A young prince prepares to drive with his companions toward a prearranged wedding site, where he is to marry a princess from another nation.
The two of them grew up together as childhood sweethearts, completely trusting one another. Being able to unite this time was something they had both long looked forward to.
However, not long after leaving the capital of the kingdom, disastrous news arrives.
The prince's country is currently locked in a standoff with another extremely powerful nation.
That rival nation is highly aggressive. During what was supposed to be a peace negotiation, it suddenly colluded with internal rebels, plunging the entire country into an abyss.
In the chaos, the king is killed.
The young prince cannot accept this reality, yet he has no choice but to face it.
Overnight, the prince and his companions are transformed from royalty into fugitives, wanted by the state.
The only thing they can do now is flee with all their strength—and find the princess.
As expected, the ending of Final Fantasy XIII still concludes in tragedy.
If the main cast isn't wiped out completely, it simply wouldn't feel complete.
After reading this story outline, Uesugi Yuki feels a sharp ache in his chest.
He can't help but feel sorry for the prince and princess in the story.
But he quickly regains his composure.
After all, he is a seasoned game producer—this level of emotional turbulence is no longer enough to affect his work.
Moreover, he has worked on multiple titles over the years and has followed the Final Fantasy series from beginning to end.
In the early days, he was the team leader for Final Fantasy development.
Later, he became the head of an entire development department. Every Final Fantasy title passed through his hands.
Having seen too many tragedies, he has grown somewhat numb.
So he isn't surprised that this story ends in tragedy.
In fact, after seeing that Takayuki had written a tragic ending into the proposal, he finds it perfectly reasonable.
However, when he turns to the next page of the proposal, he freezes.
The following page details the plans for post-launch DLC expansions.
There will be four DLC expansions in total, along with a prequel-style 3D animated film that tells the story of how the king died.
And judging from the scale described, each of these four DLCs is large enough to stand on its own as a full game.
This is an extremely high-spec development model.
Uesugi Yuki looks at Takayuki in shock.
"President… are you sure you want to develop it like this?"
"You mean releasing large-scale expansions that push the game far beyond a standard title?"
"Yes."
Takayuki replies calmly, "Is there a problem with that?"
"There's no technical problem," Uesugi Yuki says hesitantly. "It's just that if we sell them as DLC, our usual DLC pricing is around 20 to 30 dollars. But the content of any one of these DLCs could easily match a full 60-dollar AAA game."
"Just do it," Takayuki says. "You don't need to worry about that."
Uesugi Yuki blinks, then suddenly realizes something.
"President… could it be that the Unreal Engine is about to receive another major update?"
Takayuki nods with a smile. "That's right. AI-assisted game development and overall visual design have both achieved another breakthrough. So the large-scale game size you're imagining is no longer a problem with Unreal Engine. As long as the world modeling and core gameplay don't change drastically, development costs can be reduced significantly."
Uesugi Yuki immediately understands.
So that's the reason.
In that case, developing the later Final Fantasy XIII DLCs at a relatively low cost while still achieving massive content volume is completely feasible.
If an ordinary company learned about this, they likely wouldn't lower prices at all. Instead, they'd probably churn out even more homogenized games to maximize profit.
But Takayuki is different.
He insists on doing things his own way.
"The new Unreal Engine technology is still in testing," Takayuki continues, "but it should go live soon. At first, only we'll be able to use it, since the product isn't fully mature yet."
Uesugi Yuki smiles.
He knows that when Takayuki says "not fully mature," it's mostly just a formality.
If the president says it can be used, then the technology is already stable enough for real development.
That means they can experiment freely without worrying about major issues.
And having early exclusive access to the technology further strengthens their competitive advantage.
While other companies are still burning money to develop games, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment can already lower costs and improve quality at the same time.
The gap couldn't be clearer.
"President, I'll definitely make this game the best it can be!"
"I believe you," Takayuki nods. "But aren't you going to look at the later DLC stories?"
"The DLC stories?"
Uesugi Yuki realizes that he'd been so focused on the scale of the expansions that he hadn't actually read the story content.
He picks up the proposal again and starts reading carefully.
Soon, his expression becomes increasingly animated.
"President… this story… it's no longer a tragedy?"
Uesugi Yuki can hardly believe it.
In the base game, Final Fantasy XIII ends tragically.
The prince, the princess, and many others all die in the cruel tides of war and conflict.
Final Fantasy has always loved tragic endings.
But in the DLCs, the story begins to change.
The ending is no longer tragic.
Instead, it becomes a happy ending.
A good ending.
An ending without regrets.
"There have been too many tragedies in the Final Fantasy series," Takayuki says calmly. "Sometimes, it's good to balance things out. Don't you think?"
"I…"
Uesugi Yuki hesitates briefly.
Then his expression lights up with excitement.
"I think it's fantastic!"
Indeed—it is fantastic.
The Final Fantasy series has always leaned heavily toward tragic endings.
Of course, tragedy has its merits.
Stories with regrets often feel more artistic.
But after seeing too many tragedies, people inevitably grow tired of them.
And once audiences grow tired, even tragedy loses its artistic power.
Their patience slowly erodes.
At this moment, Uesugi Yuki suddenly realizes something.
Throughout the entire Final Fantasy series, there has never truly been a perfect ending.
Every story ends with some form of loss or regret.
If Final Fantasy XIII were to finally receive a complete, happy ending through DLC…
Wouldn't that ignite the player base all over again?
The president must be thinking the same thing.
When someone who has always told sorrowful stories suddenly delivers a joyful conclusion, it feels surreal—and incredibly satisfying.
That contrast alone could push Final Fantasy XIII to an entirely new peak.