Final Fantasy XV Gamescom Active Time Report - CNN reporting live from disaster scene

PSY・S;175341471 said:
the regis change might be more upsetting than stella's. namine luna is a bit more conventional than stella but at least her redesign is solid and isn't as bland and uninspiring as king regis'.

i mean

King_Caelum_closeup.png


tumblr_mo7sqbZmdW1r1n4v8o4_250.gif




fuck.

i know this isn't versus anymore and that i should expect changes but the designs were a big part of why i fell in love with the project. i'm just going to roll with the theory that this isn't really the king for now ;-;

They should've kept Regis' old design and shorter hair. They've managed to make him less masculine which seems to work less for his age and character design.
 
Thanks to @Nova_Crystallis:
"The official Japanese FFXV website has been updated with a staff list, crediting Nomura for Draft/Character Design:
http://www.jp.square-enix.com/ff15/staff_list/"

I assume this is the same list?
Director: Hajime Tabata

Concept/Main Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura
Character Design: Roberto Ferrari
Story Concept: Kazushige Nojima

Development Manager: Yasuaki Nasu

Movie Director: Takeshi Nozue

Art Director: Tomohiro Hasegawa, Yusuke Naora, Isamu Kamikokuryo

World Map Director: Yasuyuki Matsunami

3D Graphic Director: Akira Iwata

Lead Engineer: Takeshi Aramaki, Hiroshi Iwasaki

Game Designer: Masanori Sato, Masashi Takizawa, Kenichiro Yuji, Prasertvithyakarn Prasert

Lead Enemy Designer: Yuichi Kanemori, Takayuki Kanbayashi
Lead Level Designer: Takefumi Terada, Kunihiko Kimura
Lead Scenario Designer: Saori Itamuro

Lead Technical Artist: Seiji Nanase
Lead Event Artist: Toshiaki Hirota

Lead Technical Animator: Takaharu Aono
Lead 3DCG Animator: Kenichi Shida, Yusuke Tanaka

Lead Environment Artist: Norihito Ueno
Lead 3D Character Artist: Kazutaka Kurosaka
Lead VFX Artist: Keiichi Kurita

Composer: Yoko Shimomura

Producer: Shinji Hashimoto
 
I'm ok with girls being shown as sexy in games but that just looks stupid, do they really think woman walk around like that?
I live in Central Amercia and a LOT of young women dress like that around here and not only in their houses but also in parks, malls so it's not a big deal tbh

A funny anecdote: When it's really hot here (Which is like everyday) it's not uncommon to see mechanics working shirtless on your vehicle. I know, scandalous.

Yes some are stupid enough to do that but i mean cmon. It's like the people that ok'd this are 10 years old.

I know i will get blasted for saying it but oh well.
Blasted for spitting disgusting slut shaming?
 
No wonder the game is so full of dodgy game mechanics. All 4 list game designers were ehhhh. Great idea Tabata, let's leave the combat of the upcoming mainline Final Fantasy to the hands of the designer of one random, throwaway Crystal Chronicle and Type-0's battle system. While we're at it, let one of the Dissidia scenario writer prepare the script of our game too!
 
No wonder the game is so full of dodgy game mechanics. All 4 list game designers were ehhhh. Great idea Tabata, let's leave the combat of the upcoming mainline Final Fantasy to the hands of the designer of one random, throwaway Crystal Chronicle and Type-0's battle system. While we're at it, let one of the Dissidia scenario writer prepare the script of our game too!

Maybe all the old and major talent is working on the FF7 Remake and they're trying to see how new talent can handle a mainline Final Fantasy for the future?
 
No wonder the game is so full of dodgy game mechanics. All 4 list game designers were ehhhh. Great idea Tabata, let's leave the combat of the upcoming mainline Final Fantasy to the hands of the designer of one random, throwaway Crystal Chronicle and Type-0's battle system. While we're at it, let one of the Dissidia scenario writer prepare the script of our game too!

Why would the director of Type-0 view this as a negative?
 
I love Naora's work in The Last Remnant, Chaos Ring, and Front Mission 4. Emma Honeywell is best gal.

Emma.jpg

Meh, not a fan. This looks generic to me. It looks like it could be from any mid-tier JRPG series ever like Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Namco JRPGs that never get out of Japan, etc.

Amano, Nomura and Yoshida make way more distinctive designs.
 
PSY・S;175341471 said:
the regis change might be more upsetting than stella's. namine luna is a bit more conventional than stella but at least her redesign is solid and isn't as bland and uninspiring as king regis'.

i mean

King_Caelum_closeup.png


tumblr_mo7sqbZmdW1r1n4v8o4_250.gif




fuck.

i know this isn't versus anymore and that i should expect changes but the designs were a big part of why i fell in love with the project. i'm just going to roll with the theory that this isn't really the king for now ;-;

You can see Tabata's style differs from Nomura's here. I think it is better for Tabata to do this than pretending to enjoy doing something that he's not comfortable with. Nothing wrong with that.

I mean when you look at the old Regis design, you know it's a Nomura game. And nobody can copy that.

Tabata's directing capability aside, my dislike about the current development is mainly from the upper management part of the company who made this director-swtiching decision. It is so shitty that it clearly has already pissed the fans off, left a bad impression of Nomura not being able to ship a game, and made Tabata a bad guy to blame (the "everything awesome about the game is what left by Nomura; and awful is from Tabata" situation).

Maybe the whole decision was made for the newly appointed president to establish "his new administration". You know, politics.
 
That's... alright i guess?
I mean, for a moment i thought he'd be completely removed.
Plus, Versus is now no more than a draft lol

To be fair, it kinda is.

Meh, not a fan. This looks generic to me. It looks like it could be from any mid-tier JRPG series ever like Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Namco JRPGs that never get out of Japan, etc.

Amano, Nomura and Yoshida make way more distinctive designs.

Given they are really pushing Roberto Ferrari on this game, I would like to see more of his stuff in future FF games.
 
Maybe all the old and major talent is working on the FF7 Remake and they're trying to see how new talent can handle a mainline Final Fantasy for the future?

That makes no sense. FFVII remake is a big project sure, but it's still a remake. If it's not as good, at least people have the original to fall back to. On the other hand, XV, their other big project has to set a new standard going forward for the series. It absolutely has to have the best of the best people behind it.

Why would the director of Type-0 view this as a negative?

Good point. Not a fan of Type-0's combat personally.

Meh, not a fan. This looks generic to me. It looks like it could be from any mid-tier JRPG series ever like Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Namco JRPGs that never get out of Japan, etc.

Amano, Nomura and Yoshida make way more distinctive designs.

Nomura's belts and zippers are sure distinctive. Does that mean they're good? I'll take "generic" over nonsensical, style over substance design. Also big lol at citing Valkyrie's Profile as an example to prove your point.
 
I don't really agree, I find Noctis and co. aesthetically pleasing. Their "boy band" all-black design I see as minimalist/conformist. I don't think it's fair to say all men find Gladio unappealing, just because some (most) women find the open-jacket look appealing.

As many said before regarding gameplay elements, you just can't please everyone.
The world of art would be pretty boring if it was always made to please the majority.

As a fellow artist I like to give designers and directors their artistic freedom to choose what they want to display, and Roberto Ferrari / Tabata have designed Cindy like they wanted so I totally respect it if they choose to stand their ground.

Some will like her (even females) and some won't.
Also some just won't admit liking her because they might fear to be thought as sexists.

Same goes for the main cast, personally I like their designs as a straight male.
And yet, you are guys. So the frequency by which female designs don't appeal to you is significantly slimmer. Notably Arkeband can only say, "I like the dude designs" and artsi has to acknowledge that females might not like Cindy's design while backhandedly suggesting some females won't admit to liking Cindy because they secretly fear of being thought as sexist.

Well hell, if you think that, what does it imply about Cindy's design? What do you say to the guys who think the main male cast is shounen boy band?

Designers and directors have artistic freedom. But they're not free from criticism. I won't respect them if they dare come out and say that Cindy's design isn't sexist. The male characters have the benefit of being designed with the idea that they're pals, brothers, characters, people you might want to be or respect. Cindy's design represents less of character and more of a sex object. Waving around the flag of artistic freedom doesn't change that.

It's not hard to make a female character design that both males and females find appealing. The few sketches of coveralls Cindy show how simple it can be. The problem with designing Cindy as she is right now is that it's limiting its appeal. Coveralls Cindy I can see easily drawing female tweens, teens, and above. Current Cindy, I can see easily turning away plenty of female audience who can and will dismiss the game as another hormonal male thing.

Particularly since you're in a contemporary setting where fashion is as variable as it has ever been. It's not hard! Even Capcom can do it!

"You can't please everyone" is an excuse to make male-oriented designs of female characters. If Black Widow came out with a new costume wearing what Cindy is wearing, the backlash would be intense. But the Marvel production teams don't make shitty costume designs like Cindy for their female characters, because they know they have to make a global product]. They have to appeal to a wide audience. They got an audience large enough to make their movie a billion dollar movie because they understood that.

The Cindy character design? Doesn't understand that at all. If Final Fantasy wants to maintain and grow its sales, it has to become a global product. The designers and directors only have so much artistic freedom before their product fails.

And females? They're half the population. They're where games can go to grow the market. They're where Final Fantasy can go to grow their sales and audience. But Square Enix Japan clearly values females very little; Mobius male character gets a design change, but Cindy doesn't get any change.

This doesn't apply only to the Cindy design. The male character designs also have to have wide global appeal as well, not just to females but to males. And chances are that won't happen with Japan-centric boy-band aesthetic.

Would you say Ramza is made to appeal to male or female?
Was I talking about FFT? This is an FF15 thread.
 
Nomura's belts and zippers are sure distinctive. Does that mean they're good? I'll take "generic" over nonsensical, style over substance design. Also big lol at citing Valkyrie's Profile as an example to prove your point.
Dumb cricitism that isn't true of most of Nomura's designs sure doesn't help you with your argument either.
 
People are giving Cidney more attention than she'll actually get in the full game given that she's an extremely small character in an otherwise huge game.
 
Well, I mean, I guess you can take credit as main character designer for drawing the faces of 4 characters in the game...

Also could not find anything about the level designers... Surprise!

btw, is this the first confirmation we got for them axing Jun Akiyama too? Or did we know that one already?
 
Well, I mean, I guess you can take credit as main character designer for drawing the faces of 4 characters in the game...

Also could not find anything about the level designers... Surprise!

btw, is this the first confirmation we got for them axing Jun Akiyama too? Or did we know that one already?

We haven't seen his name anywhere since the FFXV reboot :/ I really, really hope he was moved to the FFVIIR team at least!
 
We haven't seen his name anywhere since the FFXV reboot :/ I really, really hope he was moved to the FFVIIR team at least!

He was there in the original team, so it could be possible. I'm going to guess Nomura also likes working with him considering he also worked on KH 1 and 2.

Still, there goes another proven guy being taken off the team...
 
He was there in the original team, so it could be possible. I'm going to guess Nomura also likes working with him considering he also worked on KH 1 and 2.

Still, there goes another proven guy being taken off the team...

The original dream team is dead.
One has to wonder what Hashimoto has been doing in all this.
 
Nomura's belts and zippers are sure distinctive. Does that mean they're good? I'll take "generic" over nonsensical, style over substance design. Also big lol at citing Valkyrie's Profile as an example to prove your point.
There are plenty(majority of westerngames and some japanese games) thatlook for substance over style... Whats wrong with a few games that do style over susbtance? If you wanna play the game pedantically criticizing how their design doesn't make sense in a fantasy setting... Then maybe you shouldn't play. Don't put yourself through the stress of wondering if noctis will survive his next fight considering he is ill-equiped in terms of armor.
 
Well, I mean, I guess you can take credit as main character designer for drawing the faces of 4 characters in the game...

Also could not find anything about the level designers... Surprise!

btw, is this the first confirmation we got for them axing Jun Akiyama too? Or did we know that one already?

Takefumi Terada was an event planner on Crisis Core and worked on Type-0 in some capacity. Kimura is a holdover from Versus XIII. Kimura's credit also changed from lead level designer in the June ATR to game designer on the website, I should note.

Itamuro is just the lead of a team of writers so theoretically Akiyama could be on that team, just under her. But I think Kagari said he left the project(or the company?) back in June.

Holy shieeet!

Has Wan Hazma been removed?

Not according to his Twitter.
 
He was there in the original team, so it could be possible. I'm going to guess Nomura also likes working with him considering he also worked on KH 1 and 2.

Still, there goes another proven guy being taken off the team...

Yep, Nomura specifically wanted Akiyama for KH after his work on Vagrant Story and then for Versus after seeing his excellent work on FFXII.

Even though it's unfortunate that he's not on FFXV anymore generally I think it's a good thing that they have a lot "unproven" staff who hasn't worked on main-line FFs yet. They are hungry and likely want to prove extra hard that they can make a great FF, too. A lot of the original FFVII staff was also unproven like that. So let's look forward to what fresh input they can bring to the table.
 
Takefumi Terada was an event planner on Crisis Core and worked on Type-0 in some capacity. Kimura is a holdover from Versus XIII. Kimura's credit also changed from lead level designer in the June ATR to game designer on the website, I should note.

Itamuro is just the lead of a team of writers so theoretically Akiyama could be on that team, just under her. But I think Kagari said he left the project(or the company?) back in June.

Yeah, Terada's name in Crisis Core was all I found. At least now we know it is indeed the Type-0 guy on level design =X

At least Kimura is from the original... I wonder what he did previously. At least I can hope for it not to be a total disaster on that front.

I also doubt Akiyama would still be in the team and not mentioned. He is also known, it would be too dumb to not mention him.
 
Holy shieeet!

Has Wan Hazma been removed?

No, but he's not on that list.

His job title was translated a little odd, "Lead Game Designer" sounds like you're the only one at that level. It would be better to call him a "Senior Game Designer", he's higher up than a normal Game Designer, but he's not the only one at his level.
 
Yeah, Terada's name in Crisis Core was all I found. At least now we know it is indeed the Type-0 guy on level design =X

At least Kimura is from the original... I wonder what he did previously. At least I can hope for it not to be a total disaster on that front.

I also doubt Akiyama would still be in the team and not mentioned. He is also known, it would be too dumb to not mention him.

Level design according to the June ATR.
 
In the defence of the new staff.....if the previous staff were charged with game, battle or level design on PSP hardware I doubt it would have been that impressive.

You're now giving people who have devoted a large portion of their lives with interests in these areas, a first chance to express themselves on powerful and open hardware.

Sakaguchi, Nomura, Kitase, Uematsu, Nozue, Matsuno, Yoshida were also all once young and unknown quantities who were given a big break, on a big project to express their unknown selves.
 
In the defence of the new staff.....if the previous staff were charged with game, battle or level design on PSP hardware I doubt it would have been that impressive.

You're not giving people who have devoted a large portion of their lives with interests in these areas a first chance to express themselves on powerful and open hardware.

Sakaguchi, Nomura, Kitase, Uematsu, Nozue, Matsuno, Yoshida were also all once young and unknown quantities who were given a big break, on a big project to express their unknown selves.

.
 
Itamuro is just the lead of a team of writers so theoretically Akiyama could be on that team, just under her. But I think Kagari said he left the project(or the company?) back in June.

Akiyama isn't an actual writer though, so I'm not sure he would be under her.

Yep, Nomura specifically wanted Akiyama for KH after his work on Vagrant Story and then for Versus after seeing his excellent work on FFXII.

I believe that part is false information that was spread by that one troll from GameFAQs.
 
I believe that part is false information that was spread by that one troll from GameFAQs.
You're right.

And yes, I'm not that upset about new staff working on this game. I imagine people felt the same way about Nomura once he made that leap to FFVII.

Now, it's just up to them to deliver.

We should especially hold our judgement on the writing for this game. Duscae did a great job in characterization, especially during the camping cutscenes. For all the hoopla about the Dawn trailer, the second half with Regis and Noctis was intriguing in that it actually gave a strong story thread. It's not as if Nojima is someone who can't be surpassed.
 
Really? Couldn't find his name in the credits =X

This might be due to my own dumbness however.

Still, I'm going to guess he is someone that joined in with Tabata, so not really a part of the project since Versus...

So back to expect nothing out of level design I guess.

In the defence of the new staff.....if the previous staff were charged with game, battle or level design on PSP hardware I doubt it would have been that impressive.

You're now giving people who have devoted a large portion of their lives with interests in these areas, a first chance to express themselves on powerful and open hardware.

Sakaguchi, Nomura, Kitase, Uematsu, Nozue, Matsuno, Yoshida were also all once young and unknown quantities who were given a big break, on a big project to express their unknown selves.
But one of the level designers was an Event Planner in Crisis Core, I don't see how he was dedicated to this area...

Also, giving them a pass because it's on the PSP is pretty dumb. I've said it before, but Type-0's level design didn't even try.
Kingdom Hearts also suffered from PSP limitations, yet you can see that they were clearly trying to make the best out of those closed rooms. Even Third Birthday tried more than Type-0... And I'm not even mentioning games not made by SE (*cough*Ys*cough*)
To make the comparison again, Type-0's level design is equivalent of a randomly generated dungeon from the first .Hack games (and I mean the original ones, because even the random dungeons from GU are more fun than that).

As for the rest of the team, I'm super willing to give them a chance, Type-0 was great in many areas, just not the level designers >.>
 
It's still kinda shocking that Tabata inly finished ff1.
And Miyamoto doesn't play any video games. It's not a big deal.

He likes FFVI for what it represents. I see a lot of people have the same affection for FFXII in that they like the ideas and thought put into the game, all the while acknowledging that the story falls short at the end.

Personally, I'm not going to play FFXV for how faithful it is to the rest of the series. It can be a totally different game but I'll still judge it on its own merits. In fact, I think the tropes could be considered baggage for a few games in the series.
 
Also, giving them a pass because it's on the PSP is pretty dumb. I've said it before, but Type-0's level design didn't even try.
Kingdom Hearts also suffered from PSP limitations, yet you can see that they were clearly trying to make the best out of those closed rooms. Even Third Birthday tried more than Type-0... And I'm not even mentioning games not made by SE (*cough*Ys*cough*)
To make the comparison again, Type-0's level design is equivalent of a randomly generated dungeon from the first .Hack games (and I mean the original ones, because even the random dungeons from GU are more fun than that).

As for the rest of the team, I'm super willing to give them a chance, Type-0 was great in many areas, just not the level designers >.>

Whoa. .Hack//1-4 are the epitome of running from box to box, and I loved those games. Type-0 had great level design compared to .Hack, mon ami.

They could have been done better, but I mean, why would we expect that kind of design for FFXV when we have Duscae as an example of what they can do with open world...? And the other gameplay videos we've seen are traversable cities and even in the Malboro video they're trekking across some bog.
 
Also, you can bet a lot of these people joined when the game was still Versus XIII. We know Hazmer and other Type-0 staff joined as far back as 2010.
 
And Miyamoto doesn't play any video games. It's not a big deal.

He likes FFVI for what it represents. I see a lot of people have the same affection for FFXII in that they like the ideas and thought put into the game, all the while acknowledging that the story falls short at the end.

Personally, I'm not going to play FFXV for how faithful it is to the rest of the series. It can be a totally different game but I'll still judge it on its own merits. In fact, I think the tropes could be considered baggage for a few games in the series.

Not totally on topic but I love XII...for what it tried to do :) I know the story fell short but I loved what they did for the most part, I felt like the writing struck a good balance between not being pretentious and also having that slightly Shakespearean, Ivalice tone...I'd love Ito etc to get another crack at a mainline FF and evolve XII's battle system. I mean if he was a Director on FFIX then...it's already a favorite for a lot of people.

Ah well. I tend to judge each game on it's merits...

I'm looking forward to XV, but I wouldn't be surprised to come here and rage with people, and get excited etc. I kinda love GAF now :P
 
It's still kinda shocking that Tabata inly finished ff1.

No, it's not. Why would he have to finish every FF? You don't really think every director working on mainline FFs so far has played every single one to completion, do you? Most devs don't even play their own games from start to finish (especially with 60h+ RPGs). After seeing every little part seperately in thousand different completion states you get sick of it naturally.

You can get a general idea of every game after a few hours, the rest is filler and the gameplay or overall style doesn't change drastically over the course of most games anyway.

I already adressed this in more detail after your first post today in case you missed it:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=175396821&postcount=5449
 
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