Interviews// Final Fantasy XIII-2

SPOnG: Will Final Fantasy XIII-2 be using a chapter-based system in a similar fashion to Final Fantasy XIII?

Motomu Toriyama: There isn’t an awful lot I can tell you about regarding this, but we have changed that structure. This is because lots of people didn’t like it, so we’ve introduced a new one. Details will have to wait until the Tokyo Game Show, I’m afraid. One thing I can say however is the fact that for the first time in the Final Fantasy franchise [the game] has got a multiple endings system.


SPOnG: Could you explain why you went back to the Paradigm system for combat? Is it more because it’s in keeping with the Final Fantasy XIII world, or because you feel you’ve found the perfect battle system?

Yoshinori Kitase: We decided to carry it over into the new game for both reasons that you mentioned actually. Because it’s a sequel, it seems like the right thing to do to keep it as it is. Also, the Paradigm Shift system was quite popular in Final Fantasy XIII, so we feel it is the best battle system to incorporate into the new game too.

Motomu Toriyama: Having said that, it isn’t just a case of us rehashing the same system. We’re introducing improvements as we mentioned earlier so that it brings more acutely strategic gameplay compared to Final Fantasy XIII.


SPOnG: In Final Fantasy XIII, there wasn’t an awful lot to do once you completed the main story - and side quests were limited to monster hunts. Will we be getting post-game content and more variety in the side quests in Final Fantasy XIII-2?

Motomu Toriyama: We mentioned multiple endings earlier, but I can’t mention too much about that. However, for the people who have already cleared the game once, we’ll have a New Game + so that you can play with raised enemy values and alternative content. There are items and features that will entice you to keep playing over and over.

As for side missions, there are more of these in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and they’ll work a little bit like Red Dead Redemption. So it’s not going to be limited to just hunting animals and walking back to the start point again. There are other types of missions as well. One of the criticisms against Final Fantasy XIII was that there weren’t enough minigames. People wanted to see more, so some side missions will have elements of that as well.


SPOnG: I had a few questions about the new elements that you’re introducing to the battle system. You mentioned the capture of monsters earlier on - how do you collect these in the game? Also, what specific things trigger the Cinematic Actions that you spoke of earlier?

Yoshinori Kitase: To collect monsters, you basically have to defeat the monster and when you meet some certain conditions at a certain rate, it will come to your party automatically. You can mix them up as well - it works a bit like a card game, where you can build a ‘deck’ of monsters to fight alongside you.

There are two types of Cinematic Actions. The first is as you see in the demo against Atlas, where an action is triggered when you inflict a certain amount of damage on a boss. Another Cinematic Action involves the monsters that you collect - some of those monsters can execute or trigger one of these actions if your strategy is very action-focused like a Commando Shift rather than healing and magic.


SPOnG: You mentioned Red Dead Redemption earlier. What exact inspirations did you have when making Final Fantasy XIII-2?

Motomu Toriyama: There have certainly been quite a few good movies and video games that came out last year. Red Dead Redemption is one of those titles that Japanese game creators really adored, including ourselves. So we took some inspiration from that, but obviously our game does not have as much of an open world.

Missions can now happen anywhere in the field, rather than you having to go to a shrine or some starting point or something like that. That was inspired by Red Dead Redemption. Also, in this game you get to see lots of Chocobos. You can ride them, and the feel you get as you’re riding a Chocobo is a bit like the way you ride a horse in Red Dead Redemption. You can get a really refreshing, feel-good experience just riding an animal.


SPOnG: Thank you for your time.

Yoshinori Kitase: Thank you.

Motomu Toriyama: Thank you very much.