By Odin’s Beard, This Franchise Finally Went Back To Its Roots!
For the past fourteen years, I noticed something missing from Final Fantasy; a component that once made all Final Fantasies up to X a bit more expansive. Can you guess the absent feature? 
Ding! Ding! Ding! Spot on.
My experience with Episode Duscae proves the interviews and trailers both directors gave were indeed bona fide. Final Fantasy XV sure is fighting for title of largest Final Fantasy in existence. I cannot deny Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn stands out as its only competition right now. The sheer amount of detail put into various character/monster models, animations, and environments tell me those extra developers, who recently joined Division 1, are not wasting any production value. A level of interactivity seen better off in actionized open sandbox games hooks my attention faster than fired chicken. I can hop upon rocks, freerun over guard rails, squeeze through tight spaces, hide behind trees, teleport onto tall structures, avoid assaults via backhand handspring, sprint until fatigue kicks in, and yes Noctis does have other movements though they're left reserved for the final game. For example, arched shaped mountains scattered around require an unspecified platforming mechanic, while the lake is definitely there to swim in or at least simulate such an exercise. Traversing across Duscae never feels monotonous because Tabata illustrates enough expression in Noc’s physicality to capture the athleticism of a professional athlete. That flip, flop, flip, flop routine hardly applies to Noctis and his friends. Movement becomes diversified. The bait feels good, supported by ambiances that belong on a nature CD.
If anything, Tabata must increase immersion. We are Noctis. Let us experience everything he can achieve. The prince uses his legs a lot, but never forget the right and left arm is just as useful beyond wielding weapons. There was no pull-up mechanic during my playthrough. Less collision detection. Different gamers, on the other hand, managed to bypass things I thought were impossible.
Duscae is an alpine-steppe where humans happen to populate areas near the interstate highway.
Shacks here and there are empty though Tabata said players can enter specific ones. Dogs, cats, and fish do not exist in the demo. Birds do. I discovered a wild chocobo.
Prompto: I’m toootally into chocobos. Don’t take that the wrong way.
Noctis: There’s no wrong way to love a chocobo.
The ranch gives off a petting zoo vibe. Its owner, Wiz, built one goddamn homey atmosphere; butterflies wouldn't leave my stomach alone. The scenery and interactions with it initiated those warm and fuzzy emotions deep inside me.
Sometimes NPCs get the munchies.
Chocobo wings? Oh dear...
It is rare to find an NPC’s design this fleshed out in the JRPG genre. NPCs from previous Final Fantasies blur past my memory. Give them a voice and bam!
Although content was pushed aside, it took me three days to explore every nook and cranny. Glitches allow players to break free from the constraints. Traveling all the way down to Titan is possible.
I tried to go further towards what seemed like Lestallum, but game over threatened me.
Exploration is seamless. I could wonder upon something before I was supposed to. I didn't need the map to discover eye-catching spots thanks to a system called point of interest. If something stood out then I traveled toward it, which often triggered dialogue during gameplay. Characters conversed about what they saw. A lot were connected to the main questline. The most important thing was that none of them felt isolated, out of place, or randomly shoehorned in for diversity's sake; poi’s went hand and hand with the biome.
Overall exploration was enjoyable. I forgot about the world outside the edges of my TV screen. I give Tabata credit for emulating the experience of venturing through actual ecosystems.
Gameplay… is foremost an experience that players should not watch clips of. No one will know how it truly feels until they get their hands on the demo. Command menus are thrown out the window, and better yet, fights occur on whatever environment the party is at in real time. Turn-based moves and attack resolution aren't disguised among real-time-esque mechanics nor is there any minute long cool-down system.
Hold the attack button commences auto attack, so the computer generations a bunch of strikes for you as long as it’s held. I am a strong advocate against taking control away from the player, however, Tabata set up combat to punish both button mashers and lazy people severely. Auto attack is not similar to its MMO counterpart, which is when the computer performs all action without manual input from the player. He or she can instead pan the camera, switch targets, and possibly more. Because the computer dishes out slash after slash, Noc’s movement becomes restricted. The player cannot change direction; this is important to know when placement on the battlefield plays a vital role in strategy. Enemies attack from all direction and the camera currently does not keep up with all of them. Gangbangs aren't a rare occurrence. Standing between Garulas is not smart if they push to the side. Then suicidal magitek soldiers force Noctis to hustle out their way. Sabertusks tend to leap at weird angles. With these and a dozen other opponents, only idiots would stand in place, spamming auto attack. Pay attention. Tunnel vision will kill you.
Auto guard differs from auto attack. Players can freely move during defense. Holding the button sends Noctis into an assertive stance. His elbows kept high up, protecting facial features. He skids out the opponent’s way rather than blocking their hits. It’s almost as if he’s impersonating a ninja. Having that much control over him is amazing. I can feel it through the duel shock and visual ques.
Pretty much everything I wrote about defend on my recap turned out true in Episode Duscae: MP depletes upon guarding, so abusing its button will punish players who love to mash. Not all attacks are avoidable though technical moves do exist to help cancel out damage from them; depending on the right context, envision animations happen and those require precise timing.
The entire point of an automated guard is to give players enough time to think what their next action will be while enemies gangbang. There’s more leniency for gamers who aren't experienced with or dislike the nitty–gritty of timing split second blocks, especially when so many other things are going on at the same time. Also take into account the entire 3D environment. An evading player can circle around enemies. They should look out for openings. Then there’s objects players can use for cover. It’s smart to guard towards them if surrounded because normal movement or dash has no invincibility.
Armiger swords offer a whole new outlook on defense. Weapon one, Aqesior, grants warp strike and warp doge. The former is slashing while in the middle of a warp. The latter is manually defending. Players are allowed to choose where Noctis lands. Its description reads sword that slices through space and time, allowing its wielder to warp at will. Weapon two, grants knightsguard; a black flip maneuver that recovers Noctis from falling (note: at the same time he regains HP). Its description reads Gallant, cuts through thin air to find its mark. Calls forth the protective power of the Knightshield.
During Nomura's time, there was a warp bounce. Not sure if that still exist.
Air combos are limited in Episode Duscae. 
The concept of commitment from turn based systems decreases the overreliance on twitch reflexes. Players must commit to their selected action. Once committed there's no throwing in the towel. If you attack, the animation locks, disabling any chance to cancel out of it though letting
Combat is slowed down enough to analyze each windup, delivery, and recovery period. Noctis has very precise animations. Understanding his body movement makes fighting easier. These details are here for strategic reasons. For example, Zweihander in the descend slot results in Noctis to lean downward headfirst before rising back up. That's his vulnerable moment.
The prince's limit breaker is textbook badass. Yes it is manually operated.
Summoning Ramuh is ten times more badass. Ramuh's power level would put Goku to shame. He inflects so much damage that the player is unable to receive EXP. Okay the truth is he lets us know how a tamed summon behaves because nearly everyone else must be fought with beforehand. Also he's a cheap-shot at Dead Eye if the player struggles. Look up epic in a dictionary and you will get a picture of every Final Fantasy XV summon. If summons could talk I think Ramuh should say BEHOLD THY POWWWWWAAA!!! (explosions - kaaaaaboom - explosions).
Lock-on isn't sticky enough because enemies can exit it. Please fix this broken mechanic. Tabata seems to have the same trouble with lock-on /camera problems he had with Type 0. For a console game, it should work coherently. This isn't as big of a problem as the enemy AI; its erratic, which creates an untamed effect for various creatures. I found their behavior not predictable enough to keep up the first few days. Fighting them is a double edge sword; their animations are diverse as Noc's and although they're fictional each movement they do is something I would except from a four legged carnivore with the frame of a wolf. I can always tell the difference between a sabertusk and a garula without catching glimpse of them based on their distinct vocal patterns. When I do meet them face to face, I'm surprised to see they have natural tendencies. Older garulas, marked by their large size, do not graze near walking paths and can almost always be found with young-lings if up close by the highway. Otherwise they are near the watering hole because their AI script treats them like herbivorous herd animals. Goblins are nocturnal, so they appear anywhere at night. In caves you can see holes, showing they live deep within the earth similar to underground folk. I wish Noctis can take pictures of different creatures because when their aggro is not not triggered, it's like watching a wildlife video. When a creature dies there is a dramatic expression.
Okay the downside... sometimes creatures are a little too alive. I had no idea the garula's run animation would damage me. Sure if a cow bumped into you at half speed I guess it would hurt. Tabata should at least make such a movement clear as an attack. This is when it attacks and this is when I defend. Sometimes it was hard for me to judge though the more I played the more I got the hang of it. Takes time. Perhaps range attacks would work better on faster foes. Nomura did say Noctis has access to all weapons, including firearms. I wonder if that's still true. Oh yeah the tanks.
Okay I am going back to lock-on. If the camera, which is sluggish, points toward a warpable structure it automatically locks-on. Problem is this version of lock-on works less efficient than its enemy counterpart despite the automatic part. Trying to position the camera toward a target point was frustrating as enemies kept on attacking me. I shouldn't have to rotate the camera around over and over. Lastly, lock-on ruins picture quality. The screen becomes blurry. Come on, what the heck.
Unlike the last generations of Final Fantasies, Episode Duscae engages me into combat for combat sake. Not because of the EXP or item drops. I wanted to fight just to get the emotional torque. It's satisfying to pull off these moves and learn new ones (increase skill level).
Weapon arrangement is something else that takes time getting use to. Once I learned how it works there was not much to complain about. Instead of me telling you how it works just experience it for yourself. My recap wasn't far off. Tabata must add a quick option menu for weapons, so navigation becomes simpler.
I would imagine magic works similar to fire in Bloodborne.
Is the physics engine this insane? If not then hop on it Tabata.
Overall combat is satisfying. There is always something new to encounter.
Combat does require thought. Some fans are saying it's the Dark Souls of Final Fantasy. Honestly, Final Fantasy XV's combat makes Final Fantasy Type 0, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Kingdom Hearts, Tales of, Star Ocean, Nier, Drakengard, Dragon's Dogma, and other actionized JRPGs look like senseless button mashers. See, the higher-end action games have programmed my mind to react more on twitch reflexes and quick attack executions regardless of the situation. Final Fantasy XV is the exact opposite, so it was hard for me to re-frame my way of thinking. I guess playing the game the way it was meant to decreases punishment and heightens all entertainment. See, hitboxs work well, not being too big, too small, disjointed, or broken. Remember my post about garulas? What I first thought was bullshit collision damage turned out untrue. When they run, it's really a full-frontal attack, during which I happened to stand in front of. Stupid, huh? Hey, I had no clue. Not my fault these animations aren't mechanical; they appear so naturally that I'm forced to examine the finer details. Combine this fact with no recovery attack, I struggled. Understanding an enemy's weakness the second you engage one isn't how active cross battle operates. Resist the anxiousness to attack, attack, attack! Final Fantasy XV requires patience. The room for experimentation is huge. Players must plan before jumping into combat as long as the rate at which Noctis can throw out another action is delayed by his own animation in contrast to mashing between offense and defense on the fly. Who knows if Noc will gain a recovery attack. Dissidia Final Fantasy made them obtainable at level thirty-two. Should Tabata enable players to cancel the current action? Sure it would make combat easier, however I just want a better camera and lock-on.
Apart from combat, side missions were integral with both the main questline and setting. They had a sense of belonging. I ran into no go fetch doggy quest from generic NPCs. There's material randomly placed about to pick up. Mini games and treasure boxes are for the final game. If there's hardly any treasure boxes I will get pissed off because material is tedious to pick up, which in turn makes exploring every nook and cranny less fun.
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