Final Fantasy XV's English Localization has begun - but what does it mean for release timing?

Final Fantasy fans have something to be excited about today - an unofficial confirmation that an English-language localization of Final Fantasy XV, previously known as Versus XIII, has begun.

Jay Preston seems like a relatively new and unknown voice actor. "I am averaging about 12 auditions a day, some days 20," the Los Angeles-based actor wrote around a year ago as part of a series of posts detailing his attempts to break into the world of Hollywood voice acting.

His attempts to push into the world of voice acting appear to have paid off, as Jay's website recently updated with a thumbnail of the Final Fantasy XV logo and splash text indicating he'd be putting in an appearance in the game. Jay's LinkedIn page was also updated listing the game as part of his resume. 

This sat undiscovered for some time until industrious folks on NeoGAF uncovered it - the initial update to Jay's website was made on the 15th June of this year, mere days after we sat in a Square Enix E3 meeting revealing the game.

Two days before that, Jay tweeted that he'd recorded "Three small characters for a damn big game," suggesting it had taken him 45 minutes - meaning they're likely minor roles. The evidence suggests that this role is Final Fantasy XV, and voice recording began on it in at the latest immediately after its E3 announcement. 

But what does all that mean? Does it mean the game could be further along and coming sooner than we think? We couldn't help but notice the RPG Site twitter feed fill with excited comments suggesting this means that the long-troubled game could be on for a 2014 release. Is it?

Well, the answer is wishy-washy, but... maybe.

Traditionally single-player Final Fantasy releases have only been translated into English and other localized languages after most of the game has been complete. Based on that logic and that tradition, one would naturally draw the conclusion that FF15 is further along than anybody had anticipated when viewing what was shown of the game at E3 and Tokyo Game Show.

With that said, it also may just mean Square Enix is approaching localization differently this time around. The company has a precedent set for earlier localization during development with their MMO titles. Final Fantasy XIV and A Realm Reborn were both localized in tandem with the original Japanese development, meaning the localization team worked on sections of the game that were unfinished at the time and even worked on sections that would later be abandoned or cut from the final release.

"We find having the localization team on-site helps improve efficiency dramatically and therefore have no plans of changing this setup in the future," A Realm Reborn producer and director Naoki Yoshida told us in an interview last year. "In addition to translation, our localization team provides the team with valuable feedback on issues such as UI design, storytelling, world building, and more."

In the case of Final Fantasy XIV and A Realm Reborn the localization teams were integrated and working on the lore and world of the game from very early on in development. This has advantages - it allows for simultaneous release of content - vital for the patch-heavy MMO genre - and allowed the company to achieve a simultaneous worldwide release. As Yoshida pointed out in our interview, it also allows the development team to gather feedback from the perspective of foreign localization team members. 

To use a different Square Enix game as an example, Elias Toufexis - voice of Adam Jensen in Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex Human Revolution - told us that he'd been working on the game since its earliest stages. "A whole freaking lot," he said when asked how much dialogue he had recorded. "Three years' worth."

It's not unusual for voice actors to be involved from a very early stage, East or West. We've known key members of FF15's Japanese cast for a good two or three years now - and it may be the case that Square Enix is making integrated localization a deeper part of the development process on the game at a (relatively speaking) early phase. In that instance, the actual release could still be quite a way away.

It's a direction the company has been shifting in - with Lightning Returns, a lot of localization had already been completed prior to the game even being officially announced - quite a change from FFs past. 

It may also be that the game is simply further along than we're all anticipating - but it's too early to call if that is the case or if this is simply a case of early localization. Us? We're crossing our fingers for both.