Note: This article was written by community member Milesthewolfman. The opinions of this author do not necessarily reflect those of Senshudo TV.
With the release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD on Playstation 4 and Xbox One on March 17th, 2015, the first tangible piece of evidence was given to gamers that have been hankering for details on Square Enix’s elusive beast known as Final Fantasy XV. Included in the first print run of Type-0 HD was a code to be redeemed on each console’s respective digital store for a playable demo, Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae. (Comically enough, upon removing the sealing of my copy of Type-0 HD at around midnight on the 17th, while waiting for my PS4 to boot up, I took a look at the valid dates. The codes are valid for exactly one year from release. I misread the ‘6’ in ‘2016’ as a ‘5’, and thought the code was valid for one day. But, I digress.)
Back in June 2006, a trio of Final Fantasy games were announced at E3: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Under the shroud of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy, the games were set to take place all within the same general universe, but didn’t contain any of the same playable characters. Rather, what helped to tie the games together was a common mythos revolving crystals that had ties to various Gods and Goddesses. Each game also shared a similar theme of said deities meddling in human affairs.
However, only Final Fantasy XIII stayed true to its namesake, and was released in North America on both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 9th, 2010, just under four years after its initial announcement. Final Fantasy XIII has since become the first in a trilogy of games for the PS3 and 360, with Final Fantasy XIII-2 releasing on just under two years after XIII, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy closing out the trilogy just last year.
Final Fantasy Agito XIII became Final Fantasy Type-0, and was released in Japan on PSP on October 27, 2011, but never left the country. With the HD re-release on PS4 and Xbox One this month, it will finally be available worldwide. Final Fantasy Type-0 also had a side game, Final Fantasy Agito, released on mobile phones in Japan on May 14, 2014. That game is in the process of being ported to the Playstation Vita, and is also being localized for Western audiences.
Final Fantasy Versus XIII was never released. Announced alongside Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, the game was slated to be a PS3 exclusive. However, a litany of development issues and changes to the development team’s lineup as well as the unveiling of the next-generation consoles to the team in 2012 eventually forced an internal decision to change the game’s title from Final Fantasy Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV. All of their current work and pipelines were ported to the next-gen systems, and at E3 2013, was officially re-introduced to the gaming public with this information.
I had admittedly had my reservations about Final Fantasy XV when I heard about the battle system. Since the game was being directed by Tetsuya Nomura (Now being directed by Hajime Tabata, noted for his work on Type-0 and Agito.), I guess I really shouldn’t have been surprised, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stand action-oriented battle systems in RPGs. My fears were indeed confirmed once I dove into Episode Duscae.
Combat takes place after an enemy notices you on the field. There’s no screen transition, the menus just appear and you have to either escape by physically running away, or get to work. It’s supposed to be simple, with the Square button being a basic attack, the Cross button allowing Noctis to Warp-Strike across the battlefield and warp to high areas for cover, and the Triangle button performing skills that cost MP that you can choose with the D-Pad. The R1 button targets and locks on to enemies, and holding the L1 button puts Noctis in Defense Mode, and allows him to dodge attacks as long as he has enough MP. There’s also a parrying system, but it was largely forgettable and it didn’t seem to work consistently. There’s also the high possibility that I just flat out suck at parrying, which is probably the case. It shouldn’t be easy, but it shouldn’t be difficult either. Clearly, they haven’t hit the happy medium here.
As I said, Combat is supposed to be simple, and it is. And that’s where the problems start. It’s so easy that it’s mind numbing. Trap an enemy against a wall, mash Square, and repeat. It also doesn’t help that Noctis is rather slow, so against the most common enemy in the demo, I found myself running from more fights than actually sticking to them. I rarely used techniques or defended because of how long they took to perform and how often they missed. Kingdom Hearts is going to be the prime comparison here, and I sincerely felt that they missed the mark, and it needs to get fixed.
The music is fantastic, being composed by Yoko Shimomura of Kingdom Hearts fame. The environments are lush and beautiful, and everything is super detailed. Due to this being a demo, the developers were upfront about it not being true HD, falling short of 1080p resolution and not reaching a solid 30 frames per second. I’m willing to grant them a pass on that because it’s a demo, but if it still happens in the full game, there’s no excuse.
Another cool thing about the demo is that there was absolutely no loading after the initial boot up. Much like the Grand Theft Auto series, there’s one big load after starting the game, and then nothing after that. There is a transition when entering a dungeon, but it was about a second long, and virtually seamless. I’d be picking at straws if I called that a loading screen. I would like to see it be fully seamless in the full game, however. There’s never another load screen, and the cutscenes all look gorgeous.
However, along with the battle system getting the big ‘meh,’ there are two other glaring issues for me. First is the over-sexualization of Cindy, the mechanic. From what I gathered, she’s this game’s Cid’s daughter. She’s wearing a pair of daisy dukes that barely cover her butt with a thong peeking out from under them and a bomber jacket that ends just below her breasts. Not to mention that the jacket is largely unzipped, and shows most of her bra and the resulting cleavage. Personally, I think she’s gorgeous, but I really don’t think she needs clothes that reveal almost everything. It’s going to create a nightmare situation for games equality activists and the designers, alike.
The other problem is that it just doesn’t feel like Final Fantasy. Between the battle system and the fact that the game is so stooped in reality, it just doesn’t feel like Final Fantasy. I’m excited for the full launch, and I want the game to do well, but in my personal opinion, this should not be a Final Fantasy title.