Final Fantasy XV: How delays murdered the far-reaching ambitions of Square Enix

By Deepak Kumar Waiting for the release of a Final Fantasy title (may it be part of the main series or just a spin-off) has never been easy for fans. From watching an anime series or playing an older installment, we have done everything to make our wait shorter. With the long awaited – and long overdue – fifteenth iteration hitting stores this month, are we that excited? There was excitement at first, Square Enix (SE) teased the game at E3 way back in 2013 (not to forget that it was also unveiled in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII). The game did not show much promise then, but a new FF title is always good news. Fast forward to today, the game has still not seen the light of day. With delay after delay, Square Enix has managed to fatigue gamers even before the launch of Final Fantasy XV.

Though they have shamelessly kept the game away from us, they have not shied away from showing us every bit of what the game has to offer. They have also shown us at least 20 trailers, which are as arcane as the delays. Today searching for Final Fantasy XV will only give you hour long gameplay videos which to be truthful, don’t look very pleasing. The series strong point, the combat feels very clumsy and repetitive. The visuals no matter how jaw dropping they looked when they first teased the game, look stale by comparison.

A fan can watch only a certain amount of gameplay videos and trailers before he or she is annoyed. The devs want to keep the game fresh in our minds till launch, but so many delays and videos later, the game feels played out. SE may be trying to give the game another coat of polish, but why do it so late? And to a game that’s doesn’t need polish, but a major reworking. At the end – if we are to crystal gaze - it seems that even after delays the game may not win the hearts of fans and critics alike. And, due to the popularity of the game, it can certainly not be scrapped. The devs seem to be in a pickle! Timeliness equals to Godliness The publishers have already done a lot of world building with a five part anime series that was very well done. It has the production quality we have come to expect from the series with a superb soundtrack and excellent visuals. If that’s not enough, a film, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV was also released to theatres.

They are nice, yes, they introduce us to all the characters, and the universe and help it feel more lived in, showcasing the strong point of the latest entry. However, a game cannot triumph only on strong characters and plot. It needs to do more. Take the latest from the Mafia series. Having one of the best storylines in games, Mafia 3 failed to impress critics due to its ancient gameplay mechanics, repetitive combat and grinding. Square Enix could learn from other game publishers. Bethesda’s Fallout 4 for instance, is in direct contrast to how SE has approached its title.

Fallout 4 was first shown at E3 2015. And launched exactly five months later in November as planned. The game may not be a masterpiece for today’s times, but it created a sense of anticipation in fans by giving us little sneak peaks into its contents till its launch while avoiding all delays. Persona 5 (another JRPG that looks to be struggling in terms of its launch and its gameplay aesthetics solely going by the trailers) has done well to conceal most of its content till its release. This is a hard lesson for SE (and perhaps for all developers today). A game’s promotion and timely release is as important as the content of the game. The good news is that the game has finally gone gold (the game is ready to be shipped) and is slated for release on 29 November.