Final Fantasy XIV is a game of many facets. I’ll always remember it for its emotional storytelling, lovable characters, and how its dungeons and bosses blend gameplay and narrative beautifully–all elevated by an evocative soundtrack. The lighthearted side content like the Manderville quests or the Gold Saucer add levity and embrace the silly side of the MMORPG, and optional boss fights offer great side stories alongside hearty combat trials. But then there are Savage raids, the toughest and most grueling content in the game, fine-tuned for the sickos who love a ridiculous challenge.
Savage raids take the normal raid bosses and turn up the difficulty and complexity of their gameplay mechanics to unforgiving levels. It’s a sort of dance routine with very little room for error for all eight party members–a combat puzzle where precise execution of specific strategies and quick reaction while maintaining your attack rotation are required. And failure means starting over from the beginning. Having been blessed with a smart and patient raid leader, I’ve been able to avoid the frustrations that often come with raiding at this high of a level, and that’s helped me appreciate the nuances of Savage raiding.
With a much deeper understanding of FFXIV from a technical perspective, I was able to speak with FFXIV’s lead battle content designer Masaki Nakagawa (better known as Mr. Ozma in the FFXIV community) about how raids get made. We talked about everything from the development timeline for squeezing the content into a strict release schedule to staying creative and reasonably challenging over a decade’s worth of raid tiers. We also covered the intricacies of working within the confines of the game’s limitations, how the team made the trickiest raid boss yet in Patch 6.4, and the influence of player feedback.