Small interview from RPGamer.com

[SephYuyX]

Not much too it, but someone might like it, and I always like to try and point out RPGamer to others.
RPGamer > Feature > Exclusive Interview with Mr. Tanaka

Mr. Hiromichi Tanaka is the producer and lead developer behind Square Enix's longest running MMORPG: Final Fantasy XI. RPGamer was given the chance to interview him, leading up to the Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival.

Thank you for taking time to answer a few questions. Before we delve into the MMORPG, tell us what you did before you began to work on Final Fantasy XI.
As a member who has been around since the founding of Square, I have been doing game design for roughly 25 years now. I was involved in some way, shape, or form with most all of the titles back then, including Final Fantasy I, II, and III on the NES platform, SaGa 2 for GameBoy, Secret of Mana 2 and 3 on the SNES, and I worked as producer on games such as Xenogears and Chrono Cross for the PlayStation console. Work on FFXI started in the end of 1999.

Which project was your favorite to work on?
Well, naturally, I am a huge fan of all of our games. But of course, my favorite would have to be FFXI.

Final Fantasy XI has been going on for over six years now. Did you ever think you would work on a single game that long? What are some of the challenges to working on the same product year after year?
When we first began developing FFXI, our intention was to continue service for an absolute minimum of 5 years. Beyond that, we would continue to provide service for as long as possible, while at the same time keeping an eye on how estranged the game was becoming from advances in hardware technology. We also set out resolved to devote our undivided attention to FFXI without splitting the team's efforts amongst other titles.

Final Fantasy XI recently introduced the Level Sync system, where people can lower their current level to be able to party with friends. Where did this idea come from?
Level Sync is basically an expansion of the Adventurer Recruitment system we put in place to allow players introducing their friends to Vana'diel the opportunity to play together at the same level. It is simply the same principle applied across the board. However, with the possibility of exploitation of Level Sync for RMT-related power leveling and unauthorized access of accounts, we at first decided against implementing it. With the stellar gains made by the STF in purging the online community of these evils, however, we felt that it was finally time to take the plunge and bring Level Sync to everyone.

Final Fantasy XI has been moving toward faster gameplay; Assault, Besieged, and now Campaign offer players shorter time requirements to experience Vana'diel. Is this going to be a continuing trend with new content?
Well, not necessarily everything is going to be short from here on out. We also have some content planned that will take players several months to clear. But certainly one of our guiding concepts in content design has always been to create something which players can complete from start to finish with 2 hours or so. In fact, two-hour abilities are a prime example of that principle in practice. The recent modifications to Absolute Virtue and other Notorious Monsters were also made with this in mind.

Is there a job in the game that has become completely different from how it was first envisioned?
Not especially, no. There are the six cornerstone jobs (WAR [Warrior], MNK [Monk], THF [Thief], WHM, BLM, RDM [White, Black, Red Mage]), and we added the rest in a way that they would maintain a balance with those while simultaneously bringing more flavors to the game. On top of that we have continued to carry out adjustments to all jobs whenever necessary based on changes in combat trends following the introduction of new systems or content. But for the most part, no job role is significantly different from what we envisioned.

When this job does require a change, does the development team try to change the players' behavior or do they embrace it and try to enhance this new direction?
As I've said before, the latter is always the priority for us. However, if it is something that is disrupting game balance in the extreme, we may do some nerfing on those rare occasions.

Will there ever be a new playable race in the game? Alternately, will there ever be a way to allow players to change their appearance outside of equipment options?
At this point in time, we have no such plans.

What is your favorite job in the game? Why?
I'd have to say most of my personal playtime is spent on WHM [White Mage]. Being responsible for the well-being of everyone in the party isn't all that unlike a producer's job, after all. But when I log onto public servers with my official character I am usually on DRK [Dark Knight]. I like to think that it bears the closest physical resemblance to the real me...

What is the best idea you've had for Final Fantasy XI that, for any reason, never made it into the game? If you can elaborate, tell us why this idea never came about.
Well, I'm not shy when it comes to my own ideas, so almost everything that I've come up with has ended up in the game. But if there are some things which haven't made it in. Well, I'd like to keep those secret for my next project! (/grin)

If there was ever the possibly of bringing aspects of Final Fantasy XI, such as the world or storyline, to an offline format, what would they be?
The missions up to Rank 10 starting with version 1.0 and continuing through Rise of the Zilart form the basic plot of the game. I would personally love to introduce these in some form of offline medium. Unfortunately, since the server aspect of the game system can't simply be chopped off, if we were to do so it would have to be in some condensed format.

RPGamer would like to thank Mr. Tanaka for taking the time to answer all out questions. We have more from him andthe rest of the development team from the Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival coming soon.

[Xno Kappa]

I would buy an off-line FFXI with all the story content played through a psuedo-FFXII battle system. FFXI has such an awesome story-line that unfortunately gets pushed to the side the majority of time.

[Maxxthepenguin]

I would buy an off-line FFXI with all the story content played through a psuedo-FFXII battle system. FFXI has such an awesome story-line that unfortunately gets pushed to the side the majority of time.

FFXII style FFXI would be so great and, hey, it's a remake, so you know SE would want to do it.

[evilpaul]

They'd turn it into a realtime strategy game on the PSP somehow probably.

Also, it was a good interview

[donnie]

actually I enjoyed reading this interview

[Izzy]

Yea, so did I. It was a pretty decent interview. I like how they have some content planned that will take a lot longer than one day to complete haha.

[Qeomash]

I would buy an off-line FFXI with all the story content played through a psuedo-FFXII battle system. FFXI has such an awesome story-line that unfortunately gets pushed to the side the majority of time.

I really hope this is what they end up doing someday. I'd imagine that eventually technology will be advanced enough that the server side of things could easily be combined with the client side of things to allow for a perfectly operation offline game.

And, yes, combine it with FFXII battle system with a bit of the FFT style character creation/guest system and it would be awesome.

[Corrderio]

I would buy an off-line FFXI with all the story content played through a psuedo-FFXII battle system. FFXI has such an awesome story-line that unfortunately gets pushed to the side the majority of time.

That's what I'd love to see, FF12 took place in the FFTA world. Maybe FF14 will take place in the FFXI world >.>

I always had these strange ideas of a FFT based FFXI to... which I've been thinking of a lot more than I should be xD