Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV
Official logo
Developer(s)	Square Enix 1st Production Department
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Tetsuya Nomura
Producer(s)	Shinji Hashimoto Yoshinori Kitase
Designer(s)	Yuichi Kanemori Takayoshi Nakazato
Programmer(s)	Hiroshi Harata Kentarou Yasui
Artist(s)	Tomohiro Hasegawa Takayuki Ohdachi
Writer(s)	Kazushige Nojima
Composer(s)	Yoko Shimomura
Series	Final Fantasy Fabula Nova Crystallis
Engine	Game-specific engine Luminous Studio
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Final Fantasy XV (ファイナルファンタジーXV, Fainaru Fantajī Fifutīn) is an upcoming action role-playing video game being developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Its concept is a heavy departure from other installments in the Final Fantasy series, providing a darker and more realistic atmosphere that focuses on human emotions and believable characters. The game features expansive environments and a seamless and customizable battle system, which gives players great freedom regarding their preferred play method.

The story is based on the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology, but has no direct relation to the other games in this series as it features a unique world, visual design and different characters. Its main protagonist, Noctis Lucis Caelum, is the prince of a mafia-like royal family which protects the last remaining crystal in the world and rules over a technologically advanced city-state. The plot centers on the invasion of a medieval war nation that tries to conquer the crystal. During the course of the game, Noctis meets the aristocratic and kind Stella Nox Fleuret who shares his ability of seeing a mysterious "light" connected to a goddess of the dead.

Final Fantasy XV started production shortly before its announcement in May 2006, when it was initially unveiled under the title Final Fantasy Versus XIII (ヴェルサスXIII, Verusasu Sātīn) alongside Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII (which was later renamed to Final Fantasy Type-0). The game's long development time and absence from the public eye gave rise to several rumors concerning its possible cancellation or shift to another platform. In June 2013, it was eventually revealed to have been renamed and switched systems from PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.Final Fantasy XV is being developed by a team within Square Enix's 1st Production Department and directed by Tetsuya Nomura, who also designed the characters and conceived the concept and base story.

Gameplay

Concept and presentation

Final Fantasy XV is an action role-playing game with third-person shooter elements. The player character is seen from a third-person perspective that will be adjusted depending on the weapon currently equipped. The game's environments among others include kingdoms and villages and allow for much freedom and interactivity: for example, objects can be destroyed and different paths may be chosen to reach a destination. The world map is a wide, open field that the player can traverse on foot or by using a car, an airship or a chocobo. A day-and-night time system affects the appearance of monsters on the world map.Final Fantasy XV uses interactive cutscenes in the form of real-time events. The player keeps control during them as the gameplay is not interrupted, which will result in natural progressions and storytelling that is similar to that of first-person shooters. However, the game also features uncontrollable pre-rendered full motion videos (FMVs) for scenes in which player control would have little effect. The ratio of real-time event scenes and pre-rendered FMVs is 7:3.

Battle system

The main protagonist, Noctis, using a fire spell on a boss while accompanied by a party member.

The game's party-based battle system is a realistic version of the one seen in the Kingdom Hearts series: the player selects a command such as "Attack", "Warp", "Magic", "Item" or "Link Form" and the characters will then perform the desired move. There are also other actions such as double-jumping. The party comprises a maximum of three members and control over them may be switched during battle. The team is initially assembled by the game, but players can choose their preferred party members later on. However, the main protagonist Noctis is permanently present and the only character that can equip any weapon, while others are specialized in one type of combat. Weapons include swords, axes, lances and guns, offer various attacks and may be customized or used as shields. Magic takes on different forms depending on the party member that casts it; for example, Noctis' magic emanates from his weapons. Attacks may change into chain combos by switching weapons or having several characters charge at opponents at once. In addition to the regular offensive tactics, mechas and tanks can be stolen from enemies and used against them. The battle scenes are seamlessly integrated into the environments with no load screens or transitions. Animated portraits in the bottom-right corner of the screen indicate the characters' movements and emotions even if they are separated from the party leader; however, this feature was not seen at the E3 2013 demo. Enemies have specific jobs such as dragon knight or summoner assigned to them.

Plot

Setting

Final Fantasy XV is based on the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology that revolves around a struggle between divine beings and the l'Cie, servants chosen by these gods and granted magic powers to fulfill a predetermined task. However, the precise impact of these concepts on the story is not known. The game is set in modern times, but the city-like country Lucis which protagonist Noctis hails from is the only technologically advanced location, otherwise surrounded by medieval nations. The reason for this divide is a cold war waged over crystals, the last of which Lucis holds. The other nations used to have their own crystals, but lost them due to ongoing conflicts. They have since focused their efforts on the development of weapons rather than on the progress of their culture, which left them in their regressive state. Just as the cold war ends and a treaty on the peaceful use of crystals is declared, the nation Niflheim unexpectedly invades Lucis, forcing Noctis and his friends to escape. Having waged wars against the countries Solheim, Tenebrae and Accordo, Niflheim's forces conquer the last remaining crystal, but Noctis tries to stop them before they can leave the city.

Characters

From left to right: Prompto, Gladiolus, Noctis, and Ignis.

Noctis Lucis Caelum (ノクティス・ルシス・チェラム, Nokutisu Rushisu Cheramu, voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki) is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XV. He is a prince and son to Regis Lucis Caelum (レジス・ルシス・チェラム, Rejisu Rushisu Cheramu), the king of a mafia-like royal family that has protected the crystals for generations. Noctis possesses a special power; unleashing it changes his eye color from blue to red and enables him to control several swords at once via spontaneous teleportation. Not an outspoken person, his body language is more expressive than his words although he just tries to conceal his shyness with this taciturn manner. Early into the game, Noctis meets Stella Nox Fleuret (ステラ・ノックス・フルーレ, Sutera Nokkusu Furūre), the daughter of a prestigious family from the kingdom of Tenebrae. Her upbringing has made her a polite and well-behaved young lady, but she is not cold or stiff in any way. She is described as a sincere person who faces her problems rather than running from them. Noctis and Stella can both see a mysterious "light", which legends describe to appear when the goddess Etro opens the gate to the realm of the dead. As this ability has both positive and negative effects on said persons, the protagonists handle it differently: Stella readily accepts it while Noctis seems troubled by it.

Several comrades aid Noctis in combat, three of which are friends of his: Gladiolus Amicitia (グラディオラス・アミシティア, Guradiorasu Amishitia, voiced by Kenta Miyake), a melee fighter who is a guard to Lucis' royal family and closer to Noctis than a brother; Ignis Stupeo Scientia (イグニス・ストゥペオ・スキエンティア, Igunisu Sutupeo Sukientia, voiced by Mamoru Miyano) who was raised a military tactician from an early age and wields a katana in battle; and Prompto Argentum (プロンプト・アージェンタム, Puronputo Ājentamu, voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara), a gunner who has been a bad influence on Noctis since their school days. The group of four is joined by Cor Leonis (コル・リオニス, Koru Rionisu, voiced by Hiroki Touchi), the head of the royal family guards who is among the strongest warriors in Lucis.

Development

"The stories from the past entries in the Final Fantasy series are not exactly as I would have done, but that's as it should be because I didn't direct them. My only concern in terms of Versus XIII is that FF always talks about human emotion and psychologies in a broad way, and I want to go deeper in terms of offering some crude reality in terms of human emotion or human [behavior]. The goal, when a player holds a controller and plays an RPG, is to make them believe in another world – to experience a dream in a fictional world. It will be different in Versus XIII because of the intrusion of the real world, and things that are really happening. There will be less fiction and more reality."

Tetsuya Nomura on the story of Final Fantasy XV, then known under the title Final Fantasy Versus XIII

The production of Final Fantasy XV started shortly before its unveiling at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade fair in May 2006, where it was announced for the PlayStation 3 under its original title Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Director Tetsuya Nomura conceived the game's concept and base story and designed its characters.Shinji Hashimoto and Yoshinori Kitase are producing, Kazushige Nojima is writing the scenario and Yoko Shimomura is composing the soundtrack. The game is currently being developed by Square Enix's 1st Production Department, with the Kingdom Hearts II team in charge of the in-game action and the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children crew handling the pre-rendered movies directed by Takeshi Nozue.

Nomura intended Final Fantasy XV to be a heavy departure from his lighthearted Kingdom Hearts series. He attributed this move to his "love for extremes" and explained the direction he took as closer to his personal taste and completely different from what producers had requested him to do in the past. Early into development, Nomura said that the concept and thinking behind the game was unfitting for a regular numbered Final Fantasy installment. The title was thus originally intended to be Final Fantasy Versus XIII rather than Final Fantasy XV. However, the rapidly growing scale of the content gave rise to discussions about its rebranding as a numbered entry as early as 2007. Nomura wanted to make the game "about man in the real world" and thus included less fantasy elements, resulting in what he described as the darkest entry in the series. He acknowledged that a story focus on human emotions may narrow the target audience, but considered the time right to take such a risk and conceived the characters as believable humans one could meet in real life.

Shinjuku, Tokyo is the primary inspiration for the city-like kingdom of Lucis.

Nomura had wanted to use a present-day setting for a Final Fantasy game ever since this idea had been considered but abandoned during the development Final Fantasy VII. As such, some of the designs in Final Fantasy XV are based on real-world locations such as the districts of Tokyo or the Piazza San Marco and St Mark's Basilica in Venice. The city kingdom Lucis is specifically influenced by the lively Shinjuku, Tokyo area which houses the headquarters of Square Enix and which Nomura passes through every day. The highway and tunnel seen in the game are almost exact replicas of the Shuto Expressway and a tunnel in the Ginza district, respectively. The team created these by driving down the real-world locations repeatedly during their research.

Another factor in the development of set pieces was the design of vast and seamless environments. They were meant to enable e.g. levels in which the player character was shot at from a great distance, or in which a battle would change scenes between the outside and inside of a building. This corroborated Nomura's intended action-oriented system with more intuitive game controls. He instructed his team to study third-person shooters for reference, "not in simplistic terms, like controls or mechanics, but in the way they create tension and mood and incorporate the action within that". The implementation of interactive real-time event scenes had two reasons: Nomura felt that regular storytelling cutscenes in other games interrupt the gameplay and that many players skip them for this reason; furthermore, the development frame of Final Fantasy XV could be shortened as there was no need to create high-polygon character models from scratch to use only in cutscenes. However, seamless transitions of these events into the gameplay were hard to achieve and instead increased the time that had to be invested by the team.

Because of the game's long absence from the public eye after January 2011, industry commentators labeled Final Fantasy XV as vaporware while it was still known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Frequent rumors suggested that it had either been quietly cancelled, or renamed and shifted to another platform during development. When the next-generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were presented to Square Enix in 2011, the company decided internally to change the game's title to Final Fantasy XV. Over the next year, the PlayStation 3 was abandoned as lead platform in favor of a DirectX 11-based development method that allowed for easy porting to the next-generation systems. The Crystal Tools engine that was originally used for the game and specifically designed by Square Enix to develop their seventh-generation console and PC content became disused as well.Final Fantasy XV was later explained to be built on a proprietary, action-oriented engine and to use the lighting technology of the company's new Luminous Studio engine. At E3 2013, the game's change of title and its planned release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were officially unveiled to the public. Additionally, an announcement and a gameplay trailer were released during the event.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Official website (English)