Kitase even said it....He's trying to make the game more like an 'interactive movie'.
"Now, the Dragon Quest series has stuck to the classical RPG format, and it's still greatly loved by fans," he notes. "The audience craves more of it! But that's because [Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii] is making a fun game that just happens to fit within that template. As creators, we have to think about how to combine many different elements and concepts into something that gamers will enjoy. After that, others can judge what genre it belongs to. With FFXIII, we've first and foremost pursued a gameplay style in which different situations and dramatic occurrences will be presented to players one after the other."
His comparing it to Dragon Quest just cements what most people have been led to believe. The Final Fantasy team has mostly been trying to distance themselves from 'traditional' RPGs in Japan by being the exact opposite. An 'interactive movie' you play. Exactly how the creator of Final Fantasy, Sakaguchi, described the series over 20 years ago.
To me, I don't really feel like they're adding anything 'new' to Final Fantasy gameplaywise to "think ahead to what RPGs will be like ten years from now, especially with the arrival of high-definition machines." If their idea of 'thinking ahead' is just make characters do even MORE flashy animations and MORE cutscenes...then what hope is their for the series?
Frankly, I have to say it, Dragon Quest IS doing more 'innovation' for the RPG genre than Final Fantasy is. And in many ways, it always has been one step ahead over the years. Perhaps that's why they're referencing it specifically.
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