(no subject)
1up.com has a Q&A artical up with Ivalice Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu, Final Fantasy Tactics PSP Co-Producer Shingo Kosuge, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Writer and Director Motomu Toriyama and FFXI International Zodiac Job System Producer Hiroyuki Ito. It's a pretty interesting read and gives some hope for a Vagrant Story port. Strangely there are also some question that aren't answered as they were removed by Square Enix PR.
Square Enix Talks about the Ivalice Alliance
The latest on Revenant Wings, FFT PSP and FFXII International.
By James Mielke, 10/09/2007
With Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions arriving on PSP today, 1UP though it only appropriate to bring you the definitive Q&A with several folks at Square Enix involved in bringing the world of Ivalice alive. Today, we bring you interviews with Ivalice Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu, Final Fantasy Tactics PSP Co-Producer Shingo Kosuge, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Writer and Director Motomu Toriyama and FFXI International Zodiac Job System Producer Hiroyuki Ito about their latest releases.
The World of Ivalice
1UP: We really love the Ivalice world, and seeing characters from one game make appearances in other games. The Ivalice world has really fleshed out and continued in ways that other 'worlds' in the Final Fantasy mythology have not. What would you attribute to the Ivalice storyline that's so continually compelling?
Akitoshi Kawazu: Relationships between people are like interwoven threads, and these threads are what comprise the fabric of society. When playing games set in Ivalice, I think the player gets a sense of this underlying fabric, and that is what makes the world an enthralling, living place. The stories are about ordinary, everyday people in the world -- not people with superhuman powers or abilities -- and that's what gives Ivalice its charm.
1UP: The Ivalice-related games usually have meticulously-crafted political storylines. Does this give the Ivalice Alliance games an added depth?
Kawazu: Dealing with universal, real-world themes brings an added depth to any work, even fantasy worlds created for entertainment. It is not necessarily limited to political themes.
1UP: We think an action game devoted to highly customizable viera is an idea whose time has come. When can we expect such a game?
Kawazu: I see you're fans of the viera. Fantastic! Unfortunately, I don't think we have any producers in the company with the courage to pitch such a game to our president. Perhaps with enough support from fans like you, I'll be able to muster the courage to do it myself.
1UP: Since you guys recently renovated and recreated the original Final Fantasy Tactics, it stands to reason that the only outstanding title in the Ivalice mythology --- Vagrant Story -- would be the next logical port to PSP, and we can't even imagine what sort of treatment you could give that game as you did with War Of The Lions. Can you tell us if you have plans for that game?
Kawazu: Vagrant Story was a title that pushed the PS one to its limits. The technical hurdles in porting it to the PSP would be extremely high. Of course, I think it's the next natural candidate for such an update, and there's no denying its extreme popularity overseas.
1UP: Ashley Riot seems like he would be a good character to make an appearance in another Ivalice game. Is there any chance of that?
Kawazu: Even in Vagrant Story, there's really not that much we learn about Ashley Riot. Without knowing more about him, it would be difficult to include him in another title.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
1UP: The new cutscenes really help flesh out the story and are very innovative-looking. Square Enix has always been good at adding new, visual attractions to remakes. Do you think the original FFTactics story was perhaps too complex to follow, and required such elaborate and beautiful cutscenes, or was this purely eye-candy?
Shingo Kosuge: Our goal behind creating the movies was not just to show off attractive visuals. We wanted to bring the culture and history of Ivalice to life and give players a chance to see the world in all its richness.
1UP: As the original placed a character from Final Fantasy VII (Cloud) in the game, War of the Lions adds Balthier from FF12, as well as Luso from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2. Is this a conscious decision, to help add continuity (as well as fun) to the Ivalice world?
Kosuge: Balthier was the first character we decided to add, but at that time we weren't particularly intending the addition to be an Ivalice Alliance tie-in. We decided to add Luso around the time the Ivalice Alliance was first announced, deciding at that point to promote the additions for their links to the other Ivalice titles.
1UP: When FFT originally came out on PS1 back in the 1990s, the localization by Sony was very simplistic and missed out on a lot of the nuance and detail of the original Japanese version. Do you think that the re-localized North American version will make what happens in the game easier to understand? I can't wait to see how this affects the ending scenes.
Kosuge: Final Fantasy Tactics has an incredible amount of text when compared to your average RPG. The sheer volume alone made it a daunting game to localize, but we had some very talented localization staff working to make the new translation as rich and refined as possible for the English release. The game's underlying story is still the same, of course, but I think players will be very pleased with the localization this time around.
1UP: Adding new surprise characters to the game is one thing, but adding a whole new job could affect game balance. How carefully did you select what job was added to War Of The Lions, and how did you keep it balanced?
Kosuge: We decided on the new jobs at the beginning of the development process. We had a person on the development team who was a huge fan of the original Final Fantasy Tactics and took care of the balancing, weighing the balance of new additions against that of the PlayStation version. With the original having been released 10 years ago, we had the advantage of having a lot of staff who had played the game before (or, in some of our cases, had been playing it for the past 10 years straight...), and that really helped keep the development process running smoothly.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
1UP: It's great that you're continuing the FFXII saga. Clearly the characters established in FFXII are adept at finding new life in side stories outside of the original FFXII's plot. Do you think by putting Revenant Wings on DS that you'll entice more casual gamers into discovering FFXII on PS2?
Motomu Toriyama: Whereas Final Fantasy XII was a dignified historical drama told from the perspective of Ivalice's nobility, Revenant Wings is an adventure told from the perspective of the commoners, and as such it focuses more on the day-to-day lives of the characters and their thoughts and feelings. This may make the story somewhat more accessible. So if there are players who get to know Vaan and Penelo for the first time through Revenant Wings and then go on to pick up a copy of FFXII to find out more about them, we couldn't be happier.
1UP: Vaan is obviously the main character for Revenant Wings, but the FFXII Ultimania book indicates that Basch was originally intended to be the main character. Do you have any ideas in mind for Basch, similar to what you created in Revenant Wings?
Toriyama: [Removed by Square Enix PR]
1UP: Real-time strategy, even on such a mainstream game system like the DS, is still a fairly 'hardcore' style of gaming. How did you reconcile your desire to innovate and keep things fresh, while appealing to a mass market?
Toriyama: We set out to create a battle system that would work with the DS's stylus, and ended up with a new system that was a blend of Final Fantasy XII's battle system with a twist of strategy. We use the same names for things such as the gambit system and quickenings so players will be familiar with them, and taking a "My first RPG" approach, we gradually introduce players to different elements of the battle system as the story unfolds, so they won't feel overwhelmed, no matter their previous level of experience. It's Vaan's first time to use this battle system too, so the player gets to learn along with him.
1UP: The context-sensitive music is a surprisingly dynamic element in Revenant Wings. Do you think you're pushing the hardware to the limits with Revenant Wings?
Toriyama: Since the number of instruments that can be played simultaneously on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 is completely different, we had a hard time reproducing Final Fantasy XII's grand sound and complicated bass rhythms on the DS. While this necessitated making new arrangements of the music to meet Revenant Wings' system requirements and match the different tone of the game, we attempted to keep the essence of the original songs intact to evoke a sense of nostalgia for FFXII's fans.
FFXII International Zodiac Job System Edition
1UP: We've been playing a lot of the International edition of FFXII and are having a lot of fun with it. It's our favorite FF game so far, thanks to its endless playability. It's almost like FFXI offline, in a lot of ways. Was that the intent while developing it, to offer that kind of replayability and flexibility?
Hiroyuki Ito: I'm glad to hear you like it! Thank you. Our major goal was to utilize original features to offer a new experience in a familiar title.
1UP: From what we've heard, some Japanese players actually found the open-endedness of FFXII (which we think is a great thing) somewhat daunting, as they expected clear-cut definitions of each job type, and not the freedom found in the License Board. Is that why you changed the License Board system to the more clearly defined White Mage/Red Mage/Black Mage/Knight-type system of the International edition, so that longtime fans could choose their favorite job types more easily?
Ito: [Removed by Square Enix PR]
1UP: One of the best things about FFXII is how even characters that aren't in your main party all of the time still gain experience. With the Zodiac Job System it's even more important, since you may eventually have specific need for your Black Mage, even if you don't regularly use him in your party. Since you can only have one of each job type now, have you worked on any balance issues that may arise? I notice there are still overlapping spells in various classes, like Curaga, so that multiple jobs may act as support healers.
Ito: [Removed by Square Enix PR]
1UP: We really liked the innovation FFXII brought to the series, since it was so different to the previous games. Do you plan to make further use of this great style of RPG gaming in other titles? We'd hate to see it appear in one game only.
Ito: I feel the game made a definitive contribution to the gaming lexicon. If current and future developers at both our company and others use it as a reference, I believe it has the potential to shine in future titles.
1UP: Since the changes are more refined than dramatic, it seems like this version would sell another million copies in North America if it were released as the Greatest Hits version here. What are you thoughts on this idea?
Ito: Right now, the prospects of a North American version are the playoff prospects of a 9-6 team, down 2 with 2:02 left to play, facing 4th and 7 on the opponent's 43-yard line.
Note: All questions listed as removed by Square Enix PR were submitted via e-mail and returned to 1UP with a red-inked "omit" where the answers were to be. As a service to our readers, we decided to include the original questions.
Square Enix Talks about the Ivalice Alliance
The latest on Revenant Wings, FFT PSP and FFXII International.
By James Mielke, 10/09/2007
With Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions arriving on PSP today, 1UP though it only appropriate to bring you the definitive Q&A with several folks at Square Enix involved in bringing the world of Ivalice alive. Today, we bring you interviews with Ivalice Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu, Final Fantasy Tactics PSP Co-Producer Shingo Kosuge, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Writer and Director Motomu Toriyama and FFXI International Zodiac Job System Producer Hiroyuki Ito about their latest releases.
The World of Ivalice
1UP: We really love the Ivalice world, and seeing characters from one game make appearances in other games. The Ivalice world has really fleshed out and continued in ways that other 'worlds' in the Final Fantasy mythology have not. What would you attribute to the Ivalice storyline that's so continually compelling?
Akitoshi Kawazu: Relationships between people are like interwoven threads, and these threads are what comprise the fabric of society. When playing games set in Ivalice, I think the player gets a sense of this underlying fabric, and that is what makes the world an enthralling, living place. The stories are about ordinary, everyday people in the world -- not people with superhuman powers or abilities -- and that's what gives Ivalice its charm.
1UP: The Ivalice-related games usually have meticulously-crafted political storylines. Does this give the Ivalice Alliance games an added depth?
Kawazu: Dealing with universal, real-world themes brings an added depth to any work, even fantasy worlds created for entertainment. It is not necessarily limited to political themes.
1UP: We think an action game devoted to highly customizable viera is an idea whose time has come. When can we expect such a game?
Kawazu: I see you're fans of the viera. Fantastic! Unfortunately, I don't think we have any producers in the company with the courage to pitch such a game to our president. Perhaps with enough support from fans like you, I'll be able to muster the courage to do it myself.
1UP: Since you guys recently renovated and recreated the original Final Fantasy Tactics, it stands to reason that the only outstanding title in the Ivalice mythology --- Vagrant Story -- would be the next logical port to PSP, and we can't even imagine what sort of treatment you could give that game as you did with War Of The Lions. Can you tell us if you have plans for that game?
Kawazu: Vagrant Story was a title that pushed the PS one to its limits. The technical hurdles in porting it to the PSP would be extremely high. Of course, I think it's the next natural candidate for such an update, and there's no denying its extreme popularity overseas.
1UP: Ashley Riot seems like he would be a good character to make an appearance in another Ivalice game. Is there any chance of that?
Kawazu: Even in Vagrant Story, there's really not that much we learn about Ashley Riot. Without knowing more about him, it would be difficult to include him in another title.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
1UP: The new cutscenes really help flesh out the story and are very innovative-looking. Square Enix has always been good at adding new, visual attractions to remakes. Do you think the original FFTactics story was perhaps too complex to follow, and required such elaborate and beautiful cutscenes, or was this purely eye-candy?
Shingo Kosuge: Our goal behind creating the movies was not just to show off attractive visuals. We wanted to bring the culture and history of Ivalice to life and give players a chance to see the world in all its richness.
1UP: As the original placed a character from Final Fantasy VII (Cloud) in the game, War of the Lions adds Balthier from FF12, as well as Luso from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2. Is this a conscious decision, to help add continuity (as well as fun) to the Ivalice world?
Kosuge: Balthier was the first character we decided to add, but at that time we weren't particularly intending the addition to be an Ivalice Alliance tie-in. We decided to add Luso around the time the Ivalice Alliance was first announced, deciding at that point to promote the additions for their links to the other Ivalice titles.
1UP: When FFT originally came out on PS1 back in the 1990s, the localization by Sony was very simplistic and missed out on a lot of the nuance and detail of the original Japanese version. Do you think that the re-localized North American version will make what happens in the game easier to understand? I can't wait to see how this affects the ending scenes.
Kosuge: Final Fantasy Tactics has an incredible amount of text when compared to your average RPG. The sheer volume alone made it a daunting game to localize, but we had some very talented localization staff working to make the new translation as rich and refined as possible for the English release. The game's underlying story is still the same, of course, but I think players will be very pleased with the localization this time around.
1UP: Adding new surprise characters to the game is one thing, but adding a whole new job could affect game balance. How carefully did you select what job was added to War Of The Lions, and how did you keep it balanced?
Kosuge: We decided on the new jobs at the beginning of the development process. We had a person on the development team who was a huge fan of the original Final Fantasy Tactics and took care of the balancing, weighing the balance of new additions against that of the PlayStation version. With the original having been released 10 years ago, we had the advantage of having a lot of staff who had played the game before (or, in some of our cases, had been playing it for the past 10 years straight...), and that really helped keep the development process running smoothly.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
1UP: It's great that you're continuing the FFXII saga. Clearly the characters established in FFXII are adept at finding new life in side stories outside of the original FFXII's plot. Do you think by putting Revenant Wings on DS that you'll entice more casual gamers into discovering FFXII on PS2?
Motomu Toriyama: Whereas Final Fantasy XII was a dignified historical drama told from the perspective of Ivalice's nobility, Revenant Wings is an adventure told from the perspective of the commoners, and as such it focuses more on the day-to-day lives of the characters and their thoughts and feelings. This may make the story somewhat more accessible. So if there are players who get to know Vaan and Penelo for the first time through Revenant Wings and then go on to pick up a copy of FFXII to find out more about them, we couldn't be happier.
1UP: Vaan is obviously the main character for Revenant Wings, but the FFXII Ultimania book indicates that Basch was originally intended to be the main character. Do you have any ideas in mind for Basch, similar to what you created in Revenant Wings?
Toriyama: [Removed by Square Enix PR]
1UP: Real-time strategy, even on such a mainstream game system like the DS, is still a fairly 'hardcore' style of gaming. How did you reconcile your desire to innovate and keep things fresh, while appealing to a mass market?
Toriyama: We set out to create a battle system that would work with the DS's stylus, and ended up with a new system that was a blend of Final Fantasy XII's battle system with a twist of strategy. We use the same names for things such as the gambit system and quickenings so players will be familiar with them, and taking a "My first RPG" approach, we gradually introduce players to different elements of the battle system as the story unfolds, so they won't feel overwhelmed, no matter their previous level of experience. It's Vaan's first time to use this battle system too, so the player gets to learn along with him.
1UP: The context-sensitive music is a surprisingly dynamic element in Revenant Wings. Do you think you're pushing the hardware to the limits with Revenant Wings?
Toriyama: Since the number of instruments that can be played simultaneously on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 is completely different, we had a hard time reproducing Final Fantasy XII's grand sound and complicated bass rhythms on the DS. While this necessitated making new arrangements of the music to meet Revenant Wings' system requirements and match the different tone of the game, we attempted to keep the essence of the original songs intact to evoke a sense of nostalgia for FFXII's fans.
FFXII International Zodiac Job System Edition
1UP: We've been playing a lot of the International edition of FFXII and are having a lot of fun with it. It's our favorite FF game so far, thanks to its endless playability. It's almost like FFXI offline, in a lot of ways. Was that the intent while developing it, to offer that kind of replayability and flexibility?
Hiroyuki Ito: I'm glad to hear you like it! Thank you. Our major goal was to utilize original features to offer a new experience in a familiar title.
1UP: From what we've heard, some Japanese players actually found the open-endedness of FFXII (which we think is a great thing) somewhat daunting, as they expected clear-cut definitions of each job type, and not the freedom found in the License Board. Is that why you changed the License Board system to the more clearly defined White Mage/Red Mage/Black Mage/Knight-type system of the International edition, so that longtime fans could choose their favorite job types more easily?
Ito: [Removed by Square Enix PR]
1UP: One of the best things about FFXII is how even characters that aren't in your main party all of the time still gain experience. With the Zodiac Job System it's even more important, since you may eventually have specific need for your Black Mage, even if you don't regularly use him in your party. Since you can only have one of each job type now, have you worked on any balance issues that may arise? I notice there are still overlapping spells in various classes, like Curaga, so that multiple jobs may act as support healers.
Ito: [Removed by Square Enix PR]
1UP: We really liked the innovation FFXII brought to the series, since it was so different to the previous games. Do you plan to make further use of this great style of RPG gaming in other titles? We'd hate to see it appear in one game only.
Ito: I feel the game made a definitive contribution to the gaming lexicon. If current and future developers at both our company and others use it as a reference, I believe it has the potential to shine in future titles.
1UP: Since the changes are more refined than dramatic, it seems like this version would sell another million copies in North America if it were released as the Greatest Hits version here. What are you thoughts on this idea?
Ito: Right now, the prospects of a North American version are the playoff prospects of a 9-6 team, down 2 with 2:02 left to play, facing 4th and 7 on the opponent's 43-yard line.
Note: All questions listed as removed by Square Enix PR were submitted via e-mail and returned to 1UP with a red-inked "omit" where the answers were to be. As a service to our readers, we decided to include the original questions.