Naoki Yoshida has been leading Final Fantasy 14 for longer than many Minecraft players have been alive. It's a strange comparison, but it's a valid one. He hasn't caved to community pressure to pump the brakes on all the flashy restrictions over the years, preferring to maintain fairly strict standards for what each of the game's flashy job classes can and cannot wear.
For PC players, this wasn't much of an issue once the Mare Synchronos mod appeared, as fans were able to completely bypass the system and show what they wanted to wear to anyone who happened to have the same mod installed. Sadly, those days are over now, as producers had to call it quits earlier this year.
Last Halloween, something big happened that shook the FF14 scene. Starting with the upcoming patch 7.4, most glamor restrictions will be lifted. We all probably wear clothes that make us feel good whenever we feel like it. What has changed? Why did Yoshi P's heart grow three sizes during the biggest holiday?
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As part of a wide-ranging conversation with Famitsu (thanks to PCGamer), Yoshida reiterated his personal stance on appeal: that he wants to remain immersed when playing a game. Letting everyone do what they want, wherever they want, can mess things up a bit. For personal satisfaction, he adheres to various restrictions. To be honest, I completely understand it. I often do that too.
However, Yoshida explains that “with this in mind, we are playing titles from various other companies and checking their specifications.” This is where it gets real. “We have come to the conclusion that it is okay to continue to adhere to our personal principles as gamers, but it is no longer time to force them on players. […] I also personally play FFXIV, and since I play my character as a dark mage, I have no intention of glorifying knight gear. “These are my own role-playing rules, so I decided them arbitrarily,” he said.
But, ‘My character is the coolest and cutest in the world. “I thought it was pointless to interrupt the role play of people who said, ‘I want to dress up more,’ so I thought about it again.”
Yoshi-P relented. Cuteness is the best. “It's okay for me to be particular about my own style. I'm sure other people feel the same way. But that doesn't mean the system should limit the incentives of people who are obsessed with how they dress.” A life lesson, then, and a welcome one for hundreds of thousands of Eorzeans.
Interestingly, Yoshida immediately addressed the issue of mods in his Famitsu interview. Once again the Mare Synchronos saga comes to mind. “I am tolerant of modding culture, but I think tools that disrupt business are completely unacceptable,” he says. “They break the basic rules of modding: earning a company's trust and enjoying it within that framework. Anything beyond that is no longer part of the culture.”
Regardless of where we personally think we should draw that line, Naoki Yoshida's words are law. At least it's good that the director himself has changed the law to allow for a much more open and richly engaging experience.
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