Final Fantasy XV Release Date Confirmed, CG Movie and Anime Announced

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Final Fantasy XV Release Date Confirmed, CG Movie and Anime Announced


Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy XV will release worldwide on September 30 - however, it will also be more than a game.

At the Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV event in Los Angeles last night, Square Enix revealed not only that Final Fantasy XV will release on September 30, but also that it will be part of a larger series of projects that make up the Final Fantasy XV universe.

In addition to the upcoming game, Square Enix announced Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, a CG movie made in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment. The movie "weaves together the complexities of kingdoms at war, royal relationships and epic battles in a tale that will set the stage for the main Final Fantasy XV narrative," and will feature a cast that includes Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones), Lena Headey (300, Game of Thrones), and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad). Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV will release digitally some time prior to the September 30 release of Final Fantasy XV.

In case the game and film aren't quite enough for you, Square Enix also announced Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, a new anime series that will be made up of five episodes that "delve into the extraordinary friendships between crown prince Noctis and his three comrades, setting the stage for the adventure players will set out upon in the action-packed RPG." The first episode of Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV is available now - and you can watch it below!


The game itself is now available for pre-order [http://www.finalfantasyxv.com/buy], and in addition to all of the other announcements made, the different special editions of the game were detailed.

Day One Edition - $59.99
Final Fantasy series Masamune DLC weapon
Xbox Store Pre-order Incentives: Two Xbox One Avatars including Noctis Special Outfit and Carbuncle pet
PlayStation®Store Pre-order Incentives: Dynamic PS4™ theme for PlayStation®4 players

Deluxe Edition - $89.99
All Day One Edition content plus an exclusive dual disc steelbook containing Final Fantasy XV and Kingsglaive movie Blu-ray and Platinum Leviathan Regalia design and access to the Royal Raiment costume DLC

Ultimate Collector's Edition (Available exclusively on the Square Enix Online Store) - $269.99
All Deluxe Edition content plus exclusive disc steelbooks containing the Official FINAL FANTASY XV Blu-ray Soundtrack (featuring music from Final Fantasy XV, Kingsglaive and Brotherhood), Brotherhood Blu-ray (containing an exclusive sixth episode), hard-cover artbook, an exclusive limited edition variant Noctis PLAY ARTS -KAI- action figure, and in-game item packs

Until then, have a bunch of screenshots.

[gallery=6115]

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[KenAri]

But.. It's not April 1st yet.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

There's gonna be a five episode anime!
Have ?270? Then YOU can watch the SIXTH episode!!!!

How's that work, huh? Not worth it anyway; ridiculous price for hardly anything nice....

 

[Mister K]

Huh, seems like Square Enix is going all in with this game. Is it confidence or despair?

 

[Geisterkarle]

DLC special outfits and pets ... why do we need this?

 

[flying_whimsy]

Remember when Square would just make games? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

Seriously, though, this has all the hallmarks of over-hyped failure and this is still the initial announcement. I can't help but think that company needs some discipline if they are going to survive past the next few years. Well, that or a steam release of all the final mix kingdom hearts games.

 

[DemomanHusband]

I'm starting to see shades of a narrative spread thin. Episode Duscae left a lot to be desired, even as a basic gameplay demo with some features purposely left out. Then there's the Kingsglaive movie and the brief anime episodes as well. Having watched the first episode of Brotherhood, it seems as though it would've been better served as a segment of the game, considering the presence of the monster that nearly killed Noctis.

It makes me wonder what will even happen in XV, honestly. If interesting stuff like this is relegated to what could be charitably be called filler, then should we even expect anything worth noting in the game itself?

 

[Ukomba]

Man, there's something about cars in final fantasy that just rubs me the wrong way. I can handle a lot of the other strange anachronisms but the cars just don't work for me.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Huh, seems like Square Enix is going all in with this game. Is it confidence or despair?

Desperation.

See also the splitting up of Hitman, Deus Ex and the Final Fantasy VII remake into multiple 'episodic' parts to try and make more money from each individual game. Squenix needs mo' money.

 

[balladbird]

Desperation.

See also the splitting up of Hitman, Deus Ex and the Final Fantasy VII remake into multiple 'episodic' parts to try and make more money from each individual game. Squenix needs mo' money.

I could be wrong, but SE's sudden obsession with "episodic" content seems more like trend-chasing than an attempt to gain extra money, especially since that approach isn't really all that much more profitable. Can't deny that the company needs money enough to be desperate though.

Still, I remain cautiously optimistic about XV. XIII was basically a rock bottom experience, in my eyes. A linear game with a linear growth pattern, married to a story so ashamed of itself that it hid all the details a player needed to understand it in an in-game wiki, only to have the characters speak nothing but techno-babble that meant nothing without context.

Following off the heels of that, XV doesn't even need to be great. Even if XV was just "okay" it could be the shot in the arm the franchise needs to keep going a while. I know it seems like my ambitions are low, but XV has been in development hell for so long it could almost wave to duke nukem forever... I'd be willing to accept a passable experience, given the track record games that languish that long have.

I'll definitely say that all these new releases have reaffirmed my love for the world design of XV. The modern/scifi/fantasy with anime flavor thing feels unique, to me.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

When your own executives don't remember what caused one half of their company to be bought out by the other half in order to still exist, and then decide to do the same thing again, maybe it's time to take a good, hard look at their "experience" and consider if they really know what's best for the company.

I mean, they put their Art Director in charge of one of their flagship series. An art director that has a really bad habit of over-designing things. Not to mention a marketing team that has overly strong influence on how a game should be developed, or what should be made in a game for exclusive purposes. How does that not throw red flags that maybe the majority of the board is neither experienced nor informed enough to run the company?

 

[monkeymangler]

I play FF games for one reason: the combat. It's 90% of what you're going to do anyway, so it has to be good. Characters are should be good, a coherent story wouldn't go amiss but isn't required, as long as the gameplay itself is fun.

This is where VII succeeded, where VIII mostly failed, where X succeeded, where X-2 succeeded with FLYING colors (even if the rest of the game was not as good), where XII did okay. This is where XIII crashed and burned horribly. The story was a mess, but fine. I genuinely like Lightning, so that was good. But the combat was atrocious. Lighting Returns redeemed the combat, and was a jolly good time.

The issue with XV thus far is that the combat isn't that great. QTEs more than actual fights. Your teammates have the brain of a kumquat between them. The demo's combat was sloppy and a struggle to play through. It didn't feel like Final Fantasy, it felt like a watered down Dragon Age wearing FF's skin.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

I miss the days when I looked forward to the next Final Fantasy. The details of this release makes my childhood feel dirty and used.

 

[MCerberus]

I look forward to this underperforming leading to layoffs at Eidos because blaming the local divisions is hard and would involve people there actually having to change. They'll then release a cash grab mobile tie-in and puzzle at why the global market they refuse to acknowledge isn't buying the rotting remains of their once-great franchise. Presumably they'll decide it was because their cutscenes with inexplicable writing weren't pretty enough.

 

[hamsterkilla]

I can only hope that this one can live up to expectations, which judging by this thread are remarkably low. The movie does look pretty at least.

Also, any one else get a kick out of the trailer when it said "a Kingdom" "protected by a crystal"

*Looks suspiciously at "Erin Dies Alone" comic.*

Lets hope this evil corporation is also turning the crystals into a delicious beverage.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

It's when I see shit like this that I get reminded of gross overinflation of games development budgets.

This better do well but if it does, then Squeenix might pull this shit again and keep putting themselves at risk.

 

[elvor0]

I want to bring this up as noone seems to have mentioned it yet:

As well as the following additional digital content:
Outfit: Royal Raiment - Dress Noctis in Lucian formalwear fit for a king!
Weapon: Masamune (FFXV) - Add the legendary Masamune to your arsenal and cut foes down to size!
Recolor: Platinum Leviathan - Make waves wherever you go with this sleek serpentine finish!
Item: Travel Pack - See the world in style with this set of gear to go!
Item: Camera Kit - Capture the memories of a lifetime with this accessory kit for your camera!
Item: Angler Set - Take this tackle box to the fishing holes around Eos and snag yourself a whopper!
Item: Gourmand Set - Make meals into masterpieces with this custom cookware!

Those item packs are only available to the super duper ?270 edition. They look like hacked content added only to the money gouging edition. That, and the fucking masamune is day one dlc.

The fact that its already sold out sickens me. Fuck you Square Enix. Fuck you. Exercise some self control people

Huh, seems like Square Enix is going all in with this game. Is it confidence or despair?

Desperation as well I'd say. Apparently it needs to sell 10M copies to be profitable.

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/03/31/final-fantasy-15-needs-to-sell-10-million-copies-to-succeed

 

[Verrik]

Man, there's something about cars in final fantasy that just rubs me the wrong way. I can handle a lot of the other strange anachronisms but the cars just don't work for me.

But... cars have been in FF games since FF7. You drive around in one in FF8 if I'm remembering correctly.

 

[Ukomba]

Man, there's something about cars in final fantasy that just rubs me the wrong way. I can handle a lot of the other strange anachronisms but the cars just don't work for me.

But... cars have been in FF games since FF7. You drive around in one in FF8 if I'm remembering correctly.

I wasn't a fan of them there either. At least in 7 the one truck was a really small part of it and it focuse dmore on the motor cycle anyways. It did kind of worked for 8 and the whole aesthetic for some reason. As bad as the systems were in 8, I think it struck the perfect balance between tech and magic.

FFXV just looks so... modern. Some screenshots look like they could be from Sleeping Dogs or maybe DMC. FFXIII was already looking more like Cyber Punk than Fantasy and FFXV has the least fantasy in it of any.

 

[Colt47]

There's gonna be a five episode anime!
Have ?270? Then YOU can watch the SIXTH episode!!!!

How's that work, huh? Not worth it anyway; ridiculous price for hardly anything nice....

Actually, the reason the Deluxe edition is worth so much is due to the figure included in the pack. The Play Arts figures go for 130 US dollars a piece and they include Noctis as an exclusive, so the only way to get all the models is to get the deluxe edition.

I'm really torn on the Collectors edition. Play Art figures are generally worth the cost due to the quality of the craftsmanship, but the remainder of the pack doesn't really feel like it makes up the remaining 100 usd, especially since the anime is basically aired for free and the sixth episode will eventually get put out on the net regardless.