wraggster
November 20th, 2011, 20:40
Yoshida has been working on FFXIX since the MMO's troubled launch last year, when it was so widely criticised (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/320313/final-fantasy-brand-greatly-damaged-says-square-ceo/) that Square decided to let players play for free while it works on improvements.Subscription fees are set to be reintroduced with a month or two, and Square hasannounced a massive '2.0' update for release in 2013 (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/322402/final-fantasy-xiv-version-20-revealed-coming-to-ps3-in-2012/) with a whole new engine built from scratch and other major changes.
But you won't be getting a new game, says Yoshida. "Players, community websites, and the gaming media may see the roadmap we have provided and take it as, 'Oh, they're creating a completely different game,' but this is not the case," he told Gamasutra.
"FFXIV will always be FFXIV and nothing else," he asserted.
Clarifying the point of version 2.0, he stated: "The first thing I did when I became the producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV last December was to ask myself, 'What kind of service system, game content, and community content would be necessary if we were to continue to offer this service 10 years into the future?'
"In doing so, I went back and restudied the systems used by other MMOs offered worldwide, such as World of Warcraft and Rift."
2.0 will encompass many of the updates developed in the past year, but most importantly, he explained, it's all about the new engine.
"Why build something from the ground up when it already exists? Well, the current engine we are using is good for showing 'passive graphics' in offline games, but the most important thing an MMO needs is an 'active graphics' capable of showing many, many different characters on the screen simultaneously. This is simply too difficult to accomplish with the current engine," he said.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/326703/ffxiv-will-always-be-ffxiv-and-nothing-else-square/
But you won't be getting a new game, says Yoshida. "Players, community websites, and the gaming media may see the roadmap we have provided and take it as, 'Oh, they're creating a completely different game,' but this is not the case," he told Gamasutra.
"FFXIV will always be FFXIV and nothing else," he asserted.
Clarifying the point of version 2.0, he stated: "The first thing I did when I became the producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV last December was to ask myself, 'What kind of service system, game content, and community content would be necessary if we were to continue to offer this service 10 years into the future?'
"In doing so, I went back and restudied the systems used by other MMOs offered worldwide, such as World of Warcraft and Rift."
2.0 will encompass many of the updates developed in the past year, but most importantly, he explained, it's all about the new engine.
"Why build something from the ground up when it already exists? Well, the current engine we are using is good for showing 'passive graphics' in offline games, but the most important thing an MMO needs is an 'active graphics' capable of showing many, many different characters on the screen simultaneously. This is simply too difficult to accomplish with the current engine," he said.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/326703/ffxiv-will-always-be-ffxiv-and-nothing-else-square/