Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida spoke at a panel from PAX East in Boston, and answered a few very interesting questions.
During the livestream, Yoshida-san was asked what elements from the Final Fantasy series which he hasn't been able to include so far that he's like to get to in the next 10 years.
He mentioned that Final Fantasy XIV is coming out, so that would be nice to look into, Final Fantasy II and IX are also great games. On top of that, he hopes to have an opportunity to do something with the Final Fantasy VII Remake once its team has released all that it needs to release.
Of course, he added, there is also Ivalice and Vana'diel. Respectively settings of Final Fantasy XII/Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XI. He then said "Next!" which is usually his way to hint that he doesn't want to say too much.
Yoshida-san was also asked explicitly whether he wants to implement a crossover with Final Fantasy XVI. His answer was hilarious, but promising.
I am the producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV, of course, if there was the opportunity, I'd love to, but I can't decide all on my own. That means that I'd have to go to the producer of Final Fantasy XVI and ask him "may I please?"
I've heard rumors that this producer of Final Fantasy XVI is going to be at PAX too. If I see him later I'll definitely ask. Ok. Next!
Asked what his favorite Final Fantasy games are, Yoshida-san mentioned Final Fantasy III which finalized the job system as we know it. He also gave a shoutout to Hiromichi Tanaka, whom he respects a lot and who used to be the original producer of Final Fantasy XIV 1.0, on top of III and XI. That's one of the reasons why we see a lot of homages to FFIII within XIV.
Yoshida-san also mentioned VII, as it increased the quality of the visuals dramatically, on top of the volume of the content, it also had a lot of minigames and almost felt like an MMORPG.
Another question asked what future projects he's personally excited about in relation to XIV, and Yoshida-san mentioned that right before he left for PAX the team was doing a sort of mid-way review before the upcoming fanfest, and while the graphics update (scheduled for the next expansion) will bring better-looking visuals, there are elements that are part of that update that go beyond the "immediate aesthetics of it" and the team is really excited about it.
Speaking of the Heart of Sabik, Yoshida-san mentioned that while the team may not delve 100% into it, they do anticipate having some narrative that involves discussing the topic. He won't say what in particular, but we can look forward to it in the "near future."
Asked what is his goals for the game over the next 10 year are, he mentioned some interesting elements:
Personal goal, right? I mean... I did mention that Final Fantasy XIV is my life's work, but at the same time it's work and it's a business, so it may not tie necessarily into my personal, personal... For example with Final Fantasy XIV there are certain regions that don't have full support, like setting up a physical datacenter so that we don't have too much latency trying to connect to somewhere that's too far away. There are also certain languages that are not supported so it would be nice if we could start looking into some of those.
Otherwise, there are still certain platforms that we don't have the game on, and this would be quite an undertaking, but trying to connect all the different regions so that no matter where you are in the world, you'll be able to sync up and party up with other players.
Yoshida-san also mentioned that within the 7.X series of updates (following the next expansion), the team would like to increase the number of housing items players can put in their houses within the game.
Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PS5, PS4, and PC both on Steam and via stand-alone client. The game is one of the most popular MMORPGs on currently available the planet, having pulled a basically miraculous recovery with its relaunch as "A Realm Reborn" in 2013 after its original release in 2010.
After its fourth expansion "Endwalker," it currently counts 27 million registered accounts worldwide. The game just received its update 6.35 with plenty of new content for players to enjoy, while 6.38 is coming soon after an extended maintenance. The English localization of the Final Fantasy XIV: Eorzea Academy Manga by Esora Amaichi has also been announced by Square Enix a few days ago.
News about update 6.4 will be shared on Friday, March 31, at 4:00 am PDT with a new Letter from the Producer Live broadcast. Of course, you can expect a full report here on TechRaptor as soon as the event ends.
