Quick Impression: Final Fantasy XV Platinum Demo

To lay the groundwork for the next Final Fantasy epic Square-Enix has released the FFXV Platinum Demo. It gives you a taste of the world you’ll be going through along with the combat system and controls. In honor of this I will be going over all the things that stood out to me on the preview. It’s short. I mean really, really, short. I took my time looking around and I got through it in thirty minutes. Throughout the game there are pedestals. They do things as pedestals typically do. I was surprised, however, by standing on one pedestal in the giant world and turning into a truck. I’ve never seen shape shifting in a game that actually worked well so this intrigues me. And I can ram enemies with my car body. Good times. The level after that I was happy with the form of bull/bear hybrid. A second pedestal turned me into a giraffe with horns. Nice. I was joyfully surprised, however, with the Crocigator with wings on yet another pedestal. If this feature is in the full game I’ll be so stoked. I love shape changing. Now when this happens the controls get a little wonky, but I’m fine with that because the Crocigator with wings kills bosses. Very good times. [caption id="attachment_81730" align="alignnone" width="800"] Thou shalt not get in the face of crocigator with wings!!!![/caption] The first visual you get of the game is the close rendering of your magical guide. I named him/her/it Pimbly. The character is very, very pretty. I don’t often care much about how a character just looks in a game, but this one stood out to me. [caption id="attachment_81731" align="alignnone" width="800"] Seriously, look at the pretty!!![/caption] The fighting system is simple enough, although I know I’m going to have trouble casting spells like this. It’s just the whole grenade issue all over again. I hate grenades. The final boss battle made me stop for a moment and try to consider how to attack, but then in the end the boss was easy to beat. The weapons you are given for your first battles are a toy sword and a squeaky hammer, recalling for me fond memories of the Kingdom Hearts opening levels. The final boss gives you some more options. They kick ass. [caption id="attachment_81732" align="alignnone" width="800"] Pictured: New Toys, kicking asses[/caption] This game was a standalone from the main story. It shows a little bit of what to look forward to when we get into the game itself. There is a focus on the important relationship between Noctis’ and his father. There is an emphasis on the fear Noctis feels about losing his father. Also there is an opening voiceover about a daemon? All of this is incredibly intriguing and it makes me want to get in there and see what is going to happen when this all comes out. I’m interested to see how the interaction between dreams will play out. My research tells me that Final Fantasy XV is going to be focused on the realm, but there has to be a link between this game and the final product, right? There is a level that is completely Alice in Wonderland in its size relativity. How can they put that in here and not let us explore I further? I mean they named him Noctis. There has to be a dream tie in! No matter, this is a very pretty taste of what looks to be a very good game.