Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV on PS4 and Xbox One has been “Expanded and Evolved” for Next-Gen, Story Detailed
by Jason DunningJune 11, 2013

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Just like Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV (previously known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII) was announced last night at the Sony Conference, and is also coming to the PS4 and Xbox One, with a release date currently unknown.

As Square Enix detailed in a press release, the development for FFXV has “expanded and evolved to take full advantage of the capabilities of next generation platforms.” The main concept, world, and story are still being “developed as originally envisioned,” with the team further improving the action, gameplay, and graphics.

Here’s a taste of what you can expect from the story in Final Fantasy XV:

Final Fantasy XV: 'wonderful' supporting staff will keep Nomura on track
by Steven BurnsJune 11, 2013

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Audible laughs as brand manager deflects question over Versus XIII's long dev cycle

Shinji Hashimoto has told the press that the Nomura's 'wonderful supporting staff will keep him on track'.

Asked how the company planned to keep the director on schedule - which drew audible laughter from the room - the brand manager insisted that Nomura would be helped out in getting XV out on time.

He also confirmed that while XV might have a more action-orientated outlook, future Final Fantasy games won't all be based it.

This one isn't so much news as much as it's pulling at strings that may or may not be there:

Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III PC Version Hinted by Tetsuya Nomura
by Giuseppe NelvaJun 11th 2013

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Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III Director Tetsuya Nomura just dropped a bomb at the end of his interview on the Square Enix Presents E3 livestream.

When asked by the interviewer for a confirmation on the release of the two games on PS4 and Xbox One, he was quick to point out:


That’s a pretty obvious hint to the possibility of a PC release for the two upcoming Square Enix flagship titles, especially considering that PC is the only remaining platform capable of supporting DirectX 11. It’s also interesting that Nomura-san wasn’t directly asked about other platforms by the interviewer, but touched the topic on its own initiative.

PC gamers might not be getting Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, but there might be better things coming their way sometimes in the future.

E3 2013: Square Enix Shares More Final Fantasy XV Details
by Hailee KenneyJune 11, 2013

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After announcing Final Fantasy XV at the Sony press conference, Square Enix has now offered up some more details about the game. Final Fantasy XV is the rebranded version of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which is being developed for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. In a press release, Square Enix sheds some light on the details of the game and the new direction it will be taking.

The biggest change is that the game will now take advantage of the advancements coming with the new generation of consoles. While the initial plan for the story remains unchanged, Square Enix plans to use the capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox One to expand on Final Fantasy XV’s gameplay and graphics. Unlike most Final Fantasy games, which have predominantly turn-based battle systems, Final Fantasy XV will feature action RPG gameplay with some third-person-shooter elements.

In the press release, Square Enix also provided some more details about the game’s story. The Kingdom of Lucis suffers a crippling attack from the armed forces of Niflheim, forcing Crown Prince Noctis (the game’s protagonist), along with his comrades, out into the fight. Square Enix promises that the story to follow from these events will be will be engaging, featuring a rich world and the top notch storytelling we have come to expect from previous Final Fantasy titles.

Details about a possible release date have yet to be revealed.

Tetsuya Nomura Talks Disney, Kingdom Hearts 3 & Final Fantasy XV
by DenisJune 11, 2013

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Square Enix and Disney are at it again! Sony came prepared during their Press Conference with a surprise announcement from Tetsuya Nomura showing of Final Fantasy XV and a small look at Kingdom Hearts 3, which is still in development. If you missed the trailers, we have you covered here. Square Enix Presents sat down with Tetsuya Nomura today during E3 and he discussed the origin of Kingdom Hearts and how it came to be, Nomura explains it was a long process but the outcome at the end was well worth the hard work.


Tetsuya Nomura On Disney & Kingdom Hearts:

Square Enix presents started their interview talking about where the name “Kingdom Hearts” came from, how it originated and the problems they faced with it. Nomura responded with…

” Originally I wanted to find a title that fits Disney because its a Disney video game and when I first thought of this game I thought of Amusement parks, I wanted to create something that you can imagine through Disney land, I knew of the name animal kingdom at that time so Kingdom became the first name in my mind. The development team was calling the game ” Kingdom ” itself but I couldn’t get IP for that so I thought of ” Heart ” as a core part of the story, we just combined those together and were satisfied with the name Kingdom Hearts. ”

The host of Square Enix Presents followed that question with how the collaboration with Disney came about. Nomura’s response….

” Originally our producer, Shinji Hashimoto became friends with a Disney employee, we had offices in the same building so he chatted with the people of Disney and both parties agreed that a game between the two companies would be great. Later on he came back to me and asked if this was something that would be successful, that is how ultimately the franchise begun. Our relationship with Disney has been great, we have been working with Disney for 10 years. ”


Nomura On Kingdom Hearts 3:

The host asked about the battle system of Kingdom Hearts 3 and if it was anything that we experienced in the past games. Nomura’s reply…

” For the previous titles, especially Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2, they were core games and I wanted to make sure I had appropriate involvement in the games, and for the spin off titles I wanted to experiment with new challenges and new styles. Since this is a core game, I feel like it is appropriate to have a core style. Kingdom Hearts 2 had a lot of praise for the battle system and Kingdom Hearts 3 will take some of that and implement it, the experiments we did do on the spin off titles were very well received and we would also like to include some of those into Kingdom Hearts 3. ”

The host also asked if there will be any Final Fantasy characters in KH3 and will we get to play as King Mickey… Nomura’s response,

” Final Fantasy characters in Kingdom Hearts 3 is something that is definitely under consideration. I definitely think it is time to include some real Final Fantasy characters. As far as playing as King Mickey, I know a lot of fans want to play as King Mickey so I am taking that into consideration as well. Sora is the main characters and it would be nice to have other playable characters and that again is under consideration. ”

Regarding the worlds, Nomura said he definitely wants to have some stable worlds and some surprises. He actually wants to definitely implement a number of surprising worlds this time to KH3, so we should definitely anticipate them. Star Wars anyone?

Nomura was also asked about multiplayer in KH3 and if it was possible, he did say it was also in consideration especially during this time where multiplayer is popular.

More things he said…

• Nomura said that in previous KH titles, we could summon Disney characters, but this will be different in KH3.
  

• We will also definitely see more of the Organization, since Master Xehanort is behind it and it won’t be the end of nobodies.
  

• He was also asked if we would see the actual Kingdom Hearts and his response was surprising saying, ” I think it will appear “

Final Fantasy XV, Nomura’s Take

During the interview a battle was shown between Noctis and a huge monster, the gaming is visually stunning and the battle system looks like what the fans have been asking for. We even saw glimpses of battles on walls, that’s right WALLS! The host asked why the name change in which Nomura responded,

” 1 to 2 years after Versus was announced we had long discussions of changing it to Final Fantasy XV because of the scale of Versus and the concept of the game so it was only appropriate to have it as Final Fantasy XV. About two years ago after still discussing it, we heard reports about new generation consoles so at this point it was only right to rename it. ”

The host asked Nomura to tell us a bit about Noctis, Nomura’s response…

” Noctis is a very cocky guy and through the story you learn that really hes not as cool as he thinks he is. ”

Not a lot was revealed about XV but Nomura said hang in tight because news will start coming in fast!

This is an Opinion post, not news:
Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV Should Have Remained Exclusive
by TreezyJune 12, 2013

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With the recent news that both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV will be arriving on the Xbox One, it has me wondering exactly what happened between Sony and Square Enix?

First let me start off by going into both games and explaining a little bit about them. I would like to clarify that this piece is not saying that the game would better perform on one console in any way, but these titles would have highly benefited the PlayStation 4 if they were to remain exclusive.

Let's start with Kingdom Hearts III. Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II were groundbreaking titles that rocked the PlayStation 2 over a decade ago. Multiple handheld titles have graced both Nintendo and Sony's handhelds, but the console games have always been Sony exclusive until now.

The news that Kingdom Hearts III will also be hitting the Xbox One is slightly confusing to me. Why on earth would Square Enix want to carry the main franchise of Kingdom Hearts over to a company with absolutely no Kingdom Hearts' history? Another confusing aspect is that there are currently no plans for a Wii U version of Kingdom Hearts III, which is odd considering the history Nintendo has with the Kingdom Hearts brand. You would think that if the series were going multiplatform it would at least show support to a company that has history with it.

"In the end it's all about the money". While this may be true and the most likely case, it still doesn't make sense. Square Enix currently has the opportunity to spread the Kingdom Hearts series to even more gamers, but have chosen to release their upcoming Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix exclusively on the PlayStation 3. It's weird that Square Enix would choose to release an HD collection on one console and release Kingdom Hearts III on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I'm not saying that this is wrong, I'm happy more gamers will be able to play what is sure to be a great game, I just do not understand the logic behind SE's decision other than money, money, money.

Let's talk about Final Fantasy XV (previously known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII). Production for Final Fantasy XV began in early 2006 and for seven long years it has been under wraps and marketed as a "PlayStation 3 Exclusive". Several years ago remarks were made that hinted at an Xbox 360 release, which caused major backlash with fans. Fans were then "re-assured" that Final Fantasy XV would be releasing exclusively for the PlayStation 3 only and that there were no plans for a 360 release.

Now that the game has been re-branded it's alright for Square-Enix to announce that it's going multiplatform on next gen systems? When I really think about it, this is probably the reason why we have heard so little about Final Fantasy XV in the last few years. If that happens to be the case, then SE should have saved everyone the trouble of worrying about the game's development. SE should have confirmed that they had intentions of going multiplatform when it was first slightly mentioned years ago. If SE would have acknowledged that, we would more than likely have gotten more updates on the game's development, and would have been spared from numerous rumors saying that the game was doomed and likely to be canceled.

The big question popping through my mind is how did Sony not retain exclusivity for this title? Every hardcore gamer knows the hype surrounding this game and it has been building for years. You would think Sony would have approached Square-Enix and try to negotiate a deal to keep Final Fantasy XV exclusive to their console, especially a next gen console. It leads to my same conclusion with Kingdom Hearts III, except I sort of expected Final Fantasy XV to go multiplatform, I just wish SE would have confirmed it ages ago.

Regardless of why Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy Versus… crap… XV (I have to get used to saying that now) are going multiplatform, they would have been killer titles for the PlayStation 4 if they would have remained exclusive. Sony would have had two more games to add to their line up of awesome exclusives and would have shown that they were clearly ready to dominate the next generation of console gaming. Sony's E3 press conference clearly displayed success when both these games were unveiled, it appeared that Sony would dominate the next gen without competition.

Obviously two games can not dictate the entire success of a console, but a popular series can. How many times have you heard someone say they purchased a console because they just had to play an exclusive game? It happens all the time and with these two games in particular it would have benefited Sony a lot if these titles were to remain exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Sony still has a load of great exclusives and will likely impress us with future exclusives. Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV will more than likely be heavily promoted for the PlayStation 4, sort of like Call of Duty is promoted to look like it's for the Xbox only.

In the end gamers who enjoy all aspects of gaming will get two games from Tetsuya Nomur that will more than likely be great.

This is an Opinion post, not news:
E3 2013: Final Fantasy XV and the death of the Japanese RPG?
Square Enix's decision to drop the turn-based battle system in favour of action-oriented play risks further alienating fans
by Simon ParkinJune 12, 2013

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"I couldn't sleep last night."

Whether Final Fantasy producer Shinji Hashimoto's insomnia ahead of the first day of the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles is down to excitement or terror is unclear. The news that Japanese mega-dev Square Enix's next mainline Final Fantasy title – the 15th in the long-running series – will be a rebranded version of seemingly dead-in-the-water side project Final Fantasy XIII Versus has been met with considerable consternation by fans.
Final Fantasy XV battle gameplay trailer

The game, a pet project from character designer turned keeper-of-all-things-Final-Fantasy, Tetsuya Nomura, has been in development for more than seven years – testing Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto's oft-repeated maxim that "a delayed game is eventually good" to breaking point. But the controversy over the troubled title's promotion to become the next instalment in the company's most valuable franchise is a style concern as much as anything.

Launched in 1986, the original Final Fantasy popularised the Japanese role-playing game – an eastern take on the Dungeons and Dragons boardgames of the 70s – first among the Japanese game-playing public and, following the high profile launch of the seventh game in the series, around the world. Each game presents a new planet, an unfamiliar clutch of characters and a different take on the game's core rules and systems, loosely tied together with a series of recurring themes and motifs. Each new release has leapfrogged the previous one in terms of visual fidelity and technological showboating but the underlying systems have evolved at a far slower rate, leading many to claim the series' design had stagnated.

As such, Final Fantasy XV is an attempt to answer these criticisms with an action-oriented play style that appears to have entirely dropped the turn-based battle system and other trappings of its Dungeons and Dragons-inspired past. While Square-Enix has been happy to explore new design territory under the Final Fantasy branding in the past (Final Fantasy Tactics was a deep and thoughtful strategy game, while Final Fantasy Dissidia is a series of fighting games) this is the first time it's risked alienating its fans with a disruptive mainline title. Perhaps for that reason the company calls a press briefing titled "The Future of Final Fantasy" three hours before the E3 conference opens in a nearby hotel.

"We have to be flexible to attract more fans," says the besuited Hashimoto, the epitome of the sombre Japanese executive, making clear the company's thinking behind the switch. "I want you to understand Final Fantasy is always evolving." "Adapt or fail" appears to be the logic as both the 13th and 14th games in the series failed to meet commercial or critical expectations. Even so, it will be difficult for the company to slip from the perception that Final Fantasy XV is damaged goods, a problematic project that Square Enix has attempted to solve with a simple rebrand. But for series fans – of which there remain a great many – it also appears like evidence that Square is turning its back on the genre in which it made its name and fortune in favour of mainstream action games.

Hashimoto offers no straightforward answer to the concern. "As you are aware, the Final Fantasy series has different game system for every new title. While Final Fantasy XV is an action-packed title, that doesn't mean next game will follow a similar path. And I can't comment on future titles. But I do believe it's possible to make a multimillion-yen project in either style."

Neither will Hashimoto speak to the difficulties of converting an early PlayStation 3 project into a PlayStation 4 title. "I'm not able to discuss this," he says, simply reiterating that the game is made in DirectX 11, so will port without difficulty across the next-generation consoles, including the Xbox One. It's too soon to say that Final Fantasy is a series in crisis. But few would dispute it has something of an identity crisis, one seeded by the departure of its creator Hironobu Sakaguchi in 2003 following the box office failure of another company pet project, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a film that lost the company more than $50m.

Earlier this year Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, a reboot of the troubled MMO Final Fantasy XIV, said: "It may sound crazy but Square Enix will never give up on the Final Fantasy series." Not crazy at all. Final Fantasy remains the beating heart of a company that would not exist without its decades of commercial success. But will Square Enix give up on the Japanese RPG? That, for the first time, appears to be a distinct possibility.

Final Fantasy XV's soundtrack is from Yoko Shimomura
Composer of Kingdom Hearts scores first Final Fantasy
by Jayson NapolitanoJune 12, 2013

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Square Enix has been shuffling composition duties for the Final Fantasy series among a number of composers in recent years, and former Square Enix composer Yoko Shimomura will be continuing that tradition. She was originally tapped to score Final Fantasy XV when it was still known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, so it makes sense that she's continued on with the project after its rebranding.

According to a source close to development, Shimomura will be scoring Final Fantasy XV alone, and an orchestrator is yet to be determined. This will mark her first foray into the Final Fantasy series, with past composers including Nobuo Uematsu (XIV), Masashi Hamauzu (XIII), and Hitoshi Sakimoto (XII). While she's best known for her work on the Kingdom Hearts series (including the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III), she's also worked on Legend of Mana, Parasite Eve, and Front Mission.

I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more.

Sounds Like Final Fantasy XV Might Get a Sequel
by Brian AshcraftJune 12, 2013

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The newly announced Final Fantasy XV looks like a big game. It could even be big even for a successive title—something like a Final Fantasy XV-2, if you like. Perhaps!

In various forms, the game has been in development for a long time. And when speaking with Famitsu.com, Final Fantasy XV game designer Tetsuya Nomura acknowledged that the trailer did say, "the world has changed", which provided an appropriate segue for the game's title change. (Originally, Final Fantasy XV was titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII.)

"The story and the characters have not changed from the onset," Nomura said. The game designer also confirmed that the action RPG gameplay apparently hasn't changed either from the original plans.


"However, in the trailer," Nomura added, "there's a line of narration that reads, 'A World of the VERSUS Epic', suggesting that Final Fantasy XV ushers in one climax of a planned, continuous story."

Famitsu noted that it sounds like there's the possibility of a sequel of sorts to which Nomura replied, "If you make something this dense, it becomes an extraordinarily grand thing. There was an idea to drop the sheer volume and the density, but, in that situation, desired elements undoubtedly die, too."

Continuing, Nomura said, "That's why, I'm thinking in my mind of completing a successive work."

Granted, that's not a full confirmation, but as with Lightning Returns, just don't be surprised if sometime in the future Square Enix wheels out another title, set in the Final Fantasy XV world. I won't be.

Final Fantasy XV main characters detailed
Meet Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Cole.
by Sal RomanoJune 12, 2013

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Jump this week has the first character descriptions for the newly revealed Final Fantasy XV. Detailed below are Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Cole.

Noctis Lucis Caelum
JP: ノクティス・ルシス・チェラム
CV: Tatsuhisa Suzuki



The Prince of the Lucis Kingdom with eyes that can sense people’s death. Noctis is a free-spirited guy whose friends call him “Noct.”

Gladiolus Amicitia
JP: グラディオラス・アミシティア
CV: Kenta Miyake



The first-born child of a distinguished family protecting the royal family for generations. He is Noctis’ best friend and like a brother to him.

Ignis Stupeo Scientia
JP: イグニス・ストゥペオ・スキエンティア
CV: Mamoru Miyano



Noctis’ childhood friend and a staff officer raised with a gifted education. He understands Noctis and acts as his adviser.

Prompto Argentum
JP: プロンプト・アージェンタム
CV: Tetsuya Kakihara



A bad influence and friend from Noctis’ student days. He tends to push his luck, but does wants to help his friends? He boasts a courageous exterior.

Cole Leones
JP: コル・リオニス
CV: Hiroki Touchi



One of the top three commanding officers of the elite imperial guards. He is strict with Noctis and his friends, but is an honorable and righteous man who has sworn his allegiance to the king and country.

Note: The official English surnames of Prompto, Ignis, and Gladiolus, and the given and surnames of Cole are not confirmed. Published above are romanizations based on the Latin words that sound closest to their reading.

Why Square turned Versus XIII into Final Fantasy XV
by Edge StaffJune 13, 2013

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Final Fantasy Versus XIII became Final Fantasy XV two years ago as a result of the project’s increasing size and scale, Tetsuya Nomura has told us.

In one of the more unusual E3 game reveals, Square confirmed during Sony’s conference that Versus XIII will now be released as Final Fantasy XV. We asked Nomura to explain when and why the project changed course in an interview the following day.

“As you may know, three years ago we announced three titles, Agito, Versus XIII and XIII But one to two years after that announcement in the company we started discussing the possibility of moving Versus XIII into XV because of the size and scale of Versus XIII,’ he said. “So we were warming up the idea of considering the move to XV – which is the mainstream [entry of the] Final Fantasy series – and between that time and now we had several chances to announce updates of the series and we debated if we should go with Versus XIII or announce the change to XV.”

“About two years ago we confirmed, internally, that we would change the title to XV and then at the same time, around that time, the company started working on next-gen consoles, because hard disc was getting ready for the next-gen development. So that became a really good trigger to move on to the change of XV. And also around the same time Zero changed the title name so that was another reason.”

After its unveiling at Sony’s E3 presentation, Square confirmed that Final Fantasy XV will be released on Xbox One as well as PS4.

If the characters are interesting, and the story is amazing, then I won't mind a sequel.

However, I wish they would make a sequel after the success of a new game, and not plan to have a certain # before the first is even out.

I think Nomura has a problem fitting his storylines within one game so I don't mind a sequel at all, if that's the case.

And as Kali said, planning a sequel after is better than before.

I also think people are being overly negative about the battle system. It's not like we haven't seen RPGs with them before (Star Ocean, Kingdom Hearts and the Tales games). If the story is good then I don't see the problem at all (and Nomura tends to write a good story imo). Turn-based battle was always used before because it was much easier to do because of the technical limitations. Now that we don't have that when it comes to combat, why not try different things?

I'm sure most of you have muted the TV and just pressed attack to grind levels or items in an FF before. With real time fighting the combat won't be as boring when you're grinding and it can make fights a lot more challenging.

Nomura details Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III in Famitsu
by Erren Van DuineJune 12, 2013

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Nomura’s at E3 this year – that we already know; however, finding interview with him is few and far between – unless you’re Famitsu it seems.

The magazine went behind closed doors to interview the director of both titles, gleaming from him a few more details we’d not known previously.

Of interest, Nomura says the line in the trailer “about the fifteenth coming” was more of a gag joke than anything – it will not be in the game. He acknowledges that the “A world of the VERSUS epic” tagline at the end of the trailer specifically refers to the possibility of turning the setting into a series of its own. He says the story in FFXV will reach a climax, but it is like the conclusion of a single part of a larger epic poem. There will be room for more stories to be told – so don’t be surprised if a FFXV-2 shows up at some point.

Nomura is aware that for large scale console development projects, there might be a need to keep people interested in the long term with online elements (multiplayer) rather than just offer a short term single player experience. There are no concrete plans as of yet but he’s looking at all possibilities to see what fits.

Square Enix is also interested in expanding new FF experiences to the PS Vita – note that XV will be playable through it by Sony mandate anyway – as well as smartphones and tablets. In terms of the types of content, they will be new experiences instead of tried and true FF ones.

Those worried about another FFXV media hiatus need not – Nomura promises there will be more of XV from now on, especially at larger events such as Tokyo Game Show.

Onto Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura says they’re calling the shading technique in the game the “Kingdom Shader” and shaders will change with each Disney world to create more authentic visual experiences based on source material. In regards to the actual engine for XV and KH3, the teams are looking to use Luminous Studio as the main engine. By developing on an Overspec PC environment, it makes porting content to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One quite easy.

The battle footage shown for KH3 is a pre-rendered movie as the tools they’re using have difficulty outputting stuff on the actual systems right now – though Nomura promises it runs in real time in the development environment and it should look the same given time.

The two biggest new things in KH3 which he talks about are “crazy scale action” and way better enemy AI. He confirms that there will be a three character party in the game, but NPCs and allies in each world will also join in battles, and there will be crazy epic aerial action sound like KH. He also talks about enemy AI being more complex and being able to interact with the player, like Sora riding on a vehicle type enemy and so on.

The team is also considering online features for KH3, as well as other features that have not been in a KH title before.

Finally, Nomura thinks that it would be great if they can time the release of more information on KH3 at the D23 Expo Japan in October along with TGS. KH3 is seen as a rival production for FFXV, currently in development at Square Enix’s Osaka studio while the main team works on Final Fantasy.

They want to get more people to play by going the action rout?, well... They'll be losing this buyer. Sorry but jrpg or gtfo. Somebody said it on 1st page and I thought the exact same thing... It looks like a devil may cry clone, I'm good SE. It was a good run and 1-7,12 will always be some of my favorite consule games.

Turn-based doesn't make it JRPG lol

Maybe it's just that one environment they're showing, but looking at all the FFXV Media, my eyes ache for color.

There were pics of the overworld shown before where you see lots of nature so I'm sure there will be more color

I need to see a picture then!

As it stands now, even Fallout 3 used more color.

These aren't that recent so it should look much better now

I like turn based, but that doesn't make a game what it is.

You don't remember nearly as many fights on a turn based battle, most of them in 7 was holding the X button to win.

The newer games can at least say they made you think a little (even just a little) about what you have to do to beat an easy enemy. That's not to say the older games didn't have that, but there were a lot of times I was just spamming the × button. There were times when I did have to focus, but it was near critical points in the game.

Also, I enjoy not going into a CS when entering battle. I like that I can see what is coming up, and I can prepare beforehand. You can also say that you prefer not knowing, and having to deal with a situation without prep in older games.

Both sides have their pro's and con's, and for me neither side is better than the other. You can make a fight more challenging by letting a player know it's going to be difficult before they engage. You can surprise a player with a random battle, but you can't make them too difficult or you run the risk of killing that player most of the time (which is not the developers intention, this isn't dark souls).

Also, newer games allow you to change equipment in the middle of battle, this allows the difficulty to be increased even more, which is a good thing.

Whether or not they take advantage of the difficulty opportunity is up to them, and the do not in most cases. However, the difficulty possibility is still there if they wish to use it, where as older games it was generally unfair if they did, and would force a player to grind levels just to beat it before moving on.

I'm not praising any game above 9, with their risks came rewards, but a lot of mistakes and issues. Some players can overlook them and love the game for what it is, I'm the type that can't. If I have an issue with something I can't let it go, and it will drive me to hate a game.

I honestly believe that 15 will be more Final Fantasy like than 13 was. It's not very close, but it's closer.

That's better, still a little undersatured in my opinion, but knowing SE this game has 25 more years before launch!

We've only seen a few areas of the game so far though, who knows what the others will look like

Looking at these screenshots, I can't help but miss the traditional "fantasy."


Perhaps I just miss FF9.

I'm pretty sure I never had to use a crosshair in Final Fantasy XIII.

is it just me, or is final fantasy 15 looking like a sausage fest

Well it looks to have one female for sure, but the jury is out on the far right picture. That is pretty lame.

I'd rather play a game with a sausage fest as long as it ensures we dont get another travesty that was lightning

Or Penelo.

Hey, I actually ended up liking Penelo personality wise....sure she never healed me on time ever....but I don't think she deserves to be clumped in a group with Lightening..


Also..to me this game looks more exciting than FF13 ever did but I am so sick of modern-ish games. I really want a FF with castle towns and stuff again :(