Square Enix has showed a completely playable version of Final Fantasy XV for the first time ever! The live demo is known as “The Overture”, and it was used to premiere the new key features of Luminous Engine, and showcase the gameplay in real time. The demo is located the same city (Accordo) as the E3 2013 gameplay trailer. Though, the E3 2013 footage was running on Ebony engine, not on Luminous like now.
Dynamic Weather & Day-Night Cycle Systems
The demo started with a presentation of dynamic weather and day-night cycle systems. When it’s raining, snowing, thundering, or shining, the environment and objects will react accordingly. As the day goes on, lighting and shadows will change dynamically, and you can stand in one place and see the day cycle with changing weather conditions. The city of Accordo reacts to the night as well, and all the buildings will turn on their lighting during the night.
New Gameplay Details:
The end half of the demo was dedicated for the battle system. During the battle sequence, Noctis and his friends were challenged by a group of Goblins and a Behemoth. You could see Noctis using his teleportation and magic abilities, but also wielding his multiple weapons such a spear and a sword. Another key feature revealed was “the linking system” that allows characters to pair and perform a strong attacks together. We were also introduced with the character switch system, which was shown back in 2011. Now in 2014, you just need to press a button to seamlessly change from a character to another.* Â Attacking, guarding and evading happens by pressing the buttons, and by holding down the guard/attack button, the character will use them automatically. The auto-mode still needs more explanation since it may not be as simple as it sounds.
Thanks to SQEXGAL for additional details on the Ebony engine. The off-screen pictures: 4gamer.*
*Update: It’s not completely sure did they perform a character change during the demo. Other possibility could be Ignis performing a special attack where the camera angle changed like you were controlling the character. More information on this feature to be revealed later.
Categories: FINAL FANTASY XV
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I remember ages ago – reading up on this game and the ideas they wanted to implement into the game to make it feel realistic as possible – actually seeing it now – just wow!
Cant wait to explore and spend countless hours on this game :3
and Miranda – i agree with you on Prompto ;p
Prompto is so HOT! I can’t handle myself anymore, my fangurling levels are over 9000, and they are just rising with ever new video, screenshot and details we get from the game!
These new features sounds amazing and I think I will taking so many sunset screenshots when I finally get my hands on the game/demo itself. I really hope there will be snowy areas as well, and I think I saw snow on the mountains during the TGS trailer. If we can explore those areas, it would be awesome!