Games
Director Hajime Tabata explains how he’s planning to bring the series back to international renown.
Square Enix hasn't had the most pleasant experience with its flagship Final Fantasy series over recent years. Final Fantasy XIII rubbed many people up the wrong way with its brand of stubbornly linear JRPG questing down one long corridor, whilst the original release of Final Fantasy XIV was so poorly constructed that it forced the company to rebuild it completely in the form of A Realm Reborn. Final Fantasy XV itself, the game we're in Los Angeles to talk about today, has endured a development hell that has resulted in a decade having passed since it was first announced, mere months after the release of Final Fantasy XII – on PlayStation 2.
Clearly, something has to change. Hajime Tabata, director of Final Fantasy XV, believes that change has come in a form that is synonymous with the development's biggest challenge.
"Switching over to a global model of doing things has been both the most important and most challenging part of development," he explains to Red Bull Games.
"On previous [Final Fantasy] titles we worked using an export model in which we made the games in Japan and then globalised them ready for export abroad. But with Final Fantasy XV we've switched over to a model that takes global tastes and interests more into account during the development. That has been the biggest thing for us."
Tabata's words are mirrored by the environment in which he speaks them. Here is the unpretentious Japanese director of FFXV speaking from an elaborate hotel room in downtown LA, one of the West's most famous and celebrated metropolis' for mainstream cultural output. If his game is an attempt at blending East with West, then so is the build-up leading to its September 30, 2016 global release date.
Square Enix as a publisher appears to have undergone a similar transition. Once known as a Japanese publisher first and foremost, its biggest franchises outside of Final Fantasy are now Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Hitman, all developed by its studios in the West. This globalised means of doing things has meant that a lot of time and effort has gone into understanding Western tastes and incorporating them into a series that is hugely respected, even cherished, whilst often seemingly creatively stagnant.
By Tabata's own admission, outside of Japan Final Fantasy is followed closely by what is increasingly "a very small hardcore set of fans" and that he was shocked when he "first started to engage with regions outside of Japan and realised that Final Fantasy was much less known around the world than I thought it was".
Incorporating Western tastes has resulted in the dropping of the series' typically turn-based battle system, the inclusion of an open-world map and a narrative form that takes much inspiration from the road movie school of storytelling, the latter of which Tabata has been a long time fan (several scenes in the latest trailer for the game even show our heroes relaxing in American style diners).
Each sweeping change is designed to both introduce new ideas to a franchise that is now fast approaching 30 years of age and provide fresh entry points for players that would have otherwise ignored what might have unkindly been labelled as 'just another Japanese roleplaying game'.
Making such changes, however, runs the risk of long term Final Fantasy fans feeling abandoned; a situation Tabata is understandably eager to avoid.
"As we've gotten through more numbered iterations of the series we've built up more and more of these traditional elements that have become associated with Final Fantasy,” he tells us. “After a while some of these elements have become very heavy and unwieldy, but having that balance between keeping the traditional elements that a lot of people like alongside the new elements that we're challenging ourselves to create is very important.”
"I very much consider the difference between traditional Final Fantasy fans and people that aren't fans. A big part of getting Final Fantasy XV right, and Final Fantasy in general, is getting that balance right."
Part of the balance presented by Final Fantasy XV is, however, within the context of the franchise itself, entirely unique. This is not only a game. Instead, it's what Square Enix describes as a 'universe' with various releases across different mediums each playing into one another and designed to further enhance the wider experience.
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV is a full-length CG movie whose English release is voiced by Hollywood stars such as Lena Headey and Sean Bean; Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV is an anime series being made available free of charge and Justice Monsters V is a mobile app allowing you to play pinball machines found throughout the main game on your phone.
Both movie and anime are designed to help you understand the histories of many of the game's characters before you actually start playing, while the app is a longer-term proposition that you can play in conjunction with the full game.
"The most important thing that we considered for the Final Fantasy XV universe was how we have these individual projects work to optimise the main game of Final Fantasy XV itself and make it as great as it could possibly be," explains Tabata.
"There are two main reasons as to why we've brought these products out with the game, though. The first is that it gives a lot of different ways for people to come into the franchise and into the world of the game itself. The second reason, of course, is that allows those people that are already interested in the universe to enjoy it on a much deeper level."
Creating this range of products is, clearly, an expensive proposition. Square Enix, and Tabata himself, refused to relay any details whatsoever regarding the actual construction cost of the entire 'universe' but they have been open enough to confirm that the sales goal of the Final Fantasy XV is 10 million copies worldwide over the game's entire lifetime.
That lofty expectation – of the fourteen previous mainline instalments, only Final Fantasy VII has sold more than this – is matched, at the very least, by the demands of an audience that will have waited over a decade for Final Fantasy XV by the time it is released later this year. Failure at this juncture, not least considering the sweeping changes made to the design philosophy of the game itself, has the potential to send the entire franchise into a potentially catastrophic state of disaster and lost identity.
However, and despite the lengthy development period that saw what was originally announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII (a side project of Final Fantasy XIII proper) morphing into what is now Final Fantasy XV, Tabata is adamant that a strong core vision will lead to eventual success and cohesion.
"The vision [from Final Fantasy Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV] hasn't changed, no," expands Tabata. "The vision we have always had is to try and see what the best possible thing we can do is. We want to put everything we've got into this and produce the very best thing possibly. That approach has never changed.”
"Certainly for Final Fantasy XV we've been able to check that we're on target to achieve that by releasing the demo [Episode Duscae, released with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD last year]]; the feedback telling us whether or not we are where we really need to be. One of the special things for us about Final Fantasy XV is generating that awareness across those people that have never played [Final Fantasy] before. That focus towards new players is important."
Tabata was announced as director on the project in 2014, taking over duties from Tetsuya Nomura, who had been in charge during the game's phase as Final Fantasy Versus XIII and, originally, a planned PS3 release. Upon being given the reins, Tabata explains that he looked over the entirety of the project handed to him and came up with three key words to concentrate and base the design around: "They are: journey, car, comrades. Those are three points that are really pushed in the game.”
"I decided that the comrade characters were the most important element when it came to telling the story and engaging the player through the narrative. There's a great appeal there from a game design perspective to having those comrades with you and having them as part of the story... a means through which the story is told.
"Having those same characters providing reference points for you throughout the whole journey was something that I really liked the idea of, so that has become a big part of the framework for the rest of the game."
Comradeship is precisely what Final Fantasy XV needs to believe still exists between itself and its fans. Never has this franchise found itself in the state of confusion and flux that it is currently experiencing. To overcome that it needs support from both its long term followers and its potential newcomers. Given the mistakes of the recent past, no quarter is going to be given for even the slightest failure.
An entire suite of releases, as well as a globalised game design outlook, provides great hope for Final Fantasy XV's release later this year, but 10 million converts is a very tall order for any game.
Final Fantasy XV releases on PS4 and Xbox One on 30 September 2016. For more gaming coverage, be sure to follow @RedBullGames on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
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