Final Fantasy XV

[gsmaggiore]

Δεν έφυγε ο Nomura παιδιά, απλά τελείωσε η δουλειά του στο συγκεκριμένο project. Είναι κλασσική διαδικασία που συμβαίνει με όλους τους μεγάλους directors και designers, είναι η φάση στην οποία έχει πλέον γίνει το finalization του συνολικού σχεδιασμού και η ομάδα προχωράει πλέον στην τελευταία φάση της ανάπτυξης (testing, debugging, optimization, polishing κλπ.) με προκαθορισμένα χρονοδιαγράμματα και πλάνο.

Εκτός της πρακτικής του σημασίας το συγκεκριμένο press release βοηθάει και σε επικοινωνιακό επίπεδο γιατί θα δώσει μεγάλη ικανοποίηση στους Kingdom Hearts fans το να μάθουν ότι ο Nomura αναλαμβάνει πλέον το φυσικό του πόστο στην ανάπτυξη. Λες και θα άφηνε ένα τόσο μεγάλο τίτλο όπως αυτόν η Square στο έλεος της Osaka team... Αυτό δεν έπαιζε ούτε σαν σενάριο.

Είναι δηλαδη μια είδηση με διπλή σημασία καθώς φαίνεται πλέον οτι το XV μπαίνει επιτέλους στην τελική ευθεία και η ανάπτυξη του KH 3 ανεβάζει σιγά σιγά στροφές. Και κάπως έτσι θα προσθέσω εγώ (σε μια διαδικασία που ξεκίνησε από το launch του A Realm Reborn) φαίνεται επιτέλους να έχει μπεί το 1st dpt. και η υπόλοιπη Japan based Square σε ένα μπούσουλα επιτέλους.

[Harkyn]

Άκουσα στην εκπομπη του Εντερνιτυ που έλεγε ο Γιωργος οτι έχει αργήσει η παραγωγη του γιατί έχει πεσει πολύ χρήμα και δουλειά γιατί θέλουν να πετύχει οπως τα παλιά καλά ff.Και εγώ έτσι πιστεύω αρκεί να βγει το 2015 γιατί μετα παρα παει η δουλειά

[DrManolo]

The Man Who Saved Final Fantasy XV

"This is my first numbered Final Fantasy game," FFXV director Hajime Tabata told me at Square Enix's Tokyo headquarters early last week. And what a numbered Final Fantasy game this is.

Tabata sat comfortably in a leather chair. "I don't feel much pressure," he said. Final Fantasy XV, he explained, was something they were proud of. "I just want to get the game out there, see what people think, and hopefully get a good reaction. So, it's more of me looking forward to that than feeling pressure."
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While new to the numbered series, Tabata isn't new to Final Fantasy. Previously, he worked on Final Fantasy Type-0, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and Final Fantasy Agito. He's also working on the HD remake of Type-0, which comes out in March.

Behind him was a Final Fantasy Type-0 poster—a game we expected to see. On the television moments ago was the trailer for Final Fantasy XV—a game we did not expect to see. And a game that, over the past eight years, we really haven't seen all that much of.

"The FFXV trailer was all in-game engine, except for the part with the spaceships flying," Tabata said, gesturing towards the large TV. "That was pre-rendered."

The trailer was, in a word, stunning. The game that is now Final Fantasy XV was first announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII over eight years ago. At this point, some players might have given up on the game ever coming out. The development process hardly seemed ideal—or typical. To many, it seemed like the game was a lost cause.

Eight years is a long time for a game. Currently, Final Fantasy XV is 55 percent completed. That number, however, is misleading. That isn't 55 percent after eight years worth of work. This is 55 percent during the two years Tabata has joined the project. It's something that Square Enix want to be very clear. Perhaps that is the most honest way to think about Final Fantasy XV: The game's development can be divided into before Tabata and after Tabata.

"I joined the project about two years ago, and around that time, we changed platforms," he said. "We re-examined Final Fantasy XV's development structure. We had the gameplay team, the cinematics or CG team, and the game engine team. And we finally merged them all together to work on this game. I think we can deliver the best that Square Enix has to offer."

Internally, more was going on at Square Enix than simply moving teams around. "So, when I joined the development team, we've also shifted from primarily using pre-rendered CG to a mix of pre-rendered CG and in-game images that are at the quality of a pre-rendered image." Tabata wants the experience to be as seamless, as beautiful, as possible. As the trailer shows, they're getting there. According to Tabata, the graphics are about 70 percent of what they are aiming for. "I think we can get the demo's graphics at about 80 percent of what we hope to achieve," he said. "By the time the game is released, we hope to achieve 100 percent."

The rub, of course, for some fans will be that, even though eight years has passed and the game isn't out, its original creator, Tetsuya Nomura, isn't directing. I ask the logical question: Should we think of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy XV as separate games? You know, different?

"We are making this for the gamers who have been waiting since the game was Final Fantasy Versus XIII," Tabata said. "But, this is not the exact same game. The director is different, and the platform was switched to the current gen. And because the platform has changed, there were things we had to re-evaluate, like what we can and cannot do or even what we have to do. The various circumstances are different."

That being said, Tabata sat down with Nomura and discussed the direction of FFXV to ensure that he and Nomura were on the same page. "I wanted to make sure that characters, like Noctis, that are so important to Nomura, are maintained in the best possible way." Other elements that have appeared in the game, such as the car, also are in Final Fantasy XV.

The trailer showed how Noctis and his cohorts sojourned across the world in a sleek convertible as the road unfolded before them. They chatted and hung out. It made me wonder: Will Final Fantasy XV be the ultimate road trip game? The trailer has a terrific "hang-out" feel, which could hopefully lead to a stronger bond with the characters.

"Even though it's a single player game, we want you to feel like you are actually going across the continent with your companions in the car," Tabata said. "It's as if they're real people traveling with you."

According to Tabata, players can drive the car themselves, but there is also auto-pilot—and, from the looks of the trailer, you might be able to let other characters drive. The driving isn't like, say, Gran Turismo. You cannot tune the steering or change the tires to tweak the handling. The team did look to games like Need for Speed for current-gen references. "We certainly made the driving so it's enjoyable and fun," he said. "The driving replicates the feel of controlling a car, but doesn't go into the nitty-gritty of it. Still, it was designed to feel real. Myself and other members of the staff are very much into cars."

But since this is Final Fantasy, this car is more than just a car. According to Tabata, "You can consider the car like it's a member of your party—like airships are in other Final Fantasy games."

The car, though, as a symbol, represents so much. The open road. Far off destinations. And freedom. It seems like a perfect symbol for Final Fantasy XV itself. "Whether it's driving or combat, you can do what you like in the game," Tabata said. "There is that freedom. It's open world, and it's possible to go where you want and explore."

"That being said, if the game is totally open world, it kind of defeats what makes a Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy—which is the dramatic and cinematic storytelling. The game is balanced to ideally satisfy those fans who like traditional Final Fantasy storytelling so they can feel like they're following an epic story."

From what Tabata said, it sounds like Final Fantasy XV aims to offer the experience players get from some of the best open world games: There is the freedom to do as one pleases and explore, but a narrative arc, forgive the pun, drives the game forward.

In the trailer, Noctis and his crew get out of the car and battle with enemies along the road. "How does combat work?" I asked. The trailer showed characters engaging with each other during combat, and everything appeared quite fluid. Tabata described how players are "always tag-teaming" with the characters in their party. "So," he continued, "the game has that action element, but it's also taking into consideration the traditional Final Fantasy party play."


While Square Enix hasn't gone into great detail about how combat explicitly works, the way Tabata described it certainly sounded interesting. "The controls aren't you simply press a button once for a single action to happen," said Tabata. "Rather, they are a continuous flow of movements. It's more about the movements that are associated with the buttons and building upon them for actions through the combat system."

I'll be honest, it was hard to visualize what he was saying without seeing a controller layout, but Tabata offered this assurance: "I think if you tried it, you'd think it was very natural." Throughout the interview, he stressed that the way a game plays and feels is "so important." According to him, "The way a game plays has to feel good."

Make no mistake, there's a bunch riding on this game. At this point, it might seem like the aim is simply to get the game out, but Tabata and Square Enix have a bigger goal in mind: To make a benchmark game that defines a generation.

"Before I joined Square Enix, I always looked at Final Fantasy games as the benchmark for game consoles," Tabata said. "Each new game showed what was possible on video game hardware." So, two years ago, when Tabata joined this project, that was the goal: Make a game that would knock everybody's socks off. According to him, the attitude on the team is that they have to make a great game and that they have to impress.

"If we don't do something that people think is amazing, it's meaningless," Tabata said. "If we don't do something that's challenging, it's also meaningless."

With the changes that have been made to the team, I asked, do you think that future, numbered Final Fantasy games will be released in a more reasonable and timely pace?

"If the development is for the PS4 and the Xbox One, then I think it would go smoothly. But, there are various factors to keep in mind, such as the amount of content and whatnot. So across the board, I don't know if it would be shorter. Personally, if I was making another one, though, with the same process and for the same platforms, then development would be fast. We came this far in two years, so I think we could develop it quickly."

Then you should make Final Fantasy XVI, I quipped. "If I could do anything I'd like," Tabata replied, "I'd want to make Final Fantasy Type-1 first." That's fine, but if Final Fantasy XV meets people's expectations, then Tabata should have something new to work on: his second numbered Final Fantasy.

A download code for the Final Fantasy XV demo will be released in March 2015 with Final Fantasy Type-0. Currently, FFXV's release date is TBA.

Πηγή : kotaku

[xGodKilleRx]

Καλά που ανέλαβε ο Tabata γιατί με τον Nomura δεν υπήρχε μέλλον. Τουλάχιστον τώρα μπορούν να το παίξουν τα εγγόνια μας.

[Scott_Pilgrim]

Διάβασα σήμερα πώς ο tabata θέλει να το κάνει όσο πιο casual γίνεται....

[gsmaggiore]

Μετονομάστηκε το thread.

@Seta (επέτρεψε μου να σε λέω έτσι γιατί έτσι σε έχω μάθει ) δε θυμάμαι τώρα ακριβώς τα λεγόμενα αλλά είναι κλασσική παρανόηση που συμβαίνει (σκόπιμα ή όχι δεν μπορώ να ξέρω) πάντα στις μεταφράσεις από ιαπωνικά, είχε συμβεί και στην περίπτωση του Dark Souls 2. Αυτό που εγώ κατάλαβα και τώρα είναι ότι αναφέρεται στην προσβασιμότητα ως ένα πολύ βασικό στοιχείο του σύγχρονου σχεδιασμού που θέλουν να το έχουνε το οποίο όπως και στα Souls βασίζεται στη λογική του "easy to learn, hard to master", αυτό έχει μεγάλη διαφορά από τον casual σχεδιασμό που βασίζεται σε design principles όπως epic meaning, behavioral momentum κλπ για να αναφέρω κάποια βασικά και ο στόχος είναι του απλοποιημένου interface και συστήματος μηχανισμών να τραβήξει ενστικτωδώς τον παίκτη σε μια ατερμονη gameplay λουπα (αυτές οι αρχές συναντούνται βέβαια και σε άλλου είδους παιχνίδια όπου ανάλογα το context μπορεί να πάρουν και hardcore διαστάσεις).

Δεν είναι αυτό που πάει να κάνει το XV. Ο σκοπός εδώ είναι να υπάρχει το κατάλληλο interface και οι κατάλληλοι μηχανισμοί έτσι ώστε να μπορεί να απολαύσει το παιχνίδι στο μέγιστο βαθμό τόσο ο hardcore fan όσο και ένας πιο casual παίχτης. Αυτό με οδηγεί στο να πιστέψω ότι θα υπάρξουν difficulty levels που θα πρέπει να διαλέξεις αρχικά αν και υπάρχει η περίπτωση να μπαλαντζαριστεί αυτό μέσω του battle system το οποίο με βάση και τις τελευταίες αναλύσεις που έχω διαβάσει θα έχει απίστευτο βάθος (επιβεβαιώθηκε σχεδόν η επιστροφή του gambit system που έλεγα και στην εκπομπή και ήταν το κομμάτι που έλειπε πολύ από το σύστημα μάχης, οι αλγόριθμοι που φαίνεται να μπορεί να φτιάξει κανείς πλέον ξεφεύγουνε με βάση τα design docs που έχουνε διαρρεύσει) και βέβαια το ίδιο το level design σε συνδυασμό με το storytelling θα καθοδηγούν τον παίχτη σε μια προκαρισμένη πορεία της ιστορίας αλλά οι hardcore παίχτες θα επιβραβεύονται για την εξερευνηση τους σε απόμακρα dungeons κλπ. πιθανώς με δυνατά summons, ultimate weapons και τέτοια.

Η προσβασιμότητα λοιπόν είναι γνώρισμα ισορροπημένου σχεδιασμού και δεν έχει καμία σχέση με το casual design.

[Scott_Pilgrim]

Μακάρι να είναι έτσι όπως τα λες φίλε. Και εγώ αυτό θέλω να πιστεύω, απλά τους.έχω ικανούς να κάνουν.τα πάντα, για να.πουλήσει όσο περισσότερο γίνεται...

[gsmaggiore]

Σε καταλαβαίνω αλλά αν δεις τις πληροφορίες που υπάρχουν θα το διαπιστώσεις και μόνος σου, εγώ βέβαια δεν μπορώ ούτε το δικηγόρο της Square να κάνω ούτε να βάλω το χέρι μου στη φωτιά, είναι άλλο πράμα αυτό και άλλο το να εξάγεις βάσιμα συμπεράσματα από τις διαθέσιμες πληροφορίες και εγώ από ανέκαθεν αυτό έκανα, το εύκολο και αντιπαραγωγικό είναι ακριβώς το να κάνεις ένα ανούσιο hating rant βασιζόμενος στο "γενικότερο κλίμα" (αυτό έχει άμεση σχέση και με το πως ενημερώνεσαι και ποιους επιλέγεις να εμπιστευτείς). Αν παρατηρήσεις την πορεία του σκηνικού αυτού στο neogaf θα δεις ότι ενώ υπήρξαν ολόκληρα frustration threads βασισμένα σ'αυτή τη δήλωση μόλις έσκασαν τα design docs και το βασισμένο σ'αυτά πρώτο analysis/speculation thread όλοι μπόρεσαν να δούν τη μεγάλη εικόνα και επήλθε ένας γενικός εφυσηχασμός χD.

Και στην τελική πιστεύω ότι πλέον και οι ίδιοι αν θέλεις το έχουν αντιληφθεί ότι το casual κοινό δεν είναι πιστό και έχει αποδειχθεί αυτό σε όλες τις προσπαθειές τους να το προσεγγίσουν από το XIII μέχρι τα browser, social και mobile spin offs. Αυτή η λογική είχε κυριαρχήσει επί προεδρίας Wada και φαίνεται ότι το όλο restruscture που έχει ακολουθήσει μετά την παραίτησή του προσανατολίζεται και προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση, ποιο ποιοτικά high-end console games δηλαδή με καλύτερο optimization της όλης διαδικασίας ανάπτυξης και pre-production.

Γενικότερα η Square μετά το όλο XIII και Υoichi Wada φιάσκο βρίσκεται σε μια φάση ευρείας αναδιάρθρωσης τα πρώτα σταθερά βήματα της οποίας μόλις έχουν αρχίσει να φαίνονται, θα έχουμε πιστεύω στο μέλλον την ευκαιρία να αναφερθούμε εκτενέστερα και σε εκπομπές αλλά και εδώ στο forum.

Το battle system πάντως φαίνεται η φυσική real-time εξέλιξη της turn-based FF φόρμουλας και πλέον με βάση και τα τελευταία δεδομένα προστίθεται πλέον και το πως ακριβώς θα "παίζει" και θα δουλεύει με την αποκρυπτογράφηση του control scheme. Είναι επίσης η 3η αν δεν κάνω λάθος φορά μετά το IX και το XII που επιστρέφει το party 4 ατόμων.

Είναι πολύ μεγάλη συζήτηση και πρέπει κανείς να είναι up to date με τις τελευταίες πληροφορίες για να μπορέσει να συμμετάσχει εποικοδομητικά, αν δω ότι καταφέρνουμε να το πάμε σε τέτοιο επίπεδο ενδέχεται να ποστάρω συμμαζεμένα all-in-one informative links για να είμαστε όλοι on the same page.

[Alex4]

Πλεον εχω ξεχασει απο ποτε περιμενω αυτο το παιχνιδι. Το μονο που θυμαμαι ειναι οτι τοτε που ακουσα για το παιχνιδι πηγαινα σχολειο και τωρα σχεδον εχω τελειωσει τη σχολη μου χαχαχαχα
Παντως πιστευω θα ειναι παιχνιδαρα!

[gsmaggiore]

Το σύνολο των πληροφοριών που προέκυψαν από το πρόσφατο Active Time Report:

Spoiler: ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΗ

The giant monster shown at the end of the trailer is indeed Titan.

Summoned Beasts can be acquired after fighting them, and there are various other conditions for acquiring them as well.

Titan will play a big role in the story, but the demo won’t include him in. It will instead add another Summoned Beast that is not a big part of the story. You’ll get to summon this Beast, and it is said that it will be a dynamic one that will surprise players.

The giant size of Titan seen in the trailer is how he’ll look when you summon him yourself.

The town in the trailer is shown in a seamless fashion; however, at the current stage, Square Enix can’t say for sure whether the entire game will be seamless. Again, they say that they’re doing their best to make it all seamless, but important scenes will likely require some loading. The demo, however, will be completely seamless.

The town shown is called “Lestarg” and it plays an important role in the story surrounding Titan. It is not a huge town, and won’t be in the demo. There’s a hotel where you’ll get to rest, eat, and shop, along with all kinds of other events.

General Cor Leonis will join you and fight in the party. there are some party members that will join as temporary guests, and Cor is one of them. He’s not a friend of Noctis and the others, but an aide to his father. He’ll be there to look out for Noctis and Co.

If you go a while without sleeping, the stat boosts you get from foods and such will lose their effect.

The sleep element has been added to further emphasize that these characters are living people, so they’ll need to get rest just like any normal human. You can eat meals at camp for extra status effects.

You’ll need to take a breather in order to level up. So basically, if you don’t rest at a camping area, you won’t level up. This will make it possible for people to challenge themselves at beating the game at a low level.

You can go three days without sleeping, but any longer than that and you’ll begin to see negative effects.

One day in Final Fantasy XV is the equivalent of a real-life hour, so a day lasts for about 40 to 45 minutes, and the rest is night. This bit is currently in development, so it’s subject to change.

There will be moments where you’ll need to go on fighting for days at a time.

There are also trains to travel inside, and these will have their own spaces within them. You’ll travel by train at times, and can freely walk around inside when you do.

Cindy (or Cidney in Japanese) doesn’t have much to do with the story, but she’s a mechanic who’ll talk to you about gameplay. While we still don’t know exactly what kind of mechanic she is, she’ll appear in the demo. Square Enix’s male staff members have been putting a lot of effort into creating her.

At the moment, Square Enix are working on adding more action varieties, and they feel that magic isn’t looking too impressive, so they’re not showing it. They need to work on it, but they’ll do that after they’re done with the Summoned Beasts.

At first, they decided on only having Noctis use magic, but they felt that it wouldn’t be as fun gameplay wise, so they’re changing it up a bit so that everyone in the party can use magic.

Square are adding various languages for the demo version that will release around the world, but due to the heavy amount of content and problems in schedule, Square Enix can’t say for sure whether they’ll all be included in the initial release.

Insomnia is the capital of the Kingdom of Lucis, where Noctis is the prince of. This is where a ceremonial signing will take place.

Square Enix prepared all kinds of scenes for the latest trailer, but since they didn’t use them all, map director Yasuyuki Matsunami got pretty upset. Tabata justified his reason by saying that trailers can be made in two ways: to advertise or show the state of development. They showed Behemoth and weathers in the previous trailers, and Tabata says this was put together in a rush. As for Jump Festa 2015, the focus was advertising, which was done by the editing studio, and not in cooperation with the development staff. For this reason, they weren’t able to include all the scenes that were requested by staff.

Some of the omitted scenes were shown separately at the event, including one that highlighted Cindy, and another with town exploration.

There was a much older version of the town, but the latest version had a lot more going on that was shown in the trailer when you see Noctis and friends cruising in there. The full-release version will look nicer, and will have more people walking around. If you go near them, you’ll also get to hear them speaking.

You can purchase ingredients to cook at camp. By eating those foods, you’ll gain positive effects. By properly sleeping, you’ll maintain its effects.

The part that shows the dog peeing [in the footage with town exploration], in the back, they show a part that will play a big role in the game’s story.

Tabata jokingly said that he’ll introduce more on the dog if the demand is high enough.