via ign

Square Enix is spreading the love on Final Fantasy XIII pretty evenly between Japan's biggest game publications. Following up on our earlier reports from Famitsu, we have even more info from the pages ofDengeki PlayStation and Famitsu PS2.

In Dengeki, FFXIII director Motome Toriyama said, "The intensity of the opening scene -- it's probably the most in the Final Fantasy series so far." The game's opening will consist of a real time battle scene whose intensity Toriyama promises will surpass what's been shown in the few trailers release for the game so far.

Toriyama also clarified some points on the relationship between the Cocoon world and the world below it. FFXIII's story begins as something from the lower world invades the Cocoon, causing a panic. The people of Cocoon are generally afraid of the outside world, and anyone who is believed to have received outside influence is forced out of Cocoon. Toriyama likened this "influence" to a virus.

The biggest concern amongst Cocoon residents is that of their home falling from the sky. People who do things that could make Cocoon fall from the sky, and people who are ablieved to have the ability to do such things, are deported from Cocoon.

Closing up his comments with Dengeki, Toriyama promised some surprises for the celebration of Final Fantasy's 20th anniversary this year, as well as a chance to get our hands on Final Fantasy XIII as soon as possible. The first 20th anniversary surprise came recently with the announcement of the Final Fantasy 1 and 2 remakes for the PSP. Let's hope the second part of Toriyama's promise isn't too far off.

Tetsuya Nomura had a few comments of his own with Dengeki, regarding both FFXIII and FF Versus XIII. Nomura, character designer for FFXIII, shared some details on the mysterious blonde-haired guy who appears at the end of the latest FFXIII trailer. He's a big guy, Nomura revealed, adding that the design specs for the character called for someone big enough to run while carrying two people around. Recently, it was decided that his foot size would be 33 centimeters.

He wouldn't reveal the relationship between this character and Lightning, the game's main character, except to say that it will be something different that what we've seen so far. Other friendly characters will appear in the game, of course, although Nomura admitted to currently being in the middle of the design process.

Nomura has more involvement in the Versus project, on which he's serving as director. While nothing but CG has been shown for the game so far, he said that due to the power of the PS3, the game should be able to feature battles set in areas with great differences in height, just like in the trailer. Players will have to fight using the full environment, both directly in front of them and above and below.

The trailer showed the still nameless main character warping about while taking out enemies. Nomura explained that players wont be able to warp freely to every spot on the battle field. However, you will be able to warp to the location where you've placed your sword. You can also throw your sword into the distance, then warp to it. This is one area of the game where Nomura and crew are currently conducting tests.

Also hinted at the trailer is that the main character will be fighting by himself. That won't be the case in the final version. You'll fight along side party members who have their own abilities and weapons. We can expect something similar to Kingdom Hearts, said Nomura.

Nomura added one more important bit when discussing FF Versus XIII with Famitsu PS2. Asked what type of PS3-only features the game will have, he mentioned Six Axis support. He didn't go into specifics.

Like FFXIII, we're sure you're wondering when you'll be able to get your hands on FF Versus XIII. Nomura has mentioned previously that development on the Versus XIII project is trailing that of its sister project. While Toriyama was able to suggest a playable version of FFXIII in the not so distant future, Nomura stated that he's already come up with ideas for the next Versus XIII trailer, which he promises will be extremely cool. ...