The recently-delayed Final Fantasy XV is reversing the gameplay of Final Fantasy XIII, according to director Hajime Tabata. In the game, only the first half was open-world.
In an interview with Famitsu, Tabata-san discussed the game’s structure. Keeping the numbering theme in-game, he said the chapters would progress from zero to fifteen. When it came to discussing the game’s structure, Tabata-san threw a bit of a curveball.
“As for Final Fantasy XV’s structure, it has both an open world part and a linear part. The open world [part] continues throughout the first half, and because of the story, the second half progresses linearly.”
This is in contrast to Final Fantasy XIII, which featured very linear gameplay in the game’s first half, and only became open world in the second half. Apparently, Tabata-san believes that as players progress through the game, they will appreciate the game’s later portion being more focused.
“If you do it like that, then you won’t get tired of the open world, and as the whole game becomes more focused, you can enjoy a traditionally Final Fantasy style progression.”
From the sounds of it, however, the linear second half in Final Fantasy XV doesn’t constrict like the dreaded corridor of Final Fantasy XIII. It will have some branching, which opens up the possibility of side content. Tabata-san suggested as much in the interview.
“If you play through the first half and only the main route of the second half, I believe the estimated play-time sits at around 40 to 50 hours,” he said. That sounds to me like there are alternate routes in addition to the main route.
Final Fantasy XV’s release date is November 29th. I will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
