Final Fantasy 15 has come together beautifully well, at least from everything that we have seen- at this point, the only doubts about the game that remain are ones about its technical performance and optimizations, given that the few times we have been shown the game in recent months, it has always had frame rate issues.
However, by the time the game launches, Final Fantasy 15 should not have many frame rate issues at all. Speaking to DualShockers at PAX East, Final Fantasy 15 director Hajime Tabata expressed confidence that frame rate will not be a problem in the final version of the game.
“That was part of the reasons why we extended the release date,” Tabata said. “When the actual consumers will have a chance to play the game, we don’t think they’ll find that to be an issue.”
Tabata explained that a large reason for the delay was ensuring that these technical optimizations could be made- optimizations which had originally been relegated to a day one patch.
“Originally what was intended for the patch was all these elements that would improve the usability of the game,” he explained. “That also includes fixing bugs or optimizing the actual game. And also the freedom to steer your car. On that point, by allowing our players to freely steer their car it impeded on some of the progress of the game, so wanted to make sure that the game itself was perfected prior to actually implementing that aspect, and to solve any issue that might come out from that.
“There are other factors similar to that, that were also considered for the day one patch. Aside from the whole optimization element, the other big factor was the game balance. For example, in the leveling system. We are ensuring that people will be able to better navigate the information and play at ease. These improvement were also originally intended for the day one patch.”
DualShockers also had an opportunity to get some clarification regarding the game’s second half, which Tabata has famously stated will be more linear than the first, a bit. He explained that the distribution isn’t an even half and half split, but that the linearity only comes into play near the very end of the game- and even then, it is possible for players to explore any areas they have previously visited, at will.
“To go back on the more linear part of the game… It actually transfers into that linear part of gameplay when the story ramps up and gets into its final stages,” Tabata said. “Rather than the latter half of the game, it’s very close to the end of the game so to speak.
“After the train segment, the whole structure of the game completely changes. You cannot go back and forth on the world map between the two parts. That said, there is a gonna be a menu function that allows you to access the earlier areas that you roamed around in the earlier parts of the game.
“Once you’re done with the train segment, it’s not yet the end of the game. There is still another set of events that awaits you. I can’t tell you what it’s going to be, but it drastically changes up [the game],” he concluded.
On the whole, the more I am hearing about the game, the more confident I am becoming about it, delays and everything. It has been ten years in the coming, but I genuinely believe that Final Fantasy 15 will be worth the wait, when it finally launches on November 29 worldwide, on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.