Dengeki Games Interview

[dejet]

need FF14...

thanks again, as everyone else said.

[Cairthenn]

As always, thanks for the translation Elmer.

Seamless world?? Fuck yes man. I cannot wait for this game. ><;

It's already been stated many times that there will be a mostly (but not completely) seamless world.

Thanks for the translation. :D

[Malacite]

Yeah as I recall there will still be zoning, but a zone in 14 is the equivalent to a Region in XI in size, which is good enough IMO (makes you wonder how many zones there will be then o. O; )


The swapping question is a very good one. Personally, I think you will have a base HP & MP value since there are no job levels, only skills and our attributes rise according to how we play similar to FF2 (though hopefully nowhere near as grueling)

For instance they revealed that a mage could wear full plate if their STR rating was sufficient. This would also go a long ways towards easing multi-classing (which was a bitch in some cases in XI like DRG/mage since you only had SJ MP which often wasn't very much)

Therefor, I would imagine that our primary stats are more or less permanent with various bonuses/penalties applied when you swap classes. In other words, you'll always have an MP value even as say a Gladiator, you'll just have more of it as a mage class so if you swap from melee to mage it will probably just apply the class modifiers on top of your current HP/MP.

What I'm curious about (though it's probably a yes) is if we lose TP when class changing. What if TP can be applied to crafting somehow? Now I'll admit that's a hell of a stretch given they've stated you can level a craft without ever having to fight but it sure would make things interesting.

Personally though, I loved the Summons comment. It sounds like SMN might be coming back to it's former, offline glory but this time players will have to really work for that power (which I'm totally down with. Epic story + cool summons? Booya!)

[arus2001]

I get more of the feeling that earning a summon's favor will unlock various classes specific to the summon. Either way, while XI's SMNs weren't implemented terribly well, I'd also call it a step backward for the job concept if they go back to basically being a BLM with fancy spell animations.

[Khamsin]

Ｑ：Are there times when you have to light your way through a dungeon?
Ａ：There are places that will be very dark, but at this time we are considering the need for any torches or illumination magic.

I'm not a fan of having to light up dark areas. Seems like an annoyance to me, so I hope when they say they are "considering" the need for torches, they mean they'll dismiss it out of hand like other things they "consider".

[Kirbyprime]

extremely pointless speculation, but being dark in a dungeon and needing torches / illumination magic could also be used as another aggro / non-aggro method (e.g. mob hates light / afraid of light)

Anyways, thanks for the translation!

[Kaluuki]

Ｑ：Will the servers be named after summons like in FFXI?
Ａ：There's no doubt we'll use names familiar to any FF fan, but the scheme will be a little different than FFXI.

how much you wanna bet it's going to be FF characters? I can already tell you the Sephiroth and Cloud servers will be the most idiot-abundant, if that's the case.

lawl.

[LD]

I'm not a fan of having to light up dark areas. Seems like an annoyance to me, so I hope when they say they are "considering" the need for torches, they mean they'll dismiss it out of hand like other things they "consider".

It might not be so bad if the item A: doesn't interfere with normal equipment and/or B: adds some stats while it's out (also C: isn't a consumable or the fuel it uses lasts a long time). Twilight Princess always pissed me off a bit with having to equip the lamp and take the spot of something else. You could get around it, but it was annoying.

Hell, the tech is a bit higher in 14. We might get miner's hats with flashlights on the brim. Hm..A lamp would be better though, multi-directional.


I'm gunna be on Red XIII, son. Maybe Auron.

[Gulkeeva]

I'm not a fan of having to light up dark areas. Seems like an annoyance to me, so I hope when they say they are "considering" the need for torches, they mean they'll dismiss it out of hand like other things they "consider".

yeah would suck to turn on a torch and notice your in the middle of 50 mobs which all turn at you soon as you light the area... O_o

[Jynx]

yeah would suck to turn on a torch and notice your in the middle of 50 mobs which all turn at you soon as you light the area... O_o

But where would hillarity ensue then, if not from some poor soul being ganked by 50 dark lurking fiends while the rest of his part waits for him at the other side of the tunnle.

[Kowai]

Bah, I don't know how to upload an image.. but remember on the official website, under the disciplines they have images of some gear/weapons? There is the Lantern Shield.. >.>

I also think it would be pretty epic if say you were wandering in a seemingly empty cave, all of a sudden your torch goes out and on your radar you start seeing a shit ton of red dots (or on screen, glaring eyes) just surrounding you.

[Correction]

Torches/Lanterns were an uncreative hack when they were part of Zork I. People asking for them may as well ask for cheese sandwiches and gobbie bag quests.

[LD]

I don't think anyone is asking for them, just discussing their implementation. I think it would only be worth implementing if there were an advantage that could be gained from having a lantern AND being in near-complete darkness. If its just a mechanic to see in dark places, or even to keep monsters away, it's kinda pointless. If it's just to see, it might be nice for people who like a bit of atmosphere, but on the whole it would just be an unnecessary handicap. If it keeps light-sensitive monsters away, that'd be kinda interesting, but it could be replaced with MGS-type stuff from the last game. ..Though frankly, it always kinda bugged me how you could walk through a mob and it not notice you because of a spell; just because you can't be seen and don't make a sound doesn't mean it shouldn't feel you. Just a pet peeve though.

....Also, most of this was in something like 2 weeks ago, wasn't it?

[Boom]

Would Miqo'te Keepers of the Moon require these hypothetical torches?

[Correction]

Strictly from a design standpoint, they represent a tax on movement through a dungeon. It's functionally identical to silent oil/prism powder. I can't imagine anybody loved having to eat those inventory slots just to do something as elementary as move across a zone. Needing a token/torch/rubbing parchment/magical eye to interact with an object in a dungeon? Fine, that's all valid gameplay for the field. But for simply traversing point a to point b? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[Elmer the Pointy]

I'm not a fan of having to light up dark areas. Seems like an annoyance to me, so I hope when they say they are "considering" the need for torches, they mean they'll dismiss it out of hand like other things they "consider".

:O
Actually that's a typo, there should be a "not" in there.

No torches or illumination magic!

[Vacht]

There's no such thing as PS2 limitations remember? It was all a lie that SE uses to avoid making new things

But yeah that's why they went with zoning and minimal envrionment interaction, it seems now that they're building PC > Console (with said console(s) being able to handle a lot more than the PS2 could) they can really get their design juices flowing.

As for the HP/MP thing, this is the perfect reason why there will and should be those who decide to play only one class, e.g being a specialist as whatever they're gonna call WHM, Devout? Cleric? Acolyte? Compared to someone who mostly focused on Lancer and switched off to their healing class, but they pretty much said curative magic will plentiful while still in tiers like it was in FFXI for the most part and like how in most MMOs most jobs/classes has a way to heal themselves but never as good as someone who specializes in it.

oy...

[LD]

Strictly from a design standpoint, they represent a tax on movement through a dungeon. It's functionally identical to silent oil/prism powder. I can't imagine anybody loved having to eat those inventory slots just to do something as elementary as move across a zone. Needing a token/torch/rubbing parchment/magical eye to interact with an object in a dungeon? Fine, that's all valid gameplay for the field. But for simply traversing point a to point b? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Gunna preface this by saying I already know Elmer made the typo, I'm just bored.

Well, you seem to be more against the necessity of it rather than the mechanic itself. Am I wrong? In that, I agree. Keeping s/i up for the entirety of a dungeon was much more frustrating than engaging. It'd be stupid if they just ignored you, but you had to reapply the spells every few minutes, that broke the flow of the game. Avoiding monsters could have been done in a much more entertaining and fluid way (like Rogue's Distract in WoW). If a game were more like Diablo and you were expected to plow through everything you encounter, using MGS only once in a while would be a less egregious use of such a mechanic. It would be a product of your failure (or whatever) instead of just another hoop you have to jump through.

If you're saying that monster avoidance doesn't mix well with MMOs (outside of a class specific ability), I don't think it can't, it just hasn't.

[Dead Phoenix]

Torches/Lanterns were an uncreative hack when they were part of Zork I. People asking for them may as well ask for cheese sandwiches and gobbie bag quests.

Personally, I can't wait to be eaten by a grue just because I didn't bring enough torches to last me an entire dungeon.

[Gulkeeva]

Would Miqo'te Keepers of the Moon require these hypothetical torches?

Night vision miqo'te would be awesome