New Final Fantasy XV trailer released for Gamescom, 2016 release confirmed by director

By Kris Wouk August 6, 2015

We’ve known since April that Square Enix was planning to show Final Fantasy XV at Gamescom, not E3, so fan expectations have been pretty high. Whether or not those expectations were met is another story, but two big pieces of information have come out of the event.

The first is the game’s new trailer, released earlier this week, but the second is perhaps more important. Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata confirmed to GameSpot that the game would be released some time in 2016, saying: “We can certainly say to people: it’s not going to be 2017. It’s going to be before that.”

Square Enix has been careful not to promise an exact release date, but this is the closest indication of a date we’ve seen so far, and while the company hasn’t shared an exact release date, that doesn’t mean one hasn’t been set. “Certainly, one thing I would like to say to them to reassure them, is that we’ve set down the release date, we know when it is, and we’ve got a complete road map lined up, right up to launch, and we’re proceeding along that as planned,” Tabata said.

As for new information on the game, the “Dawn” trailer released at Gamescom focuses more on the game’s backstory. Set 15 years before what we’ve seen of the game until now, the trailer shows King Regis holding a young Prince Noctis before the camera pans out to reveal three massive figures looming in the distance.

More details were dropped during a presentation, including some information on the game’s villain. “He won’t be beaten by any of the previous villains,” Tabata said. “He’s going to top all of them.” It was also revealed that the team still hasn’t decided whether or not to include the Final Fantasy franchise’s iconic airships.

Considering Final Fantasy XV‘s more open world, airships aren’t as easy to add as they once were. “Where we are right now, I think that height would be technically possible,” Tabata said, “but we’re currently looking into making them fly properly at a greater height.”

Final Fantasy XV will be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and while we still don’t know an actual release date, we’re hoping Tabata is right about not having to wait until 2017.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Gaming

PSA: Don’t burn yourself out on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s open-world activities

Cloud from FFVII

I'm normally a completionist when it comes to games, but I wish I had told myself to push that mindset to the side before I started Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

I get the desire to do it all, I really do. In the critically acclaimed sequel, we're finally let loose outside of Midgar. Square Enix has laid a huge, lush set of biomes to stretch our legs in after being stuck in the cramped hallways and tunnels of the drab city. Despite most of the world activities in Rebirth being standard open-world fare (activating towers, scanning points of interest, and hunting down specific monsters), there's an undeniable novelty to doing it with Cloud and the rest of Avalanche. What I wish I had known before starting was just how easy it was to burn out on that feeling.

Gaming

The best armor in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth

Cloud from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Just like in Remake, you only have one valuable armor slot per character in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Deciding on what you want to put there is more complicated than you think, since each piece of armor has multiple factors that determine how effective it will be, and you may want to prioritize different things for different characters. New armor will become available as you go deeper into the world of Gaia, and you can even make some yourself with the new Transmutation system, so comparing and contrasting them all can be a major chore. We get it, you're just a merc looking to get the job done, so let us worry about figuring out the best armors so you can just put them on and get back to the action.
The best armor in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
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Garm Bangle

The Garm Bangle is an amazing piece of physical-focused armor that becomes available once you hit the Nibel region. It has a fantastic 59 rating for regular defense, aplus a decent 28 for magic defense to keep you from being totally vulnerable to spells. Offensively, it has two pairs of linked Materia slots plus a spare, so you can still make plenty of killer magic combos for your mages.
Hades Armlet

Gaming

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Queen's Blood

If you're getting ready to start your Final Fantasy VII Rebirth adventure, let me offer you fair warning: it is a long game. If you're planning to do every sidequest, minigame, and Chadley combat battle, you'll be wandering around Gaia for 100 hours. That's not an exaggeration; I hit credits in 73 hours and I still had a massive checklist of side content to complete.

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All hail the queen
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