Final Fantasy XII Interview

As hundreds of Final Fantasy fans dressed in full cosplay outfits queued along London’s Oxford Street for a chance to buy Final Fantasy XII and get their copy signed, Pro-G was granted some time with Hiroshi Minagawa, the game’s director, and Akitoshi Kawazu, the Executive Producer.

Pro-G: First of all, can you tell me how the series has evolved? What developments can we expect to see in Final Fantasy XII?

Hiroshi Minagawa: The game itself is even bigger than ever before. As well as being vaster in volume, Final Fantasy XII is also the game, in our opinion, that takes advantage of every last bit of power the PS2 has to offer – more than any title before it.

Pro-G: Playing Final Fantasy XII you notice immediately how well it manages to juggle every type of RPG, from MMO and action through to the more traditional and tactical. How easy was it to strike this balance?

Hiroshi Minagawa: We never really thought of the balance between the genres. We were lucky enough to have a lot of development time to work on the game, which made us create this balance quite naturally.

Pro-G: With regard to gameplay, what is it that unites all the games of the series, and what elements from the previous games has Final Fantasy XII taken and expanded upon?

Akitoshi Kawazu: The battle system for Final Fantasy XII actually takes away a lot of the elements from previous Final Fantasy games rather than relying on them. For example, the system has evolved from using traditional command inputs to using developed AI.

Pro-G: But what is it that makes the actual series so popular and how have you embraced these factors when developing Final Fantasy XII?

Akitoshi Kawazu: We’ve taken the best-loved elements of each Final Fantasy which has been released in the past and tried to make every new game in the series improve on those features. This is why we believe Final Fantasy continues to improve and attract fans and popularity.

Pro-G: Will Final Fantasy XII be one of the last turn-based games of the series, with talk of Final Fantasy XIII being in realtime?

Akitoshi Kawazu: It really depends on who develops Final Fantasy XIII. It may be a necessity that we keep a turn-based system but we can’t provide you with a clear answer to that question…

Pro-G: How does it feel to see the brilliant critical reception Final Fantasy XII received, and see all the fans outside, after what was rumoured to be such a long and difficult development process?

Akitoshi Kawazu: Just seeing the fans makes us relieved. We are very happy they have been so patient with the release of the European version. I’m very thankful a lot of the players have accepted the game. We were very nervous about the fans’ reactions to changing the battle system. It was a very radical change for a Final Fantasy.

Pro-G: How did you come about the decision to change the battle system and get rid of almost all Final Fantasy’s infamous random battles?

Hiroshi Minagawa: (Laughter) It was solely based on the battle director’s decisions. We think it was very natural that in incorporating the seamless battle sequences into the game we removed the random battle sequences completely.

Akitoshi Kawazu: The dev team members who worked on Final Fantasy XII had never worked on a game where the battle scene changes in-game so much, so that had a strong influence on not having the random battles included.

Pro-G: Does the reception Final Fantasy XII received show that there is still life in the PS2?

Hiroshi Minagawa: Regarding the Final Fantasy titles, we are not looking at the PS2 anymore. We are shifting more to the next-generation consoles, so Final Fantasy XII will be the last Final Fantasy title on the PS2.

Pro-G: Can you tell use any thing about Final Fantasy XIII at all?

Both: (laughter) No comment!

Pro-G: So it would be a bad time for me to ask about the Crystal Chronicles sequel on the Wii?

Akitoshi Kawazu: (More laughter) Yes. No comment again!

Pro-G: Thank you very much and enjoy the signing.