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FF XIV's New Boss Won't Wipe The Game But Has Major Changes In Mind
Naoki Yoshida took over as the producer and director for Final Fantasy XIV back in December, but we have yet to hear details on how he plans to salvage Square Enix's troubled MMO. Now in an interview with Famitsu, Yoshida has given some details about the direction he plans to move the game.
1UP brings us a few juicy excerpts from this interview, where Yoshida promises that he will "never do a total wipe of the game" no matter how major the changes to leveling or the game's skill system may be. Despite this resolution, Yoshida does have big plans for fixing the game:
"The user interface. We can work on other things all we want, but if we don't fix the controls at the same time, then players will be too frustrated to fully appreciate the other improvements. Also, changes to the battle system. Right now, Eorzea is a little too peaceful, isn't it? I'd like to see more chances for players to work together and take down stronger enemies – more of that Final Fantasy style of play."
Another major change that's likely coming to Eorzea? Auction houses. One of my biggest complaints at FF XIV's launch was the awful retainer system and how it broke the game's economy. Apparently Yoshida does not disagree:
"Up until now, we were too preoccupied with making FFXIV as different from FFXI as we could. However, players plainly need an easy-to-use gameplay system that encourages a healthy in-game economy. If an auction house is that system, then I say we should implement it. Making everything new and original isn't necessarily the right thing all the time."
So it isn't. Yoshida also mentions that the PlayStation 3 version of Final Fantasy XIV will remain on hiatus "until we improve the game's quality." Not a bad plan. Here's hoping Yoshida isn't all talk.
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