It's Tanaka's XI! Final Fantasy Storms Online!
Posted by Dice on 07 September 2004 - 21:28 · no comments & 156 views
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Already a success in both Asia and North America, Ubisoft is counting the days down to its UK debut, with the online RPG set to be unveiled on September 17, complete with the Rise of The Zilart and brand new Chains of Promathia expansion packs (the latter is enjoying a simultaneous worldwide launch and is very good, judging by our brief hands-on).
After learning of his presence at last week's EGN event at London, we caught up with the legendary Square Enix veteran and Final Fantasy XI producer Hirochimi Tanaka to talk about his online masterpiece.
Why are you launching the European version of Final Fantasy XI so much later after the Japansese and American versions? Were you concerned it might not take off over here and were you waiting to see if it would prove a success in America first?
Click ...Read More to view Tanaka-san's words.
Cont...
Tanaka-san: There was no concern at all. Basically, we always planned to release it worldwide. We've managed to keep our costs low because we use the same server as Japan and America, and take advantage of the different time zones - the peak times are different. We're using the resources that are already there and therefore did not have to invest in new servers for European territories.
Originally we wanted to release it worldwide simultaneously, but unfortunately, that would have been a major risk, so we decided to release it in stages - first in Japan, then America, then Europe. The success in America was what we were hoping for, but it wouldn't have affected the European launch either way.
What has been the response from Final Fantasy fans upon seeing the series expanded into an online arena?
Tanaka-san: It's a big mixture. You have some fans out there who have never played Final Fantasy I and others who have not played later parts, so the reaction is hard to gauge across the board.
The idea of an online game is basically a PC game, so you have to change that concept to suit the console version [which is currently not planned for launch in Europe], and try to encourage Final Fantasy's console fanbase to move into online games via the PS2. At the same time, we did release the PC version to that particular market familiar with MMORPGS.
So there has been a huge barrier to the online market for some of our fans, but the ones that have experienced Final Fantasy XI have taken to its charm and probably won't have difficulty returning to normal packaged games once they've played it online.
Despite the new online gameplay, how important was it for you to retain the series' classic features and style?
Tanaka-san: Of course, being a massively multiplayer online game, that changed everything. But as far as the concept goes, we returned to the original Final Fantasy world - and I was involved in the original game - and created this kind of world where the adventure never stops and where we could keep adding to the story, which is something you couldn't do on a cartridge, but we can do that with Final Fantasy XI.
Seeing that the game has proved a success online in other territories, are you already planning for further online sequels?
Tanaka-san: Because it's an online game, we can keep adding to it with patches and updates, so there's no need to make a sequel . And that's the whole beauty of an online game. At the moment there is no need to think about a sequel.
That said, a lot of players in Japan and America have the PS2 version, and the PS2 won't be around forever. So eventually, we'll have to decide where we want to take the game - to the PS3 or Xbox 2 or whatever - or are we going to have start off with a whole new sequel or idea?
For the time being though, there is no need to abandon the world of Final Fantasy XI because we can just add to it. As you can see, there's a whole new expansion pack which has really added new areas and taken the engine - which is now two years old - and really pushed it and created amazing graphics.
Final Fantasy is renowned for its big epic storylines. Despite being online, is Final Fantasy XI still very story driven?
Tanaka-san: Yes, Final Fantasy the series has always been story-driven, particularly the console package and the versions up to now. We didn't want to abandon that for the online version because that's what's made Final Fantasy what it is. So we've kept the missions and quests that build the main plot.
However, it's tricky to maintain [a story online] because you have people playing the game at the same time as others who are at different parts of the story. For instance, you might encounter somebody who has only just started the story, while you're several months into the game. So how do you show the same story but at different stages to different people, and implement the cut-scenes?
The mission-based system means you begin the tale from one of three countries, and you see the story from that country's perspective. So your friend might start from a different place and they'll see everything from that town's perspective. You'll talk with them about what's going on, but we don't show everything to everybody - we show different parts to different people.
In order to understand the full story, you have to either do all the missions or just do the ones in your home town and let the others reveal the rest of the storyline.
Will Final Fantasy fans be familiar with the races featured in the game?
Tanaka-san: We're still keeping a lot of them [from the early games] in there, but at the same time we're adding slightly different versions of them. Originally, Final Fantasy did have different races in there, but they weren't pushed to the forefront as much. This time, with the concept of different people and races coming together, and working to solve problems, we've built on that. We took those concepts and added a bit more to them.
We understand you've incorporated a job system where players can switch jobs...
Tanaka-san: Because it's multiplayer, each player specialises in different roles, and you get this separation of responsibility within a party. The gameplay's different [from previous versions] in that sense - one person doesn't control several people and do everything. This time you choose a main role and work within a team.
Another difference is that you now have a support job system, which makes it quite different to any other game out there, particularly in the MMORPG market. You're not limited to just one job and you can switch your main job at any time, and there are more than 200 combinations to exploit. With all that, there's quite a lot of gameplay variety.
Are there any differences between the European PC and previously launched Japanese and American versions, barring language alterations of course?
Tanaka-san: We haven't changed much with the PC version at all, although ultimately the European release is coming packed with the newly launching Chains of Promathia expansion pack, which Americans and Japanese will have to buy separately.
So what can you tell us about Chains of Promathia?
Tanaka-san: It expands onto the original storyline, and gives a kind of side story that branches off. It's basically given the team a chance to experiment. As soon as you play it, you'll see that not only does it push the limits graphically, but story wise, we've taken it out in other interesting fields too.