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A Glimpse Into The Long Development of Final Fantasy XII

Posted by Zonk on from the cactaur-killing-good-time dept.

In a talk Thursday at the Game Developer's Conference, attendees were exposed to a rare treat: technical information behind development at Square/Enix. Programming supervisor Taku Murata, co-director Hiroshi Minagawa, and lead realtime rendering programmer Yoshinori Tsuchida were onhand to shed some light on a game many years in the making. Though the session didn't provide any dirt on those interested in the departure of game designer Yasumi Matsuno, there was plenty to take away from the highly focused discussion. "Final Fantasy games require a lengthy development process, and this presents the very real threat of being obsolete by the time it ships. To combat this the team allocated its resources with a heavy emphasis on art."

4 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Article Summary by Stevecrox · · Score: 3, Informative

    Final Fantasy takes years to produce, to lessen the chance that the games outdated when it comes out they spend 70% on art, 20% on game design and 10% on engineering. There was mention that they built tools to output their 'art' through a PS2 onto a TV to get a true representation of how it will look. Lots of comments about how much FFXII sucked, suggesting this business plan is a bad idea.

    There i saved you the hassle of reading the article

    1. Re:Article Summary by Aladrin · · Score: 2, Informative

      Their 70% art business plan shows. And by art, I mean graphics, not plot, storyline, etc. This has got to be the most boring FF yet. After about 20 hours of the game, I finally gave up. It had only once even slightly interested me in the plot, and not at all in the characters. (Except Fran, but not because of who she was as a character, but because she's a bunny-girl that doesn't wear much and has an amazing accent.)

      The combat was okay at the beginning. Then you get a few gambits, and it's more fun. Then you get a lot of gambits and you realize the game really does just play itself. (If you're not a complete moron, I mean.) Except for boss fights, there's very little interaction necessary... Or even helpful. And boss fights only need interaction so you can pull off the mega-moves. -yawn-

      Combine the lack of interest in combat with the lack of interest in the plot (of which there is NONE in the battlefield) and most of the game is totally boring.

      Looked nice, though, for a PS2 game.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  2. Where'd 12 go wrong? by Bardez · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have to ponder why they spent so much time developing FF 12, and yet it was a bomb -- not in sales, mind you (it's a Final Fantasy for Christ's sake, it WILL SELL), but in plot. Final Fantasy is notorious for having a good plot and/or a good game system. 1 was bland, but by today's standards what can you expect? 2 was awful, but had a really fun battle/leveling system. 3 introduced jobs, even though the plot seemed nonexistent. Then four through, oh, let's say ten had story. And gameplay. They were FUN. Now I bought up 12 at the midnight release, ready to eat it up like, uh, a fat kid and food, and then I found... an MMO. A single-player MMO. And it isn't just me; everyone I know complains about the same thing: FF12 is a dungeon crawl, and not a very good one at that. There's no captivating plot, the characters are all secondary to the game; FF12 is hardly a FF at all.

    So why'd 12 go so wrong? "Study long, study wrong?" I wish I knew, but after this, I am not going for the next one nearly as fast as I have for the past FF titles.

    Disclaimer: this is opinion, not fact. I didn't feel the game, you might have loved it. Just 'cause my friends (imaginary and not) didn't like it doesn't mean I think nobody liked it. Etc. Etc. Etc., not trying to troll; just curious as to what people think

    --
    Perception is the thin dividing line between reality and fiction.
  3. Re:Bias by XMyth · · Score: 2, Informative

    I gotta say, I somewhat agree with your statement about the characters....it all seems kinda, blah.

    The game itself, I love except for the fact that I have to do 50 hunts to be able to do freaking sidequests and get decent weapons.

    But, the story line itself....it seemed REALLY good the first half of the game, a lot of build up...and then it seems like the writers just lost their way and it got real blurry with a bunch of stuff thrown in at the last minute..."He has gotten the sky fortress Bahamut!" WTF???