Fans eagerly awaiting the release of Final Fantasy XV hopefully won’t be waiting much longer.
The title has long held a vague release window of “2016,” but the official date will finally be announced at an event on Mar. 30 called “Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV.” Along with the release date, this Los Angeles-based event is said to bring "major announcements and surprises" from the game’s developer, Square Enix.
Final Fantasy XV started off under the moniker Final Fantasy Versus XIII before shifting identities and becoming a main entry in the franchise. Originally scheduled as a PlayStation 3 release, the game has had an extensive development cycle which dates all the way back to late 2006. It was even heavily speculated to be cancelled at one point, until finally being re-revealed as a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One title.
In Final Fantasy XV, players take control of Noctis Caelum, heir to his kingdom's throne, who has gained strange powers after a near-death experience. Noctis is driven from his home of Lucis when the empire of Niflheim invades the kingdom on the eve of supposed peace negotiations.
While the plot of Final Fantasy XV is still largely a mystery, Square Enix has been slowly divulging more information on the gameplay. They’ve been doing so in some pretty exciting ways too — namely, by leaking extended gameplay videos and even releasing a playable demo.
First, players got Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae, which was approximately a two-hour demo of the game available to early purchasers of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, released back in March 2015.
Episode Duscae finds Noctis and his party stranded in the sprawling city of Duscae without their car. Players explore the game’s vast open-world setting and must make enough money to pay for the car’s repair. The demo was created around a section in the full game where the party loses its vehicle; however, the over-arching story of these events is masked here.
The purpose of the demo was thus to show off the game’s fresh new gameplay. There are a lot of design choices in XV never seen before in a Final Fantasy. The biggest would arguably be the new action battle system.
While most entries in the series feature the ATB — or Active TimeBattle — system, XV gets rid of the classic turn-based battle approach altogether. The action here feels much closer to something out of a God of War game than previous Final Fantasy titles.
Battles are seamless and without transition screens, there is no selecting an attack – players simply attack directly like any other action game, and the combat in general is of a more fast-paced nature than most role-playing titles. However, traditional RPG elements like switching weapons, equipping tons of different gear and using magic are all still in the mix.
The demo was well-received by fans, with praise directed not only to the game’s exciting gameplay, but also to the atmosphere of its world, bolstered by its epic orchestral soundtrack. Episode Duscae was even updated with improvements that addressed some of the demo’s criticisms, such as a faulty camera, proving Square Enix’s willingness to listen to their fans.
After the demo’s release, news of the game’s development went quiet for a short period, until recent months in which Square has provided a plethora of new footage.
In the Niflheim Base footage above, new gameplay elements such as, the ability to briefly switch between party characters, have been shown for the first time. Previously, Square Enix stated only Noctis to be directly controllable, while other members of the party simply obeyed commands given. However, fans didn’t respond well to this, and as with the demo, Square Enix listened.
While reception to last generation’s Final Fantasy XIII was somewhat mixed, XV is looking to bring the series in a bold new direction, all the while doing away with the linearity criticized in XIII.
Only time will tell if the ambitious and long-delayed project will be worth the nine-year wait, but on Mar. 30, fans will finally have a release date.
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