Final Fantasy XIII GamesCom Interview

Thanks to the folks over at Square Enix we were lucky enough to meet up again with Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase at GamesCom over in Germany to chat about the game they've both been hard at work on for some time now, Final Fantasy XIII.

RPGSite: Thanks for meeting with us, guys. So - since you're in Europe let's start with Europe. When's the game out here?
Yoshinori Kitase: [laughs] Right to it! We can't give an exact date right now of course, but I can tell you now that the game is on track for a Spring 2010 release on both Xbox 360 and PS3 - the two versions will launch on the same day.

RPGSite: That's a significant cut-down from previous FF games - are shorter localization times something we can expect regularly in the future?
Yoshinori Kitase: Yes, I hope so. Previously it could take a year, sometimes longer - we want to bring it to America and Europe as fast as possible with FF13 and in the future.

RPGSite: What are the plans for European voice acting?
Yoshinori Kitase: We're going to have two voice dubs - Japanese and English. The Japanese voice recording has been finished for a while and the English voice recording is complete but is yet to be completely inserted into the game. Other European countries won't have localized voice, but will have subtitles.

RPGSite: What of the two dubs? Will either version of the game ship with dual audio options?
Yoshinori Kitase: Both languages in each version?
RPGSite: Yes.
Yoshinori Kitase: Currently that looks unlikely.

RPGSite: Do you have any new information on the Japanese release date?
Yoshinori Kitase: Not at this show. We are firmly on track for Winter. Please be patient - information about the Japanese release date is coming soon.

RPGSite: As time has gone on, FF releases have got less frequent. In the first 10 years of the series 7 entries were released but in the second 10 there were only 5. There appears to be more time between each iteration of FF - why is this?
Yoshinori Kitase: It is difficult to create a game that is 40 or 50 hours long with a storyline, side quests and an engaging world on new hardware. Everything has to be bigger, and takes more time to make as a result. Please remember also we now release more Final Fantasy spinoff games than ever before, so if you include those the second 10 years would have far more FF titles!

RPGSite: How, if at all, has the Xbox 360 version effected development? There's been some screenshots floating around that show graphics changed, in some places improved in others scaled back...
Motomu Toriyama: Initial screenshots of the game may well look different to what we have now. This is part of the process of making the game - we have to get a feel for what the system can and can't handle - sometimes things are made better, sometimes things like the number of polygons on a model are reduced to make it more easy to display.
Yoshinori Kitase: The important thing for us is that the game runs smoothly on both systems. We have made changes to the game, but nothing because of one system specifically - all changes have been made to get maximum performance.

RPGSite: So would you say the Xbox 360 version is identical?
Yoshinori Kitase: Where it matters, yes. Because of differences in the hardware there will be slight differences but these will likely only be noticable by comparing two identical scenes. The main difference is that the Xbox 360 version will ship on multiple discs.

RPGSite: How many discs are we looking at for the 360 version?
Yoshinori Kitase: Right now we are aiming for three discs, though this number could change. If it changes it is more likely to go up to four, though!

RPGSite: Let's talk about the plot and storyline of the game. We've noticed that Lightning and Snow both appear to be 'lead' characters. Is the lead more of a shared role this time around?
Motomu Toriyama: Lightning is definitely our lead character in FF13, but the cast is perhaps more important in this game than in many FFs. Like FF6 with Tina or the section of FF7 where Cloud is injured, she is not always the focus of the story.

Snow is passionate and loud - despite his name he is a fiery character. Lightning is much calmer. While they have the same goals and are both leaders, they have two different ways of approaching situations and as such do not always get on.

RPGSite: Yes - we were quite surprised to see Lightning punch Snow in the footage included in Advent Children Complete.
Motomu Toriyama: There will be many moments in the game when these two interact in intense ways.

RPGSite: What we've seen so far of Final Fantasy XIII has been futuristic in design. Was this a deliberate decision after the very medieval FF12, trying to emulate the futuristic feeling of Midgar? The green colour scheme is certainly very similar.
Motomu Toriyama: Most of what we have been showing of FF13 has been inside Cocoon, a futuristic place which has that green, Midgar-like colour scheme. Outside of Cocoon there is plenty of variety in design. If you think back to leaving Midgar in FF7, FF13 will have a similarly different and expansive world to explore outside of Cocoon.
Yoshinori Kitase: Cocoon is still vital to the story of the game!

RPGSite: Have you or the team played much of other recent RPGs, Japanese or Western, in preparation for creating FF13?
Motomu Toriyama: We are aware of other RPGs on the market, but most of our inspiration and preparation for FF13 came from other FF titles.
Yoshinori Kitase: We have a long history to draw from, and so we have what we feel are some of the best elements from previous FFs mixed with a more action-based battle system.

RPGSite: More action-based, you say? Can you tell us more about that?
Motomu Toriyama: Well, FF and Japanese RPGs in general have always been based around slowly picking commands and strategies. ATB makes the player speed up, but it is still a slower pace. FF13 still has these same elements but there is far more action, which makes it faster or appear faster in battle. If this is popular with the fans, we could perhaps look at making FF even more action-based.

RPGSite: Are there any plans to utilize Xbox Live or the Playstation Network?
Yoshinori Kitase: Our plans for the online networks are currently unclear. We are exploring the option of downloadable content, perhaps adding new areas, items or enemies, but these would not be expansions to the story, only the gameplay. The entire story of FF13 will be on the disc.

RPGSite: Why do you feel Japanese developers struggle to hit pre-set deadlines as well as Western developers?
Yoshinori Kitase: For us, we are perfectionists. We work very hard and do not hesitate to delay often if we are not happy with the game. Deadlines can sometimes be... deterimental to a game.

RPGSite: What if the final product isn't perfect, as often happens?
Yoshinori Kitase: Well, nothing is perfect, but I hope we get closer to perfection than developers who do not delay.

RPGSite: What can you see your team moving on to after FF13?
Yoshinori Kitase: As you know, I can't talk about that. [laughs] We will be glad to have finished FF13 and we have some ideas of what we would like to do once development is over.

RPGSite: Do you have any message for all the FF fans reading?
Motomu Toriyama: We have taken great care to create a battle system which is action-packed and dynamic looking but still very 'Final Fantasy'. I hope they enjoy what we have created!
Yoshinori Kitase: This will be a new experience but will be familiar to FF fans. I hope you will all look forward to and enjoy it!

We'll bring you more of Square Enix at GamesCom including hands-on impressions and more interviews very soon.