Final Fantasy XV Almost Met a Premature End Before Shifting Direction
Final Fantasy XV was originally titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Intended as a spin-off to Final Fantasy XIII, Tetsuya Nomura was the game’s first director. But it was nearly cancelled before it was transformed into what we now know as XV. Hajime Tabata, the director of the newest entry in the series, commented on the state of the project in a recent issue of Edge Magazine.
Square Enix’s previous CEO, Yoichi Wada, asked Tabata for his opinion on the project. At the time, Versus XIII was at its 6-year development mark and wasn’t progressing as the company wanted. He said that the project could not continue in the direction it was going. But at his push, he steered the game in a new direction that eventually became Final Fantasy XV.
According to to Tabata, 90 percent of his team was against the idea. They felt that taking on a Nomura project was an uncomfortable move. Tabata kept pushing and eventually created the final product: Final Fantasy XV. The core concepts that drove the change were the Comrades and storyline.
Final Fantasy XV is an open world game that puts players into the shoes of Noctis. As he journey’s cross the world of Eos, he is accompanied by his companions Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto. The Comrades expansion pack adds cooperative multiplayer with up to three other players online.
The game is a return to form for many after XIII received criticism for its overly linear gameplay. While the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV was not well received on its initial release, it was re-released as XIV: A Realm Reborn to positive reception.
Final Fantasy XV is available on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. It will make its PC landing on March 6th and receive a Royal Edition in March, which includes all DLC content released post-launch.