More from the Creator of Fatigue System Video
We interviewed the creator of the video that broke down FFXIV's new fatigue system.
The forum was buzzing last week about this thread, in which first-time ZAM poster Christian Malazarte posted a succinct, masterfully crafted video about the new fatigue system implemented in Final Fantasy XIV. We thought we'd catch up with him to get more information about his unique piece of work -- and to ask whether we can see more of him in the future.
Oddly enough, the favorable fatigue system video was born from Malazarte's displeasure with the beta version of FFXIV. He said he was originally disappointed by the news of a fatigue experience points system. Breaking down this new system would be beneficial to the playerbase, he thought. He began reading chat forums and interviews to gather facts and opinions about the system.
By the time Malazarte finished his video, his feelings regarding the fatigue system had changed. This is evident at the end of his video, which states the fatigue system gives players more freedom -- a claim that caused debate in the ZAM community.
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"Hey, if you want to spend 100 hours a week on your MMO, then that's your choice," Malazarte said. "But I can play for 20 hours a week on my MMO that basically accomplishes the same amount of character growth as you do on your MMO. Then I have 80 more hours to spend on something else. This is the freedom FFXIV gives you."
Scroll down for a longer statement from Malazarte about why he believes the fatigue system allows for more freedom.
The video took Malazarte three weeks to finish. He used Adobe After Effects for the project, which he says contains 12 parts and hundreds of layers. The video was narrated by Steve Petitt of Pongamoosic.com. Malazarte is very happy with his finished product, which was designed to help adventurers evaluate the system based on facts and not speculation.
"I'm happy to read all the comments that more people are actually beginning to understand the system," Malazarte said. "Especially this one post where a guy emailed the video to his friend who canceled his pre-order. And his friend replied with a copy of a new receipt for the Collector's Edition. So it was extremely gratifying to see that the video achieved what it was meant to."
Malazarte produced the fatigue system video for his FFXIV Tactics blog, which can be found on the Web site Linkshells.com. He registered the domain FFXIVtactics.com to give users an easy way to access his blog from memory. He envisions FFXIV Tactics being similar to TF2 Tactics, a site he founded in August 2009 to mediculously describe strategies used in playing Team Fortress II.
"The tactics videos (for TF2 Tactics) were pretty basic at first, just one tactic per video," Malazarte said. "But as time went on it grew more complicated, where one video could covered entire sections of strategy. And I imagine maybe a year from now FFXIV Tactics will become even more complicated. Especially looking at FFXIV, where it's possible to see hundreds of different class combinations and hundreds of character builds. It's pretty daunting. But I'm sure that's where we're heading."
Which means more videos are coming, Malazarte said -- and he intends to keep the quality high.
"Something I learned from TF2 Tactics was to never publish a video for the sake of publishing a video. Each video needs to be accurate, each video needs to be polished over and over until it is ready."
Listed below is Malazarte's full statement about freedom and the fatigue system.
Question from ZAM: The end of this video claims the system brings more freedom to FFXIV, while other players have criticized this system for supposedly limiting their freedom in the game. Can you elaborate on why you believe this system creates a more freedom for players?
Malazarte: "Haha! This is one question that I've wanted to answer. There are a lot of complicated answers to this. I myself will need graphs and charts to better illustrate my answer LOL. But here's an attempt at a simple answer "without the graphs". As a hardcore player, I am bound "tied" to the MMO that I'm playing. My goal is I want to be the best, I want to reach to the top as fast as I can, I want to be on the top of the list. So this requires spending X amount of time to beat the other guy who is also trying to be the best. But because we're all on the same boat, I don't have to spend all my time leveling. I don't have to worry, I have the freedom to do other things. Both in real life and in game. It frees me to craft and not worry about getting left behind. It frees me to make more videos because I know the guys who are playing in-game won't get too far ahead of me anyway. It frees my mind from worrying about how I can create more time to play so I can get ahead of the other guy. And most of all it frees me from the MMO demon that is eating my life away. I can actually have a real life now. Because for some of us, games are what we excel on. That's why it's so important for us to be the best. Hey if you want to spend 100 hours a week on your MMO then that's your choice. But I can play for 20 hours a week on my MMO that basically accomplishes the same amount of character growth as you do on your MMO. Then I have 80 more hours to spend on something else. This is the freedom FFXIV gives you."