Square Enix revealed a gameplay trailer at PAX West 2016
Final Fantasy XV’s game director Hajime Tabata revealed today some details from the fifteenth main installment in the Final Fantasy series. Developed by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the game will have a worldwide release on November 29.
The upcoming action role-playing video game now features combined open world RPG action with linear gameplay for the first time in the Final Fantasy franchise. XV is approximately 50 hours long and at the end of the game, it will have linear story missions.
Tabata stated he wanted the last part of FFXV to distinguish itself from the open world type of environment featured in the rest of the title. Square Enix showed footage of the new mixed gameplay at the PAX West 2016.
It also offers six add-ons for further gameplay enhancement, plus several weapons for combat such as the sniper mode in rifles as well as machinery to inflict deadly moves like Attack Wave and Circular Saw.
The team has worked on FF XV’s open world for 10 years
Final Fantasy XV began development in 2006. It was originally a PlayStation 3 exclusive under the title Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Tetsuya Nomura was the original director and designer. He created the characters and story concept.
However, Versus XIII got rebranded in 2012. The game was now the next mainline title and shifted to eighth generation platforms PS4 and Xbox One. Additionally, Hajime Tabata replaced Nomura as game director in 2014.
The development team, headed by Tabata, designed a multimedia project to expand upon the setting of XV without making a series of games. Called the Final Fantasy XV Universe, the project included online anime series Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, feature film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, and Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV.
Tabata talked about the game’s new features
Unlike previous games from the main series, Final Fantasy XV provides a darker atmosphere. It mainly focuses on more realistic environments and human characters. FFXV shares a thematic connection with subseries of games Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy.
The game also features an open-world environment and action-based battle system similar to the Kingdom Hearts series and Final Fantasy Type-0. Like in those titles, players can switch weapons and other elements such as vehicle travel and camping.
XV takes place on an Earth-like world called Eos. All of its countries, except for the Kingdom of Lucis, are under the dominion of the Niflheim Empire. When Lucis and its magical crystal gets seized by Niflheim, Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the Lucian throne, goes on a quest to retake his homeland and its gem.
FFXV release date
Square Enix revealed FFXV would arrive this year at the PAX West 2015. In March 2016, at the “Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV” event in Los Angeles, the publisher announced it would come out on September 30.
However, the release date got delayed by two months to November 29. Square Enix wanted to polish the game and avoid a day one patch. There are also Day One, Deluxe, and Ultimate Collector’s Editions for the FFXV. The latter is limited to 30,000 copies.
Source: University Herald