Director of Final Fantasy XV Hajime Tabata recently hosted a Final Fantasy XV themed Active Time Report on Square Enix Japan’s Youtube and NicoNico channels. This showed off gameplay, content and environments. Tabata also answered a number of questions, cleared up any confusion and put a final confirmation on all the features that will be included in the demo for Final Fantasy XV, Episode Duscae which is due on March 17th in North America, March 19th in Japan and March 20th in Europe on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This article will go over all the information that Tabata divulged during the show, a lot of which concerned the gameplay of Final Fantasy XV, but also covers questing, exploration and other in game content.

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The show was split into several sections.  After an introduction that revealed the future availability of a Noctis Play Arts Kai figure, the stream quickly segued into a demonstration of the control layout for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One gamepads. During this segment the controls were demonstrated on the Xbox One version of the game, the first revealed footage of that version. Once this was completed the stream then moved to the PlayStation 4 version of the game to show a spoiler free demonstration of Episode Duscae which included combat, exploration, questing and a demonstration of a variety of mechanics and systems that will be available. The stream then ended with a Q&A session with Hajime Tabata.

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Episode Duscae General Information

• Final Fantasy XV development is currently at around 60% completion. Development is going on schedule and is at a steady pace. Once feedback from Episode Duscae has been processed, development may increase in pace. Tabata stated that 80% completion isn’t too far off once things start coming together in the near future.
• The title screen of Episode Duscae is reflective of real world time (tied to your consoles clock.) It’ll have different dynamic themes on the title screen dependent upon what time you booted up the game.
• The soundtrack for Episode Duscae has been composed by Yoko Shimomura.
• Episode Duscae will not be reflective of the final product, many features and systems will be entirely missing in addition to changes and optimisation to everything from visuals to gameplay between Episode Duscae and the final product. The framerate for the final product was also included in this statement.
• The full world map will be between 10 and 20 times the size of the available area in Episode Duscae.
• Of things not included in Episode Duscae – swimming and dynamic weather were confirmed not to be available in the demo.
• The demo has a save system, however the save will not carry over or be compatible with the final release. The development team are considering a ‘reward’ for those players who do play both Episode Duscae and the final release however.
•  The goal of Episode Duscae is to demonstrate the scale and the gameplay of Final Fantasy XV to players which the team states are the biggest changes from previous titles, in addition to gathering feedback from said players.

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Controls

The controls for Episode Duscae are as follows:

• Analogue stick to move character.
• Cross/A to jump.
• Square/X to attack.
• L1/LB to guard.
• L3/Left Stick to dash or sprint.
• Circle/B to ”Shift” A.K.A warp or teleport.
• Triangle/Y to use your currently selected ability.

Combat and Creatures

Noctis will be the only playable and customisable character in Episode Duscae. Fellow party members will be controlled by the AI and you won’t be able to customise their equipment. The AI is fairly independent and is also highly reactive to situational moments in battle.

Noctis has several different weapon set ups available to customise. This currently includes”Break,” “Rush,” “Slash,” ‘Counter,” and “Raid” equipment. Each set up has a different effect that will need to be used in certain combinations to obtain the best results.

The combat in Episode Duscae is initiated when a red gauge appears at the top of the screen and characters change stance. The gauge will slowly fill giving you an opportunity to escape the encounter, however once the gauge is full, combat begins.

• In combat the player may use the lock on mechanic, this can be set to be automatic in the options menus.
• To block or dodge attacks the player must use L1/LB, this is set to Noctis’ MP bar and will drain when used.
• Powerful enemy attacks will be highlighted in order to give the player time to react, however some enemies have attacks that ignore dodges or guards.
• Teleporting with Noctis also costs MP.
• Using Noctis’ ”Phantom Sword” ability will cause the ability to be used until Noctis’ MP is entirely drained.
• HP and MP is replenished slowly over time outside of combat.
• Once the player’s HP is depleted to 0 it is not ‘game over.’ The player enters a ‘critical phase’ as the HP gauge turns red during which the player can use a potion or a healing spell to recover. However if the player does neither of these things before the red gauge runs out it is indeed ‘game over.’

Enemies in Episode Duscae come in a variety of forms including robots, goblins and garulas. Some are immediately hostile to the player, others will be passive unless the player performs actions that provoke them.

• Items can be gained from slain enemies that can either be sold for Gil or used in the ‘cooking’ mechanic.
• Combat alerts other enemies in the surrounding area to your presence.
• Enemies change based upon time of day. At night, more difficult enemies appear and their numbers increase.
• Enemies all have a specific weakness that the player may exploit. Whilst taking damage additional weaknesses may appear on enemies.
• Experience gains are noted when combat ends. There are also displays for how long the encounter took, how much damage was dealt by the player and how many attacks were parried. These stats seem to contribute towards any bonus experienced gain from each encounter.

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Additional Mechanics and Questing

• Blue lights at night indicate places where the player can camp, these are safe zones. After being used the player can fast travel to these locations at any time.
• Players can only level up at camp.
• Items and ingredients from enemies can be used to cook meals which each have different party and stat buffs.
• Players can sleep through the night till the morning. Not sleeping or eating for extended periods of time will cause your party to suffer from various weakness penalties and stat de-buffs.
• A full day in Episode Duscae is around 45 minutes long.

Additional Information

Tabata dismissed rumours that Airships had been scrapped and stated that he would discuss them at a later date. In addition to this he refused to reveal the summon that will be available in Episode Duscae asking players to wait for the demo to release. There was also confirmation that there would be post-game content in Episode Duscae but nothing beyond its existence was confirmed.

Fextralife will continue to keep you up to date with all Final Fantasy XV news and information, if and when it releases.

More information on Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae can be found here. Whilst more details on how to obtain Episode Duscae can be found here.