After Square Enix announced the Final Fantasy XV Universe last night, which includes the Kingsglaive movie and Brotherhood anime series, Game Director Hajime Tabata sat down with GameSpot, revealing that the additional stories helped keep the game from being released in multiple parts:
It’s an idea that evolved over time. That being said, initially, I did have an idea of this sort in my mind. Nozue-san joined Business Division 2, and as we communicated and discussed things, Kingsglaive started to formulate. Brotherhood, the anime, is something that we started to develop in discussion with [Akio] Ofuji-san, the producer. Since Ofuji-san is the marketing producer on Final Fantasy as well, those types of discussions started to really develop. The idea was there from the get go, but all these projects really developed over time.
Cinematics Director Takeshi Nozue added:
The initial starting point [for Kingsglaive] was when we had the idea to really complete Final Fantasy XV within one installment, and restructure everything and optimize it so it would be a story that’s told within that one installment. We really focused on Final Fantasy XV’s main game being from Noctis’ perspective, about his kingdom and taking it back, and his growth as a king. When we had that discussion, we felt that it would be best to separate out the story of Regis and make it its own independent piece.
As for Brotherhood, episodes one and five of the anime will tie into the recently released Platinum Demo, which explains an injury Noctis received as a child. If you don’t watch Brotherhood though, the team says the moments are just backstory and aren’t required to understand the main game.
Switching to Kingsglaive, Nozue says the team didn’t want to use Noctis as its main focus, so they went with events surrounding Regis and Luna shown through the eyes of Nix, a new character who won’t appear in Final Fantasy XV. He added, “We felt that rather than make the main character someone who is part of the main story, telling the story through someone who is a few steps away from the core cast allows us to better show things that are happening within the world that are more easily understood from afar.”
Unlike Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which was meant for people who played the game, Kingsglaive’s sole purpose “is to get more people to get to know the universe of Final Fantasy XV.” Nozue adds that you don’t need to know much about Final Fantasy or the game, and they “want Kingsglaive to be an entry point into the Final Fantasy XV universe.”
Tabata and Nozue also revealed that King Regis was redesigned because of the film; Aranea, the dragoon, will be encountered frequently during the main story, but she won’t be a part of any major plot points; and, while Luna will have a big part in Kingsglaive and the main game’s story, she won’t be playable in combat and you won’t fight alongside her.
[Source: GameSpot]
