Final Fantasy XV – it’s been a long time coming

GameCentral talks to the director of Final Fantasy XV, about the game’s 10 year development and the future of the Japanese games industry.

I’ve interviewed a few Final Fantasy directors and producers over the years, and although they’ve all been perfectly pleasant, and interesting to talk to, they’ve also always tended to be very serious, almost solemn – as if discussing one of gaming’s grand old franchises is too important a subject for usual interview banter. But I found Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata to be very different: enthusiastic, chatty, and perfectly willing to discuss every aspect of the game.



And there is certainly a lot to talk about, more so than could be covered in any one interview – given that the game started life now over 10 years ago. But now it is finally edging close to release and after the launch of the Episode Duscae demo earlier in the year (recently updated to version 2.0) everyone can get a good idea of how the final game will look and play.

But the story, and the controversy over the main characters and their dialogue, is a trickier thing to get a sense for in a relatively short demo. So I asked Tabata how he’d dealt with the feedback from fans, how he hoped to attract people who have never played a Final Fantasy before, and whether or not he’s sick of hearing the phrase ‘boy band’…


Formats: Xbox One and PlayStation 4

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Square Enix 1st Production Department

Release Date: 2016

(I start by explaining that this is my last appointment at Gamescom and that I have to rush off to the airport as soon as the half hour is up. Which, inevitably, doesn’t stop things from going on far longer than originally intended.)

GC: It is almost overwhelming to think how much has changed in the last 10 years, from the nature of the industry itself to Square Enix’s position within it and the role-playing genre at large. How do you see Final Fantasy now as a franchise? If someone says the name to me I tend to think of VI, but that’s obviously a million miles away from where you were at the start of the project, let alone now.

HT: First of all, I just want to point out that my favourite of all the Final Fantasy games so far has been VI.

GC: Well, that’s encouraging in itself!

HT: While I’m making the game I’m always thinking that after we release XV I hope that becomes number one! [laughs] Everyone has their own favourite Final Fantasy game, but I really want as many people as possible to, when I release the game, to say, “Yeah, XV was the best! That’s my favourite!”.

The things that we’re really putting a lot of emphasis on, that we really value in the development of Final Fantasy XV, is that I believe it really has to have the best technology that we can put in there. And have that support the best possible game experience. That’s my image of what Final Fantasy has to be and should be. And it’s the top technology available used to make the best game experience we can. It’s a very simple way of looking at it, but that’s my philosophy and what I want to do with XV.



That’s quite a broad statement, so it’s quite easy to misunderstand me. But really, what it all comes down to is the story, the experience, and how great a story that is. And the way I see it the technology is important, it’s very important, but it’s important because you use that to tell the story. The combat system, the art, the whole game development, the technology itself – that’s all about telling the story. And all of the aspects of the game.

But I very much get you, and I agree at the moment that VI is the best. [laughs]

GC: In terms of story…

HT: You can talk about VI more if you want! [laughs]

GC: [laughs] I’d love to, but I think we’re a bit short on time here.

HT: We get a lot of people asking for a remake of VI…

GC: Well, are you going to do a remake of VI, then? I’ll ask that!

HT: Not in my department!

All: [laughs]

GC: When you talk about story I wonder if you looked at Final Fantasy XIII and considered the problems it had with accessibility, particularly in terms of its confusing terminology. I saw the new Gamescom trailer for XV and it’s filled with a lot of very ambiguous-sounding text, that I think is going to confuse a lot of people as to what is going on or what the game is actually about.

HT: That’s something I really feel strongly is like that, myself. I agree with you. For both myself and the development team we really do have this strong image that the history of Final Fantasy is something that perhaps gets in the way of letting new people into the series and making it accessible.


I really am very aware, and very much focused, on that idea that we’ve got to cater to the existing Final Fantasy fans and please them, that’s a given, but we really want to make the game much more accessible. So it’s a system that people can get into and understand. There’s not as many barriers there, so it can really appeal to a wide audience… the whole design process of the game we really are aware of that idea.

But that’s not a technology issue, that’s really something about how the design team approaches the game. It’s something we can overcome I think, we’ve got all the structure we need to do that.

GC: The game is much more action-orientated than any previous numbered sequel, so I wonder what your influences have been and how you’ve tried to balance the styles of both Western and Japanese style role-players. Also, what do you feel Japanese developers do best when it comes to role-playing games? Final Fantasy is obviously an iconic franchise, but what is it that it does better, or at least differently, than Western games?

HT: I’ll answer in the opposite order you asked the questions! I think perhaps one of the strengths of Japanese game development is that very strong ethos of making a game right from start to finish, and really getting everything solidly down and having a good plan for that. A lot of Japanese game developers – even if they’re making a really, really large, massive game – they’ve all got this ethos of really not letting any single element of the game slip.


They really are very good at managing and controlling that whole process, the quality control. Rather than thinking, maybe, in a more detached way. We really want to make every single element as good as it can possibly be, and really try to make a correct, solid plan to get all that down. I think that’s a really strong element of Japanese game development.

I’m exactly the same in that way, I think it’s a big trend in Japanese game development. Even right up to the master, we really keep trying at every level to push the game to be the best it can possibly be. And keep striving to improve it.

Unfortunately this style of game development is something that’s very difficult to achieve and realise, on the modern HD development scene. [laughs] And I think that’s probably a big reason why a lot of Japanese game developers are struggling with modern HD development.

When I’m looking at the modern situation with HD game development, how it is and how it has to be, I think certainly for the Japanese developers with all that passion, that dedication to making everything perfect… it’s important, but before that you really have to look at the development environment, the team construction, the technology you have – make sure that base, that ground work is down. I think people maybe hadn’t done that before, which is why they had trouble.

I think when you’ve got that base down, all that groundwork done and you’ve worked out how to do it, then you can really exploit that Japanese characteristic, that attention to detail, the dedication to making everything right, and that passion for doing it. And then it really can become something special, but you need the base for it.

GC: The last gen wasn’t great for the Japanese games industry in general. Maybe I’m just fooling myself, but it seems as if this gen is off to a much better start. Many of the most critically acclaimed new games are Japanese made and it seems so too are many of the most anticipated future titles.

HT: I’m very much in agreement with you. I think certainly in the previous generation, there was that problem a lot of Japanese developers had, of getting their teeth into HD development. They really struggled there. But obviously during that period they thought, “Okay, what do we have to do… what kind of measure do you have to take to get on track with this?” And now you’re seeing the results of that, and they’ve finally got down to it and they understand what to do. And now you’re seeing the fruits of that.

To answer the first question you asked, it’s a very simple answer really. When we released the Episode Duscae playable demo to the world, and we got feedback on that, it became very clear the polarisation between the two different expectations towards gameplay… the two gameplay styles that people enjoy. There’s the classic Japanese RPG style and the way people want to play a game like that and there’s the more Western action game-based style, and what people want from those kinds of games. It became very clear, these two takes. So we really want to make Final Fantasy XV something that can appeal to both of these groups at the same time.

But obviously because they are very, very different – almost polar opposite play styles – making one method, one system, that appeals to both those is obviously a very, very difficult thing to do. And we’re very much aware, we don’t want to do it half-heartedly and make something that doesn’t really appeal to either of them. That’s really important.

GC: I think the demo was generally well received, particularly in terms of the graphics and combat. But in terms of the characters… I’m sure you’re sick of hearing the phrase ‘boy band’. But I wonder whether that reaction to the protagonists surprised you, and whether your approach to the characters and their dialogue changed as a result of that feedback?

HT: Are you sure you’re going to be okay with your flight?

GC: Yeah, it’ll be all right. This is more interesting anyway.

HT: I agree! [laughs] The idea of them being a boy band is something I hadn’t thought about. I don’t know if we were surprised by it, but it was certainly intriguing to see that kind of response to the design. When I looked into it and I saw that there’s that culture and that perception in different places I understood exactly why people thought it, looking at the reasons why.

It was a very important thing, very good for us, that we got that kind of feedback at the point we were doing the demo. And really understood how people are viewing these characters… and hearing them say they look like a boy band going on tour during the game. To see that perception was very important feedback.

Certainly the top triple-A Western developers, they pretty much every week, every month, they get together and do focus tests on even very small parts of the game they make. It’s a very common thing in Western development I think.

I really intend to do that kind of feedback and communication with players to find out their tastes and wants, and to do it in the same style. I think that’s a very important thing to do with the game. And then to adapt it to be more like what people want. The way we’re going to do it, we’re not going to change the overall design of the characters so much. What we’re aiming to do is to take away that image that they’re just a bunch of pretty guys out on a trip, having fun.

Instead we really want to focus on how they’re portrayed as characters and how they’re presented as living characters with their own internal monologue, their own psychology. And I think if we succeed in that, that should really dispel this image and show they are proper characters within a proper story, rather than just this stylised image. And so that’s what we think is the most important approach to take, rather than changing their design so they look different.

GC: The thing that always strikes me about any big open world or role-playing game is how difficult it is to tell a coherent story over the course of 60+ hours. That’s not something that happens in other mediums, and I wonder if a lot of the storytelling problems come from the fact that people want to keep playing almost indefinitely, but you’ve only got a story that’s a certain length. Which is of course not just a problem for you, but for all developers.

HT: I think you really have picked up on a very difficult challenge for the games industry and game creators. Among consumer opinions there really is that perception that they put money down for this game and they want a return on their investment. How much playtime is a very easy way for them to quantify whether it was worth it or not.

GC: Yes, it’s the problem of quantity versus quality.

HT: And on top of that there’s also the fact that different players have different expectations. People who buy maybe 10 or 20 games a year and the way they look at value for money depending on playtime, as opposed to people who buy maybe only two or three games… it’s a different standard by which they judge it.

This really does bring home how difficult and complicated an equation this really is, with the different expectations of different people within different groups with different perspectives. It’s a very difficult balancing act there. So you’re right, it’s not an easy question to answer at all.

So I think the different variations in people’s lifestyles, and how they relate to games these days, is just growing and getting more and more varied and complex all the time. But I think sometimes it’s better to have more options there, for different people.

GC: What would happen if someone at Square Enix came up with a great idea for a Final Fantasy-esque game but the story only lasts five or 10 hours? Again, this is a problem for the whole triple-A industry, but does that idea just get ignored? Is it only indie games that can do that sort of thing?

HT: I think there is a very detailed relationship there between the value of something and how great it is, and also how that translates into sales and how many people are gonna buy that. I think that it doesn’t always follow that people only follow the length of games now.

If you had, for example, a top world-wide selling novel and then someone decided to base a game on it. It keep the story and it really did it very well, except because it’s based on a novel the game story only lasted five hours. I think if it had that quality and you get that across to the public, and they understand how good it is, then you’ll probably see a lot of people buying it even though it was five hours. So it’s a more complicated equation. It’s not all about just length of story, quality does come in there. But you have to consider all the practicalities.

More than anything I really want people to say about XV that it had a great story. So the way I look at implementing the story and telling the story through the game… that’s the first priority really: getting it so the story feels good and it’s a great experience to have. So regardless of length that’s more important, that it’s a great story.

My ultimate dream for this would be if people say, “It’s such a great world and a great story that I don’t want to see it end!” And if people can express that kind of feeling towards it then I’ll feel I’ve done my job and I’ll be very happy with that.

GC: That’s great, it’s been very good to talk to you.

HT: Thank you for asking interesting questions!

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter