[21/11] SE aiming for shorter development time on Final Fantasy titles

[Linnaete]

Square Enix would like to shorten its development cycles on its Final Fantasy games, according to Final Fantasy XIII-2 producer Yoshinori Kitase.

Speaking to Game Reactor (via CVG), the writer and former director said, “The current generation console, Final Fantasy XIII, was obviously the first game, and personally I think we took a little too long getting it out.

“When you think of Western triple A titles like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Assassin’s Creed, they seem to work with a lot shorter turnaround – they make a new game in 1-2 years. That is something we need to follow up, because that seems to be the best way to keep our fans interested and attracted to the franchise.”

He also told the website that the Japanese publisher had “learnt a lesson” from the development of Final Fantasy XIII, stating that they took “a long time” to complete it.

The game was announced for PlayStation 3 at E3 2006—with an Xbox 360 version revealed at the same event two years later—and was released in 2010.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on Janruary 31, and February 3 in Europe.

Cheers, Gematsu!

 

[Steve-O]

i agree with this... i would love a final fantasy game a bit more often.... a main one every 5 years and it likr far to long when you think of other games that get one out every year or two years at the most.... it far too long and seeing it get shorter will make it more intresting for me ....... but try and make sure that you keep the game quality as well like call of duty, assassin creed and that does XD

 

[Hatifnatten]

When you think of Western triple A titles like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Assassin’s Creed, they seem to work with a lot shorter turnaround – they make a new game in 1-2 years. That is something we need to follow up, because that seems to be the best way to keep our fans interested and attracted to the franchise.”

No you fucking shouldn't follow that western piece of shit. They must be following you, as they always did. Fans are interested because it takes so much time. That means the game will be complete. Not a buggy piece of shit in need of patch every week.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Not going to happen, I'm calling it.

Assassin's Creed throughout the series has more or less stayed exactly the same with minor additions to the gameplay here and there and obviously the story. Call of Duty has stayed exactly the same, Black Ops hugely divided the fan base and Modern Warfare 3 has been slammed for being almost identical to Modern Warfare 2 - but worse. Battlefield also seems to have kept the same principles but feels a bit different because of the new engine. Kitase has used such bad, bad examples to compare development time to, granted that nowadays it should not take 4, 5 even 6+ years to produce a game.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 took significantly less development time because, surprise, surprise, it's based off Final Fantasy XIII much like his examples are based off their previous titles too. If Square-Enix starts bashing out RPGs that feel exactly like the previous game over 4 or 5 games then I can guarantee people will lose interest very quickly.

No you fucking shouldn't follow that western piece of shit. They must be following you, as they always did. Fans are interested because it takes so much time. That means the game will be complete. Not a buggy piece of shit in need of patch every week.

Ahhhhh, why does this not surprise me. Fans do NOT have more interest because it takes a long time to produce, last time I checked, Modern Warfare 2, 3 and Black Ops are set to be the top 3 biggest selling games of all time and they certainly didn't take YEARS of development. Versus on the other hand was announced nearly 6 years ago and nearly every man and his dog has lost interest in it. I don't see why anyone would want to follow Square-Enix, they're hardly the epitome of an AAA company these days. I think you're confusing a successful Japanese market 10 years ago to a modern Japanese market which is nearly dead.

 

[Rydrum2112]

There is a huge advantage in more titles- more likely to get some "hits", that is ones that each of us like based on the fact that there are more coming out.

I am cool with this.

 

[HolyDragoon]

Take a look at the release dates of FF VII, VIII, IX. You'll notice how close together they were. Notice the games were all successful, and among the best games of the PS1 era.

Develop an engine, then pump out 3-4 main games with it.

 

[Linnaete]

Kitase has used such bad, bad examples to compare development time to, granted that nowadays it should not take 4, 5 even 6+ years to produce a game.

This.

Comparing a full on Final Fantasy title - or heck, any JRPG - to something like Call of Duty doesn't hold up to scrutiny and is just asking to be picked apart. One is a single-player experience where each flagship title essentially returns to square one when discarding much of the foundations of its predecessor, therefore having to build a new one essentially from scratch while tweaking or reworking the combat systems and character stat development.

The other relies on much of the foundations already set by the previous installment, and can afford to have a short single-player campaign as its online (tweaked from game to game) is its main draw point. They are completely different projects to develop for.

So how does the above relate to what Kitase said? Well, the man is essentially implying that he would like to see a Final Fantasy released every one or two years looking at his examples. Good if something like Versus can never happen again when it's been nearly half a dozen years later and it's still as vaporous as ever.

However, is it really possible to roll out something for the PS3 and or the 360 of sufficient scale or quality this frequently? I honestly doubt it. And worse, it sounds like Kitase is contemplating blatant churning, similar to what Ubisoft is doing with the Assassin's Creed games. While I'm sure Revelations is a good game, it has been slated for feeling like a mere expansion pack of the other games, and sooner or later, I fear future installments' review scores dipping further and further.

So...can we see a chain of future Final Fantasy titles coming out more frequently, but possibly looking very indistinct from one another other than cosmetically? Well, some people probably won't mind that, as to be fair, older Final Fantasy games have played similar to one another anyway to large extents. As for me? I'm pessimistically seeing this as an opportunity to churn out products that perhaps haven't had the attention and time that it should have had, such as FFXIV. I don't think Square Enix can release games more frequently without compromise, such as innovation.

If however, they can stop spending months polishing rocks to make them look shiny while adding nothing to the overall gaming experience, then so be it. And going back to Versus on the other spectrum, yes. The development cycle that game is going through while we're still in the dark for this long since its ridiculously early announcement is just hilariously painful.

Take a look at the release dates of FF VII, VIII, IX. You'll notice how close together they were.

This was achievable at the time when development was nowhere near as arduously long, more challenging and expensive as it is now when you're going all on a project for an HD console. The PS1 era never had motion capturing, voiceovers and lip synching, for example.

 

[Tucker]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 took significantly less development time because, surprise, surprise, it's based off Final Fantasy XIII much like his examples are based off their previous titles too. If Square-Enix starts bashing out RPGs that feel exactly like the previous game over 4 or 5 games then I can guarantee people will lose interest very quickly.

Ba ba ba bingo
You have to come up with new everything, that's the point of the new FF game. Each game should feel new and not like it's already been done.

Call of Duty has the same concept, so it would take much less time to develop.

Haste makes waste, right? Fans are complaining that the FF series is going downhill, so I don't think speeding up their development process would help any bit

No you fucking shouldn't follow that western piece of shit. They must be following you, as they always did. Fans are interested because it takes so much time. That means the game will be complete. Not a buggy piece of shit in need of patch every week.

Personally, I do agree a bit. I remember when 12 was going to come out and it seemed so long since 10, I was so excited! It made the release of the game much more anticipated and grand. Although, I know many other people would want them more often. Like Stevie, fe

But, could this possibly mean, they will speed up Versus' development

 

[Nocturne]

Yeah its good to have good turn around time IF its possible. Not just to get another game out.

Assassins Creed has been getting flak recently because the game hasnt changed much and the story has been lackluster.

Call of Duty has been bashed for being almost exactly the same, along with a multitude of other FPS's.

These are not good examples. The reason why it took them so long is because they developed a new engine for high def consoles they werent used to making games for. They didnt have to develop a whole new engine for FFXIII-2, hence not taking nearly as long. It seems like Wada is pushing down on Kitase.

 

[Donald Trump]

This is very bad news, I was hoping that they would take so long developing the next finaru fantarijaru that I would be dead before it was released.
People are more interested in the quality of the game, not how long they have to wait for it.
They haven't even started KH3 so Kitasaru is clearly delusional and SE will release only one game every ten years.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 producer Yoshinori Kitase.

What a idiot!
Like COD has an amazing story. They still use the same engine from Call Of Duty 4! Also they switch developer teams every year. 600 employees and more for a game that focus a lot on multiplayer.

You sir are way too obsessed on the West! IMO western rpg's are doing better because you Japanese are not innovative anymore. (perhaps the Last Guardian although dont think it'll be a rpg might be something fresh) You guys are getting stale in the rpg department, but that doesnt mean you have to do it like the West HELL NO STAY JAPANESED BUT BETTER AND INNOVATIVE! FIGURE IT OUT!



FFXIII Versus? Where is my Versus if you want to make games with much shorter development time huh?

I have to applaud you guys if it took so much time to still make a mediocre game as FFXIII

Yall better dont fuck up Versus.

 

[Lirael]

This is rather worrying; one can only hope that they'll scrap this idea as soon as they realise that churning out a new game every couple of years will require reducing originality.

I have never felt let down by the time gap between recent Final Fantasy games. Having said that, I discovered the series in 2003... So I had A LOT of 'new' games to play through before XII hit the shelves. Furthermore, the wait for XIII Versus has certainly been rather ridiculous, but as long as it's a good game with a complex story, incredible world, fantastic gameplay etc, I'll be happy!

As most of you have said, I think Final Fantasy fans are more likely to lose interest if SE create repetitive games. SE should also consider the fact that they appeal to a more specific market, a gamers' market, whereas COD appeals to gamers and non-gamers alike; there are a lot of people who onlyplay COD. It's used as a sociable game and people are competitive when playing it.

 

[Stoic Hero]

It's not that hard to develop a good Final Fantasy game. I've played and beaten all but XIII. A successful Final Fantasy has two things: a groundbreaking story and a fun, intuitive battle system. Final Fantasy I (for its time), IV, VI, VII, IX, and X all had this. III didn't have a good story, V didn't have a good story (amazing battle system, though), VIII's story was decent, but the battle system needed work, and XIII was pretty mediocre in story and had a terrible battle system in my opinion. XII is an exception because, while it didn't have an amazing story, the world was grand and you could lose yourself for hours in it.

Just create a game where the story captivates audiences (something along the lines of VII or X) and, for goodness sakes, get rid of the horrendous battle system (they are changing it for XIII-2...we'll see if it has been changed enough to be considered good).

 

[Rey]

It is hilarious that Square Enix have compared Final Fantasy to games such as CoD and Assassins creed... Final Fantasy is an rpg, while CoD is a shooter. Rpg's will always take longer to make than these type of first person shooters. If Square Enix makes a final fantasy every year, they are just truly going overboard. Call of duty is the same repetitive shite, but if FF were to get flagship tiles every year, the number of FF players will diminish greatly. Final Fantasy takes awhile to make... I mean just look at Versus! Three Uncharted games and Mass Effect games have been released, and Versus is standalone. I find it hilarious that Square Enix say this now. I can just seem them trying to rush Versus now, because of this. Does Versus even have a release date yet? Nope.. it does not. 100% development speed my arse.

 

[Martel]

Hey, why not? It's not like Square Enix are capable of making a proper video game these days anyway, they might as well just churn them out quicker; they're still going to make a ton of money regardless, which is clearly all they give a damn about. All these long development times do is build up people's hopes, which are ultimately destroyed in a dramatic six-storey high fireball of epic proportions; might as well just go through the process quicker, because the game is going to be shit whether it takes 5+ years to make (FFXIII) or about a year and a half (FFXIII-2).

That Square Enix are even thinking about comparing RPGs to titles like Call of Duty just shows they have absolutely no idea how to make an RPG or even a video game anymore. Series like Ass Creed, CoD and whatnot can achieve these short development times because they DON'T CHANGE. Play one CoD, you've played them all. That shouldn't be do-able with JRPGs, and certainly not with the FF series which, whilst there are certain older titles I don't like, I have to admit they were completely different from the one that preceded it. Square Enix clearly don't have a fucking clue...but then, FFXIII alone was proof enough of that, and XIII-2 is just the icing on a very nasty cake.