Final Fantasy XII!
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:06 pm
That's right...the first glimpse of Final Fantasy 12 has caught my eyes.
UPDATE 6:19 AM PST: Our Japanese correspondent, Andrew Vestal, has reported in with all the details from the conference. Take a seat, cause there's lots to pore over:
You've seen Final Fantasy XII before, and you haven't. If you played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and wondered which "Final Fantasy" it was that the kids in that game were such big fans of, it was FFXII: that world was based on the world Matsuno was already working on for the main series' twelfth installment. So if you want to know a little about the world and its inhabitants, FFTA is a good place to start, though the two games are completely independent.
But beyond that, everything here is new to FF. When 1UP asked if FFXII would have the same dark style that his previous games (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics) were known for, director Matsuno said that "What is mainstream is in the eye of the beholder, and in the preconceptions the player brings to the game. For example, the movie Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture and was quite popular ... some people see the darkness in the message and setting of the movie, while others just enjoy it for gladiator fights and action. FFXII is the same way. Players who just want to play and enjoy it will enjoy it, whereas players who are familiar with my past games, who are looking for that darkness, will find hints of the tone throughout."
The "darkness" he speaks of is already evident in a lot of the game's setup. The warlike empire of Arcadia has already seized the country of Dalmasca, resulting in displaced princess Ashe and easygoing citizen Vaan to form a nascent rebellion against Arcadia. Their main adversary in this are the Judges of Arcadia -- though these are not the Judges you know from FFTA. Matsuno explains, "In FFTA, the Judges served the purpose of a sort of impartial police court. In FFXII, hey are depicted as a group of knights who use terror and fear for their aims." Some CG cutscenes shown support this, displaying the Judges terrorizing one of their own Bangaa henchmen.
More CG cutscenes showed off other aspects of the game: large battle scene, comparable to Helm's Deep from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, except with the addition of airships. (The main airship in the game is a whopping 340 meters long, by the way, a little over half the length of the Enterprise from Star Trek.) An unnamed character appeared in the CG; the apparent leader of a vast army, she has short-cropped grey hair and is very thin, wearing white armor and a cape. Other characters introduced besides Ashe and Vaan were an unnamed party member who looks something like Hardin from Vagrant Story, as well as Fran, a Viera archer shown in many of the battle scenes.
Speaking of the battle scenes, though no specific details were offered at the conference, we can make a few guesses: the Active Time Battle system would appear to be returning. Enemies can now apparently guard players' attacks, so a timing-based battle system similar to Vagrant Story's may be in effect. There also seems to be combo-based manuvers possible between party members, judging by icons that light up simultaneously next to character names.
That's all we know about the gameplay so far, but Matsuno did have one more thing to say: Final Fantasy XII is not a movie, he stressed. It's an interactive game, and hence "the wishes and preconceptions of the player will affect what they find out of the story." There won't be any branching-path system in place; rather, the scenario has been designed such that the players have a wide breadth of possibilities within the scenario, giving them the opportunity to choose their focus within the wider scope of the story. If true, this would be a large (and welcome) step away from the very linear scenario design of past Final Fantasies. Whatever the game flow ends up being, Matsuno mentioned that a key themes in the story would be "diversity," as represented by the different races -- of which moogles will again be a part. The moogles seen in the game are actually the 10th design, Matsuno joked, noting that the first attempt at FFXII-style moogles was "scary."
Even if that design had stayed, though, the moogles would be the only ugly thing about Final Fantasy XII's visuals. Akihiko Yoshida (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics) is handling the character design and map direction, while Hideo Minaba (Final Fantasy IX) is the overall art director. Yoshida commented that the focus of his design was the real-time characters first and the CG ones second, which is evident in the final product. The team (known as Production Development Division 4) is using a new engine rather than stick with FFX's; it uses half the number of polygons with an increased focus on textures and lighting. Which is not to say they didn't beef up the polygon count where it mattered: to help in the new, improved animation system, Ashe's face has 1479 polygons and Vaan's has 1487.
The third important staffer in terms of visuals is Isamu Kamikokuryou, who handles background art. The overall look of the game is of a real world: very detailed brickwork with visible decay and vegetation growing over it, to create the impression of a place that lives and breathes. Matsuno commented that the theme of the visuals is a Mediterranean style, drawing from the clash of European and Arabian cultures. Unlike FFX or X-2, players will be better able to appreciate the world with the inclusion of a first-person look-around mode.
In keeping with the general "new" approach to the franchise, longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu will only be involved in creating the key theme song this time. The rest of the music will be composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who worked with Matsuno on (say it with us) Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics. Curiously, the sound team mentioned that ever since Final Fantasy VIII's "Eyes on Me" song, the vocal theme of the game has been emphasized, but with FFXII they want to try something "more than just the song." Just what that might be, though, is a mystery.
Various Square Enix staffers were on hand to give their comments on FFXII, many of them having longtime connections to the series. Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square, talked about being a fan of Final Fantasy even before becoming the company bigwig; he related the trouble he got into once after overwriting his wife's game save. Yoshinori Kitase, producer of FFVII, VIII, X, and X-2, talked about the need for competition within Square Enix and how that benefits the Final Fantasy series.
Surprisingly, even Hironobu Sakaguchi, the series originator, showed up for the first public appearance in a couple of years. Speaking of Matsuno, he told the audience "I love him ... welll, that may sound odd to say, but I love his products, and I love the way he works, and these two things together mean that I love him."
Currently, Final Fantasy XII is due to be release in Japan in summer 2004. The staff cautioned to "please let us finish the game, we don't want to disappoint you," but given that the game is reportedly already 70% finished, Matsuno was pretty confident that there would be "about six more months until release." After all this, we're pretty excited.
The first 'movie' of it is located here: http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~nanko/movies/ff12-2.wmv
Official Pictures and Screenshots can be found around here:
http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/ff12/art.html
*squeals*
UPDATE 6:19 AM PST: Our Japanese correspondent, Andrew Vestal, has reported in with all the details from the conference. Take a seat, cause there's lots to pore over:
You've seen Final Fantasy XII before, and you haven't. If you played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and wondered which "Final Fantasy" it was that the kids in that game were such big fans of, it was FFXII: that world was based on the world Matsuno was already working on for the main series' twelfth installment. So if you want to know a little about the world and its inhabitants, FFTA is a good place to start, though the two games are completely independent.
But beyond that, everything here is new to FF. When 1UP asked if FFXII would have the same dark style that his previous games (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics) were known for, director Matsuno said that "What is mainstream is in the eye of the beholder, and in the preconceptions the player brings to the game. For example, the movie Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture and was quite popular ... some people see the darkness in the message and setting of the movie, while others just enjoy it for gladiator fights and action. FFXII is the same way. Players who just want to play and enjoy it will enjoy it, whereas players who are familiar with my past games, who are looking for that darkness, will find hints of the tone throughout."
The "darkness" he speaks of is already evident in a lot of the game's setup. The warlike empire of Arcadia has already seized the country of Dalmasca, resulting in displaced princess Ashe and easygoing citizen Vaan to form a nascent rebellion against Arcadia. Their main adversary in this are the Judges of Arcadia -- though these are not the Judges you know from FFTA. Matsuno explains, "In FFTA, the Judges served the purpose of a sort of impartial police court. In FFXII, hey are depicted as a group of knights who use terror and fear for their aims." Some CG cutscenes shown support this, displaying the Judges terrorizing one of their own Bangaa henchmen.
More CG cutscenes showed off other aspects of the game: large battle scene, comparable to Helm's Deep from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, except with the addition of airships. (The main airship in the game is a whopping 340 meters long, by the way, a little over half the length of the Enterprise from Star Trek.) An unnamed character appeared in the CG; the apparent leader of a vast army, she has short-cropped grey hair and is very thin, wearing white armor and a cape. Other characters introduced besides Ashe and Vaan were an unnamed party member who looks something like Hardin from Vagrant Story, as well as Fran, a Viera archer shown in many of the battle scenes.
Speaking of the battle scenes, though no specific details were offered at the conference, we can make a few guesses: the Active Time Battle system would appear to be returning. Enemies can now apparently guard players' attacks, so a timing-based battle system similar to Vagrant Story's may be in effect. There also seems to be combo-based manuvers possible between party members, judging by icons that light up simultaneously next to character names.
That's all we know about the gameplay so far, but Matsuno did have one more thing to say: Final Fantasy XII is not a movie, he stressed. It's an interactive game, and hence "the wishes and preconceptions of the player will affect what they find out of the story." There won't be any branching-path system in place; rather, the scenario has been designed such that the players have a wide breadth of possibilities within the scenario, giving them the opportunity to choose their focus within the wider scope of the story. If true, this would be a large (and welcome) step away from the very linear scenario design of past Final Fantasies. Whatever the game flow ends up being, Matsuno mentioned that a key themes in the story would be "diversity," as represented by the different races -- of which moogles will again be a part. The moogles seen in the game are actually the 10th design, Matsuno joked, noting that the first attempt at FFXII-style moogles was "scary."
Even if that design had stayed, though, the moogles would be the only ugly thing about Final Fantasy XII's visuals. Akihiko Yoshida (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics) is handling the character design and map direction, while Hideo Minaba (Final Fantasy IX) is the overall art director. Yoshida commented that the focus of his design was the real-time characters first and the CG ones second, which is evident in the final product. The team (known as Production Development Division 4) is using a new engine rather than stick with FFX's; it uses half the number of polygons with an increased focus on textures and lighting. Which is not to say they didn't beef up the polygon count where it mattered: to help in the new, improved animation system, Ashe's face has 1479 polygons and Vaan's has 1487.
The third important staffer in terms of visuals is Isamu Kamikokuryou, who handles background art. The overall look of the game is of a real world: very detailed brickwork with visible decay and vegetation growing over it, to create the impression of a place that lives and breathes. Matsuno commented that the theme of the visuals is a Mediterranean style, drawing from the clash of European and Arabian cultures. Unlike FFX or X-2, players will be better able to appreciate the world with the inclusion of a first-person look-around mode.
In keeping with the general "new" approach to the franchise, longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu will only be involved in creating the key theme song this time. The rest of the music will be composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who worked with Matsuno on (say it with us) Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics. Curiously, the sound team mentioned that ever since Final Fantasy VIII's "Eyes on Me" song, the vocal theme of the game has been emphasized, but with FFXII they want to try something "more than just the song." Just what that might be, though, is a mystery.
Various Square Enix staffers were on hand to give their comments on FFXII, many of them having longtime connections to the series. Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square, talked about being a fan of Final Fantasy even before becoming the company bigwig; he related the trouble he got into once after overwriting his wife's game save. Yoshinori Kitase, producer of FFVII, VIII, X, and X-2, talked about the need for competition within Square Enix and how that benefits the Final Fantasy series.
Surprisingly, even Hironobu Sakaguchi, the series originator, showed up for the first public appearance in a couple of years. Speaking of Matsuno, he told the audience "I love him ... welll, that may sound odd to say, but I love his products, and I love the way he works, and these two things together mean that I love him."
Currently, Final Fantasy XII is due to be release in Japan in summer 2004. The staff cautioned to "please let us finish the game, we don't want to disappoint you," but given that the game is reportedly already 70% finished, Matsuno was pretty confident that there would be "about six more months until release." After all this, we're pretty excited.
The first 'movie' of it is located here: http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~nanko/movies/ff12-2.wmv
Official Pictures and Screenshots can be found around here:
http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/ff12/art.html
*squeals*
