Here are all the infos from the latest Game Informer article about Final Fantasy XV, part of their month-long coverage of the game.
They got to play many hours of the game's first chapter.
(Credits to Kagari and Obliterator for the infos)
Gameplay details:
-Weapon types includes: swords, daggers, lances, firearms, shields, royal arms, spells, and something called "machines" which weren't revealed yet;
-One of the screenshots has Ignis with a spear;
-You can improve and forge weapons from materials you collect;
-The game have magic synthesis to create new spells;
-When you call a summon
they won't always do the same thing. They are entities that exist in the world itself. So depending on the situation they will do different things. Examples given Titan sometimes will run up and melee hit an enemy, sometimes he will throw boulders at the enemy and its possible he will even give up and leave the battle.
-There will be a growth system where you can spend ability points on weapon skills, Noctis, the party, bonuses etc. ;
-Each party member has their own "special talent" that improves with use. One example given is Prompto will ask the crew to take pit stops with the car where everyone gets out, goes to a spot and he takes photographs. You can then share these photo's on social media. The more you do it the better his pictures will be. These are in the game for both character development and will have real consequences for the game. Prompto is photography, Noctis is fishing, Ignis is cooking, and Gladiolus is survival instincts;
-The trunk of the Regalia acts as party storage;
-You can make branching decisions. Similar to older FFs dialogue choices;
-Four quest types: for fun (minigames:fishing/chocobo race/JusMon5 etc.), main story, monster hunts and regional quests. Currently over 200 quests and they're working on more;
-GI has this to say, "FFXV isn't Witcher 3 or Dragon Age Inquisition in terms of your to-do list. That isn't necessarily bad because your quest log isn't bloated by insignificant or uninteresting tasks.....inspires a feeling similar to pre-PS2 Final Fantasies where there were huge overworld maps that made the setting seem authentic and enormous - even if you didn't find a quest every step.";
-GI says there's a instrumental version of this in the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO8kTRv4l3o;
-Tabata: "We have no intention to create sequels out of this";
-Kingsglaive has existed from 2013;
Story related info (SPOILERS):
-The game has a Chapter 0 (Prlogue) but GI wasn't allowed to see it;
-So the game starts
with the car breaking down after the opening sequence. No Behemoth hunt.
-About Ardyn:
shows up fairly early it looks like. The crew tries to take the ferry to Altissia and he stops them telling them service is suspended. At this point they don't know of the invasion.
-Noctis and co.
find out about the invasion by reading a newspaper and then try and go back to the city but are blocked off by Niflheim forces.
-Kagari interpretation of the game's first chapter:
So the first chapter after the opening sequence seems to go something like this:
Noctis and friends are on their way to Altissia -> car breaks down outside Lucis in a town called Leide -> you meet up with Cid and Cidney at Hammerhead who agree to repair the car and Cidney sends you on some fetch quests (kill monsters) -> car is repaired, gang goes to deliver a package for Cidney -> package delivered to the black dog seen in the trailers, named Umbra -> flashback to Noctis and Luna childhood -> Noctis and co. set out to a coast town to catch a ferry to Altissia,meet up with Ardyn who says they're closed off for now -> sidequests -> party goes to hotel, reads about Lucis attack in the newspaper -> they get back in the car and head back to Lucis right away -> they fight through some Niflheim troops and eventually see what's happened on the horizon -> Cor calls and delivers the bad news -> chapter 1 ends.
Noctis and friends are on their way to Altissia -> car breaks down outside Lucis in a town called Leide -> you meet up with Cid and Cidney at Hammerhead who agree to repair the car and Cidney sends you on some fetch quests (kill monsters) -> car is repaired, gang goes to deliver a package for Cidney -> package delivered to the black dog seen in the trailers, named Umbra -> flashback to Noctis and Luna childhood -> Noctis and co. set out to a coast town to catch a ferry to Altissia,meet up with Ardyn who says they're closed off for now -> sidequests -> party goes to hotel, reads about Lucis attack in the newspaper -> they get back in the car and head back to Lucis right away -> they fight through some Niflheim troops and eventually see what's happened on the horizon -> Cor calls and delivers the bad news -> chapter 1 ends.
-Tabata state that There will be a centralized foe. Not an assortment of villians as the "main enemy". Think of it like Sephiroth there will be a singular major villian;
-Luna
may have affection for Noctis, but their relationship is complicated and Noctis may not have the confidence to respond back to her feelings. Their marriage is actually a political one.
-In regards to FFVII remake. Looking at the FFXIII saga as a model of release (three full-fledged games). Each game will be the size of a FFXIII game is specifically stated. In other words full scale 30+ hour RPG, and they also say plot wise nothing is off the table in terms of changes. They clarify they aren't changing everything but Kitase, Nomura, and Nojima feel since they were involved with the original game that they have the liberty to add / change what they want while still making fans happy. They also state they want FFVII Remake to gave a much shorter development cycle than FFXV.