9. A Believable Animal Ecosystem
They've dabbled in cats and dogs before, but Square Enix is pushing the boat out with the animals/monsters in XV. The game is focused on creating animals that aren't just monsters; the developers want to create a believable animal ecosystem where creatures hunt in packs, adapt to the environment and react how you might expect them to react. In a
job posting for Square Enix, they state that the animator's role is to develop this believable animal system:
"In the world of FinalFantasyXV, monsters are a type of life form. Your task is to decide the monsters' detailed characteristics and create its animation and bringing it into the game to work properly. This is a key position that sends monsters as not just regular "enemies" but rather as "real life animals" into the FFXV world."
As a result of this approach, XV will feature a mix of both real-world and standard crazy Final Fantasy monsters, each woven intricately into the huge explorable world. Just remember that while you're out spotting bald eagles, there's every chance you might be immediately attacked by a Behemoth.