Final Fantasy 15

INTRODUCTION

Final Fantasy XV is an open world action role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One home consoles. The game is the fifteenth main installment in the Final Fantasy series, and was released worldwide on November 29, 2016. The game features an open-world environment and action-based battle system similar to the Kingdom Hearts series, incorporating the ability to switch weapons and other elements such as vehicle travel and camping.

Final Fantasy XV takes place on the fictional world of Eos. All the world's countries, bar the kingdom of Lucis, are under the dominion of the empire of Niflheim. Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the Lucian throne, goes on a quest to retake his homeland and its magical Crystal after it is seized by Niflheim on the eve of peace negotiations between the two nations. However, he soon discovers that the Crystal is at the heart of a much greater threat to Eos, and that his role as the future king is key to averting an apocalyptic event from taking place. The game shares a thematic connection with Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy, a subseries of games linked by a common mythos which includes Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Type-0.

Development of Final Fantasy XV began in 2006, when it was a PlayStation 3 spin-off of Final Fantasy XIII titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which lasted approximately ten years. Tetsuya Nomura served as the original director and character designer, creating the characters and original concept. In 2012, it was officially rebranded as the next mainline title in the series and shifted development to eighth generation platforms, with Nomura being replaced as director by Hajime Tabata. To expand the story without developing additional video games, a multimedia project called the "Final Fantasy XV Universe" was created: its products include an anime series, a feature film, and virtual reality-based game. Upon release Final Fantasy XV was received positively by critics and broke franchise sales records, eventually shipping six million copies worldwide.

GAMEPLAY

Final Fantasy XV is an open world action role-playing game where players take control of main protagonist Noctis during his journey across the world of Eos. While accompanied by his three companions Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto, Noctis is the only character directly controlled by the player: he can navigate through simple movement, jump over small obstacles, sprint for a limited time, and perform context-based actions such as taking cover behind objects. The world is a large connected landmass that can be explored on foot, by using the party's car "Regalia", or chocobos, recurring galliform birds in the Final Fantasy series. Both the Regalia and chosen Chocobos can be customised by the player, and Chocobos can join in battles if their connection to the characters is strong enough. While Chocobos are controlled manually, the Regalia can be either manually or automatically controlled. The party can also fast-travel to areas unlocked on the world map. The Regalia must be refueled periodically at petrol stations.In towns the party can visit, there are inns and hotels where they can stay, shops where items and equipment can be purchased with the in-game currency gil, and local tipsters, non-playable characters (NPCs) who provide information on quests, from main story missions to side quests. Side quests are also available from individual NPCs found in towns. During some story sequences, dialogue choices appear for Noctis, with the selected option altering the response from NPCs.The game also contains two difficulty modes, Easy and Normal, with players being able to switch between the two. In Easy mode, the summon Carbuncle will appear once per battle to heal Noctis whenever he dies.

The game uses an action-based real-time battle system, dubbed the Active Cross Battle system. Instead of using a menu interface, the player selects commands directly mapped to buttons on the controller, such as "Attack", "Defend", "Magic", and "Item". Battles take place within the current environment rather than transitioning to a separate arena, and can range from open plains to enclosed building interiors. When approaching enemies, a threat meter appears on the top of the screen, growing in intensity the closer the party gets to the enemy. When the party gets close and attacks or is spotted, the battle begins. Running away from enemies and out of the combat zone in normal battles ends combat. During battle, each character has health points (HP), and Noctis also has magic points (MP). HP is depleted whenever a character is attacked, while Noctis's MP recovers over time when not in combat when not using associated abilities such as warping or special weapon skills. The maximum HP cap decreases if all HP is lost, with some enemies such as Daemons able to lower the HP cap with their attacks. If all HP is lost, the characters enter Danger Mode, a brief period where a revival item must be used. If Noctis is defeated, the game ends.

Noctis can perform three actions in battle: the standard attack; "Warp", which takes Noctis to a targeted area such as another enemy or an out-of-the-way warp point, and "Defend", which blocks and parries attacks. There is a "Wait Mode" option available, where if all player input stops the battle pauses, and players are able to select new enemies to attack or actions to take within a time limit. An option available for both Noctis and Ignis in "Wait Mode" is Libra, an ability which displays an enemy's health, strengths and weaknesses. Noctis has access to a wide range of melee weapons, including single and double-handed swords, polearms, axes, shields, firearms and daggers. The weapons manifest from thin air as Noctis fights, and can be manually shifted by the player. The type of weapon equipped determines the attack speed and the amount of damage on normal attacks. In addition to normal attacks, there are attacks that deal more damage based on Noctis' position such as "Side Strike" or "Blindside", in addition to the Warp Strike attack. Attacks from enemies can be parried, and depending on the quality of the parry Noctis can counterattack. If wielding a shield-type weapon, a successful block staggers an enemy, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Story-related weapons are the Royal Arms, which Noctis can summon for a special attack called "Armiger", when the meter fills during combat: while more powerful than standard weapons, Royal Arms consume HP with each use. Noctis can also use two classes of firearms—Guns, which range from handguns like pistols to rifles; and Machinery, powerful weapons that have varying effects depending on the type used, from generating a powerful shockwave to dealing high melee damage.

Noctis' companions, while controlled by the game's artificial intelligence, can perform contextual commands. As Noctis attacks enemies, a meter called the Link Metre fills. When full, Noctis' companions can trigger Links, cooperative actions in battle. Noctis can also issue Commands to his companions: Gladiolus performs a sweeping attack with his sword, Ignis uses his daggers to mark enemies so Noctis can perform a warp strike attack, and Prompto uses his firearm to launch a flare that distracts and slows enemies. After each of these, Noctis can initiate a follow-up attack. Noctis can also trigger an Armiger Chain, where he splits his Royal Arms between his companions before launching a single attack.

Magic is separated into two types: Elemental magic and Ring magic. Elemental magic is separated into three types; Fire, Ice and Lightning. Elemental magic is drawn from points across the world map, being absorbed into special flasks and used to craft magical bombs that can be used on enemies. Elemental magic can also be combined with specific items to add new effects, such as healing party members while damaging enemies. Both Noctis and his companions are able to use Elemental magic. Ring magic, accessed when Noctis has acquired and equipped a story-related item called the Ring of the Lucii, has access to more powerful magical abilities such as "Death", which drains an enemy's health. After a certain point in the game, Noctis can call upon summoned monsters called Astrals, which aid the party by launching a devastating attack. The summons featured are series regulars including Titan, Ramuh, Leviathan and Shiva. Their types of attack, and even whether they assist at all, is dependent on the environment: for instance, Leviathan can only be summoned in the open when there is a body of water nearby. At certain points in the story, Noctis is joined by guest characters who have their own actions triggered when Noctis performs specific actions in battle.

Open World Action Role-Playing Video Game

INTRODUCTION

GAMEPLAY

TRAILER