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simply didn’t have the ability to do that anymore? Why would they deny the fans something they actually wanted instead of trying to placate them

Best Selling Final Fantasy titles FFVII

with experiments that seemed to be almost guaranteed to not impress? And where the hell was FFXIII Versus, whose trailer had captivated them so? On the inside, Tabita had to deal with

FFVIII 8.7 million

11.14 million

FFX 8.10 million

FFXII 7.48 million

what he called ‘Final Fantasy Disease’. He described it in an interview with 4gamer: “It refers to people within the company who can’t imagine anything other than their own view of Final Fantasy. Since the root is a strong self-affirmation,

so much fiction comes out of those – it would be easier to make future Final Fantasy games if we were to create a shared mythology and base games on that. I remember when Yoshinori Kitase came around and told me to make the first Crystal Legends game – he said that if you pay attention to the legends and the idea behind them, you can make almost any sort of game around it." Development hell and the Final Fantasy Disease It’s now 2016, an unbelievable ten years since the announcement – it’s a miracle that Final Fantasy XIII Versus , or Final Fantasy XV , is being released in any form at all. Square Enix had promised title after title in the same year that the PlayStation 3 was going to be released, and the Final Fantasy XIII titles which had already started their development on the PlayStation 2 now had to be brought over to the PS3. In that ten years, the culture of Final Fantasy changed, and problems were present both externally and internally. Fans' passion failed to be kindled by FFXIII, and they clamoured for any titbit of information they could find about FF Versus. Delay after delay and announcement after announcement, urges from execs to ‘be excited’ for upcoming information (which ultimately led to nothing) saw rekindled interest diminishing rapidly. To the outsider, it seemed like Square Enix had lost its way or given in to pride. In 2012, Yoicha Wada said that they wouldn’t begin a remake of Final Fantasy VII until they’d produced an FF title that matched it in terms of quality, which begged the question: what if they

• Final Fantasy XV is out now

though it will be well worth the wait. Reviewers and commentators have remarked on the fluidity of combat, exceptional dialogue and gorgeous, expansive world.

one’s own view of Final Fantasy takes more priority than the team’s success. If that view of Final Fantasy isn’t fulfilled, then they’re convinced that it’s bad for Final Fantasy. They think, ‘Since Final Fantasy is a special team, then we are also special because we are making it. When the new Final Fantasy comes out, everybody is going to be so into it.’ But that’s not the reality of the situation, is it? Because of that, there was a time I told off the team, saying, ‘We’re not special. Wake Up.’ Yet, I realised that when Final Fantasy XV news was made public, this wasn’t only inside the company. Everyone has FF disease.” Inner storm before calm release From all accounts, FFXV now looks as

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Personally, seeing Ramuh, the lightning god, being summoned as a skyscraper-tall entity that unleashes electric hell upon your enemies was enough to make my jaw drop. Watching FFXV’s accompanying anime series Brotherhood was like reliving my teenage years cruising with my friends and teasing each other relentlessly. And the fighting system is reminiscent of Final Fantasy: Crisis Core , my second favourite entry to the series and the one that found the right mix of turn-based and action combat. It’s been a long time coming, but FFXV looks like a completely new, revitalised, and welcome direction for the much-loved series.

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