Square Enix has relished the spotlight these last few weeks. Following on the critically acclaimed launches of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (PS4, X1) and Bravely Default (2DS, 3DS) the company is powering through their blockbuster Spring 2014 lineup. With Lightning Returns available worldwide and Thief just around the corner, attention is turning to the North American and European releases of Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster. Lightning Returns producer Yoshinori Kitase sat down with Digital Spy to discuss his game's recent launch and the impending return of another pair of iconic characters: Tidus and Yuna.

Considering that Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix was announced after, and then released before, the HD remaster of Final Fantasy X, Kitase's take on the game's two year redevelopment cycle is somewhat illuminating:

"But the thing about it was, it had a very specific hardware set and games programmed for that had to be specifically tailored and made in a specific way, and it's actually not very similar to many other consoles at all, so there was a really big gap between doing something for the PS2 and other platforms. For example, the reason that the PS3 can do PS1 emulation but couldn't do PS2 emulation is because it's such a different system. So when we got into the conversion of all the code and the elements of the game, we found it took a lot of time and it was very difficult to get that from the specific PS2-programmed code and turn it into something we can work on for other platforms. So that was a much bigger challenge than we thought."

Although, Tetsuya Nomura made even bolder claims last May when he said that the original Kingdom Hearts assets had been lost and yet he still managed to get Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix out first. Digital Spy's full interview is a great read, though largely focused on Lightning Returns, and offers a little more insight into the current mindset and atmosphere at Square Enix.