FFXIV NPC Mikoto now 5 years younger after patch 5.55 thanks to picky writer Yasumi Matsuno

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-05-25 22:08 (JST)
Translated by. Braden Noyes

On May 25, 2021, Square Enix released patch 5.55 for their MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV), which includes a number of new content updates. Maintenance for the new patch was scheduled for May 25 between 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM, but was extended until 8:15 PM due to optimization delays in their database servers.

Interestingly, some users noticed that a few extra lines of text were added to the patch notes at around 6:00 PM as maintenance was still underway. These additions were in regard to “resolved issues” found in the ages of certain NPCs.

One of the NPCs in question is a character who appears in the “Save the Queen” storyline named Mikoto Jinba. In the game, there is an item known as the Field Record. Using this item, players can find details regarding the many characters who appear in the Save the Queen story such as their age, birthplace, and personality.

Mikoto’s entry had been previously implemented in the game, but this latest patch changes her listed age from 29 to 24. At first glance, one might assume this change was merely to fix a typo made when writing the original entry.

However, Yasumi Matsuno, one of the writers who worked on both the Save the Queen storyline as well as the entries found in the Field Notes, took to Twitter to explain this change. It would seem this amendment was actually the result of him being extra picky about the details of the story.

Mikoto first appeared in the alliance raid series “Return to Ivalice” from patch 4.x. She also has an entry in the officially published Encyclopaedia Eorzea, which identifies her as being 29 years of age. Matsuno based Mikoto’s entry in the Field Records off this, however he explains that he felt her age did not align with her behavior and speech patterns.

Matsuno goes on to say that since they were already planning to correct the legitimate error of Menenius sas Lanatus’s age in the latest patch, he decided to approach lead story designer Banri Oda about making an additional change to Mikoto’s. As a result, the change was implemented.

This is not the first time the age on an NPC has been changed in FFXIV. Similar to Menenius’s age change in the most recent update, patch 5.3 saw Milisandia, an NPC who appears in the Sorrow of Werlyt questline, go from a 30-year-old to a 20-year-old. Judging from the character’s siblings and her speech patterns, this was also most likely a typo. Even with a precedent of fixes to characters’ ages due to typos, however, changes made at the request of a picky scenario writer are still rather rare.

It’s also worth noting that Matsuno was involved in the writing for Return to Ivalice. This means it’s likely he himself was the one who decided on the character being 29 years old to begin with. However, as those who have written stories of their own can probably attest, the longer you spend writing a character, the more that character begins to develop a will of their own. They often start to gradually deviate from how the writer originally imagined them.

This occurs even more frequently as you continue adding to a story later. Relationships between characters become more intertwined, leading to more and more inconsistencies with the character’s initial background story. The original author of this article works as a manga artist under a different pen name, and expressed how strongly she can sympathize with Matsuno.

When an author ends up in a situation such as this, they have one of two choices: either write the story in a way that incorporates the character’s original backstory or throw that out and go in a different direction. This time, Matsuno seems to have gone with the latter choice, and by including this revision, the development team is respecting that choice. The fact that this change was made also demonstrates the significant level of trust between Matsuno and the development staff.

So in the end, FFXIV’s recent patch rejuvenated the NPC Mikoto and took five years off her age. However, this change has sparked discussions on various social media networks and split players into two groups. Those who like the new 24-year-old Mikoto are calling the change a “buff,” while those who would prefer that she remain 29 years old are calling it a “nerf.”

The original author of this article seems to prefer her age before the change, explaining that Mikoto gave off an “older sister” vibe. Now that she is younger than the author, though, she’s having a hard time adjusting.

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