Final Fantasy XV is featured in Famitsu this week and a Japanese gaming blog, Hokanko, has made a summary of the article. It contains new details and an interview with the director Hajime Tabata, where he discusses about the game and the Luminous Engine, which they are developing simultaneously.

Exploring the Town

It has been clear for a while that Final Fantasy XV is planned to be a large scale adventure with many places to explore and things to do. In the Jump Festa 2015, we were introduced with a new town, Lestarg, (translation, not an official name) which will be one of the most important areas in the beginning of the game. The town was inspired by the Bahamas, and there you can do shopping, stay in hotels or go eat in restaurants. You can also pick up cooking ingredients to make food for yourself while camping outside. Ingredients can be acquire by killing innocent monsters as well.

The ropeways might be rideable in the final version of the game, if the developers have enough time to add the feature.

Creating a Lively World

One the biggest risk developing an open world game is creating a lifeless universe. The developers really want the players feel that the world surrounding them is truly living: they will be able to communicate with NPCs, play mini games and learn thing or another about the locals. After sight-seeing and integrating with people, you can seamlessly change the area without ever seeing a loading screen. Should we go hunting Behemoths in the mountains? If you aren’t interested in killing these beasts, we can go fishing instead, which one of the mini games in Final Fantasy XV. Tabata didn’t confirm if players are able to fish in the demo. By the way, renting Chocobos will be possible in the full game.

Cindy the Mechanic

As mentioned earlier, the mechanic Cindy will be assisting the main cast through the game. She will be there when needed and Tabata teased there’s logical reasoning behind it. However, she doesn’t have a big role in the story, but she is still there to support you. Let’s just assume that she will be upgrading and fixing your car since, after all, she is a mechanic.

Battle System Details: Summoning, Timing & Weapons

After the Tokyo Game Show 2014, the development team has been updating and adjusting the battle system accordingly to the fan feedback. Their current schedule is to finalize the battle system for the demo. There’s a fighting scene against a gigantic creature Titan in the latest trailer. To acquire an eidolon, you have to beat it at first. After that only Noctis will be able to summon them in the battlefield. Even though the size of eidolons and certain monsters can be enormous, the fights won’t differ that much from normal enemies. However, the boss fights tend to have special cooperative attacks and events.

Since the reveal, it has been quite hard to explain how the battle system works. What Tabata has wanted to do with it, is to create a hardcore battle system that’s also accessible for the newcomers. This means that the novices and the experts will be separated from each other with certain key mechanics such as parrying that demands strict timing. To evade the incoming attacks, the player must enter into “the defense stance” which consumes MP points. Like in Final Fantasy XIII, there won’t be separated magic points for attacks – MP will used for defending and using certain abilities such as warping.

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Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will be released on March 17 in North America, March 19 in Japan and March 20 in Europe. The first print edition of the game contains an exclusive demo of Final Fantasy XV.

PlayStation 4 – Amazon.co.uk

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Standard Edition
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD FR4ME Edition
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition

Xbox One – Amazon.co.uk

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Standard Edition
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD FR4ME Edition
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition

PlayStation 4 – Amazon.com

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Standard Edition
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition

Xbox One – Amazon.com

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Standard Edition
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition