#similar to how I write Yoshi speaking Japanese in chapter 2

[tangledinink]

Hi! I just have a little comment on your use of sign language in the carol side fic. I in no means mean to be rude! I’m not a professional! But I do use asl commonly, and I would like to say that the grammar structure is different, especially in newer users (like me!). So when Donnie asks Carol to make his hair like hers and April, it would probably end more like “can, have, hair, like, April, and, you?” Like I said, I’m not a professional! But it is something I noticed.

Good luck!

This is absolutely correct! Thank you! When I was learning ASL in college, my professor (who was Deaf,) would describe it as "caveman-style grammar" to us to help try to get a grasp of ASL sentence structure, as sort of a 'cheat-code' way of thinking about it when we were first learning.

I went back and forth about it, but I ended up deciding not to do a direct translation of ASL grammar in my work. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing it that way, and I think there can be a lot of merit to it, but it just feels a bit odd to me? When translating Spanish to English, for example, we typically wouldn't say, "the cat white," even though that would be the direct translation from, for example, "el gato blanco." We would expect the grammar to be a part of the translation process-- the white cat in English. Obviously, there's a difference between a spoken language and sign language, but it's always sort of felt a bit strange to me, to treat ASL differently from other languages, and only 'translate' it halfway, I guess? (Especially given that a huge part of ASL is facial expression, so you risk leaving a lot of details or nuance behind if you choose to use ASL sentence structure but don't consider user expression in your writing as well.)

Perhaps that's just me being lazy and not wanting to restructure things in my fic, lol. But while I think there are definitely pros and cons to either method and that both are valid options, a complete translation is what I went for in TMWN-- similar to how subtitles are done when a character signs in a movie or a TV show. I want the characters' signed dialogue to read smoothly and retain their voice and personality. I want it to flow the same way it does when they speak in English or in Japanese. Signing is totally natural to these characters! I don't want the reader to slow down to translate grammar, or to draw attention to the fact that it's 'different,' because for the characters it's a totally nbd-everyday thing, and that's not what I want the reader to focus on in this case.

That being said! I am not Deaf, nor fluent in ASL (my gOODNESS have I gotten rusty,,,) so! Take my opinion with a grain of salt and if I'm, like, totally out of line, I'm open to hearing about it, lol. I hope this makes sense? Sorry I went off so hard and wrote so much lmao I just spent a lot of time thinking about it and going back and forth when I first started writing the fic.

[kamedani]

FFXIV Yoshi P. Dengeki Interview

On February 6th, Dengeki and a number of Japanese media outlets had an interview event with Yoshi P following the Showcase. Here is the interview Yoshi P had with Dengeki Online as translated by me. The original interview can be found at https://dengekionline.com/articles/66986/

Section 1: Two Concepts for Healers and a New Melee DPS!

Dengeki: Sage was just announced as the new healer job in Final Fantasy XIV. Additionally, you announced that healers will be split into two concepts – pure healers (White Mages and Astrologians) and shield healers (Scholars and Sages). This is where we have our first questions for you. How are you planning on distinguishing pure healers and shield healers moving forward?

Yoshi P: From a balance standpoint, no matter if you play a pure healer or shield healer, we are making it so there won’t be a massive difference in power. Instead, the idea is we want players to have vastly difference experiences in gameplay.

 For example, in the case of Scholar and Sage, the way in which they apply shields will be different. The scholar play style is being able to attack, put up shields, and heal with the help of their fairy. In the case of the sage, their weapon, the noulith, isn’t a pet so the sage’s play style is going to be different. Our concept is that we want the Warriors of Light to experience that difference.

 Dengeki: So since there are going to be shield healers and pure healers, you are going to be splitting healers into two roles?

 Yoshi P: No, there is still going to be just one role for healers. So, of course, no matter what healer you play you can clear content. On the other hand, for difficult content, we feel it is good to have healers be separatable. If it gets confusing to not have a more clear distinction between pure and shield healers, we can revisit it.

 Dengeki: On the same topic, will there be any kind of change to fight balance by making pure healers and shield healers?

 Yoshi P: Up until Patch 5.3 we heard from a lot of players that healers had a fair amount of downtime on their hands. So, from Patch 5.4, we’ve planned for the more difficult content to put out a lot more damage more often. For speed clears we are planning for it to be harder to do with just pure healers or just shield healers.

We plan on continuing to make content with this idea in mind so content will be easier to clear if you bring one pure healer and one shield healer. Also, as I said at the Announcement Showcase, we are going to be changing the algorithm behind the matching systems like Raid Finder as best we can so it will put both healer types in a group.

Dengeki: So, for example, will the limit gauge build up differently if you have double pure healers?

Yoshi P: If we change specifics of how the limit gauge builds, it will have effects on other encounters where limit gauge building is a part of the fight so we have no plans for this kind of change.

Dengeki: With the idea of healers having more specialized roles, are there plans or do something similar to tanks having main tanks and off tanks?

 Yoshi P: Right now we don’t have any plans to make healer sub categories. While, for example, there is a sentiment that paladins are more suited for off tanking, the truth is they can fulfill both roles so we want to do something like this with healers.

 Dengeki: The four tanks are distinct from one another.

 Yoshi P: That’s right. While fulfilling the same role, each job has a different play experience. In the case of DPS jobs, they feel different based on their difficulty to control and different attack abilities.

 Dengeki: Speaking of the new jobs, you said the other new job in addition to sage will be a melee DPS. There are already four melee DPS in the game now. Compared to other jobs types, melee DPS is the most. Please tell us how you came to adding another melee DPS to the game and how will it be balanced with the existing melee DPS.

 Yoshida: When it comes to the amount of jobs types, say for example, in Patch 7.0 we add another tank, that would bring us up to five tanks. Increases in job types is something unavoidable as the game continues.

Furthermore, compared to other roles, a lot of people want to play DPS. Our thinking is adding a new DPS job is a must for an expansion disc so we went with melee DPS this time. At the current moment, dragoon is the only job that uses maiming gear so the new melee job will use it as well.

 Dengeki: On the topic of melee DPS, recent difficult content seems to be going in a direction that makes things more difficult for melee DPS. What are your thoughts about this?

 Yoshi P: We are aware of this on the development side. This is a dilemma shared by many long running MMOs. If you add a lot of mechanics to an encounter, that encounter becomes more difficult for classes that require movement and positionals.

 We are currently looking at each job’s skills and making adjustments accordingly. And we are, of course, making sure to balance it so ranged DPS won’t always have the easier time.

 Dengeki: Continuing our discussion of battle content, you said that you will be removing belts from the game. Will you be adding the stats lost from belts to other gear to compensate?

 Yoshi P: Belts and accessories tend to have lower stats on them so removing belts won’t have a very large effect. Still, we are working on moving stats so you won’t feel any change to your game experience. You don’t need to worry about it. You may, however, feel like something is a bit different after the numbers crunch we are going to do.

Speaking of belts, after what I said at the showcase about materia affixed to belts, I got a message from the development team saying that they are going to take care of the materia too. So, from Patch 6.0, you can go to a calamity salvager and collect any recoverable materia that was in your belts. Players won’t have to do any preparation in advance.

 Dengeki: After belts become no longer equippable, will we still be able to turn them in for seals or desynthesize them?

 Yoshi P: That will be unchanged. The only change there will be is we will add a description like “Once thought to protect adventurers’ waists” to the item description. (laughs)

 Section 2: Endwalker’s Main Color is Platinum!

 Dengeki: Next we’d like to talk to you about the logo for the new expansion. All previous expansions’ logos have been pretty clear in what they were trying to convey. This time, however, the logo feels more mysterious with elements like that thing that looks like a monolith on the left side of the logo. Please tell us about the concept for this logo and the ideas that went into it.

 Yoshi P: I can’t go into too many specifics on the logo so instead let me speak about the concept Mr. Amano made for us based on conversations I had with him. I spoke with him about everything we had done throughout the course of this Hydaelyn and Zodiark story and the theme of finding hope in despair.

 I first spoke with him in the real world meta sense of launching A Realm Reborn out of the despair of 1.0’s release. I also spoke with him in the in game main scenario story sense of finding hope in the despair of the end times and what is to come. I think the nuiance came through in this logo.

 Dengeki: So you are saying, the meaning of the logo will become more clear after having played the game.

 Yoshi P: I think you will have moments of thinking “OH! So THAT is what that means.” after having played. The only other thing I can say at this point is about the planet in the background. Is it the moon? Is it the planet Hydaelyn? You will find some of these answers as you play the story for 5.5.

 Dengeki: The title screens of each expansion until now has had one main color as its theme. What is the color for this expansion?

 Yoshi P: The color as I explained to the development team is platinum. The difference is a very small nuiance but the color is not white. I told them the concept of the red moon and explained that the theme color was neither the darkness of night nor the white of the morning. I told them the color is the golden color that illuminates someone’s face in that brief moment when the light first hits them.

 I could see on the faces of the development team that I was asking them to do the impossible again. Nevertheless, the logo is neither gold nor yellow. It sits on that fine line between both. It represents the final glimmer of light between the new dawn of A Realm Reborn and the darkness of night of Shadowbringers.

 Shadowbringers opened in a world without night. For this expansion we want to make something similar to surprise players. We are using the platinum theme as the base for some color adjustments for this expansion. So, if you remember all of this, you may be surprised when you see it in the story. (laughs)

 Dengeki: In the teaser trailer the Warrior of Light is now a paladin as his main job. Why is that?

 Yoshi P: To tell the truth, I agonized over what to make his main job. As everyone already knows I am a contrarian and I like to turn the story upside down and look at things from that different perspective to surprise the players.

 In Shadowbringers, for example, we started development with me coming up with the initial concept that players were probably getting sick of being called “Warriors of Light,” and “heroes” and instead would do away with the light and regain the darkness as Warriors of Darkness.

 This time, when we decided to write the final chapter of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story, as is the case in all classic Final Fantasy games, I thought about the idea of hope. I thought about the desire I and many people have to carry hope as well as the desire to abandon hope. When I thought about who would be standing on the front line and shouldering all of that, I thought of a paladin.

 With that image rolling around in my head, I made the decision. Endwalker is going to be a title similar in scale to and on par with the ending story of any title in the Final Fantasy series.

 Dengeki: We may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves here but are we safe in assuming paladin will get some cool new skill to go along with all this? (laughs)

 Yoshi P: Since paladin already has Passage of Arms it is going to be hard to come up with a skill that surpasses it. Even still, every job is getting new skills players have been wanting. They’re going to be flashy and cool so as to make you like your job even more. We will do our best to meet your expectations.

 Dengeki: Let’s talk about new game experiences next. So far there have been new things added to the game like flying and swimming. Will there be something else like that?

 Yoshi P: Endwalker is made to give players the feeling of experiencing the thrilling last chapter in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline on the scale to rival any other RPG. We are focused on giving players the ability to have this experience as their characters in the game world. To that end we don’t feel some new movement mechanic is necessary. We are creating an adventure that will take you through the air and under the sea.

 That’s one reason. The second reason is well… forgive me! I am out of ideas! (laughs) In this game we’re going to the moon and the development team first asked me if we should add in zero gravity. But that would be no different than swimming. You would jump once and just not land on the ground! (laughs)

 This game already has all the different modes of movement you would find in an MMO so if we forced something else in, it would be tedious. Still, if you have an interesting idea, please let me know and I’ll consider it. (laughs)

 Dengeki: Continuing with that idea, what kind of experiences can we look forward to on the moon?

 Yoshi P: For starters there are questions like what is the moon, what is going on on the other side and beneath the surface? (laughs) To be honest, I’ve been into astronomy for the past year or so and I saw two theories on the formation of Earth’s moon.

 So in response to some of these open-ended questions, this expansion will be about writing a story about the moon specific to our world. The moon in our story is a combination of concepts from the development team, the moon in the real world, and some things we made up. I hope you pay attention to it.

 Oh yeah, to any concerned Warriors of Light that may be out there worrying if there is an atmosphere on the moon, please relax. (laughs) That is explained in the story as well so please look forward to it.

 Dengeki: The music is a part of the experience that can’t be forgotten and it seems like Soken pulled out all the stops for the theme this time. What did you ask of him when making the soundtrack to this game?

 Yoshi P: I asked him to consider that even though this is the climax of the story, every single song cannot be a moving epic masterpiece. I asked him to make songs to match what was going on in the story at the time.

 To both Soken and myself, the main theme of Shadowbringers was quite invocative. The theme of the Crystal Tower is woven into it to give it that Final Fantasy feeling. But even if you take it out, it can stand as an unconventional Final Fantasy title by itself.

 Many of our players really liked that song so it gave us a lot of confidence. Taking a step forward from this point, I told him to make something that expresses the grand finale to the first adventure of our 14th Final Fantasy. Soken kept telling me what a busy schedule he has but he’s been working really hard and I hope everyone looks forward to the music in this game.

 Section 3: New Content and More Challenging Existing Content

 Dengeki: Now we’d like to ask you about the current game. Patch 5.0 introduced the Trust System and players have been enjoying using it. At the latest Live Letter you told us that in addition to Estinien joining the Trust System, new features are going to be added. Please tell us some specific things waiting for us.

 Yoshi P: After we launched the Trust System, many players started asking us to expand it to 8-man duties and past content. We, of course, want to make the Trust System work with all of our content for our players to enjoy.

 However, the Trust System requires specific programming for each dungeon so each character acts in a way you would expect them to. This costs a lot to do. So, we are currently exploring ways to make it work across more content.

 Right now I cannot give many more specifics about the Trust System such as when more will be coming. Please be assured we are working to find a way to expand it. All of the 6,0 dungeons, for example, will be playable with the Trust System. So, at the very least, there won’t be any issues with those dungeons so you can go into them with the Scions. Players who like to solo content can be assured of that.

 Dengeki: We are also interested in being able to do things at a relaxed place on the deserted islands. Will players actually be able to mount up and sell things to each other? Isn’t there a chance this content will ultimately benefit players who play the most?

 Yoshi P: We are making the deserted island content to be relaxed living content players can enjoy at their own pace without competing with others. I can’t say competition amongst players will never happen but there will be plenty of opportunity to enjoy playing by yourself with reduced interaction with others.

 We want to make it an area where you create and grow your own things and use them to collect rewards. Players can do things at their own pace without having to worry about other players affecting their progress. We are making something for players who even want to do farming without worrying about difficulty.

 You can think of it as a somewhere to spend time in a place you love with your favorite minions or even enjoy raising animals you brought to the island with you.

 Dengeki: Please tell us as much as you can about the new smaller scale PvP mode.

 Yoshi P: We are making content with new rules and maps as all new content. In our current PvP system, healers shoulder a lot of the burden. Wins and losses heavily rely on the healers so because of this huge responsibility, healers are in short supply and matching is quite difficult.

 The new PvP content is going to be less strict where any job can participate. We are making a role free system where each job will have some means of healing itself.

 Dengeki: So it is something more like The Feast than Frontlines?

 Yoshi P: If I had to choose, it is more like The Feast but in this mode you don’t just get points by defeating opposing players. We are adding more ways to get points like capture the flag to make more casual maps and a more casual playstyle. We are also making ranked and free modes that players can use to collect PvP rewards.

 Also, like I said at the Showcase, we are working on a system where the rewards will include things players are going to want other than just gear. I will have more information about this at the next PLL.

 Dengeki: There have been many posts on the official forums from PvPers who want PvP to be balanced separately for both large group PvP and smaller group PvP. Can they expect to see that in this upcoming content?

 Yoshi P: We are planning on implementing job balance adjustments along side small scale PvP. We are also currently discussing if we are going to keep The Feast as well but we haven’t reached a decision. But there is a high chance The Feast will get shut down.

 This is because we want to focus on fixing any issues with this new content based on player feedback. If we have The Feast running at the same time, it will split our resources so we would like to avoid that.

 Dengeki: In the middle of the latest Live Letter the topic of Hildibrand came up. When can we expect to see him next?

 Yoshi P: We actually saw him briefly in The Heroes’ Gauntlet in Shadowbringers so he must have somehow wound up there after we saw him last him in Stormblood. (laughs) The Hildibrand story had become kinda tedious so we took a break with it in Shadowbringers.

 We don’t plan on ending it, however. Hildibrand is a beloved character in our world and many people want to see his tale continue. Our development team has also recharged their batteries so we are going to provide players with something. Please look forward to his return.

 Dengeki: With the new expansion there is going to be a graphical upgrade to the game. Is there also going to be a change in the minimum PC requirements?

 Yoshi P: No, we are working hard on the PS5 version to make it look as good as possible but since this is going to be the final chapter in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline, we decided not to make any major changes.

 I want to update the graphics engine at some point since the amount of data used has gotten quite great over these ten years. Also, we want to rebuild the data access system to support 4K graphical textures.

 Players have also told us they want their mounts to feel more alive but for that to work we will need to do a graphical overhaul. We are, of course, doing this little by little.

 Please remember that we work on schedules planned years at a time. We were able to fix some of our data center issues on this schedule over a long period of time fitting in work where we could. So, when it comes to updated graphics, it is something we want to do but don’t have much free time. It is quite a challenge to do as well so please be patient.