Thread: Game Watch Interview Translation - Yoshida on 3.1    

This is my translation of the Game Watch interview. You'll see there is a ton of overlap with the Famitsu one, but there are some details which were further discussed here or not at all in the other interview.

Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...05_727560.html

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As previously reported, "As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness" Patch 3.1, the latest update for Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, will be implemented on November 10. With the longer than usual four month wait since the expansion's release on June 23, the update has become quite packed with content enhancements. When this article is released, expectations should be at a high as the update will finally be only a few days away.

We conducted this interview about patch 3.1 implementation with Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of FFXIV, from Hiroshima before the live producer letter was held. As we had not yet seen the producer letter and were not sure about the direction of the patch, we asked a number of questions of interest to core players about content direction such as for savage Alexander and Seal Rock.

We also discussed a large amount of information about patch 3.1 that was also released after the live producer letter was broadcast. It's all summarized in this article, so please read on.


The FFXIV Development Team takes their first long vacation, but what does the future hold?

Producer and director Naoki Yoshida discusses the first update since the expansion's release, patch 3.1 "As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness," to be implemented on November 10.


"As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness" patch 3.1 will finally be implemented on November 10.

Yoshida: If we were able to release 3.1 this week (October 19) or last Tuesday (October 13), it would probably feel like about the normal pace, but we've deviated by about 3-4 weeks from that pace, although I think players feel that it's been much longer. We've really kept you waiting. This patch will extend the 3.X series and begin the gradual path to 4.0. Starting with 3.2, we'll be returning to the usual three and a half month period between patches.

You had been saying that you wanted to increase the amount of breaks for the team - did the development team get a rest?

Yoshida: Outside of the summer vacation which was already set by the company, we gave the team about a week off. There was a considerable amount of planning work that still needed to be done, but there was so much tension after 2.55 getting to the release of 3.0 that we wanted to avoid anyone getting burnt out and we thought a bit of time off would be better for the future.

Did you get a break?

Yoshida: I was devoted to making plans for the 3.X series and 4.0, but I did rest for about four days. I was glad to get a chance to play a lot of FFXIV (laughs).

This break was there for the development team to take after 3.0's release, but do you plan to have any policy changes for this in the future?

Yoshida: We decided earlier that we would add one more stage to the workflow so we aren't going crazy at the last minute. As FFXIV is a very story-driven MMORPG, the main scenario drives a lot of our focus. For example, increasing the story requires more cutscene and VFX work, additional post-recording, and new sounds which all have to get in just before the patch release. By doing a study of our workflow, we were able to set the scenario firmly earlier on, which allows us to produce more scenes and quite significantly change things from the way they were before.

We've completed the plot for the patch 3.X series already and we finish up the text for the scenario way ahead of time. After that, we spent a lot of time reviewing player feedback to decide on system adjustments to incorporate in patch 3.1. For example, previously it could be difficult to get a good idea of where all of your party members were on a map. So starting in 3.1, we'll be displaying the direction in which each of the party members is located at the border of the navigation map, and there are a lot of fine adjustments like this. There will be a lot of convenience updates. The patch notes reading might be tough compared to usual because there are so many system changes.

Are you already planning for the future?

Yoshida: Yeah. The roadmap is pretty much complete and I've already started working on the specifications for 3.2. I'm still getting 3.1 and 3.2 specs mixed up in my head right now (laughs).

Last time we spoke, you mentioned that you would be meeting with Visual Works by August to start working on 4.0. Has that happened yet?

Yoshida: Yeah. Actually we also had another meeting to start planning character content. We started breaking things down at that meeting and we've already began art production. We'll start working on animation soon, and we'll probably be ready for motion capture not long after that.

So parts of 4.0 production are already underway.

Yoshida: The cutting edge work has already started (laughs).


Considering new mechanisms for Alexander different from 3.0. How will it evolve?

First question about savage Alexander Gordias - will you be adjusting the difficulty?

Yoshida: We won't be changing anything in particular at patch 3.1 release.

Due to the high DPS requirements in savage, it takes a good balance of party members and requires high player skill - how do you feel about the balance right now?

Yoshida: As players earned more Esoterics equipment, we expected more players to get through the third area of savage. Although the number is certainly going up, it's not quite where we imagined it would be. Previously in the coils of Bahamut, you could have a good team of six and even if the other two people made some mistakes, you could still clear. However, because of the degree of difficulty with savage Alexander, every one of the eight players needs to be on point or you won't be able to clear, and I think that's really the challenge. Another part is that even if you're able to deal with the mechanics, you also need to be able to maintain your damage rotation at the same time, so there are cases where DPS drops too low to keep up.

In 2.X we got a lot of feedback from players asking for more difficult content, and so we made this content to meet those requests. This is difficult content where a fully equipped party is needed. However, since we also had the "normal" difficulty, there was a huge response.

Already people who never tried the raids before have cleared, and as of mid-October, more than half of all players have cleared it, so that's really good. Of course, we've heard all the feedback saying that while savage is too difficult, you want something in the middle. We've been discussing all of this in great detail among the development team as we work toward patch 3.2.

So you'll be implementing a medium difficulty in the future?

Yoshida: It's a tricky problem. We don't have the staff to make so many different levels of raid. We've been discussing whether it would be good to drop the difficulty of the savage version instead of making a medium difficulty. We also talked about perhaps having a six area structure instead of four, where the first two areas are relatively easy, the third and fourth are tougher, and the fifth and sixth are really difficult. However, with the current development period and the number of people on the raid development staff, I'm not sure if we can make that a reality.

Since the next Alexander will be added in 3.2, I also want to hear from players about it. We'll look at the feedback and of course we'll also look at the clear rate. There are many voices on the other side saying that they are happy with the difficulty and asking to leave it as is. It took a while for the world's first to clear this time, and there was a lot of excitement around when it happened. Once we determine the policy, we'll let you know, but I don't think it will remain the same as it is now.

So it will continue in a different direction from now.

Yoshida: That's right. If our resource allocation remains as it is now, we may do something like instead of lowering the difficulty of savage in general, make it so that just the fourth section is extremely tough and make it somewhat easier to get through the third part. That's not to say we've made any final decisions yet, but it's something that we thought would be good.

It seems like players have actually transferred to other worlds from some worlds where fewer players try to clear it.

Yoshida: I don't think it's good to have a situation where players feel they need to transfer worlds to find a party. It's great that people really want to clear it and are so passionate about the raid that they're willing to transfer worlds, but it's regretful that it has to come to that. I wonder whether or not we could have something like a "Raid Finder," it's not totally unlikely.

Would that be like a Duty Finder for raids that matches players across worlds?

Yoshida: Because of the way the Party Finder system is designed to recruit players across an entire world, it took about a year of development to implement. By having a "Raid Finder" separate from Party Finder, we'd have to set fine participation conditions, and it would be something that pulls people from within the same data center to participate in raids. It's really just something in my head at the moment, so I'm struggling with the details.

But basically it would be something that makes it easier to form a raid party.

Yoshida: Looking at something like savage, the first hurdle is getting a group of eight skilled players together. In that regard, I think that Party Finder recruitment would be more prevalent if the difficulty was lower. Even if we add something like a "Raid Finder," when difficulty drops, Party Finder recruitment would go up and the matching rates would go down, so we need to make decisions looking at the big picture. We're thinking about a variety of options and trying to figure out which way to go. And we've already started work on production of the raid in parallel. To make something like this, it will take about six months.

Can you comment on the next bosses for Alexander yet?

Yoshida: That's not going to happen (laughs).

Regarding job balance in savage, it's been said that Dark Knight and Warrior are the most advantageous. Are you planning any Paladin adjustments for the third tank job?

Yoshida: We'll be making some fine-tuning adjustments to certain Paladin actions, but it won't be in the direction of strengthening their DPS.

So what kind of direction will it be moving in?

Yoshida: Things such as TP depletion, etc. The best characteristics about Paladin where it excels compared to the other tanks are its defensive ability and easiness to handle. If we also allow it to put out higher DPS, the job performance would be too high and we feel that it would break the balance to make any significant strength changes. As we've said, the advantages or disadvantages are relative to the content, so we carefully considered adjustments but we don't want to make them focusing exclusively on savage Alexander.

Have you been looking into the less effective new skills like Clemency?

Yoshida: Yes, with Divine Veil as well we feel that they aren't quite as effective, so please stay tuned with future content.

Can you comment about the inability to add more VIT to accessories for PLD?

Yoshida: We'll be changing the materia specifications for crafted accessories in 3.2. While non-accessories on the left side are already at max stats, it required melds on accessories to reach the maximum since accessories only have one main parameter. We plan to make changes to this.

Instead of being able to do forbidden melds with the main parameters STR / VIT / DEX / INT / MND / PIE, we'll be raising the base performance of crafted equipment higher than before. The secondary parameters will stay as usual, so the forbidden melds can be used to increase the amount of secondary parameters.

With the current progression, crafted accessories in subsequent patches with forbidden melds are incorrectly becoming the strongest pieces. This caused a number of problems. Players would go through great pains to clear a difficult raid and obtain equipment which has weaker performance than items they already had. Tanks would specifically feel the need to perform forbidden melds more than any other job, which also created situations where their performance was relatively higher than other jobs. When we change the specifications simultaneously with adding the new raid, we'll continue to add new accessories. The performance of these will be higher than before with their main parameters, and you'll be able to work on progressing through the raid early by adding secondary parameters.

So the accessories that drop from the raid will be the strongest ones.

Yoshida: It will be like that. With this change in specifications, the value of materia will change. Since raid drop and Allagan tomestone equipment will also have materia slots in 3.2, we're working on some major adjustments to the stats. We're thinking about increasing the value of materia right now. Since we'll be changing this so much in 3.2, there will not be any new accessories implemented in 3.1. If we added them now, they would be the strongest at the start of 3.2, so we want to avoid that and have time to discuss this and come to a conclusion.


Seal Rock will remain as is. Balance adjustments coming with "Wolves' Den II"

Let's talk a bit about Frontline in Seal Rock. Right now summoner is very strong and the number of participants has increased, how do you feel about the current balance?

Yoshida: I'm a bit concerned about this, but like with the raid, there won't really be any changed made in patch 3.1. We have had a lot of reports come in from people doing Seal Rock. Their burst damage certainly is large and easier to perform than on other jobs, so we're looking at the situation.

So it will remain as is for patch 3.1?

Yoshida: Yeah. We could do something like change recast timers, but our intent is to avoid any large discrepancies between PvE and PvP rules. Even if we did extend the recast time during PvP, it wouldn't change much, just things that you could do once every 30 seconds would only be once every 60 seconds, for example, and it wouldn't really fix the problem.

Since casters have the ability to use Sprint, could you make Sprint MP-dependent to even the playing field?

Yoshida: Certainly it's very handy on summoner. However, an equally skilled melee player can also be quite strong. This is something else we discussed. Since summoner burst damage has become a habit, there are also a lot of people who will run in to bait it. Willingness and ease of playing Seal Rock is a major factor in players participating, so if we start depriving certain things, there will be less players participating. We decided to leave the current situation as is until it gets to the point where we feel it's totally necessary to suppress it.

As a melee, if I see that I'm matched against a bunch of summoners, I think to myself "great!" (laughs)

Yoshida: Good melee DPS are really strong, so there's peace of mind in that (laughs).

Indeed, there are many melee DPS who will have at least 10 kills.

Yoshida: Yeah, and as you kill more opponents, including with the LB, melee just get stronger and stronger and a skillful person can be pretty extraordinary. So if we just weaken summoners in PvP they would feel too much change in PvE. Perhaps eventually...

So there won't be any adjustments to Frontline in 3.1.

Yoshida: Right now we're working on Wolves' Den II and we'll be making balance adjustments there. We've been talking about this for three weeks so far, but since there's a high likelihood that we'll be changing up the current situation with Wolves' Den II, we decided to leave things as is for now. There's been a lot of talk about the risk to pets, so you might see things in that direction in the future with Wolves' Den II.

---(End part 1 of 2)---



The Knights of the Round primal battle will be challenging but fun

Next, I'd like to ask about some of the content to be implemented in 3.1. First, there will be the new Void Ark raid content set on a ghost ship with what looks like a lot of sea creature type monsters that we saw in the trailer. What's the basis of the setting for this?

Yoshida: It's basically set in the Sea of Clouds area in the skies of 3.0. So on the exterior of the ship you'll battle enemies that you might see around the Sea of Clouds. Once you land on the deck of the Void Ark, you'll begin to be attacked by monsters which swim in the Sea of Clouds.

For the basis of the scenario, the ship was built during the Fifth Astral Era to protect the people from the Calamity, but there is something wrong with its power. It will start with taking to the skies to claim the treasure from this wandering ship of the Fifth Astral Era, but the story will quickly become more serious.

Will it be three parts once again?

Yoshida: That's the current plan. With Crystal Tower, there was the Labyrinth of the Ancients, Syrcus Tower, and World of Darkness as you gradually went to the top. For the so-called Void Ark series, we're just calling it that for now, but we'll be defining a different name fot the series. The exploration of the Void Ark will end, and the next scenario will begin with a new incident that occurs after the Void Ark was cleared and take place in a different region.

Might you be going to the location that you can see floating in the distance in The Churning Mists?

Yoshida: You might guess that (laughs). This time, the mysteries will be in the Void Ark, and the next raid will follow on from that mystery.

Cait Sith appeared in the trailer - what will their role be?

Yoshida: He won't be there from the beginning but you should watch for his appearance. He is the character who knows the real truth behind the Void Ark, so please pay attention to his words and actions.

From watching the trailer, it seemed like there would be a number of new difficult mechanics to deal with, so how difficult will it be?

Yoshida: It won't be much different from the World of Darkness. World of Darkness was a finale, but we also wanted to increase the level of difficulty a bit in response to player feedback that it would be better to have a bit more tension and be afrait of wiping. We think that's just the right level of challenge. You might wipe at first before you know what to do, but it should be relatively easy once you understand the battles. That assumption for the difficulty is the same this this time around.

What item level will be required to enter?

Yoshida: It won't be that high. You'll be fine if you're geared with Law equipment (~IL170).

What item level equipment can you earn there?

Yoshida: Please wait until the patch notes are published to find out. That said, I think they will be very useful items for alternate jobs that are leveled up.

Will you only be able to receive the item to strengthen Esoterics accessories at first?

Yoshida: The accessory and equipment upgrade items can be obtained by exchanging Ancient Coins. Upon clearing Void Ark, you'll obtain Ancient Coins directly, not from the treasure box, and those can then be exchanged for the upgrade materials.

Next, let's talk about exploration in The Diadem. Will there be a different starting point for those who have spent time on airship voyages adn those who have not?

Yoshida: First of all, you can participate in the content either with Free Company airships or those from House Haillenarte in Ishgard, only the available difficulties will be different. You can only choose the "hard" difficulty when you go with a FC. For those who don't belong to a FC but still want to try "hard," you can use Party Finder to look for a group. I think FCs will be using Party Finder to fill in gaps that they are missing when they decide to go, and I'd be happy to see people teaming up to do the content and make new friends along the way, possibly those who want to join the FC.

When you travel to The Diadem from a FC, eight people per ship can travel on up to three ships with 24 people total to explore the same island at the same time. However, on hard difficulty, you cannot set a destination to an island that you haven't previously charted with airship voyages. Even if you only work on raising your airship rank and doing airship voyages after 3.1's release, you should be able to explore islands on hard relatively soon. As you discover more, you'll be able to go to them at any time.

So if you want to do hard with your FC, you'll first need to develop your airship with voyages?

Yoshida: It will be like that. It will be easier to get good treasure boxes on hard. But on the other hand, the enemies will be strong, so if your party is not very strong and takes too much time to kill monsters or wipes along the way, your efficiency will go down. In that case, it would be better to try the normal or easy modes and kill more monsters consecutively, so it will be important to think about that.

Is the huge dinosaur from the trailer one of the hard monsters?

Yoshida: He only appears under certain conditions, so...

It's a rare monster?

Yoshida: The opportunity to fight it won't be all that low, but categorically it would be considered rare. Instead of dropping unique powerful items, it will have a higher than normal probability to drop a good treasure box. This isn't the kind of thing that people will be hunting and waiting for pops.

With the addition of item level 210 equipment here, will the need to really work hard on beating savage Alexander be eliminated?

Yoshida: I think that depends on your perspective. If you're OK with the probability and luck elements involved with lotting and randomness, it might seem very good to you. For those of you who don't have time for that and just want to get the items quickly, maybe savage is more your style.

Will it be hard to get drops?

Yoshida: Whether you get item level 210 gear or not is up to luck. Since it's just probability, you might leave empty handed on your first visit. However, since it will be Greed lotting, you may win things that don't suit your main job. In addition, even if you get item level 210 gear, you may have a poor selection of secondary parameters. You might be a melee DPS that gets stuck with spell speed. However, a minimum performance is guaranteed, for example, for melee DPS, the STR and VIT values are guaranteed. Beyond that, it will be random each time.

So you might feel quite lucky to get something.

Yoshida: Well, no, you'll see items fairly often. Since it would feel pointless if there weren't a good amount of drops, we're working on adjusting that until the last minute.

How is the difficulty of the new instanced dungeons? At the time of the 2.0 series, Pharos Sirius was a big jump in difficulty from the original Wanderer's Palace and Amdapor Keep dungeons.

Yoshida: It won't be like that, but they will be a little more difficult than Fractal Continuum or Neverreap. The assumption is that players have gotten their item levels up, so if your item level is high you'll still be able to get through them quickly. The role for instanced dungeons that we have in mind is that you can reliably get a reward from doing them once a day and then you can do whatever other content you prefer.

Will you be adding experience points to the existing level 50 instanced dungeons?

Yoshida: We will be. We'll also be increasing the experience value of dungeons on the Heavensward side to make leveling up easier. For players with less playtime, I think leveling has become more painful, so we've done some overall adjustments.

How is the difficulty of the extreme Knights of the Round primal battle?

Yoshida: It's quite tough.

What about compared to the hard Ultima Weapon fight?

Yoshida: It's tough to compare, but Knights of the Round is more difficult. At the beginning, we decide to position it somewhere between savage and normal. We didn't want to make it any more difficult than the third area of savage Alexander as we wanted players to stay motived to clear it and that would have been too difficult. There are many players who are fine with the first part of savage right now but find the third area to be too difficult. For these players, you'll get good weapons from extreme Knights of the Round which may help you get through the third and fourth parts of savage Alexander.

So it's tougher than extreme Ravana?

Yoshida: It is. Since there are 10 phases, I think players will need to work on clearing it one phase at a time.

That's likely to get a lot of response.

Yoshida: I think it'll prove to be really entertaining. Like the original Knights of the Round, this is kind of a culmination of all of the mechanics from the 2.0 series raids and extreme primals where players can enjoy learning and dealing with the mechanics in a lower pressure situation with DPS checks that aren't as strict.


The Anima Weapon and Endalim Scholasticate quests will be added in 3.15

You haven't talked much about the new Zodiac weapons so far, is there anything new you can tell us?

Yoshida: They'll be called "Anima Weapons" and the start of them will be in 3.15.

So it'll be the next patch. Will there be an advantage to players who have completed Zeta before?

Yoshida: If you have a Zeta, you can exchange the Zeta to skip the entire first stage. Since the new jobs don't have original Zodiac Weapons and many players switched jobs in 3.0, you'll be able to exchange any Zeta to skip the first stage on your favorite job. And for someone who has seven Zetas, they can skip the first step on their seven favorite jobs (laughs).

Is the first step very ?

Yoshida: It's pretty tough. It will be good to be able to bypass it. That said, even though we'll be making it easier to create a Zodiac Weapon in 3.1, it will still be more work to make a Zodiac Weapon Zeta than to start an Anima Weapon from scratch. However, for those who are already close to completing a Zeta, it will be good to finish it off when 3.1 hits.

Will Gerolt be involved?

Yoshida: Even though he's just a commoner, Gerolt is a master craftsman of arms, and he developed into a good character. He's not involved in cutscenes like Hildibrand, but he's one that people have come to like. We've talked about bringing him forward, so you can look forward to that in the future. Similarly, Rowena will continue to be involved in updates as she exchanges items for tomestones.

Will you have something like atma collection for the Anima weapons?

Yoshida: Hmm, I wonder... We want this to be long-lasting content, but we paid attention to make sure it wouldn't burn people out.

Can you talk about the Endalim Scholasticate quests?

Yoshida: This will be a new series of side quests beginning in 3.15. It's not a Hildibrand series. School stories are involved with a lot of the FF games, so you can expect that kind of drama.

Will the Warriors of Light enroll to become students like in Dragon Quest X?

Yoshida: It won't be like that. The students will play a role in the story.

Will there be a wide variety of school students for humor?

Yoshida: No, it's not intended to be a gag.

It's not a gag?

Yoshida: We have that handled separately (laughs).

Where's that guy in charge of gags now?

Yoshida: Well, he's probably stuck somewhere in a floating island...

So what kind of story will the Endalim Scholasticate be?

Yoshida: It will be more of a growth and maturation story.

Do you expect the story to be refreshing?

Yoshida: Please check it out when you play it.

Will there be any new quests for the Doman Adventurers' Guild?

Yoshida: They're taking some time off.

Will they be back in 3.2?

Yoshida: The person in charge of those quests is actually not on the scenario team. The lead staff for the quest team said they will get working on it as soon as they have time available but thank you for your encouragement (laughs).

Will the Mi'qote children in Idyllshire be involved in anything in the future?

Yoshida: The development team is planning something that they are involved with. The specifications for it were sloppy though, so I was a bit frustrated.

Will it be added later on?

Yoshida: If the specifications look fun... it will be after Idyllshire has evolved.

Will it be changing in 3.1?

Yoshida: It will.


[[There's some more about Playstation VR and whatnot but I don't have time to translate the rest and it doesn't have anything to do with 3.1 or even FFXIV in general as the VR thing was just a demo.]]

Added the rest of the translation. I didn't bother with the Playstation VR part because I don't have time right now but that was just a demo anyway so it has nothing to do with 3.1.