Final Fantasy XV released last year. It was one of my favorite games of the year in spite of its flaws. Square Enix has been working since its release to update the game with continuous improvements. There have been consistent DLC releases that have included Power Ranger style exo-suits and individual story modes for two of the Noctis’s best friends.

Square isn’t done with Final Fantasy XV yet, though, not by a long shot. They’ve made several announcements since the beginning of GamesCom in Cologne, Germany that will expand the Final Fantasy XV Universe and give fans plenty to look forward to.

Final Fantasy XV Comes to PC

There were some who had given up hope that a PC release for FFXV would never come, but those days are numbered. The Final Fantasy Windows Edition will launch in early 2018 and will include NVidia Gameworks technology to improve the game’s visuals. The technologies that will be included are:

  • NVIDIA Flow – creates vivid, combustible fluid, fire and smoke.
  • NVIDIA HairWorks – creates dynamic, life-like hair and fur for characters, animals, and monsters that inhabit the game.
  • NVIDIA ShadowWorks – enables characters to cast shadows on themselves.
  • NVIDIA Turf Effects – creates life-like grass and vegetation in the game environment.
  • NVIDIA VXAO – adds depth and realism based on the physics principles shadows and light.

There is also support for both GeForce® Experience™ capture and share tools:

  •  NVIDIA Ansel™, an in-game photography tool that allows gamers to compose shots from any position, adjust with post-process filters, capture HDR images in high fidelity formats, and share screenshots in 360 via a smartphone, PC or VR headset.
  • NVIDIA ShadowPlay™ Highlights automatically captures the player’s greatest gaming achievements in video and screenshot, enabling seamless sharing through social channels.

Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition

Final Fantasy XV is a very beautiful game. Its so beautiful, in fact, that porting the game to anything but PC would be almost impossible. The team at Square Enix figured out a workaround though. They have created a game that maintains the same story and 10 chapter structure but replaces the realistic visuals from the original game with a low polygon chibi style. It sounds silly, but it definitely works. Take a look at the trailer and see for yourself.

The simplified graphics make it to the Pocket edition with will be right at home on older phones and tablets, but it also leads me to wonder if it also means that there is potential for a Switch port of the Pocket Edition. Only time will tell, but one would think that Square would want to capitalize on the console’s success in any way they can.

Episode Ignis

We have already gotten two other individual episodes, one for Gladiolus and another for Prompto. Ignis will get his turn during holiday 2017. We don’t really have any idea what the game will be like, but I would make a serious bet that it is more of a stealth game just like Prompto’s episode was more of a shooter.

“Comrades” DLC

One of the most surprising announcements to come from the Final Fantasy XV Universe (and that is saying something) is the comrades DLC. This is a multiplayer mode that allows players to create their own avatars and play through a unique story with different locations. I don’t know who out there asked for a multiplayer Final Fantasy game, but here we are.

Monsters of the Deep VR Experience

Square Enix teased a Final Fantasy VR game built around Prompto last year. This has since been scrapped in favor of a fishing mini game set in VR. I saw this played at E3 and freaked out about it on one of our E3 2017 podcasts. Square Enix has announced that the game will be released on 11/21/2017.

Do any of these things look interesting to you? Sound off in the comments!

 

By Stephen Duetzmann

Editor in Chief Founder/EiC EngagedFamilyGaming.com Blogger, Podcaster, Video Host RE: games that families can play together. Editor@engagedfamilygaming.com

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