In Final Fantasy XIV, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida opens up about his ideas during the development of the new jobs.
Final Fantasy is part of one of the most popular franchises in video game history. The Roman numeral for 14 is a subtle hint at that. Therefore, the MMO can be sure that fans have a clear opinion on which new classes should be added to the game and how they should aesthetically relate to their predecessors. And they have no hesitation in enthusiastically expressing that opinion.
In an interview with Game Informer, Naoki Yoshida discusses how the three new jobs in the FF XIV expansion “Heavensward” came to be. The absolute fan favorite, the Samurai, was long considered. Calls for him simply would not stop. However, the “Samurai” would not have fit well into the class structure of FF XIV. It was simply too similar to the newly introduced Ninja job.
Therefore, they decided on the Dark Knight, who is intended to find a niche as a magic-based tank alongside the Warrior (AE tanking) and the Paladin (single-target tank). Furthermore, the Dark Knight, with its magic orientation, fits better into the high-fantasy setting that they maintain with Heavensward.
And why did the Machinist make it into the game? Yoshida’s answer to that is significantly shorter: Fans wanted firearms. So they gave them firearms. One of the most important features of any new class is indeed the class-specific individual weapon.
With the last of the new classes, the Astrologian, they struggled for a long time; tried various card tricks and ideas until they finally decided on the Space Orb.
This article contains everything about the FF-14 expansion Heavensward.
