During the latest Active Time Report Broadcast, Final Fantasy XV Director Hajime Tabata gave more information about the game and the Episode Duscae Demo:
Using all the abilities with just one weapon is not possible in the demo, as that system is not implemented, and each weapon has its own fixed abilities. The system has been kept deliberately quite basic. After the demo, they will gather feedback and see what the fans want for the full game.
There won’t be any armor and accessories to equip in the demo. They will be in the final game.
In the full game the car can be driven on the road. Off-road there will be chocobos and other method of transportation. There won’t be a subway, but there will be trains.
Tabata-san thinks that European gamers prefer challenging games compared to European gamers. The block system is in no way easy, because you’ll be attacked from 360 degrees, and magic points are consumed while guarding. You have to be very much overleveled or use restorative items if you just want to just hold the button down and defend for a long time. More skillful players can just tap the button with the right timing, and consume a lot less MP. The balance for this took a lot of time to adjust.
The Phantom Swords allow for another special type of guard. It’s very technical and doesn’t use MP at all.
The Episode Duscae demo still hasn’t gone gold, and the team is still making a lot of fine tuning to the systems.
It won’t be possible to customize the controls in the demo, but it will be possible in the final game. The team wanted a single control scheme to have unified feedback from player all over the world. The only difference is the confirm and cancel button, which are (as usual) inverted in the Japanese version.
The game is being tested in Tokyo, London and Los Angeles by different QA teams, and they give very different feedback. Tabata-san wants the game to appease users from all over the world, and to be released as close to simultaneous as possible everywhere.
The demo has a level 99 cap. You don’t need to level up quite as high in order to enjoy the demo. The level cap for the full game has not been decided.
Ignis speaks in proper British English in the western localization, in order to differentiate him from the rest of the characters, since he comes from a different part of the world. Tabata likes him a lot, because he’s more a “elite” type of character and he’s very interesting.
The team tried to create the scary feelings from the dungeons of the early Final Fantasy games.
There will be a lot of very scary and dangerous enemies lurking in the dungeons.
The slowdown effect when weapons hit is a very important one, in order to give a bit of weight to strikes. It has been tweaked recently to give it the right duration, to make sure it doesn’t get in the way.
Tabata-san was happy to be able to show the Xbox One version live today, as he knows that Microsoft’s console is very popular in the west.
