In an interview with Famitsu (which Siliconera and Gemetsu have translated parts of), Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata discussed the Final Fantasy XV season pass, as well as some of the game's structure. The Final Fantasy XV Season Pass has already been at the heart of controversy due to it not being included with the special $270 limited collector's edition of the game.
In the interview, Tabata explained that DLC beyond the currently announced 6 DLC packs will have to be purchased separately from the season pass. The 6 packs included in the season pass have the working titles of: Booster Pack, Episode Gladio, Holiday Pack, Episode Ignis, Episode Prompto and Expansion Pack, and are accompanied by a series of season pass preorder bonuses as well depending on which console you are on.
Tabata has said that the six DLC are not all the DLC they will do, and that they are still deciding which other ones to work on after that. The six in the season pass are the concepts and ones they have decided that they are doing for sure. He also clarified that the VR experience is not in the Season Pass, and that the Final Fantasy XV VR featuring Prompto is separate from the working title Episode Prompto DLC.
Some of the stuff that they want to add in the DLC for Final Fantasy XV are more costumes and enhancing the cooking repertoire. Right now, however, their top priority is to finish polishing the main game, and then they will move onto working on the downloadable content and VR content.
Interestingly, in another part Tabata talks about how Final Fantasy XV will be structured. Their goal is to have the first half of the game be an open world experience, with it transforming into a story-driven linear experience in the second-half of the game. The idea is to stop the open world from becoming tiring and tedious, while provide a sense of progression as things go on. If you stick to the main route of the game in both halves, Tabata estimates it will take 40 to 50 hours to complete the game.
We have reached out to Square Enix for more information regarding the DLC plans and confirmation of this and will update it if we are able to learn more.
Update
Square Enix got back to me with a bit more details and clarification. At this point, final details for the situation have yet to be solidified for Final Fantasy XV's DLC. They also provided a direct translation of a couple of segments from it explaining why they were waiting to go into more detail until later.
田畑 はい。現在販売しているシーズンパスに含まれていないDLCが決まれば、そうなります。まだはっきりとしていない部分が多いのですが。
Tabata: Yes. If we decide to put out DLCs that are not included in the Season Pass currently on sale, that would be the case. Although there are still a lot of things to clarify.
田畑 もちろんあります。衣装だけでなく、料理のレパートリーも増やす予定です。といっても、ひとまずは本編の磨き込みが最優先になります。それがひと段落したら、DLCやVRコンテンツの開発を本格化させようと思っています。ちなみに、シーズンパスとともに発表したエピソード系のDLCと、VRコンテンツは別物です。
Tabata: Yes, of course. Not just costumes, but we'll have more cooking recipes, too. But our first priority is to polish up the main game. Once that is settled, we'll start really getting into developing the DLC and VR contents. By the way, the VR contents are different from the episodic DLC that we announced with the Season Pass.
We still await more details on what is coming with the Final Fantasy XV DLC, but it appears Square Enix hasn't fully decided yet either, beyond the season pass is unlikely to be the end of it.
What do you think of this? Should Season Passes contain all the DLC for a game? Are you going to be picking up Final Fantasy XV? If so, will you be buying the Final Fantasy XV Season Pass? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
