The latest episode of the Game Maker's Notebook Podcast published by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences featured an interesting interview with Final Fantasy XIV director and producer and Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida.
Funnily, the interview is hosted by Sony Interactive Entertainment's Shuhei Yoshida. Both are often called by their fans "Yoshi-P" ("P" in Japanese is used for "Producer") so it's basically Yoshi-P interviews Yoshi-P.
Toward the end of the chat, Naoki Yoshida is asked to talk about his views on the future of the Final Fantasy franchise and future projects for his team, Square Enix's Creative Business Unit III.
He mentions that the team at Creative Business Unit III really wants to further develop FFXIV and perhaps put the experience cultivated while creating FFXVI to use on a different game.
Asked whether he might direct Final Fantasy XVII, Naoki Yoshida provided an interesting answer:
Ooh, I'm on the board of directors now so I really need to watch what I say here! For the moment, I'll just say that nothing's been decided yet.
That said, if I had to say anything about that... I've had the chance yo work on two of these, XIV and XVI, so maybe it's time for someone new, you know.
Instead of having the same old guys handle the next one, I think in some ways it would be good to look to the future and bring in a younger generation, with more youthful sensibilities, to make a new FF with challenges that suit todsay's world.
Asked what advice he would give to a hypothetical young director tasked with creating FFXVII, Naoki Yoshida mentioned that Final Fantasy is challenging what has been done before, and that's something the creator of the series Hironobu Sakaguchi and the brand manager Yoshinori Kitase agree on.
While he doesn't want to "pick a fight" with the older games, everyone tasked with doing this thinks their Final Fantasy will be the most fun.
Due to that, his advice is to just dive in and put down on paper what the new director thinks would be the most enjoyable FF before thinking too hard about it.
After that, they could decide "Since XVI was real-time action, my FF is going to have both real-time action and turn-based battles!" or they could go to the other extreme and return it to its fully turn-based, pixel art roots.
Ultimately, Yoshida-san continues, they'd have to sit down and think about what they're going to spend years of their life on, what kind of experience they want the players to have, and what is it they want the fans to be playing.
Basically, they'd need to think "if I'm going to be making an FF, it's gonna be like this!" After laying all these ideas on the table, when deciding "Which one should I choose" perhaps they could go to Yoshida-san and ask for advice.
This is basically the same process Yoshida-san himself followed alongside Sakaguchi-san and Kitase-san for the first year and a half of Final Fantasy XVI's development.
He then adds that when deciding between two options, the hypothetical new director should think about which one would be better to convey what they're going for. On top of that, with each option having pros and cons, which is the one they'd rather try to find solutions for?
Yoshida-san says he's pretty good at sorting things out objectively, so he'd be happy to provide his advice when the time comes.
Asked what kind of game he would like to tackle in the future with Creative Business Unit III, Yoshida-san mentions that both FFXVI and the FFVII Remake series have adopted action-based gameplay, but Square Enix originally had a poor reputation when it came to making action games (and he's sure that many still think that), so he'd like to continue pursuing that route.
Having come this far, I'd like to see Square Enix use this gained experience to continue challenging ourselves in the action genre, to make what we haven't made yet, with even greater storytelling, emotion, and impact.
I think it would be good for us as a company and it's what I'd personally like to keep pursuing.
In terms of themes, he wonders whether the next game could be another "weighty, serious fantasy" or maybe a "grand adventure story for a younger audience?" Either way, he believes that pushing the limits is more fun.
Ultimately, Yoshida-san believes that to make a game that gamers will enjoy, it's "incredibly important" to make something that the developers themselves enjoy making and are excited about.
To that end, once he talks about some of the ideas he has and has others chime in with theirs, it's all about finding the idea that gets them the most excited and going "This will be really fun!" This is a key part of his decision-making process.
Final Fantasy XIV is available for PS5, PS4, PC, and Mac, while an Xbox Series X|S version will release this spring with an open beta starting in February.
The new expansion Dawntrail will release this summer of 2024, and doesn't yet have an official release date. If you want to start playing the game to be ready by then, you can purchase a copy on Amazon.
Square Enix recently hosted the Fan Festival and the Eorzean Symphony Orchestra Concert in London and you can read our reports for both.
Final Fantasy XVI is currently available only for PS5, but a PC version is in development. If you'd like to read more about the game, you can take a look at our review, alongside the review of the first DLC, Echoes of the Fallen.
The game's physical version is available on Amazon.
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