After a development period of six years, it was changed to the next mainline title in the series in 2012; Nomura was replaced as director by Hajime Tabata, and the game shifted to eighth generation platforms.

While accompanied by his three companions Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto, Noctis is the only character directly controlled by the player: he can navigate through movement, jump over small obstacles, sprint for a limited time, and perform context-based actions such as taking cover behind objects.

[1][2] The kingdom of Lucis is a large connected landmass that can be explored on foot, by using the party's car "Regalia", or chocobos, recurring galliform birds in the Final Fantasy series.

[2] Battles take place within the current environment rather than transitioning to a separate arena, and can range from open plains to enclosed building interiors.

[1] Noctis can find and equip a wide range of weapons, including single and double-handed swords, polearms, axes, shields, firearms, daggers and Royal Arms.

Ignis' cooking can be improved based on ingredients either purchased at shops or found in the wild, and his meals grant stat boosts to the party.

The player has access to a variety of weapon types from normal swords to maces and shurikens, which are enhanced using materials to increase passive abilities such as their damage capacity.

[15] Final Fantasy XV takes place on the Earth-like world of Eos,[16] which is divided between four nations: Lucis, Accordo, Tenebrae and Niflheim.

Lucis, occupying a whole landmass, possesses a magical artifact known as the Crystal, gifted to the reigning Caelum dynasty by the world's deities in antiquity and accessed through the hereditary Ring of the Lucii.

The Oracle's main task is curing the Starscourge, a plague that absorbs all natural light and turns those infected into nocturnal monsters known as Daemons.

Only Lucis's capital city of Insomnia remains unconquered due to the use of the Crystal's power, which is slowly draining the current king's life force.

At the game's beginning an armistice is declared between the two nations due to the king's failing health; as part of the peace agreements, Niflheim will gain control of all Lucian territories outside Insomnia, and a marriage is arranged between the heirs apparent of the royal families of Lucis and Tenebrae.

Guest characters include Cor Leonis, a legendary warrior of Lucis and the leader of the Crownsguard who acts as an early guide to Noctis's party; Iris Amicitia, the younger sister of Gladiolus; and Aranea Highwind, a mercenary dragoon in service to Niflheim.

Aldercapt's notable subordinates include Ardyn Izunia, the imperial chancellor and the game's main antagonist; Ravus Nox Fleuret, Lunafreya's brother and the high commander of Niflheim; and Verstael Besithia, the empire's head researcher.

Finding the local boat services stopped, they receive news of Niflheim's attack on the city of Insomnia and theft of the Crystal; King Regis has been assassinated, and both Noctis and Lunafreya are declared dead.

[23] Meeting up with Cor, Noctis is tasked with retrieving the Royal Arms—the magical weapons of past Lucian kings—to rescue the Crystal and reclaim his throne.

Ardyn appears and mortally wounds Lunafreya, disrupting the ritual, but she succeeds in awakening Noctis's powers, allowing him to defeat Leviathan.

[35] Within the Crystal, Noctis meets Bahamut, and learns that he is the True King of prophecy, who will cleanse the Starscourge and restore light to Eos at the cost of his life.

With the internal unveiling of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it was decided to change it into a mainline entry, with a proposed PS3 version being scrapped due to technical troubles.

[61] Known as the "Final Fantasy XV Universe", the projects were split into two parts; media designed to reach a wider audience than the game might manage alone, and additional game-related content such as ports to other hardware and DLC.

Square Enix developed the port with Nvidia using an upgraded version of the Luminous Studio engine, featuring graphical enhancements and all DLC.

[94][95] Multiple pieces of downloadable content (DLC) were created for the game by a smaller development team from the core Final Fantasy XV staff.

[103] Episode Ignis was intended to be the last story-based DLC, but positive player feedback resulted in Square Enix wanting to develop further content focusing on other main characters, such as Ardyn.

[115][118][123][121][125] Game Informer's Andrew Reiner praised the change to a simple straightforward plot after the complex lore of Final Fantasy XIII.

[120][124] In contrast, Jonathan Leack of Game Revolution found the characters lacked interest during the early parts of the campaign,[119] and Hardcore Gamer's Adam Beck called the main story a "monumental disappointment" despite enjoying the lead cast.

[122] Leack positively noted the main cast's eye-catching design, which he felt helped maintain a connection during the early sections of the game.

[131] According to the December data released by the NPD Group, Final Fantasy XV was the second best-selling title of the month behind Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

[132] Within the first twenty-four hours, Square Enix reported that Final Fantasy XV had shipped five million units worldwide in both physical shipments and digital sales—a figure which allowed the game to "break even" on development costs.

[133] This gave Final Fantasy XV the biggest launch in the franchise to date, the most first day digital sales in Japan for a game up to that point, and set records for physical shipments and downloads in mainland Asia.

[134] Commenting on the large numbers, Tabata revealed that the strong sales saved the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole, which had seen declining commercial success in recent years.