Nomura talks Final Fantasy Versus XIII gameplay, development

The Tokyo Game Show debuted the first gameplay of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, not to the public eye of course. It was probably one of the biggest surprises of the show, considering director Tetsuya Nomura said the game would not be at the show.

Famitsu managed to track down Nomura and get an interview with him about the gameplay shown at the show.

The footage displayed Noctis (the game’s main character) running around a down which shifted from day to night, then out to a field full of large creatures. The video shown was filmed by a small handy-cam by a member of the development team who’s commentary could not be understood since there were no subtitles at the bottom of the video.

Nomura said the footage shown wasn’t actually from a development version of the game, but rather a technology test. Not everything shown during the video will be used in the final game. Nomura said the only reason the clip was made was to prove the game is still well alive and in development.

Regarding Noctis running through the city in the night and in the day, that was to show how far they’ve come with differentiating day and night scenes. The non-playable characters in the town were actually borrowed from Final Fantasy XIII.

The map used for the field Noctis runs out to was made in just about two weeks, Nomura said. Obviously, it will not be used in its current form in the final game. The behemoth-like creature shown had no texture on him whatsoever, Nomura also told. Nomura also tells Famitsu that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will feature more “natural” landscapes than Final Fantasy XIII.

The only actual part of the gameplay shown that is here to stay is Noctis, who wears clothing designed by Roen Creative Director Kei Takahara. Noctis will not wear earrings or any necklace, however, he does wear a ring on his right hand and a bike glove on his left. When asked whether or not he rides a bike, Nomura responded “Probably”, after a short laugh.

The Noctis shown in the gameplay video is pretty much complete, according to Nomura. He said that the only changes they’ve made since we’ve last seen him is a bit of a shorter haircut, although the same style.

As for development on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Nomura says the development team have been workingon tests since last year and since Spring, have been gradually increasing their development team. With Final Fantasy XIII just about out the door, more and more of the team from that project is moving over to Versus XIII, so development should take a jump very soon.

Tetsuya Nomura Exclusive Interview [Famitsu via Andriasang]