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Played the 'Final Fantasy XV' VR demo at E3 2016? You were the first and last

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The Final Fantasy XV PlayStation VR demo that was playable at the E3 2016 show will not be made into a full game, nor will it be made available to PSVR gamers around the world. That means that unless you stepped into Prompto’s shoes during that particular show, your chances of ever experiencing combat in Final Fantasy XV up close and personal in virtual reality remain very slim.

The E3 2016 Final Fantasy XV VR experience was a unique one. It let players take over the pistol-toting Prompto, who used blinking teleport points around an enclosed area to jump around a battle with the Deadeye behemoth, firing off rounds to help bring it down, as his companions from the main game attacked it with more typical, Final Fantasy melee weapons.

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It was a fast and frantic experience and by all measures went down well with consumers. However, it has now been made clear that those players will be the only ones who get a chance to experience it. The lead designer of Final Fantasy XV, Wan Hazmer, said during a media briefing at the PlayStation Experience 2017 Southeast Asia event that it would not be made playable for anyone else.

“The Prompto Shooting game was actually a showcase back then. It was just to showcase the power of the VR,” he said (via Sirus Gaming).

Although the original demo may have served its purpose, the main reason that it’s not being made available now is that Square wants to avoid confusion between it and the recently released Prompto DLC.

However, Hazmer did acknowledge that there was a desire among Final Fantasy XV fans to play around in its universe in virtual reality, so he highlighted that the upcoming Monster of the Deep fishing game will feature a virtual reality mode. The game will be standalone, and so will not require the main Final Fantasy XV game to play and will work in both VR and on 2D screens, giving PSVR and standard PlayStation 4 gamers a chance to catch fish and other lake monsters, while interacting with some of the characters from the main game.

Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV - PlayStation VR Announcement Trailer | E3 2017

Although Monster of the Deep doesn’t have an official release date, it is slated for the third quarter of 2017. The original Prompto VR experience, however, seems destined never to be released.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale
Former Evergreen writer
Jon Martindale covers how to guides, best-of lists, and explainers to help everyone understand the hottest new hardware and…
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