WE DISCUSS VANA'DIEL
Season 2, Episode 3
Chains of Promathia — Yaeko Sato & Yoshitsugu Saito

First, please tell us your position and role during FFXI's early stages of development.

What was my position? (laughs) I think I was just a regular planner?

Back then, we didn't really have detailed job titles like "scenario planner," and we just referred to ourselves simply as "planners."

Additionally, the roles were divided up between the planners to a certain extent, with the battle team handling things like the monsters, battlefields, and job class adjustments, while the events team was in charge of everything else. As work on the game progresses, we learn who is better suited to which tasks, so I feel like we were able to say to each person, "I'd like you to handle this area of the game."

Weren't you a systems planner at the time, Mr. Fujito?

I wasn't just a systems planner. At the time, Mr. Tanaka* basically took the lead in making adjustments to the controls and UI (user interface), and I worked together with him on those kinds of system-related elements. The chat system was noteworthy in that it was the first time one would be implemented in a Square game, so I really wanted to help work on it.

As for your job title then, does that mean you were also a planner?

Yes, my actual job title was simply just "planner." When I first joined the team, Mr. Kato* was the leader of the events team and he asked me, "What is your specialty?" I told him that I had previously created things like the items and the UI, and said that I'd like to be put in charge of the gameplay systems. However, he replied that wasn't how the team was set up and that no one person was in charge really.

The gameplay systems were handled individually, so there was no dedicated team for them really.

Exactly. So he asked me, "Have you ever created any in-game events before?" I told him that I hadn't, but could probably handle creating individual scenes rather than the overall story, so I was initially assigned to the events team. Ms. Sato also joined the team roughly the same time as me. And I think Mr. Saito joined a little later than that.

That's because I was still working on FINAL FANTASY X at the time.

You were involved with FFX?

Actually, I transferred from the FFXI team to the FFX team. Then, as the work on FFX was nearing its end and I was thinking about what to do next, Mr. Kato called me in for a visit. When I got there, Mr. Tanaka was there as well, and I got scolded, "You can't just leave the team without permission like that. (laughs) Hurry back to the FFXI team!" (laughs wryly)

(laughs) Mr. Kato was your boss at the time.

Yes, that's right. Mr. Kato was kind of like the leader of the planners. When I returned to the team, they had already worked out the general plot up to the end of Rise of the Zilart, and I remember them telling me something along the lines of "this is where we're at currently, and this is where we're thinking of taking it." However, there were hardly any online games at the time that made the scenario one of the main selling points. Therefore, we all worked together to try and find out exactly what FFXI was, and then set out to create it, step by step. By then, most of the 3D city models had been completed, and I remember being shocked when I saw just how big Windurst was.

Windurst was so large that it was the only one of the three initial countries to have teleportation gates within the city itself. We felt that the ability to teleport might've been a bit much, but also figured that the players would forgive us because it was based in a world of magic. That was basically our approach with that feature once we started creating the town.

So you're saying that the teleportation feature was only added later on. (laughs) On a different note, Mr. Komoto* said that in addition to the Windurst scenario, Ms. Sato, you also helped with the scenario for San d'Oria as well (see Season 2, Episode 1).

At the time, I was working on the "Fame" system. We needed to balance the number of quests across the three countries, and San d'Oria was the only one that was lacking somewhat. That's how it all started really.

We worked together to come up with ideas for the quests and then we'd simply ask each other, "Okay, who's going to work on this one?" That's how we divided up things between us.

Were you also involved with the creation of the scenarios at the time, Mr. Saito?

You were in charge of the cutscenes, right?

Back then, very few people had ever created 3D cutscenes (event scenes) before, so I was kind of at a loss on what to do. I was told there would be a battle against a dragon in the middle of the scenario and that I needed to make the cutscene for it. So I ordered some animations and effects for the dragon and got to work. Once it was done, I was told, "Hey, that looks pretty good," so I was asked to draw up the storyboard for the Shadow Lord battle as well.

So immediately after trying out the process for the first time, you went and made the battle against the Shadow Lord himself too?! (laughs)

Yeah, pretty much. (laughs) I drew up the storyboard and then had Mr. Kato look over it. After that, I started thinking in more detail about how to implement it in the game. Since that's how it all came about, my first major tasks were the dragon battle (traveling to the different countries, leaving Bastok, and The Three Kingdoms) and also the Shadow Lord battle.

Those are both super important scenes.

I think Mr. Saito is pretty much the only person that could have pulled that off. Mr. Kato was previously an animator and was quite particular about things like scene direction and composition. At the time, I think there were very few planners who could come up with storyboards that matched Mr. Kato's vision. These days, there are many people who have that level of expressiveness and use it to become successful planners. But back then, ones who could draw up storyboards like Mr. Saito were extremely rare, and I believe Mr. Kato realized that Mr. Saito was someone he could talk to on pretty much equal footing. On top of that, after seeing Mr. Saito's actual work, I think Mr. Kato realized that he had talent as a director and could be entrusted with more important scenes.

I think I was also able to do it partly because I was used to working in 3D because of FFX. Although FFX was my first time working in 3D, I remember the camerawork being very difficult and that it was often criticized.

My work in 3D for Threads of Fate* before FFXI also helped me with the 3D camera direction for FFXI as well.

When people work in 3D for the first time, they tend to be too dynamic with their camera movements, and I realized that I had done the same thing when working on FFX after looking at other people's creations. I find myself wanting to constantly move the camera about. (laugh)

It feels like Chains of Promathia featured multiple new elements and other aspects that were not in the game's original plot. How did you come up with the idea for the scenario and how did it all begin?

We started by looking at FFXI up to that point and thinking, "If we can create cutscenes this good, let's put more effort into making a proper FINAL FANTASY scenario to go with them." At the time, the Windurst scenario was extremely popular, and I remember its creator, Ms. Sato, came up to me and asked, "Why don't you make a long-form scenario?"

The story for Chains of Promathia was rather long, but did you always plan on including that much content within it?

We based the volume of content on what we felt a regular, offline FINAL FANTASY title would include. That is why from the very beginning, the story consists of chapters, and did some fun things like incorporating the Iroha poem* as well.

That reminds me, as I have been meaning to ask, but did you consult with anybody about basing the mission names on the Iroha poem?

Nope, I didn't ask anybody. (laughs)

(laughs)

Back then, the work atmosphere was one where you could just go and decide something like that on your own, and everyone would laugh it off and you'd be forgiven.　But now, I get the feeling we'd get in trouble and told that we need to share that type of information first. (laughs wryly)

Does that mean that Ms. Sato thought of everything for Chains of Promathia from the initial plotting stage?

Yeah, Chains of Promathia is pretty much all Ms. Sato.

It was around the time that Mr. Kato left the team, so it was hard finding people I could discuss things with. Previously, I would have Mr. Kato check any of the scenarios that I wrote. Naturally, I consulted with Mr. Komoto, who was the director, and also had to confirm the more important aspects, such as whether the general idea was okay or not, or if I could use a particular map. Therefore, I also checked with Mr. Saito regarding the finer details.

I remember being asked something along the lines of, "I'm thinking of doing this; would that be okay?"

Mr. Saito always gave me the most candid opinions. Although we didn't join the company in the exact same year, I think it was easy to talk to him because we did join roughly around the same time. It was because of his assistance that I was able to complete Chains of Promathia. Thank you. (laughs)

You're welcome. (laughs)

Moving on, Bahamut appears from the very beginning of the story in Chains of Promathia, but how did that come about?

Well, we figured that it's a FINAL FANTASY title, so we should include Bahamut. It was pretty much the same for the appearance of the other avatars as well.

At the time, we had no idea how long FFXI would continue for.

So you felt it was no time to be holding back.

We always felt like we wanted to give it our all.

How did you decide to center the story on the Twilight God Promathia?

In regards to Promathia, there was already a plot in place from Mr. Kato, and all of the details, such as the relationship between Promathia and each race, had already been decided. So we felt that we needed to expand on certain things that were already there, but we hadn't really decided on what characters would appear or how they would be fleshed out in the story.

Was it hard to create the visual look for Promathia?

The lead designer and Mr. Aiba* had numerous discussions about Promathia's design. I remember a request stating, "Even though he doesn't have a face, I want him to have an 'outer space-like' feel to him."

Also, it was mentioned that people wanted to visit Al'Taieu, the ancient capital of the Zilart people, so we decided to create it as well.

Was there anything that particularly impressed you while coming up with the story's plot?

It wasn't during Chains of Promathia's production, but I distinctly remember temporarily shelving the character of Lion during Rise of the Zilart. However, when I was reunited with Mr. Kato a few years later for work, he angrily told me, "Don't kill her off."

Why did you shelve her character?

Actually, Lion was supposed to be the final boss in the original plot. However, that would have made it difficult to connect the story to Chains of Promathia, so we decided to temporarily set the character aside at the end of Rise of the Zilart. Plus, I hadn't thought about what to do after she left, or where and how she might return, so I simply decided to put her character on hold for the time being.

It was all kind of haphazardly thrown together. (laughs)

In the end, we had her show up in the quest "Apocalypse Nigh " instead. At that point, Lion finally stepped in to help, but was still recuperating afterward. It was decided that she should be brought back properly, so we ended up giving her an active role in Rhapsodies of Vana'diel.

So that's the story behind that...

According to Mr. Kato's plot, Lion was supposed to realize her true power and serve as the final boss. We also had ideas for like two to three titles for future expansions. However, we decided that would end up taking too long, so we went in a completely different direction, which is what led to Chains of Promathia as we know it.

I would like to read Mr. Kato's version of the plot.

Mr. Kato's plot was chock-full of various topics. There were names of various countries, an unexplored continent to the west, the Mithra's homeland in the south, and more. It all would've been discussed in the Vana'diel Tribune and other venues, and there were also items that would've served as the basis for story elements as well. He made it so that we could continue expanding the world setting well into the future. It was the process of taking each of these elements one at a time and rearranging them to create something new that led to Chains of Promathia, and it feels like we've simply been continuing down that path ever since.

One thing I remember from Mr. Kato's plot was the "Emptiness." I forget most of the details, but there was a kind of "Emptiness" that couldn't normally be seen and existed on another plane within the world. The players would've been able to use it for some particular purpose. So for example, after defeating the Shadow Lord, you'd be able to see this "Emptiness" and then there was an idea to write a story about a hunter who would triumph over this "Emptiness." However, it was a difficult concept to create in an online game, so it ended up getting scrapped.

By the way, when Mr. Ogawa* and the others on the team created the maps, did they receive any requests from the scenario team?

The maps were already finished, so it was more like, "How should we use them," right?

In terms of the overall situation, we told them things like there is a country in the north, or that such and such would happen as part of the scenario, but I feel like the scenario and maps were created in parallel. However, areas that included Bahamut were requested specifically by Ms. Sato.

Yeah, I did that for areas such as Cape Riverne and the battlefield of Monarch Linn located within it. I think I just said something like, "I want it to look mysterious."　Also, for Al'Taieu, I said, "I want a mysterious looking world that nobody has ever seen before, like it's on a higher plane," and the environments team made it look like the ocean.

That was some request. (laughs)

Still, I was amazed with what they were able to create. They really nailed it.

Do you mean you didn't specifically ask for it to look like the ocean?

I don't think I did.

I think it might've been Mr. Ito* ?　There was already an image of the Luminians being aquatic creatures, so maybe the map was created based on that monster type that he wanted to include. As such, I don't think the order came from the scenario team either.

I was particularly impressed by Chains of Promathia's final battlefield, Empyreal Paradox, where you could see the ground far below your feet.

That decision was made after much discussion by everybody involved, myself included. I think someone came up with that idea to really drive home the fact that the battlefield existed on a higher plane and that you could fall down to the earth below.

I also used the battlefield for the end of the Abyssea series. Unlike the one in Chains of Promathia, this one falls on the moon side, so the scenery under your feet looks more like the surface of the moon.

To this day, I still make requests where I'll ask the team to create a map and environment that are as beautiful as possible, but try not to make them too similar to other existing battlefields.

In the past interview, we heard that the development team was pretty small when the planning process for Chains of Promathia first started. What were your thoughts about that situation?

On Chains of Promathia, Mr. Ishii* and Mr. Kato were already gone by that time, right?　I think that had a pretty strong influence on the process.

The planning team leader was also transferred to another project. Still, the people that remained did an excellent job getting it all made.

Those of us that were still there just took an attitude of "let's get it done."

There was a map modeler as well.

There were a lot of discussions with the graphics team.

Although, I remember there were some disagreements within the team about Prishe. In the beginning, Prishe was intended to be a rather boyish character like something out of a manga, but the design staff ending up making a cute female character instead.

In the end, I think Prishe ended up being a strong and unique heroine. I bet there are plenty of people who still remember her dropkick.

I ordered the animations for that scene, and in the storyboard it was drawn as a flying kick. However, the finished animation ended up being more of a dropkick. I thought it was interesting in its own way, so I went ahead and approved it. (laughs)

Can you tell us about any of the other characters?

In regards to Tenzen, it was decided from the beginning that he would be a "samurai from the land of the Far East." Since we were limited in the number of unique NPC faces that we could create due to manpower constraints, we used the same face model as the player's.

I felt it would be too underwhelming if he also wore armor that was already in the game, so I asked if there was anything we could do about that, and they ended up creating some new armor just for him. I think we were also able to add some originality to the character by including a sheath for his katana and giving him some unique animations as well.

Selh'teus was intended to be a "special individual who had been living in Al'Taieu all along." When I conveyed that to the team, they came back with a design that featured a pale-blue skin tone and didn't really look human, and I remember approving it without any objections. Come to think of it, how did we decide on the version of the character that included wings?

There was a note at the time that said, "Selh'teus will revert to his true form if he returns to Al'Taieu," but the design of his "true form" had yet to be decided at that point. So when work on creating Al'Taieu began, I asked the team to design an adult version of Selh'teus, and requested that one of his wings be a phoenix wing. That led to a rough outline of a young man with wings, so I decided to go with it.

Do you feel like the character design process was a smooth one overall?

We never really placed any overly detailed requests for what we wanted. Ms. Sato would put together a rough profile stating what the character was like, and most of what she came up with was pretty much fine as-is.

There may have been more in-depth communications when Mr. Ishii and Mr. Kato were there, but in my experience, it was usually just, "I'll leave it to you; please make something good."

Whatever Mr. Aiba and the others proposed never ended up being that far off from our expectations, so we just took what they came up with and made it work. The music was handled in the same way. When I placed an order to Mr. Mizuta*, I first told him the setting, but I almost never asked him to redo anything he gave me. That's basically how the development process went the entire time.

Mr. Saito, you mainly worked on the cutscenes for Chains of Promathia as well?

Yes. I drew up the storyboards and created the cutscenes according to Ms. Sato's scenario, then directed the cutscenes, and also wrote the quests. In terms of the scope of a planner's duties, it felt like I was doing everything but the battles.

We definitely couldn't have gotten it all done without Mr. Saito.

The cutscene featuring the large fleet of airships was especially impressive.

You mean the one where the fleet approaches and then the party engages Omega and Ultima in battle, right?　Mr. Kigoshi* told me, "I want to do that scene!" So he was in charge of the specifications for everything, including the consecutive battlefields.

It seems there was a trend of people working on scenes that they wanted to be involved with.

Mr. Kigoshi created the system for the boss's room in Sealion's Den, and it was well-known that he could create things quickly and consistently, including the necessary system settings.

Are there any cutscenes you worked on that left an impression on you, Mr. Saito?

There were various scenes that left an impression on me, but if I had to pick one, I guess it would be the ending. I remember working on it with Ms. Sato late into the night on many occasions. I would show her something once it was finished and ask what she thought about it. She would reply with things like, "I want you to time it so that Shikaree Z looks at her hands when she sings these lyrics." We had a lot of detailed back-and-forth like that.

Back then, we would record the footage on videotape so that we could check it.

Yes, that's right. We didn't have hard drive recorders, so we had to rely on videotapes for our checks. It was basically the same setup as the development team member's desk that was shown at the Treasures of Vana'diel exhibition earlier this year.

It's always difficult to match songs to the visuals in any project, but I felt they did an excellent job with this one.

We worked hard on the programming side to get things like the timing of loading the data just right, and somehow we managed to bring it all together in the end.

Ms. Sato, you wrote the original Japanese lyrics for "Distant Worlds," the ending theme song for Chains of Promathia. In closing, can you tell us a little about its creation?

I remember the concept behind it was the desire to express our gratitude to the players. That's partially because the story for Chains of Promathia was rather long, but I also felt it was a great way to say thank you to all of the players who had been playing the game for many years since the beginning. Furthermore, the concept of a "World" was also an obvious theme for the song. I don't want to sing our own praises too much, but the development staff worked very hard to create the vast world of Vana'diel. Although it's even more expansive now than it was back then, I still remember being amazed at just how big Vana'diel was at the time. That world is only possible because of everyone who worked hard to create it and then also the players who populated it. So the song was a way to express a sense of gratitude to everyone for creating this alternate reality—really an entirely new world in and of itself—and also to those who continue to enjoy it to this very day.