Apr 012016
Note: I considered writing a joke article for April Fool’s Day, but I don’t actually like April Fool’s Day a lot. Besides, we have important Final Fantasy news to cover.
When it comes to Final Fantasy XV, I’ve fought a certain amount of uneasiness.
While I once considered Final Fantasy the ultimate RPG series, Final Fantasy XIII was hard on me… to the point where I use it as an example of how not to write a villain.
And Final Fantasy XV has an open world, which isn’t my favorite style.
For a long time, I was really iffy on Final Fantasy XV and prepared for disappointment.
Things have changed since then, though. Square Enix promised amazing villains and dungeons. Xenoblade Chronicles X taught me not all open world games are bad.
And March 30’s “Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV” event won me over.
From Sakaguchi’s introduction to all the announcements, it is more apparent than ever that Square Enix believes Final Fantasy XV is a masterpiece. Best of all, they seem extremely confident in the story… and that’s what I’m most interested in.
This trailer is not only exciting (and that ending!!!), but it also makes me even more curious about Ardyn, previously introduced as one of the villains. But while trailers give an idea of what the story is like, we’ve got even more story content coming before the game!
Final Fantasy XV is getting an anime tie-in called Brotherhood, and it’s going to be my first anime.
All of the episodes will be online for free, and I already watched the first one. It was short, but interesting, and I really appreciated the character interactions. Final Fantasy XV’s party has raised a lot of debates among fans, but I… think I like them.
(Especially Ignis.)
There’s also going to be a full-length CGI movie called Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, which looks pretty cool and has some big-name actors involved with it (though that does make it weird since they aren’t voicing the game characters, and the movie takes place at the same time).
I’d go see Kingsglaive if it got a theatrical release, but it won’t. Instead, it’ll be available to stream and download online. (For free? That part still isn’t clear.) Like Brotherhood, it will be out before Final Fantasy XV.
This is great, and it’ll show off the lore and storytelling in advance!
Now, while a lot of video game events seem to only have a few interesting announcements and then fizzle, this one just kept going.
Final Fantasy XV will have a mini-game called Justice Monsters Five. It looks like some sort of pinball RPG game. But it’s not only a mini-game, it’s also getting a standalone mobile release!
If you want to play the mobile game, you can pre-register for it. (Is this a new thing? I’d just pre-registered for Tales of Link, the first time I ever saw the site, and then it showed up for Justice Monsters Five.)
Final Fantasy XV is also getting a new demo. Unlike Episode Duscae, which was 1) only included as part of Type-0, and 2) part of the actual game, the all-new Platinum Demo is free for everyone with a PS4 or Xbox One and is a side story not found in Final Fantasy XV.
To me, that looks like a ton of fun! Of course, there’s one problem. I don’t have a PS4 or Xbox One yet. So for now, I’ll admire the Platinum Demo from the sidelines.
Maybe I’ll get one before Final Fantasy XV comes out on September 30.
Square Enix seems supremely confident in Final Fantasy XV, and now… I believe in it too. This might redeem the series and make Final Fantasy a titan among RPGs once again. And it looks like we’ll have plenty of opportunities to sample it before committing to the full game.
What do you think?