Quote Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah View Post
The only relevant fact here is that they had huge trouble with developing crystal tools which caused their games to be delayed significantly. XIII-2 is xoming out in 2 years as opposed to what, 6-7 for XIII? That's what happens when the game engine you develop for actually works like it should.
FFXIII-2 is only taking 2 years because the core programming is already finished from FXIII. They hardly have to do anything new, and they can use all the art assets that they threw out from FFXIII.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/01/13...-fantasy-xiii/

FF-Reunion summarized an interview (from Dengeki?) with Isamu Kamikokuryou, Final Fantasy XIII’s art director, where he talks about some of the deleted areas.

Nora, Snow’s hero squad, at one time had a secret base within Lebreau’s shop. A full space was made for Lightning’s home, which included a park. One of the game’s amusement parks also had a zoo too.

These areas were running in an unreleased build of Final Fantasy XIII, but were cut from the final version due to considerations about game balance and game volume. Kamikokuryou says there is enough lost Final Fantasy XIII content was removed to make another title.
Quote Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah View Post
I have no idea what this outburst has to do with anything.
It has to do with my disappointment that the greatness of Squaresoft has been slowly but surely degrading over time, and that the games they are creating now lack the vision and the brilliance of the games they made in the past.