Sorry, Prompto; Noctis will soon be able to take his own photos in the proper Final Fantasy XV photo mode.
Final Fantasy XV – one of our 13 biggest games of 2016 – actually turned out pretty fantastic. Eventually. While it might not always excel as an open world roleplaying game in the traditional sense, and the linear bit is a lot less fun than the largely aimless wandering, it really captures the essence of an indie road movie, with the following key elements:
- Male bonding.
- Buddy comedy.
- Camping.
- A sweet convertible.
- Awesome road tunes.
- So much delicious food.
- And that one weird kid who documents everything with a camera.
And one of the most exquisitely peculiar elements, that works so well, is Prompto’s photography. Every day the cheery, spikey haired oddball takes a bunch of photos of the events that have passed – good or bad – and presents them to Noctis (the player) to pick and save their favourites. As the game progresses and Prompto’s skill improves so do his photos, and every time you make camp or stay in a hotel, seeing his efforts are one of the highlights.
The selfies are usually hilarious while the candid and posed photos of the crew are a cute and charming insight into the group’s dynamic, but he also takes some terrible photos. In my playthrough he seems to have an odd fixation with Noctis’ backside as he gets on and off his chocobo – to each his own, I guess – but the worst aspect of Prompto’s photography is that he often misses stunning vistas because he’s too busy mucking about.
Now Square Enix have announced that there will be a proper Final Fantasy XV photo mode, to allow players to stage their own photos at any time. This will be similar to those odd moments where Prompto spots a great shot and gets Ignis to hit the brakes so he can capture it, but you can do it whenever you like.
Additionally, it looks like we’ll get access to Prompto’s canny selfie skills in the new Final Fantasy XV photo mode, but we’re not entirely sure how that will work just yet.
If you ask me, the ability to take your own photos is going to take some of the joy out of Prompto’s gallery at the end of the day, but I must admit the Final Fantasy XV photo mode will be useful for capturing some of those pretty vistas. If my time with the Uncharted 4 photo mode was anything to go by, it’ll be rather enjoyable.
The Final Fantasy XV photo mode patch will arrive on January 24, 2017.
