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Final Fantasy XV Reveals More Details on Magic, World, Characters, Battle System (Updated)

Game director Hajime Tabata and marketing manager Akio Ofuji revealed more details about Final Fantasy XV's magic, the Niflheim Empire, and battle system during an "Active Time Report" stream on Saturday.

Tabata and Ofuji also revealed that the game is close to a stage where Square Enix can announce the release date. Square Enix plans to announce the release date at the "Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV" event at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 30 at 10:00 p.m. EDT. Square Enix will stream the event live online. Additionally, Square Enix will reveal the game's price, what will come with the game, and the name and details of the upcoming playable tech demo.

Tabata and Ofuji showed progress video from the game as it was in August and September last year (starts at 10:56 in above video).

Regarding the game's magic system, Tabata revealed that elemental magic attacks will react differently in different types of weather. For example, in a rainy environment, Fire spells won't spread well and goes out almost immediately. Elemental magic is also a type of energy that players can collect in the game and store in their inventory. That energy is then turned into magic when used in the game. Another type of magic in the game is Ring magic, which unlike elemental magic, will not be available at the start of the game. Tabata also added Fire spells in the game will start out as a wide-area attack and will affect flammable objects in the environment, as well as enemies and allies alike.

Tabata and Ofuji also revealed more about the Niflheim Empire, including a new piece of key art that depicts the power and threat from the Niflheim Empire.

As previously revealed, at the start of the game, the Niflheim Empire has already conquered and occupied most of the game's world, except for Lucis. While Lucis relies on magic and a crystal for its military might, Niflheim is a mechanical civilization, so it has mechanized, artificial soldiers as its infantry. Humans control the soldiers in higher positions in the military.

Iedolas rules the Niflheim Empire as an Emperor, but at the start of the game he is semi-retired, and it is a man named Ardyn Izunia who really rules in Iedolas' stead. Other pivotal characters in the Niflheim Empire include Verstael, who invented much of the technology that is used in the empire; and General Glauca, who heads the military.

Additionally, a female dragoon named Aranea Highwind is also a pivotal character in the Empire. She the captain of the Third Army Corps 87th Airborn Unit, which is a mercenary unit. She is highly skilled in combat.

Tabata and Ofuji also showed a combat video (starts at 34:44 in above video, or in below video), and discussed changes in the combat system. Many of the changes in the battle system, such as improved camera movement based on enemy distance and a tweaked user interface, was based on feedback from Episode Duscae and Version 2.0, the released demo for the game.

Square Enix also released a snapshot video that breaks down the livestream announcements.

Square Enix plans to release Final Fantasy XV for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016. The game will launch worldwide simultaneously.

Update: Added battle footage video on its own, and English snapshot video.