Yoko Taro, the eccentric Japanese game designer known for the Drakengard and Nier series of roleplaying games, has partnered with Naoki Yoshida and his development team for a Nier: Automata crossover in Final Fantasy XIV.
Titled YoRHA: Dark Apocalypse, the crossover features a 24-player raid dungeon where players join NieR: Automata's beloved android 2P in exploring the so-called Copied Factory.
In a recent interview with PlayStation Official Magazine (March 2020, issue 172), Yoko Taro discussed the somewhat unusual cooperation with Yoshida and his Final Fantasy XIV team. He had a lot of praise for both.
I didn’t know what kind of person Yoshida-san was until this project, so I was a little scared. After meeting him in person, I could see that he was a hard-working and powerful person. He’d be my choice for a future president of Square Enix.
We had a short discussion together regarding the concept at the beginning. For the actual work, I entrusted the gameplay aspect entirely to the Final Fantasy XIV team.
I was so happy with how they respected Nier: Automata as a title, so I got a little carried away with my requests… Sorry about that. Thanks to their efforts, I think that the battles are packed with elements of Nier.
Yoko Taro was then asked by the interviewer what a mainline Final Fantasy game designed by himself would look like. True to his unpredictable persona, he replied:
I hear that the Western audience prefers realistic games, so I would make it so realistic
that the characters go to the bathroom. Of course, the bathroom scene would be a
playable QTE.
On a more serious note, Yoko Taro also revealed his favorite Final Fantasy title.
I like Final Fantasy XII. I think there are similarities with Final Fantasy XIV, and the graphics are tasteful to my liking.
Would you like Square Enix to hire Yoko Taro to work on a mainline Final Fantasy installment? Let us know below!
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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