Finaland: ATR inspired by Producer Letter

Tabata: The thinking behind the Active Time Reports wasn't "okay, this is great for FFXIV, we want to do the same thing". Where this comes from is really specific to FFXV. We announced we were changing over from the game that was previously Versus XIII and making it to FFXV. Of course, with this change, there was some confusion and a bit of concern from the fans of the game from the time it was Versus XIII. We thought the best way to address this was to be honest with the fans, let them know what we were thinking and why we were doing everything. We discussed a number of options and what came up in the end was that the best way was to tell them straight and have direct communication: let them know what we are thinking, why we are doing this, where we are aiming for.

As you said, FFXV is not a MMO but a stand-alone title, but even so, what we gained from doing these Active Time Reports is that there has been this process of communication with the fanbase. We released the demo for example. Through the ATR reports and the feedback from the demo, we were really able to create this two-way communication. We really think it's important and it does contribute a lot to FFXV, making sure it's what the fans really want. I think having this communication is a big success.

But of course, this is a new thing that we are trying, and we are certainly not experts. I'm not saying it's working 100% of the time. We are going to make mistakes, and one of them was this week at gamescom. We underestimated the expectations people had and the kind of information people were looking for at this kind of event. Maybe that didn't quite get through before we knew about it. We are going to make mistakes, disappoint a few fans in how we release our information. But I think it's important not to get depressed and set back. We should think: okay, we made a mistake, how do we fix it, how do we make sure it is good next time, and have a good relationship with the fans? We are going to keep improving and making the best we think we can.

FFWorld: reading a previous interview, normal for a game to change during development and didn't understand why people were disappointed. Worried that it reveals inconsistencies in the game storyline, lack of direction

Tabata: I really do understand that there are people who get worried. But I think the big danger, the thing you really cannot do as a game developer, is get a full sense of confidence and try and make a game you can't deliver. You really can't do that. Of course, as game developers, we put a large portion of our lives into making this game, and we really intend to make it the best possible version of the game, the most amazing experience it could be, because this is our lives. So, in order to do that, rest assured: we are very concerned that we are not going to have a game which has all sorts of disparate elements that don't fit together and with all sorts of inconsistencies within the story. We don't want that in the game. We are definitely going to try and avoid that.

There are two very important things here. The first one is the one I just mentioned: we have this vision of what we think FFXV should be, to make it the best possible game it can be, and to develop it along those lines and not compromise on what we think will please the fans the most. That is a clear and very important mission. But in addition to that, we also think it's very important to be very polite to the user base, to show our intregity in dealing with the changes from Versus XIII. To really get them to understand why we did those. But these are two different things. Letting them know why we change things is one thing. Keeping our plan for the game, our vision of what we think it should be, we don't let those two get confused. Hopefully that can give you a better idea of the way we look at that.

Overall, when we changed over from Versus XIII to XV, we look at all the elements that were intended to be in Versus XIII and the plan for that game, and how these would fit into the new plan as FFXV. We really tried to give as much of it as possible. Everything we could move over and keep in the story, we did. We kept a lot of it in there. Obviously, there was stuff that just couldn't fit into the new plan. In these cases, we felt we had to alter them in some way, or remove them, or replace them. That is something we are not ashamed of doing, because we think they really needed to be changed. We did try to keep as much as possible. To try and get people to understand that, we try to get this message across in the best possible way. Hopefully you will understand.

From this experience with this very unique situation with FFXV, there is one thing that I learned, something that will stay with me as a lesson: when you release information about a game very early, with something like Versus XIII which is a game that never really took shape, how this information is viewed by the world is very different to what we think it is. At the point it goes out into the world, it stops being our thing and it becomes something for the fans. It's just natural that the fans are going to get attached to these characters. How we handle the way people relate to the information we release is something that we have learned a lot about and that will be very important for the future.

What it teaches us, and it is linked to the answer to the last question, that stance is very important on the fact that, of course it is natural that games will change during development. That's how games are made. To get that across, to deal with how we tell people and give this information to the fans is something we really need to have a strong position on as well.

FFWorld: showing a lot of behind-the-scenes, also showing doubt or hesitation on some features. A risk to demystify the magic of a new FF.

Tabata: (thinking) I very much think that this open communication style is not a bad thing. It's a very good and productive thing when it comes to exchanging between the developers of the game and the people who are going to play it. So overall I think it probably is a good thing. Obviously the problem is that there is a bad side to that, and in some ways we have maybe made people more worried, caused concern and anxiety among the fans, and that's not a good thing and it needs to be addressed. But that doesn't mean that this idea of communication is a bad thing. That means we really have to look at how we announce information and the way that communication in a way that people can relate with, rather than giving up on it. The Active Time Report that we did at gamescom made me learn a lot about how the information is received and the best way we should transmit this information in the future. I want to try and improve the way we present things rather than give up, because I think there is a lot to be gained from out there.

One of the things we really get from this two-way communication process, hearing the actual voices of the fans, is that it is a great motivation to continue making the game. There are 300 people in the development team, working on the PS4 and Xbox One versions, and sometimes it gets very hard to continue because there are a lot of problems. But hearing these voices really makes us push on through. We definitely think there is a lot to be gained from that open communication, both for the fans and for the development team. It's an important relationship because we need both positive and negative opinions. Both are very valuable. When we found out that the way we approach this communication release was disappointing and worrying people, we need to fix that straight away. We need to know that. That's a benefit of this communication.

To the second part of your question, I also agree with you that gaining information too early is a very bad thing. For FFXV, this is obviously a special position, having started out as Versus XIII, having released information at that time. That's something we can't turn the clock back on, we have to continue and put a lot of effort to maintain that relationship with the fans to reassure them. Certainly, for the next game, we wouldn't want you to be gaining information at such an early point. We don't want to do that, because it's counterproductive. But with FFXV we have to continue and try to make the best of it, unfortunately.

FFWorld: Disappointment shows that we care.

Tabata: Thank you. You are giving me a lot of courage.

FFWorld: And don't give up.

Tabata: [in English] Of course! (laughs)

FFDream: airships as DLC / underwater battles, worried that you consider these gameplay elements as optional or accessory?

Tabata: For those two elements that you mentioned, the aquatic battles and the airships, there is a difference in how important these two features are. To start with airships, we very much are still trying very hard to get airships in the final game if we can. Ideally, if we had enough time and resources for the development, we would spend that time working out the technology to get airships into the game, making sure it all fits in, and polishing it to the level it needs to be. We still may achieve that, but if we can't, we need a back-up plan, because unfortunately we don't have unlimited amount of time and money to do this game. We very much set that when we changed over the project, we said that we can't keep people waiting beyond 2016. We have to get the game out in the best possible state it can be at that time within the budget we've set. We really want to get airships in, but if we can't get it to the game at that point, we think the best option is to add it after rather than just give up on it. We want to get it to you. If we can't do it in time, we have to find other ways. Why I made this announcement was to let people know that we understand Final Fantasy fans love airships and that the best option for everyone if we can't get the airships into the game in the form they need to be, then it's better to have them later in the right form, rather than force them in a incomplete form, so that you get them as they should be and not something unsatisfactory.

Compared to that, the need for aquatic battles is maybe not necessary to the game for it to be what it should be. Among the priorities of what we should work on, I think that's quite low. We made the decision that there is stuff that is much more important to go in first, so that's why we decided to not have full aquatic battles in the game. Looking at what the priorities are for FFXV, even more important than having airships or underwater battles I think, the real core is that FFXV should be a game which has the highest level of technology which supports the ultimate story experience. This is what we are prioritizing in the development of the game.

Have you heard about the discussion with Avalanche Studios? This is a very new announcement that we were only allowed to do from lunchtime, yesterday, and we immediately made this announcement in our video interview with IGN. You probably know about Avalanche Studios, the studio working on Just Cause 3 which is on display here. We are talking with their central technology team, which is based in Stockholm. We started this discussion between Avalanche Studios and the FFXV technology team, looking to use each other's specific technology to further enhance the games that we develop. The technology that is really special that they have is the vertical element to their games, the seamless, the very high and vertical gameplay mechanic of their games. That is something we are really interested in. One of the big reasons why we started this discussion about possibly using their unique, high-level technology in that field is to enhance that one specific part of FFXV. If these discussions go well and if we manage to get something out of it, it could very much solve the problems that we are having, and that may very much allow full-scale airships to be in the game.

If we made the decision to not include the airships in the final game, we maybe wouldn't need to go through these discussions and try and get that technology. But the reason why we pushing ahead to try and close the discussions and negociations to get that is because there are a lot of people like you out there who want to see airships in the game. We are trying to get them in in any way possible that we can.

FFDream: Some of our readers are concerned about the feedback. Afraid that you listen to all requests and lose visions. What can you say to reassure us?

Tabata: Just to explain how we view this testing and this feedback, and what we use it for. What we find the most important about this feedback is first of all to test the elements of the game that we think are really good, or the kind of emotional reaction that we want to see and how we think the fans would be reacting to them, see if that really is the case or not. That's one of the biggest objective of this kind of testing. We are very much aware that if you listen to every single opinion given, there is no way you can reflect all of those in the game. You will get as many opinions as there are fans out there. We know you can't listen to everyone. To sum up again, really, we have our vision and what we are aiming to do with FFXV, and the testing are meant to see if these objectives are being met, rather than getting feedback from everywhere. It is really to see if the emotional response to an element of the game is the reaction that we are looking for. If it is, it's brilliant, but if it's not, we think: okay, can we polish this to make sure it is? If not, we change it to make sure we achieve what we want to achieve. It's a very focused test. Hopefully, hearing that, some of your readers might be reassured in the way we use this feedback. It really is not about losing our vision at all.

Finaland: FFXIV introduced a new summon Ravana, will FFXV do the same or stick to the usual

Tabata: To answer your question directly, there is a certain Eidolon that appears within the game, one of the ones that you've seen previously, which appears in a completely new form. It's a very different new idea on the same old character. There is also a very good story-based reason to why we are sticking to more traditional, familiar Eidolons in this game. The reason for that is because this time around, the Eidolons play a very big part in the story, they are very much an integral part of the game world. So we thought it would be better to have the traditional ones, the one everyone is familiar with, to see how they fit in the story and what is the backstory behind these characters, rather than having completely new Eidolons.

The Japanese name for the Eidolons, shokanju, literally means "summoned beasts". That certain image may not be great for FFXV. The way we look at summons in this game, they are not random animals or monsters, they are very much intelligent creatures with their own thoughts and their own agendas. Hopefully people will have a lot of fun seeing this new take on how the Eidolons appear in the game and fits into the game. Sounds quite interesting, doesn't it?

FFDream: Fabula Nova Crystallis myth, using the mythology but not the names and why

Tabata: There is two main reasons for that. The first of those is because the world of FFXV was originally designed with these elements and links to the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology in mind. When we came to reajust the game and change it from Versus XIII to XV, we felt it was much better to keep them in there and incorporate them in a very natural way, rather than try and remove all of them at any expense. We'd lose a lot of the world and its attraction if we did that. But why we decided to remove all the specific terminology from FFXIII was that, if you start the story and we introduce these new words and ideas from the start, first people will think it's still very much part of the XIII series and the XIII world. So you'd lose some of the identity as FFXV and we really want to avoid that. Instead, we decided to not use this specific terminology and to introduce the language of the game in an easy and understandable way, that anyone can follow when they get into the game from there.

FFWorld: new environment from gamescom, a bit sterile

Tabata: There is perhaps a reason why you felt that about that area. The video footage we show there is an area that is under construction, it's not finished yet. So obviously, it's going to change. What we have done here is that we are trying to show new ideas, new areas from FFXV. In that one, you travel in the valley and in the swamp, which is the habitat of the Morbol. There may be other areas too that we've created where you have monsters coming down from the skies to attack you. That's what we are trying to show here. But this isn't a finished location and a lot of the game is at that kind of stage at the moment, it's about 60 to 80% complete, and obviously now, these need to be further polished and enhanced to really made to fit in the overall FFXV world and brought up to that top level of quality. Rest assured, it's being worked on. We just wanted to show something new.

One of the other reasons why we are putting out information in that form, in that kind of in-progress video, is really down to the current stage of the game's development. There are different options about how to do this: one would be to focus on one area on the game and polish that to the finished quality level, and use that to make a trailer out of that, but if we did that it would really affect the overall development of the game and cause bottlenecks in some places. Instead, at the moment we are in a phase of fleshing out the game and filling in all the assets, and then polishing them up across the whole game, which is a lot more efficient way of doing it. Rather than focusing on making trailers that look great, we really work on the game as it should be worked on and showing that as our new information.

FFWorld: reformulation

Tabata: To reassure you, the construction of the game and the way the areas differ throughout the game starts out as a world very much based on reality. It feels more solid and more grounded in reality. As the game progresses, you will certainly more fantastic, otherworldly kind of elements. You will see these different tastes, this kind of magical and superb ideas that you see in previous Final Fantasy games will be seen close to the end of the game. It's all in there.