Zitat
Here is more of the Famitsu interview translated from that same thread on Zam
We catch up to the always busy Tanaka!
On the Gamescon floor, we decided to schedule in an interview with the Producer of Final Fantasy XIV (which will be called FFXIV from here on) Tanaka Hiromichi and FFXIV’s global onkine producer Sage Sundi. We’ll report the interview with Tanaka Hiromichi. Since we’ll report on the interview with Sage Sundi at a later time, please look forward to that as well!
~~First, we ask Tanaka to personally explain the portion of the battle that is playable at this year’s Gamescon.
Tanaka: Well, I’m currently playing a guildleve called “Defeat the large cluster of Puks”
(TN: That is a poor translation of the guildleve name, sorry lol)
~~What are guildleves?
Through the adventurer guild in Eorzoa, guildleves are passes that are issued to visiting adventurers for work. If you achieve the requested job, you can receive various rewards. This is similar to quests that you often see in offline RPGs. The big difference is that you are able to cooperate with and help out fellow players. Being able to play alone or with a large group, the epitome of MMORPGs is packed in.
Tanaka: Just as the title of the leave suggests, you should defeat the puks, but first there are no puks present. You defeat Dodos and trick the puks into appearing.
~~Even elements such as solving riddles have been prepared. However, as it is a very large field, will you search for the target monster yourself?
Tanaka: Because the positions of the enemies are displayed on the map during a guildleve, it becomes a matter of searching those areas. However, as this time it is an alpha version, they are not displayed.
~~It’s said a lot, but the graphics are impressive.
Tanaka: Because it is still in development, the current version still has rough spots. In this version, the background is rather simply displayed, but in the final version, each tree will be displayed one by one to an extremely far distance.
(Here he begins to engage the Dodo.)
Tanaka: In “FFXI”, when you selected the “Attack” command, we used an auto attack system that would attack automatically. However, in “FFXIV” it is essential that you select the command every time.
~~Are the icons lined up on the bottom of the screen commands?
Tanaka: That’s right. They are called “Action Commands”. This interface, too, is still tentative. This is again a comparison to “FFXI”, but a characteristic of this game is that you are able to draw out your weapon at any time. It’s not like drawing out your weapon for a fight in “FFXI”, but you can draw your weapon even in places with no enemies and run around.
(Tanaka defeats the Dodos one after the other.)
~~Please tell us a bit more about the commands.
Tanaka: The ones lined up in a row below are the abilities in the current set. From these you choose the ability, which is registered in the gauge above as a command. In this game there are two gauges. You interact with the right and left hand. For example, because I hold my shield in my left hand, the commands related to the shield are registered on the left hand side.
(TN: I’m not sure if this means you can the shield in your right hand too. Just that he is currently holding it in his left hand.)
~~Will you activate a command soon?
Tanaka: When the gauge called the “Action Gauge” fills up, you can activate it. Moreover, there is also one called the “Power Gauge”, and by accumulating power, you influence your hits and the power of your skills. Again, on the bottom right of the screen is a gauge called “TP”, and depending on the condition (TN: amount?) of this accumulated TP, the skills you can activate change. That is why it is important to act toward accumulating TP during battles.
~~You’re saying that you accumulate TP from attacking enemies and conversely taking attacks from enemies?
Tanaka: That’s right.
(Here Tanaka lets out his blade’s special attack “Red Lotus Blade”.)
~~Oh! That’s a skill that I recognize (lawl).
Tanaka: Lettuce (lol).
Red Lotus Blade was one of the special skills introduced in “FFXI”. It was deemed the pet name “Lettuce” among the users.
~~Do you also choose magic etc. from these action commands?
Tanaka: That’s right. Depending on the present weapon (skills) the contents of the action commands change. For example, now I’m holding a sword, but if I were to change to a staff it would change to a variety of commands for a mage.
~~So that means that acquired skills will also line up in the action commands?
Tanaka: That would be the case. There are skills that you can’t acquire if your weapon’s skill doesn’t go up.
~~In the end will you have an amazing amount of skills lined up in the Action Command?
Tanaka: You have up to 10 abilities that you can set in the Action Command. It means you will customize which 10 skills you will use in the set.
~~It’s something like matching the action command to your own play style, right?
Tanaka: That’s right.
~~What’s the reason for adopting this battle system?
Tanaka: First of all, we wanted to construct a more proactive battle than an auto-battle. More than that, the reasoning was that we wanted to increase the strategy by having you choose your own commands. In order to clearly give defined roles based on ones job, “FFXI” has a premise of having a certain amount of party play. With “FFXIV” you can play alone, or have fun in small groups of two or three. Depending on those situations, you can choose how to share roles.
~~What is the “Smile Mark” in the Action Command?
Tanaka: That is an emote. In “FFXI” you performed emotes via text commands, but with “FFXIV” you can choose it with a graphical user interface. The bag mark next to it selects your items.
~~We saw it in the presentation, but the expressions of the emotes this time are really great. Can you do them during battle as well?
Tanaka: At the moment you can’t use them in battle (laugh).
~~This is a question regarding the interface. Since the resolution of future generation machines has been raised, it’s easy to properly distribute chat and statuses etc. and see information. For example, where will party members’ statuses etc. be displayed?
Tanaka: In the initial condition, it is on the right side of the screen, but in actuality the layout of the screen can be changed freely on the player’s end, such as moving the window with the mouse.
~~What is the player’s point of view?
Tanaka: Since this is only an alpha version, I don’t know how it will turn out after this, but it is a shoulder camera from over the shoulder; a so-called normal third person view. You’ll be able to change it to 3 different views.
This ends the guildleve. Using a warp point, Tanaka warps to the aetheryte of the guildleve’s starting point.
~~Will the main method of transportation in “FFXIV” be aetheryte?
Tanaka: Being able to use the warp is for when you clear the guildleve. It’s necessary to actually travel to the various destinations on your adventure. You’ll probably reflect on it as a convenient method of transportation, but it’s not something you can use at anytime. (TN: Not too sure about that last sentence. But basically you only warp after the guildleve, you need to physically travel to the spot it seems.)
~~Thank you so much for explaining the game system. Now, we will ask about the condition of the current display and the development from here on out. It was a sensational announcement at June’s E3, but we were rather surprised that less than 3 months later that it’s already playable.
Tanaka: We’re coming from the development side, but since we’ve been working one thing or another for 3 or 4 years, it feels more like “finally” to us (laugh). Concerning this version of “FFXIV”, we had the concept of presenting a certain amount to the public and taking in their opinions from as early of a build as possible.
Will add more when i find it. Again, thanks goes to Godsleftsock of Zam for translation
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