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In an interview by Enterbrain Co's weekly Famitsu magazine, Square executive and Head of Production Team 4- Yasumi Matsuno, has confirmed that Final Fantasy Tactics is already under development for the Nintendo GameBoy Advance, currently around 30%
Known as the producer to Vagrant Story and PlayStation 2's upcoming Final Fantasy XII, Matsuno himself is also the producer of Final Fantasy Tactics for the GBA as well.
The following points have been revealed from the interview to Matsuno.
1 -
The team developing for the GBA's Final Fantasy Tactics are originally Staffs from Quest (the original maker of the Ogre Battle series), who have experience in developing for the GBA hardware. The head of the team is Yuuichi Murasawa, production team director of Quest's "Tactics Ogre Gaiden" for the GBA. As the producer, Matsuno will be adjusting the project since the concepts behind the Ogre Battle series and Final Fantasy Tactics have differences.
2 - There were previously talks with Quest to develop a project together (unrelated to the current Nintendo incident), which eventually lead to this current project. The project of FFT for GBA began around February of this year.
3 - The GBA's Final Fantasy Tactics is based on the Playstation FFT, but it will not be a direct port- the game will be an arranged version. It will not be a sequel or a "Final Fantasy Tactics 2", since the GBA's hardware spec (ROM) cannot offer a volume that would satisfy users.
4 - The GBA's Final Fantasy Tactics will be arranged as a game for a portable machine instead of a home console. Although FFT is a game to be played taking a long time to think, the GBA version is planned to fit playings of short intervals like 5-10 minutes a day, as well as continuous play like a console game. Quick-save will be featured in the game. Matsuno hopes to be able to create the game to fit the life styles of various users.
5 - Development of the GBA's Final Fantasy Tactics is currently around 30 percent, aimed for release near Christmas.
6 - First shots of the game should be available in some form by the summer.
7 - Matsuno is also one of the main staff on Final Fantasy XII, scheduled for release in 2003.
8 - Square has acquired the licenses to the "Ogre Battle" series. From now on, Ogre Battle titles will be released by Square. Quoted by Matsuno, "Square has acquired the rights regarding "Ogre Battle". So from now into the future, products that include "Ogre Battle" in their title will be released by Square. I will probably be handling this series, but I'm currently developing for FFXII, so I won't be going on it immediately. It will be later."
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