Final Fantasy Resonance Started in 2020 as a Plan to Preserve FFBE for a Wider Audience
- ⚡Xe⚡
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Final Fantasy Resonance producer Keisuke Nakashima, director Hiroto Furuya, combat director Takashi Shiraga, and art director Masahiro Saito discussed the game's development in a new interview with AUTOMATON, providing new details on its HD-2D presentation, story revisions, combat systems, world map, and overall design philosophy.
According to Nakashima, Final Fantasy Resonance began with a proposal submitted at the end of 2020. One of the project's primary goals was to preserve Final Fantasy Brave Exvius by adapting it into a console RPG after years of player requests. Nakashima also explained that he wanted to create a new Final Fantasy title built around pixel art visuals and classic turn based combat.
"Just like how everyone was amazed when 1997's Final Fantasy VII released as the series' first fully 3D title, I want to surprise everyone with how Final Fantasy Resonance makes use of the latest pixel art technologies."
The team describes Final Fantasy Resonance as the first HD-2D title in Final Fantasy history. Development staff included members who previously worked on Octopath Traveler and the HD-2D Dragon Quest remakes. Nakashima revealed that the team spent approximately one to two years researching HD-2D technology before full production began.
Particular attention was given to event scenes and cinematic presentation. The developers focused heavily on camera work for summons, airships, and combat animations while making extensive adjustments to sprites and environments throughout development.
"When it comes to the scale of the story and visuals, we're taking on challenge after challenge without making any compromises, while also pursuing the essence of Final Fantasy."
The game's story is based on the first season of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and retains its main cast and character backstories. However, the scenario has been extensively revised for a console RPG structure. All dialogue has been rewritten, some story events have been rearranged, and all side quests and side content feature newly created scenarios.
The original FFBE writer Yukinori Kitajima returned to rewrite the script specifically for Final Fantasy Resonance. According to the development team, the revised narrative remains faithful to the original storyline while refining the overall flow of the story and strengthening character motivations.
"While adjusting the scenario for the console version, I think we focused the most attention on making the characters even more relatable."
The interview also confirmed the return of a traditional world map. Furuya explained that implementing the feature required overcoming significant technical challenges during development. The team also adjusted elements of the scenario to ensure exploration across the world map fit naturally into the overall adventure.
"While maps are an element that ended up disappearing as the Final Fantasy franchise evolved, we deliberately decided to bring them back for this title."
Combat remains heavily inspired by FFBE's emphasis on party building. Strategic team composition and experimentation remain core systems. Characters use a Vision system that functions similarly to a job system, allowing abilities to be shared between characters. Nakashima used Cloud's Cross Slash as an example of a skill that can be inherited through the system.
The game includes 26 playable characters. According to Nakashima, the team specifically balanced the roster so that every character has a meaningful role in battle. Character abilities were redesigned from the ground up while preserving iconic attacks associated with each hero.
The developers also confirmed battle speed options of 1.5x and 2.0x, dedicated experience farming locations, and Cactuar encounters in specific areas. Players will also gain access to stronger area attacks as they progress, allowing regular battles to be completed more efficiently.
"The concept the development team envisioned when creating the battle system was 'quick and simple for the mobs, slow and steady for the bosses.'"
Final Fantasy Resonance uses random encounters rather than symbol encounters. To reduce frustration, encounter rates have been adjusted depending on dungeon design, with puzzle focused areas featuring fewer battles. The minimap also provides advance warning of approaching encounters through color coded indicators.
Furuya explained that dungeon progression was designed around resource management, requiring players to think about MP usage, recovery opportunities, and overall preparation as they advance.
"In our pursuit of the classic Final Fantasy experience, this is the decision we ultimately arrived at."
Difficulty was another topic discussed during the interview. The team confirmed that both Normal and Casual difficulty settings are available. They also noted that battle outcomes are heavily influenced by party preparation, understanding character abilities, and overall team composition.
According to the developers, players following the main story, exploration content, and side quests should level naturally throughout the adventure. Nakashima also stated that the game is not intended to be an extremely difficult RPG.
"We turned the bosses into these big obstacles that will motivate you to reflect on your team composition."
Closing the interview, Nakashima described Final Fantasy Resonance as the team's answer to a long standing question about how the series might have evolved if it had continued advancing alongside pixel art technology.
"I wonder what the Final Fantasy series would look like now if it kept evolving while maintaining pixel art graphics. Final Fantasy Resonance is our interpretation of that question."
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-⚡Xe⚡
About FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE
The first HD-2D game in the FINAL FANTASY series, FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE is a celebration of classic and modern FINAL FANTASY that evokes the beloved titles of yesteryear. This tale of Crystals features a strategic turn-based battle system with a modern twist, the return of chocobos, espers and airships, in addition to appearances from beloved FINAL FANTASY characters such as Cloud, Tidus and the Warrior of Light – all presented in stunning, retro-inspired HD-2D graphics that push the limits of pixel art.
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