Yoshinori Kitase of Square Enix says that thanks to devs being pulled from Versus and tasked on FFXIII, the ”knowledge and experience” gained will speed along Versus.
The development of the more action-orientated game is going ”comparatively faster” than Final Fantasy XIII, because the tools and engine are proven. Unlikely to be out before 2011.
Producer Kitase revealed it now takes around one-third of the time to model characters for the game, and that chances are slim at best to see it before 2011. Director Tetsuya Nomura meanwhile wants Versus XIII to be much darker and grittier than past instalments.
Nomura-san plans to explore ”the humanity of the characters”, and revealed a while back that he had his team research and examine the tension in western third-person shooters to try and match it. Details otherwise are scarce, but a Kingdom Heart-style is being adopted.
Right now the Final Fantasy community is on pins and needles just to get FFXIII, which retails this winter in Japan exclusively on PS3. The west will be getting their FFXIII fix in Q2 next year when it releases on both Xbox 360 and PS3.
Source: Kotaku
