Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida Talks MMOs
With the Final Fantasy XIV team preparing to release a new expansion in the summer, game director Naoki Yoshida recently talked about the evolution of MMOs.
“Whenever we compare FFXI with FFXIV, I believe it’s important to have a knowledge of the history of the MMORPG genre,” he said. “FFXI is a part of the first generation of MMORPGs, and the game itself is structured heavily on a ‘time to win’ model. There is the assumption that players will spend huge amounts of time in-game, and therefore the game world provides the freedom to adventure without guiding the player through it.”
“However, because you have the freedom, people end up getting lost, or just spend a lot of time travelling between locations,” he added. “Furthermore, there was the aspect of not being able to progress through almost all content without a party.”
Yoshida claims that during the development of A Realm Reborn, he wanted to ensure that the focus was on providing a quality experience even during short play sessions. With many modern gamers living busy lives, he believes their time has become more valuable than money and thus game content should cater to that.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s against some old fashioned grinding.
“I grew up heavily immersed in first generation MMORPGs myself, so I would like to have the opportunity to create a game that fits that mold, but I’m certain it would be tough to sell in this day and age…”
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is set for release in early summer 2019.