Thread: RPGFAN WOTG Interview    

Im not sure If this has been posted. I havent seen it anywhere around here so ill put it up. Delete if necessarry. Enjoy

We had a chance to sit down and chat with Hiromichi Tanaka, Senior Vice President of Software Development, Keiki Usui, Global Online Producer, and Koichi Ogawa, Planner for Final Fantasy XI. There are two things of note: because these were group interviews, questions will be marked to the publication of those who asked them. Additionally, because the interview was conducted through a translator, all three speakers' responses will be marked as "Square Enix". So take a look at the interview below, we hope you enjoy!
RPGFan: First off, does Wings of the Goddess do anything with the level cap?

Square Enix (SE): We're not thinking of probably ever raising the level cap again. We do have the merit point system in place so that people who get to 75 can still get the limit points and use those to customize their characters further, but there won't be any raise of the level cap.

RPGFan: So if you're not raising the level cap, are you adding any new jobs?

SE: Yes, there will be new Jobs. [Laughing] Yes, that means there will be more than one.

Official Xbox Magazine (OXM): How is your experience with the 360 and dealing with downloadable content via [The Xbox Live Marketplace]?

SE: At first, when we first did the developing for FFXI, it was being developed for Windows, PlayStation 2, and the original Xbox. However, due to some specification issues and through talks with Microsoft, it ended up being that we couldn't work it out with Microsoft and so we canceled the developed for the original Xbox version. However, with the release of the [Xbox] 360, we went back into talks with Microsoft and we found a good middle ground and we came to a compromise and decided to take the Windows version we had and import it to the 360. Because it was the same type of environment with the DirectX technology, it was very easy to import the Windows version [to the Xbox 360].

As for the downloadable content, as you know, to have all of the versions running on the servers, we have the PlayOnline servers. This was [set up] before Xbox Live started, and so it's not quite as compatible with Xbox Live [as we could have hoped]. It's a different system, and we require players to go through that. That's something we had to come to an agreement with with Microsoft about, because they wanted us to use Xbox Live and we had to use PlayOnline. As for the downloadable content, because of that situation, we can't have downloadable content ready. But it's something that we're in talks with Microsoft about. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to offer the downloadable content through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

RPGFan: Final Fantasy XI is unique in its approach to storytelling, at least in regards to western MMOs. Do you plan to continue with the same sort of cutscenes in Wings of the Goddess, or go to more quest-oriented storytelling as you see in games like World of Warcraft and EverQuest II?

SE: With the new expansion, we're going to try to make it a little more quest-oriented, the story will be told more through quests. But there will still be the event scenes that FFXI is known for. Not a big step away, but a little step.

Play Magazine: How much content is divided between casual and hardcore content?

SE: The new expansion is pretty much aimed for the higher level players, the players that have been playing for a long time. There's probably 70% for the hardcore players, and 30% for the casual players.

OXM: How do you approach expansion packs, are these ideas that you've had previously, or ideas that have come about because of player input?

SE: As for getting feedback from the players, we're always doing that. A lot of that is shown in our version updates that are usually bi-monthly. We try to use those bi-monthly updates to give the players feedback on that. The expansion packs, while that feedback is also important, we've had a lot of ideas over the years and big ideas, ones that we can't achieve in the version updates and put those in the expansion packs.

RPGFan: A lot of western MMOs have started to focus a lot more on PvP, are there any plans to expand FFXI's PvP [beyond the current Conflict system] in Wings of the Goddess?

SE: Currently there are no solid plans on something new yet, but, again, it's still early. However, in the upcoming patches, maybe not Wings of the Goddess, we do have what's called The Pit, where players will be able to have monsters to fight, as well as the chocobo races. So it's maybe not fighting against each other, it's battling against other players using other things, in that sense, there will be some new things.

Play: How does census data affect the expansion pack content? Meaning, the game is heavily mage-based right now. How much of the expansion content encourages distribution among the other jobs?

SE: While we take the census data into consideration, we don't look at the census data and say, "the census says this, so we're going to make this type of game." We think, "Oh, yeah, there's this type of thing happening, so maybe we'll use that and change these things." You also have to remember that the census data we give the players is only the tip of the iceberg. There's all this other data that we don't display, and that's the type of data we use, as well as posts on forums and feedback to GMs. That's what we use developing expansion pack content.

OXM: A lot of people dropped out of Star Wars Galaxies [when the game had its NGE changes]. How do you guys feel about feedback on the user interface, and things like that? How do you make tweaks without losing users, and things like that?

SE: This is a very difficult thing, but it's not a closed community, it's not just like we're doing everything we want to do and not listening to the voices, that can be a real problem. We always have people listening to what [users] are saying. We also have the census data and the background data that we don't give out. We're always listening to the [users], and reading forums, and we gather that data and then we make our changes based on what we hear. So it's not like we're going to be doing something that's so crazy that the people aren't going to be ready for it. So things the users have been talking about for the past half year, we take that and try to implement it.

RPGFan: A lot of content in Chains of Promathia was capped at level 30, so it was available to a larger amount of players. [Since] Wings of the Goddess is for more hardcore players, does that mean that dungeons will not have a level cap?

SE: Probably there won't be any level capped areas. There might be something like Assault Missions from Aht Urghan, where you choose if you want to put the cap on. There will be things like that, but for [mandatory level caps], there won't be any.

Play: With each expansion pack, you've had sort of a singular event that's changed a lot of core gameplay. Like with Aht Urghan, a lot of the hardcore players moved from Jeuno to the new areas as their home base. What do you see as the big change over the next expansion?

SE: Probably the biggest thing, is because the game takes place in the past, rather than the present, it's that players will be able to move to the past. However, as in moving to just one area, as in from Jueno to Aht Urghan, [we're] going to try to make it balanced, where there'll be a lot of different places that we hope players will move to and make that their home base.

RPGFan: Now for the one question that everyone gets when they develop MMOs now. How has the success of World of Warcraft affected Final Fantasy XI, and how will it change Wings of the Goddess?

SE: As for game design, pretty much nothing. We don't look at that and try to make our game like it. One of the biggest things we've been affected by via World of Warcraft is Real Money Trading (RMT). Before Warcraft came out, all of these RMT sites were underground, and then because of the popularity of WoW, and extended over. But, because we've been working hard to handle that problem, we've gotten rid of probably 90% of the sites that are doing RMT for FFXI. One of the biggest things that WoW did that affected us was increased RMT. [Laughs] Another thing that we saw with the popularity of WoW, a lot of MMORPGs started dying out, because their user base moved to WoW. That's one thing we really haven't experienced in FFXI, our user base has been pretty solid. People sometimes will go over, but then they'll come back. We haven't seen a really big swing in the numbers like other games have.

Play: With the game on 360, and a lot of the PC platforms that play the game having such incredibly technology behind them, are there any plans to increase avatar customization? Or, because of the userbase of the PS2, are you capping your customization.

SE: Because we want everyone playing the same version, we have the wall of the PS2 version. While there is the ability to create better stuff with the PC, it would leave the PS2 players stuck. But more than the memory issue, probably the biggest problem with adding new hairstyles or races or face types, we would have to go back and [re-model] those pieces for this type of hair, and do that for the thousands of models of armor. That's probably the biggest thing, there's just not the time and manpower to do that.

OXM: [A lot of players have used MMORPGs to do things outside the game, like marriage.] Is there anything you were surprised that players used your game for?

SE: There's one kind of armor for the black mages that have tattoos on the arms; there are people who have gone out and gotten those tattoos. We were pretty surprised about that. There have been a few marriages, as well. Last year, we had the fan festival here in America for the first time. It was the first time that the development team got to see the American side. [We'd] seen the reaction of the Japanese people, but this is the first time [we'd] seen the reaction of the American people and see how excited they were. They were just as excited as the Japanese fans, everyone is excited, and that's what surprised us.

RPGFan: So, returing to the RMT issue, early on, inflation was a big issue; has that at least been somewhat curbed with the elimination of the majority of the RMTs?

SE: We think that we're back down to deflation and trying to get back. We're pretty close to back to what we think the norm should be. Because the RMT sites, some prices are going down because they're easy to get, but other prices are going up because they're not [farmed nearly as much]. Overall, most of the prices are going down.

Play: Are there plans for another fan festival in America?

SE: Yes, we'll be announcing plans later this year.

We'd like to thank both Square Enix's American and Japanese offices for allowing us to interview the Final Fantasy XI team!

Overall not as juicy as some of the others, but interesting none the less.

in other words "we don't want to have to go back and re-model that shit" LOL

RPGFan: Final Fantasy XI is unique in its approach to storytelling, at least in regards to western MMOs. Do you plan to continue with the same sort of cutscenes in Wings of the Goddess, or go to more quest-oriented storytelling as you see in games like World of Warcraft and EverQuest II?

SE: With the new expansion, we're going to try to make it a little more quest-oriented, the story will be told more through quests. But there will still be the event scenes that FFXI is known for. Not a big step away, but a little step.

Treasures of Aht Urghan will focus on solo content, and solo zones.

Originally Posted by Viena

Originally Posted by Khamsin

Originally Posted by FinalJustice

in other words "we don't want to have to go back and re-model that shit" LOL

They should spend a little time coming up with a way that they could perhaps retain at least the body, hands, legs, and feet armor models so they can reuse them. It's probably more difficult than I imagine, but a little bit of reprogramming to use the same armor model for the various hair types on a given race/gender would save them time from having to remodel the feet armor because the hair style changed. Not to mention file size, as well. That way, not only would they not have to render the feet armor for a different hairstyle, they also don't have another .dat file for it, taking up space.

In my opinion, something that could increase a lot character customization without increasing much the requirements nor require excessive re-modelling work would be making the face model not dependent from the haircut. Providing eye and hair colour customization via procedural texturing would also be something I would like.

But knowing how lazy they are when it comes to improving older content, I doubt something like that will ever happen.

Hey, how do you like your Gaussian Blur filter?

Originally Posted by spooky

The game is heavily mage-based right now.

Is it? News to me.

Manaburnable or TP burnable. It's always going to be one or the other.

Originally Posted by Aquilla

Originally Posted by Loziel

SE: Because we want everyone playing the same version, we have the wall of the PS2 version. While there is the ability to create better stuff with the PC, it would leave the PS2 players stuck. But more than the memory issue, probably the biggest problem with adding new hairstyles or races or face types, we would have to go back and [re-model] those pieces for this type of hair, and do that for the thousands of models of armor. That's probably the biggest thing, there's just not the time and manpower to do that.

jeez, can't hire some poor sap just out of college and stick him with this remodeling stuff?

I found this confusing as well. College students are awesome for cheap labor. Let's see, highly competitive market, limited job opportunities, more and more college students each year, could even get college students on an internship for 0 pay just so that they can get this experience and being able to put "I worked for SquareEnix" on their resume. Lots of supply and little demand = very nice possibilities for companies. Japan fails at business concepts.

Originally Posted by Angelsin

Originally Posted by spooky

The game is heavily mage-based right now.

Is it? News to me.

Manaburnable or TP burnable. It's always going to be one or the other.

Originally Posted by Aquilla

Originally Posted by Loziel

SE: Because we want everyone playing the same version, we have the wall of the PS2 version. While there is the ability to create better stuff with the PC, it would leave the PS2 players stuck. But more than the memory issue, probably the biggest problem with adding new hairstyles or races or face types, we would have to go back and [re-model] those pieces for this type of hair, and do that for the thousands of models of armor. That's probably the biggest thing, there's just not the time and manpower to do that.

jeez, can't hire some poor sap just out of college and stick him with this remodeling stuff?

I found this confusing as well. College students are awesome for cheap labor. Let's see, highly competitive market, limited job opportunities, more and more college students each year, could even get college students on an internship for 0 pay just so that they can get this experience and being able to put "I worked for SquareEnix" on their resume. Lots of supply and little demand = very nice possibilities for companies. Japan fails at business concepts.

Yes, because Japan does not exploit their work force they don't understand business concepts. Tell that to GM and Ford.

Originally Posted by ringthree

Originally Posted by Angelsin

Originally Posted by spooky

The game is heavily mage-based right now.

Is it? News to me.

Manaburnable or TP burnable. It's always going to be one or the other.

Originally Posted by Aquilla

Originally Posted by Loziel

SE: Because we want everyone playing the same version, we have the wall of the PS2 version. While there is the ability to create better stuff with the PC, it would leave the PS2 players stuck. But more than the memory issue, probably the biggest problem with adding new hairstyles or races or face types, we would have to go back and [re-model] those pieces for this type of hair, and do that for the thousands of models of armor. That's probably the biggest thing, there's just not the time and manpower to do that.

jeez, can't hire some poor sap just out of college and stick him with this remodeling stuff?

I found this confusing as well. College students are awesome for cheap labor. Let's see, highly competitive market, limited job opportunities, more and more college students each year, could even get college students on an internship for 0 pay just so that they can get this experience and being able to put "I worked for SquareEnix" on their resume. Lots of supply and little demand = very nice possibilities for companies. Japan fails at business concepts.

Yes, because Japan does not exploit their work force they don't understand business concepts. Tell that to GM and Ford.

Do you shop at Walmart? Do you know what they do to get those wonderful "Rollback Prices"? They stick representatives of companies in small rooms similar to that of a police interrogation and the TELL that representative what they will pay that company for their product. There is no negotiation. Either the company accepts the offer or they don't get their product in Walmart's stores. Walmart exploits companies on a daily basis and the better that product sells in Walmart's stores they force that company to lower their prices more.

Exploiting is everywhere. Using windower is even a way of exploiting this game so that you can have the privilege of browsing the internet without DCing while playing FFXI on one PC. Using 3rd PT programs to get claim of HNMs is another exploit. Personally I'd love to hear the dumbass that would say they wouldn't want work experience working with SE to redesign characters and items to help SE overcome the PS2 limitations to allow the game to grow beyond it's current conditions and get a well known video game company's name on their resume. Which will greatly help them get a job over the thousands of other college students that are competitions for the same job as them. But no why would they want to get 'exploited' for their cheap highly competitive labor when they can work at Walmart.

If there's a way to fix the PS2 limitations then SE should stop using it as an excuse and fix it.

Originally Posted by Angelsin

Do you shop at Walmart? Do you know what they do to get those wonderful "Rollback Prices"? They stick representatives of companies in small rooms similar to that of a police interrogation and the TELL that representative what they will pay that company for their product. There is no negotiation. Either the company accepts the offer or they don't get their product in Walmart's stores. Walmart exploits companies on a daily basis and the better that product sells in Walmart's stores they force that company to lower their prices more.

Exploiting is everywhere. Using windower is even a way of exploiting this game so that you can have the privilege of browsing the internet without DCing while playing FFXI on one PC. Using 3rd PT programs to get claim of HNMs is another exploit. Personally I'd love to hear the dumbass that would say they wouldn't want work experience working with SE to redesign characters and items to help SE overcome the PS2 limitations to allow the game to grow beyond it's current conditions and get a well known video game company's name on their resume. Which will greatly help them get a job over the thousands of other college students that are competitions for the same job as them. But no why would they want to get 'exploited' for their cheap highly competitive labor when they can work at Walmart.

If there's a way to fix the PS2 limitations then SE should stop using it as an excuse and fix it.

Is Walmart a Japanese company? Japanese and American business practices are completely different. The American way is to cut costs by squeezing as much out of your resources as possible for the lowest cost, by any means necessary. The Japanese typically do it (esp in the case of auto mfg, which ringthree was getting at) by process efficiencies, and a lot of the time, they destroy the American companies in the end. Just because American companies are willing to stick college students in a room for low pay to do their work doesn't mean companies in the rest of the world are, because some cultures are *gasp* against exploitation and inefficiency. American business concepts aren't always the best business concepts, and anyone who's taken a management course knows this already. Like he said, try telling GM or Ford that Japan fails at business concepts.

Do your research before you blow up at someone with a valid point, dimwit.

Originally Posted by Ferien

Originally Posted by Angelsin

Do you shop at Walmart? Do you know what they do to get those wonderful "Rollback Prices"? They stick representatives of companies in small rooms similar to that of a police interrogation and the TELL that representative what they will pay that company for their product. There is no negotiation. Either the company accepts the offer or they don't get their product in Walmart's stores. Walmart exploits companies on a daily basis and the better that product sells in Walmart's stores they force that company to lower their prices more.

Exploiting is everywhere. Using windower is even a way of exploiting this game so that you can have the privilege of browsing the internet without DCing while playing FFXI on one PC. Using 3rd PT programs to get claim of HNMs is another exploit. Personally I'd love to hear the dumbass that would say they wouldn't want work experience working with SE to redesign characters and items to help SE overcome the PS2 limitations to allow the game to grow beyond it's current conditions and get a well known video game company's name on their resume. Which will greatly help them get a job over the thousands of other college students that are competitions for the same job as them. But no why would they want to get 'exploited' for their cheap highly competitive labor when they can work at Walmart.

If there's a way to fix the PS2 limitations then SE should stop using it as an excuse and fix it.

Is Walmart a Japanese company? Japanese and American business practices are completely different. The American way is to cut costs by squeezing as much out of your resources as possible for the lowest cost, by any means necessary. The Japanese typically do it (esp in the case of auto mfg, which ringthree was getting at) by process efficiencies, and a lot of the time, they destroy the American companies in the end. Just because American companies are willing to stick college students in a room for low pay to do their work doesn't mean companies in the rest of the world are, because some cultures are *gasp* against exploitation and inefficiency. American business concepts aren't always the best business concepts, and anyone who's taken a management course knows this already. Like he said, try telling GM or Ford that Japan fails at business concepts.

Do your research before you blow up at someone with a valid point, dimwit.

True American business concepts aren't always the best but neither is a 4 year old excuse "PS2 limitations". How is "We have a solution to PS2 limitations but can't do it because of lack of manpower" which is CLEARLY untrue 'efficient'. It's not. And last time I looked America was a bigger world leader than Japan. Let's see Japan invade a few countries in the name of democracy and the whole world basically stands by and doesn't do shit about it when it's been clearly noted their leader lied about the reasons for going to war. Sorry but I look at the bigger picture. I like how you ignored my questions and comments about windower and shopping at walmart though. It's always great to see ppl ignore the comments that are obviously true but they can't admit because it makes them look like a hypocrite while trying to make their point have more merit.

Yes Japan has some good business practices yet it's clear that some japan companies don't (i.e. - SE)
Yes America is good at cost cutting that others may find questionable (i.e. - walmart)
No it is not acceptable to use the same excuse for 4 years after admitting you have a solution to the problem.
Again the work experience from a large company helps when your competitive job market helps greatly. Sounds like you'd rather not have that work experience or that advantage.

This is like having the cure for cancer discovered but all the research trashed because they don't have the 'manpower' or 'funding' to produce it.

I didn't ignore a thing. Your comments about windower and 3rd party programs being "exploits" is pretty much irrelevant to the issue. Windower and cheats have nothing to do with SE or their business practices, because they're not the ones that created them. Yes, they have to deal with them, but how does something a company didn't create have anything to do with their business practices? As for your argument about Walmart, it was the entire basis for my comment. Learn to read. You did an amazing job ignoring my comments about culture though. Who's the hypocrite again?

You're arguing that a Japanese company, steeped in Japanese culture and business practices, adopt an extremely American view of business. It's not about who's right or who's wrong, it's about the fucking culture. Try to run a business in Japan using your ideology, you'll fail miserably. Likewise, a Japanese businessman starting a business in America using his ideology will get eaten up by American workers. Think about the culture you're discussing before making a blanket statement.