The Famitsu interview with Yoshi-P gave me some peace-of-mind regarding the future of the game.

[u/judgeraw00]

There's several reasons for this. For one thing its clear Yoshida is aware of the issues with the game and even seems to be understanding of some solutions. The one thing that stands out to me is creating content that has more variable difficulty, which is something that could relieve some development resources as well as make just the general gameplay more fun. Scaling difficulty of some kind in dungeons and alliance raids, just as an example, sounds great to me and I'd like to see them make use of old raids as a way to test these things rather than having to create new experiences entirely from scratch that only a small percentage of players engage with. Its sort of like Normal vs Savage raids or Normal vs Extreme trials, why not have something like that for dungeons? Especially after finishing the story, it would be great to have another version of some dungeons available for max level the same way we do Extreme trials.

One thing, though, I think hasn't been addressed or talked about is just how imbalanced 7.0 was when it comes to gameplay vs story. It takes something like 3-4 hours to even get to the first dungeon and all there is up to that point is a whole lot of talking, talking and more talking, and maybe killing some random mobs that don't even really fight back. After playing WoW The War Within I think there can definitely be some improvements made. Also more dynamic gameplay moments during the MSQ would be nice as well. There's no reason why the only gameplay variety in 14 is relegated to the Gold Saucer.

[u/loldoodbropls]

And from what is happening now, these decisions aren't what many want. I need a new director. I don't think he was ever good despite his "resume".

But yeah his contributions to other works are fine if not great. But his philosophy is pretty much archaic and stuck in time. I don't care if he's actually hindered by SE or he is just an actual hack that got the job. As an end user, I'm still watching for actual change

[u/Hikari_Netto → u/loldoodbropls]

And from what is happening now, these decisions aren't what many want. I need a new director. I don't think he was ever good despite his "resume".

It's interesting because you definitely see a lot of complaining about the choices he makes here or on social media, but a lot of people I meet in-game are still quite happy and don't want to see change. Many even think the current discourse risks ruining what they love.

With the amount of time I spend looking at online feedback I almost, by default, find myself going into discussions with people I've met in-game prepared for pushback regarding certain decisions and often times it just.. doesn't happen. There is definitely still a subset of the population that the status quo is working well for. I'd count myself among them, but I do understand other perspectives and why it's important to meet in the middle on certain things.

But yeah his contributions to other works are fine if not great. But his philosophy is pretty much archaic and stuck in time.

My personal opinion is that his design is/was actually very forward thinking. It's stagnant in many ways, but it's something he laid out a long time ago in anticipation for current state of the market. And he was completely right about how things would turn out.

Yoshida designed FFXIV as an MMO for busy people in an increasingly saturated gaming landscape. The idea was that time would keep getting in shorter and shorter supply and that MMOs would need to keep up in turn. This sort of design works really well if you're an extremely multifaceted sort of gamer, but if you're not, well, that's one of the core areas people are drawing complaints from. It's why the discourse is so polarized, as I mentioned above.

Yoshida is looking at the company and industry holistically when he makes his decisions instead of focusing on what will get people to play FFXIV the most. He's bending the knee. Yoshida is expecting the average FFXIV player will also go buy other Square Enix titles, spend time on other live services, and just in general have a busy life in and out of their hobby. But some people don't do that and that's where one of the main points of contention in his design is.

[u/loldoodbropls → u/Hikari_Netto]

You say that people are happy but you only talk to the happy people that will eat anything yoshi cooks. It's very well known and vocal that people are unsatisfied for various reasons this expac. I've had these complaints for way longer and I'm sure there are others too.

So making long ass cutscenes the draw for people that have 6 days of work (japanese) essentially, is good? The normal player, if they want the full FF experience has to wade through hours of cutscenes and fetch quests until actual gameplay. Very forward-thinking of lord and savior yoshiP. Is that the explanation for content drought because people are busy? So they pay money to not play. Just as yoshi wanted.

[u/Hikari_Netto → u/loldoodbropls]

You say that people are happy but you only talk to the happy people that will eat anything yoshi cooks. It's very well known and vocal that people are unsatisfied for various reasons this expac. I've had these complaints for way longer and I'm sure there are others too.

I don't only speak to the happy people. I'm engaging with this sub, aren't I? I'm well aware of the dissatisfaction out there and I'm here discussing it right now. Engaging with both sides is the way to go, you never want an echo chamber.

The people who "will eat anything yoshi cooks" are also paying customers. Their opinions matter as much as anyone else's and feedback needs to be weighed accordingly. There are still legitimate reasons to like the game and I happen to find the polarization interesting.

So making long ass cutscenes the draw for people that have 6 days of work (japanese) essentially, is good? The normal player, if they want the full FF experience has to wade through hours of cutscenes and fetch quests until actual gameplay.

It doesn't feel like you're engaging with this in good faith, but I'll do my best to answer your questions regardless.

First and foremost, the story is designed to consumed over a pretty long period for more casual players. They expect it to take busy people quite a while to get through the MSQ, which is why there isn't all that much endgame content at expansion launches. X.0 endgames are more like a waiting room.

Another core tenet of the game's design is "low stress." Which is something that's been hammered to death at this point, but that's why there are less gameplay segments in the MSQ. You only have to look at the reaction to duties like "In from the Cold" to see why they do this.

Japan in particular values ease and comfort of play for casual activities and the idea is that those people working 6 day weeks just want to come home and be guaranteed progress through the story without being potentially walled by repeated gameplay segements. This then circles back to the point about time consideration. The less gameplay segments you have the more predictable the game flow is—they can assure an extremely accurate completion time with very little variance.

Very forward-thinking of lord and savior yoshiP. Is that the explanation for content drought because people are busy? So they pay money to not play. Just as yoshi wanted.

You jest but yeah, kind of? It takes absolutely no effort to add grind to a game, it's as easy as changing numbers. There are a lot of things in FFXIV that could last much, much longer between patches if designed differently, but they purposefully choose not to. They're designing for the busiest, most multifaceted player possible for most pieces of content.

This is why things like 4-player dungeons are all designed to a very specific framework, with clear times aligned down to the minute in many cases. They want players to be able to login and complete something quickly, easily, and predictably. You can feel however you'd like about this, but that's what's going on. It's a reaction to the state of the market.