Kikizo: Final Fantasy XIII Kitase and Hashimoto Interview

[Kitmitsu]

Kikizo, one of the better interview sites out there, has had the chance to talk to Shinji Hashimoto and Yoshinori Kitase about Final Fantasy XIII. The interview talks about all general aspects about Final Fantasy XIII including where they are at the moment, the changes in next generation development and what we're expecting to see in the future. I'll summaries some of the interesting new parts. For the full interview, visit the link at the bottom.

Final Fantasy XIII is in the stages where it's actually playable on Blu-ray discs using their testing units.
Kitase once again reaffirms that the Playstation 3 version of the game won't suffer from becoming multi-platform. He says it will utilise the best of the PS3's abilities.
Interestingly, he doesn't say the 360 version will be equal in quality to the PS3's. He says that the game will be optimised for 360 hardware after the PS3 version is finished.
Blu-rays bigger storage space hasn't helped as much as the new technology used in the now current generation consoles. CG isn't required as much as before thanks to the ability to create good looking in-engine cut scenes.
The trailers and screenshots we've seen so far were created in the very early stages of development which is why they show little variety in monster design. There will be much more variety in the final product.
We won't be seeing blue message boxes anymore due to advancement in graphics.
They're working as hard as they can to reduce the time gap between the Japanese and Western release date.

Source: Kikizo (http://games.kikizo.com/features/final-fantasy-xiii-square-enix-interview-p1.asp)

[Sadistic]

Sounds like they're doing very well. They do seem to be at a critical stage, and it's good to hear that the game is now ready to be test-played on Blu-Rays.
Overall a nice update from the team, I think. Particuarly liking the fact that what we've seen is all from very early in the game's development.

[Thunder]

We won't be seeing blue message boxes anymore due to advancement in graphics.
what blue boxes? http://www.akatsukifan.org/_altervista_ht/gif/look.gif

[Neal]

what blue boxes? http://www.akatsukifan.org/_altervista_ht/gif/look.gif
He's reffering to the text bubbles from FF7, and every other FF game on the PlayStation.

[Kitmitsu]

what blue boxes? http://www.akatsukifan.org/_altervista_ht/gif/look.gif

http://i.neoseeker.com/screenshots/R2FtZXMvUGxheXN0YXRpb24vUm9sZS1QbGF5aW5nL0ZhbnRhc3 k=/final_fantasy_vii_image31.jpg

[Whitesparkles]

oh wow the trailers are only in the early stages of development, that means we have alot of goodies to expect when the actual game comes out

[Thorgas]

I hope we will get new information about Final Fantasy (versus, Agito) XIII on December 20/21 because Square-Enix is going to visit the Jump Festa 2008 this year!

So we could see the current stage of development in screenshots or new videos.
I´m so happy after this update!

[Paskoww]

Great News, thank you so much!

I like this part :

Kikizo: There's not much known yet about how Final Fantasy XIII plays. Can you shed some light for our readers?
Kitase: Gameplay-wise, there's not much we can disclose at the moment... except that, similar to Final Fantasy XII, there's going to be a field with monsters roaming on there, which the character can interact with, and you can pursue or avoid them on the field. When you touch them, it will transition into a battle sequence. We can't say how many members will be in the party, but we will definitely have the traditional party element incorporated into the battles.


Sounds good!

[Sadistic]

Kikizo: So where do you get the feedback from?

Hashimoto: That's a secret! [laughs] Aside from the internet, when we have events, the staff are always peeking from from the curtains to see how the audience reacts. We take that into account, too!

Whoa, what? That kinda explains the Closed Mega Theatre, actually.

[Adam Blade]

Good update. Glad to hear it's now playable on testing units. Too bad the trailers have early stage dev. Hopefully JF 09 will show something the latest build and publicly... as they said. Also, glad to hear a bit on the battle system which is SOMEWHAT new.

[SANAO]

very great news =]

[BUTTCHEEKIES, OOH]

http://i.neoseeker.com/screenshots/R2FtZXMvUGxheXN0YXRpb24vUm9sZS1QbGF5aW5nL0ZhbnRhc3 k=/final_fantasy_vii_image31.jpg
ahahahaha

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n154/StupidAquarius/forum_bollocks/lolzplz/000at0ew.jpg

Good times, good times. Even though that's not my cap.

Thanks for the heads up! :cookie:

[Kurai Warrior]

...those trailers and screens were...early developement......*starts hyperventilating*
no more blue boxes *is gasping for air*
ready for blu ray testing *passes out*

[Wacka14]

No Blue Boxes? So the game will be entirely voiced-over...like everything???? I don't think there has been a game to date that's ever done that. Unless I'm misunderstanding what they're trying to say:blink:

[Purple]

Everything in MGS4 was voiced-over.

Anyway, great news. Glad to hear they are actually making some progress.

[Sundance Kid]

No Blue Boxes? So the game will be entirely voiced-over...like everything???? I don't think there has been a game to date that's ever done that. Unless I'm misunderstanding what they're trying to say:blink:
Not unless they use a different color

[kakalakingma]

...those trailers and screens were...early developement......*starts hyperventilating*
no more blue boxes *is gasping for air*
ready for blu ray testing *passes out*

LOL. I concur!

[Ikkin]

Whoa, what? That kinda explains the Closed Mega Theatre, actually.

I've heard about the sneaky staff thing before, actually. I listened to one of the 1UP podcasts for TGS (1UP Yours, I think) to see what they said about the FFXIIIs, and they mentioned seeing Nomura himself hiding behind the curtains. :lol:

[Shock]

Great news, Final Fantasy XIII is finally at a playable stage on the Blue-ray disc, I'm also glad to here that the PS3 version won't be hindered in the graphics department either. It's funny how Kitase compared the blue box(in FFXII) with the present game right now. It's also good to hear that SE have been taking in their fans opinion into consideration, but what's really getting me worked up about this news is that all of the screenshots and trailers we've seen was still in it's early stages of it's developemant, let's hope that the final product will look more awesome than it already is.

[_Herbal_]

well.
1. Im glad they are working on release time problem, between japan and western. Cuz they made us waiting for crisis core engl version to come out for 1 year after jap release (if i got the point right)
2. I hope they will at least make subtitles, if they gonna cancel blue boxes.

[Purple]

I'm sure the game would have subtitles. :)

[Nex]

Yeah, it has subtitles. Look at this image-

http://finalfantasy-xiii.net/final-fantasy-xiii/screenshots/final-fantasy-xiii-hd-df-08.jpg

[_Herbal_]

they look more like a comment oO

[Final]

Oh, ain't I a happy girl now :aldo: Thanks for posting the interview, appreciate it.
It's great to hear some new information, I especially liked the comment on the blue boxes :P

[Thunder]

Yeah, it has subtitles. Look at this image-

http://finalfantasy-xiii.net/final-fantasy-xiii/screenshots/final-fantasy-xiii-hd-df-08.jpg
I don't think these subs are in the game :/

Kitase: Gameplay-wise, there's not much we can disclose at the moment... except that, similar to Final Fantasy XII, there's going to be a field with monsters roaming on there, which the character can interact with, and you can pursue or avoid them on the field. When you touch them, it will transition into a battle sequence [...] oh so you have to touch the monster to start fighting... so basically one can go through fields whitout engage battles? °-°

[Ikkin]

I don't think these subs are in the game :/

I don't see why they wouldn't be - they look like the subs for FFX and FFXII. *shrugs*


oh so you have to touch the monster to start fighting... so basically one can go through fields whitout engage battles? °-°

Yeah, I think it's probably kind of like Chrono Trigger's system, where the monsters roam around on the field, but you don't fight them unless you touch them.

Of course, there's still a whole bunch of ways that could play out. The fight could play out mostly in the same spot, in a cordoned-off arena, with the same monsters that are in that area at the time, like Chrono Trigger - or, it could be in a completely different area, with the one monster splitting into several, or anything in between.

And then there's the question of what the monsters are doing on the field - whether they're moving in set patterns, or will chase you, or whatever.

Personally, I'm hoping for a Chrono Trigger-like system, except with monsters that might chase you, run from you, or whatever, depending on what they're like - and possibly with some kind of way to trigger an advantage in the fights you start.

[Thunder]

I don't see why they wouldn't be - they look like the subs for FFX and FFXII. *shrugs*cause i thought only foreign version had subtitles and it looked strange for a voiced cutscene to have subs http://www.akatsukifan.org/_altervista_ht/gif/look.gif

[bjenks]

I'm hoping and praying desperately for a turn-based style battle system. The fact that when you touch a monster it will transition into a battle scene with the traditional battle is a good start. While I like the battle system from XII and other newer RPGs, I'm a HUGE fan of the turn based battle system. It's just more fun.