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After a decade of on-and-off development, the end is in sight for Final Fantasy 15. Across multiple setbacks, changes in production personnel, and one name change, Square Enix now lays down the gauntlet with a firm September 30th launch date, and a brand new 'Platinum' demo for public perusal. This surreal 20-minute taster is entirely separate to the main game, but handily guides us through the technology of the final product - with the Luminous Studio engine in its latest form - where change is afoot on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.The intent of this demo is quite different to last year's Episode Duscae. Gone are the gargantuan environments to explore, and instead, this Platinum demo instead dots out a linear path to show off the lighting tricks under its engine's hood. By letting players jump on giant, interactive buttons strewn across each area, we can accelerate its day-night cycle or weather, meaning no two playthroughs look quite the same. From the lush opening forest area to a gleaming city concourse, the entire affair is gorgeously lit, and fully dynamic - and these switches make the most of a physically-based rendering technique to produce truer-to-life results on each material.
By light of day, cloud simulation also radically alters the way shadows diffuse across the scene. As with Episode Duscae, it's a randomised variable that softens and sharpens floor shadows based on the position of rolling clouds. In piecing our comparison video together, this made matching up PS4 and Xbox One shots a very tricky process indeed. Even with time of day perfectly synced between each format, it causes some scenes to differ in hue - with the game's global illumination also factoring in to create varying results. Viewed at night, the two consoles can also look beautiful, and the way the city's lamp-lights bounce off its rain-soaked floors is a real visual high point of the demo.
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