Square Enix showed 15 minutes of new Final Fantasy XV footage during a behind-closed-doors event at Paris Games Expo this evening.
The first demo, which was 10 minutes in length, focused on the fields of Final Fantasy XV, showcasing large stone arches, vehicles on the road, a gas station, and a lake where four-legged creatures that look like a cross between an elephant and giraffe with the head of a boar come to drink.
It moved from plains to a dense forest, and after a few minutes, Noctis and his crew found themselves in a somewhat industrial area. By this point, night had already fallen, the birds had flown away, and small goblins and an enemy in the form of a hydra had appeared. Tabata noted that the enemies you come across will be different depending on the time of day.
Somewhere near a grove, chocobos were visible in the distance. Tabata also said there will be various mini-games available, too—like fishing.
The second demo, which ran for five minutes, showcased the graphics engine of the game, including its day/night cycle, caves, modern cities, skin textures, facial animations, hair modeling, terrain editor, and artificial intelligence.
Currently, Final Fantasy XV is using Luminous Engine 1.4, which is a combination of the Ebony and Luminous engines. The demo, which will apparently be available in March 2015 when Final Fantasy Type-0 HD launches, will use Luminous Engine 1.5. The final game is planned to use Luminous Engine 2.0.
Square Enix will host “Tabata’s Active Time Report” tomorrow, which should bring new information and likely the footage shown to press today to the public domain. It will air on YouTube at 20:00 Japan time / 4:00 a.m. PDT / 7:00 a.m. EDT.
Thanks, GameBlog and Finaland.
Update: An off-screen video of the second demo showcasing the graphics engine has leaked online. Watch it below. A backup is available for download here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuDTimeOmNc
Update 2: A second off-screen video has leaked, this time from the gameplay demo. Watch it below. A backup is available here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62e1tbihcaQ
Update 3: Here’s the final video, following up on the previous video which is cut short. Watch it below. A backup is available here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D9i2IFTbpg