A couple of years have passed since Final Fantasy 14 infamously axed the Samurai's Kaiten ability, but it's still on everyone's mind - including the director's own.
While attending a Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail preview event, GamesRadar+ spoke to director and producer Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida regarding the Samurai job and its long-lost Kaiten ability. "Firstly," the developer clarifies that he can "promise" us the class "won't be simplified any further." As for Kaiten, Yoshi-P is "really torn about it" and apologizes, saying that he's aware fans are still wondering why it was removed. "Back then when we made the decision, there were more people requesting Kaiten to be removed than there were that were happy with it."
The director continues, explaining the difficulty of the decision: "So whether it's good or bad, I think there's no answer. There are always going to be some people who prefer more difficult mechanics, and then others who prefer simple mechanics." Yoshi-P thinks that, ultimately, "it's impossible to reach a solution" about Kaiten and class complexity overall that would please the entire community. Square Enix does want to avoid stripping jobs like Samurai too much, though, with Yoshi-P expressing concern over "the simplicity of the job" and how it's "becoming more difficult to showcase one's own technique or expertise."
He doesn't feel that Samurai players are properly able to translate what they "practice and strategize" in their minds into actual gameplay "with the simplicity as it is" right now. As a longtime Astrologian player myself, I know exactly what he means - much like Samurai's changes, those made previously to the intricate AST card system left gameplay feeling less personalizable and far too simple for my tastes. Thankfully for Samurai mains, though, it looks like improvements are underway.
"From 7.2, we will be working towards a more fulfilling playing experience," the director reveals. Square Enix will then "look to the jobs" and "focus on providing more individuality in the jobs." To accomplish this, Yoshi-P says the developers "will be incorporating various changes and some of those changes will also be related to the skill rotations." While he doesn't quite yet know what these adjustments will look like, he says he can promise one thing - jobs "will not be more simple."
As for Kaiten's removal in particular, which some players have likened to "losing your left pinky finger," Yoshi-P "cannot answer" whether it'll ever make a return to Samurai's rotation - "it could become Kaiten 2!" Regardless, the director understands "that a lot of players want to be able to think for themselves" and showcase this by use of their own strategies. As the Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail expansion looms over the horizon, we can look forward to how Yoshi-P and the MMO's mastermind dev team will reflect this understanding.
While you wait, why not try Final Fantasy 14's Dawntrail benchmark out?
