The final story of Forspoken is "completely different" from the original version created by Gary Whitta.
Square Enix's latest game has many writers involved in writing it, but the story was rebooted during development.
In an interview with Alanah Pearce's Video Game Writing 101 podcast, Whitta detailed his involvement with the game.
"I've never written a single line of real dialogue.
"5 or 6 years ago, Square came to me and said to me, 'We have an idea, but this is just the germ of an idea, would you like to help us build this world, myths and stories?'"
"I left and gave them some ideas, and they liked my idea and they said, 'Can you run a writer's studio and actually build it?'"
There were many screenwriters in that writer's studio, as well as developers, who conceptualized how magic works, the history of the world, and so on. Whitta claims that the name of this world, Athia, was his idea and kept in the final product.
"A few months later, they came to me and another writer and said 'we're going to start over, reboot the story completely, and we want it to be like this,'" he continued.
It's a brand new story about a young woman from the real world who is sucked into a fantasy kingdom that is found in today's game.
"The version we made was completely different," Whita said.
Whita can't take over the rebooted story, which is picked up by other writers. Instead, he is called "Original Concept" in the game, while his colleague Amy Hennig is called "Story Concept", although he is also well aware that adding their names will enhance the prestige of the game.
Forspoken's story and dialogue often feel disconnected from gameplay and the game world.
"The story takes time to unfold, and while the writing isn't always in place, there's plenty to enjoy, even if the countless ups and downs make Forbidden hard to universally recommend. Still, there are elements worth seeing here due to its strong character development, detailed world building, and stylish combat. ”
To learn more about Forspoken, check out an interview with the game's co-author Garry Schyman.