Final Fantasy XV is going to be gargantuan video game when it launches this November, that much is obvious, thanks to a continued stream of information dumps courtesy of Square Enix. Indeed, from what we’ve seen so far, to suggest the opposite would be a ridiculous notion, especially with game director Hajime Tabata having stated previously that you can easily sink upwards of 200 hours into completing absolutely everything.
However, that doesn’t mean that all of those hours will be spent exploring open-ended fields, cities and plains to your heart’s content. Speaking to IGN over the weekend at PAX West, Tabata revealed that the latter stages of Noctis’ quest will become much more focused on story and narrative, stating that he “didn’t want to end the game in an open world type of environment.”
If that revelation instantly evokes memories of Final Fantasy XIII‘s hugely-controversial linearity during the first two thirds of the game, keep those fears bottled for just a moment: Tabata says that “Rather than it [the change to linearity] being the latter half, it’s actually very close to the end of the game.”
Interestingly, the transition from open world to story-focused finale is so drastic that moving from one area to another won’t be possible, marking a point of no return type situation. With that said, a menu option allowing you to revisit the open world portion of the experience will be made available, says Tabata.
What say you you, Final Fantasy fans? Are you fine with linearity in a traditionally open world series if it’s not the core focus, or would you rather it not be present at all? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place.
Final Fantasy XV hits Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on November 29.