I'm honestly not sure how mature he can make the plot, as despite the creative freedoms Square Enix has been afforded, it's still a Disney game. That being said, KH3 is supposed to bring the whole storyline involving Xehanort and everything that's been rolling along in the various prequels and spin-offs to a conclusion of sorts, so there's hope.

@truthtellah said:

@slag said:

I feel like XV is becoming a more and more important game for the AAA Japanese console market, so much focus from the traditional AAA Japanese devs and pubs players seems to be shifting to their burgeoning mobile market. XV seems to be one of the few notable major titles from any of them in the near future. I feel like XV doesn't do well financially, that the flight to mobile could accelerate.

Oh gawd. We're all doomed.

Doooooooooooomed!

lol !

Everyboddddddy pannnnic or not

It's probably actually an easier to sell to nervous investor types if those crazy expensive assets you are making are a "three game Investment".

As long as it's more creatively ala Xiii-2 and Lightning Returns than X-2, I'm cool with that.

You know, I think I'd actually enjoy an episodic Final Fantasy game (or just a plain ol trilogy). Not something like the FF13 or 7 stuff, but one long story like Mass Effect or The Lord of the Rings. Something designed from the ground up to be a singular massive epic.

I still don't know what to expect out of FFXV, but if it means I can play Kingdom Hearts sooner, I'm all for it.

@truthtellah said:

@slag said:

I feel like XV is becoming a more and more important game for the AAA Japanese console market, so much focus from the traditional AAA Japanese devs and pubs players seems to be shifting to their burgeoning mobile market. XV seems to be one of the few notable major titles from any of them in the near future. I feel like XV doesn't do well financially, that the flight to mobile could accelerate.

Oh gawd. We're all doomed.

Doooooooooooomed!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Man, I really dislike the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Well, I like the first one but the others...maaaaaaaaaan do I not like them. So I would've liked if Nomura just stayed on XV and left KH3 to slowly rot away or become the next Duke Nukem Forever of the world but we can't always get what we want.

But here's hoping for the best

@slag: I'm sure it is, but I think you can make the "3 game investment" pitch without necessarily continuing that series. If they removed the references to the previous game, and tweaked the story a little, they could have easily just made 13-2 part of the main series. It probably would have sold better for it too. It wouldn't have mattered that they played and looked similar either because that's the way Final Fantasy has always been.

Part of the reason XIII-2 was made was as a response to the design criticisms that XIII received, particularly in regards to the linear maps, lack of explorable towns, and the nature of the leveling system, among other aspects. They also tinkered around with other things like the conversation system and such, and in general wanted to make a XIII game that would appeal to parts of the audience turned off by the technical criticisms of the original. Though, they obviously had to have come up with the idea for Lightning Returns in some form early on in development, given that the game ends on a cliffhanger.

It sounds like the game is essentially done so Nomura doesn't need to be there for the polish. The trailer for FFXV looks like the natural evolution of Kingdom Hearts so I'm super hyped about. Now that he can focus on KHIII we might get that game in the next 3 years.

Just to be clear I think Nomura is great. Not sure where all the hate comes from.

Both FF 15 and Kingdom hearts 3 have been in the back of my mind for years. That recent trailer of 15 looks really interesting and if they can just make another Kh game along the lines of 1 or 2 then I'll be along for the ride all the same. I have gotten older since I first played those games, but I played the Hd remix last year of the first game and was surprised at how much I still that game. It gave me a yearning for the in long development sequel.

As far as 15, I'm really hoping it's good so I can just really like another final fantasy game again. I played 13 and did like it, but not enough to finish it. The trailers I've seen have looked promising and the active combat ala kingdom hearts is much more appealing to me than yet another turn based game. Not that I don't like those, but the FF games have needed some different changes for a while now and I think that might be a good one. Anyways, I'm very much hoping for the best here.

And while I'm crazy and totally appreciated 13-2 for it, I think it was a really misguided idea to fix those criticisms in a direct sequel. If people didn't like the first one, why would they play the second? Not only that, but because it's a direct sequel, that puts off newcomers because they'd feel like they have to play the one people complain about to get to the one that's supposed to fix its problems. If this had just been Final Fantasy XIV starring Kerah, it almost certainly would have been more successful. As for when they came up with the idea for Lightning Returns, I can't say, but if they'd pictured the tepid sales reaction to 13-2, I doubt that game would exist.

It still sort of breaks my heart that Sakaguichi is off somewhere making mobile games.

Cool. I'm more optimistic towards this game now.

Oh yeah...I remember that rant. I really do hope something kindly corrected him on that at some point.

While Final Fantasy XIII was criticized, it still sold well, to my knowledge. Well enough that a sequel on a lower budget that reused a lot of the assets was probably a risk they were willing to take. If they had made XIII-2 into XIV, I think people wouldn't have been receptive to it, because the franchise has a history of strongly differentiating itself from one primary entry to the next. If people looked at this theoretical XIV and thought, well this plays pretty much like XIII, but with these changes, it doesn't have the same impact as switching from X to XII, or from XII to XIII, or XIII to XV. Not to say that it's not something that the series has never done (the earlier games are much more similar to one another in many of their elements), but their resources at hand lent more to the creation of a sequel to XIII, rather than a full Final Fantasy sequel.

Honestly, the argument could be taken either way, though as a fan of the XIII trilogy, I'm glad they took the path they did.

Good. Let Nomura focus on his baby KH. Tabata has proven to be more then capable after FF Crisis Core and Type 0, FFXV will be one of the best games ever made.

Here's the thing: if the new trailer has anything to do with Tabata, than I think it's in good hands (so far).

I do really wanna know what happens to Terra and Aqua. Who am I kidding? KH3 was always going to be a system seller for me, that is, if they nail it.

Guys, I never played a final fantasy game so I only have one question. Why does everybody have like ten belts and buckles on their clothing?

@summexican75: The guy who is no longer the director is known for them.

I do, too, man. I do, too.

@hailinel: I'm sure whatever happens to Terra will involve tears. Aqua will be fine, I think.

Well, hopefully we'll have a chance to find out before the end of the decade.

Hailinel's response covered more or less what my response would have been @hunter5024 .

It's kinda what people have been starting to complain about the New Super Mario Bros series (it seems like each version has been selling less and less too). Mario Bros mainline games (perhaps unfairly when considering the actual SMB2 as it was released in Japan) used to have a reputation for massive reinvention for iteration to iteration. While I consider the New Super games to be a sub-series, I'm not sure the average Mario fan does.

Fair or not fair, a "numbered" Final Fantasy is expected to be a big deal with grand ambitions.

Okay, not Toriyama. This can work.

Type-0 is a pretty decent game, sort of mission based action oriented combat rpg. There is co-op but i haven't really tried that yet.

Cool. Now Nomura has time to oversee KH3 and uncancel Birth By Sleep volume II

Then again I am one of those insane people who absolutely loved the opening segment of KH2 with Roxas...

I never knew FFXII changed directors half way through. Maybe that explains why about 40-50% of the way through the story of that game I started disliking it and eventually just stopped playing?

I see this as good news, because now maybe KH3 will come out sooner. Also I haven't heard Patricks rant on Nomura but looking at the games he's made and the roles he's been involved in, dude's got a good list of credentials in my view.

@hailinel:

Also he did make a mature Final Fantasy game (Type-0)

Incredibly surprised by the amount of people defending the guy. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Very glad to hear an awesome director like Tabata is taking over the project and that Nomura has gone back to making the game everyone wants him to finish, KH3. I was starting high school when this game was announced and now I'm a recent college graduate. A demo for FFXV is going to be included with Type-0 HD so at the very least this game will finally exist in some way in March of next year, I'm incredible curious to see what this thing actually is.

When I first read the title, I thought SE was unhappy about 15, and Nomura was kicked out of it (which would be worrisome this late in development, but at least showed that SE was interested in shaking things up). But it seems like he is still quite involved and that he simply changed focus after the development of 15 was on its way. I think they expect the project to be on auto-pilot now.

I am kind of worried about the multi-director thing. One of the best things about Japanese games is that they feel like singular visions. Even when bad, they are, at least, unique in some way. Final Fantasy 12 really suffered as a result of changing hands several times during development... I just hope this doesn't happens again.

Is any of you familiar with the work of Tabata? I never played the games he previously worked...

I was under the impression that while it sold decently, it didn't come close to making back the development costs, which is why they pumped out the sequels as quickly as possible reusing the same assets. Cheap returns for little work.

Frankly, I dislike the direction the series has gone in over the past few years and I haven't been particularly impressed from what we've seen of XV. It seems to be making all the same mistakes, just with a half hearted attempt to return to some of the old mechanics people liked in the past. Although if they've stopped designing their entire games around big and flashy cutscenes, that'd be a start.

He directed the PSP Final Fantasy VII prequel, Crisis Core. It was the best thing to come out of the FF7 spinoffs.

I've gotta say as much as I'm not the biggest fan of Nomura I'm even less of a fan of the really rude treatment he gets. In a sense I'm happy with this news myself but some of the celebrating surrounding his departure from the project just comes across as really mean-spirited to me.

Gimme a release date then maybe I'll care. Also, with all of these recent ports of FF games to PC, that means this will make it's way there some day...right?

And, what about Type-0? I remember hearing it was actually pretty good but I know nothing about it.

Some new information that's come out:

Tabata originally joined the team as co-director in 2012, prior to its mechanical transition toward its present gameplay and the move to the PS4/Xbox One. He's also stated that he's familiar with Nomura's vision and knows what his intent for the game is, so for those of you hoping that this magically removes Nomura's touch from the game, tough noogies. But he's also stated that the various issues that plagued Versus XIII's development have long since been ironed out, and the development team is now more consolidated and organized, so it seems that whatever drama that existed years ago is no longer the present case.

The idea that this would even have that large of an effect on the game I find a little crazy. Obviously things could be changed but a game that's taken this long, is this big, and is this close to release has to have a lot of it set in stone by this point.

Unless I'm about to get blindsided by a 2016 release or further. I have to expect this is holiday 2015 or early 2016 release at latest. Even if it is late 2016 the game can't and won't be radically changed though.

You may want to temper these late 2015 expectations a bit: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/final_fantasy_xv/b/playstation4/archive/2014/09/21/tabata-interview-final-fantasy-xv.aspx

On FF XV’s Progress:

In terms of development, about 50 to 60 percent of the game is complete. We kind of started from the beginning of the game, so the first part is more complete than the others.

I'm not saying it's impossible but if we're being realistic it seems unlikely.

@pr1mus: well holy crap. 50 to 60 percent sounds like it is certainly way off. That's rather insane. A man who directed this project and only has it to that point should certainly step aside by this point.

This is without knowing what that percentage means. Who knows. But if we are talking a late 2016 to 2017 game that's pretty crazy.

They do talk about the team being better organized now. If they have finally figured out what the final design of the game is going to be as well as the tech that runs it maybe it's going to go a lot faster from here on out but yeah. Even when development goes relatively smoothly, the typical FF dev cycle seems to be 4-5 years at least nowadays.

@pr1mus: Obviously this game has it's history but maybe my expectations are just off base with FF dev cycles. I really have fallen off being a FF fan for years now but Versus has always been on my radar.

I was expecting more 80% or so.

That's the dude responsible for all the terrible outfits and hair right?

@artisanbreads: it's 50 percent done *since* Tabata joined two years ago and they restructured the team (he wasn't director yet but that's when the major project direction change occured). The next 50 % should be completed faster.

I say 2016 is a good bet.

Yup. It's no necessarily a bad thing that he's leaving.

Considering the development hell that has been FFXV (and the monikers it had before that) it doesn't surprise me that he is leaving the project.
I'd probably want to get the hell out by now as well.

Wanna say I read 2016 sadly. Was really hoping for next year. Oh well. The waiting game continues.

It has less to do with him wanting the hell out and more to do with him focusing on Kingdom Hearts III.

@hailinel: Whether it is or it isn't, neither of us will ever know most likely.

Eurogamer has an interview with Hajime Tabata, the new head of FFXV: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-22-meet-hajime-tabata-final-fantasys-latest-saviour