Square Enix World Technology Director speaks on current projects, the future of Agni's Philosophy

While nothing substantial, a small update on both Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Lightning Returns has come out of Paris Games Week and its Final Fantasy celebration.

FF Dream, who spoke with Square Enix World Technology Director Julien Merceron, was able to catch a few details on some of the company’s upcoming projects.

Regarding Lightning Returns, development is coming along swiftly, and they’re currently showing the game to focus groups in order to narrow down what elements they should concentrate on in order to please fans. On a technology level, some elements from Versus XIII are being used in the game, as well as elements from FFXIII and XIII-2. It will, however, be very different from every Final Fantasy that has released so far.

On Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Merceron confirmed that the game was still in development. The project is of course very ambitious, so that’s why it’s taking so long. Once the project is revealed, Merceron says people will be happy to have waited. Yoichi Wada has been determined to push the development team as hard as they can.

As for other Square Enix titles, Merceron says that they’d love to localize Final Fantasy Type-0, but there are no plans as of now. He personally, has played the Japanese version and really enjoyed it.

Merceron also worked closely with Naoki Yoshida on developing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and as such, has high praise for the director and his team. Few people at Square Enix could have done what Yoshida did, and as a result he’s gained a lot of respect from those at Square Enix on the global stage.

When asked about Agni’s Philosophy – the Final Fantasy tech demo that debuted at E3 2012 – Merceron said to expect something involving the demo to be shown running on platforms other than PC around June of next year. Presumably, he’s referring to the next generation of home consoles such as the PS4.