Stella’s removal from Final Fantasy XV again explained; developers felt uncomfortable

In an interview with 4Gamer [translated via Jirokichi], Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata once again discussed the changes made from Final Fantasy Versus VIII, especially the removal of Stella.

[GreetingsfromCanada]

Who cares? I thought Final Fantasy games had no continuity

[Godmars290]

What does that have to do with anything?

Yes, at some point they were talking about making all FF entries taking place on the same planet, have Dissidia which is a multiversal platform, but the issue here is that the game was announced too early and changes were made in between the time it was honestly presentable.

[joab777]

Well put. I wish theu could have at leat had a cameo for her.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

Why do they show a picture of Luna though? Stella is not in the game but Luna is. The picture of this story just serves to confuse me.

[Gamer4News]

It's so stupid. They can change her role without changing her appearance.

People are not complaining about her role. People are complaining about her look. She doesn't look the same anymore.

People prefer Stella's look over Luna's look.

Luna looks unhealthy. She looks like those anime characters that you know will die from a terminal illness, like she has leukemia or something.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

@Gamer4News

I get you but it's a matter of opinion to who's look is better. I personally like Luna a lot better. She has a more sophisticated preppy but yet strong willed leader look to her, she reminds a little bit of Yuna but different, she's the kind of female protagonist I want. .

Stella to me looked more like a friend, like the type of girl who's just one of the guys. Not my type.

As far as Luna looking sick, I don't even know what you're talking about. I don't see anything wrong with her.

[jwillj2k4]

@lightning

Who cares about your 'type'. They are making a FF game, not a dating sim. Is it requirement for you to be attracted to the female character in order for you to purchase a game?

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

@jwillj2k4

For me if I like the characters especially the female, it makes the story more engaging, the best Final Fantasy games did that for me. Not so much the recent ones like FF13, which was garbage.

[ginsunuva]

What does this have to do with continuity if Stella isn't a character from any previous game...

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

The game changed, at first Stella was in the game as the main heroine but then they changed it to Luna. They thought about keeping Stella in the game as a different role but it just wasn't working so they just scrapped her completely.

[Gamer4News]

They could change her role, but keep her looks.

I prefer Stella's look over Luna.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

@Gamer4News

I get you but it's a matter of opinion to who's look is better. I personally like Luna a lot better. She has a more sophisticated preppy but yet strong willed leader look to her, she reminds a little bit of Yuna but different, she's the kind of female protagonist I want. .

Stella to me looked more like a friend, like the type of girl who's just one of the guys. Not my type.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

If you guys like stella more than Luna, that's totally okay. I'm just saying that I prefer Luna, but it's a matter of opinion.

[Adrian_v01]

I prefer Luna now that we know a little bit more about the story. It seems the kingdom she comes from has a military regime, I can't imagine the daughter of such a king grow up into a bubbly go-lucky character as Stella seemed to be. Luna seems more reserved and noble which would fit such a character much better imo.

[Neoprime]

It has continuity, but it's very loose.

[PhoenixUp]

What I'll miss most from the FFvXIII build of the game was the ability to switch between multiple playable characters on the fly during battle. In FFXV it will be just Noctis we play as the entire time.

At least that feature will be implemented into FFVIIR.

[Hoffmann]

Wait..we can only play as Noctis in the game? Its like in Persona 3 where the other party members can't be controlled?

[LG_Fox_Brazil]

Yes, only Noctis. But I kinda like that. Don't know why though

[Overwhelming]

You could control the other party members in Persona 3 (in combat).

[_-EDMIX-_]

@Over- no in Persona 3 you could not control the other members in battle they did their own actions the only thing you could do as party leader was dictate if they would attack or defend etc

But their specific moves were up to them you had no control over the moves or abilities they would do.

[ecchiless]

@_-EDMIX-_

I think his thinking of P3P in that version you can actually control the party members.

I actually loved the frustation of P3Fes on the PS2 when your party would do something stupid leading to your death xD.

[Satou]

It was probably a development struggle, as well as a toss up between character switching, and mosh-style team mechanics. They went with the teamplay, because it made more sense for this game, and because Noctis is a bit OP in this game comparatively. He has Armiger after all. All around it just made more sense to make Noctis the controllable character. Gladiolus is slower for example, and Prompto would require a 1st or 3rd person shooter mechanic, which would have been a ton of work. Barret is another shooter comparatively however already has his moveset planned out from FFVII-original and Kitase/Nomura obviously have their new system up and running.

I think the biggest issues are-

1- Stella's character design should have carried on into Luna. Way hotter, yet still conservative(not politically, mind you.) All around Stella was still conservative, but darker/edgier.

2- Armiger gauge should go down PER ATTACK and not over 15 seconds. That way you could use Armiger sparingly thoughout the battle and not just as an OP 15 second spam attack. They finally gave Armiger a gauge though, so that might be what they're going for somewhat, but they're just not there yet. Make it go down PER ATTACK and not over 15 seconds so it's used throughout the battle and more like Nomura's vision.

3- Didn't like some of the team moves. "Link Form" was just crappy IMO. They should all be proximity based QTE mosh mechanics, like the 2014-15 trailers. "Link Form" where you run up to a circle and then start button mashing is just a crappy idea. That's such a crappy idea it just sounds crappy to read- read that last sentence again for me lol.

[Uglyday]

While you might not be able to switch you can activate your bro's skills in some form. Look at 2:17 from the newer video

https://m.youtube.com/watch...

Ignus is on screen (Noctis is still the active health bar) and it shows one skill from each party member on the left side of the screen in a toggable quick menu.

[Gamer4News]

Yeah. I hate that they take out the ability to control your party members.

Gamers want control. Square Enix keeps insisting on restricting control.

Just like FF13, where you have no control, even when you're exploring a dungeon. You can't go anywhere, other than to the end of the hall.

[zackdollars]

I guess she was made as a response to the criticism that there were no women. She was smoke-and-mirrors. It's going to be a boys club. I just lost all desire to play this game.

[Lionalliance]

What? Where DID ya get that from?

[SinkingSage]

Never have I heard a man say: "I won't play this game because it's all women", but I've seen plenty of this kind of talk happening when it's all men...

I'm sure the game has women, just not in the main party, and as evidenced by the previews, there will even be temporary women in the party.

[MasterCornholio]

"Never have I heard a man say: "I won't play this game because it's all women","

I remember people saying that about X-2.

[Lukejrl]

Yea well that is pretty stupid of you. Not every game is going to include every sex, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle. Look at me, I want cannibalism to be properly represented. Cannibals are always the bad guys. There are good cannibals you know. Such anti cannibalism is offensive to me

[Ogygian]

That's very narrow-minded of you.

Some stories can only be told with all male/female parties.

I liked X-2, and I'm sure this'll be fun as well.

[tulholdren]

I agree once no women in party that was a no sale.

[Lukejrl]

Just because no women are not in the party does not mean they were excluded for nefarious means. There are plenty of groups if friends that are guys that go on road trips and whatnot.

[NoctisPendragon]

Lucky for you there are women in the party now end then (you even see one in the Uncovered trailer ).

[VsAssassin]

I know Luna is one badass of a lady, but I really liked Stella and her character design. For me, Stella has more charisma than Luna. Just look at her badass look while confronting Noctis in one of the early FFvsXIII vids. I'm just not getting that level of interest with Luna than I had with Stella. Sigh...

[-Foxtrot]

Basically

"I saw the character to be a Nomura one and decided to get rid of her aswell as many Nomura related things as I could so it will be fully known as my games not his"

That's why there's been changes, I honestly believe if they just set out with his vision/plan we could have had the game by now, maybe at the start of this year.

What I liked about the past trailers is how Stella and Noctis were against each other despite obviously being romantically involved (or will be later on). It also give it a Romeo and Juliet type of vibe with them coming from different "houses".

[firelogic]

Completely agree.

[Chaosdreams]

Yeah bingo. I recall even that the "Romeo & Juliet" theme was one of the underlining tones of the story. Which is why I was annoyed when Stella was switched out. It wasn't that she was gone, it was the role she represented, and as stated in this interview "they didn't feel comfortable changing her roll."

Anyways, there's no sense in us getting riled up over it anymore. Perhaps we never should have either. I'm interested to see what the story exactly is and how everything plays out. I just hope there's some conflicting emotions that go rampant.

[JackVagina]

Its a shame Nomura left, i guess it was because he was juggling too many projects as he is also directing KH3 and the FF7 Remake.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I don't know where you got that from as nomura actually confirmed when he left that his Concepts were still intact even the writer of the game stated he was completely fine with the change it actually didn't hurt the overall story.

Once again the writer of the game confirmed that this doesn't do anything to the concept and that he was okay with it, the current director did it with the blessing of the writer.

[-Foxtrot]

The writers do what they are told by the director. If Tabata wants changes then he gets them and if you speak out about it then you are probably out of a job.

Nomura just didn't want to cause a fuss I bet when he left.

Fact is I highly doubt he would want to continue with a plan set out by Nomura. There's even an interview where he talks about him changing something because HE didn't like it. What I saw in the old trailers seemed fine to me, hell it seemed better.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Unless you're Nomura I'm sorry buddy but you have no way of knowing if he made a fuss or not if anything where's your evidence to suggest?

The plan that was set out by nomura was already being implemented its the concept of it being open-world airships multiple towns etc was already put into place it's something the new director could not have just randomly revamped from one game to a completely different game that's so doubtful it's not even funny.

You could once again read what the former director stated he 100% confirmed the concepts are still in place from when he started the game.

At this stage in development the new director can only change so much it's very unlikely he could change the Deep concepts in mechanics and design that were already implemented in the game years ago.

Also what is it with you with perception? You're saying it seemed better about a game you've never actually played about a version you've never completed so how on Earth would you ever know it seemed better?

Sure...

I'm sorry but trailers are not games there's not much you could ever tell about a game simply from a damn trailer.

[Damien1801]

Nomura wanted to make a musical out of FFXV after the premiere of Les Miserables and fortunately his decision was overruled by the board of directors in Square-Enix and his approach to storytelling is known for being rather incoherent one. Just take a look at Kingdom Hearts. I even heard they had to rewrite the story because the original ended with a sequelbait that leaves it open for another continuation of FFXV, hence tagline ''A world of Versus epic'' and Tabata wanted to make a conclusive story. It just shows the misguided or the lack of focus on how would Nomura approach the game's story. He had tons of cool ideas and those were just that, cool ideas that might have been hard to execute. We may never know the reason of replacing Stella for Lunafreya but I guess there's a right reason for it. Stella only gave us a good first impression in trailers but we don't know how her character would lead up to the story. That is the problem I have with Nomura in general, he can make cool characters doing all acrobatic shit but he doesn't know how to make a good direction to their personalities. Just watch Advent Children, the characters are flat and one-dimensional or just comic relief caricatures. Don't get me wrong, he's a pretty good director when it comes to action RPG's and he's still top tier in that territory but his way of storytelling and his design of characters are questionable. And the plotline of two people with special powers from opposing fractions who are romantically involved and are at a conflict because of unfaithful circumstances isn't really anything new, that's the plotline of Shinobi Heart of Blade.

[SnotyTheRocket]

Dude, games aren't made by one dude, you know that? Neil Druckmann didn't pull the last of us out of his ass, he had a story in mind, and the people around him helped shape and mould the game. Writers don't get fired for having different ideas. Nobody would write in video games if that was the case.

[TheColbertinator]

Stella had a better design but alas times change. FFXV is releasing at last. Let us end this

[SinkingSage]

The picture on the article is actually Luna, not Stella. Please post factual articles on N4G, this can be misleading.

[Ruggadagod]

Good They should feel uncomfortable.

[gamer7804]

They really shouldn't have put her in the first demo if they were uncertain.

[just_sayin]

Final fantasy versus VIII..... Wow

[zerocarnage]

But they're not uncomfortable with trying to make as many people cry as possible with the ending.

It's the ladies of gaming that add that sexyness, beauty, they often have more life to there characters that the males do, so why take them out for a boyzone I don't know. I can't stand boybands in music nor games and fantasy games is where the ladies shine more than the males, from all emotions.

Quite often the males are at most funny, usually they're action junkies who can't display anything else. Don't get me wrong some games i completely agree with if the setting is rite but a final fantasy game with all boys that's just wrong.

Having a fantasy game without females in is like having ice cream with just ice and no cream, that flavour just isn't there.

[Ogygian]

How about you try it first, no?

An open mind costs you nothing.

[2v1]

We already try ff13

[Uglyday]

I always get flavored shaved ice at the county fair.

[DeadManMMX]

Eghh so I'm really getting a FF with no love interest. I don't know what it is but that takes some of the spice out of it. My favorites things about FF7, FF8, FF9 and FF10 were those love stories and how they effected things. Even if your not sappy most of the best stories involve a girl and a boy. Final Fantasy: Entourage Sausage Fest Bro Bonding Edition. I'm still going to at least play it but man this is dissapointing.

[rainslacker]

FF7 didn't really have a love story. It had a romance thing, but it was never a two characters fall in love sort of thing. Tifa/Cloud were more really good friends, although the young Cloud had a crush on her, and they did have an obvious attraction to one another, and Aeris/Cloud were sort of kindred spirits kind of thing with no real romantic feelings between them.

The overreaching relationship aspect of FF7 was always about friendship and trust, and not a love story.

8,9,and 10 did have them though, although FFXI didn't have any...although the "main character" was more an afterthought to the actual story.

[DeadManMMX]

To this day one of the most painful things in that game is Aeris's death. They make it easy for your character to fall in love with her so it hurts even more when she dies. That and his relationship with Tifa are huge themes that continue right on into the movie. FF7 Crisis core also has the love story with Zack and Aeris. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[rainslacker]

Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that there wasn't an interest, just that the actual romantic interest wasn't pursued within the story itself, except for the young Cloud. It was pretty apparent that Cloud was romantically interested in Tifa, and vice versa, but I think that was set up for Cloud's story, and how he wasn't the real Cloud more than anything else....false memories and all that.

No matter how many times I"ve played the game, I could never really determine if either Cloud or Aerith had any romantic feelings for one another. It was either not existent or really ambiguous.

I think the romance thing wasn't really explored between Cloud and another character due to the way they integrated the "date" scene based on one's choices.

But it's pretty apparent going into Advent Children that there is something more to Cloud and Tifa's relationship...however I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it was an involved one, because they wanted Cloud to still be angsty for that story.

Crisis Core did have the relationship yes. Been a while since I played that though, so I'm pretty fuzzy on it.

[Uglyday]

Considering they are on a trip to Noctis's wedding to Luna how is there no love interest?

[feraldrgn]

I do not like that they changed the story, I was interested in the Stella & Noctis relationship of early trailers.

But honestly after playing the Platinum demo, it convinced me that Square has lost their touch & I have no interest in XV.
The camera was awful & graphics were unimpressive.

Combat was boring, I could hold 1 button & Noctis would hit the enemy uninterrupted until it died, then he would auto-run to the next enemy & do the same.

The 1 button press system is absolutely terrible for Final Fantasy, they didn't even use the Kingdom Hearts system of semi-menu combat.
10 years development to come up with this mess.

I don't think Tabata is any good.

[-Foxtrot]

" I could hold 1 button & Noctis would hit the enemy uninterrupted until it died, then he would auto-run to the next enemy & do the same "

That was my problem aswell. I suppose it will be a little better with more weapons but having two in the demo I just felt awkward trying to change them as quick as I could with the D-Pad.

If it was a little faster then fair enough but I would have prefered Kingdom Hearts battle system more.

I thought it would at least push you to click the button again like if you managed to strike at the right time you could chain together combo attacks for stronger attacks then maybe you could hold it at the end to unleash a powerful swing or something.

Still better then FF13s but still not as good as turn based.

[_-EDMIX-_]

The current director is just over seeing the final released I don't think he could just reverse everything nomura put into place almost a decade ago. Nomura himself states that his concepts are still intact and in fact the things he promised several years ago are still happening in the game so I have no clue why you think this new director is actually really influencing the game that much if you consider its almost complete.

Specific gameplay design things take a very very long time and those things are already likely complete before the new director even came into play.

Also you don't even know the story so how on Earth could you know whether or not it would be a good thing or bad thing? The person that actually wrote the story has went on interviews stating he was completely fine with the change in the change was done with his Blessing he stated it doesn't affect the story in any negative way.

Also you could press one button if you choose to and you could press it multiple times if you choose to that's by choice.

Were you not pressing one button and watching an animation when it was turned based?

Final Fantasy has always been about the concept about the idea of what's happening it's never actually really been about what you physically do. So when you are playing the older final fantasies and pressing a single button and watching an animation go how on Earth could that even be described as something you physically do?

So now that you have a choice between holding it and pressing it multiple times that suddenly a bad thing? Lol um....OK. you still have the Dodge you still have to switch between attacks you still have cool down on the larger attacks, you still have other abilities that you need to switch to to take out different types of enemies it's all about the strategy of what you're doing it's not even necessarily how it feels.

[feraldrgn]

Definitely Tabata's idea for oversimplified controls.
Honestly reads like satire:

http://www.p4rgaming.com/fi...

"The system was invented by Hajime Tabata (co-director Final Fantasy XV; director Final Fantasy Type-0; producer, Final Fantasy Agito) and Kenichiro Yuji"
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

This is the guy who used his age as reasoning for putting FF Type-0 on console rather than handheld.

The original trailer with Noctis & Stella was far more interesting than the current story, how it was set up as frienemies troubled by destiny.

In older Final Fantasies, you always had a menu, so no you didn't press 1 button & watch animations.
You selected magic, debuffs, items, etc going into menus & thinking rather than just attack, or in FFXV's case "hold attack".
FFXV plays like a simplified action game.
It insults the player's intelligence.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"Tabata's idea for oversimplified controls"

Holding the button to watch the actions is actually optional, you can keep pressing it to continue attacking OR hold on it. Its again optional and actually doesn't do anything to hurt the game.

You are not being forced to play that way, play the demo and you'll see you can choose both if you feel just.

"The original trailer with Noctis & Stella was far more interesting than the current story"

You don't know the original story, you don't know the current story, thus....irrelevant. Unless the writer releases all the before and after, re-writes etc, you won't know what it even was in the first place to even critique.

"In older Final Fantasies, you always had a menu, so no you didn't press 1 button & watch animations"

http://cdn3.dualshockers.co...

Also consider the menu to select the attack can merely be the face buttons.

Consider the Square is attack, triangle is ability, circle is warp shift break and x is to jump.

Sooooooo the face buttons are merely replacing what you would have had with a battle menu.

So its moving the d-pad and selecting a move, vs actually doing it...

http://vignette3.wikia.noco...

" or in FFXV's case "hold attack".
FFXV plays like a simplified action game"

Cause you don't need to block? Because FFXV has no magic or other abilities? Because FFXV's enemies don't have other status effects? I'm sorry bud, but saying you FFXV plays like a simplified action game because you can hold a button to attack, is like saying all older FF titles are simplified RPGs because all you have to do is select X and they attack for you.

You really think an RPG is just boiled down to just that?

Once again, holding down to auto attack is no different then selecting attack in the older turned based RPGs.

Simply attacking an enemy didn't just win you the battle in those games, not sure why you suddenly thought it would in FFXV. Mind you, you are saying this off of a demo made to merely be a demonstration (ie demo-stration) and you've yet to even address that its an option.

Its not the only way you could attack bud, play the demo again and keep pressing the attack button. Its an option, you can select either or as no one is actually again forcing you to just hold it to attack.

Some don't want to keep mashing, some might enjoy it. Choice, its better to have more options then less. I have no clue how someone else playing that way would even effect you even in the slightest. That is like saying I watched all of The Last Of Us on Youtube, thus I should blame Naughty Dog for over simplifying the game and making it a video....

(are we just disregarding that what is happening is a choice and not the only option?)

"This is the guy who used his age as reasoning for putting FF Type-0 on console rather than handheld" He doesn't own the game, that was 99% likely Square's choice, not his.

He works for Square, not the other way around.

[feraldrgn]

I have played the demo, that's the point, I was unimpressed by it.
It definitely didn't have a "battle menu" like that screenshot.

That's still oversimplified controls, whether I press Square & Circle or hold them, the character still auto-runs toward the enemy.
I'm not having to select anything, not having to think about buffs or debuffs, items & such.
All I'm doing is attack & block if the attack is going to reach me, if the enemy damages me I just have to run around to recover HP, like an action game.
If the full game isn't like that, then the demo gave the wrong impression.

Had I pressed a button instead of held it, which I did check but it was no different, my sentence would read:
"Combat was boring, I could press 1 button repeatedly & Noctis would hit the enemy uninterrupted until it died, then he would auto-run to the next enemy & do the same."

As I said, the earlier trailer presented a more interesting concept than the current one, they did give snippets into what the story would have been with the information at the time.
Maybe we didn't have the story fully fleshed out, but we had a concept involving Stella & Noctis, both friends destined to be enemies due to their political positions.
To remove such an important character completely changes the type of story it will be.

Square wants everything to be action based nowadays.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Fer- "It definitely didn't have a "battle menu" like that screenshot" Thats because the last demo was to show off the tech behind the real time lighting, shadows, weather etc.

"I'm not having to select anything, not having to think about buffs or debuffs, items & such"

Yes bud...because you are playing a demo, not the full game. The last demo they released as not to showcase that ,as to why you would believe the whole game would be like that is pretty stupid if you factor the trailer itself is showing other enemies. You literally think all the enemies will just die as easily as they did in the demo you played all while doing the same things?

Logic bud..

"All I'm doing is attack & block if the attack is going to reach me, if the enemy damages me I just have to run around to recover HP, like an action game"

Yes...all you are doing is attack and block....in the DEMO! Why would the entire final game actually be just that?

Would that not defeat the purpose of having summons, items and other abilities? Are you seriously suggesting what you played, is pretty much the final game vs what has already been revealed? LMFAO! Mind you, why would they have healing items if the final game would be just giving you life? Have you really not thought this through?

"To remove such an important character completely changes the type of story it will be"

Nope.

http://vignette1.wikia.noco...

That is Luna by the way too bud. Soooooooo maybe you don't know enough to really say that. She very well could be the love interest. They likely are not going to spoil clearly if she is.

"Square wants everything to be action based nowadays" Not really bud, FFXV is still a RPG and even putting the auto attack very much shows they are stating you don't need to know how to master hack and slash games to play FFXV. You have a choice, no one again is forcing you to actually just hold a button.

You can try to play FFXV that way only just attacking, pretty sure its just as stupid as going through the older FF games just by attacking. It doesn't work that way bud lol

[feraldrgn]

The demo didn't impress me, I do not like the direction they're taking the series with simplifying menus into actions like an action game.
It's an opinion.

No need for the snide attitude either, bud.

Going through menus & selecting a strategy for a turn of multiple combatants without knowing what's coming is far more thoughtful than running up to an enemy & hitting a button to attack, block or cast magic with 1 character.
It wasn't even that you can hold a button, it's the fact everything is automated no matter if I hold or press it, it just didn't feel very involved.

It wouldn't be surprising if the enemies had as simple AI as they had in the demo, considering this is Tabata, the guy who doesn't like complicated things.

The game's close to release, so when I play a recent demo, I expect the final mechanics to be present.

Also what does Luna, a completely different character, have to do with Stella?
This mentions how Tabata's creation is different.
http://www.novacrystallis.c...

[_-EDMIX-_]

@Fer-

"The demo didn't impress me' Thats nice. Its a demo, not the full game.

" it's the fact everything is automated" Because when you were pressing a button and watching an animation you were so involved? hmmmmmmm I see...

"Tabata's creation is different" You don't know the story, thus don't even know how different or if it even matters.

You are basically defending a made up game you made up in your mind.... Unless you played it before it was FFXV and with Stella and know the whole story of BOTH versions....you don't really know if it was better or worse.

[feraldrgn]

& You're defending a demo, released a few months before the game's finished, by your own admission gameplay takes a long time to change so it's reasonable to presume that the gameplay in this demo will be how the final game plays.

The tech in the demo is displayed by standing on buttons, everything else is gameplay.
It set it up as a dream sequence & they put in the effort to add cutscenes relating to the dream sequence, that's a lot of time & money for a demonstration that doesn't represent the final gameplay.

"Because when you were pressing a button and watching an animation you were so involved? hmmmmmmm I see..."
Yes you were, you selected a command based on a dice roll of possible strategies an enemy can take, then a particular enemy, you did this for several characters in 1 turn, you used your brain.

Tabata's creation is different, read the link I posted.
"we decided not to include Stella in FFXV. Instead, we have a new heroine named Luna, who has a different role within the story."

Again, it's the concept that was interesting in the previous trailers between Stella & Noctis, we didn't have the entire story, but we had lots of trailers portraying their relationship, it was an interesting concept, there were translations of those trailers which gave us part of the story.
Now without Stella, that's a key character replaced by Luna, who is described as playing a "different" role to Stella.
A love interest would be boring, because it's a tired story.

You're still being snide, just because you don't agree with someone else's opinion.
I played the demo all the way to the end, experimented & did not like the experience, end of.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"You're defending a demo" A demo is not a full game.

The demo was ok....

It has no real dawning on the full game, especially based on the trailers.

You are not only playing as a kid, its not just random dream sequences and linear, you don't just fight the same enemies. Thus...I can't actually say I'm buying the game, based on the demo, as the demo is merely showing off certain elements of the game, it doesn't have the main reasons I'm buying the game.

Story, bosses, leveling up, towns, airship, open world etc.

I'm telling you the demo was ok, and I'm STILL buying FFXV DAY 1!

"that's a lot of time & money for a demonstration that doesn't represent the final gameplay" Who cares bud, many games don't even have demos.

Fallout 4 didn't have a demo bud, got it day 1, it moved 12 million units in 1 week.

Nobody cares bud.

"we didn't have the entire story" Yes...we didn't thus, who cares ? You don't know what it was or if it was even going to be good. Sorry but Romeo and Juliet is just played out and I'd rater them go a different route. You pretty much can see the plot and climax from a mile away. If the writer of the damn game is fine with it, so am I.

"Nojima (scenario) statement: “This is Nojima. As director Tabata just announced, the plot that was developed during the Versus era has served as the basis for the Final Fantasy XV story. I’m sure the story will make many changes as they adapt my draft into a more detailed script, but I believe that the important things I wanted to express will be taken to another level by the XV team. As I express my support, I will be waiting for XV to be completed just like everyone else"

Now...that is the damn WRITER OF THE GAME saying this.

http://gematsu.com/2015/06/...

So the person that made the story is wrong? You're right and he's wrong? LMFAO! Um....sure.

"I played the demo all the way to the end, experimented & did not like the experience" Thats nice. I didn't love it, thought it was ok....still getting FFXV day 1. How that demo was has very little to do with the final game. Consider its not even fully open world bud, you don't have party...he is a kid.

"Yes you were, you selected a command based on a dice roll of possible strategies an enemy can take, then a particular enemy, you did this for several characters in 1 turn, you used your brain" Are you not using your brain to decided which enemy to attack in FFXV in the first place? Buddy...I'm pretty sure you can't just attack the whole time, JUST LIKE you can't just press attack on any FF game for the entire duration of the game. Some enemies won't be able to be attacked, you seem to be disregarding this point and over all trying to ignore it to make your point try to make sense. It doesn't when you factor that in.

You played a FF were all you had to do was attack? I don't think you played as much FF games as you claimed bud, that is simple RPG concept, you won't just be able to attack all enemies. Its so staple to RPGs, it even questions if you even play much RPGS in general at all.

[NoctisPendragon]

Well you should play the demo like that before complaining about its gameplay .

It is like you have missed 90% of the mechanics .

[franwex]

Maybe it was cut because she felt shoehorned in without too much of a motive beside "she was your rival since you were a baby" A game in development this long obviously had to go through changes, I mean even the title changed! We will never know, but I feel she was probably cut for the best.

[vanity29]

Idk i was interested in her concept and role. Watching those old trailers make me think about what we could've had

[rainslacker]

Without knowing the full story of either versus or XV it's really hard to say if it would have mattered, or if it was actually detrimental to the new story changes.

I liked the early premises that were known, and she appeared to be a pretty cool character, and i was looking forward to see how that whole relationship/antagonist relationship would play out. But knowing square, or FF, they probably just would have made her have some sort of split personality for some reason which she had to overcome with the help of Noctis....so maybe it will be better if the main female character was changed to something less tropish...or done away with because it serves no purpose to the plot. People will complain about removing a female, but I'd rather have a strong plot and character development over having a female there for the sake of having a leading female.

[jstark]

>"once again discussed the changes made from Final Fantasy Versus VIII, especially the removal of Stella."
>Final Fantasy Versus VIII
> VIII
lmao

[Bhuahahaha]

can you change other party member or are you stuck with broforce?

and i think SE got a future plan for stella on ffxv.
possibly they'll make a story arc that revolvews around her

[DualWielding]

I would personally have preferred a female main character but making it an all male party would be a big success with the yaoi fangirls who eat up stuff like axix power helitalia

[bronkie]

ask for another ff 13 game then!

[SarcasticDuck]

i don't get it. isn't Stella the same character as Luna? It just changed her name and hairstyle. she still have royal powers like Noctis (or gives the idea she has) and will marry him, so of course she will be covered in some part of the game!

[justy112]

No she is completely different than Luna, they even said that Luna is suppose to be a stronger character than Stella. but from the FF vs 13 Trailers it's really hard to tell.

[SarcasticDuck]

from vs13, she looked like a shut up woman like Lightning and on 15 she looks like a strong independent woman that fights for what she believes in (with words and actions). its just the same character with some big details changed, just like Cid

[rainslacker]

similar only in looks apparently. Personality and story motivations are apparently completely different, hence a different character.

According to the comment in the article, they felt that the new character didn't fit the old one, and it made them uncomfortable just changing the personality of Stella, so they opted to make a new character.

It's an interesting naming thing though given how FF handles names of the main characters. Stella means star, while Noctis means night, so supposedly it would mean Stella was a star for Noctis. While Luna and Noctis both mean night...so going by FF naming history, they would both be similar to one another. Just speculation though, since I don't really know any of the characters well enough to make any kind of judgement.

[Adrian_v01]

Luna means Moon though, not night.

[rainslacker]

Well...damn, you're right. Can't believe I botched that up.:(

Guess that whole last paragraph is meaningless now.

[SarcasticDuck]

like Adrian_v01 said, Luna means moon. you can't say its a different character just because her personality and backstory are different, otherwise i have 3 letters for you... CID

[rainslacker]

Already said my last paragraph was pointless, and realistically it didn't have much to do with my original point.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that having a different personality and backstory is a pretty good means to say it's a different character.

They didn't have to change the character model or anything, but they decided to, and if one wants to go by what this article said, then it's because they felt it wasn't right to keep Stalla there and just replace what she originally was with a new personality and backstory.

[ZombieGamerMan]

Just release the game to get critically panned by critics already

[franwex]

And destroyed by pessimist fanboys who saw a trailer a decade ago.

[ZombieGamerMan]

Well yes that's half the battle right there

[g4n]

I downloaded the new demo this weekend an worry the whole game will suck... SE didn't learn ANYTHING from the feedback on XIII series eh!

[Kalebninja]

What are you even talking about?

[innocentrebel]

https://youtu.be/3RxA7AUoVL...

[SynestheticRoar]

Nooooooooooo. STELLA! WHY stella? Why?

[MWH]

Luna l Balloona.

[thelaughingwiseman]

The whole game has changed too much for me. I loved the ideas and concepts of the game when it was first announced. An Alternative to X!!!, where you can change characters. Awesome concept story. Now, it's changed in a regressive standpoint. I don't like that it took too long to come out, and that key features and characters are getting removed. It's like they're tired of not being able to complete this game and just want to ship it out. No matter how incomplete it is. Hell, patches and DLC will fix it, am I right?

[RPG1201]

She would of been a great antagonist (hence another allusion to the ´versus´ motif).

From the early trailers I really liked that concept. That´s why I´m not 100% on that change. But will have to see the final result!

[Tzuno]

She was a shemale and in western releases it had to be removed, i know, people are angry now :(