The Community Teams interview Yoshida in Japan!

[Hyan]

Jobs are coming somewhere post 1.20 so that's what like 6 months from now?

It sounded like the specifics were locked sometime in feb/march so I guess post-october? I'd guess if it gets delayed the armor models aren't the problem, but the actual job system.

[Gulkeeva]

lol, hotlinking message linking from your own site

bah fixed

sometimes forget ragns changed how site attachments work ;/

[miokomioko]

Should've had bunch of gear already prepared for future that could be just assigned stats.

Unfortunately, I believe we already know these as:

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...c080b089685f9chttp://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...c43802d12e6d43http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...bf4fe0b1bf456ehttp://ffxiv.zam.com/Im/width=189/185394.jpg

[Gokulo]

Quite an uninteresting interview imo. And if they don't plan on using jump to add to battle mechanics then they might just not bother with it for me D;

[Lordender]

Time to go hit on Rukkirii on the lodestone!

On a serious note, I really do have a lot of respect for what Yoshida is trying to do, I hope he pulls it off. I just hope the suits give him a real chance and don't pull the plug on him before he gets a few major content updates under his belt. I think the "game" still has a lot of potential if he is given enough time.

[Elcura]

Yeah, I'd really like to know what the standard timeframe is according to some of you.

You're not honestly saying they can only create one set of armor per 6 months are you?

I know a lot of people here don't 3D model (for a living, never mind a hobby), but a six month time frame for a set of armour seems right. You have to:

Make a basemesh (could take a day, could take 2 weeks - gotta make sure everything is clean and the polygons are organised a certain way)
Sculpt (depends on level of detail, a good sculpt will never be quick though. Could take 1-2 weeks minimum)
Retopologize (reorganize the mesh so you can lower the poly count while keep detail/density in areas that people look at and the areas that move a lot, could take a couple of days)
UV Map (preparation for textures, depends on quality, but should take at least a couple of days for good work)
Bake high poly to low poly (shouldn't take more than a day or two, depends on clean up and computer power)
Texture (easier to texture when you have normal maps, but it still should take at least a week for all maps at a good quality)

That's just making the armour, then you gotta make sure it fits the character's movements and deforms correctly.

Binding and skinning (depends on complexity, but could take a few days).

Note: The above is for 1 character race/sex, not all.

If one guy is making a set of armour for all races, 6 months is fucking superman speed lol. I dunno how they organise their teams though, I doubt it's 1 person going through the whole pipeline at a company so large. My times are generous, during crunch you have to pack those days into hours. And it doesn't account for artistic standard, it just takes into consideration pure technical skill. The artsy side no doubt adds more time, including concepts and so on.

[Airget]

There is a semi-issue if it does take 6 months to conceptualize and produce armor sets in terms of what people expect from an MMO. When people hear 6 months they straight up think wow this game is gonna evolve as fast as a snail.

I think it's more acceptable for an MMO to be able to produce things on a monthly basis or at least have concepts ready every three months. From what's said though it seems like things won't be ready for half a year at time and with that in mind the concept of putting graphics over actual content is starting to rear it's ugly head.

I honestly think it would be smart if the development team sincerely asked the community if they would be off put by a graphic downgrade that would allow them to produce 3-d models at a quicker pace but with less detail to it. Unless the ability to produce armor sets can be sped up to at least 3 months I don't really see the game succeeding lol.

Either that or they could consider making "pieces" rather then everything from scratch. As it stands now it kind of sounds like when they make new gear it's made out of scratch, but if they take time to consider the "base" of each piece of gear they should be able to cut down production time if they make simple figured then evolve on it from there.

If you look at this armor sketch they shows a while back http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...bbb8b730bb6677

it reminds me of
http://ffxiv.yg.com/item/sheepskin-h...rey?id=8031502
http://ffxiv.yg.com/item/iron-gauntlets?id=8070106
http://ffxiv.yg.com/item/bronze-celata?id=8010001
http://ffxiv.yg.com/item/iron-sollerets?id=8081202

Maybe I read it wrong but trying to think on a developer's thought process wouldn't it be smarter to create base concepts rather then having to model each piece from scratch. I don't think it would be to difficult to actual bend, curve and manipulate any of the above to at least cut the production time for the above art concept in half. Though I'm not a 3-d artist so maybe they can't exactly do it that way.

I just hope that if they end up not being able to reduce the 6 month production period they can at least stagger a good flow of content so they got teams completing junk in a 2 month period to at least have a steady flow of content entering the game rather then small/big burst of content.

I mean isn't anyone else disappointed when they reveal new content and then like 2-3 pieces of new gear coming out that come from the event lol.

Hm if you look at the last update note that showed some gear http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...9520e72300f0d2 those are pure reskins with just different styles to them. That does makes me wonder if it's actually impossible to tweak and manipulate the object to at least change it slightly rather then rely on reskinning.

I mean I haven't played this game in a while but I really was looking forward to enjoying it with friends, I do wanna hope that they'll get a good ground on the game but I haven't really seen anything that strikes my interest. I mean even at this point did XI have it this bad. I wouldn't think since XI I think only went free for 1 month but this game is going nearly a year for free. It is kinda worrying cause it would be a pity to see a game with potential get shutdown cause it was released to quick without a clear thought as to how they wanted to make the game.

In the end they relied to much on community interaction when they should have at least converted some XI concepts into the game and even basic MMO concepts that for some reason didn't make it into the game. By XI concepts I mean things like Mog house/housing, Chocobos, airships, heck maybe even introducing merits as part of a progressive leveling process rather then a means to get past the "lv limit" without leveling.

By MMO concepts I mean mailing messages, sending/receiving items and just basic accessibility that most MMO have going for them. I didn't include AH cause it was never necessary imo, adding AH would kill the market wards but the concept of wards itself works well with how it is now. Easily able to search for item you need and you get a star next to the names of the people selling them. it even tells you the prices they are being sold for and in order from lowest to highest. So before I continue this rant any longer I do commend the team for actually tweaking the MW in a means that allows for easy accessibly though i do hope that the game can find it's identity soon before it is forced to pull the plug.

I'm not trying to bash the game or anything I really hope the game does become something that people are willing to pay a monthly subscription for. But ya only time will tell and we can just hope for the best lol.

@Elcura

If I may ask since I just noticed your post I do understand that 3d modeling is a tough Mistress but is it really necessary to make it all from scratch. I would think that there would be ways to maybe tweak a previous model and just add different detail to it rather then starting from square one. Though if that's the case then man someone's gotta end up developing a way to ease the production on creating 3-d models sooner or later. Like some sort of base concept where they can mix and match pieces already made but with the ability to make alterations to them and turn them into a completely different looking piece of armor lol.

[Elcura]

@Elcura

If I may ask since I just noticed your post I do understand that 3d modeling is a tough Mistress but is it really necessary to make it all from scratch. I would think that there would be ways to maybe tweak a previous model and just add different detail to it rather then starting from square one. Though if that's the case then man someone's gotta end up developing a way to ease the production on creating 3-d models sooner or later. Like some sort of base concept where they can mix and match pieces already made but with the ability to make alterations to them and turn them into a completely different looking piece of armor lol.

Depends really. I've become really disillusioned with 3D over the last few years, and a kit-bash method to making armour would be complicated to get off the ground in order to not make it look cheap and lazy. You see, in order for 3D models to deform and animate, they need to have the right polygons in the right places, they also need to emphasize silhouette and highlight important details. When it comes to SE's plain designs with high technical execution, a kit bash methodology would be terrible as the pieces simply don't fit together. It's not even a case of fitting them together, you have to rearrange the polygons so they flow into each other and don't mess with deformation. Not to mention such modifications would totally ruin the UV map and skinning of the pre-existing models, making all the textures (including normal map, noticeable) distort and look funny.

In the end, you would do a lot of the work you would normally do + extra by using this method recklessly. I dunno how well SE can deal with these problems, but in a production line you don't want to waste time by experimenting for months.

There's a reason why texture swaps are so highly used in MMOs. It takes a LOT of time, and I cannot stress that enough, to make a 3D model. A texture swap is relatively quick and clean, and doesn't mess with any of the shit under the hood.

That's not to say they couldn't develop some tech/method to get around that, but it would probably take a hell of a long time to even concept and design, never mind implement and make. You're looking at maybe a year or so to even get it started. This sort of thing should've been figured out BEFORE they started making armour, it's too late to start now.

[Hiroishime]

If u watch the making of eorzea videos, they have the technology to alter armors easily as long as they have the basic presets/templates ready, they can add stuff like random accessories or random pattern to make it look less like it was just a color underlaying it.

[Elcura]

Like I said before (and even with that tech) it would take a while to make a new set of armour. Factoring in what they can do with modifying existing armour (a really nice system, I wonder how complicated shit like that is?), 6 months makes a lot of sense.

With that tech, they can make new armour from existing models easily, but there's absolutely no illusion that the new armour is unique. Lining them up in the video showcases that. When they talk about making new armour sets, I don't imagine it's with some kit-bashing tool they have to modify existing armour. I'm sure they're talking about unique armour sets, stuff you'd expect AF to look like (just an example).

edit: Ughhh, they're so fucking good at sculpting, looking at their work makes me feel sick.

[CasualPlayer]

Think a lot of people are missing the point here..... SE knew how long it takes to make sets of armor from concept to implementation decades ago. This isn't their first mmo...... Even if if takes a year instead of 6 months they should've been able to plan accordingly.

Also that female reporter is fucking hot. I'd beat the breaks off that pussy.

[Hiroishime]

Yea 6 months sounds perfectly fine to me if they are makin it from scratch, anything after the basic model should be cakewalk, it will only be adjusting the color with the new gear concept, adding stuff to spice the default model up, stats adjustment etc sort of like what they did with harlequiin/templar/bucc sets. Shouldnt take more than 1-2 months for those.

[Elcura]

Even if if takes a year instead of 6 months they should've been able to plan accordingly.

Plan for what?

[CasualPlayer]

Plan for what?

Planned to have armor sets (and any other content for that matter) released in a timely manner. We should be talking about the first expansion by now in this game but all we've had are some event armor and a couple of new pieces of gear.

[Elcura]

I don't understand what you want. It takes as long as it takes, no matter what you have planned. They could plan each day down to the minute, doesn't mean shit is getting released any faster.

[Alderaan]

I think he means since they knew it would take 6 months, they should have had more people working on it so they could have a large number of sets for launch.

[Shuichi]

Yoshi needs to get some damn rest.

[Elcura]

I think he means since they knew it would take 6 months, they should have had more people working on it so they could have a large number of sets for launch.

You do realize we're talking about NEW weapons and armour?

[CasualPlayer]

^Come on you're better than this.

They should have been in the planning stages at launch or before launch so that we would have "new" content 3 months ago (using their 6mon. development cycle). And the content train needs to always be moving. While one team is in the finishing stages of implementing something new there should be a team just a few months behind them in schedule getting something else ready.

The 6month time frame is irrelevant. Could be a year or 3 years before something gets developed but you better have something else not too far behind if you want to keep people interested.

Edit: People shouldn't be feeling sorry for Yoshi P because he's running around saying it takes his development team 6mon. to make a set of armor.

[CasualPlayer]

On another note. After this game fails I hope they give Yoshi a new project to work on where he has full creative direction from the beginning. I feel like he could potentially get the blame when this ship finally sinks and it could ruin his career.