The Final Fantasy IX Team Spills All
We learned more about FFIX and Square's future plans in a round table Q&A; session with the creators.
September 21, 2000
At the company's Square Media Tour 2000 event in Tokyo yesterday, Square was kind enough to provide us with some interview questions from key participants in Final Fantasy IX's development: Art Director Hideo Minaba, Director Hiroyuki Itou, and Composer Nobuo Uematsu. Transcribed here are their responses to the questions prepared for us by Square and the ones posed by the editors attending the round table question and answer session. Their answers offer some interesting insights into what drove the creation of this latest FF, and its shift in style in comparison to its immediate predecessors. Also, make sure to check out our FFIX preview, updated today with new screens and game information. Nobuo Uematsu, composer Q: How many tracks did you create for Final Fantasy IX? A: Around 160, but about 20 of them weren't used, so there should be about 140 in the game. Q: Where did you get the ideas -- did you have anything particular in mind? A: I didn't try to pattern the songs after any particular piece of music. Like many composers, most of my compositions are influenced by the music I've listened to throughout my life. Originally, I was shooting for subtle, classical-sounding tunes that fit the general setting and feel of the game, but I figured sticking to just one genre would be boring, so I tried to mix everything up. Q: Do you have a favorite? A: "Melodies of Life." Q: In what kind of atmosphere did you create your music for FFIX? A: All I need is a piano. Q: Do you work on the music at the same time the game is created, or do you come at the end of the creation, watch the game, and create music that the game inspires? A: It's sort of like playing catch -- it can go both ways. I create music that fits the events in the game, but sometimes, the event designer will adjust a game event to fit the music I've already written. Hideo Minaba, art director Q: What graphics were you directly responsible for? A: Other than my work as a director on FFIX, I did some key visuals to establish the "world structure" and I did some preliminary drawings of main backgrounds (Alexandria from a distance, the Iifa Tree, etc.), character designs (the Tantalus, etc.), and I put some finishing touches on some backgrounds (the Evil Forest, etc.) and the like. Q: Unlike the modern feel of VII and VIII, Final Fantasy IX returns completely to the fantasy genre... A: This soon becomes obvious when you play the game, but the themes in the game are ones that fully apply to modern society as well, so the game can't be called strict fantasy. I assume you are referring to the game visuals, which are much more fantasy-oriented than other recent Final Fantasy games. As this is the last single-digit Final Fantasy, we wanted to give the feeling of a series watershed, a sort of grand collection of what has come before. Also, since the black mage known as Vivi is a key character in Final Fantasy IX, part of the world design was centered on him. These two things had a great influence on Final Fantasy IX's world design. To put it another way, if we kept showing the same futuristic images in Final Fantasy VII, and VIII, and the Final Fantasy Movie, I think people would get tired of seeing the same old thing again and again...at least that's something I was a little concerned about. Hiroyuki Itou, Director Q: What is the main change from FFVIII to FFIX? A: The world. While FFVII and FFVIII have somewhat of a futuristic setting, FFIX has a more medieval setting. Q: The Final Fantasy series is obviously hugely popular in Japan. What is it about the series that you think makes it so popular? A: Since many players from different backgrounds play the FF series, we've tried to incorporate various perspectives and values to which they can relate. And above all, we believe in keeping the games fun, no matter how much the technology in the industry improves. Q: Why do you think people get so engrossed in the characters in Final Fantasy? A: Maybe because the FF characters are fairly easy to relate to, whether the players love them or hate them. Q: In what ways did you try and improve FFIX over previous titles in the series? A: I don't know specifically. We, along with the players, weren't satisfied with some of the elements in the previous FFs. We did some research using media resources. I believe the issues that many people have brought up were addressed in FFIX. Q: Why isn't it a PS2 game? A: Well, you can play it on the PS2, too. As Square has released numerous titles for the PlayStation, we've grasped a solid know-how for developing on the console, and FFIX just happened to become the last title we made. I believe it is a worthy title for our final PS title. Q: What have been your biggest influences when working on the FF adventures? A: Although the FF series has evolved over the years, it is still an RPG. Since the FF series tends to be story-driven, I wanted to balance the story with the traditional gameplay of an RPG. Q: What makes the FF series significantly different from other RPGs? A: Before we knew it, it became one of the biggest titles in the industry. The FF titles have been a wonderful success, but we have continued to take up new challenges to add new elements to the series. Q: In what ways does the plot change from the original premise during development? Any examples of this happening? A: There tend to be many changes. Basically, we try to keep what's good. Q: Where does the series go from here? What do you hope to do with the next-generation machines? A: I would like to try a lot of different things. I guess the only way I can answer this is with our next title. Q: The FF series has managed to be one of the most recognizable in videogame history, although every part presents the players with new characters and worlds. What are the elements that hold the series together, in your opinion? A: We took elements from the original FF to FFVIII to make FFIX. Therefore, although we introduce new characters and new worlds in each title, there are some embedded similarities throughout the series. Q: You must receive an incredible amount of feedback from FF fans. Did you incorporate some of that feedback into FFIX? A: Yes, we did. Feedback from our fans is incorporated into our title. Q: Do you ever have ideas that you'd like to implement in FF, but are restricted by the huge success of the series and the expectations of the fans? A: I entered some ideas this time! Q: There always seems to be a progression toward more active battles, how do you envisage RPG battles happening in the future? A: This is a difficult question. If you come up with an interesting idea, please tell me. Thank you. Q: How does having split development sites in Hawaii and Japan affect the outcome of a game? A: Many of our FFIX staff members come from overseas. Many of them have worked actively in Hollywood. Square has gained a major advantage from working with these highly skilled individuals. Since it would be somewhat difficult for our overseas members to work in Japan, Hawaii was the ideal place for the team to work together. Q: Final Fantasy IX was being developed at the end of the development of Final Fantasy VIII. Does this mean you naturally get some thematic crossover? A: That was not our intention. Q: What is it that inspires you about Norse and Northern European mythology? Odin, the Knights of the Round Table... A: We're attracted to European history and mythology because of its depth and its drama. Q: Is there an underlying concept behind combining items like a sword and a gun to create something new? Is it something you see happening now, or in the future, through technology? A: That's classified. Q: What would you say to someone who's never played a Final Fantasy game to convince them that they need to get FFIX? A: Final Fantasy is one of the most entertaining games in the industry, and many years down the road, I'm sure it'll still be celebrated as one of the best series ever. Q: What have you added this time around that you're particularly proud of? A: We didn't compromise too much; we included many of the elements that we wanted. Q: Final Fantasy games have never included spoken dialogue. How do you feel about spoken dialogue now that more and more games make use of it? A: When we feel that we need it, I'm sure we'll incorporate it. Q: FFIX's storyline deals with a lot of emotions and even philosophical questions. Did you have a lot of discussions in the team on how to present these topics? A: We got together a lot to discuss the characters. But as things progressed, we were able to sort of tell what was on each other's mind, and everything came together. I guess that's what you call teamwork. Q: FFIX is said to be the last completely "off-line" FF. Do you think people will miss the single-player experience if the FF series shifts to completely online play? A: If you find the online play to be disappointing, please tell us, so that we can think things over. I'm sure we'll discover many things from developing and seeing online games. Round Table Discussion
Q: With Final Fantasy IX, several of the tracks were already arranged with fully orchestral tracks, with future Final Fantasy games like X and XI do you see yourself going with fully orchestral soundtracks or will they continue the trend of having a mix of orchestral and synthesized stuff? Uematsu: I've never thought that it was absolutely necessary to have fully orchestrated music for the entire soundtrack, but this trend kind of started when Mr. Sukiyama started to use classical music for Dragon Quest, so I think that it came out around at that time. I'm not really a person who can compose classical music completely so the way that I use the orchestra is kind of rough in some ways, so I don't think it's really important for me to use orchestra for the entire soundtrack. Once it's really possible for us to record live music, we'll likely be able to start using rock bands and other types of music. In fact, I've already been working on that in some other projects right now. Q: With Final Fantasy IX already a huge success in Japan, do you feel any need for it to be successful in America or any other country outside of Japan? Do you even care how well it does elsewhere? Uematsu: Of course we're hoping for our success in the States, of course we care about it. Not just the States, but for Europe and we hope that people in Africa can also enjoy it. I believe that there are common values that we can all share. And hopefully that will be borderless and regardless of different people in different countries, we believe that we can share those values. Minaba: There's also something that I felt in the States when I was involved in some projects. The game industry is still pretty small in scale and still young. And when we were trying to hire some staff in the States, when I was doing some interviews with the applicants, I felt that the movie industry was number one and the game industry was under it. That is what we wish to change. Uematsu: Games are still considered to be in the sub-culture category, coming under movies, coming under manga or comics or animation, especially in Japan. So, hopefully we'll be able to establish our own position that can be established as a culture. Even in Japan, I don't think that the game culture is established. So, probably the users are kids in school, even adults, I'm not sure up to which age they are. For example, my father will watch movies but games don't appear in his life at all, I think that that's sad. Even though we can create something really good, our parents wouldn't be able to understand what we do. Q: Would you say that the same is true with women? It seems that women in the States play far less games than males, is that the same in Japan and does Final Fantasy attract more women gamers than other videogames? Uematsu: I receive more fan mail from the females. Aoki: Maybe you only read the fan mail from the females. Kurosawa: Probably it's about a 50/50 split. I don't think that the percentage of men is extremely higher and that of all games, I think that there are more female users for Final Fantasy. Q: What are some of the reasons for taking FFIX back to its Nintendo roots? And is that change caused by the fact that many companies have begun copying Final Fantasy? Kurosawa: Dragon Quest didn't come out as early as expected [group laughter]. In the case of Japan, not many games have been emulating FFVII or VIII, but in this case, the director, Mr. Sakaguchi, wanted to go back to our roots, so we tried that this time. Q: The character designs in FFIX have returned to more of a cartoony look, what are some of the reasons for doing that? Minaba: Actually for FFVII and VIII, we did have that comical look and feel. I think that the realistic look came in when the Nintendo came out, but once again, for VII and VIII we did have that comic-like look, but for IX we kept some of that element but also changed some of the characters to give a different balance for it. Q: But, why? Uematsu: We wanted it to fit the scenario. For VII and VIII, the characters are probably more realistic and of course it's easier to get that more realistic feel from realistic characters, but with the technology now, it's still possible to get that realistic sense with comic-like characters. Q: Do you think that the international audience that is more accustomed to the realistically proportioned characters will have a problem with the change back to more super deformed characters? Aoki: Going back to the fantasy-like world was probably a bold step by us, but after actually going through the process of creating the game, the characters that are non-realistic actually make you feel more familiar with them after you go through the game. As long as the users can still sympathies with the characters, we believe that this is the case, we feel that it's what's needed. Minaba: Of course we were very concerned. We were thinking that since the characters in VIII were normal sized, we should make them even taller for FFIX. But, anyway, we did make the change. Q: Do you have any plans to make games based on the Final Fantasy movie? Uematsu: We don't have any at this time and it's not very likely. Q: Are any members of the teams that worked on the Final Fantasy series working on the movie? Uematsu: Some of the staff that were on the FFIX team moved there, so there might be some input there. But, we haven't had any input on the movie. Q: What are your opinions of the Active Time Event system in FFIX and was it harder to create event scenarios with that as part of the game? Kurosawa: When we were creating FFIX, there were two things that we kept in mind. Number one, to make sure that we made a story that was easy to understand. And two, to create some specific personalities for the characters and sub characters and these were the two points we kept in mind when creating the Active Time Event system. With this, it is possible to understand what the sub characters have gone through, making the story and personalities of the characters more easily to relate to. Q: Is there a reason why there isn't voice acting in the Final Fantasy games? And will there be any in future games? Aoki: I'm sure that it would be possible to have voice acting in the future, but for the present in FFIX, with the capacity it's impossible. When we think about the capacity needed for the data, it would be the same as the visuals. With DVD, it may be possible. Once we do have voice, the way that we would develop the game would change because instead of music, we would have sound effects and the voices. Uematsu: It would be easier for me, and the music staff. Because with voice, we wouldn't have to use the music to create the drama, now the voice and sound effects would create the real-life atmosphere. So it would be a lot easier for the music staff. So, hopefully that will happen soon. Q: How was the advanced audio power of the PS2 affected the creation of music in FFX and has it changed the way that you compose the music? Uematsu: In terms of composing music, I don't think that anything is going to change. I just think that we're going to create music that matches the scenes. But with DVD and the 5.1 output, I think that the sound effects will be more realistic. So, instead of the music, sound effects would create more impact. Q: Will the music still be synthesized or will it be streamed because of the DVDs? Uematsu: Of course with streaming, it would be possible to use live recorded music, but I'm not really particular about having more live music than the synthesize music. What's more important is to make sure that the flow of the game is not interrupted by the live music. Of course, the quality of the sound would increase with live music, but the time lags to when the music starts would be an unnecessary time lag that the users would have to experience. So, hopefully we won't have to interrupt the flow of the game, as that is what's most important. Q: From a music and graphics standpoint, what system is the team most excited about making Final Fantasy games for? Aoki: We would like to know what's inside the Xbox soon. Uematsu: Whatever hardware or equipment that is selected is what we'll work on. We're pretty flexible, believe it or not. Minaba: Once we specify the box, then we'll have to decide on how we'll create the games for it. So, we have to stay flexible. Uematsu: Game Boy is something that I would like to make something for. In the past we had Final Fantasy Legends, which was created to complete the game in six to eight hours. It was created like because an average flight from Narita to Hawaii was about six to eight hours. It was very fun to do. Even though the music was very limited, only three notes, the game was only in black and white and the game was limited, the game was fun. And even though we have the advanced hardware and equipment now and the CG and the sound quality is very good, the people are forgetting about fun, which is what people really need. Of course, it would be better to have high quality music and graphics, but we need to make sure that the users enjoy the game and I think that some of the producers are ignoring that. Q: The battle system in FFIX reverted back to a more classic style, will we see the same with future FF games? Kurosawa: We don't know, so we can't make any comments. Q: Dragon Quest VII is finally out and is selling well, what is your take on this old-fashioned RPG? Uematsu: Did it come out? [group laughter] Actually, I was talking about this with Mr. Minaba a moment ago and even though I haven't really played it fully yet, the map and battle jump is very quick and doesn't create any stress for the users and maybe Square could really learn from that. Minaba: What's amazing about it is that the output would probably be the same with just about any hardware. Q: It's been rumored that the ending to FFIX was changed at the very last moment, is this true? Aoki: I think that the concept has remained the same, but we did change the ending seven times. Q: Some of the tracks in FFIX are remixed tracks of earlier FF themes. Were the remixed tracks your choice or were you told to remix old tracks to give us more nostalgia? Uematsu: I wanted to remix some of the older songs. Some of the character and location names were the same, so I thought that it would cool to use something from the past series. Q: Some of Square's other RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross have gotten rid of the random encounters and replaced them with monsters that you can see on screen and avoid, why hasn't this been done in the Final Fantasy series and will it be something that's considered for future FF games like Final Fantasy X. Kurosawa: There were originally designs just like that, but that of course limits the things. The debate is between how much memory you use in the map and polygon graphics for monsters, and we decided that random encounters were more suitable for this game overall. In terms of the future games, X and XI, I don't really know. --Dave Zdyrko
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