Final Fantasy XI: Developer Roundtable Q&A, Part Three
MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh presents this first part of a developer roundtable interview that she conducted while attending the recent Fan Festival. Today, we present Part Three, she tackles Game Systems & World Questions
This Developer Roundtable Q&A report combines a group session as well as exchanges I had with members of the media from other groups and a public Q&A session. Developers in attendance:
- Final Fantasy Team – Producer
- Kouichi Ogawa – Director
- Akihiko Matsui – Battle Director
- Yoji Fujito – Planner
- Mizuki Ito – Planner
- Mitsutoshi Gondai – Planner
- Sage Sundi – Global Onine Producer (Community)
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MMORPG.com: |
Will there ever be PvP in duel or large battle situations? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
When the Final Fantasy XI was originally designed, it was not fitting in the worldview. However, if there is enough feedback from players asking for it, we are willing to look into it. |
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MMORPG.com: |
Where are the new pets promised? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
Sorry to keep you waiting so long, but this is yet several patches away. |
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MMORPG.com: |
Are there any plans for new mounts besides the Chocobo? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
No. Not at this time. System wise, mounts are very, very difficult to implement. |
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MMORPG.com: |
What about plans to merge all inventory space? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
This is definitely an issue that is on our priority list. The system side technical details are still being looked into and worked out. |
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MMORPG.com: |
What about the idea of the keyring (one inventory slot) to hold many keys? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
It's a great idea, but again, difficult to implement on the system side and we are thinking of other ways to address this issues. |
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MMORPG.com: |
F8 targets the next closest NPC which is fine and dandy, but can we have a command to target the nearest enemy? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
Fancy that... this is one of the most requested changes by staff as well as players. We would love to have that tomorrow, but on the systems side, it's hard to accommodate. Maybe if I worked on it for a month... |
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MMORPG.com: |
Any plans to increase the macro lines to more than 6? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
Sorry, no. |
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MMORPG.com: |
Are there any plans to make more instances of high contested zones? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
Technically, it's possible, but it would require enormous overhaul of the systems currently in place, so no. No plans at this time. |
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MMORPG.com: |
In reference to Mob respawn times. In the old areas, mob pops are 15 minute pops and the new areas are 6 - 10 minute pops. Are there any plans to realign pop times? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
When originally designed, we had to consider the differences between the outdoor and the indoor spaces. We didn't want dungeons to re-pop too quickly or that would make them too difficult. In the days of no invis and sneak, longer pop times were also required. However, as areas become regular camps and pop times need to be adjusted, we will adjust them. For example, all the "Question Mark" mobs are having their re-pop times adjusted down. |
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MMORPG.com: |
What's up with the Almighty Apkallu? Has that penguin fallen off the boat and drowned? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
*laugh* He is a hard little bird to track down. It is possible to find him now. Really! However, we can look into it again. |
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MMORPG.com: |
What would you say to entice a new player to try Final Fantasy XI? |
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Final Fantasy Team: |
We have a free trial, a level sync system so that established players can play with newcomers, and you can play on console as well as PC. So come give it a shot. To those that have left for one reason or the other, we'd love to welcome you back. |
