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It's no secret that fans of Square Enix's epic RPG series are ready to get their hands on a copy of Final Fantasy 15. Essentially, the franchise has become practically synonymous with role-playing games, so the high level of anticipation surrounding Final Fantasy 15 is definitely understandable – especially since the title has been in heavy development for almost 9 years after its announcement at E3 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus 13.
One of the main reasons behind Final Fantasy's longstanding success is arguably due to each title's ability to adapt its gameplay mechanics to fit the demands of the market – an example being the relatively recent reshaping of its classic turn-based fighting into a more action-oriented battle system – while also retaining iconic elements of the series. For instance, the franchise has a special sense of continuity as Final Fantasy's history and features are often referred to and built upon within each “sequel”, like recurring spell names (Holy, Meteor, and Ultima), common themes relating to the conflict of good versus evil, as well as items such as magical orbs and crystals.
Bearing all of that in mind, a lot of the Final Fantasy 15-related material revealed to the public at Gamescom 2015 has shown Square Enix not only wishes to retain certain characteristics that made the franchise special in the first place (like the reincorporation of Malboros as enemies in the video above) but also wants the newest installment to evolve into something even more distinctive. As a matter of fact, after showing yesterday's cinematic trailer, Final Fantasy 15's director Hajime Tabata took questions from fans, eventually divulging the possibility of including and refining airships, which have been staples of the series.
Regarding the issue of reintroducing aerial transportation, Tabata says:
“If the height that the airship can fly is limited, then it would technically be possible. There is a good chance it will be in the game and at least fly at bird’s height. If it’s not in the base game, I want to have it released after the game launches as downloadable content.”
Additionally, much to the excitement of fans, Tabata went on to explain that Final Fantasy 15's Cross-Chain combo system is still being fine-tuned. Plus, the director teased expo attendees a bit by saying the core game will have a third type not featured in the Episode Duscae demo.
On top of all that, Tabata released even more news about Final Fantasy 15, elaborating on the upcoming RPG's main baddie. According to the director, the new villain is “going to top all of the previous FF villains.” Even so, extra details involving the character will be dropped at a later date. Furthermore, Tabata says that the enigmatic “girl with black hair” who goes by the name Luna, is to remain a mystery for the time being, but is wholly important to the overall narrative.
For fans of Final Fantasy 15, all of this news is certainly exciting, and enough to make gamers want to play it immediately. However, Tabata has said he and his team can't announce an exact launch date just yet, but a fresh playable demo will be available “as soon as possible”. Nevertheless, the director assuaged fans' fears of more delays, saying, "We can certainly say to people: it's not going to be 2017. It's going to be before that." With any luck, we'll see the game make its way to stores during the early-to-mid portion of next year.
Final Fantasy 15 is being developed for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and it should be out some time in 2016.