Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae Impression

First announced in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII the game has been through numerous delays and channelization rumors. Now we finally have the chance to play it, and it was amazing. Despite some minor issues that demo for Final Fantasy XV shows that the game is on the right track.

Final Fantasy XV looks beautifully. The sprawling Duscaen landscape is filled with hidden wonders waiting to be unlock and with lush greenery, massive creatures and hostile dangers it was a joy to just run around. Exploring every inch of this world was my prime objective.

I was immediately set with an objective, hunt a massive Behemoth named Dead-Eye in order to fulfill a bounty to gain the necessary gil to fix my car. Then the combat tutorial followed which highlighted the best part of Final Fantasy XV, active combat. 

While fluid and exciting it wasn’t new, instead it was an extension of what I already experienced in Type-0. Yes their were new abilities like warping but nothing worth mentioning. If you do fall in combat your allies, who share the same amazing AI from Type-0, will revive you and vise versa. At times I forgot my allies were present because I was focused on my own task, they micromanaged enemies and provided support when I needed it.

Experience is earned by completing missions and killing enemies. Depending on how fast you eliminate the enemies determines how much of an experience boost you’ll gain. However experience isn’t applied until you rest. When resting at camp you enjoy meals that offer unique bonuses and experience boost for the next day whereas town rest stops cost money and increase your experience bonus. If you wish to stay out be ready to contend with new creatures and a lack of light. 

As I progressed through the demo certain things began to irk me. Characters would pause after each battle and enemies would appear out of no where, the fluidity and speed that I was expecting from XV almost disappeared. What was most upsetting was that I was limited to playing as one of the four characters, perhaps this was a demo limitation but I would’ve enjoyed testing out different styles of combat. What reignited the flame of excitement I had for this game came from my tracking, and the fight, with Deadeye.

When I first laid eyes on this massive creature the power and lethal nature of Dead-Eye became apparent. You cannot just train and fight this creature, instead a plan had to be formed. What truly had me in shock was how I killed the creature. Summoning Ramuh to exterminate Deadeye was outstanding to watch, I can’t imagine how the other summoning are going to be like.

It’s hard to judge Final Fantasy XV based on this demo alone but it’s on the right track. The combat isn’t revolutionary but the allure of Final Fantasy XV comes from exploring the environments. It’s clear that story isn’t the focus here but to showoff the combat and exploration elements of XV. For now this teaser is a nice treat until the final product is released, and hopefully we won’t have to wait long.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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