New Director of XIV looks like he knows what he is doing.

[Nexus_Nocturnal]

There is going to be a surprise announcement for XIV on the first of January.
http://www.4gamer.net/games/092/G009287/20101226004/

Apparently the Director has 2.5 years of Diablo, 2.5 years of Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, WoW and Everquest experience under his belt.

Well, that's what I gathered from the people on Gamefaqs though xD

Would like some better translations though...

[Ghurdrich]

What? You mean Azazer isn't the new director?

[Azazer]

:3
Yay! A surprise announcement! Hopefully this means that it'll be something good. :/

[Zodiark]

SE: "You know....We fail at making MMO's....I mean look at World of Warcraft....Wait I got an Idea!"
(After long months of searching..)
"Finally we found someone who has worked on WoW! Nao we WILL BE CREATING AWESOME MMO's"

Thats probably a very very rough thesis of what happened

[Nexus_Nocturnal]

From Allakhazam.

Another random tidbit as I read it:

He thinks one of the most important things to making the game better is to make sure the UI, terminology and the basic "rules" behind the game are more easily understood.

As one of the blue headers put it: "If you can't understand the rules, you can't have fun" {lit: If you don't understand the rules, you don't understand the interest[what makes the game fun/interesting]}

Edit:

They talk about quests and how there is no real "path to follow" they are just kind of scattered here and there. Yoshida responds by saying he wants to stream line the quests and such a bit. But at the same time he mentions that higher level players that have a better understanding are helping the younger players along and those higher level players are going to want more content to do as well.

There is also talk of Yoshida having thought about the possibility of a Test Server.

Another random tidbit:

4 Gamer: [not going to TL the comment, but the question asked was] What do you think the difference between an MMO and a Consumer Game is?

Yoshida: I think of an MMO as a theme park

4 Gamer: A theme park? Could you expand on that a bit?

Yoshida: You can think of a consumer game being the "longest roller coaster in the world" or the "haunted house filled with the scariest monsters in the world." They are like specialized attractions. Attractions are what get the customers in the park. In that sense, an MMO is kind of like a theme park that is filled with rides and other attractions, and of course, your roller coasters.


Here's the bit on FFVII:

4Gthey talk a bit about what makes a FF and Yoshida responds by saying you really don't have an FF. Everyone has their own favorite FF as they are all made by different people and have different elements to them which leads to..."

4G: By the way, what is your favorite FF?

Yoshida: I liked FFVII. I would like to make an MMO close to as powerful as [that game was]. The main story and mini games, even the life of the characters, everything was just an awesome fusion of power. It had an impact that North American and European consumers still haven't forgotten. If we can put such powerful contents into Eozora, I'm sure FFXIV will have a firm hold as an MMORPG.

[Azazer]

Eorzeapedia's Translations:
Part 1

Part 2

-- By Corinth