Director Hajime Tabata was interviewed by Famitsu Weekly regarding the content revealed in the latest Active Time Report, where Tabata introduced content from a new Final Fantasy XV town, as well as the new character Cidney* and went into detail about camping, weapons, and the battle system.
Not mentioned in the interview is the fact that there will be two FFXV demos available in the future. Episode Duscae is a playable demo available with the purchase of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD for PS4 while the second demo will be available for all players.
As for translator’s notes, I have seen multiple spellings of the new character シドニー and prefer the spelling Cidney because it pays homage to the “Cid” in each Final Fantasy which she likely represents. Also, this version is a compilation of questions from the print issue of Famitsu Weekly as well as the digital Famitsu online version.
Read the complete translated interview below and if you share it’s contents please give me a shout on Twitter, thanks!
– We saw lots of elements we haven’t seen before in the new trailer, including battles and the town. And in regards to the visual production, you can tell that the camera depth has been regulated in accordance with the screen, conveying the feel of the atmosphere.
Tabata: That’s the case. In actuality, there are some things that can’t be seen by the naked eye, but you do get a realistic sense of depth in the visuals. While it was important that we included details of that caliber, I think that the range the lighting reaches among other things has turned out quite realistic.
– In the Active Time Report, you emphasized the sense of grounding in the virtual space, I imagine that aspect influences the realistic visual production as well.
Tabata: That’s one very important aspect, not just for making a realistic visual. One of our challenges is to enable the player to be immersed in this world though the characters. The battles aren’t command style, it’s about action, thus it’s technique focused. And if there is an incline in the field, the character’s movements reflect the sense of the incline. From conveying that accurately to the player, to including natural banter between party members, I want you to feel like you are a part of their world. Those ideas are what I was talking about when I emphasized the sense of grounding, I want to push the limit both technically and creatively.
– Even though it was the first city to be revealed, it’s made with a great level of detail. I saw street vendors as well, will we be able to shop at spots like that?
Tabata: You can. There are things like restaurants and hotels. We wanted to put in as many elements as we could pertaining to the keyword “travel.” Traveling and just camping would be tiresome, wouldn’t it? After a while, you might want to rest at a hotel. (Laughs)
– Certainly, it would get rough constantly just camping outside. (Laughs) Besides the obvious NPCs that live there, the city conveys a real sense of being lived in.
Tabata: In this title, I wanted to control the behavior of the town’s peoples with their artificial intelligence. Not just that, but we’re aiming to make their movements as natural as possible, with behavior like transferring glances when Noctis is in their line of vision.
– And you’ll be able to converse with the NPCs?
Tabata: Of course you’ll be able to. This town is called Lestallum, it’s a so base location, so to speak. If you split the story in terms of the beginning, middle, and end, this is the main city in the beginning. Here is where you can gain information and stock up on supplies while you travel around the area.
– We saw a cable car as well, will we be able to ride on it?
Tabata: Ah, so you noticed that. Right now there aren’t plans to make it rideable. But if we have spare energy, you might end up able to ride it eventually.
– You mentioned previously that traveling was a major theme, so I had this idea that we would be traveling around the world from spot to spot on the world map, but there are places that serve as bases.
Tabata: I don’t mean that they are base precisely, but I figure while players are adventuring they might get the sensation they should return to Lestallum occasionally. When storyline moves along, it’s the place you’ll go back to in order to prepare for the next adventure. Geographically, it’s near the place you’ll be in the Duscae demo.
– By the way, what was the real life city that inspired the motifs for Lestallum?
Tabata: Of course we didn’t just borrow things as they are, but the culture, lifestyles, and atmosphere were inspired by Havana, Cuba. Besides what we showed, it’s also full of back alleys and such.
– In that case, I’m looking forward to the final production. (Laughs) A new character named Cidney* was also revealed, is she in that city?
Tabata: No, she is somewhere else.
– We couldn’t help but notice her cleavage.
Tabata: It’s hard not to. The team member in charge was enthusiastic, and went ahead with a variety of leeways. As you can see, they really bounce in the beginning. (Laughs)
– They did indeed. (Laughs) What kind of character is she?
Tabata: She doesn’t play a major role in regard of the storyline, but she works as a mechanic, and you tend to rely on her during your travels. She’ll also be making an appearance in the Duscae demo. After all, you can’t have a Final Fantasy without a “Cid.” You might say there is some association there.
– Really? She’s it?
Tabata: Possibly. (Laughs)
– Well, that is interesting. Speaking of characters, we were able to confirm the appearance of Cor again after not seeing him for a while. In the end, will Cor be a party member?
Tabata: Cor is quite popular. There are times when he will participate in combat, but he is not a constant party member. As a close associate of King Regis, assisting the King’s son Noctis ends up being one of his roles.
– Next I’d like to ask about battles. In the images and trailers revealed, it looks like Noctis is going to be squashed under the foot of a giant… Is there any helping him? (Laughs)
Tabata: I’m sure he’ll manage a counterattack in the nick of time. (Laughs) The nuance of this fight is a little different than “boss fight” so to speak. This giant is the Titan summon. In order to be able to summon it, you must fight Titan.
– You can summon it?
Tabata: The summons in FFXV can only be called upon by Noctis, via a symbol of stellar power. I’ll tell you the details about it later on in time.
– I wonder what happens when you summon something so huge… By the way, is there a battle system different than normal when you fight giant enemies like Titan?
Tabata: Fundamentally it’s the same as regular battles. There are scenes that include exclusive co-op moves and actions, but the battle system doesn’t change in boss fights.
– I see. Well then, I’d like you tell us about the fundamental battle system once more. Basically continuing to hold down a button releases continuous attacks, right?
Tabata: Yes, the combos release according to how they are set beforehand. By the way, you can also release the same techniques by button mashing. In short, you can reliably release attacks just by holding down the button so it’s okay not to mash buttons the whole time. This kind of long button pressing structure is a feature to support players. As for co-op attacks with your comrades, we are still regulating them, but we plan on it being a system of pressing the button according to timing.
– So the combat isn’t just holding down a button continuously. Apart from that, you can meet enemy attacks with a parry.
Tabata: Yes. The parry is an elusive action that results when you time your enemy’s attack. It’s a component with a high risk for failure meant for advanced players.
– Combos are a result of attacks with your weapon, but I’m curious how magic is treated in combat?
Tabata: Magic is a little different, it’s not something that is invoked at the cost of MP.
– I’m reminded of the draw system in Final Fantasy VIII.
Tabata: No, it’s way different than the draw system. (Laughs) That’s something else I’ll tell you more about later on.
– Well then, can you tell us what the purpose of MP will be?
Tabata: MP is consumed when you do things like use the sword warp or special evasive actions. Evading, like attacking, can be continuously invoked by holding down the corresponding button, but doing so causes MP to decrease continuously as well.
– It seems if you get the timing of your evasion right, the MP cost is lessened. Returning to the topic of weapons, are there weapon based attacks other than the standard combos?
Tabata: Of course there are. You can equip several weapons at the same time, but you can only choose one of them to be your main weapon. In battle, you can release the abilities your main weapon is furnished with when you press a specific button. You can switch the main weapon among those equipped in battle so several techniques can be executed separately. However, you can only change the equipped weapons themselves when the camp menu is open, so planning your battle strategy ahead of time is a must.
– So you can equip several weapons, and those weapons can be used to execute combos.
Tabata: Yes. As for combos, the one being used is determined automatically from the equipped weapons and attacks pour forth steadily. The used weapons are switched according to how they are setup in the camp menu. The number of weapons you can hold at once increases as you progress in your travels.
– Previously you mentioned weapons being endowed with abilities, are they determined by weapon category, like the abilities of swords and the abilities of lances, etc.? Or does each have it’s own types of abilities?
Tabata: They are not determined by category, each weapon has it’s own abilities. However, there are also weapons that you cannot use the abilities of just because they are equipped. It actually might resemble a system from Captain Tsubasa 5*, a Super Nintendo game I worked on ages ago.
–Eh? Captain Tsubasa?
Tabata: Yes, I was a new entry level employee at the time and I was coming up with certain strike shooting techniques for the game. In that series, each team member has their own distinct traits, like some with low basic stats but have a good shooting technique, or those with high specs but have trouble remembering techniques. The weapon system in FFXV is quite close to that, each one is unique. There are a variety of weapons, some with high attack power but no abilities, and alternatively, there are low attack power weapons with special abilities. So you collect a variety of weapons and think about what kind of weapon strategy you’ll use on the next enemy you encounter. Basically, battles are the result of you coming up with a weapon strategy and putting it into action.
– We’ll be collecting a variety of unique weapons. Sounds interesting.
Tabata: That’s one of the goals we had concerning the player’s adventure. I want the players to be on the lookout everywhere they go, from the inside of dungeons to the suspicious areas on the open field. You can also obtain information on other weapons when you’re in the cities. Along the way you’ll also obtain the Phantom Sword, the special weapon that expands midair which Noctis uses in the trailers released so far.
– That’s the Phantom Sword?
Tabata: The Phantom Sword is a special weapon, and by releasing Noctis’ powers, the sword can split into pieces surrounding Noctis and blocking damage for you. When you’re in this status, besides your attack power being raised and being automatically protected from enemy attacks, you are able to move at an ultra fast pace. There are other battle statuses as well.
– So you can unlock Noctis’ powers under special conditions. Also, in the trailer, there was a scene where the party members assembled in battle and the camera drew near, what kind of situation was going on there?
Tabata: That was something happening in a specific battle, it gets pretty dangerous. (Laughs) They’re taking refuge in that scene. In order to enhance the feeling of immersion, we’ve inserted these kinds of short real time events that vary depending in response to the terrain and battle circumstances. You’ll be able to enjoy situations with character presence, like having your comrades draw near without losing the tempo of battle.
– You’ve included a lot of elements in battle to keep the player from getting bored.
Tabata: Since the world you’ll explore is vast, I wanted players to be able to play with as little loss of excitement as possible. We are still considering whether or not to include magic in the playable demo, but we plan on making the basic battle system playable including combos, co-op moves, and summons, as well as some portions that won’t be utilizable in the production version.
– Concerning the demo content, it seems to have changed somewhat since you last spoke about it.
Tabata: Indeed it has. When we announced information at Tokyo Game Show 2014, fans not just from Japan but all around the world became concerned about things like the battle system and camping. Therefore, we changed the parts we would include somewhat while keeping the volume the same as initially planned. Originally I thought about making the driving bits the main focus, but now exploring the world map by foot is a major point. I want players to get a real taste of the fighting and camping cycle. You’ll be in the area where the Behemoth seen in the trailers is roaming around.
– That mountainous area, where we see the four guys hiding behind a boulder?
Tabata: The area included is both mountainous and level grounded. We’ve updated the demo’s contents so you’ll get a greater sense of the actual terrain and world’s span than you would have before.
– When you mention a mountainous area, it’s seems like there should be chocobos too.
Tabata: There are chocobos, but I’m afraid they won’t be making an appearance in the Duscae Demo. By the way, besides the wild chocobos, there are establishments called Chocobo Stations where you can rent chocobos. You’ll be able to rent and ride the chocobos from the stations as mounts. The stations will appear in the demo, but you won’t be able to rent from them.
– I’m interested in the camping elements as well. It certainly seems to be an integral part of the game system.
Tabata: It is. You’ll be exploring a world that has a time transition between day and night, so we’ve included an emphasis on maintaining your lifecycle. Things like receiving experience points gained from defeating enemies and returning to normal status are accounted for when you break camp and rest.
– Your levels raise when you rest. Camping is super important! Is there a limit to when you can camp? For instance, only at night?
Tabata: You can camp regardless of the time. However, you can only do it in a safe area. Hence you’ll have to be on the lookout for areas you can make camp on the field. Staying at hotels in the cities have the same function as camping.
– Can you camp twice in the same day?
Tabata: Once you camp, it becomes the next day. You could continuously camp for days in a row, but there wouldn’t really be any point. (Laughs) I think it’s best to adhere to a cycle of fighting in the day and camping at night. For example, you can get things like experience point bonuses, which I think feel satisfying. And by satisfying, I am referring to the food that Ignis cooks for you in camp. (Laughs)
– Ignis was cooking in the key art visual that was revealed previously.
Tabata: He likes cooking. If you buy ingredients in town in advanced, he’ll cook something good and you can receive status bonuses from it. And when you don’t have money and you’re in a pinch, you can turn the wild monsters into foodstuff.
– Ohh, I had heard that fishing would be implemented as well, so you’ll be able to eat the fish you catch yourself. By the way, will there be minigames besides fishing?
Tabata: There are plans to include several minigames. I’ll tell you more about it once things are a little more certain.
– Back to what we were talking about, something more extreme. So if you go continuously without camping, the characters won’t grow?
Tabata: That’s right, not only will you not level up, but the satisfying status effects will disappear. It’s basically due to lack of sleep.
– Satisfying status effects?
Tabata: Eating a good meal from camping or a restaurant energizes you throughout the day, invoking some stat bonuses as well as various other additional effects. If you don’t rest, those results disappear. Basically you lose the bonuses from eating.
– I see. The need to take a break and camp was born from the in game time cycle. About how long is one day in the game in real time?
Tabata: When we presented at Tokyo Game Show, one day was about 30 minutes, but we are progressively regulating the balance, making the total day about one hour and lengthening the portion of day time. I think that’s how it’ll be in the playable demo, but there is a possibility we will revise it in the production version.
– I’m looking forward to the playable demo even more! And with that, do you have a final message for all the players looking forward to the games you are working on?
Tabata: First off, I am very grateful for all the support I’ve received throughout 2014. The operation of Final Fantasy Agito is stabilized, so we plan on proactively developing it more after January 2015. Looking at the remastering in Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, we are making the final tweaks to the game balance and appearance quality, and we are breaking into the final adjustments regarding bonus elements.
As for FFXV, we are just about to compile the content into the demo version, and we are putting all our efforts toward optimizing the capacity and frame rates. Every Final Fantasy has it’s own unique concept, and for this reason I will work without compromising anything until the last moment for you, so I hope that you are all looking forward to all these titles.
Thanks to SQEX.INFO.