As the highly anticipated Final Fantasy 14 (FFXIV) Dawntrail expansion approaches, game director and producer Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) recently provided an in-depth look at what players can expect in future updates.
Yoshi-P's Insights Into FF14's Refreshed Combat and New Jobs
More Emphasis on Timing, Tempo, and Rhythm in Combat
In a recent interview with 4Gamer, Yoshida discussed new jobs, areas, and significant changes to the game's battle system, promising more challenging encounters in the game. He started off by discussing the introduction of two new jobs, the Viper and Pictomancer, which promises to bring an interesting dynamic to the game.
"FFXIV is a system that is inevitably influenced by the global cooldown (GCD)," he started. "The concept of Viper is that its speed increases within the parameters laid out, and movements' tempos change depending on the action. Even with the effect of the GCD on Weapon Skill (WS), we aim to make it look faster than other jobs with a good tempo."
The Viper job is designed with the premise of incorporating two abilities between GCDs from the outset, said Yoshi-P, creating a unique, rhythmic combat pattern. This rang true for the Pictomancer, another newly introduced job arriving in Dawntrail—estimating the timing and locking in the tempo to cycle through different actions are key. In addition, Yoshi-P stated that players will "need to carefully determine the state of the boss," which will make boss encounters "even more immersive."
Changes Will Be Discernible Starting From Patch 7.1
Image (c) 4Gamer
Yoshida also addressed previous feedback indicating that the game had become too stress-free, leading to a lack of novelty and challenge. This feedback prompted Yoshi-P, along with the team, a reevaluation of how battle mechanics are designed.
"In a positive sense, the game became stress-free, but in a negative sense, it lacked novelty and a sense of challenge," Yoshida admitted. He noted that the development team had been making overly safe decisions to avoid upsetting players, resulting in repetitive mechanics. However, he stated that the FFXIV team has an evolving approach to developing battle content, additionally assuring that encounters will require better strategy.
Starting from Patch 7.1, a major content update for the game, players will notice the shift towards more challenging battle gimmicks, said Yoshi-P. The team is "experimenting with new ideas in patch 7.0 to gradually introduce these changes." Yoshida assured players that while the story dungeons will remain accessible and enjoyable, expert-level content will feature many new, interesting mechanics.
"So I don't think [players] will feel the same way as before, especially if you are new to the game. After a few days of playing and getting used to it, you will probably find that it will gradually settle down to just the right amount of thrill."
Source:
4Gamer:［インタビュー］「FFXIV: 黄金のレガシー」のリリース間近。吉田直樹氏に新ジョブや新フィールドなどのコンセプトなどを聞いた
