Final Fantasy 14’s making a huge, revolutionary update this month with the release of patch 7.4—it’s removing all glamour restrictions. If that doesn’t sound revolutionary to you, you must not understand that the true endgame of every MMO is fashion.
In all seriousness, it’s actually a pretty huge move. Previously, FF14’s glamour system, which allows you to layer sets of appearances over your current gear, only permitted you to do so with gear that can be equipped by your current job and level. Starting with Patch 7.4, this will no longer be the case, opening up a whole new world of fashion options.
This came as a surprise to players, due to the game director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P)’s past stance on the issue—even in the face of job-agnostic gear that was increasingly allowing players to throw plate armour onto their White Mages. Talking to Famitsu in an interview, Yoshi-P reveals why (note: these quotes have been machine-translated):
“I felt more strongly than anyone else that we had to cherish the Final Fantasy worldview. 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'”—Kain being an iconic Dragoon from Final Fantasy 4—”It’s the job’s identity, so to speak. The core of that feeling hasn’t changed much even now.”
He uses, for example, his Black Mage character, noting that he wouldn’t glamour them into heavy armor. However, “These are my own roleplaying rules, so I have decided them arbitrarily … 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.
Yoshi-P says that the response surrounding Mare Synchronos’ shutdown also changed his mind, somewhat: “I issued a statement regarding several tools, but in response, I received feedback such as, ‘It was only because of those tools that I was able to enjoy FF14′”. For context, the mod in question allowed players (in conjunction with other third-party tools) to basically skirt every single restriction the base game applied to their glams—and then, through the mod, share them with others.
In the wake of Yoshi-P’s big statements about 8.0 being an overhaul for FF14, it’s also interesting that his statements here reflect that, too: “This approach applies not only to the glamour system, but also to all FFXIV systems and content, as we’re reexamining the fundamental rules. So, please don’t be surprised if anything happens in the future … The glamour changes are just the beginning, and we’re currently reexamining everything to improve our service.”
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