FF14 Dawntrail is sort of upon us, and recreation director and producer Naoki Yoshida says that, after the profitable implementation of solo story parts all through Shadowbringers and Endwalker, the brand new growth for the critically acclaimed MMORPG may have a heavier give attention to multiplayer and large-scale content material. Because it stands, nevertheless, Ultimate Fantasy 14 doesn’t do the perfect job of getting newcomers from the story to the endgame, and so PCGamesN asks Yoshida if he’d wish to implement extra methods to assist gamers be taught.
As a daily participant ever for the reason that launch of A Realm Reborn in 2013, I’ve watched Ultimate Fantasy 14 proceed to develop and evolve over its decade-plus of growth. Whereas it actually earns its place as top-of-the-line MMORPGs ever, most gamers will agree that its best power is in its story, one thing that Yoshida and Artistic Enterprise Unit III have positioned nice give attention to all through the newest Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions.
That’s set to alter in Dawntrail. Having widened the entry level for gamers to get on board, Yoshida now says he needs to push for extra give attention to multiplayer content material, aiming in the direction of a purpose of “80 to 90% multiplayer content material transferring ahead.” He additionally says the workforce is engaged on making FF14 content material much less repetitive and inspiring participant events to strategize on the fly and determine options to the challenges at hand.
On the media tour occasion the place I play the FF14 Dawntrail preview construct, together with the Viper and Pictomancer jobs, I ask Yoshida if this focus requires providing extra help to story-driven gamers, to assist them be taught the fundamentals of high-end fight. In spite of everything, regardless of my in depth playtime I nonetheless really feel a pang of apprehension on the concept of queuing for brand spanking new duties on something however my consolation melee DPS jobs.
“First I want to reply from my perspective as a recreation designer but in addition as somebody who may be very accustomed to MMOs,” Yoshida says. “Relating to informal players and getting them to strive a sure sort of content material, I’m not the one that would wish to pull them to strive that.” Everybody has their very own conditions, he explains, whether or not they’re busy with work or learning, and he wouldn’t want to power somebody out of their consolation zone whereas taking part in FF14 throughout their downtime.
“Clearly from my perspective, I might need many individuals to check out the varied forms of content material that we’ve, however I believe the best state of affairs is that they fight it out at their very own tempo and every time it fits them.” I point out the Corridor of the Novice, a easy tutorial system that introduces some fundamental ideas like avoiding AoE assaults, focusing on enemy healers first, and interacting with objects mid-fight. It’s fairly useful, however sticks to quite simple concepts and hasn’t been expanded since its introduction.
Yoshida agrees that it is a system that might profit from some brushing up. “I believe reasonably than a tutorial, there ought to be some coaching of types that may be offered, possibly for individuals who’ve reached the extent cap. So in Dawntrail it could be at stage 100 – they’re questioning about how their talent rotation works, or possibly for people who find themselves tanking this coaching might assist them perceive how tank switching works. I believe a minimum of this sort of coaching ought to be offered, as a result of it’s worthwhile having this data to tackle the problem of assorted content material.”
One doable resolution lies within the Gold Saucer. I like the FF14 Fall Guys occasion, I inform Yoshida, as a result of it’s an effective way to apply some extra superior raid mechanics in a totally stress-free zone. There’s no concern of letting others down, and when you mess up you possibly can instantly give it one other go along with no actual draw back. It’s removed from the primary Saucer occasion to supply this potential, and with plans to broaden on the on line casino’s choices in Dawntrail, I ask whether or not we might see extra such integration sooner or later.
“I believe this might be ultimate,” Yoshida responds. It’s an area the place gamers can simply leap in and participate, he says, “and as they’re taking part in the content material, they are going to steadily be taught concerning the mechanics. I believe that is ultimate as a result of if we current it as ‘right here’s a tutorial, right here’s one other tutorial, right here’s one other tutorial,’ it feels such as you’re in class – I wish to keep away from that sort of state of affairs.”
He additionally expresses a wariness that gamers may develop into too demanding if a extra express tutorial system had been carried out. “We do have a really passionate neighborhood,” he concludes, “so if we had that, the neighborhood would say, ‘Oh you might want to go and do that,’ ‘you might want to go and do this.’” Some form of center floor choice, then, may be simply what FF14 wants, and I’ll actually by no means say no to extra Gold Saucer minigames.
You can too learn the opposite a part of our media tour interview, the place Yoshida reveals canceled FF14 jobs and weapons. Because the FF14 Dawntrail launch date nears, be sure you’re all caught up with our useful overview of all the things that’s new. And when you love an excellent narrative, ensure to not miss out on the perfect story video games to play in 2024.
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This text is predicated on time spent taking part in an in-development construct of Ultimate Fantasy 14 Dawntrail, and content material within the remaining model is topic to alter.