Nomura on trying to alter the gameplay for FF XIII and Versus XIII

Posted Jun 25, 2007 at 11:05AM by QJ Staff Listed in: PS3 Tags: Dengeki, Kingdom Hearts, PlayStation Magazine, Sony, Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura

The renowned Square Enix character designer Tetsuya Nomura was recently interviewed by Dengeki Playstation Magazine regarding twin video game titles Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Since it was done in Japanese, what we're giving you are the the juiciest bits, albeit translated.

First off, the first part of the discussion focused on the PlayStation 3 itself and Nomura expressed his usual love for the Sony hardware. He mentioned that the new console is very much capable of making their imagination as close to reality as possible. He enthused:

It's not just about how pretty the graphics are but more of how much limited amount of movement we can put in one go and how big our imagination and ideas are. The PS3 is the machine that is closest to being able to express our imagination.

Quite interestingly, Nomura commented that they are exploring the possibilities of changing the gameplay for the new FF titles. He shared that their team has been together since Final Fantasy VII and the Kingdom Hearts series so they are on a level which they feel comfortable and able to experiment:

The action elements will be high in the game but instead of defeating the enemies from an audience's view, I want to give people the taste of actually being part of that world. The assignment here is whether we can build an FF with the suspense and thrill of Third-Person-Shooting or not. In that sense, the game will be a slightly different type of FF.

And regarding the characters in Versus XIII, the designer shared that Square Enix is planning to come up with action figures alongside other characters like Subarashiki Kono Sekai, Lightning, and even Cloud. However, these are still under wraps because Nomura is still in the process of finalizing the designs.

Lastly, other party members for the titles are still under development so fans need to wait for a little longer before getting a glimpse of them. Also, the screenshots you've seen and the videos you've watched are still not representative of the final designs because Nomura is still, like we said, working on the characters' overall appearance.

Via FF7AC

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Comments

# idk — Guest 2007-06-25 06:35

it would be kinda interesting to have a first person view but if im running jumping and attacking it would be kinda weird unless they do it very well. i guess well see when it happens.

and first!

# ... — Guest 2007-06-25 09:29

I hope they dont do it like that. Dirge of Cerberus sucked in gameplay. They should stick to their own element. If i wanted a shooter game i would stick with all the other bad a$$ titles

# FFIIIIVVVIIIP — Guest 2007-06-25 12:39

Good luck PS3, even this game looks 2nd rate now, tut tut blur-ray!

# --- — Demon Slayer 2007-06-25 13:04

This sucks, they experimented with the gameplay in FFXII, and it was easilly my least favorite of the series. Why don't they keep the main series on the turn-based ATB system like it's supposed to be, and destroy the gameplay on one of the other five games in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series?

# Wait I'm missing something here. — Guest 2007-06-25 13:35

Is Mister Common Forum Troll being taken seriously? Oh wait, no he isn't. Just look at your comments. You just show how much everyone completely hates you and your opinion (except for xman, but nobody cares about xman). And "blur-ray" is that supposed to be a cute derogatory term that's supposed to mean that Blu-ray is somehow blurry? Even though Blu-ray and HD-DVD are the clearest forms of media storage on the market?

In case you haven't noticed, Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD five to one and Blockbuster just increased it's Blu-ray movie library and not it's HD-DVD library. You better get used to accepting a Blu-ray, a format that is perfectly acceptable, because it looks like it's here to stay.

# xx — Guest 2007-06-25 14:32

ok babe x :)

# *Viral marketer alert* — Guest 2007-06-25 15:17

Do you have a life, or do you get payed to post messages about stuff like this. Seriously why would someone go around posting hate messages about on like every article about PS3,in fact why are people like you looking at so many articles like this if you don't even like PS3.

# I agree — Guest 2007-06-25 18:53

I agree totally, ffxii was a real let down. Why cant they just stay true to what theyre good at, instead of adding in stupid twists on the format.

# Yeah ! — Guest 2007-06-25 21:43

The game will be great!!!

# Mr Come On sense — Guest 2007-06-25 21:48

Hey blu ray is better than all cd formats !!! waht is your problem? because blu ray isnt your Idea!!! Come ON Mister

# :( — Guest 2007-06-26 00:30

Ok sorry babe xxx

# FF12 — Guest 2007-06-26 02:33

Call me crazy but I thought ff12 was the best final fantasy since 7. I would say better becaues of graphics and gameplay but the story in 7 was a (slightly) Better. and 7 was the game that eternally hooked me onto ps. I find it hard to consider 12 a let down.

# What he said... — Guest 2007-06-26 02:35

What he said was that he wants to make it seem like the same suspense as a third person shooter, they aren't going to make a third person shooter, they would be completely retarded if they did and it would ruin FF probably forever.

# I disagree — Guest 2007-06-26 03:23

FFXII wa a great game, and the system is great since it reminds me of programming and I love programming. maybe your brain cells got too hard guys, try shaking your head a bit. Open for new stuff. I hope the series keeps evolving along with technology. nostalgia is for old people (I ean brain-old).

# You're wrong. — Guest 2007-06-26 04:50

They didnt experiment with anything on FF12.. its the same system they used in FF11 which has kept millions of players mesmerized for 5 years.. get a clue foo

# Third person not first person — Guest 2007-06-26 06:41

Read it again. He said third person shooter. You know kinda like Gears. That actually sounds pretty cool. I hope they can pull it off.

# Wow — Guest 2007-06-26 08:19

What a biased article against Square and Sony...

# Hot! — Guest 2007-06-26 12:03

Looks like this is only possible on PS3.

Blu-ray,Cell,RSX ect.

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