NBC News: Some say that the "Final Fantasy" games are getting too modern for a game with "fantasy" in its name — but of course, tech and magic have always been at odds in the series. How do you see it?

Tetsuya Nomura: I don't like the extreme cases of tech or magic. If I choose, I choose a modern setting — but that's not a good setting for a game. So if you look at "FFXV," it starts in a very modern world similar to Shinjuku (in downtown Tokyo), but when the story starts, you go to the medieval world — but the weapons they are using are high tech-weapons; that kind of combo is what I like.

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Q: On that note, and this might sound a little silly, but hair has always appeared to be a big part of your character design. Has that become more important as technology enables it?

A: If you look at the real world, you don't see too many extreme hairstyles. That's why characters in games should have unique hairstyles. It's just one way to showcase each character's personality. We do have to deform some realistic hairstyles to more game-appropriate styles.

Sometimes I wish we had the easiness Western FPS (first-person shooters) have, to make everyone bald. We're a company that's known for unique hairstyles, but in a way we're running out of ideas.

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Q: Does character design have a big effect on gameplay, or is it the other way around? Do level designers say "We need an ice monster" and you comply, or can you also say "This character I've made should definitely use a spear"?

A: When I design the "silhouette" (i.e. general outline) I make suggestions such as "this character should carry something long on his back." Before, I used to design weapons as well, but now I only design characters. It was until "FFX" that I was doing weapons — if you remember the Buster Sword and Gunsword, those were suggested back to the developer teams and they used them in gameplay.

It was until "FF8" that I designed monsters. If you look at the trailer for "FFXV," the behemoth and giants were originally designed for "FF7" and "FF8" by me; they were redesigned for "XV."

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Q: Where does character inspiration come from? Modern fashion, history books or does it just spring into your head?

A: It's not like I'm always thinking about character design. When I receive orders, I start imagining things. The image of that character, the "silhouette," comes into my mind, and from that I start thinking of details. In the past I would probably flip through the pages of fashion magazines, now I look through the Web pages of my favorite brands.

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Sometimes I wish we had the easiness Western FPS (first-person shooters) have, to make everyone bald.

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fuzzy.dunlop said:

lol!

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It was until "FF8" that I designed monsters. If you look at the trailer for "FFXV," the behemoth and giants were originally designed for "FF7" and "FF8" by me; they were redesigned for "XV."

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ULTROS! said:

I found this interesting:



Seems like some FFVII and FFVIII monsters will be in FFXV?

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ULTROS! said:

Sometimes I wish we had the easiness Western FPS (first-person shooters) have, to make everyone bald

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ULTROS! said:

I found this interesting:



Seems like some FFVII and FFVIII monsters will be in FFXV?

Click to expand...