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Game Informer May Cover Reveal: Final Fantasy XV
- Thread starter Nibel
- Start date
Eh, MMO wise, visually speaking it's still one of the best out there. Only newer games like Black Desert are really beating it. Helps that the art style is top notch.
Zoom in a little further to see some really low quality textures, or move around to bump into invisible walls. You can't even swim. By MMO standards it's basically faking most of the game systems others launch with.
It's a great game for screenshots, which is why they've focused so much on that aspect over meaningful game content in major patches - nothing sells copies like people fawning over anime come to life.
Vincent Grayson
Member
This is basically what ended Matsuno's time with Square, no? Overworked, got sick, couldn't finish the project, something like that?
I hope Tabata doesn't burn himself out.
Oh, thank you for this. Poor soul, i hope FF XV finally pay off his hard work.
That too, but Matsuno's main problem during FFXII apparently was the democratic way of development for a mainline FF compared to his smaller, more "auteur" works like Vagrant Story where he had the final say in most creative decisions. For example he was pissed at a designer deciding on the more sophisticated look of some of the airships in FFXII instead of the more traditional look he wanted.
Yoshida talked about having only 3 hours of sleep everyday during the development of FFXIV: ARR, too. As brutal as it sounds maybe this unhealthy work-ethic is needed for "saving" FF, right now. Ideally Tabata and Yoshida's next project will be a little bit more relaxed with the foundations laid and a lot of the pressure gone.
Whoa, nobody should go through all that.
Hope it pays off, even if he's not the "visionary"-type, he's still giving it all for this project.
Yaah, the Oda life style.
NoctisVsStar
Member
Tabata please not like this ;_;
NoctisVsStar
Member
All that and only three hours of sleep + driving to work with the car every day.
almost there...
theSlacker
Member
This was always my biggest problem with FF14. It sacrificed so much to look a bit better and to be able to run on the ps3. The gameworld has always been hot garbage, but HW took a step in the right direction. The time I put into the game was more for the people that I got to like more then anything else.
Also I think the story and writing was a lot better before the reboot (well actually when the other team took over mid original release), even if the rest of the game was even worse then.
I "get" the complaint even though I don't agree with it. The only thing I really don't like about Noctis' design at all is his not-sideburns. Looks fine in straight ahead shots, but from the side it looks just terrible.
Vire
Member
Oh no, I'm literally killing Tabata.
The middle and later parts of the thread are less negative - it took a day or two for people to realize there's much more to the gameplay than holding O and getting smacked around by the boss, the discussion has been a lot more level in that thread since. And some of the gameplay footage to come out of people playing that demo is insanely cool.
Today's GameInformer article is now up: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...inations-youll-visit-in-final-fantasy-xv.aspx
There's not much new stuff this time around apart from a few new screenshots and new concept art of things we've already seen.
There's not much new stuff this time around apart from a few new screenshots and new concept art of things we've already seen.
NoctisVsStar
Member
People are on the edge of their sits to call shit to anything, FFXV is just a particularly dear targer. Though it is also partially Square's fault.
I think he's absolutely a visionary, which is not necesarilly the same thing as an auteur.
NoctisVsStar
Member
End game probably
After being destroyed.
MultiJhonny
Banned
I think he is the visionary type. His ambitions are serious, it's just that he got stuck with a project that wasn't his to begin with. He was put into a very tricky situation, which is why if this game turns out like we all hope then I hope he gets another shot at a mainline that is all his own
YankeeDonB
Member
Nice confirmation that it's fully controllable!
DrunkShogun
Member
People usually forget how much making video game can take out of a person. Here's hoping he gets recognition and a deserved break.
I'm fairly certain that the only thing that will "save" the Final Fantasy series is the end of the Final Fantasy series. It is the mismanagement and lack of creative freedom that killed the series--had basically nothing to do with people not working hard enough.
Yes, but Yoshida and Tabata are trying to fix exactly that problem you're describing. And reversing years of bad management and breaking up old hierarchies takes a lot of time, energy and patience. That's what they're working so hard for. It paid off for FFXIV and it seems to do for FFXV. See this recent interview with Tabata:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1202838
[EDIT: Replaced with the official English translation from Famitsu]
Hajima Tabata Talks About Building His Final Fantasy XV Dev Team
--“So with all this going on, how did you tackle the project?”
Tabata: I brought together the game team, movie team, and technical team to create a new, independent team. This team then merged with the former FF Versus XIII team to make FFXV, forming the predecessor to the current Business Division 2.
--“And then you started production. Did you set any core themes for the production of FFXV?”
Tabata: Not initially. There was something we needed to do before we could think about what to do with FFXV. We needed to accept the fact that FF was no longer a winning franchise, and needed to think about what to do to make it great again. Every one of us agreed that the FF formula was failing in the HD market, and as such, rather than making another game by the book, we should do everything within our power to make a game capable of succeeding in the HD-era. That’s why we started production by creating a united team, with all of us viewing ourselves as challengers rather than established winners.
--“And from there…?”
Tabata: We reset the hierarchy of the whole team. We had section leads who had been in the position for a dozen years. This of course led to a clearly defined hierarchy among the staff, which not only affected the team’s chance at succeeding, but also forces each team member to adhere to the subjective values of their supervisor. In the hope of putting aside the unnecessary hierarchy that existed between them, I told the team that we were equals in a free-for-all environment. (laughs)
--“You created a meritocracy.”
Tabata: Yes. Before anything, I met with each member of the team and told them, “It’s up to you whether you stay or not. If you stay, you’ll have to abide by my changes. I don’t care how things were done in the past.” To get a clear idea of what each individual could bring to the team, I asked them what they were capable of. Next I assigned them their positions; mixing things up by assigning an all-round, balanced developer to head the preproduction phase, telling a former lead that for certain phases they’d be working under someone else, as although the quality of their work was impressive, they were less great at coordinating their section and negotiating with others. We really argued back and forth!
--“I bet you did…!”
Tabata: But there were a lot of people who were upbeat about the changes; many of them felt they were learning and growing, so spirits were high. We removed the invisible power balances and streamlined the chain of command, so everyone was making the most of their abilities. Many were trying their hand at something new, something previously out of reach, and this was being reflected in the game itself.
--“So with all this going on, how did you tackle the project?”
Tabata: I brought together the game team, movie team, and technical team to create a new, independent team. This team then merged with the former FF Versus XIII team to make FFXV, forming the predecessor to the current Business Division 2.
--“And then you started production. Did you set any core themes for the production of FFXV?”
Tabata: Not initially. There was something we needed to do before we could think about what to do with FFXV. We needed to accept the fact that FF was no longer a winning franchise, and needed to think about what to do to make it great again. Every one of us agreed that the FF formula was failing in the HD market, and as such, rather than making another game by the book, we should do everything within our power to make a game capable of succeeding in the HD-era. That’s why we started production by creating a united team, with all of us viewing ourselves as challengers rather than established winners.
--“And from there…?”
Tabata: We reset the hierarchy of the whole team. We had section leads who had been in the position for a dozen years. This of course led to a clearly defined hierarchy among the staff, which not only affected the team’s chance at succeeding, but also forces each team member to adhere to the subjective values of their supervisor. In the hope of putting aside the unnecessary hierarchy that existed between them, I told the team that we were equals in a free-for-all environment. (laughs)
--“You created a meritocracy.”
Tabata: Yes. Before anything, I met with each member of the team and told them, “It’s up to you whether you stay or not. If you stay, you’ll have to abide by my changes. I don’t care how things were done in the past.” To get a clear idea of what each individual could bring to the team, I asked them what they were capable of. Next I assigned them their positions; mixing things up by assigning an all-round, balanced developer to head the preproduction phase, telling a former lead that for certain phases they’d be working under someone else, as although the quality of their work was impressive, they were less great at coordinating their section and negotiating with others. We really argued back and forth!
--“I bet you did…!”
Tabata: But there were a lot of people who were upbeat about the changes; many of them felt they were learning and growing, so spirits were high. We removed the invisible power balances and streamlined the chain of command, so everyone was making the most of their abilities. Many were trying their hand at something new, something previously out of reach, and this was being reflected in the game itself.
JuanLatino
Member
woah that Tabata Story makes me sad. He should take a big Rest after FF XV and take it slowly
with the FF7 Games on the pipelines and 16 there is no pressure
Makes me wonder if its similar in Nomuras Case? Work ons mutliple Projects at the same time (directing games, other projects)
with the FF7 Games on the pipelines and 16 there is no pressure
Makes me wonder if its similar in Nomuras Case? Work ons mutliple Projects at the same time (directing games, other projects)
MegaSackman
Member
All to ship a game that people will hate and say that devs are lazy because the game is broken. Yay!
Much of what Tabata claims here depends deeply on the success of FFXV - likely from a critical and monetary perspective. The thing I think I'm most worried about is the way they've been portioning their games. Since the PS2 era, they basically haven't been making complete games - they've been making partial games and then numerous side-sequels (and then side-sequels of side-sequels) and this has caused games to become confusing, bloated messes. One of the virtues of the FF system in the past was that each game was unique and called for a new idea and iteration on game ideas, as well as building on past success, rather than throwing everything out or keeping everything as it was. This was what made FFVI such a phenomenal success and FFVII a breakthrough. Everything past FFVII, and especially everything after FFIX, has felt like SE resting on their laurels. Whether or not that has since been corrected remains to be seen with FFXV, but until it's out in its finished form, I'm not really holding my breath.
Aaand another problem you address that Tabata fixed. Nomura originally intended FFXV to be one part of an Epic, likely spanning multiple games, although he said they would've been self-contained. Tabata wanted it to be just one game when he took over the director role and so they started reworking everything from ground up:
Tabata: Quite some time has passed now After we had switched from Versus to XV, the first decision we made was to make sure that FFXV would have a complete, coherent story in one game. That was an important decisionone made at the company level, too. So I started thinking about how we could get a full, coherent story in a single game. And the crux of that was which elements from Versus we could carry over and which would not fit into the new structure as XV.
So I went through everything in detail, seeing which areas we would have to change. By that time, a fair amount of information about the Versus story had already been released, so we tried to keep as many elements from it as we could. We tried hard in a number of areas. But it would have been very difficult to carry over absolutely everything as it was. We considered what was possible with the new-gen hardware, as well as what elements absolutely must be included in XV but might fall through if not given top priority. It was not easy to nail down what was essential for the story to be contained in one title. Everyone involved was very sensitive in dealing with this, and we patiently debated numerous times, but we still couldnt come up with a definitive answer.
As you can see he's had the same concerns about the series as you and many of us. He's very aware of the problems it had in the last decade and is trying everything to salvage the mess.
And as I said, I really want to see the final product before claiming any of these problems are actually fixed. If the game remains a confusing mess, even if says he wants a coherent storyline, that may just be a consequence of trying to salvage Nomura's particular brand, or some other, deeper issue internally at SE (just my opinion, but Nomura has typically been awful as a director and succeeds much better when he's being led, rather than trying to lead).
TheJollyCorner
Member
One time in the summer after my senior year of high school I had the boneheaded idea to have a few parties at my parent's house while they took a week long cruise.
Two days before they were to arrive home I had a disaster in practically every room of the house that gives me a headache right now even thinking about it. It's a small miracle there were no dead bodies buried under the empty liquor bottles, beer cans, and pizza boxes.
Cleaning that up took everything short of a pure act of God, but my brother and I pulled it off. Like something out of a John Hughes movie, we were putting the finishing touches on literally 15 minutes before they walked in the door.
I wonder if cleaning up after years of Yoichi Wada's reign @ SE is comparable to cleaning up after a bunch of dipshit kids completely trashing a house and damn near burning it to the ground, just on a much larger scale?
Two days before they were to arrive home I had a disaster in practically every room of the house that gives me a headache right now even thinking about it. It's a small miracle there were no dead bodies buried under the empty liquor bottles, beer cans, and pizza boxes.
Cleaning that up took everything short of a pure act of God, but my brother and I pulled it off. Like something out of a John Hughes movie, we were putting the finishing touches on literally 15 minutes before they walked in the door.
I wonder if cleaning up after years of Yoichi Wada's reign @ SE is comparable to cleaning up after a bunch of dipshit kids completely trashing a house and damn near burning it to the ground, just on a much larger scale?
One time in the summer after my senior year of high school I had the boneheaded idea to have a few parties at my parent's house while they took a week long cruise.
Two days before they were to arrive home I had a disaster in practically every room of the house that gives me a headache right now even thinking about it. It's a small miracle there were no dead bodies buried under the empty liquor bottles, beer cans, and pizza boxes.
Cleaning that up took everything short of a pure act of God, but my brother and I pulled it off. Like something out of a John Hughes movie, we were putting the finishing touches on literally 15 minutes before they walked in the door.
I wonder if cleaning up after years of Yoichi Wada's reign @ SE is comparable to cleaning up after a bunch of dipshit kids completely trashing a house and damn near burning it to the ground, just on a much larger scale?
TheJollyCorner
Member
"Our time behind the wheel was brief, but it was long enough to call up memories of flying iconic ships like the Blackjack and Highwind."
"We didnt get to attempt a landing, but the team told us that it isnt as simple as pressing a button and that the first landing is likely to be a rough one for many players."
I like what I'm reading so far. Flying the Regalia sounds like quite the experience.
I don't actually buy that it's more productive to sleep three hours a day instead of getting a decent rest after a day of hard work. I mean what is he doing all that time since he is the director and not making assets non-stop etc.? Is it actually doing any real favors for the project or is it another case of japanese "gotta show how I'm working myself to the literal bone or my bosses will replace me"?.
TheJollyCorner
Member
If I had to guess he's going over all the days work from the various departments, making comments, suggestions, change requests, adjustments, etc. It's likely a daily grind until the game finalizes and goes gold.
Considering the scope of the production, it's probably a ton of stuff day in and day out that needs to be supervised.
qualitydisc
Member
Stopped into Gamestop today. They told me they don't expect the FFXV issue of Game Informer to come in until around the 22nd. Blegh! I can't wait that long
This is an estimate based on the fact that last month's issue came in on the 22nd of March, so they told me to expect it around that time
This is in Maryland btw
This is an estimate based on the fact that last month's issue came in on the 22nd of March, so they told me to expect it around that time
This is in Maryland btw
TheJollyCorner
Member
Thanks for checking on that! Maybe there's still a chance I'll get this issue with my newly acquired subscription? :}
Yuki Matsuzawa. You should look him up. His stuff's great.
if the dude is practically killing himself over the game I'm not sure the work culture has improved very much