ast week during E3 we had a chance to sit in on not one, not two, but three Square Enix roundtable discussions. Each of the intimate chats involved up and coming titles from the publishing powerhouse, including talk about Final Fantasy XIII, Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope, Infinite Undiscovery, and The Last Remnant. Read on to get juicy details about Square’s most anticipated titles – straight from the mouths of those most involved.

Roundtable 1: Final Fantasy XIII

Roundtable Participants:
Yoshinori Kitase: Producer, Final Fantasy XIII
Meagan VanBurkleo: Game Informer Online
Joe Juba: Game Informer Magazine

Q: It has been a while since we were last updated on Final Fantasy XII.  Can we get a brief introduction to the collection of games?

A: The core of the Final Fantasy XIII series centers on the Fabula Nova crystals – so there is this basic mythology at the center. As you know there are other XIII titles in the works, such as Versus XII, and what each director did with these titles is take this myth that is at the core and create a game based on their own interpretation of this mythology. So for example for XIII director Toriyama gives his interpretation, and for Versus XIII Nomura is the director of that. But all the games are based on the same myth.

Q: Do we know if the games will play the same? Will they have different gameplay styles or simply different stories and characters?

A: Final Fantasy XIII, the game system is going to be based on the command style battle system – an enhanced version of that traditional Final Fantasy mechanic – and for Versus XIII, since as you know Nomura has worked on the Kingdom Hearts series and such, the game will be a bit more action oriented. In this sense, each of the directors of the Final Fantasy XIII titles are given the freedom to create a story and a game style that they like and a story that they want to tell. So there are no set guidelines, and they can all be very different.

Q: Where you at all surprised by the reaction to the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360?

A: Well, the press conference had been going on for a while before the announcement finally came, and there was a pretty calm reaction from the audience for most of the titles, so we thought that FFXIII would be taken that way as well. But since everyone reacted so well to it, we were very surprised.

Q: In past generations, we have seen multiple Final Fantasy titles for each console generation. Are we getting to the point where we can maybe only expect one Final Fantasy per console generation?

A: We can’t say for sure how many Final Fantasy titles will come out on this specific platform at this point. It all depends on development. Final Fantasy XIII is taking some time to complete at this moment, so we are creating something for Xbox 360 and PS3. It would be great if we could continue to make games for those platforms as well in the future. Also, the hardware switching from generation to generation is becoming a bit faster. It all depends on the trend at that moment.

Q: With the process becoming more involved, is it becoming more impractical to do console exclusives?

A: It’s not necessarily true that it is impractical; it is more of a title by title basis where teams will think about what is best for that title. There are also many good things that can come out of sticking to one console and using all of the capabilities of that hardware as well – so it is a title by title basis.

Q: So we notice that FFXIII has a female protagonist – something we have not seen since FFX-2 – what was the mindset behind having a female main character?

A: So as you mentioned FFX-2 has female characters in the lead role, but they were part of a spin-off that FFX established – and there were three different female characters. So in that sense, FFXIII is the first time that a single female character is in the lead role. This is something that we decided to do because it is a challenge, because it is the first time, and we have never done so.

Q: What were some of the specific challenges you encountered in having a female lead for the first time?

A:  The characters are not totally complete yet, they are still in the developing stages, so we are still in the midst of the challenge. I guess you can say that because the scenario writer is a male, in that sense it is difficult for him to portray a female character. We are also in the midst of voice casting, and a lot of time the voice actor for the character will help to polish and fine-tune the character because although the scenario is written by a male, a female will ultimately be delivering it, and depending on the delivery, the scenario writer may be inspired by the acting, and in that way, the character is completed.