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Gamescom Interview: http://www.ffxivcore...-2010-coverage/
Quote
Exclusive Final Fantasy XIV Interview with Square Enix
Today I interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuaki Komoto the Director of Final Fantasy XIV and Sage Sundi the Global Online Producer.
It was a quite enjoyable interview, thanks to everyone that made it possible, I'm also looking at you Stanley!
Are we going to see tutorials and gametips being added for the new players to assist them better?
We do have a tutorial ingame but we understand that it's not enough, so we will improve it. We hope you're going to find out through the storyline to find out what's going on and how to use things. Also when you reach a certain level we hope you get into towns to talk to other players. Also at the beginning us game developers usually provide the basic information but fansites always make better guides regardless. So it might be difficult for the time of the launch but we're going to try to talk to fansites so they'll post detailed information regarding on how the game works.
Regarding auctionhouses:
Regarding Final Fantasy XIV and the market battle system is something we would like to consider the equilevent to the auction house we had in Final Fantasy XI. Only that you'll also be able to fix your equipment and things like that. It is something we really want people to enjoy. Also after the release of the game we will see how it goes and for example find out what kind of search options players will want and need and improve the situation. We don't really want to introduce the auctionhouse from the beginning because that is going to determine the economy system. So we want to improve it slowly and adjust it accordingly.
When do we get to see the PS3 version and when is the PS3 beta?
Even when we're here at Gamescom in Germany the development team back in Japan is working on the Playstation 3 version. Probably this week or very soon we're having an internal meeting to discuss the revealing of the Playstation 3 version status of Final Fantasy XIV. So as soon we're comfortable with announcing more information about this we will do it.
Will endgame be in the game on release?
Factionleves is something that we're trying to implement at the moment. And you might soon see some part of it in the beta test that is going on at the moment. It is something you can acquire by collecting action points in the game and by doing Levequests. We are going to add more and more of this type of leve in the game to make it quite challenging. As for the launch however we want to make sure that the game is easy and accessable for casual players. Throughout version updates we're going to introduce more hardcore content so even both casual and hardcore players alike will enjoy the game.
Will we get any sort of mana regeneration abilities and/or items?
We're still working on this so we will make some small updates and improvements in the future, but at the same time we think managing mana should be difficult and a challenge to the players.
Concerning the current UI, there is a noticeable lag between changing menu's and interaction between players and NPC's. Can we look forward to a revamp of the UI prior to release?
We're currently in phase three of our beta test and you're going to see several improvements being made to this. we're working on it, please look forward to how it's going to be in the final product. These issues are also because of some bugs we know about which we're going to fix.
Concerning the mouse function. There is an obviously lag currently even with the improvements towards the mouse; in particular it seems that the software mouse speed is tied to the FPS on your computer -- so if you have less FPS, then the mouse is laggier. Can we expect an implementation of hardware mouse prior to release?
We're aware of it and hardware mouse is something we're still looking into currently. At the moment we dont have any plans for the hardware mouse but will continue to improve the situation before the game is out and also after.
Concerning the direction of this game; is Guildleve's the standard to level in regards to FFXIV? It was heavily advertised in several locations and there seems to be an overall disgruntled feeling towards its 48 hour cooldown. Is this part of the limit implemented for the beta, or is this intention for the release? Is straight-mob grinding going to the primary source of experience gains for FFXIV?
One of the reasons for the current design is that it's fine if you're playing solo. If you have more time however, we feel that there's a lot of guildleves to experience with other people in groups, while yourself might not have the guildleve, you can still join other peoples guildleves. Currently though most feel there's not enough benefit to group up and as such do the guildleves solo instead. We are working on adressing that so group play will be more encouraged, so maybe either you get more skillpoints for example. Basically we're trying to adjust it so that people do guildleves with other people.
But the 48 hours cooldown is going to stay?
Yes that is the current plan. In the future we might adjust it but we want to make it in such a way that the 48 hours cooldown makes sense, so currently we're focusing on adjusting it in that way.
There is a mixed feeling in regards to computer requirements on the game. Despite the minimum requirements listed, players are having a hard time running this game even on fairly decent rigs. Is the game expected to go through further optimization prior to release?
For the betaversion it might be because we have several check routines in the game that might be causing some of the performance-related issues. This should be improved when the game is released. It also could be something specific to the persons PC setup. THere's a lot of different graphics cards among other things so we're trying to solve it one by one.
Finally, the Square Enix team would like to say that they really appreciate the support from fans in the western region and want everyone to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as it's going gold.
Today I interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuaki Komoto the Director of Final Fantasy XIV and Sage Sundi the Global Online Producer.
It was a quite enjoyable interview, thanks to everyone that made it possible, I'm also looking at you Stanley!
Are we going to see tutorials and gametips being added for the new players to assist them better?
We do have a tutorial ingame but we understand that it's not enough, so we will improve it. We hope you're going to find out through the storyline to find out what's going on and how to use things. Also when you reach a certain level we hope you get into towns to talk to other players. Also at the beginning us game developers usually provide the basic information but fansites always make better guides regardless. So it might be difficult for the time of the launch but we're going to try to talk to fansites so they'll post detailed information regarding on how the game works.
Regarding auctionhouses:
Regarding Final Fantasy XIV and the market battle system is something we would like to consider the equilevent to the auction house we had in Final Fantasy XI. Only that you'll also be able to fix your equipment and things like that. It is something we really want people to enjoy. Also after the release of the game we will see how it goes and for example find out what kind of search options players will want and need and improve the situation. We don't really want to introduce the auctionhouse from the beginning because that is going to determine the economy system. So we want to improve it slowly and adjust it accordingly.
When do we get to see the PS3 version and when is the PS3 beta?
Even when we're here at Gamescom in Germany the development team back in Japan is working on the Playstation 3 version. Probably this week or very soon we're having an internal meeting to discuss the revealing of the Playstation 3 version status of Final Fantasy XIV. So as soon we're comfortable with announcing more information about this we will do it.
Will endgame be in the game on release?
Factionleves is something that we're trying to implement at the moment. And you might soon see some part of it in the beta test that is going on at the moment. It is something you can acquire by collecting action points in the game and by doing Levequests. We are going to add more and more of this type of leve in the game to make it quite challenging. As for the launch however we want to make sure that the game is easy and accessable for casual players. Throughout version updates we're going to introduce more hardcore content so even both casual and hardcore players alike will enjoy the game.
Will we get any sort of mana regeneration abilities and/or items?
We're still working on this so we will make some small updates and improvements in the future, but at the same time we think managing mana should be difficult and a challenge to the players.
Concerning the current UI, there is a noticeable lag between changing menu's and interaction between players and NPC's. Can we look forward to a revamp of the UI prior to release?
We're currently in phase three of our beta test and you're going to see several improvements being made to this. we're working on it, please look forward to how it's going to be in the final product. These issues are also because of some bugs we know about which we're going to fix.
Concerning the mouse function. There is an obviously lag currently even with the improvements towards the mouse; in particular it seems that the software mouse speed is tied to the FPS on your computer -- so if you have less FPS, then the mouse is laggier. Can we expect an implementation of hardware mouse prior to release?
We're aware of it and hardware mouse is something we're still looking into currently. At the moment we dont have any plans for the hardware mouse but will continue to improve the situation before the game is out and also after.
Concerning the direction of this game; is Guildleve's the standard to level in regards to FFXIV? It was heavily advertised in several locations and there seems to be an overall disgruntled feeling towards its 48 hour cooldown. Is this part of the limit implemented for the beta, or is this intention for the release? Is straight-mob grinding going to the primary source of experience gains for FFXIV?
One of the reasons for the current design is that it's fine if you're playing solo. If you have more time however, we feel that there's a lot of guildleves to experience with other people in groups, while yourself might not have the guildleve, you can still join other peoples guildleves. Currently though most feel there's not enough benefit to group up and as such do the guildleves solo instead. We are working on adressing that so group play will be more encouraged, so maybe either you get more skillpoints for example. Basically we're trying to adjust it so that people do guildleves with other people.
But the 48 hours cooldown is going to stay?
Yes that is the current plan. In the future we might adjust it but we want to make it in such a way that the 48 hours cooldown makes sense, so currently we're focusing on adjusting it in that way.
There is a mixed feeling in regards to computer requirements on the game. Despite the minimum requirements listed, players are having a hard time running this game even on fairly decent rigs. Is the game expected to go through further optimization prior to release?
For the betaversion it might be because we have several check routines in the game that might be causing some of the performance-related issues. This should be improved when the game is released. It also could be something specific to the persons PC setup. THere's a lot of different graphics cards among other things so we're trying to solve it one by one.
Finally, the Square Enix team would like to say that they really appreciate the support from fans in the western region and want everyone to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as it's going gold.
PAX Interview: http://www.ffxivcore...pre-order-misc/
Quote
Exclusive PAX Final Fantasy XIV Interview
We got some time to interview Sage Sundi at PAX this year! Check out our exclusive interview below. As previously mentioned, there's no game development questions in this interview.
Q: Will people outside of the game be able to view the players' site pages from the game?
A: We have a beta version of the site right now. People are able to see the levels and names of the characters. We are trying to expand a little bit of that but we are not planning to have an equipment system like World of Warcraft. We don't have that detail information on the site but we will provide a blog system for each character so each character can have their own diary.
Also, we will have a forum system for the linkshells and you will be able to choose to have a open or closed forum system to show or hide it from the public.
Q: Do you have any plans to help people who played FFXI to reunite with players who will be stating FFXIV?
A: One of the things we will do is let players be able to put their character name and the name of their server so that players will be able to find their friends easier.
Q: What kind of plans do you have, other than the blogging, for the player site?
A: My plan was to have that system outside of our system so players and other big community sites can help us do it. We only provide basic information from our side and with the community site, we will get other parts. That's the plan.
Q: In FFXIV, do you plan on letting players give each other linkshell invites from anywhere in the world or will it remain the same that players have to be in front of each other?
A: That's interesting. We'll get back to you on that. That's a very good point and we may have to add that!
Q: Will the community site forums be a place for developers to answers questions or just for talking between players?
A: Mainly just talking with the community. The reason we don't have an official forum is that the developers only speak Japanese. They would only be able to speak to the players that knew Japanese and it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the players.
Q: In the game, will you be able to select different languages regardless of where you live?
A: Yes, you can choose whichever language you'd like. The game is one client with multiple languages and settings.
Q: Will there be a journal or something of the like in the game where you can save stories and cut scenes?
A: No, I don't think so.
Q: Is there anything else you can tell us about the community? Any interesting details?
A: We do have our beta forums open and most of the questions we get are about the interface. 'Will the interface be friendly for the mouse and keyboard?' is what what see the most. We've been trying to fix that and things are getting pretty good now. It's getting easier to handle it by the mouse and keyboard now.
We're really happy to have those forums. They're really helping us get good feedback to help us fix the game.
We got some time to interview Sage Sundi at PAX this year! Check out our exclusive interview below. As previously mentioned, there's no game development questions in this interview.
Q: Will people outside of the game be able to view the players' site pages from the game?
A: We have a beta version of the site right now. People are able to see the levels and names of the characters. We are trying to expand a little bit of that but we are not planning to have an equipment system like World of Warcraft. We don't have that detail information on the site but we will provide a blog system for each character so each character can have their own diary.
Also, we will have a forum system for the linkshells and you will be able to choose to have a open or closed forum system to show or hide it from the public.
Q: Do you have any plans to help people who played FFXI to reunite with players who will be stating FFXIV?
A: One of the things we will do is let players be able to put their character name and the name of their server so that players will be able to find their friends easier.
Q: What kind of plans do you have, other than the blogging, for the player site?
A: My plan was to have that system outside of our system so players and other big community sites can help us do it. We only provide basic information from our side and with the community site, we will get other parts. That's the plan.
Q: In FFXIV, do you plan on letting players give each other linkshell invites from anywhere in the world or will it remain the same that players have to be in front of each other?
A: That's interesting. We'll get back to you on that. That's a very good point and we may have to add that!
Q: Will the community site forums be a place for developers to answers questions or just for talking between players?
A: Mainly just talking with the community. The reason we don't have an official forum is that the developers only speak Japanese. They would only be able to speak to the players that knew Japanese and it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the players.
Q: In the game, will you be able to select different languages regardless of where you live?
A: Yes, you can choose whichever language you'd like. The game is one client with multiple languages and settings.
Q: Will there be a journal or something of the like in the game where you can save stories and cut scenes?
A: No, I don't think so.
Q: Is there anything else you can tell us about the community? Any interesting details?
A: We do have our beta forums open and most of the questions we get are about the interface. 'Will the interface be friendly for the mouse and keyboard?' is what what see the most. We've been trying to fix that and things are getting pretty good now. It's getting easier to handle it by the mouse and keyboard now.
We're really happy to have those forums. They're really helping us get good feedback to help us fix the game.
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But we open beta testers can't even access it... <.<
