Square Enix has released some new Final Fantasy XV footage, revealed a new character and confirmed that the game’s long-awaited release date will be announced in March.All of this comes from the latest Active Time Report, which was hosted over the weekend. You can watch it below, but it’s in Japanese so I’ve attempted to break down the vid so you know where to skip to.First up is a montage of gameplay snippets and work-in-progress footage designed to show progress on various aspects of the game, including pathfinding, animation and character abilities. That starts from 15:53 and is MUCH more interesting than it sounds.The next section of note introduced a new(ish) character: Aranea Highwind. She’s the commander of Niflheim’s Third Army Corps 87th Airborne Division and a skilled aerial fighter known as ‘Dragoon’ within the Imperial military.Aranea Highwind was first shown off during a Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer all the way back in 2011. FFVXIII is the game FFXV started life as. Highwind is a boss character.You can see Highwind in some new gameplay footage released during the Active Time Report, kicking off at 40:00. The footage focuses on an attempt to bring down a Niflheim Empire base and starts off as a stealth mission, with protagonist Noctis “blade warping” from enemy to enemy.In the footage, Noctis’ attempt at stealth eventually goes tits up and you’ll get to see some improved combat from the game, culminating in the appearance of Highwind.The Active Time Report concluded with confirmation that Final Fantasy XV’s precise 2016 release date will be revealed next month, during the Final Fantasy Uncovered event set to take place in Los Angeles.The event will be open to the public and will be streamed on both YouTube and Twitch. In addition to the release date, “major announcements and surprises” are promised. https://youtu.be/B_0dG47wJpY
