Producer Asano (left) and Executive Producer Tanaka (right).

The release of FFIII Japanese version is just over 2 weeks away and, the Touch DS site today has released a 8 section interview entitled "Creator's Voice" complete with 6 new FFIII video clips.

Joining Touch DS from Square-Enix in the interview is...

???? (Tomoya Asano), producer of the original FFIII game and also famous for PS2 titles, "Full Metal Alchemist 1~3" and "Grandia X".

???? (Hiromichi Tanaka), executive producer and director of the original FFIII game, producing the game designs and concept art. He is also famous for FFI~III (FC), Seiken Densetsu 2,3 (SFC), Saga 2 (GB), FFXI etc.

As usual, here is my translation of the whole interview, around 4300 words long. Please provide a link back to this blog if you plan to copy this over somewhere. Cheers.

It appears FFIII will only come with one long opening FMV and that's it. The rest are all just in-game cutscenes. Shame since I was expecting some more Square-Enix Final Fantasy FMV goodness. I'm sure they could have achieved it however because titles such as Magical Starsign already contain multiple FMVs.

Then again, Tanaka didn't want to give FFIII too much of an overhaul from the original and since that didn't have FMVs, cutting into the game with them would probably spoil that nostalgic feeling of the classic. Still, one last long ending FMV would be great :)

And he's also right about how a lot of the new generation of players prefer graphics. Look at how many bought the PSP for that reason in those "PSP v DS" threads... But er, none of that here, thanks.

Contents

1. 16? (16 Years)
2. ???? (The Making)
3. ???? (Movies)
4. ?? (Personalities)
5. Jobs
6. ???? (Balance)
7. E3 2006 ?? (Exhibition)
8. ????? (Message)

The decision for a complete remake and not just a port.

Tanaka
We could have finished making the game much earlier if it was just a port. As you may know, we have tried porting the game to many systems but, due to various problems with things such as ROM storage space, technology and developers, it's been kept in storage and somehow 16 years has passed and that's an awful long time.

In the original Famicom version 16 years ago, we could only make use of 3 colours so we had to spend a lot of time working on the graphics but, if we ported over the same 3 coloured graphics now, it would be out of date and also, porting it over in it's 2D form would mean we have to redraw all of the artwork. Since it was going to take a lot of time anyway, we thought why don't we remake the game in 3D? I wanted to make use of the DS' hardware.

How the development of FFIII for the DS began.

Tanaka
The announcement in 2004 at the conference* about how we were going to release FFIII on the DS was what triggered it and it was so sudden. We were like, "We never heard anything about this." At the time, I was working on FFXI and since we just started work on the online game, I though I wouldn't have any time to spend on any of FFXI's development anymore but, it turns out I was the only one who had all the data and plans for the original Famicom game in the entire company. I could have just left it all to someone else to port it over to another system just like how we've done before but, it's been a long 16 years and I just couldn't leave the game in its slumber. It was at a point where a port wouldn't do it justice so we couldn't pass the work to someone else that easily. It wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that we needed the original FFIII team to work on a remake that both players of the original game and new players would accept. So, while I was working on the development and administration of FFXI, I also worked on this new project at the same time. With Asano as my partner, we were going make the best remake there is.

*FFIII's remake was announced at the "Nintendo DS Preview!" conference on the 7th October 2004.

Reasons why the game couldn't receive a remake until now.

Tanaka:
We only barely managed to produce the fast scrolling flying ship scenes on the original Famicom and with the hardware of the new systems, there was no way we could port that part of the game over. Then there was also the scale of the project. Even though it was just a port, there was a lot of work to do and we couldn't just make little work of it. Moving the 2D maps over alone would have taken a great number of hours. Those were the reasons why couldn't produce a good remake.

A few years ago, we did try to port it over using the 3D polygon systems in homes at the time but, due to the scale of the project, we couldn't maintain the number of development staff we needed to complete it. In the end, we had to postpone it unfortunately.

The formation of the staff for this new title.

Tanaka:
We created rough concepts of the game together with the staff who worked on the original title and still remains in the company today; the planners Aoki and myself, FFXI's art director Aiba and FFXII's character designer Yoshida. The actual programming was left to the staff at Matrix.

* ???? (Aoki Kazuhito). A game creator from Square-Enix who was in charge of the monsters in the Famicom version of FFIII. He also worked as a director for FF: Crystal Chronicles on the Game Cube. This time he works as the battle balance supervisor.

* ???? (Uematsu Nobuo). A game musician who is responsible for all the music in the FF series.

*???? (Aiba Ryousuke). A game creator from Square-Enix who is in charge of the art direction this time.

*???? (Yoshida Akihiko). A game creator from Square-Enix who is responsible for the character designs this time.

*Matrix is a game development company who is responsible for the planning and development of computer software.

Asano
Matrix done a good remake of Dragon quest V so we had them join us for this title too.

*????????V: ????? (Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu no Hanayome) was released for the Super Famicon in 1992 and was then remade in 2004.

The pressure in remaking FFIII

Tanaka
All of the attempts at porting FFIII so far have been left in the hands of other people while I worked on other projects and I had always been saying to myself, "If only I could work on it myself." But this time, it's been too long since the original so that'll be part of the pressure. Everyone's expectations are high and we're conscious not to make the game bad.

Besides that, we also had to make this game so that those who played the original wouldn't say, "This isn't FFIII," and new players wouldn't say, "This game is so old, I don't want to play it". It was a lot of work trying to reach that target.

Feelings the development staff during production.

Asano
When the original game went on sale, I was in the 3rd, 4th year of primary school and it was the first RPG I ever played. It was also the first RPG I completed so it remains a great memory. The current team members from Matrix we introduced just there are very young people so they have the same enthusiasm we have.

What you had to be most careful about.

Tanaka
I did say earlier on we had to make this game so that players of the original game wouldn't think of this remake as a completely different title but, if we ported the game as it was, it wouldn't work during these modern times. There's a complicated balance between it all. On the other hand, those who played the original game won't have the same image as what they had back then. Over the 16 years, their image of the game probably has been changed by the latest games and comics. If you show them FFIII now it's possible they would ask, "Was the game really like that?" That was why Asano was more concerned about the feeling of the game more than I.

Asano:
I really treasure the feeling the game gave me when I played it. Especially when I performed a 16 hit, holding two swords, one in each hand.. That was the strongest memory that remains even now.

The game's performance on the DS.

Tanaka
When we thought about how we had to make FFIII as a new title for the DS, we were thinking of making full use of the system's capabilities but, the FFIII game we're making this time is going to be like the original Famicom version. Extending a one screen game onto two screens was kind of like adding something extra to it. Working to the development team, we went through a lot of trial and error so that it didn't give that kind of feeling and in the end, we made battles and other scenes were we really wanted to make use of polygons, fixed onto one screen only. Our goal was to concentrate all of the DS' power onto one screen because we wanted to produce the best images possible.

Asano
We did try to make use of the dual screens, showing a dungeon map and character stats on one screen but, it made it feel too game-like. So to balance that, we decided to stop making use of one screen so that we could make players feel themselves being closed in inside a dungeon or the tension in battles.
Tanaka
The dual screens could be used effectively during event scenes so we decided to include them to add atmosphere. Another thing that we also paid a lot of attention to was the touchscreen. Although RPG characters on the Famicom could only be moved in 8 directions when controlled via the D-pad, it would give us a very limited experience if we weren't able to walk around freely in this 3D remake. A resolution was to make use of the touchscreen so that the polygon characters can walk around freely 360 degrees. I think it will be a very interesting experience.
Why they chose to make the game complete 3D

Tanaka:
There were people who wanted to remake the game in 2D pixels but, 16 years has been too long for me. I know things can be presented well in 2D but, in this modern age, writing out the story details and producing the event scenes with 16 bit characters moving in 90 degrees just doesn't feel right. It just can't possibly achieve what a camera moving around 3D polygons can achieve.

When I made the original Famicom version of the game, I don't think it lacked in the presentation area but, it's been 16 years so I had to think of a method of presenting the game so that a lot of new players who have never played the original even once, will accept it. A method that would include both the old original content and make it new. In the end, we decided that event scenes directed with a 3D camera was a fundamental factor in answer to the players' expectations.

About the music this time.

Tanaka:
When we were making the opening demo movie, I wanted Uematsu-san to make a new tune. I was happy when he said to me, "if we're going to do this then I'll supervise all the tunes."

The music this time was performed by the arrangers in the company who have been working with Uematsu-san for a long time but, just like Uematsu-san and I, we were a bit uncertain about how it was going to do. They didn't want to ruin the original Famicom music too much it seems just like me.

Asano:
Besides the music, the sound effects also left a lasting impression with me. When the map changed it made the sounds, "Toooooo (?) and tooooo (?)". It wasn't exactly like that but, that's as close as I can remember it. I think this had a great effect on those who played the original version at the time. This is what FFIII is about.
Tanaka
Even though the artwork has more or less changed, memories of all the sounds remain very strong. Just by listening to the sounds, you'll know if it's Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. If it was Dragon Quest, you would be able to tell from the notes going up and down like "Za-za-za" although I don't know if you can tell it's FFIII from the sounds of the map changing. The sounds at the time were programmed by *Nasir in accordance with Uematsu-san.

*Nasir Gebelli was a talented American programmer who was involved in the development of FFI~III. He was also the one who helped make Seiken Densetsu 2.

The work involved in recording the opening movie.

Tanaka
Although we made the game itself 3D, their models would get slightly deformed when zooming in or changing the angle. To counter that, we decided to patch up the impressions of the polygonal characters that are imprinted into the players