Hajime Tabata, the director of Final Fantasy XV says that the upcoming game's narrative will be taking cues from The Last of Us. He compared the two games in a recent interview with the Examiner.
Typically, games in the Final Fantasy series tend to rely upon non-interactive cutscenes and heavy exposition in the form of text. The upcoming title will be moving away from the studio's traditional formula to deliver a much more organic experience, says Tabata.
“We are really trying to aim for something where the gameplay and storytelling are really one in the same,” he said.
“It’s important that the story progresses through the gameplay in a very unforced way, in a similar way that it was done with The Last of Us, for example.”
The Last of Us had plenty of cutscenes, but many of the story beats were delivered while the player still had control over Joel or Ellie—the giraffe scene is one that comes to mind. And furthermore, even with non-interactive cutscenes, The Last of Us delivered its story in such a compelling way that the story never felt separate from the gameplay action. In Final Fantasy titles and JRPGs in general, combat typically takes place on a stage entirely separate from any of the story beats. This will not be the case with the upcoming game.
The rest of the interview sheds some light on how Noctis's personal story is central to the story, and how the character would grow as the story progresses.
“One of the important threads of the story in Final Fantasy XV is that tale of how Noctis goes from being a young prince in waiting to becoming the king of the country,” Tabata said, “That tale is a really big part of the game.”
The developer also noted that there will be a familial theme involving Noctis and his father. As an example, the car that Noctis and his friends travel in is a memento from his father.
Final Fantasy XV is slated for release on the PS4 and Xbox One in 2016.
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