It’s a story about revenge and redemption, but there’s one person involved in the development of Final Fantasy 14 who didn’t think it would ever be possible. IGN recently spoke with Naoki Yoshida — affectionately known as “Yoshi-P” by the community — and found out that he originally thought an MMO could be made without requiring players to have their character die.
Yoshida is known as the man who saved FF14, turning the game’s reboot into A Realm Reborn into one of the most critically-acclaimed MMORPGs in history. He’s also well-known for his commitment to improving the game, including making it easier for newcomers to get into it.
One of the ways that he’s done this is by reducing the cost to play, but another way is through enhancements like lowering the initial investment and increasing the number of jobs available to the player. Yoshida also wants to continue building a bright future for Final Fantasy 14, a goal that’s helped by the launch of PS5 and its boosted hardware performance.
He says that the console’s scalability means that the base systems can handle more characters than older hardware, so as performance improves in the future, players who start on PS5 or a high-end PC shouldn’t have to worry about legacy systems holding them back. He also talked about upcoming expansions, which include the 2021 release of Endwalker, the game’s newest arc that wraps up a nearly decade-long narrative.
But Yoshida also spent quite a bit of time dreaming about what might be possible in the future, both for Final Fantasy and MMORPGs in general. He said that he wants to see an MMORPG made from scratch that takes advantage of things like quantum computing and how fast that technology can make the world of video games even more realistic.
Ultimately, while Yoshida didn’t talk about what that would look like or whether it could be a Final Fantasy-branded project, the fact that he even considered it is enough to make fans of the series happy. If he can continue to bring improvements and enhancements to FF14 while expanding its scope, it’ll be interesting to see what the team does next.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor and a Dancer main. Follow him on Twitter @lawoftd.
Check out our review of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
Final Fantasy XIV is out now on PS4, PS5, and PC. It’s coming to Xbox Series X/S in 2024.
This article was originally published on January 30, 2019 and has since been updated.
Naoki Yoshida wants to bring Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters to FF14, but it won’t be easy.
Earlier this year, Square Enix released Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, allowing fans to relive the first six entries in the franchise on modern consoles. While the update wasn’t quite as big as some of the fans’ wildest dreams, it was still a great opportunity to revisit the classics.
But what if there was one more entry to add to the list? Naoki Yoshida jokingly asked if there was a “super programmer” willing to take on the task, noting that Square Enix would welcome applicants.