“Final Fantasy XV” director Hajime Tabata has revealed where he and his team at Square Enix got the inspiration behind the upcoming “Final Fantasy” installment from. In the process, he divulged the indirect connection between the new game and one of the early releases of the franchise.

According to Trusted Reviews, Tabata has admitted that he and overall game director Tetsuya Nomura took a trip down memory lane and looked for an inspiration from the past installments of the franchise while in search of the core concept that would make the modern “Final Fantasy” the game that it should be.

Tabata then shared that of the previous releases, it was “Final Fantasy VI” that made him think “wow” and reaffirmed him of the focus of the new game’s storyline that would make it personal and resonating.

“It wasn’t that we played 'VI' and decided that it was the inspiration behind 'XV.' The idea of having that very human, very emotional tale was already decided, but I think there may have been some influence there in more of an indirect sense. From seeing VI, I got to understand the classic 'Final Fantasy' feel. From the games previous to VII that emotional core was really what Final 'Fantasy' was about,” Tabata said.

However, despite keeping the typical element of the game that focuses on strong storylines, Square Enix is bringing something new to the table by making a massive open world for players to explore. Tabata disclosed that their goal was to make players feel as though it’s their first time in exploring a foreign country.

"t’s a really different approach. Rather than having a linear progression where you have each scene with the drama and storytelling tightly packed, you’ve now got this open world you’re free to travel around, and you have to put the storytelling within the environment," Tabata said.

Meanwhile, aside from discussing the story on how he and his team developed “Final Fantasy XV,” the game director also disclosed in an interview with Famitsu (via TechRaptor) their other plans for the game that’s been delayed to November. Interestingly, part of these plans is to bring more costumes and to enrich the cooking recepies in the game.

Tabata said in the interview that while their main focus is to polish up “Final Fantasy XV,” creating more DLCs like costumes and cooking recipes is not out of the picture. He even teased that they could start developing VR contents once they are done with ensuring the quality of the game.

Unfortunately, Tabata revealed that the new DLCs they plan on making next will not be part of the “Final Fantasy XV” Season Pass, which already features the previously revealed DLC packs with the following working titles: Booster Pack, Holiday Pack, Episode Gladio, Episode Ignis, Episode Prompto and Expansion Pack.

Tabata also clarified in the same interview that the VR content that features Prompto is not at all the same with the “Final Fantasy XV” DLC that has the working title of Episode Prompto.

Square Enix’s “Final Fantasy XV” is set for release on Nov. 29 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

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