Final Fantasy Versus XIII was around 25% complete when it became Final Fantasy XV

Although Final Fantasy Versus XIII was originally announced in 2006, many years passed before any large amounts of progress were actually done on the project. We know from old interviews that after various conceptual changes and world structure changes post 2010, the game finally entered its “full production” stage around 2011 before shifting on over to Final Fantasy XV around a year later.

Speaking to IGN, director Hajime Tabata offered further explanation.

“It’s a little bit rough, but in terms of how much it had progressed in terms of development, Versus XIII was around 20 to 25 percent,” Tabata said. “In terms of character designs or visuals, nothing really had been fixed at that point. We were still working on updating it and revising those designs.”

Final Fantasy XV as we know it today started development around three years ago and Versus XIII was in development up until that point.

“With regards to that overarching universe and setting for the world of Versus XIII, it was constructed around the Fabula Nova Crystallis setting, so there was a certain amount that had been included and decided upon,” Tabata went on to explain. “But when we shifted toward XV, obviously we took that apart and evaluated what would make sense and what wouldn’t. So there’s portions that remain from the earlier Versus XIII, but then there’s portions which evolved or changed due to the change in the direction of the title.

“Originally when we were working on Versus XIII, we were working on an earlier generation of console and the technology that we were working on was utilized for this earlier generation as an extension of the PS2 era. So that was a significant difference between XV and Versus XIII.”

Final Fantasy XV will launch sometime in 2016. Further information on character changes including Luna and King Regis are expected to be told at Tokyo Game Show in just a few short weeks.


About the Author

Erren Van Duine As a self-professed Final Fantasy fan, Erren created Nova Crystallis in 2009 as a place to collect the latest information on her favorite series. As owner and Editor-in-Chief, she also spends her time as a freelance illustrator.

Comments