The latest raid in Final Fantasy XIV excites players with its mechanics, soundtrack, and a very particular character. However, director and producer Naoki Yoshida does not care for her at all.
Which character is it about? Overall, the raid has four different fights, meaning four different opposing NPCs. The community has particularly embraced Honey B. Lovely, the opponent in the second fight.
Why do players love her? Honey B. Lovely stands out with her incredibly sweet, flirty nature from the roster of enemies: Her color scheme is entirely in yellow and blonde, she forms a heart with her hands during her introduction, and winks at the player. After her transformation
into her combat form, she impresses as a towering bee queen in a yellow-black Lolita look.
The Arkadion raid series is inspired by wrestling promotions like AEW, WWE, and New Japan. Honey B. Lovely is reminiscent of real-life inspirations like AEW’s Mariah May in her phase as Tony Storm’s fangirl or WWE’s Liv Morgan. Among Japanese wrestlers, Maki Ito or Riho could have been used as models.
But what has especially enchanted the players is her theme song: A pop song from Final Fantasy XIV is about a honey bee and is currently on repeat among MMORPG players
Loved by fans, scorned by the boss – Honey B. Lovely
What does Naoki Yoshida say about it? The colleagues from PC Gamesn asked Naoki Yoshida at Gamescom 2024 for his opinion on Honey B. Lovely. Surprisingly, he doesn’t like her at all:
Not in terms of mechanics, but in terms of her character, Honey B. Lovely is not really to my taste, sorry. Because… I don’t like characters that behave like that.
[Note from the editor: Naoki Yoshida mimics the heart gesture with his hand at the last words]
He goes on to talk about how incredibly curious he was about the fans’ reactions to the pro-wrestling inspired raid. From his perspective, people wouldn’t have expected that. He is pleased that this first raid tier has made such a strong impression:
I think that this time with the arrangement of the characters we had, all have their own personalities, and that showed – we really made a good start. Throughout the raid series, there will be some moments that will be absolutely out of this world. So look forward to that.
Which fighter has Yoshi-P particularly taken with? Musically, he, Naoki Yoshida, is completely into the fourth fight of the raid tier. The song Wicked Thunder’s ‘Give It All’
featuring the voice of Chrissy Costanza from the band Against the Current excites him.
In terms of combat, he is a big fan of the third fight against the NPC Gabbro. Gabbro is a heel, or a villain in wrestling. His stage name is Brutalo Bomber
.
During the interview, Naoki Yoshida was also asked what he thinks about certain NPCs. He was indeed surprised by the absolute flood of enthusiasm for Bakool Ja Ja, an NPC who acts rather antagonistically at the beginning of Dawntrail: Players in Final Fantasy XIV are thirsting for a new character in Dawntrail, harboring lewd thoughts
