FFXIV is “story-driven” like a TV show, says director Naoki Yoshida

pcgamesn.com:

Final Fantasy XIV remains my most-played MMORPG, as I have poured thousands of hours into my Warrior of Light’s journey across Eorzea to date. The community is unparalleled, with Final Fantasy XIV‘s developers’ deep involvement with players’ hopes for the game and feedback. Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida, the director of FFXIV, recently took part in the game’s iconic Fan Festival 2023 showcase. At the event, Yoshi-P and Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy XIV’s highly anticipated 7.0 expansion, Dawntrail.

Following the recent Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail reveal, Yoshi-P sat down for a press conference where he discussed what cultures inspired the upcoming expansion and how the new features will fit in following the game’s preceding story events. One important analogy stood out when Yoshi-P compared FFXIV to a television series after being asked about which Dawntrail features will help old players get back into the game or bring new players to the expansion’s content.

When asked how new players can avoid “getting lost in the current lore and get up-to-date to play Dawntrail,” the director acknowledged that this is a question the MMO’s developers receive at every expansion’s reveal. Yoshi-P responded that “even if we release an expansion pack, our old content isn’t truly old.” He called FFXIV “very story-driven,” saying that the devs “continue to update it and expand our content.”

Yoshi-P related FFXIV to a TV show, saying that Dawntrail is like a later season and “people may want to jump into the latest season.” Despite this desire, players should catch themselves up by experiencing all of the game’s earlier expansions. To try and motivate players to play through each previous “season” or storyline, Yoshi-P stated that the devs