Fabula Nova Crystalis. One myth with dozens of stories. The director of all the hands of the Final Fantasy XIII sub-series, Motomu Toriyama, described the vision not as a series of stories, but a fairy tale that flows through a single force, the Crystals. According to the developers, the shared mythology gives creative freedom at the planning stage. Three projects were born independently. Among them, there is a place for the would-be Final Fantasy: Versus XIII, a prelude to the game that is a welcome committee for new and regular recipients of the generational brand initiated back in the days of Squaresoft. The evolution of the Versus XIII took a decade or more. For several dozen hours of gameplay in Final Fantasy XV, it’s a high price, right?
“ The production of three games started almost at the same time. We tried to gather a common platform that would serve us as one construction site [Kryształ – editorial note]. From then on, we created completely independently of each other. Each game went its own way, with a different world and characters, ” Motomu Toriyama ironically described the concept as a myth. Fabula Nova Crystalis was written in the form of a book, as a collection of mythical stories about the Crystals. Kazushige Nojima started composing the first lore words in April 2004. It took him a year to write it all down. While working, he gained support from developers involved in the Fabula Nova Crystalis multiverse game project. Yoshinori Kitase, Testuya Nomura, Shinji Hashimoto, Motomu Toriyama and Hajime Tabata had their share here. Habata compared the concept to Greek mythology, which itself has a multitude of very well-known, often unconnected stories. It was barely the germ of the later Final Fantasy XV .
Facts and myths
Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Final Fantasy: Versus XIII – three games collected in the Fabula Nova Crystalis concept . In fact, only the first one left on the list. Agito XIII evolved into Final Fantasy Type-0 led by Hajime Tabata. Versus XIII became the subject of today’s lesson. However, several years passed before the decision-makers at Square Enix decided to transform into the “fifteen”. Tetsuya Nomura became the helmsman of the Versus XIII project. The appearance of the character also remained in his competence, and only that. Himuro Takahara was hired by the publisher to create the costumes. Who is that? Takahara worked as a creative director for the Japanese clothing brand, Roeh. Square Enix has contracted to use Roeh’s style in the new game. But Nomura hurried up. One of the first Versus XIII ad posters featured Noctis in an outfit designed not by Takahara, but by Nomura. Ambition chased ambition.
Square Enix revealed at its Games Developers Conference 2008 that Crystal Tools will be the driving force behind Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In practice, this meant that the real-time conversation between Noctis and Stella presented a few months later was the only material the developers had at their disposal. Apart from the promising trailer and this record (not even gameplay), fans doubted the game’s quick debut. The next materials appeared only a year later, during the Tokyo Game Show 2009. Nomura then pointed out that the presented shots of the game are not a reflection of the actual game. The show was only to confirm that the game is being systematically developed. Versus XIII was announced as an open-world production. For the graphics engine developed for FFXIII, generating satisfactory quality turned out to be too problematic. In 2010, work begins on Luminous Studio, a new graphics engine . The tool was developed with the eighth generation of consoles in mind, although support for then-current platforms, such as PS3, X360 and Wii U or Nintendo 3DS, was envisaged.
Until 2011, information about Final Fantasy Versus XIII appeared quite sporadically. The game was not presented to the public during the biggest event, E3 2010. At the end of June, Dengeki PlayStation magazine published an interview with Nomura, who stated that work on the costumes of the characters was completed together with the designers of Roen. Yoshinori Kitase at the end of the summer of the same year alarmed the audience with the information that Versus XIII would not be released even until the end of 2011. Unfortunately, he was right. The breakthrough came in the summer of 2011. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One dev-kits have arrived at Square Enix headquarters. Final Fantasy Versus XIII’s fate as a PlayStation 3 exclusive has been sealed. Both the managers and developers of the game knew that the situation had changed. Nomura meanwhile assured the press that work on the game is in full swing. Although it sounded quite unreliable in the face of his statements. After all, several years have passed since the game was revealed, while the project was not yet in the main production phase. Noctis himself tried to reassure the fans. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the brand, on September 1, 20112, Tetsuya Nomura made a sketch showing the character’s profile with congratulations and asking for patience.
The return of the King
Final Fantasy Versus XIII defended itself in the media until the last moment. The decisive moment came in 2012 . The project was officially renamed. Yoichi Wada, then CEO of the company, had assured a few months earlier that the project had not been canceled. The world learned about the existence of Final Fantasy XV during E3 in 2013. So it became clear that this was the end for Versus XIII. Hajime Tabata is the new director. By Wada’s decision, the team previously working on FF Type-0 was included in the work. The real journey of Noctis and his companions has begun. Both he and Prompto, Ignis and Gladioluos weathered the development storm of Versus XIII. The concept of the prince’s carriage, Regalia, also survived, because this name was not in the plan. Hajime Tabata joined the team when it had nearly 200 dedicated employees. You can’t forget about Nomura’s ideas. Many elements have been reused. Noctis was able to use crystal power from the beginning, teleport. The combat system also focused on action. The cutscenes followed an identical trail. The order of characters has changed. So these nearly ten years have not been in vain. Final Fantasy XV also marks the debut of a new technology, the Luminous Engine.
” Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers ” – Every time we start the game we see this description. Is it compatible with Final Fantasy XV content? Traditionalists may have felt touched by the threshold of gameplay changes . So far, the creators of the series have preferred turn-based clashes, materia, ATB stripes, and a number of other components characteristic of the series. FFXV changes a lot in the narrative and gameplay. The vast majority of the game gives way to a corridor structure in favor of the promotion of an open world. The nature of the production is reflected in the intro itself. The four friends, led by Noctis, who wants to regain the crown, try to push Regalia to finally move on. Florence The Machine ‘s arrangement of the song ” Stand by Me ” is heard in the background. Final Fantasy XV is designed in road game mode. Not everyone has to like this concept. For Square Enix, the project marked the entry into a new era of storytelling. We can see this trend in Forspoken, a game from the same studio, released at the beginning of the year. We often hear that games developed over the years rarely succeed. The case of Final Fantasy XV proves that this is a bit of superstition. I’ve been bound to the cycle since first entering Midgar in Cloud Strife’s lumpy skin. I was a bit afraid of Noctis’ high-performance actions. Completely unnecessary. The game deserved its number.
Source : PPE