A former Spanish localizer who worked on Final Fantasy XV has shared new details about the game’s lengthy development process and the remnants of its original Final Fantasy Versus XIII concept. These details were shared in an interview with YouTuber The Night Sky Prince.
According to the translator, Final Fantasy Versus XIII was internally designed as the thematic opposite of Final Fantasy XIII. The two projects were reportedly referred to internally as “White” and “Black,” with Versus XIII intentionally pursuing a darker, more experimental direction focused on themes such as death, loneliness, the supernatural, and nighttime aesthetics.
The localizer claimed that much of the original Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology was removed during the transition from Versus XIII into Final Fantasy XV, though traces of the original concept remained within the final release.
One major example reportedly involved Tenebrae, originally intended to serve as Stella Nox Fleuret’s home city and play a much larger role in the narrative. According to the translator, the area was tied to a storyline involving a mysterious goddess and a supernatural gate connected to the afterlife.
The moon itself was also allegedly far more important in the original concept. The translator stated that lunar imagery throughout Final Fantasy XV may reflect leftover ideas from Versus XIII, including connections to Lunafreya’s name and Yoshitaka Amano’s original logo artwork, which reportedly depicted the goddess Etro seated before a moon-like object.
The interview additionally claimed that Stella remained part of the project deep into Final Fantasy XV’s development before director Hajime Tabata ultimately replaced her with Lunafreya. According to the localizer, members of the localization team were surprised by the change because Lunafreya’s role and narrative background closely resembled Stella’s original characterization.
Rather than representing a complete rewrite, the translator suggested the change felt more like a reworking of the same core narrative ideas under a different character identity.
One of the more unusual claims involved a deleted gameplay concept tied to the game’s ten-year time skip. According to the translator, an earlier version of the story would have forced players to spend several real-time hours trapped alongside Noctis inside the crystal prison with minimal interaction.
The sequence allegedly centered on staring at the moon in isolation to let players directly experience Noctis’ loneliness and psychological suffering. The idea was reportedly abandoned after development and localization staff pushed back, believing players would react negatively to such an extended passive sequence.
The translator also described the project’s development as highly unstable following the critical reception of Final Fantasy XIII. According to the interview, Square Enix internally viewed Versus XIII as a possible corrective direction for the franchise, though the game later experienced repeated delays, restructuring, and near cancellation.
By the time the translator officially joined the project in 2015, the decision to transform Versus XIII into Final Fantasy XV had reportedly already been finalized internally, with the team attempting to salvage elements of the original vision while rebuilding the game into a new numbered Final Fantasy title under Tabata’s direction.
