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In a recent interview, Final Fantasy XV directory Hajime Tabata stated that he would “like to be able to do a worldwide release” for the title. “We don’t want to impose any big delays to players from around the world, so I’m hoping that everyone will be able to play the same Final Fantasy XV together within as close of a time frame as possible.”

At present, no release date for Final Fantasy XV has been announced.

Source: Gematsu

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As the road trip to save the world nears launch date, Famitsu revealed some more information about the upcoming Final Fantasy XV. Continue reading ‘More Final Fantasy XV Details’ »

In a recent interview, director Hajime Tabata commented on the Final Fantasy XV demo to be included with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. The demo will be a download copy, and might only be available for a limited time. The idea isn’t confirmed just yet, but Tabata did state that the the team is considering a cutoff period shortly after its release.

Tabata added that they will be paying attention to demo feedback, and may set up place – presumably a forum or comment system – to process responses.

Source: Gematsu

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During an extended discussion over Final Fantasy Type-0, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata took the opportunity answer fan questions and concerns about the upcoming title. Tabata stated that the E3 2013 trailer was a prototype built in Ebony, with the 2014 Tokyo Game Show revealing the game in its actual environment designed in Luminous.

Addressing questions about difficulty, he added that it wasn’t possible to infinitely evade just by holding down the guard button, as guarding consumes MP and some attacks are unavoidable. Players will be able to jump and free run, with weapons selected before entering battle; players cannot control other characters in combat.

Tabata also said that development progress is at 55%, and that other team members will release more information next month.

Source: Gematsu

Speaking with Eurogamer, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata got the chance to talk more about the title’s development. Specifically, he apologized for the game’s lengthy development, adding that the game is roughly 55% complete. Character and world design retain Nomura’s input, but the open world gameplay borrows more from western titles; Tabata states the change comes from personal taste rather than direct influence.

More to the point, Tabata seeks to make XV more accessible to a wider audience. “Of course the depth of the game is going to be there,” he says, “but I want to make it so players can easily experience the satisfaction of the depth of the game.” This aim resulted in features like the car’s auto-drive, as well as some streamlining to the more action-oriented combat system.

The topic of Type-0 came up in relation to the XV demo, and Tabata openly stated that popular demand led to the game’s planned worldwide release in March. “With Type 0,” he said, “it was literally the demand from the fans that tipped the scales. The players are very important to us in the development. If I could, I’d love to go and thank each and every person who voiced their opinion, and wanted it to come to the western markets.”

Check out the full interview here.

With the Tokyo Game Show coming to a close, Final Fantasy XV got its headline moment with a live gameplay demo. The demo showed several of the game’s core mechanics, including the more action-oriented combat system. Players must actively string attacks together and manually guard against counterattacks, though Noctis’ friends will automatically form team attacks so long as he’s nearby. Outside of battle, players will traverse fields on foot and in vehicles; cars can be set to drive automatically to your destination.

Other noteworthy features included a dynamic weather system – rain affecting the appearance of characters and the world, which then dries when the sun comes out – and a day-night cycle with appropriate lighting adjustments. Party members will also converse with each other while in transit.

Apart from the demo, Square Enix also announced that Tetsuya Nomura was stepping down as director for the title, in order to focus on developing Kingdom Hearts III. Type-0 director Hajime Tabata will be directing Final Fantasy XV going forward.

Source: Gematsu

Speaking with Famitsu, Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto said that Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III will not be at this year’s E3. Hashimoto spoke positively of Final Fantasy XV‘s development, and that “we are working diligently on Kingdom Hearts III,” but stated that new information for either game would not be present at the show.

Source: Gematsu

In a recent interview, Final Fantasy series producer Yoshinori Kitase stated that Final Fantasy XV is “quite far into development.” He added that the title is a “very high priority” for Square Enix, though he also clarified that the title is not competing with Kingdom Hearts III for development resources.

According to Kitase, the PS4 and Xbox One’s capabilities allow for more things to happen on screen at any given moment, and that “certainly one thing that’s going to come up is having battles with a lot more participants involved.” Kitase also suggested they may use elements of previous Final Fantasy battle systems – XII‘s Gambit system was brought up as a possibility – though he did not concretely state that this was the case.

Source: Gematsu

Actor Jay Preston will reportedly be on the cast for Final Fantasy XV, having worked previously on the iOS title The Ories and the PC game Snark Busters: High Society. His role in the game’s cast was not stated.

Source: Gematsu

In a recent interview, Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto stated that Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III are not in simultaneous development. “Both have Tetsuya Nomura as their director,” said Hashimoto, “so we can’t create these two big games at the same time. It’s a difficult job, as we want each game to be perfect in terms of quality.”

The announcement for Kingdom Hearts III, he added, was specifically to address speculation on the sequel, though a timeframe for development was not clarified. Hashimoto emphasized that there is still much work to do. Both titles will see a PS4/Xbox One release, though neither has a known release window at this time.

Source: Gematsu

Speaking at the aforementioned Japan Expo, Tetsuya Nomura offered a few details regarding Final Fantasy XV. Apparently, the outfits were actually created by a third party: a Japanese fashion company named Roen. Roen went through the effort of making physical copies of the outfits, which the CG team has been recreating in the game itself.

Back when it was known as Versus XIII, the game would end when Noctis died; this element may not be present in the final version, according to Nomura. Dual audio is also in question, as it “all depends on the capacity of the disk.” He did, however, confirm that vehicles will be used throughout the game, ranging from a simple car to Magitek armor.

Source: Gematsu

As previously mentioned, Final Fantasy XV largely revolves around the exploits of Noctis Caelum and pals. Noctis is capable of forseeing the deaths of others by way of a mysterious light, and coincidentally is the heir apparent to the throne of Lucis. Gladiolus Amicitia is a nobleman sworn to protect said crown, and is a close friend of Noctis all the same. Ignis Scientia is the smart guy intended to one day counsel Noctis, Prompto Argentum is a playboy with a chip on his shoulder, and Cor Leonis is a legendary warrior honor-bound to keep watch over the group.

In plot matters, the crux of the action involves the last crystal left in the world, entrusted to the Kingdom of Lucis. Though they struck a tentative peace accord with the state of Niflheim, that didn’t quite last; Niflheim launched a surprise attack to begin a full-scale invasion of Lucis. Hence, it falls to Noctis and company to spearhead the resistance, ideally in as flashy and fabulous a manner as the engine can depict.

Final Fantasy XV is set to launch on the Xbox One and PS4. No release date has been announced.

Source: Gematsu

Tetsuya Nomura sat down with Famitsu this week, sharing more information about Final Fantasy XV. Behold these particulars:

• Lead character Noctis, crown prince of the Lucis kingdom, apparently has special eyes that allow him forsee someone’s death. As the kingdom’s resident loose cannon, he’s nonetheless protective of his pals: Gladiolus, an elder brother figure/mentor; straight-laced and serious Ignis, as the Murtaugh to Noctis’ Riggs; and troublemaking Prompto, the group’s womanizer.
• Square Enix (it’s unclear who in the company) suggested changing the Versus XIII title to XV two years after the game’s announcement in 2006, but this idea wasn’t finalized until Agito XIII was renamed Type-0. As a point of reference, Final Fantasy XIII was released in late 2009/early 2010.
• The game was formally set as a next-generation title two years ago, as opposed to a cross-generation one. This switch was largely to make the action as seamless as possible, which required greater resources than the current generation. The re-announcement was planned for last year, but postponed.
• Gameplay from the E3 trailer represents a high-level Noctis. Players, naturally, will start off with fewer skills than were demonstrated.
• Although they’re not considering a PC version currently, it “ultimately depends on demand,” and they may consider one if demand for it is high enough.

Source: Gematsu

Speaking with Famitsu at E3, Final Fantasy XV director Tetsuya Nomura said the title will be the first part of a larger story. Although the game will be somewhat self-contained, the overall story – which the announcement trailer teased as “the Versus epic” – will continue. Nomura indicated that he is considering a compilation further down the line, once other entries have been released. Given the wait for the title formerly known as Versus XIII, he added that he would like to keep the interval between releases short.

In an interesting bit of contrition, he openly apologized towards the end of the interview for the game’s delay. He then closed with the following: “Some have said that this generation, Japanese developments have fell short overseas. In the next generation, I don’t want this to be the case at all. I want to showcase this title.”

Source: Gematsu

The long-running saga of Final Fantasy Versus XIII took another unusual turn last night during Sony’s E3 press conference. It seems VsXIII will become Final Fantasy XV and move from the PlayStation 3 to its successor. SE later said that the game would also see release on the Xbox One, with producer Shinji Hashimoto saying that the game will be developed with DirectX 11, allowing for easy porting.