Interview with "Final Fantasy 15" producer Hajime Tabata

In an interview with Chinese gaming news site VGTime Hajime Tabata Director of Final Fantasy XV confirmed a new demo is now in development.

While no major details about the demo were revealed, Tabata did confirm airship and underwater combat may make its way to XV as free DLC.

[DarkOcelet]

Underwater combat and Airships as dlc is cool. This game needs to be released now!

[-Foxtrot]

It's really not

We were promised Airships when it was still Versus...you know something people have been going on about for years, since FF13 failed to have that feature or mostly any others which made it feel more like a FF game

I mean the game has been in development for years...even underwater combat

It's ridiculous...free or not

When I buy a game I want everything to be there day 1 otherwise by the time it comes I might have completed it and moved on

[DarkOcelet]

Well, its either that or we wait another year or something. It seems they scraped all of Nomura's work on the game and Tabata did his own vision or something. Look, i know you are pissed, i am pissed but at least Nomura is now working on FFVII Remake. He can do wonders with that game.

I should have wrote Airships and Underwater combat as 'Free' dlc is cool. It seems everybody disagree before reading the article.

[_-EDMIX-_]

...Battlefront has released, Fox has moved on to another game to hate.

...it begins.

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

@Foxtrot: This is not Versus and there were airships in XV already but they weren't the kind that flew over the entire game world like the whiny fans have aggressively clamored for so they have to add this as DLC.

[-Foxtrot]

@_-EDMIX-_

Oh another pointless post from you...how...surprising.

@TheOneWhoIsTornApart

Versus is FF15...it just changed it's name because they didn't want it to be related to FF13 with how hated the game is to the majority of FF fans. Same game they set out to make...sorry, at this point, could have made.

[Eamon]

No. Versus changed to FF15 because the game known as FFvs13 was "cancelled" and its story, characters & world concepts transferred to the new FF15 project.

FF15 effectively began development in 2011. That was the year we got the final FFvs13 trailer/footage. They couldn't just transfer what they developed in FFvs13 to FF15 because it was on a new platform, new engine, with a new director.

As for why Versus got cancelled. Well it would likely be because of the development nightmare it went through. Versus had began development in 2006 and by 2011 it was still far from done.

Also, Square probably estimated that in the time left it'd take to finish Versus, the next generation of consoles would be released or close to release.

So all that combined with the fact that Nomura is also working on his Kingdom Hearts franchise, Square decided to restart the project as FF15 on PS4/X1 under a new director.

[Antifan]

I agree. By the time these people put out DLC, I most likely moved on to a different game. Same with ANY DLC for any game, no matter if it's good or not.

[Game4Next]

Nomura's Vision, http://www.ign.com/articles... and probably 4 years to develop Kingdom Hearts 3 while using Unreal Engine 4. Even Unreal Engine 4 can't cut down Kingdom Hearts 3 development time and PS4 already 2 years old.

At least Tabata tries to get the game out in 2016 (with the rest of the game DLCed).

FINAL FANTASY XV INTERNATIONAL will probably have all the DLCs.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Yeah I agree with fox.

I hate how a lot of things that were suppose to be in the game back when it was VS13 under Nomura's vision is being scraped to cut corners to release it before it is FULLY complete.

FFVS13, now FF15, was suppose to be going back to what made FF great(i.e., airships, being able to use multiple characters, and other ambitious features that I don't remember/care to remember anymore). Now it's just an ordinary JRPG with a high budget to me.

I'm just not excited/hyped for the game anymore.

[DivineAssault]

They shouldnt even be discussing dlc until after the game is out.. All this proves is that all that stuff couldve been there day 1 like you said.. Theyre cutting segments out so they can make more money off people later

[Salooh]

Why do you guys react to these things the same way ? . Just make a system , if a game released not complete from content or broken just wait for complete edition.

Just give these kind of games a term and express your opinion with that term so that we don't repeat the same things and say more important things lol.

I am busy , don't want to come up with one. Hope you make it funny if you did :>

[Irishguy95]

I agree they shouldn't be DLC.

But we were never promised anything. I@m just glad hte game is copying KH's route and is doing something different. SE have never made a game like FFXV before. But still. I think some of the changes from Versus are for the worse

[Eamon]

The reason it'll be DLC is because Tabata simply cant fit it into the schedule for the 2016 release date.

For a game first announced 10 years before it released, I can't see Square just giving Tabata more time to develop. Already FF15 would have been in proper development for five years.

This isnt Tabata not caring about Nomura's vision. Nomura didn't even get close to 30% done by 2011. And it's not Nomura's fault either.

Blame Square under CEO Wada who decided to commission the development of FF 13-2 and Lightning Returns. If those two games were never planned in the first place, it's possible we would have seen Nomura's FFvs13 release on PS3.

[NovaCorps]

ff13 was a failure overall

[Godmars290]

@Foxtrot:
I'm one of the biggest FF15 skeptics around, actually think we trade ranks and whatnot, but you honestly still give weight to anything Square promises at this point?

The game's going to be nothing more than an amusement ride and travel show where FF13 was "The Corridor" so at this point its just best to hope that FF16 is a balance of the two. Not that I hold any hope in regards to story, what with them giving up on that around FF12.

[-Foxtrot]

Well if Tabata wasn't trying to change the game so much so he can leave his mark on it then maybe we could have had the game released sooner.

It's arrogance. He should have came in, finished off Nomuras work, get the game out sooner, make gamers happy and we can finally look forward to KH3

Instead, with all his interviews, it's like he dosen't know what he's doing. Adding this, removing that, changing X, Y and Z only to change Y back while alter Z a little. Like Stella...they scrapped her and added another character with a different name which kind of fills the same role and honestly I think it's because Stella was a "nomura" character and was one Tabata could get away with changing.

Even if we got these features 3-6 months after launch I and many other will have most likely moved on. I mean you and a lot of others will review and judge the game at launch, if it doesn't have something like Airships then there's already a thing I'm not going to like about the main game we get at release.

The fact people here are saying "cool" just because it's free is ridiculous. Come on guys we've been waiting for this game for years, Airships was talked about with Nomura when it was Versus.

[Harkins1721]

And Versus was nothing more than a concept. Due to SE being focused on so many games at once and grabbing the Versus team to finish FFXIII and its series and FFXIV and 1.0's mess. He said months ago that underwater battles would not fit this game as well as above a birds eye view for airships would prove challenging.

We dont know if Tabata is the only one "trying to leave his mark" it could be the higher ups. They did move Nomura off the project and gave him FF7:R/KH3 to handle too.

[DarkOcelet]

I agree, it felt like Tabata made the game casual and toned down the dark themes which is so damn stupid since he made Type 0 dark as hell and bloody.

Not sure why he changed this when he already knows that games with Mature themes sell very well (Looks at Witcher 3 and MGSV)

But all we can do now is hope the game is damn good. We have been waiting for so long. And honestly, i will not miss this game.

[Eiyuuou]

Just a little thought.

For all we know, Nomura meant an airship as in the FFVI sense.

A small flying object in an overhead map. (since he said world map)

If the original plan was like that, I'd rather have them take their time and do it like they're doing it now.

[Zeroxgi]

You keep saying nomuras game is getting changed, yet he couldn't even finish the game. How do you know he would be able to do all the things he "promised". And sorry, but just because you don't like ff13 doesn't mean the rest of the fan base doesn't. Like it or not lightning is actually loved by most fans and has no effect on the changing from versus 13 to xv. I can't wait for ff7 remake to come out with no airships and see you keep crying like a little biotch some more.

[dadz]

You don't know the first thing about game development or the intricacies. You presume to think you know so much about Tabata and ffxv development but only those working on the project truly knows whats happening. calling him arrogant just because changes from versus were made and claiming "trying to change the game so much so he can leave his mark on it" is just presumptuous bullshit and you know it. Instead of crying like a baby about the changes wait and see how things will pan out. Obviously, and it's been stated plenty of times, if he could add an airship in the game he would. There's just simply not enough time or know-how. You can't just implement a feature like that on a whim..also the fact that they do plan on having it available as free dlc down the line is a great thing it means they're forward thinking and I know if it truly is a Final fantasy game worthy of its wait there will still be plenty to do 3-6 months after launch.

[jambola]

" should have wrote Airships and Underwater combat as 'Free' dlc is cool. It seems everybody disagree before reading the article."

Nobody should need to read an article to disagree with your comment

[DarkOcelet]

Well, Airships was not gonna be featured in the main game from the beginning since Tabata became the director. So to see them offer it for free later on is better than make us pay for it.

[mt]

why it is "cool" that developer is telling you he will release dlc even before the whole game released ?

[pompombrum]

Saw "Airship DLC" and my immediate reaction was: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Fortunately it was mentioned it would be free DLC so underwater combat and airships as FREE dlc would be really really cool!

[DiscoKid]

Too late. You already jumped out the window.

[ZaWarudo]

Free is fine. Had me worried tbere for a sec.

[Double_O_Revan]

Funny how the headline left out that key word so you'd click and see its right there in the story.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Can we have a Travis Touchdown Skin for Ignis?

[Kalebninja]

Free is cool, I wouldn't have had a problem paying for it. Underwater combat sounds sick.

[Eiyuuou]

I don't like the "may" part. I hope the Dlc will be released shortly after the game's initial release.

[Kamikaze135]

I wonder if they're going this route with DLC because they're rushing production to get XV out by 2016. Hopefully it doesn't feel rushed when we get to play it =/

[Kalebninja]

The game is entering Beta so they can't add anything else to the game, so they add it in as dlc for after the game launches.

[ZayZay_11]

Can't complain. It is free.

[jambola]

Considering how most people had expected it to be free anyway for a long time, yes they can complain

[vanity29]

Dammit tabata. You really had to get this game reworked just cuz didn't you? It better pay off in the end, you don't want to be the guy who made the "worst" final fantasy.

[RpgSama]

After XIII/XIII-2/XIII-3 It's going to be really hard for Tabata to make the worst Final Fantasy, the first was not specially meaningful in any way, it was super average to some places good and it went downhill from there with the sequels.

If it's FREE DLC I will take it, hope is not the only piece of free DLC they release for the game.

[clockward100]

Darkocelet tabata is not working on on final fanasy 7 remake yet he s working on kingdom hearts3 right now

[vanity29]

*Nomura

[DarkOcelet]

But Nomura will make FFVII Remake and he can work on both games simultaneously.

[Sevir]

Yes working simultaneously on both! And a New team in Tokyo is making progress on that while the Osaka team is polishing KH3.

[clockward100]

Dark ocelet did you know nomura didnt know he would be working final fanasy 7? Square has a bad track record lol

[DarkOcelet]

Yeah, i know lol. But i am pretty sure he is working on it right now.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

Already talking about DLC plans with no release date LOL

[Eiyuuou]

They have a release date. They just haven't told us.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

Sure they do LOL

[nunley33]

SE has a FFXV event planned for march, i expect the release date to be announced then. There'll be a new trailer and more info about it will also be announced too.

[Eiyuuou]

Yes they do.

But you don't have to believe me. Knowing or not knowing makes no difference.

[alvgamin4lif]

The fact that they are planning to add these features as dlc tells us that they do have a release date in mind. After countless delays they will release the game next year. Thus features like airships and underwater combat ends up being dlc content.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

I remember the days where Airship were available without DLC existence. Long-Live Old School Games.

[silkrevolver]

Glad it's free.

I hope it's really coming out next year - wouldn't be shocked if it slips, but I believe in it.

[franwex]

Hopefully this means that the game in entering a stage in development where making changes is a little too late, maybe that's why it's free DLC. I expecting this game to be out in about a year to year and a half realistically.

[chaos999]

A new demo is deserved.

The combat system totally changed from Duscae Episode.

[FallenAngel1984]

Good lord Square Enix, just release the game already. Another demo means that this game is going to possibly release towards the very end of 2016

[killacal13]

I need it!

[Relientk77]

As long as it's free I'm good

[Godmars290]

Actually did this when I read your comment:
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

More so because its being "promised".

No seriously, I want to take actual bets on this.

[WelkinCole]

More than 10 years later.

[jambola]

it was announced 2006
That isn't more than 10 years

[NovaCorps]

airship back ?
epic

would like exclusive ps4 console like vader for star wars
would be day one for me

[sullynathan]

Game is on track to be one of the biggest open world games of all time, lets see how it goes.

[TimelessDbz]

Glad to see no air ships in the base game. Finally doing something different instead of copying a formula