Comments from the Devs

[Alkar]

Hey gang! Yoshida was pretty active on the forum this weekend, and while this is kind of an old topic, his post seemed to fit pretty well in here so... He touches a bit on the discussion around 'free running' (or sprinting) as well as underwater/swimming-related content.

Originally Posted by Yoshida_Naoki
Hi, this is Yoshida, the producer/director.

Thank you for the discussion!
I’m sorry about any confusion that was caused due to my lack of input.

Regarding implementing the ability to move freely on the same level as an Assassin's Creed title, we have no plans of actually implementing this from a game design and cost standpoint. However, it would be possible to implement movements similar to other MMOs. For example, in other games it is possible to reach high places by jumping up against the terrain...

We would like to try to implement swimming by adding underwater areas in expansion packs, although this will require adding an incredible number of swimming animations to be created. Features built around the water in EverQuest were very fresh at the time. (Although I drowned so many times… I raised my skills safely at the fountain… Before that, I died so many times by starting as Wood Elf.) I think that underwater temple raids would be fun, so I would like to implement this concept along with the ability to swim.

Not exactly new as it was posted over the weekend but I haven't seen it mentioned here.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I guess if you have to decide where to spend the money, swimming animations would be the way to go. How SE is gonna pull of moving around in water when moving around on land is still kinda meh is beyond me.

[Cichy]

I guess if you have to decide where to spend the money, swimming animations would be the way to go. How SE is gonna pull of moving around in water when moving around on land is still kinda meh is beyond me.

lol exactly me thoughts when I read this, when I run around on my char it feels like she's running out of breath or something

[Foxer]

I can't believe I actually read that they wanted to add swimming animations when the actual running aspect of the game feels so fucking retarded.

[Nilheim]

Aw man, would've been awesome to run like in Assassin's Creed. And yeah, fix the ground mechanics before you even think about underwater content >.>

[Kaiyoko]

He did say it would be a future thing, hence the "adding underwater areas in expansion packs". Don't see why people are jumping on this, I don't expect an expansion soon >_>;. Often times ideas are going to be shot around early on, I mean look how long it took to put Alexander and Odin as avatars, and not be even developed till far down the road.

[Alkar]

Well this would add the immersion so many people are looking for.

New post about chocobos, pets and gardening.

Here are some additional comments that Yoshida made over the weekend regarding the upcoming chocobo-related content.

Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida
Hi, this is Yoshida, the producer/director.

First of all, chocobos will not be implemented through a single update only, but will be implemented through a gradual process of content iteration (excluding Chocobo rentals)

Here is a simplified plan:
1. Calling a personal chocobo
2. Riding a personal chocobo
3. Walking next to a personal chocobo
4. Raising and dressing up a personal chocobo
5. Fighting with the help of a personal chocobo

I created this plan myself, but some features are not possible to implement at this moment. It would take way too long to implement everything at once, so we plan on implementing this bit by bit, starting with numbers 1 and 2. This is the plan for patch 1.19. More details will be revealed later in an upcoming letter.

Regarding pet classes, from summoning pets to taming, we are still in the preliminary planning stages, so we don't know which direction we're going to start with yet. Either way would be fine. We still need to do all the battle-related adjustments, class balance adjustments, and implement the job system first before anything else, so we will be looking at any ideas you have for us.

If cultivation is implemented, I would like to have gardens implemented as well. It would be nice to have a garden in front of your house, so let’s test this out.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Well this would add the immersion so many people are looking for.

New post about chocobos, pets and gardening.

I see what you did there.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Well this would add the immersion so many people are looking for.

I see what you did there.

[Jamison]

Regarding pet classes, from summoning
<snip>
so we will be looking at any ideas you have for us.

Personally, I'd rather not see summoner as a unique class, but something that everyone is capable of doing on a somewhat limited timer. Every class has MP, and this would hearken back to some of the other Final Fantasy games where you could do that. I can't remember which one(s), but it would be awesome if the summon replaced you as a player for an amount of time and you controlled which attacks it did. That feels like it could be worked into the storyline without much difficulty, would be a different take than FFXI, and would be something that is simply fun to do.

[Lucavi]

Druid from Diablo II then? Sounds interesting, but then you'd have people that would want to have multiple types (tank, healing, melee DPS, ranged DPS, Casting DPS, ect.) with the ability to stay in that form for long periods of time.

[Mikelee0351]

5. Fighting with the help of a personal chocobo

Regarding pet classes, from summoning pets to taming, we are still in the preliminary planning stages, so we don't know which direction we're going to start with yet. Either way would be fine. We still need to do all the battle-related adjustments, class balance adjustments, and implement the job system first before anything else, so we will be looking at any ideas you have for us.

Two birds with one stone

[Vuitton]

well played

[Kaylia]

Originally Posted by Yoshida_Naoki
Hi, this is Yoshida, the producer/director.

Thank you for the discussion!
I’m sorry about any confusion that was caused due to my lack of input.

Regarding implementing the ability to move freely on the same level as an Assassin's Creed title, we have no plans of actually implementing this from a game design and cost standpoint. However, it would be possible to implement movements similar to other MMOs. For example, in other games it is possible to reach high places by jumping up against the terrain...

We would like to try to implement swimming by adding underwater areas in expansion packs, although this will require adding an incredible number of swimming animations to be created. Features built around the water in EverQuest were very fresh at the time. (Although I drowned so many times… I raised my skills safely at the fountain… Before that, I died so many times by starting as Wood Elf.) I think that underwater temple raids would be fun, so I would like to implement this concept along with the ability to swim.

Not exactly new as it was posted over the weekend but I haven't seen it mentioned here.

Why couldnt he make the game right from the start... Most of his posts are spot on on what I wanted to see in this game.

[Lucavi]

Because Old people love the old ways; its something that extends far beyond simple region; its human nature. I remember a similar situation at my Alma Mater; the higher-ups were building a brand new, multi-million dollar student center and were deciding on what type of entertainment forms to have for the students. Normally you'd think of modern-age tech; wifi centers, consoles or arcade setups or lots of TVs or something, right? Something to embrace the technological age and how tech-savvy modern college students are, right?

You know what they eventually settled on?

Pool tables and card tables.

That's right; a new building designed for students living in 2009 was going to be complete with entertainment options straight out of the 1940's (or earlier)! Old people are always out of touch, and always want to do things the way they remember them; do things that they think are fun and that they think young people will buy into.

Go figure that Tanaka represents the old guard and that Yoshi-P is young, fresh-faced and comes standard-equipped with modern-age sensibilities. You see this in many areas of life, but its always a fucking constant. The "east" and the "west" aren't so different; both areas are completely full of old men that cannot get out of their old-school line of thinking, and they usually suffer for it. Hell, you've got Japan in a massive video-game slump altogether, and they've been that way for years; since well before the 360 failed to gain ground.

[Alkar]

Personally, I'd rather not see summoner as a unique class, but something that everyone is capable of doing on a somewhat limited timer. Every class has MP, and this would hearken back to some of the other Final Fantasy games where you could do that. I can't remember which one(s), but it would be awesome if the summon replaced you as a player for an amount of time and you controlled which attacks it did. That feels like it could be worked into the storyline without much difficulty, would be a different take than FFXI, and would be something that is simply fun to do.

I don't agree with this. This would be incredibly hard to balance and actually make right.
You do remember the FF games where summons could be used by anyone right? Overpowered in some cases ( Knights of the round ), impractical in others ( FF8 ).
If summons are good everyone will be using them, if they aren't they'll be a wasted addition. I'd rather stick to a job/class that can exclusively summon them instead of seeing Shivas and Ifrits everywhere.

[Amastacia]

I can't believe I actually read that they wanted to add swimming animations when the actual running aspect of the game feels so fucking retarded.

I had a roommate back in college who was a moderately hardcore EQ player. Swimming as an actual element of that game was implemented pretty well, and did give more variety to the world. Yoshi played EQ, I can see why when people ask questions about swimming, he responds "I'd love to add it, and do something like what EQ did, only more modern and more involved".

Whether we'll ever see it or not is debatable, but it would be a cool mechanic if modeled after EQ, especially if there were a way to implement an underwater dungeon or something (there have been some neat underwater fights in past FF games, so it's not even going totally off reservation to think about, from a "hurr durr this is FF" perspective).

[Kaylia]

I don't agree with this. This would be incredibly hard to balance and actually make right.
You do remember the FF games where summons could be used by anyone right? Overpowered in some cases ( Knights of the round ), impractical in others ( FF8 ).
If summons are good everyone will be using them, if they aren't they'll be a wasted addition. I'd rather stick to a job/class that can exclusively summon them instead of seeing Shivas and Ifrits everywhere.

It wouldnt be harder to balance than anything else. If everybody has them too, it would be even easier to balance than if it was a select few.

[Jamison]

I don't agree with this. This would be incredibly hard to balance and actually make right.
You do remember the FF games where summons could be used by anyone right? Overpowered in some cases ( Knights of the round ), impractical in others ( FF8 ).
If summons are good everyone will be using them, if they aren't they'll be a wasted addition. I'd rather stick to a job/class that can exclusively summon them instead of seeing Shivas and Ifrits everywhere.

Well they'd have to be restricted somehow, and in use they could function more like a 2hr from XI. Put them on a system like Guardians Aspect or anima (heck, make them require anima or GA and they'd only be used when really needed). You could have quests to unlock summons, you could have a summon that goes with your job/class (tank job gets a defensive summon, etc). Make it so that the 2-3 summons you have access to (out of lets say, 10 or so) helps define your progression and/or specialization.

[Dooom]

Make it so that the 2-3 summons you have access to (out of lets say, 10 or so) helps define your progression and/or specialization.

If you're meaning 2-3 only, rather than per job, then I think that's terrible. I don't like the idea of a game that offers you the option to play all jobs, but forces you to make choices which hurts you if you want to do exactly that. If someone who only plays one or two jobs can min-max them and totally outshine someone who wants to play multiple classes, then what's the point of having all classes available when people are shoe-horned into only playing a handful each?