Final Fantasy XI director, Mizuki Ito, is back in another interview, this time fielding questions about the Seekers of Adoulin expansion from the Square Enix Members community. You can read the full interview here, but below are couple of interesting excerpts:
On why the team decided to introduce the new Geomancer and Rune Fencer jobs:
“Actually, the idea of having a Geomancer had been raised many times before. We sincerely wanted to make this a reality and then finally got the chance to do this and incorporate a new play style. With the Rune Fencer, we wanted to increase the number of options for ‘tank’ jobs that are needed for creating a rounded party and also to increase the number of tactics players can adopt to withstand elemental attacks from monsters.”
On whether Adoulin will be the new “main city” and what kind of place it is:
“We plan to split the popularity between Adoulin and Jeuno, both of which will act as main cities. Adoulin will inherit all the functions previous cities had and provide easy access to and from Jeuno. Both cities will also share the same ‘Shout’ channel. Adoulin will encompass an area with several old, preserved stone buildings like those in San d’Oria and, to create a mix of old and new, there will be another section with new wooden buildings and extensions built on old stone structures.
“We have gone for a design that gives it a sense of history but also conveys a rough city that has been invigorated by trade. We have also introduced waterways to give it a nice touch and imagine it could be known as the ‘City of Water’.”
Square Enix will release Seekers of Adoulin on the Xbox 360 and PC in 2013.
