Finally, the doors opened and we were presented by a funny and endearing show by Tim Getts and Greg Miller from Kindafunny.com. They revealed fact after fact about Final Fantasy XV. They even addressed the leak about the release date with Greg saying the big red button, meant to reveal the date on stage, was already pushed by Gamespot.
Before the big breakdown there was a surprise guest, one of many. Hironobu Sakaguchi, he called himself the father of Final Fantasy, and he is, he created it. He started the event saying in Japanese, "I'm happy to be hear tonight, with all of you, to just see how Final Fantasy has rediscovered it's true nature."
Let's break down what we learned from the event.
After some fun with a countdown clock on stage, freaking out the audience with another release date, the clock went to the previously leaked September 30th of this year. That's right you can play the game this year. You can already order a special edition and a collector's edition online here, with just a regular edition for both PS4 and Xbox One.
Surprise, surprise a free demo on both systems playable now. Final Fantasy XV’s Platinum Demo with a young prince Noctis, one of the four main protagonists from the game has you trying out gameplay early. Of fun note, you have the cutest of pets called Carbuncle in this demo, if you play it and get the game he'll becomes free DLC for the main game. This isn't a chunk of the game ripped out, it's a side story adding to the mythos.
A bigger reveal adding to the mythos was an entirely new cgi film that's been three years in production and looks absolutely gorgeous. Kings Glaive Final Fantasy, is a prequel to the game starring Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad as the lead role of Nyx, special bodyguard/knight to the King Regis who is none other than Sean Bean. They're joined by Lena Headey as Princess Luna in what looks like the best looking CGI film yet to come out. It looks close to one of our save the President movies. It said it was going to be available online, but we would rather have some in theater experiences for the film, no release date, but it'll come out before the game does.
We have no hope for the story, but the film just looks too damn cool.
Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV looks damn cool, a free five-part anime series that reveals the four main protagonist of the game, Noctis, the prince is joined by Ignis, the smart guy in the group with Gladiolus, rounded out with fan favorite Promto. The anime is another prequel series that just builds the universe and gives fans more to get into. The whole series comes out before the game does for free online.
Going over the characters a little, it couldn't be more of a Japanese idol boy band. I'm not sure if the game was just written to appease Yaoi fandom or just seems fun, but the greatest aspect I saw from the trailers was the bro-mance. These guys are friends, going camping, riding around in a sweet car and riding Chocobos together. Chocobos are big flightless birds known from the series. The crew has been titled the Choco-bros because of this. Whatever happens the game has captured the idea of friendship enough that even we want to go out camping and bro-out. They game made it seem like were missing out on an experience.
Out of seemingly nowhere the main theme song for the game became, "Stand By Me," redone by Florence + the Machine. It fits with the bro-mance going on, and play much more to it being downright Yaoi love.
You can also play a mini-game on your phone that will also be in FFXV, Justice Monsters V. It's a pinball game that looks crazy. You can preregister to download it.
And yes, the big reveal at the end was the car in game can fly. Why? Who cares? The car can fly!
Hats off to Square Enix for great planning and event that really gets fans pumped to play their games. It could have only been better if it gave something other than calendars.
