Versus XIII - Final Fantasy’s first M Rating?

With Microsoft’s acquisition of Final Fantasy XIII many FF fans whom appear to be emotionally attached to the marriage of Final Fantasy and the PlayStation are now turning to the other next gen title in the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection. We reported earlier that when asked if Final Fantasy Versus XIII would be a multi platform release Shinji Hashimoto’s response was a flat, closed ended, no. For those upset about XIII’s expansion to another console they can rest assured that they will have at least one numbered Final Fantasy exclusive for their system. This is, of course, provided Square Enix does not change their minds about their allegiance to Sony…again. Those subscribing to Sony should rejoice that the visibly better of the two, in these early stages, has remained an exclusive release. However this isn’t an opinion piece so I digress.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII is just as highly anticipated as XIII

At this point everybody has seen both the teaser and the trailer to Versus XIII. It was pretty disheartening to see a guard holding a shotgun that fired like a Call of Duty 4 heavy machine gun. That aside, the trailer set up an extremely sturdy platform for us all to get on top of and scream for more.

The trailer was also strikingly vivid. Two parts in particular appear to be extremely out of the ordinary for a Final Fantasy. The Prince breaks a guards neck with his legs moments before he impales another guard through the heart while falling out of the sky. The impalement is complete with sound effects and blood to add to the realism. By video gaming standards there isn’t much blood but by Final Fantasy standards it was available by the gallon.

The ESRB states that a game rated Teen “may contain violence” and “minimal blood”. Their requirements for a game rated Mature are “intense violence” and “blood and gore”. Only an infinitesimal amount of footage has been released. If the trailer is representative of the kind of violence the game may contain, Final Fantasy may make its first venture out of the Teen ESRB rating.

Strangely, the Versus XIII team is being headed by Tetsuya Nomura and the people who brought you Kindom Hearts, an E rated game.

Of course many readers may have already noticed this and discussed it at length. What makes this worth mentioning again is that if, in fact, Square is willing to make the leap to the M rating for one of it’s newest titles they may also be willing to remake Final Fantasy VII. With the capabilities of this generation’s consoles a remake could be brilliantly revamped, yet true to the original game. Remember the Final Fantasy Tech Demo for the PS3? Imagine that but a couple billion Japanese yen in development costs. More than eleven years since Final Fantasy VII’s original release in Japan, those who’ve played through it are now either of age to play a Mature title or very close.

This is far from definitive proof of a VII remake, in fact the word proof may not even apply. However, the demand is there and with a surprise FF VII related announcement around the corner there may just be a chance.

Yourstrulyinhd (Gerry)

Hashimoto and Kitase talk about negative feedback

For a previous interview with Hashimoto and Kitase please click here. This time Hashimoto and Kitase spoke to Gamespy about what to expect in Final Fantasy XIII. They even give their perspective on the bad news circulating around the internet concerning fan boys dismay.

- So, big news, what fueled the decision to take Final Fantasy XIII out of exclusivity on the PS3?

Shinji Hashimoto: The decision was basically made when we considered the install base and overseas appeal of the Xbox 360, so we wanted to answer the needs of supplying the game to as many of our fans as possible.

- In terms of the legacy of the series, will this change anything from the players’ point of view?

Hashimoto: It’s more related to how the gaming industry has changed, because it has always been that one console was the leader with the others following behind. But now, we are in a time when the PS3 and 360 are on the same level and there are so many different platforms for the player to choose from that Final Fantasy must evolve to meet the different needs of those players.

- Is there any impact that moving to Microsoft’s technology could have on the White Engine, because initially we were told that the PS3 would be the best platform for exploiting what the engine could do.

Yoshinori Kitase: Well, the White Engine is actually called the Crystal Tool now, but it’s basically the same thing and essentially it’s a collection of tools for game development that are necessary for game development. The order of development is that first we will develop FF13 for the PS3 and make it specific to that hardware to try to accommodate all the functionality offered by it and then, after the PS3 version is complete, we are going to develop the Xbox 360 version. So, in that sense, we don’t really have much to discuss about the development of the Xbox 360 version right now, but that’s the order of our development cycle.

The new face of 21st Century Final Fantasy

- Are there any inspirations that stand out from the series’ history that are going into FF13?

Kitase: Of course, the platform is completely different since the last Final Fantasy was on the PS2, and now that we’re moving to the PS3 and Xbox 360 there’s going to be a big difference there in memory capacity and the medium is completely different, so it’ll be a totally different thing. Because of the advanced hardware, we’ll be able to expand the Final Fantasy world even more and create a more realistic feel, so there’ll be monsters wandering around the field and we can make huge monsters or a great number of monsters, so in line with that realism, it will feel like those creatures are actually living in that world and generally be more interactive.

- So, speaking of that world, over the course of the series there have been a number of worlds created. We’ve become very familiar with the world of Final Fantasy VII with Midgar and Shinra and we’ve come to know the world of Ivalice because there have been a ton of games in the Ivalice Alliance. Is there anything that you can share with us about the world of Fabula Nova Crystalis?

Kitase: There’s not too much we can disclose in regards to the details of the world, but we can say that there’s the Fabula Nova Crystalis, or the legend of the crystal, and it’s a mythology that exists within the game world and it’s analogous to the real world. Like, we have Greek mythology and other mythologies with different gods and different traditions and even though it may not be a real world, these things remain in our world as maybe names of regions or monuments in the real world as well. So, the world of FF13 will be similar to that in that these kinds of stories exist, but the world of FF13 is a real world that is not necessarily connected directly to that mythological world, but there are still monuments of that world that exist as reminders.

- The fact that the game will be on the 360, does that in any way sway the story? What I mean by that is, there are some people who’ve only played on the 360 and they may have very little understanding of the story, so was that taken into account in terms of the story?

Kitase: There’s no real difference or additions that were incorporated because of coming to the 360. Traditionally, the Final Fantasy series has been created so that you don’t really need to know any backstory or any sidestories in order to enjoy each game and so we’ll be approaching FF13 in this way as well. Of course, there’s also probably a lot of people that are just now coming to the series, so we want to make the game available to as many people as possible in a way they can enjoy.

- There’s been quite a bit of commentary around the Internet following the announcement that the game’s coming to 360, both good and bad, so what is the response of the team, specifically in regards to the negative commentary?

Kitase: There are many different kinds of negative comments, but the one that stands out particularly is that the move to multiplatform is very bad because it means that we won’t maximize the new features of each piece of hardware and will kind of become more generic so that it can fit both platforms, but, as mentioned earlier, the game is going to be completed for the PS3 first, so we’re going to maximize our use of that hardware and take advantage of all of its features, creating the game specifically tailored to the PS3 and then transition to the Xbox 360 and exploit that hardware to its fullest. So, the team is confident in the power of both platforms and not worried about that part at all.

Hashimoto: Just to clarify, in building a 360 version in addition to the PS3 version, it’s important to note that we’re not changing our minds and switching over to the Xbox 360 or anything like that, but rather simply creating a game for the PS3 while realizing that there could be more people playing the game if we also offer it on the Xbox 360 as well.

Source: Gamespy

Exclusivity and Blame

I, for one, purchased my Sony PlayStation 3 shortly after its release for $600. Keep in mind that upon release the $600 version of PlayStation was a 60 Gig. An 80 Gig PlayStation was eventually released and the 60 was taken out of production. My PlayStation was not purchased because Sony had exclusive rights to Final Fantasy but because I’ve always been amazed at Sony’s gaming products. I still am. My PlayStation comes in very handy for its extra-gaming uses. Hypothetically speaking, if Square Enix announced after the release of FFXII that the next installment would be an XBOX 360 exclusive I would’ve still purchased a PS3 for full time usage. It would’ve sat comfortably next to the 360 that I purchased solely to play FFXIII.

The issue isn’t that Square Enix has “sold out” or betrayed their loyal fan base. The makers of Final Fantasy run a business and business isn’t as good as it could be if they’re releasing their titles exclusively for one console. Particularly when that console has the ball on their end of the court but hasn’t the slightest idea what to do with it.

Don’t believe me? Where’s PlayStation Home? The initial release date for PSHome was around September 2007. Later that year, at TGS ’07, Home was announced to be delayed till Spring ’08. MTV’s parties in Panama City ended a long time ago and still no PSHome. Some of the anticipated launch titles weren’t released till much later and many of the launch titles sucked (for lack of a better term). Granted the console has gained some positive momentum recently, they were moving backward just before that.

Ultimately, the Final Fantasy fans that are upset genuinely have the right to be. They’re unfortunately aiming their distaste in the wrong direction. Blaming Square Enix for making the best decision they could almost defends Sony, which is where the real problem appears to be. It also appears to be a problem that has long forgotten about those blowing the air out of their lungs to complain. Sony’s PlayStation is no longer just a gaming system but a part of the larger Home Entertainment System. They’ve got the senior demographic (ages 45 and up) to prove it. On the brighter side it may be safe to say that XIII’s release on more than one system will increase Square’s profits. That’s more money to dump into the next Final Fantasy title that goes into production (VII remake…maybe…please!?!?!?!). As far as the disgruntled PlayStation owner/Final Fantasy fan is concerned, you know that you thought Versus XIII looked way cooler anyway…admit it.

If you’re interested in the demographic information of PS3 and XBOX360 it can be downloaded for free at:

Experian Consumer Research - Gamer Demographics

Yourstrulyinhd (Gerry)