Camping

Final Fantasy XV's Director Breaks Down the Newest Trailer
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Host: (reading fan question) "You said 'you have to sleep at camps or you'll face debuffs' and it keeps me awake at night wondering what you meant."

Tabata: Do people know what a "debuff" is?

Host: "Debuff" is gamer lingo. Basically what you would call a "bad status."

Tabata: An abnormal status.

Host: Yes.

Tabata: The way it works is, if you don't sleep for long periods, you don't get a negative status – rather it's the opposite. "Buffs" are statuses with positive effects, and you stop getting those. Basically, things like increased spirits or feeling good or other added bonuses stop getting applied if you don't sleep for long periods of time.

Camping is one of the base features of XV. It's a world where time passes from morning to night, so in order to have Noctis and the others who inhabit it be more than just puppets, but living characters players can feel empathy towards, if you have them remain awake all the time, I thought it would be more effective if that was a bad thing.

Host: I see.

Tabata: Also, not only by making camp and eating do you get positive effects, but you gain experience points through combat, right?

Host: Yes.

Tabata: By resting, those experience points get converted to levels. So camping is actually very important, which is why I said what I did – although I don't remember if I used the term "debuff" or not.

Host: I see. So, you gain levels by sleeping, which means if you don't sleep, your levels don't increase. So, this is an action RPG, so if players wanted to try to a low-level playthrough, all they have to do is not sleep.

Tabata: Yes. Players who don't want to increase their levels should avoid sleeping. 3

Host: It's like a sweatshop.

Tabata: But I mentioned earlier that Cor is not in his 20s, but Noctis and the others are young men, so they can probably go about 3 days without sleeping. But if they were to go, say, 5 days or 10 days without sleep, they would never be in top condition.

Host: At TGS, you said one day in the game was about 30 minutes in real time, right?

Tabata: Yes.

Host: Is that still the same?

Tabata: It's currently about an hour. We'll probably tweak it a little more before the demo comes out, but we're in the middle of balancing the game between the length of each day and leveling.

Host: I see.

Tabata: Up to about 2 weeks ago, it was a little longer, but it's currently about 1 hour. Daytime is about 40 to 45 minutes and the rest is night. Something like that.

Host: So, saying you have to sleep [in the game] doesn't mean you have to sleep every day, but that you'll be fine for a few days without resting.

Tabata: Yes. In fact there are some placed where you have to keep fighting for multiple days.