During IGN's Final Fantasy Reader Q&A FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase was questioned on the likelihood of a Japanese voice-over in the English version of Final Fantasy XIII, and states that it would be a possibility thanks to the PS3's Blu-Ray disc, but "probably not" possible on Xbox 360 thanks to the good old DVD.
IGN: Beyond Chocobos, Moogles and Espers, what do you think are the defining characteristics of the Final Fantasy series?
Yoshinori Kitase: One of the characteristics of this series is that it sometimes revolves around crystals. The characteristics of the series may have been a little bit vague up until this point, so with this particular game, Dissidia, we're going to put the characters into two groups; the evil side, Chaos, and the good side, Cosmos. By this particular division, the vague concept of the series might become a little bit clearer.
IGN: Final Fantasy games can often be quite disparate from each other – was it a struggle to keep the universe coherent?
Takeshi Arakawa: Each of the past Final Fantasy titles has got its own group of fans – so one of the big tasks for this particular game was how to combine all of these games together while still satisfying these people. We all knew that was going to be a big challenge.
IGN: It's obviously exciting having all the different characters from the Final Fantasy universe in one game – but why pit them together in a brawler?
Takeshi Arakawa: This game has been produced by the Kingdom Hearts team; when the Kingdom Hearts games were made, there was a very clear consciousness about doing action games, which were new to us. The team had the same mission to create an action game, but with a Final Fantasy theme. So basically Dissidia is a Kingdom Hearts game with some battle features in it.
IGN: Are there any plans for extra downloadable characters in the future?
Takeshi Arakawa: At the moment we don't have any plans on making characters available for download, but as was the case in Japan, we're going to make passwords available online; that will continue.
IGN: Which is your favourite character from the Final Fantasy universe, and why?
Yoshinori Kitase: Because I was directly involved in the development of VII, I like the characters Cloud and Sepiroth.
Takeshi Arakawa: I played Final Fantasy V a lot, as a player rather than a creator, and there's a character called Bartz who's my personal favourite.
IGN: Is Dissidia the start of an ongoing franchise; will we be seeing something like this coming to the PS3?
Yoshinori Kitase: We have no immediate plan to release this game on any other consoles, partly because we believe that one of the most attractive features of this game is ad-hoc. As an idea it's very attractive, and we'll certainly look into it.
IGN: We've seen Final Fantasy III & IV on DS – any chance of V & VI making the move?
Yoshinori Kitase: We haven't a plan to release V & VI, but it sounds like an interesting idea so we'll find out if that's possible.
IGN: A number of people have asked whether the original Japanese voice track will be available in the Western release of the game.
Yoshinori Kitase: Regarding Dissidia, because it's a UMD, the voice takes alot of memory - if we wanted to make that choice available, we wouldn't be able to squeeze it onto one disk – so at the moment it's not possible.
IGN: And for Final Fantasy XIII might that be an option?
Yoshinori Kitase: Obviously, when we talk about XIII it's for PS3 and Xbox – with PS3 being on Blu ray there would be enough memory, but on Xbox probably not. At the moment we're thinking of releasing the voice in English only. Are there many people who would like to play with Japanese voices?
Obviously, when we talk about XIII it's for PS3 and Xbox – with PS3 being on Blu ray there would be enough memory, but on Xbox probably not. At the moment we're thinking of releasing the voice in English only. Are there many people who would like to play with Japanese voices?
Yes, there certainly are, but this statement is quite different to the "same content on more discs" comment they made at the E3 announcement and if another voice track is out of the question due to size, is this a sign that there are DVD constraints already?IGN: Beyond Chocobos, Moogles and Espers, what do you think are the defining characteristics of the Final Fantasy series?
Yoshinori Kitase: One of the characteristics of this series is that it sometimes revolves around crystals. The characteristics of the series may have been a little bit vague up until this point, so with this particular game, Dissidia, we're going to put the characters into two groups; the evil side, Chaos, and the good side, Cosmos. By this particular division, the vague concept of the series might become a little bit clearer.
IGN: Final Fantasy games can often be quite disparate from each other – was it a struggle to keep the universe coherent?
Takeshi Arakawa: Each of the past Final Fantasy titles has got its own group of fans – so one of the big tasks for this particular game was how to combine all of these games together while still satisfying these people. We all knew that was going to be a big challenge.
IGN: It's obviously exciting having all the different characters from the Final Fantasy universe in one game – but why pit them together in a brawler?
Takeshi Arakawa: This game has been produced by the Kingdom Hearts team; when the Kingdom Hearts games were made, there was a very clear consciousness about doing action games, which were new to us. The team had the same mission to create an action game, but with a Final Fantasy theme. So basically Dissidia is a Kingdom Hearts game with some battle features in it.
IGN: Are there any plans for extra downloadable characters in the future?
Takeshi Arakawa: At the moment we don't have any plans on making characters available for download, but as was the case in Japan, we're going to make passwords available online; that will continue.
IGN: Which is your favourite character from the Final Fantasy universe, and why?
Yoshinori Kitase: Because I was directly involved in the development of VII, I like the characters Cloud and Sepiroth.
Takeshi Arakawa: I played Final Fantasy V a lot, as a player rather than a creator, and there's a character called Bartz who's my personal favourite.
IGN: Is Dissidia the start of an ongoing franchise; will we be seeing something like this coming to the PS3?
Yoshinori Kitase: We have no immediate plan to release this game on any other consoles, partly because we believe that one of the most attractive features of this game is ad-hoc. As an idea it's very attractive, and we'll certainly look into it.
IGN: We've seen Final Fantasy III & IV on DS – any chance of V & VI making the move?
Yoshinori Kitase: We haven't a plan to release V & VI, but it sounds like an interesting idea so we'll find out if that's possible.
IGN: Of all the Final Fantasy games, which one would you like to work on a sequel for?
Takeshi Arakawa: FFIX. I was involved in the production; I expressed my ideas, but I also had quite a hard time in the process. And some of the characters look really... fanciable.
IGN: Is the compilation of Final Fantasy VII finished, or is there more to come from that universe?
Yoshinori Kitase: In Japan, the Blu-ray version of Advent Children has just been released. That's meant to make a mark to end all of these productions. But, all these games of FFVII have just been spawned off the cuff with small ideas; one idea just turns into another. In this sense, there's a possibility we might end up creating more FFVII games in the future.
IGN: Fabula Nova's got its own mythology; will this be expanded upon in the future?
Yoshinori Kitase: As you may know, the demo's out in Japan, and the game will be out quite soon. Versus is coming on PS3, and Agito on PSP; as for plans for any movies, we don't have anything just yet.
IGN: How do you think the feedback has been to the demo so far?
Yoshinori Kitase: The only way for us to find out how it's been received is by checking all the forums; judging from those opinions, apparently players quite like it, and they like the battle system. Obviously the demo version is quite drastically simplified, but people seem to be quite fond of it.
Takeshi Arakawa: FFIX. I was involved in the production; I expressed my ideas, but I also had quite a hard time in the process. And some of the characters look really... fanciable.
IGN: Is the compilation of Final Fantasy VII finished, or is there more to come from that universe?
Yoshinori Kitase: In Japan, the Blu-ray version of Advent Children has just been released. That's meant to make a mark to end all of these productions. But, all these games of FFVII have just been spawned off the cuff with small ideas; one idea just turns into another. In this sense, there's a possibility we might end up creating more FFVII games in the future.
IGN: Fabula Nova's got its own mythology; will this be expanded upon in the future?
Yoshinori Kitase: As you may know, the demo's out in Japan, and the game will be out quite soon. Versus is coming on PS3, and Agito on PSP; as for plans for any movies, we don't have anything just yet.
IGN: How do you think the feedback has been to the demo so far?
Yoshinori Kitase: The only way for us to find out how it's been received is by checking all the forums; judging from those opinions, apparently players quite like it, and they like the battle system. Obviously the demo version is quite drastically simplified, but people seem to be quite fond of it.
IGN: Regarding the battle system; alot of people are asking why it's gone back to turn based combat.
Yoshinori Kitase: It is a turn based system; however, we've employed a new system called ATB, which you have to type in different types of command to decide which attack is going to be executed. There is some real-time; time doesn't stop when you're typing in the commands, it goes on in real time. And combinations of commands can create some strategic aspects. So it's turn-based, but it's a new type of turn-based.
IGN: Will we ever see a return to old-school Final Fantasy?
Yoshinori Kitase: When it comes to the Final Fantasy series, all the numbered titles are very different to each other. So FFXIII has no black warriors and mages – it's quite a sci-fi universe – in that sense there's quite a drastic change between XII and XIII. There's absolutely no way we can predict what XIV and XV might bring.
IGN: Final Fantasy XI is getting on now – is there a possibility of another online game soon?
Yoshinori Kitase: We can't release any comments at this stage.
Yoshinori Kitase: It is a turn based system; however, we've employed a new system called ATB, which you have to type in different types of command to decide which attack is going to be executed. There is some real-time; time doesn't stop when you're typing in the commands, it goes on in real time. And combinations of commands can create some strategic aspects. So it's turn-based, but it's a new type of turn-based.
IGN: Will we ever see a return to old-school Final Fantasy?
Yoshinori Kitase: When it comes to the Final Fantasy series, all the numbered titles are very different to each other. So FFXIII has no black warriors and mages – it's quite a sci-fi universe – in that sense there's quite a drastic change between XII and XIII. There's absolutely no way we can predict what XIV and XV might bring.
IGN: Final Fantasy XI is getting on now – is there a possibility of another online game soon?
Yoshinori Kitase: We can't release any comments at this stage.
Yoshinori Kitase: Regarding Dissidia, because it's a UMD, the voice takes alot of memory - if we wanted to make that choice available, we wouldn't be able to squeeze it onto one disk – so at the moment it's not possible.
IGN: And for Final Fantasy XIII might that be an option?
Yoshinori Kitase: Obviously, when we talk about XIII it's for PS3 and Xbox – with PS3 being on Blu ray there would be enough memory, but on Xbox probably not. At the moment we're thinking of releasing the voice in English only. Are there many people who would like to play with Japanese voices?
IGN: A lot of people asked the same question, so definitely. One final question; one reader asks why Final Fantasy VI's Ultros isn't the lead of Final Fantasy XIII.
Yoshinori Kitase: You'll just have to apologise to that particular reader. If I'd have heard that opinion earlier, I might have done something about it!
Source: IGN
Yoshinori Kitase: You'll just have to apologise to that particular reader. If I'd have heard that opinion earlier, I might have done something about it!
Source: IGN
. I wonder if that question actually was me and I'd left a stray comment somewhere 
. 
. Some good information from it.
Amen, SE! 
