Final Fantasy Versus XIII - The Reality and Legacy of Final Fantasy's Lost Title

0:00[Music]

0:21ta

0:24St

0:26me and

0:28leave it

0:31[Music]

0:36[Music]

0:41Final Fantasy Versus 13 was one of the

0:43most anticipated Square Enix games of

0:45all time led by tetsu Yoma the project

0:48promised a unique vision for Final

0:50Fantasy one darker than ever before

0:53right from the initial trailer it was

0:55clear that versus 13 had a unique Vision

0:57like no other title at Square un

1:00fortunately the game never went gold it

1:02was transformed and retooled into the

1:04game we know today as Final Fantasy 15

1:07directed by hajim Tabata not

1:10tsom many fans have patiently waited for

1:13versus 13 since its announcement in 2006

1:16and the talk has never died down despite

1:18the game essentially being cancelled

1:20even today fans online talk daily about

1:23the wh ifs regarding the entry wandering

1:25among the possibilities of nur's vision

1:28while the game has always been discussed

1:30no one truly knows what happened behind

1:32the scenes there are countless

1:34interviews news reports and trailers to

1:36go off of but the complete story has

1:38never been told until now we've spent

1:41months combing through all sides of the

1:43internet breaking language barriers even

1:46to find and assemble the complete

1:47development timeline of Final Fantasy

1:49Versus 13 the entire story is here from

1:53betas to Ral the transition to Final

1:55Fantasy 15 and even recent sare Enix

1:57titles referencing the game while the

2:00game might never see the light of day

2:02its Legacy will live on forever as we've

2:04seen even today before we can really

2:07jump into what versus was intended to be

2:09we have to contextualize what birthed it

2:11the basis of this very bold and unique

2:14Vision hinged on a new direction for the

2:16final fantasy series fabula Nova

2:19Crystalis versus was to be a part of

2:21this new project an ambitious project

2:24that would create an interconnected

2:25Anthology Universe centered around the

2:27blinding light of Final Fantasy 13 okay

2:32[Music]

2:58[Applause]

3:07[Music]

3:15[Applause]

3:29May 8 2006 a new generation of gaming

3:33was creeping onto the world the HD era

3:36was on the horizon promising sharper

3:38visuals eye popping effects and dazzling

3:41lighting the PS3 was set to release

3:44later that year ensuring perspective

3:46Gamers would have easy access to this

3:47bespoke leap in gaming technology when

3:50it came time for Square Enix to take the

3:52stage at E3 the company teased its

3:54stacked lineup with a Sizzle reel

3:57flashes of gameplay footage and logos

3:59show what was to come some of the shown

4:02titles such as dawn of mana and Valkyrie

4:04Profile 2 marched the sunsetting of the

4:06sixth console generation yet the suzu

4:09real that started the conference off

4:11with a bang didn't reveal Square enix's

4:13hand in its entirety not even close

4:17Square was also leaning toward strong

4:19support for the newest portable consoles

4:21with an ample number of spin-off games

4:23such as children of mana and Crisis Core

4:25Final Fantasy 7 this however was still

4:29the the tip of the iceberg of this

4:31conference the true Crown Jewel had yet

4:33to be revealed as Square was truly

4:35saving the best for last part ways into

4:38the show one last announcement awaited

4:41the highly acclaimed team behind Final

4:43Fantasy 10 had begun developing a new

4:45title for the PlayStation 2 this title

4:48was momentarily put on hold for the team

4:49to play around with the PS3 Hardware

4:52these efforts gave birth to a glorious

4:54PS3 tech demo a tech demo that portrayed

4:57Final Fantasy 7 in at the time never

5:00before seen Fidelity the overwhelming

5:03positivity they received from the ff7

5:05PS3 tech demo urged them to shift the

5:07project to nextg this project hot off

5:10the heels of Final Fantasy X was the

5:13next Mainline entry of the series Final

5:16Fantasy

5:1713 Square's dedication to the next gen

5:20arms race was evident even cursed and

5:23with it a bold multifaceted New Vision

5:26for the final fantasy series fabula Nova

5:31cristalis this new tale of the crystals

5:33was to be an expansive Mythos that would

5:35Encompass a new Final Fantasy Universe

5:38centered around the Striking next main

5:39entry of the series Final Fantasy

5:4213 this Mythos was intended to Branch

5:45off of the new main entry and expand out

5:47to two other titles Final Fantasy agito

5:5013 and Final Fantasy Versus 13 during

5:54the conception of fabula Nova Crystalis

5:56there were two key titles planned from

5:57the beginning Final Fantasy 13 and Final

6:00Fantasy Versus 13 the Mythos with its

6:03highly intentional and considerate

6:05design allowed for more Visions to be

6:07integrated into it such as Final Fantasy

6:09agito

6:1113 agito was being developed with the

6:13intention of providing a true Final

6:15Fantasy experience on mobile providing

6:17players access to a tried andrue FF

6:19experience that featured the Deep fabula

6:22Nova crysalis lure along with ad hoc

6:24Cooperative

6:25battles Final Fantasy Versus 13 was the

6:28inverse of Final Fantasy 13 it's shadow

6:32that aimed to challenge tradition in

6:34bold and exciting new ways each game s

6:37to utiliz a unified mythology the intent

6:40was to make a mythology that was a bit

6:41looser like a legend or fairy tale in

6:44order to allow each developer to give

6:45unique interpretations of the lore it

6:48was a highly collaborative effort in the

6:50work of several key staffs such as

6:52kazushige njima yoshinori kitas tetsa

6:55nura hajim Tabata and Shinji Hashimoto

6:59would act as the basis of this new FF

7:01sub series as a concept fabula Nova

7:04crystallis could be freely expanded and

7:06reimagined tailored to each individual

7:09Project's themes and each Creator's

7:11Ambitions the strong through line would

7:13give this FF Subs series a fresh take on

7:15classic lure and contined to tie these

7:17ephemeral Legends

7:19together fabula Nova Crystalis underwent

7:22a rigorous pre-production phase

7:24beginning in 2003 around the end of

7:26development for Final Fantasy 102 and

7:28the start of Kingdom Hearts to's

7:30planning apparently the idea for such a

7:32series had been thrown around prior to

7:34this not too much is known about this

7:37period however we've found several

7:39sources that do paint a broad yet

7:42lacking in detail picture there's an

7:44interview with nojima where he says he

7:46had an inkling to create a new mythology

7:48thus taking it to Square Enix fabula

7:51Nova crystallis from its Inception

7:52focused on being new and multifaceted in

7:56its creation and of course its

7:58interpretive nature was

8:00intentional something strange about the

8:02creation of fnc is how nura was

8:04introduced on stage at

8:06e306 he was announced as the concept

8:09designer of fabula Nova Crystalis we are

8:12not exactly sure how much of a hand each

8:14staff member played in its creation

8:17there's even an interview where it

8:18stated that Hashimoto kitas and namura

8:20wanted an interlinking series similar to

8:23that of the compilation of Final Fantasy

8:257 but conceptually different due to its

8:28more free form nature

8:30from what can be gathered the teams

8:32behind fabula Nova Crystalis began

8:34planning ideas for the next FF game

8:35after ff2 in her development 2001 and

8:39before Final Fantasy 102 finished

8:41production during this time the teams

8:43had learned lessons from the compilation

8:45of Final Fantasy 7 every game in that

8:48series had to be connected to the

8:49original game but they wanted something

8:51different from that something new

8:54something where every part was its own

8:56whole sometime during this brainstorming

8:59phase nojima shared his ideas for a new

9:01mythology from there key staffs such as

9:03nura kitas Hashimoto and Tata got

9:06involved this would ultimately birth the

9:09fnc Mythos and multiple yet interl

9:12Standalone games thus creating a meta

9:15Anthology series that's within an

9:17anthology

9:20series fabula Nova crystallis is a new

9:23tale of the crystals indeed as its very

9:25basis as classic Final Fantasy lure

9:28tales of mystical crystals gods and

9:31their chosen ones Echo throughout the

9:33mythology the main differences lie in

9:36the tone presentation and naming schemes

9:39fabula NOA crystallis has a darker tone

9:42than the light and darkness balancing

9:43lore of your the crystals themselves are

9:46represented by higher beings called FAL

9:48SE these individuals have their own

9:51hierarchy and

9:52motivations the mystical powers of the

9:55fal SE can be bestowed upon other beings

9:57but these l must follow their given

10:00Focus that is solely determined by the

10:02fal SE will fabula Nova crysalis is not

10:06the basis for a journey about the

10:07Warriors of light on a Fantastical

10:09adventure to restore light to the

10:11crystals fabula NOA crystallis is a

10:14darker tale that has moral

10:17ambiguity this twist to the classic lore

10:19is what made fnc special that in its

10:22sheer amount of detail the mythology has

10:25more depth than ever before due to its

10:27twists

10:29falsy have more of a sense of purpose

10:31when that extends Beyond

10:33symbolism A's Focus isn't always

10:36necessarily a good thing their

10:38motivations May conflict with the wishes

10:40of the Fall sea there's still the

10:43balance of light and darkness and Chaos

10:45too except their roles in the fate of

10:47this universe have a tinge of gray this

10:50is fabula NOA

10:55crystallis once upon a time a god named

10:58bonaval ruled the world bavel overthrew

11:02his mother the goddess MN and took

11:05possession of the world for

11:07himself when disappeared into the Unseen

11:10realm the invisible Realm of the Dead

11:14bavel became troubled the world is

11:17finite and everything is destined to

11:20perish he believed this was a curse laid

11:23on the World by his mother MN bavel knew

11:27he had to destroy her to do this he must

11:30search for the door the door to the

11:33Unseen realm where his mother

11:35waited exacting his own will he created

11:38the first

11:40faly first he created the falsy

11:44pulse the duty he bestowed upon him was

11:47to open the world and search for the

11:49door to the Unseen realm to

11:51win next he created the faly rro

11:56unknowingly he created her exactly in

11:58the image of his for forlorn mother when

12:01bonaval stricken with fear gave rro no

12:05power of her own instead he created the

12:08falsy

12:10linday he entrusted him the duty to act

12:12as his guardian and protect bonaval from

12:15all who might seek to destroy him

12:18bonaval ordered Lindsay to Rouse him

12:20once the time came he then turned to

12:23Crystal and fell into an endless

12:25Slumber pulse created many falsy endless

12:28Seas to expand the world Lindsay created

12:32many faly andless SE to protect the

12:35world however Etro was powerless and

12:38could do nothing of her own lonely she

12:42thought of her mother whom she so

12:44resembled Etro tore at her body letting

12:47her blood flow to the Earth and

12:50disappeared from the world from that

12:52blood let from her body sprung

12:56humankind creatures that were born only

12:59to

13:00Die the destruction of the visible world

13:03was no curse only fate the world was

13:06divided into two halves the visible and

13:09the invisible if the balance between

13:12these two were upset the world itself

13:14would face destruction the goddess M was

13:17powerless to stop this fate she was

13:20being swallowed into the chaos of the

13:21Unseen

13:22realm just before her final moment rro

13:26came to her side when told Etro that she

13:29must protect the balance of the world

13:31before slipping into the chaos

13:34forever but etra was foolish and didn't

13:37know the meaning behind mu's words etra

13:40was lonely but she felt affection for

13:42those humans who lived only to die as

13:46they died she smiled and gave them

13:49chaos the chaos atro gave them the

13:52humans named

13:54heart their hearts would become their

13:57power but the humans did not yet know

14:00this soon they called pulse the all

14:03powerful ruler Lindsay they named their

14:06protector and rro Etro they named The

14:11Reaper the humans living in the world

14:14hold chaos inside them because they hold

14:18chaos so close the world maintains its

14:26balance and baville still sleeps at as a

14:29crystal until the end of

14:33[Music]

14:38Eternity this is one of the few Snippets

14:41of the grand fabula Nova crysalis lore

14:43that was

14:44shared much like real mythologies a lot

14:46is obscured from us much of the rest of

14:49the lore can be found within the

14:51games thus there are further

14:53obfuscations of the lore due to the

14:55interpretive nature of the

14:56Mythos each game within the series add

14:59adds elements resends aspects and

15:01reimagines things it's almost like the

15:04dividing line between religious sects in

15:06a way one tale can Branch out and become

15:09many different

15:10things Final Fantasy 13's utilization of

15:13fnc is more true to the concepts but

15:16focuses on Mankind's struggle against

15:18the broken system that was set in place

15:20by their

15:21Universe can the chaos and humankind's

15:23hearts possibly change fate meanwhile

15:27agito 13 was originally about defying

15:29the Gods in a similar manner to

15:32ff13 however when the game was shifted

15:34off of mobile into the PSP the story

15:38underwent several changes this shift and

15:40development would later lead to agito 13

15:42being renamed to Final Fantasy type zero

15:46the new story revolved around the

15:47cyclical nature of death in the dark

15:49themes of War born only from the hearts

15:52of

15:53man the lore of fnc was reimagined to

15:56create a war torn world that was

15:57inadvertently trapped under the Yoke of

15:59higher beings plus rather than fall C

16:03agito 13 outright uses crystals the

16:06crystals do have their chosen the sea

16:09and a darker Edge to them just like the

16:10fal

16:11sea and then there was versus

16:1513 unfortunately not much is known about

16:18how this title would have utilized

16:20fabula NOA chrysalis's mythology there

16:23are interviews where nura confirms the

16:24usage of lur in that the game would

16:26mention the sea the 2011 trailer for

16:29versus 13 also included a scene of

16:31characters talking while viewing a

16:32painting of

16:33rro the game setting would also include

16:36a reclusive nation that would worship

16:38the

16:38reaper the dark Mysteries behind the

16:41role fnc would play Within versus the

16:43story silver M shrouded in a deep

16:45Darkness never to see the light of

16:49day a new tale of the crystals was

16:52incoming driven by ambition Square Enix

16:56and final fantasy's Futures never shown

16:58so brightly

16:59despite this however a deep Darkness was

17:02brewing before anyone had realized

17:05issues had starting stirring behind the

17:06scenes the internal teams at Square Enix

17:09during this era suffered from many

17:11problems problems that would shake them

17:13to their

17:14Foundation many of these were caused by

17:16the leap in technology of the seventh

17:18generation of gaming poor management and

17:20over ambition the real world history of

17:23the development of fabula NOA Crystalis

17:26starkly reflects the ambiguity and great

17:29of the written myth engine issues

17:31plagued the entire company deadlines

17:34were missed projects were shifted around

17:36and changed key staff and developers

17:38were shuffled around to help other

17:40teams ambition had met its match

17:44reality a reality that threatened to

17:47crumble and engulf everything including

17:50projects not within fnc's

17:52purview constant snags and hitches were

17:54halting progress on practically every

17:56big title being developed everything was

17:59falling into chaos but chaos is

18:02Mankind's greatest strength after

18:05[Music]

18:22all aom

18:24[Music]

18:35[Music]

18:55and no day better

19:00to

19:03walk on

19:07[Music]

19:11[Applause]

19:11[Music]

19:16the and temples

19:19[Music]

19:29[Music]

19:41with three years spent on preparing a

19:43grand New Vision for Final Fantasy the

19:45longest pre-production cycle of an FF

19:47project to date a new tale was beginning

19:50a darker more realistic Final Fantasy

19:52than ever before was teased Final

19:55Fantasy Versus

19:5713 at this point versus his development

19:59history not much was known or shared in

20:02fact in a guanga interview nura would go

20:05on to say that the scenario hasn't even

20:07started he had the plot and Concepts in

20:09his head and he was still communicating

20:11with his team about his ideas nura

20:14states that versus 13 is not something

20:15like the next Mainline entry after 13

20:19because versus is going to do things not

20:20possible in a standard numbered title

20:23kitas reiterates this and adds versus is

20:25not just a side story no Mor talks about

20:29how fabula Nova crystallis allows an

20:30unprecedented amount of freedom to each

20:32Project's creators saying the result

20:35could be some remarkably different

20:37software there were also updates on ff13

20:41and with versus being its companion

20:42piece some aspects of its progress could

20:44prove to be

20:46tangental Toriyama confirms that ff13

20:49has 80% of its scenario completed and

20:51the visual engine is nearing completion

20:54the true development of ff13 is

20:56beginning kitas also notes some of the

20:59complications and Bounds of advancing

21:01technology ff13 also had to be restarted

21:04from scratch to achieve nextg quality

21:07resulting in the throwing out of their

21:08PS2 work Toriyama also openly teases

21:11some sort of vehicle for ff13 and jokes

21:14about using the PS3's gyro

21:17controls it looks like fans could be

21:19truly excited for what's to come out of

21:21the next generation of Final Fantasy

21:23with this first big interview conveying

21:25many interesting

21:27ideas umura in a deneki interview said

21:31the numbered Final Fantasy series has

21:33always been based on white traditionally

21:35white so FF 13 is also white Final

21:39Fantasy Versus 13 is black as it is the

21:42opposite of that and the word versus

21:45means to turn around in Latin but in

21:47English it means versus and means to be

21:51opposite it is planned to be such a work

21:54this truly drives home what Final

21:56Fantasy Versus 13 aims to be in Rel to

21:58the grander final fantasy series he also

22:01draws yet another contrast with the

22:03Amano logo art as he used a pin instead

22:06of his normal brush work the hyperd

22:08detailed logo definitely shows this

22:11versus is to be set in a world with

22:13modern cities and doses of fantasy

22:15elements like swords armor and Magic the

22:18different cultures in the game are vast

22:19and have different levels of modernity

22:21to create a unique Fantastical feel the

22:24starkly different Vision looked more and

22:26more promising and in terms of the

22:29development teams the Final Fantasy 7

22:31and 8 teams are handling the graphics

22:33while the Kingdom Hearts team is

22:34planning the battles in terms of themes

22:37Ur wants to portray a tragic story that

22:40focuses on the element of camaraderie

22:42rather than love he admits that a story

22:44of pain and bonds needs to strike a good

22:46balance because it's currently on the

22:48painful

22:51side that said the whole story and all

22:53the characters are not dark it's a

22:55painful story but I want to express the

22:58friendship surrounding the characters

22:59and the protagonist realistically while

23:02the daily life of talking with friends

23:04and spending time together is fun it's a

23:06story about the heavy burdens they carry

23:08was nur's last big comment on versus a

23:10story from the steki interview things

23:13were truly taking shape as neira's

23:15Vision crept into the public

23:17eye the next round of versus 13 info

23:20would come from famitsu neira discussed

23:22many details shown in the reveal trailer

23:25the setting is comprised of many real

23:26world Elements which is why n included a

23:29Hamlet quote in the trailer this world

23:31is supposed to be steeped in realism

23:33despite being a fantasy the protagonist

23:36is not a lonely guy and the game will

23:37explore his close relationships lorewise

23:40the protagonist is a royal who is

23:42protecting his nation's Crystal from

23:44Invaders Numa intentionally uses fantasy

23:47and reality elements to create a

23:49contrast such as the Invaders wearing

23:51medieval armor invading a modern city to

23:53obtain a fantasy inspired Crystal it's

23:57all calculated to create a a truly

23:58unique Vibe apparently kitas urged Amira

24:02towards a more tragic story thus making

24:04the current scenario according to kitasi

24:07powerful enough to make you cry and be

24:08down for a week namura wants to avoid

24:11having players feel too bad so he's

24:13trying to craft the game to be

24:15satisfying and not over

24:17dark the more that is shared about

24:19versus the more interesting it became

24:22the world waited on baited breath to

24:24learn more with each passing interview

24:27versus had most certainly and garnering

24:28attention with its stylish trailer and

24:31the details developers had been sharing

24:32were making it seem almost more

24:34promising than the next Mainline title

24:36however things took a dip when a

24:38November issue of deneki released nura

24:41lamented upon the difficulties of

24:43developing next gen titles stating the

24:45hurdles are greater than they were than

24:47the move from PS1 to

24:49PS2 it seems that just about every

24:51programmer square has been organized

24:53under kitas to complete the white Engine

24:56versus his development is at a stand

24:58still due to this as they can't

25:00determine the game specifications until

25:02the engine is ready the engine is also

25:04intended to be used for multiple titles

25:07making it the Crux of presumably more

25:09projects than just ff13 and versus 13

25:13this turn of events isn't the end of the

25:14world but it is concerning would the

25:18following year be a bit sunnier in terms

25:20of

25:21news 2007's first sliver of info

25:24regarding versus may come a surprising

25:27it's an integral detail that few if any

25:30speak of Final Fantasy Versus 13 was

25:34going to feature some sort of support

25:35for the DualShock 3's 6 axis this was

25:39sadly a feature we'd never really get

25:40any insight into and a feature that

25:42would eventually be lost to

25:44time a March issue of G manga would drop

25:47a few more details and give us a clearer

25:49picture of some things we heard in

25:512006 the protagonist's home City itself

25:54is inspired by Shinjuku Tokyo this is

25:57due to nura thinking that it looks cool

26:00this city is also the most modern in the

26:01world because they use their Crystal to

26:03advance their culture unlike the outside

26:05Nations that spent their crystals to

26:07create weapons nura begins to worry

26:10about the scope of the game after he

26:11teases third person shooter inspired

26:13combat with weapon switching what's a

26:16final fantasy without airships don't

26:19worry they'll be in verses as the

26:21interview comes to a close nura states

26:24that he wants versus to be the last

26:25Mainline title he directs he clearly

26:27wants to go out with a

26:29bang the next round of info about versus

26:32shared more of nur's own thought

26:34processes he'd go on to say that he

26:36wants to do something different

26:37something that explores deeper human

26:39emotions even at the risk of narrowing

26:42the audience the script isn't complete

26:44but Numa wants the story to be dripping

26:46with feeling he wants the game to

26:49contrast the light of Kingdom Hearts the

26:51realism in versus is meant to be

26:53believable in terms of culture and the

26:56characterization nur's goal is to to

26:58make these aspects feel real despite

27:01being

27:02fantasy We've Only Just

27:06Begun Edge had the chance to interview

27:08nura during the 2007 Square Enix party

27:11this interview is mostly nura

27:13reconfirming aspects about versus' tone

27:15but some other details popped up Nur

27:19shared that his goal with the versus

27:20project is to show The Human Side of the

27:22characters their way of thinking and how

27:25and why they behave like they do he

27:28noted that while this may lead to a

27:29title that is darker it's more realistic

27:32and will resonate more strongly with

27:33players Numa notes that the stories

27:36within previous final fantasies he

27:37worked on are not exactly as he would

27:39have liked largely since he did not

27:41direct them he then shared his approach

27:43on versus 13 the goal when a player

27:46holds a controller and plays an RPG is

27:49to make them believe in another world to

27:51experience a dream in a fictional World

27:54it will be different in versus 13

27:56because of the intrusion of the real

27:57world and things that are really

27:59happening there will be less fiction and

28:02more

28:03reality closing off his interview with

28:05Edge nura notes that even though verses

28:0713 is closer to his personal taste than

28:09the story of Kingdom Hearts the entire

28:12project owes itself to the franchise he

28:14states that the Kingdom Hearts team was

28:16always inspired by Final Fantasy and I'd

28:19like to see that

28:21reversed wrapping up 2007 Yoshi Nori

28:24kitas and tetsuya nura sat down with

28:26deneki once again to talk all things

28:28Final Fantasy Versus 13 numer notes here

28:31that while the team has not been

28:32revealed to the public yet there are

28:34some well-known members in there so it

28:36will become a good product also we're

28:39getting advice from the team working on

28:41Final Fantasy 13 which is being

28:42developed first so we're progressing

28:46well 2007 was overall a quiet year for

28:49versus following its reveal but all of

28:52the language used throughout interviews

28:53was extremely

28:54promising the game was coming and

28:57progressing well 2008 began to open the

29:00door to even more on the highly

29:02anticipated

29:07project versus would burst into the new

29:09year of 2008 alongside Final Fantasy 13

29:12with adverts and V jump nothing really

29:16of note was revealed but the Eds

29:18themselves absolutely dripped with the

29:19style he would expect of Square Enix

29:22following the V jump stuff in February

29:24namura would talk a bit about Final

29:26Fantasy 13 specifically about his

29:29involvement with character designs of

29:31course given the opportunity he has to

29:34talk about verses it turns out that the

29:36clothes for the main cast are temporary

29:39the game still needs more time and

29:41nothing about The Voice work has even

29:42been decided upon apparently some may

29:46not like the personality of the main

29:47character versus 13 will shoot for a

29:50road movie Vibe namura hopes that

29:53watching all the male casts hang out

29:54will make people

29:56nostalgic at the end of of 2006 it was

29:59stated that there were problems getting

30:00the white engine finished at GDC Square

30:03Enix officially announced both its

30:05completion and its new name Crystal

30:08tools this engine was the first

30:10companywide technology platform an

30:13effort to create all games with the same

30:14engine it offered authoring tools and

30:17runtime libraries and even had the

30:19ability to allow CGI to be rered in real

30:21time combined with the audio processing

30:24and physics effects Crystal tools look

30:26to be a massive step forward for the

30:28company's games on PlayStation 3 however

30:31as we know today this was the start of a

30:33tragic problem throughout multiple

30:35titles at

30:37Square in June 2008 during an exclusive

30:40interview with tsan nura famitsu was

30:43told by the versus 13 director that the

30:45game was officially put on hold until

30:47the development of Final Fantasy 13 was

30:49completed specifically he said on hold

30:53noting that the entire versus team is

30:55helping finish Final Fantasy 13

30:58he shared that while the story for

31:00versus was pretty much complete at this

31:01point the team was limited to working on

31:03designing conceptual visuals and

31:06illustrations after the interview

31:07released Square Enix completely denied

31:10the claim in a statement to Euro gamer

31:12the company shared the following message

31:14reports that development for Final

31:16Fantasy Versus 13 is on hold are

31:20false the truth of the situation is that

31:22when free some of the staff from the

31:24versus Team have been helping with the

31:2613 team on development of Final Fantasy

31:2913 development for both titles is

31:31continuing as originally scheduled who

31:34should fans believe the Creator the

31:37company many were torn but trusted that

31:40namura perhaps had maybe overblown the

31:42development

31:43situation reassured by Square's message

31:46that the game had no

31:48delays as promised a trailer premiered

31:51at DK Sigma

31:533713 while not shown to the public this

31:56trailer was said to contain scenes of

31:58ating from the jump Festa 2007 trailer

32:00alongside the 2006 reveal trailer it

32:03contained significantly expanded content

32:06this trailer also revealed many of the

32:08key staff who were previously

32:10unrevealed as the summer continued more

32:13information was revealed through Shonen

32:15jump fitu and in geki PlayStation here

32:18Nur confirms that the girl in the skirt

32:20is the main heroin acting as the first

32:23female character that will stand out

32:24from prior Final Fantasy games nir

32:27describes is very ladylike and and that

32:30she acts according to her

32:32beliefs additionally he spoke on the

32:34world of versus 13 itself sharing that

32:37the characters live in a world based on

32:39Shinju but the appearance of the world

32:41is based on Italy there will also be a

32:44lot of natural scenery in this game

32:46Final Fantasy Versus 13 will have the

32:48usual feel of a Final Fantasy game it

32:50feels like I am creating Final Fantasy 7

32:55again nura spoke on the main character

32:58responding directly to a comment about

33:00his red eyes he states that his eyes

33:02will only turn red at some special

33:04occasion hinting that they are triggered

33:06by something while discussing the scene

33:08with noctis and the female protagonist

33:10in front of the painting nura declined

33:13to reveal the contents of the painting

33:15however he did reveal that the skeleton

33:17holding the painting was the god of

33:19death inspired by fabula Nova

33:22cristalis as 2008 headed towards a close

33:25more new information was revealed

33:27through magazines it was revealed and

33:29Shonen jump that the Blu-ray for Final

33:31Fantasy 7 Advent Children would include

33:33a demo disc for Final Fantasy 13 in

33:36addition to a new trailer for Final

33:38Fantasy Versus

33:3913 December 2008's Cloud magazine

33:42reveals the first look at gameplay for

33:44versus with new screenshots showcasing

33:47noctis running around in several areas

33:50funny enough one of the screenshots

33:52features nocus fighting alongside two

33:53clones of himself which many boil down

33:56to early development

33:58there's even a sneak peek at a wall of

34:00concept art for versus 13 agito 13 and

34:04ff13 December marked the last concrete

34:06info we had hear about verses until the

34:08fall of 2009 which proved to be a quiet

34:13[Music]

34:16year much of the first part of 2009 was

34:19Barren in terms of news for verses after

34:22loads of information in 2008 the year is

34:24mostly quiet leading up to the fall

34:27however a few tidbits were released here

34:29and there throughout interviews nura

34:32spoke to famitsu sharing that while he

34:33isn't super involved in Final Fantasy 13

34:36He is focused on agito and versus

34:39speaking on aito he shared that the

34:41game's battle system was overhauled with

34:43the Project's goal to be the Pinnacle of

34:46handheld

34:47RPGs on the other side of the coin the

34:49versus Team itself was revealed to be

34:51comprised of the core team behind Final

34:53Fantasy 7 with the team currently

34:55testing battle mechanics map interaction

34:57c s and things including the day night

34:59cycle neura confirmed that while the

35:02game will not show up at E3 things are

35:04progressing at Gamescom Square Enix

35:07informed press that it had no plans to

35:08showcase the game at 2009's Tokyo game

35:11show nura even commented on the matter

35:14sharing that the focus was Final Fantasy

35:1613 with TGs crossed off there were not

35:19very many major events left in the year

35:21for the company to host a new look at

35:22the game for pressent investors however

35:25that proved to be quite false When

35:27September came around at TGs 2009 Square

35:30premiered a new trailer of Final Fantasy

35:32Versus 13 behind closed doors only those

35:35who attended the event were able to view

35:37it with not many outlets reporting on

35:39the details of the trailer one Outlet

35:41who did however was RPG site according

35:44to the outlet the trailer focused on the

35:46game's realtime Graphics when the player

35:48is in control even a new area was shown

35:52in Prior trailers only cutcenes were

35:54used so it was difficult to tell what

35:56the game really looked like in gameplay

35:58according to RPG sit's TGs at 10d the

36:01trailer showed the main character noctis

36:03running around the city similar in style

36:05to those pictured in the trailers at

36:07different times of day with varying

36:08numbers of NPCs around him at night the

36:11city was utterly deserted apart from

36:14noctis aside from the city the footage

36:16also treated us to a glance at a field

36:18area which also played home to some

36:20gigantic monsters the field was massive

36:22and relatively flat reminiscent in a way

36:25of Final Fantasy 10's Calm Lands just

36:27with huge monsters on screen with a

36:29player there's somehow footage of this

36:31trailer from TGs available today which

36:33is honestly

36:35remarkable this report was followed by

36:36an interview with tsan nura and famitsu

36:39where he revealed that the presentation

36:41at TGs was made in a hurry and as a

36:43result the trailer has unfinished Tech

36:45and Graphics throughout he also made it

36:47clear that the outfit noctis was seen

36:49wearing in the last trailer is the final

36:50Rowan collaboration one that will be

36:52seen in the game additionally n we ass

36:55shared that the only accessory noctis

36:57will wear is a ring and that this was

36:59extremely important to the overall

37:01narrative tsan nura opened up to famitsu

37:04in February 2010 to share the first news

37:06of the Year regarding versus 13 the game

37:09apparently might not make it to e3210 as

37:12previously planned in the interview Nur

37:15teased how the world map would look

37:17sharing for displaying characters on the

37:19map we were originally planning on using

37:21the method used by FF redacted with a

37:24small noctis running around the screen

37:26the mitsu didn't ever reveal which Final

37:28Fantasy title versus originally was

37:30planning to follow opting to withhold

37:32that information as a

37:34secret during March theare tweeted out

37:37that there would be an Airship available

37:38in Final Fantasy Versus 13 players could

37:41use this to navigate around the world

37:43fans were left with just this

37:45information until Square enix's yoichi

37:47wada shared that the company would be

37:49looking into it internally until right

37:51before the formal announcement when

37:53asked if an Xbox 360 version was in the

37:55works it's unclear when this formal

37:57announcement was scheduled to be but

37:59many had their sights set on

38:01E3 E3 came and versus unfortunately

38:05didn't make it nura ended up doing yet

38:07another interview with famitsu just

38:09after the conference revealing that the

38:11game's reveal was now planned to be at

38:12TGs 20110 Nur revealed numerous details

38:16on the graphics focusing on the clouds

38:18lighting and visuals additionally he

38:20shared that the game's goal was to make

38:22the world as seamless as possible though

38:24there would still be loading times

38:26between large areas for the key area of

38:28the game Shinjuku was the inspiration

38:31namura wanted to instill a sense of

38:33realism with this area

38:35especially the car was said to be an

38:37asset for players to use to travel

38:39throughout the world quicker than on

38:40foot one of the most interesting remarks

38:42made in this interview was of a

38:44underwater region to which the Mora

38:46shared that players can drive the car in

38:48areas outside of this region what could

38:50this have been another interesting point

38:53was that versus 13 had apparently an

38:55over-the-shoulder perspective initially

38:58but this was scrapped in favor of a

38:59traditional third person view nir said

39:02this was because the team decided to

39:03prioritize the character's presence in

39:05the

39:06world sadly in August kitas would

39:10announce that versus probably wasn't

39:12going to be released in

39:132011 while this is disappointing it's

39:17understandable versus had hit some snags

39:19in development due to its sibling entry

39:21this month would have a silver lining

39:23though the actual Voice work for the

39:25game had begun versus was slowly but

39:28surely making progress giving fans a

39:30semblance of Hope after a fairly dry

39:32year for news neora started September

39:352010 by sharing that the game would

39:37still release exclusively for the

39:39Playstation 3 after what US comments

39:41earlier in the year about an Xbox 360

39:43version many fans were hoping that the

39:45game would release across both platforms

39:48however it seems that the team wanted to

39:49prioritize one system to keep

39:51development as smooth as possible later

39:54that month a brand new look at Tokyo

39:56game show was finally revealed

39:58this trailer showcased massive open

40:00worlds with noctis fighting giant beasts

40:02in the Shinjuku inspired City fans were

40:05estatic as the world looked massive far

40:08bigger than any previous Final Fantasy

40:11title while no release information was

40:13provided the game existed and that's all

40:16that

40:17mattered in 2010 game developer

40:20Magazine's October issue included an

40:22extensive postmortem about Final Fantasy

40:2513 but tomu Toriyama and akihiko maida

40:28brought up several points about the

40:29death cycle that halted progress on ff13

40:32and led to it not fully attaining its

40:34attended Vision some of the main issues

40:37entailed revolve around the crystal

40:38tools engine and how old-fashioned team

40:40structures could not produce a game of

40:42this scale some of this was alluded to

40:44in a March 2010 interview one of the

40:47biggest issues with Crystal tools is

40:49that it was difficult to use and it

40:51originally started as a multi-purpose

40:53engine intended to be used for many

40:55games within Square Enix

40:57this meant that the engine wasn't suited

40:59for individual project needs this

41:02resulted in a lot of time and resources

41:04being used to address the issues

41:06multiple teams had with Crystal tools

41:09what they ultimately had to do was focus

41:11on accommodating for Final Fantasy 13's

41:13needs specifically the engine had to be

41:16concurrently developed alongside Final

41:17Fantasy 13 so they had to focus solely

41:20on getting it released another issue

41:22they described was that the team lacked

41:24a shared Vision because beyond the

41:26concept trailer nothing else was fully

41:28planned out when they started

41:29development their Baseline wasn't fully

41:31laid out yet and parts of the team had

41:33to jump straight into development

41:34despite the codenamed white engine not

41:36even being complete yet what could this

41:39Bode for

41:40verses in December Shinji hasimoto sat

41:43down in an interview with FF dream to

41:45discuss the fabula Nova Crystalis titles

41:48the outlet asked right out of the gate

41:50where versus 13 was Hashimoto assured

41:53them that the team was hard at work but

41:54not currently at a stage where they feel

41:56comfortable relasing releasing a date

41:57and meeting it the outlet didn't asked

41:59about a mysterious project rely

42:01discussed Final Fantasy haresis

42:0513 Hashimoto shares that this trademark

42:07is simply a project name and quickly

42:09moves on but let's Analyze This was

42:12there a secret fourth fabula NOA

42:14Crystalis project in the works we never

42:16heard publicly about haresis but its

42:18implications are simply fascinating the

42:21trademark was initially filed around

42:232006 alongside the announcement of fnc

42:25but nothing ever came of it even today

42:28it eventually expired in 2011 with

42:31nothing ever coming from it however it's

42:33intriguing to imagine what could have

42:34been haresis is a Greek term with

42:37multiple meanings Choice option and even

42:40course of action maybe there was a team

42:43at Square Enix creating an Innovative

42:45new Final Fantasy title focused on

42:46player choice we'll never know overall

42:50Hashimoto mostly gave standard PR talk

42:52throughout this interview not willing to

42:54commit to a release date any further

42:55concrete news on versus 13

42:57to end off things a lot of significant

43:00and Vital Information about versus

43:01littered the year of 2010 are these

43:04truly good tidings as versus drawing

43:07closer to its release 2011 would provide

43:10that

43:11answer 2011 opened with a bang with some

43:14magazine adverts and the delayed Square

43:16Enix first production Department

43:18Premiere versus finally received a new

43:21trailer that treated fans to a lot more

43:23in-game footage actual in-game footage

43:26was shown from from cutscenes to high

43:28octane action the excitement was real it

43:31finally felt like versus 13 was making

43:34progress even with the ensuing

43:36interviews despite prior and following

43:38statements that the game would be a

43:40while boiling some of the surprise

43:42somewhat the deneki versus information

43:45dumpin with tsia nura that was meant to

43:47release after the Showcase leaked early

43:50noctus received a visual and a quote

43:53fools set the rules in this world just

43:56take a look around

43:57it's

43:58undeniable the princeling seems to have

44:01some strong feelings about the rules of

44:02the world this could be referring to

44:04some of the political drama of the

44:06niflheim Empire invading noctis's

44:08Kingdom but this is a fnc title maybe

44:11something grander is in store for us as

44:13well apparently noctis's Throne is

44:16different from that of his father the

44:18Kings there's also references to a last

44:21king namura also clarifies a line from

44:24the 2011 trailer no's father is saying

44:26something something like you're not fit

44:28to be king to an offscreen character

44:30that's not

44:31noctis the reason behind noctis' red

44:34eyes was also explained they're

44:36naturally blue but turn red when using

44:38his unique powers like warping for

44:40example the appearance of ly was

44:42confirmed but it seems that the

44:44technical terms aren't thrown around

44:46much maybe there's a possibility of the

44:48modern setting utilizing things like

44:50colloquial terms the previously shown

44:53TGs footage was slowed down for

44:54demonstration purposes but don't fret

44:57the Kingdom Hearts s combat will be much

44:59quicker and Slicker the combat will

45:01revolve around swapping between three

45:03characters in battle and utilizing their

45:05Unique Mechanics noctis's blonde friend

45:07can actually free aim and shoot monsters

45:09weak points even the combat will make

45:12the camaraderie amongst the group feel

45:14even more realistic especially since the

45:16party will comment on battles there will

45:18also be a diagetic gameplay element

45:20where noctis' friends can only use magic

45:23when he's in the party small details

45:25such as rable choke bow pilotable

45:28magitech armor a gauge tied to a unique

45:31mechanic Hidden Treasures summoning

45:33Dynamic time of day cycles realtime

45:36character icons and more were also

45:38discussed all of this information along

45:40with the trailer this interview was

45:42originally supposed to be paired with

45:44really demonstrate that versus was going

45:46to be dense hence why namura also said

45:49that the game doesn't have a release

45:50window just yet unlike the deneki

45:53information the famitsu stuff wasn't

45:55leaked early and came out after the

45:57trailer however some of the information

45:59revealed is the same between the two

46:01Publications continuing on with details

46:03the voice cast had been selected at last

46:06in July 2011 it was revealed that Final

46:08Fantasy Versus 13 was apparently still

46:10in the pre-production phase nura shared

46:13that the team is making massive efforts

46:15to enter full production pairing the

46:17necessary pieces certain press Outlets

46:19are shown new screenshots of the game

46:21but these are not officially released

46:23online to the public later that month

46:26nerot up with famitsu to discuss the

46:28title he shared that the game is under

46:30intense development stating that it will

46:32be a while before there's information

46:34released to the public both real time

46:36and rendered cut scenes are said to be

46:38included in the game with game Flow

46:39likened to that of an uninterrupted FPS

46:42neora a new event system but he didn't

46:45expand beyond

46:46that development on the title was

46:49reported to be proceeding towards full

46:50development with the course staff

46:52members focused on development of Miss

46:54New Challenges voice acting was also

46:56gradually being recorded with no more

46:58mentioning that for scenes with all the

47:00party members all voice actors recorded

47:02together in one room to make for a

47:03natural conversation with overlap it was

47:06also revealed that a new lighting engine

47:08was installed in versus 13 with help

47:10from Takashi noou who previously served

47:13as a co-director and co-producer of

47:15Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children speaking

47:18on cutcenes ner describes these to be

47:20completely in reactable as he wanted to

47:22make sure players never felt like they

47:24weren't playing the game nura ended off

47:27this interview teasing that noctis will

47:28have his own smartphone allowing players

47:30to take pictures across his journey the

47:33next update is promised to offer

47:34substantial

47:36information in September 2011 producer

47:39Yoshi Nori kassu reveals that Final

47:41Fantasy Versus 13 had finally entered

47:44full

47:45production this is confirmed despite the

47:47game skipping Tokyo game show 2011

47:50around this time it was also confirmed

47:52that Mughal would appear in verses

47:5513 2011 in ended with good feelings

47:57around versus though the game took

47:59forever to enter full production we were

48:01here meaning that significant progress

48:04was being made a release date was moving

48:06closer and closer with each passing

48:08month or so we

48:12thought despite kitas confirming that

48:15versus had entered full production there

48:17was a complete blackout on updates this

48:20combined with rumors of cancellation

48:22concerned all of the excited fans

48:24awaiting this Monumental release just

48:26what was going on while not related to

48:29FF versus 13 neura shared in a special

48:32Final Fantasy 7 15th anniversary piece

48:34that fitu did that he was aware that

48:36fans wanted a Final Fantasy 7 remake he

48:39says that he is working on new titles

48:41which have a higher priority for him at

48:42the moment but he will try his best to

48:44put together a game that rivals or is

48:46even better than Final Fantasy

48:487 additionally Square Enix shared a

48:51first look at agony's philosophy a new

48:53tech demo for a final fantasy engine

48:55ahead of E3 this was created to showcase

48:58the level of fidelity and detail that

49:00the teams at Square were aiming for fans

49:02actually spoke to Julian meron the

49:04worldwide technology director at Square

49:06Enix about the demo which he shared that

49:09this is square enix's vision for the

49:10future of player interactivity and that

49:13the teams were blown away by The

49:14public's reaction and then on a Friday

49:17afternoon in July bomb show report

49:20dropped Kotaku released a report stating

49:23that according to sources Final Fantasy

49:25Versus 13 was

49:27cancelled it happened in a matter of

49:29weeks and the game was reportedly no

49:32more Square decided to not reveal the

49:35cancellation to the public with the

49:36source citing it could impact things

49:38like the company's stock price

49:40Additionally the outlet stated that

49:42another source commented on the

49:43cancellation stating that a few months

49:45back versus 13 was folded into the next

49:47numbered Final Fantasy title

49:50ff15 when Kotaku reached out for comment

49:53simply asking if the title was still

49:54being made Square shared the following

49:56message we have no information on the

49:59status of Final Fantasy Versus 13 but we

50:02will be sure to update you as it becomes

50:04available with agito 13 renamed to Final

50:07Fantasy type zero in January 2011 a

50:10fabula Nova Crystalis title being

50:12renamed wouldn't be something shocking

50:14however with the report suggesting it

50:16was cancelled and meshed into a Mainline

50:18title many fans were worried the vision

50:20noera had for the title would exist no

50:23more later that same day Square enex

50:26president y W tweeted out the following

50:28message there's someone making a false

50:30rumor that versus was

50:32cancelled just a minute ago the regular

50:35versus meeting ended if you saw the

50:37presentation of the city it would knock

50:39your socks

50:40off the concerns online that the highly

50:43anticipated project was gone instantly

50:45vanished with full reassurance from the

50:48Square Enix

50:49CEO as we know now this report ended up

50:52being fully true nobody knew at the time

50:56nura wouldn't comment on anything

50:58surrounding the game again until October

51:002012 where he reconfirmed that the game

51:02was still being developed this remark

51:05was made in an interview with in geki

51:06PlayStation about Lightning Returns

51:08which had just wrapped development while

51:10numera says versus is still happening it

51:13almost feels like a deoo topic within

51:14the company what could this pretend we

51:17wouldn't be getting any news to convince

51:19fans otherwise throughout the rest of

51:20the year minus a few comments in

51:23November November 2012 brought a

51:25shocking update that took many fans by

51:28surprise besides the July scare most

51:31anticipated development was going well

51:32ever since yoshinori Kit's comment about

51:34the game being in full production in

51:36September 2011 a new rumor popped up on

51:39neoa stating that Final Fantasy Versus

51:4113 is on hold as all the staff has been

51:44moved to Final Fantasy Final Fantasy 14

51:46ofra born until it is released the rumor

51:49goes on to say that the release date for

51:51a RoR born is currently set for July

51:532013 which will set the release date for

51:55Final Fantasy Versus around quarter 4 of

51:582014 or quarter 1 of 2015 at the

52:01earliest notoriously now Final Fantasy

52:0414 1.0 also used a branch of Crystal

52:07Tools in no clips Final Fantasy 14 1.0

52:10documentary series Nai Yoshida describes

52:13that 14's biggest issues involved the

52:15engine and outdated game design game

52:18design can be improved upon but once

52:20becoming director he decided to scrap

52:22Crystal tools entirely and use a new

52:24engine interestingly the this new engine

52:27has similar Origins to luminous studio

52:29and Yoshida has likened them as cousins

52:32Dragon Quest 10 was another game that

52:33used Crystal tools but it was probably

52:36affected less due to targeting the Wii

52:38making certain aspects of development

52:40presumably less arduous Yoshida also

52:42worked on that game so it's possible he

52:45already knew the issues with the engine

52:46and wanted to shift away from

52:48it this delay was likely due to

52:50complications with the new engine after

52:52Nagi Yoshida determined Crystal tools

52:54was completely unfit for the game Square

52:57could not afford for ff14 to fail and

52:59they determined that it had higher

53:01priorities than versus 13 once again the

53:04Mor's title was halted for reasons out

53:06of his

53:07control later that same month Final

53:10Fantasy dream held a new interview with

53:11Square Enix global technology director

53:14Julian meron during Paris gamesweek 2012

53:17he shared the following on versus 13

53:19watan and I are working very hard with

53:22this team that has enormous Ambitions

53:24and I think that the level of their

53:25ambition makes it project extremely

53:27complex to achieve that said yichi is

53:30going to push this team and this project

53:32as far as he can so we are all working

53:35together very hard with this team to

53:36help them do what they want to do

53:38frankly I think that from the moment

53:40this is announced people will be very

53:41happy to have been

53:43patient 2012 ended with more questions

53:45than answers no one really knew what was

53:48going on with versus we'd seen no

53:50footage and besides comments from W and

53:52N that the game was still being

53:54developed 2012 brought nothing

53:56optimism was at an all-time high with

53:59many hoping a major blowout was in store

54:01for 2013 while fans were greeted with

54:03loads of new information it wasn't what

54:05anyone expected or hoped

54:09for in March of 2013 an accidental

54:12posting on the website for Rowan the

54:14fashion brand that Square Enix

54:15collaborated with for The Outfits and

54:17verses began circulating the post was on

54:20their biography page and can be traced

54:22back to 2012 the post mentions

54:25ff15 Rowan would later release a

54:27backtracking statement assuring that the

54:29post was made an error and changed ff15

54:31to FF versus 13

54:34tenative this interesting rumbling

54:36brought many questions to the table

54:38would versus truly shift to Mainline

54:41status in April nura appeared as a guest

54:44on Square Enix merchandise radio they

54:46talk about the noctus perfume Su in

54:49response to this the radio staff asked

54:51nura about the ever elus of versus 13

54:54nura confirms that more versus news was

54:56on the way he also went on to say that

54:58versus was a delicate topic within the

55:01company he apologizes for the lack of

55:04news and states that they're preparing

55:05for the next round of information

55:07regarding

55:08verses after years of hiccups engine

55:11issues and team shuffling the time

55:13finally came versus 13 lives but not in

55:18the way fans expected E3 2013 gifted the

55:21world with an exciting new trailer for

55:23versus 13 but now it's the next next

55:26main entry of the long-standing final

55:28fantasy series Final Fantasy

55:3215 not only were we blessed with two

55:35exciting new trailers we also got a slew

55:37of tantalizing new details through many

55:40interviews a few days after the massive

55:43reveal tsan n participated in an

55:45exclusive interview with famitsu sharing

55:48that the current plan is to create

55:49multiple direct sequels set in the same

55:51world with Final Fantasy 15 he Likens

55:54the idea to that of Final Fantasy 10 and

55:56Final Fantasy 13 which both received

55:59direct numbered sequels nura shared with

56:02famitsu that in the trailer there was a

56:04line that read a world of the versus

56:07epic which suggests that it would be

56:08part of an epic while Final Fantasy 15

56:11will have one climax as a story we plan

56:14to continue it

56:15further he shared that he understands

56:17that fans don't want to wait long

56:19between entries saying that as for how

56:22it will be released we'll announce that

56:24later on however having you waited a

56:26long while for the next title isn't

56:28something we would

56:30desire it's clear that even from the

56:32beginning of Final Fantasy 15's life

56:34there were plans to provide a story that

56:36spanned multiple games the story cannot

56:39be contained under just one game as we

56:41discussed earlier nur's ambition for

56:43versus 13 grew over the years to the

56:46point where he wanted to make a Trilogy

56:47out of the story it's likely that this

56:50thought process and planning carried

56:52over to

56:53ff15 which as a Mainline title came with

56:56luxuries that side games just didn't get

56:58nura also revealed major new information

57:01such as the facts that the shift to a

57:02Mainline title apparently began 2 years

57:05prior initially he was completely

57:07against the idea slowly warmed up to it

57:10as agito became type zero he shared some

57:13of the Ambitions and challenges that the

57:14team currently juggled specifically

57:16stating there was a big concern that we

57:19would not forget that this is a Final

57:20Fantasy game the team aimed to make ff15

57:24the biggest Final Fantasy ever with the

57:26game being overall massive in scale nura

57:29described it as a large seamless open

57:31world with a variety of

57:33content later throughout the year nura

57:36shares new details through various

57:38interviews in July he sat down at Japan

57:40Expo revealing new information regarding

57:42the game this was a memorable interview

57:44with a lot of great questions there he

57:47compared Sora and noctis responding to a

57:49question about his favorite characters

57:51he's created he States hm if I had to

57:55choose a favorite character I would say

57:57Sora and noctis why them of course Sora

58:02I've been together with him for more

58:04than 10 years now this is the first time

58:06I've been with a character for such a

58:08long time so he's very special to me and

58:11he's been adopted by Disney also so he's

58:13a very very good boy more like a good

58:16son actually also there's noctis he

58:19hasn't been in front of you I mean

58:22moving yet in real gameplay but he will

58:24be soon in the future

58:27do you know that the name Sora means sky

58:29in Japanese and noctis his family name

58:32is kyum which means sky as well so

58:35basically nocus means night sky so

58:38they're kind of complete opposites of

58:39each other there's a reason why I names

58:42these characters is opposites noctis is

58:44kind of like my latest boy or latest son

58:47and I expect him to be more clever than

58:49Cloud talking on Final Fantasy 15 he

58:52shares that the game will not feature

58:53many vehicles but the magitech armor can

58:56be piloted apparently additionally nura

58:59dove into side content showing that

59:01while the team is considering fun

59:02content for players to experience the

59:05focus is on finishing the main portions

59:06of the game he even alludes to certain

59:08changes that come with shifting to a

59:10numbered

59:12entry as for characters Nur confirms

59:15that Stella's design was changed showing

59:17that he just wanted to make her a little

59:19bit prettier he confirms that the party

59:22is planned to be Five Guys the team is

59:25also exploring ing how to implement

59:26noctis' red eyes since he moves so fast

59:30finally speaking on female party members

59:32nura shares that he can't say anything

59:34specific now but it would be quite

59:37difficult to have a girl

59:38playable nuray even mentions luminous

59:41engine discussing how it was being

59:43developed alongside the game the

59:45interviewer asked Amura if he believed

59:47the fox engine of Kojima Productions and

59:49luminous of square were similar with no

59:51more sharing that he believed they are

59:52totally different engines because they

59:54got different kinds of abilities and

59:56skills and stuff that we could use in a

59:58game Beyond this interview neur was

1:00:01quiet for the rest of the year it seems

1:00:03like Final Fantasy 15 was going well

1:00:06sure certain elements might have changed

1:00:08but this was still the game fans eagerly

1:00:10waited for with noctis Stella and the

1:00:13rest of the characters 2013 was truly

1:00:16the year where it felt like versus ff15

1:00:18was finally on the horizon however the

1:00:21dream was slowly fading away behind the

1:00:23scenes harsh realities were beginning to

1:00:26rear their ugly heads the universe

1:00:28wasn't quite done with the world of

1:00:30versus Epic

1:00:33[Music]

1:00:35[Applause]

1:00:45[Music]

1:01:11oh

1:01:18[Music]

1:01:34[Applause]

1:01:41[Music]

1:01:49as the calendar turned over to 2014 The

1:01:52Unforgettable journey of Final Fantasy

1:01:5315's development would reach its climax

1:01:56the year kicked off with a major Yoshi

1:01:58noritas interview where he shared that

1:02:00Final Fantasy 15 had received high

1:02:02priority status from Square Enix

1:02:04leadership now that the game is far into

1:02:06development even though the game was

1:02:08announced to be Final Fantasy 15 in June

1:02:112013 initial development of the nextg

1:02:13version of the game began in 2012 he

1:02:16also noted that despite the game now

1:02:18being a Mainline Final Fantasy entry it

1:02:20would retain its connection to the

1:02:21fabula Nova crystallis mythology and

1:02:23embrace those elements many begin to

1:02:26tear apart the 15 reveal trailer once

1:02:28more analyzing the language used

1:02:30surrounding crystals which played a

1:02:31major role in the fnc sphere

1:02:34additionally in the same interview kitas

1:02:36shared insights on Square enix's

1:02:38developer resources stating that 15 and

1:02:41kh3 were no longer competing with each

1:02:43other for resources and instead

1:02:45utilizing new technology to improve

1:02:47aspects of both titles later that month

1:02:50news surrounding the English voice

1:02:52acting broke for the game where multiple

1:02:54users online spotted a resume from voice

1:02:56actress Katie Townson that listed

1:02:58various roles in Final Fantasy 15 a

1:03:01connection was made between the casting

1:03:02director and Tikki Man Productions which

1:03:05led to many assuming that the company

1:03:07was in the midst of recording the Final

1:03:09Fantasy 15 English voiceover this also

1:03:11meant that selection for casting had

1:03:13begun and or finished at this point days

1:03:16later this was shut down by former

1:03:18Square Enix senior director then Senior

1:03:20PR manager David Yang who shared to

1:03:22outlet dual Shockers the following

1:03:24message quote I spoke with the dev team

1:03:26and the voiceovers have yet to be done

1:03:28for this title later on he even added

1:03:30that no voiceovers have yet to be in for

1:03:32the final game in any language including

1:03:35Japanese the statement did not deny the

1:03:37fact that casting had begun but it did

1:03:39confirm that no voiceover had been

1:03:41recorded at the time while this was a

1:03:43blow to the hopes of fans expecting a

1:03:45release date anytime soon Final Fantasy

1:03:4715 and Kingdom Hearts 3 producers Shinji

1:03:49Hashimoto shared just days prior at the

1:03:52PlayStation 4 launch event in Japan that

1:03:54news on the title would be coming quote

1:03:56in the near future at this time many

1:03:59turned their sites to E3 where Square

1:04:01revealed the title for the very first

1:04:03time in 2013 unfortunately that hope was

1:04:06crushed by Shinji Hashimoto in early

1:04:08June where he shared that the game was

1:04:10skipping E3 despite development

1:04:12progressing smoothly he noted in this

1:04:15interview with famitsu that the team

1:04:16simply wasn't prepared to Showcase more

1:04:18information yet as they felt it didn't

1:04:20align with Square's promotional plans

1:04:22for E3 2014 Hashimoto did share that

1:04:25information would release after E3 in

1:04:282014 and asked fans to be excited and

1:04:30stay tuned that news did come after E3

1:04:33but it was the news that ultimately

1:04:35changed Final Fantasy 15

1:04:37forever September 2014 is arguably the

1:04:41most infamous month in the entire decade

1:04:43long development Saga of Final Fantasy

1:04:4515 a new trailer was shown off for the

1:04:48first time at Tokyo Game Show 2014 but

1:04:51something was different the overall

1:04:53Vibes and style of the trailer reflect

1:04:55Ed many different areas that were never

1:04:57shown in previous versus 13 trailers

1:05:00Final Fantasy 15 looked

1:05:03different most of the trailer revolved

1:05:05around the four party members driving

1:05:07around the world in a car which while

1:05:09present in Prior trailers was never this

1:05:12much of a focus a new female character

1:05:15also appeared who was not Stella the

1:05:17deneki magazine that released around TGs

1:05:192014 later revealed her name simply

1:05:22referring to the girl as Luna the answer

1:05:25to this shift in tone would be answered

1:05:27promptly at Tokyo game show the almost

1:05:30Unthinkable happened it was announced

1:05:32that namora left the Final Fantasy 15

1:05:34project it was no longer Tatsu namora

1:05:37who would see the completion of this

1:05:38project it would be hajim tapata former

1:05:41codirector

1:05:42since its Inception TSU namura served as

1:05:46the Director and concept designer

1:05:48crafting the title underneath his vision

1:05:50for fabula NOA Crystalis now however the

1:05:53man leading the project would no longer

1:05:55have any involvement with it which made

1:05:56for a massive departure from the

1:05:58original

1:06:00concept then Square Enix CEO yoske

1:06:03matsuda shared that noora's move off the

1:06:05project would allow him to focus on

1:06:07Kingdom Hearts 3 and ensure the game's

1:06:09development progress smoothly matsuda

1:06:11shared that going forward namora will

1:06:13quote be focusing his efforts on the

1:06:15production of titles that can only be

1:06:17made possible by namora himself and

1:06:19delivering products that exceed the

1:06:21quality of past

1:06:23titles as you might expect fan reception

1:06:26was all over the place after this

1:06:28announcement a majority of fans were up

1:06:30in arms about the decision upset at the

1:06:32fact that they will not get to play the

1:06:33game as its creator intended others

1:06:36however were looking forward to the new

1:06:37direction under Tabata as some were

1:06:39tired of the versus talk after 8 years

1:06:41of no

1:06:42show many who watched the trailer were

1:06:45excited to see the visuals and gameplay

1:06:46take advantage of Next Generation

1:06:48consoles with higher Fidelity in

1:06:50flashier

1:06:51combos while many fans were upset left

1:06:54wanting more information regarding Final

1:06:56Fantasy 15 luckily they wouldn't have to

1:06:58wait long for the floodgates to

1:07:01open in the weeks following Tokyo game

1:07:03show dozens of new details were revealed

1:07:06about Final Fantasy 15 via new

1:07:08interviews with director hajim Tabata a

1:07:11Final Fantasy 15 demo titled episode dis

1:07:14sky was revealed to be available to any

1:07:17player who purchased final fantasy type0

1:07:20HD in an interview with Game Informer

1:07:23Tabata dove in to discuss all things

1:07:25related to this Demo First he shared

1:07:28that players can expect a play time of 1

1:07:30hour for the story in 4 hours total if

1:07:33players choose to complete everything

1:07:35the demo itself is named after DUS Sky a

1:07:37region found in the world of Final

1:07:39Fantasy 15 episode dis sky was promised

1:07:41to offer a taste of the game's combat

1:07:43systems and exploration but the open

1:07:46world was told to be

1:07:48limited although Tabata did note day and

1:07:51night cycles would be featured in this

1:07:52bite-sized portion of the game to give

1:07:54players a taste of what's to come with

1:07:56the full release while many fans didn't

1:07:58expect to play the game so

1:08:00soon Tabata stated that he wanted to let

1:08:03fans play the game for themselves to

1:08:05understand it's real and is coming

1:08:07something 8 years in the making no this

1:08:10isn't a fake game just with trailers

1:08:12this is a playable thing that squareenix

1:08:14is working on he also shared that he

1:08:16believes icons of the final fantasy

1:08:18series should be properly and carefully

1:08:20added in order to refrain from being too

1:08:22shallow he teased players to stay on the

1:08:25lookout when experiencing episode dis

1:08:26Sky finally Tabata shared that he hopes

1:08:29fans will share feedback online that he

1:08:31and his team can incorporate into the

1:08:33final

1:08:34release alongside this new information

1:08:37on the episode dis Sky demo Tabata

1:08:39shared with Game Informer that

1:08:40development of the full game was around

1:08:4250 to 60% done he later clarified that

1:08:45this is his estimate from when he joined

1:08:47the project in 2012 not from its

1:08:49beginning talking through the

1:08:51development history of the game he said

1:08:53the following during the versus era

1:08:55though it may be weird to refer to it

1:08:57that way we weren't able to reveal any

1:08:59information on release timing because

1:09:01that was a project in which we had to

1:09:02overcome so many problems that arose

1:09:05unfortunately while we were trying to

1:09:07work through the issues timing never

1:09:09matched but about 2 years ago when I

1:09:11officially joined the project we did a

1:09:13major directional change where we

1:09:15decided to not go with the previous

1:09:16generation I also had to talk with the

1:09:18morisan about the direction ff15 is

1:09:21going to take unfortunately it's still

1:09:23going to take a while but I'm hoping

1:09:25players will reset their timers from

1:09:27when I joined the team and restart the

1:09:29count from

1:09:30there around this same time period

1:09:33Tabata conducted interviews with other

1:09:35online and print Outlets including

1:09:36famitsu for gamer Kotaku and Euro gamer

1:09:40these new details were extensive so bear

1:09:42with me but each is essential to

1:09:44understand just how drastically 15

1:09:46shifted within

1:09:482014 first and foremost Tabata made it a

1:09:51point to reassure press he did not

1:09:54expect the game to take years and years

1:09:55to finish Final Fantasy 15 had most of

1:09:58its fundamental systems in place since

1:10:00taking on the role of director Tabata

1:10:02shared that he is most focused on

1:10:04working toward a set release date in his

1:10:06mind as a result he has thoroughly

1:10:08planned everything with the Final

1:10:10Fantasy 15 team before implementing to

1:10:12conserve resources and development time

1:10:15speaking of the team it was reported

1:10:17that the size of the 15 team was around

1:10:19200 to 300 people and Tabata shared that

1:10:22he did not want a bigger team as he

1:10:24wanted to focus on individual ual

1:10:25potential pushing employees to be their

1:10:27best selves the gameplay cutscene and

1:10:29CGI teams were all merged into one staff

1:10:32body to ensure maximum oversight and

1:10:34productivity Tabata viewed FF as The

1:10:37Benchmark for all console games and he

1:10:39wanted to ensure Final Fantasy 15

1:10:41continued this tradition citing that the

1:10:43current Graphics seen in the TGs 2014

1:10:46trailer were only 70% of where the team

1:10:48wanted to go with the

1:10:50visuals even more information regarding

1:10:53the transformation from Final Fantasy

1:10:55vers 13 to Final Fantasy 15 was revealed

1:10:58during these interviews with Tabata

1:10:59sharing that former Square Enix CEO

1:11:02yoichi wada ordered him and the type

1:11:04zero team to merge with neoras versus 13

1:11:06team in July 2012 this is when the game

1:11:09became Final Fantasy 15 officially and

1:11:12took on the role as a Mainline title

1:11:14additionally this is the same time that

1:11:16the development shifted to nextg for

1:11:18PlayStation 4 and Xbox One joining at

1:11:21this time allowed Tabata to ease into

1:11:23the role of director as he was able to

1:11:25re examine the team structure from the

1:11:26top to bottom since this is a different

1:11:29game from vers 13 there were naturally

1:11:31going to be changes toata stated that

1:11:33while the game will have changes it will

1:11:36still be worth the

1:11:38wait while the main cast in Road Movie

1:11:41Vision remained intact the plot and tone

1:11:44of the story would see shifts naturally

1:11:47each character in the party was seen as

1:11:48a main character by Tabata with his

1:11:50personal concepts for the game being

1:11:52friendship and the journey Tabata aimed

1:11:55to preserve the core gaming experience

1:11:57of Final Fantasy and not opt to create a

1:11:59game for just any casual player the

1:12:01vision platforms and circumstances are

1:12:04completely different now that namora was

1:12:05no longer on the project so naturally

1:12:08fans cannot expect the same game the

1:12:10Final Fantasy 15 director did share that

1:12:12he sat down with theora prior to his

1:12:14departure attempting to make an effort

1:12:16to realize the vision of each of his

1:12:18Concepts one of these mentioned was

1:12:20making battles feel in control

1:12:21realistically with an emphasis on

1:12:23positioning an approach against

1:12:26enemies throughout these interviews one

1:12:28of the major features of Final Fantasy

1:12:3015 was revealed to be the car while we

1:12:33know it as the regalia it was only

1:12:35referred to as the car throughout these

1:12:37talks Tabata shared that while the title

1:12:39is single player the car was added to

1:12:41give players the sense of Vibes when

1:12:43traveling with people he especially

1:12:45wanted the car to reflect the tiny

1:12:46details of driving a real car so there

1:12:48was special attention on making driving

1:12:50feel realistic as possible additionally

1:12:53Tata stated that the car is almost like

1:12:55a party member in a sense even though

1:12:57you can't modify it another major area

1:13:00of focus was the game's open World the

1:13:02game itself was promis to feature a

1:13:03seamless open world with combat and

1:13:05exploration as main focuses Tabata

1:13:08shared with Outlets that quote design

1:13:10documents call it an open world style

1:13:12Final Fantasy it is not purely such

1:13:15because the point isn't to just wander

1:13:16off to wherever aimlessly the team

1:13:19wanted players to place focus on where

1:13:20they explore allowing the world to have

1:13:22a sense of purpose and meaning while

1:13:24playing players will follow a path

1:13:26throughout the main story the rest of

1:13:27the world was said to be open for

1:13:29exploration and Discovery funny enough

1:13:32Tabata CES that the game isn't like

1:13:34Skyrim as there are clear objectives for

1:13:36players to complete instead of wandering

1:13:38around to complete random quests as they

1:13:41wish lastly the final area of focus with

1:13:45these interviews was combat Tata made it

1:13:47clear from the start that players should

1:13:49not expect combat to be simply pressing

1:13:51one button in an interview with Kotaku

1:13:54he shared that it's more about the

1:13:55movements that are associated with the

1:13:58buttons and building upon them for

1:14:00actions through the combat system the

1:14:02team made it a focus for combat to feel

1:14:04both natural and exciting for all

1:14:06players regardless of their experience

1:14:08within the genre you could hold down the

1:14:10attack button to unleash a flurry of

1:14:11attacks and even hold a button for a

1:14:13defensive stance the development team

1:14:16even implemented movement during

1:14:17defensive stance which allowed Dodges

1:14:19and other movement to occur while

1:14:21defending against enemies also Tata

1:14:24shared that we weapons were in a deck

1:14:26automatically changed to match the

1:14:28situation the warp strike ability while

1:14:30still present is now limited certain

1:14:34areas now have different warp points

1:14:36that noctis can use to warp to initially

1:14:39the game even was more position focused

1:14:41than menu based in terms of Combat

1:14:43versus enemies but this ended up phasing

1:14:46out after the disy demo perhaps this

1:14:49level of ambition was too high for the

1:14:50team in the end with the limited amount

1:14:52of development time they were given by

1:14:54the squareenix leadership ship team

1:14:56multiple systems were also revealed to

1:14:58have been put in place that could affect

1:15:00the party members performance in combat

1:15:03one of these is weather which changes

1:15:04over time as the game progresses

1:15:07different weather conditions can have

1:15:08different effects on spells and Magic

1:15:10based attacks which presents an

1:15:12opportunity for strategy when it came to

1:15:14fighting enemies additionally Tabata

1:15:16emphasized the day and night cycle

1:15:18present in the game it was revealed that

1:15:2030 minutes was the equivalent of one

1:15:22Final Fantasy 15 day players would need

1:15:24to ensure noctus and the rest of the

1:15:26party rested at Camp each day as those

1:15:28who didn't get sleep would be sluggish

1:15:30and perform worse in battle the next

1:15:33day around the time these interviews

1:15:35released many fans online were

1:15:37frustrated with the fact that Final

1:15:39Fantasy 15 featured a party of all male

1:15:41characters Tabata took to the scene at

1:15:43TGs to share the following message on

1:15:45the topic quote it's not healthy to have

1:15:48bias and genders the party members being

1:15:51all men was something that former

1:15:53director tssa namora had kept is a very

1:15:55important element of this journey he

1:15:58wanted to depict a story in which a

1:15:59group of men a group of friends Journey

1:16:02throughout the world so that's something

1:16:04I kept in Final Fantasy 15 he

1:16:07additionally added that there will be

1:16:08prominent women who make an appearance

1:16:10in the game though that was yet to be

1:16:12seen with the non-appearance of Stella

1:16:14at Tokyo game show ultimately there were

1:16:17so many details shared during September

1:16:192014 but this truly Recaps almost

1:16:22everything

1:16:25Tabata did mention at one point that if

1:16:27he were able to he'd like to make type

1:16:29one next if possible also stating that

1:16:32if his team made another Final Fantasy

1:16:34Mainline entry it would come quickly as

1:16:37quote we came this far in 2 years moving

1:16:401 month forward Tabata shared a key

1:16:42update in October 2014 Final Fantasy 15

1:16:46was moving to luminous Productions under

1:16:48the Luminous engine the ff15 E3 2013

1:16:51trailer ran on ebony a prototype engine

1:16:54for the game

1:16:55since this was the opposite of Final

1:16:57Fantasy 13 it was named opposite of

1:16:59white engine ebony was the crystal tools

1:17:01Branch for versus 13 but we'll dive into

1:17:04that

1:17:05later internally Square had been working

1:17:08on a NextGen engine for quite a while to

1:17:10replace their current not up to stuff

1:17:12internal Tools in 2012 they revealed

1:17:16agy's philosophy a tech demo that

1:17:18showcased the capabilities for their new

1:17:20engine this would set the standard for

1:17:22what they wanted to achieve in NextGen

1:17:23rendering during the 2013 Final Fantasy

1:17:2715 blowout namora stated that the

1:17:29current build of the game uses luminous

1:17:31lighting grafted onto their old engine

1:17:33and that luminous was being developed

1:17:35alongside ff15 now Tabata has announced

1:17:39that 15 is in the process of being fully

1:17:41transferred to the engine hopefully this

1:17:43isn't a repeat of Final Fantasy 13 and

1:17:46Crystal

1:17:48tools this October update focused

1:17:50largely on calming and addressing fan

1:17:53concerns toata sh scared that the moves

1:17:55and mechanics seen in the E3 2013

1:17:58trailer are in the game andoss to do

1:18:01assuring fans that the action they

1:18:03desire will be present he also stressed

1:18:05that the game is different from type

1:18:07zero and Kingdom Hearts acting as a

1:18:09unique combat system a few new details

1:18:12were revealed to emphasize this combos

1:18:14could be altered by holding the stick in

1:18:16a different direction jumping is in the

1:18:18game counterattacks are possible after

1:18:20guarding and character switching was

1:18:22even removed to implement the cross batt

1:18:25system he assured fans that the project

1:18:27was evolving not regressing sharing

1:18:30quote even though there are parts from

1:18:32verses that we ended up changing we've

1:18:34developed them in more interesting ways

1:18:36and I want you to look forward to

1:18:38it Tabata did note that in an effort to

1:18:41appeal to Casual players who might not

1:18:43have played a final fantasy title before

1:18:45the team is implementing casual controls

1:18:48so players can have an easier time

1:18:49beating the game he also again stressed

1:18:52that the feedback from the upcoming

1:18:53episode discuss demo stating the method

1:18:56of getting feedback was yet to be

1:18:58determined but it was essential to the

1:19:00team in order to make the best game

1:19:02possible additionally he even threw a

1:19:04little shade at the Square Enix

1:19:05marketing team when asked why the

1:19:07information releases for the game have

1:19:09been so poor stating if our fans are

1:19:11uneasy about the information we have

1:19:13released then our ways of issuing

1:19:14information May in fact be poor at the

1:19:17end of his questionnaire he urged fans

1:19:19to look forward to more information

1:19:21towards the end of the month the next

1:19:23appearance of Final Fantasy 5 occurred

1:19:25at Paris games Fest 2014 where tobata

1:19:28revealed new information for the title

1:19:30an immense amount of focus was put on

1:19:32the world with the characters having

1:19:33multiple animations depending on where

1:19:35they Traverse this included elements

1:19:37like a walk cycle characters going out

1:19:39of breath and inverse kinematics the

1:19:42Final Fantasy 15 director also

1:19:44emphasized that characters would comment

1:19:46dynamically throughout combat prompting

1:19:48the player to notice things about

1:19:49enemies and such destructible objects

1:19:52and environments were also revealed with

1:19:53a tease that airships might drop enemies

1:19:56from above to attack the party alongside

1:19:59these announcements Tabata shared that

1:20:01the story is estimated to take around 40

1:20:04hours to complete excluding all side in

1:20:06optional content he also revealed that

1:20:08the transfer from ebony to luminous

1:20:10engine was about 80% complete more

1:20:13information was revealed to drop during

1:20:14jump Festa and this slew of news would

1:20:16cap off 2014 in a massive

1:20:19way jump Festa brought the most news

1:20:22surrounding the game yet in dozens of

1:20:24changes began to take effect before our

1:20:26eyes things kicked off with confirmation

1:20:29that the massive being found in the TGs

1:20:312014 trailer was indeed Titan Tabata

1:20:34shared that these summoned beasts can be

1:20:35acquired and used in battle but only

1:20:37after fighting them he noted that Titan

1:20:39will serve a big role in the story and

1:20:41the summon will be the same size even

1:20:43when you summon him additionally he

1:20:45noted that only noctis would be able to

1:20:47use

1:20:48summons while the town showcased in the

1:20:51trailer lar was seamless the developers

1:20:53noted that it is is still undetermined

1:20:55if the entire game will be seamless as

1:20:57you explore Tabata ensured fans that the

1:21:00team is doing its best but it's likely

1:21:01some scenes will require loading due to

1:21:04the hardware constraints another

1:21:06location highlighted was insomnia

1:21:08revealed to be the capital of the

1:21:09kingdom of lucus where knus as Prince

1:21:12Tabata discussed different ways to

1:21:13Traverse the world including by foot by

1:21:16car by chocoo and even by train he

1:21:18stated that you can travel inside the

1:21:20train and have your own space within it

1:21:22allowing you to freely walk around as

1:21:23you travel and explore FL the

1:21:26area Beyond this a few major combat

1:21:29details were shared it was revealed that

1:21:31General cor leonus will join you in

1:21:33fight alongside nocus and others in the

1:21:36party while core was previously planned

1:21:38to be the fifth party member in the

1:21:40midst of versus 13's development Tabata

1:21:43shared that he acts as a temporary guest

1:21:45citing multiple that will appear

1:21:47throughout the game smaller characters

1:21:49like Cindy were also revealed for the

1:21:51first time though Tata shared that she

1:21:52would only appear as a mechanic who will

1:21:54assist with gameplay additionally Square

1:21:57Enix shared that while magic is in Final

1:22:00Fantasy 15 it wasn't impressive enough

1:22:02yet to show off so the team had opted

1:22:04not to share any footage just yet Tabata

1:22:07noted that noctis was originally the

1:22:08only one with the ability to use magic

1:22:10but the team is expanding that to the

1:22:12rest of the characters as

1:22:14well it was also revealed that one day

1:22:16in Final Fantasy 15 was changed to 1

1:22:19hour doubled from the previous report of

1:22:2130 minutes sleep mechanics have changed

1:22:23forcing noctus in the the party to rest

1:22:25up in order to level up you can now also

1:22:27eat food at campsites to gain different

1:22:29status effects as toata wanted these

1:22:31characters to be quote like any other

1:22:33human there was a major focus on the

1:22:36game being relatable this was expressed

1:22:38through characters locations throughout

1:22:39the world and even the story finally the

1:22:43team closed things out discussing the

1:22:44upcoming Demo First Tabata assured fans

1:22:47that the full battle system will be on

1:22:49display in the demo he shared that some

1:22:52of the systems available in the demo are

1:22:53being tweaked largely due to the

1:22:55response from fans after watching the

1:22:57Tokyo game show trailer the demo was

1:22:59planned to be running version 1.5 of

1:23:01luminous engine at launch while the full

1:23:03game is planned to be 2.0 Tata made sure

1:23:06to clarify that the game is running

1:23:08right now at version

1:23:101.4 around 5 million polygons will

1:23:13appear in any given frame which is five

1:23:15times as many in the PS3 era

1:23:17additionally each character was said to

1:23:19have around 600 bones providing much

1:23:21more realistic movement and with that

1:23:24the wildest year of the Final Fantasy 15

1:23:27development Saga wed 2014 was a year

1:23:29full of unexpected announcements

1:23:31disappointments and New Beginnings TSO

1:23:34namora was no longer involved with the

1:23:35project leaving behind his fabula Nova

1:23:37cristalis project for another hajim

1:23:40tabada to supervise to completion the

1:23:43real core of Final Fantasy 15 was formed

1:23:45but how would it evolve as we headed

1:23:47closer to

1:23:50release 2015 was the year that Final

1:23:53Fantasy 15 became almost unrecognizable

1:23:55to some when comparing it to the versus

1:23:5713

1:23:58trailers as hajim Tabata settled into

1:24:01the director's seat for the second year

1:24:03publicly the game truly began to take

1:24:05form under his vision not tetsu namora

1:24:09like 2014 we kick off 2015 with a new

1:24:12interview Kotaku interviewed hajim

1:24:14Tabata on new changes to the game and

1:24:16when players can expect the demo right

1:24:18out of the gate Tabata shared that he

1:24:20reads watches and listens to all of the

1:24:23comments from people playing his games

1:24:24even reading fan mail when he gets it he

1:24:27shared that he'll often use Google

1:24:29Translate on foreign comments conferring

1:24:31with native speakers on the Square Enix

1:24:32team to ensure he understands their

1:24:34remarks and can make feedback Kotaku

1:24:37asked if he chooses to read good

1:24:38comments first but toata share that he

1:24:40reads them all good and bad he wants

1:24:43everyone's true opinions while he

1:24:45certainly has an image for the game in

1:24:46his head Tabata wants to remain

1:24:48open-minded and pick the best points

1:24:50from feedback to not waste any time or

1:24:52resources

1:24:56when talking about the evolution from

1:24:57verses 13 to 15 Tabata shared that when

1:25:00he was put on the project in July 2012

1:25:02the team was truly struggling to realize

1:25:04the game's Vision on PS3 and Xbox 360 as

1:25:08a result one of the first things he did

1:25:10was make a prototype for PlayStation 4

1:25:11and Xbox One this was even before

1:25:14devkits were in hand so developers had

1:25:16no idea what the final details of the

1:25:18consoles were Tabata had to resort on

1:25:21assumption and worked on the Windows PC

1:25:23Direct X1 engine to build the Prototype

1:25:26the result was the 2013 E3 trailer which

1:25:29is what Tabata said he and his team were

1:25:31working on when he joined the 15 team in

1:25:342012 from there he began to work

1:25:37together to bring the 15 and luminous

1:25:40engine teams together to work

1:25:42simultaneously on the Final Fantasy 15

1:25:44project this was a process of combining

1:25:47the Luminous and Ebony engines together

1:25:49and then shifting to optimize and polish

1:25:51the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions

1:25:53once again again Tabata shared with

1:25:55kataku that the development team

1:25:57understands that fans have waited for

1:25:59years to play this title and this is a

1:26:01major reason he chose to prioritize a

1:26:03demo they wanted to showcase the game in

1:26:05some form and put it in the hands of

1:26:06players as soon as possible he then

1:26:08revealed that episode Des Sky will be

1:26:10out as close to March 17th as possible

1:26:13and then a massive piece of information

1:26:16is dropped talking about the dis Sky

1:26:19Region in Final Fantasy 15 Tabata says

1:26:21that he is unsure what percentage of the

1:26:23world it is is because it's constantly

1:26:25moving and changing however he shares

1:26:27that he's confident the region was

1:26:29originally meant to be 12th or 5% of the

1:26:33game's world looking back on verses 13

1:26:35and namor's vision it's been reported

1:26:38and stated countless times that the

1:26:40game's ambition grew so big to the point

1:26:42where the project was considered

1:26:43supposedly a Trilogy with the sky only

1:26:465% of the map size it's almost

1:26:49impossible to imagine what the true

1:26:51original scale of verses 13 and Final

1:26:54Fantasy 15 were can you imagine a Final

1:26:57Fantasy 15 with a map the size of 20 D

1:26:59Sky regions Tabata ended off this

1:27:02interview discussing that while the

1:27:03original plan was for Final Fantasy 15

1:27:05to have a 40-hour main story the team is

1:27:08now struggling to contain the narrative

1:27:09within that time frame so they're

1:27:11attempting to work around it throughout

1:27:13the rest of January and February 2015

1:27:16more details were revealed regarding the

1:27:18episode dis Sky demo in 15's World

1:27:21development was clearly moving in the

1:27:22right direction while ironing challenges

1:27:24with the scope of the game but overall

1:27:27one thing was clear the game that was

1:27:29versus 13 was slowly starting to chip

1:27:32away leaving behind a completely

1:27:34different title as the Year progressed

1:27:36this only got more and more clear

1:27:39arriving to March 17th 2015 the first

1:27:43public playable demo of Final Fantasy 15

1:27:46was released in the form of episode dis

1:27:48Sky alongside Final Fantasy type zero HD

1:27:51the demo featured an explorable dungeon

1:27:54combat encounters with massive beasts

1:27:56and even a tease to special powers of

1:27:58noctis fans began to share feedback

1:28:01online as they experienced the demo and

1:28:03this was closely monitored by Tabata and

1:28:05the 15 team later that month hexa Drive

1:28:08was revealed to be working on Final

1:28:10Fantasy 15 alongside Tabata and his

1:28:12already massive team previously hexad

1:28:15Drive had worked closely on numerous HD

1:28:18remasters including Okami HD and Monster

1:28:21Hunter Freedom Unite with Capcom as well

1:28:23as final fantasy type 0er HD with square

1:28:26tobata revealed that hexad drive had

1:28:28begun working with the 15 team prior to

1:28:30the switch to luminous engine which

1:28:32would have been pre E3 2013 this was

1:28:35back when the game ran on the Prototype

1:28:37emidy engine according to 15 art

1:28:39director tomohiro hasagawa the team

1:28:42requested more support for the game and

1:28:43Square Enix granted them access to the

1:28:45hexad drive Engineers it's interesting

1:28:47to think about this notion as it doesn't

1:28:49seem like Square Enix was willing to

1:28:50give more resources to the game when it

1:28:52was Final Fantasy Versus 13 under

1:28:56namora he also shared that the team had

1:28:59a trial andair process of developing the

1:29:01game when it came to verses 13 citing

1:29:05the high objective development style

1:29:06we've seen in conventional Final Fantasy

1:29:09titles and the Kingdom Heart series as

1:29:11the Reason hasagawa notes that square

1:29:13ultimately realized that using this

1:29:15outdated system would lead to more

1:29:17issues down the line so the team brought

1:29:19on members of visual Works in addition

1:29:21to hexad drive staff to reignite a new

1:29:24development strategy the staff was

1:29:26crucial in crafting the trailer shown at

1:29:28E3

1:29:302013 more development staff were

1:29:32interviewed in the following weeks

1:29:34including kazuyuki ium Mori the director

1:29:37at Square enix's internal CGI Studio

1:29:39visual Works who was working with Tata

1:29:41on Final Fantasy 15 directly he shared

1:29:44that the team wants to focus on as many

1:29:46real-time cutscenes as possible but it

1:29:49will offer a quote good balance for

1:29:51players with stunning CGI movies he

1:29:54noted that keeping a balance was key and

1:29:56CGI would only be used in cases where

1:29:59the team felt players would get more out

1:30:01of the cuts scene than real time another

1:30:03major event occurred in late April where

1:30:06hajim Tabata held a live stream to

1:30:08discuss the demo and fan feedback with a

1:30:10significant reveal in store first he

1:30:13shared that many players brought

1:30:15feedback surrounding camera control slow

1:30:17gameplay poor performance MP and voice

1:30:20direction for the English cast Tabata

1:30:22noted that the team was working to

1:30:24address these major areas of concern

1:30:26while still taking less popular

1:30:27complaints into consideration Square

1:30:29Enix opted to compile fan feedback

1:30:32through various surveys in different

1:30:33regions questioning players on their

1:30:35thoughts about aspects like music or

1:30:37story on a scale of 1 to 10 alongside

1:30:40this direct questions regarding

1:30:42different aspects of the game were asked

1:30:45overall the global average score from

1:30:48everyone who played the demo and

1:30:49participated in the survey was 8.3 out

1:30:52of 10 specifically

1:30:54in North America the game scored an 8.6

1:30:57in Japan an 8.0 and in Europe an 8.3

1:31:01Tabata answered dozens of questions from

1:31:03fans all around the world even stemming

1:31:05to questions from the West specifically

1:31:07regarding Cindy being quote too sexy

1:31:10this led to Tabata talking about this

1:31:12for minutes even asking developers in

1:31:14the room who worked on Cindy their

1:31:16thoughts on the matter this is just one

1:31:18of many examples where Tabata found

1:31:20himself willing to do anything and

1:31:22everything to satisfy as many f as

1:31:24possible with this game at the end of

1:31:26the live stream Tabata made a big reveal

1:31:29episode disy 2 a brand new updated

1:31:32version of the demo was in development

1:31:34and set to launch in mid to late may

1:31:36this update included enhancements to the

1:31:38camera and targeting system active cross

1:31:41battle MP recovery Dodge rolling and

1:31:44more both frame rate stabilization and

1:31:47individual quests were being considered

1:31:48to implement in this demo as

1:31:51well while May came and went without the

1:31:54release of the episode Des Sky 2.0 demo

1:31:56June brought major news and shakeups

1:31:58further distancing the current Final

1:32:00Fantasy 15 from what it once was

1:32:02promised to be the sixth major Final

1:32:05Fantasy 15 live stream active time

1:32:07report 6.0 revealed massive changes to

1:32:10the game dated the demo and provided

1:32:12more response to Fan

1:32:14feedback in the midst of this live

1:32:16stream Tabata began to share information

1:32:18regarding some of the versus 13 content

1:32:20that would no longer appear in the game

1:32:22while the team attempted to realize

1:32:24namor's vision and stick to his original

1:32:26story it posed plenty of challenge for

1:32:28the developers due to Square Enix making

1:32:30the decision to limit Final Fantasy 15

1:32:32to a complete story housed within one

1:32:35game this ties back to the speculation

1:32:37of namora aiming to make versus a

1:32:41Trilogy which caused the narrative to

1:32:44rapidly expand over time across not one

1:32:47but three games remember even Final

1:32:50Fantasy 15 was supposed to have multiple

1:32:52direct sequels according to to namora

1:32:54one of the biggest changes revealed for

1:32:56Final Fantasy 15 was that Stella was no

1:32:58longer a part of this story a new

1:33:00character took her role Luna

1:33:02Freya around TGs 2014 the deneki

1:33:06magazine confirmed this simply referring

1:33:08to her as Luna while Stella's original

1:33:10design was changed in the 2013 reveal

1:33:13trailer namora still referred to her as

1:33:15Stella in interviews not lunaf Freya

1:33:17Tabata shared that the team did attempt

1:33:19to keep her in the story but found it

1:33:21too difficult to incorporate her

1:33:23character and role within the current

1:33:25story as a result the team decided to

1:33:28create Luna who serves a completely

1:33:30different role in the story and is 100%

1:33:32separated from

1:33:34Stella another shift was with insomnia

1:33:37the Crown City this was the area

1:33:38showcased in the opening for Final

1:33:40Fantasy vers 13 in the first trailers

1:33:43Tabata shared that while originally the

1:33:45party and fights that occurred after the

1:33:47castle were set to be included the team

1:33:50decided to delete them from the game

1:33:51citing they had quote to be regressed

1:33:54because of a critical Factor this factor

1:33:57is likely the lack of Stella as her

1:33:59character was integral to these scenes

1:34:01however now she was completely ripped

1:34:03from the story it was shared that the

1:34:05sequence in insomnia will now feature

1:34:07noctis in the party leaving with the

1:34:08neheim Army shortly attacking afterward

1:34:12Tabata teased that even with these

1:34:14massive changes and the lack of Stella

1:34:17quote there are other characters that we

1:34:19introduced like a woman with dark hair

1:34:21and a female draon that are still in the

1:34:23game with their own important roles

1:34:25within the story kazushi nojima who was

1:34:28originally in charge of the scenario for

1:34:30Final Fantasy vers 13 shared the

1:34:32following message after this live stream

1:34:34aired quote this is nojima as director

1:34:37Tabata just announced the plot that was

1:34:39developed during the versus era has

1:34:40served as the basis for the Final

1:34:42Fantasy 15 story I'm sure the story will

1:34:45make many changes as they adapt my draft

1:34:47into a more detailed script but I

1:34:49believe that the important things I

1:34:50wanted to express will be taken to

1:34:52another level by the 15 team as I

1:34:54express my support I will be waiting for

1:34:56Final Fantasy 15 to be completed just

1:34:58like everyone else certainly the game

1:35:01had already begun to distance itself

1:35:02over the last year but this was the

1:35:04final nail in the coffin Final Fantasy

1:35:0615 was something new a different game

1:35:09entirely from verses 13 no longer was

1:35:12this a game under the vision of tsia

1:35:14namora but one under hajim

1:35:20Tabata the leadup to Gamescom 2015 was

1:35:23Qui it but Square Enix Finally Revealed

1:35:25the one thing that everyone wanted to

1:35:27know at the big event the release date

1:35:29Tabata and square confirmed that Final

1:35:31Fantasy 15 would launch in 2016 stating

1:35:34that fans will quote get their hands on

1:35:36the game before 2017 after a decade

1:35:39versus would finally release though not

1:35:42in the form many expected or even wished

1:35:45for this was even further pushed with

1:35:48the Final Fantasy 15 Dawn trailer at

1:35:50Gamescom which revealed a brand new look

1:35:52for Regis noctis's dad and one that was

1:35:55a stark contrast to his appearance in

1:35:57the versus 13 trailers funny enough this

1:36:00trailer alone reveals content that did

1:36:02not end up in the full game there are

1:36:03multiple scenes with Regis and Luna

1:36:05talking together and we never see those

1:36:07appear in 15 for one reason or another

1:36:10we'd wager that this perhaps ties in

1:36:11with the original story with Stella's

1:36:13near-death experience perhaps a major

1:36:16interview with Tabata at Gamescom 2015

1:36:18was posted by finan diving into the

1:36:20changes in departure from versus 13 to

1:36:23has shared that he understands why fans

1:36:25have been worried about the game and

1:36:26reminds them that his team is putting

1:36:28large portions of their lives into

1:36:29crafting the title so rest assured that

1:36:31they intend to make it as amazing as

1:36:33possible speaking directly on the fan

1:36:35expectations in the release cycle he

1:36:37shared the following

1:36:39statement there are two very important

1:36:42things here I just mentioned the first

1:36:44one we have this Clear Vision of what we

1:36:46think Final Fantasy 15 should be we want

1:36:49to make it the best possible game it can

1:36:51be and to not compromise on what we

1:36:53think will please fans the most that is

1:36:55our clear Mission but secondly we also

1:36:58think it's important to be polite to our

1:37:00user base and to show our integrity and

1:37:02dealing with the changes from versus 13

1:37:04so you understand why we did those but

1:37:06these are two different things letting

1:37:09you know why we change things is one

1:37:11thing but keeping to our plan for the

1:37:12game is another and we don't let those

1:37:14two get confused overall when we changed

1:37:17over from verses 13 to 15 we look at all

1:37:20the elements that were intended to be in

1:37:22verses 13 and the plan for for that game

1:37:24and how these would fit into the new

1:37:26plan as Final Fantasy 15 we really tried

1:37:29to preserve as much of it as possible

1:37:31everything we could move over and keep

1:37:33in the story we did and there's a lot of

1:37:35it obviously some stuff just couldn't

1:37:37fit into the new plan in these cases we

1:37:40had to alter them in some way remove

1:37:41them or replace them that is something

1:37:44we are not ashamed of doing because we

1:37:46think they really needed to be changed

1:37:48now we have to try and get people to

1:37:50understand that in the best possible way

1:37:53I hope you will understand also the

1:37:56situation with Final Fantasy 15 is very

1:37:58unique and I have learned one thing from

1:37:59this experience when you release

1:38:01information about a game very early as

1:38:03it was the case with versus 13 which is

1:38:06a game that never really took shape how

1:38:08the information is viewed by the world

1:38:10is very different to what we as

1:38:11developers think at the moment it goes

1:38:13out into the world it stops being our

1:38:15thing and becomes something for the fans

1:38:17it's just natural that they're going to

1:38:19get attached to these

1:38:20characters he shared that while he

1:38:23understands fans are upset with certain

1:38:24changes once again the team is doing all

1:38:27it can to include as much of the

1:38:28original story as possible some fan

1:38:31requests might even make it to the game

1:38:32as DLC down the road additionally

1:38:35speaking on the link to fabula Nova

1:38:37Crystalis Tata said that when the

1:38:39transition between versus 13 and ff15

1:38:41occurred the dev team quote felt it was

1:38:44much better to keep fnc references in

1:38:46lore in there and incorporate them in a

1:38:48very natural way rather than try and

1:38:50remove all of them at any expense the

1:38:52team did oped however to remove all ff13

1:38:55terminology as tobato wanted players to

1:38:58understand that this world was separate

1:38:59from Final Fantasy 13 Final Fantasy 15

1:39:03was no longer connected to fabula Nova

1:39:04Crystalis but players will find similar

1:39:06elements as they explore at the end of

1:39:09August Pax West also revealed loads of

1:39:12new information with a key piece of new

1:39:14information being that versus 13 was

1:39:16said to only be 20% complete when it

1:39:18became Final Fantasy 15 Tata shared that

1:39:21quote in terms of character design or

1:39:23visuals nothing really had been fixed at

1:39:25that point we were still working on it

1:39:27updating and revising those designs this

1:39:30further reinforces the multiple reboots

1:39:32that the game received when

1:39:33transitioning to PS3 and Final Fantasy

1:39:3515 speaking on development for 15 alone

1:39:38tobata shared that the 15 team had

1:39:40recently received assistance from the

1:39:42just cause Developers for certain

1:39:44technical issues additionally Tata

1:39:46shared with different Outlets that a PC

1:39:49version will be considered after the

1:39:50release for consoles is available

1:39:53new information regarding the lore and

1:39:55story of ff15 was revealed by Tabata at

1:39:58a Pax pan first the woman depicted in

1:40:01the logo drawn by Yoshi taka Amano isn't

1:40:04necessarily rro the goddess mentioned in

1:40:06versus 13 trailers however Tabata shared

1:40:10that she is the most important goddess

1:40:12found in the world of Final Fantasy 15

1:40:14and this sketch was inspiration for the

1:40:16character additionally the concept of

1:40:19idolon were revealed being Godlike

1:40:21creatures that were involved in creating

1:40:22and sh shaping the world Tabata even

1:40:25went as far as describing 15's cosmology

1:40:27which was supposedly built around

1:40:29Japanese mythology sprinkled with

1:40:30Western religion elements he shared that

1:40:33players will get to learn about how the

1:40:34world was made and who its creators were

1:40:37and as you may know this is something

1:40:39that didn't end up featuring in the

1:40:40final

1:40:42release news regarding the characters

1:40:44also made its way to this panel with

1:40:46Tabata sharing insights on noctis and

1:40:48Luna specifically stating that the two

1:40:50do have a romantically involved

1:40:52relationship but it's far from a quote

1:40:54typical love story this was one of the

1:40:56first bits we learned about Luna who

1:40:59prior to the PS panel had been much of a

1:41:00mystery in the trailers alongside this

1:41:03it was revealed that players will play a

1:41:05key role as noctis to develop bonds with

1:41:07party members you can tackle different

1:41:09activities with ignis prompto and

1:41:11gladiolus to increase the strength of

1:41:14their bond resulting in better combo

1:41:16attacks tobata added this to Showcase a

1:41:18growth of bonds through gameplay design

1:41:21even information on the world was shared

1:41:23with teases of using boats to travel

1:41:25between massive continents which was a

1:41:27major shift from the previous comments

1:41:28of one large interconnected map and

1:41:31speaking of gameplay the ff15 team

1:41:34shared that noctis was now capable of

1:41:35using firearms and shields alongside his

1:41:38sword the number of weapons was said to

1:41:40be significant with numerous options

1:41:42available at your disposal Tata ended

1:41:44off the panel discussing the car noctus

1:41:46in the party travel in revealing it to

1:41:47be named the regalia he shared that this

1:41:50car is meant to act as a physical

1:41:52manifestation of reges as noctis carries

1:41:54his father's love burdens and bond

1:41:57throughout every step of his journey

1:41:59with Pax West over fall came and

1:42:01information was steady but mostly scarce

1:42:04some minor new details were revealed

1:42:06here and there mainly through the Final

1:42:07Fantasy 15 fan forum hajim Tabata and

1:42:10other developers on the project

1:42:11commented on fans posts from around the

1:42:13world in an effort to understand and

1:42:15respond to their feedback about the game

1:42:17we learned of a March event to announce

1:42:19the game's release date that mles

1:42:21wouldn't be chatting in ff5 the Airship

1:42:24would likely be DLC and even a potential

1:42:26gilgames DLC from The Forum as of

1:42:29November 9th 2015 Final Fantasy 15

1:42:32officially completed its pre beta the

1:42:35game at this point was playable from

1:42:37start to finish with the first half

1:42:38playing at the quality of the final

1:42:40product Tabata and his team were closer

1:42:42than ever to releasing ff15 after so

1:42:44many years certain combat details were

1:42:47shared around this time by lead game

1:42:48designer and AI programmer prer sun when

1:42:52he stated that his team had has quote

1:42:53created a system for F5 where the player

1:42:56can decide the battle style that they

1:42:57and their comrades use although this

1:42:59takes a different form to the gambits in

1:43:01ff12 additionally a post on the fan

1:43:04forum from eugi kenichiro lead game

1:43:07desire in combat planner commented on

1:43:09battles with massive monsters sharing

1:43:12quote there is a gameplay mechanic where

1:43:14you can debilitate enemies by destroying

1:43:16parts of their anatomy and it plays an

1:43:18important role in

1:43:19battle as 2015 winded down Tabata sat

1:43:23down with Edge magazine to discuss his

1:43:25upbringing and some of the pressure he

1:43:26faces from fans looking forward to Final

1:43:29Fantasy 15 one of his most interesting

1:43:31quotes here was quote on a project of

1:43:33this scale you can't just make the game

1:43:35you want you have to have a bigger

1:43:37picture It ultimately showcases in plain

1:43:40sight how Tabata was forced to work

1:43:42between the lines when adding things

1:43:44reusing aspects of verses such as

1:43:46character scenario and music this wasn't

1:43:48his game completely it was a mash of

1:43:51Final Fantasy Versus 13 and 15 Concepts

1:43:55additionally when asked about Final

1:43:57Fantasy fans he stated quote loyal Final

1:44:00Fantasy fans are vocal and have specific

1:44:02requests if we don't deliver on those

1:44:04requests or give them information they

1:44:06want then they can get very frustrated

1:44:08there is pressure there for sure we

1:44:10found it difficult to know how to

1:44:12communicate with that group effectively

1:44:14but it's a challenge that right now at

1:44:15least we're enjoying 2015 ended with a

1:44:19prominent lecture in Paris from former

1:44:20Square Enix technology director Julian

1:44:23merceron who shared his journey and

1:44:25experience with the transition from

1:44:26Final Fantasy Versus 13 to 15 merceron

1:44:30was on staff for Final Fantasy 132 when

1:44:32versus was undergoing conceptual design

1:44:34by namora nojima and their team he noted

1:44:37that as the game began to look toward

1:44:39open World gameplay The Game Dev

1:44:41technology in place at Square Enix

1:44:42became useless the team needed ways to

1:44:45complete environments like never before

1:44:47causing all kinds of complications

1:44:49merceron ends this conversation stating