Final Fantasy XIV Devs Explain Why They Chose FFXI For the Game’s Latest Big Crossover
A crossover years in the making.
One of the biggest challenges facing a game like Final Fantasy XIV is the fact it has to have what’s essentially a revolving door of content. MMORPGs live and breathe by keeping players engaged, constantly having something new and shiny to do. Among the laundry list of quests, alliance raids have always stood out as some of the best that FFXIV has to offer – massive 24-player raids with deep intricate stories, and crossovers with beloved games.
Dawntrail marks the game’s most ambitious alliance raid yet, combining Square Enix’s two big MMOs with the Echoes of Vana’diel crossover. But there’s a deliberate reason alliance raids keep being crossovers, instead of original stories.
“Many of the past Final Fantasy titles have strong sentimental value for both fans and us developers, so we all tend to have high expectations for content based on those games. And when we set out to create something that meets those expectations, the overall content inevitably becomes quite substantial in size,” says lead battle content designer Masaki Nakagawa, “With that in mind, alliance raids allow us to divide the scenario and battle content across three patches and invest sufficient resources to create a hefty amount of content.”
With a game like FFXI, there was no shortage of inspiration the development team could draw. While FFXIV is in the midst of Echoes of Vana’diel, Inverse had the chance to talk to Nakagawa and the scenario writing team – diving into the complex process of making a crossover and designing massive raids.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
In pretty much every way FFXI created the foundation for FFXIV. So Echoes of Vana’diel feels like a full circle moment.
The Vana'diel raids are interesting, as they represent a crossover with an MMO that’s still going. How much did the FFXIV team work with the FFXI development team? How much did you consult them when designing these raids?
Nakagawa: Plans for Echoes of Vana'diel (EOV) started around Winter of 2023, alongside the development of Dawntrail. Those of us in the Battle Content team began the project by deciding the four bosses, while the Scenario team concentrated on their tasks for Dawntrail. Once the bosses were decided, we then moved on to working on the design of the overall dungeon and outlining the story.
There were some unique level design ideas, such as having each alliance start in Ronfaure/Sarutabaruta/Gustaberg (the starting areas in FFXI) or even Lower Jeuno/Upper Jeuno/Port Jeuno, but we had to forgo these ideas as they weren't realistic with our development resources and system-related limitations.
The FFXI team primarily supervised the original concept, plot, and in-game text of the scenario, as well as the voices and dialogue of NPCs and boss characters. We also asked them to provide the final assessment in ensuring the overall battle content was consistent with the universes and lore of FFXI and FFXIV, and to check whether there were any concerns about elements that were given an FFXIV-original twist.
Final Fantasy XI obviously has years of content to choose from. How did you pick which pieces of content, monsters, and characters to include? Was there anything you ended up cutting out?
Nakagawa: During the initial development of EOV, we held a brainstorming session to decide the four bosses that would be featured in the first installment. Numerous ideas were pitched, but naturally, there were also many that didn't make the cut.
After deciding the four bosses, we discussed with the Lore and Scenario teams to start working on the story and level design. There were some unique level design ideas, such as having each alliance start in Ronfaure/Sarutabaruta/Gustaberg (the starting areas in FFXI) or even Lower Jeuno/Upper Jeuno/Port Jeuno, but we had to forgo these ideas as they weren't realistic with our development resources and system-related limitations.
As you can see, during the initial brainstorming phase, we sometimes pitch all our ideas without worrying about development resources and limitations; from there, we keep the fun elements and work on making them feasible. We do a thorough analysis of our ideas; even if something sounds interesting, it might be too costly in development resources or may be hindered by a system limitation. By looking at an idea from these various angles, we can find ways to save on resource costs or remove system-related constraints to further refine our plans.
Alliance raids create a unique opportunity to not only provide new battle content, but stories and characters that build on the legacy of the franchise.
How did you approach designing the story for this Alliance Raid series? How did you make sure it could appeal to both fans of FFXI, and players who may have never touched that game?
Note: Square Enix preferred to attribute this answer to the Scenario Team as a whole, rather than a single person.
Scenario Team: Our goal with the EOV scenario is to draw the attention of those unfamiliar with FFXI and pique their interest in playing the game. To achieve this, we featured the various commonalities between FFXI and FFXIV to make Vana'diel seem more approachable for those who haven't experienced it. We also introduced Alxaar, an adventurer, to tie the two universes together.
Many of the game designers on this project, including those of us on the Scenario team, have dedicated a great deal of our lives to FFXI. We have a deep fondness and appreciation for the game that gave us so many memories, and we will do our best to convey the greatness of Vana'diel as our way of giving back.
Before deciding the battle mechanics for EOV, I began by coming up with the themes and concept for each boss fight.
Echoes of Vana'diel is the third Alliance Raid that directly takes from past Final Fantasy games. Why do you think that formula works so well for Alliance Raids specifically?
Nakagawa: Many of the past Final Fantasy titles have strong sentimental value for both fans and us developers, so we all tend to have high expectations for content based on those games. And when we set out to create something that meets those expectations, the overall content inevitably becomes quite substantial in size.
With that in mind, alliance raids allow us to divide the scenario and battle content across three patches and invest sufficient resources to create a hefty amount of content. That's the biggest reason why content based on previous Final Fantasy titles are well-suited for the alliance raid format.
However, I'd like to clarify that we aren't fixated on keeping this framework as-is; hopefully, in the future, we can make a new content format that will provide our players with even more surprises and emotion than ever before.
Past alliance raids have included unique battle mechanics from its crossover game, like the NieR-inspired YorHA: Dark Apocalypse.
How did you approach the mechanics and unique elements of this raid? How did you want to make sure it represented the experience of Final Fantasy XI?
Nakagawa: Before deciding the battle mechanics for EOV, I began by coming up with the themes and concept for each boss fight.
For the first boss, Prishe, I decided early on that the encounter would feature comically exaggerated visuals and battle mechanics to represent Prishe's unique personality in the battle itself. From there, I took her moves from FFXI, such as Auroral Uppercut and Knuckle Sandwich, and carefully fleshed out the ideas while taking care not to deviate too far from the characteristics of the original moves.
As for the second boss, Fafnir, the theme was simply to have an enormous and mighty dragon that uses dynamic and spectacular attacks. Once the theme was decided, I considered the visual appearances of its moves from FFXI, such as how Hurricane Wing and Dragon Breath would look like, and incorporated those into the battle mechanics.
I used this same approach for all boss battles in EOV, but sometimes I work on the battle mechanics first. There are times when I take a certain approach based on the battle content designer's preferred method or follow specific instructions from the lead game designer directing the content. The approach we take is decided on a case-by-case basis depending on various factors, such as schedule, the game designer's expertise, and overall theme of the content.
With literal decades of history, there was no shortage of bosses to choose from for Echoes of Vana’diel.
How similar or different was your process to, say, adapting the mechanics of Final Fantasy Tactics in the Ivalice Alliance Raids?
Nakagawa: The Return to Ivalice project started when Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida reached out to Yasumi Matsuno of ALGEBRA FACTORY to see if he would be interested in creating a new alliance raid series together. In response, Mr. Matsuno proposed the idea of “Return to Ivalice,” which would incorporate elements from the Ivalice universe; he then wrote the plot himself, and that's how the project started. On the design side of things, illustrator and film director Keita Amamiya joined the project, and provided a new design direction for FFXIV.
We carefully deliberate on which aspects of their lore to incorporate and how the elements of their universe should be integrated with the universe of FFXIV. This I believe will remain true for any other crossovers we may have in the future.
Mr. Matsuno had a hand in various aspects of the project, from the initial proposal to a full playthrough of the finalized scenario, and even participating in group playtests of the battle content. Director Amemiya not only helped with reviews of the 3D modeling, but also provided wonderful direction on map lighting and the environment. As such, Return to Ivalice was not only a crossover between different games, but also a crossover of creativity.
The Echoes of Vana'diel project, on the other hand, began from internal discussions regarding potential themes for a new alliance raid series; FFXI was chosen as it was celebrating its 20th anniversary at the time, and we knew there were many FFXI fans in the FFXIV community.
So, as you can see, we took significantly different approaches to designing these alliance raid series. However, our fundamental direction remained the same for both projects: we treated the original works with respect and took great care with every aspect we brought over from those titles as we blended them in with the rest of the FFXIV universe.
We have a strong desire to treasure the FFXIV universe and the titles we crossover with, so whenever we incorporate an element from another title, we carefully deliberate on which aspects of their lore to incorporate and how the elements of their universe should be integrated with the universe of FFXIV. This I believe will remain true for any other crossovers we may have in the future.
