Some of us may already aware about the new Final Fantasy XV DLC that was announced back then during Pax West 2018. While some people anticipated the news, there are also people who cringe at the announcement as well.

Well, they have a reason to feel that way. They need to buy the DLC just to see the updated storyline.

Many people argue that all the DLC that has been released so far should be in the game. So, it doesn’t make sense for them to pay extra for something that should be in the game from the beginning.

Thus, they feel that Square Enix should have the DLC as a part of the free update. After all, it’s Square Enix’s fault that literally destroys the game itself.

The Final Fantasy XV DLC fiasco that never ends

In the recent article on Polygon, Tabata admitted that they screwed up Final Fantasy XV’s narrative. Instead of flashing out everything, they made the story to be wasn’t so compact and understandable.

As a result, the plan backfired. Most people who played the game felt that the storyline was incomplete. In addition to watching Kingsglaive and Brotherhood, the players will need to listen to the radio, reading the newspaper, talk to NPC and pay attention to the random conversation among the bros if they want to understand the story better.

I understand what Tabata was trying to achieve when he laid out the critical information for the story that way. It’s because that’s how we try to grasp the situation around us in reality.

But Final Fantasy XV isn’t like Professor Layton or Ace Attorney. So, many players don’t even expect to do a lot of digging just to try to understand the story. They expect the story to be laid out in a straightforward manner.

Since they admitted it was indeed their fault, they tried to make it up by releasing a brand new Final Fantasy XV DLC. According to Tabata, the DLC will consist of a new storyline.

Should we get the DLC as a free update?

I understand why some people want Square Enix to patch the story through the free update instead of DLC. After all, it’s Square Enix’s obligation to fix the mess.

But let’s just face it. At this stage, it’s nearly impossible to patch the story loophole with the free updates. There are just way too many of them. I feel like I can write a book about all the things that are missing from the story.

Rather than fixing the story through the free updates, it’s a lot easier to create a brand new story that can supplement the main story. And it’s a better approach too, considering that it can pretty much cover all grounds including the previous DLC.

But here’s the caveat to this approach, which is the cost associated to create the brand new story.

With so many things they need to do to patch the missing parts of the story, it ends up becoming a big project. Having a big project will also mean that they have to use every resource at their disposal for the new Final Fantasy XV DLC.

For all we know, they can always use the same resources on a new project. But they’re willing to spend it on the new Final Fantasy XV DLC instead.

You can argue here that the sales of the game and other DLC itself should be able to recoup the cost of creating the new DLC. But you have to keep in mind that there’s one resource that they can never recoup in any situation.

And that is the time they have to spend on creating the new DLC.

Rather than seeing their reason for wanting to release a brand new story as DLC is because of money, we need to see it as a way for us to pay for their time.

With a lot of time, money and other resources being put in creating the DLC, giving these updates as a free update just won’t cut it. So, they have to compensate for the cost in the form of a paid DLC.

Square Enix can choose to let the game dies

Why Square Enix insists on fixing the storyline despite its massive problems? They can always choose to let the game dies and move on to a new project. But they didn’t.

Sure, Square Enix is doing it because they want to satisfy the fans by giving them what they want.

But that’s not the only reason why Square Enix wants to fix Final Fantasy XV’s messy narrative. It’s possible that they’re doing it for their own sake.

Perhaps Tabata and his team realize that they’re not too happy with the finished product. So, what they intend to do after that is to improve the game to the best of their ability so then the game itself can be something that they can be proud of.

Sure, Final Fantasy XV isn’t the only game under Tabata’s wing. But he knows that he can make it better after seeing the game itself has so many potentials. And let’s not forget the fact that many people love Final Fantasy XV’s story. So, it’s a shame that they will let the game die without doing anything to fix the messy narrative.

As a creator, I understand this feeling. That is the reason why I decided to rewrite my first novel, The Diary of Modern Cinderella. I knew that I could make the story far better than the first edition of the book.

It’s hard for most people to see the reasoning behind Square Enix’s decision when these people have never created anything in their life.

Not everybody cares enough about the storyline

You may not believe it when I say it, but there are quite a handful of people out there who is fine with the current Final Fantasy XV story. They seem to be okay with it even without having to depend on the DLC to have a full grasp of the story.

I’m not sure if the people who made such comment just meant the game alone or with Kingsglaive and Brotherhood combined. But it’s possible that they care more about the gameplay than the storyline. So, they didn’t find anything wrong with the story.

With the game has been around for almost two years already, there are only some fans who are still invested in the story to this day.

As for the rest of the people who played the game before, they don’t feel like caring about the story anymore. In fact, they’re hoping for Square Enix to stop with fixing the story and move on to the new project.

So, the release of the new DLC feels more like Square Enix is trying to cater to people who still care about the story. And these people won’t mind paying for the brand new story at all. It’s possible that the same group of people are the one who bought Final Fantasy XV Official Works in order to fully understand the story.

You can’t blame Square Enix for wanting to release a brand new story as DLC. It may look like they’re capitalizing on people who are willing to pay for the DLC just to get a better grasp of the story. But they don’t do anything wrong.

They’re only fulfilling the demand. If you don’t feel like wanting to buy the DLC, then just don’t. You can always watch the DLC on YouTube if you want. But you’re missing out on the gameplay side of the equation, though.