Tabata: “The first is the presence of the character Stella. Stella was presented as the heroine to play opposite Noctis in Versus XIII. We wanted to keep her as a heroine in FFXV’s story, and pursued ways to tie her in to FFXV’s design as well, but we found it increasingly difficult to make sense of Stella’s character and role within FFXV. So then we thought, do we want to recreate Stella with a different role and image, or do we want to start over with a new hreoine? And after a lot of consideration, we decided not to include Stella in FFXV. Instead, we have a new heroine named Luna, who has a different role within the story. So we will be talking more about her in the future.”

 

I'm a bit sad that Stella got scrapped from FF XV. She seemed like a really good female character and would possibly become one of my favorite female characters in the FF series. I mean sure we didn't really know that much about her except being Noctis' childhood friend but I still wish that they kept her in the game in some form. Not hating on Luna or anything since we don't know next to nothing about her. Don't get me wrong . From what I've read it seems like Luna is pretty much Stella in a sense. Just with a different name and look.

Edited June 5, 201510 yr by Tails

Oh, now that's a shame!  I really liked the concept of Stella's character.  She somewhat reminded me of Celes from FFVI, and I already liked her a lot.  I'm rather surprised that they didn't just take her character and concept and give her a different role.  It seems silly to me that they had to start over from scratch to create Luna.

Oh pls no. Luna looks like the typical helpless girl that needs to be rescued. Exactly like Kairi. She will probably sit, wait and do nothing.

Stella instead could have been a strong woman who participate actively into the story and battle.

I thought this game was essentially done they just had to work on the mechanics/ level design you mean to tell me they aren't even close to completing the story since a character who was suppose to integral to it is being removed... Guess I'm chalking up another couple of years that I'm not going to be seeing this game then.

Edited June 5, 201510 yr by outbackjim21

I thought this game was essentially done they just had to work on the mechanics/ level design you mean to tell me they aren't even close to completing the story since a character who was suppose to integral to it is being removed... Guess I'm chalking up another couple of years that I'm not going to be seeing this game then.

 

Nojima's story was finished ages ago, they simply had to change a ton when they made it XV.

We already got a look at Luna in the TGS trailer I believe. I could be wrong, but I remember the name being brought up in it. Stella's been gone for a long time.

Dafuq?! I was really hoping for Stellas existence in XV

 

After reading the whole interview I'm very saddened hearing all this. I wonder just what was lost to time and development.

why didn't they just called Luna Stella

why didn't they just called Luna Stella

 

It'd probably be too confusing; apparently every fan already knows Stella as she was established in all the previews and whatever else, so replacing the character but giving the new one the same name would just be jarring and weird.

It'd probably be too confusing; apparently every fan already knows Stella as she was established in all the previews and whatever else, so replacing the character but giving the new one the same name would just be jarring and weird.

when people first saw Luna they assumed Stella just got a redesign

when people first saw Luna they assumed Stella just got a redesign

 

That's... great? I don't really see your point; assuming they're rewriting the character (and that's what they're implying, what with Stella not fitting into the story anymore) then she'll still be a different person, which could understandably warrant a new name.

That's... great? I don't really see your point; assuming they're rewriting the character (and that's what they're implying, what with Stella not fitting into the story anymore) then she'll still be a different person, which could understandably warrant a new name.

nobody knows what Stella was really going to be like though, we saw maybe like 30 seconds of footage of her

I really don't think people would have cared

nobody knows what Stella was really going to be like though, we saw maybe like 30 seconds of footage of her

I really don't think people would have cared

 

Look at how people are reacting to Stella being removed from the game: people are practically holding funerals for her online. Whether or not people ever at any point interacted with the character, they feel connected (and whether or not that's ridiculous is up to you; I personally think it is, but that's irrelevant). If they named Luna Stella instead, people would have bitched and moaned about her not being the "real" Stella.

Edited June 6, 201510 yr by Cricket
Contained an offensive comment.

Then you don't know FF fans. Look at how people are reacting to Stella being removed from the game: people are practically holding funerals for her online. Whether or not people ever at any point interacted with the character, they feel connected (and whether or not that's ridiculous is up to you; I personally think it is, but that's irrelevant). If they named Luna Stella instead, people would have bitched and moaned about her not being the "real" Stella.

that's because they were explicitly told she's gone. far fewer people would have batted and eye if the game just came out and it turned out she was a bit different than she was shown to be a decade ago

FFXV continues to baffle me with how Square has managed to make people become emotionally attached to a character in a game without actually giving them the game. Or anything truly substantial on the character outside of a glimpse of an idea of what her role might be, and her character design. 

Edited June 5, 201510 yr by Dave

FFXV continues to baffle me with how Square has managed to make people become emotionally attached to a character in a game without actually giving them the game. Or anything truly substantial on the character outside of a glimpse of an idea of what her role might be, and her character design. 

ambiguity is great for creating exactly that. Without any solid details the character essentially becomes the best that character could in that person's mind

It's like when you hear people talk about Kingdom Hearts characters, you tend to see them talk about their theme song, which is basically the distilled essence of the character, without all that bad writing and scenarios to hold them down

Well, this is something that I didn't know!  Gosh, so Stella was removed from the equation, then?  That's too bad! D:  But hey, things could work out with Luna! The game hasn't come out yet, so we don't know how things will turn out!  We'll just have to wait and see!

Edited June 6, 201510 yr by Shigehiko

sure we didn't really know that much about her

 

Which is why I don't give a flying-you-know-what. 

What startled me, is that most of what we saw in 2013's E3 won't be included. The entire scene at Noctis' home city, where the evils guys attack and ended with Leviathan in the sea appears to be gone, since now, Noctis will learn of this same attack on the radio, rather than being there himself. 

 

The Dragooness is still there tho', and that is all that matters to me.

 

I hope after XV's release, we will have the integral plot of what Versus XIII was supposed to be. It may be nice to compare the two game, to know what was kept and what wasn't.

Edited June 6, 201510 yr by Xiggy

I think the reason for such... unsettling... about Stella's absence was due to the TGS 2011 trailer of Versus XIII. Depicting Noctis and Stella meeting at a party with light casual (and a bit flirtatious) vibe with them showed a bit of an interesting female character. Adding to that was the fact that Noctis and Stella were shown to have to (unwillingly) fight each other. The combination of the two gave a "Romeo and Juliet" vibe, which was pretty unique considering most video games. Stella was also portrayed to be a very strong type of woman.

 

This, combined with the fact that in (not one, but two) trailers we only see Luna sitting in a chair, somewhat like Naminé from Kingdom Hearts. As we all (probably) know, Naminé assumed the role of "damsel in distress,"  an archetype of which the gaming community is quite fed up with, and having replaced Stella with a "damsel in distress" seems to anger people who've been following FFXV.

 

I really, really, REALLY hope Luna isn't a damsel in distress type of character. I'd be lying if I'd say that I didn't grow an attachment to Stella (you'd be surprised how many times I've watched this game's trailers), but faith in Tabata-san and the fact that Nojima-san makes some good stories convinced me that Tabata-san couldn't have done it if it weren't for the best.

 

 

*In my mind*

Please please please please PLEASE make Luna a badass!!!!

 

The combination of the two gave a "Romeo and Juliet" vibe, which was pretty unique considering most video games. 

 

 

 

You mean the idea that they meet each other randomly, have no real idea about what the other person is like, yet fall in love because of overactive teenage hormones, and then commit mutual suicide?

 

Because if not that, I don't really know what you mean by "Romeo and Juliet" vibe.

You mean the idea that they meet each other randomly, have no real idea about what the other person is like, yet fall in love because of overactive teenage hormones, and then commit mutual suicide?

 

Because if not that, I don't really know what you mean by "Romeo and Juliet" vibe.

I mean

honestly that sounds like a pretty likely scenario, I dunno about you

Which is why I don't give a flying-you-know-what. 

What startled me, is that most of what we saw in 2013's E3 won't be included. The entire scene at Noctis' home city, where the evils guys attack and ended with Leviathan in the sea appears to be gone, since now, Noctis will learn of this same attack on the radio, rather than being there himself. 

 

The Dragooness is still there tho', and that is all that matters to me.

 

I hope after XV's release, we will have the integral plot of what Versus XIII was supposed to be. It may be nice to compare the two game, to know what was kept and what wasn't.

Well, SE already confirmed that Verus XIII's plot is still in FF XV. So no worries about that.