Square: Final Fantasy XIII Will "Resurrect" Japanese Industry

[John Funk]

Square: Final Fantasy XIII Will "Resurrect" Japanese Industry

People may be critical of the state of the Japanese games industry as of late, but the producer and director of Final Fantasy XIII [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XIII-Playstation-3/dp/B000FQ2DTA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278964269&sr=1-1] think their game will use a Phoenix Down and kick things into gear.

The game industry has been going under a bit of introspection over in the land of the rising sun lately. In 2008, Square-Enix president Yoichi Wada said he felt the Japanese industry had "was finished" [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20573].

Speaking with the PlayStation Blog EU [http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/02/08/an-interview-with-final-fantasy-xiiis-kitase-and-toriyama/], though, Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama (man, those guys are everywhere) naturally disagreed:

"Some people have been saying that the Japanese game industry is dead, and all that... I dunno. I will say that Final Fantasy XIII is one really epic title for high definition consoles. With this game, we are going to resurrect the whole thing."

It's hardly surprising that the two would disagree, given the game they've been working on - "Yeah, we're totally sunk" would not go over well with investors - but their claim that FF13 would "resurrect" the industry is a bit more interesting. I'm not sure what they mean, though: Will it resurrect the Japanese game industry financially? Will it inspire others? How can one game - even a popular one - do that?

We learned some other interesting things via the interview in question beyond Kitase's bold claim: The FF13 team took inspiration from some western games like Call of Duty, the whole game is about 50-60 hours long to play through, approximately 10 hours of which is cutscenes ... which is a lot of cutscenes.

Furthermore, neither Kitase nor Toriyama have any idea what Yoichi Wada meant when he said FF13 would be the last of this type of game" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97279-Final-Fantasy-XIII-Could-be-Last-of-This-Type-of-Game-at-Square] Squeenix makes:

[blockquote]We don't really know what he meant by this style of game. If you consider that during Final Fantasy XIII's development, at peak time the team consisted of over 300 people. It was a huge team, plus it took a several long years to get the game finished. So, if Mr Wada meant that we would never make another Final Fantasy title with the similar number of people, taking as long as FFXIII did, we would agree.

Obviously in the future we want to be much more efficient. Having worked on XIII, we feel that we have got much better at making good games for high definition consoles. In the future our teams will be smaller and more effectively run. We suspect that is what Mr Wada meant by his statement.[/blockquote]

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[AbsoluteVirtue18]

We can only hope so.

 

[The DSM]

It never died, it just went on the quite.

Also damn, the OP made a phoenix down joke before me.

 

[TheRocketeer]

Will it resurrect the Japanese gaming industry? Probably not.

But its a good first step admitting it's DEAD.

 

[AboveUp]

I'm really afraid Yoichi Wada may be the Japanese Peter Monolux.

I would love to see Japan's gaming industry come back. But so far it seems like the biggest thing is going to be Mega Man 10.

Also, the lack of "mature games" is not the problem. The whole term "mature games" is a problem in itself.

 

[Warachia]

I doubt that that one game will "resurrect"the industry, we'll most likely see more games with very similar plots and mechanics, branching out across many platforms with very few big hitters.

on another note, you might want to edit: you missed your closing tag.

 

[Jared]

Gotta give them points for oppotomism.

I dont thinmk it so much needs a kick start as a face lift. I mean it is still strong, but, they need to understand the market a little better. They need to know we, in the west, love there games, but, they need some fresh ideas sometimes

 

[DarkSaber]

People, it's called "hype". Or "bullshit" depending on your level of cynicism.

 

[Jaranja]

It'll only happen if Phoenix is an aeon/eidolon/esper in it.

Well, I like Blazblue, that counts, does it not?

It's probably due to FFXII being such a let down.

 

[Thaius]

Sigh... I take issue with the idea that Japanese gaming is dead in the first place. Guys, it's a different culture, with different values and different entertainment. You know why their stories are kind of melodramatic? Because they like that: it's not bad writing, it's a cultural value! You know why they like turn-based battling? Because not everyone requires constant control without strategy! Why do they not allow the player to control the story? Because the more control they give the player, the less control they have, and they want to tell a good story!

It's not dead, people, American audiences are just deciding their culture's better. Come on now, guys.

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

My take on it is that FFXIII is going to be a huge success despite (or maybe because of!) being stereotypical JRPG - note the reference specifically to long-ass cutscenes - which would probably be very encouraging for Japanese developers at a time when they're borrowing from western games for fresh ideas to make sales. It means a lot when people can succeed at something on their own terms instead of having to borrow someone else's strategy.

Everyone knows what I mean there, right?

The American equivalent would be something like the Dodge Viper... it's not just a made-in-America knockoff of what the Europeans or Japanese are doing, it's a supercar built the American way and face-meltingly awesome because of it: 1) giant engine, 2) wheels and shit, 3) did we mention the giant engine?

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

Wait, did I miss something? When and how did it die?

 

[Lullabye]

WTf is going one with FF13? What are they hiding that's so amazing? Assholes! Now I want this game even more!(i mean, if Square enix says it's a good game, and put this much hype behind it, then I think I can trust them. they usually make good games with amazing stories and apparently with FF13, good gameplay)

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

Meh, just cranking the hype machine... As if anything with the words "Final Fantasy" in the title doesn't automatically have a legion of fanboys hyping it already.

 

[DaxStrife]

They can make all the claims they want... they still need to release the bloody game first.

 

[Nazrel]

There's nothing wrong with the Japanese gaming industry.

The Final Fantasy franchise on the other hand...

 

[RJ Dalton]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'll wait until at least six of my very trusted friends and/or sources tell me the game is good before I buy it. The last bunch of FF games seemed to be working really hard to make me not want to play them.

 

[SMOKEMNHALO2001]

Linear Fantasy 13 will be a hit like any other title with the words Final and Fantasy in it, although the game has been selling for $20 in Japan for awhile may be an indication that the game may not be much of a reviver.
I don't think the Japanese video game industry is dead, not as long Mr. Miyamoto and Kojima are making games.