There’s always a delicate balancing act between reducing the amount of tedious busywork necessary in a video game and keeping the game fun. A recent interview with Final Fantasy XIV’s producer and director Naoki Yoshida in the legendary Japanese gaming publication Famitsu has been partially translated, and it includes his commentary about exactly that concept. Specifically, he’s talking about potentially having removed too much stress from the game over the course of the last decade.
Yoshida explains that challenges you can fail give you more joy when you overcome them, and he wonders if perhaps the game has gone too far in one direction and should restore a bit more of the stress to the experience. He also talks about moving forward with making new games and recognizing that he may be too eager to put limits on his own growth as a designer. The interview is light on specifics, but it’s an interesting thing to keep in mind as the game moves toward Dawntrail this summer.
