Final Fantasy XV E3 2013 trailer



The trailer shown at E3 2013 publicized that Final Fantasy Versus XIII had been rebranded to be the next main series entry to the Final Fantasy series: Final Fantasy XV. The trailer was created specifically for the event and doesn't depict scenes from the final game, although certain scenes, such as the Leviathan scene, are still in the game with a different form.

Development
In 2012 it was decided development of Final Fantasy Versus XIII would shift to next-generation consoles, and the name was officially changed into Final Fantasy XV within the company, although the public revelation of the re-branding would wait until E3 2013. In July 2012 the Square Enix CEO at the time, Yoichi Wada, ordered the Final Fantasy Type-0 team to join the Final Fantasy XV development to create a prototype for the next-gen consoles.

This prototype became the E3 2013 trailer. It runs on a prototype engine dubbed Ebony. (This is in juxtaposition to Final Fantasy XIII, whose "versus" game Versus XIII was intended to be. The prototype engine for Final Fantasy XIII was "White Engine". Ebony is still alluded to in the final Final Fantasy XV as well as the coffee brand Ignis Scientia enjoys.) The Type-0 team led by Director Hajime Tabata started working on the prototype in July 2012, and at the time the details weren't announced for new-gen systems. Thus the team made assumptions and worked on the Windows PC DirectX 11 engine to build the prototype.

A lot of the E3 trailer is prerendered. Takeshi Nozue was brought into the Final Fantasy XV team from Visual Works, Square Enix's subsidiary that does the prerendered cut scenes and CGI promo art for the games and made Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The team worked on how to put the prerendering technology Nozue had brought from his team into the real-time rendering in the game. As an extension of that, the team concluded to develop the game engine and the first result brought by this was the footage was released at E3 in 2013.

When the E3 2013 trailer was released Tetsuya Nomura was still the game's director, even if the trailer had been made by Hajime Tabata's team. Hajime Tabata first became co-director to finish the project, which would eventually have him transition as the new director.

The trailer
During Sony's press conference at E3 on June 10, 2013, a prerecorded video of Tetsuya Nomura was played where he acknowledged that not much information on the project had been released as of late, and that while he couldn't immediately share new details, new information would be revealed in the coming days. Following the message, the trailer played concluding with the announcement Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been renamed Final Fantasy XV, with development moved to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The trailer was only released in Japanese.

A girl's voice affirms that Noctis can also see the light of expiring souls, and Noctis's voice says that sometimes he just knows things without understanding how. A young girl and boy run across a field, Stella and Noctis, with the overlay text calling this a meeting predestined by the divine, but Stella can't stay with Noctis anymore. Noctis claims his "heart can't let go" but a girl's voice implores him to live his own life and not worry about her.

A voice declares the world is ever-changing as it should be, as scenes related to the Niflheim Empire play, showing the hooded man, a man fully glad in armor and airships over Altissia. King Regis and young Noctis eat dinner at the palace, but the dinner is thin soup and Noctis is unhappy. His father implores him to pretend he likes the food lest the cook be sent away. The leaders of Niflheim plot for the Lucis Caelum bloodline's demise on the steps of the Citadel. Noctis's friends warn him that the Crystal is going to be stolen, as Niflheim has already waged war over crystals in Solheim, Tenebrae and Accordo.

Noctis fights Niflheim forces and the Leviathan in Altissia.

Differences from the final game
The trailer opens with the words "Fabula Nova Crystallis", but the final game is not considered part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy subseries, although it was considered such into 2015. It was deliberately distanced from the series and its connection was reduced to a thematic base upon which original lore was built. Though the trailer mentions Noctis's ability to "see the light", this is not mentioned in the final game, the light referring to the light of departing souls. Souls are still an important element in Final Fantasy XV, however.

Stella Nox Fleuret still appears in the E3 2013 trailer, but in the final game she was replaced by Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. The hooded man from the trailer appears as Ravus Nox Fleuret in the final game, who dresses in white but doesn't wear a hood. The characters appearing in the trailer were redesigned, with Prompto Argentum and Regis Lucis Caelum having the biggest change, especially the latter. Regis never appeared again as he did in E3 2013, and was redesigned to resemble Jon Campling, a British actor whose likeness was used for the character in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. To maintain an immersive experience, this design was carried over into Final Fantasy XV.

In the trailer Niflheim is said to have waged war over crystals in Solheim, Tenebrae and Accordo. These locations are still part of Final Fantasy XV, but only Lucis has a Crystal, and Solheim is now an ancient civilization.

Allusions to the trailer in Final Fantasy XV
Some similarities to the trailer still remain in Final Fantasy XV. The young girl in a white dress in the E3 2013 trailer appears to be Stella, but Luna wears the same dress and has a similar hairstyle as a young girl in Final Fantasy XV. Ardyn Izunia was first unveiled in the E3 2013 trailer where he is on the steps of the rainy Citadel with Iedolas Aldercapt, holding an umbrella. This scene is not in the final game, but Ardyn is with Iedolas on an airship and gazes down on Insomnia in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. Final Fantasy XV has a scene where Ardyn and Ravus are in front of the Altissian cathedral in rain and Ardyn holds an umbrella, which appears based on his reveal scene from the original trailer.