FFXIV Letter from the Producer LIVE – Part 54

The special 2-hour panel for the Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.1 was not held at the main Square Enix booth but rather at the Dell / Alienware booth on the final day of Tokyo Game Show 2019. Along with Director Yoshida Naoki and Manager Murouchi Toshio, special guests included Square Enix Producer Saito Yosuke, Director/Creator Yoko Taro, and Composer Okabe Keiichi from MONACA. The presentation was streamed live and can be viewed on the ALIENWARE JAPAN YouTube Channel.

I attended this presentation and took photos as a registered member of the press.

Generally speaking, the style of these presentations are designed to give as much information about the new patch as possible by flipping through a PowerPoint, detailing what has been fixed, added, perhaps options that may have been removed from a previous build, etc. Therefore, the first half of this presentation was heavily dedicated to the nitty-gritty details, although they did tease a couple points regarding the YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse raid. For the purpose of this site, we will mostly focus on the aspects directly related to the collaboration with NieR:Automata.

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First of all, the subtitle “Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty” (白き誓約、黒き密約; lit. White Oath, Black Secret Oath) is a direct allusion to the Virtuous / Cruel weapons from NieR:Automata, such as the Virtuous Contract (白の契約) and Cruel Oath (黒の誓約), and this dichotomy between white and black continues to resonate even within this new raid.

Roughly about halfway through the presentation, Murouchi introduced Saito Yosuke and Yoko Taro. As always, Yoko has a hard time seeing where to walk with his Emil mask on, so Saito helped guide him to his seat. Once they took their seats, the four of them talked briefly back and forth for a little while before going on with the rest of the presentation.

Saito: Whoa! Yoko-san, check out all the people! That’s awesome!
Yoko: There are a ton of people! Hello!
Saito: Let’s sit down first.
Murouchi: Please have a seat.
Yoshida: Hello, Yoko-san! It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. Well, we actually met yesterday, but…
Saito: Well, you never know. There might be somebody else underneath that mask!
Yoshida: Ah, I guess so.
Murouchi: That’s very true.
Yoshida: Maybe somebody who can act as your double’s under there, huh?
Saito: This is nothing but a gathering of old folks.
Yoshida: Geez, what sort of gathering is this? Every one of us is ancient.
Saito: Well, you could hear the songs of the idols at the stage next over a little while ago; for all we know, one of those pretty ladies could be under there…
Yoshida: It’s surprising how clearly you can hear his voice with that thing on.
Murouchi: Yeah.
Saito: Surprisingly. How about you? Can you hear us in there?
Yoko: I can sort of hear you, sure. But I have a feeling there’s a ton of people watching.
Saito: A feeling, huh?
Yoko: Yeah, with the mask on, I can’t really see anything, so…
Saito: (gesturing toward the crowd) Can you guys in the back see us? Ahh, okay, you can see!

One of the first things things they discussed was the specific location that we’ll see in the raid. The supplied English subtitle within the PowerPoint merely listed it as “The Copied Factory” (複製サレタ工場廃墟) but that would be leaving out the “廃墟” portion which stands for “Ruins”. So in all actuality, this should really be the “Copied Factory Ruins”.

It might be important to point out here that the actual location as seen in NieR:Automata was called the “Factory Ruins” (工場廃墟), not to mention we only saw one specific “copied” location in the game itself: the Copied City (複製サレタ街). So this might be important for those of us who are trying to imagine what the story might be like. If this copied factory is anything like the Copied City in the game, then we already know that it is a location created by the machines, imitating real-world locations from ancient human civilization.

Saito: Mixing up the kanji with katakana like this is very NieR-like, isn’t it?
Yoshida: Ah, so it was the NieR team who wrote the name like that?
Saito: Yes, that’s right.

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Yoko: Yes, these are the enemies that will be part of the collaboration raid, and maybe you won’t believe me when I say this, but we’re gonna do something really uncomfortable with this.
Murouchi: haha Something uncomfortable…
Saito: You’re going to make something uncomfortable…?

Yoko: I don’t want to play this.
Yoshida: Well, it looks like there are three types of arm-looking things here, right?
Murouchi: Yeah, there are three of them.
Yoshida: Three circles, three arms, three parties.
Murouchi: Who knows what’s next.

Yoshida: Next, people have been wondering what character will be appearing, so… It kinda looks like somebody is standing over there…
Yoko: Yes, that’s “2P”.
Saito: It kinda looks like she’s walking around with everybody else, doesn’t it? This isn’t an event scene, right?
Yoshida: No, this isn’t an event scene…
Saito: Ah, so it’s real-time.
Murouchi: Oh, you’re right!
Yoshida: I wonder what this will mean…?

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Yoko: You know, now that I’ve been asked to work on this project, I think the others on the FFXIV team are a bit freaked out, thinking that something horrible will happen since I’m involved.
Yoshida: No, no, no…
Yoko: So, to sort of meet their expectations, I thought maybe I should make the story more horrific…
Saito: Why would you do such a thing?
Yoko: Yeah, something like through the destruction of a data center, you have to save a bunch of disadvantaged kids.
Saito: That doesn’t have anything to do with NieR or FF.
Yoko: Exactly.

Shortly after, Yoko left the stage with the help of Saito to “transform” into something cooler. Saito came back on stage, carrying just the Emil mask as Yoko’s voice could be heard over the mic.

Yoko: I can only last for about 15 minutes like that before I need to transform.
Yoshida: So, wait. You’re real body is here, right? (points to the Emil mask)
Yoko: Yes, that’s right. The rest of my body is just a concept.

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Yoko: The NieR team brought a video or a sort of sound clip to share with everyone today, but when Saito and I first heard it, we both cracked up, laughing.
Saito: It’s true the both of use thought it was pretty funny, but whether everyone else feels the same is another story. Perhaps you’ll feel moved to tears.
Murouchi: But P and D* thought it was hilarious. *(Producer Saito & Director Yoko)

Yoshida: At any rate, how many of you in the audience have played NieR:Automata?
Audience: (Many raised hands)
ALL: Whoa! That’s awesome!
Saito: Yes, you are the one’s who will get a kick out of this!

Murouchi: Here’s where it sounds very collaboration-like.
Saito: It looks like most people were laughing in the chat.
Yoshida: There’s a comment that says, “How dare you combine these themes!”
Murouchi: But, it’s a collaboration after all.
Saito: But to hear the two themes meld together like this so fluidly, it’s really amazing.
Yoshida: It really is. I never imagined it would sound something like this.

Yoko: At any rate, let’s introduce the one responsible for creating this amazing work of music.
Saito: Who was it again? Soken? Ah, no, it wasn’t Soken…
Yoko: Yes, we have one more surprise, our special guest who composed the score for this collaboration, Okabe Keiichi.

Saito: The comments are saying that yet another old guy’s entered the stage.
Okabe: Right? Sorry I’m not Soken. He’s a pretty busy guy.
Yoshida: Do you sort of have a thing against Soken?
Okabe: No, of course not. I entirely respect him.
Yoko: But weren’t you bad mouthing him last night when we went out drinking?
Okabe: No, I did not! I did nothing of the sort! But if you say it like that, things have a way of becoming the truth, so seriously be careful… I didn’t say anything. Seriously.

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Okabe: I was originally thinking of using “Weight of the World” and arranging it into a battle theme, and since we’re doing a collaboration with Final Fantasy, I thought about putting in the “Main Theme”, but I was really struggling with it.
Saito: It was a sort of challenge.
Okabe: Yeah, I wanted to challenge myself with it, but…
Yoshida: It works great with the “Crystal Theme”.
Okabe: It seems like they’re going to release a compilation album of multiple versions of the “Prelude” theme, so I thought I should give it a try.
Yoshida: How do you feel about using some of Uematsu’s work?
Okabe: It stress me out a lot, like I don’t know how much of the original composition I should tweak, so instead, I kept the melody harp the same and changed some of the background instruments.

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The remaining time for the panel was structured in a “talk segment” where several topics were decided ahead of time to elicit interesting conversation. Here was the first topic:

Saito: We’ve done so many talks by now; I’m starting to forget what I have or haven’t talked about.
Yoko: Well, there is a “true” story about how we came to work on this project, but actually don’t need to talk about it.
Saito: There are some things we can’t freely discuss, so…
Yoko: I would have to say it all started when we went out to dinner for steak in Shinjuku one night, and I was asked, “So, you wanna do this?”
Saito: We can’t talk about why you wanted to go to that steak place, though, right?
Yoko: Yeah, you can enjoy hearing about that sometime in the future.

Yoko: It was that night that I thought the FFXIV team hated us or something.
Yoshida: Why would you think that?
Yoko: Well, I mean, you’ve done all sorts of collaborations with things like Garou and stuff but never asked to put in NieR characters, so…
Yoshida: It’s a little backwards. Like, it’s pretty easy to just add in costumes and things like that, but taking a look at the world-wide demand for a collaboration with NieR:Automata, then doing a costume only collaboration would be really boring, don’t you think? That’s why we thought to go all out with this collab and make something that people would enjoy experiencing a unique story with NieR characters. It just takes time to do all of that.

Yoshida: I remember what Yoko said that night.
Yoko: Oh, really? What did I say?
Yoshida: “Yoshida-san, do you really want to destroy FFXIV that badly?”
Saito: Well, I understand why you’d think that way.
Yoko: I did say that I’d destroy a Data Center…

Saito: Ah, I think this would be a good question for you, Yoko. You’d be the most picky out of all of us, no?
Yoko: No, not at all. If I get paid, I’ll do whatever you want. Money is everything.
Yoshida: Okay, that makes sense: You’re picky when it comes to money.
Yoko: Money is important.

Yoko: Ah, I have a story. Okay, so this is my first time working on the development for FFXIV, and during the usual checks on the graphics–like the backgrounds that we just showed everybody–when the FFXIV team took me to check everything, they were like, “Here it is, please have a look.” And I looked and everything was fine, but actually there were a ton of people gathered all around with me in the center– I felt so such pressure while checking everything, but then once that was finished, they were like, “Okay, here’s the next booth,” and the whole crowd followed after me like a cloud of white smoke…
Yoshida: Ah, we call that “making the rounds”.
Yoko: I’ve never witnessed that style of development before.
Yoshida: For the first stage of checks, we had a request to allow as many people as possible to participate in looking over stuff, but the Tokyo branch is divided in to so many specific sections that it’s better to gather everyone together and listen to the director’s vision. Like I’m sure some people get it quicker than others, so we started doing things this way to help with everyone’s efficiency.
Saito: Then you must really feel the pressure of the silence around you during these checks?
Yoko: I just feel really embarrassed. That’s it. It makes me feel really, really uncomfortable.
Yoshida: I feel exactly the same way every time. I’ve been doing this for around 9 years now, and I still feel the same pressure every time.
Saito: Maybe it’s time to quit then.

Saito: Next week we’re going to be testing out the new raid.
Yoshida: That’s right. Saito-san and Yoko-san will be coming to the the development office, we’re going to set them both up with their own PC, they’ll join the same party and test out the battle system to see how the content flows together. It’s basically complete quality check of the entire raid.
Saito: Can I play as DPS? Please? Let me be DPS. Tank is impossible for me.
Murouchi: Really? I sort of imagine you playing as a Tank.
Saito: No, seriously– if Yoko plays as a Healer, he’ll never heal me. 100%, he would not heal me.
Yoko: Nope. I wouldn’t heal you.

This next segment mostly dealt with the thought of what people should do in order to get the most out of the YoRHa raid. Saito again asked everyone who played NieR:Automata to raise their hand, which the majority of the crowd did… but to get a better visualization of who might need a little additional help with understanding the NieR side of the raid he reversed his question and in stead asked who had not played NieR:Automata. This time a much smaller fraction of the crowed raised their hands.

Saito: Okay, so for those of you who raised your hands just now, what you should do is pick up NieR:Automata on your way home tonight! I think it would be better if you played the game first. But even if you haven’t played it, you can still get some enjoyment out of this collaboration; you’ll be able to understand the basic world view.

A little further into the conversation, Saito asked Yoko about how far into the game he was able to progress:

Saito: I’ve been waiting for Yoko at Doma for the longest time, but he never shows up. Where about are you now, Yoko?
Yoko: Ah, I made it to about Level 59 as a Healer and came up against the Titan battle and totally died. It effected me so greatly that I just wanted to quit this life altogether. So, I don’t want to be a burden on other players, so I try to play solo as much as I can, but up against the Titan as a Healer…? Yeah, it’s impossible to get past that solo. I thought maybe I could get by with just healing myself, but I somehow got stuck in the garden, and that was the end.
Saito: Well, I made it to about Level 70 and went off to Doma… so I’ve been waiting for you…
Yoko: Oh, okay… I got it. I’ll try to gain another 10 levels and finish Ishgard in two seconds…
Saito: There’s no way you’ll finish it in two seconds.
Yoko: I’ll do my best!
Yoshida: It would be really nice if you guys could do a livestream of the YoRHa raid.
Saito: Yeah, I’d really like to do that!

Yoshida: Let’s totally do something at the end of the year. Like we can do a 24-hour livestream where you can play through the whole raid.
Saito: That sounds like an awesome plan!
Yoko: Do I have to go, too?
Yoshida: It would be nice if you could come!
Saito: That’s a given!
Yoko: What should we do about the character, then?
Yoshida: We’ll set you up with a character, no problem!
Yoko: Oh, alright then! Sure!

Yoko: As far as which game you should play first, whether it’s FFXIV or NieR:Automata, it really doesn’t matter. It should be fun either way.
Okabe: But I think we’re trying to make the impression upon the FFXIV players to play NieR:Automata…
Saito: Is it okay for people to skip Drakengard?
Yoko: Absolutely. You don’t need to play it.
Yoshida: We’ll be okay if we don’t play the first Drakengard?
Yoko: Yes, it’s perfectly fine if you don’t play it.
Saito: What about SINoALICE?
Yoko: You don’t need to play anything else.
Saito: Okay, so you only suggest for people to play NieR:Automata then, yeah?

Yoshida: Ah, that reminds me, when you went off to Gamescom earlier, there was a question about what game you should play first to get into the whole Yokoverse… They asked if they should start with the Drakengard, but you told them that they didn’t need to start there, but the article on the event mistakenly reversed the meaning…
Saito: So they made it seem like you needed to play Drakengard?
Yoshida: I don’t really know where the meaning was entirely reversed, but as far as the Japanese summary page went, the whole thing was entirely reversed… so people on Twitter were like, “Man, I have to start from Drakengard…?”
Saito: But it’s totally fine not to play Drakengard, right, Yoko?
Yoko: Yeah, you’ll be perfectly fine. Honestly, even if you don’t play Automata, you’ll still be fine. That’s how we made it.
Saito: But for those who have played Automata, there will be some deeply thought-provoking moments that you might miss otherwise.
Yoko: Nah, there’s nothing like that.
Saito: There isn’t?
Yoko: Nope. Not at all.
Saito: Alright, well, whatever. It’s perfectly okay if you don’t play the other games.
Yoshida: So, in short, it doesn’t matter which game you start with–whether it’s the FFXIV collaboration or NieR:Automata–you’ll still be able to enjoy the experience.

Murouchi: I’m really sorry to say this but… I sort of made a mistake with the time and we actually have an extra 10 minutes to talk, so it’s okay to use the time freely.
Yoko: Alright, then shall we talk crap about Square Enix?
Saito: They’ll get angry!
Yoshida: Well, honestly speaking, the salary for both Saito-san and I is pretty low…
Yoko: What? You’re salary can’t be that low!
Saito: Yoko’s salary has got to be insane right now. He’s got to be making 3 billion yen.
Yoko: You’re insane. 3 billion yen!? If I got 3 billion yen, I wouldn’t be doing this job! Let’s think about this rationally! It won’t happen!
Murouchi: Everyone in the chat is talking about money now…
Yoko: That’s naturally, isn’t it? I mean, everybody first thinks about money and women or men… That’s all people are interested in.
Saito: That isn’t true. Everybody wants to play a fun game! Don’t you get it, Yoko!?
Yoko: What’s that?
Saito: Return to your old self!
Yoshida: Has SINoALICE gone insane?
Saito: SINoALICE is pretty insane.
Murouchi: I see.
Yoko: A long time ago, I used to hate good-looking guys and wished they’d all roll over and die, but recently I feel like I’ve gained a few levels, and here at TGS there a ton of cute “companion” girls everywhere, right? I just find myself thinking how wonderful they are, and then I think about how if I were to take them home, they’d still have somebody else on the inside, and so I’m left gritting my teeth and feeling disappointed. Then all I’m left feeling is hatred.
Saito: But it’s that very hatred that allows you to create products, so there’s no avoiding it.
Yoko: That’s true.
Saito: Let’s gather up that pool of hatred.
Yoko: I understand, I’ll gather up my hatred…

Saito: So, you’re playing FFXIV now, right?
Yoko: Yeah, I am.
Saito: Who are you playing with?
Yoko: Nobody. I’m playing entirely solo.

Saito: If you don’t look carefully at the models, you won’t realize what’s different between 2B and “2P”, right?
Yoshida: Yes, that’s right. The way the shadows fall on our version of the character is slightly different because we had to recreate everything from the bones up. Of course, we received the data from Platinum Games, but the two engines are incompatible, so we really had our work cut out for us to get the look just right. Like we had to tweak the width of her eyelids a little for it to look right, plus the expressionless look of that character we can’t discuss yet… We worked as hard as we could to get it right and just needed Yoko to approve the work; so we were hoping that he’d give us the okay with what we had done. Did you take a look at everything?
Yoko: Yes, I did. I approved everything right away.
Yoshida: Oh, really?
Yoko: Yeah, I thought you put everything together really nicely.
Yoshida: Oh, excellent!
Yoko: From the beginning, we knew that merely adding 2B into FFXIV would leave behind a strange feeling, so we asked for you to make a slight arrangement of the original design so it didn’t feel so out of place.
Saito: You might not be able to tell, but 2B’s form in FFXIV is slightly different, right?
Yoshida: Yes, that’s right.
Saito: But I really think the FFXIV team is really great.

Yoko: Also, regarding the scenario on the NieR side, I worked together with a young group of writers. Like if I were writing it alone, there’d be too much to do and there would be limits to what I could do, not to mention the taste of the story would start to feel the same, so by adding in some younger writers, they’re able to add their own unique colors to the mix. I’m really excited to show off their work. At some point, it would be nice for them to come out on stage.
Saito: Yes, that would be great.
Yoko: I want to laugh at them.
Saito: Don’t laugh at them!
Murouchi: And here I thought this was going to be a good story…
Saito: If you laugh at them, there’s no way they’ll come out on stage!

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And that was about all for the presentation! The four members on the stage came up to the front to give their final comments, mostly just thanking everyone for coming and listening to the long presentation (having to continually stand for 2 hours is pretty rough on your feet and back) and to look forward to the raid later this fall!

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View all photos from this event below.