Special Dev-Team Interview (Game Watch)

[Tekki]

Was an awesome read for lunch break. Thanks!

[vagus]

Great interview, GJ dude.

Can't wait for MMM and the bst patch! /sigh. Gonna have to work on WoTG missions for the new event that is planned. -.-'

[Araelus]

This kind of thing is delicious - thank you Elmer!

Regarding the wealth of content, I think it makes sense the dev team is more comfortable speaking to people in their native language at length and candidly. When I was waiting for my plane, I got to speak with Mitsutoshi Gondai and Kumi Tanioka, but only because one of their friends was bi-lingual and could translate for us. It was difficult to convey any kind of complicated information.

[Sanjiyan]

If they give DRG a proper spike damage WS suitable for HNMs, they better do something about MNK too because footwork sure as heck didn't do anything for them. MNK and NINs are arguably the bottom of the barrel when it comes to HNM stuff these days. I mean, at least THF has TH-whoring, and NIN *can* tank HNMs (though it's more rare now). What can MNK do? Go back to chi blasting like it's 2005?

Oh and FUCKING FIX RNGs YOU RETARDS. Either that or just outright say "we don't care about RNGs" and remove the job from the game.

[Katlan]

Thanks for the info Elmer, was a very interesting read [even for somebody who doesn't play FFXI much anymore]

[Alistaire]

Uh lol...4k/hours is "too many"? Come on...

Exactly. The other half of that comment revolved around not skilling up, which should be the part fixed. And the penalties to xp for low level characters is way too harsh.

[The Stig]

Wow Sundi looks quite buff/big, first time i've noticed, or is it because he's standing a bit more in front.

Also, why does Sundi (since Fanfest 2008) look so out of place in every pic? It seems he was slotted in last moment and while everyone just seems to be quite natural. There just doesn't seem to be room for him.

[Ophannus]

If they give DRG a proper spike damage WS suitable for HNMs, they better do something about MNK too because footwork sure as heck didn't do anything for them. MNK and NINs are arguably the bottom of the barrel when it comes to HNM stuff these days

Footwork+Dragon Kick/Howling Fist still does 700-1k~ on HNMs, whilst DRG ws do 300-500 on HNMs unless with a bard and/or thf sub

[Sanjiyan]

Footwork+Dragon Kick+300%TP+12 boosts still does 700-1k~ on HNMs and only takes like 10 minutes to prepare, whilst DRG ws do 300-500 on HNMs probably every 1-2 minutes

Fixed.
I don't disagree that DRG should get a good WS, but that doesn't automatically preclude that MNK needs something too.

[Datonare]

Maybe I missed some info. given out at fanfest, but from what I read from this interview, your custom dungeon can only be done once a real day? I suppose that's fine, but surely there must be a "test dungeon" option, so that you can see how adding a new rune affects it without having to waste a day.

[SephYuyX]

a "test dungeon" option, so that you can see how adding a new rune affects it without having to waste a day.

Youre funny.

[Dimmauk]

Uh Oh! Time to Unlock DRG now!

[Skeelo]

that drg news makes me very happy, im sick of going sam and pld to everything hopefully this will give me a reason not to. My wife has smn to 75 so would like to see some new ones come out so will give me something to mess with if im bored of galka and want some taru action.

[Ninjiz]

This is what they SHOULD have given us at Fanfest.

Because 90% of the time its all in how you ASK the question. Most of the time people will only give up enough info to answer your question. And sometimes you can ask the same question in two different ways, and get two different asnwers.

Case in point the avergae NA interiewer will ask "Xyz job has problems in a party, what are your plans to address this?". SE will reply "we have some plans in the future" (then implement something that doesnt really help) or "no plans at this time".
Then a diff interviewer will ask "XYZ job has X, Y and Z problem in a party, can you please implement X, Y, and Z to fix this?" You basicly set them up to answer in a better way. And you might even hear "that is a godo idea, ill take that back to so and so, and see what they think" or "we will take that into consideration". Second question is just way more detailed, and even offers a suggestion. First question is just to vauge. The interviewer here even followed up with more questions based on a answer about a particular thing. For example the follow up questions about Dancer.

Plus most NA groups are hell bent on wasting time, asking stupid questions about cheese sandwhiches, bee mages, controller use statistics, and asking SE about the dead horse of AV, PW, and King camps. When those have been asked about to death, and SE has made it clear they have no intention of addressing it opening and directly. So ask something else!

This interview is one of the best and most detailed ive ever see.

[Knightfell]

Elmer

Thanks for all the work you put into bringing us these articles, its always a treat as sadly it seems that Jpn interviews skew toward being much more in depth then our NA/EU counterparts.



<3

[Thalandor46]

I can't wrap my head around melee white mage at all. Seems like the worst possible answer to the WHM MP problem. Imagine this in a Mire party. WHM needs MP, go melee! Oh wait, now he's silenced and can't cure anyone. Oh wait, now firaga killed him. The later might be an extreme case, but the point is that back line jobs are back line for a reason. I don't think they could possibly make this work.

[Apelila]

I'm I the only one slightly annoyed that the people who the fanfest was for (NA) got none/little of this information up front?

Nothing against the JP, It'd be the same if say EU did this interview. It just seems like 'hey guys, here's your information, sorry we came so quick' and then an hour later they're giving it out hot and heavy to someone else.

[Wakabo]

Thank you very much Elmer :3
I can't wait to see what the new avatar will be. Also with the "too much" exp from campaign battle is a little stupid :/

[Kaylia]

Imagine this in a Mire party

They arent taking anything away from WHM, it's not like they would have to melee those imps.

Give them a "en-spell" that have high chance to interupt any spells for example, and I could imagine WHM meleeing quite a few spell caster.

[Gwynplaine]

It sounds like they have finished the hard work of implementing the big features, and now they can move on to add additions and other content. Tanaka used the term "add-on" instead of expansion. I think that gives a better impression of what they are. Having them released in full to complete all at once sounds like a nice change from being limited update by update. Hopefully the story will be about the length of 1 of the longer chapters of CoP.

I don't understand what they're smoking encouraging mages to melee. In order to actually accomplish that and overcome the stigma it would take something big. It seems like too much effort for such little pay-off. And really, for what? So a mage can run up and poke the mob every few minutes? The RDM change is obviously the 2nd tier enspells, no reason to be coy there.

Is Nyzul crowding really that bad? In my experience there are usually 4-5 groups gathered at the entrance, but it hasn't affected me. I've never had to wait more than a few minutes to enter. Having more Nyzul content sounds cool, I just hope they don't delay it for such a reason.

And the one maze encounter per day limit shouldn't be a big deal. FoV is only once per day too, but by the time you finish one run the day will likely already have passed anyways. Glad the Chocobo Racing guy wasn't in charge or it'd be once every earth day