Final Fantasy XV Director: E3 2015, Episode Duscae 2.0 and Addressing Complaints

Hajime Tabata revealed that Final Fantasy XV will have a bigger showing at Gamescom than E3 this year and addressed a lot of Episode Duscae's complaints.

During Square Enix's latest Active Time Event show, Final Fantasy XV's director, Hajime Tabata, addressed many complaints about its demo while revealing some interesting information about the game's showing at E3 this year. Tabata revealed that his team doesn't have enough time left to put together a major trailer or any kind of new demo content in time for E3 2015, which is just six weeks away. As a result, Final Fantasy XV will have a relatively short trailer aired at E3 this year so that Square Enix can focus on the title's presence at Gamescom 2015, which takes place in Germany starting on Sept. 8.

Tabata also revealed the existence of Episode Duscae: Version 2.0, which will add some battle, camera and targeting enhancements to the demo, as well as the possibility to reach the hidden Titan Eidolon that players found through purposely glitching their game. Unfortunately, Tabata said that Square Enix is working with Sony and Xbox to update current versions of the demo, so don't expect the Episode Duscae to be opened up on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4's digital markets — buying Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is still the only way to gain access to Episode Duscae.

Courtesy of Eurogamer, here is a transcript of Tabata addressing the major complaints players had with Episode Duscae:

1. "The lock-on was useless."

Tabata said the development team is working on letting players know pressing R3 on the DualShock 4 controller locks on to a target.

2. "The camera is too close. I can't tell what's going on."

"This is being improved. We may consider allowing the player to choose from different camera distances."

3. "Camera felt heavy or sluggish."

"We'll make sure the camera is smoother. Simple as that."

4. "The AI is dumb. Allies get in the way."

"We will probably properly address it from the programming end..."

5. "The jaggies. But the drop in frame-rate is even more concerning."

Frame-rate was the most common complaint from European and North American players

On frame-rate: this is "a serious matter". "We consider it a high priority issue. The only option is to persistently optimise."

"We are working towards full HD. But frame-rate is more important than resolution."

6. "So I get that motion is realistic. But because of that, it feels slow."

They're working on trying to increase the dynamic range of the action by differentiating the sense of speed when using a light weapon and the sense of weight when using a heavy weapon.

7. "Can you at least add a minimap or a compass?"

"Ah yes, we will."

8. "I want a dodge action that doesn't rely on MP."

"You're talking about something like a dodge roll, right? So, there actually is a dodge roll. I think it was in the E3 trailer, too. That's the default dodge, and the warp-dodge that was in the demo is a higher level dodge action."

9. "A game that's all about hiding behind rocks and replenishing MP."

"The amount of MP that recovers, and the time needed to recover is something we balanced within the context of this demo, so I think what you're seeing is a result of that. For the final release, before even worrying about MP use, there are other features that will be included. There will be various features to shorten the time or each battle. Whether it be magic, or combo-ing with joint attacks, there will be a lot of tactics at the player's disposal, so the amount of time spent recovering MP will probably go down in proportion to that."

10. "Battles are too difficult or too easy."

"There's no difficulty option currently in the works for the final release. But since we're working towards releasing the game simultaneously worldwide, instead of releasing first in Japan and then to the rest of the world, we do feel there is a sense of obligation to fulfill lots of needs. And as one of those needs, we understand that difficulty options may be important."

"So I think we'll include it. We will."

11. "It's too monotonous."

"As I said earlier, resolving the issue of battles being too long will also resolve the issue of battles feeling too monotonous, so I think it'll change things a lot. Especially because you'll have the tools to shorten battles so that'll have a great effect on the experience. In that sense, I feel like it will become less of a problem."

"And then, if we were to add the difficulty settings, maybe it can bring out the more technical skills."

"I think we should allow the option of players choosing an easy mode."

12. "The stamina needed for dashing is annoying. You can't even run that fast."

"In terms of dashing distance and speed, well... Improving both by eating certain foods, I think that would be a neat feature for Final Fantasy 15.

"So if you procure the right ingredients to strengthen your boost for the next day, then you can make that meal. If people were stressed out by the dash in the demo, I think this will take care of it.

"So if you're planning to travel far the next day, then you can boost your dash if you know which meal will give you that status effect. In Episode Duscae, there are two states, I think they were Fresh and Prime. You get buffs from the meals. The dash distance was actually lengthened under these states, but the speed wasn't affected.

"In the final release, it's perfectly possible to have meals that can boost both speed and distance, and I think that's the way it should be. So hopefully we can meet players' expectations in that direction."

13. Many players enjoyed warping, but would like to see it usable as a regular means of moving around.

"I can't say with absolute confidence that we'll be able to manage it in the final release. If a breakthrough happens, I'm sure we'd implement it so you could use warping as a means of getting around, but there's a good chance it will be left as is."

14. "Please let me cancel attacks by evading."

"Now that we have delivered the demo, we're already able to cancel attacks. It's already in that for sure.

"You can't cancel out every single attack. So this is going to require some strategy and technique. I'm not fully aware of all the details at the moment, so I'll go over this once we've locked in the final features."

15. "Lots of bugs."

"As we work on the final release, bugs like the aforementioned ones caused by warping in the the field, our know-how isn't quite affluent yet when it comes to action in an open-world environment, so we are honestly faced with many unforeseen bugs. So we'll be very thorough as we head towards the final release. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience."

Final Fantasy XV will eventually launch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. We have a feeling we won't be seeing it until 2016.