crafting still going to be an integral and value added portion of the game and somewhat prohibitive so that a selected dedicated few will feel like they are part of the economy and adventuring aspects? (Crafting and not adventuring usually keeps me hooked)

A: Players who wish to do so will be able to fully enjoy the game using only their crafting skills.

The same can be said not only for those wishing to specialize solely in synthesis of items, but those who prefer combat or the gathering of materials as well. All of these types of players will be important to the game world.

[Kellanved]

Awesome! Some very interesting points!

I'm really excited about all the new systems they plan to add. More in depth linkshell/guild concepts, a new twist on skillchains, player housing, etc. The comment about AF also makes me happy. I really liked how they did job specific stuff in FFXI like AF and the level 70 limit break.

I just hope they deliver on this "revolutionary" stuff!

This post has been edited by Kellanved: 05 October 2009 - 07:53 PM

[SteveManly]

This is exciting stuff! Thanks, Zyuu. I'm really looking forward to some straighter answers later on, but I thought it was interesting that they confirmed that models were finished for male/female Miqo'te/Roegadyn.

[SquireMuldune3rd]

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There is also an element of freedom in that players will not pledge their allegiance to a single city-state. This means that the guildleves or skills available will differ region to region, which all being accessible. Of course, this applies quests as well.

For some reason this gets me the most excited out of what was said.
I think mostly cause I am a Final Fantasy Tactics nut and this idea runs rampant through all 3 of the games.

[Kellanved]

I don't think there are a lot of straightforward answers because I don't think they have them. That kind of worries me. How do you create and implement all these new systems in a matter of a few months for beta and have them ready to go a few months after that.

Unless that is their cop-out answer and they know what they're gonna do and just want to build the suspense. =P

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For some reason this gets me the most excited out of what was said.
I think mostly cause I am a Final Fantasy Tactics nut and this idea runs rampant through all 3 of the games.

This comment actually worries me. The question mentioned city missions and the answer responds with guildleves and quests. Guildleves seemed like quests to me. Hopefully my impression is mistaken and they are more like missions or there are missions and he just didn't mention them. Missions (city or expansion) were by far my favourite thing about FFXI.

This post has been edited by Kellanved: 05 October 2009 - 07:59 PM

[Grimix]

Mi'qote and Roegadyn female/male question still being dodged!!!

I'm pleased that they are still considering adding af type armor that define your job choice^.^ Here's hoping I get my horns back

And I'm also pleased to finally hear more about grouping tho now I wanna hear more!!! I'm glad to have some conformation that SE isn't completely dead-set on soloing

[Apricoth]

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A: Players who wish to do so will be able to fully enjoy the game using only their crafting skills.

The same can be said not only for those wishing to specialize solely in synthesis of items, but those who prefer combat or the gathering of materials as well. All of these types of players will be important to the game world

This is so excellent. I love this facet of the game. I just love crafting!!

[circiter]

Despite the fact that just a few of these questions are flatly answered, that some get what are barely half-answers, and a few more lie squarely in non-answer territory, it's gratifying to see someone put interesting, non-generic questions to the devs. It feels good to read an attempt to finesse information out of these hermetic fellows.

But I guess hermetism is not the last of their problems...

Well, at least we now know they're thinking of housing, and not thinking of what they call free-form flying.

But what about the statement quoted below?

> A: There is no real concept of static "classes" in the traditional sense.

If it sounds like backpedaling, it's probably because it is. It was they who introduced the concept of 'class' as opposed to 'job' at their E3 press conference and interviews. This has caused confusion and false hopes of seeing the job system replicated in some way reminiscent to FFXI. I still don't understand how the statement quoted above rhymes with all those illustrations of geared-up characters captioned with class/job names: The thaumaturge, the marauder, the gladiator and all the rest...

Maybe now we can stop writing all those hopelessly wishful threads about Ninjas and Dark Knights. I guess it is true: It's a new game, and one whose flexibility might still stagger us; but it has no classes or jobs. I just wish the hermetic fellows weren't so confusing and contradictory as well...


S

[redinthesky]

Hmm so a lot of the rare stuff seems like it will be exclusive... interesting. Good for crafters for sure.

[ckydrag0on]

Thx for the news.

[DrLoveTrousers]

I had a whole giant post written out that I was going to put up, but it just looked like a whole lot of complaining, so I'll just complain briefly - these questions suck. The only useful questions, they dodged. The others have already been answered or they're just worthless ("what's the level cap?" ...seriously? We know nothing about the scale of the game right now, what would it matter?). Boo on this.

[Chay]

Awesome that pretty much answered some of the question that were running in my mind @_@ lol, thank you!!!!! hope to get even moar!

[Zyuu]

Remember that they were sent right after the first interview I had. It's a shame to see you registered just to complain DrLoveTrousers. I'm sure you'll be happy one day though! Let us know when you get your questions to SE answered ;)

[Gyli]

Interesting questions from the community and answers from SquareEnix. I want to know what this new and revolutionary system is like, but alas SquareEnix is being the usual hush hush company until there ready to release with a bang.

[DrLoveTrousers]

Zyuu, on 05 October 2009 - 09:13 PM, said:

Remember that they were sent right after the first interview I had. It's a shame to see you registered just to complain DrLoveTrousers. I'm sure you'll be happy one day though! Let us know when you get your questions to SE answered ;)

To be clear, I have been following ffxivcore since its inception, and I do appreciate the info that everyone gives - there's been lots of good stuff over the past couple months. This wasn't a complaint against ffxivcore as much as it was of the questions the people in the community asked and the answers SE gave.

As a matter of fact, I will post the giant gripe I had typed out before to let you know what I mean.

Okay, so I usually just sit back and read the info and await something useful, but I had to comment on this one. I'm shocked to see anyone say "exciting stuff!" I have several problems with this entire post:

Obviously a ton of cryptic answers which game companies always feel necessary to keep secret.

Quote

Q2: How will player run guild/linkshells work? What features can we expect and what benefits can a guild/linkshell get through progression if any?

A: For the time being, we are still keeping this information secret. But, we are very adamant about creating an entirely novel system.

If the design and systems are already in place, why not just give the info? It doesn't do any good that I can see to keep stuff secret. This is just annoying. But that's not even my biggest gripe.

Quote

Q1: Will we be able to fly somehow either by ourselves free roaming or scheduled transport airships like in FFXI?

A: At present, we have no plans for free-form aerial movement for players. We are, however, looking into a number of different types of flying transportation.

This is about the only useful piece of information in the whole article, and it's kind of disappointing.

Quote

Q3: Will the races hold the same benefits as they did previously in FFXI, or will the stat bonuses be different and play a larger role? In addition, will faction choice play a bigger role? In FFXI we had separate mission lines and friendly competitions such as ballista. Will we see something similar or something dramatically different than FFXI system for different factions?

A: The bonuses among races will be of a different variety than those seen in FFXI. But players need not be concerned with this when choosing a race based on aesthetics.

There is also an element of freedom in that players will not pledge their allegiance to a single city-state. This means that the guildleves or skills available will differ region to region, which all being accessible. Of course, this applies quests as well.

The answer to the faction question should not generate excitement. The only thing it should say to you is: "We took faction out. You can do anything, anywhere." Way to get creative.

Quote

Q5: What do you expect the cap level to be in FFXIV at the start and/or at the end?

A: This has yet to be decided. We will be setting the level cap after looking at the Beta phase results and other considerations.

We have no idea of the scale of this entire game yet. A) how would they know what the level cap is without testing, and B) what would you do with the information if they gave it to you? It could be level 225 and right now it wouldnt be any different than level 50.

Quote

Q7: Will there be something like a Mog House? Maybe this time around we will have an actual HOUSE, and not a little tiny room!

A: Nothing is set in stone yet. There are a number of possibilities that we are still looking into.

Who cares? What need do you have to have a larger room to do nothing in?

Quote

Q9: Are there any plans to add female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te?

I cannot fathom why anyone would care about this. Not only were these races designed to NOT have genders, what good would being a big fat female galka be as opposed to a big fat male galka? Someone clue me in.

Quote

A: We are developing in-depth introductory tutorials for new players. We are also designing the game while keeping in mind those users who enjoy playing solo

It's you people who insist on playing solo that are ruining MMOs. MMO stands for MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE. If you don't have any friends to play with, there are literally thousands of other people you can join up with. Why in the name of all that is holy would you want to play by yourself? Now you've managed to persuade Squeenix to make us level up by doing a bunch of mundane, pointless, boring collector quests to advance. Just like WoW and all the rest...I'm not excited about going out by myself and killing 74 warthogs just to turn them in and get a quest telling me to kill 109 zebras. I'd rather go out with a party of people and do some meaningful, strategic battles. This is what set FFXI apart from all the other crap, and now they're conforming.

Quote

Q11: Will mobs actually drop armors/weapons like most MMOs or is FFXIV going to be like FFXI where you can only obtain these in Auction House or Crafting, or Raids?

So basically you want this game to be exactly like WoW? Do you really want to pick up 20 different worthless piece of crap boots every time you go out and do something? The rarity of items in FFXI was what made certain things stand out. If there's 1,000 similar items, no one will care that you had the good fortune to attain one. And isn't showing off what MMOs are all about?

Quote

Q12: Is crafting still going to be an integral and value added portion of the game and somewhat prohibitive so that a selected dedicated few will feel like they are part of the economy and adventuring aspects? (Crafting and not adventuring usually keeps me hooked)

Crafting is what keeps you hooked? Crafting in any MMO I've ever played is always completely boring. What about it, exactly, is keeping you hooked? The repetition of the process itself or the running back and forth to get supplies?

I mean, I appreciate the effort the guys from ffxivcore are making to get info, and I know I sound ungrateful, but there's hardly any new information here (by a combination of old questions already asked and SE dodging the new ones), and the rest of it is just upsetting.

This post has been edited by DrLoveTrousers: 05 October 2009 - 09:32 PM

[Kellanved]

circiter, on 05 October 2009 - 08:31 PM, said:

But what about the statement quoted below?

> A: There is no real concept of static "classes" in the traditional sense.

If it sounds like backpedaling, it's probably because it is. It was they who introduced the concept of 'class' as opposed to 'job' at their E3 press conference and interviews. This has caused confusion and false hopes of seeing the job system replicated in some way reminiscent to FFXI. I still don't understand how the statement quoted above rhymes with all those illustrations of geared-up characters captioned with class/job names: The thaumaturge, the marauder, the gladiator and all the rest...

Maybe now we can stop writing all those hopelessly wishful threads about Ninjas and Dark Knights. I guess it is true: It's a new game, and one whose flexibility might still stagger us; but it has no classes or jobs. I just wish the hermetic fellows weren't so confusing and contradictory as well...


S

I think they used those pictures just to have something people can relate to without releasing every detail of the new system in order for people to understand it.

Have you ever played Ultima Online (one of the games he compares their system to)? There are no classes, just abilities that you level. However, if you level abilities associated with a warrior you are a warrior or if you level magic skills then you are a mage. There are no "classes" in UO, but depending on what skills you raise you will fit into a certain "class" or "archetype".

I think FFXI will be similar, but you will be able to change your "class" or "archetype" by changing weapons. He said there are no static "classes" in the traditional sense. I picture this as like FFXI where you're a Warrior and then you go change your job and become a mage with different base stats, different armor proficiencies, etc. I believe switching weapons will be more like closing off certain abilities but opening up new ones. However, you will keep your basic skills, proficiencies, and maybe some specialized skills that bridge certain "classes".

I think the "classes" that SE are promoting are simply combination of the abilities that they have implemented that they think fit a certain archetype. This is pure speculation, but this is how I understand it from everything I've read with a few assumptions thrown in there.

[Ynot]

Hate how they avoid the questions all the time. Thanks for the info.

[Kellanved]

DrLoveTrousers, on 05 October 2009 - 09:21 PM, said:

To be clear, I have been following ffxivcore since its inception, and I do appreciate the info that everyone gives - there's been lots of good stuff over the past couple months. This wasn't a complaint against ffxivcore as much as it was of the questions the people in the community asked and the answers SE gave.

As a matter of fact, I will post the giant gripe I had typed out before to let you know what I mean.

Okay, so I usually just sit back and read the info and await something useful, but I had to comment on this one. I'm shocked to see anyone say "exciting stuff!" I have several problems with this entire post:

Obviously a ton of cryptic answers which game companies always feel necessary to keep secret.



If the design and systems are already in place, why not just give the info? It doesn't do any good that I can see to keep stuff secret. This is just annoying. But that's not even my biggest gripe.

He never said it's design is complete and has been fully implemented. It does do good to keep information secret that isn't finalized. Even if it is completed, that's how game companies (and really anybody) markets their product. Movies have trailers, MMOs release information in waves. They already said they're going to focus on something else for their next big FFXIV presentation. Maybe it will be the guild system or the crafting system. Who knows.

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This is about the only useful piece of information in the whole article, and it's kind of disappointing.

I was kind of hoping we'd be flying around like in the trailer fighting what look like final fantasy style weapons. But it also could have gone bad. Plus, it seems like it would take a lot of development resources to make that work and work well, so hopefully those resources are focused on other improvements.

Quote

The first question has already been answered in several interviews, so that's kind of a waste. And the answer to the faction question should not generate excitement. The only thing it should say to you is: "We took faction out. You can do anything, anywhere." Way to get creative.

These questions were submitted after Zyuu's first interview.

Quote

We have no idea of the scale of this entire game yet. A) how would they know what the level cap is without testing, and B) what would you do with the information if they gave it to you? It could be level 225 and right now it wouldnt be any different than level 50.

This isn't the best question.

Quote

Who cares? What need do you have to have a larger room to do nothing in?

I'm sure many people are interested in player housing. I would love to have a place to mount fish I catch. Maybe it could be similar to UO housing. Just because you don't care about something doesn't mean it's a poor question.

Quote

I cannot fathom why anyone would care about this. Not only were these races designed to NOT have genders, what good would being a big fat female galka be as opposed to a big fat male galka? Someone clue me in.

Maybe people like the race's astestics but would rather play the same gender rather than the opposite. I personally wouldn't have picked this question over others but I'm not running the site.

Quote

It's you people who insist on playing solo that are ruining MMOs. MMO stands for MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE. If you don't have any friends to play with, there are literally thousands of other people you can join up with. Why in the name of all that is holy would you want to play by yourself? Now you've managed to persuade Squeenix to make us level up by doing a bunch of mundane, pointless, boring collector quests to advance. Just like WoW and all the rest...I'm not excited about going out by myself and killing 74 warthogs just to turn them in and get a quest telling me to kill 109 zebras. I'd rather go out with a party of people and do some meaningful, strategic battles. This is what set FFXI apart from all the other crap, and now they're conforming.

The MMO genre is evolving. Companies make MMOs to make money. The more players, the more money. I don't understand people that want to play an entire MMO solo, but I do understand people that have a full-time job wanting to enjoy an MMO without having to spend their entire life outside of work putting more work into a game to be able to enjoy it.

And FFXI was full of pointless battles. I must have killed tens of thousands of crabs for no reason other than they gave me 100-200 xp. Killing crabs for 6 hours straight involved no strategy at all. Yeah, on blm I had to time the mb right, but seriously.. how hard is that? I stand there and press the same macros over and over again for hours, and every 3 minutes or so I time a spell right.

If you want an old-school "hardcore" MMO go try DarkFall.

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So basically you want this game to be exactly like WoW? Do you really want to pick up 20 different worthless piece of crap boots every time you go out and do something? The rarity of items in FFXI was what made certain things stand out. If there's 1,000 similar items, no one will care that you had the good fortune to attain one. And isn't showing off what MMOs are all about?

Who wants what? It was a question. There was no preference stated. Q: Does armor drop off mobs. A: No. Maybe that's the answer the question's author was hoping for.

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A) This has also been answered several times, and B) crafting is what keeps you hooked? Crafting in any MMO I've ever played is always completely boring. What about it, exactly, is keeping you hooked? The repetition of the process itself or the running back and forth to get supplies?

Again, they are old questions. And again, just because you don't care about something or don't enjoy it doesn't mean everyone feels the same way. Maybe being one of the 3 level 100 goldsmiths on the server is what got them hooked. Maybe crafting the first "Uber +1 Mega Ring" is what kept them hooked. Maybe the millions they are making is what will keep them hooked.

Quote

I mean, I appreciate the effort the guys from ffxivcore are making to get info, and I know I sound ungrateful, but there's hardly any new information here (by a combination of old questions already asked and SE dodging the new ones), and the rest of it is just upsetting.

That's how most new release are. New info will come in waves and then it will get rehashed a few times and then there will be another wave. This is how it was for Aion and WAR, two of the most recent big releases.

Edit: "quoet" != "quote"

This post has been edited by Kellanved: 05 October 2009 - 09:48 PM

[LadyYuina]

I've noticed the female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te questions have been popping up here and there, and it is nice to finally know the model design is actually done/created for them. To me, this seems like a real possibility that they might be implemented into the game. Am hoping so. ^^

And thank you for sharing these Q&A's with the rest of us. :)

[DrLoveTrousers]

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He never said it's design is complete and has been fully implemented. It does do good to keep information secret that isn't finalized. Even if it is completed, that's how game companies (and really anybody) markets their product. Movies have trailers, MMOs release information in waves. They already said they're going to focus on something else for their next big FFXIV presentation. Maybe it will be the guild system or the crafting system. Who knows.

Well, I'm not going to try and make a big argument of this, but: If it isn't finalized, wouldn't a good idea, in your mind, be to tell your customers what you're doing before it's done so they can either say "no way, that sucks" or "hurray! that's awesome" so they might not waste a whole lot of time creating something people will hate?

Also, movies have trailers because they have to give you limited information...otherwise it's just watching the movie. Games, in my mind, are totally different because if you don't have all the information, you can't adequately complete the experience.

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These questions were submitted after Zyuu's first interview.

I did remove that portion of my statements a while ago when I learned just how old the questions were (however, I still think several had been answered prior to Gamescom, but I can't back that up, so I concede on this one)

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I'm sure many people are interested in player housing. I would love to have a place to mount fish I catch. Maybe it could be similar to UO housing. Just because you don't care about something doesn't mean it's a poor question.

When there's about 99% of the game that is still unknown, I'm just saying I could think of about 100 questions to ask before this one. That's nice if you want to mount a fish on your wall, but it doesn't really give "good" information on the game. This, to me, seems like an afterthought.

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And FFXI was full of pointless battles. I must have killed tens of thousands of crabs for no reason other than they gave me 100-200 xp. Killing crabs for 6 hours straight involved no strategy at all. Yeah, on blm I had to time the mb right, but seriously.. how hard is that? I stand there and press the same macros over and over again for hours, and every 3 minutes or so I time a spell right.

I have to disagree on this one as well. While your role in the killing of crabs might have been somewhat boring, you did have to burst on it, and you can't just chain nuke the thing as you'd probably die, or run out of mp and break your xp chain. You also needed a tank, someone to keep the tank alive, and people at least intelligent enough to make a skillchain (where, we both know, there were several hundred who could not even do that). There's all kinds of things to take into account in ffxi, but with these other MMOs that allow you to solo your way to top level, it's mostly just mashing every macro you have til the thing dies, rinse, repeat. That's what I'm afraid FFXIV is going to turn into with these guildleves.

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Who wants what? It was a question. There was no preference stated. Q: Does armor drop off mobs. A: No. Maybe that's the answer the question's author was hoping for.

Come on. It can be reasonably inferred that one would not ask this question if he didn't want to see it. But I suppose I can't be 100% on this one, so I'll give it to you.

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Again, they are old questions. And again, just because you don't care about something or don't enjoy it doesn't mean everyone feels the same way. Maybe being one of the 3 level 100 goldsmiths on the server is what got them hooked. Maybe crafting the first "Uber +1 Mega Ring" is what kept them hooked. Maybe the millions they are making is what will keep them hooked.

See above. Also, I didn't say the person was dumb for liking this, I generally want to know why crafting would keep someone playing a game longer than actually doing the things intended to keep people happy (like fighting, questing, missions, treasure hunting, etc.).

edit: typos

This post has been edited by DrLoveTrousers: 05 October 2009 - 10:16 PM