Hajime Tabata joins Final Fantasy XV as co-director, PC version undecided

Final Fantasy Versus XIII is now Final Fantasy XV – a fact quite well known now since its reveal last week at E3. Since then, several interviews have been had, media has been shared – but that always leaves room for more. Speaking with Famitsu, Director Tetsuya Nomura, Total Visual Director Takeshi Nozue and newly revealed co-director Hajima Tabata (of FF Type-0 and Crisis Core fame) shared some new insight on this fifteenth coming and its leap into the next generation.

As already explained, Final Fantasy XV will make use of DirectX 11 based tools – developed in a high specification PC environment. Because of this, porting to platforms that support that tool set will be an easy match for potential porting – hence a release on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While a Wii U version is unlikely to happen as a result there may be a chance for a PC release further down the line.

A PC version is “currently undecided” and according to the team, FFXV will require a high end PC to operate and because of this they would want to see what sort of “demand” from the PC user base would potentially be. Development is currently being done on both parts of Luminous Studio and the team’s original tools as well as a middleware solution. Eventually they want to move over to Luminous Engine completely, but the engine itself is still incomplete and it would be too late for them to start the game anew if they waited for that moment. Both Luminous Studio and the FFXV team are working simultaneously to create an engine and a game at the same time.

Of course, with the PS4 version Vita remote play is a mandate feature per Sony and Square Enix is looking very closely at how the handheld will interact with FFXV. Additionally, the team is considering expanding some features to smartphones and tablets – map usage perhaps?

Final Fantasy XV is an action RPG – the team has always wanted to stray from the typical turn or command based combat seen in previous titles for something completely new. One feature being added will be the ability to climb larger monsters while in battle – as demonstrated in the debut gameplay trailer as Noctis and his friends take on a massive behemoth. Character switching is also still intact – with the ability to switch between any of three main party members at a given time.

Those looking for the next bit of information need not wait long – Shinji Hashimoto, the game’s Producer, promises more will be shared on the game soon and the days of obfuscation on information and media have now ended.

Via: FF-Reunion.


About the Author

Erren Van Duine As a self-professed Final Fantasy fan, Erren created Nova Crystallis in 2009 as a place to collect the latest information on her favorite series. As owner and Editor-in-Chief, she also spends her time as a freelance illustrator.

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