Final Fantasy Trading Cards Games
Producer's blog 2020-04-24 09:22:25

FFTCG 2020 - Q&A Blog 3


2020 04/lann desktop

Hi everyone, RB here for another Q&A Blog Post with FFTCG Producer Tarou Kageyama. This week, we took questions themed around game design! Let’s jump right in.


RB: Some players think not enough people are coming up with original decks to make the meta more diverse. Have you thought about writing articles about unexplored ideas to help expand people’s minds on deckbuilding? Maybe an article example of how the design team goes about building a deck when they are testing?

TK: I’m not a fan of steering players in a certain direction by the development team giving out messages such as ‘You should make a deck like this!’ That said, the Gunslinger decks and other decks that I post on my personal social media channels are intentionally made that way, so if you are interested, it may be a good idea to ask some of the staff to show you their Gunslinger decks. I have no issues with you posting these decks on the Internet, and you could even enter a tournament with a personalized, brushed-up version of the deck as well.


RB: Have you been able to predict the popular decks of each opus during testing? Have there been decks that have seen consistent play in testing that haven’t been something players picked up on?

TK: There haven’t been any constructed decks that have steered too far from my predictions. But if I were to choose, it would probably be the Unei [10-023H] deck. Additionally, I did feel that the evolution of the WOFF decks came along quicker than expected.


RB: This question came from a Fire player. Why did you take Cloud and Tifa away from Fire and make them Earth?

TK: This is because not all FINAL FANTASY characters fit into a single elemental mold. But rest assured – I’m sure you’ll encounter a Fire Cloud and Fire Tifa again in the future.


RB: Is there a "color pie" that the design team uses when making cards? Players would love to hear what the designers opinions are on which colors should be getting which keywords and mechanics most often.

TK: We do have specific rules, such as Haste belonging to the Fire and Lightning elements, Freeze belonging to the Ice element, and Brave belonging to the Earth element and sometimes to the Fire element, though there are exceptions. Also, we sometimes ignore these rules altogether when considering Special Abilities.


RB: What factors motivate the design team to make several Special Ability cards for one character over another? For example, why were characters like Prishe and Gilgamesh chosen to receive multiple cards with S Abilities, but some characters like Orran (1-034R) have received very few, or some have none at all?

TK: There are three general reasons as to why we allot Special Abilities to certain cards.

Firstly, we may give Special Abilities to characters that have been made into multiple cards so that these cards are easy to utilize even when a large number of them are put in the same deck.

Secondly, many characters who have an iconic ability are also given Special Abilities. Orran is a prime example; even though he’s only been made into one card, as ‘Celestial Statis’ is an ability that’s unique to him, this has been appointed as a Special Ability.

Lastly, Special Abilities are sometimes incorporated to make adjustments to the game balance. We sometimes give Special Abilities to certain cards when we want to make them a bit stronger.


RB: That’s it for this week, and also for the questions we had left over from Fan Fair. Please let us know if you enjoyed this format and if you’d like more Q&A Blog Posts in the future! Just head over to facebook.com/FinalFantasyTCG with what you’d like to see! Thank you and be sure to stay safe! Kageyama-san, do you have anything you’d like to add?

TK: The world is currently fighting against the threat of COVID-19. While it is difficult to play as usual during this time, we plan on expanding more powerfully after it has been resolved, so let’s fight together to get through this. We will continue to share various pieces of information. Thank you.