Square Enix held their very last Final Fantasy XV live stream for E3 2016, and they finished the event with XV questions for Final Fantasy XV. Here are Hajime Tabata’s answers on the fan questions.
A: Yes, there is. The option is there so players can immerse themselves and also take proper screenshots.
A: There will be photos from Prompto, but you can also take pictures yourself. Prompto will gradually get better at taking photos, but if you want to take images before waiting for that to happen, you’ll get to do it yourself. There won’t be a theater mode due issues such as loading times. The coliseum mode is a mini-game at Altissia, but it’s not a mode where you’ll enter and participate in a fight. There’s a battle coliseum feature where you’ll get to participate by betting on monsters. Square Enix will add more post-launch content for the coliseum after release.
A: There are no plans for this at the moment. Camera distances will automatically adjust depending on the situation. Since it’s set to auto, there are no functions to do it manually. They’ll decide later on if a manual camera mode should be added.
A: If you do level up enough, there will be situations where you’ll one-hit kill enemies. Tabata doesn’t feel that it’s a negative aspect. He feels that one aspect of meeting the level to beat a tough boss is an enjoyable part to RPGs, which he personally likes. When you’re around the same level as the enemy monsters, you’ll be able to counter the difference using your own skills. For people that do not want to level up too high, there’s an item that lets players set a cap to their levels. This was made for players that want to do low level clears.
A: The UI design will be renewed once more.Currently working on new functionality and aesthetics for the UI. The progress on the UI and NPC elements are not as far along in progress compared to other parts. Controller layouts can be switched between the normal and the one from Episode Duscae. There may be a third option later.
A: No comment (joke, joke). The last scene of the trailer is towards the end of the journey, after you make your return to Insomnia. The Glaive costume is correct, and they’re wearing the Kingsglaive costumes. Can’t explain why due to spoilers.
A: Shinjuku area isn’t a town, but a location for battle. It’s not just the area in the City Hall that they’ve been showing, but there’s a lot more to it. While it might not be a full-fledged explorable town like Altissia, it’ll be a place where you’ll participate in battles. It’ll make more sense after watching Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.
A: Clearing the story will take about 40 to 50 hours. Meaning at the very least, there will be 40 hours of content to enjoy. There are a lot of side quests and other extras that will give it close to 200 hours of gameplay all together. Since fans have waited for quite a while, Square Enix wants there to be a lot of content for them to enjoy.
A: No answer about the retail version since they’re working on adjustments and optimizations until the very end. However, as for the current version at E3 2016 demo there are differences on Xbox One and PS4. The Xbox One’s dynamic resolution ranges between 800p and 900p at a constant 30fps. It is at a higher performance than Episode Duscae and Platinum Demo. There are times when the framerate dips, when you call out for ally commands, which will make it dip to about 26fps. It won’t be anything that deters from the gameplay experience. Since they were able to achieve this for the E3 demo, they’re confident for the full release. PS4 ranges between 900p and 1080p dynamic resolution. The PS4 version is mostly at 1080p and 30fps. It may occasionally dip, but this will continue to be optimized before its release. As far as anti-aliasing goes, it’s implemented every few frames so the load isn’t overwhelming.
A: Just to clarify, there’s a difference between normal running and dashing. Running doesn’t take up stamina, but sprint does. The duration of stamina can be influenced by what you eat at camp. This is something that is influenced by what you eat, rather than leveling. You’ll have the option to display or turn off the visibility of the stamina gauge in the final release will
A: Stand by me is the theme song, but Somnus is still in the game and used in a very important way. As for the tragedy-inspired elements, there will be serious moments and tragedy. The story is appropriate as the latest numbered FF title, but there are all sorts of elements to appeal to a wider audience. It’s not a fun upbeat road trip the whole way through.
A: In terms of numbers, it’s a relatively low number of Astrals. Some fans might feel that the total number of Astrals is underwhelming, but each one is so impactful that they’ll have a presence and fans will feel a connection with them in the game. Noctis is going to need to borrow their powers, and you’ll face off against them as you advance through the story as an important aspect. There are some that don’t affect the story such as Carbuncle. They hope people focus on personalities and characteristics of the Astrals. They’re not guardians of specific nations, but guardians of the world.
A: There’s not just one condition to summon an Astral. There are Astrals that you can use when Noctis in a pinch, and there are Astrals that are used when allies are in danger. There are some that can be called in other ways as well. Since they have their own personalities and characteristics, it’ll show in their actions. For example, you can only summon Leviathan when there’s a body of water near you. For example, summoning Ramuh in a dungeon won’t allow him to use his ability from outside, but he’ll get throw his staff.
A: The Airstep Sword is already in, and the Engine Sword as well with special functions. Please look forward to it. The name “Engine Sword” from Versus XIII days is still the official name of the sword.
A: We’ve mostly decided on all our plans for DLCs. The concept for the DLC is to make fans feel like they made a great purchase, and to have them keep playing longer. There’s a lot of things in the plans that Tabata is excited to share, but he can’t share anything about it now. There are additional story content and costumes, but there are things that don’t fall into that category that he feels fans will be excited to see. The PlayStation VR demo is another example of another DLC experience they’d like to share with fans. They are focusing on releasing the game for its September 30 release date, and only some of the core staff members are working on DLC. Once they’re done with the game and it goes gold, they will shift their focus more on DLC.
They originally said 15 questions, but since they had some time leftover, question #16 was added:
A: Party member behaviors are affected by weapons that they’re equipped and the abilities they have at the time. The weapons influence their actions in battle. The abilities influence the overall AI of the party members. The L1 button changes the bottom-left menu from equipment to a menu for ally commands, where you’ll be able to give them direct commands. There’s a cooldown timer for these commands, so you’ll need to wait after using them, otherwise they can be used whenever. There are also automatic abilities and actions that party members carry out, so depending on the abilities you have, it’ll vary on when they use them. Allies can also use magic used through items. Noctis is the main character you’ll take control of, but these features will make it feel like you’re controlling the entire party.
Final Fantasy XV will release for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30, 2016.
