Last week some of the Square-Enix staff, namely planning director Takashi Arakawa and Yoshinori Kitase (director, writer and producer) were present at a gaming event in Munich, Germany. Below is a translation (thanks to Tetsujin) regarding their writing of the scenario and possibly ideas for a sequel.
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The Advent Children Complete Japanese Site was updated with info about an exhibit at the Ginza Sony Building. There is an event to celebrate ACC’s release and let people experience the world and visuals. It’s open from April 10th to May 17th. You can also watch the latest trailers on a 120 inch high-vision screen with powerful (surround?) sound. There’s also an ACC art gallery until the 17th of this month.
So if you so happen to be in Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, definitely check it out!
Also, the new Famitsu PS3 features an article about Advent Children Complete. Here are the cover for the magazine and scans of the article:
Some highlights of the article:
AC was sorta ignored for a while after its release since they wanted to focus on other projects.
They wanted to pushh back the release until the blu-ray market grew big enough, but never expected it to be such a long project.
Nojima wanted fantasy elements for AC.
They wanted to depict the contrast between Cloud and the children, as well as Cloud’s own growth after his meeting with Denzel and the kids.
The upped the depiction of blood and Geostigma quite a bit, since they believed a more realistic depiction would give a more realistic impression of pain.
Since they had quite a bit of time left over, they arranged the songs to fit the scenes better. In AC they tried to fit the scenes with the songs, while in ACC they had the songs tailored to fit the scenes. And created the ‘ideal battle scene’.
Most of the staff didn’t want to touch anything FF7 related in the beginning, but Nomura took the lead(and made them into his slaves. And made onigiri for them in Hawaii).
5 years passed between AC and ACC. Most of the technology they’ve used is different.
They had trouble deciding how much of the new technology used in Versus 13 should be used in ACC.
They’re pretty much done with FF7, saying that it’s hard to think of any other important events that might occur in the universe. They still have ideas, but there won’t be any compilation news for a while.
Thanks to Defade for providing the information about the Famitsu article.
Source: FF7AC Reunion
New scans from Famitsu PSP and PS3 have appeared online, featuring FFVII Advent Children Complete, and the OVA: On the Way to a Smile – Case of Denzel.
Also, correspondence with the creators was included, and hitoshura has once again translated the interesting points regarding Advent Children Complete. Major thanks once again! To check out all the info, click on “Read the rest of this entry” link below the scans.
Source: FF Shores.com
According to the official Square Enix site, the On the Way to a Smile book which will be released April 16th will have a total of 264 pages all together.
Also, some more info from the Dengeki PS3 interview has surfaced, and with it, some details pertaining to the particular story, “Case of Shinra” and Rufus and the Turks in ACC. Major thanks to hitoshura for providing this info.
- Nozue talks about how since it’s CG, they might as well do over-the-top things you can’t do in live action. There’s a lot of this in the new scenes, like the bike scene with Reno and Rude.
- (Nojima) Rufus is cool, and being a kind of ‘insider’ gets lots of dialogue.
- (Nojima) Case of Shinra involves the Turks, but Rufus gets a lot of attention as well. It covers what happened after Tseng was attacked by Sephiroth and nearly died, and what Rufus did after being saved from the WEAPON attack. Case of Shinra is the only chapter which begins during FFVII. This chapter is tied to BC and DC, so it was hard for Nojima to fully grasp the character’s actions and time lines. But it was interesting because it shows what’s going on inside Rufus’s mind.
Source: Square-Enix Japan, Cetra Connection, and Shienabent blog
More bits and pieces of the creator interview in Dengeki PS3 has surfaced on 2chan and hitoshura has translated the relevant new pieces of information regarding FFVII Advent Children Complete and On the Way to a Smile. Thanks to our member DillyDally for bringing this to our attention!
Well, with our fake April Fool’s interview with Nomura regarding FFVII Advent Children Complete done, we figured it’s only fair we post a real one now. With that, hitoshura has translated the five page interview with the creators from the Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania, which outlines the creation of FFVII, their thoughts on their favorite parts, and more. Enjoy this new content from the 10th Anniversary Ultimania!
Nomura, Naora, Kitase, and Nojima
FFVII 10th Anniversary Discussion
In 2007 FFVII hit its 10th anniversary. To find out the secret of its appeal, we went to the 3 central members of the development staff behind FFVII and the Compilation. How does FFVII look through their eyes?
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The cover for the Revised Edition of the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania has been revealed. It features CG renderings of Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth.
New FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Cover
The Revised Edition of the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania will be release in Japan in April 16th and it will cost 1,900円.
Also, hitoshura has provided some quotes from the Dengeki PS3 interview:
- The novel comes out on April 16th. It includes Cases of Barret, Red, Yuffie, and Shinra, with changes to the existing Tifa & Denzel chapters. [It says 'FF13 novel' but talks about FF7's characters, and gives OTWTAS release date, so it's probably a typo]
- In the Case of the Lifestream, we’ll learn the secret as to why Sephiroth is so obsessed with Cloud
- It’s quite different from the original version, as the overall impression is different.
- It’s a lot easier to understand
- In the FF7 flashbacks **** does the narration, which’ll bring fans to tears. (The name is purposefully blocked out)
- There’s so much new footage you could call it a completely new film. There’s some scenes foreshadowed by CC.
Source: FF7AC Reunion
Dengeki PlayStation will bring us another interview with Tetsuya Nomura, along with Motomu Toriyama, Kazushige Nojima, Takeshi Nozue and Nao Ikeda about Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete and Final Fantasy XIII. It will also brings us some visuals of both FF VII: ACC and FF XIII.
The issue will be released on April 2 on Japan, so keep an eye here.
There’s also a new Tetsuya Nomura interview in this week’s issue of Dengeki PlayStation which offers insight into the creation of Advent Children Complete, its story, and a more definitive answer regarding the future of the Compilation of FFVII. Hitoshura did an amazing job translating this interview. Click on “Read more” to read the full interview.
Source: FF7AC reunion
The Tetsuya Nomura interview from the March 21 weekend release of Famitsu has surfaced online and hitoshura has translated the important portions of the dialogue in reference Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete, its release and the Compilation of FFVII. Below are the key points from the interview.
EDIT: Hitoshura has now translated the interview completely. Not just key points anymore. Below is the actual dialogue that could be made out from the scan. Enjoy reading Tetsuya Nomura’s thoughts on Advent Children Complete! Big thanks to Hitoshura for squinting his eyes out for this!
The following interview is featured in the Dirge of Cerberus Official Complete Guide and was translated from Japanese by Souya. The guide was published on February 17, 2006.
Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 1 – The Birth of DC
Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario
Please tell us what is involved through the course of making Vincent the main character in this game.
Kitase: I really like the original characters of FF7, and his name always made a presence in my mind. And this time, since we were thinking about wanting to make a gun action game, we decided on Vincent, who uses guns as his weapon of choice.
Nomura: I heard it from Kitase that he wanted to make a FPS (First Person Shooting) game, and that he wanted to use characters from the past FF series. And though within those characters in the past FF series, there were many suitable candidates; I have in mind that Vincent is the most suitable out of all of them, so I suggested it as well. There were others like Yuna, Barret, Irvine, basically, we’ve thought about all the past FF characters who used guns as their weapon of choice. However, with the release timing of AC and BC, as well as the mass depth and mysteries that are being covered [in AC and BC], it would be great if we can use Vincent as a way to smoothen [elaborate] the plot; and that’s what we thought about and it came true.
The genre that is called FPS, is not a really common thing [system] to the Japanese gamers. So during the development of this game, are there any uncertainties that are in mind?
Nakazato: When we made our press conference during the Square-Enix party, people who got to come into contact with this product were shocked. We realized [have in mind] that there were people who mainly play KH type genre of RPG, and the way they finish off an enemy is by approaching them up front to attack. However, in FPS, you can’t just run up to the enemy and assault them. So bearing in mind this experience, we realized the concept of FPS is not very well instilled in most gamers’ mind. Since we have this issue, we figured that we should include a Easy mode for people who just play pure RPG to understand and manage through this game.
Kitase: And to balance it out with the issue mentioned [by Nakazato], there was a dispute in terms of where the focal point should be, until the very end [of the production]. We didn’t want to make it into a first person POV, so we decided that at least we have to see Vincent from waist above, and able to see somewhere from his shoulders when the camera rotates. Though it is better if we want to make it like a real FPS and have the camera set around the height of the shoulders, there are still people who are new to the whole FPS concept and it is better to give them a full character view so that they can control the character easier. Moreover, when and how characters should be seen, and how it must not be seen on the screen, in certain instances, is quite difficult to manipulate.
[Basically, he is saying how hard it is to go from one view to another view without making the players having confusions as to exactly which one they should stick to, so they spent a lot of time debating and disputing this issue.]
Nakazato: Yes, to obtain a balance in that area was hard. Especially we don’t even know who is standing next to Vincent, and with considerable trouble [effort] about Vincent moving around, we have to make him look fascinating. And because we wanted to see it, so we added visual effects along with the mantle.
[He is saying how it is hard to present Vincent when he is in full view on the screen.]
This is about Vincent’s mantle. It seems that it’s the same mantle that is seen on Grimoire. What is the origin/concept of this mantle?
Kitase: Oh right. So when I was talking to Nomura about the design, I said, “Make something that people could see on the first sight that they are father and son.” From then on, it became a discussion about whether or not using the mantle is a good idea. Grimoire’s scarf somehow became Vincent’s turban [the hairband], it’s basically the same thing, but it’s worn in a different way. And that’s why we think that if we put something that can relate those two together, when people see it, they will go, “Oh! This is the father!”
Nomura: When I was asked to make a conceptual drawing about Grimoire Valentine, I was only then told on the spot that he is the father of Vincent, which made me quite shocked and surprised *laughs*. However, I am not exactly the person who is responsible for the making of Grimore Valentine [/I don't have the final call]. Instead, it was Nakaaki, the sub character and mechanic designer who drew the general appearance of Grimoire; but since [we have different styles] the look [on the face] is far different than Vincent’s, so Grimoire’s facial detail had to be redrawn by me. About his clothing, it’s basically what Kitase have said [so I won’t repeat the same speech again].
The gun that Vincent uses is quite impressive and striking. Are there any specific designs or origins about Vincent’s gun, Cerberus?
Nakazato: Oh, there aren’t any bases. When Nomura who is responsible for character design brought me the conceptual drawings, Vincent is already seen with the gun. I saw it and said, “Oh, so this time it’s this type of gun.” *laughs*
Kitase: After all, since this is a Gun Action game, the gun he’s holding must be special in a way. Bearing that in mind, we decided that it should be somewhat different than the previous productions.
Nomura: If Cloud has his Buster Sword modified, and this time, it’s Vincent who is being the main character, I want to give him some sort of weapon to show this significance. Vincent used to be one of the Turks, and Turks are said to be Shinra’s dogs… However, Vincent is no longer [a personnel] working for Shinra, instead he is bound by his past, so it came to me that he has an image of being chained in some form. Also, with regards to Vincent’s diabolic image, while we are talking about the hell hound, Cerberus, we think that it is quite suitable for him. So when that image became concrete in my mind, I drew it out with 3 barrels to imply the idea of the 3 heads Cerberus has, and everything started to take its place. And what is left is the revolver [bullet chamber], there are three of them too. Even though it is said that in most occasion there can only a limited number of bullets coming out, in this game, I worked with an interesting idea, “If there are 3 barrels, there must be three revolvers.”
Today we feature translations from the Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII Ultimania, starting with the the Scenario Q&A interview with the game’s creators, which sheds light on some of the interesting plot points and events within the game. Some of it is very surprising.
Section 1 – Mass SOLDIER Desertion
Q1-1: Please tell us the full story behind the incident.
