Yusuke Naora talks shift away from Final Fantasy Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV has been a long (LONG) time coming. After being announced at E3 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the game was notoriously absent from E3 after E3 until finally in 2013 when Square Enix unveiled that the game had been rebranded into an official entry as Final Fantasy XV.

Game Informer is currently running a series of exclusive coverage this month on Final Fantasy XV and they recently sat down with Art Director, Yusuke Naora to talk about what has changed artistically from Versus XIII until now.

"With FF XV, rather than the specific character designs, the focus is more on the character's art direction…We had existing characters from Versus XIII like Noctis and his friends…that's when they were 'born' in essence…our fans showed a liking to them…that was something that we needed to carry over," said Naora.

Naora then details three specific themes that he and his art team focused in on for Final Fantasy XV.

• Storyline- the changes from Versus XIII
• Technology – needed to refresh characters to meet technological advancement
• Global perspective of the characters – how they are perceived by a global audience

He also says that the characters were originally designed by Tetsuya Nomura with the PS2 in mind due to the current (at the time) technological limitations. With how technology has evolved, he says that the level of reality that they can achieve has significantly improved, not just through what they put on the characters, but through mannerisms and expressions.

Final Fantasy XV has a lot riding on it as the game needs to sell REALLY well just for Square Enix to break even. In fact, the game might very well decide the future of the franchise itself. You can catch the game's next Active Time Report at E3 where hopefully we will get even more awesome footage.

Source: [Game Informer]