Versus XIII/FNC/XV development - Destroying the 10 year myth - Lots of reading

[llazy77]

Gamefaqs receives alot of criticism for being crappy but holy hell this is one well made post showing the development troubles and development history of Versus/XV its a must read.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/932981-final-fantasy-xv/74709293

 

[Storm]

we discussed this on another thread, it's really a shame the game didn't reached it's full potential because of those problems.

i'm overall satisfied with the result, but it didn't amazed me (story-wise) like it could.

 

[Jenova]

I wonder if we will ever get the full story. Of late it seems like the development cycles and drama behind Square-Enix games are more interesting than the games themselves.

 

[Hynad]

I think the game is good, from a gameplay perspective. And what little story elements made into the final product, it's all good.

That being said, they really, really need to release one heck of a beefy story update patch to include most of what they thought had to be cut. I mean, an unprecedented level of story patch.

All the things that got cut need to be reconsidered and restored into the game. Even the parts with Luna that they thought might not sit well with the SJW drama queens of this world.

The story will only benefit from these elements, will be made richer, and the end result can only get clearer and deliver a more emotional journey. Which we all want.

They have a very, very good foundation to work with. The game has the potential to be the best story in the series since Final Fantasy X. If they truly are committed to delivering the best Final Fantasy game possible, as Tabata claims, they really need go big on the mid term goals they have planned for the story.

 

[Ikkin]

I think the game is good, from a gameplay perspective. And what little story elements made into the final product, it's all good.

That being said, they really, really need to release one heck of a beefy story update patch to include most of what they thought had to be cut. I mean, an unprecedented level of story patch.

Unprecedented apart from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, you mean? XD Because that was quite the story patch.

All the things that got cut need to be reconsidered and restored into the game. Even the parts with Luna that they thought might not sit well with the SJW drama queens of this world.

The story will only benefit from these elements, will be made richer, and the end result can only get clearer and deliver a more emotional journey. Which we all want.

Is there any reason to believe that bit about Luna's role being cut due to concerns with how she'd be received in the West is anything other than someone talking out of their butt based on that one scene from the Dawn trailer that didn't show up? It'd be nice to get more scenes with Luna, but nothing suggested by that "leak" sounded good or useful or even consistent with what we actually got.

Spoiler: Final boss spoilers

(On a related note, I feel similarly about the "monster Ardyn" fight. As much as one would expect such a thing from an FF game, it likely would have been a disaster on a tonal level given the emotions the game was trying to evoke.)

 

[SonOfEtro]

I don't take the GameFAQs post too seriously, but you know the biggest irony about the story for me?

They tried so hard to make the lore understandable, distancing the game from its FNC roots. But it was only when it patched that same mythos back in that I was able to work out what the heck was going on. Talk about backfiring.

 

[Ikkin]

I don't take the GameFAQs post too seriously, but you know the biggest irony about the story for me?

They tried so hard to make the lore understandable, distancing the game from its FNC roots. But it was only when it patched that same mythos back in that I was able to work out what the heck was going on. Talk about backfiring.

What do you mean by "patched that same mythos back in?"

Personally, I thought one of the more clever things the localization team did was to rely on widely-known real-world religious terminology to avoid having to actually explain fantasy concepts. We already know what "covenant" and "King of Kings" implies, so they don't actually have to explain it. I'm curious as to how that played in non-Christian-dominated countries, though.

 

[SonOfEtro]

What do you mean by "patched that same mythos back in?"

Personally, I thought one of the more clever things the localization team did was to rely on widely-known real-world religious terminology to avoid having to actually explain fantasy concepts. We already know what "covenant" and "King of Kings" implies, so they don't actually have to explain it. I'm curious as to how that played in non-Christian-dominated countries, though.

I'm certainly impressed by that too. It gives it a feeling of a real religion, even if there isn't quite enough detail for my tastes.

What I meant by "patched that same mythos back in" was that I incorporated FNC into the backdrop sans all that complex terminology as SQEX originally stated they were doing. Just using the framework and overlaying it with XV's lore as it stands in the game, and things like Ifrit's actions, the positions of the Astrals and the nature of the clearly magical Starscourge became clearer. Before I did this, they just seemed like McGuffins without any true rhyme or reason - mind you, that may have been to increase the mystery of the world, but there are much better ways of doing that without confusing the players.

 

[AverageAfro]

Unprecedented apart from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, you mean? XD Because that was quite the story patch.

You what? I've now played both (albeit 4 years apart) and didn't notice a difference. Is there somewhere that gives a comprehensive overview of this?

 

[Ikkin]

You what? I've now played both (albeit 4 years apart) and didn't notice a difference. Is there somewhere that gives a comprehensive overview of this?

Here's a YouTube video of all 25 minutes of extra scenes.

Of particular note are the scenes with Axel and Roxas on the clock tower and Riku fighting Roxas. The Roxas fight isn't actually reflected IIRC since the cut scenes already existed even though the fight didn't.

 

[Storm]

roberto ferrari comments about his designs and some changes during development

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1327881

"Along with the characters you mention there are others that I prefer but which have disappeared from history: ninjas had a solid and they were very similar to those you see in Kingslaive though most Japanese.
I'd like to ship them to see one day ...
Just between us, the dog Umbra turned into one of those characters.
My poor Umbra you will never see him human"

lol

"But we must say that they are very disorganized. We staff -200 souls in it- we had to work even when the story had not been defined. In 2013, in fact, this blessed story kept changing every three months and the deadline for delivery of the game -That definitively had been set for the end of 2014 (who would have imagined that they would then pulled for long until you get November 2016?).
In the world of animation, however, (the world where I come from) the story is catalyzed guide before calling in if its staff to avoid this type of waste."

(i dont know if hes mentioning the development period when Nomura was still in charge)

"Gentiana was Stella's messenger, and a point of contact between Niflheim and Tenebrae; she would use red glasses."

(her previous role doesn't seem exciting as the role she got in FFXV)

"I was asked to make Ardyn similar to Johnny Depp, but in the end just made him look excentric and was inspired by a indian book to do part of his design."

(tried by best here, but the Johnny Depp bit is legit)

 

[SonOfEtro]

I read this, especially the development bit. It's a miracle the game released at all!

 

[Nova]

At this point, its quite doubtful even with Nomura's precense XV would've lived up to the insane expectations from many people.

I'm totally fine with what we got however.

 

[Storm]

more insight to Versus XIII/XV characters (i know italian but my translation is not perfect since english is like my third language)

commenting about Cindy, he said "there are other sexier arts about her... these drawings have more than 5 years"; which basically confirms that cindy was going to be part of Versus XIII, or at least considered to be in the game.

"the first version of Cid had different proportions; after i presented his design they asked me to make him a bit smaller, older (around 90 years) and because of the age, a curve back; in the first version he also had googles with polarized lens, but they asked me to take them out, maybe because he looked a bit psicodelical... in the beginning he wasn't cindys grandfather but her father.
in fact, cindy was called "Cid's daughter" before receiving a name".

about Ravus, his design was made by Mihara Nobuyoshi of the 2012 team; he's working now on FFXIV.

the Aranea bit is interesting: "Aranea is supposed to have very abundant breasts, but the one created by the modeler had some space between one breast and the other, which created a "fake boobs" kind of look. I asked them if I could make the breasts closer to each other, so they could look softer and more natural.

I also made adjustments on her make-up. However, when Nomura-san supervised my work, he decided to apply further variations: for instance, he turned the orange lipstick I chose for her into a red one."

"when they requested me Aranea they wanted her to look like Doronjo-sama (Miss Dronio in Yattaman)" [it's really similar]

about Gentiana, he said: "my Gentiana had a white armor on the left arm and a heavy sword of the same color; she was Stella's messenger and a point of contact between Niflheim and Tenebrae".

he mentioned Verstael: "he would have incurred an epic battle as far as I know ;(" [probably the one in the 2013 trailer]

 

[llazy77]

A good explanation on why the story kept changing


I also, dont think putting the dissidia writer in charge was the better decision. I still think Nojima should have re-written if it needed to be truncated.

 

[Storm]

"yes, i worked for FFXV from 2010 to 2013, even if most of my designs were already finished during 2011, the year of the tsunami in japan; i remember that day i was making the presentation file for my art director with many Cindy drawings which i've created the week before... we're talking of 5 years ago"

cindy was designed around the time of Versus XIII, we have the confirmation now.

btw, he did some designs for Type-0, like Kurasame and Emina.

 

[Ikkin]

I also, dont think putting the dissidia writer in charge was the better decision. I still think Nojima should have re-written if it needed to be truncated.

To be fair to Itamura, there's nothing wrong with the foundation for XV - it's a lot more grounded than most of Nojima's more recent work, and the dialogue for the bros is generally very effective. It feels more like the game is missing stuff, which given the circumstances would probably be the same regardless of who made the initial scenario edits.

 

[Lulcielid]

I also, dont think putting the dissidia writer in charge was the better decision. I still think Nojima should have re-written if it needed to be truncated.

Why? The story of Dissidia is no worse no better than any other FF story.

 

[Jenova]

So this just affirms that Tabata ultimately directed Nomura's game and had little input himself. In fact, he spent most of his time cutting stuff from the sounds of it. The only notable signature of Tabata's within the game is the battle system.

 

[llazy77]

So this just affirms that Tabata ultimately directed Nomura's game and had little input himself. In fact, he spent most of his time cutting stuff from the sounds of it. The only notable signature of Tabata's within the game is the battle system.

No he did cut stuff out of the original script but he also changed alot of stuff one was removing stella

Also he changed Regis's story and character model and Im sure the ending was mostly his doing to since its simualar to his other games.