





50 50 Permalink FGF 2015: Translation of the presentation done by Tabata The simple translation of the presentation done by Tabata-san at Family Game Forum 2015 in China.



Thank you for sharing the information! The whole presentation can be seen at:

https://youtu.be/JWkHDJ7Z_1k



I don’t speak Chinese and I couldn’t understand all those questions. I translated Tabata-san’s part alone. It’s very long so I summarized the part that’s related to FFXV at the top of this post. PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT ONE WORD CAME OUT OF TABATIS MAY HAVE BEEN A SPOILER.

If you don’t want any spoilers, you may wanna refrain from reading this post.



I editted just a bit!!





Brief summary of FFXV related information

* The FFXV team put priority in “user experience.” They’re challenging to deliver the game that grabs users’ hearts and never let go.

* The bond between the father and son is the main theme in the story of Final Fantasy XV.

* [SPOILER] The car is a memento of Regis. [Tabata used the word 形見 (katami) at least three times. It means that the car was passed on to Noct from his deceased father. I looked up Jp-Jp dictionary just in case. Some dictionaries suggest “from a person departed far away,” but it sounds a bit unusual use. Usually we imagine “death.” http://femto-jiokichi.tumblr.com/post/134153912908/]

* At the beginning of the game, users may find the FFXV world is very similar to the real world. As users carry on the game, they may gradually find things that only exist in fantasy world.

* The FFXV team is trying their best to deliver the game in 30 fps. They also care about the resolution, and it will be fixed after they give a go for the final frame rate.



——



It seems the presentation has been done to introduce what the console games are to Chinese market. Please keep in mind that introducing FFXV is not the purpose of the presentation. In this presentation, FFXV is one of the elements to introduce the console games.



——

Until 4:30 or so

(They’re talking about food in Shanghai. Sounds veeery delicious.)

(Tabatis said that the view from a skyscraper in Shanghai is pretty similar to that in Insomnia.)



I skip FF Type-0 part



From 12:50

The talk will mainly focus on FFXV, especially how the FFXV team put priority in “user experience.”



UX stands for User Experience, and in this FFXV case, it means the whole experience users can enjoy with playing the game.



Self introduction: Tabata’s in charge of Business Division 2 (BD2) in Square Enix.



People in BD2 are working for developing high quality console games and providing those globally. The main game they’re establishing now is FFXV.





Agenda

About Final Fantasy series

* The history of Final Fantasy

* Problems

About Final Fantasy XV

* Introduction of FFXV

* The aim of the development team

* Marketing in China





The history of Final Fantasy and how it has grown

Final Fantasy first released in 1987.

The numbering title has released until 14. 15 is now under development.

All those numbering titles are for console games.



The definition of “console games” among the development team

They define console games as the ones you can enjoy in your room on your TV screen.

Users only need a game card and a console to play a game. This simplicity have helped console games to be globally accepted, so they believe.

As the developers of Final Fantasy, their code is “always evolve.” Tabata believes that this spirit have contributed to hold the popularity for a long time and gain FF fans all over the world.

Final Fantasy team has challenged the technical difficulty such as creating beautiful graphics that grab users’ hearts, delivering the story cinematically so that users can experience as though they were in the movie, and keeping RGB part but renovating the game design.

Final Fantasy was born to challenge against Dragon Quest, the well-known RPG game in Japan. It is safe to say that “challenging spirit” is the identity of Final Fantasy.



Problems

Final Fantasy is the Intellectual Property (IP) that has a long history, and placing this IP as a core is the problem the team is facing. The team has been feeling that it’s becoming hard to gain new users/fans. [SORRY, I COULDN’T GET THE MEANING… It seems that they’re afraid that FF might become the game for enthusiastic fans alone.]

The team analyzed the problem they have and found two causes.



One is that both developers and sellers tend to believe “everyone knows Final Fantasy.” What is dangerous on this thought is that, since they believe the popularity of FF is very high, they may take an easy way. They may not challenge renovating the game design but slightly change a part of the previous game and release it as the new one since they know the game will be sold thanks to its popularity. In fact, quite a few developers were inclined to think in this way. The enthusiastic fans would follow, but other users wouldn’t. This would lead the shrinking in marketing Final Fantasy.



The other is that the success in this IP prevented the team from doing model change in developing a new Final Fantasy when the console stepped up from SD to HD. The huge renovation in gaming model was quite a tall wall back then. Due to the fact that the team couldn’t drastically renovate the gaming model, they failed to deliver a number of (/not so much) high quality games for PS3 and XBOX 360 era.



Considering and solving all the problems they have, the team is now challenging to deliver a new game that is Final Fantasy XV.



About Final Fantasy XV

The purpose of the story of Final Fantasy XV is to get back the country that has fallen to the enemy’s hand. The purpose itself is simple but the content of the game is rich in variety.



Trailer released at Jump Festa 2014

https://youtu.be/JWkHDJ7Z_1k?t=22m35s



How the team build Final Fantasy XV

The team puts priority in creating the game that “grabs users’ hearts and never let go.”

Even though working in a small company, developers can create fun games for smart phones and all. Creating fun games cannot be the ultimate goal anymore.

The Final Fantasy team is challenging to provide the game and adventure that console games alone and Final Fantasy alone can deliver.

They call it cultivating the market for UX.

They put priority in UX, and all those game designing, technology developing, art working, and story telling are polished for seeking better UX.

The Final Fantasy XV team is working with this in their mind. However, before FFXV, the focus was on creating fun games or telling the story and not on UX.



UX in Final Fantasy XV

The experience of traveling with buddies. We’d be honored if this experience grabs users’ hearts and never let go.



Game design

It’s an open world game. It’s seamless and vast. Time flows and the weather changes.

Users can enjoy traveling with buddies and may feel that the characters are real.

The game is based on reality but still it’s fantasy. The team is working on making fantasy part feel real.



Story design

It’s the story of a father and son.

When the son is young, the father takes his hand, protects and leads him. As the son grows, the father gets older. Gradually, it will be the son who takes father’s hand and support him for the rest of his life.

The bond between the father and son is the main theme in the story of Final Fantasy XV.



[The concept art shown]



The child in the old man’s arm is the main character in FFXV. The story begins with this scene, but the game starts after this child has grown and be ready for the journey.

The team focuses on how to deliver the bond between the father and son in the journey. They decided to give that aspect with the car that is a memento of the father. [TABATA SAID THE WORD 形見(katami), AND IT USUALLY IS A SOMETHING PASSED ON BY A DECEASED PERSON]

The main character grows as he travels around the world with his friends and the car that is a memento of the father. Even while in the journey, he’s protected by his father. And when the journey ends, he gives back to his father that he has grown. [TABATIS’S JAPANESE IS A BIT VAGUE. IN THE LAST PASSAGE, TABATIS CLEARLY MENTIONED THAT THE CAR IS A MEMENTO 形見, BUT IN THIS PASSAGE, I CAN FEEL THAT REGIS MIIIIIGHT BE ALIVE. OR, NOCT WILL TELL REGIS THAT HE HAS GROWN UP IN FRONT OF REGIS’S GRAVE STONE OR SOMETHING idk :3]



Art design

The team first drew “art” in the FFXV world, and they call it art work.

Art includes buildings, monsters, and locations. Variety of things from something we can find in the real world to something incredibly fantasy-ish.

More than 10,000 arts have drawn.

The team drew those arts with the following in their mind: to make sure the users who don’t know Final Fantasy can enjoy the FFXV world.

At the very beginning part of the game, users may see the things that can be found in the real world. It would make it easier for new users to step into the Final Fantasy world for the first time.

As users carry on the game, they may gradually find things that only exist in fantasy.



Tech design

If time doesn’t flow, weather doesn’t change, or the world is not seamless, or letting the number of monsters decrease, then it’s possible to deliver far more beautiful graphics or arts. However, sacrificing UX and put priority on graphics is definitely not what the team wants to do.

The team is challenging to deliver a fantastic UX with keeping as much high quality as possible in graphics.

The team is focused on developing and providing a 24/7 beautiful world with the state-of-the-art technology and heart-grabbing expressions. The technology which is specifically prepared/adjusted for FFXV has been essential to make it possible.



The technology developed

https://youtu.be/JWkHDJ7Z_1k?t=36m57s



The solutions for the problems

The FFXV team no longer believes that “everyone knows Final Fantasy.” The team is ready to deliver the game for people who haven’t played Final Fantasy. Even though the game has the number XV, it is considered to be the brand new game. The new Final Fantasy saga starts from XV.

The team has been challenging to introduce the new technology, and has done model change already. The moment users would have through FFXV can be delivered only with the consoles. Sitting in front of a huge screen and holding a controller alone can invite users to have the fantastic experience.



Marketing in China

The console games are ready to be started in China, and the team would like to challenge releasing FFXV. They wonder what the reputation would be like in China. As mentioned in the beginning of the presentation, the identity of Final Fantasy is “challenging spirit.”

The team is trying to deliver the one and only experience that FFXV alone can show.



PRESENTATION ENDED HERE



The FFXV team wants to deliver FFXV in China at the same time with other regions if possible.

There are some problems to be solved for the marketing in China, but the team has been making progress. Tabata thinks that they can officially release the information in the near future on this.



Q1

[I don’t speak Chinese so I don’t know what the question was :D] It seems likely that Tabata likes female characters in FF Type-0 the best. He also stated that the characters in FFXV will be the most adorable ones to him since the team really put spirits in the characters.



Q2

Before releasing the game, a small scale demo will be released for PS4 and XBOX ONE users. [!! THIS IS NOT ABOUT EPISODE DUSCAE !! It is called “tech-demo” in Japan.]

The information on the small scale demo was first released at Jump Festa 2014. It’s under preparation. However, since the release in China hasn’t officially fixed, Tabata’s not sure if the small scale demo is a good news to fans in China.



Q3

The team is aware that DLC is expected from users in various regions. Details are not yet fixed, but both free of charge service and fee based service would be provided.

The team wants users to enjoy FFXV as long as possible.



Q4

The team is challenging to deliver as much high frame rate and resolution as possible. 30 fps is their goal. Tabata is confident that they can pass this threshold. The resolution will be fixed after they give a go for the final frame rate.



Q5

There was a question about FFVII remake. Tabata and BD2 members are not engaged in the project so he refrained from answering the question.



Q6

There’s no plan on FFXV-2 at all. The team is focused on wrapping up the story in FFXV alone. The team is giving their all out on FFXV, and there’s no room for thinking about the after story or else.



Q7

Some divisions in Square Enix have been developing games for smartphones, and making profits to create another games.

BD2 is the division to provide high quality games. It’s like building F1 cars. It costs a lot, but with the budget issue in our minds, BD2 has been developing the technology, achieving results, and bring it back to Square Enix.



INDEX of Jp/En translation #ff15 #ffxv #final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #(text) Show more notes Loading...

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FF15 de 英語勉強中。 Hi! I'm Jirokichi (JPN). Obsessed with Final Fantasy XV right now. Still struggling with English.I haven't played Japanese version yet, but I might come in handy if you have any Japanese to English questions. :)Thanks for the likes, reblogs, and follows! I'm full of joy if you enjoy!FF15 de 英語勉強中。