Gamewatch Interview (full translation linked in first post)

[LD]

Yea.....that explains a lot.

I mean, we kinda guessed their moral would go down, but their actual strength?

[Elmer the Pointy]

Issues Involving Earning Campaign Points

Moving on, I’d like to ask about a point of contention people have with Campaign Battles. There are people who do what’s called “Buff spamming” or “Song spamming.”
Ito: Yes, that certainly is a problem. We’re still experimenting, but we may implement some rule about taking an Allied Tag after recently accepting one. The main counter-measure is against songs, but basically they use a BOT to take an Allied Tag, sing several songs, quickly receive their experience points and subsequently grab another tag. We think regular players should be practically unaffected if, for example, there is some waiting period imposed on reapplying for your Allied Tag.

I see. On a related note, I think Raise should reward the caster more points.
Ito: Last update, we already added some new support troops that can cast Raise. Changing the effects of Raise is something we will have to think about.

Was this to shift importance off of players having to Raise others?
Ito: Yes, we wanted to free up healers to perform other actions in Campaign. We thought it would be better if they could focus on other activities in battle.

Raise is the most effective way to aid someone, I think.
Ito: We balanced Raise considering that one should be able to accumulate plenty of points without having to use it. We didn’t make it extreme enough to match its high MP cost, but enough that if you get the chance, you can cast it. We thought it would be best that they have the MP available for other useful spells they can perform.

So, you designed it so the bulk of Raises could come from the support troops. Still, their ability can change, can’t it? Right now, they are incredibly weak, and Raises take a really long time.
Ito: They are associated with technological power… if that parameter goes down, so will their ability. From here on, you can boost your medics through Campaign Ops, but if you continue on your nation’s decline, we think you’ll see a lot of weak medics running around.

[Elmer the Pointy]

This thing just keeps going, it's like a damn novel. Why are American interviews always like 50 ways to say "I don't know," and Japanese interviews are like "here, let me convert the contents of my brain into text for you."

[Ace-o-fire]

haha ive started to wonder that too from reading this.

[Lyramion]

This thing just keeps going, it's like a damn novel. Why are American interviews always like 50 ways to say "I don't know," and Japanese interviews are like "here, let me convert the contents of my brain into text for you."

Win

[LD]

This thing just keeps going, it's like a damn novel. Why are American interviews always like 50 ways to say "I don't know," and Japanese interviews are like "here, let me convert the contents of my brain into text for you."

Probably because translating something accurately is a long and difficult process and rather than give us details, they say something in the simplest and vaguest way possible to make it easy on their interpeter.

So, basically a mixture of having no faith in translation and laziness.

[Tarage]

I don't know about the rest of you but my f5 key is getting tired...

Thanks Elmer!

[LinktheDeme]

I really just think its because there JP and they take care of their own and don't care nearly as much for the other people. Must be in Japanese culture that they only give a damn about themselves and will only do the minimum to keep the money coming from everywhere else.

[Spira]

i dont get the daffy duck thing..
someone explain?

[LD]

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...0871235015.jpg

There's not a whole lot to read into.

[Guitarman]

This thing just keeps going, it's like a damn novel. Why are American interviews always like 50 ways to say "I don't know," and Japanese interviews are like "here, let me convert the contents of my brain into text for you."

We've all been wondering that for a long, long time. Without translating japanese interviews who knows how long the rest of the world would have been in the dark about this? (among other things).

It's a whole lot of work your doing for us Elmer, and i'm sure theres a half dozen other things you could be doing in your spare time, thanks for taking the time out and helping us!

[LD]

It's a whole lot of work your doing for us Elmer, and i'm sure theres a half dozen other things you could be doing in your spare time, thanks for taking the time out and helping us!

Absolutely.

Also....you know...

http://www.craigerscinemacorner.com/Images/benhur.jpg

Faster.

[Sunrider]

This thing just keeps going, it's like a damn novel. Why are American interviews always like 50 ways to say "I don't know," and Japanese interviews are like "here, let me convert the contents of my brain into text for you."

Epic ROFL. Like everyone else here, the same had occurred to me.

Throwing in yet another thanks for your efforts in the translation. Very informative.

[Guitarman]

I'm reeeeeally tempted to sig that line from elmer, btw.

[Elmer the Pointy]

The Merits of Winning Campaign

Basically, the merits and demerits from winning or losing Campaign Battles are rather small.
Ito: In the grand scheme of things, we want each area to have its own significance. We can’t just give bonuses to different jobs, because we would end up with certain jobs only wanting to control certain areas. For example, in Sand’Oria there would be a conflict of interest amongst the variety of jobs there. This would certainly disrupt the flow of battle.
There are many jobs to consider rewards for, so we hope to implement a system that will please everyone into each area. Still, we haven’t reached that point yet. There are many fine details to consider, such as unique Campaign Ops or technological advances. It is difficult going over all these different options, and we have thought about what we can and cannot do for a long time. If you have any good ideas, please let us know. (laughs) It’s a delicate matter.

It certainly is difficult. But if they are implemented, players can have a reason to voice their opinions through Tactical Assessment and decide where to attack or defend. However, it if favored certain jobs and ignored others, it could be a problem.
Ito: It could. You would have disgruntled players refusing to take on certain areas. We are thinking about this as we observe the number of controlled areas.

Like a salary that gets paid based on controlled areas? (laughs) Something like gil would be an equal reward for all players. Although the interest may be low, it’s a tough call.
Ito: In the later years, there are players who want to have almost all areas controlled by the Allied Forces. If possible, we want to provide some positive effect for all jobs if they manage to take every area.

I see. So this is the ultimate image you have for Campaign Battle?
Ito: First, we need to achieve a balance and provide an experience for both light and heavy gamers. After that, I want players to work hard and gain control. I want unsupported areas to be taken from them. This was the state I had in mind from the beginning.

So even the battle system and game balance are tied to either Tactical Assessment or Campaign Ops, and if players get a better grasp of their relationship, they can improve their nation’s condition. Furthermore, all that must be taken into consideration when adjusting balance or adding new elements. That sounds incredibly difficult to do. (laughs)
Ito: It sure is. (laughs) However, we agreed to resign ourselves to this fate when we decided to implement Campaign.

Why do you think adventurers and the Allied Forces are having trouble holding their own at this point?
Ito: Because of the workload, we haven’t implemented NPCs to explain more about Campaign, and perhaps that’s one reason.

Yes, lack of information could be a factor. If balancing included the proliferation of more information, couldn’t the war situation really improve?
Ito: Yes, it could. This confusion could have caused the current dominance of the beastmen. However, there are some who feel it isn’t such a big problem.

I see. I understand how it could be a positive thing. I would be worried about calling it a success, however. It depends on what each person enjoys. Still, there are a lot of elements that go into making it work on a large scale, as well as for the individual.
Ito: That’s true. In addition… there are people who just want to run around freely and do as they please.

Even those people sometimes have demands thrust upon them by other players… which is a shame.

[Lyramion]

Elmer you have any Paypal Account we can send money to?

Doesn´t matter if you will buy dirty doujinshi with it... actually... please do so

[LD]

Personally, I think campaign balance was best before the june update. Sandy was the only area that had 5-6 zones on a regular basis and Bastok, while doing worse, was making progress in defense and offense.

[Lexa]

Wow, this is interesting stuff. Thanks for translating, Elmer! <333

So... if the NPCs grow stronger/weaker with loss/wins... does that explain why Bastok has a bunch of "healer" NPCs who are completely unable to cast anything bigger than a Cure 1? -.-

[Kyreth]

Bless you, Elmer. As usual, you're the shining point of sanity in the madness of JP moonspeak text.

And it's true. We have the energy and time to make things happen in Campaign- but the logistics of it are crap from lack of knowledge on what does which in the first place. Given, FFXI players are pros at divining stuff, but y'know...

And glad to see they openly stated the reason NPC healers went from great to gimp. The poor bastards deleveled from getting curb-stomped all day.

[Kimiko]

Thank you Elmer! Much to you!