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New in-depth 4Gamer interview with FFXV and Kingsglaive directors Tabata and Nozue

It was open world ever since the Versus days.

Tabata:
Right as we merged together with Luminous Studio a few months after announcing FFXV at the 2013 E3. At that point in time, the engineers wouldn't listen and insisted, “With Square Enix's current know-how, an open world is impossible.”

So why were the SE engineers arguing against an open world after the FFXV announcement.
 

wmlk

Member
So why were the SE engineers arguing against an open world after the FFXV announcement.
Maybe one of the reasons Versus and FFXV was having development troubles was because they couldn't properly make an open world. It took restructuring internally to do it.

Nomura said in 2013 how with the PS3, the car couldn't keep up with the open world, which is so crazy to think about. They couldn't get that to work...

Nomura was 100% using the same buzzwords that Tabata is using now regarding the technology. Maybe people forgot since it's been so long.
 

kurahador

Member
Tabata:
Yes, 50% of me hoped. My standpoint for the remaining 50% was, it's okay if it's an empty world. If we can complete it that's enough.

4Gamer:
Being able do think like that for a numbered FF title is shocking.

Tabata:
However, I think I made it clear to the whole team that the "technology" we use, and our level of "content completion" were separate. I wondered if there was a good example and after searching I found Shadow of the Colossus. After showing it, everyone seemed to understand. Of course, I'm not making fun of Shadow of the Colossus by any means. It's because I respect it that I'm using it as an example.

4Gamer:
It's a good example, which goes to show you can make many great games depending on how you make it, even if you don't stuff it full of content. Actually, Shadow of the Colossus had great reviews overseas as well.

Tabata:
You can get a sense of the world just by moving to a destination right? The staff validated the appeal of Shadow of the Colossus. Another example of a game you can experience the world is, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. If you compare it to games these days, it isn't exactly brimming with content. Even so, you become entranced just running around on a horse in a seamless world.

4Gamer:
At this point in time, is the completed from of FFXV the same as what you thought it would be when you started?

Tabata:
We were able to realize all the parts I thought were a “must have.”

I take it this means the game will be kinda empty? :/ Hope the sidequests will be meaty at least.
 

sappyday

Member
I take it this means the game will be kinda empty? :/ Hope the sidequests will be meaty at least.

If you look at the footage then that is what it'll be. Some will hate but I seriously don't mind. I loved running around Duscae and even that small little section felt massive.

It's gonna be open fields with monsters in it with some little location sprinkled on the roads and some hidden dungeons.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
After I read that, I'm mentally preparing myself for the possibility that FFXV's open world will be sparse.

Then again.. I guess most open worlds are.
 
I take it this means the game will be kinda empty? :/ Hope the sidequests will be meaty at least.

Obviously, just like the Duscae demo.

Also the OoT example is disingenous, the map in that game wasn't very big, and had enough secrets and stuff to do in it that didn't feel empty.

In SoTC it filled a narrative purpose, a much different purpose of what should be on an RPG.
 

Famassu

Member
After I read that, I'm mentally preparing myself for the possibility that FFXV's open world will be sparse.

Then again.. I guess most open worlds are.
They've never tried to hide the fact that a part of the world is there just as a backdrop for travelling, to give the world a more realistic sense of scale and to make the road trip feel more road trip-y. So you'll have stretches of land that don't have a hidden dungeon or treasure chests every few feets and then you'll have places of interest that you can explore more closely at will and find more special content.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
They've never tried to hide the fact that a part of the world is there just as a backdrop for travelling, to give the world a more realistic sense of scale and to make the road trip feel more road trip-y. So you'll have stretches of land that don't have a hidden dungeon or treasure chests every few feets and then you'll have places of interest that you can explore more closely at will and find more special content.
I guess I don't mind it. That sounds realistic. It's not unlike the world maps of old, where most of it is empty space and monsters, just on a larger scale.
 

artsi

Member
I take it this means the game will be kinda empty? :/ Hope the sidequests will be meaty at least.

Means just that the wilderness outside the landmarks / cities / towns won't be a theme park with something shiny behind every nook and cranny, which is fine as it's just something you use to travel, like old world maps in classic FF games.

There should be plenty of interesting stuff around the key locations.
 
I like how he basically says he's just following the open world trend to make westerners happy. "It's okay if the quality drops". "An empty world is okay". Can't blame him, that's what's popular over here.
 

Turin

Banned
I guess I don't mind it. That sounds realistic. It's not unlike the world maps of old, where most of it is empty space and monsters, just on a larger scale.

Yeah.

I would hope they'd cut a bit of the excess in future titles though. Not that I'd want a return to XIII's mold or anything.
 

DeSolos

Member
With regards to "when was it open world?", let's look at the evolution over the years.

2006-2009 era
In the earliest prototypes we know the world was divided into 3 different distinct "views"
-World: traditional PS1 style world map
-Region: FF12 style larger levels which are not seamless
-Area: KH2 style interiors, loading between rooms etc. (seemingly allowed them to make these super detailed places)

(ignore top half as that's Type 0/Agito XIII stuff)
320re2.jpg

Example of an "Area". Much like in a lot of older 3D titles the city backdrop is a handful of low detail 3d models and a lot of flat billboards.

2010/2011 era

Big changes. Everything shown is seamless, though it is unclear how far this extended. (my speculation: FFXII on steroids. large areas, but not seamless)

2013 era

Like 2011, but bigger. Very large ares were shown with seamless traversal. It's unclear how much was explorable. And based on developer accounts now, they didn't know either.

2014-2016 era
Now it's confirmed to be a full seamless world. You can even fly an airship over it.(from ground level all the way to some fairly high altitudes)


BUT with one major caveat. It's still unclear how much of this place we'll get to explore. All we know is it won't be all of it. Though this appears to be more of a budget issue than a tech issue as the city seems to be fully modeled out and will be featured in the game in some capacity.
 

theofficefan99

Junior Member
I don't exactly mind that there isn't going to be something to see every 3 seconds. That'll probably get tiring. After playing SO5, I'm incredibly happy that there's fast travel between camp sites, IIRC you can save your game at any point, there's Chocobos, the car, plus an airship... it'll be fine. Plus there's apparently going to be quite a few optional caves/dungeons, which I'm excited for. I'll take those any day over hunts/fetch quests.
 
Why would you ever think that from that quote. Nomura leaving wasn't his choice but a company decision.

Nomura has trust in Tabata, he was the one to bring him in to direct Crisis Core after only doing phone games.
Two assumptions.

1.) Nomura was taken off as director, as we all know, and the story and characters were his own. The quote basically says that people get attached to their creations and get disheartened by criticism of them, including Stella. I /assume/ Nomura wasn't thrilled about at least some of the redesigns to the game, Stella included.

2.) I /assume/ Tabata is the better manager, at least by deadline standards, so SE put him on to speed up the progress. Some systems, characters and concepts could not be fit into one game, as he mentioned, so they would have to be cut in his estimation. Conflicting ideas about what should be in or out, and the need for a retreat for the team(s), is also what lead to my assumption

Although, I will admit to not factoring FFVIIR into my thought equation. That is a great appeaser, even if Nomura was taken off of his passion project. Or maybe it wasn't his passion anymore, thats another assumption.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Duscae left me quite hopeful but also a tad concerned with regards to how they've tackled open world design.

The positives were that it had plenty of unique landmarks (gas station, chocobo ranch, goblin cave, dead eyes lair, astral shard). It all blended really well.

However many of the side quests were really bland....and the most basic and barebone type of fetch quests. (collect the mushrooms by the lake, find this shiny stone etc..).

I'm putting this down to a time constraint issue since that demo had no side quests given to you by NPCs which was unusual.
 

Planeswalker

Neo Member
A curious thing I've had about Versus XIII how connected it actually was to FFXIII mythos.

This was the latest interview I know of on that. Etro was apparently the same character across all three FNC series which is interesting considering it seems like they were supposed to be different universes rather than shared worlds in a single universe.

People may dislike FFXIII but I like the mythos. To be fair, I always like having shared worlds if possible (one reason I am excited for Berseria is because it is connected with Zestiria in plot).

As for why Nomura was taken off? Yoshida said (after FFXIV 1.0 didn't so well) that they got teams from other FF projects to help with ARR. To be fair though, I don't remember or know the exact link but I think it was in one of the older letters in the FFXIV forum archive.

There's lots that happened between the start of Versus XIII and the time when Nomura was taken off the project. XIII sold well but they noted the criticism. While XIII-2 would have probably been made regardless, I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally changes some things in response to criticisms of XIII.

They always emphasized the fact that XIII-2 would have towns now (a little), mini games, etc which made it seem like if XIII-2 was already in development before XIII came out, that they may have went back and redid things which would have taken some budget.

Versus XIII was planned without experience of PS3 development yet. Maybe developing on the PS3 wasn't as smooth as they hoped (I know XIII had trouble and XIII-2 had frame rate drops). Versus XIII was supposed to be using the same engine as XIII (Crystal Tools) and all the games had frame rate issues (XIII is probably the least).

The original FFXIV was built on Crystal Tools and it was not a smooth engine there either.

So, maybe the fact that the engine wasn't great probably didn't help either (in fact, it could have been the main deciding factor).

Nomura being moved towards FF7 Remake could have been a factor as well. I am not sure when they started on FF7 Remake but maybe they thought they needed him on FF7 Remake instead of FF15.

There's lots of potential reasons for why Nomura was moved that wasn't the fault of his own. The time when FF Versus XIII was being development was also one of the more problematic moments for SE (not great reception for XIII and XIV, attempts to win back fans, development troubles for 7th gen games in general, etc), so there's lots of things that could have happen that wasn't Nomura's fault.
 

Mr. RHC

Member
Koozek adding fuel to the fire one interview at a time.

̶
Tabata:
If I hadn't said that the team couldn't have confidence and come together. By saying that, we were able to dynamically manage a seamless world, prepare an environment and the team could relax with the thought, “Even if it sucks Tabata is responsible.” However, in the end everyone said they didn't like how empty the field was.

Nozue:
They are really doing their best aren't they. (laughs)

Tabata:
I told them, “I told you it's okay if it's empty.” But they reply, “But we don't like that!” (Laughs)

--------
4Gamer:
They were getting down on themselves?

Tabata:
First, people look at the things they can't do right? They would say, “If it's an open world quality will go down.” Or, “We won't have content for it.” Thats why I continued to say, “It's okay if quality drops,” and, “An empty world is okay.”

4Gamer:
But, actually you had the hope, “They can do it if they try.” Didn't you?

Tabata:
Yes, 50% of me hoped. My standpoint for the remaining 50% was, it's okay if it's an empty world. If we can complete it that's enough.

4Gamer:
Being able do think like that for a numbered FF title is shocking.

Tabata:
However, I think I made it clear to the whole team that the "technology" we use, and our level of "content completion" were separate. I wondered if there was a good example and after searching I found Shadow of the Colossus. After showing it, everyone seemed to understand. Of course, I'm not making fun of Shadow of the Colossus by any means. It's because I respect it that I'm using it as an example.

4Gamer:
It's a good example, which goes to show you can make many great games depending on how you make it, even if you don't stuff it full of content. Actually, Shadow of the Colossus had great reviews overseas as well.

Tabata:
You can get a sense of the world just by moving to a destination right? The staff validated the appeal of Shadow of the Colossus. Another example of a game you can experience the world is, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. If you compare it to games these days, it isn't exactly brimming with content. Even so, you become entranced just running around on a horse in a seamless world.

Lindsay-Lohan-Spits-Out-Drink.gif


I see now why they added the car to Shadow of the Colossus XV panic mode.
WI5I6Yf.jpg


Granted, SOTC was fun.

At least I'm used to running around in the field after playing XIV for a while. I wonder how long it will take for people to get tired of open world designs and want a more linear experience.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
No wonder SE was such a mess. They even say here that they thought they suck. A studio from mostly Polish background has better "know how" than Japan developers which were making games since 80s. Crazy.
It's not so much that they "thought they suck" so much as it sounds like a complete lack of confidence in themselves as developers to accomplish what other developers had.
 
It's not so much that they "thought they suck" so much as it sounds like a complete lack of confidence in themselves as developers to accomplish what other developers had.

The PS3 era really was a disaster for them. Before that, I felt FFXII was more impressive and futuristic than say Oblivion which was on next gen systems at the time.
 

Aureon

Please do not let me serve on a jury. I am actually a crazy person.
Considering the trend in "Not-empty" open worlds is endless treadmill fetch quests, i'll take something half-empty happily.

Also really, seamless loading isn't that hard.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
The PS3 era really was a disaster for them. Before that, I felt FFXII was more impressive and futuristic than say Oblivion which was on next gen systems at the time.

1. Toriyama. His vision of how FF should be damaged the series massively. It was total short sightedness from them for failing to see how forward FFXII was. They should have carried that over as a template.

2. Tech. The PS3 was an absolute nightmare to develop for and their game engine was incompetent. Both PS3 and 360 were also too weak. Developers overestimated what could be achieved on them, such as VersusXIII. The same also applies to the current gen of consoles, although we see limitations mainly impacting graphics, IQ and performance instead of features.

3. Infrastructure. Many devs (especially JP devs) underestimated the resources leap needed for last gen development. More man power was needed, new technology was needed and that meant an increase in budgets was needed.

FFXIII sold incredibly well for being a very disappointing game. The fan Base was still strong and alive back in 2010. If the game was better the series would undoubtedly be prosperous right now. Ultimately, the 3 things above are what caused the brand to be mismanaged so badly.
 
1. Toriyama. His vision of how FF should be damaged the series massively. It was total short sightedness from them for failing to see how forward FFXII was. They should have carried that over as a template.

2. Tech. The PS3 was an absolute nightmare to develop for and their game engine was incompetent. Both PS3 and 360 were also too weak. Developers overestimated what could be achieved on them, such as VersusXIII. The same also applies to the current gen of consoles, although we see limitations mainly impacting graphics, IQ and performance instead of features.

3. Infrastructure. Many devs (especially JP devs) underestimated the resources leap needed for last gen development. More man power was needed, new technology was needed and that meant an increase in budgets was needed.

FFXIII sold incredibly well for being a very disappointing game. The fan Base was still strong and alive back in 2010. If the game was better the series would undoubtedly be prosperous right now. Ultimately, the 3 things above are what caused the brand to be mismanaged so badly.

Not only that, but remember how they were throwing around concepts regarding their grand vision of not only FNC, but FFXIII? In the beginning, it's almost like they wanted FFXIII to be WAY grander than it turned out to be. I think of the base infiltration footage you see of FFXV, which has real-time concepts that were originally going to be used in FFXIII. That got axed.

Remember when Matsuda apologized for FF not being up to it's former quality? Many suddenly claimed he only meant FFXIV(pre ARR), but I'm sure he meant the whole PS3 era. It would make sense that, regardless of FFXIII selling well, they'd be hard on themselves when realizing the game wasn't up to par with what they originally wanted it to be.
 

Ray Down

Banned
Although, I will admit to not factoring FFVIIR into my thought equation. That is a great appeaser, even if Nomura was taken off of his passion project. Or maybe it wasn't his passion anymore, thats another assumption.

No, Nomura said he didn't even know he was the director at first. He had to look at an internal presentation for some early pre production for the project. Sounds like Kitase just assumed he would be seeing how he was involved with other FF7 projects, involved with the pre production and was passionate about it and Kitase seemgily not wanting to direct a game again(hasn't done one since X).

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-7-remake-director-didnt-know-he-was-/1100-6428460/
 

Korigama

Member
I don't exactly mind that there isn't going to be something to see every 3 seconds. That'll probably get tiring. After playing SO5, I'm incredibly happy that there's fast travel between camp sites, IIRC you can save your game at any point, there's Chocobos, the car, plus an airship... it'll be fine. Plus there's apparently going to be quite a few optional caves/dungeons, which I'm excited for. I'll take those any day over hunts/fetch quests.
But there will be hunts in FFXV, though.

As for quests, the issue with them in most RPGs seems to be the unchecked quantity and general disposability associated with them more often than not. Rather than using what you're getting/doing and why to give players a better idea of the nature and/or disciplines of their clients, as well as potentially providing added perspective regarding the region and occasionally those outside of it, they tend to be impersonal checklists that are completed without much or any commentary by the clients or the party members themselves.
 

Setsu00

Member
Kingsglaive started development in 2013, btw, when Nomura was still the director.

Well, "the core" hasn't changed, and whoever followed Versus knows that since 2006-2008 and also every time Tabata was asked about Stella before they officially revealed Luna he said he couldn't comment about the story and characters and would do so at a later time, so technically he wasn't lying.

It's still about the bros' road-trip to reclaim Noctis' throne (where the crystal resides in), taken by Niflheim.

But whatever, we could argue forever about whether he was willingly lying to deceive Versus fans, because why wouldn't he, or they just decided to find the right time to address all general changes at once and explain the reasoning behind it, like condensing Nomura's multi-title saga into one single, cohesive game and not wanting to mess too much with Nomura's original character that some felt attached to already, instead creating a new character, which they did in the ATR in 2015 with Nojima's approval also. I don't care about the changes as long as they felt they were for the better of FFXV. We don't even remotely know what Versus Stella would've been like at that point and everything Tabata said about the decision to create Luna implies that Stella's role was not big enough (as said in this interview). We'll probably never know, though I hope they disclose it fully in some future Making Of or Ultimania.

So, you choose whatever narrative you like the most. I choose the one where I trust a team of highly passionate and hard-working people, who obviously spent a lot of time and thoughts on these decisions during the development.

This is not about choosing my preferred narrative. This is simply about pointing out the fact that - for whatever reason - Tabata and the XV team did lie about the changes they made to the game since Nomura left. Stella is not the only change and not the sole reason why I feel like Tabata isn't being sincere. The quote I presented you was from 2014, when they already knew that Kingsglaive would be made and just like Kagari clarified, this was not Nomura's decision. They knew they had significantly changed the story and still chose to pretend that only minor details were affected.

Kingsglaive may be based on the original intro for Versus XIII, but there's no denying that it's still a heavily modified version of that story as shown by the fact that at least one scene that previously featured Noctis and Stella was re-purposed into a meeting between Nyx and Luna. Nyx's entire existance makes no sense without Kingsglaive, which means they had to accomodate for his role in the overall story and that is a significant change.

Even if you disregard Kingsglaive, Luna is apparently different enough from Stella to warrant a different name as even the staff felt uncomfortable working with a modified Stella. It doesn't matter if Luna is a better character than Stella. If those changes worked out for them, then it's great, but Tabata should not complain about fans saying that he's arbitrarily changed Versus XIII when he hasn't been honest to begin with.
 
Tabata:
Yes, 50% of me hoped. My standpoint for the remaining 50% was, it's okay if it's an empty world. If we can complete it that's enough.

Perfect opportunity to fill it with the FFIX sidequest where you looked at a picture and had to find it in the world. Chocobo hot and cold was great
 

DJIzana

Member
People will complain about the world being empty but I don't think that will be the case. There will be a lot of hidden things to find but in terms of NPC's out in the world, I don't expect to see many. Keep in mind, the devs want you to go back to the cities. The cities are the hub areas for quests and the like, me thinks.

Even if it is "empty", I don't mind. Xenoblade Chronicles X is my favorite RPG that I've played since the original still. I really appreciate art direction and overall exploration most in singler player, open world games.
 
Tabata:
Up to now, we chose one platform, and spent many years specializing in developmental techniques that were the most effective. When the next generation of platforms comes out, we go through a cycle, once again, of trying to find effective new development techniques.
However, the GPU that is installed in machines consumers use are fundamentally PC technology that was implemented many years prior. If that's the case, if we make pre-rendered videos that encompass “thoughts,” and continue to implement methods of real time rendering for current, high-end PC GPUs, the pain of searching for developmental techniques when platforms change generations, goes away.

4Gamer:
I see. That seems to be the reason why foreign developers who worked on PC games for many years, rose to power for consumer games in years following 2000.

Tabata:
That's right. If we are talking about development techniques, studios that have independently stayed in the game for a long time are strong. For example, in the case of Grand Theft Auto, the team consists of mostly the same members, works to improve their development techniques and accumulates new skills and know-hows as a team.
Conversely, at enterprises such as Square Enix, teams dissolve when a project is finished and the staff gets involved with various other projects. This style makes it difficult to always have the newest skills and improve development techniques.


4Gamer:
Producer Hideo Kojima from Kojima Productions made a principle statement, “If you don't have the approach of always having the newest techniques, you'll get left behind and never be able to catch up.” Is this the same as the two things you mentioned?

Tabata:
Yes. That's how I feel. You can't maintain your peak performance as a team. Furthermore, and this is nothing more than an assumption but, if a studio without much skill were to merge and integrate with Naughty Dog, a present top class developer, their overall performance would average out and it would be difficult to maintain quality like Uncharted.

4Gamer:
I'm digressing but, I feel like this connects to what Nozue was saying a moment ago about “thoughts.” Always setting a high aim.

Tabata:
That's right. I kept that in mind when making the FFXV team. If the end goal is firmly in place, even if your surroundings change the team will remain adamant. Everyone also gradually gets better at setting goals.

4Gamer:
By doing that you can progressively increase the peak performance of the whole team.


Tabata:
In regards to improving peak performance, as long as computers continue to evolve, we will have to make an effort. That's why, I think it's good to be aware of enhancing developmental power as a team. Now, we are working hard on FFXV but, there are a lot of distinguished, capable members. We also have an environment set up where we can make products like KINGSGLAIVE so I'd like to challenge making some new IP (intellectual property). Of course we'll also be working hard on main stream games like the numbered FF Series. At any rate, at present we still need to give it our all and complete FFXV.

Tabata saying all the right things.
 

Korigama

Member
This is not about choosing my preferred narrative. This is simply about pointing out the fact that - for whatever reason - Tabata and the XV team did lie about the changes they made to the game since Nomura left. Stella is not the only change and not the sole reason why I feel like Tabata isn't being sincere. The quote I presented you was from 2014, when they already knew that Kingsglaive would be made and just like Kagari clarified, this was not Nomura's decision. They knew they had significantly changed the story and still chose to pretend that only minor details were affected.

Kingsglaive may be based on the original intro for Versus XIII, but there's no denying that it's still a heavily modified version of that story as shown by the fact that at least one scene that previously featured Noctis and Stella was re-purposed into a meeting between Nyx and Luna. Nyx's entire existance makes no sense without Kingsglaive, which means they had to accomodate for his role in the overall story and that is a significant change.

Even if you disregard Kingsglaive, Luna is apparently different enough from Stella to warrant a different name as even the staff felt uncomfortable working with a modified Stella. It doesn't matter if Luna is a better character than Stella. If those changes worked out for them, then it's great, but Tabata should not complain about fans saying that he's arbitrarily changed Versus XIII when he hasn't been honest to begin with.
What I still don't understand is why they weren't upfront with having replaced Stella with Luna from the very beginning. If they had used her Kingsglaive design in the actual game, then it would've been immediately apparent instead of being something that they felt the need to dance around, the one they decided to keep in the game itself basically being just Stella with a different hairstyle. The fact that there's consistency between the movie and the game with Regis' new design, yet they couldn't make up their minds with Luna, is one of the clumsiest things about this effort.
 
I take it this means the game will be kinda empty? :/ Hope the sidequests will be meaty at least.

Gamers have a serious underappreciation for how negative space contributes to a work. It's just as valid in gaming worlds as it is in a painting.

Having time where there's not much going on, where you see vast plains or a high mountain or whatever and that's all there is to it are what give the moments of "Holy shit, look at that monster" or "What a weird-looking dungeon" their impact.
 

Setsu00

Member
What I still don't understand is why they weren't upfront with having replaced Stella with Luna from the very beginning. If they had used her Kingsglaive design in the actual game, then it would've been immediately apparent instead of being something that they felt the need to dance around, the one they decided to keep in the game itself basically being just Stella with a different hairstyle. The fact that there's consistency between the movie and the game with Regis' new design, yet they couldn't make up their minds with Luna, is one of the clumsiest things about this effort.

Regis' design is actually another good point. When they announced Nomura's departure during TGS 2014 and claimed that no major alterations to the plot had been made, they still used an old CGI cutscene with Regis and Iedolas for the TGS trailer. That part of the game was cut and transformed into Kingsglaive. Unless SE really had no plan (which would be an entirely different problem), they had to know at the very least what part of the scenario Kingsglaive would cover before they start with production and that means SE willingly mislead (=lied) people.
 
Nah. Way too obviously villain-y, almost comically so. Movie Ravus looks slicker and cooler.


Why didn't they match every FFXV character with the Kingsglaive design :(

It's a matter of taste but I really like both designs, gives me a sephiroth vibe. koozek seems like you prefer the westernized designs of kingsglaive huh? ;P
 

chozen

Member
Nah. Way too obviously villain-y, almost comically so. Movie Ravus looks slicker and cooler.

Why didn't they match every FFXV character with the Kingsglaive design :(

There is a reason for this, TBH he look likes the perfect match to rival Noctis.
 

Jeels

Member
1. Toriyama. His vision of how FF should be damaged the series massively. It was total short sightedness from them for failing to see how forward FFXII was. They should have carried that over as a template.

2. Tech. The PS3 was an absolute nightmare to develop for and their game engine was incompetent. Both PS3 and 360 were also too weak. Developers overestimated what could be achieved on them, such as VersusXIII. The same also applies to the current gen of consoles, although we see limitations mainly impacting graphics, IQ and performance instead of features.

3. Infrastructure. Many devs (especially JP devs) underestimated the resources leap needed for last gen development. More man power was needed, new technology was needed and that meant an increase in budgets was needed.

FFXIII sold incredibly well for being a very disappointing game. The fan Base was still strong and alive back in 2010. If the game was better the series would undoubtedly be prosperous right now. Ultimately, the 3 things above are what caused the brand to be mismanaged so badly.

I don't know where I'd be in regards to my opinion on Final Fantasy if ARR hadn't been released. So thankful we got that because my favorite series would be dead to me otherwise...
 

artsi

Member
Because the game designs are better. Thank goodness they didn't match them with the movie ones.

Yeah, it's a matter of opinion but I like my FF games with a small animu touch, the movie designs are good for a movie.
 
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