Like many other long-time gamers, I have been waiting almost ten years for Final Fantasy XV (Formerly known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII) to arrive on store shelves. It has been an arduous wait, especially considering it has been an RPG with many promises, a lot of potential and unfortunately a lot of delays associated with it. Last year managed to temporarily quench that wait with Square Enix releasing their “Episode Duscae” demo alongside Final Fantasy Type-0, but by now the wait has once again resumed.
In an exciting announcement made during their live stream event last week, Square Enix have finally confirmed that Final Fantasy XV will be available on store shelves starting September 30 2016 – alongside a range of other tie-in media items such as an anime series and film. One of the other exciting and more immediate releases is a new “Platinum Demo”, which can now be downloaded for free via the PlayStation Store (PlayStation 4) and Xbox Marketplace (Xbox One). There is no need to have access to the Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae demo either, meaning this might be the first time some players will be exploring the world of Final Fantasy XV.
Before continuing with this post, I would like to state that instead of reading this, you would be far better heading to your console now and downloading the demo for yourself. This impressions article is more for taking note of my opinions and providing an opportunity for those who are unable to access the demo to get a small peek at it. That being said, lets start diving into my thoughts on Platinum Demo – Final Fantasy XV.
Storyline
The first thing that must be noted is that this demo is not just a snippet of the final game, but instead something simple and standalone. In fact, there isn’t that much of a storyline at all. As a child, Noctis finds himself trapped in his own fragmented dreamscape, hunted by beings known as “nightmares”. Being guided along by a mysterious creature who interacts with him through a smartphone, he must travel through a number of different locales, to where his “safe place” is. The demo is heavily driven by the mysterious creature’s messages – with Noctis himself receiving very few lines of dialogue.
While you shouldn’t really be going into a demo for character development and a plot, unlike Episode Duscae, this demo is not storyline-oriented at all. But given what else it offers, this isn’t really a negative.
Gameplay
I think the best way to tackle Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV is to not think of it as a standard game demo. Instead, I consider it to be a showcase of the different technical systems which will be going into the final game – a public and very polished near-launch “Tech Demo” if you would prefer to call it that. With minimal storyline driving the game, players are instead taken through four different worlds – each of which will presumably have some presence in the final release.
The first one for example is an area rich in nature, which particularly highlights some of the large monsters and weather changes one will encounter in-game. The second see’s Noctis stuck in an “Alice in Wonderland” type situation where he can move around a gigantic version of the dining room seen in previous trailers. It also takes some time to highlight driving mechanics (in the form of toy cars) and physics systems (through knockable blocks). The third area highlights town designs and special effects, while the final area features the battle system and the ability to warp around a battlefield. Each area is fairly small and might only take you half an hour to go through in total, but does provide a solid look at the designs and different graphical components which are going into Final Fantasy XV.
In terms of gameplay, there is a rudimentary battle system which will see Noctis collect a small number of weapons throughout his journey within the dreamscape. These include a Toy Sword and Squeaky Hammer. Even during the times you can transform into Adult Noctis, you don’t get to have the level of versatility with the battle system and weapons as you do in the Episode Duscae demo. This in mind, some of the late-demo bosses do pose quite a challenge, and even allow you to warp up a huge tower in the citadel. There is a magic system also present in the demo, which was pretty to look at but frustrating to control. Here’s hoping the decision to limit the number of uses each spell has (rather than controlled by an MP gauge or equivalent) doesn’t stick.
The Platinum Demo does reward you with new features and perks should you opt to stray from the path and visit some of the hidden nooks around each area. Throughout the first three levels you will be able to collect crystals, many of which require players to divert from their path to uncover. These can be used to unlock different tiers of switches (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) strewn throughout each area. Some of these switches can change the weather and time of day settings, others can unlock special visual events and a couple even unlock more powerful weapons. Given that some might be tempted to rush through the demo, it was a great idea to encourage players to fully check out what they have crafted.
Design / Music
While I think fans should go into Final Fantasy XV expecting bigger and better than what is presented here, for a demo like this many months away from launch, the worlds presented were aesthetically pleasing. Character animations were also good, lighting was almost consistently great and the special effects presented from spells and such were also satisfying. A little bit more refinement would also not go astray leading to launch however, as depending on your location and camera movement, the visual quality did shift in and out.
While it is hard to comment on voice acting considering how few spoken lines there are in-demo, the musical backing across each of the level was satisfying. It really leaves me looking forward to what compositions they have prepared for the final game.
Final Words on Platinum Demo – Final Fantasy XV
Those who are looking for actual gameplay content and something more substancial should instead download/player Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. But I wouldn’t suggest passing up on the Platinum Demo either way. This demo instead seeks to allow players to explore some of Final Fantasy XV’s more finalised environment, and take advantage of some graphical systems and gameplay mechanics whilst doing so. At the very least it might be worthwhile playing through just once to unlock the exclusive Carbuncle summon downloadable content at launch.
Having spent about an hour going through every nook in the demo, I think it was time well spent.
