We all know the story. Final Fantasy XIII Versus was announced in 2006 and it looked pretty awesome. Ten years and a console generation passed before very little was heard. Then in 2013, an announcement trailer was revealed for Final Fantasy XV. Turns out that XIII Versus would no longer be a side story in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series. Instead it would be its own numbered entry into the Final Fantasy franchise. This sudden change caught many off guard, but most were welcome to it. However, was this decision taken lightly or when did the developers decide to go their own route? Well, turns out now long after the announcement.
Final Fantasy XV producer, Hajime Tabata, recently sat down with USGamer for a tell all about the transition from XIII Versus to Final Fantasy XV. One of the more notable responses pertained to when the project actually changed gears. “XV was rebranded around the summer of 2012, and at that point in time we said, ‘OK, this is going to be XV.'” Six years after the original announcement and four years before release is when the rebrand actually took place. Also, Tabata mentioned that since the PlayStation 4 was so close to release at the time of their decision, they scrapped the idea of staying on the PlayStation 3.
“And we also decided, ‘Well, we’re not going to continue with PlayStation 3 hardware.’ We’re going to go for whatever is next, whatever is new, the latest technology. So at that point, it was decided that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One would be the goals. We were also developing the Luminous engine at the same time, so including the engine and the game itself… the specs were finalized by the year before the game was released.”
There were also explanations on why the presence of some characters were changed in the overall game. Let’s just say that Cor was going to be much more than wasted potential as one of the best fighters in the land, but only seen for less than fifteen minutes. You can read the entire, lengthy interview here. It won’t make Final Fantasy XV’s story any better, and trust me there’s a lot of problems with it, but at least there’s a reason for the faults.
Have you played the latest Final Fantasy? Did you find it to be a mixed bag like me? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
SOURCE: USGamer
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
RSS