Of all the many pieces of FF14 Dawntrail, one of its most universally beloved parts is The Arcadion raid series. It takes perhaps the strongest element of the new Final Fantasy expansion – its combat content – and builds on it with a series of bold, dramatic characters reminiscent of pro wrestling, each with their own distinctive personality and a theme song to match. Given the chance to sit down with game director and producer Naoki Yoshida at Gamescom, then, I had to ask the most important question: which of the fighters is his favorite?
Rather shockingly, the Final Fantasy 14 lead hasn’t been entranced by everyone’s favorite idol. “Not in terms of mechanics, but in terms of character, Honey B. Lovely is not really to my liking, sorry.” The bee-themed star uses her flirtatious wit and her pheromones alike to enthrall those who watch her perform. Matched by an equally infectious theme song, she’s unquestionably won the hearts and minds of the MMORPG’s community despite her relatively minor role in the raid story.
Her charms, however, haven’t pierced Yoshi-P’s heart. “Because, you know, I don’t really like characters who do this,” he tells me, replicating Honey’s signature cutesy heart hands and smile in a way that I feel privileged to have witnessed, and wish I could share with you all. Honestly, I’m impressed at Yoshida’s resilience – I can’t help but sing along to the lyrics of her already iconic music every time I raid. While the hive hasn’t won him over, Yoshida’s still happy with the response from fans.
“Originally the concept we had [for The Arcadion] was pro wrestling, and so I was kind of nervous – I was waiting with bated breath to see how people would react, because it was probably something that they had not imagined. So I was really nervous to see their reactions.” Yoshida also notes that he’s pleased to make such a strong first impression. “There is a tendency for the first raid tier to kind of come across as subdued, where there’s nothing that really stands out.”
“I think this time with the lineup of characters that we had, they all have their own personalities, and that shone across – we really made a good start.” Off the back of that, and Yoshida’s satisfaction upon seeing that people are enjoying Dawntrail’s more ‘engaging’ combat content, he teases, “Moving forward in the raid series, there are going to be some moments which are just going to be absolutely out of this world. So do look forward to it.”
I shouldn’t leave you hanging, however – if Yoshida isn’t a faithful drone to our Queen, which of the fighters did win his heart? “In terms of the music, I really like the track for the raid featuring our guest vocalist [Wicked Thunder’s ‘Give It All,’ which is sung by Chrissy Costanza of rock band Against the Current]. I really like that song. And also, in terms of just a power experience, I really like the third fight [that’s the dastardly heel champion, Brute Bomber]. So I think overall, it was a really good raid tier.”
Beyond the raid, I ask Yoshida if he was caught off guard by the response to any other characters in Dawntrail. In particular, I’m curious whether he expected Wuk Evu’s comedic act, which repeats the joke of his constant panic and then near-immediate indifference in a fast-paced style reminiscent of Japanese Manzai comedy, to work for a Western audience.
“For Wuk Evu, I knew that there would be people who love him and those who hate him. I’m sure there must be people who are thinking, ‘Oh man, this guy’s just too persistent!’ But of course if our staff just try to create characters that will be loved by everyone, it just ends up that they are almost like a template character.”
They do say you can’t please all the people all the time, after all – truly memorable characters tend to be the bold ones, and that boldness will often end up splitting opinion. “When I looked at the characters, I did adjust them, but I adjusted them in a positive light. So I think we ended up with really fun characters,” Yoshida remarks. Of course, there’s another particularly notable figure who has earned a surprising amount of community adoration.
“Bakool Ja Ja has a huge following and it’s a mystery to me why he became so popular,” Yoshida laughs. The two-headed troublemaker has certainly found a rather devoted following online – indeed, I can’t even print some of the saucier things people have written about him. Perhaps that isn’t too unusual for a videogame character, let alone an FF14 one, but the sheer volume and presence for Bakool Ja Ja has been pretty impressive even by those standards.
[Note that some FF14 Dawntrail spoilers lie ahead, just in case you’re still avoiding them.] “Bakool Ja Ja was a character that, when I first gave feedback, there was a lot provided in terms of adjustments,” Yoshida explains, “in the first half he’s the typical bad guy, he says a lot of things which are not nice.”
“But of course as you proceed through the expansion, you learn about the truth behind the Blessed Mamool Ja. It was coming to that point where we had to depict that change of heart and how to flip the image. So when we decided what sort of phrasing there would be in the interactions – what sorts of things would play out in the cutscenes and what would be the character’s selections in the story – as a result of that, I think it ended up in a situation where Bakool Ja Ja just became popular.”
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