Rumor: Final Fantasy XV to be Open World

[The Black Wolf]

It sounds like it could be taking place in the world of Ivalice.

[itachi73378]

Why would you need to choose turn-based gameplay mechanics over an open world environment? I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. It's like saying, "I like my Gran Turismo titles with cars, not race tracks."

Honestly, you guys need to reread the article. I've even pointed out three things in my previous post for why I - and maybe others - should get excited for Final Fantasy XV, if this rumor ends up being true.

Or perhaps people just saw Final Fantasy XII mentioned and assumed it would be a terrible entry in the series.

I started to worry when they mention AC. Please don't force NPCs in cities when you don't need to. Also open world is very vague. I'm just cautious and not getting my hopes up.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Am I the only one who is worried about this? Because it sounds awfully like they are being influenced more and more by western games.

Since FFXIII-2 was the first ever to sell better in the West, it's likely they will cater more to that crowd.

[Dave-The-Rave]

I hope they take influence more from IX than XII. A HD next gen game with the classic themes that game used and colourful character would be awesome!

Open world feels too much like XII which was terrible..it just felt like an MMORGPG with uninteresting characters and story. always find open world games harder to get sucked into because they just give you too much to do from the get go with no clear direction and its always a lot of running about.

They need to bring back the world map, and go back to the way it was. Linear story with branching paths and hidden locations for option sidequests and I'd also like to see them maybe bring back optional/hidden characters like Vincent and Yuffie.

[Fon]

Open world feels too much like XII which was terrible..it just felt like an MMORGPG with uninteresting characters and story. always find open world games harder to get sucked into because they just give you too much to do from the get go with no clear direction and its always a lot of running about.

They need to bring back the world map, and go back to the way it was. Linear story with branching paths and hidden locations for option sidequests and I'd also like to see them maybe bring back optional/hidden characters like Vincent and Yuffie.

This is exactly what makes a lot of JRPG's great. While XII had great maps and quests, everything else was abysmal at best.

[Forcedme]

It's being directed by the guy who directed VI, IX, and XII... and though I've only played the latter two, those are the two that far and away come to my mind as being the best Final Fantasy games. So this is good news for me. I look forward to this if it does indeed get revealed.

[Blacksite]

It's being directed by the guy who directed VI, IX, and XII... and though I've only played the latter two, those are the two that far and away come to my mind as being the best Final Fantasy games. So this is good news for me. I look forward to this if it does indeed get revealed.

Exactly. Although I wouldn't say Final Fantasy XII had the best story or cast of characters, the gameplay itself was pretty addicting. Wikipedia also mentions that Hiroyuki Ito is working on an unannounced, large-scale game.

[Fedos]

I'm open to Square Enix trying new things with Final Fantasy games, just so long as they create a new template they produce something magical. If they have been indeed set aflame with inspiration from Bethesda (who is proving to be one of the my favorite devs this gen) and are attempting to create some kind of Skyrim/Final Fantasy XII hybrid then this might be one of the most resonate Final Fantasies I've played in a long time.

I haven't beaten Skyrim yet but I've logged in over 100 hours thus far. Being only the second Elder Scrolls game that I have played (Oblivion was the first), I'd be very interested to see what Square Enix could do in answer to the Elder Scrolls series. And Final Fantasy XII while not having the most endearing story of the FF games I have completed (IV-XIII) it still possesses one of the most mature storylines that have ever graced JRPGs. I'd love to see what a current generation interpretation of Final Fantasy XII would look like.

[DarkVincent07]

Sounds good to me! If its all true that is... in development for 4 years... hmmm. I wonder if this is what Versus XIII has evolved into

[VayMasters86]

Final Fantasy having an "open world" equals trying new things? Open world equals to being like Skyrim? "I like my final fantasys turn based not open world".... What? Did I sleep through the event that caused this world to become the world of ruin? Did I step from "home world" into "another world"?

The primary Final Fantasies were always open world up until XIII. The stories were almost always rather linear (except for the 2nd half of VI) but plenty of room to get side tracked, which is part of what made them so damn good.

I really hope FFXV is a story style successor to IV, V, or VI.

And as someone has already asked, where the **** is Versus?

[Fedos]

Final Fantasy having an "open world" equals trying new things? Open world equals to being like Skyrim? "I like my final fantasys turn based not open world".... What? Did I sleep through the event that caused this world to become the world of ruin? Did I step from "home world" into "another world"?

The primary Final Fantasies were always open world up until XIII. The stories were almost always rather linear (except for the 2nd half of VI) but plenty of room to get side tracked, which is part of what made them so damn good.

I really hope FFXV is a story style successor to IV, V, or VI.

And as someone has already asked, where the **** is Versus?

Question: have you played Skyrim? The way the Elder Scrolls handles its open world designs is nothing like world maps in Final Fantasy games. I suggest looking it up on gametrailers or something to get an idea of what Skyrim looks like, and imagine a Final Fantasy with that kind of sweeping world.

[VayMasters86]

Question: have you played Skyrim? The way the Elder Scrolls handles its open world designs is nothing like world maps in Final Fantasy games. I suggest looking it up on gametrailers or something to get an idea of what Skyrim looks like, and imagine a Final Fantasy with that kind of sweeping world.

They're not comparing FFXVs open world to Skyrim, he's comparing it to AC.

- The game will be open world and have sprawling, crowd-filled cities on par with Assassin’s Creed.

- Yoichi Wada (president of Square Enix) wants the game to have a world scale and volume of content that surpasses The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. He also wants the game to surpass FFVII in worldwide sales and critical reception.

He's not referencing the "type" of open world to Skyrim, he's referencing scale, volume, and content. They could easily apply those three things to FFXII and it would still be completely different to Skyrim.

[D3seeker]

Skyrim Fantasy XV

Sheesh how people get so worked up. They did say they wanted to try new things with the franchise and I wouldn't be surprised if my now twice-mentions joke becomes Square's next experiment.

Anyways, After Agnis Philosophy, I may be hoping for XV to expand on that little world

[Wrath]

There is a difference between having a world map and games like Skyrim.

And where in the article does it say that it wants to be like Skyrim? If you read carefully you would notice that Wada wants it to exceed the scale of Skyrim, which has nothing to do with gameplay or westernization whatsoever. Hell, it could turn out to feature traditional FF gameplay in a world bigger than that of Skyrim. What more could you want?

Personally, I can't wait as I regard FF XII (with its open world roaming) as one of the best FFs to date.

[shepard]

- The director is the same person who directed FFVI, FFIX and FFXII, Hiroyuki Ito.

This has me excited. FF6 was my fav FF of all time and if this guy is taking up the challenge of trying to create a title that can surpass the popularity of FF7....then he has my faith. My only concern in the OP is the statement about hitting body parts...meh. I see no reason for that feature to be present.

[itachi73378]

So it's sill a rumour or confirmed?

[AaronSOLDIER]

This has me excited. FF6 was my fav FF of all time and if this guy is taking up the challenge of trying to create a title that can surpass the popularity of FF7....then he has my faith. My only concern in the OP is the statement about hitting body parts...meh. I see no reason for that feature to be present.

V.A.T.S lol

[Thorzilla]

This has me excited. FF6 was my fav FF of all time and if this guy is taking up the challenge of trying to create a title that can surpass the popularity of FF7....then he has my faith. My only concern in the OP is the statement about hitting body parts...meh. I see no reason for that feature to be present.

It was actually quite an awesome feature in Vagrant Story, because it made combat all that much challenging.

[Ixion]

More scale and content than Skyrim? I suppose it's a goal worth trying for, but there's no way a Final Fantasy game can achieve that while still retaining its signature level of quality and diversity. Something would need to be sacrificed.

Overall though, this rumor does make sense. We all forgot about the FFXII team, and I guess they're working on FFXV.

They need to bring back the world map

Do you really think the future of RPGs should have miniature world maps? The only reason you want them is because the games that had them were well-executed. That doesn't mean a game with a real open-world can't be great either, or even better.

Besides, I felt FFXII was a great game. Yes, the game had a good amount of flaws, but they were not due to the open world. If the story didn't have those boring fetch-quest sections, the characters had more development, and the combat was less automated, everyone would have loved it.

And the main reason I'm excited about a game from the FFXII team is because they'll most likely have much less cheesy dialogue than the FFXIII team. At the end of the day, I'm not going to buy a Final Fantasy game when I can't take the story seriously.

[Blacksite]

Not to mention that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be another open world JRPG from Square Enix, allowing you to traverse large, open fields. Although you also have the ability to fast-travel by car, aircraft and chocobos. So I really don't see what the big deal is.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Not to mention that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be another open world JRPG from Square Enix, allowing you to traverse large, open fields. Although you also have the ability to fast-travel by car, aircraft and chocobos. So I really don't see what the big deal is.

Could well be the best of the series.

[Tibiquera]

Oh wow, can't believe I predicted exactly the same thing 6 months ago (that it would be directed by Ito and have an open-world):

http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread...=1#post5771389

[Mael Duin]

All the information sounds great, but sadly this also seems to confirm that Versus is indeed cancelled and the technology is being used in FFXV.

[Ixion]

All I know is that either Versus or FFXV should be made for the next-gen consoles. There's no point in releasing two more huge games at the tail end of the current cycle.

[Blacksite]

I don't think so.

Both games are already too far into their own development cycles (4-6 years) to consider being ported to next-gen consoles. I'll be damned if I have to wait longer than 2013.