Bombshell for Square Enix at TGS 2014
Evan Slead ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
With the annual Tokyo Game Show kicking off in Japan, there has already been bombshell reveals showing how exciting this year will be. Square Enix fans were treated to a surprise reveal regarding the long awaited Final Fantasy XV. Last year, it was revealed by Square that an HD re-master version of Final Fantasy Type-0 would be released within the near future. Type-0 was a PSP only game which followed the ‘Fabula Nova Crystallis’ storyline from Final Fantasy XIII, and the soon to be released Final Fantasy XV. Due to this lore connection, Square announced that a full-length demo of FFXV would be included in the Type-0 HD re-master.
The demo will be titled Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae and will contain the opening portions of the full release game. Square expanded and stated that the events would be altered slightly to fit the shorter demo format, but would contain the spirit of what will be seen in the full game release. Final Fantasy fans can rejoice that they will gain more understanding of the gameplay mechanics and character models through this demo. Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will be released on March 17, 2015 in North America, with Japan and European releases soon after.
Along with the Final Fantasy news came unexpected updates on the other Square Enix powerhouse franchise, including Kingdom Hearts. Tetsuya Nomura, creator and director for both Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3, released a statement that he will be stepping down as director of FFXV for the duration of its final processing to channel all his creative attention on Kingdom Hearts 3. Thankfully, Hajime Tabata, who has already been working as a member of the FFXV creative team, will step in as the final director for FFXV. The good news is that Nomura, who is truly the brainchild behind the entire Kingdom Hearts series, can focus on closing this long awaited final chapter of the Xehanort Saga. The bad news, however, is this may mean the game could have another possible delay due to Nomura needing to take a full time directing position. Currently, nothing is known on how this change will impact either games release, but hopefully by the release of the FFXV demo this March fans will know more.
Final Fantasy Type-0 is set to be released on next gen systems only so far with Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Watch the trailer below to be blown away by the fantastic score already teasing Final Fantasy fans everywhere.