Final Fantasy XV Director Confirms No Character Switching and New Combat Details

With fans concerned over Final Fantasy XV's renewed development, director Hajime Tabata has finally cleared up a few of the most pressing issues.

[masterfox]

bad move very bad move, but in the end this is no surprise SquareEnix is full of bad moves.

[sonypsnow]

"Character Switching, Not in its current specifications" Hajime Tabata, plus the game is 55% complete.

specifications are different than what the game plans to be.
Its like PS4 waiting for firmware updates like HSA, HUMA.

Keep up the demands, SquareEnix are hiring more people to develop FFXV, future specifications would have Character Switching.

[gaffyh]

I'm completely fine with this. Even in the old games when you could switch characters it was more of a chore than anything else.

[UltraNova]

Yeah I'm pretty interested in trying this new take in FF's battle system (in a full on FF release I mean). New fresh things are very needed in the FF series as the 3 latest titles proved.

Its been a while since I was eagerly awaiting to play an FF game, I think since FF-X. I hope my patience gets rewarded...

[-Foxtrot]

This guy has totally downgraded FF15 gameplay wise just because he thinks he knows what's best for us (see his interviews).

I defiantly saw switching characters in old gameplay videos of Versus because I remember them switching to the blonde hair guy and aiming his gun.

Why get rid of that, you could of had a variety of gameplay.

[nunley33]

yeah FFXV is a downgrade from the Versus PS3 gameplay we saw earlier. That game looked awesome and this isn't as much but it'll still be better that the 13 games.

[-Foxtrot]

"but it'll still be better that the 13 games"

That's the only reason why I'm hanging on by a thread with this game.

[GetSomeLoGiK]

That gun shooting move WASNT character switching, it was one of those duo moves you could do. They never showed any other character bein played in any of the videos. Honestly people are bitching about the game being like an ARPG but yet those same people probably loved the KH series.

[torchic]

why is GetSomeLogik getting disagrees?

that footage of the blonde guy shooting was literally the ONLY "character switching" (it really wasn't character switching) we've seen so far. Nomura said that he wanted to add a few moments in the game where you use the guy to shoot targets (presumably you'll be forced to use him at specified times). in the same way that when you drive, you "switch" to that dude with glasses. there never has been gameplay showing switching of characters during battle.

I don't understand the disappointment though? lol apart from the blonde guy the rest of Noctis crew look pretty "meh" to me in terms of skill set.

and in any case there will almost certainly be times where you'll play as other characters in the game to advance the story, like Stella Nox and probably King Caelum too.

[Gardenia]

Be happy that the director of FF13 isn't working on this. Then it definitely would go downhill with this game

[Irishguy95]

The lack of knowledge is astounding, we were shown a vid of all characters being switched too. 2011 Versus 13. Nomura always planned to have character switching in, always. It was in for ages and talked about extensively in interviews.

Tabata took it out, I don't care much myself that it's out it's not that important, but it was in like Foxtrot states. Some people just like to make up there own facts to defend something its pathetic.

Anyhow, all I see are a bunch of people moaning about the games name again. The combat system has changed for the better with regards to using Noctis. Not being able to use the other is an annoyance only in that i'd like to use them, it's not detrimental to the gameplay or anything of the sort. Many games are fine with one playable character especially many RPG's. But because the game is FF it now sucks because you can't do that. Nice logic really. Just the same as people moaning that the combat system wasn't turn based, now more people are moaning that it's no longer Kingdom hearts with character switching. No, as far as i've seen and learned from the new info, the combat system has improved over KH. Just gotta wait and see with the demo.

[kenpachii]

They get rid of everything that is hard to made, of course Tabata san and others dont play a lot of old games, they think almost like with Ff 13 saga and do mistakes, their target is to CHANGE something a lot (doesnt matter if they broke all system), lets see how many CASUAL will buy the game...

I wish him best of luck, i think he gonna need that.

What if Assas Creed will go turn based in future ? seamless turn based to quote them, i bet people will go out in street for that...

[NukaCola]

Kingdom Hearts has no character switching. I don't get the disappointment. Can you explain your reasons?

[Godmars290]

Because FF was about character development even if it only skill sets. Up until Seven if not Six. And even then you had characters designed based on their class.

FF15 is just Kingdom Hearts in the FF universe sans philosophical themed generic baddies.

[-Foxtrot]

It wasn't supposed to be exactly like Kingdom Hearts

It was supposed to be influenced by the gameplay and add other things to it to make it seem fresh, letting you swap characters unlike KH was part of that.

Final Fantasy games have always been about all the characters and how they are impacted by the overall story. While Kingdom Hearts story is focused on Sora while the spin offs are focused on the character you play.

[Stallion]

All these nerds acting like characters can't develop or impact the story if you can't switch to them. Lawl.

[Inception]

People not complaining because it's Kingdom Hearts, NOT Final Fantasy. A different series with action RPG mechanic in it's mind.

But this...this is FINAL FANTASY where the tradition is you can switch freely between characters in your party. Hell, even spin-off like FF Type-0 also can switch between characters. So why stop now? Oh i know, they want more casual where old people and kids doesn't like to push a lot of buttons.

@stallion

Did you ever play FF IX? In battle you can switch between characters and in story there this thing called Active Time Events where every characters showed their side story or to solve some puzzles that required two party in different location. So yeah, if FF IX can do it in a awesome way than why SE can't do it with XV???

[Cha0tik]

@NukaCola I don't get the disappointment either. They continue to complain about something they haven't actually played just yet.

@Stallion It's funny that nobody said anything about no character progression in any videos and others are complaining just because of the "One button" comment that was clearly a misunderstanding. People seem like they are just here to complain. Many of them are even saying they changed so much from Verses 13 which barely had any information on it. The gameplay videos look the game just with different graphic quality to me and the story had NO information on it besides what the trailer gave you... It looks like Type-0 and I just read that it plays like Type-0 so what's to complain about?

I'm still seeing the same game people. The only difference is that someone is speaking on it. If someone can show confirmed proof that it was supposed to be different please correct me and post it so I can have reason to be disappointed as well. If you're just going to say something without proof then it's just going to be another rumor to me.

[Adrian_v01]

@Azuske

http://www.siliconera.com/2...

http://www.siliconera.com/2...

The point of Versus' battle system was switching between characters to use their strengths/exploit enemy weaknesses and to keep your combos going.

Looking for this interview, I read a lot past articles on the game while it was still Versus XIII. From what I read, that past game seemed a lot better. While Nomura's intention was to up the difficulty, Tabata wants to dumb it down. I don't like this new direction but to each their own.

P.s. what happened to the awesome huge Tokyo like city?

[Cha0tik]

@Adrian_v01

Oh alright, excuse my ignorance on the switching characters part in the past game. Thanks for supporting your words with links as well as not being an ass hole. :)

As for the huge Tokyo city... it hasn't been dismissed just yet. I still see the same game just not with changeable characters. I'm not saying changes weren't made I'm just saying we don't know enough to complain about all the things this guy got wrong. There could be a reason for the choices he has made as well as improvements to make these choices better than the original.

Once again thanks Adrian_v01!

[DevilOgreFish]

"Final Fantasy XV Director Confirms No Character Switching and New Combat Details"

Aaaaaaand They actually just gave the FFXIII Trilogy one reason to own it.

[Magicite]

gonna be grand game nevertheless.

[Stallion]

It's really not that big of a deal.

[Anderson8]

i'll only be annoyed if its game over with the death of noctis and not the entire party

[miyamoto]

Definitely.

I love PlayStation and Final Fantasy since FF VI on SNES but since ScrewedEnix has become such a sell out company it has been spiralling down the drain since it sold its soul to you know who.

I told you guys.

I know it when I see it.

Please Understand.

Final Fantasy is Finished.
Final Fantasy is Finished.
Final Fantasy is Finished.

Time to move on.

[jc48573]

That's a little disappointing. He wants to make it simple, maybe too simple despite whatever thresholds the team is dealing it.

[Number-Nine]

i miss the days of controlling everyone in my party

[Rainbowcookie]

^^that and getting extra characters via codes and not dlc , heck even decent couch-co op . Too much copy paste and repeat nowadays

[BitbyDeath]

If you can't character switch then you better make damn sure it allows for local and online co-op.

Don't want a garbage AI party.

EDIT: Combat details sound garbage, i'm out.

[MRMagoo123]

Yeh I am full of disappointment, I really hoped for a turn based game again from them with a giant open world map to explore with airships and chocobos, then I hear its not turn based which put me off a bit and now this news. This game is as finalfantasy as ff13 was. I may get it second hand some time like I did with all the ff13 games.

[BitbyDeath]

Good thing FF1->FF9 are still a ton of fun to replay over and over again.

SE will never get it.

[MRMagoo123]

I agree I have ff6,7,8,9,10, 10 part 2 and 12 at home still in original condition and I play them every now and again, I cant believe how wrong they have gone since then tho, I myself didnt like the fighting as much in 12 because of it being real time and all but 13 ugggggghhhhhh.

I can bet you if they spent their game budget remaking 7,8 and 9 they would sell waaaaaaaay more than these recent made for adhd kids games.

[moegooner88]

Final Fantasy as we know it, is probably gone forever. I have no expectations anymore from SE.

[on_line_forever]

i miss Squaresoft so much .

[Ashlen]

Wow, this was one of the big games I was looking forward too. But no female playable characters now no character swapping... they're just saying all the wrong things to get me excited.

[MegaRay]

Yeah, I was super exciting for this. but now i am not. Hope the demo change my opinion tho. Right now, KHIII is the only thing i am waiting from SE

[DevilOgreFish]

" But no female playable characters now no character swapping"

They'll probably come down with an answer to that. As Being part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series and to hit two birds with one stone, For a fee they will add Lightning as DLC.

[fonger08]

A final fantasy game with no character switching? Why bother calling it final fantasy then? Ok... that's a little over dramatic but still, that's a pretty big element of what makes a final fantasy game great.

[DiscoKid]

First no females, and now no character switching? Why are they sacrificing character diversity and development just to have a pretty game?

[MRMagoo123]

I dont think they are getting rid of that stuff to make a pretty game , I think they are making it like that to keep the adhd kiddies happy, its all action action action and no final fantasy.

[qwerty676]

yeahhhh...not good.

[Paprika]

Give the game a chance guys. I'm a little pissed by this news too, but if the narrative is there for character development, and the gambit style control over ai offers us some degree of control over all the party in battle... mixed with great visuals and a gorgeous soundtrack.... it could still work.

Crisis core worked
Kingdom hearts works. Why not final fantasy? Maybe we will get a xv sew yak as another character. Maybe we control somebody else at certain points. Like Laguna/ squall etc.

[Spotie]

Nope. No chance. The game must fail because people are stuck in the past.

[Adrian_v01]

'xcept this isn't Kingdom Hearts. KH stayed true to it's franchise. I don't get why you compare it to Crisis Core either, Crisis Core was centered around Zack and only had a one-man party from the beginning.
XII had gambits, but you could change between characters still. XIII had paradigms, but you could still choose who's gonna be the party leader.

If you set gambits for the others as you do for Noct, I don't see what's so difficult. If the AI can control the rest while you take care of Noct, why couldn't it be the other way round too?

[TekKing]

I already knew it was getting downgraded when they changed the name and it became multiplat. The newest trailer only proved it when they showed the change in combat and how clunky it has become (seriously, go watch the FFvs13 gameplay compared to the newest trailer). You can definitely see the change in direction. This looks like it will be FF13 all over again (or Duke Nukem Forever considering the dev time and disappointment it will bring) and I'm sure they'll milk unwanted sequels (FFXV-2, FFXV-3, FFXV Noctis Returns) with this too.

The only good thing is that Kingdom Hearts 3 has a possibility of not sucking but it's still a game under S-E so I'm not going to get my hopes up.

[Viperoholic]

Seriously no females. I guess no boob jiggle. I guess back to FF7 and Tifa..they really need to remake her in HD. BTW im just joking guys.

[gangsta_red]

This is very disappointing as one of the main draws to FF was having multiple characters in your party that you could switch to or use as a main either because you liked them or you wanted to level them up and make them stronger.

Still interested in the game but my interest has dwindled.

[TomahawkX]

and there goes the hype, sigh, I miss the days of controlling 3+ party members and managing their skills and equipment, you know like what a JRPG game is suppose to have.

[Inception]

Yeah me too. I miss when every party members had their own equipment and unique skill and we must controll every one of them to get the best party. I think the last FF who did that are FF IX and X.

[Roccetarius]

Lost Ody..oh wait, that was only the successor to Final Fantasy for last gen.

What a shame it's the only game made with that IP...it pretty much had all the core mechanics.

[Lionalliance]

Whats with all the complains. You knew this game was gonna be an action rpg years ago.

[iMaim]

Same reason you guys would want to play as Donald and Goofy in Kingdom Hearts right? Get real and quit whinging. The character switching looked tacked on in the Versus XIII trailer anyways.

[BitbyDeath]

The Final Fantasy name looks tacked on.

[josephayal]

no turn based no buy, ff15 meh!

[LightDiego]

I'm worried about this game, Square-Enix is awful, would be great if Level-5 or Namco Bandai make Kingdom Hearts 3.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Try not to argue, if we want it changed we need to voice our concerns to the director, a little fizzed off knowing this.

[Inception]

I think it's useless. SE pretend they will hear what the fans wants but they always did the opposite.

[Roccetarius]

Squeenix is pretty much like Capcom with Resident Evil. They pretend that they're listening, but in reality, they're laughing all the way to the bank when people buy it.

[Elda]

I don't care!...just give me this game to play soon as possible!

[trywizardo]

yeah i liked the continues co-op moves in the trailer , there was the main character with the blonde guy doing 3 or 4 continues co-op moves . i think this game will be the main game for me in this gen :D

[OutcastMosquito]

Square Enix needs to go back to their roots and bring back turn based gameplay with a little twist! That's what I believe will be a high selling point for this game.

[Pug]

Confirms my worst fears.

[bangoskank]

I preferred games like FFIV anyway when you couldn't switch out characters because certain events were scripted for specific characters. I feel switching out characters breaks the flow of storytelling.

[King_of_Nothing]

Why is it such a BFD for SE to create a Final Fantasy game based off the gameplay, story telling, mechanics, etc that made people fall in love with the franchise in first place? I seriously don't understand it.

No one (or very few at least) gawk about how FF10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 are the best in series. Just create a damn Final Fantasy game that people keep asking for already. Otherwise, maybe its high time SE proactively hangs up their hat before their financial woes forces them to fold anyway.

[Adrian_v01]

11 and 14 are mmos. And if you would lay away your ignorance and do some research, a lot, and I mean a lot find 10 to be the best. There's a huge group who love 12 the most. Just cause you prefer one style, you don't have to project your preferences onto others.

[King_of_Nothing]

Lay away my ignorance? I realize 11 and 14 are MMO's. Do you consider MMO's to be what a true Final Fantasy game is? The point is that with each installment the game is moving further and further away from its roots. There are already plenty of games that have been dumbed down at an attempt at mass appeal, there's no reason to continue dumbing down Final Fantasy and alienating its base.