Final Fantasy XV Director Talks About Chocobos, Lunafreya, And Many Other Features

Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata had a lot to share on the game during the recent Active Time Report at Tokyo Game Show 2015. He followed up with additional details on it during an interview with Famitsu.

• Noctis and friends won’t get into investigating the story behind the meteor too much, as it’s been around since long ago; however, we will learn more about it in the game.

• Hajime Tabata is currently considering a feature for the car radio. Some of the ideas include being able to play your own MP3 music files, or tracks from other Final Fantasy or Square Enix titles. Due to legal issues of being able to use your own MP3 files, they’re considering going with Final Fantasy or Square Enix music. Tabata says that the laws are a little bit lighter in Japan and North America, but they’re more strict about it in Europe.

• To answer the above question: no they won’t, as it wouldn’t fit the world setting of Final Fantasy XV.

• It still hasn’t been determined whether Moogles will be in the game or not, as Tabata still has them under consideration.

• Fans voiced their opinion on wanting to heara Final Fantasy main theme arrangement by Yoko Shimomura, and that’s something Tabata says he’d like to hear as well.

• There are various kinds of fish to catch in Final Fantasy XV. While it does vary from area to area, you’ll get to catch some fish that are as big as 1 meter long (3.2 feet).

• You won’t be able to fish at the sea, but since you’ll get to travel by ship, Tabata feels that it’d be a good idea to have it included.

• Fishing doesn’t have anything to do with your character’s level, but it’s more about knowing how to use its actions and lure better.

• The fish you catch will be stocked as ingredients and items. Upon catching new fish, it’ll increase your recipe numbers as well. Think of it as catching a new kind of fish and having one of the other guys say “Ignis, I want to try eating something like that!” and he’ll respond with “all right, let’s try it out!” and a new recipe will appear.

• Each of the other party members have their own special hobbies or systems that are unique to them. Prompto uses his smartphone to take pictures, as he wants to save pictures of his journey, and you’ll also get to upload those pictures on social media networks. It’s not just a system that was thrown in, as it will later connect to their actions and story.

• Final Fantasy XV is collaborating with Coleman, a company that specializes in outdoor recreation products. Gladio has always liked the outdoors, and has been collecting Coleman goods for a while. The others know about it, so they decided to leave the camping stuff up to him.

• Gladio also likes to fight, so he’ll do research on all kinds of skills. He will say things like “I think this move would be good,” and then will make it available as a cooperative ability between party members in combat.

• You won’t be able to fight while riding a Chocobo, and if the Chocobo is not feeling up to it, the battle will start and they’ll run away.

• There are various vegetables you can feed the Chocobo, and depending on which foods you give them, they’ll get different morale boosts. And depending on that, they’ll either know how to avoid battles with enemies, or let the battle happen and just run away.

• There are Black Chocobos, and it hasn’t been decided whether you’ll get to ride them or not. Think of them more as wild Chocobos. You won’t be able to rent them, but you might be able to catch them through battle, but they’re still uncertain about this part on the Black Chocobos.

• The above image is supposed to represent Luna’s strength. She may have a stern look on her face, but it’s not because of the soldiers around her. Rather, it has to do with what awaits in the future.

• The black-haired character was recently revealed as Gentiana. She’s Luna’s assistant, but Tabata says that she’s not just any assistant, and that she’s a special figure.

• Luna is using her powers to prevent the “Plague of the Star” from further advancing. Due to this plague in the world of Final Fantasy XV, as the days go by the nights get longer and longer. Luna is fighting to prevent the world from being in complete darkness.

• As you advance through the game’s story, the nights will become longer and longer. The title “Dawn” from the trailer is an important keyword to the world as well.

• Rather than a pet, the dog is there to protect Luna, similar to Gentiana.

• Noctis suffered an injury that almost took his life as a child. Because of this injury, he was able to spend time with Luna, and that’s when he was able to make a certain promise with her. The arranged marriage between him and Luna aren’t related to this promise.

• Luna will fight by your side as a guest.

• In addition to DLC costumes, Tabata says that it’s likely that the airship will also be a DLC at this point. He reiterates that should it be a DLC, it’ll be available for free.

• As previously mentioned, Gilgamesh will likely appear as a DLC character. That said, they have plans to include scenarios for the characters they add via DLC. Tabata hopes to have ways for players to enjoy the game more after beating the game, and he feels that adding characters such as Gilgamesh through DLC would be a good idea.

• In addition to the release date that will be announced at the March event, they’ll have a tech demo and other details. They’ll also reveal other collaborations that tie Final Fantasy XV with more of a real life feeling to it.  Tabata would like to show more interesting stuff on the game, which he hopes everyone can look forward to as well.

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