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Final Fantasy XIII Developer Interview
- May 12, 2009 16:44 PM PST
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Previews Editor Andy Burt talks shop with the three most powerful men behind the Final Fantasy series.
I was able to sit down with three legends of the Final Fantasy series, and the leading men working on Final Fantasy XIII: designer Isamu Kamikokuryo, director Motomu Toriyama and senior VP of software development Yoshinori Kitase.
GamePro: What is the back-story behind the creation of Cocoon, and how it relates to Pulse?
Square Enix: The story of Final Fantasy XIII is based around the myth of magical crystals that are inhabited by gods that govern the two worlds. The gods and their servants created Cocoon in order to protect humanity from the harsh wilderness of Pulse.
GP: What is the relationship between Lightning and Snow?
SE: Though in the demo they have not yet met each other, later on in the story they will be united over a common interest.
GP: Were there any real-life inspirations in creating the wilderness of Pulse and the futuristic metropolis of Cocoon?
SE: For Cocoon we wanted the setting to look ultra-advanced, but retain some form of familiarity. We looked at a lot of modern and historical architecture and tried to blend the two together. In creating Pulse, nature was our main focus, and we wanted to over exaggerate that focus as much as possible in the design. In fact, we were able to set up a site survey tour across the United States that spanned many national parks. We took pictures along the way, and due to the power of developing on the PS3 we were able to realistically depict the inspiration we received from these images as settings in Pulse.
GP: How will the magical being, or "summons" be incorporated in Final Fantasy XIII?
SE: They will be more directly involved with the characters than in the past. An example is Snow riding Shiva as a vehicle. They will also be incorporated into battles.
GP: Can you tell us about the military group PSICOM?
SE: PSICOM is the military group that governs Cocoon. They aren't initially enemies with Lightning, but due to an incident they begin to oppose each other.
GP: Will the battle system stay as a single character-controlled system in the final game?
SE: What you played was an extremely basic version of what's to come. Generally the additional characters will be A.I.-based, but there will be plenty of options as to how they react in battles in the final version.
