We had the opportunity to talk with the director of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, and the Lore Master, Banri Oda, at Gamescom.
There has been a rumor circulating in the community for some time that the story of Final Fantasy XIV is slowly nearing its end after 6 long years. Consequently, fans are concerned about the future of the MMORPG.
Naoki Yoshida and Banri Oda discussed in our interview how the story of FFXIV and the MMORPG itself will continue.
“Shadowbringers is a checkpoint on the long journey”
The new expansion Shadowbringers creates the sensation while playing that the story of Final Fantasy XIV is slowly approaching its end. This is also something that many fans of the MMORPG have noticed.
This is what Director Yoshida says:
If we had to categorize the current storyline of the “Hydaelyn and Zodiark” saga, then yes, this storyline is slowly approaching its end. With Shadowbringers, the story of this storyline is about 75%-80% complete so far.
The end of this saga will be a special highlight and is very exciting. However, I want to emphasize that this is not the end of Final Fantasy XIV.
Yoshida compared Final Fantasy XIV to a TV series. When a series becomes more popular and has more viewers, there is a higher chance that a second or third season will be produced. The MMORPG is currently in a good position, as the latest expansion Shadowbringers was well received by fans and critics.
Shadowbringers thus indeed brings a certain conclusion with it. It is a story that has been built over 6 years and was also very important for the development team, Yoshida said. It is definitely a culmination and the crowning of the long years of work, which is why it feels like an end.
However, there can be no talk of the end of Final Fantasy XIV as an MMORPG, and there are already plans for expansions 6.0 and 7.0. How exactly it will proceed after the conclusion of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga is still uncertain, Yoshida said.
We do not yet know how the story will continue in the upcoming expansions, once the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga is concluded. Whether we will start a new saga or release standalone expansions is still being discussed.
“Please, please, please, work correctly…”
This is what the Lore Master says: Banri Oda also told us that the scenario team is very happy that the story of Shadowbringers has been well received by players and the media. Oda himself was particularly relieved at the launch of the expansion.
He was the one who wrote the quest that became notorious among FFXIV fans as “Raubahn EX”. During the launch of Stormblood, this quest blocked the progress of many players in the story. But to his relief, everything went smoothly.
According to Yoshida, the developers first took a break after the demanding release of Shadowbringers, but they are now working on the next content patch 5.1. This is estimated to go online in October 2019.
[…] Whenever I meet the developers during meetings now, I notice that they have gained much more confidence because the things they put so much effort into are getting good feedback all over the world. Their motivation is very high.
Naoki Yoshida, Director and Producer
In the future, the development team of FFXIV has a lot planned. Part of the upcoming updates is to make the story of “A Realm Reborn” more compact:
