Yuki Uesugi had recently become deeply obsessed with fishing.
He had successfully joined a fishing enthusiasts' club. After getting off work each day, instead of heading straight home to enjoy a warm bed, his wife, and his children, he would rush out to fish with a group of like-minded friends.
Fishing calmed his mind and brought him a sense of peace, free of distractions.
And in that tranquil state, he could freely imagine the finer details of game development for Final Fantasy XIII Versus.
The game's development budget was set at 300 million dollars.
For most companies, at least 100 million of that would be reserved for marketing and promotion. But Gamestar Electronic Entertainment no longer needed to spend that much on advertising.
Now, it was the players themselves who actively searched for news about Gamestar Electronic Entertainment. Promotion was more about expanding the player base than generating awareness.
Yuki Uesugi estimated that only about 50 million dollars would be spent on marketing, with the remaining 250 million poured entirely into development.
Two hundred and fifty million dollars—every cent had to be spent where it mattered most.
The top priority was naturally the game's core gameplay.
This time, Takayuki had specifically requested that the game avoid becoming a mass-produced, industrialized open-world title.
This was a game that placed enormous importance on its main storyline.
Unlike games such as Cyberpunk, Final Fantasy XIII Versus would have its story handled by a professional screenwriting team, with AI playing only a minimal supporting role in narrative structuring.
The goal was a classic, orthodox epic—a kind of storytelling that AI simply could not achieve at this stage.
Even now, AI technology was still incapable of constructing an ultra-long narrative. At best, it could manage around two hours' worth of extended side-story content.
Foreshadowing, long-form narrative architecture, and weaving subtle threads throughout a story were still major weaknesses of AI.
Only humans could create truly long, layered narratives—only humans could fully pack a story with meaning and depth through countless hidden details and narrative echoes.
Yuki Uesugi wasn't worried about the story at all.
The president had personally crafted the story outline, and veteran writers would refine it further. The narrative was rock-solid.
What he needed to think about now was how to add more gameplay variety and fun.
Mini-games, for example.
One of them was fishing.
He had designed the fishing mini-game to be nearly on par with professional fishing tutorials.
Of course, he knew many players might not be interested, so he created a simplified version as well. Casual players could dabble lightly, while hardcore fishing enthusiasts like himself could enjoy a deep, realistic fishing system within Final Fantasy XIII Versus.
He even briefly considered making a fully professional fishing game.
But as a veteran game developer, he knew such a game wouldn't make much money, and its audience would be very limited.
After all, people who liked real fishing didn't necessarily enjoy virtual fishing.
So… how should he discuss this with the president?
Tap. Tap.
At that moment, Yuki Uesugi's fishing rod twitched slightly. His keen instincts kicked in, and he gently tested the line to see if a fish had bitten.
Unfortunately, he wasn't lucky this time.
The fish had cleverly eaten the bait and escaped without getting hooked.
When he lifted the hook and saw it empty, he remained completely calm.
He was already used to not catching anything.
It didn't matter at all.
Fishing, for him, was about enjoyment—not results.
And besides, he planned to fish here for at least several more hours.
He reattached the bait, cast the line again, sat back down, and returned to his contemplation.
Right—since Final Fantasy XIII Versus was the final chapter of the New Crystal Mythos, perhaps it could include even more interesting mechanics.
What about… adding VR support?
That actually seemed feasible. VR technology had matured quite a bit, and if used properly, it could open up an entirely new direction for the Final Fantasy series.
There had been plenty of online discussions about how VR could reshape the world, and he felt those ideas were fairly convincing.
At the very least, in terms of gameplay experience, VR clearly surpassed traditional game formats.
The only drawback was visual fidelity—it still wasn't quite there yet.
That was a hardware limitation, something only display manufacturers could solve. Gamestar Electronic Entertainment could only wait patiently for the technology to catch up.
Then he thought of another popular technology: motion controls.
Adding motion-control gameplay to Final Fantasy XIII Versus might also be a good idea.
After all, current consoles still had built-in motion features. While motion-based games had declined in frequency over recent years, the functionality had always been retained—and improved with each generation.
Even now, playing Ring Fit Adventure on the latest console offered a noticeably better experience.
Maybe motion controls could be incorporated as well.
There he was, alone by the pond, brainstorming endlessly.
But in the end, he rejected all those ideas.
Adding too many systems would overcomplicate the game and significantly increase development costs. Not all players owned VR headsets or motion-control accessories.
Requiring additional peripherals for a single game would only hurt the experience.
These were lessons the president had personally taught him.
A game needed a clear development direction from the very beginning.
If it was meant to be a console game, then focus entirely on that.
If it was meant to be a VR game, then commit fully to VR.
A single game should never try to be everything at once.
Still, those ideas were good.
He decided that after Final Fantasy XIII Versus was completed, he would propose making a VR Final Fantasy and a motion-control Final Fantasy to the president.
As long as he could present a strong creative concept, the president would most likely approve.
Yes—decided!
Tap. Tap.
The line trembled again.
This time, Yuki Uesugi reacted instantly, yanking the rod upward with force. He felt a powerful pull surge through it.
"Got one!"
Tonight's dish to go with drinks was secured.
He was happy—not just because he caught a fish, but because he had clarified the future direction of his department's game development.
All that remained was to discuss it with Takayuki the next day.
After that, he could start assigning people and moving the project forward.
This time, he would give the world the greatest Final Fantasy it had ever seen—
A truly worthy ending for the New Crystal Mythos.