Exclusive interview with FFXIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka

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First, thanks to everyone at Square Enix who met up with us at their
business area at Gamescom. They were very nice and I have a great first
impression of every single SE employee that I spoke with.

We entered a room with a big table (sort of a meeting room) and behind
us there was a big LCD screen with the Final Fantasy XIV alpha on it.
In the room there were a total of 5 SE employees. I visited together
with the CEO from the Curse Network. Right now I don't have all the
names, but they were all really cool to speak with and I have a whole
new view of SE (not that it was bad previously) after this meeting,
they all seem very passionate about their games and FFXIV is a game
that a lot of effort, energy and time has been invested into. That's
for sure! I feel even more anxious to play the game now. Well for
longer than 15 minutes that is.

Below we have the results of player asked questions from FFXIVCore.com
that was asked to Hiromichi Tanaka about FFXIV. Grab a cup of coffee or
something nice, such as orange juice and please enjoy reading our
exclusive interview with the producer of FFXIV himself.


In the alpha I wasn't able to jump, will there be jumping in FFXIV? And swimming? Maybe even climbing?

Its going to be the same as in
FFXI. So currently there will be no jumping. If its necessary we might
add swimming and climbing in the future.


What measures will be taken to combat RMT and botting?

We're going work hard on it, same
as in FFXI with the task force. Also for example, at the moment we're
trying to add a filter in FFXI to combat it on the spot, instead of
waiting for a patch in order to combat the issues. It will be more
flexible.


How will the story be told? Powerful
story is an essential part of the FF-series, and as far as the
producers have said it will be important in XIV as well.

Yes the story is defiantly very
important for FF14. We will have high quality cutscenes with voiceovers
and fx, please look forward to it.

There will also be voiceovers on mostly every character/npc in the game.


What will endgame be like? Special areas, NMs, etc.

Maybe not from the beginning, but
when it comes to a good time we will be implementing some very
challenging encounters, among other things. We will have a cap at the
beginning, when it will be unlocked in due time we will release great
raid content. We've learned a lot from FFXI and realized what is too
easy and too hard.


Exactly how much more casual will FF XIV be than FF
XI? Is FF XIV designed to try to appeal to a new casual crowd and leave
the hardcore group players in FF XI? Is FF XIV trying to attract both
at the same time and try to become the first historical game that
successfully combines hardcore and casual aspects?

The first question about the
casual aspect. We will have a casual aspect, but we're not going to
only target the casual players. Its really a users choice. We will be
able to provide a variety of aspects to the game that casual players
will enjoy but the hardcore players will enjoy it as well. And also for
FFXI and FFXIV we aim to support both players, although FFXIV is using
a new graphics engine, so we're providing current FFXI players with an
option if they want to play FFXI of course that is fine, but they're
also very welcome to play FFXIV.

Hiromichi Tanaka also says that it would be very nice if the players of
other Final Fantasy games who never played FFXI would play FFXIV. So
that is one of the goals.

So basically they're aiming at the Final Fantasy fans who haven't
played MMO's due to having a casual aspect of FFXIV, but also at the
same time giving the hardcore MMO players something to enjoy as well.


What about PVP?

We have the same stance on PVP as
we had in FFXI, we're having a focus on PVE, but we may introduce some
sort of sports-type that might be tied to PVP in the future. What we're
worrying about is that we dont want to have any PK'ing or harassment
types of activities in the game. So in order to provide a safe
environment to everyone and a game to enjoy. So we're not focusing on
PVP.


Pay to play or free to play?

The game will cost to play. There's a fee for 30 days each. Currently there are no other plans to offer other options.


No PlayOnline, can you elaborate on the new account features?

We will be using the SquareEnix ID, and also have a system that will be linked to that system.


Is there going to be instanced content?

Guildleves itself is like
instances. Other people will not be able to interfere with you. There
will also be instanced raid content, its a type of guildleves as well.
But we cannot tell you how many players it will be yet however. There's
also going to be many different types of guildleves, if you want to
play as a casual player it will be fine for instance.


Can you give more specific details about what
things can we customize in character creation? I mean things like body
size, how many faces will there be available?

Unfortunately we cannot show you
the character creation screen yet, but you will be able to change
things such as your ears, eyes, hair color, shape of your face. There
will be lots of variety.


I'm curious about how advancing in your jobs works.
Like will it be a FF Tactics style? Once you've mastered certain skills
in a certain job, you unlock another?

It will be slightly different from
Final Fantasy Tactics system. You will be gaining abilities by leveling
up your skills, but, its not the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. So if
you're having a high skill in something it doesn't mean the other one
is going to be lower. if you grow in one skill and it gets high, you
can still level up your other skills high.


And how will the 'levels' of the mobs work? Does
the game have some kinda system in place to adjust mob difficulty based
on character stats and current status of party?

Its not going to be changing
depending on the players skills. Its fixed. So you get to chose
yourself who or what you want to fight.


Auto-run/Auto-follow and Macros saved A LOT of time
in FFXI. Could we expect these things (or improved/altered versions) in
FFXIV?

Yes it will be in the game.


In FFXI, if you weren't fighting or crafting, there
was definitely a lack of things to do. Could we expect more types of
things to do in FFXIV? More mini-games, casino, card games like in
FFVIII or FFIX, more in-depth gardening/fishing/etc. ?

Yes, we're planning several things so you can enjoy the game, for
example the fishing you mention will be a class. But outside of the
class system there will be other things to do. For example during FFXI
players figured out a way to invent a new game by using the existing
system. So that's going to be interesting, we'd like to do that for
FFXIV as well. So we're looking forward to what the players will do
with our system there.


There were many Summons in FFXI, but for an online
world, I never felt there were enough. What Summons can we expect to
see in FFXIV and will there be more variety than in FFXI?

We can't really mention which summons will be in. But what we can say
is that some is going to be really important in the storyline. It's not
going to be included in the game like FFXI. At the moment we don't
really have a class, a pet class / summoner. Not at the moment at
least. So it will be implemented in the game in a different way. Please
check back with us in the future.


Will there be Samurai's in the game, what about the free roaming? What about the freedom in the world, exploration?

We won't have the samurai as a job, because we don't have a job system.
And we don't have a class like the Samurai. But it depends on how
you're going to select your skills and developing your character. So
when you reach a certain skill and/or gain certain skills, you will
have a title for yourself. It may be Samurai or may not be - we cannot
tell you that yet. So please look for an announcement in the future.


How large will the in-game world of Eorzea be in
comparison to the in-game world of Vana'Diel? As in actual space the
characters may move around in.

We can't really compare to the
current world of Vana'Diel since it's been expanding a lot. But if we
compare to the original Vana'Diel, this time it may be the same or
slightly smaller, however as you can see there will be a much more
detailed world, in terms of graphics and content. So it's unlikely you
will notice that it might be slightly smaller than the original
Vana'Diel world.

One thing to note is that FFXI used its own system, this time Final
Fantasy XIV is going to be seamless. No zoning! Just like in World of
Warcraft.

You'll be able to walk from the city to the battlefield without any zoning.


Is the Economic situation of FFXIV going to be mainly player based with Auction Houses or non-player based with NPC ran stores?

We can't go into details about
this just yet. We're very sorry about that. This question is better
suited to be asked in a couple of months time. However, it's going to
be not the same as with auctionhouses, but something very interesting.

Also, this time the weapons are going to be worn out, a durability
system. So you will have to repair them and it will cost money.


When is the beta? Any more info?

We dont have any specific time at the moment. But this current version
here at Gamescom is an alpha version. And before we start the beta
we're going to have another version, a developer version, this time
we're concentrating on guild leaves, next time we're going to be
concentrating on something else. When it's ready we'll start the beta
version. And of course since we're going to launch the game in 2010 it
should before that... so. The beta is not going to be in the far future
*laughs* We want to do it as soon as possible.


In World of Warcraft, you can now pay a very small
fee of in game currency at a Barber Shop and change the face,
hairstyle, facial hair, and hair color. Will we see this in FFXIV?

At the moment we're not thinking
about it. If we have a lot of requests from the players it might get
added at a later time. Not at the launch time at least. In the future
perhaps. Also we don't think changing the skin color or face shape is
going to be added at all. But maybe hair color.


Can we expect exp loss?

We're still adjusting and discussing this. It may or may not be an
exp-loss when you die in FFXIV. But it will be a lot less than it's in
FFXI. However, as said we might not include an exp loss at all in
FFXIV. In the alpha version we have exp loss currently, but this is
still being adjusted, since it's an alpha version. So it's not decided
on.


Is the characters we played in the alpha version yesterday buffed?

[They all start out and laugh then proceeds to say]: yes, they're very buffed.


Will the class/job system go into more depth and
branch out into different combinations. Or is a wider variety of jobs
not yet released and still currently in development?

It's not a job system anymore. We
call it classes now. It depends on what weapon you use. And again,
we're calling it a class system in FFXIV this time, so it's not a job
system. This new system will allow for a lot flexibility, and also
because you can switch weapons between the battles (not during battles)
this is giving you much more variety. Although this is not something
super new in the history of MMO's, we've seen it before in games like
Ultima Online and Meridian 59 (editors note).


[We're now at the end of our 45 minutes time with
Hiromichi Tanaka and we get told there's only space to ask one more
question, I show them all the questions I have left and we all laugh,
because there's lots left to still ask, however we're offered to ask
them through email, so expect more information to go up in awhile from
now]


Will the Linkshell system still be called "Linkshell"?

We can't go into details on that
just yet, but it's not going to be called Linkshell anymore. However,
it's going to be something very interesting. You'll be able to join a
kind of organization, but we can't say more on that right now, you'll
be able to have different aims and focuses. It'll be very interesting.


System Requirements?

We're not done with analyzing this just yet, but it's going to be fairly high since FFXIV is going to be on HD on Playstation 3.

Source : http://www.ffxivcore.com/index.php?/topic/484-exclusive-interview-with-ffxiv-producer-hiromichi-tanaka/

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In FFXI, if you weren't fighting or crafting, there
was definitely a lack of things to do. Could we expect more types of
things to do in FFXIV? More mini-games, casino, card games like in
FFVIII or FFIX, more in-depth gardening/fishing/etc. ?

Yes, we're planning several things so you can enjoy the game, for
example the fishing you mention will be a class. But outside of the
class system there will be other things to do. For example during FFXI
players figured out a way to invent a new game by using the existing
system. So that's going to be interesting, we'd like to do that for
FFXIV as well. So we're looking forward to what the players will do
with our system there.

oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes

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One thing to note is that FFXI
used its own system, this time Final Fantasy XIV is going to be
seamless. No zoning! Just like in World of Warcraft.

You'll be able to walk from the city to the battlefield without any zoning.

oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes

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And of course since we're going to
launch the game in 2010 it should before that... so. The beta is not
going to be in the far future *laughs* We want to do it as soon as
possible.

oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes

apparently there's no fixed job to follow, and you can be anything you want.
also heard they have verrrry interesting guild system.

ya i guessing guild system will be really like a organization unlike most mmo now.with ability for ppl with higher ranks in game to hand down greeves quests for lower members to complete and get rewarded for doing it etc.maybe can expect guild hall .merchant shops...trading platform and rooms and treasury as well as stable and airship...maybe i thinking too much haha

oh they mention about airship battles on the works in later patches so we can expect to see airships warfare like in the trailer