Final Fantasy XV is the fifteenth main installment in the main Final Fantasy series. The game was released worldwide on November 29, 2016 for the PlayStation 4 (supporting PlayStation 4 Pro, but optimized for the standard version[1]) and Xbox One, and later March 6, 2018 on PC as the Windows Edition. It was directed by Hajime Tabata, but began development under Tetsuya Nomura, who provided character designs for the main cast, with the soundtrack composed by Yoko Shimomura. Final Fantasy XV is the first action role-playing game in the main series, and the first single-player Final Fantasy game to be released with the "games as a service" model, receiving numerous free updates as well as paid DLC and seasonal events.

 

The story is told over the course of 15 chapters. It focuses on Noctis Lucis Caelum, a prince from the kingdom of Lucis who fights to reclaim his throne and must go on to fulfill a greater destiny. Final Fantasy XV aims to examine its characters' humanity and place them in a more realistic setting than most Final Fantasy games. Its prominent themes are friendship, destiny, and legacy.

 

The gameplay features an open world environment and makes use of the Active X Battle system, a real time battle system. The first half of Final Fantasy XV is open world, traversable with the Regalia and chocobos, and enables players to take on a variety of quests, explore, and play minigames. Objectives later become more specific, in accordance with other Final Fantasy titles. In the original release, only Noctis was playable, though patches have allowed players to switch between controlling any of the four main characters while in battle in the open world.

Final Fantasy XV was originally developed as Final Fantasy Versus XIII as part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis project, but the extent to which it involved lore from Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Type-0 has been reduced after its rebranding.[2][3][4] It now features its own lore as part of the Final Fantasy XV Universe sub-franchise. It takes place parallel to the feature film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, and has a prequel anime series Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV. The game is also connected to A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV, Justice Monsters Five, and King's Knight -Wrath of the Dark Dragon-. Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition, a new version of the game for mobile platforms, was announced at Gamescom 2017, and was released on February 9, 2018 for iOS, Android, and Windows 10.[5] A PC version was announced at Gamescom 2017 and was released on March 6, 2018 for Steam, Origin, and the Windows 10 Store.[6] Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition released on the same day for consoles that included the additions to the PC version.