Square Enix released the Platinum Demo for Final Fantasy XV following the big “Uncovered” event in Los Angeles, California at the end of March. The demo gives players a look at the world of Final Fantasy XV through the eyes of Noctis as a child as he travels through his dreams.
A full 30 minute walkthrough has been made available in video format to give gamers a look at the gameplay and the themes of Noctis’ dreams. You can check out the waklthrough below courtesy of Shirrako.
One of the things that stand out first and foremost about Final Fantasy XV is the fact that the music makes a very pronounced presence all throughout the half hour demo. Composer Yoko Shimomura starts off with a contemporary remix of Nobuo Uematsu’s classic Final Fantasy prelude.
The prelude loops as players control Noctis, running throughout the environment as the light platforming segments are introduced with various trinkets being collected along the way. Eventually it evolves into a hack-and-slash adventure where young Noctis has to slash and bamp enemies that block his pathway.
Players will have a light toy sword and toy hammer at their disposal during combat. They explain between the loading screens that you can use the face buttons to attack and dodge enemy attacks and that some attacks cannot be dodged. Circle unleashes basic hack and slash attacks while Square is used for dodging.
In a separate video they explained that for enemy attacks that can’t be dodged you can use the teleportation system to zip and zoop to various nearby locations to get out of the way of enemy attacks that can’t be dodged.
The demo proceeds to see Noctis hop through a portal and end up in a house, miniaturized. He drives around in toy vehicles collecting more of the crystals and battling some the low-level nightmares with his toy weapons.
The house segment in the Platinum Demo for Final Fantasy XV reminds me a lot of the one stage in World of Illusion on the Sega Genesis where Mickey and Donald end up in a house, miniaturized, where they have to hop around and make their way through the oversized environment.
In the Platinum Demo Noctis can interact with various objects as he platform-hops his way up the objects and onto the main dining room table. At the end of the table is yet another portal that leads outside where Noctis is a normal sized child.
Here we get to hear more of Shimomura’s soundtrack, where the main theme from Final Fantasy XV plays amidst romantically designed architecture soaked in a downpour of rain.
Later on Noctis gets to turn into a giraffe, tiger deer creature before finally exiting through a long, exquisitely designed hallway.
The demo wraps up with a big boss fight and a credit scene. All I have to say for that boss fight is that when Noctis says “I’m not afraid” and the boss theme kicks in, I had chills running down my arms. Epic.
The demo is short and sweet; gorgeous and audibly luscious. I don’t know if I would say the demo is highly replayable but it’s definitely a nice hold-me-over until E3, where we’re likely to see more content and some new revelations for the game. The platforming and light combat combined with that really cool boss fight at the end is the sort of thing where players are likely going to be practicing on that for a while. Also, the physics-based destruction is very impressive looking.
Final Fantasy XV is set for release on September 30th for the Xbox One and PS4.