Final Fantasy Series News and Updates Thread

[Rakim]

Does switching directors mean that Nomura is leaving to go all out focusing his efforts on Kingdom Hearts?

[OL]

March 2015 for Final Fantasy Type-0 OL, or is that what you meant?

Oh, that must have been what I read. It was just something I glanced at briefly. Thought it was for XV, but I guess it was just saying something about the demo for XV.
Oh well.

[_StreetSonic_]

Does XV make anyone else think of Shenmue? First, the graphics make me think of how gorgeous a current version of Shenmue can look like. Second, the scene where kid Noctis and his father are eating at the table made me think of the same situation with Ryo and his father. Fourth, the cave battle! The lines "It's been a long time coming" and "Almost there" made me feel for Shenmue. My sister and I imagined Ryo's face appearing on the moon in that scene.

[Henry Spencer]

It reminds me of Shenmue, at least in terms of, "I've been waiting forever and ever for it".

[OL]

It reminds me of Shenmue in that it's a videogame.
But that's about it.

[Henry Spencer]

So it looks like the FFXV demo being included with Type 0 isn't guaranteed to be released with the game after all.

http://eu.square-enix.com/en/blog/ff-type-0-hd-coming-march-special-surprise
EDIT: from the comment section
Originally Posted by Dan Seto

The release date of the Final Fantasy XV Demo has not been confirmed and we will announce more details closer to the release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

[Axm]

Looks amazing.

[Henry Spencer]

Gameplay footage for both Type 0 HD |(starts 6 minutes in) and FFXV (starts at 23:00) here:

phpBB [video]

EDIT: HOLY CRAP FFXV LOOKS AMAZING. That lighting engine is truly something. Character models are so well done too and a big improvement on last year's trailer. The daytime/nightime system is also stunning. I'm not a graphics whore or anything, but this is definitely the first game to legitimately wow me like that, in the graphics department. Nothing else even comes close.

[OL]

Shucks howdy.
That's literally like Advent Children-quality visuals.

[AnimeGamer183]

Skipped straight to FFXV cause I have already seen plenty of type-0. Wow... what a nice little demonstration, the game does indeed look gorgeous, looks truly next gen and improved from the last trailers I have seen. I really wish it was translated about what they were saying during that, especially during the battle, I would like a better explanation of this games battle system. Im still stoked they are picking up where they left off with FFXIIs system though and making something real time and not turn based. Still cant help but be hesitantly excited, but its looking more and more like this is the FF game I have been waiting for since XII... but sadly REALLY since FFX. The quality of story characters battle and world just havent ALL been on par since FFX in my eyes, they havent made a masterpiece since then to me. I think its asking alot to expect FFXV to be a masterpiece, but man I would be over joyed if it was.

[Riku Rose]

Well I think I've seen enough of FFXV now. I like to see as little as possible of a game so unless it gets shown at an E3 conference or something I'm happy to wait until I have it myself.

[Henry Spencer]

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201409/22062014.html

I've only highlighted the points which are unique to the Famitsu interview in terms of new information. I've skimmed over stuff which was repeated in the Kotaku and Game Informer interviews in the other thread.



Tabata on taking over Nomura as director:

- He joined the project in July 2012, Wada personally asked him and the Type-0 team to help out on the Versus XIII project. They also decided at that point to change platforms and rename the game to FFXV, changing the direction of the project.

- About half a year after he joined the project, the tech demo they were working on for FFXV got the greenlight (sounds like a vertical slice), and the project moved full steam ahead.

- He didn't take over the project as director suddenly, since he has been working on this project for a while now. He has had many discussion with Nomura and the development team about the characters and world setting, the meaning of a numbered FF, the best way to make a good game with satisfying content, etc.

- He feels that there is no downside at all to the change in director for the development of the game. He understands fans who have been waiting for a long time might be uneasy, so they had a playable stage demo at TGS along with the trailer, and furthermore if people are still doubtful, there's a playable demo coming next year.

- Tabata's personal vision for the game is the design incorporating the themes of "friendship" and "the journey" into every aspect of it. The story scenes and the battles will all show Noctis and his friendship with the party.



Tabata on the battle system:

- The battle system will feature very flashy moves and abilities, and feel like an action packed flow of moves. There will be warping and magic attacks, and there will be combination attacks with party members which are generated automatically based on context.

- He also mentions that because this is a RPG, you can also play more strategically, and that during combat you can pause the game into a menu and adjust party behavior, change weapons, etc.

- The weapon system in the game is treated like a deck. You set weapons on the deck in the menu, and during combat the most appropriate weapon in the deck will be used based on the situation.

- The evasion in the game is executed by "defensive movement" which is a stance the player goes into when holding down the defense button. This allows the player to move around defensively avoiding attacks.



Tabata on the Day/Night cycle:

- There is a day/night cycle in the game, and at night more aggressive monsters will show up. In day time the monsters will be passive and won't attack the player automatically.

- They might change it in future, but currently one day in the game time is about 30 minutes of play. You can fight the Adamantoise seen in the trailer, but it might take 30 in-game days to beat it.



Tabata on Share and Remote Play:

- The demo will support Share features, but they're not sure if Remote Play will be in. For the actual game both features will be supported.

It sounds like the combat has moved away from being like Kingdom Hearts and more towards a combination of XII's Gambit system and Type 0's action gameplay. And you only play as Noctis (which is a disappointment). Despite this, it sounds like you can customize their AI like XII's Gambit system.
Hopefully it's as amazing as XII's system, anyway.

Also:

Final Fantasy XV Will Feel Like A Group Of Guys Going On A Road Trip
Square Enix shared the latest look at Final Fantasy XV with a new trailer and gameplay footage during Tokyo Game Show 2014. Hajime Tabata, who has taken over the role of director from Tetsuya Nomura, recently spoke with 4Gamer about the game’s characters and more.


During the interview, 4Gamer mentions that after seeing the latest trailer in Tokyo Game Show, along with some demonstration footage, it looks like the development of Final Fantasy XV seems to have gotten quite far already.


“At the moment, it feels like it’s at around 50 - 55%. The system’s basic parts are more or less complete, and you won’t have to wait another five or ten years after the release of the demo, so don’t worry. Of course if it isn’t well-received, we’ll have to re-think things,” Tabata replies with a laugh.


Next, 4Gamer asks if it’s safe to say that Final Fantasy XV will be an open-world RPG.


“In the sense that the world is seamlessly connected, then yes, that’s right,” responds Tabata. “That’s how the story will be told, as you ride a car and go on a journey.”

The interviewer also mentions that the trailer’s style and the way the characters were shown, gave off the vibe of a road movie, which is basically where the main characters leave home to travel from place to place, and are often put in situations that are different from their everyday lives. In Final Fantasy XV‘s case, prince Noctis is on the run and will go on a journey with his buddies.


“Exactly. We’re designing it to be a road movie that you can experience as an RPG. You’ll feel the romance of going on a trip, and such,” Tabata says.


4Gamer then mentions that the trailer and demonstration footage both focused on male characters, and that they get a feeling that it will be like a trip with guys. Meanwhile, they point out, we’ve only seen female characters in cutscenes.


“The party will only have male characters,” replies Tabata, “and that hasn’t changed since its previous form of [Final Fantasy Versus XIII].”


4Gamer asks if the road movie-style is also something that the game inherited from the days Versus XIII.


“Yes, we’re making Final Fantasy XV to have a strong road movie vibe to it,” explains Tabata. It’s a part of the game in which we’re placing great importance.”

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/09/22/fi ... road-trip/

[OL]

It should get a new name:
"Jack Kerouak's Final Fantasy XV."
Awesome.

[AnimeGamer183]

Hmm, those are some interesting details so "on the run road trip with the bros", seems very unusual for Final Fantasy and im pretty sure its gonna catch some flack from certain fans because of that, at least its sounding like its well done from what they are saying. I really REALLY dont like that you only can control noctis, hopefully they realize the error in that and fix it before release, only being able to control one character in your party defeats many purposes of having a party, no? Hopefully the gambit esque system will be nice and help with that a bit.

Riku said he has seen enough, im gonna say i still havent seen nearly enough, its changed alot since it was Versus XIII and I still am not exactly sure if its a day 1 buy for me. I need to see more areas, more enemies, more battle. The tech demo they showed was visually incredible but I still felt they didnt show off features very well, and why was noctis running from the enemies and not doing a whole lot during battle? its also a bit strange how little is on the screen during battle in terms of character information and select options, although some of that was explained, the pause menu during battle will likely hold alot of options. There is still so much more I need to know and see about this game.

[Henry Spencer]

Have you ever played XII? That's what it'll be like. You won't be controlling the other party members, but you will command them to do stuff instead. It'll just be faster than XII and have more co-op aspects to it.