The last major patch for Final Fantasy XIV Online, Patch 6.2 added new missions, dungeons and raids. The patch also added long-awaited additional chapters to some of the MMORPG’s storylines, as well as the all-new Island Sanctuary – an almost Animal Crossing-like island – for players to enjoy and explore.
Following the release of Patch 6.2, GameSpot emailed Final Fantasy XIV Online director Naoki Yoshida to ask several questions about the update. The responses we received are transcribed below.
GameSpot: How did you find the experience of starting a whole new story after exiting a story that lasted so long?
I have to say that finishing a story that continued from the original Final Fantasy XIV made me feel relieved. That said, a new adventure doesn’t mean the story up to this point will disappear. it will be a continuation of the story so far. As for our team, we’re constantly thinking “How can we get everyone excited?”. So even if we’re working on a new story, our day-to-day experiences remain largely unchanged.
With patch 6.2, you’ve made some notable changes to the cutscenes after certain dungeons to add to the Trust system — these seem like great opportunities to go back and improve them. Are there any old scenes you wish you could redo in a certain way or are you excited to revisit?
We’re still in the middle of integrating the Duty Support feature into existing content and moving up. I didn’t have too many elements that I specifically wanted to change, but one of the themes of Heavensward that we updated this round was traveling with allies, so that was one of the things I wanted to revisit for sure.
What’s your favorite part of the new Island Sanctuary feature?
There’s a lot, but I love being able to play without having to rush and having the freedom to play on my own. By the way, I have yet to set foot in the island sanctuary on my personal account.
I’ve been thinking about taking it easy on my island retreat after the other content has settled down.
Speaking of new features, if you could add any game type like survival or battle royale to FFXIV without any restrictions, what would you want to put in?
“No limits” is pretty unrealistic for me, so I can’t picture that in my head. FFXIV has its foundational systems that make it FFXIV, along with its server systems, so any content incorporated into FFXIV will need to adhere to these restrictions. With that in mind, while making sure we don’t lose that Final Fantasy feel, I think the idea of content using blue wizards could be interesting. I imagine there would be a huge field where you can learn blue magic spells from enemies and other players, and everyone would fight to be the last one standing using the spells they learned. It would be nice if I could make it a reality one day, but for now, the currently scheduled content takes priority.
Not exactly a 6.2 related question, but as a big fan of Hildibrand I was excited to hear that the new relic quests tie into his story. what made you decide to do this? More Hildibrand is always good.
There are always a lot of ideas when we think about what to do for the next weapon enhancement content. At the same time, we also receive a lot of feedback from our players. This time, instead of setting it in its own content, we came up with the idea of boosting weapons alongside a story, and Hildibrand proved to be a good fit for that. Not to mention Hildy is back with us.
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