Source: Game Watch Interview - Article dated 06/13/2013 -
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...13_602879.html
In beta phase 3, battle system will go through some changes, what direction did it take for the changes?
Y: Up until now everything was taken control by GCD but abilities will now move on it?s own (timer) Weapon skill will have GCD but you can use abilities now in between so you?re going to be busy.
So now it?s possible to fight while constantly using some type of action?
Y: In the beginning it?s not that much, but as you learn more skills, it will be very important to decide the positioning and what type of combos to use. For example if you feel you?re in danger, you can use abilities such as ?Fight or fly? (probably different naming in English) to increase DPS defeat the mob at once before the weapon skill.
What do you mean by using in between weapon skill?
Y: While the timer (GCD) is still running, you use the ability in between, it?s basically to use up the available time wisely. For example, this character is Gladiator and is Tank, so it doesn't have much DPS. The classes role is to hold the enemy. Now if this was a Monk, you will run around to the side or behind the enemy and buff yourself while increasing evasion to increase haste effect, so you?ll need fight while continuing to keep the attacks going. If you miss, you?ll have to start over again so you?ll need to think over. The DPS will change when looking over duration.
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If that?s so, seems like it?s going to be much busier
Y: At the beginning new adventurers are limited with amount of available skills, this will increase as you level. We checked into how much battles you need to go through in order to level up to the next level, from there you?ll learn new skill but it?s not something you learn and use in that order. You?ll learn skills that may in go between the skills you have already learned. You?ll also learn in time that the damage will increase from specific position. So say first move needs to be used from behind the enemy and 2nd being from the side, you?ll first go around the mob, run to the side and use 2nd then watch the mob to stop to use weapon skill to dodge and put in the 3rd combo, or instead of 3rd combo you may want to use the first skill again to increase the buff... or if you take in too much hate, use feather step in between to increase evasion and right after dodging to put in a counter ability, so you?ll have many different options. (reworded)
So not only does it get busier, it will require lots of strategy. If you can perform that much looks like the battle can be enjoyed not only with a party but with solo also.
Y: Yes, previously we have mentioned this but for solo we want players to play through quests and while doing so deciding your character's class, then learning the basics for that class from there. Next you can get into dungeons and or playthrough guildhest to learn party play. Through parties you?ll learn about individuals roles on how tanks can take hate for you while you do your things. You?ll learn them step by step and that?s completely fine.
The battle system will change again but will it be something beginners can enjoy without getting confused?
Y: Yes, for beginning it shouldn?t be a problem. We carefully made adjustments there. That is the reason why we received feedbacks. For core gamers they felt it was bit lacking, where beginning was dull, just spamming same skills in same order. So we made adjustments by rearranging the order you obtain the skill, and changed the usage requirement. But if you play from level 1, you only have 1 skill at beginning, so it isn?t a problem, once that increases and becomes 2 you?ll learn to use it 1 > 2, then once you learn the 3rd skill you?ll find out instead of 1>2>3 order the 3 comes in between becoming 1>3>2.
How are the caster jobs progressing?
Y: It may be hard to tell by looking at the job action movie we released earlier but for Conjurer and Black mage there are elements called Astral Fire and Astral Blizzard, and if you continue using Blizzard type spells your element becomes Blizard based, and if you use Fire based you?ll become more Fire based. You?ll be able to tell right away by the fireballs circling around your character. With that state your fire damage from any damage will increase, however your MP usage will also increase a lot. Also there is something called Stance Change and there is Astral Fire level 1, level 2, level 3, for example if you cast 2 fire type spells you?ll have Lv2 Astral Fire element on your, while in that mode if you use stance change it switches to blizzard level 2 so you can add on blizzard spells with a cost of much faster MP regen. So you can look at the remaining MP and cast Fire till your MP is near depleted and then switching to blizzard, by doing that the MP will recover at really fast speed. You can cast blizzard to keep the continue damaging the mob and once the MP is regained to switch to Fire, then put in Thunder for DoT. For those that played 1.x FFXIV may feel that it has changed.
You?ll take in the risk on your own, but will make the spells stand out, it?s kind of like FFXI?s Scholar, so it looks interesting where you are able to come up with a strategy instead of just casting fire.
Y: But if you don?t understand it, you might end up not being able to deal much damage, or run out of MP so to make sure that doesn?t happen, through class quests we?re explaining the roles and let them know that there are two elements. At first you can only use Blizzard so you don?t run out of MP, the battle team made careful adjustments. If you learn fire and just spam fire, you?ll run out of MP so you use the stance change to switch between the two. We made sure there is a reason behind why you learn those actions in that order.
In Phase 3 being able to play class/job is one major point.
Y: Yes, first would like players to get used to class, then aim for higher jobs
There were comments saying that depending on the job the quest difficulty is different, were any adjustments made?
Y: We made as much adjustments possible. There was also comments saying Conjurers had hard time obtaining contribution points to get the reward during F.A.T.E. so we made adjustments there as well. For F.A.T.E. you?ll be doing it with many people so even if we increased the HP of the mob it will still get killed instantly, so we made some tweaks. For example we changed Conjurers Aero to instant spell. By doing this you?ll get the minimum amount of contribution, also by healing you?ll also get contribution so it should be easier for healers to get contribution points.
Many of the players may of felt that everything was being pushed back into phase 3, thinking ?This much stuff really going to be in phase 3?? but we have been developing on phase 3 while phase 1 and 2 was running so it?s really in there.
Battle balance has been modified this time around but what do you think about balance between jobs?
Y: Easiest one to compare is Monk and Dragoon, their roles are both close range DPS, but for Monk they have something called Style. There are actions that can only be used while you?re in that specific style and by using that action it could switch to another style to use the next action. It will be where you can go through different position/actions in order 1>3>4>7>8 for the first round but 2nd round going 1>3>5>6 and going back to 1. By doing that correctly the DPS and attack speed will increase. So in the beginning it will be slow, but if you can keep it going it will be amazing. (Note: Just think of it as fighting game continuing combos).
Dragoon on the other hand is much more standard close range DPS, you stand in specific position to deal big damage with combo?s but if you do too much you?ll take hate easily. Also there are skills where you have to use from behind to deal the additional effect or jump where you need to be behind the mob and far away at same time. Or skills where you?re running in from behind and jump and stunning the mob with floor sweep then dealing combo from the side, then using abilities leading up to Dragon Dive. It?s standard close range DPS but made it where it looks cool for Dragoon, while Monk will require to think about how to keep the chain going, they are both same DPS but have different ways to be played. It?s up to the players style. Also this time Dragoon will be jumping a lot so some may enjoy that (laugh)
To bring in previous FF series, are there any jumps for Dragoon where they jump and not come down fora while?
Y: Nothing like that (laugh) If you jump, and not come back there might be situations players will be wiped except for you and them telling you ?What the hell are you doing?? Even in the old FF series after jumping and other party members take 9999 and died, you only got that dragoon left and end up saying ?What the hell am I going to do with this?? With this much reality in graphics we haven?t done this (laugh)
How are the buddy skills, like the one for Chocobo?
Y: Once you can use Buddies, there will be a command for it, by putting this in the cross hotbar you?ll be able to use it. For example there are commands such as ?Follow me? which simply follows you. ?Return home? is just that and returns home. ?Free Fight? command will let them know that you?ll fight so fight along freely. ?Equipment change? we have a simple UI in there for testing so please use it.
Buddies, won?t attack the mob unless the player attacks?
Y: In phase 3 it won?t. However at the timing of official service, it?s possible to do something like I?ll do the healing so go and fight! There are stances for attacker, defensive, healer so you can command through these stances. Also for growth feature you can learn actions through points. There are actions for these stances, so by using these points you can learn them. You can make Chocobo learn cure from healer stance and get it up to where it learns Cure-ra, it?s up to the players to decide. However if you take cure-ra you won?t have enough points to put into attacker/defensive stance.
So there is a limit on the amount of points?
Y: There is. You won?t be able to obtain all of them. There is no fun in it if you can obtain all of it. However you will be able to switch through any stance.
Is there a status screen specific for Chocobo?
Y: There is. But, we don?t have the growth feature in phase 3 so we haven?t released it. If we put that in it?ll become same as the official service (laugh)
Can you have several buddies?
Y; in future we?re planning to be able to hold several.
How about I?m mounted on a buddy while having another buddy following from behind?
y: that?s not possible since we have it 1 on 1. By calling a buddy, your Minion will return as well, same thing. It?s always 1 on 1. If you?re able to call a pet along with that, you?ll have a row of pets following you (laugh) that will break the memory or go over the limit for character display
Alright then, how about pet (summon) and Chocobo (buddy) combination?
Y: Summoner and Arcanist's pets are OK.
It is said that in phase 3 you will be testing data import from previous XIV, is this for all the characters that was created in XIV? I believe there are few that made couple characters under one account (reworded)
y: yes. There isn?t any restrictions in phase 3, you will be able to test as much. However at the timing of official launch, there is different subscription plans such as standard and entry, so if you have it on entry course, you only can use one character.
I think everyone logged out in different areas, but where will they start? (reworded)
Y: We made adjustments on this one. They will all start from a specific location. For this one it will involve story so we can?t talk about it yet.
What?s going to happen to the Linkshells previous FFXIV characters had?
Y: We will transfer over the Linkshells, this time the data centers going to split starting phase 3 with Japan and NA/EU. That test will also start, so previous Legacy Worlds will also be separated between Japan and NA/EU. So we?ll have wolrd transfer, if you would like to transfer we will need everyone to send in the transfer request. I apologize for the inconvenience this will cause but we?ll try our best to support. If the Linkshell leader decides to move the leader will not able to carry over the Linkshell, the remaining linkshell will be passed onto another player automatically. If the leader stays then it will remain the same.
Also for friend list, unlike previous XIV where it automatically added players to friend list, it will require approval. Say I wanted to add you as a friend, first it will send a message to you asking for approval and until you press ?Okay? the friend list registration won?t be completed. Previous XIV wasn?t like that, I was able to add you to the friend list without any approval, so we made it where it sends the request first. So if you change your name, people may wonder ?Who is this?? so please be careful.
Will it start with all your equipment, items, and money?
Y: Yes. But for those items that didn?t fit in the inventory, we have a specific NPC that holds those items so please get it from them.
Looks like TESO is releasing around the same time as XIV ARR, that game is developed by the team that did Dark Age of Camelot, which you played hardcore. Looks like it?s a fateful match.
Y: During last year?s E3 I met the ESO people and we talked about DAoC and they were like good luck with FFXIV so it?s really fateful match.
I see. However, doesn?t it look like this year it?s going to be different?
Y: Not sure. Both our direction in graphics is different so I?m sure we?re both not worry about each other.
FFXIV now has Japanese voice and looks more like a consume game
Y: Yes. We?re the only MMO which can be played with a gamepad.
Soken (FFXIV ARR Sound Director) mentioned about sound track during the test broadcast.
Y: There are two, first one which as the previous XIV tracks called ?Before Meteor: FINAL FANTASY XIV Original Soundtrack? which has total of 104 tracks in a Blu-ray disk. Instead of a regular CD but will be done as a Blu-ray label. Some may ask why wasn?t it done on a regular CD!? but it wont fit. For regular CD it ends up with something like 8 CD?s and the cost for 8 CD?s is pretty high, the actual CD will cost over 100 bucks, so we chose Blu-ray. However since it?s on Blu-ray we were able to be more particular with the audio, for mastering it took about 8 hours just to load the data. We have all the MP3?s in there so you?ll be able to listen in Blu-ray environment t same time for those without those environment they can transfer the MP3 files to mobile device and listen to them while on the go. The other one is the 6 track mini sound track that comes with the Collectors Edition, so we?re doing mastering for both of these at the same time.
How many tracks are there for FFXIV ARR?
Y: Sorry, I haven?t counted. I believe it?s more than the sound track (previous XIV) it?s abnormal (laugh)
Looks like there isn?t much MMORPG?s out there that takes in BGM as important, but with that FFXIV ARR is abnormal
Y: I?m telling them this part and this part is fine, but they keep on making.
Soken san is making the most?
Y: Soken is making the most.
The others are Mizuta san and Uematsu san? These 3?
Y: We?re using some of the previous FFXIV tracks also so there are some more.
For FFXIV project there was support from President Wada, but with his resignation what kind of effect will FFXIV take?
Y: Nothing has been affected.
Nothing at all?
Y: Yes. We just don?t have Mr. Housing appearing for a while (laugh)
For a while, so does that mean Mr. Housing is coming back?
Y: I believe he?ll come back.
How about President Matsuda?
Y: Please look forward to it!
You announced release date of 8/27. The release timing was as expected but the announcement timing was unexpected. I was thinking phase 3 was first going to start after E3 then once server stability was confirmed with the PS3 version it was going to be announced. When I heard of the announcement I was thinking to myself ?He?s taking some risk? but what?s the reason behind deciding on this release timing?
Y: This was decided with those risk in mind, for example for mass PR and printing, and ordering if it?s done after the E3?s SCEA?s press conference the PS4 will come first and people will say, you?re going to bring up PS3 now!? and feel negative about it, also if we don?t announce the release date we can?t make major/final decisions.
Also lots of distributors around the world is worried about when it?s going to be released, or if it?s the real deal, or when it?s going to be announced. If the release date isn?t decided no one will make orders, so it all depends on this release date announcement. But if we make this announcement right after the E3 we won?t know how much it will attract, so that was another big point.
For me, I want players to first try it. I?ve been playing day/night and I feel confident that it?s good, so what?s remaining is to take in detailed feedbacks and make adjustments and it should be good.
Let me ask you this, since you haven?t tested the PS3 version not even once, you won?t know what?s going to happen during the beta test. What if some major problem occurred and ended up where you didn?t like it, what are you going to do?
Y: I?ll bow down and delay the release. This is same for any games, not only this game.
That is true, but for an online game, since there is that risk, I believe most of the time the release timing isn?t announced early.
Y: But if you say that, you won?t be able to announce any game titles release. Even if it?s not FFXIV ARR if it?s a game that went through mastering, if there is a S rank bug after announcing the release date, what do you do? there are many situations like that. There are those that were able to be debugged and released on time, and those that were delayed. If you?re in gaming industry that is natural.
I see.
Y: I don?t think there are any gaming company out there that releases the release timing after all the bugs are taken out, that question is is not right (laugh). If we played 2000 hours continuously and if it hangs just once I?ll let it go. However if it hangs 4 times during a 2 hour play, that?s S rank problem and I?ll tell them to fix it. If that can?t be fixed we have to delay the release, this goes for any game, and not only FFXIV ARR.
That is true. I knew you were going to answer it that way (laugh). This goes for me also but there are players that would see that answer and feel relief. That?s because previous FFXIV failed big time on that one.
Y: Hmmm, so that means it?s really hard for them to really trust us.
I?m sure you know this but there are those that think like you in the gaming industry, on the other hand there are those that hold back on the quality but priorities on releases. You are Square-Enix?s corporate executive so as a company it wouldn?t be surprising if it was a decision as a company to avoid any further delays. But looking at you until now, I felt that you were not that type of person.
Y: As a developer being told that is a blessing.
But, does that mean the bug fix for the PS3 version is pretty much nearing it?s end?
Y: Yes. If something were to happen, like if it goes over the display limit, there was a situation when this happened when we tested with our in-office testers and development teams, that is why we have these beta tests. But aside from that we really working on close details now so I think we?re alright.
So for example, if few hundred players all gathered in town, it won?t crash right?
Y: Yes, we already taken care of that type of bug. We want players to test in that situation to see the bugs case-by-case.
Collectors Edition was sold out instantly.
Y: I was really happy about that.
Do you have plans on additional production?
Y: No, it?s really hard to make this. If we wanted to reproduce it will take about 3 month so not really thinking about addition. Also we don?t want to the market to hold (onto extra copies) this was due to what happened in previous XIV, but we want to have people with grudge against say stuff like Look see it?s left over just like previous XIV, it?s not selling, that?s why we said it?s alright to just do it with reservation orders only. We really lowered the price as much as possible, and wanted as much players to try it. We were already decided on the price around year and half ago.
How many players are you expecting in phase 3?
Y: With one world with 5,000 simultaneous connection capacity with Legacy worlds together will be 35. We are planning to check the amount and have enough room to increase some more worlds.
Oh wow, can?t believe that much for beta.
Y: We have over 700,000 tester registrations so we need this much (laugh)
For phase 3 duration, are you going to do 2 month fully till August?
Y: It?s not that long
Then from June 14th till when?
Y: We?re thinking about a month
So if it goes as planned then it will end around mid July, so from there you?ll go back to redevelopment?
Y: No, once we received the feedbacks. From here on out it?s more towards the operation. Our operation team checks the QA report from previous day every morning, and checks players feedback, and also checks the morning meetings, if we are going to fix, they talk about when? If it needs to be done as a hot fix? They make those decisions and moving on forward, so we?ll probably go in the same way. We did the same during phase 1 and 2 also, so like this feedback, we?re going to address this one but it?s going to be pushed to phase 4, or at launch, or patch. It?s currently setup that way and heading towards the last part.
Then when will phase 4, the open beta test where anyone can play start?
Y: We haven?t decided yet. That is because we haven?t started phase 3 yet.
So it?s up to phase 3 then.
Y: Yes. That is because there is possibility of bugs.
Say phase 3 ends smoothly in mid-July then when will phase 4 start?
Y: Phase 4 is something that?s finished and for everyone to try it out so it?s all up to the result of phase 3.
It was said the early access bonus from Collectors Edition is about 5 days, but open beta is about one week?
Y: Might be short but I can?t answer on the duration yet.
Then say if it was right before the release date, why did you separate the open beta (phase 4) and early access?
Y: Open beta is for everyone around the world to try it out, and early access is a bonus for pre-order. Not everyone is getting early access, and as you know we want to split the wave of server rush (laugh)
Are you going to wipe character data in open beta?
Y: Open beta is open so as long as there isn?t any critical bugs we are planning not to wipe. As long as there isn?t any data type of bugs we aren?t going to wipe and transfer to official service.
But if you?re not going to wipe character data during open beta, wouldn?t that lower the merit of early access?
Y: Is that right?
You make character during open beta, and if you can play that character in official service, there isn?t much reason to purchase the Collectors Edition and participate in the early access.
Y: I believe 3-5 days advantage for MMORPG is pretty big for players who want to play right away.
I see. So looks like people will dash start from open beta but you?re okay with that?
Y: Yes that is alright.
Hope there isn?t any unexpected trouble post phase 3 and be able to meet the Augusts official service.
Y: Yes. I am also looking forward to see what?s going to happen with this much volume, and trying to make this much complex system as simple as possible, at same time rendering at a maximum limit. (reworded)
This time we focused on the PS3 version in the interview but I believe there are many that will say ?I?m of course going to be playing on the PC version? when are you going to announce the optimal PC or optimal gamepad information?
Y: Almost. Once we get in June those information should come out. (note this interview was done May 30th)
This year we got Haswell and GeForce 700 series coming out around the same time, so we?ll have lots of optimal PC?s with those setup?
Y: I?m telling you almost (laugh).
Please give us your comment for the players waiting for beta test phase 3.
Y; This 2 and half years, it was really long time, and I really have made you wait a long time.
I believe both PC version and PS3 version has it?s good parts. There may be merit and demerits as well but I believe to be able to have a MMORPG with this scale and quality, especially for Japan I don?t think there isn?t much chance to play a domestic game like this so I would like you to please try it out, and leave feedbacks such as want to see NPC display priority to increase and what you felt. It?s alright if it?s just feedback saying I Like it or Got bored of this, just give us as much feedbacks so we can use those for final adjustments.
Thank you, looking forward to phase 3.
