Square Enix lists changes for Chocobo GP

Square Enix’s Chocobo GP hasn’t gotten off to the best start with a predatory monetisation system not just in the free-to-play version, but with the paid version of Chocobo GP which costs £40. Today, the company has published a statement in Japanese detailing the changes which they are in the process of making, or have already made. Reddit member Sat-AM has detailed what is being changed and has also translated the apology message from Chocobo GP producer, Hironori Okayama.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to the players due to problems with the battle function and lack of advance notice. The development team will work as one to deal with any defects so that they can be repaired as soon as possible.

We have also received many comments on how to provide additional DLC. We take this seriously and will continue to do our best to provide updates that will satisfy everyone who purchases.

First of all, he raised the prize level in Chocobo GP mode and changed to an easy specification. Overall it’s been greatly relaxed, especially he’s made it easier to get up to level 100, so I’d appreciate it if you could get the cloud and his machine.

With the team stickers available with prize level rewards, he’s an image of an average of one game going up one level if the wins and losses are flat. In this way, our new basic policy is to create an environment in which it is easy to obtain additional characters simply by purchasing the product version.

On top of that, we are thinking of placing things that are unlikely to affect gameplay, such as costume changes, in higher rewards, Mithril shops, and so on. These are not the only decisions to be made, and we will continue to brush up on the opinions we have received.

We are also considering removing some restrictions on the Lite version to make it easier for video distributors to hold events, so please be patient.

Thank you for your continued support for the Chocobo Grand Prix.”

Square Enix Co., Ltd. Hironori Okayama

Changes to Chocobo GP

1. They’re aware of and working on fixing the online issues.
2. They sent out 500 Ithril and lowered EXP requirements on the pass as an apology to players, meaning the lowered EXP requirement may not be how they do future passes. If you had enough EXP to be at a higher level, you were automatically leveled up.
3. Major updates and changes will come with season changes, so there will likely be no future adjustments for season 1.
4. Future seasons will include 2 new characters (1 on the pass and 1 for gil).
5. “Items added to the Gil Shop will be added each time the season is repeated,” sounds like they’ll be keeping Gil-bought characters in the Gil Shop for future seasons, but it could also mean that they are planning to repeat seasons eventually.
6. Characters on the pass may be available to be purchased “directly” with mythril or gil after the pass has been run.
7. New courses will be released for players on both the full and lite versions in Season 2.
8. More mythril shop items (costumes and BGM tracks) are coming mid-season.
9. Currently, Ithril can only be obtained via login reward, but starting in Season 2, it will also be a pass reward.
10. Balance changes are coming in Season 2, including changes to characters and base mechanics. They’re not touching anything unless it’s broken enough to need an immediatefix, though.
11. The director says that they are taking player feedback about DLC/microtransactions into account when planning for future updates.
12. They seem to primarily be concerned with the average player being able to get to level 100 (out of 200) over the course of a 2-month pass.
13. Current EXP gain is balanced so that players with a 1:1 win/lose ratio in GP mode will receive roughly 1 level per GP mode run with the stickers provided by the pass. The line after this (“In this way, our new basic policy is to create an environment in which it is easy to obtain additional characters simply by purchasing the product version”) implies that they essentially find this suitable, and may be keeping the current EXP gain rates for the pass.
14. More cosmetic/BGM sorts of things will be coming to the Ithril shop and the pass as high-level rewards.
15. Changes being made to the Lite version are “to make it easier for video distributors to hold events,” so this might be indicating that they may be allowing Lite players to access the host’s roster, as “events” is probably in reference to tournaments. It may also, however, be in reference to allowing non-GP online play, or something else entirely.

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