Taken from the FFXIII Forum:
"It's a massive interview, so I'll refrain from doing a word for word translation(lest we be subjected to my mediocre Japanese, forgive any mistakes, which are: slight at best, I think) but I've posted the bits of even mild interest below:"
FFXIII as of August (Discussion of Nomura's behind-the-scenes documentary)
- FFXIII is not "currently in a state to be presented to the public".
- Original documentary was to be 30 minutes long but had to be edited down to 15 for several reasons. One of these reasons was apparently because they spoke of things they weren't allowed to speak of yet regarding the game. Also, too much of the game was shown during Nomura's filming of the development.
- Nomura stated that the documentary was made because fans may have been concerned with FFXIII's development status. He says it was his intention to show that many sleepless nights are being spent on the game and he joked that the team is suffering from insomnia. Toriyama suggested that fans felt this way because there haven't been any footage of gameplay on the field maps yet(until now).
(Discussion of FFXIII demo)
- The demo came about when FFXIII Producer Kitase inquired on the release of ACC and suggested maybe that it was time to provide a demo to the fans.
- Toriyama apologizes to the fans for keeping us waiting for so long to get our hands on it but that this is the best they have to offer.
- Toriyama says the demo will contain an immense field for gamers to traverse and explore. He says the fields are bigger even than the previous games in the series(I wonder if he's played FFXI). Toriyama JOKES that the demo may be longer than ACC. There is no mention of it being two hours long.
- Demo will give players an understanding of the Fal'Cie, L'Cie, Cocoon, and the crystals.
- As you all must already know, the demo takes place at the opening sections of the game whose "intensity... is probably the most in the FF series so far". It contains real time battles mixed with seamless cutscenes(according to a Dengeki interview from last year quoting Toriyama).
- FFXIII's story develops from the perspective of several characters and not just one main character. In an interesting side note, Toriyama once discussed this feature in one of the English speaking magazine interviews, he mentioned that the team is innovating with a split screen feature that would allow players to simultaneously view the actions of several characters in the plotline. The demo will allow players to get an understanding of this "new ****" as he describes it.
- There will be a new character in the demo that hasn't been introduced yet.
- Summons are on discs, apparently. Blu-ray discs according to Toriyama...
- There will be some kind of combat mechanism before you engage an enemy.
- Even the simple decision of choosing to attack is a "a struggle" and has tension in it.
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(discussion of TGS)
- Choosing a voice actor for Lightning is difficult because her image has been fixed for so long in fans minds. She is a strong, soldier-like woman with a gentle and tender core. Please note that she is always described as "a woman". She might very well be the oldest lead in the series since Cecil.
- Mr. 33cm is a straightforward person by nature and may come off as rude at times but he is also like a big brother and protective of Lightning. Nomura describes him as "firey"... you couple that with the fact that his name has something to do with weather and you may have a name(albeit in some obscure language ala Wakka, Yuna, and Tidus which were also weather motifs)
- The team suggests that Nomchan's voice actor will not be heard at TGS. However, they describe her as mysterious and complicated, unlike previous jailbait characters in the FF franchise. She has a bright, cheery personality to hide her feelings, hence this subtlety makes it a difficult proposition for a voice actor to portray her.
- Regarding the scene in the new pictures in which all three characters are present, it can be looked at as "chapter II" if the demo is looked at as "chapter I".
- Toriyama describes Pulse as seen as "hellish" by Cocoon's citizens and that it is very difficult to travel between the two areas. He goes on to say that the reasons why people of Pulse are in Cocoon to begin with is very important to the main plot itself. He describes Pulse as a vast place of adventure for the gamers and that Cocoon and Pulse have different gameplay characteristics.
- Nomura goes on to say that the series has largely stayed the same since FFVII and that FFXIII will evolve greatly and be a turning point for the series the way VII was.
- Toriyama resonds to that by concluding that gamers will be able to experience this "new form of FF" in the demo and hopefully we'll manage to be able to wait for the main game.
(Discussing AgitoXIII)
- The FNC concept of looked at this way: FFXIII is the future, FFVerusXIII is the present, and **** is like the middle-ages. This means that AgitoXIII may have some old-school FF elements.
- Nomura talks about some info that was already reported such as ad-hoc, summons, and that the FNC concept calls for action-****combat systems.
- I stand corrected. **** will not necessarily be the last to be released. Nomura confirms that AgitoXIII is already playable on PSP but that the story is currently being written and that it has a huge timeline dating back to some great war. It will definitely be released after FFXIII, however
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