Tag Archive

Final Fantasy XV Season 2, Spin-off Comrades Game Coming In The Next 2 Years

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

Fans of 2016’s Final Fantasy XV got confirmation at the Penny Arcade Expo that a season 2 of downloadable content is upcoming alongside the unexpected news that the multiplayer focused expansion, titled Comrades, will be receiving a major update this summer and a stand-alone release.

We’ve known for a while now – since the release and confirmation of March’s FFXV: Royal Edition  – that brand new episodic DLC episodes could be a possibility.

Thanks to ResetERA User Reyes, who provided high quality copies of slides presented during the Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future panel that the next season of FFXV DLC will include:

  • Episode Ardyn: “The Conflict of the Sages”
  • Episode Aranea: “The Beginning of the End”
  • Episode Lunafreya: “The Choice of Freedom”
  • Episode Noctis: “The Final Strike”

All four of Season 2’s episodes will be directed by the same director as Season 1’s Episode: Ignis. An alternate ending to the game will be presented in Episode III: Notics – “The Final Strike”, Season 2 of DLC is set to begin at the end of this year and continue into the summer of 2019.

Comrades, an add-on expansion from Season 1 which allows players to create their custom avatar and take them during Chapter 13 of the story will receive multiple updates as well as a standalone version that can be played without the base game.

Here’s the full DLC schedule as presented at the panel:

I’m glad the rumoured (and honestly absurd) Final Fantasy XV: Versus episode ended up being nothing more than fan speculation. With almost two years of post-release content, now multiple Season Passes and a collection of free updates, FFXV has improved markedly from the initial release. I know fans wanted the development team to embrace Nomura’s original script and ideas – but I think expanding the characters and world of XV is a much better choice.

0

Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition Launches On iOS In Canada

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

It seems that Square Enix has stealth launched Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition on iOS here in Canada without a press release or external announcement. Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition chapter 1 was available only via the App Store’s search function as of press time. It did not appear under the “Editor’s Pick” or “Games We Love” despite last week’s release of Final Fantasy Dissidia Omnia Opera being featured.

Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition is a mobile adaption of the 2016 console release complete with the same number of story chapters and voice acting streamlined for mobile platforms. The nearly photo-realistic reflections and HD textures of the console version are replaced with chibi low-polygon versions of Noctis, Ignis, Prompto, Gladdio and their supporting cast. Surprisingly the iOS edition of Pocket Edition supports a number of graphical options not normally found within mobile games including different draw distances, texture qualities and even support for a 60 FPS mode if your phone can handle it.

This mobile port of XV has 10 chapters in total with chapter 1 available for free. Additional chapters after 1 start at $0.99 with chapters after 3 going for $3.99 USD according to the game’s official website.

Here’s a breakdown of the cost for each in-game chapter and microtransactions:

  •  Chapter 1: Free
  • Chapter 2: $0.99 USD
  • Chapter 3: $0.99 USD
  • Chapter 4: $3.99 USD
  • Chapter 5: $3.99 USD
  • Chapter 6: $3.99 USD
  • Chapter 7: $3.99 USD
  • Chapter 8: $3.99 USD
  • Chapter 9: $3.99 USD
  • Chapter 10: $3.99 USD
  • All Chapter Pack: $19.99 USD

According to the official site the following are the minimum hardware / software requirements for apple devices:

iOS

  • iOS device with iOS 11.1 or later installed
  • iPhone6s (9th gen iphone) or later
  • iPad Pro
  • iPad (5th gen ipad) or later
  • iPad Air2 (2nd gen ipad air) or later
  • iPad mini4 (4th generation ipad mini) or later
  • Disc Space Required: 5GB or greater (the high resolution version requires 8GB or greater)

Although the official website says that 5GB or greater is required, the initial download for Episode 1 was 900MB with a 500MB required patch. I’m still playing through Chapter 1 but so far Pocket Edition feels extremely faithful to the console original – all of the same voice lines that I remember from the opening hours are present and accounted for. Feels a little odd to move Noct around using my thumb, but perhaps I’ll get used to it.

 

0

Final Fantasy XV’s System Requirements Aren’t For The Faint of Heart

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

Final Fantasy XV is finally about to hit Windows PC this March after nearly a year and a half of PlayStation exclusivity. If you’re wondering about how finely tuned your gaming rig will have to be to render Noctis. Prompto, Ignis, Gladio and their sweet ride, the Regalia, you might want to sit down ft a moment.

16GBs of RAM, 6GB of video RAM and an AMD 8350 are required just to play the game in 1080p – which seems a bit excessive considering the PS4 achieves the same resolution at 30FPS with just 8GB of RAM and a much lower clocked CPU.

Now to be fair, Comparing PC specs to console specs is apples to oranges considering just how optimized a console port can be under the right circumstances. Still you might be wondering how much HDD space you’ll need for XV? Oh just 150GB.

Recommended Specs for 1080p
• AMD 8350 or Intel i7 3770
• 16GB
• At least 100GB free
• GeForce 1060 6GB variant or Radeon 480 8GB variant

Recommended Specs for 4K
• Windows 10
• Intel 7700k or AMD Ryzen 1600x
• 16GB
• At least 150GB free
• GeForce 1080TI

With all of the talk of technical specs out of the way – the Windows version of Final Fantasy XV does being some new additions: namely a drivable boat and a brand new map / set of quests that take place in the ruined capital city.
Here’s a rundown of features provided by Square Enix. A benchmark to test your own rigs against the FFXV behemoth will be released on Feb 1.

• Expanded Map: Insomnia City Ruins – all-new side quests and enemies such as Cerberus and Omega will be available through the expanded map of the Crown City of Insomnia. Players will also take on the Rulers of Yore.
• A fully-controllable Royal Vessel boat, expanding the world of Eos and allowing players to explore the area between Cape Caem and Altissia. Players will also be able to fish aboard the vessel and discover new fishes and dishes.
• A new accessory that can activate the new action “Armiger Unleashed” – players will be able to unleash powerful attacks while the Armiger is summoned. After collecting all of the royal arms, players will be able to find an accessory in an unidentified part of the world, enabling access to Armiger Unleashed.
• A new first-person camera mode, allowing players to experience the game from Noctis’ perspective.
• More than a dozen pieces of downloadable content including weapons, Regalia car skins and item sets
• All season pass content including EPISODE GLADIOLUS, EPISODE PROMPTO, MULTIPLAYER EXPANSION: COMRADES** and EPISODE IGNIS
• Archive – players can review the “Cosmogony” stories scattered throughout the FINAL FANTASY XV world. Additional local myths and legends will also be placed in various new locations, allowing players to obtain more information about the world.
• Quest to obtain and Strengthen Regalia Type-D
• New Trophies
• The FINAL FANTASY XV base game

0

Report: Square Enix Recoups Final Fantasy XV Development Costs

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Seems that Noctis, Gladio, Prompto and Ignis succeeded in one particular mission the first day that Final Fantasy XV was available to the public – breaking even on its development costs. The game’s director Hajime Tabata stated to DualShockers during a recent visit to the company’s Japanese offices for their Business Development Division that the game was profitable right from the start.

Final Fantasy XV was a monumental success in the West with Square announcing that sales of the game had exceeded 5 million units on launch day so it is no surprise that Tabata & Co broke even right out of the gate. FFXV was the first entry in the franchise to have a simultaneous worldwide release, typically prior to this latest title FF games would come out in Japan first followed by localized releases as the translation was completed.

Additional content will be coming to Final Fantasy XV including single player episodes based around Gladio and Prompto as well as a PlayStation VR experience based around FFXV’s world.

0

FFXV’s “Ready To Play” Partial Install Shows Flaws In Sony’s System

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Square Enix’s decade-in-development RPG Final Fantasy XV is now playable for those who have pre-loaded the titled on PlayStation 4 through the PlayStation Store. Like many other Final Fantasy fans I decided to go all digital with this latest title due to the fact that it would unlock at 10 PM EST and allow me to play several hours ahead of the release locally – plus I wouldn’t have to leave the house, which is a huge plus.

During the download of FFXV the PlayStation download manager will tell users that approximately 8GB of the game are required before the game is “ready to start”. I naively assumed that this “ready to start” download would allow me to play at least the first chapter of the game but just like last year’s Star Wars: Battlefront FFXV’s partial download is nothing more than an endless gauntlet against waves of enemies. If you have slower internet like I do you could be facing the prospect of fighting an endless horde of goblins for hours with little variation in content to keep you entertained.

So what’s the big issue? Well, when Sony announced the PlayStation 4 they positioned the “Ready To Start” as enabling the player to begin their gaming experience while waiting for the complete game to finish installing. Unfortunately in practise in many cases this mean’s the players either face endless hordes of enemies or other smaller slices of game-play that do not add to the overall experience with the completed game. Earlier in the system’s life-span launch games like Need For Speed: Rivals allowed players to start the campaign, as did Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. It is inexcusable that FFXV’s mandatory partial download does not contain any substantial content. If Sony is going to mandate that developers put in small slices of playable content while downloads finish they should take steps to ensure that they are entertaining.

I think Jim Sterling did a lot better in his lengthy video on the particular issues with the “Ready To Start” feature than I can in one news article:


Final Fantasy XV is now available for digital pre-load on PlayStation 4 and will be available at retail locations tomorrow for both PS4 and Xbox One.

0

Get the latest articles and news from BrokenJoysticks and a selection of excellent articles from other sources.

Simply fill out the form below and you’ll be on your way to getting our upcoming newsletter.