Naoki Yoshida, the director and producer of Final Fantasy XIV has revealed the one MMO feature he could never include in FFXIV; the chaos and freedom of Ultima Online, going on to say including it would “break the community.” Yoshi-P’s remarks were made in a Q&A with the press held at the FFXIV Fan Festival in London on Oct. 21.
As detailed in a transcription by Crystal Universe, and reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, Yoshida was asked what system from another MMO he would want to bring into FFXIV and what would he absolutely not want to include. Yoshi-P dodged the answer on what features he’d liked to add, simply saying: “Each MMO has its own focus that would be difficult to copy. So when we plan something like this, we look at the whole thing, evaluate it, change it and work out the details.”
But Yoshida had a more obvious answer for what feature he wouldn’t include: “If I was to answer about something that I think wouldn't work out if implemented in [FFXIV], I look back on the early days of Ultima Online. That was something when I played, it kind of really shocked me. Back in the early stages of Ultima Online, there was a sense of chaos but also a sense of freedom.”
However, Yoshi-P also stated he wished he could make something close to that chaos and freedom, but: “If I implemented it in XIV, I think it would probably break the community.”
Ultima Online, released originally in 1997, is a precursor to almost all modern MMOs. The game's chaos came from the fact that players could be killed by other players anywhere, even while logged off, as your character never ceased existing in the world. The most common tactic to keep a character safe was to lock yourself in a room. Beyond this, player housing could be placed almost anywhere in the world and could be used to block areas. Malicious players filled the world with low-level dwellings to ward off potential neighbors. What’s more, home invasions and burglaries were common. Even in cities and towns, mobs could be aggroed into them and attack low level players. Chaos and freedom indeed.
This kind of MMO experience is definitely unique, but as Yoshi-P rightfully diagnoses, likely wouldn’t sit well with Final Fantasy XIV players. Yoshida stated that a game like that “probably wouldn’t sell” these days. However, Ultima Online celebrated its 25th anniversary recently, so perhaps there’s still a market for that level of chaos.
