Interview: Naoki Yoshida wants to take players on a journey

It’s late on a Thursday evening at Gamescom, and everyone is tired. But you couldn’t tell that from Naoki Yoshida, the producer and creative mastermind behind Final Fantasy XIV, which celebrated the launch of its latest expansion, Dawntrail, this summer.

I reviewed the wonderful new chapter of the saga earlier in July, and wrote about the effect that Yoshida’s game had on me last year, when I visited the 10th anniversary Fan Fest in London. I’m usually not a fan of MMO’s, as they simply take too much time, and the amount of content is too overwhelming for me.

But Final Fantasy XIV is different. It’s a beautifully written saga of hope, forgiveness, friendship, and overcoming even the greatest odds. The community it cultivates is immensely encouraging and welcoming. There’s a sense that you have friends the world over, no matter who you are.

As always in our interviews, Yoshida is forthcoming, kind, and attentive. He cares deeply about his game and the fan base, and will happily speak of topics big and small related to them for ages. We have a half hour, and the following is our conversation via a translator, edited for clarity.

A new beginning after The End

What was the process like in choosing a tone and pace for the new expansion? Was it always the intent to slow down?

The tone itself has various meanings, but we decided on the concept in the beginning. In Endwalker, the players fought to protect our universe, so we decided it was time for a relaxing adventure afterward.

With regard to the tempo and pacing, that wasn’t something we had in mind. This is a location we hadn’t done before. We introduce new races, people, and religions. We wanted to be very attentive to that creation process. It was important for players to understand the context behind them.

As a result, it ended up that some players felt the tempo was slow. Consequently, the expansion got a mixed response. But we didn’t have this in mind originally, because we were focused on creating the world and introducing it to the players.

When it came to the main scenario, which people felt were lacking. We could incorporate elements of that to the side quests, so people can enjoy the scenario at their pace. This is something we’ve learned after ten years of development, so we want to take that and use it more moving forward.

The role of a hero

I personally enjoy how the pacing feels, but also because it is like the heroes are almost teachers to new characters. Was that another conscious choice? Will we see it more in the future?

With regard to this time, that was an intentional decision.

When we looked at this story in Endwalker, we overcame a major crisis. If we were to repeat this same pattern, people would get tired of experiencing the same thing over and over again.

Players have different experiences in the game that keeps it fresh. Now they’ve had the experience of being a hero, we wanted to give them the chance to be there to help others. We did this for the sake of the pacing of the saga.

Whether The Warrior of Light will remain a teacher, the answer is no. We have many ideas in mind of how the heroes will be portrayed. Hypothetically speaking, they might have to travel to another world and help guide the people there. We have various depictions in mind, and we want to keep those open going forward.

It’s rare in MMO’s to see what happens next after something cataclysmic and how the world moves on from that.

Thank you so much. Players tend to think of the now, and I do understand they want to have more excitement. It’s not a bad thing!

But even though we took this direction, at some point, the thing they are waiting for will arise again. I’m glad you understand the need for an aftermath. It means a lot as we work towards something similar in the future.

The themes of Final Fantasy XIV

You also worked on FF XVI, which has similar themes of power, moving on, and the concept of legacy. Did that provide insight on where FFXIV would move on to in terms of writing?

Maybe it’s just that I haven’t noticed, but I don’t think there was a conscious effort.

When I look back at the development in FF XVI, it began quite a few years ago, and there’s been a great change in our society during that time. There’s more division; more conflict. People don’t participate in discussion, they just attack each other. When we decided to expand the world of FF XIV, I wanted to provide an adventure that people could have fun with. So, the approach is very different from FF XVI, which is much darker.

When we talk about the more lighthearted adventure, I think we should look at the example of other artists. I’m a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki, and I really like Laputa: Castle in the Sky. That’s the image I had in mind. We’ve had so much dark news recently, I wanted to take the audience on an adventure they could purely enjoy.

So rather than previous projects, I think it’s more the current state of the world that influences me. That’s the feeling I get.

Onward

Last October, I attended the 10th Anniversary Fan Fest and wrote a long article about it. I think one of the great gifts this game gives is that sense of adventure, and the community it creates. It feels like a safe space to experience other people — especially for someone like me, who has a hard time making friends.

Thank you so much for that, I’m so glad to hear it. This is our work, and there are tough times, but when we hear things like this, it really drives us forward and means a lot to us.

But of course, as a development team, we prepare the stage, and the player community is our friends. So it’s important what you, as players, do in the game. All of our players should be proud of what they accomplish together.

We hope people continue to make friends, and make memories together. We hope that you get to meet in real life and make memories together that way, and that we get to be there to bring you new stories for many years to come.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is out now.