After teasing itback in December, Square Enix officially unveiledWar of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius,aFinal Fantasy Tacticsinspired “simulation RPG” for smartphones during their E32019 presentation.Interested in what this new mobile title would have to offer considering thatFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusis really well designed, I was eager to check out the game behind closed doors at E3 2019.
While you can check out my thoughts on the gameplay I saw in my preview, I was also able to talk with Kei Hirono, the Executive Producer ofWar of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exviusas well as Hiroki Fujimoto, Producer of the global version ofFinal Fantasy Brave Exvius.During our talk, the pair of Producers revealed thatWar of the Visionshas dual audio, discussed how their story based game will perform in a market dominated by games one can play in short bursts, hinted at what fans can expect in terms of crossovers and collaborations, and cementing their hopes forFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusas a franchise.
Tomas Franzese:War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exviusis a story-driven strategy game, and those are typically seen as longer experiences. Most mobile games tend to be short games that people can pick up and play in five-minute bursts. In a market like that, how are you adapting this game to appeal to that audience that plays for a shorter amount of time?
Kei Hirono:Being a mobile game, each and every play time would be composed around something more compact, something you can quickly experience. That is something we have kept in mind for this particular title. In terms of specific features or functions that have been placed to assist in that process, the auto mode, as well as the speed up mode, will enable people to quickly get through those aspects. [Square Enix] typically as a company andFinal Fantasytitles in general place a lot of importance in our stories and telling our stories. So, we would hope for players to sit through and take their time and enjoy the story, really.
As you just saw, the main storyline and scenes associated with it are fully voiced, so it is the development team’s hope that people would immerse themselves in the story and enjoy that aspect of it. As for the gameplay itself, it is actually something a bit quicker, something that you’re able to get through quickly, so hopefully that strikes a nice balance between the two.
[pullquote]“We’re hoping to implement a feature that allows players to choose between the Japanese voices and the English voices."[/pullquote]
Hiroki Fujimoto:Even withFinal Fantasy Brave Exvius, a lot of our players spend more time on experiencing the game, unlike other puzzle type mobile games, which have much shorter gameplay times. A lot of our players have been properly delving themselves into the game, so as developers we are definitely creating this robust experience. Regardless of platform, whether it be mobile or console, as long as we are creating these robust experiences we hope people will tap into it and enjoy it.
TF:War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exviusis fully voiced in Japanese. Do you know yet if it will be fully voiced in English yet in the west? If so, will it support dual audio?
KH:Yes, there will be English voices. In terms of the global version, we’re hoping to implement a feature that allows players to choose between the Japanese voices and the English voices.
TF: BecauseWar of the VisionsandFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusare set in the same universe, is Square Enix hoping to cross over or feature collaborations between the two games?
KH:Yes, of course, especially because of the story itself is already tied together.War of the Visionsactually takes place many years prior to the events that unfoldFinal Fantasy Brave Exvius.In the world of Lapis, War of the Visions takes place on the continent of Ardora. We can definitely see character crossovers and potentially events across the two titles moving forward. Even in the trailer itself, aFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusoriginal character has already made an appearance so we’d love everyone to look at that trailer again and maybe you’ll be able to spot them.
[pullquote]“We can definitely see character crossovers and potentially events across the two titles moving forward."[/pullquote]
TF:Final Fantasy Brave Exviusalso features a lot of crossovers with other franchises or celebrities likeTomb Raideror Katy Perry. Do you plan on doing the same withWar of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius?
KH:That’s definitely something that we will be considering, but we would like to launch the game, have players try and experience it first and foremost. Then we’ll see what types of players start associating themselves with the game; thereafter, we would like to consider what type of appropriate collaborations there may be for our player base at that moment in time. They are definitely something that we’ll be considering upon seeing what types of players enjoy the game when it launches.
TF: In aprevious interview with DualShockers, you both stated that you would like to supportFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusfor 30 years if you could. Does that still stand true? What kind of content trail can we expect forWar of the VisionsandFinal Fantasy Brave Exvius?
KH:Here we have theFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusworld, which is an original universe that we had built upon, and here we are exploring this opportunity to expand upon that world withWar of the Visions.As long as we have these various outlets to expand upon the universe, we think thatFinal Fantasy Brave Exviusitself would also continue and it would mean the continuation of its universe. We definitely have an inclination towards continuing the series as long as we can.
You can’t really establish an IP unless you continue it for a long period of time, maybe even a decade if necessary. Considering how we’ve borrowed theFinal Fantasyname for this particular series and franchise, it is our hope, task, and mission to continue it on as long as we can. We hope that our players will follow us through on this journey as well.
War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exviusis currently in development for both a Japanese and western release on iOS and Android. Whenever plans become more concrete for War of the Visions' global release, DualShockers will be sure to let you know.
