Final Fantasy XV's Story Has Been Changed from Final Fantasy Versus XIII; Stella is Gone

During the lastest Active Time Report Broadcast, Final Fantasy XV Dirctor Hajime Tabata explained that the story has been changed from the original Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

[pasta_spice]

That's a shame. I really liked her design and what few details we knew about her sounded intriguing.

[Abash]

All I have to say

http://www.classicmoviehub....

[comebackkid9891]

Dammit. Beat me to it. Loved her character design.

[crxss]

honestly Stella seemed like a stronger female character versus Luna who looks like another helpless heroine. i prefer the former.

at least they're not cutting Himefu haha

[SarcasticDuck]

Stella is literally the base to Luna, so you guys dont "lost" her

[DillyDilly]

I guess Stella wont be getting her groove back

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I'm logging off for the rest of the week.

[Last_Boss]

Both +1, funny comment & funny reply.

[-Foxtrot]

Why have they done that?

Wasn't the whole point of Stella that she was the romantic love interest for Noctis BUT she was the daughter of the rival house they were at war with. Romeo and Juliet kind of thing. That would have been interesting

Hajime Tabata is trying to change this game into his own thing as quickly as he can, so it's remembered as HIS game not Nomuras who spent most his time on it. Arrogance in my opinion, he already said he changed things because HE didn't like them

Sounds like they are trying to make it accessible....another FF13 in my opinion ¬¬

This could have been out by now if Tabata just finished it off.

[never4get]

If it was another FF13, Stella would be the main character adventuring with Cidney and that dark hair girl.

[Blacklash93]

I think you mean Final Fantasy X-2

[Eterna1Ice]

The way it seems to me, the idea and design got hit pretty hard. I liked Noctis from first trailers more and the whole dank atmosphere gave me chills. Now it seems kinda too bright.

[-Foxtrot]

The tone shift is what I'm talking about when I mentioned FF13

Instead of this gritty, dark world at war they are trying to make it more colourful and light hearted.

I don't see why he's trying to change it into his own thing, if he just finished the game in Nomuras vision instead of deciding what WE all like then the game could have been released this year.

[goldwyncq]

Main character falls in love with a female antagonist is a tired cliché. How does changing that made the story more accessible?

[-Foxtrot]

I meant the other things which have been changed

"Character Switching is gone, you only play Noctis now.

Blood seems to be gone, instead there is an oil like substance.

Combat is no longer like Kingdom Hearts. Details here.

World Map seems to be gone, now it seems to be a more western style open world.

The ability to equip all weapon types is gone, or at least vastly changed so it is not the same (guns and such are out).

Manual in combat weapon changing seems to have been replaced with decks.

Character switching Combos are gone(You can combo your attacks across character changes — that is, you can keep your combo going when you switch the character you’re currently controlling.)

Three member party, it is now four.

Hitting enemies with your car seems to be gone."

http://www.takuchat.com/cha...

Just a handful of examples

[Sevir]

Nomura Changed that on his Own tho, the open world gameplay came when he decided to switch from PS3 to PS4/XBO. As the who scope changed. Tabata only took over late last year, so most of the things changed were implemented under Nomura's direction.

Don't forget the grand unveiling of FF15 was 2013 and by then the game didn't look much like it did in previous years, and at that time all the way till fall 2014 Nomura was in charge until he decided he wanted to lead KH3.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"Combat is no longer like Kingdom Hearts. Details here.

World Map seems to be gone, now it seems to be a more western style open world. "

Not sure what you mean as the Gameplay is actually more like KH as in KH you only play 1 person.

The game was always open world, where did you hear otherwise? Though he stated "world map" I think he means open world as he states Airships would be flying over the world map. Nothing we've seen shows some non-open world in terms of the PS3 footage...in fact the PS4 an XONE footage is very much like what we've seen years prior besides the enemy types or playing as other. I've also heard nothing about the game NOW being open world or them confirming its new or anything of that matter. I could be wrong, but I beleive it was always known it was an open world game, as to why it would have towns, cars, airships or even be only on PS3 (likely due to bluray based on the space needed for such a concept) but it could just be wording and I could be wrong.

http://www.siliconera.com/2...

and if anything, look at the differences on this site.

http://www.unseen64.net/201...

sorta like the link you posted.

http://www.qj.net/qjnet/pla...

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

or even in 2009, even if its cgi, its still showing a road as to suggest its very much open world and the video being shown would be shown after you drove to that spot (especially after that Airship comment).

Your link shows a lot of the same differences too

as "The world map can be traversed using Cars, Chocobos and other means of transport" I don't think any of that is actually new, a car was confirmed years ago as being the main transport, chocobos are FF staples and Airships have been announced, wasn't listed.

@Sevir- No, it was open world prior to ever being made for next gen systems. Read the links and just look up what it was like prior to this. Its also likely why it was only being done on PS3 ie Bluray.

Edit- @Fox- I stand corrected.

http://www.ff-xiii.net/imag...

on the bottom it shows a small screen of a overworld map sorta like FFVII, FFIX etc. Though this wasn't confirmed, its actually likely why they never stated FFXV was now open world as they formally never really stated FF Versus XIII wasn't.

Good eye Fox, disregard the rest above lol.

[Irishguy95]

Stella was never supposed to be a love interest...I think Luna has become a love interest. Nomura didn't want a love interest from what I remember. Or at least, the love side of things would be very minor compared to other games an romeo and Juliet.

Sounds like some massive changes there...I hope it works out. Although to be fair I didn't think it would make much sense fighting off a full invasion(Nifilheims full strength essentially) in Insomnia and then later when the characters improve fight the same thing. Something that always weirded me about FF.

[trenso1]

Did you watch the ATR? He explains that when they got the original story they wanted to make a game the could be self contained into one game, most likely to avoid making sequels like for example 13-2, and 13-3. The original story probably included her but explained her in detail through sequels and since they wanted a game that was self contained she was replaced with Luna. Luna has the same surname so is from the same family so can still play a similar role.

I wish they hadn't taken Stella out but if it mean we won't be seeing a 15-2 or 15-3 I'm happy with that. I don't want them to leave out story content like they did with 13 to make more games. And seeing as the original story was made when it was versus and at the time when SE went crazy with final fantasy 13 I think it could be for the better.

[NoctisPendragon]

The ATR was awsome and the 2.0 update looks great , i think Tabata is doing a really good work with FF XV .

I don't really care about a story we never knew , now FF XV is 100% its own game , they may do FF Versus XIII later we never know .

[Lore]

Taking Tetsuya Nomura away from this game will be the biggest mistake they ever made. His directing abilities and vision for games is astounding.

Next to the word "Nostalgia" in the dictionary is a picture of Nomura. In the picture is Nomura holding up the gross sales figures of Kingdom Hearts alone, compared with everything Tabata has directed combined.

[DOMination-]

Nomura was doing a team ico with this game and needed a kick up the arse. Only since Tabata took charge have we actually got any info about this game. It still looks terrible imo but at least we can see theres a game here which we couldn't under Nomuras "vision"

[_-EDMIX-_]

? His concept is very much still intact in this game. Its not as if its some different game. The overall idea being conveyed is actually still being done.

MOST of this game was done by the time Nomura left anyway, I don't think it will hurt the game in the slightest, design, characters, concept etc is still very much Nomura. They didn't just start over and make a new game...

[iamtehpwn]

Considering we now have a new character named Lunafreya *Nox Flueret* to replace Stella *Nox Flueret*, and who look almost completely identical I don't think we've entirely lost much. Not to mention it seems that Luna is made specifically to be a love interest for Noctis, and this was probably a decision made as the FF main protagonist usually has a love interest.

[averagejoe26]

Way to jump to conclusions and be negative about a story that you barely know anything about.

This story could be way better, you literally have no idea.

Your post was absurd.

[punctualdork]

What an obnoxious comment. The intent is to make Final Fantasy XV's story complete and enclosed in a single video game. It was speculated by a lot of people that the original vision was too expansive, and would sprawl out into another trilogy subseries. That's not a concern now.

Plus, a lot of games change from planning to execution stages, in the same way movies and books do as well. Sometimes compromises need to be made for a more well rounded final product. It's not arrogance -- it's a reality of producing anything of value.

I don't want to harp on about this, because your comment already annoyed me to the point of frustration, but let me just echo this:

Watch the video, make the comment. Not the other way around.

[Godmars290]

Isn't Square still talking about Sequels? Either separate games still connected directly to FF15's world, or DLC content that act as pro or post logs of other members and characters in the party?

[punctualdork]

DLC is a possibility, but Tabata has been quoted as wanting to contain this story to one game.

[Godmars290]

"Containing this story to one game" is not the same as "not making other games around this story". With the potential to diminish if not remove the urgency or value of the "main" story, like what happened to FF13, also further unsaid.

Then again, we don't really know what FF15's main story is or what real value it will have. I mean, to me, while FF13 supposedly revolved around gaining self-determination and freedom with a subtext of familial bonds, the sequels tore up and stomped on that worse than the first game's poor delivery.

And with FF15 looking overall like nothing more than buddies on road trip, what is there really to mess up?

[never4get]

Contrary to your belief, Hajime Tabata more likely rushing the game "Completion" thru "Director's Cut".

if he just finished the game in Nomuras vision, with the current staff probably around ~300, would probably took another 2 years to complete the game, far from your allegation that "the game could have been released this year". Even GTAV took ~1000staff and 4 years to complete.

Its probably Episode Duscae that makes you think that the Game's tone change.

The real questions, is the "Directors Cuts" would effect the "game" and "gameplay", Forget the everywhere-wall-scaling mechanics from versusXIII, none of their existing programmers manage to write such mechanic. Hajime - Tabata the guy that made a game that you switch between 3 different characters, decided to "Director's Cut" Prompto third-person shooting mechanics, because "it takes to long to do it"

Romeo&Juliet/Hamlet/TheTe mpest like story, isn't a problem because you can read it online.

The question is, would "Directors Cuts" lessen the emotion that the story wants to deliver.

Hajime Tabata making multiple "Director's Cut" and add Coleman camp product. Yup, that's his "Game". 9 years in the making and rephrasing the Story Writer Mr. Nojima "i just want to play the game".

Plus Hajime Tabata already mention about releasing the release date. Probably confirm FFXV release holiday 2016. I'm more worried about Hajime Tabata rushing the game release with Director's Cut.

[gninja92]

when was he planning on finishing it??, this game has been developing almost as long as Duke nukem forever. they released 5 different versions of FF13, first it was ff13, then ff13-2, then ff13 ligthing returns, then ff type-0 Hd, then ff14, when is versus 13 coming out, it was supposed to be a PS3 game, not it may even skip the ps4 line. just like KH3.

[Adrian_v01]

Nomura back then promised the story would be dark and more mature than in the FFs we had in the past few years. I don't see that anymore and that's an indication that this is a completely new game and not what we have been promised. And Tabata can seem arrogant with his comments sometimes, yeah.

I wouldn't have a problem with this game if they made a FFXV from scratch, I mean they seem to have changed so much they could have done it. I'd rather see FFversusXIII disappear than turn into something it wasn't supposed to be, cause as good as FFXV might be it will always be the game that wasn't supposed to be that way because of that.

[Eiyuuou]

Tabata assured us recently that it would still have those dark and shocking moments. If we are to believe him, the majority of the original plot is still the same.

[rainslacker]

I remember when SE scrapped Xenogears as a FF title due to it being too dark and mature. It went on to become one of their best RPG's, even surpassing most FF games themselves.

[MegaRay]

Look at the bright sight, KHIII will come sooner now.

[rainslacker]

This game has changed so many times since it's concept phase I can't even keep track anymore. I liked what it was doing with the FFXIII mythos, since FFXIII did a terrible job of it, but now, I'm not even sure it should be classified as a FF game outside of it having Bohemeths, some summons, and chocobos...so I guess it still keeps a lot in common with FFXIII.

But who knows, maybe I'll be wrong when it finally releases.

[Sora_1994]

Stellllllllaaaaaaaaaaa!!! this game man is looking completely different then versus.

[NoctisPendragon]

It's a good thing , it is FF XV now and not FF Versus XIII shadow .

If the game could do 2-4 big jumps forward like the 2.0 update it could be the best ARPG ever .

[Man_Marmalade]

FFXV is only the name though. They could have easily kept the original script and named it FFXV, but instead they changed the whole thing around.

[rainslacker]

I dunno. I always saw verses as a proper FF game, outside the game play. They were taking the mythos and making into something understandable, and not the mish mash of ideas and changes that the actual FFXIII series decided to explore....poorly. At least that was the expectation based on what little we knew early on.

It wouldn't be the first time multiple FF games shared a single universe. FFXI and XII for example. The mythos of XIII was quite robust, more than FF games of the past, they just screwed it all up in the sequels making crap up as they went along in order to negate the story of the prior games. It was almost like the sequels started off as different games from the XIII series.

[Dravidian]

Was that a Tales of Legendia reference?
I really hope it was lol

[Sora_1994]

you sir get a bubble for noticing well done

[DeadManMMX]

Man FFXV is turning into a massive sausage fest. That's like FF7 without Tifa and Aeris, FF8 without Rinoa, Quistis and Selfie. I'm out bro.

[Greyfoxdbz]

there's nothing wrong with having a cast that is centred around males. Why does it even matter what gender they are? also, this game is based off an old as fuck shakespeare story, hamlet i think, which makes sense. The gender of a cast should not matter. All that matters is that the game achieves what it wants to achieve, and that is to tell a good story and have good gameplay and characters.

[pasta_spice]

Gender doesn't always matter, but one thing I like about earlier FF games is how well-rounded and realistic the female and male characters were always written. Women and men interact in the real world every day and the FF games always acknowledged that. So hopefully we will see some decent female characters along the road in FFXV besides just Cidney and Luna.

[Greyfoxdbz]

@Pasta_Spice
My recent favourite character to come out of a video game is Ciri from the Witcher 3. A lot of the reasons i like her have nothing to do with her being a female. She is smart, mischievous, funny, powerful, stubborn and she feels real. I assume square enix took out the character for very good reasons, maybe she was boring, redundant and just didn't do justice to the game they wanted to make. I would rather them edit the game and remove any stuff that doesn't fit or work than just keep her in there for the sake of representation for women or whatever. the emphasis should be on character not gender, but hey that is just my opinion.

[pasta_spice]

I get what you're saying Greyfoxdbz. I certainly don't think that characters should be kept in a game if they become redundant or no longer fit into the story. But I still feel a bit sad learning that a female character who looked to have an interesting role in the story has been dropped, because female characters in FF have (for the most part) always been pretty well rounded and realistically depicted. I don't think it's necessarily that people are arguing for representation for the sake of representation, rather than just wanting a realistic world with realistic interactions between people.

I know a lot of people don't like FF8 but I always think of that game as a good example of well rounded human characters. Sure when it comes down to it, characters like Selphie. Quistis or Fujin could have been male and it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference to the plot (providing some of Quistis' flirty moments were removed lol) but it was nice to see a fairly realistic depiction of both men and women in that game; and how men and women interact, make friends, and form bonds.

[Greyfoxdbz]

@Pasta Spice
That's pretty fair. I see what you are saying. A lot of female characters are handled quite poorly in video games so i respect your desire to see more realistic ones. I think people do a poor job because they want to emphasize the differences between genders which ends up creating a hard to relate to caricature. Like Bayonetta for example, i love the game and it's all in good fun but it isn't realistic, which is fine for the type of game it is. Characters like Ellie and Tess from the last of us feel real and therefore paint a better picture of the world they are trying to portray.
That being said there are times and places where it makes sense to not have females. Like in Reservoir dogs for example, i love that movie and sure they could have added females but it works out quite well the way it was done. Maybe square enix have similar ideas for not including her? I try not to get too attached to trailers and stuff anymore, you never know what will change, especially in a game that has been in production this long.

[DeadManMMX]

Haha I was just making a joke. I'm playing this game no matter what but I am legitimately saddened by the lack of diversity in the cast. All the greatest Final Fantasy games had such well rounded casts. I mean no love story? Variety is the spice of life. Someone should make an entourage meme with Final Fantasy XV.

[rainslacker]

All FF7 needs is Yuffie. There is no other.:P

[TheColbertinator]

That blows. Back then I thought Stella was the most gorgeous female character I've ever seen. Such a shame.

[rainslacker]

She surpassed Ashe as my favorite in terms of character design. Before that, I always like Ashe because she just seemed more real and not overly done like most FF characters. Stella was real like that, and I was looking forward to seeing the story because the trailers hinted that she could also be some sort of antagonist.

[Action GO FIGURE]

Good going Squeenix. More reasons to dissuade me from getting this game.

[NoctisPendragon]

The 2.0 update is awosome and the new graphics too , you should check this out .

[pivotplease]

Terrible news. No Stella and gimped combat. They should have kept Tetsuya on the game.

[Godmars290]

So its more a "bro road show" than ever. No Yakuza version of Romeo and Juliet w/monsters and magic.

[Taislin]

You still have the Yakuza, magic and monsters though!

[UNKLE]

i KNEW IT! and when i said ff15 is changed in story too everybody called me idiot...man stella was awesome in original versus 13 back in 2006.i just wish versus 13 just released to PS3 and not this ff15. :( :( :( this is turning to be another duke nukem forever.

[DillyDilly]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Sora_1994]

wait wait wait. dissidia writer...Im Out!

[kevinsheeks]

So basically get rid of all the things that got us hyped from the beginning, okay. When the game doesn't live up to expectations because gamers didn't get what was first expected they will act like this is the type of game that we don't want and talk about how mobile is more profitable.

At the very least they could have left the combat alone, oh well.

[Godmars290]

Don't worry, there are still all those aesthetics like fluid motion for food and character animations outside of combat, gestures and the like, which have taken priority over game mechanics like switching characters or player urgency. The notion that you play rather than watch the major portion of the game and have an effect on it.

Hell, that's been FF all along hasn't it? From its first incarnation you've only ever gone through the motions, go from point A to B and so on, with around FF4 through FF6 giving you things like Cecil's "side-quest" to change from a Black Knight to a Paladin or the opera, to corridor that was FF13. And FF15 not looking to really change anything, just look more J-pop.

Guess the choice and multiple ending in Chrono Cross fooled me into thinking that such would eventually find its way into FF.

[rainslacker]

This game is probably going to sell like crazy. Despite all the changes, the hype behind it has been too much for so many years to really fail at this point. Perception after the fact may end up being rife with disappointment.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

Im sure it will still be a good game. Maybe saving her for XV-2 lol.

[NoctisPendragon]

Everything looks and is better but people are talking about Stella , she has a close (Luna ) and we didn't know her story , so it is ok .

[averagejoe26]

The early combat looked terrible. So cheesy and arcade like. Not to mention it had first person shooter elements. If that was still in there, people would be going ape sh*t. "Blah blah blah can't believe there's FPS in a final fantasy." The original trailers looked like a crappy rpg that I'm glad they changed.

And people complaining about a story that they know nothing about is ridiculous.

The gaming community is so embarrassing to be a part of sometimes.

[NoctisPendragon]

The E3 gameplay trailler or the 2.0 update gameplay are >>>>>>>&g t; than the old gameplay (aka bad copy/pasted KH gameplay ) .

[DiscoKid]

They don't like women anymore...

[Godmars290]

No. They don't like people "playing" their games anymore. It all about watching them.

[DiscoKid]

I miss the charmful characters like in FF6 and FF9.

[Eiyuuou]

So... Stella is gone and we get Luna (who looks very similar). Her role has changed from potential love interest(?) to "we don't know shit again".

"They remained as faithful as possible to the original scenario by Kazushige Nojima"

I fail to see the real issue. I see people complaining that it's deviating too much from the original story... Which we knew next to nothing about? For all we know this road trip part was in it too.

Another thing is that people keep complaining that "they don't listen to their fans anymore." Like... Seriously? SERIOUSLY? We have, next to the sonic fanbase, one of the most divided fanbases of all time. Everyone wants something that the others don't want and so on. No surprise they don't listen. Hell, I wouldn't listen either.

Ah well, I liked the demo, so I am gonna get the full game anyway. Still gonna give some constructive feedback on the new demo when it comes out. Maybe if enough people ask for switchable characters that they'll listen (miracle).

[Meryl]

Whatever FFXV is now it's still better than FF13, I know as I played the demo and FF13.
Understandably fans are upset that the game has changed, but if it's for the better then that is a good thing.

[jambola]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Unlimax]

Stella was an iconic loveable mature and strong women based on the trailers we saw , Luna on the other hand looks like a weak 13 old girl and the design choice is out of the place , i'm expecting her relationship will be like Snow and Serah from the original FF XIII story :\

[Big_Game_Hunters]

She really does look like 13 year old, I hope she isn't the love interest and more like a sister figure.

[rainslacker]

Not sure if you're saying that the relationship with Snow and Serah was inappropriate or if Noctis and Luna have a relationship like theirs...ie engaged to be married. If it's the former, Serah was 18, and snow was 21. They both look pretty youthful, but so do most 18 year old girls. I think her looking 13 is a stretch. her adult features are there, just not very pronounced. I will say that Stella certainly looked more mature and was definitely older in looks.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

...

http://www.sharegif.com/wp-...

[TricksterArrow]

Her design is basically similar to Stella. It's pretty obvious that they "recast the same character-model" in another role, with minor tweaks. People are losing their minds over nothing.

[forgetmenot]

I fully agree man she was just a side character just like the rest of the team .

[UNKLE]

ff13 was not bad like people say in n4g. especialy n4g community.but of course square is lied with that game too, the original ff13 back in the old trailers would be different battlesystem, more places, more eidolith etc...

[KryptoniteTail]

XV is gonna bomb. It's not Versus XIII anymore and it was never really XV. It has an identity crisis in many ways.

[forgetmenot]

I wouldnt say bomb but its going to catch negative press for not living up to the expectations of fans. Literally, a decade in the making yhada yhada regardless im looking forward to this game

[Big_Game_Hunters]

Does the mean the Romeo and Juliet main plot line is gone or will that just be with the other girl?

[Jag-T1000]

Stella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Edito]

I don't care anymore about the changes just release the game and let anyone judge by them selves... 9 years for real 9 years and we're still talking about what changed for real new gamers born during those 9 years of wait...

[FallenAngel1984]

With 9 years in development it was only inevitable that certain things wouldn't make it to the final version and would get cut. KH2 for example had certain scenes in preview trailers cut in the final version.

[Agent_hitman]

I told you guys, you all were screwed by SE again. Look how the way they changing all things of this game. I tell you what, Mr. Nomura's vision for this game was more interesting until Mr. Tabata came and take over the project. All things starts to fall down slowly.

And also this game's hype is no longer hot! Fans are probably tired of waiting for this game, even the infamous Duscae demo was a big failure.

[NikX]

Man this sucks! and this is what I was looking forward to in the game when they announced this game years ago!

[starcatcher]

First,I was bummed because we can't switch characters, now I find out today about Stella.. she looked interesting,but maybe Luna could fill that hole and more? :/
What I am more bummed about is the fact
that that castle escape scene has been removed it looked so fun and immersive!
More over, I hope there are a lot of weapons, abilities magic and summon options, to make up for the fact we can't play as the other party members.
9 years waiting, almost ten.. lol
I just hope the game comes out really good. ;-;

[Mr_Luke]

Goodbye FFXIII Versus, welcome half baked-modified-potentially ruined sub FF game.

As usual, /clap SE...

And yes, i tried the demo. I didn't like it so much. I know it's not the "final product" and that's why i'm even more scared. It could get worse =P

[WelkinCole]

Well I guess its a bromance

[Blacklash93]

I am finding it harder and harder to get my hopes up for this game. We're approaching a decade since Versus XIII was first announced and this level of development hell is never a good sign.