desi - Gamerz: March 2010

GDC 2010: Director Motomu Toriyama shares his experiences and offers a postmortem on the recently released Final Fantasy XIII.

Who Was There: Director and scenario writer Motomu Toriyama from Square Enix went over the crystal mythos and shared his thoughts on the direction of Final Fantasy.

Human drama takes priority in FFXIII.

What They Talked About: Motomu Toriyama began his 2010 Game Developers Conference session by introducing himself and then telling the audience that Final Fantasy XIII, which launched March 9, is selling well across North America and Europe. As a scenario writer for Square Enix, Toriyama joined the company in 1994, around the time when Final Fantasy VI was launched.

Shortly after he began, he remembered meeting with the entire development team of 40 people, including the founding fathers of Final Fantasy: creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, character designer Tetsuya Nomura, and producer Yoshinori Kitase.

Toriyama explained that, at the time, it was a brainstorming session for Final Fantasy VII, and members of the team would present their ideas to everyone. There were no story- or battle-specific job titles to assign to anyone. It boiled down to whoever had the best idea and was able to present it with the most enthusiasm. The basic storyline was determined by Sakaguchi, Nomura, and Kitase, and everyone else would provide their input.

As a new employee with no experience making games, Toriyama was assigned to work on Bahamut Lagoon and was in charge of scenarios and cutscenes. He reflected how things were more flexible back then and that there was a lack of integrity. At that time, Square helped employees learn the skills and techniques that they would need to grow. Once the number of developers reached 200, specific jobs were formed to establish order.

When Square merged with Enix, there were a lot of new employees to train and more platforms to build on when the Nintendo DS and PSP were released. Toriyama put together and directed a team of scenario writers and began to work on a number of projects, which included the Crystal Chronicles series and Dissidia Final Fantasy.

With the introduction of voice acting, Toriyama said that the scripts needed to be more sophisticated, so they hired more professional writers and attempted to improve the overall scenario quality.

Before jumping into the next part of his presentation, Toriyama played the European and North American versions of the Final Fantasy XIII commercial.

The original purpose of the session was to go over the crystal mythos of Final Fantasy XIII, which, he said, began five years ago. He explained the crystal mythos as a story that portrayed the history between gods and humans that is told from a human perspective. Even though the story is original, he compared it to Greek mythology and mentioned that there is a sequel that he can't quite talk about yet.

Fabula Nova Crystallis is the name that is given to the crystal mythos that serves as the backdrop for Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Toriyama stated that the mythology doesn't become an obstacle when working on a new game or sequel because the gameplay, characters, and story will be different each time.

In the next part of his session he went over the specifics of Final Fantasy XIII and the two worlds within, the primitive Gran Pulse and the high-tech Cocoon. The two worlds are governed by gods who are at odds with each other. Toriyama explained that the theme of the game is about going against fate and that he wanted the players to be able to relate to the characters and their struggle.

He went on to explain that Final Fantasy XIII is like the television series Lost, with character flashbacks and unknown factors. This formula is different from a typical Japanese role-playing game in that it's more focused around a group dynamic.

The next part of the presentation was a postmortem, where Toriyama talked about how it took much too long for development because of the emphasis on cutscenes. He explained that the scenarios needed to have the highest quality and were treated like an animated film.

His Power Point presentation listed the level design methodology that he followed, which involved deciding the total number of in-game battles, dividing the battles among game locations, determining spacing between battles, and then finally inserting an event in every three to seven battles.

Priority is set for cutscene locations because the number of people involved with the art makes it difficult to go back and make the necessary changes. The intention was to make Final Fantasy XIII a cutscene-driven game.

Toriyama addressed the criticism on the lack of towns, saying that he wanted to prioritize monsters and main characters so that the extra non-player characters and text were reduced.

He went over some focus-group data that was collected in Japan and the United States, and it seemed that the Japanese audience liked the story and characters more than the American audience. He felt like the team made the right choice by focusing on cutscenes and the battle system, because players in both regions responded well in those categories.

The scenario writer concluded his presentation by discussing the future of Final Fantasy and said that the team intends to use the best technology out there. He also indicated that there may be a shift to interactive cutscenes. As an example, he said that hopping along the backs of a thousand flying dragons would be "great fun."

Toriyama also compared Japanese RPGs to Western RPGs by using screenshots of Hit Man and Tomb Raider as examples. His point was that in Western games, the game is played through the player's perspective, not the character's. In Japanese RPGs, the view is a third-party bird's-eye view. He said that in Japan, people want to see a film and not necessarily identify with the character but observe and enjoy the movement and emotions of the character. The Japanese feel comfortable as third-party bystanders.

As for the question of whether Final Fantasy should be an open-world or story-driven experience, Toriyama said that open world does offer more freedom, but it depends on the balance. In Final Fantasy XIII, the human drama was portrayed through cutscenes, but if it were to be in a free, open world, it would increase the number of cutscenes, which in turn means more scheduling and more resources and could mean a decline in quality. He said that for future games, it will be up to the scenario writers and designers to try to increase the freedom, but Final Fantasy will always focus on the story.

Quote: "It will continue to change for each product, but the ultimate technology will be pursued and it will remain a magnificent global story centered on human drama. This will be applied to every Final Fantasy story. I promise we will protect this trend, but no one can predict the future." --Motomu Toriyama, scenario writer on the future of Final Fantasy.

Takeaway: Cutscenes and story are still the focus for the series, and it doesn't look like Final Fantasy is going to change drastically anytime soon.

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arealunderdog1 Posted Mar 24, 2010 11:23 pm PT

To those who think FFXIII is a linear game, how far are you in the game? and are you just saying that because of the review? I'll admit after hearing the gamespot review i was skeptical as to whether it would be a flop or not. FFXIII is not at all. I do not find sazh obnoxious or ignorant. If you even played through the game you'd find he is a perhaps one of the most intriguing characters just off his story. Vanille's voice actor may be annoying, but there is a good story behind vanille. Each character has wonderful backstories and as you play through you watch them grow and become more mature. FFXIII did good with the characters in my opinion, Hope- a boy angered by the death of his mother, lightning- trying to save her sister, snow- trying to save his fiancee, vanille- a girl who acts cheerful despite the secrets she hide, fang- she just wants to protect vanille no matter what, and sazh- a father who is at ends because his son is gone. FFXIII is great. i loved every moment especially the end because it surprises you.

agree 2 disagree 0 = +2 Sign in to rate this comment gridsinister Posted Mar 22, 2010 11:45 pm PT

I absolutely agree with karnis, It's a given. The thing that irks me when I delve into a FF game, or maybe just this one in particular, is the ABSOLUTELY embarrassing awkward spectrum difference in personalities. In FF-XII, You've got personalities ranging anywhere from the short tempered Lightning, to the ( and this really is what pisses me off about Japanese theatrics directors blindness) stereotypically typical obnoxious and ignorant black man(not so in REAL life), and then to the even more so annoying "blond/pink" b***h that never shuts the F&%K up, and bounces around trying ever so desperate to look, um...cute??! Don't get me wrong, I CANNOT GET ENOUGH Final Fantasy. Its just that when you have no choice but to watch the overacting, overbearing theatrics in order to follow the storyline, you can't help but get annoyed. And yeah, I am Black. *sigh*, I guess someone should just ask me "Why so SERIOUS!?"

agree 1 disagree 0 = +1 Sign in to rate this comment karnis Posted Mar 22, 2010 6:08 pm PT

story driven is a given in final fantasy

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment Kou-Nurasaka Posted Mar 22, 2010 8:15 am PT

I'm kinda disappointed in FFXIII. I'm in Taejin's Tower on Gran Pulse and the story just stopped. I'm running through a tower for what reason? Because there's a village on the other side? I was really trying to like this game, but now, I'm not so sure. Really, the only thing I know about the story is what is told about 8 hours into the game; were fighting the Fal'Cie.

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment Kou-Nurasaka Posted Mar 22, 2010 8:15 am PT

I'm kinda disappointed in FFXIII. I'm in Taejin's Tower on Gran Pulse and the story just stopped. I'm running through a tower for what reason? Because there's a village on the other side? I was really trying to like this game, but now, I'm not so sure. Really, the only thing I know about the story is what is told about 8 hours into the game; were fighting the Fal'Cie.

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment frazzle00 Posted Mar 21, 2010 3:28 pm PT

@ iikefkaii

I'm definitely getting Resonance of Fate and Metro 2033 next. Both games look great.

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment Footos_mints Posted Mar 20, 2010 4:54 am PT

@negativeions
No I never said that... I was pointing out the fact that linear does not fit ff10 never mind ff13. And you also only used the term "linear" after watching a review on ff13. Linear is a way of describing a straight line.

Neither of those FF's are a "straight line" therefore i don't see how that term fits into this context.

If you are suggesting the games storylines are straight and predictable... No they were not

If you are suggesting the games movement aspects were "linear" ... No they were not.

Combat systems... Diverse not "linear"
Character development... Diverse again, not "linear"
Graphics... Great considering it was ps2.

I don't think "Slow and cumbersome" is the absolute choice... but it was a useful tool in ff10 as it allowed strategy to be made up on the spot, almost like a game of chess (ironic that chess is slow?). FF12 probs had a better battle design, story line was incomprehensible. And i was more picking up on the point that you used the term linear. Stupid nonsensical description created for moronic dismay on games that have excellent stories.

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment negativeions Posted Mar 19, 2010 4:27 pm PT

@ iikefkaii: how do you have any less control over your characters in real-time combat? You have just as much control except they'll attack right away when their time comes up. You pause the action and give commands to all your characters. Do I have to explain such basic nonsense? All I'm saying is that a combat system like, say, Dragon's Age is far superior to a turn based one typical of JRPGs because turn based, and especially random encounters, are completely stupid. And what is Dragon Age? Real-time is it not? Do you not have complete control of your characters if you want to? Are people world wide complaining about how out of control they are playing it? What did that game get rated? Oh ya.

@Footos_mints: you think I haven't played FFX?

seriously, How is slow and cumbersome a preference? It's mentally retarded. It's like saying I prefer dog crap to chicken. You discovered chicken you don't have to eat dog crap anymore. It's over. It's obsolete. It's stupid.

agree 1 disagree 3 = -2 Sign in to rate this comment iikefkaii Posted Mar 19, 2010 8:42 am PT

Anyone here playing Resonance of Fate?? I'm thinking about getting started on mine tonight & was wondering what everyone thought about it since Gamespot's dragging their feet on writing the review...

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment sj_nehama Posted Mar 19, 2010 8:15 am PT

talk about the leader dying=game over when there are 5 healthy and able people to bring him back...

agree 1 disagree 0 = +1 Sign in to rate this comment SymonDezyn Posted Mar 19, 2010 7:24 am PT

@frazzle00: yeah you pretty much have to do the planet scanning in ME2 or you won't survive the end LOL. I found the exploration and side quests in ME1 to be a lot more free, and more involved, whereas the ones in ME2 were mostly fairly short and cut and dry - go in, do your thing, get whisked back out again - though i never turn down an opportunity to gun down everyone lol.

I agree, Bioware knows how to make an RPG - Dragon Age in particular was brilliant, IMHO.

As for FFXIII i am still on Chapter 9, but it sounds like the side quests resemble those of FFX, which i did a few of but got ultra bored with, and never finished. I am, however, really enjoying the story

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment frazzle00 Posted Mar 18, 2010 11:21 pm PT

@iikefkaii

I agree with you on that one. I am really disappointed that you can't change team leader mid-battle. I am also disappointed that you can't alter team members mid-battle, something which I thought was really great when FFX introduced it. You have 6 characters in the group yet you can only use 3 in a battle; that's pretty silly to me. Here's hoping FFXV rectifies a few of these issues (especially the hand holding).

agree 3 disagree 2 = +1 Sign in to rate this comment frazzle00 Posted Mar 18, 2010 11:21 pm PT

@SymonDezyn

I am not criticizing your opinion either. I firmly believe in different strokes for different folks. I was simply stating my point of view. I like JRPGs more than WRPGs in fact. The only WRPGs I really enjoy are those made by Bioware (and KOTOR 2 which was made by Obsidian). They seem to me to be the only WRPGs that focus on story over dungeon crawling. I know this may be unpopular with lots of people here, but I find games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 to be snooze fests.

As to the whole side quests business in ME2, no I don't mean planet mining. That's one part of ME2 I could do without (although for some reason I did plenty of it XD). I was referring to the missions which involve you helping various NPCs, or those which involve going to a planet and gunning down everyone. I reckon there was more variety in the side quests in ME2 than there was in ME1 but that's me I guess. I am pretty disappointed with the side quests in FFXIII to tell you the truth. I am currently going around Gran Pulse doing the various hunting quests (similar to those in FFXII) and they're all pretty much identical to me. Apart from the nice goodies you get for completing these quests, there is no story incentive to do them (which isn't the case with Bioware side quests).

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment frazzle00 Posted Mar 18, 2010 11:15 pm PT

@SymonDezyn

I am not criticizing your opinion either. I firmly believe in different strokes for different folks. I was simply stating my point of view. I like JRPGs more than WRPGs in fact. The only WRPGs I really enjoy are those made by Bioware (and KOTOR 2 which was made by Obsidian). They seem to me to be the only WRPGs that focus on story over dungeon crawling. I know this may be unpopular with lots of people here, but I find games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 to be snooze fests.

As to the whole side quests business in ME2, no I don't mean planet mining. That's one part of ME2 I could do without (although for some reason I did plenty of it >

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment Footos_mints Posted Mar 18, 2010 5:08 pm PT

@negativeions: Don't use the term "linear" unless you know what it means? Instead of watching a certain review of a certain game and then assuming that, what now seems like a god given term, fits into the context for previous games of the same series... Or at least cite the reviewer because we will all now know him as the guy who made taboo out of a word which does not make sense in its context.

agree 0 disagree 0 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment iikefkaii Posted Mar 18, 2010 2:34 pm PT

@negativeions: Good lord man, chill out. I guess some of us like to do ALL the work ourselves instead of putting the game on autopilot & watching the computer win the battles for you. Chalk it up as personal preference. I can see how some gamers like yourself might have trouble handling all the responsibility and skill that comes with no CPU assistance. .

And you obviously don't remember, but in FFX it was REAL TIME turn based so the action was always flowing.

agree 4 disagree 0 = +4 Sign in to rate this comment negativeions posted Mar 18, 2010 1:04 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

negativeions Posted Mar 18, 2010 1:04 pm PT (hide)

@iikefkaii: First of all, what's so great or important about having a turn based system? A turn based system is so awesome because it's slower, more cumbersome, annoying and stupid compared with a real-time system where battles are much faster and satisfying, where you could simply pause the action, assess your situation and act accordingly. oh ya.

Second of all. Final Fantasy X was a piece of garbage game. Unless you like games with characters that say some of the gayest and stupidest crap you've ever heard or read then I guess FFX was a raging success! Or if you like game that are liner with with crappy graphics then hey, FFX is Jesus Christ.

agree 3 disagree 8 = -5 Sign in to rate this comment SymonDezyn Posted Mar 18, 2010 12:19 pm PT

@iikefkaii: not to mention you have to use Libra or else you (and your party members!) won't know what weaknesses to exploit to give you a fighting chance

agree 1 disagree 1 = 0 Sign in to rate this comment iikefkaii Posted Mar 18, 2010 12:15 pm PT

@SymonDezyn: i agree with what you were saying too about 13 not being a "button masher"...you wouldn't last 1 minute on boss fights against Eidolons or Proud Clad unless you were paradigm'in like crazy.

agree 1 disagree 0 = +1 Sign in to rate this comment SymonDezyn Posted Mar 18, 2010 11:58 am PT

@iikefkaii: in that sense i would also have to agree with you - turn based battle, controllable party members, that "old school" format is still my favourite, and i would like to see a return to that as well.

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