Uematsu: We don't have any at this time and it's not very likely.

Q: Are any members of the teams that worked on the Final Fantasy series working on the movie?

Uematsu: Some of the staff that were on the FFIX team moved there, so there might be some input there. But, we haven't had any input on the movie.

Q: What are your opinions of the Active Time Event system in FFIX and was it harder to create event scenarios with that as part of the game?

Kurosawa: When we were creating FFIX, there were two things that we kept in mind. Number one, to make sure that we made a story that was easy to understand. And two, to create some specific personalities for the characters and sub characters and these were the two points we kept in mind when creating the Active Time Event system. With this, it is possible to understand what the sub characters have gone through, making the story and personalities of the characters more easily to relate to.

Q: Is there a reason why there isn't voice acting in the Final Fantasy games? And will there be any in future games?

Aoki: I'm sure that it would be possible to have voice acting in the future, but for the present in FFIX, with the capacity it's impossible. When we think about the capacity needed for the data, it would be the same as the visuals. With DVD, it may be possible.

Once we do have voice, the way that we would develop the game would change because instead of music, we would have sound effects and the voices.

Uematsu: It would be easier for me, and the music staff. Because with voice, we wouldn't have to use the music to create the drama, now the voice and sound effects would create the real-life atmosphere. So it would be a lot easier for the music staff. So, hopefully that will happen soon.

Q: How was the advanced audio power of the PS2 affected the creation of music in FFX and has it changed the way that you compose the music?

Not only in terms of gameplay and graphics could a PS2 Final Fantasy be improved, but also in music...?

Q: Will the music still be synthesized or will it be streamed because of the DVDs?

Uematsu: Of course with streaming, it would be possible to use live recorded music, but I'm not really particular about having more live music than the synthesize music. What's more important is to make sure that the flow of the game is not interrupted by the live music. Of course, the quality of the sound would increase with live music, but the time lags to when the music starts would be an unnecessary time lag that the users would have to experience. So, hopefully we won't have to interrupt the flow of the game, as that is what's most important.

Q: From a music and graphics standpoint, what system is the team most excited about making Final Fantasy games for?

Aoki: We would like to know what's inside the Xbox soon.

Uematsu: Whatever hardware or equipment that is selected is what we'll work on. We're pretty flexible, believe it or not.

Minaba: Once we specify the box, then we'll have to decide on how we'll create the games for it. So, we have to stay flexible.

Uematsu: Game Boy is something that I would like to make something for. In the past we had Final Fantasy Legends, which was created to complete the game in six to eight hours. It was created like because an average flight from Narita to Hawaii was about six to eight hours. It was very fun to do.

Even though the music was very limited, only three notes, the game was only in black and white and the game was limited, the game was fun. And even though we have the advanced hardware and equipment now and the CG and the sound quality is very good, the people are forgetting about fun, which is what people really need. Of course, it would be better to have high quality music and graphics, but we need to make sure that the users enjoy the game and I think that some of the producers are ignoring that.

Q: The battle system in FFIX reverted back to a more classic style, will we see the same with future FF games?

Kurosawa: We don't know, so we can't make any comments.

Q: Dragon Quest VII is finally out and is selling well, what is your take on this old-fashioned RPG?

Uematsu: Did it come out? [group laughter]

Actually, I was talking about this with Mr. Minaba a moment ago and even though I haven't really played it fully yet, the map and battle jump is very quick and doesn't create any stress for the users and maybe Square could really learn from that.

Minaba: What's amazing about it is that the output would probably be the same with just about any hardware.

Q: It's been rumored that the ending to FFIX was changed at the very last moment, is this true?

Aoki: I think that the concept has remained the same, but we did change the ending seven times.

Q: Some of the tracks in FFIX are remixed tracks of earlier FF themes. Were the remixed tracks your choice or were you told to remix old tracks to give us more nostalgia?

Uematsu: I wanted to remix some of the older songs. Some of the character and location names were the same, so I thought that it would cool to use something from the past series.

Q: Some of Square's other RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross have gotten rid of the random encounters and replaced them with monsters that you can see on screen and avoid, why hasn't this been done in the Final Fantasy series and will it be something that's considered for future FF games like Final Fantasy X.

Kurosawa: There were originally designs just like that, but that of course limits the things. The debate is between how much memory you use in the map and polygon graphics for monsters, and we decided that random encounters were more suitable for this game overall. In terms of the future games, X and XI, I don't really know.