In a recent interview with kikizo Shinji Hashimoto has commented that Final Fantasy XIII appearing on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is not a betrayal or disappointment. Yoshinori Kitase was also present at the interview. View the whole interview below:

Back when the FF series was just getting starts, localisations were an afterthought. After the series really started picking up steam in the West, that market seemed to gain a much greater importance for you. Is this reflected in the development of FFXIII? Are you taking the Western market into more consideration when developing the game?

Kitase:

Since the release of FF7, a lot of doors have opened for the series. We had a lot of people overseas pick up the series for the first time. When we realised just how much the overseas market was picking up on the game, we made a conscious effort to try and eliminate Japan-specific customs and concepts in the games. But maybe we’ve become a bit too conscious of that…? Maybe the Japanese origin of these games is part of their appeal. So, for FFXIII, we’re just trying to do things as naturally as possible, and not worrying about tailoring it to any one specific market. The game’s made in Japan, so the culture just follows naturally, I suppose.

Could you tell us about how progress is going with development with Final Fantasy XIII?

Kitase:

For development, the PS3 version is currently being worked on. We’re going to complete that version first before we move onto the 360. We’re at the state where we can put the build on a BRD and play them on our testing units.

It’s well known by now that FFXIII is no longer PS3 exclusive. Some PS3 fans are extremely disappointed, and have become quite vocal about their dissatisfaction. What would you say to them?

Hashimoto:

I’d rather they not think of this as a “betrayal” or disappointment. It’s not like we’re cancelling or delaying the PS3 version at all! It’s more of an added bonus for 360 fans. We won’t be putting them at a disadvantage in any way.

Kitase:

I’d like to add… I think that maybe because it’s going multiplatform that some fans are worried about the game’s scope being reduced to fit onto both consoles. The fact is, the PS3 version is what’s in development right now, and the team is working to specialise that version to the very best of the PS3’s abilities. After that, we’ll do the 360 port and optimize it to that particular hardware. There will be no decrease in quality as a result of the game appearing across two platforms.

Has the expanded capacity of the Blu-way format had any effect on the game’s presentation?

Hashimoto:

Blu-Ray’s additional storage capacity doesn’t matter as much as the strength of the hardware itself. In the past, we could only create really high-quality cinematics as prerendered CG. But now, we can move that high-quality CG into realtime. We can portray large monsters and expansive, lush environments. So, the hardware is definitely a key element in the progression of the presentation quality.

The PS3’s been around in Japan for a while now. Would you have hoped to release the first Final Fantasy game for the system a bit more quickly?

Hashimoto:

Definitely! We would have loved to have had it ready sooner for the console, but with the development of new hardware, it’s become more and more complicated to develop software. The process has become far more time-consuming.

There’s not much known yet about how Final Fantasy XIII plays. Can you shed some light for our readers?

Kitase:

Gameplay-wise, there’s not much we can disclose at the moment… except that, similar to Final Fantasy XII, there’s going to be a field with monsters roaming on there, which the character can interact with, and you can pursue or avoid them on the field. When you touch them, it will transition into a battle sequence. We can’t say how many members will be in the party, but we will definitely have the traditional party element incorporated into the battles.

How long did it take to finalise the story and concepts behind Final Fantasy XIII? What were the main difficulties?

Kitase:

The project is constantly evolving, so there’s no specific time limit on when we have to have certain aspects of the game done by. The battle system, in particular, is something we continuously play and try to improve upon. The scenario is pretty much done, and the art assets are at about the 80% complete stage.

How does FFXIII relate to the other “Fabula Nova Crystallis” games?

Hashimoto:

All of the FFXIII games are done by a different director. They all took the common “crystal mythology” of the game’s storyline and decided to each interpret it in their own way. We gave them all their own creative freedom with the story and game style. All three games are very different experiences.

Is Lightning the de facto main character, or will other characters be heavily focused upon, as well?

Kitase:

In terms of overall scope, Lightning - that’s not her real name, by the way - will be the main character. Of course, there may be other characters that assume the main role during other portions of the game. They will be featured as the main part of the scene, but Lightning will be the main focus.

So why pick a female as a main character this time around?

Kitase:

In the past, we’ve had females in a semi-lead position, like Terra/Tina in Final Fantasy VI and Yuna in FFX. They weren’t quite the main role, though, so we really wanted to give a full-fledged, female lead a try - and face the challenge of creating a story around her.

The world of FFXIII appears to be neither pure traditional fantasy nor science fiction. What is the concept behind this world?

Kitase:

Whether a title will have a more high fantasy or SF flavour is something that is up to each individual team. We decide on what we want to do fairly early on in development. For FFX, it was more of fantasy feel, while FF7 was more high-tech. The team behind FFXIII consists on many of the same staff that worked on FFX. Since FFX was a fantasy-oriented setting, we wanted to switch gears a bit and go more towards a science fiction feel for the game.

From what we’ve seen of the game so far, we’ve seen a lot of guns and other sci-fi-like weaponry in the game. We also have more human enemies, and not too many monsters. Is this indicative of what we’re going to see in the final game?

Kitase:

The trailer and screenshots were actually created at a very early stage in development, so at that point there were only humanoid enemies we could show. Same thing with the guns. In the final product, we assure you that there will be a lot more variety.

So - can you tell us anything about the enemies we will be encountering?

Kitase:

There will be a variety of monsters depending on the location within the game. For example, as you can see in the trailer, the characters are in a city setting, and the enemies are an army of soldiers. In nature environments, you’ll probably see more beast-like, “organic” type enemies.

When you release those trailers and images and get such a strong, positive fan reaction, does it put pressure on the team?

Kitase:

It’s not so much pressure, but with the internet these days, we can get feedback right away whenever we release something. A lot of people have opinions, you know, “This part looks so cool!” or “This part sucks!” Things like that. We look into that feedback. If something gets an especially positive or negative reaction, we’ll take that into consideration and work it in or out of the game.

So where do you get the feedback from?

Hashimoto:

That’s a secret! [laughs] Aside from the internet, when we have events, the staff are always peeking from from the curtains to see how the audience reacts. We take that into account, too!

In your opinion, what are the core values of a Final Fantasy game - the things that make Final Fantasy really stand out from the pack of RPGs - and how do you feel FFXIII embodies these values?

Kitase:

Oooh, that’s a complex question.

Hashimoto:

It is!

Kitase:

You go first. [laughs]

Hashimoto:

Well, different games aim to have some sort of “key element” that will differentiate them from other games on the market. For FF, we feel that the key element is that we constantly try to reach the highest potential, the highest quality standards in that particular generation. We’re always trying to raise the bar and outdo ourselves. We try to do that in every generation, and when we succeed, I think that’s when users really look to us and say “that was a great game!” And that’s what we want to achieve with FFXIII, as well.

Kitase:

One thing to add to that is an anecdote from a while back. Hironobu Sakaguchi - who as I’m sure you know used to head up the Final Fantasy series - he and I once had a conversation about this exact subject… half-jokingly. I asked, “What do you think should always remain in a Final Fantasy game to make it what it is? Really, what makes Final Fantasy?” He replied, “Well, as long as we have those message boxes with the blue backgrounds and the white text and borders, we’ll be fine!” That’s a top secret story that’s never been told until now! [laughs] But since we’ve had such an advancement with the graphics, we haven’t even been able to maintain that… so, Sakaguchi-san, I’m sorry! [laughs]

We’re starting to see a lot of very text- and dialogue-heavy games starting to get worldwide simultaneous releases. Do you think this would be possible to do for a Final Fantasy game?

Kitase:

We’re definitely trying to decrease the time gap between Japan and the other territories. We want to start the localisation process earlier this time around, so that we can cut out the lag between the releases as much as possible. But as I’m sure you know, in RPGs, there is a lot of varied, situational text. We’re working as hard as we can, but we probably can’t eliminate the release gap just yet.

Source: kikizo

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