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[Ydelnae]

In a recent intewiew with the german site JPgames.de, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata shared more information about how the Final Fantasy Versus XIII project evolved into Final Fantasy XV.

JPGames: Gestern habe ich mir nochmals alle Trailer zu Final Fantasy Versus XIII und Final Fantasy XV angesehen. Ich möchte wirklich wissen, ob es eine Chance gibt, dass Sie uns je einmal über die Rolle von Stella in der Geschichte von Final Fantasy Versus XIII aufklären werden.

Hajime Tabata: Derzeit gibt es keine Pläne, diese Information zu veröffentlichen. Würde es einen großen Nutzen oder Bonus für die Spieler, Fans oder auch für uns geben, dann würden wir uns das überlegen. Aber derzeit gibt es wirklich keine Pläne, mehr Informationen über das Versus-Projekt zu enthüllen.

JPGames: Mit den Jahren haben viele Szenen Kult-Status erreicht. Beispielsweise wie Noctis gelangweilt auf dem Thron sitzt, oberhalb der Treppe vor einer Armee steht oder wie er mit seinen Schwertern wahrscheinlich gegen Ravus kämpft. Ist davon noch etwas in Final Fantasy XV enthalten?

Hajime Tabata: Als wir entscheiden mussten, was wir von Final Fantasy Versus XIII behalten konnten, standen nicht einzelne Szenen im Vordergrund. Wir dachten darüber nach, wovon das Spiel profitieren würde und was das Spiel unterstützen würde, welches wir machen wollten. Natürlich wollten wir so viel wie möglich beibehalten, als wir zu Final Fantasy XV übergingen. Aber die Gesamtqualität ist wichtiger als einzelne Szenen.

Read the rest of the interview here: http://jpgames.de/2016/08/final-fantasy-xv-unser-interview-bei-der-gamescom/

As Tabata said, they weren't looking into copying exact scenes and events from Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV, but they focused on carrying over ideas and concept that would fit the team's vision of what FFXV was going to be. "Of course, we wanted to keep as much stuff as possible from the Versus XIII project, but we thought the quality of the game was more important than remaking certain scenes".

When asked about the Versus XIII protagonist, Stella Nox Fleuret, the Final Fantasy XV director explained that there's no point on talking about her anymore. "We will talk about Versus XIII in the future if we think it would benefit the fans or us, but there are currently no plans to keep releasing information about this project".

Final Fantasy Versus XIII was revealed at E3 2006, and after a troubled non-development process, was officially rebranded as Final Fantasy XV during Sony's conference at E3 2013. A year later, Tetsuya Nomura (Kingdom Hearts series, Final Fantasy VII Remake) would step down from directing the game as Hajime Tabata took the leading role. Now, 10 years later, they must be forgotten.

 

[purseowner]

nedflandersstella.gif

 

[cw_sasuke]

but we thought the quality of the game was more important than remaking certain scenes".

lol poor Nomura.

 

[Aeriscloud]

 

[EatinOlives]

Makes sense, you don't want to facilitate conversations about the dead project that doesn't exist anymore while trying to build hype for the game that IS coming out.

Sad about Stella though. I guess it's a confirmation she's not at all in the game (maybe it was already confirmed though, haven't been following that).

 

[mdubs]

nedflandersstella.gif

She must not be forgotten

 

[KZXcellent]

Of course they don't want to talk more about Versus. It's the project people were initially expecting and wanted out of XV. They don't need to go further into it because it'll just make people want the original more. Just integrate the themes of Versus into a new title.

 

[silva1991]

lol poor Nomura.

Is he referring to the party/invasion from 2011 trailer? the thing that looked more epic and exciting than everything we have seen about XV?

 

[Geg]

STELLAAAAAAA

 

[Talax]

I deserve an Ultimania explaining everything Tabata!!!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

But no, seriously, after release we need more info. I'm curious

 

[GoldandBlue]

Maybe Stella will be the star of FF16!

 

[Ray Down]

I deserve an Ultimania explaining everything Tabata!!!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

But no, seriously, after release we need more info. I'm curious

My guess is that's where most of the information will come from.

 

[Eidan]

I haven't been following the XV drama too closely. Are people obsessing over Versus XIII because XV is going to be drastically different? Does it matter when you were never, ever going to get Versus XIII?

 

[djplaeskool]

I deserve an Ultimania explaining everything Tabata!!!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

But no, seriously, after release we need more info. I'm curious

The Ultimania and project post-mortems for XV will be incredible.

 

[KingBroly]

She must not be forgotten

Maybe Nomura mistook her for Lightning.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

I'm super pumped for XV, but not gonna lie, whatever we saw of Versus (at least on surface level) looks far more appealing.

 

[makingmusic476]

Whatever happened to the lady with the spear fighting on skyscrapers from one of the Versus trailers?

Edit:

 

[Hexa]

Maybe Stella will be the star of FF16!

She'll be a party member in FF7-2: Zack Returns.

 

[Geg]

Whatever happened to the lady with the spear fighting on skyscrapers from one of the Versus trailers?

That's Aranea, she's still in XV.

 

[Ray Down]

Whatever happened to the lady with the spear fighting on skyscrapers from one of the Versus trailers?

She's in the game.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

I'm pumped for XV, but not gonna lie, whatever we saw of Versus (at least on surface level) looks far more appealing.

As far as we know those trailers were nearly everything they had built for Versus XIII anyway. From the sound of things, they just had a lot of ambitious concepts that could not be realized with the hardware they had.

 

[Order]

Noctis' family were basically the fucking Yakuza

Now it's just generic royalty

Godamnit I wanted Versus so bad

 

[WhateverItTakes]

She must not be forgotten

She will remain in our hearts, the most breathtaking, important character in the history of gaming, cruelly taken away from us.

Stella would have been everything. May she rest soundly.

 

[Geg]

Noctis' family were basically the fucking Yakuza

Now it's just generic royalty

Godamnit I wanted Versus so bad

Honestly that's the only thing I'm really disappointed we're not getting in XV anymore. Did we ever get a real explanation for why Regis was changed?

 

[makingmusic476]

That's Aranea, she's still in XV.

She's in the game.

Oh sweet. Haven't kept up on XV as much as I should. (Once I played Duscae 2.0 the game went on my "day one no questions" list.)

 

[Ray Down]

Honestly that's the only thing I'm really disappointed we're not getting in XV anymore. Did we ever get a real explanation for why Regis was changed?

To match more with his Kingsglavie design I believe, don't quote me on it though.

I know they liked the guy that did his mo cap.

 

[BroBot]

She'll be a party member in FF7-2: Zack Returns.

Don't play with my heart like that. Don't you dare.

 

[Makoto Yuki]

I'm super pumped for XV, but not gonna lie, whatever we saw of Versus (at least on surface level) looks far more appealing.

Same here.

I would love for Nomura to make Versus XIII, Versus XV maybe? Regardless being able to play something from the project 10 years later has been a trying process.

Hopefully FFXV will be something special in it's own right. No point in trying to compare it to the game it was suppose to be.

 

[mattp]

when i saw the thread title i thought it was implying square is still making a game called FFvs13

 

[Ydelnae]

Honestly that's the only thing I'm really disappointed we're not getting in XV anymore. Did we ever get a real explanation for why Regis was changed?

His role in the story changed (he is permanently casting Barrier all over the Insomnia city so he's aging faster than usual) and they also wanted the Kingsglaive and FFXV desings to be pretty similar.

 

[Muffdraul]

I haven't been following the XV drama too closely. Are people obsessing over Versus XIII because XV is going to be drastically different? Does it matter when you were never, ever going to get Versus XIII?

One of my biggest pet peeves as a gamer is developers unveiling their upcoming projects to the public way too early. FFvsXIII is like the most ridiculously overblown example. It was unveiled at E3 2006 purely to drum up hype for the PS3. Pure cynical marketing on behalf of Sony.

Developers should never show us anything that isn't going to make it into our hands on release day. They can take all the time they want and make all of the brutal butcher job changes they want, as long as it's done behind closed doors where I never get to see it. It's knowing what was cut that causes the static. Developers need to learn to keep their big mouths shut until they know for a fact that the game is within a year from release. I actually think 6 months is even more reasonable. Nobody needs more time than that to mount a marketing/hype campaign. Nobody.

 

[R10Neymarfan]

Honestly that's the only thing I'm really disappointed we're not getting in XV anymore. Did we ever get a real explanation for why Regis was changed?

Young Regis in Kingsglaive doesn't look far off from his original Versus design

 

[pablito]

Is he referring to the party/invasion from 2011 trailer? the thing that looked more epic and exciting than everything we have seen about XV?

E3 2013 is easily the best trailer

 

[HeelPower]

That kind of statement tells you how much has really changed.

The game has little to do with the original VersusXIII concepts,apart from sharing some visual designs,surface concepts and names here and there.

 

[Nowak94]

Don't play with my heart like that. Don't you dare.

Damn I forgot how much I loved Crisis Core. Vita port or rerelease with trophies please!

 

[Lime]

For all the people clamoring for Stella Nox Fleuret in some form, I'm not sure you really want Tabata and his team to have a go at her character

 

[Darkstorne]

One of my biggest pet peeves as a gamer is developers unveiling their upcoming projects to the public way too early. FFvsXIII is like the most ridiculously overblown example. It was unveiled at E3 2006 purely to drum up hype for the PS3. Pure cynical marketing on behalf of Sony.

Developers should never show us anything that isn't going to make it into our hands on release day. They can take all the time they want and make all of the brutal butcher job changes they want, as long as it's done behind closed doors where I never get to see it. It's knowing what was cut that causes the static. Developers need to learn to keep their big mouths shut until they know for a fact that the game is within a year from release. I actually think 6 months is even more reasonable. Nobody needs more time than that to mount a marketing/hype campaign. Nobody.

Don't let any Kojima fans hear you say that...

 

[shark sandwich]

Jesus Christ. If FF XV disappoints, we will never hear the end of fanboys fantasizing about how much better Versus XIII was going to be.

 

[Muffdraul]

Don't let any Kojima fans hear you say that...

He can be an exception. He was saying way back in 2011 that his next game was going to be way more game play than story with less emphasis on cut scenes. =P

Seriously, I can't think of anything shown in MGSV previews that didn't end up in the game. The wait itself sucked, but that's not the issue for me. It's the cuts and changes.

 

[Mechazawa]

Hard boiled questions Mechazawa thinks about: What the fuck does Versus XIII even mean?

 

[Rymuth]

What about Type-1? Any plans to reveal more info on THAT?! Answer me, Tabata!

 

[JayBabay]

Just watched the long Versus XIII trailer again. Man, I love the grim look of that game and I hope that XV can capture that type of atmosphere. It feels very serious, but the body language conveys it convincingly.

 

[Ray Down]

Hard boiled questions Mechazawa thinks about: What the fuck does Versus XIII even mean?

A dead pet project...

If your referring to the Versus part:

Spoiler

Most likely Knights of the Round

 

[Ydelnae]

For all the people clamoring for Stella Nox Fleuret in some form, I'm not sure you really want Tabata and his team to have a go at her character

While this comment was very inappropiate and moronic, Akio Ofuji is not part of the development team, he's just the marketing manager and one of the producers (iirc). I pretty much doubt his views on female characters on gaming are shared within the team developing XV.

 

[Ray Down]

What about Type-1? Any plans to reveal more info on THAT?! Answer me, Tabata!

Type-1 isn't being worked on & it's not Tabata next project he's working on.

 

[silva1991]

E3 2013 is easily the best trailer

Not to me it felt kinda messy in comparison, and that real time gameplay near the end that ran at annoyingly very low FPS felt like last minute to be added.

 

[Mediking]

They must see Versus as a zombie...

 

[chaosblade]

Makes sense, they want to avoid as much "what could have been" as possible, especially before release. I haven't followed XV that much, but I've gotten the impression that most of what was carried over from Versus was superficial.

 

[Anung]

Well that's the interest ruined me. I read his name as Harambe.

 

[Ydelnae]

What about Type-1? Any plans to reveal more info on THAT?! Answer me, Tabata!

He re-confirmed last week that there are currently no plans on developing Type-Next and that his next game will be a new IP.