Final Fantasy Versus XIII - The Reality and Legacy of Final Fantasy's Lost Title
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII - The Reality and Legacy of Final Fantasy's Lost Title, produced and written by Noah Hunter and Payne Grist.
Final Fantasy Versus XIII Timeline (Compiled Source List): finalweapon.ne...
2:30 Prelude - Fabula Nova Crystalis
18:05 Act I - The Eyes Will Close
1:00:32 Act II - An Unforgettable Journey
2:17:25 Act III - A Legacy Fulfilled
2:48:39 Epilogue - A Fantasy Based On Reality
Final Weapon - finalweapon.net/
Discord - / discord
Twitter - / fnlwpn
I was so hyped for Versus 13, a final fantasy game with kingdom hearts action combat, I could not have been more ready!
Same man what i coudl've been
Closest thing we have to it is Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind or Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Then we got stuck with the BBS equivalent of the Type-0 battle system. Floaty controls and all. :V
@gabevaldez2272 I mean the FF15 combat is basically KH2's, the Armiger version 1, especially the Leviathan/Ardyn boss battle is Sora's KH2 Final form BUT minus the coolness of what Nomura made lol
@@kermitwithamustache3885I was about to say something about Rebirth. Rebirth gave us that VersusXIII feeling imo.
Considering how Nomura worked on Rebirth, I think he got a lot of the gameplay elements he wanted to do for versus. Trilogy. Massive world. Real time combat with swapping between party members. He did say in interviews that ideas he couldn't use for KH3 were put into the FF7 remake and vice versa. Since he's getting lots of gameplay elements into FF7 remake, I wonder if he's putting a lot of the narrative ideas into Kingdom Hearts.
FFVERSUSXIII is the gaming industry most "what if game" ever. You can tell Nomura wants to finish what he started with it. A game we will eventually experience......or not. But it will never be forgotten.
Nomura said he had to pick between KH4 and Verum Rex and chose to make KH4 because he would be worried about sora.. I do hope verum rex comes next and maybe verum rex is what FF13 was supposed to be ... 🥹
P.T. probably wins in that category, but Versus is up there
** .... Yes I can relate, but sometimes we must just move on and look on ahead' and leave the past behind"" I feel like you can't just can't give thought to the idea of ': Jeez, What could have been, but rather What Can definitely be! I think that we sometimes set ourselves up for the next Great Thing but if we keep lamenting about something from the past we can never move ahead and just be excited about many of the wonderful things in life that are happening right now!* I think Square Enix made the only decision it could at that time and guess what" we finally got Final Fantasy 15❤ And of course the Excellent FF7 Remake and Rebirth! I know I too feel the same way but, I know that it is by far best just to leave the past behind and to live anew in the present❤ Keep the Faith*
It's coming in KH4
@@redxblood85 Verum Rex is IN Kh3! (Seriously it's a game with Noctis on the cover)
Then later you actually meet Noctis.
This is the one. This is the most complete timeline of Versus13 development done. I'm glad you guys included some interviews not often being brought up.
It's funny how they were so preoccupied with creating the grander mythos and titles incorporated into it, but ultimately the biggest myth and mystery was the project itself. 😅
It's honestly insane how Square Enix decided to sink a ton of money into Crystal Tools, buff out all the glitches because they mishandled making the engine in the first place, and then decided to play the song and dance with Luminous Engine which ran into similar issues.
Luminous is Crystal Tools, the only difference is the support for map size.
Play lightning returns and compare its performance with 15.
Also to Versus and XV fans... have you ever wondered what the function of the Engine Blade was? Or any of the engine dagger/great swords/spears? Because in XV it was just "Absorbs elemental energy when dealing the finishing blow to an enemy"... if you look at the E3 2013 gameplay trailer, before Noctis casts Firaga on the Behemoth, the engine weapons lodged in the monster's body begin to ignite, maybe this could have been a feature they planned but couldn't due to time restraints..
TEN YEARS and they couldn't make flaming sword animation
@@ZeranZeran hahahahaa closest thing would probably be ..those FF14 collaboration weapons, I think you need to upgrade them and there will be an aero effect on them and it is also visible during cutscenes.
Finally, a development timeline that actually bothers to source it's statements, show interviews and not try to paint Nomura and Tabata as some villains who ruined a game that by all accounts was screwed over by the higher ups at Square Enix. And I say that as someone who has to restrain myself from doing that with Tabata, who I know intellectually had to work with a difficult, almost impossible situation, just because his attitude and how he went about talking about the game pissed me off with arrogant he sounded.
One of the most frustrating things has always been people spreading misinformation about Final Fantasy Versus XIII and XV, often times buying into things that don't make sense when you actually see the whole picture. And hopefully this helps with that.
The cutscene that plays at 19:25. Wow, I had no idea Ardyn's DLC pulled that particular scene from Versus XIII (the one where he sees his fiance and his brother in a field of flowers).
Man, that hits hard as hell :(
One thing I noticed about how Nomura described his vision of FF Versus' game design is that I can see a lot of that carried over to the FFVII Remake trilogy.
Remake Midgar feels reminisce of the Insomnia heavy trailers of early Versus. Remake also didn't have any controllable vehicles.
The description of the open world meanwhile, feels very close to the scope and function of Rebirth.
Even core combat, character switching etc. feels like how it was like in Versus. The only difference being that the gameplay shifted from KH-based to its own thing.
imo if they ever rebooted Versus, they should do it like the remake trilogy
>A comprehensive breakdown of the nightmare rollercoaster that was the Versus XIII development.
"OH BABY, That's what I've been waitin' for!"
Versus XIII may never release, but I have hopes that one day it will eventually be a consideration. I'm sure SE will prioritize Remakes of the main titles first, but as someone who followed the game since its first announcement I want it to be.
Somnus plays in the beginning of the KH4 trailer too! And he wrote the lyrics for if so it must be important to him.
Aaaaaaa I'm so glad people are still making FFXV related content in 2024, my obsession with the game is still going strong lol
It's kind of a stretch, but Yozora is called "Commander" and has the same silver hair and heterochromia as Ravus, so I've been wondering if Yozora ended up absorbing some of his character traits or plot importance during the planning of Verum Rex/KH4. Yozora being a bit intimidating/villainous feeling despite believing himself to be on the right side also ties into the theory, but Ravus is also my favorite character so I might be projecting a bit lol.
I'm surprised you didn't mention Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, as it is slightly related to the Versus legacy. It was conceptualized as "a story about an angry man" by Nomura in 2012 around the time Versus XIII was rebranded as XV. In Dimension XV/Vigilia Court, a level representing Insomnia Citadel with an appearance reminiscent of Versus XIII's initial trailer and a new remix of Somnus as its theme, the loading screen "Fool's Missive" lore implies, depending on translation, its "home dimension" (XV) was either directly harmed by the Lufenians (possible analogue for Square execs) whom corrupted the environment with darkness to the point where it became unrecognizable from its original incarnation (Versus XIII), or was already in a destroyed state by the time they started running experiments on it. In said level, Jack Garland experiences a existential crisis where he feels his purpose has disappeared, in addition to a certain conversation with his party members where his dialogue expressing these feelings could be interpreted as Nomura's thoughts about the situation surrounding Versus XIII.
Damn such meta narrative hahaha Nomura be shooting bullets all over
Fun Story: Somebody out there has unreleased Versus XIII artwork, and we'll never know how much they have.
Long story short, but one day, somebody posted unreleased, never seen before concept art of Umbra's human design to Roberto Ferrari's Facebook page. They simply asked him if the (cropped) image was Umbra as a human, only for Ferrari to ask "I would like to know how did you get this art before answer". After that, he deleted it, maybe because it leaked from one of his pages/portfolios etc.
It was later proven to be him when some Versus XIII art was released officially, even though the concept art had Umbra's scar, so it was obvious beforehand. The leaked concept art from the Facebook post was completely different btw, and appeared to be part of Umbra's model sheet. So, somebody out there has unreleased concept art of Umbra as a human, but I guess we'll never see it lol. It makes you wonder if they have more, yet haven't released it.
You can find the art online easily btw.
nomura is better man than me, if they fucked me that much in my company i would have left them long ago
Its his fault that it takes him 100 years to release a single game. Why the fuck is he even involved in 10 projects at a time if that means everyone of them is delayed to infinity. Looking at the latest KH4
What a timing. I started my second playthrough and i cant stop thinking how much potential this game had. I hope we get a remaster for this
🤡🤡
Fantastic video. Gave me great insight into the troubled development of Versus 13. While I did enjoy XV for what it was, I really do wish we got the intended vision and vibe of the game that was Versus 13, but it will live on in our hearts. Thank you guys for making this!
Oh god I have been waiting for this game to come out my whole teenager years. Watched the trailers countless times, was always on the lookout for news, drew fanart, made my own music videos (‚GMVs‘) with the limited footage we had, made a versus xiii dedicated RUclips account, did a Stella cosplay….and then they destroyed it. It still hurts my heart to think about it.
Still wish we got Versus 13 to this day. The only thing you didn't bring up was during Versus 13 dev time Nomura also worked on games like KH Re: Com, 358/2 days, BBS and DDD plus being a creative Producer on stuff like Crisis Core, Dissida, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Type 0
Waiting for Versus XIII as a teenager defined who I am today. It will forever be the greatest loss of video games
Beatiful video. Thank you for all your research.
Fascinating that after 10+ years the internet still talking about it.
I don't think I'll ever get over this game for as long as I live but this deep dive definitely makes it a bit better. Amazing analysis, guys. Love it!
Finally finished this video and save for the one bit about Nomura wanting to turn Versus into a musical missing (which is just a funny tidbit to me) I would say that this is most likely the ultimate breakdown of the entire Versus XIII History.
Like, if someone were to ever ask me again what was the deal with Versus XIII and FFXV I would legit just hand them this video. I even appreciate that you went as far as to highlight how it still influences titles today like Lost Soul Aside, Raynatis, etc and go into detail explain how everything surrounding Yozora is important to this entire situation.
One day I will find a way to get to the alternate universe where Versus XIII actually came out.
I didn’t realize versus 13 essentially got the Justice league movie treatment during development. Explains a lot.
Square needs to Release the Nomura cut 😂
This has been in my mind for such a long time
Its almost the same situation
And at the end both companies screwed over the fans of the work
WB by not finishing properly or giving a good ending to their actors in a final movie
And Square Enix cancelling the modding tools and DLC in the anniversary of the game
If it wasnt for Yoshi-P in FF14 or The Batman by Matt Reeves i would been done with both companies a long time ago, they are fucking idiots
I always say #ReleasetheNomuraCut as a joke in reference to The Snyder Cut but it can't me more close to the truth. Both projects had risky but innovative concepts to their proper genre and people were excited to see them but executives with huge ambition ruined it. I know industries want to get money from everything but they really need to try something else and let their creatives do the work they want to do.
@@AnotherCamilo That and the tremendous hate and blame both directors get from some weirdly dedicated hatedom. Like, at worst, Zack Snyder and Nomura make "movies/games that people don't like", but when you hear the haters talk it's like both these dudes ran over the speaker's mother, their dog, and their spouse with a steamroller, and they even get accused of having terrible political opinions. Nomura gets accused of straight up being a misogynist over how a fictional girl (Kairi) gets treated in Kingdom Hearts, and people hate Snyder so bad that for a time it was perfectly acceptable in those circles to accuse him of hating his own mother and post that on the day his mother died, then make fun of him for his daughter having committed suicide.
@@AnotherCamilo at this point I’m just glad Nomura has opportunity to somewhat bring it back through kingdom hearts. I’ll take what I can get. But my dream is a square enix that would allow him the time to revive versus 13 and take as long as he needs to get it out properly
@redsagexxv It's an insult really. When I saw that it looked like old Versus XIII ideas were showing through the KH4 trailer, I was pissed. Kingdom Hearts is an absolute mess of a franchise that I as a Final Fantasy fan haven't wanted to have anything to do with since after KH2. It's a spit in the face of Final Fantasy fans, as if to say, "you're never going to see what could have been, because we're reincorporating it into our nonsensical Disney collaboration franchise that doesnt even have FF characters in it anymore
Amazing video, this whole project had a history that I really felt like needed a video like this. I hope someday we will see something that'll give us the Versus 13 vibe again but I am happy with FF15 and what they have done with it later on.
Check out expedition 33 for a similar but not quite the same feel. Nothing will fill the versus xiii void ...
"The company has since learned its lesson"
LOL
LMAO
That was thorough and I appreciated this calm 3 hour analysis of the game's history. Also your voice sounds like Kirby Morrow and it's breakin my heart.
Great to see such a comprehensive and well structured deep-dive that doesn't get lost in rumours and myths about the game. The only things I think was missing is there was an event where some of Ferrari's storyboards were shown that include Stella and give some small hints about what might have been in the story at one point (considering the inclusion of ardyn probably very early in XVs life than Versus') and also potentially show the design of human Umbra. There was also a direct Versus reference in the Dawn of the Future book which was the novelised version of the lost DLCs, at the start of Episode Noctis the scene described sounds a lot like the OG CG trailer
Ardyn was conceived in 2010, long before it was considered to switch over to XV. This was confirmed by Ferrari himself.
I can't imagine the resources they must have poured into developing and pre-production of the FNC only for it to fall mostly flat. Completely forgot they had a fourth trademark, really wonder if they ever had concrete plans for this mystery game.
It's fascinating to me that they started to recognize that they overpromised and revealed things way too early - and then they just kept doing it. I think part of the reason why people are still so interested in Versus is that it's a relatively well documented "what if?" game due to that. Thank you for compiling everything in one video.
This was a beautiful well done video. I may not have been a follower of Versus XIII from way back in 2006, but I was someone who was waiting for Versus XIII for so so so so long. Even with the change to FFXV I was still in full faith. After finally getting my copy of FFXV I was so happy and overwhelmed it was finally in my hands. When I finished the main game I knew this game and story made a mark in my heart. When I finished the DLC and the FFXV book of the last set of DLC that never released, I knew it made a permanent place of my core ideas of both Versus XIII and XV. I will always love FFXV and always appreciate the team and Tabata for the amount of effort they put into this game with such short time span they were given. It will always be one of the most important games as apart of my core right behind Kingdom Hearts.
However, Versus XIII also holds a spot next to it as what it could have been. Even to this day, I will go back and watch those Versus XIII trailers and experience the same feeling of awe and taken away by what was given to us. I love to go back to those old theory and leak videos of what the story was "supposed to be" and always imagine how sick and dark this story was to be compared to everything else. Final Fantasy Versus XIII is captivating in a way nearly no other series has for me, other than Kingdom Hearts and, with the incredible darker tone and ideas of worshipping the dead, drugs, speaking to the dead and dreams (this is all based on the leaks of what the story elements were planned). Nomura and Tabata are not to blame for Versus XIII for dying. Tabata is not to blame for XV and the content that it wanted to deliver, but couldn't due to time constraints. It is solely on Square Enix with their focuses of engines and priorities. They had the chance to deliver, from what we know, one of the greatest fantasy titles ever. They chose the needed development of their engines, Nomura for Kingdom Hearts, Tabata being forced with a 2016 release on a 20% finished game that wasn't even his own idea, and other business decisions they put over Versus XIII. Noctis was so important to Nomura like Sora that he was essentially almost a son to him. Thank you for bringing up this huge point in the video because people to this day still blame Tabata when he put his heart and soul to the game and I hope he is resting as well as taking it easy.
Kingdom Hearts 3 has shown Nomura still dearly thinks of Versus XIII and the story he wanted to tell for so long. The connections between Noctis, Stella, Insomnia, reality and fiction, and more are clear as day after ReMind DLC and I hope Nomura has the full ability and chance to tell that story in Kingdom Hearts 4 as well as a potential Verum Rex game. Final Fantasy XV is a game I hold dear to my heart and I still love it to this day. Final Fantasy Versus XIII can hopefully become a reality of what Nomura wants it to be with all it's full elements and core ideas in place for Yozora and Stella/Nameless Star. I hope Square Enix knows to this day how much we want Final Fantasy Versus XIII and will give Nomura what he needs for this story to be a reality one day.
XV is a terrible game in almost every conceivable way. I remember watching the Versus XIII trailer almost every day for months straight. I had never been more hyped for anything in my life. The first time they ever released a trailer though showing his lame friends I knew it was going to be bad but I still had hope. When they changed the name, that's when all hope was lost.
I am really excited to see if Nomura is able to capture this kinda energy in Verum Rex (if that ever even happens) but I think expecting it to just be versus XIII is probably not a good idea.
Nomura is a different person now it’s been years since the development and most importantly the team he was working with no longer exists so anything they would’ve contributed would still be lost.
I guess my point is that no matter how much we want it, that original version of the game never happened and even if we do get some kind of roundabout version of it, it’ll still be different and that’s just something we have to accept.
Honestly I’m most interested in seeing what Nomura will do unrestrained from having to make something that fits into kingdom hearts or the FF7 remakes and I hope he’ll actually get the creative freedom to do what he wants this time around.
Thank god for KH4
I'm really glad to see Nomura attempt to bring some version of his vision into the light.
You know with Yozora and Quadratum
You know what's even sadder? All those CGI scenes from Versus and that E3 2013 trailer, which Square is highly known for, all got canned, I was really expecting those to be added IN-Game, hell after FFXIII's awesome CG FMVs I expected FFXV to have a cool CG scene with maybe the Bros taking on the Nifleheim soldiers or something... but alas there were like... 4 in the final product.. Still somewhat happy Square did have them in 7Remake and Rebirth and 16 albeit mixed in with in-game footage, hell it was great when Dissidia NT had Noctis and Lightning tag-team in CG!
If Square could do a remake of Final Fantasy VII as a great project divided on three parts, they could also make the Nomura's Cut of Final Fantasy XV in a future. I loved the XV we got but i really wanted to play Versus XIII instead, the story that was inspired by Romeo & Juliet.
A nearly 3 hour video on this? Yes, please
Is amazing how Square Enix has been mismanaged since the early 2000s. While a lot of ppl say Nomura is the one responsible for the disaster thanks to his growing ambitions, Square Enix not doing anything to stop him from changing the story and concepts constantly was also bad. And let's not talk about how the engine being develop made not only FFVSXIII even harder to realize, but previous and upcoming games in development as well. The fact that they were creating the engine at the same time as FF13 is so absurd it's embarrassing. I don't even want to imagine the moral of the staff at the time for not only FF but for everyone, putting a foot into the office must have been depressing af knowing how bad the situation was. Crazy how the ambitions of Square and devs is still being a problem for the company to this day, to the point SQEX recently announcing layoffs and how their entire approach to making games is being completely shifted to focusing on higher quality titles than quantity (god only knows what "quality" means to them) while also putting an end to releasing their titles exclusively to specific platforms. Hopefully Square makes a huge comeback in the upcoming years like how Capcom did, but idk if making everything right would help when good games like FF16 and FF7 Rebirth struggle to achieve the expectations they had (especially FF7 Rebirth since the game is still the highest rated game of 2024 and the FF best reviewed since FF9 for the original PS). And when it comes to FFVSXIII idk, would I love seeing the game being real in the future? Absolutely, but Nomura is currently working on the FF7 Remake trilogy, KH4 which is definitely going to be inspired by Versus XIII and the most important thing which is his age. He is just 53 which is not super old, but I suppose he would like to retire after so many years working on the gaming industry and finally having time for himself. We don't know what will happen to him, SQEX or even me in the future and if I'm going to live long enough to see all the upcoming changes in the company and their future games, but like a quote in the FF fashion I'mma say "We don't know what the future will bring us all. Sadness, joy, questions... Let's us hope for a change, one capable of making everything for the better" (pretend this was sum profound and emotional thing lmao). Thanks Payne Grist and Noah Hunter for this video, it was really helpful 🙏🏽♥️
Damn the amount of appeasement that Tabata had to capitulate to is absolutely criminal.
Great video guys. I came from twitter and got a really nice surprise.
Thank you so much for taking the time to create this video ! Us die hard final fantasy fans truly appreciate it ! Thank you for your efforts !
After having played all the Fabula Nova Crystallis games. FF XIII its 3 parts Agito on PSP and Type 0 on PS4 and FFXV. The closest we are going to see to Versus is what was seen in Kindom Hearts 3 with Yozora and in the future game Reynatis. But in my heart I will always hope that one day Versus sees the light.
maaan Reynatis releasing next month wew!
I'm still hurt from this. Man Versus XIII would've been so goddamn goated. One day, hopefully, we can actually get the game we were promised.
2:09:17 multiple people being chosen to represent a crystal/faction reminds me heavily of the main conflict that happens within FF16
noctis versus XIII was what i envisioned noctis to be a ruthless prince who did what he had to do to protect the kingdom of lucis
Excellent video. So glad for an in-depth study for this legendary and lost title.
I have hope that one day Final Fantasy Versus XIII trilogy will be released. I honestly believe that FF Versus XIII has the potential to be one of the best FF titles of all time. I just want to see Nomura's vision 💯🔥🐐🐐🐐
Loved listening to this, thanks for putting it all together. With over 2 years without Kingdom Hearts IV news, hopefully when we do get some it will be an abundance along with a hopeful release window.
Thanks for this, Its been a while that I really looking forward for a game , real hope as it was when I saw Versus for the first time, maybe KH4 will bring at least some part of that we lost
I still remember the reveal trailer of versus 13.
28 years later I'm still watching it.
This was Nomura’s baby outside of Kingdom hearts and FF7, and they took it from him
I don't think they took anything from him. He was not working on it, the same went through development hell, it was almost canceled in 2011/2012... Nomura is incompetent, so they gave it to someone who would work on it and it is an amazing game thanks to Tabata.
@@barradelifeIf Nomura was incompetent, why then make him the director of FF7Remake? He was taken off the project to focus on that and Kingdom Hearts 3. Versus 13 was almost cancelled because barely any progress was made with that game, due to Square forcing the team to help get FF13 out, and the engine it was running on became outdated by 2011 with new consoles on the horizon.
@@mohammed_mana3944 He is incompetent by himself. FFVIIR is working out great because there are other 2 guys involved. And it doesn't matter if the engine was outdated, it was just a matter of focusing on the project. I won't ever accept apologies from people who unveil a project in which they haven't even put effort on. It's like giving you a taste of what they never would deliver.
I stand my ground in my statement. Nomura by himself is incompetent.
@@barradelifeWhat other game did Nomura direct that had the same development problems? Yeah he announced the game early, but the game didn’t make any progress because Square forced the Versus 13 team on 13. How can Nomura be incompetent when Square is preventing his team from finishing that game? The engine being outdated did matter because that also contributed to the game getting delayed even further. By the time development progressed, the PS3 was in its final years and Square wanted a new engine for the PS4 generation. Which resulted in them scrapping all their work for the new Luminous engine.
Versus 13 wasn’t even the only game going through issues. As I mentioned, FF13 had problems. FF14 was a mess when it came out. All because Square was forcing those teams on an engine that was struggling to work.
Tetsuya Nomura HAS to live long enough to pull this comeback off on Square man. This is going to be generational. great video!
i feel like this video finally gave closure to my feelings regarding Versus XIII.
Fantastic documentary 🎉
i don't think i'll ever be able to stop thinking about versus xiii. i remember being 8 years old and watching videos about final fantasy xiii wishing i could play it, but barely understanding what was going on as english was not my first language [hello from argentina :)], so for my 15th birthday i asked for a ps4, the first thing i played was my first final fantasy game, final fantasy xv.
i know i definitely didn't play it AT launch, but i remember waiting for episode prompto to come out. i followed the game post-launch very closely and even played the assassin's creed festival when it was available. i loved xv, it was one of my favorite games of all time back then. but this is all because i didn't know what a "finished" final fantasy game felt like. i remember how small and empty insomnia was at launch, and my doubts of the game kept growing and growing until episode noctis and the other DLCs got cancelled, when i dropped the game for good.
i kept asking myself "how could this happen to a game?" which is how i opened up the massive can of worms that this game's development was, and found out about versus xiii. finding out how characters and stories were taken away from creatives such as nomura, nojima, ferrari, etc really pissed me off, and i started to wish versus xiii came out instead. which lead to me binging all of kingdom hearts right before kh3's launch, as i was curious as to how a game directed by nomura would feel like. thanks to the timing, toy box made me feel like i was going insane. it STILL makes me feel insane.
years later, the handling of versus xiii still makes me mad, but i can't get mad at tabata. in the end, it's the fault of square enix as a corporation, and it really makes me wonder. if they treated a major creative like nomura, who's responsible for the image of the company (in the character design sense), how many other staff members have been treated in a similar, if not worse, way?
but seeing games carry on the legacy of the project makes me extremely happy. im very excited for lost soul aside, but projects like reynatis are very remarkable and inspiring. since reynatis has former versus xiii staff, it's really nice to see people like nojima and shimomura work on it alongside fans of their work, without square enix. and within square enix, it's incredible to see what nomura and the kh team are doing while working in a space that formerly saw versus xiii as something "taboo".
the future looks bright! :)
Stella, you will be missed and still beloved.
Incredible work done by you guys I’ve always been fascinated by the story of vxiii but there’s never been a more simple and interesting way to hear it
I’m excited to see more of what comes of it in the future if we get any updates at all
1:04:40
The fact that this boss works if it's scaled down is a true reunion of the combat in these games influencing each other. I did not come into the fandom with XV, it was the Remake of the old screensaver I saw as a kid. Cuz their Type-0 Behemoth was WAY MORE META THAN YOU THINK.
Ngl, this game could've been so damn beautiful
I miss the nostalgia of seeing Stella and Noctis in that one scene
I wonder what it would've been like tbh
For bette or worse, the wait for v13 was video games to me for ten years, and the result greatly demystified my escapism.
there was so much content that was cut like it was nothing. literally cities with physics all implemented. terrible waste.
This was very worthwhile
The Umbra mechanic you mentioned that noctis would use to go back in time because he couldn't accept things that have happened. This is literally the power of waking from KH3 :O
2:17:00 the set up and the thene playign gave me chills, this documentary was absolutely superb!
15:00 The entire franchise and Kingdom Hearts do this too on a greater extent with more themes too. The amount of times i see it being told as "Nomura made the game be like this" or "the game was good but the ending became kingdom hearts" never noticed that pattern. Infact that pattern is in other games (naruto persona zelda etc) and media in japan. because that pattern, its not nomura, its Japanese along with ancient history of many religions and cultures and astrophysics and alchemy that was taught probably in japan. That pattern can help you guess what may happen like in KH4. Yes i theory craft lmao 16 has a LOT of similarities. Basically Multi World Interpretation is what the Final Fantasy Universe. Or the Bloodborne and souls games are all in the same universe on a world tree theory. the world trees are the multi world interpretation. Same with the Zelda Timeline. lmao
Incredible video. Thank you for taking the time and hard work and dedication to bring us this.
nah
I remember in my early 20's when fabula nova chrystalis was just announced along with VersusXIII, there was theory about VersusXIII being a direct spinoff of Kingdom Heart. At the time the 13th member of the Organization XIII wasn't revealed yet, we didn't know about Roxas. The theory was about how that last member would be crucial to KH storyline and VersusXIII being the first game to explore "Final Fantasy world", introducing Noctis as the 13th member. People would breakdown the teaser to see KH related clues in it, it was pretty funny haha
@@nibelheimnixxus And now people are breaking down KH scenes for Versus Clues lol
Nomira says he likes to spur imagination in people with his games rather, allowing players the opportunity to "fill in the gaps"
Keep on dreaming. Keep your imagination active. It's a powerful aspect of humanity.
@@nibelheimnixxusthe fact its becoming Kingdom Hearts 4 is actually funny given the fact that in the interviews with nomura he stated he wanted Versus 13 to rival the light of Kingdom Hearts. I saw a twitter thread explaining how in KH1 of all games foreshadows how the keyblade bearer can bring about ruin and darkness and that sora uses darkness based magic like Gravity like maleficent. great read ngl.
I feel seen!!!
Thank you so much for making this video.
Writing this before watching whole video.
If it's brought up about how Nomura wanted to stop making the game and turn it into a musical instead after seeing le mis, then you should know that isn't true. It was a joke in an interveiw that english translators reported as being serious.
It's so strange that people still to this day keep spreading it as fact.
That isn't true, Nomura was dead serious about it and Shimomura even brought it up years later that Nomura wanted to do that. Nomura fanboys need to stop clinging to this cope.
fantastic write up of this, thank you so much. i remember the waiting days for versus 13 so fondly...
...'Final Fantasy Versus XIII' waz suppoze ii be the 'Final Fantasy' to rival the greatness of 'Fantasy VII'...i really wizh the original idea of 'FFV-XIII' waz realized...i still watch the old trailerz...i cant let go...i..cant...let...go...🧐
oh man i cant never forget the hype from ffxiii versus back in the day it was unreal
My heart won’t let go…
Awesome video, I loved 15 but it’s always been missing something much like the FNC mythos. Let’s
Hope you won’t have to create a timeline for missing link, with the delays that’s getting, and hopefully
It won’t be cancelled down the line 😅
Amazing video, this was the type of development story I was looking for, the informations were the right size and length. It is also very motivating to develop my own game. I love how you used kh music at the end which definitely was hitting me. Also when you said "is this reality" it triggered my kh fan senses and scared me because I thought something kh related will come (which came later)
We either need a remake of FF15 or a FF Versus XV based on the original concept of Versus XIII.
I do regret not getting the collectors edition, but at the same time I had already broke the bank, getting the collectors edition for world of Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy Versus XIII should of been one of the best video games of all time. Despite being nothing but trailers it was so impactful for me and a ton of gamers that it even influenced a developer to create his own game called Raynatis, also an indie dev by the name of Stephan Dindu with his project Purpose having versus xiii influences in its design. Again nothing can have the same impact as those trailers and elements of versus xiii and it was Tetsuya Nomura’s best work that was never released that elements showed up in his future work like ff vii remake series and kingdom hearts.
GREAT video. It would've been nice to have some screenshots of the interviews you quoted translated into English highlighted and shown on screen! So it's not just repeating footage :)
Its weird that you guys didnt talk about what happened behind the scenes. Theres an excellent write up about it on khinsider which even uses sources you use in the video. its related to ff14s disasterous launch and various other aspects that caused the team to keep being pulled apart. very weird oversight
When you got to the part where the Ps3 was brought in, I understood the problem. The PS3 was extremely difficult to code for, and learning to make anything for the new gen would be difficult on it's own. Going from ps2 to ps3 was a drastic leap that we often forget the scope of.
But then after getting the hang of that, the versus engine needed to be changed years later anyway, which meant rebuilding everything from the ground up. A lot of this development (or lack of) was probably spent working with the new technology, learning from what FF13 did with those tools, and then applying them to Versus.
And then there's Nomura. He's a great director, but he's more of an ideas guy. A lot of ideas. So many ideas that he had to stuff them into mobile games. And being that creative can be good, but not if your team is unable to be productive enough to fulfill any of it. It's clear that his ever-changing staff was struggling to learn the tools while he kept tweaking the story and thinking of new things to add.
The team was probably struggling to figure out how to tell the ps3 to knock enemies airborne when Nomura was giving an interview teasing _airships_. But Nomura is productive and kept cranking out ideas without stoppng, because his hands were mostly tied and he didn't have a lot else he could do.
And Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystallis Cinematic Universe was a good idea. But it's sad to see Nomura was still trying to cling to it while all the other games just ignored it without telling him it was cancelled.
So honestly, the real villian here is timing. If Nomura had a small staff that knew how to use a capable engine, they'd be able to keep up with his vision before it got too big and outpaced them. Or perhaps not.
Crystallis was supposed to be Square Enix's *consistent* Final Fantasy Universe that held everything together. But 13 Versus had the most inconsistent development I've ever seen. Which would literally make the game a Versus to Fabula Nova Crystallis, wouldnt it?
Final Fantasy XIII versus would have been what FINAL FANTASY XV was NOT. That's all we can tell 18 years later....
OK let me be LESS obvious now that I got your attention LOL. Ethrah probably in FF XIII versus would have been related to the real world and the HUMAN realm since the picture is symbolizing the REAPER so DEATH. But it would have seemed that a ROMEO AND JULIETTE element was implemented in that world and two kingdoms seemed at war with one another with powerful magic that humans didn't possess. So a little bit like a throwback to magic VS machinea or machina. That's what I ALWAYS THOUGHT.
I was particularly excited for Versus because Jun Akiyama was announced as Scenario Director for it(a role he performed for KH1, Vagrant Story, and FFXII) so I was confident that the story telling would be great in addition to the gameplay. Sadly it just never came to pass.
In the right time we will all get the game that we truly want and deserved have hope and keep supporting
#RestoreVersusXIII
I can't believe a game about a dog and a duck might revive this.
I remember seeing the versus XIII trailer AFTER they released some bundled FFXV "Royal edition".
I actually cried. I never cared about FFXV, played some hours but the heart wasn't there. Seeing the original story and direction being torn away, then transformed into what we actually got was... Incredibly painful and disappointing.
I haven't seen it in years, so maybe my feelings will be different now that I'm older. But I'll never forget the impression it left on me at the time
I didn't like hajime Tabata as an Director in VERSUS 15 but man, I feel bad for him.
Nomura should be given a versus 15 project where He'll Continue the young Adult Noctis.
You show Verum Rex, but you know it’s not gonna be the same. To get a revival versus 13 through kingdom hearts 4 isn’t gonna work. Not unless you completely remove Disney from the equation.
You do know verum rex is gonna be its own thing right?
I'm pretty sure Verus would've had the same structure as the FF7 Remake project: first game set entirely in insomnia, then two more games in the open world, likely one continent per game.
I asked for a ps3 for Christmas because I wanted the game so bad back in 2009 I was only ten but I loved ff X and kingdom hearts because my cousin and we’d get hyped waiting for this. Thank you bro for this because I am still really interested in what could of been and seeing all the cut content over the years fills me with this weird melancholy feeling if I had a genie one of my three wishes would for this to have been released as lame as that might sound to some
I will forever wait for this game.
INCREDIBLE stuff guys. Really well researched and put together.
Thank you very much for this. It means a lot as a I really did look forward to versus 13 back in the day. Excellent work.
thank you so much for this video!!! im really looking forward to KH4 and eventually Verum Rex
Thank you for doing this
this game will forever be my lost favourite
I bought a ps3 for versus 13 and KH3 and little did I know at that time
FF15 is one of my favorite games of all time; I wish the game would've been fully realized, and the DLC really makes the game almost complete. The update added after the launch that added to the final boss fight was such a great addition, too. The somber ending and the combat really solidified the game as almost this unfinished monolith, like there's so much that can be done and has been, and I just wish they could remake it again and fully realize at least the story.
The best reviewer back at it again
Stayed up until 5 am to watch this. What an awesome video. A game that will only exist as a dream. But it being a dream isnt bad. It can be whatever you want them to be.
My heart still bleeds for what could have been.
Excellent documentary about Versus XIII. Up until this day I still want FF Versus XIII.
I hope one day it will return (or not). This game is truly a tragedy and I just hope it will come back in one form or another.
Amazing video, thanks for the passionate work!