Q&A z Fan Festu

Q&A se účastnil Yoshida, Koji a Foxclon. Kde není připsané žádné jméno, odpovídal Yoshida.

Q: How does it feel when you kill off a character like Ysayle or Yotsuyu?
A: When it comes to deciding who kills a character – that’s me!

Serious question, so serious answer. Because XIV is a game we put a lot of effort into and has been going for a long time, each character’s fate is decided very early and taken very seriously. We put extra effort into making sure that if a character is killed off that we look back on them with fond memories.

Another character that we killed in 4.3, we talked in depth about how we would kill her off and if we would. We decided killing her at that point was right but we wanted to give her death meaning hence her relationship with Gosetsu. The dev team cried watching the cutscenes.

Q: Why doesn’t mahjong give MGP?
A: There’s a clear reason for this. We had a plan to add table games like poker early in XIV development. But when checking laws, gambling laws can be an issue. So when you look at the back of the game case, you see ratings like violence or blood but not gambling. So adding gambling after launch would violate those ratings. These ratings like gambling have to be added at expansion launch so monetary rewards could be considered gambling and could risk having it removed entirely. On a side note, the checks on rating are very harsh, even more so than TV or movies.

You may recall where Yotsuyu steps on Gosetsu, if you could see Gosetsu fully, it would actually be a ratings concern. That’s why you can only see her foot but not what’s happening underneath.

Another scene, we wanted to have an alliance soldier shoot an arrow into an enemy but the piercing of an arrow cannot be shown. We were told a joke arrow with a suction cup would be okay!

Basically we have to come up with many ideas to keep the scene clear but not breaking any of those rules. In 2.5 when Raubahn loses his arm, it had to be done very carefully.

Q: With the cross server system, can we get a friend list cap increase?
A: We’ve already tried testing this with 512 but we encountered critical errors. As it is, it might be impossible. To alleviate that, we thought about a new system with a local data system where it’s saved to the PC or PS4. Our next task was working out how we send that data, and it turns out the architecture from 2.0 is a bit outdated and we’re looking at changing and adjusting it to get a bigger friend list working.

Q: Can we get dual shock controller to rumble (vibrate) on duty finder pop?
A: Yes! We can do this quickly. I’ll talk to the UI team.

Q: What is your favourite moment in Eorzea and why?
A: As a player my favourite moment was in Binding Coil and clearing it. As a developer, when I destroyed Eorzea with a meteor! Something that big, only a producer or director can do it!

Q: Have you considered adjusting HP of A and S rank hunts as they can die too quickly?
A: The solution seems simple but it’s really not. The low level areas have a cap for levels. We could use a FATE type mechanic where there is level sync or make it a FATE itself. However, if we just changed it to a FATE we couldn’t make it work with the conditions system that hunts have. I remember in Revenant’s Toll, that a hunt would pop right by players playing Triple Triad and kill them.

Q: When are we getting Azys Lla theme for orchestrion?
A: Ask Soken. I’ll tell him before the Primals concert!

Q: It’d be nice to have more lore on gear like raid or job gear. Could we get quests for this?
A (Koji): We have a chapter about gear in the new lore book!
A: Please buy the Lore book!
A (Koji): We can make a third book!

Q: Could there be a party level sync in Eureka?
A: We’re considering new content for 5.0 like Eureka, where we can do that, but not in the current Eureka as that would take development time we need to spend on 5.0.

Q: Would it be possible to have Byakko’s free falling as a Gold Saucer game?
A: We are working on the next GATE already. We hope to have it for 5.0’s launch but it might take more time.
A (Koji): Do you still want it if you fall and go splat? Even if you win, you die!

Q: With war erupting, will we see Nanamo fight?
A: This is sultana, wouldn’t you rather fight with Raubahn? Let me ask this – if an enemy is targeting Nanamo and she runs toward you, would you take the damage for her? Would you protect her? Unlike with Tataru, you wouldn’t run away right? We’ll think about it!

Q: Will we get a new Ultimate in Shadowbringers?
A: Of course. We’re in the process of deciding what the battle will be and who will handle it.

Q: Will we be able to use minions or egis as housing items?
A: If it’s just placing them, it’s possible. But if we wanted them to move, we’d have to look into collision etc. We’ve seen lots of great homes in XIV, and to have a system for moving minions would require a lot of testing. I can’t go into too much detail but we’re thinking of new minion content like a farm. It’s only in the planning phase. Not at 5.0.

Q: What is your favorite trial and dungeon?
A: Probably my favorite trial is Titan Extreme. Even at high level it’s a lot of fun. It’s hard to decide on a favorite trial but it has to be Titan.

Swallow’s Compass in 4.3 is a dungeon I really liked. It had a lot of new and fresh mechanics that younger staff worked on. I also really like the Ghimlyt Dark that was created by the more veteran designers.

Shadowbringers is going to bring a very interesting dungeon. I was very surprised when checking it. Please look forward to it!

Q: Is there going to be Deep Dungeon in Shadowbringers?
A: … Maaaybe. We’ve done it twice before so we will probably bring a third version but we haven’t decided when. After Fan Fest, I’m going back to decide on future content and it will probably be decided then.

Q: What mount can we expect to get from the Pixies tribe?
A: Will there even be beast tribe quests with the Pixies? Probably? But what mount… Pixie wings? Maybe too early, we’ll think of something good.

Q: Can we have Yotsuyu’s outfit and hair?
A: It was really difficult to create for Yotsuyu. The gear was made for her pose specifically. We figured it’d be asked so we might try. But as for the hair, it’s too straight and would clip with gear.

Q: Can we use the balcony door in mansions?
A: We are currently testing for this. If you were to exit onto the balcony, it wouldn’t be the public housing area. It would be impossible to have this work, but we’re trying to work on a way to effectively fake being able to see others from your balcony.

Q: Can we get a high five emote?
A: What if you have a lalafell and a roegadyn!? How high should the lalafell jump? We get a lot of requests for emotes used by two different characters. But because of the size differences, its very difficult. It’s easy to make a solo emote but it difficult to make emotes that will actually touch. We’d have to create a new system.

Q: What’s your funniest story from your dev team?
A: In my whole dev life or just XIV? When I was 20 at a Japanese dev, this was my first project as director. But I was 20 and everyone else was older. Even as director and designer, I was still lowest on the totem pole. I had to make schedules for the team. I’d have to go to these older colleagues and badger them to meet deadlines. So I went to a character modeller and asked him to do a thing. This is what he told me: „I can do it by Tuesday.“ I asked on Tuesday if it was done, it wasn’t. I try the next day… Nope. „maybe Friday“. On Friday – still not finished. „I understand but it has to be finished as it’ll affect the project. Can you work overtime?“ „… No I don’t want to as I have to go home and help my wife with her manga.“

There are a lot of different types of game developers. I put a lot of effort in today because of that experience. I am grateful for that colleague. I haven’t seen him since. I’d like to ask if his wife finished the manga!

Q: What is the reasoning behind mechanics like Starboard/Larboard?
A (Koji): When we got the original Japanese it used kanji for starboard and port. Most English people don’t know these terms though. I wanted to make it easier but still relevant. The older word for Port was Larboard. And because it begins with L and Larboard is left… They’ll get it, right?

When the content came out, Yoshida summoned me to his room. I had to explain why a lot of players were suddenly talking about on the forums. We have a system now where the battle team makes sure that important terms are clear in all languages. I thought I’d be fired when Yoshida called me in!