The next highly anticipated game in Square Enix’s RPG series is Final Fantasy XV. Over the weekend, this game turned 10 years old. This PS4 and Xbox One title is slated to be released on 30th September. The disappointing fact is that it was announced a long time back, during the E3 Expo in Los Angeles on 8th May 2006.
This game came with the original title ‘Final Fantasy Versus XIII’ and in the beginning; it was pitched as an action-oriented spin-off, located in the same universe but with vastly unrelated content, when compared to Final Fantasy XIII.
The latter was announced on the same day as well. If you want to place this in perspective, keep in mind that both PS3 and Xbox 360 was launched in 2006. Nintendo was still publishing the GameBoy Advance titles. Call of Duty 3 was the major shooter game during this year.
After two years, without any further details, Square Enix announced that it was in a holding pattern with Versus XIII. According to the company, some of the team members had decided to concentrate on releasing the primary XIII game in a rather timely fashion.
In the following years, Square Enix decided to release some details about Final Fantasy Versus XIII. This included a small glimpse of the gameplay, a short trailer but nothing that was substantial.
Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XIII gave rise to two storyline sequels and was completed during the same period of time. Meanwhile, during that time, Tetsuya Nomura indicated that in case you were planning to get hold of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, you shit chill, sit back and relax. There was clearly no way this game would appear soon.
Finally, during E3 2013, Square Enix revealed that Final Fantasy Versus XIII was promoted from a spinoff to an original title and it finally received the title of Final Fantasy XV! Sadly for Jon Snow, he still remains our good old bastard.
The game was earlier touted to be a PlayStation exclusive but now, it was decided that it would be a multi-platform release for the next-generation consoles. At the moment, a lot of us are waiting for the 30th September release of Final Fantasy XV but will it be worth it? We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, a lot of people have been following Final Fantasy XV’s various collector editions and the Noctis Play Arts Kai Action Figure is included in one of those sets.
However, it seems like you will be able to buy it separately. Various figures from Final Fantasy XV like Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto are already planned but they won’t be available till 31st October.
This clearly means that collector’s edition owners will get them a month early. Now, there is a certain twist when it comes to Noctis’ release. The figure will feature two different weapons but one of the weapons in the standard version will differ from its collector’s edition variant.
Overall, you may feel that the Play Arts Kai figures are a bit of a mixed bag. At times, the detailing and articulation can appear to be rudimentary and in several figures, the joints appear to be quite brittle in nature.
These toys have a greater size when compared to S.H Figuarts’ excellent Bandai toys. Although the Play Arts figures are bigger, they end up putting more weight on the joints and on top of that, the articulation feels rather old. However, in terms of overall finish, the Final Fantasy XV figures will have great overall build and finish.