Final Fantasy XV has done very well. Shipped 5 million copies well, in fact. And it’s also reviewed very favourably.
Even we’re loving it and talked a little bit about it on our DLCast with a review to follow.
So, of course, Square Enix are going to release patches that affect story elements in considerable ways.
Now, we are obviously huge advocates for patches, mods, and DLC, and we love seeing free updates to games like DOOM and MMORPGs. But this … this is something else.
Admittedly, FF XV did have a Day One Crown Patch which added a ton of cutscenes to the game from Kingsglaive, but this wouldn’t have affected most players. Now, though, people have already finished the game. They’ve digested the story, and this gets announced.
In the short-term, Square are going to add further cut-scenes into the game to explain further aspects of the story. More specifically, what happened to one particular character, including the update with new voice responses in-game.
They’re also going to add new gameplay enhancements, including the potency of the ring’s magic in Chapter 13.
In the long-term, it is also going to be possible to play as some important characters from the game and they will be adding an avatar system to create original characters. Presumably in time for the online mode in 2017.
Honestly, I’m not sure how to feel. On one hand, this is actually unprecedented. Like, when was the last time a game on this scale has released a patch that significantly tweaks story. The equivalent of this is like a Director’s Cut for a movie, but as a free update. It certainly opens up replayability options.
But on the other hand, this has mostly been inspired by negative feedback, plain and simple. Chapter 13 is slow-paced and offers limited reward. It slows the momentum of the game down a fair bit, so Square are wanting to turn that on its head.
In case you were wondering, this is going to be a big topic of discussion in our next cast because, I mean, WOW!
If you’ve got any questions to pose us, any thoughts you think we should consider, drop them below and we’ll discuss them in full. Is this a dangerous prospect for AAA games? Do you think it’s a great, genius idea? Is this the worst thing ever?
No timeframe has been outlined for the patch. I can’t imagine it’ll be this month as we have the Holiday Pack, as well as the PS4 Pro update. January seems a much safer bet at this stage.
Also, holy cow!
You must be logged in to post a comment.