Final Fantasy 12 Interview

[Kaffee]

Final Fantasy XII Roundtable Interview
The young turks behind the next Final Fantasy meet the press. Read our full, unexpurgated transcription of the interview.


Director Yasumi Matsuno


After the press conference last week, it was time for the creators of Final Fantasy XII to sit down with the media. 1UP's correspondent Andrew Vestal sat down with other members of the English-speaking gaming press for a roundtable interview, and was gracious enough to transcribe the entire event. Moderating the discussion was Square Enix interpreter Kyoko Yamashita.



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Interpreter: I'll just go ahead and introduce who we have here today. Hideo Minaba-san, art director. And then Akihiko Yoshida-san, character design, 3D map direction. And then Isamu Kamikokuryou-san, background art. I'll have them just introduce themselves really quickly.

(Interpreter asks the staff to introduce themselves)

Interpreter: I asked them to introduce themselves, and [Minaba] said, today obviously you guys are here to ask us questions, but first I want to first ask you guys a question.

Minaba: You know, you guys came all the way from the States, so, what did you think about the press conference and what you saw, especially the trailer? Now that you've seen it, what is your first reaction?

Media: I was most pleased ... when the first pictures came out in Jump, it was hard to get a feel for what the game would be like, but after the presentation last night, I was very pleased to see that Matsuno's style and Yoshida's style were clearly in the game. It looks like a Final Fantasy game, but it also looks like a Production Development Division Four [Matsuno's team--Ed.] game. I'm glad to see that influence in the title.

Minaba: You felt Matsuno's style and you're very pleased with that, along with Yoshida's style, but it's also a Final Fantasy.

Media: The style's not just Matsuno's style, but I'm glad to see it's not ... well, I guess Kitase's games have all had the same sort of feel to them pretty much since Final Fantasy VII, and I'm glad to see the series changing again in a slightly new direction.

Minaba: And which do you like?

Media: I like both styles, but I've always been a very big fan of Matsuno's games, of Tactics and Vagrant Story, so of course I'm thrilled to see Matsuno working on such a high profile project.

Minaba: Are there more people like you?

Media: Definitely. There's lots of people I know who are interested in Final Fantasy XII because of the Matsuno and Yoshida influence, who have enjoyed their projects in the past and are glad to see them taking on a larger project.

Minaba: If I can say one word now, after hearing your opinions, if I can summarize what you can expect from this point on ... it's almost like seeing an actor or an actress from a different point of view, each time you reveal something, there's going to be something new, from a different standpoint, from a different viewpoint. Almost to the point where it's like, scandalous, so it's very dramatic in that sense. We'll be revealing more soon.

Yoshida: Just by looking at some of the still shots, and stuff that we showed yesterday, [the direction] might still be a little bit unclear, but I think that from this point on, now that we've made it clear in which direction we're going, the game's personality, how it's going to come out, and why we made the sacrifices - like yesterday we explained the [reduced] polygon count and some of the restrictions that we had to face - we will be able to show you and present to you and show you why we made those sacrifices, and what kind of meaning that has in creating this game. Please, expect a lot of news and more information on this game soon.

Kamikokuryou: This product for me has been quite a challenge already, with the limitations on some specs, and to have to cope with some things, and to be faced with restrictions on things, it's been a big challenge. For example, in a scene in this huge city where there's thousands, maybe even, I dunno millions of people who are walking and marching, it's been a huge challenge to create even one scene. So the challenge that I still face, and some of the goals that I have, is to make this game as real as possible, so that what I want to communicate to the users is shown through the game. Making it as real as possible is one of my goals.

[Questions begin]

Q: The poem at the beginning from [the press materials] from yesterday, about the warrior putting the skills into the stone, is that related to the Materia in Final Fantasy VII?

Interpreter: They aren't able to answer that, but our marketing and PR and business people say that it's something that Matsuno-san has brought forth in this product from another title.

Minaba: As you know in Final Fantasy, with each installment the system is completely different; we start basically from scratch, so you know, we have to keep in mind that changes are very important to the series. This doesn't necessarily mean, for example, that we're going to take something from FFVII and implement it in FFXII. But some kind of meaning or nuance of that sort might be seen in FFXII.

Q: I could be off base here, but it looked like in the trailer they showed from yesterday, they had a shot of a first-person mode. If they could comment on that, that would be interesting. I think they also mentioned they were looking at the world, trying to preserve polygons, trying to make a more 3D world. If they could talk a little about that.

Minaba: Yes, the camera angle will be 360 degrees, and it's closer to FF11, where you can see first-person and third-person and then also ... Kamikokuryou-san, not just the background like literally "background," he's also creating the ceilings, drawings of the ceilings, which means you'll be able to see the ceilings as well, you know.

Q: My question is kind of character-design related, so I guess it's for Yoshida-san. In all of the battle shots which we saw yesterday, the characters had a shield and a sword very clearly visible on their person. So I guess I'm wondering if this is part of the battle system, if the visible equipment is related to the character? And if you change the character's equipment during the game, will the design and appearance of the character change to reflect that?

Yoshida: Are you talking just about the equipment, or talking about the costumes?

Q: I guess I'm wondering ... the equipment was visible very clearly in the battle, so if when designing the character, Yoshida-san also designed the equipment to go along with the characters. I guess then my second question after that is, will changing the equipment change the appearance of the characters?

Yoshida: I was not in charge of the design of any equipment, the swords and the shields that you just mentioned. Obviously that interrelates, intertwines with the battle system of the game, so I can't say much today. But there will be a lot of equipping, there will be a lot of accessories in the game.

[Zelphiel]

Originally Posted by Kaffee

Media: I like both styles, but I've always been a very big fan of Matsuno's games, of Tactics and Vagrant Story, so of course I'm thrilled to see Matsuno working on such a high profile project.

Minaba: Are there more people like you?

Media: Definitely. There's lots of people I know who are interested in Final Fantasy XII because of the Matsuno and Yoshida influence, who have enjoyed their projects in the past and are glad to see them taking on a larger project.

Minaba: If I can say one word now, after hearing your opinions, if I can summarize what you can expect from this point on ... it's almost like seeing an actor or an actress from a different point of view, each time you reveal something, there's going to be something new, from a different standpoint, from a different viewpoint. Almost to the point where it's like, scandalous, so it's very dramatic in that sense. We'll be revealing more soon.

I'm glad that was said. Maybe now they'll realize that we don't just go for the "glam" rpgs and they'll start sending all of them over here.

[Leknaat]

I was soooo excited when I heard about Matsuno's involvement in XII. Since I'm such a huge FFT fan and all. Thanks for posting this.

[Laggy]

i cant wait for this game...

BTW since the move i think we all know that you are not about "useless information" nice work