Thread by @Nova_Crystallis

Live Letter #68 kicks off with producer/director Naoki Yoshida, global community producer Toshio Murouchi and translation from Square Enix LA's Aimi Tokutake.

Two major topics for tonight: the next 10 years of Final Fantasy XIV, and then a Endwalker Q&A.

The next Live Letter on March 4th will be focused on Patch 6.1. This Live Letter may touch on it, but it's not the sole focus.

Yoshida says the first part will be two hours, so you can start drinking if you want to.

During this segment the team will look back at Final Fantasy XIV's years in operation from 2010 through 2021. Then a look at the next 10 years. Endwalker Q&A follows.

Timeline from the original game through A Realm Reborn.

Yoshida and the team were encouraged by the positive feedback from the 1.0 updates they rolled out before A Realm Reborn.

Yoshida says the cheers he got during the first Fan Festival keynote in North America made his knees shake.

This was around the time fans requested more difficult content and the team released said content, and then fans stated that it was too hard. Since then it's been an ongoing dialogue with players on adjusting the difficulty.

Yoshida remembers the Stormblood launch and "Raubahn Extreme" progression issue. He says the team learned from that failure and built a better queueing system for story instances.

Yoshida thanks the development and operations team as the game's registered player totals reached higher milestones.

Yoshida: "It feels like a long time, but these 11 years have gone by very quickly for me. I want to convey my gratitude from the bottom of my heart."

The development was always working with a harsh schedule. Sometimes we only have a year or less to get through the tasks an expansion requires.

Looking at the trajectory, Yoshida considers the project a success from where it first began. He wants to see what new challenges they can take on.

Looking towards the next expansion (7.0) and the road towards it. Yoshida wants to advance the game as a solo and a multiplayer RPG experience.

The game will receive its first graphical update - or at least preparing development for it.

This does NOT mean that the game is ending support for PlayStation 4.

A future concept for the game is "an even better RPG--alone or with friends!"

In talking with fans at Fan Festivals and conducting market research, the team seems unable to answer two questions. The first is the group of Final Fantasy fans who have played them all save FFXI and FFXIV, which is a point of frustration.

Final Fantasy XI received updates to make the game more solo friendly, but XIV plans to go beyond that. The second point are players who don't want to deal with interacting with others.

In the next 10 years, Yoshida wants the game to appeal to players who want to play alone or with friends.

Towards this end, the Trust system will grow to be compatible with all main scenario dungeons and 4-player trials will be added through patch 6.1 through 6.5. These will be added incrementally.

In Patch 6.1, all A Realm Reborn (2.0) scenario duties will be Trust compatible. Further improvements will be made to low-level main scenario dungeons and trials. No plans for 8-player trials at this time-they'll be considered for 7.0 or later.

Such devastation--alone or with friends!

The expansion of the Trust system does not mean player matchmaking is going away. This system is intended for those with a strong desire to play solo.

#EndwalkerSpoilers The second trial in Endwalker was a testing ground for a trial with 7 Trusts, but due to the resources involved, retrofitting previous trials is more of a long-term project for 7.0 or later.

There are some A Realm Reborn dungeons were members of the Scions aren't nearby or available to help, so in this case, members of the Adventurers' Guild will step in.

However, there are key points in the story where players would want an important NPC to join you.

Yoshida cites the Nidhogg battle and having Estinien join you as a trust--some tweaking must be done with the script.

To accomodate the Trust system a little better, ARR dungeons must be revisited or tweaked. Toto-Rak's goop that slows you down will be removed! Lighting will also be adjusted in some dungeons.

Cape Westwind is being REBUILT as an instanced story battle.

Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium will be REBUILT as 4-player instanced dungeons. The battle with the Ultima Weapon will also be a 4-player battle. The final battle with Lahabrea will be an instance story battle.

Onto the next subject: Final Fantasy XIV's first graphical update.

Preparations for this will be for long-term operation of the game, and this will transpire through Patch 6.1 to Patch 6.5.

"Our game has been in operation for 11 years, and we have an insane amount of assets. If we attempted to update every asset at the same time there would be issues with conversion errors or would take a lot of time. Consulting with the gfx team, it's best in phases."

4k grapes🍇?

Planned to be implemented in 7.0, development and preparation will be on going through the 6.x patches, including testing shaders, writing programs, converting assets. They are aiming for a screen-wise aesthetic appeal suited to a multiplayer environment.

Yoshida says don't expect an update that makes the game look like Horizon Forbidden West, after all they need to render a lot of player characters and still run on everyone's hardware.

Updates to the animation and lightings systems are also planned. The game's minimum operating specs will change as of 7.0. The team will try to accommodate as broad a range of hardware specs as possible.

With an update to the animation system, they could make longer emotes, and with lighting updates they could add more lighting to further improve the overall image.

Yoshida wants you to repeat this before you go to bed: "don't expect the graphics to look like a stand-alone title" like Horizon Forbidden West or Final Fantasy VII Remake.

The team will plan to optimize the PlayStation 4 version before the next expansion.

The team wants to implement more options in the PlayStation 4 version, such as selecting a framerate mode or a graphics mode.

This screenshot IS NOT what the teams is aiming for. They are not planning a photorealistic update.

The team has been testing graphical updates for about five weeks. They are encouraged by the results and will aim for even higher.

Have a look:

More samples:

"The Lalafell was actually quite challenging."

The team is still in the early stages of testing, and these are all the samples they have currently. Perhaps the next update at Fan Festival.

To recap, the primary features and goals are: higher-res textures for hair, skin, gear, etc. Improved material qualities on skin, metal, fabric, etc.

Better lighting and shadow effects, especially for players' shadows, etc. The overall appearance of player characters will be altered as little as possible. This will be applied to old NPCs where possible from 7.x onward. Testing for additional improvements in the future.

There is a LOT of gear in the game, and the team wants you to understand that it may not be possible to review every piece. However, gear implemented at 7.0 onward will be higher quality.

The team knows that there are certain glamours that are favored by players and will be reviewing them with priority. In the 7.x patches, the rest of the gear will be reviewed for upgrades.

What about all the NPCs? The team won't be able to address all the NPCs by 7.0 - some will get graphical upgrades and some wont. It might be a bit disjointed, but being selective is how they can tackle this without being overwhelmed.

Characters that are built with the same parts that players use in the creator will see improvements, like Teledji Adeledji, as much as he doesn't deserve it.

When asked about clipping, the team won't be able to address this without implementing a new physics system, which would throw off every other update in the schedule.

The updated lighting allows the team to place more lighting points. Note the shadow under the desk and the gradient across the back wall.

This comparison shows off improved shadows.

The additional lighting also shows off more detail in the surrounding environment that was already built in.

The red light in the right image is an example of how the lighting update will work, not necessarily to be intended in this specific stage.

What they are trying to show in this example is how placing additional lights can bring out the form and texture of the assets in the stage.

In this next example, metallic surfaces like gold have been improved with reflectivity. This is not Yoshida's house.

"It looks like gold now instead of brass."