As far as Kitase is concerned, FFXIII isn't even really a role-playing game. "We didn't really intend to work within with the RPG template," he says. "We wanted to create a new game, even a new genre. The way we look at it, there's isn't a certain format that we have to keep to and build a game around. Rather, it goes the other way around. We create a game and, depending on what works or doesn't work within that game, it ends up reflecting different staple elements."
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"There isn't a particular aspect of Final Fantasy that we've tried to retain throughout the series," muses Kitase. "We're always trying to depart from what we've created in the past. Still, even though FFXIII doesn't quite fit into the RPG genre, our mission from the very beginning was to create the ultimate single-player RPG experience. In that sense, our team's perspective was to think ahead to what RPGs will be like ten years from now, especially with the arrival of high-definition machines. What can we do to make this game stand apart from something like Dragon Quest and other RPGs on handhelds? What can we do that's different and advance the genre as a whole?"