The next Final Fantasy 14 patch will finally remove all glamour restrictions, even though Yoshi-P isn’t really a fan of it.
Glamouring essentially allows players to combine the visuals of their favourite armour with the stats of something better – transmog, basically. However, players can only glamour within the Job they’re playing as, so your White Mage can wear any other White Mage outfit but can’t dress as a Dragoon.
That’s all set to change in Patch 7.4, out later this month, which is great news for fashion fans – the real endgame of Final Fantasy 14. However, it seems director and producer Naoki Yoshida has agreed to the change reluctantly.
The decision not to allow this type of glamour until now wasn’t due to technicalities, but Yoshida’s personal taste.
“I felt more strongly than anyone else that we had to cherish the Final Fantasy worldview,” Yoshida told Famitsu (translation via PC Gamer). “I felt that the way Final Fantasy should be is for Dragoons to be able to equip their character in that style, and to be able to hold their spear and strike the ‘Kain pose’ [Final Fantasy 4‘s iconic Dragoon]. It’s the job’s identity, so to speak. The core of that feeling hasn’t changed much even now.”
However, he noted there are “very few games that have the same limitations as Final Fantasy 14 in terms of enjoying fashion”, although he added if he were in charge of a free-to-play game he’d naturally want players to buy items without restrictions.
Yoshida has been playing games from other companies and now understands, in this modern era, what players want may differ to his own preference. For instance, he plays as a Black Mage and wouldn’t want his character to wear other armour.
“These are my own roleplaying rules, so I have decided them arbitrarily,” he said. “I reconsidered and decided that it would be pointless to impede the roleplaying of people who say, ‘My character is the coolest and cutest in the world. I want to dress up even more,’ by [forcing them to follow] my own rules.
“I’m fine with being particular about my own preferences, and I’m sure there are many others who feel the same way, but that doesn’t mean that the system should restrict the motivation of people who are particular about dressing up.”
Another reason for the change is to combat the use of mods. Yoshida has been adamant about not allowing mod-use in Final Fantasy 14, which reached a peak earlier this year when a controversial third-party plugin used for in-game stalking was shut down.
Some players used mods to alter their character’s appearance – most notably the Mare Synchronos mod, whose creators were sent a cease and desist earlier this year. Now the game itself has been altered to appease players.
What’s more, the change is an offer of goodwill to players. When, anecdotally, the MMORPG has seen a reduction in player count since the release of the less well-received expansion Dawntrail, this change to glamouring will likely be a popular change – and give an extra incentive to explore everything in the game in the search for the right outfit.
Patch 7.4, Into The Mist, will be released on 16th December, extending the story and bringing various other additions as expected with each patch. Next year, Square Enix will host multiple Fan Fest events as it prepares to launch the next expansion, but disabled fans in the US fear their accessibility needs won’t be met.
