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Hajime Tabata: "Currently no plans to reveal more info about Versus XIII"

Frumix

Suffering From Success
Nomura came up with the clothing damage angle in 3rd birthday, can;t really speak on Type-0.

As previously detailed, Nomura first suggested the gameplay system that sees main character Aya's clothing tear off as she incurs damage from the Twisted. As Aya incurs damage, she shows more skin, but enemy hit rates also become higher. Nomura believes that players who want to see Aya show more of herself will be faced with a dilemma as they play. During the game's design phase, he told Tabata that they should make sure Aya got weaker as her clothing tore off precisely because some players might purposely make her take damage just to see more of her body.

So how far can you go with the clothing? Nomura wouldn't say for sure. However, he recalled that when the staff had asked him how far they should go, he'd responded that bikini level should be okay. This is one area that we're going to have to experiment with on our own.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100830.../blog/2010/06/30/tetsuya_nomura_3rd_birthday/

shaking_head_breaking_bad.gif


I mean... It's kinda clever... I guess.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Tabata sounds salty regarding Versus, I wonder why

Probably because he keeps being asked about it when its not his project to speak on and he wants to focus on the game he's working on right now

I don't think anyone is 100% happy with how this arrangement turned out.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Toriyama and Tabata are the creepy bros.

Even FFX-2 had pretty bad fan service like
the kinda sexual massage with Lebreau
.
 

mortal

Gold Member
Even in the eventual Ultimania books for XV, SE will completely fail to acknowledge anything before 2013.

I'd be surprised if Nomura would even be able to divulge anything meaningful regarding the Vs XIII debacle.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Ideally, they should have worked hard on delivering the style of game that was presented to fans for so many years. That includes the project after the rebrand in which we were shown Insomnia, Stella and character switching.

If they put the resources they pumped into Kingsglaive and making this open world into delivering something more in line with the initial promises then the divide wouldn't be so bad.
 
Taking about Versus 13 will just do more harm right now than good. He needs people to let go of this phantom hypothetical game that never was, because no one can compete against hopes and dreams that spun out of control.

People who insist clinging to Versus 13 can had over to fanfiction.net. The game had been more in development over there than in Square Enix' offices.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
As Kagari stated, that leak is false. Stella has been a fleshed out character as long as the skeleton of the story has been around. She was changed when Tabata took over because she didn't fit the alternate story and script he had devised to get the game out easily.

Its not just about her, i'm sure many characters roles were changed or diminished with the changes made, whether or not the characters themselves are still in the game or not. Some may even be slightly expanded like Dragoon lady gaining a name and everything.

That's the nature of development, and in a situation like this, it was expected to be the case. Doesn't mean there aren't people unhappy about the original vision never being able to be realized, or that they should not be allowed to be unhappy about it.

The moment they decided the Insomnia opening wasn't feasible was probably a key factor in getting Stella removed/changed/adapted in the game. All the media we had of her was in Insomnia.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Is Tabata a mute? He's sitting right there smiling. If he didn't agree at all with that sentiment, what's stopping him from going "No, I understand where fans are coming from, we can do better, there is no contradiction. This particular story simply doesn't have room for a female party member." Nope, he sat there and smiled. Because you know, deep down, he's the sort of guy who's cool with having a set of secret videos you can unlock where you have a voyeur cam on a sexy female character in various states of undress, and it can be justified by "plot reasons". Cool dude.

Disclosure: I actually fucking love The 3rd Birthday, and Crisis Core. But I can also point out that the director is a perv! There is no contradiction!

Toriyama and now Tabata.

It's not mismanagement killing FF. It's sexual lust!
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
Taking about Versus 13 will just do more harm right now than good. He needs people to let go of this phantom hypothetical game that never was, because no one can compete against hopes and dreams that spun out of control.

People who insist clinging to Versus 13 can had over to fanfiction.net. The game had been more in development over there than in Square Enix' offices.

To be fair, he was asked by interviewer to talk about Versus XIII, not like he went out of his way to bring it up.
 

Akainu

Member
Everything we sort of knew about Versus XIII

- Main character: Noctis Lucis Caelum (Still in XV)
- Main female character: Stella Nox Fleuret (Sort of not in XV, sort of)
- 3 party members that were best friends with the main (Still in XV)
- King Regis (Still in XV, but now he doesn't wear a suit and has a derpy face)
- Game starts in Insomnia with a full blown invasion. Similar to the opening of FFVII. (Not in XV, but this was reworked into Kingsglaive)
- A fantasy based on Reality (Still in XV)
- Noctis's royal family was based off the Yakuza (not in XV)
- Insomnia worship death (not in XV)
- A Venice style city (Still in XV)
- Niflhiem are the main baddies (Still in XV)
- KH combat (not in XV, but still not turn based)
- Controllable party members (not In XV)
- Noctis can see someone's death or their soul expire or some shit like that (Still in XV)
- Noctis eyes turn red (Still in XV)
- Noctis and crew wearing Roen clothing (Still in XV)
- Engine blade (Still in XV)
- Warping (Still in XV)
- Dark tone (Not in XV as far as we know)
- Road trip theme (Still in XV)
- Awesome trailers (Not in XV)
HAHAA!!

The lose of the yakuza constrast was the worst. Now both sides are just generic fantasy crap. :(
 
Taking about Versus 13 will just do more harm right now than good. He needs people to let go of this phantom hypothetical game that never was, because no one can compete against hopes and dreams that spun out of control.

People who insist clinging to Versus 13 can had over to fanfiction.net. The game had been more in development over there than in Square Enix' offices.

It'd be easier for people to forget Versus if FFXV had shown off any new intriguing story content to take place of what grabbed the interest of those who were looking forward to Versus.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Did Turd Barfday ever get a digital release or is it stuck in the same hell a lot of SE PSP games are in?
 

Ran rp

Member
I don't know why people keep bringing up fanfiction. I don't care about what other people dream up, just as I find it hard to care about Tabata's current take on Nomura's vision. I wanted the Versus XIII Nomura saw. I wanted the game with Nomura's flair throughout.

I don't play dollhouse in my head with the characters but rather envision how the project may have panned out if it was still under Nomura's control. The same way people wonder how Dune may have turned out if Jodorowsky's version ever saw the light of day, or if Human Head got to finish and release Prey 2.

If XV was still Nomura's baby I'm sure he'd make the changes work. Whatever Tabata and crew's doing now just isn't working for me.
 

SoraNoKuni

Member
PSY・S;214926216 said:
I don't know why people keep bringing up fanfiction. I don't care about what other people dream up, just as I find it hard to care about Tabata's current take on Nomura's vision. I wanted the Versus XIII Nomura saw. I wanted the game with Nomura's flair throughout.

I don't play dollhouse in my head with the characters but rather envision how the project may have panned out if it was still under Nomura's control. The same way people wonder how Dune may have turned out if Jodorowsky's version ever saw the light of day, or if Human Head got to finish and release Prey 2.

If XV was still Nomura's baby I'm sure he'd make the changes work. Whatever Tabata and crew's doing now just isn't working for me.

Couldn't agree more.
 

artsi

Member
PSY・S;214926216 said:
I don't know why people keep bringing up fanfiction. I don't care about what other people dream up, just as I find it hard to care about Tabata's current take on Nomura's vision. I wanted the Versus XIII Nomura saw. I wanted the game with Nomura's flair throughout.

I don't play dollhouse in my head with the characters but rather envision how the project may have panned out if it was still under Nomura's control. The same way people wonder how Dune may have turned out if Jodorowsky's version ever saw the light of day, or if Human Head got to finish and release Prey 2.

If XV was still Nomura's baby I'm sure he'd make the changes work. Whatever Tabata and crew's doing now just isn't working for me.

Maybe because the whole scenario of "if it was still Nomura's game" and Versus XIII releasing is in fact, literally fiction. It didn't happen and Tabata's XV is what we get.

People are free to speculate of course, but that's what it is.
 

Mailbox

Member
PSY・S;214926216 said:
I don't know why people keep bringing up fanfiction. I don't care about what other people dream up, just as I find it hard to care about Tabata's current take on Nomura's vision. I wanted the Versus XIII Nomura saw. I wanted the game with Nomura's flair throughout.

I don't play dollhouse in my head with the characters but rather envision how the project may have panned out if it was still under Nomura's control. The same way people wonder how Dune may have turned out if Jodorowsky's version ever saw the light of day, or if Human Head got to finish and release Prey 2.

If XV was still Nomura's baby I'm sure he'd make the changes work. Whatever Tabata and crew's doing now just isn't working for me.

You may need to replay khDDD and its... story...
it might level you're high expectations of Nomura's storytelling and vision. Nomura wanted Versus to be 3 games. I can't trust that man on a multi-installment story. On a singular, experimental experiance, sure Nomura is great, but man...

I will admit that he did a damn good job at enticing people with trailers and a "brooding tone" but he was pretty strong on that wouldn't really be the real experience of the game. But I honestly feel like the "Nomura magic" and "what versus 13 would have been" is dumb and short sighted. Likely we would have had a 25 hour rpg (see: KH2; its around that length if you skip the skippable worlds) that ends on a cliffhanger. As for changes, I'm actually kinda glad they changed Stella (STELLA!!!) because what it seemed like from interviews was that she was very much a Juliet (and not badass Romeo x Juliet Juliet, no I mean Shakespeare-super girly Juliet (hence the "i thought she wasn't my kind of pretty" comments from Nomura))

Much of what we saw of Versus 13 was concept cgi, like in the KH secret movies. Not complete things, just thoughts in Nomura's brain given budget.

I will say one thing though. Nomura's projects make some ACE Cg hype material. It might all be bullshit in one way or another, but its still great.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
It'd be easier for people to forget Versus if FFXV had shown off any new intriguing story content to take place of what grabbed the interest of those who were looking forward to Versus.
Not sure why they're so hesitant to make a big story trailer so close to launch or showcase the narrative at all really.
 

Kain

Member
Probably because he keeps being asked about it when its not his project to speak on and he wants to focus on the game he's working on right now

I don't think anyone is 100% happy with how this arrangement turned out.

Yep, I believe it's that, I don't think he's happy with inheriting Nomura's work and goes salty anytime someone asks.

What bothers me is that this transition Versus > XV doesn't seem like it was cordial or "nice", a lot of decissions made with XV seem made just for the sake of changing things Nomura & co decided on so that Tabata & co can say "Hey look, this our thing!". I mean, what is that was not working of Nomura's take on the game? The combat? Sure, change the combat, but why change (sigh, here I go...) Stella or the Yakuza style or Regis? The setting? The story? Why? We never got an explanation and at this rate we'll never will.

The game is currently set on this uncomfortable area were we can't be sure if things are from the original vision or they are new, or even reused or changed, and it shows. Instead of "fixing" what was already done and not working or creating all new stuff we have an in-between thing. This is what's not working for me. And Tabata is not doing nothing to alleviate this sensation. Not that he has to, of course, but it's just not working for me and I don't think I'm the only one...
 

Mailbox

Member
Not sure why they're so hesitant to make a big story trailer so close to launch or showcase the narrative at all really.

A part of me is hoping they are just being weird like ND was with The Last Of Us' multiplayer

My expectation is that the story will be slightly bare bones and likely retreads of previous FF story lines
 

Burbeting

Banned
If there is something, it's that Nomura is great at directing trailers.

However, I'm not as confident in writing meaningful stories. KHDDD really soured me on that.
 
Not sure why they're so hesitant to make a big story trailer so close to launch or showcase the narrative at all really.

The lack of this at E3 honestly surprised me. Unless it's based on a marketing decision to put gameplay front and center to attract fans of open world games that wouldn't otherwise be interested in Final Fantasy, I'm finding it hard to imagine a scenario where this game isn't extremely light on story. The intro of the game certainly did nothing to allay my fears.

Perhaps I have "Final Fantasy Disease."
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
PSY・S;214926216 said:
I don't know why people keep bringing up fanfiction. I don't care about what other people dream up, just as I find it hard to care about Tabata's current take on Nomura's vision. I wanted the Versus XIII Nomura saw. I wanted the game with Nomura's flair throughout.

I don't play dollhouse in my head with the characters but rather envision how the project may have panned out if it was still under Nomura's control. The same way people wonder how Dune may have turned out if Jodorowsky's version ever saw the light of day, or if Human Head got to finish and release Prey 2.

If XV was still Nomura's baby I'm sure he'd make the changes work. Whatever Tabata and crew's doing now just isn't working for me.

You are talking in terms of gameplay right? I agree with that. Versus XIII/early XV's gameplay looks to be the most fun version to me, despite being relatively barebones in mechanics. Story though, maybe you get some well-directed event scenes by Jun Akiyama, but the actual script by Nomura will probably be loads of horse shit.
 
The moment they decided the Insomnia opening wasn't feasible was probably a key factor in getting Stella removed/changed/adapted in the game. All the media we had of her was in Insomnia.

Almost all media we had was in Insomnia.

Crazy, wild, conjecture: Given the similarities between FFXIII and Type 0's ending, and that scene, I'd imagine the game would have ended in
one of them killing the other.
 

Kain

Member
Nomura doesn't write, he's sort of this spiritual guru who has everything in his head and then Nojima writes it all down on paper. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

The way the guy in charge of the Osaka team (I forgot his name lol) explains it he just sort of appears to them once a week via skype or something, says his piece (everything cryptic and weird of course), and it's up to the team to figure out what the fuck was all that lololol
 

Ran rp

Member
Maybe because the whole scenario of "if it was still Nomura's game" and Versus XIII releasing is in fact, literally fiction. It didn't happen and Tabata's XV is what we get.

People are free to speculate of course, but that's what it is.

But how is it fanfiction? The development of the game and the people involved are just as interesting as the world of Versus itself. I want to know more about how it was conceived, what the various development woes were, what Nomura hoped to achieve at each milestone, and how he feels about the project now. It'd be great to learn about Tabata and his thoughts and history with Versus/XV as well. Not every project goes through a 10 year development crisis so it's well worth talking about.

You are talking in terms of gameplay right? I agree with that. Versus XIII/early XV's gameplay looks to be the most fun version to me, despite being relatively barebones in mechanics. Story though, maybe you get some well-directed event scenes by Jun Akiyama, but the actual script by Nomura will probably be loads of horse shit.

Nojima wrote the script.
 

Dremark

Banned
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?

Versus XIII actually looked like an interesting game. Whether it was intentional or not SE made it sound like these were the same game.

This statement makes 15 sound more like Versus XIII got axed straight out and 15 was made using what they could salvage.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Not sure why they're so hesitant to make a big story trailer so close to launch or showcase the narrative at all really.

If they just straight up show the ending before the game comes out I'm holding you personally responsible.

just like how you caused the delay
 

Ydelnae

Member
Not sure why they're so hesitant to make a big story trailer so close to launch or showcase the narrative at all really.

They are making it seem like there's nothing going on in the story besides the Altissia attack and the summon boss battles, really. They need to get someone to edit a good story trailer like those from Versus and Nomura XV, showing new scenes and characters without revealing too much.

The Dawn trailer would be a perfect example of what I want, it just needs better pace and less long scenes.
 

Diablos

Member
My understanding: Nomura was finally about to make VersusXIII (after XIII disaster and XIV and type0). Then he was told by the company to rename it to XV. He agreed and wanted to make it a trilogy. The company didn't like the idea and replaced Nomura with Tabata. Tabata got a chance to "show" his talent and went COMPLETELY off rail of what Nomura/Nojima wanted to do. The rest is history.

In short Nomura never got the chance, thanks to the sucky Toriyama, Kitase, XIV 1.0., and most importantly the idiots who run the company.
Eh maybe? Has that been reported? It's hard to do what Nomura wanted to do it he's no longer on the project.

I agree that having to endure the FFXIII 3 game trainwreck plus FFXIV getting a reboot was a spotlight stealer, although revamping FFXIV was worth it imo. XIII on the other hand went on for far too long. It probably did irreversible harm to FF's reputation. The creepy obsession with Lightning... ugh.

If Nomura was making FFXV it probably wouldn't even be close to being done though. It sucks if he really got screwed over that badly, but dragging out your game for so long has consequences. It was supposed to be a PS3 game with a different title. We should have been anticipating FFXVI by now. That's just nuts.
 

Dremark

Banned
Eh maybe? Has that been reported? It's hard to do what Nomura wanted to do it he's no longer on the project.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was pretty sure they said Nomura had finished all the stuff he was working on so he left at the tail end of the project to focus on the other things he was working on.
 

Diablos

Member
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was pretty sure they said Nomura had finished all the stuff he was working on so he left at the tail end of the project to focus on the other things he was working on.
Right but if the game is only 25% done when Tabata takes over and Nomura is gone, it's hard to fully realize that vision, is what I'm saying. I'm sure it's not as simple as saying Tabata stabbed Nomura in the back etc.
 

Philippo

Member
Not sure why they're so hesitant to make a big story trailer so close to launch or showcase the narrative at all really.

I think we're still getting it either at TGS or somewhere like PGW.
I think up until now they tried to hook up people with the game core mechanics, and will push out a story-focused trailer at the end for a final spike of hype.
At least i hope :(

If they just straight up show the ending before the game comes out I'm holding you personally responsible.

just like how you caused the delay

GameFaqs gonna riot so bad.
 
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