German Interview with Yoshi-P summary posted on the Discord. As always credit to Miuna. Lot of information was repeat, but some of new details made me laugh:
Reaper:
Playstyle:
- We're still in development so nothing is fully set in stone
- To put it simple, Reaper actions can be divided into three categories. Solo actions, actions executed by the Avatar and finally, combined actions with both the player and the Avatar
- Going through your rotation will accumulate some sort of gauge or stacks (can't go into detail yet), that will allow you to use a strong combination action with your Avatar
Design choices and background:
- Always had a lot of feedback from players who asked for a scythe, so our design process started with the weapon this new job was going to use - Heavy weapons tend to give the image of a slow hard hitting play style, but that is not the case within Final Fantasy. Most attacks will be stylish and quick
- We had a reaper as you would see them on tarot cards in mind when thinking of the job concept, but also knew we wanted the Avatar to play an important role
- If you want to think of it from a manga/anime perspective, Yagami Light from Death Note would be a suitable figure to compare it to
- A normal person, Yagami Light or in our case, you, the player, enters a sort of contract with the devil, Ryuk in Death Note, or the Avatar in our case that will create a very strong being in the end
- Bleach, a very popular manga in Japan, has also influenced us. But as always, we are giving it our own spin and flair
Yoshi-P the weeb.
Q: A lot of players enjoy making new characters, but get scared of having to redo everything. Are there any plans to make Achievements, Minions and Mounts or even Glams account wide?
Short A: No
Longer A: There is NewGame+ if you want to play the story again, there are Fantasia if you want to change your looks and if you want to make a new char for RP get a level boost on the Mogstation
Q: In previous expansions the new areas were always geographically close. This time they seem to be a lot more spread and we're even going to the moon. Do you think the playing experience might suffer if the new maps aren't as tied to each other as before?
A: No, I don't think it will lead to a bad experience. All areas will be connected in some way or another. For example, if we wanted to go to Old Sharlayan, we will be going through Limsa Lominsa. Same for the new area Radz-at-Han. Even in SB, the WoL had to travel far East. There were dungeons on the way and other encounters, but it ultimately helped the WoL get used to the new region. It will be similar in EW. We're going to the moon after all, I just can't tell you the "how" yet.
Q: The Digital Fan Fest was a great event and the fans were really excited, but it was a different experience than being there in person. What did you personally miss the most, especially when it comes to the interaction with fans?
A: Sadly, there was no other way because of the Pandemic. If the event was in person, I could have left the stage between segments, taken photos with fans, signing autographs or just listen to their feedback about the game. When I had the audience in front of me at past Fan Festivals I was always able to see how they react to the things I said, this was obviously difficult this time. I was able to read comments, but I couldn't see the expressions fans were making, whether they'd be angry or annoyed or happy at what I was announcing.
Q: You announced that Male Viera will be added in 6.0. A lot of players are still waiting for additional hairstyles or the option to wear hats on Viera or Hrothgar, are these being worked on and potentially introduced with the addition of Male Viera?
Short A: Not yet
Long A: First off, the reason why Viera and Hrothgar can't wear hats right now is the following. We have very standardized specifications when it comes to head gear and the unique design with the long ears on Viera doesn't always meet these specifications. If we allowed every head gear piece, it would lead to clipping or other errors. The unique design of Viera and Hrothgar just prevents us from allowing these pieces, if we want to follow our specifications. Nevertheless, we are aware of player feedback and we are definitely not the kind of dev team that ignores their players feedback. There were a few things we said would be impossible to do, but we worked hard on it and made it possible in the end. We have regular meetings, I was in one just yesterday and we're planning on having another one this upcoming week, where we discuss how to lower development costs or which options we have to add more hairstyles. The players can be assured that we are aware and are thinking about this, but I am asking for a bit more patience and that you wait a little longer. I hope to have some good news soon.
Ishgard Housing:
Q: Ishgard housing will be available in 6.1. Why do we have to wait until 6.1 when the restoration was such a big thing in ShB?
A: It's not that simple. We created a lot of Graphics for housing in ARR and they all need to be adjusted. This takes time. We had to wait for expansion development to be able to add enough members to the team who are working on the graphics specifically. There also is the physical issue of adding the housing servers which are different from the gaming servers.
Players might ask why we aren't getting the new housing in 6.0, but we want players to enjoy the new content, story, the new jobs. We could open the areas in 6.0, but we feel like that would be too much of a distraction and we want the players to enjoy EW. The people in Ishgard want to thank the WoLs for helping with the restoration and are building a new housing area for you, but even those guys need to sleep and eat so they are taking a good amount of time to finish their work.
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