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Highlights
- Producer Naoki Yoshida wants to make Final Fantasy 14 more challenging for players in future updates, admitting to making the game too stress-free.
- Dawntrail, the upcoming expansion, will feature major graphical updates to enhance texture quality and help ensure the game’s longevity.
- While Yoshida aims to surprise players with Dawntrail and beyond, details on how stress will be added to the game remain unspecified.
In a recent interview, Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki Yoshida expressed his intent to make the critically acclaimed MMORPG more challenging in the future but stopped short of saying what he would exactly do. While Final Fantasy 14 developed a reputation as a stress-free experience during Endwalker, Yoshida stated that he and the developers had gone a bit far in that regard, and wanted to dial it back.
The interview took place as Yoshida and Creative Business Unit 3 continued their work on Dawntrail, the fifth expansion for Final Fantasy 14 due out this summer. While the Viper and Pictomancer Jobs, and the continent of Tural, are among the major highlights of the expansion, Dawntrail will also bring about Final Fantasy 14‘s first major graphical update since A Realm Reborn. With resources dedicated to improving the texture quality of character models and the game’s various environments, the graphical update was done to ensure Final Fantasy 14‘s longevity.
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Yoshida Wants To Give Final Fantasy 14 Players A Challenge
Though Final Fantasy 14 has enjoyed success since its relaunch, Yoshida also admitted some regrets he had about the development of the game. In a Famitsu interview with Shimoda Shouta, which was later translated by Reddit user MKlby1998, Yoshida said that he wants to keep surprising players in Dawntrail and beyond. During the discussion, Yoshida was also reminded of a regret he had, which was that he and the developers made the game more stress-free over time. Yoshida clarified his view that video games should have some degrees of stress as part of it, but admitted it was difficult to balance. Though he stated in a previous interview that the endgame of Dawntrail would differ from Endwalker, Yoshida did not say what he would precisely do to add stress to the game.
Yoshida went on to compare the lack of stress in Final Fantasy 14 to a side-scrolling platformer without bottomless pits and said that the lack of stress also amounted to a lack of fun. Although each expansion release has challenging forms of content, such as Savage and Ultimate Raids, Endwalker also made it easier for players who want to gear up quickly, with the Manderville relic weapons being a recent example of an endgame activity that was designed to be easier compared to its predecessors.
Although Yoshida expressed wanting to make parts of Final Fantasy 14 more challenging and fun for players, it remains to be seen what that will entail. But between the upcoming 14-hour broadcast and a panel at PAX East, Final Fantasy 14 players can expect to hear more from Yoshida about Dawntrail in the weeks ahead.
Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy XIV’s original release was less-than-stellar, with many fans blasting the game for its array of issues. This prompted developers to cancel the MMO and rebuild it as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Since then, the title has seen a massive resurgence and has quickly become one of the best MMOs ever made, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers online at any given time.
- Released
- August 27, 2013
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Engine
- Crystal Tools
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- PC, PS4 & PS5
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
