Interviewee(s): Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase
Interviewer(s): WriteAboutGames.com
Date: 2010, at release event of Final Fantasy XIII in Champs Elyssee (published March 11, 2010)

Key Information: By March 2010, Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase did not know if there would be a Final Fantasy XV, but if there was, they wanted the characters to continue to be human and not robots or superheroes.

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Due to the length and focus of this interview, only parts relevant to Final Fantasy XV are shown.

WriteAboutGames: So, will there be a Final Fantasy XIII-2?

The men laugh and begin to answer very diplomatically: “That depends on how well the game sells in the West!” But after pressing a bit, Kitase concedes he would very much like to do a direct sequel. “In the past three years we worked both on the world and on the various systems. Creating these systems isn’t very glamourous and can frankly be a bit boring. If we could do a XIII-2, we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built.”

WriteAboutGames: This is an advantage which will not exist for the team that might create Final Fantasy XV (XIV is already announced as an MMO). Every numbered Final Fantasy game stands on its own, and is created starting with a blank slate. Still, elements carry over to become canon, like chocobo, crystals, and archetypcal spells. What elements of FFXIII would Kitase like to carry over into future Final Fantasies?

“We do not know if there will be a XV. This depends a lot on the success of XIII. Also, it is difficult to pinpoint elements that are typical Final Fantasy. They are mostly invisible: part of the DNA of the game, that everyone recognizes as typical Final Fantasy. But if there is a XV, I hope the way we wrote our characters carries over. We strived to create believable people of flesh and blood. They are not robots. And they are not super heroes. I hope this humanity is something we will see again.”