It's no secret that Final Fantasy 14 had one of the biggest comebacks of any MMO (heck, any game) when director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida stepped in for A Realm Reborn – even Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead Guillaume Broche thinks so.
The RPG's creative director says as much in a new episode of Video Game Club via Konbini on YouTube (below), first saying that Final Fantasy 14 is "in the top three games I've played the most in my life."
He then recalls A Realm Reborn, and how "Square Enix pulled off the best thing in the history of video games when it comes to relaunching a game." Broche explains why he thinks so, going over how the MMO's developers did it.
"Basically, they released a first version, and it was a disaster. Everyone was playing it, and it was terrible. And what they did was, after a year, they released an in-game cutscene showing the end of the world. An eight-minute cutscene with Bahamut arriving and blowing up the world."
Indeed, they did – I still go back and watch that scene online myself. The public chat was filled with countdowns and excitement… there's nothing quite like it.
Broche agrees, saying "everyone had seen that cutscene" – even folks who had never actually played the game. That didn't stop them from asking, "'What's going on at Square Enix?'" Then came A Realm Reborn.
"They relaunched it a year later," as the Clair: Obscur Expedition 33 lead puts it. "They reworked everything, relaunched the game, and it was truly exceptional. So it's still a huge hit today." That it is.
I'm a hardened Warrior of Light myself, and I'm still not done with the MMO after pouring in thousands of hours – nor will I be any time soon, with new expansion Evercold underway.
"Rebuilding an MMO in one year – I don't know how they did it. It's impossible," Broche continues. "To do that, and then, after a year, relaunch it and have it work. I think that's just too good to be true."
Perhaps my affinity for the game has to do with how Square Enix takes "more creative risks," in the words of Broche, but he's certainly right about one thing: "The game is exceptional. It still has its expansions, and there's still a super active community."
He praises everything from its music (massive shoutout to Masayoshi Soken) to its bosses, amusingly even admitting he played as a Lalafell – which I can't get over, honestly.
Should you be a Final Fantasy 14 fan yourself, I'd genuinely suggest giving the interview with the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director a deeper watch for more.
