Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae

Unreleased Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae is the upcoming playable demo of Final Fantasy XV for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. It will be included as a downloadable voucher with purchased copies of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, which releases worldwide in March, 2015. The demo will be available for a limited time, included only with the first print versions of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

There is a sequence in the full game where the party loses its car, and the demo was created around that sequence. The party must acquire enough money to pay for their car to be fixed. The main story is masked within the demo, so players will not be able to experience that. There will still be some story scenes. For example, Cidney makes an appearance.

Specifications
The demo will be available on the day Final Fantasy Type-0 HD releases in all regions, and it will have dual audio and various language options. It will be 5GB in size and will use the full processing memory of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The download code for the demo will be available in the first print of the physical launch edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, and it will be available with the digital edition "for a limited time." The code will be valid until March 20, 2016, one year after the release of the European edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. Players can keep the demo for as long as they choose to keep it on their consoles.

The demo doesn't run at 1080p and 30 frames per second, but full HD is planned for the final version.

No data will carry over to the main game. The player can save in the demo and there might be some perks to players whose systems recognize an Episode Duscae save game for the final game.

Controls
The demo uses the following control scheme:


 * Camera - Right stick
 * Movement - Left stick
 * Jump - /
 * Dash (free run) - L3 button / Left stick button
 * Attack - /
 * Combos - Continue holding down the attack button or tap repeatedly
 * Shift (Warp) and Shift Break - /  – Warp towards the locked-on enemy and attack. This consumes MP.
 * Guard - /  – Avoid normal enemy attacks at the cost of MP. It's a matter of timing. The blue light that shines when evading is the MP being spent.
 * Ability - /  – Each weapon has its own pre-set abilities. By using button and left/right sticks, the player can change the ability without stopping the attack. MP is consumed when using abilities.

Scenario
According to Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata, players will get two hours of gameplay out of Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae; this can be increased to three or four hours if they really dive into it. The demo will take place in the Duscae region near the beginning of the game, which has been showcased in the E3 2014 trailers. The area includes at least a road, a gas station, and wilderness with wild animals, grassy plains, and forests, as well as mountainous areas overflowing with trees and caves that can be tricky to find. The demo will be entirely seamless, although the full game will likely have some load times for important scenes.

Episode Duscae will naturally limit open world aspects, but it will still be wide-ranging. It is set to take place around the astral shard seen in the Tokyo Game Show 2014 trailer. Players can fight monsters and explore dungeons, although dungeons are optional. The passage of time (a day being 45 minutes long) and camping will be present in the demo. Night time is dangerous and different monsters lurk during in the dark. The demo will focus on battle, but it will have towns the players can visit. Noctis's "Phantom Sword" will be usable.

The demo will have a prototype summon system and an Eidolon to show players how to tame and use one. Which Eidolon it will be is not known yet, but it will not be Titan. A Behemoth will appear in the demo, named "Smoke Eye" as he is blind in one eye. If the player defeats it they will be in for a big reward. One quest in the demo is finding phantom swords for Noctis's special ability. After beating the main scenario there is an ending and more things are unlocked for the player to go back and do.

Battle System
When encountering an enemy, a red gauge appears on the screen. The gauge is activated only when an enemy is targeting the player. The party can escape before the gauge is filled to avoid the battle. The battle background music generally doesn't play when roaming the field, but when the red gauge is activated the battle music will begin.

The battle style is attacking, avoiding enemy attacks by guarding, and then attacking again. If the player runs out of MP they can recover by taking shelter in cover points. Sometimes the enemy will shine according to the timing, giving an opportunity to counterattack with parry. Players can change Noctis's equipment and use items but in the demo, the rest of your party's equipment is locked.

Equipment has "Break," "Rush," "Slash," "Counter," and "Raid" labels. Break weapons are used to strike with first, while Rush weapons can be set for continuous attacks after the initial strike. Speed, among other things, is an important factor when fighting evasive enemies. The player can change their equipment according to the enemy they are fighting.

The normal weapons are different from the "Phantom Sword" summon weapons. When starting the demo, the player has a set of regular weapons and will not find new ones, but players can obtain the Phantom Swords scattered around the map. There is only one co-op move in the demo as co-op moves are strong and could disrupts the balance, because they are gradually learned during the game as the party levels up.

It is a game over when Noctis is unable to battle. If the player's HP drops to 0 they enter a "critical condition" where a red gauge is displayed, and if that gauge runs out it is a game over. Before the gauge depletes the player can use items or be healed by party members.

Navigation and Camping
When not in battle players can open the Travel Menu to check the map and determine their next location by changing the position of the marker on the map. The blue points indicate safe havens where the player can set up camp. Obtained items can be sold for gil. At camp, Ignis can cook and different dishes give different status buffs. The status effects weaken as the number of days elapses, until expiring and the player must set up camp again if they want to regain the buffs. Players accumulate experience by camping, and level up if they meet the requirements. It is not possible to level up outside of camp. After camping the game will auto-save, and it will be morning. After camping at a location once, the player can return to it at any time from the Travel Menu.

Development
The reason for releasing the demo is because Tabata wants to let players see the portion of the game currently available, and for them to understand Final Fantasy XV is deep in development despite the long wait. The main point is not to gather feedback, but Tabata has said his staff will try to respond to any feedback on the demo. Square Enix wants to avoid releasing two Final Fantasy games simultaneously as standalone titles as not to damage each others' sales, and decided to release the demo packaged with Final Fantasy Type-0.

After the Tokyo Game Show 2014, the systems going into the demo were slightly changed as a result of fan feedback. The demo's volume was exceeded from what was originally expected and the team needed more time to implement that.

With Episode Duscae, the team avoids having players play through the main story; the concrete demo is designed around playability and enjoyment on its own. The part of the game featured in the demo is related to the main story and thus may feel unnatural to players who miss out on the larger context, but these portions were included so that players would easily be able to provide feedback on them.

The party's car was planned to be included in the demo, but it was removed. Hajime Tabata explained that he did not want the demo to deviate too far from what the fans expect from a Final Fantasy game by making it driving-focused. Originally, the plan for the demo was to let players drive in a vast world and get off every now and then to explore the vicinity. However, the developers felt it was important to show the battles, given Final Fantasy XV is the first action-oriented game in the numbered series. Thus, rather than driving long distances, exploration on foot was made the priority.

While the team was considering a driving demo, there was to be about an hour of normal gameplay. After altering the structure of the demo so players could walk freely in the field and battle monsters, the demo's length extended to approximately two hours of content.

The biggest aspect of Final Fantasy XV that is not included in the demo is magic, for developmental reasons. The combat system in the full game has magic, but the graphics are not polished yet. When choosing to polish either the magic system or the summon system for the demo, the developers chose the latter. The developers wanted to put the weather system in to the demo, but couldn't as the different types of rain weren't finished in time.