In the latest interview with VideoGamer.com, Yoshinori Kitase, the producer of the series, has revealed new information about the state of Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III.

At E3 2013, both Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III were revealed for next-gen consoles, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. After that both titles have been keeping quite a low profile but that doesn’t mean they aren’t doing well in the development. Actually, Kitase suggests that Final Fantasy XV is quite far into development and Square Enix has given it a very high priority.

“We can’t give too much information but certainly looking at Final Fantasy XV, it’s not as if it’s in competition with Kingdom Hearts 3 for resources or anything like that,” Kitase said when asked for an update on the two games earlier this week. “It’s quite far into development now and it is being given a very high priority within the company itself, but that doesn’t mean Kingdom Hearts isn’t.”

This means the development of both games are doing great. There are two different teams working on Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, which means they are not taking resources from each other. However, Kingdom Hearts III is a bit newer title and that’s why it is following Final Fantasy XV.

As earlier stated, Final Fantasy XV is still connected with the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology just like Final Fantasy XIII games even though “Versus XIII” has been dropped away from its name.

“Right from the start when we first it announced it as Versus XIII, the game itself was backed up by the same Crystal legend: the Fabulla Nova Crystallis mythology that underpins the whole of the XIII series,” adds Kitase.

“So even though it’s not necessarily the same universe or the same game, they’re all linked and underpinned by the backdrop of that legend. Now it’s moved on – obviously the title’s been changed to Final Fantasy XV – but that hasn’t actually changed. The story and the world is still going to be linked and backed up by that. So yes, there is the link between XIII and XV, and they both share that mythology as a backdrop and a starting point.”



And of course, when we are talking about next-gen titles, Kitase also wanted to talk about the hardware of next-gen consoles and what kind of things it makes possible. And of course, when we are talking about next-gen titles, Kitase also wanted to talk about the hardware of next-gen consoles and what kind of things it makes possible.

“We are quite aware of [PS4 & Xbox One’s] capabilities and certainly one thing that’s going to come up is having battles with a lot more participants involved,” he continued. “Having a lot more characters, a lot more things happening, that’s one of the things that the new hardware does really well, so to maybe make a battle system for a Final Fantasy game or a future game that fits with that, I think it would be quite good to have more characters for the player to control and more participants in the battle.”

As with every new Final Fantasy title, music, art, graphics, story and the world play big part of the whole. The most of gameplay time is spent with the battle system, and Kitase revealed how could Final Fantasy XV could from the past titles.

“In a way there is stuff from the past that we’ve done in previous Final Fantasies that may come in handy, that we may adapt or reuse or recreate for a future [title],” Kitase continued.

“In the first two of the XIII series you had the Paradigm Shift system with AI controlled teammates which lends itself very well to having lots of characters. Or maybe having even deeper customisation, something that harks back to say the Gambit System in Final Fantasy XII. All those kind of ideas, it doesn’t necessarily [mean] that something that we’ve used before is now invalid and can’t be used, there’s certainly a possibility of taking it and bringing it back. But I think it’s going to be those kind of changes that the technology allows that we’re going to have to maybe think and adapt for.”

Quotes are from Videogamer.com. Thank you for the interview.