Hello Mr. Furuya! I hope your travels are going well and staying healthy. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.

Resonance uses HD-2D to create that dynamic diorama feel, a first for a Final Fantasy title. While also incorporating new visual techniques in the cinematic scenes that make the pixel-art visuals feel more fluid and alive.

What was the thought process behind creating this visual style, and could we see more of this approach in future HD-2D games?

The concept for this game began with a simple question: “What if FINAL FANTASY (FF) had continued to push the boundaries of pixel art?” If you take that idea further, the question becomes, “What if the FF series had continued to use pixel art after FFVI?” Naturally, that led us to think about what FFVI itself had achieved.

For me, one of its most important achievements was bringing a new level of cinematic and dramatic presentation to the series, whether in the opening with the magitek armor or the opera sequence. Looking back at the series as a whole, I realized that FF has always found new ways to surprise players through its presentation.

You can see that in the opening of FFI, or in the summons of FFIII. It made me realize that advances in graphics in FF were never simply about improving visual fidelity. They were a way of advancing how the games could present their worlds and stories. So for this title, instead of simply asking how we could push pixel art further, we focused on evolving the dramatic presentation and seeing just how much emotion and drama we could convey through pixel art characters giving it everything they’ve got.

When adapting elements from Brave Exvius, how much was changed, reworked, or expanded to fit Resonance as a standalone RPG?

Honestly, we changed so much that it might be easier to talk about what we didn’t change.

The main things we retained were the broad outline of the main story and the characters. Pretty much everything else was either rebuilt or created from scratch. That includes the battle and progression systems, the world map, towns, dungeons and other areas, event scenes, and side quests.

We also added around 30 new music tracks. None of those elements existed in that form in FFBE, so they were all newly created for this game. When I put it that way, I suppose that’s almost everything that makes up an RPG! (laughs)

Our philosophy from the beginning was to treat this as an entirely new game with FFBE as its foundation, rather than simply a new version of FFBE. Everyone on the team approached it with that same mindset and gave it everything they had, as though we were creating a completely new title.

What was the most difficult aspect of Resonance to design, and what made it particularly challenging?

I mentioned earlier that we didn’t change the broad outline of the main story, but ironically, this was actually the most difficult part to get right. Essentially, we kept the overall shape of the original story, but rewrote the main scenario almost entirely from the ground up.

Because the original was a mobile game, the story was made up of a huge number of short episodes, many of them leading into individual battles. And even seemingly casual conversations could contain important foreshadowing, so we had to start by going through everything and carefully reassessing what was there.

We made a complete list of the individual episodes, broke each one down, identified what was essential, and then combined multiple episodes where it made sense. After that, we rearranged them into what we felt was the most engaging order for an RPG, while also taking character motivations that had previously been spread across different episodes and weaving them together into a more cohesive narrative.

To give you a concrete example, even in the Grandshelt section available in the demo, the Siren and Kolobos events happen in a very different order from the original. The Siren storyline was originally a side episode that took place around the time the party reached Mitra, while Kolobos came after the party departed from Grandshelt. We restructured those events so that the departure from Grandshelt could serve as the emotional climax of Chapter 1. We applied that same kind of restructuring throughout the entire game.

It sounds simple when you put it into words, but it was actually an incredibly delicate and demanding creative exercise. In some ways, it was even more difficult than simply writing a new story from scratch.

I can only imagine!

Classic Final Fantasy games encourage players to experiment with their party and abilities.What do you hope players discover in Resonance that may not be immediately obvious?

The vision system in this game is inspired by FFV’s job system and offers a similar style of play. At the same time, one of the unique aspects of this game is that we’ve introduced the kind of distinct character identities you find in FFVI.

By experimenting with different characters, I hope players will enjoy discovering builds that play to each character’s unique strengths.

And, in classic FF fashion, there are some incredibly powerful synergies waiting to be discovered. Of course, we’ve also included some formidable enemies that will really put those combinations to the test.

What new features are you most proud of that’s incorporated into Resonance?

I’d say the vision system, which we developed as an evolution of the job system. Even though the job system was created more than 30 years ago, working on the vision system made me realize just how many possibilities there are still left to explore. It also made me feel that we were able to contribute, even in a small way, to the evolution of the FINAL FANTASY IP.

Is there a particular battle, dungeon, scene, or other moment in Resonance that you are especially proud of?

I’d say the Leviathan battle and the sequence leading up to it. It’s also where we were able to realize something I’d wanted to do for a long time, even before working on this game: integrating dramatic presentation directly into the battle itself.

With classic Final Fantasy mechanics making a return, what did you want to preserve from the classic Final Fantasy combat experience, and what did you want to change or modernize for today’s players?

The things I wanted to preserve were deep customization and the excitement of discovering powerful synergies. In FFV, for example, I remember how thrilled I was when I discovered combinations like Spellblade-Dual Wield-Rapid Fire. Experiences like that have always stayed with me, and that was something I wanted to carry forward into this game.

Where we made adjustments for modern audiences was in the sense of variation and momentum that develops over the short term within each battle. Systems like Stagger and Resonance were introduced so that a single battle could unfold in stages, almost like a song progressing from verse to pre-chorus to chorus.

To me, this feels like one of the solutions that turn-based RPGs have arrived at over decades of evolution: build customization provides the long-term enjoyment, while the mechanics within each battle provide the moment-to-moment excitement.

Was there a particular feature or idea that went through development that you wish you could have added in Resonance?

I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. There were plenty of ideas we had to let go because they didn’t fit this particular game, but when an idea did fit, we tried to incorporate as much of it as we could.

With so many characters and Visions coming together, how did you approach making each one feel distinct while ensuring they fit naturally into the game’s combat and story?

We set very clear boundaries around what visions can and cannot do. Although they play an important role in battle and appear at various points throughout the story, we didn’t want them to feel as though they could appear anywhere and act without restriction. We always wanted to preserve the idea that they are “visions,” not the actual characters themselves.

For example, during battle, when Rain and the other characters who belong to this world are defeated, the visions disappear with them. There was a point in development when we considered allowing the visions to continue fighting independently, but for the reasons I just mentioned, we decided not to pursue that idea.

In event scenes, we also portrayed the visions as “mirrors reflecting what’s in our hearts.” If every vision could freely interfere with the present world and bring about major changes, it would risk undermining the drama of the characters who actually live in that world. So we carefully balanced their role to ensure that the visions could never simply do anything they wanted, and that they would never diminish the importance of the player’s own adventure.

Would there be a “special guest” character, such as Ariana Grande or Katy Perry, or another Square Enix character like Sora from Kingdom Hearts, that you would personally like to see appear in Resonance?

First, just so there’s no misunderstanding, we currently have no plans whatsoever to add any new characters, and there’s also the question of how they would fit into the game’s world. But if I can answer purely based on my personal preference… hmm, I think I’d like to pair Dr. Citan Uzuki from Xenogears with Lasswell! (laughs)

And finally, the most important question: cats or dogs?

I’m a cat person. But I have a pet rabbit myself, so I’d have to say rabbits are my favorite of all.

Rabbits are interesting creatures! Not sure how your feline friend will react if you were able to bring one home.