We managed to get our hands on the much talked about Final Fantasy XV Duscae demo as a DLC when we installed Final Fantasy Type 0. This is probably one of the most talked about Final Fantasy series that saw mixed reviews from two extreme sides of the camp – people either loved it or hated it. Which camp am I on? Hmmm.. I wonder.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It is rather hard not to have preconceptions about the game since too many people have been talking about it ever since it was leaked. Kind of makes me wonder if the leak was indeed a leak. Despite what I might have thought initially, I have to admit that within the first five minutes of the opening cut scene and gameplay, I was already giggling. The four main characters introduced at the beginning fits into your typical Japanese stereotype: there is the boyish annoying one, the macho one, the smart one with glasses and heavy Brit accent, and the main character with a surly demeanour. Funniest moment? When they all came out of their camp, strutting in one line aka God of Gamblers style. The food they eat every time they camp looks awesome though.

BACKGROUND STORY
So, after waiting for what seems like forever, what is the demo all about? Basically, you play Noctis, a prince, and together with your company of boys – Ignis the royal advisor, Gladiolus the bodyguard, and Prompto a childhood friend from a lower social class, you go on a roadtrip as you run away from baddies. Well, that’s my impression anyway. So, while on the run, somehow due to something Prompto did, your stretch limo breaks down and you have to kill a kickass boss mob to earn enough money to get it fixed.

BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS
No matter what anyone says about the game, one thing’s for sure: the graphics are absolutely stunning. Reflection on water looks surreal, with blue skies and greenery looking better than in real life. Heck, even the way the sunlight flares into your eyes feels real. Everything looks beautiful; so much so you wish you lived on such a planet. Another thing that you will appreciate is how everything feels seamless; the game doesn’t stop to load even when moving from one area to another.

COOL MOVES
What I love most about playing Noctis during combat is his cool moves. He has the ability to summon many different types of weapons during combat, and you can even customise what weapons he summons in certain situations. This reminds me of Fate/Stay: Unlimited Blade Works though. If you have not watched the anime, do so, and you will find the similarities. Anyway, Noctis can also warp around the battlefield and that is just so fun to do, that is until he gets Stasis. Basically he will be rendered useless and vulnerable to any nearby enemies, probably from zipping in and out one too many times.

AT DEATH’S DOOR
There was once I had a conversation with another Team PC member – Matthew – about the rumours surrounding summons in FF XV Duscae. We heard that you have to be dying to summon an eidolon, and guess we were right. In the game, when you are low on health or in a “downed” state, your party members can just go over and bring you back to the fight by “reassuring” you. The good news? Should you be almost dead, you are able to access your summons and wipe out every living creature in its wake. I find this a little too OP. So, does that mean we can never die?

DIZZYING FIGHTS
When I was testing Final Fantasy Type 0 (which will be published in our next issue), I thought the combat camera angles was already quite annoying. Little did I expect Duscae to have made it even more irritating than it was before. For instance, when you target a mob with R1, your camera does not rotate you to that direction, hence you could be targeting a monster that is at the back of you. It is really very dizzying and frustrating to constantly adjust the camera to keep track of your enemy, even more so when faced with faster monsters.

IS IT REALLY WORTHWHILE?
If you can get past the fiddly parts of the gameplay, and a rather bleak character design, then FF Duscae is quite a beautiful game. However, don’t expect something out of the usual Final Fantasy template since this has always worked with the previous installations, and as the saying goes, don’t fix what is not broken. But compared with how the earlier FF series was, Duscae, or FFXV, will probably be grim, dark and bleak, as hinted many times in the demo.