Final Fantasy XV

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/06/23/flying_get/

* The game's cloud effects use real physics calculations
* The world is an open field, and you can go everywhere except for the mountains
* The battles are seamless
* The game's encounter system is both random and symbol-based (meaning you can see enemies in advance). Hmm... what could this mean?
* The game's world is mostly seamless, although there are some load points when you switch between the massive areas.
* You can destroy objects that you find on the road.
* The quality of the combat scenes is so high that people will not be able to believe it when they first see it.
* The staff is excited about making the game.
* The Versus screenshots show a fight with a weaponized Behemoth in a city.
* Square Enix will be showing an unannounced title at TGS. Given the context, I think this means a Nomura game.
* Nomura says that the Versus visual quality will improve even beyond what's shown in the new screenshots.

http://www.ps3center.net/news/4607/nomura-versus-graphics-are-unbelievable-/

A notable no show from this year's E3 Expo was Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the highly anticipated next chapter in the Fabula Nova Cyrstallis series. Though Final Fantasy XIII hit Western shores earlier this year, Square Enix was mum on the PS3-exclusive follow up at the event last week.

Not to worry, though - the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation confirms that fans will see more from the title soon at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. The publication showed off a few new environments and teased a couple new features.

The highlight seems to be the game's new battle system. The encounter system uses a mix of random and visible encounters that are integrated seamlessly into the exploration aspect of the game. The graphics further enhance the combat, with Nomura confidently stating that most people will not believe there eyes when the see the high quality of the battles in action.

Additionally, Nomura states the team is improving the graphics before the game hits shelves. With the release of XIII off their plate, the team is going to work with renewed motivation.

Fans can look forward to seeing FFVSXII, as well as Parasite Eve 3rd Birthday and Agito XIII at TGS 2010, which is slated for Sept. 16 to Sept. 19.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/06/23/nomura_on_ff_versus_xiii/

Joining a lengthy interview on Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, this week's Famitsu has a significantly shorter interview with Tetsuya Nomura on Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Most of the discussion focused on three new screenshots. It will be a bit tough to follow most of this summary without seeing the screens for yourself, but here are some textual descriptions.

* 1. A scene of main character Noctis standing on a cliff, looking out over a vast field, with a highway directly below, a desert clearing in the distance, and mountains in the far distance. The caption for this notes that you can walk as far as you can see.
* 2. A scene of Noctis standing in front of a gas station. In the caption for this scene, the magazine notes that one of the themes of the game is a "road movie."
* 3. A scene of Noctis facing off against a giant creature in a city-like scene. The visuals here look extremely modern -- you can see crosswalks and even bike lanes marked off on the road below. It looks like an in-game version of Tokyo, except for the giant beast.

The screens are all taken off real hardware, Nomura said. The game currently runs at the quality shown in the screens, said Nomura, and they'll be improving the visuals even further.

Not only are the screens real time, but they represent the perspective from which you'll play the game. The camera angle is for the most part what's shown in the screens -- from a third person view. They were originally considering switching to an overhead view when you moved into the outside world, but ended up keeping the the world as an open field in order to keep you close to the action.

Of course, actual screenshots will have menus and icons. According to Nomura, these bits were removed because they did not want to let details on the game out.

Nomura shared some details on a screen-by-screen basis.

Regarding the gasoline and field screen, Famitsu noted that the game's sky color is finely detailed. Nomura said first that they're using true physics calculations for the movement of the clouds. He also noted that it took the staff a while to determine the visual direction they would take with the game. They could do all sorts of different visual styles by changing such things as filters and sunlight color.

Regarding the field screenshot, Nomura said that the field is an "open field," meaning you can walk through "nearly everything" shown in the field screenshot except for the mountains. He also said, "If you want to go to the end, it's truly far."

Regarding the city scene with the beast, Nomura pointed out that the beast is a military-use behemoth. It has a giant sword on its back.

The city scene is actually a battle screen. Normally, it would have a command menu and other information.

The menus and prompts aren't all that's missing, though. Noctis is shown fighting the behemoth by himself. In the actual game, you'll fight as part of a party. The reason the party members aren't shown in the screen is because Square Enix has yet to officially reveal the weapons and clothing for these characters.

Famitsu noted of the battle scene, the "Shinjuku cityscape is real." The model for the area, said Nomura, is the surroundings of Square Enix's Shinjuku office, right down to the bicycle markings on the street.

The three areas shown in the screenshots are all connected. The screen with the field and the screen with the gasoline stand are from the same location. The field extends out from the rear of the gas stand. These two areas are located immediately outside the city depicted in the battle screenshot.

It all looks like a pretty large area for what appears to be the game's prologue location, Famitsu noted. No need to worry, though, as Nomura revealed that you'll have access to a car. You can board and disembark your car whenever you like. Take your car out into the field area, and you'll eventually approach the submerged area that was shown in past promotional trailers.

It looks like you'll encounter monsters out on the field. Some will be roaming about, with Nomura citing an example of a behemoth walking around on a hill in the distance. In other instances, monsters will appear quickly.

In this week's "Flying get" column, there was a bullet point about the game featuring both symbol and random encounters. I presume this is where these points come from. Nomura did not specially mention symbol and random encounters, though, so it may be a bit too hasty to picture an RPG-like system.

Asked if the field and battles will be seamless, meaning no loading or screen transitions, Nomura said that the battles will be for the most part seamless. When you move between large areas, and when there are event cut-ins, there may be some loading, although the staff is trying to make the game as seamless as possible.

The magazine closed off by asking Nomura when we can expect additional Versus XIII details. This is still a ways off, he said, but he added "We're making preparations for a big announcement."

http://scrawlfx.com/2010/06/final-fantasy-versus-xiii-scenario-complete-confirms-dengeki

Last week’s Famitsu interview with Final Fantasy Versus XIII director Tetsuya Nomura was followed up with a similar interview in this week’s Dengeki PlayStation. While the contents of the interview were mostly the same, there were some important tidbits mentioned in Dengeki that missed the Famitsu coverage.

According to the magazine, the game’s scenario is fully complete. We’re guessing that means the story and script are fully written and finished.

Character designs are also finished. Nomura promises that Versus XIII’s character designs are definitive and will be revealed in due time. All their clothing has been completed, as well, which as we know are designed by Japanese clothing manufacturer Roen.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be at the Tokyo Game Show this year. It’s already been confirmed. Stay tuned as September draws near.

http://www.1up.com/news/final-fantasy-xiii-producer-commit

With a name like Final Fantasy Versus XIII, you might expect the second game in the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy to release near FFXIII. But after long waits between any new information and reports of "difficulties," it seemed unlikely.

Now producer Yoshinori Kitase has made comments that seem to confirm a long wait for Versus XIII, or at least cast doubt on a concrete timeline. Speaking to GamingUnion, Kitase said, "We have no release date information to update. Unfortunately, we can't say anything about that. We can't commit ourselves to 2011 either."

To be clear, this doesn't mean Versus XIII won't release in 2011, but it does mean that the game isn't yet close enough to finished to call a 2011 release a certainty. Most likely, if we see the game in 2011 at all, it will be near the end of the year.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/01/24/flying_get_d_style/

Here are some more Versus XIII details from Dengeki's feature and its interview with Tetsuya Nomura. Included are some comments from Nomura indicating that we shouldn't expect the game this year:

* Main character Noctis is not "cool." He's just a normal youth. He feels "I am strong," but he's not as strong as he thinks.
* Some segments of the trailer show natural landscapes. These are like the fields you encounter in other games. The game will have time progression: morning, afternoon, evening and night.
* Contrary to some theories, the dragon rider character who appears in the trailer is not heroine Stella. Nomura says he wouldn't show Stella in such a state. The character you see in that sequence is an enemy.
* You can steal army vehicles for your use. You can ride air ships, cars and Chocobos.
* The blonde character shown in the trailer is Noctis's friend. The other two characters are friends from Noctis's childhood. The person with glasses is like Noctis's tactician.
* You'll recall that someone in the trailer says "You're not fit to be king," or something to that effect. This statement is not directed at Noctis. (I think everyone assumed it was!)
* Nomura says something along the lines of: This year, we have Type-0 and XIII-2, so please forget about Versus for a while. He asked that people be patient and understand that they're trying to do something incredible.
* At the earliest, we could see more from Versus XIII at E3.

The Dengeki Games Square Enix coverage that leaked out yesterday disappointed, but sister publication Dengeki PlayStation more than makes up for it! The magazine has four pages on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, two pages on Final Fantasy XIII-2 and four pages on Final Fantasy Type-0. These blowouts are accompanied by interviews with Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama.

A few Versus battle system details have leaked out first:

* The actual battle screen in the final game will show character names.
* Some areas regarding how the battle screen shows commands will probably change for the final.
* Magic has different effects depending on the character who uses it.
* A young blonde male character shown in the magazine's screenshots is good with guns. He alone has aiming controls and can aim for enemy weak spots.
* When other characters use guns, they have just a normal lock-on.
* The game has a large number of weapons. Main character Noctis can use them all.
* Your battle party can have up to three members. However, the members who aren't taking part in the battle will join in on conversations.
* There are more party members than the four shown in the magazine. However, the game doesn't have a massive number of party members.

Regarding the Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer that you won't be able to legally watch until Thursday, the suited man who was sitting down in what looked like a throne is main character Noctis's father. He's the king of the only nation in the world that hast crystals. (I think all this was known before...).

Regarding Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy, Square Enix plans on offering costumes and Final Fantasy series music as download content.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/02/01/nomura_ffxvxiii_famitsu/

You've seen the recent Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer. Now get some details on what you should be looking for straight from director Tetsuya Nomura himself.

Famitsu.com has posted a complete version of a Nomura interview that appeared in Weekly Famitsu last week. Nomura shared lots of intriguing new details on the long awaited Final Fantasy XIII sister project.

STORY AND CHARACTERS

The 1st Production Department Premier event trailer, which offered us our first true look at Versus XIII gameplay (ignoring the few seconds from the game's brief Tokyo Game Show trailer) was almost all in-game. The opening section, which showed Noctis and his driver driving down a freeway was CG (not live action footage, Famitsu confirmed), but everything from the conversation scene between Noctis and Stella was real time running on the PlayStation 3. This includes the flyby scene with the masses of buildings that precedes the combat part of the clip.

(Nomura didn't say this, but the end of the clip does appear to have a short CG sequence.)

The trailer, Famitsu noted, allows us to better get a grasp of the characters, as we get to first hear Noctis, and his allies. Furthermore, the ally clothing has been redone.

These areas appear to be final designs, although Nomura said that he's playing around with the hair a bit. Even the voices that you hear for the allies during the combat scenes is from final voice actors, chosen via auditions.

Regarding the voice actors, Nomura wouldn't confirm who they are, but he said some fans appear to have figured it out.

Nomura detailed a few of the character and story elements that were hinted at in the trailer.

Ignis, the ally with glasses and the only party member outside of Noctis whose name has been confirmed, was raised from childhood to be something akin to Noctis' military tactician. This is why his lines in the trailer sound like he's counseling Noctis. For the trailer, they selected scenes that would make the relationship between Noctis and Ignis clear.

As detailed in our summary of Dengeki's interview from last week (read it here!), Ignis and the scar-faced party member are childhood friends of Noctis. The blonde party member is a relatively new friend.

The story of Final Fantasy Versus XIII has the enemy kingdom of Niflheim invading Noctis' country, beginning an "escape drama" for Noctis and his friends. However, Noctis thinks of himself not as fleeing but as pursuing the enemy.

In the trailer, there's a scene (at the 2:09 mark) where we see Noctics' father, the king, saying to someone that he won't give up the throne and will be the final king. This dialogue is taken directly from the game, but it's actually used in a different scene. The identity of who the king is speaking to is a secret (it's not Noctis, as some thought at first).

Nomura also said that the throne the king is shown sitting in during that scene is different from the throne we see Noctis sitting in at the end of the trailer (around the 6:12 mark).

During the trailer, there's a scene (at the 4:30 mark) set in a forest clearing in the evening showing someone walking towards the king. This scene looks like it's in first person. According to Nomura, this is an event scene that the player can control. The viewpoint is low because it's a scene from Noctis' youth.

Towards the end of the trailer (around the 6:00 mark) there's a scene showing Noctis' father in a standoff with a character in white robes. Famitsu noted that in a previous trailer, Noctis was seen in a standoff with a man in white robes. The two white robed men are different, Nomura said.

Both confrontations take place in the castle, but in different locations within the castle. The inside castle is being made large, said Nomura, and players will be able to move their character around in it.

Famitsu asked just one questions about the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology. Will the l'Cie, who were depicted in Final Fantasy XIII as humans given the power to use magic and summons in exchange for being burdened with a mission, appear in Versus XIII? Nomura confirmed that as Versus XIII is based off the same mythology as FFXIII, the term l'Cie and other such terms will appear. However, going along with the modern look of the world, the language used in the conversation will also be modern. He didn't explain what this means precisely in terms of the use of the phrases.

BATTLE SYSTEM

Moving on to the battle system, Famitsu noted that the movement in the battle scenes looked faster than in the brief Tokyo Game Show trailer. As Nomura said in post-TGS Twitter updates, the TGS footage was actually slowed down to make it easier to see the motions. What we're seeing in the new trailer is the real deal as far as speed goes.

During combat, you an do all sorts of actions, like double jumps and so-forth. All the characters move with great speed.

Asked if the battle system is similar to Kingdom Hearts in that characters perform actions once you've selected commands, Nomura responded that it's close to that.

The icons and gauges we see in the battle scenes appear to be a mix of finalized and temporary. The commands are temporary (I'm not sure if Nomura is speaking about the names of the commands or just the way they're displayed). The gauges for HP and so-forth are final. They deleted the character names from the gauges shown in the lower right. All the screenshots you see of the game in magazines and at Famitsu.com also have the named removed.

There's an orange gauge to the right of the HP gauge. This is part of an original system for the game. Nomura did not elaborate.

The character faces above the HP and orange gauges are meant to be a window showing a closeup of the character's faces as they fight. This way, even if you're separated from a character, you can tell when he's having trouble.

One of the commands shown in the command palette is "SUMMON." Nomura confirmed that there will be summon elements in the game. As he's said in past interviews, he also confirmed that you'll be able to ride Magitek Armor mecha and Chocobos. He said we can think that all the familiar elements from the Final Fantasy series will be in the game.

Regarding magic, however, there's one major story-based consideration. All characters can use magic, but Noctis must be there. As part of the story setting, magic can be used because Noctis is there.

With this connection to Noctis, it does seem that magic will be tied closely to the story. But not in one way some might have speculated from past trailers. One of the earliest realtime scenes from the game (also shown in the latest trailer) showed Noctis and Stella speaking about the goddess Etro during a scene in the trailer (see details about the Fabula Nova Crystalls mythology here). They mention something about sharing the ability to see a certain "light." This power of light is different from the power of magic, said Nomura.

Versus XIII will have a job system -- but not for your player-controlled characters. Enemies come in such flavors as dragon knights and summoners. The dragon knight character seen doing some wild acrobatics through the air towards the end of the trailer (around the 5:43 mark) is a character from the enemy side (she's not Stella, as Nomura said in past interviews). She's part of a special group of people within the enemy army, and uses unconventional armor that differs from the army's standard issue.

As shown in the trailer, your party can have up to three members. The party members will initially be chosen for you as part of the story, in part because of tutorial considerations. As you advance in the game, you'll gain the ability to select your members. Howevr, Noctis is always a part of your party. In the Dengeki interview, Nomura said that if Noctis dies the game ends.

You're free to switch off between the three party members during battle. But this switching isn't necessary. You can play the game exclusively as Noctis if you like.

Each character has their own specialties, and they attack differently depending on the weapon. Nomura said that he wants players to discover their own strategy, as far as timing and situation goes, for switching between characters.

Noctis has access to a variety of weapons, like swords, axes, lances and guns. Looking at guns alone, you'll find such varieties as hand guns, machine guns, shot guns, rifles, bazookas and more. One area the development staff is placing a focus on is making the motions for when you use the various weapons look different.

Different from Noctis, the various party members outside will be able to use only certain weapons. Here's what the party members shown in the trailer can do:

Ignis
Specializes in support-style attacks. He's particularly strong with magic, but can also use throwable knives and other such weapons. The trailer also shows him wielding a katana blade.

Scarfaced Character
He'll fight bare handed and will also use large weapons like pile bunkers and broad swords.

Blonde Character
He's a gunner. Noctis can also also use guns of course, but when he does so he fires with auto aim. The blonde character, on the other hand, will display a targeting reticule, allowing you to aim for enemy weak points.

The blonde guys's aiming is particularly useful for larger monsters, who have weak points in various areas and can be targeted for positional damage.

Switching between weapons is part of the base action gameplay. For Noctis, you can go into the menu to set him with multiple weapons. These will automatically switch out as you fight. Depending on the weapons you've set, you'll get various combos.

One thing Versus XIII won't have is team-up attacks that has the three party members automatically group together for a super attack. However, Nomura noted that players can time their character switches to chain together multi-character attacks on their own. This can apparently be seen in the trailer, although Nomura said that most players probably might have not noticed it as it's super quick. Examples of using this system involve having Ignis use magic to send the enemy flying back, then switching out instantly to have another character come in for an attack.

FIELDS AND WORLDS

Final Fantasy Versus XIII will have a lot of freedom, Nomura noted. They're working on adding a variety of gimmicks. By "gimmick," Nomura means such things as how in the trailer we see a behemoth creature running to destroy an overhead walkway as Noctis crosses it (around the 4:25 mark, but the behemoth battle starts before this). If you don't make Noctis cross the bridge, the behemoth will not destroy it. These types of gimmicks are tough on the development side of things, noted Nomura.

Those behemoth beasts will be of different size depending on the situation. In the trailer scene, they made the creature big because the fight takes place amongst tall buildings and there wouldn't be as much impact if it was small. In the wild, the behemoths will be a bit smaller.

The city scene where Noctis is facing off against the behemoth is full of destroyable objects -- for instance, the trees and electricity poles. There's also a lot of interactivity, it seems. Following the sequence shown in the trailer, you'll end up fighting a behemoth on a three level freeway area. The road has been damaged, so you'll need to move around by jumping and so-forth. You can also make use of the buildings that line the road. The emergency stairwells of the buildings can can be entered and climbed to get to the roof, with Noctis pulling himself up to the very top via the air conditioner. Nomura was actually surprised to find this area when test playing the game.

With all the freedom, Nomura expects players to not be able to experience everything in one go.

The trailer shows just a section of the game's starting country -- that is, the kingdom ruled by Noctis' father. There are also other large kingdoms, and in between them you'll find villages. Even the villages are expansive. Nomura was once again surprised by the size when checking the game.

As indicated in the trailer, the fields have a day-night cycle. You'll encounter different beasts at different times of day. They sped up some of the time progression in the trailer to make it more easily seen.

OUR NEXT LOOK AT FF VERSUS XIII

Closing off the interview, Nomura hinted that there's still a lot that we haven't seen from Versus XIII. There will be character growth systems and other exclusive systems in the game, none of which is visible in the trailer.

The next time we can expect to see more of Versus XIII is at E3, which takes place June 7 to 9 in Los Angeles. However, an E3 showing has yet to be finalized, Nomura said.