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Final Fantasy XV preview: Deus que?

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FF XV 3

Final Fantasy XV has been a long time coming. As a gift to fans who have been waiting patiently, Square Enix has released a rather meaty demo to show what the final game will be like. Certain elements will change in the final game, but it certainly does give a taste of what’s to come. Warning: I will avoid giving major spoilers, but if you want to go in totally pure, don’t read beyond this point.

Episode Duscae takes place at an unknown point part of the way into the game where Noctis and his crew have some car trouble. Forced to run around on foot, they must raise enough money to pay for their car’s repairs. Of course, they also go exploring, learn how to fight and make camp along the way. There is a main mission for players to progress through that involves hunting and fighting a Behemoth, as well as gaining a summon. However, the demo reveals much more than just a story.

The first thing that is immediately striking is just how gorgeous the environment is. From hills and grass to forests and rocky ledges. Each aspect is beautifully textured – gone are the days of awful foliage as every fern, blade of grass and tree branch looks and feels like the real deal. Even clipping issues are way better as you can run through the forest and the environment remains intact and immersive.

FF XV 1

The combat system is all new, as it should be with a new Final Fantasy game. Instead of waiting for a timing bar to load in order to take actions, you can use a real time fighting system complete with dodging incoming attacks and combining special moves with normal attacks. Special moves work off of MP points which you will need to be careful to balance – if you use them all up you end up in stasis and are unable to do anything until your points regenerate. It ends up feeling incredibly quick and fluid. Plus, when taking on agile enemies, it finally makes sense why your character would miss in previous games – some of them are incredibly hard to hit without using a special ability. It’s nice to experience that variety of movement in the enemies.

Interestingly, you play solely as Noctis in the demo. During combat, your comrades will help out with fighting, although one of them is particularly weak and I found myself rushing to revive him far more often than I would have liked. If the player’s HP hits zero, you can use a potion to heal or wait for one of the others to pat you on the back and comfort you to full health again. Frequent bouts of incapacitation will result in a lower maximum health bar, though, so you do still need to be careful.

Ff XV 5

I was intrigued by the idea of camping in the game, but it really works well and fits in nicely with the day/night cycle. As you progress through the day, you’ll start seeing the colors turn towards dusk and the shadows begin to elongate. The characters will mention needing to make camp and your buff from camping the night before will wear off. Thus, it makes sense to make for the nearest camp site and have a rest. In the demo, the best possible food that you can make is shown – you don’t have an option to choose what’s on the menu. I’m not sure if this will be changed in the full game or if consumption will always be optimized. The food gives specific buffs for the coming day, such as negating status ailments or boosting EXP gain. Once you accept the food, your experience is applied to the party, leveling up.

I found the leveling in the demo to be incredibly rapid. It’s unclear at this point if this is just the nature of this point in the game, or if this is how it will be in the finished product. However, at every camp site I ended up leaving up by at least two levels, but usually closer to four.

Ff XV 2

Side missions also give experience and I found setting markers on the maps to be initially confusing but eventually quite helpful. You could either set your markers on main or side quest objectives, or are specific camp grounds or outposts. There’s no scrolling around the map to decide where to set a marker, but it works out well enough to set the markers on the exact location where you want to go.

Despite a lot of focus on the demo, it is still a rather glitchy experience. Noctis has the ability to warp in combat. This is used to warp to high ground to boost regeneration as well as find the enemy and execute a warp attack. However, I somehow managed to warp into a mountain wall during one battle, only escaping when the next bunch of enemies happened upon me, allowing me to do a warp attack back out. While much of the demo looks great, I found that on the Xbox One the frame rates dropped quite dramatically, especially while under attack. This led to some rather frustrating moments when I couldn’t even move or escape from a deadly situation.

I was also rather underwhelmed by the character development thus far. It is still incredibly early on, and the demo is just a small slice of what the game will hold, but I found the four guys to be incredibly bland and undifferentiated. Sure, one was the tough guy and another one was the wimp who I had to keep reviving, but at this point they don’t really feel like unique and enjoyable or relatable characters.

FF XV 4

Finally, there is a definite modern feel to the game. Not futuristic like some of the tech creations have been in previous Final Fantasy games. This feels rather current, with cars and mobile phones and the like. While the game still feels fantastical and there are plenty of audio and visual cues to remind me that this is a Final Fantasy game, I’m just not convinced about the technology yet. I’m assuming that it will all be explained better in the released game, but at the moment it’s feeling a bit out of place in that universe.

The demo is incredibly meaty and offers a significant amount of gameplay for fans of the franchise. There are stunning visuals (I was really taken aback when I saw the summon) and enough familiar elements to make you really feel like you’re playing the next Final Fantasy game. I enjoyed my time playing the game and I want to play the final product, although I felt like I was left with more questions than answers about Final Fantasy XV.

Last Updated: March 23, 2015

25 Comments

  1. Loftus

    March 23, 2015 at 13:04

    Quick question Zoe. Did the demo do enough right that you can justify buying the full game ?

    Reply

    • Her Highness the Hipster

      March 23, 2015 at 13:40

      yes, there is a lot right here. Plenty of questions, but assuming they’re answered in the full game, I’d happily fork over the cash for it.

      Reply

      • Loftus

        March 23, 2015 at 13:57

        Thank you very much!

        Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    March 23, 2015 at 13:05

    But will there be a playable demo of TLG on the FF15 disc?

    Reply

    • Loftus

      March 23, 2015 at 13:08

      They better have a playable demo of Kingdom Hearts 3 on the FF15 disc!

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      March 23, 2015 at 13:08

      Only if you play it backwards…

      Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      March 23, 2015 at 13:09

      #StayStrongUmar

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        March 23, 2015 at 13:12

        That is the code you need to type in to play the demo yes

        Reply

  3. WitWolfy

    March 23, 2015 at 13:22

    Already looks like a breath of fresh air compared to FF13

    Reply

  4. Umar

    March 23, 2015 at 13:24

    Yeah agree mostly with your feelings, there is too much unknown in the demo, I can’t say if I like the cast or not, but Noct is really cool, he’s super serious but has a bit of a goofy side, but the fact that you have all these questions are testament to the fact that you’re excited to see more. It has issues, but so far the core experience is solid and vastly better than 13 and 12 imo.

    Reply

    • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

      March 23, 2015 at 13:37

      Better than 12? I’ll take that

      Reply

      • Umar

        March 23, 2015 at 15:42

        Well, as a side-note I didnt like 12 all that much, but I do feel XV brings a lot of that FF magic back.

        Reply

    • Ranting Raptor

      March 23, 2015 at 14:10

      #StayStrongUmar?

      Reply

  5. Umar

    March 23, 2015 at 13:26

    Also, this demo lasts longer than The Order 1886 and Ground Zeroes if you choose to do everything….

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      March 23, 2015 at 13:27

      O_o

      Reply

      • Umar

        March 23, 2015 at 13:30

        Lol I did nothing of the main quest, found 1 out of 3 phantom swords, didnt get the summon and I played for 4 hours already lol

        Reply

    • Loftus

      March 23, 2015 at 13:27

      is it a must buy game ? Did the demo do enough right that you can justify buying the full game ?

      Reply

      • Umar

        March 23, 2015 at 13:29

        Full game will only be out end of year or early next year…but yes. It did more than enough. With some polish and more characterization which I’m sure there is, this will be one epic adventure.

        Reply

        • Loftus

          March 23, 2015 at 13:31

          Thanks buddy!

          Reply

  6. Ross Woofels Mason

    March 23, 2015 at 13:46

    Played this at my buddies place over the weekend and it was the nail in the coffin for me and it looks like the first main line final fantasy game I will be missing.

    I’m not sure if it was was because the game is a demo or just how it is but the AI is stupid as hell, the amount of time the rest of the cast keep getting in the fucking way. And while it bares no effect on the gameplay it’s still irritating. Battle is slow, clunky and painful.

    I just cannot like this cast either. Did they also have to completely bimbo up cid? Like not only did she have to look like a cock tease, she has to act like one too?

    So yeah, officially done with this game lol.

    Reply

    • Vareen

      March 23, 2015 at 19:15

      Its only an early state of the game which didn’t include every aspect of the battle system and plus its early level with no new skills. Also Cindy is Cids daughter

      Reply

      • Ross Woofels Mason

        March 24, 2015 at 01:14

        That I can appreciate.

        Still does not change the fact though so far the cast is pretty unbearable. Also I don’t really care if Cindy is cid’s daughter or is the games cid, did they still have to turn the only female for miles so far into a bimbo?

        Like she is meant to be a mechanic and she walks around dressed like a stripper and acts like a tease? Usually I am not one to bitch at overly sexualised characters but there is so much they could of done with her than what they have done with her.

        Reply

    • Cheng

      March 24, 2015 at 01:19

      Battle is slow? Really? People I know that played it find the battle actually fast. o_o I guess it just depends on the person.

      Reply

      • Ross Woofels Mason

        March 24, 2015 at 08:20

        I found it exceptionally clunky, Noctis’s teleport needs a lot of work. The transition between teleports is not smooth at all.

        When i compare it to other JRPG’s with action based battle systems like star ocean or tales of series the battles just feel very slow and cumbersome.

        Reply

  7. LightningFarron19

    March 24, 2015 at 23:55

    >Despite a lot of focus on the demo, it is still a rather glitchy experience.

    Isn’t that the point of a demo? To critique the product, give feedback and the company polishes said product?

    >I was also rather underwhelmed by the character development thus far. It is still incredibly early on, and the demo is just a small slice of what the game will hold, but I found the four guys to be incredibly bland and undifferentiated. Sure, one was the tough guy and another one was the wimp who I had to keep reviving, but at this point they don’t really feel like unique and enjoyable or relatable characters.

    Gee, it’s as if it’s not the FULL GAME and just a DEMO or something. That the focus is to allow you to get the feel of the game, and not just cram a shit ton of stuff in it.

    >although I felt like I was left with more questions than answers about Final Fantasy XV.

    Do…do you even know how a demo works?

    Zoe’s stupidity strikes again.

    Reply

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