Milkman 1up Interview 5/22/09

[Wolfknight]

Too bad Beast Slayer is the only one worth half a sandwich.

I'd argue koggelmander was put in aimed/designed towards blue mage though, not blue mage only.

[Knightfell]

Spoiler: show

I have to second the "wtf?!?" at the ACP storyline, it always bugged the hell out of me that we couldn't reunite Aldo and his sister, like through a "hidden" cutscene activated after completing certain pre reqs. Then to hear that even in the storyline meant to bring closure it still didn't happen? Lame

Edited for snark and off topic-ness

[Freijah]

tl;dr edition; "The development team are looking into [it] and we will bring you news as soon as it happens! Keep enjoying the wonders of Vana'diel, everyone!.

[Not Kuno]

All you guys need is the bg interview generator. D:

[Antithesis]

Like Xavier said, it is a slight step-up from previous "I dont know" interviews but only slightly as the interview was pretty meager with information. However, i'm not going to go out and say that this is entirely Milkman's fault because SE usually only ever does these simple interviews and usually refuses to do any large, informative interviews. For anyone who needs a reference as to what type of interview they wont do, go look at the thread where Bercus' interview got rejected because SE would not answer 22 out of 30 questions or something.

[Auspice]

Incoming shitstorm:

I guess they only do the "good" and in depth interviews with the JP publications. Kudos to Elmer for translating for those of us who don't know moonspeak.

[Fawkes]

1UP: Why can't players obtain all three armors at once? Was it just to keep things consistent with other rewards, like Rajas Rings?

KO: That's exactly correct. Our goal was to further inconvenience as many players as possible so that no one can truly enjoy the 'multiple job' aspect of FFXI.

.

[Gergall]

I think you guys have overlooked the best part of the interview:

1UP: These three add-ons have allowed you to expand on scenarios only briefly hinted at in the past. Could give us an example of another scenario in another expansion that you would love to do the same thing to?

MK: To tell you the truth, there are just so many constraints to writing add-on scenarios for this game that I don't think I'll be doing any more -- I could see myself getting into some epic battles with the dev team if that happened!

The individual responsible for ACP will be gone after these next two add-ons, at least in his own estimation.

In my opinion that is fantastic news.

[Kaylia]

I think you guys have overlooked the best part of the interview:



The individual responsible for ACP will be gone after these next two add-ons, at least in his own estimation.

In my opinion that is fantastic news.

Wtf. Did you read the whole line. I don't see how it's a "fantastic news"

MK: To tell you the truth, there are just so many constraints to writing add-on scenarios for this game that I don't think I'll be doing any more -- I could see myself getting into some epic battles with the dev team if that happened!

Translate into: I had an epic story to tell, but they forced me to have a non-ending because nothing could be changed in the end, and I didn't have access to an artist team to allow me to use new characters, monsters, ares and the like.

[Auspice]

Exactly how I read it too Kaylia. :/

[tyraravenlocke]

Like Xavier said, it is a slight step-up from previous "I dont know" interviews but only slightly as the interview was pretty meager with information. However, i'm not going to go out and say that this is entirely Milkman's fault because SE usually only ever does these simple interviews and usually refuses to do any large, informative interviews. For anyone who needs a reference as to what type of interview they wont do, go look at the thread where Bercus' interview got rejected because SE would not answer 22 out of 30 questions or something.

Your sig is mesmerizing.

/sigh boobs /yay boobs

[Kerberoz]

Eh, even with "constraints" the story still sucked ass. Beginning, middle, and end. It was a fanfiction written by a junior high student with asperger's.

Serpent Generals quests were included in the normal version updates and 10x more entertaining. They could have just added 2 pushover bcnms and rewards to that and called it a scenario.

[Redshift]

1UP: When are the Iron Ram and Cobar Unit bodies going to be added to the game? Our Campaign sets are incomplete!

KO: Our profuse apologies for having kept our fans waiting. We suspect that the final pieces of these sets may make an appearance when new Campaign ranks and further Campaign areas are added.



Most useless answer.

[Gergall]

Wtf. Did you read the whole line. I don't see how it's a "fantastic news"



Translate into: I had an epic story to tell, but they forced me to have a non-ending because nothing could be changed in the end, and I didn't have access to an artist team to allow me to use new characters, monsters, ares and the like.

The constraints are no excuse for the non-ending (I like that word btw).

[Plow]

SE is still trying to get it through their heads that the amazing adventure, superb story, and massive dedication levels required for CoP were not the problem.


Honestly, if CoP came out right now, as it originally was, but with all the new level sync and gear sync stuff, I firmly believe it would be considered far and away the best MMO expansion in any game ever.


However, since they refuse to put us in direct contact, the devs seem to have this idea that we want easy ass, short, uncapped content simply because CoP took WAY the fuck too long *only* once you factor in the days, weeks, months to get people with jobs the right levels and space for gear willing to put in the time to do it.


Seriously, at this point I'd love to see a full game done by the CoP guys, or even what ToAU could've been with them at the helm, now that they've figured out how to eliminate as much as possible of the "fuck this we're never going to find people" shit.

[Byrthnoth]

Okay, so they told us no more expansions because they were releasing mini-expansions, and now they're probably saying no more mini-expansions.

They told us the Campaign Bodies would be released when they added more campaign ranks. That piece of information was invaluable and entirely unpredictable from past campaign gear releases. OH WAIT, THAT'S HOW ALL THE OTHER ARMOR HAS BEEN RELEASED!

They said that WotG missions were only half over. Everyone do me a favor and look at the release date on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_o...ess#Expansions
Yeah, that's right. Late November, 2007. A year and a half ago. At the rate they're going, we can look for WotG to finish literally in late 2010. I bet some people have well over a million AN before they finish the WotG missions.

They confirmed the SE Community Account is going to be used in Rapture, which means it's likely the Security Token will too. That makes us all beta testers who pay for the right! :D

Aaaaaaand for some reason Milkman wants DNC and PUP specific weapons instead of, say, access to Blau Dolch and Destroyers for the jobs.


Sorry, I'm bitter tonight. I just call it like I see it though!

[Plow]

Okay, so they told us no more expansions because they were releasing mini-expansions, and now they're probably saying no more mini-expansions.

Yeah, I'm guessing in about 2 years they'll just have an npc you can go to and pay $10 for your choice of one out of 3 belts, then a couple months later capes, then necks, etc.

Then another $1 to trade it in for one of the other choices.

They told us the Campaign Bodies would be released when they added more campaign ranks. That piece of information was invaluable and entirely unpredictable from past campaign gear releases. OH WAIT, THAT'S HOW ALL THE OTHER ARMOR HAS BEEN RELEASED!

Oh, sorry, what he meant was June 22 and 9:03 am JP time. Seriously though, at least it sounds like he was saying next WotG update...

I mean, fuck, at least his response wasn't "You'll be receive one of the 4 bodies as the final reward for WotG, and will be able to exchange it for another by changing to the proper nation, spending 100k AN on a "reset" item and redoing the last 5 missions."

They said that WotG missions were only half over. Everyone do me a favor and look at the release date on this page:
Final Fantasy XI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yeah, that's right. Late November, 2007. A year and a half ago. At the rate they're going, we can look for WotG to finish literally in late 2010. I bet some people have well over a million AN before they finish the WotG missions.

Doesn't that put it right about on par with all the other expansions?

I mean, theoretically Zilart "finished" just about of 4 years after it came out.

They confirmed the SE Community Account is going to be used in Rapture, which means it's likely the Security Token will too. That makes us all beta testers who pay for the right! :D

Uh... oooook.

Aaaaaaand for some reason Milkman wants DNC and PUP specific weapons instead of, say, access to Blau Dolch and Destroyers for the jobs.

Because, you know, Blau would be entirely game changing for dnc. I mean, they'd get like what, 3% more damage than their best non-mythic weapon now? Yee... haw...

I'm guessing he was thinking more along the lines of game-changers a la ridill, which are absolutely not needed for blu, but they seem to be working on trying to come up with one anyway.

[Zilong]

Fuck Masato Kato...

What the fuck happened man? YOU WROTE CT AND XG

[Byrthnoth]

They finished CoP 7 months after they released it (barring their RotZ/CoP tie-up with Baha v1 and Apoc Nigh,) and it was so large and difficult at the time that the average player was still stuck on the first few missions when they did so. I don't know about you, but I got WotG access and nearly finished the currently released content within a week, mostly solo. I think I'm currently waiting to do the Battle of Jueno on both the Sandy and Windurstian storylines. Bastok is the only one I haven't bothered to do much of (except for the Adaman Ingot) because srsly fuck Galkas.

SE needs to pay mission designers more and cutscene designers less. I approve of the story, but running from 15 minute CS to 15 minute CS makes me feel like I'm playing Xenosaga again. I also don't think the solution is tedium (a la Goblin Salad). Imop the Aqueducts in CoP were a good example of a mission that's challenging, your party has to have its shit moderately together, yet it doesn't really rely on luck or mindless farming at all.


Blau is almost 6% better DPS than DNC's best options not even considering its Acc and Atk. I'm not entirely sure about this, but I'm assuming that at 75 good DNCs don't exactly hold TP?

[Panthera]

Too bad Beast Slayer is the only one worth half a sandwich.

Koggelmander.