Dissidia Final Fantasy NT producer Ichiro Hazama and director Takeo Kujiraoka appeared during the E3 Coliseum event to talk about the upcoming Final Fantasy fighter on PS4.

When thinking about making a new Dissidia Final Fantasy, director Kujiraoka considered 1 vs. 1 and 2 vs. 2 battles for the fighter’s main format, but it was after thinking about the Final Fantasy series and how they all revolve around parties that he decided to go with 3 vs. 3.

As for the battle system, Kujiraoka said it was inspired by MMORPG battles, and what it would be like to have it in an action game. While it may look chaotic, there’s a lot of strategic elements that require you to work with your teammates.

When asked about how the collaboration with Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja began, producer Hazama said first and foremost, they’re professionals at what they do, and he believes that there aren’t too many companies that are able to produce high-quality action games in Japan but he believes Team Ninja is one of them. Not to mention they have a nice track record of good action games.

The other reason was that it was around the time Kujiraoka-san said that he wanted to make a new Dissidia Final Fantasy when producer Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja got in touch saying “hey, let’s do something together!” so the timing was just too perfect to pass for both Square Enix and Team Ninja.

Hazama also shared a bit more on the meaning behind “NT” as “New Tale” (also mentioned as “New Trial, and “New Tournament”). The game’s main selling point is the unprecedented 3 vs. 3 battle system, but the “New Tale” is about the new story that can only be told through a gathering of Final Fantasy protagonists.

Starting at the 12:05 mark, director Kujiraoka takes us through the gameplay mechanics. The gameplay begins at 15:30.

According to Kujiraoka, Dissidia Final Fantasy’s development started out with the concept of “let’s take the action of Kingdom Hearts II and make it into a fighting game.” Square Enix wanted to make a fighter that can be played by Kingdom Hearts fans.

The developers wanted to retain the sensation you get from pulling off combos in Kingdom Hearts II, but they didn’t want to make a game where you might quickly lose against an opponent. For this reason, the Bravery system was made so that when you find yourself in situations where you can stay alive as long as you don’t take any HP attacks, you’ll still have choices. This brings endless possibilities on how a player might approach the fight, for example, one might consider how much Brave Attacks he can take before a clash, and so on.

On a last note, Mat Kishimoto of Square Enix America asked the developers if the UI and HUD, which can be a little intimidating with the many bars and numbers, is finalized. Director Kujiraoka said that the use of such flashy UI/HUD is a trend in Japanese arcades so it was made with that in mind, but the developers are talking about simplifying it for the console version and they’re already working on a prototype. He’s confident we’ll have something simplified for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT and hopes you guys look forward to it.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT releases in early 2018 for PlayStation 4.