Speaking during an interview with Examiner (via GamingBolt), Square Enix’s Hajime Tabata shared some details on the levelling system for the hotly anticipated Final Fantasy XV on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Tabata-san said that while some of the mechanics will be petty orthodox by RPG standards, there will be some differences as Final Fantasy XV takes on a more action-oriented approach in comparison to previous entries in the venerable JRPG series.
“In the final game, we’re going to have a very standard, orthodox kind of leveling up system to start with,” he said. “Obviously, in traditional Final Fantasy RPGs, you have very specific ways that characters level up and gain power, but because Final Fantasy XV is an action/RPG, it’s quite different in some ways to the traditional RPG gameplay formula.”
From what the developers have said so far, Final Fantasy XV will have two thread when it comes to levelling up: the first is the traditional method Tabata-san mentions, and the other action-based, specifically “the enhancement of the combination attacks you can do.”
Final Fantasy XV is scheduled for a simultaneous worldwide launch in 2016. The game was originally announced as the PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII nearly ten years ago, although Square Enix re-revealed the title back at E3 2013 with a new title as a current-generation project.
Development on the current version of the game began around three years ago, when FF Versus XIII was roughly 25 percent complete. A playable demo, known as Episode Duscae, was included with the PS4 and Xbox One release of Final Fantasy Type-0. Square Enix has said that the ‘real’ version of Final Fantasy XV will be showcased during an event in March, where the game’s release date will also be confirmed.
Square Enix recently said that it has taken influence from Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us in regards to Final Fantasy XV’s storytelling. The studio also revealed that the title is currently playable from start to finish, and may include airship combat as free downloadable content post-release.