By Bryan Smith on May 23, 2016 at 9:49pm
Speaking with 4Gamer (translated by Kotaku), "Final Fantasy XV" director Hajime Tabata discuses what he describes as "Final Fantasy Disease."
In basic terms, Tabata describes "Final Fantasy Disease" is when people have a particular view of what "Final Fantasy" should be and that no one else's view of "Final Fantasy" is the true one.
Oh yeah, there was. It wasn’t only from inside the team, but outside as well. The reason was that if my way of doing it ended up working, there are those whose circumstances will worsen.
It refers to people within the company who can’t imagine anything other than their own view of Final Fantasy. Since the root is a strong self-affirmation, one’s own view of Final Fantasy takes more priority than the team’s success. If that view of Final Fantasy isn’t fulfilled, then they’re convinced that it’s bad for Final Fantasy. They think, ‘Since Final Fantasy is a special team, then we are also special because we are making it. When the new Final Fantasy comes out, everybody is going to be so into it.’ But that’s not the reality of the situation, is it? Hajime Tabata
From what is gathered, it seems that Tabata suggests that there are multiple ways to envision "Final Fantasy" and that things have to change and evolve, not stick to a format that if not done, then it's not special.
Because of that, there was a time I told off the team, saying, ‘We’re not special. Wake Up.’ Yet, I realized that when Final Fantasy XV news was made public, this wasn’t only inside the company. Everyone has FF disease.
At this point, if the series didn’t modernize, I think it could’ve been done for.
How far "Final Fantasy XV" goes in terms of being a "Final Fantasy" game, in terms of either being faithful or putting new life into the series, will have to be seen when the game releases on September 30, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Kotaku
