The changes surrounding Final Fantasy XV over the years have remained a hot topic among fans following the departure of Tetsuya Nomura in 2014. Since then, Square Enix revealed several key components – many of which had been shown to the public – had been removed or re-purposed to fit within a single game rather than a multi-part series.
These changes, director Hajime Tabata admits, are something the team still hears about on a regular basis. “What we hear the most is, ‘You willfully changed Versus!'” he explained to 4Gamer. “From our perspective as developers we have to change what we have to, though.”
About a year ago, Tabata took to one of his Active Time Report streams to break the news. In particular, it was revealed Stella – the heroine opposite of Noctis throughout the Versus years – had been changed in order to consolidate the story of XV in just one game. Tabata says they couldn’t just change her role – after all, fans had an image of Stella in their minds even though only part of her traits had been revealed – and in doing so her image would have been totally different than what was expected. He figured some fans wouldn’t have appreciated that.
“Our emotions are with her, and there’s really no good way to present a perfect explanation,” he said. “Developers feel uncomfortable working on a well-known character if they have to completely change their role. This is why we decided to change the character completely.”
Because humans make mistakes and harbor doubts about making the right choices, Tabata doesn’t want the staff who weren’t involved in Versus XIII to feel they’re doing anything wrong with Stella and other things so that’s why they decided to move on.
Tabata’s full explanation for Stella’s removal can be read here.
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