Final Fantasy XII Interview - Conducted by IGN
Interview with: Akihiko Yoshida, Hideo Minaba and Isamu Kamikokuryou.
Interview Conducted by: IGN.
Q: Can you tell us how the Final Fantasy XII camera system works?
Minaba: The camera system is fully 360 degrees and closer to FFXI in that you
can see from the first person and third person. We aren't just working on
backgrounds, but we're also creating things like the ceiling. You'll be able to
view the ceiling as well.
[Note: we think by saying "first person," Minaba is referring to being able to
look around at the world rather than moving around in first person. This would
be in line with comments from yesterday. Whatever the case, having an FFXI-like
behind-the-character perspective is a change for the series.]
Q: Can you comment on some of the equipment from the game and your possible role
in designing it?
Minaba: I was not in charge of the design of any of the equipment - swords and
shields, etc. That intertwines with the battle system so I can't say much, but
there will be a lot of equipment.
Q: There seems to be a trend of FF games towards younger looking, more
effeminate male leads. Did you ever consider making a more rugged looking hero?
[Lots of laughter as the super translator person tries to figure out how to
describe Vaan as "effeminate."]
Yoshida: In the early stages of development the hero character was more rugged
-- big and tough. As we started shaping up the scenario and taking into
consideration the target demographic, the character became what you see today.
There were other ideas tossed around.
Until motion capture and voice actor Kohei Takeda was cast for Vaan, the main
character was actually a little more effeminate. With him playing the role, the
character became more active, upbeat, bright and positive. The character would
have been even more effeminate had Takeda not been cast.
Q: Compared to other FF games, there seem to be more emphasis on airships. Will
airships be an integral part of gameplay in FF12?
Minaba: In a sense, yes, airships will have a more prominent role, whether it be
just a stage for an event, or just used as a means of transportation.
Q: Who's in charge of mechanical design (airships, vehicles, etc.)?
Minaba: Me. Plus some other staff.
Q: For Mr. Yoshida, there's been some comments that the characters in the game
are similar to the style of Tetsuya Nomura (famous Square Enix character
designer who heads up the Kingdom Hearts project). What do you feel about this
assessment?
Yoshida: You're very direct for a journalist.
[Everyone laughs]
Yoshida: I didn't have anything in mind about Nomura's style or anything Nomura
related when starting out FFXII. I actually begin with designing Vaan, the main
character. I don't hink my first rough version of Vaan looks anything like
Nomura's style.
If I were to say one thing though, the perceived similarity to Nomura's style
may be because of the colors that I ended up using on the characters. In FF
games until now, the design of the characters and the feel and design of the
world were connected. The two were very much together because the colors were
consistent between the characters and the world. In this game, the colors really
stand out. It's probably the different kinds of colors that I've never really
used that's adding the Nomura flavor to my work. Pink is a new color for me, for
instance.
Q: Is the Ivalice of FFXII the same Ivalice as that of Tactics?
Minaba: If you ask me what the world of Ivalis in FFXII is, it's something
that's only in the director's mind, so it's hard to say what it's going to be or
how different it's going to be. But I would say that it's another version of the
world you've seen previously. We'd like to show a different version of Ivalice.
To the staff, many of whom worked on the previous Ivalice worlds, what does the
world of Ivalice feel like, what does it mean and what feeling are you trying to
bring to the game?
Minaba: Yes, a lot of our staff has worked on the previous Ivalice world, so in
that sense the feeling we get from the world is that we get to portray the world
in a different way. It's a world that we all love that we can present in a
different game and in a different way.
Q: A lot of people talk about change. What has changed the most in FFXII?
Minaba: I've been asked not to reveal details on the changes. All I can say is
that once you play it, the game will give a fresh, new feeling, but also at the
same time shock you in a good way. From the trailer that you saw yesterday, I
hope you saw that the controls and gameplay are quite different. I'll leave it
to your assumption as to how that's going to tie in with the meaning of change
in the game.
Q: It seems that non-human characters take a big role in this game. Can you
comment on the importance of race in this game?
Minaba: The human races will have the primary role, but the non human races will
play a big part in the game as well.
You might have heard Matsuno say that he and myself are big history fanatics. I
don't think we can talk about history or present anything about history without
talking about races and the social classes. Races and social classes are things
that should exist for the Final Fantasy XII story to progress as it does.
Q: It was said yesterday that some of the influences for the art style and
environment were Mediteranian in nature. Many in the audience also saw some
possible influence from Episode 2 of Star Wars. Can you comment on some of
various influences for the game?
Minaba: I am a big fan of star Wars -- I will admit that. But, if we say Star
Wars is our influence and create our game, you won't end up with an FF game nor
will you end up with FF12. I'll just say that I'm a fan. I wouldn't say that was
necessarily an influence though.
Kamikokuryou: These days, user demands and expectations for our games are very
high. It's true that we still have do things such as, for instance, going to
Turkey as we did for this project. The reason we went there is so we can see
what's really out there. But if we just took that and made the game we wouldn't
be able to satisfy everyone. So, we're still keeping true to creating something
that's original and a fantasy world while referring to something that exits. We
try to take something out of what exists and create our own original work.
Q: Are there any other influences outside of Turkey?
Kamikokuryou: Outside of Turkey, Matsuno mentioned the entire Mediterranian
region yesterday. Outside of that, maybe a little bit of India. Also parts of
New York, actually -- the art deco areas and the regions of New York. You'll
see, hopefully sooner than later, that throughout the game, we're trying to
maximize the variation from each location of the game. We're trying to maximize
what you see in each of the regions and create a sense of variety.
I think that in FFX there was one very strong world and one very whole world.
But in FFXII you'll see more a variety of influences that I've had in creating
some of the areas.
Q: Considering Matsuno's heritage, will there be any strategy-style gameplay
outside of the standard RPG strategy?
Minaba: (laughs) I'll leave it up to your assumption. It's too early to tell.
It's obviously too early too comment on the gameplay -- if there'll be any war
strategy elements coming into gameplay, for instance. The setting of FFXII is a
place where a lot of races, beliefs and countries meet, though. Of course there
are battles and wars. In terms of gameplay, though, it's too early to say.
Q: FFXI is an Online-exclusive game, different from other titles in the series.
Will there be any Online component for FFXII?
Minaba: FXII will be an Offline game. Matsuno has been involved with Play Online
before and has mentioned that he'd like to have an Online project, but in this
game there will be no Online elements.
Q: FFX had lots of Japanese influence. FFXII has lots of Western influences. Are
you keeping the western audience in mind as you design the game? Do you think
western audiences will receive the game differently from who they received FFX
and FFX-2 as a result of the art style?
Minaba: I think everyone might have a different opinion.
Kamikokuryou: The american/western audience wasn't in my mind when I started
designing.
Square Super PR Person: That's not a good enough answer...
[Everyone laughs]
Kamikokuryou: When designing, I look and refer to tons materials, references and
drawings -- anything I can absorb. What I feel is going to be good and is going
to work out is different for each project that I've worked on. If I feel it's
going to be right, it comes natural to me that I should go with it.
With FFX, I worked on background design, so there may be an overlap with my
personal desire to make FFXII different from my previous work.
Besides the countries or regions mentioned earlier, I do have a lot of other
ideas. For example, this bottle that's on the desk. I'll just stare at it for a
long time and in pops an idea. I'll look at water running in the sink and there
may be an airship idea or an idea for a building. One method of designing is to
look at reference materials, visit countries -- that is to say, to look at
things that exist. But just putting this into writing or drawing with my own
hands obviously isn't original -- not my idea. There are times when doing
something completely different and I'll come up with an idea for a building or a
structure and so-forth.
Minaba: There wasn't anything in particular that I had in mind for the overseas
audience. The game is built both for the domestic and overseas audiences.
However, I personally think that some of the Arabic culture, even the stuff that
we see in the news, reference materials, or even in the world of music, are a
popular underground thing in European hot spots. I wanted to bring that out and
show people that there's this world that you might have never seen or felt. I
spoke to Matsuno and he agreed that that's something that while not necessarily
"undiscovered," is something that should be shown in one way or another. There
is a lot of influence from this area behind this game.
Yoshida: I think that many members of our team are huge fans of non Japanese
games. What you see in Vagrant Story is a product that results from our putting
as many non-Japanese influences as possible into a game. We didn't want to take
the same strategy with FFXII. I hope that with FFXII you won't see our having
worked so hard to put in foreign elements. I hope you'll something that is a
couple of steps back from Vagrant Story in how influenced it is by foreign
concepts.
I'm curious about what you saw yesterday. Is it natural too you? Does it look
like we were forcing something?
Final Fantasy expert, who shall remain nameless, comments that the game looks
more Japanese than Matsuno's previous games.
Square Rep: That's what we wanted.
Q: Parts of the trailer featured dark battles. Are there any historical eras or
war periods that have influenced the design?
Minaba: Probably the Roman Empire - maybe a little past. A lot of our staff has
had influence in that area.
Q: Is it fair to say that war is a prominent theme in this game?
Minaba: The setting of the game -- yes, it is war. There's obviously a story,
but the setting is war.
Q: Can you comment a bit on the Judge character He makes the logo very big.
Minaba: I thought the logo was big too.
Square Super PR Rep: (to the members of the press) It may be hard for you to use
the logo as an image in your publication.
FF Expert: It may be hard to fit it on the box.
Minaba: It probably won't fit on the spine. However, by making the logo bigger
we may get more exposure in game magazines.
[Laughter]
Minaba: The judge plays a key role in the game.
Q: Does he have a name?
Minaba: Yes.
Q: Is there more than just one judge, or is there just one?
Minaba: Not one. But we can't say more than that.
Q: Are the Judges the forces behind the Empire, or are they servants of the
Empire?
Minaba: He is called the judge, so...
Q: How many people will be in your party? Will it be a standard three-party
system?
Minaba: As you can see from some of the assets yesterday, there are three
members of the party. Anything beyond that is up to your imagination at this
point. We'll be revealing more info on FFXII before the end of the year in
Japan.
Q: How about support characters that can be switched into battle? How many of
these can we expect?
Minaba: To be continued...
Q: How does Vaan compare to previous FF protagonists?
Minaba: Well, the person who's creating the characters is different -- that's
one difference. I don't think he can be compared to any of the FF characters.
Q: Can you see all three characters on the world map at the same time?
Minaba: Yes, it's possible.
Q: What games have impressed you in this generation in terms of art direction?
Minaba: It's an old Japanese game -- you may not know it. Genpei Toumaden
Kannoni (Namco PC Engine game from 80s, also known as Samurai Ghost).
Yoshida: Metal Gear Solid 2. I'm really looking forward to part three.
Kamikokuryou: The entire Front Mission series -- even though it's our own game.
Q: We noticed that Hironobu Sakaguchi was at the presentation yesterday. Will
Mr. Sakaguchi have more of an influence on this FF or other FF games, or was his
presence just out of respect for Mr. Matsuno?
Minaba: We may not have any communication with Mr. Sakaguchi, but Mr. Matsuno,
as the game's director, has respect for him since he is the father of the
series. If changing the direction of the series, Mr. Matsuno will probably
discuss the issue with Mr. Sakaguchi.
Q: (from special Final Fantasy Expert who will still remain nameless) If you
look closely at one of the pamphlets from yesterday, the pamphlet that has the
release dates for of all the Final Fantasy games written in it, you can see the
release dates for Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance hidden
in the background in a light shade of gray.
[Pauses dramatically]
Does this mean that the team feels that they are mixing the Tactics world view
with the main FF world view?
Minaba: What the!? Oh wow, it is there, isn't it!
Actually, as you hold on to the pamphlet, the numbers become darker and darker.
[Laughter]
Q: Will there be a romance in this game?
Minaba: Obviously, there's a hero and a heroine, so there has to be some kind of
relationship. However, the relationship may not be as obvious or serious in
terms of love as in previous games.
Q: So it may be just like "Let's just be friends."
[Staff laughs]
Yoshida: It may not be just love between the two -- it may be other love. |
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