'Final Fantasy XV' Release Date: Clothing Choice Explained By Hajime Tabata; Game Director Comments On Open World Gaming

For those with exceptional keen eyes to details, they may notice the prevalent black clothing worn by the main characters of Square Enix's upcoming open-world RPG, "Final Fantasy XV."

According to game director Hajime Tabata, who recently shared the details over at the game's official forum site (as picked up over at Nova Crystallis), the clothing they wear "is the official battle gear of the Kingdom of Lucis."

"Noctis is a member of the royal family and the other three characters are parts of various Lucian national organizations and they are each wearing the specific battle dress relevant to their individual stations," Tabata revealed in the forum.

The color black itself, has historical significance for the Lucians besides it being special to them. For such reasons, "the attire of the royal family and those in occupations closely tied to them are unified by having black as base coloring."

Tabata further noted that the color of the characters' apparels won't solely serve its aesthetic purposes. He revealed that in the finished version of the game, the clothing will have some certain effects in battle and "not just being a part of the world and its background."

The director meanwhile pointed out, this time in an interview for the issue of PlayStation Magazine (via GamesRadar.com), the proliferation of open-world action-RPG titles.

According to him, it seems like everyone is doing the same trend. He particularly mentioned "Horizon: Zero Dawn" from Guerrilla Games which is reportedly coming for PlayStation 4 in 2016.

For him, making sand box games filled with "seamless travel between areas" while having to "hunt and fight" along the way is now becoming much easier to accomplish thanks to the current technology.

As for the release date of the FFXV, Tabata previously revealed that it can be launched before 2017 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Stay tuned for more updates.