With Final Fantasy XIII-2, one of the most popular video games franchise is back with an unuxpected sequel to a rather controversial episode of the saga. As to avert the curse of the omnious 13th, Square Enix’s  teams worked on a follow-up fixing each of the elements that had dipleased the very active and demanding fan community. The result is an example of humility, that just might signify  the return of Japanese flamboyance in the race for gobal digital entertainment. Between two rides on a Chocobo’s back and the invocation of an Eidolon, we met with Yoshinori Kitase, producer of the series, to verify ourselves if the dream factory had reactivated all of its  machines.

Yoshinori Kitase

You have been working on Final Fantasy for 20 years now. Not tired yet?

Yes I’m a little tired, but it’s more because of today (laughs). Actually, the appeal of Final Fantasy has grown considerably over these 20 years. I believe it’s due to the fact that we build a truly unique fantasy world, filled with universal themes and stories that can be understood by people from all over the world. Since they are not limited to a single culture, or a single time period, our stories appeal to very different kind of people. The way we can express this kind of story through fantasy is one of the main keys to the success of the Final Fantasy franchise.

With the previous Final Fantasy XIII, one of the main focus was to introduce a new battle system that sucessfully combined stratregy and power. This time, for Final Fantasy XIII-2, it seems that the main goal was to further develop story-related elements. Can you tell us more?

You’re right, this time the parallel worlds are the main theme of the game. You can now travel to the same location at different times and through different places. The main mechanism is called Historia Crux System, or “clocks of time”. Basically, it serves as a a map: Historia Crux allows you to explore the next time period you want to go to, it’s like a massive network of what we call time gates. You choose the location, then you select the time you want to go to. When you get to the end of the location or complete something in the area, you can find new gates that can be activated with artefacts and allows access to new areas, just open the map to unlock them. With this system, when you go back to a previously explored area, you can explore it again in very different ways.

Final Fantasy is special because of its blend of western and eastern influences, as well as its mix of medieval and futuristic elements. What do you enjoy the most, heroic-fantasy or science fiction?

Obviously, there are lots of games, films, books which rely on a medieval gothic-type setting or a science fiction theme. But theses categories are generally strictly separated. On the contrary, the main idea of Final Fantasy, its unique flavor is the fact that we mix together all of these kinds of influences. We are not only looking  to create a world of science-fiction and classic medieval fantasy with gothic architecture and stuff, but we also look into the industrial revolution, steampunks, various mythologies and aesthetics that gets mixed together to create a truly unique fantasy. Same goes for the asian and western-type influences : they should fit together and ultimately feel like part of a natural setting that exists on its own, with its own rules and beliefes, rather than viewed as a combination of ideas borrowed from several places.
 
Lightning is a fascinating character, maybe one of the most interesting since Final Fantasy VII‘s Cloud. How do you manage to come up with new and memorable characters each time ?

That’s clearly a hard part. When you look closely at the series, you can identify different types of characters to classify the heroes. There are some cool, very laid-back characters, others are very troubled like Cloud, or you also have the kind of energetic, rough and tumble boy, like Final Fantasy X’s Tidus. Even if we repeat broad character archetypes, we have to make sure to come up with something different from what we’ve seen previously in the series to prevent any overlaps. For example, Lightning is the first female protagonist who played the main role, which is already a big thing on its own. You can draw some parallels between Lightning and Yuna from Final Fantasy X, as she is maybe the closest character. Yet, there are big differences: Yuna is a demure, gentle magic user, while Lightning is very determined and mentally-driven. Also, she’s not a magician but a physical fighter. So the idea is to always look back to the series previous entries to recall which characters we have already done and how we can make the new ones feel different and exciting.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 .

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