Throughout its storied history, the Final Fantasy franchise has been known to not only push boundaries in terms of gameplay, but also visual fidelity. Thankfully, with the upcoming release of Final Fantasy 15, Square Enix‘s most recent installment in the series will be no exception.
Recently, Square Enix released a video for Final Fantasy 15 that shows off Luminous Studio 1.5, their highly acclaimed software engine. The tech demo above is narrated by Square Enix staff members, and they discuss a lot of the new frontiers the team has been able to explore and conquer due to the awesome power of Luminous.
For instance, Lead Graphics R&D Engineer Sharif Elcott explains the breathtaking scope of Final Fantasy 15’s visuals, and how using the Luminous engine has allowed the Square Enix team to meet those expectations. Elcott says:
“The biggest challenge on the graphics side is that everything is dynamic. . . . You could be indoors one minute, and the next minute you’re not anymore because some big monster came and ripped the roof off the building.”
Plus, the strength of Luminous Studio 1.5 has given designers the ability to make Final Fantasy 15 the most realistic entry to date. Senior Technical Artist Christina Haaser explains her amazement with the potent software engine, extolling, “Final Fantasy XV is a fantasy based on reality, so the art designers have created incredibly high detailed models that we’ve never had before.”
To further support Haaser’s claims of the game’s ability to practically simulate real world imagery, Lead Environment Systems Artist Seiji Nanase reveals a bit of the process behind the creation of Final Fantasy XV‘s naturalistic graphics, and how Luminous helps bring them to life. Nanase sheds light on the issue, saying:
“When working with physically-based shaders, lighting should also mirror reality. We measured each type of light, and parameterized the data. . . . We also filmed a day’s sunlight in HDR to bring real-life day and night exposure ranges to the game screen.”
While the tech demo’s footage doesn’t necessarily constitute the end product of Final Fantasy 15‘s graphical capabilities, what Square Enix has displayed is already pretty spectacular. The game’s environments are lush and beautiful, while the textures are incredibly detailed, so it appears as if Final Fantasy XV will definitely look much better than the most recent Episode Duscae build. And with the demo’s update coming soon, extremely devoted fans will most assuredly be pleased.
However, with Square Enix making it clear that Final Fantasy XV won’t be at E3 2015, the lack of an official trailer will probably make a lot of gamers disappointed. Plus, with director Hajime Tabata already alienating some female players by saying the game’s all-male cast is “more approachable”, Square Enix needs to try and please as many of its fans as possible, especially if they intend on using Final Fantasy 15 to combat the end of console gaming in Japan. Not to mention, there’s still no official release date for the game yet, so hopefully gamers will be impressed enough with the Luminous engine’s power to remain patient.
Final Fantasy XV is being developed for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.