Final Fantasy XV is the only game that can make me feel excited and disappointed at the same time. Like millions of other people, I’ve been waiting for Final Fantasy XV for what seems like an eternity. Every time I hear that there’s going to new information at a different convention, I get beyond excited by the fact that a release date may be revealed. Having skipped E3 this year, Square Enix had a lot to prove at Gamescom. And while I was certain that this would be the convention where more substantial news would be released, I was wrong. Even with the new Gamescom trailer and a release window, Final Fantasy XV still appears to be a bit concerning.
A few months ago, it was revealed that Square Enix would not attend E3 this year, but rather Gamescom. At the time, Director Hajime Tabata said “E3 doesn’t give us sufficient time to fully prepare. So I have been discussing with our marketing teams, and we’ve actually been considering Gamescom in August, instead of E3, as the target for the next major reveal. He added. “So we’ll be taking a break from E3 this year.” While that news was a bit disappointing, I, along with many other fans were hopeful that Gamescom would bring uplifting news. Unfortunately, Square did not deliver.
The day before the active time report, a new trailer titled “Dawn” was released. Set 15 years before the events of the game, the trailer shows off some story elements and is an emotional one for sure. From the dog wondering around the city to King Regis holding his son Noctis, the trailer set a particular tone that we can expect from the full game. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed at first, but the more times I see the trailer, the more I enjoy it. Having said that, Square did say that there was going to be big reveals at the convention, and for a lot of fans including myself, we were expecting a bit more from the trailer. But at least there was the active time report to look forward to.
The active time report was an opportunity to show off significant gameplay footage and trailers, but in typical Square fashion, we only got a taste of what’s to come. Tabata began the show by stating that a release date would not be announced and then proceeded to show off the “Dawn” trailer once more. This game has been in development for a decade and the developer still refused to announce a release window. New gameplay was shown of Noctis and his companions battling a Malboro, and while the gameplay trailer was fairly decent, there was nothing substantial about it. A day after the active time report, Tabata revealed that Final Fantasy XV would indeed launch before 2017, indicating that the game would be released in 2016. This was great to hear, but it felt like a reactionary move to please fans. Otherwise, why didn’t Tabata say so during the report?
Unfortunately, Gamescom wasn’t a complete success for Final Fantasy XV. Tabata should’ve come right out of the gate and announced a release window, but instead we got a lot of sub-par announcements and a lack of gameplay footage. Square Enix had big plans for Gamescom and Final Fantasy XV, but in the end what was showcased was lackluster.
i was excited to see what Tabata would present at Gamescom and then that trailer was released, which clearly tries to be emotional but to me it failed miserably, if anything it has manage to piss me off. but i was still excited for ATR, they will surely reveal tons of info and maybe a long gameplay trailer, right? oh boy… i couldn’t be more wrong, a worthless Q&A and a bare bones gameplay scene and the follow days where just as empty. the only thing i end up liking in the entire Gamescom was the MotherBase gameplay trailer of MGS V: TPP.
there is really something really very concerning about this game the first time i saw it.
style over substance
Bollocks. The game has plenty of substance.
Nope. Its FFXIII-3. Sorry.
FfVII Remake is where the magic is.
No, it’s not. This was the beginning of the marketing for the full FFXV, whereas previously they aren’t lying when they say they will start marketing the game more & more in the not-too-distant future.they’ve focused on Episode Duscae. They made the wrong decision to start it with more of a teaser than anything too meaty, but they already have a release date set for the game (even if they didn’t reveal it to us), so they are obviously getting closer to the final stretches of development. While FFXV should be past it by now, this really was a reboot of their marketing for FFXV and that meant they didn’t show a 6 minute trailer that showcases all aspects of the game. It kind of sucks after all the time we have been waiting for the game, but I don’t believe they are lying when they say they’ve got the rest of FFXV’s development & marketing schedule nailed down (barring delays). They just usually start their marketing cycle with this kind of teasing and build up to more meaty showings as the game gets closer to release. Even if it sucks for something we’ve already gotten, that’s the way SQEX has decided to handle the marketing of the full FFXV experience. Like any other big game of theirs, they aren’t going to blow their load 9-12+ months prior to release, no matter how long fans have waited for the game.
Also, the game has not been in development for a decade. Versus XIII hardly got anywhere until 2010 due to company-wide difficulties with the Crystal Tools and both FFXIII & FFXIV and then they moved it to current gen consoles sometime in 2012 and semi-rebooted the project. In the process some changes were made (Stella morphed into Luna, Noctis became the only playable character, some ideas were expanded upon, others were removed) and the scope grew to be bigger than what PS3 could allow them to do (a completely or at least more seamless world, less compromises to features & scale etc.). It retains a lot of the core aspects we came to know of Versus XIII (tries to tell a slightly darker more mature story, friendship & the father/son bond as core themes, action RPG with a slightly heavier feeling combat than your usual SQEX action RPG, a large overworld to explore and with tons of secrets to be found, modern-ish world, most of the characters are the same, Noctis’ powers haven’t changed at all etc.), but there are also differences. The FFXV we see now has been in development for about 3 years now, which
isn’t all that long for a massive open world-ish RPG like FFXV.
SquareEnix doesn’t exactly have a reputation for amazing product promotion. They do have a reputation for amazing games though. I’ll let the finished product speak for itself when the time comes.
I’d say the other way around…. they continually over-hype and under-deliver with the final product.
If the story is good and the battles are at least decent then I’m in. All I really want out of the battles though is to have a lot of options for ability and equipment customization and to see those choices effect how well battles go. To me, that is the best thing about RPG’s and Final Fantasy’s specifically.