The producer of Final Fantasy X has revealed why the game scrapped the overworld map mechanic, despite it appearing in every mainline Final Fantasy game released up to that point. The overworld map in a Final Fantasy game was an easy way of creating an epic scope for adventures, at a time when the hardware couldn’t actually depict massive landscapes. Instead, the maps just changed the scale of the locations, while keeping the size of the regular character sprites.

The overworld map has fallen out of favor in recent Final Fantasy games, which have usually gone for lots of interconnected areas. It could be argued that the massive overworld of FF15 was an attempt at creating a realistic world map, even though it was quite barren in comparison to other Final Fantasy overworlds. One comparatively modern entry in the series that kept the overworld map was Final Fantasy Type-0, which was partly due to it debuting on the PSP, and needing to save on resources.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

FFX and FFX-2 are available on PS Now. The PlayStation Blog interviewed producer Yoshinori Kitase about the development of both of the games, as they represented a huge technical jump for the series. FFX was the first Final Fantasy game on the PS2, which meant that it had visuals that still hold up to this day. The memory available on DVD discs also meant that it could be the first fully-voiced entry in the series. The PS2 had limits of its own and one important part of the series had to be scrapped during development.

See also  Far Cry 6: Why Pagan Min's Face Is All Over Yara

A Spira World Map In Final Fantasy X Would Be Too Expensive

According to Kitase, the reason FFX lacked a world map was that it was the first fully 3D entry in the series, and it would have been too expensive to do. The development of FFX had to cut certain features due to cost, and the world map was chosen to be discarded. FFX managed to overcome this limitation by being an extremely linear game for most of its run, with the pilgrimage to Zanarkand giving a reason for players to stick to one route. The player gains access to the usual Final Fantasy airship near the end of the game, but this exists as a means of fast travel. The closest thing FFX has to a world map is the Calm Lands, for those who want to run around and explore.

It’s possible that the developers of FFX could have created a basic world map with chibi characters, as had been done with the PlayStation entries in the series. FFX represented a massive graphical shift for the series, so it’s likely that they wanted to keep the visuals consistent throughout, and just abandon the world map concept. The world map was once used to create a sense of scale, but the game didn’t need to do that anymore, as Final Fantasy X’s Spira was the most impressive-looking world up to that point in time.

Source: PlayStation Blog

LEGO Star Wars’ New Return of the Jedi Level Uses A Boba Fett Show Set

About The Author


Scott Baird
(2520 Articles Published)

See also  Charlie Sheen Thought Guinea Pig 2 Was A Snuff Film

Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

More From Scott Baird