Square Enix has dropped the automatic weapon switching mechanic in Final Fantasy XV.
The news comes from game director Hajime Tabata, who announced the change over on the game’s official forums. In its place, players will be able to utilize a real-time system when switching their weapons in combat.
While you can set up to four main weapons in advance, the new real-time system will let you swap between them manually, in real time. These weapons will be allocated to the up, down, left, and right buttons on the d-pad.
This change mostly comes from the concern that users will unintentionally switch weapons during normal, consecutive attacks, like in the “Break -> Rush -> Slash” system that was seen in the Episode Duscae demo. This could also be from the feedback of fans, who preferred to not be limited to more casual-like mechanics.
Attacks like the Raid (jump attack), Counter, or those unleashed during specific intervals, you’ll be able to use your main weapons if nothing is preset, however you can also switch automatically to the weapons specifically used for these abilities, just like in the demo.
Final Fantasy XV is launching for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime next year.