Meet Cid….ney
At Japanese convention Jump Festa 2015 this weekend, Square-Enix unveiled a brand spanking new trailer for their upcoming fifteenth official entry in the nowhere-near-Final Fantasy Franchise. As expected, it involved a lot more car riding, but contained a couple of surprises as well.
One of them is that we know who Cid is this time….or, rather, who Cidney is. The gang’s mechanic for their car also happens to be the first female Cid. Every Final Fantasy has included a character named Cid somewhere in its narrative. Sometimes it’s a foul-mouthed sailor, sometimes it’s a school principal, and sometimes it’s a king that’s been turned into a froglike creature. But they’ve all been men, and this marks the first time that barrier has been broken down.
Lest you start thinking Square has gone progressive, here’s what Cidney will be wearing.
The new trailer also included the first glimpse at the summons in FFXV, this time called Titans. And how! The grey giant summoned onscreen has to be a hundred times the player’s size. Sometimes to get them on your side, you’ll have to fight them, which is what we see someone beginning to do before the last “Coming soon” screen hits.
We also see a town — a real town you can walk through instead of look at while running along a track. Has Square finally figured out how to program towns? Apparently so, as director Hajime Tabata confirmed you WILL be able to go into the buildings, buy things, eat things, and talk to plenty of NPCs. He didn’t confirm if you can also reach into people’s treasure chests and take their stuff, but it wouldn’t be a JRPG without it.
Square is promising to get FFXV out the door in at least one region by 2015, but if their past track record holds steady, 2016 is a safer bet for North America. Sadly, Cidney will not be playable, except in your fantasies.