• Final Fantasy XV difficult to complete in under 40/Episode Duscae Demo News



    In a recent interview with Kotaku, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata stated that the Final Fantasy XV world will be large and deep. "Originally, we were aiming so that the entire [FFXV] story could potentially be cleared within 40 hours," said Tabata. "But looking at the current volume of what's becoming available, it's looking harder and harder to clear within that time."

    He stated that the production team is trying to gauge the length of the entire game and try to "work around it", as it may be too much for players to bear. Originally Duscae (where the demo will take place) was to be 1/20 of the whole world's size. However, it's grown much larger than the development team has anticipated, and for it to retain that ratio, the world would be too large to properly explore.

    Another note on Duscae, the demo, Episode Duscae, which will be released along with the Day One Edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, will not take part during any of the game's main quest. "Unfortunately with this particular demo, we're avoiding having players play through the main story," according to Tabata. "That said, it's not gonna be as simple as we're dropping you into this open world and you can do whatever you'd like to do."

    The developers are trying to balance the fun factor and the playability of the demo, so it could stand on it's own. "That said, we are kinda taking a part of the game that's related to the main story to a certain extent," Tabata said. "It may feel a little bit unnatural, but we did kind of include portions that players would easily be able to provide feedback on."

    All the cool kids will get Final Fantasy Type-0 HD and the Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae Demo on March 17th in the US, and all the squares will get it without the demo afterwards.

    Special thanks to http://powerupgaming.co.uk/
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Final Fantasy XV difficult to complete in under 40/Episode Duscae Demo News started by Colonel Angus View original post
    Comments 19 Comments
    1. Freya's Avatar
      Freya -
      I'm kind of upset that I will be missing this but I just can't afford a PS4 right now
    1. Colonel Angus's Avatar
      Colonel Angus -
      You're not the only one. You could still buy the game, then later buy a PS4.
    1. LocoColt04's Avatar
      LocoColt04 -
      Fortunately, I don't think I'm really aiming to complete it in under 40 hours, so I should be just fine!

      Though I'm totally excited for Type-0 for the game itself, not the demo.
    1. Del Murder's Avatar
      Del Murder -
      I usually take longer than 40 to complete an RPG but that includes side activities. A main story for a RPG shouldn't be any longer than 30-40 or else it just drags on, so I hope it's closer to the 40 mark than further.
    1. Colonel Angus's Avatar
      Colonel Angus -
      IDK if I ever completed a post SNES FF in under 50 hours.
    1. Sephiroth's Avatar
      Sephiroth -
      Apparently speedrunners are not known in Japan.
    1. Laddy's Avatar
      Laddy -
      An FF game clocking over 40 hours is a very good thing and considering the relative vastness of the world this does not surprise me.

      I just hope those 40 or so hours are filled with worthwhile gameplay and an engaging story.
    1. Depression Moon's Avatar
      Depression Moon -
      So they think the game might be too long now? The vastness of the world shouldn't be a problem for players as long as there is plenty of stuff to explore and not just plain land with nothing to do in it.
    1. Quindiana Jones's Avatar
      Quindiana Jones -
      5 hours of story, 35 hours of getting to story. Calling it now.
    1. Del Murder's Avatar
      Del Murder -
      Quote Originally Posted by Depression Moon View Post
      So they think the game might be too long now? The vastness of the world shouldn't be a problem for players as long as there is plenty of stuff to explore and not just plain land with nothing to do in it.
      A valid concern based on the way SE has addressed these things in the last few years. 'You want an open world? We'll give you an entire WORLD of open roads that takes you REAL TIME to drive through! It will be the most openness open world that was ever opened!'
    1. Loony BoB's Avatar
      Loony BoB -
      40 hours? Sounds fine by me.
    1. Lone Wolf Leonhart's Avatar
      Lone Wolf Leonhart -
      I think a great RPG for me usually sits at a solid 60 to 70 hours including all the side quests. Some have taken 90 to 100 though, but those were in games where I did literally everything including talking to every NPC.
    1. Colonel Angus's Avatar
      Colonel Angus -
      I think I clocked over 125 hrs. on my first XII playthrough.
    1. Ayen's Avatar
      Ayen -
      I understand their concern if they're looking to attract the average person who doesn't like to spend hours on games, but I think they're also underestimating the groups who sits through long open-world games like Skyrim just a tad bit. I don't think those people are going to bat an eyelash at 40 hours, unless there isn't anything to engage you in said open-world, which I feel is a valid concern moving forward. Whenever they get a complaint about linearity or worlds being too open they go so far in the other direction it's ridiculous. It's like they can't find a middle ground, which is sad when you take into consideration everything X-2 did.
    1. Galuf's Avatar
      Galuf -
      40 hours !!! thats way too long. it should last 5 minutes then have 40 hours worth of sidequests
    1. Loony BoB's Avatar
      Loony BoB -
      Quote Originally Posted by ToriJ View Post
      I understand their concern if they're looking to attract the average person who doesn't like to spend hours on games, but I think they're also underestimating the groups who sits through long open-world games like Skyrim just a tad bit. I don't think those people are going to bat an eyelash at 40 hours, unless there isn't anything to engage you in said open-world, which I feel is a valid concern moving forward. Whenever they get a complaint about linearity or worlds being too open they go so far in the other direction it's ridiculous. It's like they can't find a middle ground, which is sad when you take into consideration everything X-2 did.
      To be fair to SE, I believe they are meaning that the story will take about 40 hours, if you focus on that. I think 40 hours is reasonable for that. Hell, technically if you do this for FFVII you could finish within a few hours via speedrun tactics. Skyrim's speedruns are around 40 minutes.
    1. metagloria's Avatar
      metagloria -
      More like Final Fantasy XV difficult to complete in under 10 years, AM I RIGHT SQUARE ENIX?
    1. Egami's Avatar
      Egami -
      Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
      To be fair to SE, I believe they are meaning that the story will take about 40 hours, if you focus on that. I think 40 hours is reasonable for that. Hell, technically if you do this for FFVII you could finish within a few hours via speedrun tactics. Skyrim's speedruns are around 40 minutes.
      Yeah, I figured they meant the main quest would be around 40 hours on a first play through which is rather standard for FF titles I'd think. What is more important is how well this story plays out and how engaging it is. You can have a 10 hour long game that feels like a chore to play through due to terrible pacing and un-engaging content and you can have a 40 hour long game which feels the exact opposite. The content and how it is presented is the key.

      As far as Skyrim goes, it's main quest is indeed short, but the real draw is the open massive world of the game and the sheer volume of content and things to do it has besides the main quest (even more so with the three DLCs they put out) and how you can basically role play in any way you want. Hell, my most recent character on it hasn't touched the main quest yet and I have played over 140 hours with it so far.

      But I wouldn't want Final Fantasy turning into The Elder Scrolls or vice versa. While I would like to see both improve on areas where the other excels, I am not sure I'd like for them to shift their focus.

      With FFXV, despite the massive shadow that I think the XIII saga has cast on FF as a whole, I am optimistic. The more I see about it the more I feel that this is the game they should have followed XII with (which despite it's flaws I felt was a step in the right direction) as opposed to what they did with XIII. I also find the overall cast (not just the main) intriguing and despite how little information we have I already find it more compelling than XIII's.

      Will be interesting to see what we get with the upcoming demo.
    1. Ayen's Avatar
      Ayen -
      Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
      Quote Originally Posted by ToriJ View Post
      I understand their concern if they're looking to attract the average person who doesn't like to spend hours on games, but I think they're also underestimating the groups who sits through long open-world games like Skyrim just a tad bit. I don't think those people are going to bat an eyelash at 40 hours, unless there isn't anything to engage you in said open-world, which I feel is a valid concern moving forward. Whenever they get a complaint about linearity or worlds being too open they go so far in the other direction it's ridiculous. It's like they can't find a middle ground, which is sad when you take into consideration everything X-2 did.
      To be fair to SE, I believe they are meaning that the story will take about 40 hours, if you focus on that. I think 40 hours is reasonable for that. Hell, technically if you do this for FFVII you could finish within a few hours via speedrun tactics. Skyrim's speedruns are around 40 minutes.
      Ohh. I get ya.
  • EoFF on Twitter

  • Square Enix on Twitter