Final Fantasy 15 (or XV) seems to have been in development for decades. When it was first announced way back in 2006, Final Fantasy XV was originally conceived as a yet another Final Fantasy XIII spin-off for the PS3 called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. However, as the years went on, we heard next to nothing about what was happening with the game, and many thought it might have even been cancelled altogether.
Thankfully, Square Enix finally announced in 2013 that it was indeed alive and kicking, but that it would now be called Final Fantasy XV and would be released for both PS4 and Xbox One as the next big numbered instalment in the series. This will make it the first mainstream Final Fantasy game for new consoles, so expectations are naturally quite high, especially after Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix's latest MMORPG, was such a critical flop.
Fortunately, Final Fantasy XV is shaping up to be much more promising, as this action-oriented JRPG not only looks stunning, but its fluid, real-time battle system also gives its combat a new lease of life compared to its rather more static predecessors. Here's everything we currently know about the game so you can get an idea about what to expect when it finally launches later this year.
Release date
Despite its lengthy development time, we still don't have a concrete release date for Final Fantasy XV. So far, all we know is that it's definitely coming out this year, and that Square Enix will be announcing its official launch date at a special event in March.
“This year is the year we’ll release Final Fantasy XV,” Final Fantasy XV's director Hajime Tabata told Famitsu. “Currently, we’ve decided on all of its specifications and the beta version is under production so we can shift into the debug phase. We’ll show the real XV during the release date announcement this March.”
Based on previous form, Square Enix has released many of its main Final Fantasy games toward the end of the year, so it might be we'll see Final Fantasy XV arrive in time for Christmas. However, there's also a possibility it might arrive as early as this summer, as other big Final Fantasy titles such as Final Fantasy X launched in May. Either way, it won't be long before we find out for sure, so I'll update this article as soon as we know more.
Setting and story
Final Fantasy games usually take place in exotic, fantastical game worlds, but Final Fantasy XV is set in a modern day world not too dissimilar from our own. Crystals and their magical powers still form a major part of the main story, but our group of boy-band-esque princes will be driving round their kingdom in a huge car instead of an airship, and other NPC characters will all be dressed in normal, everyday clothes.
The main plot is still the same old tale of rebellion against a large, dominating military force, but there's also 'The Plague of Stars' to worry about, an evil, supernatural force which threatens to plunge the world into total, everlasting darkness. I suspect the Plague of Stars will have something to do with the evil Niflheim kingdom marching on the borders of its neighbouring country Lucis, but in that good old-fashioned Final Fantasy way, it's also likely that the Niflheim higher-ups will end up being puppets manipulated from the shadows.
The Dawn 2.0 trailer below sets the story in motion, giving us a glimpse of events that happen 15 years prior to the start of the game. It focuses on main character Noctis and his childhood friend and fiancée Luna, so expect a bit of nostalgic angst to be one of the main forces driving our hero's character development.
Gameplay features
Square Enix has been using real-time battle systems for a while now, but Final Fantasy XV's Active Cross Battle system is a whole different beast compared to the protracted gambit and active time battle systems you'll find in Final Fantasy XII and XIII. Instead of a menu interface, Final Fantasy XV lets you map attacks to individual buttons, allowing your main character to build up combos and deal more powerful attacks as you land more hits. You can also parry and block enemy hits, but blocking will use up magic points, so you'll need to use this ability wisely if you also plan on using lots of magic attacks.
Enemies also appear naturally in the world around you rather than suddenly drawing you into a random encounter on a separate screen. This gives you a much wider battlefield to play with, and it also lets you take advantage of your natural surroundings. This is vital for initiating certain attacks, as main character Noctis can launch himself upwards to cling to towers and tall pieces of scenery to deliver devastating aerial assaults.
There's also a small window of time at the very beginning of each battle where you can choose to run away from an encounter if you'd rather just press on, but if you fail to put enough distance between you and your enemy in the allotted time period, then nearby monsters will continue to pursue you until you put them out of their misery.
Episode Duscae demo
In the Episode Duscae demo, which was available to anyone who bought Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, we also got a glimpse of how the game's summon monsters will work. These almighty god-like creatures will need to be found in nearby caves - luckily you don't to fight them as well in order to use them - but once you have them in your arsenal, they are truly unstoppable.
The demo only gave us a glimpse of Ramuh, the thunder god, but there will no doubt be more old favourites hidden elsewhere in the main game, such as Ifrit, the fire demon, and Shiva, the ice goddess. If Ramuh's summon is anything to go by, though, then you'll definitely want to make the effort to find as many of them as possible, as summoning Ramuh initiates a dramatic cutscene where the sky clouds over, Ramuh appears as a monstrous, Zeus-like figure and then proceeds to more or less fry the entire surrounding area with lightning.
It's massively over the top, but it's brilliant to watch, and it utterly destroys the behemoth boss you need to take down in the Duscae demo. It's likely that Square Enix will scale back their power for the main game, though, otherwise they'll sap all sense of challenge out of it.
Still, from its revamped summons to its new Active Cross Battle system, Final Fantasy XV looks like it could be one of the freshest and most revolutionary Final Fantasy games in years, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing a lot more of it in the coming months.
