Final Fantasy 14’s creator talks Island Sanctuary and his dreams for the future

FINAL Fantasy 14 is one of the biggest MMORPGs of all time, with over 3million active daily players.

It’s a true comeback story, where a disappointing release was supported with plentiful updates, creating a game better than fans ever wished for.

One recent big update introduced the Island Sanctuary, a new area where players can complete farming sim-style tasks.

We had a chance to sit down with the legendary creator of Final Fantasy 14, Naoko Yoshida, affectionately known by his fans as Yoshi-P, to talk about the Island Sanctuary and his hopes for the future.

GLHF: “People compare Island Sanctuary to standalone farming games like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley pretty regularly – were you inspired by titles like that, or did the idea come from elsewhere?”

Naoki Yoshida (NY): “First of all, thank you for requesting this interview!

“The initial inspiration for Island Sanctuary was not actually a game, but rather from a segment in a TV show called ‘The! Tetsuwan! DASH!!’, which belongs to a genre known as ‘variety shows’ in Japan. 

“Basically, in this segment the participants are tasked with developing facilities themselves on a deserted island that shows signs of having been inhabited in the past, using scrap wood, timber, and debris washed ashore. 

“The main focus was my desire to provide this experience through a single type of content within FF14. 

“As for the game design and systems, we’re unable to move away from the base FFXIV specifications. 

“Hence, we can only use other games of the same genre merely as reference material when creating the content, since we’re unable to achieve a great deal of what they provide.”

GLHF: “Many expect content updates to contain some sort of battle element – dungeons and raids, for example. How important would you say more creative, relaxing systems like Island Sanctuary are to the overall health of a successful MMORPG like FF14?”

NY: “Ideally, the more types of content an MMORPG has to offer, the better. 

“Naturally, the most common requests are those for battle content, but if you were to ask if that alone is ideal for the development of an MMORPG, I think the answer is ‘no’. 

“The ideal result would be that both ‘Adventure and Life’ are aligned to the point where players ultimately feel that they are residing and living out their lives in that game’s world. 

“If you think of fighting battles as a job, then in the real world it’s not exactly the case that a person is engaged in battle day in, day out, right? 

“People will surely want to take a break once in a while and lie around on the beach or relax at home with friends, family, or their partners.”

GLHF: “FF14 has always had robust, in-depth crafting and gathering systems, was there ever a point during the development of Island Sanctuary where you had to pause, and perhaps scale back a system for it to be more casual-friendly?”

NY: “No. Basically, we design everything first, then decide on a schedule and release date, such as initial release, first update, second update, and so on, before proceeding with development accordingly. 

“Since the specifications of the major systems and gameplay elements at the core are drawn up and thoroughly discussed before initial development, the situation mentioned in your question basically doesn’t happen throughout FFXIV, let alone Island Sanctuary.”

GLHF: “Island Sanctuary has been out for several months now. What, if anything, is a consistent bit of feedback you’ve received from players that might impact future updates?”

NY: “This is something we had anticipated, but the feedback we have received most often is along the lines of ‘I want to create a more unique island sanctuary that I can call my very own’.

“This is quite difficult feedback to address, due to FF14’s map and server systems, but we are steadily developing ways to allow more freedom in design, such as allowing the free placement of outdoor furnishings from housing. 

“The next most common piece of feedback has been about the usability of the user interface. We will be working on various quality-of-life improvements to the UI starting from Patch 6.3.” 

GLHF: “Housing is one of FF14’s most popular scenes, but item limits and storage issues have been a hurdle in-game for quite some time now.  Were there any technical challenges with Island Sanctuary’s implementation since it was a sectioned-off personal space?”

NY: “The items used in Island Sanctuary are actually ‘intangible’ data, so to speak, that completely exist within the confines of the players’ islands. 

“It is precisely because the concept is to play the content like a solo game that the data management is carried out differently from tangible items, which can be traded with others. 

“As such, there are fewer item restrictions and storage issues. In other words, the item data management itself is not comparable to housing, and fundamentally the way the content has been created is different.”

GLHF: “What, if anything, is a pie-in-the-sky idea or feature you would love to implement in Island Sanctuary?”

NY: “I already mentioned above but the very first thing would be the ability to place outdoor furnishings in the island sanctuary! 

“After all, if this becomes possible, players will have much more scope to customise the area around their island hideaways to their liking!”

Written by Kyle Campbell and Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

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