Final Fantasy XV World Map Will Be Ten Times The Size Of The Duscae Region

Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata shared the latest details and a look at several gameplay footage clips during the Active Time Report in London. Here’s a summary highlighting what was talked about during the event. [Thanks, Game Jouhou]

• In the demo, you won’t be able to use other weapons [of the same type], nor will you be able to use all the actions of the weapon. This was done so you can get a taste of how each weapon plays. That said, Tabata would be more than happy to hear about suggestions on weapon customization.

• The demo won’t feature any armor or accessories, but they’ll be in the full game.

• Cars can go on highways, but when you’re off the road, you’ll be able to travel by foot or Chocobo. There will be other means of transportation as well.

• While Tabata couldn’t share more details on, he said that there will be trains in the game.

• When asked whether it’d be too easy to simply hold down a button to continuously evade enemy attacks, Tabata said not necessarily, as you can take hits from other directions, and you’ll lose your MP before you know it if you do that. Those who prefer to play with a more technical style could also press it to barely get it done in time for minimal MP consumption. The demo will have several Phantom Swords to acquire, but there will also be something that you can get later that has technical evasions that won’t cost you any MP to use.

• The final build for the demo is not complete yet. They’re still working on last minute touch-ups, and look forward to hearing feedback from players who get the demo.

• The demo won’t have button layout customizations. While they will include it in the full version, Square Enix would like to hear more about suggestions on custom menus from players who play the demo.

• The demo will let you go all the way up until level 99. It still remains unknown whether we’ll get to go beyond that in the full version.

• Tabata’s favorite character is Ignis.

• They also demonstrated the above video, showing a little bit of dungeon exploration on the Xbox One version of the game. “Dungeons in old Final Fantasy games have a scary image to them, so the concept we’ve gone with was to reproduce that feeling with the latest technology,” said Tabata. In addition to Goblins, dungeons are filled with tons of monsters.

• Some people felt shared their concern from the previous gameplay footage about the “hit-stop” effect (the slight delay when a sword goes through an enemy to give the attack and enemy a feeling of weight) being too long. According to Tabata, the current version has toned it down, and it lets you fight with a better tempo.

• Final Fantasy XV’s world map will be about ten times the size of the “Duscae Region,” and the demo will only contain a part of the region to boot.

• There won’t be any towns in the demo, but there will be a little facility. There are NPCs there, whom you’ll be able to interact with. For example, you’ll see an amusing couple, and such.

• You’ll be able to meet Chocobos in the demo, but you can’t ride them. You’ll get to do so in the full version.

• The above footage focuses on Final Fantasy XV’s nature spots, where you’ll see beautiful scenery, and animals and creatures in their natural habitat. Tabata said that this is something they’re putting much effort into, and joked about having something like “The World of Final Fantasy XV” as a BBC or National Geographic special.

You can watch the full Active Time Report in its entirety in the below video. The Final Fantasy XV begins at around the 1:37:00 mark.

Final Fantasy XV is in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.