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Final Fantasy XV |OT2| For Jared!

Koozek

Member
How long before essays start arriving about how this is bad
Tadaa:
Lesson learned by SE: Story content doesn't matter, just create a world with generic quests and slap characters on it and you'll sell 6 million.

The real reason it sold that many was the long wait and insane hype. Not deserved, but at least the FF franchise isn't dead and there is hope for the future.

Tbf, they're not completely wrong. FFXVI definitely must learn from FFXV's mistakes.
 

Koozek

Member
I don't do it because I am being cautious. I don't want to be breaking any rules. :)

Otherwise, I would be making XV threads all the time. Lol.

Edit: Thanks, Koozek. You guys...are the best. :,)
E2Zsk0k.gif
 

MilkBeard

Member
Cool. That thread isn't going too bad, I would say. It's a huge improvement from the last two or three threads.

Tbf, they're not completely wrong. FFXVI definitely must learn from FFXV's mistakes.

Yep. Even though XV is one of my favorites now, I want to see them improve upon elements, like delivering story sequences that are not rushed. At least they can start fresh with XVI and not be hamstrung by developing an engine and inheriting somewhat of a mess.
 
Cool. That thread isn't going too bad, I would say. It's a huge improvement from the last two or three threads.

Yep. Even though XV is one of my favorites now, I want to see them improve upon elements, like delivering story sequences that are not rushed. At least they can start fresh with XVI and not be hamstrung by developing an engine and inheriting somewhat of a mess.

Oh my goodness. This is the feedback I've always wanted!!!

And yeah... The last two threads have gone very well for the most part. :D
 
Comments like that from Perfo, Squire, and others have no place in this forum in my opinion. That kind of toxic negativity and pushing agendas (it's not hard to immediately see through why Perfo is acting they way he is) has been nothing but detriment to the forum as a whole and I can only hope someone deals with them soon.
 

MilkBeard

Member
Comments like that from Perfo, Squire, and others have no place in this forum in my opinion. That kind of toxic negativity and pushing agendas (it's not hard to immediately see through why Perfo is acting they way he is) has been nothing but detriment to the forum as a whole and I can only hope someone deals with them soon.

Holy shit you were not kidding. I left the thread a while ago and it was somewhat civil. However, in a matter of a few hours, it devolved into utter shit. All the salt gifs are hilarious though, and I think somewhat worth it. ;)
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Hey guess what. Mods aren't omniscient and I'm just going to say what mods generally say in these situations - PM a mod. Which isn't a guarantee of action taken but at least that way you know something has (presumably) been looked at.

While we're at it, not denying there's been an issue w.r.t. this title in particular but maybe stop taking negative opinions against a product as personal insults either.
 
Hey guess what. Mods aren't omniscient and I'm just going to say what mods generally say in these situations - PM a mod. Which isn't a guarantee of action taken but at least that way you know something has (presumably) been looked at.

While we're at it, not denying there's been an issue w.r.t. this title in particular but maybe stop taking negative opinions against a product as personal insults either.

I don't think we are, if I am being honest about my position on this. I am, however, a bit tired of certain posters derailing thread after thread and insulting/attacking not only individual developers, but attacking other forum posters.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
So PM me. PM another mod. You've PM'd me before and I assume you've PM'ed others before. You should know how this works.
 

Vashetti

Banned
The toxicity surrounding this game is absurd.

I totally get that not everyone will like a game, but it's the same people every thread who feel the need to make their opinion known.

Okay, we get it, you didn't like the game. Why keep derailing threads about this game you hate?
 
Let's pivot this thread back to being the OT and not focus on other threads. I think that would be best.

So PM me. PM another mod. You've PM'd me before and I assume you've PM'ed others before. You should know how this works.

You're right. Should've PM'd.
 

kc44135

Member
So, I've kinda always wanted to get into FF, but I've never really played any of these games before (well, I played a couple hours of FFX on PS2, and it seemed pretty cool). I've never even really played any JRPGS (well, Paper Mario if that counts, I guess). So yeah, would this be a good jumping on point to FF? Is it easy to get into for a JRPG noob? Is it good in general?
 
So, I've kinda always wanted to get into FF, but I've never really played any of these games before (well, I played a couple hours of FFX on PS2, and it seemed pretty cool). I've never even really played any JRPGS (well, Paper Mario if that counts, I guess). So yeah, would this be a good jumping on point to FF? Is it easy to get into for a JRPG noob? Is it good in general?

In my totally biased opinion, yeah. It's fun and was made for people new to the franchise. The FF games are usually the games to get people into the genre. So I would say this is a good start.

Unless you loathe action combat games.

Then there are other FF games I can always recommend. :)
 

MilkBeard

Member
Y'all ready for the best dlc to be released in 2017

Can't wait. I hope we get more DLC in 2018 as well.There is tons of potential for more content.

Can't wait for Ep. Prompto. I'm also personally excited for Ignis' DLC because maybe it will delve further into
what happened with his eyes, and maybe sometime shortly afterward.

So, I've kinda always wanted to get into FF, but I've never really played any of these games before (well, I played a couple hours of FFX on PS2, and it seemed pretty cool). I've never even really played any JRPGS (well, Paper Mario if that counts, I guess). So yeah, would this be a good jumping on point to FF? Is it easy to get into for a JRPG noob? Is it good in general?

It's definitely a good place to start. And in the end, if you liked it or are interested in more Final Fantasy, there is a great deal of diversity in the past games.

--
EDIT: Totally forgot. What is it, three days until the bomber jacket outfit? Hype.
 

kc44135

Member
In my totally biased opinion, yeah. It's fun and was made for people new to the franchise. The FF games are usually the games to get people into the genre. So I would say this is a good start.

Unless you loathe action combat games.

Then there are other FF games I can always recommend. :)

Cool, sounds good. It's only $28 at BB with GCU, so at the very least, it sounds like I'll get a good amount of bang for my buck. I'll pick it up and then jump in after polishing off Nier, I think. Also, it's important to watch Kingsglaive before playing the game, right?
 
Cool, sounds good. It's only $28 at BB with GCU, so at the very least, it sounds like I'll get a good amount of bang for my buck. I'll pick it up and then jump in after polishing off Nier, I think. Also, it's important to watch Kingsglaive before playing the game, right?
Kingsglaive and if u want more history on the characters the 5 episode anime shorts are pretty good not as necessary as kingsglaive tho
 
Can't wait. I hope we get more DLC in 2018 as well.There is tons of potential for more content.

Can't wait for Ep. Prompto. I'm also personally excited for Ignis' DLC because maybe it will delve further into
what happened with his eyes, and maybe sometime shortly afterward.

It's definitely a good place to start. And in the end, if you liked it or are interested in more Final Fantasy, there is a great deal of diversity in the past games.

--
EDIT: Totally forgot. What is it, three days until the bomber jacket outfit? Hype.

Yeah. I am pretty pumped for the DLC. Really excited to see what they do with Prompto's story... The trailer has to drop soon... Right?

Cool, sounds good. It's only $28 at BB with GCU, so at the very least, it sounds like I'll get a good amount of bang for my buck. I'll pick it up and then jump in after polishing off Nier, I think. Also, it's important to watch Kingsglaive before playing the game, right?

Kingsglaive and if u want more history on the characters the 5 episode anime shorts are pretty good not as necessary as kingsglaive tho

Basically what Sanji said. Kingsglaive wouldn't hurt to watch and the free episode that are on YouTube and other places are a fun watch too!

I hope you enjoy! :)
 

kc44135

Member
Kingsglaive and if u want more history on the characters the 5 episode anime shorts are pretty good not as necessary as kingsglaive tho

Yeah. I am pretty pumped for the DLC. Really excited to see what they do with Prompto's story... The trailer has to drop soon... Right?





Basically what Sanji said. Kingsglaive wouldn't hurt to watch and the free episode that are on YouTube and other places are a fun watch too!

I hope you enjoy! :)

Alright, thx guys, will do.
 

Branson

Member
I'm about 30 hours in and kind of burnt out. I have like 6 royal arms and am in chapter 9. I kind of feel like I'm missing out on something because I'm level 40 and it seems like everyone just explored for 50 hours in chapter 3 and got everything and then finished the story.

Am I playing it wrong by not doing more side quests(which I don't really like) and just furthering the story, which I'm enjoying? I haven't found the exploration super enjoyable. And some of the dungeons are like level 50 which seem way too hard for me and I've felt like I've done a lot of shit.

Idk. Random thoughts right now.
 

MilkBeard

Member
I'm about 30 hours in and kind of burnt out. I have like 6 royal arms and am in chapter 9. I kind of feel like I'm missing out on something because I'm level 40 and it seems like everyone just explored for 50 hours in chapter 3 and got everything and then finished the story.

Am I playing it wrong by not doing more side quests(which I don't really like) and just furthering the story, which I'm enjoying? I haven't found the exploration super enjoyable. And some of the dungeons are like level 50 which seem way too hard for me and I've felt like I've done a lot of shit.

Idk. Random thoughts right now.
Just finish the story straight up, and then return to the world to do dungeons if you want. You are at a perfect level to continue the story.
 

xuchu

Member
Wtf, I rubberbanded my controller overnight and survival skill still isn't level 10?!
Anyone have any fishing tips and how to get immortal photobomb, is it random?

Edit: and new alterna just feels like cheating.
 

MilkBeard

Member
Wtf, I rubberbanded my controller overnight and survival skill still isn't level 10?!
Anyone have any fishing tips and how to get immortal photobomb, is it random?

Edit: and new alterna just feels like cheating.
I'm not sure what causes survival to increase, but it leveled to max naturally for me somewhere around 40-50 hours into the game. Maybe picking up items helps it to level? Considering that the skill causes him to find new items.

Immortal photobombs are random, I think.

Alternate is awesome but it doesn't kill everything. Later in the high level dungeons it won't help as much as you think.
 

Koozek

Member
Man, one-shotting that big ass turtle is the most amazing thing in this game to me lol. The power of the 'one ring' ��
To this day, I still haven't tried that. :p
I did this a bunch of times two weeks ago to farm EXP (needed ~8.5 million before trippling it in Altissia) to get from level 90 to 120 :D Also unlocked every AP node (~24k AP) farming through the monster summoning method and also a slightly faster method I came up with accidentally (do the timed quest where there's a timer for killing waves of Sabertusks and before the timer is up equip the Ragnarok sword so that the quest is cancelled, then you can just start it again - you could probably just walk out of the quest area for it to cancel, but this is quicker). For both methods I used the Zwill Crossblades instead of the Shield of the Just, as they don't consume HP after every attack and are more powerful and quicker even if they don't have the AOE effect when warp-striking like the shield. Don't ask me why I spent so many hours farming like that, lol. I usually don't care at all for grinding and maxing stuff out in RPGs, but somehow I had the sudden urge to do that when I went back to FFXV two weeks ago to check out the timed quests. I honestly expected not to enjoy FFXV at all after having soured on it a bit and especially after beating Automata, but it seems I can still enjoy it in a way. This is now the game I've spent the most hours with (~160, iirc) since Pokemon Gold/Silver in my childhood probably, which is crazy, since I don't like long games these days and always check HLTB before starting new games hoping that they're <15h, or <30h for RPGs. Only other recent game that comes close would be Witcher 3 with ~120 including the fantastic HoS DLC (have yet to check out B&W).

Of course, that doesn't mean I don't think there aren't many glaring flaws in FFXV still. Talked about that enough on here though and I think there's nothing that hasn't been said already. When I have the time I might still post a list of gameplay/QoL improvements I think would improve the experience a lot, often even with small effort.
 
I did this a bunch of times two weeks ago to farm EXP (needed ~8.5 million before trippling it in Altissia) to get from level 90 to 120 :D Also unlocked every AP node (~24k AP) farming through the monster summoning method and also a slightly faster method I came up with accidentally (do the timed quest where there's a timer for killing waves of Sabertusks and before the timer is up equip the Ragnarok sword so that the quest is cancelled, then you can just start it again - you could probably just walk out of the quest area for it to cancel, but this is quicker). For both methods I used the Zwill Crossblades instead of the Shield of the Just, as they don't consume HP after every attack and are more powerful and quicker even if they don't have the AOE effect when warp-striking like the shield. Don't ask me why I spent so many hours farming like that, lol. I usually don't care at all for grinding and maxing stuff out in RPGs, but somehow I had the sudden urge to do that when I went back to FFXV two weeks ago to check out the timed quests. I honestly expected not to enjoy FFXV at all after having soured on it a bit and especially after beating Automata, but it seems I can still enjoy it in a way. This is now the game I've spent the most hours with (~160, iirc) since Pokemon Gold/Silver in my childhood probably, which is crazy, since I don't like long games these days and always check HLTB before starting new games hoping that they're <15h, or <30h for RPGs. Only other recent game that comes close would be Witcher 3 with ~120 including the fantastic HoS DLC (have yet to check out B&W).

Of course, that doesn't mean I don't think there aren't many glaring flaws in FFXV still. Talked about that enough on here though and I think there's nothing that hasn't been said already. When I have the time I might still post a list of gameplay/QoL improvements I think would improve the experience a lot, often even with small effort.

I...didn't consider that for some reason...

Guess I am fighting a turtle today after I get the 1,000,000 points trophy in Episode Gladio today.

And please do so. I know the devs love constructive feedback. Even if it doesn't make it into the game it is stuff they will keep in mind for their next game so contructive feedback is always welcome! :)

(It also helps to state what you like so they don't consider a thing that isn't wrong as a problem.) ;)
 

Koozek

Member
I...didn't consider that for some reason...

Guess I am fighting a turtle today after I get the 1,000,000 points trophy in Episode Gladio today.
I ate Maagho Lasagna, which Ignis can cook with his Cooking skill on level 9, for 100% EXP bonus before (had to do that maybe 3 times in max until I had my 8.5 million). It always takes a few tries for the Alterna to work. After every failed try just quickly warp to one of the points around the Adamantoise to fully replenish your MP again for another try. Then return to your car that's at Hammerhead through the menu, go to the diner, get your reward, start the quest again and go there via Chocobos, rinse and repeat.

And please do so. I know the devs love constructive feedback. Even if it doesn't make it into the game it is stuff they will keep in mind for their next game so contructive feedback is always welcome! :)

(It also helps to state what you like so they don't consider a thing that isn't wrong as a problem.) ;)
Yeah, yeah, that's why I will definitely do a bullet-point list some time next month maybe!

I posted more detailed thoughts on the game after I was finished two weeks after the release, but I think my feelings on some things might've changed a bit, though overall it should still be in line with I think of it now. E.g. soured on the combat after playing the buttery-smooth Automata with its well-readable audio-visual telegraphing for enemy animations and actually fun mid-/large-scale boss battles - BD2 really should take a look at Automata and Platinum games to see what makes good action combat and encounter design. And though I haven't played Horizon yet, from what I saw/read about it and heard from FFXV fans playing it, it seems to do pretty much everything FFXV wanted to technically, visually, and presentation-wise in a much better and consistent way, so I'd say that's a game that BD2 should take a look at too.

Anyway, here are my thoughts from last year:
So. From the 28th onwards I stayed away from GAF completely, filtered my whole Twitter timeline, and haven't read any review until 2 days ago or so when I finished the game.

Code:
[IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzVDnAtWgAAgkJf.jpg[/IMG]


I was thinking of making a long-ass post, but then I realized that pretty much everything you could say about the game has already been said hundreds of times and perfectly well by many here and in reviews/podcasts like the ones from Easy Allies, Game Informer, Kotaku, VG247, USGamer & Co. I found most reviews really fair and they mirrored my thoughts almost exactly. I'll try to keep it short
who am i kidding, it won't be
:


[!!! DON'T READ ANY OF THE SPOILER TAGS IN THE FOLLOWING IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME !!!]

Story & Presentation:
I rolled my eyes when folks in the early-copy thread said it would have PSP-level cutscenes, but man... they weren't wrong. Some of the worst editing I've seen in a modern game. Too many janky, automated cutscenes, that should be reserved for less important stuff like NPC/quest-giver dialog, in situations where I would've expected a dedicated scene. This is the one aspect of WRPGs you shouldn't take inspiration from, lol. With the exception of Witcher 3, of course, which was much more consistent even with most NPC dialog.

A lot of awkward scene transitions and abrupt changes of music where an emotional song plays for, like, 2 seconds, suddenly stops when it cuts away to another scene with silence for a few seconds, then the cutscene's over just like that with a big, tonally-unfitting "Mission complete" screen and a loading screen.

Most of the emotional moments fall completely flat and lack any weight because often there's no proper build-up and characterization.
You know what I actually felt sad about instead of Luna's death at the end of Chapter 9 in Altissia? Ignis going blind. That really hit me somehow, even though we speculated about it a few months ago after the TGS trailer. And WTF@the anti-climatic Prompto reveal in Chapter 13. And according to the strategy guide (here) apparently he's the son of Verstael, Niflheim's head of research who could be seen in old trailers and one cutscene in the game? LOL. I still don't get it, but let's discuss that in the spoiler thread. Feels like it was supposed to be a much bigger reveal in the original script, but other scenes were cut and then what was left in didn't make sense anymore. Seems to be a consistent theme for many story beats in the game.


Characters:
The main characters' relationship was undoubtedly the game's (only) narrative strength. Many of the smaller moments were really lovely. What surprised me the most was to see relatable, natural-sounding dialog and interactions in a FF game. The situations following
Ignis going blind, especially in the train,
and the
mid-credits
scene felt sincerely touching, like, it was the first time SE came remotely close to something intimate that you would see in a Naughty Dog game. Of course they're still far away from it, but some moments showed potential. At least in the German dub I played with, which I never would've expected if you asked me back in March when they announced the dub. This is the first time in my life that I played a game in German when given the choice and I must say I'm positively surprised. I mean, Prompto is still annoying like in any dub - what can you do - but everyone else sounds much more nuanced most of the time. The English dub is absolutely terrible, except for maybe Noctis, and after 20 hours or so I decided to switch to German. I honestly think even some of the Tales of games I played were better directed (ironically Prompto's VA voiced the main protagonist in Tales of Zestiria and he was fine there). Tried the Japanese one, but I felt it was too distracting to read subs all the time in a dynamic game like this where you're constantly moving, jumping, driving and fighting chaotic battles etc., especially with the subs being so small (devs, please give us a text magnifying option like LR had in all RPGs).

Unfortunately there are some weak moments in the later chapters where I thought the script wasn't doing their relationships justice, like when they
reunite after not seeing each other for 10 years and they're just like "Hey dude, wassup.". Anti-climatic af. This is where I could actually see the 4chan rumors being true (or maybe I just want them to be), which said there was supposed to be more in the World of Ruin, like Noctis looking for his bros seperately and visiting Dark Lestallum etc.
You can clearly feel that a lot was cut to make the release date. And I can totally understand why. All the time I wondered how the fuck Tabata is supposed to salvage the Versus-trilogy mess, deliver an huge, ambitious open-world FF, while also creating their first own modern engine and turning the whole dev team structures on the head, all in just 3 years. Now we know how. It's a miracle they turned out something more than just servicable at all, so kudos to that.

Just from a script standpoint I think FFXV is actually one of the better and more believably written FFs. What do you guys think of it? I told y'all to give the new writer a chance to prove herself. It's not her fault the general plot and structure is the way it is. Her job was to flesh out the dialog inbetween the story beats and given what she had to work with and the constant rewrites and cuts I think she did fine. The relatable party dynamic is one of the unanimously well-received aspects of the game.

Found the main antagonist entertaining
, though I still don't quite understand his origin and background story. Will have to read the spoiler thread
. Side-characters are a joke. Was that really
Iedolas who looked like the other generic daemon monsters in Chapter 13 and we killed just like that without any build-up? LOL.

Also small mechanics like Ignis's cooking and reviewing Prompto's daily photos, which sounded silly at first, turned out to add a nice personal flavor and both of those were worked into the plot during two moments in a subtle but effective way that I found surprisingly touching
(the cast only having canned food after Ignis turned blind and couldn't cook anymore, and choosing your favorite photo right before the finale)
.


Structure:
I actually like the idea of going from open-world to more narrative-focused, linear because it suits my gaming style where I only do side content in the first half and then get tired half-way through and just want to finish the main story. In FFXV I had been playing for more than 70 hours before I reached Chapter 8, so pretty much half of the game, and probably would've done more if there were any hunts and dungeons left. Will also do the post-game stuff when I have the time, which is really not typical for me and a sign of how much fun I've been having with the gameplay.

The thing about FFXV's structural change is just that the execution here wasn't as strong as it could've been and obviously rushed. I liked the
train
section. It was different. Would've loved it to be even longer and something like a chamber play
in the train
for a few hours, going from drama to horror to action. Also the
World of Ruin
had an interesting atmosphere and it's a shame it wasn't fleshed-out more.

Also come on, the hate on Chapter 13 is typical GAF hyperbole like Witcher 3's combat being the absolute biggest pile of trash that ever graced the earth and all these other "common conceptions" that are just repeated so often until everyone believes it and propagates it even further without questioning it. I mean, is the chapter at least 30min too long? Yes. Is it one of the better parts of the game? No. I actually liked the break after 70 hours of open-world questing. To be fair, I was also over-powered at level 74 or so and could easily
kill most of the enemies with that timed "dodge-attack". I saw that some who had issues with the section didn't even know you could use R1+Circle for Ultima or timed dodges to do damage instead of trying to use Death, which is super slow and uneffective, which is why they said they'll increase its power for the next patch.


World:
The open-world is beautiful. Loved the variety of mountains and rocky areas, forests, rivers, coasts etc. Had a blast exploring everything early-on and finding the secret dungeons without knowing about them. I like how exploration isn't spoiled by markers from the get-go, at least until you get the specific quests/hunts. I literally had one of the often joked about "You see that mountain back there? You can go there!" moments, and it felt so cool when I realized there actually was some kinda mini-dungeon with a big area that looked like a boss-battle would be taking place in, but it didn't when I first found the place and so I anticipated and wondered about it for a long time until I had to return to the place later in the game. Not even Zelda games gave me that feeling of discovery/wonder anymore in the last decade (fortunately BOTW seems to do things right again).

I only drove the car in the first 20 hours or so and after I covered every road and parking spot I only used fast-travel and Chocobos. I wasn't expecting to enjoy the automatic car rides, but I actually thought they were relaxing, especially with the radio music turned up (as I said before, set the radio music to twice the volume of the voices/sound-effects in the audio settings). Didn't care about driving being limited. This is not GTA. We have Chocobos for fast and free traversing.

You should've been able to take on multiple hunts from your phone or something like that. Maybe after talking to every hunt-giver at least once. I mean you already can collect your reward for any hunt at any other hunt-giver, so why not the same for starting hunts. Would reduce all these loading screens inbetween every hunt (start hunt, warp to car, choose destination, fast travel, wait a minute or so, walk to the hunt, warp back to car, fast travel to hunt-giver again, wait a minute, rinse and repeat).

Quest design is hot garbage. I won't lie though, I still did every quest because I couldn't stop ("This is the last one I'll do, I swear!"). Witcher 3 forever spoiled me. The problem is not having fetch-quests - every sidequest is one if you break it down - but how well its nature is masked by creative and engaging writing.

Great dungeons and I haven't yet done the optional post-game ones, especially the crazy one that was praised by Jason Schreier and many others here.


Combat:
I used Control Type B because it felt a lot more comfortable to me, though I wonder if it's not also much easier than the default Type A that probably most played with because I honestly could just hold L1 to dodge all the time while mashing Attack and I almost automatically activated many parries/counters - of course I had to stop attacking when the Guard prompt popped up, but the timing felt more lax to me than with Type A. Also switched L2 and L3 through the PS4 remapping feature, so Sprint is on L2 and the less-frequently used Summon on L3.

When I got into the combat's flow after a few hours I loved it. It has something addictive about it and I just couldn't stop doing hunts, lol. Keeps you on your toes and looks flashy. The camera and target system, especially when fighting large monsters, is trash. Camera too frantic. Hard-locks aren't hard enough and soft-locks are too soft, constantly causing targets to change accidentally between the different body parts of monsters and it's super annoying to concentrate on only one part if you also want to control the camera at the same time, which causes the target to change. This was easily the most frustrating aspect of the combat.

The party commands really helped making the combat more varied and I often used different combinations of skills. I wish there was a simple way of telling your whole group to regroup. Maybe as Noctis' own party command instead of Ignis' Regroup (so I can use his amazing Overwhelm skill instead) - I mean, technically there would be an empty skill slot on the bottom of the party command menu for this.

I barely used magic because of how inconvenient it was to use. It's used up so quickly and then you have to go into the menu and switch out the valuable empty weapon slot again every time. They should have used a seperate weapon wheel just for magic by holding L2 + D-pad because, let's be real, summons absolutely don't need their own button for the 5 times I used them in 90 hours - instead give them an entry in the item menu like Moogles/Chocobo. In the last chapters I had 12 full magic vials sitting there and never used any of them. Though, I was overpowered at level 77 anyway, lol.

When you're in the flow, dodging, warping in and out, sword-dancing in the air, breaking enemies, activating party skills at the right time, it's a joy, but it can also be super chaotic and finnicky to the point where I almost wasn't watching what happended on screen because I couldn't really see anything anyway and rather just observed the HP bars and waited for the guard/parry prompts. I can understand why some wouldn't find it fun in those moments. I'd love to see an improved version of this system someday. One of the reason I'd like something like a FFXV-2 is that the direct FF sequels always had the best battle-systems, iterating on and improving the base systems. Hopefully the DLCs will do this now.


Music:
Best battle and boss themes in the series, whew. The dynamic music system in towns/outposts is really fun. BUT the default audio setting were almost unusable for me. You can't hear the music, especially the already rare and constantly interrupted field music, underneath the voice and sound effects, the sound-effects and music in battles are annoyingly loud compared to the rest, and radio volume too low. First thing I did was setting music and radio volume to 100 and voices and sound-effects to around 40-50. Best decision. I recommend others to tweak the settings too.



Conclusion:
So, &#822;i&#822;&#822;n&#822;&#822; &#822;&#822;s&#822;&#822;h&#822;&#822;o&#822;&#822;r&#822;&#822;t&#822; in summary, it's a good game, sometimes ranging between mediocre and great, with huge narrative flaws that hold it back from being amazing. What makes it such a shame is that the potential was there, but the nightmarish development history was clearly impossible to escape from and they probably would've needed a year more to make the current version more consistent and fleshed-out at least. You can see the seams left everywhere by tons of cuts and rewrites of the original material. Now all of this might sound more negative than I actually felt about it while playing. I had a blast with it and clocked in nearly 90 hours, which I only did for 2 other games in the last 10 years, Witcher 3 (most likely still my GOTY over FFXV and UC4) and Lightning Returns (yes). And by the way, in all of the 90 hours I played I encountered maybe 3 harmless bugs. Only had to reload once because a hunt wouldn't spawn. Never glitched out anywhere as Noctis. No crashs. Actually pretty impressive for a huge, dynamic game like this.

There's just a certain charm about FFXV for a AAA game and it was interesting to see many reviewers share this same sentiment. Almost everyone used the words "weird" and "strange" in a positive way like "weirdly engrossing", "strangely fascinating" etc. and I think it's a fresh breath of air amidst the Holiday blockbuster season. You could say FFXV is the Deadly Premonition of AAA games
(okay, please don't challenge me on this analogy, I haven't thought about it more than a minute, but I think it could make sense, lol)
. This new Forbes review nails it basically:

There are so, so many things I hate about Final Fantasy XV. Decisions that were made from pacing to structure to storytelling to mechanics that just seem mind-bogglingly bad in many ways. And yet, despite that, what the game gets right, its visuals, its combat, the bond it forges between its main heroes, that ultimately I sort of love the game. FFXV is heavily flawed, but there's a certain, intangible magic that pulls it all together in a way that genuinely surprised me by the end.


In the end it turned out exactly as I expected a few months ago: not a masterpiece, but a solid foundation for the future, if they learn from their mistakes with FFXV. Can't wait to see what direction FFXVI will be going. Just finally get rid of all this decade-old FNC/Versus baggage. But man... if the new, ridiculous "Versus XV" rumors are true that would be the most hilarious irony of life.


Probably no one read this whole post anyway, but I just had to get it off my chest :D
 

Koozek

Member
Remembered that I posted a few thoughts on what could be improved QoL-wise a while ago already on Mognet and GAF:

Koozek said:
Yeah. I wonder if they'll make some QoL changes like being able to do more than one hunt simultaneously. That would've made the whole experience much smoother. And add a button (like in TW3) for when you've just been given a new sidequest after talking to someone to quickly make this new quest the currently active one. Also make Fast Travel to any already visited outpost/gas station/dungeon possible directly from the normal map menu and from anywhere in the world instead of first having to return to your car and make the car automatically travel near your destination too. It's just redundant otherwise, and it only adds another, albeit shorter, loading screen to the typical gameplay loop during sidequesting/doing hunts.

Improve the Magic system and make it more convenient so that you don't have to go into the menu all the time when your spell is used up. Maybe by adding a quick menu in combat to swap out spells more quickly. Maybe also make summons choosable with a quick menu during the summon prompt.

And make Techniques always "connect" to the enemy no matter which body part is targeted instead of sometimes having a party member getting stuck during the animations and not physically reaching the target during the attack, which is made even more annoying because of the probably worst and most unreliable lock-on systems I've ever seen in a game, especially in tight spaces with a lot of enemies like in the Costlemark Tower. Or make everyone just warp to the enemy before starting the Technique. The whole logic of who can warp and who can't is inconsistent, anyway. During Ignis' Regroup Technique somehow everybody can warp, but during other attacks they can't. While we're at it, give Noctis a Regroup-like Technique too (could easily be mapped to L1+D-pad Down, which isn't used in that menu).

Why not make the Party AI use healing items themselves more reliably instead of having to unlock expensive Ascension nodes for them? Would break the combat flow less often. Oh, and change the menu for changing the order of items in combat, lol. That was really cumbersome.

Also make trees/shrubs/rock transparent when they're blocking the camera. That was a very strange oversight.


I could go on and on after having played the game for over 120h^^ There are a lot of smaller changes that would already go a long way toward making the gameplay better.

Yeah, the targeting system is one of my main gripes with the battle-system. It's fudamentally flawed if you can't move the camera in action combat without losing your current target, especially when large enemies have different body parts which if you accidentally switch to totally throw off the camera, making it move like crazy in some cases. Also if you accidentally switch target to a body part that's too high for the other party members the Party Techniques will still try to hit the new target and miss most of the time because of the wonky collision detection. This is a pretty significant oversight. Party Techniques should just always "connect" hits without actually having to collide if you're locked-onto an enemy. Sometimes party-members would get stuck in the environment while trying to initiate a Technique and just skip half of the attack.

To be honest, I thought about alternatives were you could hard-lock with one button, still move the camera and also switch targets quickly, but I couldn't come up with anything. You can't switch targets with the D-pad because they are reserved for weapons and freeing up another 2 shoulder buttons just for cycling through targets is a bit radical. Maaaybe this would work, but I don't know how intuitive it would be: press R1 once for hard-lock and hold R1 + D-pad for target switching. What do you think?


@PshycoNinja:
I really enjoy thinking about possible improvements to controls/UI etc., so I would definitely like to come back here soon and discuss that with you if you're open to it, though I'm not sure how much you are allowed to say without alluding to things you know might be worked on currently for future updates^^
 

Toth

Member
I really enjoy thinking about possible improvements to controls/UI etc., so I would definitely like to come back here soon and discuss that with you if you're open to it, though I'm not sure how much you are allowed to say without alluding to things you know might be worked on currently for future updates^^

I am confused here; who are you talking to?
 

MilkBeard

Member
Remembered that I posted a few thoughts on what could be improved QoL-wise a while ago already on Mognet and GAF:





I really enjoy thinking about possible improvements to controls/UI etc., so I would definitely like to come back here soon and discuss that with you if you're open to it, though I'm not sure how much you are allowed to say without alluding to things you know might be worked on currently for future updates^^
In some ways, when thinking about the battle system for FFXV, I am reminded of The Last Story. Of course, there are many differences, but that games was (as far as I know) Sakaguchi's first attempt at having a fully dynamic action battle system with party members controlled by a.i. and dialogue happening in the battles.

That system was also somewhat flawed, but at the same time, had a lot of potential for growth in a sequel. It's too bad the situation with Sakaguchi means we most likely won't get a sequel. I would have loved to see another take on action-based party battle systems.

However, I think another game that uses the system of FFXV would be great, as they could perfect the design further. I think I would miss warp striking if they used it in a completely different IP, though.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Okay, I'm a little confused here too, now- why would PshycoNinja know what's down the pipeline at this point?
 

Koozek

Member
Okay, I'm a little confused here too, now- why would PshycoNinja know what's down the pipeline at this point?
Oh, just assumed he was still working on the DLC and stuff.

EDIT: Ah, from his Twitter it seems he isn't.

Btw, saw this Twitter thread on Pshyco's timeline from Rami Ismail about how he introduced his non-gaming mom to FFXV and he's been keeping track of her progress - so cool :D

https://twitter.com/tha_rami/status/823347423158345728
 

Koozek

Member
Rami's a huge fan of the road trip aspect.
Yeah, I was surprised how much Rami loved the game. Even more surprised about Jim Sterling. Rated it higher than BOTW and was even positive about the whole story patching plans for it when I expected him to make a video on how shitty this practice is instead. He posted in that thread too, btw:
For those wondering why I'm more defensive of Square Enix's decision here as opposed to my criticism of Battlefront and Street Fighter V:

Final Fantasy XV has a ton of content. A TON of content. They didn't produce a shell of a game, they have enough shit in there to last you weeks.

The major problem with XV is creative rather than mechanical, which I think can be more easily forgiven due to the subjectivity of narrative. You can objectively look at the missing features of Battlefront and say "These features are not here."

Saying "the story in FF XV isn't good" is a matter of taste. I happened to enjoy the story as-is, even though it was also very frustrating in places.

This isn't so much a case of Square Enix deliberately releasing a bare-bones product and plugging in the important features later. Yes, the latter half of the game is rushed and it absolutely deserves criticism for that, but it's not like FFXV as a product was threadbare.

A lot of Early AAAccess games need to produce free content to be worth the MSRP. I'd argue FFXV does enough already to be worth its asking price, which is why I find them going back to add things more laudable - with caveats, of course.
 

Auctopus

Member
Okay, so I'm a little on tilt but I need some advice/help with the end of the game.

I've started to get very, very sick of this combat system from chapter 9-Now. I've felt in the latter half of this game, half the stuff that's meant to happen "automatically" like Square to dodge etc. just doesn't work and each new environment you get given, the combat mechanics become more and more unsightly. My party's DPS has gone out the window and Links happen FAR less frequently than they used to.

When I was exploring Duscae in the early chapters, even fighting enemies way above my level - everything seemed smooth and relatively simple.

Basically, is Level 43 too low for the end of the game? Frankly, I thought I was overleveled as I had hung around the open-world doing needless levelling for a while. But in the last couple chapters, basically the
Revus
fight and now fighting through
Insomnia
, my whole party is getting one-hit killed by nearly everything. I'm fighting the
King Behemoth
outside the
citadel
and I'm chugging Antidotes/Elixirs etc. faster than I'm hitting anything. Not to mention parries seem to not work anymore?

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. For the first half of the game, the encounters and combat were relatively fun but it feels like they've slowly degenerated in the last 4 hours. It's becoming very unenjoyable which is shame because I was looking forward to doing clean-up back in the open-world.

I'm on Normal btw, have decent Ascension points placed (in my opinion) and I have the weapons from Final chapter Hammerhead.
 
Busy weekend so I didn't have time to return to the thread. Apologies.

Okay, I'm a little confused here too, now- why would PshycoNinja know what's down the pipeline at this point?

In terms of FFXV or future projects?

I have a regular line of communication with some friends over at BD2 and I know they appreciate feedback. That's all I was getting at with what I said earlier. :)

Oh, just assumed he was still working on the DLC and stuff.

EDIT: Ah, from his Twitter it seems he isn't.

Btw, saw this Twitter thread on Pshyco's timeline from Rami Ismail about how he introduced his non-gaming mom to FFXV and he's been keeping track of her progress - so cool :D

https://twitter.com/tha_rami/status/823347423158345728

Nope. I left SE shortly after finishing FFXV. I miss the people over there, but I had to go out and develop my career further. Who knows what the future holds. :)

Rami's a huge fan of the road trip aspect.

Rami is a huge fan of a lot of things with the game. ;)

Yeah, I was surprised how much Rami loved the game. Even more surprised about Jim Sterling. Rated it higher than BOTW and was even positive about the whole story patching plans for it when I expected him to make a video on how shitty this practice is instead. He posted in that thread too, btw:

I think his response was totally reasonable, too.

Edit:
Okay, so I'm a little on tilt but I need some advice/help with the end of the game.

I've started to get very, very sick of this combat system from chapter 9-Now. I've felt in the latter half of this game, half the stuff that's meant to happen "automatically" like Square to dodge etc. just doesn't work and each new environment you get given, the combat mechanics become more and more unsightly. My party's DPS has gone out the window and Links happen FAR less frequently than they used to.

When I was exploring Duscae in the early chapters, even fighting enemies way above my level - everything seemed smooth and relatively simple.

Basically, is Level 43 too low for the end of the game? Frankly, I thought I was overleveled as I had hung around the open-world doing needless levelling for a while. But in the last couple chapters, basically the
Revus
fight and now fighting through
Insomnia
, my whole party is getting one-hit killed by nearly everything. I'm fighting the
King Behemoth
outside the
citadel
and I'm chugging Antidotes/Elixirs etc. faster than I'm hitting anything. Not to mention parries seem to not work anymore?

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. For the first half of the game, the encounters and combat were relatively fun but it feels like they've slowly degenerated in the last 4 hours. It's becoming very unenjoyable which is shame because I was looking forward to doing clean-up back in the open-world.

I'm on Normal btw, have decent Ascension points placed (in my opinion) and I have the weapons from Final chapter Hammerhead.

It could be many different things. You might of switched to slower weapons, which in turn, slows down Noctis to be able to dodge and parry.

Enemies towards the end of the game don't give as much lead time to guard and parry either as the game is trying to be tougher and is expecting a little more mastery on the players end. Adjusting strategy is crucial towards the ending of the game. I personally start playing more defensively towards the end of the game. I keep my distance when need be.

As for level, you're about two levels lower than the recommended level. If you're getting one-shot'd I would take a look at your gear and accessories for the party as it might not be efficient at the moment. Links happen when you do blindsides so try to be behind the enemies as often as you can, not to their sides but right behind them.

Party techniques also help a tone when it comes to invisibility frames. Use them. Armiger helps a tone and should be used often. These are two tools that are indispensable at the end of the game. I'd also take a second look at your Ascension grid.

Combat will still be the same when and if you return to Lucis. Don't worry. :)

Hopefully my response will help. :D
 

MilkBeard

Member
Okay, so I'm a little on tilt but I need some advice/help with the end of the game.

I've started to get very, very sick of this combat system from chapter 9-Now. I've felt in the latter half of this game, half the stuff that's meant to happen "automatically" like Square to dodge etc. just doesn't work and each new environment you get given, the combat mechanics become more and more unsightly. My party's DPS has gone out the window and Links happen FAR less frequently than they used to.

When I was exploring Duscae in the early chapters, even fighting enemies way above my level - everything seemed smooth and relatively simple.

Basically, is Level 43 too low for the end of the game? Frankly, I thought I was overleveled as I had hung around the open-world doing needless levelling for a while. But in the last couple chapters, basically the
Revus
fight and now fighting through
Insomnia
, my whole party is getting one-hit killed by nearly everything. I'm fighting the
King Behemoth
outside the
citadel
and I'm chugging Antidotes/Elixirs etc. faster than I'm hitting anything. Not to mention parries seem to not work anymore?

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. For the first half of the game, the encounters and combat were relatively fun but it feels like they've slowly degenerated in the last 4 hours. It's becoming very unenjoyable which is shame because I was looking forward to doing clean-up back in the open-world.

I'm on Normal btw, have decent Ascension points placed (in my opinion) and I have the weapons from Final chapter Hammerhead.
Pretty sure the final bit of the game suggests level 50+. Go into quests and see what the level suggestion is for the final story quest.

For my personal experience, I was fine, although there are some high level monsters that were fucking my shit up and I was in the mid 50's by that point. I know for a fact that there is a level 70ish monster just chilling in one of the sections too.

Also something to think about: for most enemies in the game, if you are getting knocked on your ass a lot and battles take a long time and they are around your level, I think you are missing your timings (focus on nailing parries) your gear might not be right, or you haven't figured out what the monster is weak to. For example, high level ice magic will destroy Malboros.

Also high level link combos are good. I particularly like Prompto's machine blast and Gladio's shockwave (I don't remember the names).

You can also get good with the ring and use well timed holy dodges for good damage.

But first, you should probably increase 10 levels. I would also recommend training yourself on nailing parries. Although there are a few attacks that can't be dodged so watch out for that.

Edit: also what Ninja said. Link strikes will go like crazy when you blindside the enemies (attack from behind).
 

Branson

Member
Thanks for the replies. I think I'm gonna have to level a bit more - I thought I was pretty decent at the mechanics but I guess there's room for improvement.

Yes, right at the beginning they throw a Level 72 which one-shot my whole party. I just ran past.
Shit I'm around your level now. God I hate having to grind more levels to reach the end of the story. I just wanted to mainline through the end of the game and now I have to grind for 20 more hours.
 

Koozek

Member
Shit I'm around your level now. God I hate having to grind more levels to reach the end of the story. I just wanted to mainline through the end of the game and now I have to grind for 20 more hours.
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having to grind in FFXV. From my experience most are actually vastly over-leveled because they spent too much time doing sidequests/hunts mid-game. Main story was piss-easy for me because I was level 77 or so before the second half, lol.

Around level 45 is the recommended level for the last boss, IIRC. That random super hard enemy in the last dungeon you can just run past, it's not mandatory.
 
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