Bakool Ja Ja has taken the Final Fantasy 14 playerbase by storm - but this certainly wasn't intentional. Commenting on the Dawntrail character's intense popularity, Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi-P, says that the developers are stunned, not expecting this reaction from fans in the slightest.
This comes from multiple translations of Yoshi-P's Q&A at Japan Expo Paris 2024. Here, he was inevitably asked about the popularity of Bakool Ja Ja, making it clear that word of how he's captured the hearts of fans has spread back to the dev team. Hell, it's even spread to Bakool Ja Ja's voice actor, as it seems like everyone involved with the character's creation is unable to avoid the response from fans.
“I would NEVER have guessed this," reads a translation of the Q&A, provided by Twitter user and content creator, aitaikimochi. "The entire dev team was like ‘huh?!’”
It's easy to see why the developers are so shocked. Bakool Ja Ja doesn't strike me as the kind of character that was designed to entice fans - although that's not to say that I don't get it. More that I think there are some people out there who are blissfully unaware...
