Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura has been quite the busy man these past few days. In addition to the Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III interviews (which can be read here and here, respectively), he shared additional info during an earlier interview called the “Square Enix Members Exclusive Interview Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMIX” program, which was reported by Famitsu.
Nomura says during the interview that Final Fantasy Versus XIII was large enough in scope within the first year or two of having been announced, that Square Enix had already considered rebranding it as Final Fantasy XV. It was decided two years ago that it would shift to next-gen consoles and it was officially decided to move the title over as Final Fantasy XV sometime last year.
Nomura talked a little about the game’s system. “Action is the base, and there aren’t too many turn-based elements,” he explained. That said, “We’re being careful to not make it completely action, since we want it to be a “Final Fantasy” action game, so we’re putting a lot of considerations into such matters.”
The director would like to show the Final Fantasy feeling to it by allowing you to fight alongside party members and having to think about certain actions you take.
In regards to the main character, Noctis, Nomura shared his opinion. “Honestly, his inside (personality) isn’t very cool. Judging by his appearance, he may look that way, but he’s actually quite the weirdo. (laugh)”
Finally, Nomura explained the delay in relaying information about the game publicly. Since moving Final Fantasy XV to next-gen consoles, Square have decided to increase the quality while using the Luminous Studio engine, which explains its lengthy delay and the lift of the “informational ban” Nomura had previously mentioned.
In addition to Final Fantasy XV info, Nomura also touched upon additional Kingdom Hearts III. The director did his best to answer many questions that fans have been asking.
“I can’t say anything for now, but we always have the intent to prepare surprises” Nomura said in regards to any new worlds in Kingdom Hearts III. “If possible, we’d like to add even more of those surprising worlds, this time around.”
Nomura talked a little bit about the upcoming battle system, which he stated will be based on Kingdom Hearts II’s system, but in an evolved form.
“I believe that putting a number on a title requires a legitimate evolution. In addition to what’s expected, I believe that a sense of comfort is also required,” said Nomura. “Everyone seemed to like the battle system of Kingdom Hearts II, so we’d like to evolve that. However, we’d also like to add elements that were popular in spin-off titles, along with parts I felt had room for improvement.”
Many fans have wondered what kind of characters we’ll be seeing in Kingdom Hearts III. While Nomura doesn’t have answers, he mentioned some ideas they’ve been exploring, such as having more Final Fantasy characters and the possibility of being able to control other characters aside from Sora.
According to Nomura, the summoning system will be different from past titles. Finally, he mentioned that they’re currently exploring the possibility of having some sort of online multiplayer feature, that has yet to be seen in any Kingdom Hearts title.
Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III are currently in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
