STACK September 2016 Issue 143

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42 SEPTEMBER 2016
DVD&BD
FEATURE
While on the L.A. leg of the publicity tour for CGI blockbuster Kingsglaive:
Final Fantasy XV, director Takeshi Nozue, lead writer Dan Inoue, and actors
AndreaTivadar and Liam Mulvey took the time to chat with STACK.
Words: Ryan Huff
I t’s hard to believe that the
'Final' in the Final Fantasy
franchise was initially
attributed to the self doubt of
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the games
creator, and his belief that if
the game was a flop, he’d quit
the business. Needless to say,
29 years and tens of millions
of sales later, Sakaguchi’s all-in
gamble is still paying dividends.
The newest release, Final Fantasy
XV, differs slightly from what has
come before it with a veritable
smorgasbord of complementary
releases – the most exciting
being the fully CGI action
blockbuster, Kingsglaive:
Final Fantasy XV .
“We’ve put everything
we’ve got into it up to now,
so it would be great for this
to be the biggest year yet
in Final Fantasy history,” says
director Takeshi Nozue, who
describes his film as “a realistic,
full CGI feature experience like
nothing before.”
The anime mini-series
Brotherhood, and Final Fantasy XV
flank Kingsglaive on the release
calendar, and while they are three
different releases from three
different teams, Nozue notes that
“being on the ground floor with
the game and animation teams in
discussing themes and storylines
really kept us in lockstep.”
Lead writer and localisation
director Dan Inoue echoed this
sentiment. “In a lot of cases
where films, games, comics, etc,
share a world, one of the stories
often feels like an afterthought,
something’s shoehorned into a
corner of the preceding work.
What sets this work apart is that
Final Fantasy XV and Kingsglaive
complement each other and
intertwine to form a deeper
narrative.”
Final Fantasy has never been
tied down to a single style or field,
with magic, myth and science
featuring prominently in most
releases, and Inoue adds that he
felt liberated whilst working on
Kingsglaive.
“One cool thing about Final
Fantasy as a franchise is that it’s
never let itself be constrained
by genre, and draws freely from
multiple wells of ideas. You
always get some pretty crazy
combinations as a result.”
Case in point: the characters in
Kingsglaive may use swords and
sorcery, but they generally find
themselves being carted around in
a massive futuristic convertible car
between fights with a robot army.
Actors Liam Mulvey and
Andrea Tivadar, who portray
Libertus Ostium and Crowe Altius,
respectively, were introduced to
the franchise by Final Fantasy VII,
with Tivadar noting that you don’t
need to be an FF fan to enjoy
Kingsglaive.
“Because of the way the story
has been developed, it comes as
no surprise that the film appeals
to people who are not into
games at all,” she explains.
The quality of the animation
in Kingsglaive is nothing short
of astonishing. Without a very
close and detailed inspection,
you could easily be forgiven
for thinking it's a live-action
film. In fact, Mulvey admits that
the computer generated likeness
was “a little unnerving at first.”
Tivadar concurs: “It is, yes. But I
can definitely find myself in her
gestures, which is pretty amazing”.
When asked whether they
prefer traditional filming or the
motion-capture process, Mulvey
notes that “hair and make up is
usually fairly quick – not sure if
that’s because I’m too
beautiful already or a
lost cause... to be
honest, it’s fairly
similar.”
"Hair and makeup
is always fun," adds
Takeshi Nozue
(Director)
"Final Fantasy VII was the
first to take me by surprise,
and Final Fantasy IX was
the first game I worked on
upon entering the company,
so these two hold a special
place in my heart, but I
have a feeling Final Fantasy
XV may take their place."
Dan Inoue (LeadWriter/
Localisation Director)
"I have a terrible secret.
Given my line of work, I
always feel compelled to
answer with one of the
more story-driven releases,
but if I’m being honest, I
really loved Final Fantasy V
more than any other (FF IV
is a close second!). When
I was a kid, my big brother
used to ‘let me watch him’
play Ultima, Bard’s Tale,
the D&D games, all the
classics. When the first
Final Fantasy came out,
it was finally my turn, and
I must have spent like an
hour deciding on character
names and choosing which
party to play the game
with. The job system in FF
V expanded on that with
so many more ‘jobs’, and
the ability to mix and match
the abilities you earned—
plus introduced super
boss challenges! Okay, I’m
gushing now, I’ll stop."
Kingsglaive:
FINAL FANTASY XV
Tividar, "especially when you have
to put on a costume. I love mo-cap
though”.
Whether you’re a die-hard FF
fan, a garden variety gamer,
a fan of sci-fi, fantasy, or
just love beautifully crafted
cinema, Kingsglaive: Final
Fantasy XV is required
viewing.
• Kingsglaive:
Final Fantasy
XV
is out Sept 30
One cool thing
about Final Fantasy
as a franchise is that
it’s never let itself be
constrained by genre,
and draws freely from
multiple wells of ideas
FINAL
FANTASY
FAVOURITES