Final Fantasy XV

There's plenty more Final Fantasy 15 to come, publisher Square Enix announced during a PAX East panel at the weekend.

Install sizes have been ballooning with the onset of 4K gaming, and the recently released PC version of Final Fantasy 15 may well top the lot. The 85GB base game combines with the 63GB optional high-resolution pack to make the install a whopping 148GB. Imagine downloading that on an old modem.

There's always been the sense that we've not been able to experience the definitive version of Final Fantasy 15, that today's console hardware simply doesn't have the horsepower to fully deliver the developers' original vision for the game. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One X have upped resolution and increased fidelity over the original releases, but fundamentally, there's still the sense that the game just has much more to offer. Only now with the release of the PC version do we get to see the Luminous Studios engine fully unleashed. Yes, the hardware demands can be onerous - staggering even - if you want to see everything but the visual return is outstanding.

First of all, the final code is improved over its initial outing in the benchmark released last month - GameWorks and other level of detail issues are greatly improved and overall frame-rates are higher, but AMD performance is still not quite where it should be - something we'll be looking at in more depth later on. For now, we'll be looking at the tangible benefits of playing Final Fantasy 15 on PC - and they are legion.

First of all, there are the basics: performance and resolution. Square-Enix's port has the exclusive full-screen and v-sync options bizarrely omitted from the benchmark, along with a vast range of tweakables to experiment with, but the fundamentals are in place too: arbitrary resolutions are supported as is ultra-wide support (we ran a lot of the game at the decidedly non-standard 3840x1600 and everything just worked fine) while in-game frame-rates up to 120fps are confirmed.

Read more

Buy a Steam copy of the upcoming Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition and you'll get to relive those hopes and dreams of ever seeing a shiny new Half-Life game.

Final Fantasy 15 is getting an all-new Royal Edition which bundles together all of the pre-existing DLC as well as introducing a bevvy of new features - and it releases on PC at the same time as on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, marking the debut of Final Fantasy 15's Windows edition.

An all-new dungeon in Insomnia City Ruins is introduced, as well as first-person mode and the ability to control the Royal Vessel, Final Fantasy 15's boat that takes players from Cape Caem to Atlissia.

Perhaps the best addition, however, is the introduction of all-new Yoshitaka Amano artwork for Final Fantasy 15 Royal Edition's cover, which is making me seriously consider buying an all-new physical copy (it's worth noting that if you already own Final Fantasy 15 you can access all the features introduced in Royal Edition as DLC - although with those extras coming in at $19.99, it's a fairly pricey add-on if you've already invested in the base game and the season pass).

Read more

Since its launch last year, Final Fantasy 15 has changed a lot and Square-Enix has continued to support the game with patches and changes designed to improve the experience for players while introducing features - but this hasn't always gone smoothly. The PS4 Pro has been supported since the game's release and its implementation has always been inconsistent at best. Features have come and gone but in the end, it never seemed to run as well as we would have hoped. Could the new Xbox One X upgrade finally deliver the Final Fantasy 15 experience we've been waiting for?

We were eager to check this one out because the base Xbox One version - as blurry as it is - has a crucial advantage over all PlayStation releases: correct frame-pacing at 30fps, each frame persisting for 33ms, giving a smooth, consistent, gameplay experience. The experience varies across each of the PS4 Pro's rendering modes, but to some extent, all of them deliver frames inconsistently, the impact at its worst in the high quality mode. In effect, bad frame-pacing introduces significant stutter into what is actually a locked 30fps experience.

Well, the results are in and while the upgrade lives up to expectations in many, many ways, there are a number of small issues that do need addressing. As expected, Xbox One X delivers the same three modes as the Pro. High centres on delivering the best quality visuals with a 30fps target, while steady drops back resolution to 1080p and targets the base consoles' visual feature set. Completing the line-up is 'lite', which unlocks the frame-rate. In terms of visual features, both steady and lite modes are much the same between Pro and X - it's the all-important high quality setting that truly sets them apart.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15's Episode Ignis expansion now has a release date: 13th December.

There's a new trailer, too, for you to marvel over everyone's pretty hair:

As previously announced, Final Fantasy 15's upcoming fishing-based VR spin-off Monster of the Deep is also on the way, due 21st November.

Read more

It's coming up to a year since Final Fantasy 15 released, but it's not as if work has stopped on Square Enix's epic RPG. Updates keep rolling out, a PC version is in the works - as well as a Switch version, which is still in the very early planning stages - while we're still a chapter away from seeing the expansions, each centred around a member of the game's main cast, being released. It seems the transformation that this game went from, from Final Fantasy Versus 13 to Final Fantasy 15, wasn't the only one it'd see - over the past year, it's shifted from a boxed game with a handful of expansions to a constantly evolving game-as-service.

A note from the editor: Jelly Deals is a deals site launched by our parent company, Gamer Network, with a mission to find the best bargains out there. Look out for the Jelly Deals roundup of reduced-price games and kit every Saturday on Eurogamer.

A few short weeks back, Final Fantasy 15 director Hajime Tabata hinted that Square Enix was looking into bringing his game to Nintendo's Switch console, and now we've an idea of what exactly that might look like - even if it's still very much in the planning stage.

Final Fantasy 15's multiplayer expansion, titled Comrades, has got an all-new trailer and a final release date, with the add-on coming out on 31st October.

It's part of ongoing support for Square Enix's RPG, which first launched last November, with three episodes centred around the main party also being released as part of Final Fantasy 15's season pass.

Comrades is also part of that season pass (it'll also be sold separately, it's worth noting), allowing players to party up in a series of co-op missions. A limited beta launched back in August, allowing people to sample Final Fantasy 15's own particular take on multiplayer.

Read more

Apparently cosplaying as an Assassin's Creed character is such a phenomenon that it's infiltrated the world of Final Fantasy 15. Indeed, Square Enix's popular RPG is getting a free Assassin's Creed-related timed expansion due 29th August and lasting through 31st Jan, 2018.

Square Enix is releasing yet another Final Fantasy 15 spin-off - this time a mobile version of the main game to take with you on the move.

Final Fantasy 15 players can finally clad themselves in the game's long-awaited invincibility armour - after a redesign to make it look less like the Power Rangers.

Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy 15 fans can test the game's multiplayer DLC next week.

Final Fantasy 15's multiplayer expansion, subtitled Comrades, will be available as a closed online test on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from 3rd to 8th August. Players can create their own custom avatars and join together with up to three others to participate in multiplayer quests.

Here are some screenshots of Comrades in action:

Read more

I ended up falling for Final Fantasy 15 in quite a big way when it finally released late last November, but good lord did it have more than its fair share of faults. A plot pockmarked with holes, a battle system that lacked some of the depth and elegance of the series' high-point and an open world that was a little threadbare - it was, if you looked at it from some angles, a bit of a shambles. But what heart it had. I struggle to think of another big budget game - especially one with such a tortured history - delivered with such enthusiasm, character and winning warmth.

Final Fantasy 15's next major piece of DLC, Episode Prompto, has been given a release date of Tuesday, June 27th by Square Enix.

It marks the second of four major DLC drops - Episode Gladiolus was released in March, with Ignis and multiplayer-centric episodes to come - which are available individually and as part of the season pass.

Episode Prompto will feature music from guest composer Naoshi Mizuta, known for his work on Final Fantasy 11 and 13-2, with a new trailer providing a tease of what's to come.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15's PlayStation VR experience has been re-revealed as the fishing-focused Monster of the Deep.

A new survey for Final Fantasy 15 lets players vote on what they'd like to see added to the game.

Accessible as part of a new update, players are able to choose one potential feature, with the highest voted items to be put into consideration by the development team.

Warning - there are some details that could be considered spoilers if you've yet to finish the game.

Read more

Square Enix is binning off Hitman developer IO Interactive, but it's just announced record revenue and profits for the company as a whole.

For the financial year ending 31st March 2017, Square Enix saw net sales of £1.7bn - an increase 20 per cent versus the previous year, with operating income up 20.3 per cent and ordinary income up 22.9 per cent.

Square Enix said the launch of Final Fantasy 15 and the PlayStation 4 version of Rise of the Tomb Raider as well as strong download sales of catalogue titles had sparked the increase in net sales and operating income in the area of console games.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 updated today to add an alternative take on the game's divisive Chapter 13.

The update that changes Final Fantasy 15's divisive Chapter 13 is live.

Update version 1.06 adds Chapter 13, Verse 2. This is an alternate route featuring Gladiolus. Previously you played through the chapter solo.

Elsewhere, the update enhances Arcana spells (Alterna, Holy and Death) and announces the winning snapshots from the game's first photo contest (you can view them at Takka's Pit Stop in Hammerhead.

Read more

A note from the editor: Jelly Deals is a deals site launched by our parent company, Gamer Network, with a mission to find the best bargains out there. Look out for the Jelly Deals roundup of reduced-price games and kit every Saturday on Eurogamer.

A King's Tale, the old-school brawler set 30 years before Final Fantasy 15, comes out today for everyone - and it's free.

Just prior to the release of Final Fantasy 15, Square-Enix teased an update that would enable faster frame-rates when playing the game on a PlayStation 4 Pro. Now, three months later, version 1.05 is finally available, promising enhanced performance up to 60fps. But does the final result actually match the target frame-rate - and have the title's troublesome frame-pacing issues in its 1800p/4K mode received any attention at all?

Prior to the arrival of this patch, users were presented with two options - lite and high. The former drops the presentation to 1080p resolution while delivering a smooth, stable 30 frames per second. This mode on PS4 Pro was our recommended way to play Final Fantasy 15 due to its consistency - the fact that, by and large, it produced a properly frame-paced 30fps. The high mode bumps the resolution up to 1800p using checkerboarding, and introduced enhanced visual features but consistent frame-pacing wasn't enforced, leading to a very jerky game in motion.

With 1.05 installed, the lite and high modes are still the choices available, but in adding a new, higher frame-rate mode, our only route to play FF15 with consistent frame-pacing is gone. Lite mode essentially unlocks the frame-rate, but performance doesn't reach anything like the mooted 60fps, averaging at around 45fps instead. Meanwhile, the high mode is the same as it ever was - the visuals are beautiful, but the consistency in the 30fps update is really poor. Frame-pacing definitely has not been fixed. It's a bit of a Hobson's choice then: in terms of performance, your options boil down to a highly variable unlocked frame-rate, or else a locked 30fps with inconsistent frame delivery, leading to a very jerky experience.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 has received a sizeable update, headlining with a long-awaited PS4 Pro patch to run the game at a maximum of 60 frames per second.

To date there has been two PS4 Pro options - Lite and High - capping the game at 30 frames per second. The 1800p High mode has previously seen some jittery results due to some frame-pacing issues; Digital Foundry is currently looking into what the patch can deliver and will offer its thoughts in the very near future.

Update 1.05 also adds several new in-game features for all PS4 and Xbox One players, the most interesting of which are Timed Quests accessed via the in-game menu screen. The first has you take on 100 (!) Cactuars and Slactuars, and you can expect some hefty EXP, AP and gil rewards for your trouble.

Read more

A note from the editor: Jelly Deals is a deals site launched by our parent company, Gamer Network, with a mission to find the best bargains out there. Look out for the Jelly Deals roundup of reduced-price games and kit every Saturday on Eurogamer.

Final Fantasy 15's first two big DLC episodes have been dated, with musclebound hunk Gladiolus leading the charge with his story being told on March 28th (thanks for the spot, USgamer).

For all its pomp and grandeur, Final Fantasy is so often at its best when it's being a little bit dumb. And it doesn't really get much dumber than the Moogle Chocobo carnival that's just launched as a free update to Final Fantasy 15. A standalone of sorts set in Altissia, the carnival repurposes the Venetian city as a colourful parade of mini-games that offer enough diversions to while away an hour or two.

Square Enix has certainly put the elbow grease in to make it worthwhile, and there's a surprising amount to see and do here. Is any of it actually that good? I'm not wholly convinced - the Chocobo racing is cute but throwaway, a shooting range and Cactaur-themed game of whackamole are equally slight and the only activities that last more than a couple of minutes are extended treasure hunts that are as torturous as they are titillating - but I've had a lovely time in the carnival nevertheless.

As the owner of two moogle plushies and someone who's constantly scouring Etsy for a moogle outfit for my nine month old daughter, I was always likely to be a pushover, but there's a goofiness to the whole thing that I think anyone can get onboard with. Within seconds of entering the carnival I was dancing alongside a man in a moogle suit; shortly after, I was warping from point to point in pursuit of a child's rogue balloons.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 famously spent over ten years in development, yet when it came out last November it still felt incomplete. Big edits had clearly been made, leaving the story potted with plot holes and inconsistencies while the open world narrows down to a corridor in the final half of the game, suggesting it was rushed over the finish line before director Hajime Tabata and his team could fulfil their vision.

Final Fantasy 15 has now shipped and digitally sold 6m copies, publisher Square Enix announced today. It sounds like a lot - but how well is it doing?

Square Enix's European Twitter has recovered its follower count after being hacked this morning.

Final Fantasy 15! It's either one of the best Final Fantasy games since the series' heyday, or a travesty that doesn't deserve to bear the Final Fantasy name. Well, it's so divisive that it must be a Final Fantasy game, given how fans have never really found a consensus on what the best game in the series could possibly be.

Still, one thing we can surely all agree on is the fact that Prompto's photographs that prop up the end of each day in Final Fantasy 15 are the best thing about the game. Heck, they may even be my favourite thing in any game in 2016, so perfectly distilling the knockabout theme of friendship that's at Final Fantasy 15's core. Well, now they're being improved, with a new update that's going live on December 22nd adding photo frames for you when sharing images online. I'd say that's worth picking a season pass up for, but this update's entirely free.

Also free is a New Game Plus mode and new items that come as part of a free holiday pack that include a band your party can equip that stops them from accruing XP. If that's your kind of thing.

Read more

I have an odd little theory about Final Fantasy games. You've heard, no doubt, of the odd/even Star Trek theory - or, as posited by Tim in the sitcom Spaced, how every odd-numbered Star Trek film turns out to be shite. With Final Fantasy, I've always thought it's a bit more complicated than that. There's a lot more shite to get through, for one thing, but when you find those highs they can be utterly sublime.

Final Fantasy 15's director Hajime Tabata has detailed forthcoming updates to the recently released game, and its story - which has come in for some criticism - is set to be tweaked at an unspecified date.

Be warned - some minor spoilers follow. The first beneficiary of the free updates will be Chapter 13 - the point at which the game sheds its open world and becomes more linear, and a level with stealth elements that's been cited as being overlong and frustrating as it limits the player's abilities. "Our early plans are to enrich certain aspects of the game, adding gameplay enhancements for Chapter 13, buffing ring magic, etc," said Tabata in the update. "We'll have the specifics of what and when for you at a later date."

Perhaps more controversially, Final Fantasy 15's story is to be tweaked with new cut-scenes that aim to clear up a muddied plot. "We're hoping to delve deeper into the story, adding scenes that will give you new insight into character motivations, such as why Ravus walked the path he did," said Tabata of what's to come after the updates to Chapter 13. "We will need a little time with these, as they'll need to be localised and voiced in other languages, but we'll let you know the details once everything is set."

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 is crammed with beautifully rendered foodstuffs, from hearty bean soups and croque madames to simpler fare like cup noodles and flame grilled toast.

Boy band RPG Final Fantasy 15 sold more than 5m copies on its launch day.

Square Enix trumpeted its sales success with word the game also qualified as the long-lived franchise's fastest-selling instalment - although this is largely due to it also being the series' first simultaneous global release.

FF15 also wins the crown for the most digital downloads of any game on day of release in Japan, and the biggest release ever in Asia outside Japan.

Read more

For a while there, Final Fantasy 15 performance was looking a touch dodgy. Seemingly prioritising visual accomplishments over a stable frame-rate, each of the title's early previews exhibited profound issues - and even the more recent Platinum demo, which introduced dynamic resolution scaling, still disappointed. The good news is that the release code's finishing touches include the required raft of optimisations required to sustain 30fps. The bad news is that a key issue remains unresolved on PlayStation 4 hardware - one that Square-Enix really needs to address.

We're referring to incorrect frame-pacing. At the risk of turning this into a lecture, there's a reason why visually complex games lock to 30fps instead of matching your typical display's standard 60Hz - developers have twice the amount of render time available, and by presenting a new frame on every other refresh, you still get a smooth, consistent experience. Bad console frame-pacing typically sees developers put the required 30fps cap in place, but do not update the new frame on every other display update.

The end result is that you get a jittery presentation that actually looks like a lower frame-rate presentation. Frames should arrive paced at clean 33ms intervals, but instead they persist for 16ms, 33ms or even 50ms. In a third person title like Final Fantasy 15, which has a lot of sweeping camera movement, the perceived judder is difficult to ignore. However, here's the thing - Xbox One is completely unaffected, and there is a mode unique to the PS4 Pro version that also seems to mostly address the problem.

Read more

Square Enix implemented its president and CEO Yosuke Matsuda as a special lvl.99 boss for its Final Fantasy 15 promotional livestream.

Final Fantasy has always been at its best in its more personal moments. Apocalyptic meteors, time-travelling sorceresses and fishy floating physical manifestations of your sins are all well and good, but they mean little if the story doesn't give you something a bit closer to home to relate to. Finding out it's who you are rather than where you came from that matters, learning to trust other people no matter their background, navigating tricky love triangles and attempting to get the girl even when she's busy conjuring monsters out of living statues - those are the story beats to remember. Stopping the bad guy and saving the world are rarely the most memorable moments from a Final Fantasy game. Characters like Vivi, Nanaki, Cyan and Galuf are the beating heart of these fables, characters in whom we see a nugget of truth or a moment of kinship, whether they're a talking, tattooed wolf-lion thing or not.

Final Fantasy 15

Publisher: Square Enix

Read more

A day one update for Final Fantasy 15 will add in a sprinkling of new features not yet finished when the game was pressed onto disc.

Pop the game into your console (or download it from your store of choice) and you'll be able to acquire the Crown update, available upon the game's release on 29th November.

This will add extra features, more recipes and cut-scenes from the Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 CGI movie, which tells a story that runs parallel to that of the main game.

Read more

UPDATE 2.15pm: Final Fantasy 15 publisher Square Enix has responded to the game's broken street date, after early copies of the game were sold in South America and streamed online.

Last month, you might have seen that Aoife and Chris went to play Final Fantasy 15, discovering to their delight that the game is making great strides. Aoife in particular was impressed by the changes made to the combat system, providing a more fluid and intuitive experience.

Final Fantasy 15 is actually out at the end of the month. Like, it's actually out. After all this time. Weird.

Aoife and I have played a bunch of it already and ended up having loads of fun.

But perhaps you remain unconvinced. Fair enough. Perhaps what you need is another demo.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 is getting a one-off collector's item that will cost you almost £375,000. For that, though, you get a special edition Audi R8 Star of Lucis, with design details inspired by Square Enix's upcoming RPG.

Square Enix will offer two enhanced display modes for owners of the new and more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro console. One will display the game in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second; the other will display the game at today's standard 1080p resolution but at 60 frames per second.

Editor's note: Hello! This piece originally ran in early November, but it seemed entirely appropriate to republish it this morning, now that a truly monumental piece of game development is finally reaching its conclusion. Enjoy!

Final Fantasy 15 will have online co-op multiplayer, implemented as part of the game's DLC offerings.

Just over a week ago, Chris Bratt and I were able to go hands-on with a new and improved build of Final Fantasy 15 - coincidentally, on the day that would have been its original worldwide launch date. The release had been pushed back two months to allow for extra polish, amid reports that earlier builds suffered from technical issues. From everything we experienced during our playthrough, though, the delay has so far been time very well spent. Here's almost an hour of gameplay if you'd like to see it for yourself.

Spare a thought for Aaron Paul. That guy is busy. He is up against it! He needs a holiday! He needs a long bath, as they say, to soak his hams. How do we know he's busy? Because, weirdly enough, Microsoft chose to make his busy-ness a core component of the marketing for Titanfall back in the day. Aaron Paul: Busy! But not too busy to play Titanfall.

Square Enix has released a new Final Fantasy 15 video to coincide with the ongoing Tokyo Game Show, and it has over four minutes of cutscene.

The game's set-up is this: Crown Prince Noctis and his friends escape after their homeland is invaded. They journey through the land of Eos, laughing, arguing, riding chocobos, as you do. Noctis and his J-Pop bros eventually take up arms against the Niflheim empire and fight back.

The video, below, shows off loads of additional characters you encounter in the opening chapters of the game, including the sinister, purple-haired stranger Ardyn Izunia (the video is in Japanese, so don't forget to turn on subtitles). If you've watched the CGI movie watched Kingsglaive, you'll be familiar with a lot of these characters and what's happened prior to the beginning of the game.

Read more

UPDATE 14th September 2016: The Final Fantasy 15 Luna Edition PS4 unveiled during Sony's Tokyo Game Show media briefing is coming to Europe as well as Japan.

In case you weren't entirely sure whether or not Square Enix has lost its marbles over Final Fantasy 15, here's some compelling evidence that should convince you one way or another. The publisher has taken over the iconic Abbey Road studios for a live concert of music from the forthcoming game, being performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra no less, for a livestream that's kicking off at 7pm BST.

Final Fantasy 15's Ultimate Collector's Edition doesn't include the game's season pass, Square Enix has confirmed.

Perhaps in an effort to ease the pain of the recently announced Final Fantasy 15 delay, Square Enix has released a humongous gameplay video for it.

There are 50 minutes to gawp at, showcasing what appears to be the start of the game. There's awkward dialogue, cheesy interactions, and a car - it's wonderfully Final Fantasy.

Most if not all facets of the game are on show, from character levelling to car exploration, and from combat to even a spot of fishing.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 has been delayed by two months.

English indie rock band Florence + the Machine has today released a selection of new tracks recorded for Final Fantasy 15. Titled Songs from Final Fantasy 15, the collection comprises three tracks; Too Much Is Never Enough, I Will Be and a rendition of Ben E. King's classic, Stand By Me.

Final Fantasy 15 has a season pass, as you might expect. Now, we know what's in it.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 got a release date and extended trailer at Comic-Con this weekend.

The animated film, which stars Sean Bean, Lena Headey and Aaron Paul, will be released digitally 30th August and on Blu-ray 4th October. But if you live in the US you'll be able to see it in select cinemas earlier, from 19th August.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 unfolds in parallel to the video game Final Fantasy 15. In the game, main character Noctis leaves his royal home on the 'eve of a peace deal between his father's kingdom of Lucis and the dominant empire of Niflheim. But after he sets out things go belly up and sneaky Niflheim invades anyway - so his mission becomes one of retaking his homeland and the magical crystal belonging to it. But in the film that story plays out from his father King Regis' point of view.

Read more

Frame-rate testing of Final Fantasy 15's Trial of the Titan demo - as seen at Microsoft's E3 presentation - shows Xbox One performance in a much improved state after two playable demos showed the game struggling to hit its 30fps frame-rate target. The E3 segment is taken straight from the main game's story, but moulded into a unique, self-contained sampler for the event - and compared to the poor performance seen in Episode Duscae and the more recent Platinum Demo, gameplay in this Titan battle runs at an almost locked 30fps.

Square Enix has shown live Xbox One gameplay of Final Fantasy 15 on stage at Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference, showcasing one of its screen-filling boss battles.

It sees Noct and his party surviving against a huge Titan, who must evade a series of attacks until more party members arrive, allowing them to turn the tables and fight back.

It's all part of an E3 Special mission titled 'The Trial of Titan', which will likely be on the show floor for attendees this week.

Read more

UPDATE 23/5/16: The second and final shipment of Final Fantasy 15 Ultimate Collector's Edition stock is now live via Square Enix's online store.

UPDATE 02/02/2016 6.33pm: Square Enix Europe has offered the following translated tweets from the Final Fantasy 15 director Hajime Tabata, wherein he says that scalpers "will be dealt with severely".

After a decade of on-and-off development, the end is in sight for Final Fantasy 15. Across multiple setbacks, changes in production personnel, and one name change, Square Enix now lays down the gauntlet with a firm September 30th launch date, and a brand new 'Platinum' demo for public perusal. This surreal 20-minute taster is entirely separate to the main game, but handily guides us through the technology of the final product - with the Luminous Studio engine in its latest form - where change is afoot on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Final Fantasy 15 is launching on 30th September for PS4 and Xbox One, but there's still been no word on a PC version. Now game director Hajime Tabata has addressed the issue stating that if it comes at all, it's going to be after the console release.

We've had a lot of posts up on the site regarding Final Fantasy 15 today, following the big live event in the early hours of this morning. You might have read Aoife's thoughts on the demo or enjoyed that GIF with the flying car, but to be honest, we haven't been talking about the most important story surrounding this game: you can play as a giraffe in the new 'Platinum' demo.

One of the more surprising moments of last night's Uncovered: Final Fantasy 15 event was footage of the game's car sprouting wings.

From the studio that brought you The Final Fantasy: Spirits Within...

If you're reading this, and the mysterious inner workings of Eurogamer's CMS are behaving as they should do, then Square's Uncovered: Final Fantasy 15 event has just concluded in Los Angeles and a brand new Platinum Demo for Xbox One and PS4 has just gone live on their respective online stores - sorry, PC owners. I actually completed the free demo a few hours before the event started, in a small hands-on session in downtown LA. About a half-hour to forty minutes long and very linear in nature, you play as a younger version of Noct, trapped inside his own dreamscape. His guide, an impossibly cute Carbuncle, communicates with him via text messages - complete with custom emoticons. He'll arm you with a Toy Sword and a Squeaky Hammer and take you through four different areas from the main game - a forest, a dining room, a cityscape, and finally the royal Citadel.

UPDATE 30/03/2016 7.02pm: Final Fantasy 15's release date has supposedly leaked. According to Gamespot - in a video since removed but screen-capped on NeoGAF - it's arriving on 30th September.

Please try to act surprised when this is announced later tonight.

ORIGINAL STORY 30/03/2016 5.20pm: A final Fantasy 15 demo is due tomorrow, it has been revealed.

Read more

Aoife's impressions live from Los Angeles.

Square Enix released new gameplay footage of Final Fantasy 15 over the weekend - and it shows off a different side to the Japanese role-playing adventure.

The footage, below, sees Final Fantasy 15's J-Pop band skulk about a military base riddled with enemy soldiers and the odd Metal Gear Rex - sorry, giant mech.

The level is designed to show off stealth play. The player uses cover to avoid detection, warping from one place to the other and taking out enemies with sneak attacks.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 will have Moogles, Square Enix has confirmed.

Last week the publisher polled Twitter users on whether they'd like to see the adorable bat cats return and a whopping 78 per cent voted yes to Moogles.

"Congrats Moogle! I'd like to thank everyone that voted. I will think of a fun little way to feature Moogles in #FFXV," tweeted game director Hajime Tabata.

Read more

Should Final Fantasy 15 include moogles? Square Enix wants to hear your opinion.

There's a reason why Final Fantasy 15's main characters all dress in black.

The people behind Final Fantasy 15 are talking with the people behind Just Cause 3 in a bid to get the fantasy role-playing game's airship off the ground.

Final Fantasy 15's release date has been narrowed down to 2016, 10 years after it first broke cover in its initial guise as Final Fantasy Versus 13.

Hajime Tabata, Final Fantasy 15's director, told Eurogamer the news as he mulled over the negative reaction to the game's Gamescom showing.

Yesterday, during an hour-long Active Time Report ivestream (catch up in the video, below), Square Enix released a new cutscene-heavy trailer and a slim slice of gameplay showing the Malboro monster take out Noctis and co in a new swamp area.

Read more

As you'd expect, Final Fantasy 15 has veteran Final Fantasy monster the Malboro. Now, watch it take out an entire party.

Square Enix's put a new Final Fantasy 15 trailer out to coincide with the start of Gamescom. It doesn't feature gameplay, unfortunately, but it does feature fancy cutscenes that show the game's protagonist, Noctis, when he was a kid.

The Dawn trailer shows events that take place 15 years before the start of the game, due out at some point on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Here's what's going on in the trailer, according to Square Enix:

Read more

Only available as bundled bonus with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, the Final Fantasy 15 demo impressed us with the scale of its technological ambition, but fell short in terms of performance. But that's OK for now - the game is still deep in development, after all. Now, in an unprecedented move, Square-Enix has seen fit to update this demo based on real feedback from fans around the world. It's a fascinating new approach to game development from the Japanese giant - and with version 2.0 of Final Fantasy 15 Episode Duscae comes a whole host of improvements and changes.

Square Enix has ditched a number of features it revealed as part of Final Fantasy Versus 13 - the game that became Final Fantasy 15.

UPDATE 09/06/2015: The Final Fantasy 15 demo update is out now.

Reports indicate it weighs in at 3.4GB, so get that download started.

The update tweaks the camera and targeting systems, adds additional quests, enhances the battle system with additional combination techniques, rebalances and bug fixes, and, according to Square Enix, triggers a more stabilised frame-rate.

Read more

Did you play the Final Fantasy 15 demo? Square Enix has taken the unusual but welcome step of addressing directly the raft of complaints players had about it.

Square Enix will release an update for its Final Fantasy 15 demo in May.

Siliconera reports the update brings Episode Duscae, which launched alongside Final Fantasy Type-0 HD in March, up to Ver. 2.00. It enhances the cooperative move system (Active Cross Battle), adjusts the camera targeting system, fixes bugs and adds combat actions and balance adjustments.

Apparently the update will also stabilise the demo's frame-rate. This news is welcome: Digital Foundry's analysis of the Final Fantasy 15 demo found the PlayStation 4 version hovers around 30fps with extended drops to 25-28fps during most combat scenarios, with the Xbox One version a 5fps deficit in comparison.

Read more

Final Fantasy 15 publisher Square Enix has announced its own E3 press conference, due to take place on Tuesday, 16th June at 5pm UK time.

The event will be streamed live on Twitch and YouTube, or you'll be able to watch the whole thing here with Eurogamer's usual brand of commentary (will this be the year of tucked or untucked shirts?).

Square Enix usually leaves its games to be showcased in the conferences of platform holders such as Microsoft and Sony. It's unusual that it is holding its own conference this year but, equally unusually, so is Bethesda.

Read more

People are already selling the Final Fantasy 15 demo on eBay - for half the price of the game it comes with.

Square-Enix's last generation Crystal Tools engine came and went with only four games to its name before being put to pasture - so when it was announced that the publisher would be switching to Unreal Engine 4 for new projects we were left wondering just what would become of their next-generation Luminous Studio. For the time being, at least, the answer is Final Fantasy 15 - the only announced title being created with this new in-house middleware solution. The team responsible for this new toolset is working closely with the game development team in order to deliver the most technically ambitious in-house game the Japanese publisher has ever produced. In a move recalling Square's glory days on the original PlayStation, the publisher has bundled a special demo version of Final Fantasy 15 known as Episode Duscae with another product, giving us our first hands-on with this ambitious new title.

I've spent hundreds of hours exploring the worlds of Final Fantasy. Between battling Ultimate Weapons, collecting Celestial weapons, playing cards, playing ball and hunting down secret summons and characters, I've lost days, possibly even entire weeks, to past series entries, all told. So, when I'm given just a single hour to explore a vast expanse of land in the Final Fantasy 15 demo, Episode Duscae, I panic.

You know how obsessive Gran Turismo is about cars? Well Final Fantasy 15 appears to be that obsessive about nature.

Square Enix has, in a live stream, given us our best look at Final Fantasy 15 yet: 40 minutes of gameplay from the Episode Duscae demo running on PlayStation 4.

The upcoming Final Fantasy 15 demo, subtitled Episode Duscae, will be available to play on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from the day that accompanying game Final Fantasy Type-0 HD goes on sale.

Final Fantasy 15 will have a "CatCam" feature in which you can play as a feline.

I'm still undecided on how I feel about Final Fantasy 15's new gameplay direction, but I do know that I'm so far deeply unimpressed by its fashion credentials. An all-male cast wearing only variations of black and a slightly darker black? Where are the bright colours, the wicked sweet full-length leather trenchcoats and, most importantly, the codpieces?

A new trailer for Final Fantasy 15 has revealed the first female version of series staple Cid, a recurring - albeit constantly reinvented - character who appears in most franchise entries as a mechanic.

Final Fantasy 15, the fantasy RPG about a boy band going on a road trip and fighting monsters, has received an English language version of its bewildering Tokyo Games Show 2014 trailer.

Marvel in its awkward dubbing as fake Backstreet Boys save the world and gawk at things. Feel their pain as they complain about the length of their commute and need for a bath.

Just because this trailer is in English doesn't mean that it makes any more sense. If anything, understanding the dialogue only makes the whole thing seem even more peculiar.

Read more

Buying Final Fantasy HD Type-0 is the only way of getting the Final Fantasy 15 demo, Square Enix has stressed.

Square Enix has released 1080p resolution footage of Final Fantasy 15.

Final Fantasy has never been short of characters burdened with saving the world, but there's something different about its new breed of heroes. When Naoki Yoshida was tasked with salvaging the mess that was the original release of Final Fantasy 14, the challenge seemed insurmountable. With A Realm Reborn, it's a feat he pulled off, and with some style: the rebirth of the once troubled game has done more than rescue an expensive, wayward project. It's restored faith in Square Enix, and in a series that for too many years seems to have drifted away from its audience.

Square Enix is interested in bringing future Final Fantasy games to the PC, it's said.

Square Enix won't talk much about Final Fantasy 15 at this week's Tokyo Game Show, but it has released a new trailer that offers us a tantalising glimpse at new gameplay.

The video, below, begins with cutscene footage we've seen before, but at the 2.55 minute mark we see protagonist Noctis whizzing about an urban environment in combat-heavy new gameplay.

So, what do we know about Final Fantasy 15, formerly PlayStation 3 exclusive Final Fantasy Versus 13? It's due out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is in development at Square Enix's 1st Production Department and is directed by Tetsuya Nomura.

Read more

Xbox One has a mammoth 23 games confirmed for release on day one in November, more than many expected - but there's a distinct lack of role-playing games available to play.