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UPDATED:Square Enix has confirmed that the upcoming story update to Final Fantasy XV’s controversial thirteeth chapter will be available to download as a free update on March 28th.
Director Hajime Tabata made the announcement during the team’s latest Active Time Report livestream. More details about what the update entails can be found below, but Tabata also confirmed that Gladio will be playable for a short time during this chapter in addition to Noctis, according to Gematsu’s translation.
Also announced during the livestream were other update details such as the game’s PS4 Pro support. The latter will be available from February 21st, and will allow the game to run at 60fps on Sony’s super-powered console.
Other updates coming on February 21st include raising the level cap to 120, increasing Prompto’s camera capacity to 200 shots up from 150, and being able to listen to music while riding chocobos. There will also be new quests added that will only be available for a limited time. The first will be a monster hunt, but future limited time events will involve other activities such as fishing.
Tabata used the livestream to tease some of Final Fantasy XV’s upcoming Season Pass content as well. The Gladio episode will be available on March 28th, while Prompto’s segment will arrive in June. The full broadcast can be found below the original story.
ORIGINAL STORY (January 24th): Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata has revealed more details about the upcoming story update to Square Enix’s latest JRPG. Speaking with USGamer, Tabata said the update won’t dramatically change the narrative direction of Final Fantasy XV’s controversial thirteenth chapter, but will instead aim to reduce player stress.
"The direction of chapter 13’s content was a deliberate decision made from the development team," he said. "That said, the amount of stress inflicted on the player while running through this chapter was greater than we had anticipated. We believe resolving this issue will naturally lead to a better gameplay experience.
"When it comes to the overall playability of the game and not the main plot, updating the game while receiving player feedback will not make the game inconsistent to the development team’s vision."
He added: "We do not intend on making this a completely different game from what was already delivered to the players. We are making changes in order to deliver a further enhanced gameplay experience for those who have purchased and played the game, but this is not necessarily limited to Chapter 13.
"Our main objective is to relieve any unintentional stress to the player and add elements that will expand the breadth of gameplay. Furthermore, the story will be easier to comprehend as we strengthen the connection of events surrounding this chapter. Please wait a little while longer until we announce more details regarding the updates."
Tabata originally announced a string of updates would be coming to Final Fantasy XV in December last year. We have been listening to your ideas on how to make the game experience even better, and so in addition to the previously announced content, we’ll be providing free updates to the game throughout the coming year," he said at the time.
These updates will be in addition to the already planned Season Pass content centring on lead characters Ignis, Prompto and Gladio, which has yet to kick in, and the in-game Moogle Chocobo Carnival event that kicks off today.
Final Fantasy XV opened to a strong reception from both critics and customers alike when it released back in November last year, garnering good reviews and 5m Day One sales worldwide. The game has since dropped out of the UK Top 10, falling to N0.18 last week.
