Square Enix Explains Long Development Time for Numbered Final Fantasy Games

It takes more than a couple of years to complete a project like Final Fantasy 15. Square Enix is able to pump out a new offshoot from the Final Fantasy 13 series with time to spare, but series producer Yoshinori Kitase recently spoke to VideoGamer about why we always seem to wait five years for a numbered entry in the franchise.

What really helps quicken the development of games like Lightning Returns is the ability to make use of older assets.

“There's a certain level of assets already available that can be adapted and reused for the different games," Kitase explained. "Certainly between 13 and 13-2 there was a number of maps that we could [adapt] and reuse, so that speeds it up as well. Although having said that, the changes between 13-2 and Lightning Returns, the world map and all the areas in the game were pretty much 100 per cent made from scratch because it's a completely different incarnation of the same world, so it wasn't as if we could reuse all of that.

"On top of that, though, if you look at the fact that it takes a lot less time to create these because we don't have to make everything from scratch, it's coming up with a whole completely new world, new characters, new stories and new scenarios, [and that] does take time. Obviously when we've got the 13 series, you've got the base of the character Lightning and the world and the mythology [and] it's a lot easier to move that on rather than [starting] from scratch.

"The sequels are quicker to create for those two reasons really. It takes a lot of time to create a new world and a new game."

Unfortunately, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 isn’t exactly wooing the critics. We might have to wait until the well-in-development Final Fantasy 15 before actually talking about the brand in a positive light.