Brief Final Fantasy X Team Interview

Interviewer: You obviously finished the game quite a while ago now, with the game releasing last year in Japan and the US - what's your reaction to the way FFX has been received?

Hashimoto: We've had a great reception from the media and already received some awards and so forth, so overall the reaction has been excellent.

Interviewer: How did the leap from PSone to PS2 change the way you approached the development of the game?

Kitase: There was great advancement from PSone to PS2. If you remember before we had lots of limitations in terms of hardware so had to sacrifice quite a lot but now with PS2 in terms of graphics and sound we have been able to include incredible advancements, and also with the introduction of the DVD the capacity has been increased allowing us to use voice-acting.

Interviewer: While the graphics and sound, certainly reflect the advance in generation, do you think you've delivered a next-gen gaming experience?

Kitase: Yes, for the very fact that computer processing is now so fast, the DVD is there and there are certain things that the PSone was incapable of doing that is now possible on PS2. Because the computer operates so quickly, this allows for a very fast response time, and there are no longer the long waits that were present on PSone. In terms of playing the game itself, PS2 has many advantages over PSone.

One example is a battle scene with three characters involved - they can change quite rapidly because of the power of PS2. This would probably have been possible on PSone, but very, very slow and take away from the fun of the game.

Interviewer: For European gamers who haven't had chance to play Final Fantasy X yet, why should they be excited?

Hashimoto: I think I'd like to ask you that question - what do you think they're expecting?

Interviewer: They're waiting for a great, immersive adventure in the Final Fantasy tradition, that represents a significant leap over what was seen on PSone - the next step.

Hashimoto: I think what you've just said is exactly what we expect. That it looks great, and also with PS2 we are able to put everything possible into the game in the best possible way, and I hope that by playing this game that users will experience a leap forward.

Kitase: It's a great thing to look forward to for players thinking: "Where else can they go?"

Interviewer: When you're writing music for a game of this size, how do you approach writing the score?

Uematsu: It's very much a progression as I've been involved from Final Fantasy I onwards, and before that Game Boy games that lasted eight hours. So it wasn't like I was suddenly asked to write music for a game lasting 50 hours - it's been a progression.

And in terms of length it becomes more enjoyable, as the longer the game the more variety of music I can compose.

Interviewer: In the same way that the soundtrack is such a huge project, how does a writer approach constructing a tightly written narrative for a 50 hours-plus game?

Nojima: Including myself, there are another three scenario writers on the team. We get together scenarios and ideas and ask the team what they think of them. It's a lengthy process.

Interviewer: How long would it typically take to write a script of this size?

Nojima: For Final Fantasy VII and VIII the basic period for script-writing was three to four months, but during the whole process of developing we are constantly revising. With FFX, because we add the voice-overs, though the fundamental writing period was three to four months, we also had the voices to do which took another three to four months.

Interviewer: With reference to Final Fantasy XI, why did you choose to make an online RPG?

Hashimoto: If you look at the game market it has been developing quite incredibly and also the development and spread of PCs made it quite clear that online games would grow quite rapidly so we decided to go online some two years ago.

Interviewer: Many of the existing PC MMORPGs are nothing more than glorified chat-rooms - what have you done to avoid this?

Hashimoto: The PS2 broadband unit is for consumer users not for PC users at all and we're trying to offer something that an amateur can enjoy playing online, and also with the chat-rooms and so forth, there aren't many MMORPGs with strong storylines so we are trying with FFXI to offer consumer users some story elements with their game.

Interviewer: We've heard that Europe might have to wait as long as 2004 to play Final Fantasy XI - what's your view on this?

Hashimoto: I'm not sure where you've heard this. As far as our company goes that is undecided at this point because we have to gather more knowledge regarding the platforms, networks and so forth - all the hurdles must first be cleared before we can decide, so it's not decided yet.

Interviewer: It was actually Chris Deering, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe who mentioned it.

Hashimoto: [laughs] Tokyo certainly hasn't heard anything like that!

Interviewer: What are your thoughts on the re-establishment of Square's relations with Nintendo?

Hashimoto: What we have so far announced was that one of our director's will invest 51% and Nintendo 49% and we're going to make a joint new company called Game Design Studio, and the work is progressing at the moment.

Interviewer: But as far as the actual Final Fantasy team is concerned, will they be developing exclusively for PS2 for the near future?

Hashimoto: At the moment, as far as FFX, XI and XII are concerned, they are to be played on PS2. As for the next one, FFXIII, that's a long, long way ahead so that's hard to say.

Interviewer: You just mentioned Final Fantasy XII - what plans do you have in terms of where the offline series goes?

Hashimoto: As far as FFXII is concerned, there is a director called Mr. Matsuno and he is involved with the GBA FF [Final Fantasy Tactics] game as well as FFXII, so the work on both of these will run in parallel.

Interviewer: Development of FFX was finished some time ago - has work actually begun of Final Fantasy XII?

Hashimoto: The team hasn't started any work at all.

Interviewer: Do you have a good idea of what form the game will take, though?

Hashimoto: I'm not in a position to answer your question, since we're not involved with FFXII directly. The director is Mr. Matsuno, who is also involved in FF Tactics.

Interviewer: Are you bored of talking about Final Fantasy X yet, or are you genuinely excited about the European launch?

Nojima: [laughs] We are looking forward to the kind of responses and criticism we are going to get from the European market. It's something we produced in Japan so it's very interesting for us to see the responses of European gamers.

Interviewer: What do you think of Europe?

Uematsu: [laughs]Why is it only in England that you are sticking to pounds Sterling?

Nojima: As far as I'm concerned I've been a very big fan of British music and bands like The Who and Led Zeppelin - they're my favourite bands. It's the other way around this time: we've produced something and the European audience is waiting for something made in Japan to be launched, just like we've had to wait for The Who and Led Zeppelin CDs to release in Japan. It's very exciting!

Interviewer: What are your plans for the rest of your stay in London?

Kitase: [laughs] There are lots of things we want to do, such as go on a tour of the ghost houses.

Uematsu: For myself, I'm also a great fan of British Rock 'n Roll as a musician. To me this has always been the land of Rock 'n' Roll and I've had a yearning to come and visit this place, so it's very exciting to be here and walk down a street thinking: "Ooh! Elton John might have walked down here, or Kate Bush even!" It's terribly exciting to be here.