Less pre-rendered cutscenes, more player control in Final Fantasy XV
Ever since Final Fantasy VII, the RPG series has been punctuated by non-interactive, pre-rendered cutscenes. But Final Fantasy XV's action combat built with next-gen power will let players play though the game's dramatic moments, director Tetsuya Nomura told Sony in a PS4 video (translated by Gematsu).
"Since the beginning of 3D graphics, Final Fantasy has largely used pre-rendered movies, but what’s different about this new hardware is that it allows you to direct what has previously been pre-rendered and make it real-time," Nomura said. "For this reason, even in considerably dynamic scenes, the player can still control their character."
Nomura said a leviathan attack scene shown in E3 trailers previously would have been the domain of Visual Works, Square Enix's film production team. But in FFXV, players will control the battle through sky and sea in real time.
"Because this game is action-based, we’re doing our best to stay away from situations where the character doesn’t have control. Enemies and allies alike will move around, and fighting within the speedy progression of battle is what makes this Final Fantasy different from previous installments."
That said, attacks and abilities will still be represented on screen with numbers popping up left and right--just with less menus.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.
Final Fantasy creator says without the NES, "none of any of this would have been possible" – even if he "cheated on Nintendo and went to PlayStation" with FF7
Final Fantasy 14 pauses the MMO's automatic housing demolition process for NA players following Hurricane Helene: "Our hearts go out to those who were affected"