I think Nomura had something like that planned, because they were both supposed to "clash" in some form, if memory serves. Same universe, different worlds, but still ruled by the same Gods. I think back in the day, Noctis was essentially a l'cie along with Stella, and Etro was the fal'cie that was running the show. Noct and Stella also were able to see the lights of expiring souls because of a near-death experience as kids among other things.
It's pretty interesting because you can kinda tell that Dawn of The Future kinda
tried to be Versus XIII in some ways, but couldn't really deliver. But honestly, I think it's a good thing that we wrapped it up. FFXV's been run through the mud long enough, and with the way KH is looking... I doubt we'll see the last of Versus XIII, regardless of whatever iteration it decides to form as.
Also, Episode Aranea would've been the DLC that fans would've gone nuts over, from what I'm seeing. Dunno if they'd be happy to pay for it, but the experience sounds like it would deliver. I certainly would buy it.
Makes me wonder if that's what the Starscourge actually is. It wouldn't be the first time games and worlds are connected. There originally was supposed to be a villain named "Safay Roth", after all. They never say what the Starscourge actually is, just that it came from space and it's a plague. Hm...
Also. Was there a Goddess in XV? I know Etro was supposed to be originally in there, but once they changed everything up, her presence isn't there anymore. I think it was natural to assume the Goddess was Eos, but I don't remember if that's actually what happens.
Right, but then there's the whole issue with the crystal being polluted all the way back in the Episode Ardyn prologue. One could ask, "If the ring is the power of the crystal AND the Astrals, why didn't THEY take care of it in the first place if the power comes from them?"
Plus if Bahamut was just gonna nuke Eos, then a solution existed. It didn't seem like the Astrals had much of a need for Eos if that was ever an option on the table. And it seems like he only came to that conclusion once Ardyn said "fuck you, I'm becoming stronger than you, and then I'm going to kill you." If this was seriously what happened, why wait for 114 ascensions if all of this was prophecy, he had to have known Ardyn would react that way. Most people would. Unless he wanted to give humanity a chance... Hm. Now I have more questions. The English version needs to come out soon!
Yeah, but I still would resist. And I suppose that's more traditional with FF. I understand
why Noct had to do it, and I honestly think the end result was for the betterment of the world as a whole. But it just seems like they relied on humans to go clean up the messes, when they're beings of near-infinite power and are MUCH more capable of handling the issue. I don't think this is an issue at all, but I think it really drives the point home that these Astrals had their own agendas and aren't necessarily looking out for humanity altruistically.
I do think that there's a lot that's repurposed into those titles, but keep in mind too that at the time of Versus being developed, the XIII trilogy was still alive and kicking. It's not a stretch to think that since Versus ended up being canceled and changed into XV, they took a lot of the elements that would've been FNC-related and put it into the XIII trilogy. I mean, Caius and Ardyn are pretty similar, for one thing. Then there's also the time travel stuff as well. Of course, I can't say that it's fact, I'm really just making a guess. But there definitely are similarities.
But in the end, it's like what Nomura said -- nobody really knows where he was truly going to take the series, and what Versus was back then and what Versus would be like now would most likely two
completely different games. If it was going through a ton of rewrites back when he was actually working on the game still, I don't doubt that he'd be rewriting it all this time until the perfect time. Who knows what Verum Rex or KH4 or whatever the next title is going to be like, but I agree with you that a lot of the concepts that he truly wanted to use and probably what would've been the driving force of Versus XIII may very well end up being the basis for whatever he's got coming next.