FFXIV lead devs reveal secrets of Endwalker’s most iconic quest, explain favorite jobs, more

Final Fantasy XIV has a huge team working behind the scenes, striving to make the popular MMORPG even better with each new update. We spoke with a handful of the game’s key developers at PAX Australia to learn more about their lives and how they all balance the grind.

It’s no secret that FFXIV players absolutely adore the game, with the same being said for the developers working on it. With consistent communication in the form of live letters, fans have become familiar with the faces of the team.

We were lucky enough to speak with director Naoki Yoshida, lead writer Natsuko Ishikawa, and quest designer Saki Takayanagi to learn about their work-life balance, what went into the most iconic Endwalker quest, and so much more.

Walking through the end

When it comes to the game’s story, we had to ask Takayanagi just how the team went about developing that iconic Endwalker quest, which resonated with so many fans at the end of the MSQ.

To pull off this memorable stunt, the quest implementation scene worked together with Ishikawa who was writing the main scenario for Endwalker.

“We wanted to incorporate this as a sort of theatrical moment that plays out in the quest, and from an implementation standpoint, this was something that we had not done before,” Takayangi elaborated.

“I heard that Ishikawa had various meetings with other people in charge of the development of the quest and were engaged in a lot of discussions about how to implement this.”

Of course, why did the team implement it? Well because the title of the expansion was Endwalker after all.

Despite how effective and touching the Endwalker quest was, Yoshida shared a story about how this unique form of storytelling had the dev thinking about extending the release date.

“I was there seeing the implementations on the sidelines, and it was a situation where we had no time. There was not enough time left in the schedule, and Ishikawa was really worn out. She had to go through this process of trying to choose the lines to incorporate,” Yoshida recounted.

“And because of all that in the background, I was there thinking, ‘Shall we extend the deadline of the development for another two weeks?’ And in that regard, I was doing my own end walk,” he chuckled.

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines

And of course, the team is no stranger when it comes to deadlines, and the massive overload of work that comes with them drawing ever closer. So we asked the devs if they had any strategies when it came to overcoming the dreaded “crunch time” and making sure they could keep on going.

In the director’s case, he absolutely adores snowboarding, so anything relating to the topic would constantly have him easing his mood. Forever the sweet tooth, Ishikawa shared her delight in sugary snacks, this was particularly the case during her trip to Melbourne, where she found plenty of treats on offer.

Takayanagi’s answer was a bit of a curveball, with the quest designer actually using the game itself to destress during the heavy periods.

“In my case, I’m just constantly, constantly looking at Midlander hashtags, because I love Midlanders,” the dev sheepishly admitted.

Yoshida had to mention the office shenanigans that would occur whenever Takayanagi was caught.

“Whenever she becomes tired, she has a tendency to bring out the hunks as it were. She brings up really good-looking Midlanders, and they’re all placed in the game. So when Ishikawa notices that, she’ll go and tell her off, ‘Hey go and do your job properly!’”

Work-life balance? What work-life balance?

Branching off from the topic of crunch time, we spoke more about how the developers manage to maintain a decent work-life balance. To which pretty much all three of them admitted that they didn’t have one.

“So I don’t have a work-life balance. When it comes to creating games and creating something new, that’s my hobby actually, so it’s completely mixed with the work that I do for my career,” Yoshida explained.

“Because there’s no clear distinction between my work and my hobby; it’s all mixed together, I don’t really have a concept of work. Playing games is both my work and my hobby.”

However, Yoshida still enjoys snowboarding as a separate hobby but confessed that even while he’s out boarding, he’ll still be thinking about things, meaning there really is no clear boundary or distinction.

Of course, the director wanted to highlight that the three of them weren’t a very good representation of the entire team and reassured us that not everyone was like them.

“There are people who take the time out to enjoy their private life, but we are not like that. Please don’t think we’re all like this. Of course, we want to do our best to deliver you the best game that we can, so for us we take time, we travel the world, we see different things, we talk to many different people and we are very fortunate to be in that position.

“It’s not necessarily the case that the more time you spend on something, the better it will be, but for people like us who want to create something great for our players, there is a tendency for people to end up like us.”

Jumping into Eorzea

While the three developers spend most of their time working, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t spent any time in the game they’ve created. Yoshida in particular, is known for his love of Black Mage, so we asked if any other jobs stick out to each of them.

Outside of Black Mage, Yoshida mentioned that he does play other jobs, but didn’t want to get into too much detail about his favorites in case the community thinks he gives them more buffs than others.

However, the director mentioned an interesting note about the battle team, stating that they intentionally change jobs each expansion, having a discussion between themselves on who plays what.

“So, for example, one member of the team might say in this expansion, ‘I’m going to play Dragoon so everyone else, don’t play Dragoon,’” Yoshida elaborated. “The reasoning behind this is that when it comes to battle content, the developers on the battle content and the battle systems, they want to get a sense of real player feedback from a real perspective.”

Ishikawa explained that they hop on the Bard as a main, while also messing around with Dark Knight for tanks. The story writer however wasn’t so keen on healers, which was the complete opposite of Takayanagi, who was solely playing as a White Mage, citing that they “just wanna help many different players”.

As per usual, Yoshida brought in a funny comment about how he’s the exact opposite. He’ll be there as a Black Mage in a raid, constantly going all out, eating AOEs, and giving the healers a hard time.

Iconic items

With the nature of FFXIV being an MMORPG, it means that while playing, the devs are walking amongst the player base. Of course, they would be swarmed if they were to reveal their true identities, so no one knows quite what their Warriors of Light look like. And like Yoshida’s iconic Lalafell, we had to ask if they had any iconic pieces of gear or accessories that might make them stand out of the crowd.

Like his Lalafell, the director does have one key accessory that may reveal his identity to players.

“In my case, I have a fixed minion that I will use, because I have very strong memories attached to that. Also for my private character where I play Black Mage, I have very particular character settings, and if I was to delve in more detail, then players would be able to find out that that is me.”

Ishikawa’s giveaway is that she plays a race that isn’t super common, especially in Japan. According to the writer, she says it’s probably the least or second least played race and is a combination of their race and gender. Similarly, Ishikawa didn’t want to give away any more details in case she blew her Warrior of Light’s cover.

Despite Takayanagi’s love for Midlander males, the quest designer is constantly changing race, so there was little risk in giving out more info about their WoL.

“My most favorite Midlanders that I have, I have a nickname that I call him by… But right now, I’m playing a male Roegadyn. And in particular, on Island Sanctuary I can just sit back and watch a male Roegadyn do the farming all day.”

Yoshida wasn’t one to go without a quip, however, claiming that he already knew what sort of outfit Takayanagi had on their Roegadyn, to which Takayanagi cheekily responded, “The rewards for Island Sanctuary are just, so, so great.”