Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV Official Blog Backstage Investigators section shared an interview with Background Concept Artist Mariko Higashi about designing locations around the game’s world. When discussing the “most memorable backgrounds” she designed, she talked about both Labyrinthos and the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse NieR Automata Copied Factory and Hobbes boss in FFXIV.
When discussing the futuristic designs of Labyrinthos and balancing that with Greek architecture, Higashi brought up the FFXIV Copied Factory and Puppets’ Bunker. Hobbes is one of multiple bosses people face in the Copied Factory raid, alongside others like Engels and 9S. Puppet’s Bunker is another raid, which features a version of 2P as one of the boss fights. Higashi especially noted how YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse meant she got to design both the boss and location, which was unusual for her.
Here’s her full response regarding the FFXIV Labyrinthos area and the NieR Automata Hobbes and Copied Factory design.
I’m especially fond of Labyrinthos, the first area I ever designed. With Labyrinthos, we added “high-tech machinery” to Old Sharlayan’s imagery of “Greek architecture and conch shells.” While these conflicting visuals were an intriguing combination, a poor integration would look out of place, so I spent many painstaking hours getting the balance just right.
Out of everything in Labyrinthos, I’m especially fond of Thaumazein’s shell-like roof and the bizarrely cute roundness of the cisterns.
I was also in charge of backgrounds for the Copied Factory and the Puppets’ Bunker of YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse. As a big fan of the NieR series, I was absolutely thrilled when I was assigned to the crossover!
I enjoy imagining the internal structure of mechanisms or how they might move, so I had a lot of fun designing Hobbes, the second boss in the Copied Factory. Since its mechanics involve the chamber’s walls, we background concept artists had the rare opportunity of designing both a boss and its arena, which was a gratifying experience.
Final Fantasy XIV Online Official Blog
Final Fantasy XIV is available for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. NieR Automata is on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
