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I've spent hundreds of hours exploring the worlds of Final Fantasy. Between battling Ultimate Weapons, collecting Celestial weapons, playing cards, playing ball and hunting down secret summons and characters, I've lost days, possibly even entire weeks, to past series entries, all told. So, when I'm given just a single hour to explore a vast expanse of land in the Final Fantasy 15 demo, Episode Duscae, I panic. Episode Duscae begins with protagonist Noctis, or Noct, waking up in a tent with his three travelling companions, each bestowed a name that just rolls off the tongue - Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus. Much has been made of the fact that the party members revealed thus far (aside from being universally male) all appear as though their outfits were chosen and colour-co-ordinated by Simon Cowell, and going by what little I'd seen of them in previous trailers, I was expecting to dislike them immediately. As the introductory cut-scene plays, Noctis' alarm rings and one by one the characters stir and spout some arbitrary dialogue, and I feel certain I'm not going to enjoy this. But then the party steps outside their tent, blinking in the morning sun, and I stand for a good few minutes just swishing the camera around, panning in different directions and drinking in the view. The first five minutes of the 60-minute demo were spent just standing still and looking.
Noctis, revealed as a prince in previous trailers, is apparently slumming it on the side of a road with his pals as the car they had been travelling in has broken down, so the party must raise funds in order for it to be repaired so they can continue on their journey. There's a bounty being offered on a particularly nasty behemoth - affectionately nicknamed Dead Eye - which I'm encouraged to hunt down for a big cash boost, but for now I'm free to go in any direction I like.
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