Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida stated that "ultimate MMORPG" is a game where players choose the kind of content they want to play and shared that he believes the game is moving in this direction.
At the end of August, Final Fantasy XIV received a new major update – Patch 6.2, which includes a variety of new content including an island with an internal farming life simulator, new main scenarios and side quests as well as the extension of the Duty Support feature that allows players to complete quests alone.
In the wake of the patch's release, the game's producer Naoki Yoshida gave an interview to Eurogamer sharing some details about the new update and sharing that all the new features Patch 6.2 adds are part of a plan to bring FFXIV to the status of the "ultimate MMORPG".
Yoshida explained that in his understanding, the "ultimate MMORPG" is a game where players are able to choose the content that suits them and play it without striving to see everything at once.
"My idea of the ultimate MMORPG is one in which each player playing the game can pick and choose the content they want to play," Yoshida said.
"The game will further develop if it can meet the needs of many players, not just the needs of a particular type of player. In my eyes, the ultimate ideal is not 'playing all the game content' but 'being able to choose what content you want to play'."
The producer also spoke about the extension of the Duty Support feature saying that he sees the fact that players have the opportunity to see the story while playing solo as a big advantage. He, however, assured fans that the developers are not trying to turn Final Fantasy XIV into a single-player MMORPG.
He also noted that another reason for adding this feature is that the developers wanted to expand FFIV's scale and Duty Support can be an "entry point" into the game for players who think that that "connecting with other players is a pain in MMORPGs."
Speaking of the Island Sanctuary, the new farming life sim mode in the game which is designed as a relaxing alternative to the familiar FFIV content and doesn't include any battles, Yoshida noted that his idea was to give players a place where they could just relax. In addition, according to Yoshida, that place could cover the needs of players that housing could not meet.
"Eventually as I was thinking about these things, a popular Japanese TV show ended up giving me the idea [of the island concept] and the content took shape as you see it today," Yoshida said.
"Where possible I did want this content available to players at early levels in the game but I considered that in the current story we've reached an opportune moment and we're now in the position to provide such an island to our hero. Hence, in the end I had no choice but to make clearing 6.0 one condition to access the content. You see, these types of things are tied to the fact that we're extremely particular about Final Fantasy 14's story," Yoshida explained.
You can learn more by reading the full interview with Naoki Yoshida here. Also, don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.