It’s the end of Fan Fest 2026 Berlin. It has been a long day, the beautiful piano concert still slightly ringing in my ears. But I have one more thing to do before I can climb into my moderately comfortable hotel bed. Gathered with the other press in the air-conditioned conference room, Naoki Yoshida answered some of the burning questions of the room about Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold and the future of the game.
Below is all the juicy – and some not so juicy – information from the press conference, with questions submitted by multiple media outlets. Please be aware that this was translated from Japanese in real time and therefore has been edited for cohesion and brevity.
Q1: What was the biggest challenge in establishing the visual identity of Evercold so that it immediately felt distinct from Ishgard or Garlemald despite also being a frozen setting?
With Evercold, due to the theme that we have, you may be thinking of imagery of ice and snow. But for Evercold, we’re not really developing any kind of snowy or icy areas. This is something that applies not only to Evercold, but whenever we approach developing a new expansion. When we’re thinking about developing new areas, we want to create something which all our players have never seen before. Something that they wouldn’t even imagine. We want to think up areas which we haven’t really experienced or seen before either.
So, when we go through that process, we really want to have a good think about what kind of scenery there is, what kind of culture there is, what kind of daily lives we can experience, which is really refreshing and something completely new. Then after we’ve defined that direction, we go about creating the artwork.This time around, we’ve been looking to Norse mythology and Nordic culture as a source of inspiration. We’ve looked around what sort of old mythology there is that we can draw from and we’ve melded that with a fantasy aesthetic. So, I hope you can look forward to it.
One final point regarding having some sense of distinction from Garlemald itself. I think Garlemald you would associate with quite icy, black, dark scenery. Whenever we do create new areas, we do sometimes end up with a similar aesthetic. There are times when we create a new area and we think, yeah, it does look a bit like Garlemald, so maybe we need to look in a slightly different direction.
Q2: Do you have any plans to modernise the housing system in Final Fantasy XIV going forward?
I get the feeling what you really want to ask is, “Well, WOW has come up with this amazing housing system, how about FFXIV?”. I think you would know that we have immense respect for the World of Warcraft team. We saw that when the World of Warcraft team announced their expansion and this new housing system, they said specifically that they looked to FFXIV and incorporated things because they wanted to surpass us. I think that is very much a great honour for us to hear. Of course, I had a hands-on with the WOW housing system myself and I really do appreciate that it’s amazing. We always like taking on new challenges. So, when I tried WOW’s housing system, I thought that it really is amazing and it’s been a good source of research for me. I can’t say exactly when it will happen, but what I can say is that for the Patch 8X series, we are planning two very big overhauls for housing.
The first one of those updates is around the UI. I do appreciate that right now the UI in FFXIV is quite technical and it’s not very accessible. So, what we want to do is to have a major overhaul of that UI so that it is more accessible for casual players and so that they can easily create elaborate housing layouts. As for the second major update that we have planned, unfortunately I’m not able to provide any details right now, but I think probably you will be much happier to hear what it is compared to the UI update.
It’s currently in the planning process right now on our end. There is a higher chance that it will get released earlier than the UI update, but once we have a greater visibility into exactly when we can provide this update, we will announce further details. Once again, I can’t actually say any specific details right now, but I think once we are able to share those details, it’s probably the number one thing on the list that a lot of people are requesting.
Q3: Was the Bastion Job inspired by any Jobs from the older Final Fantasy games?
This is not just limited to Bastion, but whenever we want to implement a new Job in XIV, the most important thing for us is that we are consciously paying attention to making sure that the job is engaging and fun to play. So, when we thought about which next new Job to put in XIV, we thought, “okay, we need to put in a new Tank Job” and we decided on the Bastion. It was not related to the previous Final Fantasy titles because, more than anything, we wanted to ensure that whatever direction we did go in would be engaging and fun for the players.
Q4: I understand more detailed information about Bastion will be revealed in the future, but can you explain its overall concept and how it differs from the other Tanks? In particular, I’m intrigued by the inclusion of ranged attacks as part of its tool kit.
Regarding the ranged attacks in its toolkit, I think you could also look to Paladin, which also has ranged attacks. But I think maybe one of the benefits of Bastion is that it can shoot. It has a good combination of close range attacks and then attacks which can be done from afar; so, with those shooting abilities, it can be useful in certain encounter situations.
I did mention this in the keynote presentation as well, but one of the key appeal points about Bastion is that – in its toolkit – it does have a good recovery and guarding abilities as well. As a main Tank, you can instantly apply those effects to a party member, but the key thing about Bastion is that you can also do it at a timing of your liking. So, you can look to what the boss is going to do and – based on the boss’s timeline – you can decide when would be the most optimal time to apply that recovery or guarding ability for your party members. I think that’s the key point. Of course, there is a good range of attacking skills as well in the toolkit, but this is another aspect of the job that you can take into account.
Q5: You’re splitting the Tank role into defined Main and Off Tank roles in Evercold. How rigid will that definition be? Will Tanks be able to easily switch between the two (perhaps with slightly adapted playstyles) or is it time for Warriors across Eorzea to learn how to play Off-Tank?
I think maybe there is some misunderstanding here. Just to clarify, in Reborn mode, there is no clear distinction between Main Tank and Off Tank. That difference is only applied in Evolved mode. I think there’s a bit of sarcasm mixed in there. To hear this question about whether it’s time for Warriors across Eorzea to learn to play Off Tank, does bring a little bit of pain to my heart. We do get similar feedback from Dark Knights as well and when we do get that feedback, it sits similarly, it hurts me to hear that. In those cases, you must decide between yourselves who’s going to be the main tank and off tank. We are designing it so that it is fun to play as an off tank, so I do hope that people will look forward to it.
Having said that, I don’t think that there’s any preparation you need to do in advance. This is because this new system that we’re introducing is going to start in 8.0, and the only kind of situations where you need a distinct Main Tank and Off Tank will be in higher end content such as Savage or other higher difficulty content. In those kinds of raids, it would be great if you could experience those new battles. Then, by going through those new battles as well, we learn as well to make mechanics for the content. I do hope that first you’ll just play as usual and then provide your feedback.
Q6: With the content you are currently developing, where do you feel the team is being the most bold?
This is a difficult one to answer. I think, in terms of content, there are the two Raids that we’re working on. First, there’s the Evangelion crossover, Ghosts of Desire, that we’re currently developing. Then we also have the next crossover, which is with the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, the Beyond the Lifestream Raids. For both of these, we’ve placed a lot of importance on the story, and we’ve really worked hard to ensure that the story will be engaging for the players. But also we’ve equally put a lot of attention and effort into the boss battles as well.
In particular, as Evangelion has such a different world, we’ve really been challenged by how we fuse these completely two different worlds together and form a cohesive story with it. I think this is a very big challenge that we’ve been taking on. We are working very closely with Kara Inc. and it’s been a lot of fun working together with them. But equally, I think it’s also been a very big challenge and we are really enjoying it.
Then there’s another type of content which we announced today in the development team. We’re tentatively calling it World Raid, but this is a new kind of content which you will be able to play on the public fields. This is also a very big challenge that we’re taking on. It just so happens that the person who is in charge of driving the development of this content is Mr. Ozma, who also worked on Beastmaster and did the presentation today. He’s also the person who created Eureka as well, so I think he really is drawing out of his rich experience and making the most of it to develop this new content, which you will be able to enjoy on the fields. This will not be implemented in 8.0, but I don’t think it will take anything longer after that. So I hope you’ll look forward to new information when we are ready to announce it.
Q7: Are there any challenges you want to take with Evercold and the content that will be released following it?
Right from A Realm Reborn, I think both me and the development team have been constantly taking on challenges for FFXIV, and it’s just been a constant process. If we were to think about any challenge in particular, I think it really is just creating content and doing our best to increase the number of players in FFXIV. Whether that would be doubling the number of players, making it three times as many, five times as many, or pulling in 10 times as many players … It’s just our desire to deliver XIV to as many players as possible.
Of course, when I go up on stage and I may look confident. I’m saying that we’re going to release this thing, we’re going to change this thing, we’re going to create this thing. I do look confident there but, whenever we’re talking about challenges, it’s inevitable that by taking on a challenge, there’s always the possibility of failure. At the end of the day, we are only human as well, so we could end up in certain situations where maybe there is a balancing mistake or there are system bugs. Whenever we do take on challenges, we always encounter the possibility of running into these kinds of failures or slip ups. We do face these risks.
More than anything, what we want is just for all our players to enjoy the game more. The only way we can do that is to ensure we do take on these challenges, so that we can provide you with many more amazing experiences. When I return to Japan, yes, I am going to feel pressure because I do want to continue working hard to ensure that we can reach that goal. But I think the only way that we can alleviate whatever sense of unease we have, is just to continue putting in hard work and putting in the effort. That is what drives us forward.
Q8: Could you tell us about the reasoning and goals behind making such a significant update to the Companion Chocobo system at this point in time?
In Evercold, I announced that it’s not only the Companion Chocobos, we are looking to various systems in the game and looking to making updates. Truth be told, we did not intend to incorporate this Companion Chocobo system so soon because we have 8.0 down the road. Originally, after the release of 7.0, around the time that we finished development on 7.1, I was looking to think about how I would incorporate the game design moving toward 8.0. So, it was around the development of 7.2 that we began thinking about this. When I was going through those deliberations myself, I was really torn, but thought that – to ensure we could move forward and aim higher with Final Fantasy XIV – we would need to evolve.
So, at that time, I did three things:
First, from my perspective as Producer and Director of Final Fantasy XIV, I looked at the game, and I thought personally about what I felt we absolutely need to change. Second, I did this again, but with me and core members of the Final Fantasy XIV team. I brought in Assistant Director Yokozawa, Battle Director Sato, Mr. Ozma Kakugawa and several other core members of the team. We sat down together and we had a long discussion about how we should change the game design in a discussion spanned hours and hours. The third involved an even bigger group of people: the previous Final Fantasy XIV development team, the current development team, the operations team, the marketing team, promotions team, and PR team. We went through all of those teams and I asked each of them, what would you change about Final Fantasy XIV? They gave me a huge list.
I consolidated all those separate lists together. Then, we had to decide, what are we going to do, what aren’t we going to do, and when would we do it? So I went about assigning a priority order for each of those things. Through that process, it was decided that for the companion Chocobos, we should do this earlier. When you look at the PR campaign for 8.0, you might be thinking that we’re just focusing on 8x series, but what we really want to do is also look at XIV as a whole and see what kind of evolution we can incorporate into it. What we want to do is to further evolve the game moving forward as well and continually providing those big updates right up to 9.0. But, we wouldn’t stop just there, we still want to continue evolving the game further.
Q9: Did the community response to Chort take you by surprise?
I just don’t know why this is such a thing. I am glad to hear that Chort is so well received. But, honestly speaking, I just couldn’t really understand what the appeal point is for them. We do understand that he’s very popular and there have been many memes, but really, I just couldn’t understand like just … why. So, if anything, I would love to hear like from your perspective, what is so appealing about Chort?
I can understand maybe a little bit. I mean, this is some huge bulky guy and then suddenly – well – he’s standing there and then he like rolls. So, from that perspective, I can kind of understand. When these kinds of things happen and the player community picks it up on social media and they combine various things, they create their own memes. When these happen, for us, it’s really great to see as well because we are involved in creating this entertainment. So, if people in the community also find some unexpected sense or point of appeal in any content that we produce moving forward, do make your voices heard. The development team is looking at all of the responses on social media, we very much do enjoy looking at them, and we do have big smirks on our faces when things like this happen.
Q10: How did you cultivate a fanbase that loves to sit through almost three hours of keynote like a B2B audience?
I think the situation around Square Enix back at the time of 1.0 and A Realm Reborn was not so good. I remember I went around traveling and saying hello to the media and I was told “What? Square Enix? Yeah, they’re kind of like this secretive company. They don’t really tell us that much”. As a director from Square Enix, I was told by people in the media that it’s the first time that they’ve met a director who actually says so much and provides so much information. This was not only when I was talking to members of the media, but to the players as well.
So, I thought it’s important to be honest and up front. If we failed, we should explain why we failed. If we decided to do something that was necessary, we should explain why it’s necessary, and how we would achieve it. If we get requests which we cannot address, then we should also explain the reasons behind that as well. I’ve been doing it this way for 16 years.
This applies not only to us in the development team, but also to the players, the player community and the media. I like to think of it that we are not separate entities, but rather we are all together as one community. I think this process of being transparent and engaging together in mutual understanding is what’s helped to contribute to all of us cultivating this fan base together. Whether it be something minor about XIV or not, whenever there is something that needs to be talked about, I’d love for us to talk about together and get excited together as we work together on Final Fantasy XIV.
But on a final note, I do think myself as well that an almost three-hour keynote is a little bit too long. So, I do promise you, moving forward, I will be more attentive with my timekeeping.
Q11: Which team approached the other first for the Beyond the Lifestream crossover?
I was the first person to do this. As you all know, right from A Realm Reborn, the main concept of Final Fantasy XIV was providing a sort of Final Fantasy theme park for our players. From the beginning, we’ve always had many requests to have some sort of big collaboration with other titles, whether it be costumes or characters making an appearance. I am a member of the board and I knew that the VII Remake series was in development. With this, I knew that – more than anything – what the fans would be anticipating is that they just want the VII Remake series to be released as fast as possible. That’s also something that I wanted myself, because personally I’m also a fan from Final Fantasy 7.
I also thought that I didn’t want us to take a half-baked approach with this crossover because I didn’t want to distract the Final Fantasy VII Remake team from their hard work. But now, Final Fantasy VII: Revelation has been announced and the development team is doing their last push for development, so they’re really picking up the pace and doing their final push to release the game. So, I thought now would be a good opportunity for us to do a big collaboration with the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. I had a discussion with Hamaguchi-san and Kitase-san about this and we decided that this would be a good timing. We are really going big with this collaboration, and both teams are putting in their best efforts for it.
Q12: How do you ensure that new players will have a great experience going from the beginning of ARR to Evercold? Will there be changes to fasten or alter the new player experience? Depending on playstyle it can easily take around 300 hours just playing through the story.
This is a question we’ve been getting a lot right from the beginning. We are considering two things to address this: the first is something that we will carry out before or at the release of Evercold; the second involves a system, but we are currently reviewing the possibility or feasibility of it.
I had previously said that I do want players to enjoy the story, so I would like them to have a fresh experience right from A Realm Reborn. But now that we are at this point, we have begun thinking about accommodating these kinds of requests. I think from the two things that I have hinted at here, one of them at least you might be able to know more about at the JP Fan Fest, but I think you can think positively about it. I do apologize for the ambiguity, I am thinking very positively about the possibility of incorporating something and accommodating those requests.
Q13: You mentioned on stage that you started working on FFXIV when you were 37 and now, you’re 53. How has your approach to the game’s development changed in that time? Does retirement ever cross your mind or do you remain committed to the development of the game?
I have given a lot of interviews about this topic and there have been various development focused interviews. I have provided long answers in the past, so I will omit some details. But essentially speaking, my fundamental approach hasn’t really changed. That said, with time, the approach for game design does need to change because it’s not necessarily the case that good game design in the past would be appropriate for today, or that it would still be engaging and fun today. This applies to Final Fantasy XIV as well. I think in a sense this is one approach where I have upgraded my own personal mindset. In these modern times as well, people have less free time on their hands. So, we need to really think about what would be fun and what would be engaging based on these new conditions that we have. That, in itself, is a challenge. But I also think that it’s very fun working in this kind of new situation that we have.
And I have not once thought about retiring.
If Square Enix, the company goes to me and says “well, we no longer need you”. Well, then I guess I will go. Because after all, I wouldn’t really feel motivated to work at a place where they say that they don’t need me. Of course, hypothetically speaking, if I was to leave Square Enix, right now I’m 53 and in Japan from the age of 60, you can retire. But still, I think I will continue developing games. I might work with a close-knit team of my own friends, we would gather the funds together and develop titles together. As for Final Fantasy XIV, and I’ve previously said this to all our players, but it really is my life work. So, as long as the XIV players don’t go and say, “hey Yoshida, you gotta quit”, I do intend to continue working on the title.
Q14: Today you revealed more character customisation including the ability to remove certain markings and changeable horns across races. You mentioned that you’ve been slowly relaxing your views on “lore accuracy” and we’ve already seen that through unlocking glamour restrictions earlier this year. What has caused you to change your attitude towards this?
As a game developer, I think it’s our responsibility to come up with the lore, the world and the rules of the game and then to provide that to the players. Because of that I think, from a creative perspective, we are particular about how we want that world to be and we are really honest about how that work.
Let’s take, for example, the Miqo’te. The Miqo’te are a hunter tribe and a warring tribe, so it’s only natural that they would have warring makeup. Previously I said that we would not remove that marker from the Miqo’te. So, in the past we did receive feedback from the players, saying “we want to turn it off, we want this makeup off”. But I refused because I said, these are the rules of the world that we provided, and this is the lore behind the race. It was for this reason why previously we had not allowed it.
But when it comes to this lore and being very particular about it, I thought to myself that this is also can be considered an aspect of role play. In that regard, I kind of upgraded my own mindset or my approach to it. In Patch 8.1, there will be the option to remove the makeup or switch it off. As a player myself, if I’m playing with a Miqo’te, I would personally not turn it off as I love the lore behind Final Fantasy XIV and the unique characteristics of each race.
But I began to think that it’s more a question of how particular you are about that lore aspect, and that’s more tied into role playing. We have millions of players, and even if there was just one player who wasn’t particular about that, but were particular about how they want to present their characters, then we can provide that choice for them. It’s just providing that option for the players so that they can be particular about what sort of role play they want to do.
