Square Enix’s Hajime Tabata has revealed that boss encounters in Final Fantasy XV will combine freedom of choice as well as offering a more traditional scrap that requires players to tackle things in a specific way ala classic Final Fantasy titles.
Speaking with Kotaku, Tabata-san explained that the dynamic shift in combat, which sees the JRPG taking on a more action-oriented role free from the trappings of turn-based battles, does not necessarily mean the team will eschew traditional boss fights.
“There’s both styles really in there,” Tabata-san commented. “You’ve got those where you’re pretty much free to beat the boss any way you’d like, and you’ve got lots of different options to choose from. And then there’s others where you’re more guided to a certain way to do it and it’ll tell you this is the best way to defeat the enemy. Actually this is a cut-away part of the game, it’s a ten-minute demo, we had to make it complete in ten minutes, in a short period of time.
“The original design for Titan has a number of different strategy options that you can choose from, but we wanted to make sure to lead people through it in an easy way so it can be completed quickly. And I’m not sure if you saw the Titan demo showed at the Microsoft conference, but if you take a look at the product out there, which you can play, I think you’ll be able to see it’s actually advanced further than that — it’s a lot more of a modern version than that one. We’ve fixed up the bugs in the version you saw at Microsoft. It really has improved the freedom for the player during the battle scene.”
Final Fantasy XV is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30.
The game was originally announced at E3 2006 as the PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII, before Square Enix decided to rebrand the title for current-generation consoles when the project was roughly 25 percent complete.
While many of the original elements remain in place, some aspects of Versus XIII, notably the character of Stella, did not survive the transition to PS4 and Xbox One.
Final Fantasy XV was announced during Sony’s E3 2013 press event, and features a massive open-world for players to explore complete with dozens of side quests. Square Enix has said the game will take around 40-50 hours to finish.
The game also received a hugely popular Ultimate Collector’s Edition, which has now sold out. Twice.