Hajima Tabata isn’t your typical Square Enix game director. Where many of the mysterious figures behind the Japanese developer’s biggest hits are lofty and stoic, comfortable in their credentials, or shy and reserved, Tabata is boisterous and likeable. From cracking jokes to asking me what it is I like most about the series, he’s lighting up the room from the moment I enter, effusively putting me at ease with his enthusiasm.
Tabata personality is a stark contrast from his first major game in the series, 2011’s Final Fantasy Type-0, which is easily one of the darkest we’ve ever seen. Within minutes of the opening credits we’ve seen a wounded woman scream as she burns alive, while a Chocobo is shot at point-blank range. That such an apparently well-adjusted and cheery man could come up with such a scenario seems incongruous… at first. After a few minutes of speaking with him, however, all becomes clear. This isn’t a man who celebrates darkness; this is one who’s keenly focused on the beauty of life. “I really wanted to do a Final Fantasy game that really depicted life and death – the value of life – in a much more mature, earnest way,” Tabata says with regards to Type-0’s bloody beginning. “That was part of the motivation for it. I think certainly in trying to depict that and figuring out how to show it in a serious way, the feeling of danger and the fragility of life, it requires you to depict characters in a very human way and make them believable as people. I think the game and combat system emphasised that fragility too, so after all of it came together it did wind up in the end being quite dark… but that was never the original plan!”
Tabata was a fairly obscure figure until recently. His earliest titles were set in Final Fantasy VII’s universe, a world that had notably already been established by someone else. Though Before Crisis and Crisis Core both secured him his fair share of fans, it wasn’t until the news he’d be co-directing Final Fantasy XV with the legendary Tetsuya Nomura that people really began to sit up and take notice. Following Nomura’s departure to focus fulltime on Kingdom Hearts III, Tabata’s been working flat out to bring their vision to completion. There’s not a lot to work with if we’re trying to predict what themes his influence is likely to bring to the game, though a gritty sense of realism certainly permeates all his creations. Should we expect more of the same in Final Fantasy XV?
“It’s very true, we’re similarly trying to create a more realistic feel to the world and a more realistic Final Fantasy,” he admits. “The kind of Final Fantasy I want to make, it’s one where you feel this is a real living breathing world and these things could exist in real life. The character is the same too – it’s a real person with real motivations. Your friends and comrades are the same; even the monsters. They’re credible; they could exist and would live in this environment and behave this way. Just to get that feeling of credibility is something that I really want to do.”
If the recent trailer revealing the game’s wildlife is anything to go by, it seems he may have succeeded in this ambition. The video above shows a plain where Final Fantasy staples like Chocobo and Couerl mix happily with realistic-looking frogs and eagles, while hybrid antelope with magnificently outlandish horns also roam. There’s irrefutably a certain sense of excitement caused by this shift, but there’s also trepidation. The Final Fantasy XIII saga doesn’t deserve half the vitriol thrown at it, but it’s arguable it deviated too far from the blueprint of what many believe makes a Final Fantasy title. From doing away with turn-based battle systems to ditching an open world in favour of linear exploration, it’s not often cited as a high point of the series. With Tabata admitting the team hasn’t been afraid to mix things up, do away with random battles and embrace more action-focused combat, should we be worried?
“Personally, from my own point of view, I prefer more action-based controls and having a seamless entry into combat so that’s why I do the ones I’m in charge of like that,” he explains, simply. “But really, that doesn’t mean it’s the only direction the series can take or it has to be like that in future.
“Just to explain why I like the action games so much, it’s really the feeling of the controller and the feedback you get while playing that kind of game. Directly controlling the character, you always have that line between you and them to keep the immersion going; you feel like you’re always in control. It’s that kind of thing that I’m looking for and I wanted to make that kind of experience, but within the series. So keep the base of Final Fantasy and then build on it. I really like that feedback loop it gives you from the game.”
But while Tabata and his team believe recent years have seen the franchise’s combat system go from strength-to-strength, his view regarding world design is remarkably nostalgic. Final Fantasy XV will have an open-world, and Tabata admits the titles that inspired its design were certainly some of the earliest ones series fans are likely to have encountered.
“I think the balance presented in Final Fantasy X, between the freedom it offered and its limitations, that was quite well done,” he muses. “But for 15 we’re very much trying to make a big expansive open world and in a way move back to that more primitive, more visceral, direct emotional satisfaction you get from just walking around the world and exploring, finding new areas and things.
“It’s moved away from the very story-driven, character-driven ideas that were present in a series like XIII, which basically drags the player around to places where the story needs them to go. It’s basically moving back to games closer to 8, or maybe the ones previous to 8 where you’ve got an open world to explore. We’re definitely trying to go in that direction with 15.”
There’s still no set release date for Final Fantasy XV, though the likelihood of us seeing it this year seems increasingly slim. Having said that, Tabata did assert development is looking to speed up now the Episode Duscae demo is complete. After eight long years of waiting, one more doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Given the scope of Tabata’s ambition, it makes sense to wait until everything’s perfect.
“When I ask the fans and the media what their favourite Final Fantasy game is, I want them all to say ‘it’s 15’,” he says when asked what he hopes all loyal fans will feel when finally playing the long-gestating project. “A personal objective for me and my team is that it’s such a great experience and players get so involved in the world that, by the end, they don’t want to complete the game. They want to keep playing forever. If we can get people to say that, then we’ve really achieved what we wanted.”
Thanks to IGN.