Final Fantasy XIII-2‘s existence has been in question since its announcement, mostly by fans of Final Fantasy who were disappointed with the previous iteration. However, Square Enix have found plenty of benefit in following up with a sequel rather than a new title in the series, and a few of the benefits were shared in a new interview.
Final Fantasy Producer Yoshinori Kitase stated during an interview with GameInformer:
We feel that there’s a lot of merit to doing a sequel rather than doing a whole other numbered game in the sense that we’re not building everything from the ground up.
He continued:
We have the engine, the environment, the characters, and the basic storyline. That’s already laid out for us so we’re able to spend more time fine-tuning the game and listening to the fans, and making changes based off the feedback.
Sure, there is merit in producing a sequel, by why a sequel for Final Fantasy XIII-2? Square Enix has surely seen the immense hype for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which development time for Final Fantasy XIII-2 could have been put toward. From a financial standpoint it makes sense, but Square Enix are really gambling their reputation by releasing games that many of their fans simply aren’t interested in.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is only three weeks away from launching in Japan, but Western gamers will have to wait until February.
