.: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم :.
مقابله بين Kitase و Toriyama مهمه , وقت وضعي للموضوع ما كان عندي الوقت عشان اترجمها ان شاء الله احدث الموضوع قريبا ,,
Kitase and Toriyama visited Europe in january to promote the game. A german ff site interviewed them and directly wanted to put up the interview back in January just to get stopped by SE (I guess they had no clue about media embargo?) Anyway they promised to put it up today when the embargo was meant to end.
1. People that have played the japanese version complained about the diffculty, will there be any changes to the NA/EU version to change that?
MT: There won't be any changes and we don't think it's that difficult. The game is designed in a way to give the player different opportunities to test the battle system and find the best techniques. If you stick to this concept you should be able to easily understand the battle system.
2. Why is there no world map?
MT: Cocoon is separated into different areas, each area has a own map. Pulse is a primitive, uncultivated and uncivilized area that's why there won't be a map for it.
3. Why aren't there shops/towns? (Why are there only virtual shops at save points)
MT: If we had placed the shops only in cities and villages the opportunities for buying items would have been greatly decreased (that was our fear).
4. Is there a XIII-2 planned (because of the deleted content).
MT/YK: *laughter* We did X-2 after X because Tidus and Yuna were very famous. That's why we wanted to give the fans a positive reply for all their questions. We are always open for new possibilities, wishes and recommendations. Nothing is impossible if the characters from XIII become as famous as the ones from X.
5. Will the deleted content be used for XIII-2?
MT: *laughter* Sure we did delete some areas, but that's quite normal. That doesn't mean that this area is available or that we can easily make it available.
6. Are there details in the game that you won't be able to understand without reading Episode Zero?
MT: No, the story of XIII is totally independent. However Episode Zero will be a huge help if you want to know more secrets and background stories. The universe of Final Fantasy XIII is based on the Fabula Nova Crystallis, a huge mythological concept that obviously leaves more room for more detailed stories that could be told in the future.
7. Will Episode Zero be packed with the European Version?
MT: If you mean the translated version, that's a thing we don't know yet.
8. Why was Leona Lewis and her song My Hands chosen instead of the original Japanese theme song Kimi Ga Iru Kara by Sugayara Sayuri?
YK: Obviously the Japanese theme song is very good. However we didn't want to give western players the feeling of playing a completely foreign game from oversees. We wanted them to feel closer to the game, that the game is a more global product.
9. Will the deleted content be available as DLC in the future?
*laughing* (once again this missing content...)
YT: When we visit people in Europe people ask us this all the time. What we want to say is, that we had so many ideas that we wanted to realize. That's why we had to decide on what parts we would take. This is the reason that the game turned out with such a high quality.
10. How long did people work on the 360 before it was officially announced?
YT: We decided this around 2 years ago (tl note: obviously some kind of misunderstanding here...), I think it was december 2008. Until this point we weren't sure how the console market would develop. We waited and observed the marked until we decided it would be the best decision to release the game on both consoles.
11. Were there any problems working on the 360 version that didn't exist on the PS3 version?
YT: When we were finished with the concept for the game we already had developed a engine that would make porting the game to the 360 easy. We only had to decide on how many discs we wanted to release the game. After deciding on 3 discs we just needed to fit all the content onto them whoch was a huge challange.
12. Will there be more games for the 360 in the future? What is this decision based on?
YT: It depends on the title. There is no general rule that counts for or against more 360 games. However, for example, if the director/game creator says that the game can only be done by using the whole potential of a blu-ray disc, then it will probably only be developed for the PS3. On the other side, if a creator would want to use the xbox live feature then it would come out for the 360.
For XIII we wanted as many people as possibly to experience the game, and due to having a engine that is easy deployable on both consoles we decided on releasing it for both consoles.
13. Is it possible that FF13 Versus will be released for 360?
YT: Versus us a PS3 exclusive!
14: People are longing for a FFVII remake, any plans for that?
YT: This is the most asked question...
Basically it would take them ages to do a new game in the same quality as VII. FFXIII already took them 5 years and a remake of VII would probably take them even longer.
15: Is FFXV in development yet?
YT+MT: *laughing* no
16: When will Versus be released in Europe?
YT+MT: *laughing* We can't say that yet. We don't even know when it will be released in Japan!
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An Interview With Final Fantasy XIII’s Kitase And Toriyama
I asked for your Final Fantasy XIII interview questions and you responded in earnest. Thanks so much for your many questions — they were far too numerous for me to ask them all, but I hope you agree that I covered all the important ones with the game’s producer, Yoshinori Kitase, and director, Motomu Toriyama. Can you believe it’s only four weeks until the game is in our hands? It’s been a long wait, but we’re almost there.
This interview will hopefully give you some insight into the development of the game, and get you interested in the other two Fabula Nova Crystallis games — Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. As soon as Square Enix is ready to talk more about these titles, you can expect to see something here on PlayStation.Blog.
If there are any burning questions that you have for Square Enix, be sure to let the talented gents over at PlayStation.Blog US know, as they’ll be conducting further interviews, which you’ll see here later this week.
Do you have any plans for Final Fantasy XIII PlayStation Home content?
It is already happening in Japan. There will be costumes for Lightning and Snow, and there’s a personal space as well as chocobo and other character figures. We don’t know at the moment whether this will be brought to Europe.
Will Final Fantasy Versus XIII have any links to Final Fantasy XIII?
Final Fantasy Versus XIII is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, but XIII and Versus XIII only share the same basic mythology. The fal’Cie and l’Cie are just a small part of this mythology, but the story and the characters are completely different.
Are there any games within the Fabula Nova Crystallis series that have yet to be announced?
At the moment we are concentrating on releasing Versus XIII and Agito XIII. At the moment we have no other specific plans to release any other titles as a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series.
What made you decide to make Final Fantasy XIII a series, rather than a standalone title?
If you look back at the Final Fantasy series, at VII for example, this later let to Advent Children and Crisis Core. Also, for FFX, we created FFX-2 after its release. In those cases we obviously released the original title first and then created the sequel. This time we wanted to create several games in the same project from the outset.
Will there be an English demo?
We haven’t decided whether to make a demo available yet.
How much emphasis is placed on story and cutscenes in FFXIII? Do you feel it’s balanced with gameplay, or heavy on either side?
The basic playtime is about 50 to 60 hours, for the main story. Amongst which, the cutscenes make up about 10 hours. So, quite a large amount, with very high quality graphics, of course. So there’s plenty of story and gameplay to enjoy.
What will you be moving on to now that Final Fantasy XIII is finished?
At the moment we are still concentrating on finishing off and promoting the overseas version of Final Fantasy XIII, but many of the team have obviously accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience and they will be moved over to work on Versus and Agito. Personally, we don’t know what we’re going to move on to next.
How much sidequest content is there in XIII?
We call them “missions”, rather than “quests”. During the second half of the story, when the characters go down to a place called Pulse, there are many missions available there. In the majority of them the boss of the mission who you have to defeat, is more powerful than the main boss of the story. I’ve already told you that the basic playing time is 50 to 60 hours, but if you want to complete all the missions, the total time is probably twice that or more.
So what are the chances of a CG movie based on FFXIII, like Advent Children?
There are no plans at the moment, but once it is released over here and, if there are some particular characters or features that are received particularly well, then we might make a decision. And of course we need to see how it goes down sales-wise and regarding user reactions, first.
What are your feelings about the current state of the game industry in Japan, compared with the West and what Western games have you been most influenced by?
Some people have been saying that the Japanese game industry is dead, and all that… I dunno. I will say that Final Fantasy XIII is one really epic title for high definition consoles. With this game, we are going to resurrect the whole thing. As for Western games that have influenced us — FPSs mostly. The Call of Duty series, for example.
How do you feel about Yoichi Wada’s statement that Final Fantasy XIII will be the last game of its kind for Square Enix?
We don’t know exactly what he meant by that. We don’t really know what he meant by this style of game. If you consider that during Final Fantasy XIII’s development, at peak time the team consisted of over 300 people. It was a huge team, plus it took a several long years to get the game finished. So, if Mr Wada meant that we would never make another Final Fantasy title with the similar number of people, taking as long as FFXIII did, we would agree.
Obviously in the future we want to be much more efficient. Having worked on XIII, we feel that we have got much better at making good games for high definition consoles. In the future our teams will be smaller and more effectively run. We suspect that is what Mr Wada meant by his statement.
The God of War HD remake for the PS3 has been very popular in the US and people in Europe are very much looking forward to it. Do you have any interest in creating an HD remake of a PS1 or PS2 Final Fantasy game?
We don’t know the details about the HD remake of God of War. If it’s just a case of attaining high resolution graphics, only, then that wouldn’t be that difficult, but if we were to achieve the same graphical standard as in XIII with a PS1 title, then that would be a huge, huge task. Almost unrealistic. Even with a PS2 title it would be difficult. In the case of God of War, there weren’t really that many characters in the game — the main character and some monsters, maybe ten people or so. That would not be unachievable.
As with Final Fantasy titles in the past, like on PS1, even just the main characters amount to around 10 people. Then you have all the NPCs, you’re probably looking at about 200 characters total. All with individual textures for the skin, plus costumes, facial features and everything. That would be a really tricky job.
Will there be any New Game+ content in Final Fantasy XIII?
When you finish the main quest there are some growth elements of the the characters which will unlock once you’ve defeated the last boss. After this is done, you’ll be easily able to return to Pulse and take part in the many missions available there. There is no way to start the game again with your current character stats, however.
Is there a specific reason why Japanese voices were left out of the game?
For the European version, the facial expressions and lip syncronisation are all lined up with the English lines, so the Japanese voices would not match up right. That was the main worry.
People are aware that there is a lot of content that has been cut from the game. Do you have any plans to use this content in the future?
You say “content” but, in reality, it’s more like “ideas”. Maybe a map was a little bit too complex and we felt like the player would get completely lost, so we simplified, or whatever. So this content won’t be coming out separately, as it has been binned.
Will there be a hard drive install available?
There is no installation, the game runs directly from the disc.
Finally, why does Sahz have a Chocobo in his hair?
What happened was, initially we only had a concept of this character being happy and jolly. Nomura designed the character and gave him an afro while, flippantly, drew a small chocobo next to him. As we looked at this, we lliked the idea and the chocobo got added into the story. That’s how it happened
