FFXV's story and narrative design are intentional, says Tabata

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In the March 2017 issue of Game Informer, Final Fantasy XV's director Hajime Tabata discussed some of his team's development decisions. Specifically, he discusses the narrative direction as well as the linearity of the game's later chapters.

Several important events happen off-screen. What is the advantage of letting players imagine rather than witness some moments?

"It was for the players to experience the story through Noctis' eyes. The world and the events that Noctis sees are merely things that are seen through his eyes. We didn't want to create a comprehensive and perfectly balanced story in this game. Instead, we placed importance on the main characters and for the player and Noctis to share the same experience when we tell the story."

Considering this narrative design philosophy, Tabata states that the development team decided to focus on the main cast of the game.

“It’s not that we decreased the role of the side characters. Focusing on many characters in the game means that the allocation given to the main characters will decrease. Instead of creating a comprehensive and perfectly balanced story, we placed greater importance on the four main characters and strived to depict a world seen from their perspective.”

Additionally, he addressed the discussion about the linearity of the game's later chapters. He confirms that the decision to have them be linear was intentional.

“Based on calculations that the development time and cost would double if the latter half of the game was to be an open-world environment as well, we had already planned to make the latter half more of a journey by vehicle. The structure of this title – to create memories while traveling in the open-world environment during the first half of the game, then have the story move forward linearly using the train in the latter half of the game – was designed and intended to be that way.”

Final Fantasy XV has received a significant amount of criticism for its story and narrative. Do you agree with Tabata and the development team's decisions?

Credit to Nova Crystallis for the original article.