Final Fantasy XV

<--News dump for today starts here

The Mystery Behind the Myth
by GTJuly 11, 2013

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From old Shakespeare quotes to the rebirth of Versus, we explore every angle and trailer to gaze deep into the crystals and shed light on the latest flash of Final Fantasy. (6:49)

Talking Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts & Development Philosophy with Tetsuya Nomura
We chat to Square Enix's most prolific designer.
by Alex DonaldsonJuly 16, 2013

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For readers of a site like RPG Site, Tetsuya Nomura really needs little to no introduction. To most he is the character designer of Final Fantasy VII, arguably the most beloved in the series, but his career extends far beyond that. He's responsible for much of the design in the eigth, tenth and thirteenth FF titles, too, and is the creator and Director of the Kingdom Hearts series - a franchise with unprecedentedly rapid growth that led it to even threaten eclipsing Final Fantasy sales for a period.

It's no surprise that so much of the current Japanese output of Square Enix hinges of the creative juices of this particular individual. He's now at the helm of both Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, the company's two biggest next-generation bets. In a sense, Nomura embodies all that Square Enix currently is - and after rocky financial returns, his vision needs to produce results.

We catch up with Nomura at the tail end of a rare slew of interviews. He's known for his privacy, preferring to remain with the team working than head out on press tours, and this is his first time being interviewed in Europe since around 2006. He tells me he's very tired, but still puts in the effort to answer my questions on development, philosophy and the bizarre sort of fame his characters have gifted him in detail.



RPG Site: It must be an interesting time for you right now - in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 you're revisiting a major milestone in your career, while building two new ones in Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III. When you look back at your older titles, such as KH1 or FF7 and 8, what do you see? Do you see changes you would like to make, or do you release your creations once complete?

Tetsuya Nomura: Well, as a creator I always create something new - I keep challenging myself to create something new. Looking back on my old games and everything I was involved in, I often think to myself 'I could have done this' or 'I could have added that,' and stuff like that. It's part of the process.

Right now, though, for Kingdom Hearts specifically - the original game was released more than ten years ago now, but looking back, the original Kingdom Hearts Final Mix... I don't feel like I should add this or that, or any more. Back then, it was perfect as it is.

Even though I've played this HD version of the game knowing its age, I don't feel that it's very old when I play it. I can still feel the passion I had back then in this original game - so, yeah. If we remake a game, maybe we then go and think about adding new elements and sequences and stuff like that, or making large changes - but I think a HD remaster, with the visual upgrade, is the right thing for this particular game.



RPG Site: One thing that fascinates me about you, as with Kojima-san, is your taste in and love of movies. I saw a great quote from you at E3 about Les Miserables. I'm curious about your personal taste in movies and how that inspires what you do - can you tell us a bit about that, and how your taste in moves effects your game creation philosophy?

Tetsuya Nomura: Hmmm... Well, yes, I watch movies a lot. I mean -- a LOT. Sometimes I watch a film to try to get some inspiration from it, and sometimes I just watch them for fun, with a really flat feeling about it, not thinking anything. Basically, normally, I'm not feeling anything - I just put the film on and watch.

Because I watch so many films, I struggle to remember specific ones that I got my inspirations from, but if we were talking genres, I love watching horror films probably the most. If you look at my work on Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts -- [laughs] Is there any horror influence there? For me personally, it doesn't work that because I have been inspired by something I then create something similar - it doesn't work like that for me.

It all depends on the genre, and the kind of feeling I get from a particular movie - that all depends on what I feel after I've watched a film. Maybe I get something, maybe I can't.

If you take Les Miserables, which you mentioned - I don't like the musical genre anyway. It's not because I like musicals I liked that film -- but as a total score, that film was really good.

It's not like I love one particular type of film - it's all about the balance. The balance of artwork, actors and actresses, also story - if everything matches, it can make one particular film great, like Les Miserables.

Les Miserables and Romeo and Juliet [The 1996 movie version], which of course I also like - they are old, traditional plays that have been updated. I've never actually seen the original stage play, but the reason why I really like those classic plays is because of the total balance of everything - the balance of all the levels.

For me, especially the last scene of Les Miserables where everybody is singing together - that scene was unbelievable.


RPG Site: Even the dead get their encore, right?

Nomura: [laughs] It's amazing, isn't it? Very moving - all the music, it's a very powerful scene. That kind of classic play always has a really good total balance.


RPG Site: You use the word balance a lot; is that something you seek in your game design? Do you think there's a parallel between movie and game creation?

Nomura: To an extent, but of course there's a massive difference between balance in films and balance creating a game. Especially creating some games for next-gen consoles - because the next gen consoles have a high spec and a lot of new functionality and everything - there's a kind of gap between the film-making and game creating at the moment.

Especially at the moment for game-making, there's just loads of staff involved... as a director, I can't do anything by myself! A director on a film can control things more, but I can't instruct all the people by myself. If the game is triple-A, a big, big project... the way I can use my power, and how to direct people... it's very difficult!


RPG Site: After the E3 announcement and showing, a lot of people online are defining FF15 as having Kingdom Hearts style combat. When 15 was Versus, I always figured it as an experiment - that your team would then go on to KH3 after completing that - but now Osaka is on KH3, which also looks to have that signature gameplay style. Does that concern you - that the two games could end up too similar in gameplay?

Nomura: Okay, so... [pauses] Two games. Both directed by myself. [laughs] However, both games are developed by two completely different teams. The two of them - they don't fight, but they compete - in a friendly way - and they try to create better things together. Both sides are, of course, developed for next-gen consoles as well.

There's a difference between the two, of course; Final Fantasy XV is a numbered title - the big history behind Final Fantasy, the task they have on their shoulders is huge, because it's the latest Final Fantasy game and has to live up to that history.

For the Kingdom Hearts team there is less history, but there are thousands of people around the world who are so passionate about the Kingdom Hearts series and have been for years - and this of course is the first announced numbered Kingdom Hearts title in many years, as well. People's hopes and expectations are very, very high there, as well - so that is on their shoulders as well.

So, the two teams have different kinds of tasks, different kinds of missions they have to complete and accomplish. That's the most important thing for both teams.

From the user's point of view, I don't think they worry about these things, or think 'which is better?' or anything like that - both teams look in a different direction. The most important thing for me is that they focus on the tasks - the missions - that each team has.


RPG Site: It's appears it's all about sequels and spin-offs now. There were many Kingdom Hearts titles between II and III, while on the FF side we have sequels - X-2, XIII-2, Lighting Returns - and you've already announced FF15 will have sequels. How does planning for multiple titles at a time instead of just one effect you as a creator?

Nomura: To start, the reason why we have had so many Kingdom Hearts spin-off games... well, look - it's above your imagination, seriously, believe it or not - creating a HD game is unbelievably difficult. [laughs]

People think it's easy - even a HD remake like 1.5, they think 'Ah, easy job' - but it actually isn't like that at all. Everything is difficult in the process, even with a HD remaster of a game. For 1.5 for instance, when we decided to make it, we had to decide where we were going to concentrate because it was so difficult, there was so much work involved.

The main reason why we had so many spin-offs for Kingdom Hearts is because we couldn't start preparing for Kingdom Hearts III for a while - for a long time - because... well, because of some reasons, basically. However, if we didn't release any Kingdom Hearts games after the second at all, people might forget about the game, might forget about the series.

Obviously, I didn't want to do that - that's why we decided to make a spin-off game until the preparation for Kingdom Hearts III was ready to do.

So, in a way, because of this, if there were no spin-off games, there was no Kingdom Hearts III. It was kind of needed to have all those spin-offs - a lot of spin-offs - because the time was quite long before the Kingdom Hearts III preparation started.

With Final Fantasy, each game has a different reason why we decided to do sequels and stuff - for Final Fantasy X, for XIII... Of course, with Final Fantasy XV, we announced at E3 that there will - probably - be a sequel to this game, as well.

There's a lot of different reasons, and they all depend on the game and the situation as well. Of course with FFXV I wanted to release the previous version of the game constantly - but it was very, very difficult to do so.

Now we have re-revealed the game, I'm excited to bring more information in the future.


RPG Site: For creators like you, your famous characters will follow you forever. Cloud, Squall, Sora - and now Noctis - they'll follow you everywhere, and likely live on long after your career is over. In turn, you have become somewhat famous for creating them. I once asked this question to Sakaguchi-san, and he said that he did sometimes think this - Do you ever wish you could escape that legacy, and create something as an unknown, like 20 years ago?

Nomura: I've never actually felt that way ever before! [laughs] I'm not sure if you know the term, but in Japan I'm what you'd call a salary man! [laughs] The company's slave, basically - I don't feel any fame too much. I never feel the pressure - and because of that I've never felt the desire to drop my name and go anonymous.

I've really never felt burdened at all. All the characters I've created up until now... they're my kids! My children. I've obviously never thought about dropping or abandoning my kids! [laughs] Really, I've never felt that way before.

Final Fantasy XV Director Tetsuya Nomura Doesn’t Feel His Fame
Defines Himself “The Company’s Slave”
by Giuseppe NelvaJuly 16, 2013

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Tetsuya Nomura is very popular between fans of the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts franchises, but he doesn’t think of himself as a famous man, as he stated as part of an interesting interview on RPGSite (that for once doesn’t ask him if he prefers PS4 or Xbox One), giving us a small glimpse on the Japanese game development culture.

The interviewer asked Nomura-san if ever wished to escape his fame and go back to being an anonymous game developer, and the response was somewhat surprising, and intriguing.


That’s actually a quite realistic representation of the Japanese game industry. Setting a few superstars aside, not many developers are put on a pedestal and treated in a much different way than any salary man, even if they are high level ones like Nomura-san. It’s mostly a matter of local culture, that influences individuals to feel more like they’re one of the cogs in the machine instead of an unique little snowflake. In Japan the team normally matters more than the single star developer.

Of course there are exceptions like Kojima or Nagoshi, but what Nomura-san described is the norm.

Wow thanks for the mega-update, sifted through most of it and I'm glad they didn't lock in Noct as the only playable character, I liked how 13 skipped around and then once you got to Pulse you could customize it, ala 12. The idea of running around everywhere as 1 character is pretty much why I'm not even looking at 13-3.
Still concerned about the cast, the villains continue to look lame, ala 12 and 13, and really concerned about the main party being a boy band. I dont think the idea of no playable females will go over well in the US.
Excited to see summons, hopefully they will be useful for the first time since X. Don't copy the 13 system please, 1 summon per character pretty much doomed 3 of them to irrelevancy (for me). Just have a summoner, one. Still want to see more of the combat system, and the return of Overdrives/Limit Breaks/Quickenings, thats pretty much my #1 desire at this point.

Talking Talent, Western Development & Sequels with Final Fantasy Producer Shinji Hashimoto
We chat to the boss of all things Final Fantasy.
by Alex DonaldsonJuly 24, 2013

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Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto isn't what I'd categorize as a game creator, but he is certainly a game changer. While talent such as Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura are the face of Final Fantasy development, Hashimoto is undoubtedly the face of the franchise on the business side.

Officially the corporate executive of Square Enix's 1st Production Department, Hashimoto is the acting Series Brand Director for Final Fantasy as a whole and also has deep involvement with the Kingdom Hearts series. He became something of a meme earlier this year after asking fans to "please be excited" at the PlayStation 4 reveal.

We were over at Japan Expo 2013 in Paris to chat Kingdom Hearts & Final Fantasy XV with Tetsuya Nomura and Final Fantasy XIV with Naoki Yoshida when we spotted Hashimoto hanging around the Square Enix interview rooms.

We asked him if he'd give us a few minutes, and the following impromptu chat about the future of Final Fantasy, development talent and East-West collaboration within Square Enix is the result. Thanks to Square Enix Europe for letting this fly and translating last-minute.

RPG Site: The last time you and I spoke directly was at E3 a few years ago, and you were working with Double Helix on Front Mission. This year at E3 I was very surprised to learn that Murdered: Soul Suspect is a Japanese game being developed by a Western team.

Last time we spoke, you spoke in some detail and rather passionately about how you felt about East/West collaboration - mixed-origin teams, or swapping properties - how do you feel about all that now, a few years since we last spoke?

Shinji Hashimoto: Obviously, since the merge with Eidos, the company as Square Enix has been trying to put and get more input from the Western types of games and everything - as you already know anyway. Especially Murdered, like you mentioned - Tomb Raider, as well, Visual Works of course created the trailer - that kind of stuff. It's a mix of things we've been doing.

I think it's a great thing. It's a really great thing for us to be doing going forward.

RPG Site: Along those lines - theoretically - if a Western Studio approached you and said "We want to pitch you a FF spin-off with a Western flavour," what would you say?

Hashimoto: [laughs] I wouldn't say no straight away! [laughs] It depends on the proposal and everything, though, of course. Obviously Final Fantasy is traditionally a Japanese game, so it would really just depend on how discussion goes. But, yes - if any Western studio actually approached us, we'd of course think about it.

Of course, there's a lot of different genres the Eastern and Western studios are doing - we've seen loads, for decades now. I don't know why, but one of the things about Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts is that they're very unique - it's a very unique proposition that we have.

I think that's why it's quite difficult for people to approach us with such ideas.

RPG Site: One of the things that's changed about FF in recent years is sequelization - three FF13s, FF15 sequels confirmed and so on. Some fans love this, but some feel that some of the magic is lost by not having a new world to experience every time. As someone on the business side of things, what would you say to that group?

Hashimoto: This may be a bit of generic answer, but we do treat each game, even sequels, like a full numbered game. They're... thick. They're very, very important.

Thinking about the creators' feelings towards the project, obviously, we can't just release an all new game every year or so - it's quite difficult.

It's not like because we're creating sequels - that doesn't mean we don't include new elements and things. We're always building new stuff, and putting new things in, even with a sequel. Please understand that; we treat every game we make the same, and as a very important game.

RPG Site: A question about talent; it's 16 years since Nomura-san stepped into the spotlight with FF7, longer for Kitase-san and so on -- but I feel like we haven't seen as many new young bucks coming up into the FF series in the last five to ten years. Do you internally have your eyes on developing young talent within the FF and KH teams? Do you have an idea who the next Tetsuya Nomura might be at this point?

Hashimoto: I just want to make sure - we have loads of other talent within Square Enix already! [laughs] However, because they're still junior or are quite young, there has been no opportunity to introduce them, to put them in front of the public just yet. Please be assured that there are loads - and you will probably see them soon!

Of course, at E3 this year and Japan Expo this year, we've seen that so many people still appreciate Final Fantasy and still appreciate Kingdom Hearts... that is very, very unique proposition we've got as a company.

That's why we need to treat these two big IPs very carefully, with staff we present, too - they're very important.

RPG Site: I can definitely see that - The showing at E3 conjured a very strong feeling for me, and I feel I'd become quite jaded. You delivered at E3; hopefully that continues.

Hashimoto: [laughs] Thank you so much. That's good to hear.

RPG Site: I can see Nomura-san's crew need the room back for their next interview, so I'm going to wrap up by betraying my inner fan and ask a more specific talent question - Hiroyuki Ito, the creator of ATB, the director of FF9 - my favourite, which of course you produced - and FF12... Is he still at the company - and is he working on anything that we already know about?

Hashimoto: [laughs] You're a very unique journalist, asking about Ito-san! Yeah. He's still at Square Enix. He's been planning and doing some proposals for a new project at the moment, so... Really, he's the kind of guy that wants to challenge new things all the time, so, yeah. At the moment, he's doing... [laughs] He's putting some ideas together.

RPG Site: I'm very interested to see what he does next. For RPG gameplay systems I really do feel he's one of the best there is; one of your strongest assets.

Hashimoto: Like you say, he's very talented and very involved. He's very, very in-depth... he likes the depth of the gameplay systems side of things. He really loves to go really deep on mechanics and things, and that takes time. I'm very excited to see his ideas soon!

Final Fantasy XV will retain the feeling of an “old school” Final Fantasy
by Erren Van DuineJuly 24, 2013

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Last month at E3, Square Enix not only surprised the world by revealing the title now known as Final Fantasy XV, but also used the event to reveal the long-anticipated Kingdom Hearts III. While we’ve learned much about both games in the weeks prior, many have started to wonder if director Tetsuya Nomura would be able to keep his promises from interviews past. Though Nomura himself is one of few words, Final Fantasy World had a chance to catch up with him at Japan Expo to discuss both titles while fielding some unique questions.

Although Nomura has been apart of the company since his twenties, Kingdom Hearts was actually the first game he served on as director. Obviously it’s been ten years since the original game released, but Nomura doesn’t feel like the game is very old at all. “It still feels fresh and new. Back then, all the staff I worked with, included myself, had a rich passion about this game. That’s why I still don’t think it’s dated at all, even after 10 years.”

Ten years is a long time and given that sort of time gap, it’s not unusual for some developers to update their games beyond visuals and controls. In the case of Kingdom Hearts HD, there was actually a lot more ambition to it than what ended up in the final product. “The one thing I probably should mention was 358/2 Days,” said Nomura. “Obviously in this one there were only cinematics, the HD movie. I wanted to put the full playable in 358/2 Days in HD 1.5 if we could, but obviously we couldn’t – because we had to prioritize the KHIII development instead – which the fans have been waiting for such a long time. We prioritized that over the addition of elements in the HD version.

“The elements of the original version, like the systems and everything, were okay back then because of the balance of the original game. There were a lot of new systems I created over the past 10 years, but if I wanted to put these new things in the original KH1, I don’t think the balance of the game would really work. The original version is set on the system I put on it. If we’re going to do a remake, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can put in additional features.”

Of course, it’s no secret by now that Nomura is eying the next set of Kingdom Hearts HD remasters. Based on the end credits for HD 1.5, it appears Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep and Re:coded will be bundled together for the next high definition outing. Further information – including an official announcement – has yet to be made on that project.

With the announcement of Kingdom Hearts III, it was revealed that the core Kingdom Hearts team would be shifting duties to Square Enix Osaka – the team who previously worked on titles such as Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance and even the recent HD Remaster. Aside from HD 1.5, the Osaka studio hasn’t actually developed any original Kingdom Hearts titles for console from scratch, and so for KHIII the team has done a lot of prep work – testing various situations and the like. “I feel like the preparations are actually done, so we are good to go for the development,” Nomura replied.

The proximity of both studios – Square Enix Tokyo and Square Enix Osaka – isn’t exactly near, so how does Nomura interact with each team? “In the Osaka studio there is actually the co-director Tai Yasue and the producer Rie Nishi,” he explained. “They are core members of the Kingdom Hearts project and when they actually have a lot of topics to discuss with myself, they always come to Tokyo.” This process is typical for Kingdom Hearts, however, with the relocation of Square Enix’s offices in Shinjuku, things have become a lot easier for the team. They now have access to a TV conference system, so if Yasue or Nishi send out a document or proposal in advance, Nomura can add his own comments and show it to them on video.

In a sense, Nomura has become more of a supervisor to the Osaka team – especially with KHIII as both Yasue and Nishi propose their own ideas and Nomura then discusses whether they will implement them or not. “Of course there are a lot of good and interesting ideas coming from the team. Obviously, the more the merrier, so if we have more people to think about something it’s always better than thinking all by myself.”

Within its ten years of existence, the Kingdom Hearts series has gained its own identity, even though it’s sort of this mash-up between Square and Disney. The question is then, at this point will Final Fantasy characters be a necessary inclusion in KHIII? There is still that possibility, according to Nomura. “It’s not something like, because the KH series is already established we don’t need more FF characters. But it’s more like we have been releasing a lot of KH handheld spinoffs over the past few years. Because of handheld space capacity and limitations, the story volume was quite limited. For KHIII obviously the disc space is going to be bigger, so we can include a lot of in-depth story. It depends on the volume of the game itself – there is a possibility that we are going to insert a lot of FF characters into KHIII as well.”

On the subject of Final Fantasy XV, the soundtrack will be composed by Yoko Shimomura – the same composer who also works on the Kingdom Hearts series. Although she will be helming the score for both of Square Enix’s next generation games, Nomura assured that he is guiding her on different directions for each title. “In the case of KH, I usually ask Shimomura to create music scene by scene, so that different scenes have different kinds of themes or requests. But for FFXV, I gave her the overall image of everything from the beginning already, as well as some examples of what types of music to use.”

The project originally known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been in development for the better part of seven years – a project with a lofty goal of recreating the feeling of old school FF games despite its unique name. Now with the direction change to that of a mainline title, one has to wonder if Nomura’s vision had changed. Nomura admitted, “Yes, I probably mentioned the old school Final Fantasy feeling [when talking about] FFXV. If you see the trailer you might actually think it’s very action based – especially compared to the previous FFs. We wanted to create like an action-based FF this time because we wanted to create a dynamic feeling between the story and the game itself. Of course, we are going to put many FF elements into it, because otherwise there is no point calling Final Fantasy XV. Naturally, we still think we should have some old school FF feeling to the game.”

On that same subject, Nomura had promised over two years ago that the real-time cutscenes in Versus XIII would all be playable. Much like other untouched elements, it seems this one will be making its way into FFXV. “Yeah, I would like to achieve that as much as I can,” said Nomura. “Our goal is to ensure that the player never actually stops playing. This is the reason behind it and it will be great if we can achieve that.” Naturally, the power of the new consoles will help make this a reality.

Following the announcement of Final Fantasy XV, Nomura has revealed that he would be assisted by Crisis Core: FFVII and Final Fantasy Type-0 director Hajime Tabata – in which he seems to have placed a lot of confidence. “He’s been doing a great job already,” explained Nomura. “Meeting with the team on a daily basis to discuss development and everything – he is extremely passionate about this project.” Nomura did not elaborate fully on Tabata’s involvement, but Tabata himself will have the chance to express himself fully in interviews with both the Japanese and Western press.

Square Enix trademarks “A World of the VERSUS Epic”
by Erren Van DuineAug 06, 2013

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Square Enix has filed a new trademark in relation to Final Fantasy XV as of last week.

Securing the rights to “A World of the VERSUS Epic” – which appeared at the very end of this year’s E3 announcement trailer – suggests that Square Enix is indeed in this for the long haul.

Back at E3 and in subsequent interviews since, director Tetsuya Nomura has openly admitted his desire to continue the world of Final Fantasy XV past a single title. As the game itself has become absolutely huge, he is considering a compilation similar to that of Final Fantasy VII.

This wouldn’t be the first time Square Enix has extended the stories off a mainline title; aside from VII, X, XII, the more recent FFXIII also received the sequel treatment -albeit unconventionally. If Nomura and his team are planning out the story ahead of time, however, perhaps a more cohesive series can come together. Square Enix hasn’t officially announced further plans beyond the initial game, but fans can still expect the original Versus XIII vision to remain largely intact.

That's exactly what I posted above you!

I miss the days when they had fresh ideas and would put them all in a single game that players could delve into for hundreds of hours. The days in which you could complete a game, and move on to something else feeling a sense of "completion".

3 FF13 games is too much, FF15 should be Versus 13, FF15 should be something I didn't know about before the launch of ps3 and am still waiting for.

oops ._.; sorry D:

I still think FFXV can be that game. Yes, sequels are already confirmed, but look, if done right then sequels will definitely not be a bad thing. I think FFXV will do it right this time, Tetsuya Nomura knows how to make a fun game, and I'm looking forward to his next two major releases.

Is Final Fanasy 15′s new direction a reality check for the RPG on PS4?
by Playstation StaffAug 08, 2013

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Pinstripe suits. Concrete skyscrapers. Cover-based swordplay. Final Fantasy 15’s cutting straight to it: Square Enix’s long-running RPG saga has left its staid turn-based roots rotting in the current-gen compost heap. And while purists may initially baulk at the combat U-turn, we reckon it might just be the happiest accident in the series’ 26-year history.

Is Final Fanasy 15 a reality check for the RPG on PS4?
Accident? You might remember FF15 was originally unveiled as far back as E3 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus 13, a spin-off project featuring third-person, real-time combat. Seven years, a name change and an entire console generation later, 15 is flying the Final Fantasy flag for PS4 with its hacky, slashy battle system intact. Still with us? Good, because here’s a far simpler info nugget: the game looks astounding, even against everything else we’ve been shown on PS4 so far. Thought Square Enix was flashing false graphics at us when it showed off that fancy tech demo at last year’s E3? Well they were – FF15 looks better, and we’re not just talking about the polygon count of each character’s outrageously groomed barnet.

It’s the action on show that looks dazzling, with lead man Noctis Lucis Caelum (yep, they’re still going with the stupid names) grappling monsters as he moves through buildings with no hint of slowdown, then leaping out again as if loading times are naught but a distant memory. Not only that, Noctis looks like he can interact with the scenery, too – jamming his sword in walls and ceilings to clamber up structures in what look like the sexiest platforming sequences this side of Nathan Drake, before scrabbling his way up city-sized monsters à la Shadow Of The Colossus.

On-screen hit point displays and enemies leaking numbers instead of blood show FF15 still has tactical bite to augment its delirious action sequences, but this still looks to be the boldest step Final Fantasy has taken in years. Crucially, though, we reckon it’s a step in the right direction. Final Fantasy 13 alienated fans three years ago by being linear as bog roll, but the noises coming from Square Enix this time around suggest the soul of Final Fantasy – a huge, explorable world (with airships and Chocobos) and a massive cast of magical misfits – is back.


And that’s precisely what the franchise needs to do if it wants to keep pace with the next-gen big boys – retain the emotive storytelling and the prettier-than-polished-Adamantite visuals while smashing the stolid, turn-based combat of old with a massive 2013 hammer. It’s early days yet (expect a release in the latter half of 2014), but for the first time in a long while we’re genuinely excited about the future of Final Fantasy.

appreciate your compilation, vids, and update notes it all looks great.

game itself looks pretty interesting, I just wish SE would invest actual time into incorporating realistic combat and not just jumping,flying,and flynning; it gets a bit old for seasoned gamers.

Pieces of me really hate how that article words things.

if FF went back to the open worlds, hidden/bonus/and endgame content, and such ages of the earlier FF Eras (10 and before, but mostly 9 and before), It'd still sell fine without the 21st Century scenery. Realtime combat isn't bad, I mean Kingdom Hearts pulls it off well, but its not the direction every RPG needs to take.

Linear gameplay is what kills almost all RPGs, people want to explore, they want to take their time, do side quests, and enjoy it. Its why games like Skyrim sell, and why games like FF7, FF8, and FF9 were so popular. RPGs don't need FPS Combat systems and "Zombie Apocalypse" buildings and scenery, what they need is what makes RPGs good, Open worlds (or open at some point), explorable secrets, Side Quests that are fun, and any decent combat.

Examples, Take a Tales game for instance, semi-realtime, and its still very fun. Same can be said for Kingdom Hearts, while having realtime combat, maintains its cartoon-ness and still manages to sell fine. Games like Last Remnant were still enjoyable despite its combat system being turn based. Parasite Eve, arguably way better as a Turned Based game than it was as the recently released abomination.

So, I mean some points in the article I can agree with, but some points just hit me the wrong way. not every franchise needs to convert to Realtime Cover based combat to be fun. Some games are fun as Turn based, Some RPGs are fun with Semi-Realtime combat (Tales games), and some can be fun with Realtime (Kingdom Hearts)... Theres more to what drives a good RPG than Cover mechanics and Concrete Backdrops.

Class system please!

I felt the same way while reading it, but it had a few points I agreed with so decided to post it.

I really agree with this, turn-based just doesn't fit with next-gen graphics and it feels really clunky and slow. It's perfectly fine for sprite based games and old games (technical limitations) but these days it just feels really out of place.

I don't mind if the battle system is more dynamic and "modern" as you say, as long as they keep though jrpg elements, because that is what I want when I play FF, not an action game.

Oh I want them to have some kind of FF-element to the fighting but I also don't want them to limit themselves to turn-based anymore, it feels too old when everything else looks so good. The Tales and Star Ocean series do action RPGs well

That article just reminds me of the fact that FPS meatheads are ruining RPGs.

His name means Night Light Sky, in that order.

People like Draylo remind me of why RPG get held back.

Honestly, FF has gotten away from turn based over the years.

FFXIII versus was always showed as a more action based game and no one had a problem with it. People were excited for it. Slap the number XV behind it and now people are outraged.

At this point, if you want a more classic turn based style of RPG, you are going to want to go the indie route.

When a game looks like this it just doesn't feel right. I don't have a problem with turn-based but it fits better with sprite based games (like most DS RPGs). Draylo just likes complaining about everything that isn't XI.

Wanna point out Kimble, Mostly quoting you but I do stray away from your point, so if you read something in here and go "I didn't say that", its simply because I go off to a side rant. :D


I have to agree with Draylo, Kinda. I took this out of my Original post but this article does feel like it was written by the type of meathead gamer who doesn't like any game unless its a copy of Call of Duty in some way, or can't understand why all MMOs aren't like WoW.

This isn't "Innovation" for a game to borrow ideas from other genres because it sell noticeably, What its doing is taking what sells in other games, like borrowing cover mechanics and some combat aspects of whats popular, and pulling it into the RPG Genre, This behavior almost by definition does nothing for innovation. Companies borrowing what sells and implementing it is the very thing that prevent innovation or change in a genre because they side toward "What sells" and a safe bet rather than taking risks.

This article simply enforces the idea that every game wants RPGs to be more like CoD, and I think these genres should stay separate. While I'm not saying RPGs need to remain turn based, Theres no need for them to become complete, realistic cover based fighters.

This is of course, directly speaking to this article, in which they bash the name schemes, Turned based combat, and the "Unrealistic" feel of the combat (Jumping, Running up walls, etc).. So in that regard, he seems to be against the unrealistic of RPGs in favor or more realistic combat... Which I think is a wholly unwise path for RPGs to take.

While Draylo does express distaste for many a thing, I don't think this Article really understands innovation isn't borrowing whats popular, and that that king of model would hold back a genre, especially RPGs, way more than it could help it.

Edit: And that's not to say every Genre should Innovate or change from iteration to iteration simply for the sake of it. Innovation just for the sake of it can be a bad thing because theres a saying thats actually quite true, Don't fix what Ain't broken. If there is no real demand for change, theres no reason for it.

Take Dynasty Warriors, a game thats essentially the same through each installment, Yet for fans of the series, Dynasty Warriors 8 Excites them as much as 1-2 did. Because while the Genre isn't adapting "realistic/Realtime Cover based" fighting mechanics, it updates itself in some way with every new game, some things stick, some things don't.

On the other hand you have Pokemon games, while they undoubtedly sell, This is the type of Genre that could use some innovation... and Pokemon X/Y Is actually doing that in some way. For instance, the Generation who grew up on Pokemon are now primarily in their late 20's, they need to stop making these games for 10 Year olds, because the majority of Pokemon fans aren't 10 anymore. So here we have two examples of a Game who's combat is fine and innovation for the sake of it would be dumb, and a game who, while fine, should innovate a bit more.

The differences are small but there. I'd say its more in the demand. People want Pokemon to innovate. I see more threads about making a better Pokemon combat system than I've ever seen about changing Dynasty Warriors combat to something else.

But as it goes, Turned based FF Games sold fine. If FF12, 13, and 15 Had turned based combat but also had the things we loved... Non-linear combat, Interesting Characters and Story, Mini-games (Triple Godd*mn Triad son), stuff like that, They'd sell just fine regardless of "upgraded" combat. (They mostly sold fine anyway due to the brand name)

What I'm getting at is RPGs are a genre that work and thrive off similar things that make sandbox games thrive, and thats what gamers want out of it. They don't need to "innovate" in the direction of modern FPS's or other genres just for the sake of it, and it really could be bad for the games. While there are a few who might like the idea, they're trying to attract the type of crowd who primarily will still think "FF is for nerds".

Innovate in a game or genre can be good if its for the right reasons and its what the people want. Changing for the sake of changing can alienate your loyal base and in turn may not even add new customers. FF13 (The first one) Is a prime example of this. It flopped, not because of any 1 thing and its not to say it did everything wrong, It just did enough wrong people disliked it, and If FFVXI+ Innovate in the wrong direction, they could see the same effect. While it may have not flopped sales wise its widely regarded as one of the worst Final Fantasy games.

Personally better graphics does not need to come with "modern" Combat, and i think it should be said despite horrible mostly characters FF12 was a great game and had a lot of side content to do, almost rivaling FF7/8... Almost but not quite. So also its not to say new types of combat can't work for the series.

I will admit, this is my personal opinion, but I think the Final Fantasy series should work on making Turn Based combat a little more fun rather than trying to slowly adapt realtime combat. While it could be done right, I don't think that's the direction the game needs to take, as this article implies.

I don't want to have to buy or play an Indie game to get a good, Turned based RPG. If Final Fantasy went back to its era of FF7/8/9 with Large, open worlds, loads of side content, Mini games, etc... It'd sell just fine... And personally I like Turned based combat in my Final Fantasy. If i wanted something realtime theres a largely over saturated market for it, by killing the Niche or dooming it to Indie only, I think we're losing a still quite fun combat style, and simply should not be the directions all RPGs take.

The battle systems have been fine for the most part, they need to make limit breaks and summons relevant again. The problem is the story and cast, and 15 has not shown any signs of improvement in that area. FPS meatheads have had no effect on this genre, it's just draylo making excuses for 10 years of failure for SE. You can already see them cutting corners.

How can you tell if all we've seen about this are trailers? How do you know already it's bad? Come on..

I chose the phrase "has not shown any signs" for a reason, it's an observation, not a judgement or condemnation. I feel this way based on the pictures of the predominately male cast that looks like a boy band. Based on what I have seen the main playable cast is all male, I hope I'm wrong but even a token female would be pretty sad. There is still plenty of time for them to show otherwise.