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Tabata Talks Final Fantasy XV Story Imbalances and the Teams Unconventional Decision

K

Koozek

Member
http://www.novacrystallis.com/2017/...-xv-story-imbalances-latter-half-game-linear/

Speaking with Game Informer, director Hajime Tabata says the narrative direction was entirely intentional – namely the important events that happened off-screen. “It was for the players to experience the story through Noctis’ eyes,” he told the magazine. “The world and the events that Noctis sees are merely things that are seen through his eyes. We didn’t want to create a comprehensive and perfectly balanced story in this game. Instead, we placed importance on the main characters and for the player and Noctis to share the same experience when we tell the story.”​

5TJ1lXd.png



More at the link and even more in the newest Game Informer issue.
 
K

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Yo, what the fuck kind of reasoning is that? Also, I guess it took like 3 months to think of this excuse?
 
W

Wagram

Member
Well you did a fantastic job in creating one of the least interesting stories in the franchise despite such a solid foundation.
 
R

robotrock

Banned
i get that but imo noctis should have found out his dad died from a phone call at the least, not a fucking newspaper several hours after the event
 
S

Shinigami

Member
So why show us ANYTHING that didn't take place with Noctis directly? Anything from Insomnia or showing us the Emperor and his goons having a chat randomly. I call BS.
 
jasminlovesyoux

jasminlovesyoux

Banned
Yes. Yes we stuck with only Noctis the entirety of the game, but was it really better for it?


Actually, I remember there WERE scenes away from Noctis. Soooooo..... I call bs
 
M

Mattakuevan

Member
But... There were still cutscenes that noctis never could have known about. So it just comes off as disjointed

If they really wanted to do it this way, Noctis should have had to piece things together for himself (and the player).
 
semiconscious

semiconscious

Member
Koozek said:
Speaking with Game Informer, director Hajime Tabata says the narrative direction was entirely intentional – namely the important events that happened off-screen. “It was for the players to experience the story through Noctis’ eyes,” he told the magazine. “The world and the events that Noctis sees are merely things that are seen through his eyes. We didn’t want to create a comprehensive and perfectly balanced story in this game. Instead, we placed importance on the main characters and for the player and Noctis to share the same experience when we tell the story.”​
Click to expand...

so - mission accomplished? :) ...
 
P

pashmilla

Banned
"...Except those scenes of the empire and the Luna flashbacks. They don't count, because reasons."

This game's story is such a joke smh
 
Z

Zafir

Member
I mean that's certainly one way of covering your ass.

Why even bother adding the Kingsglaive scenes then, lol.
 
ethomaz

ethomaz

Banned
He just fucked everything.

And now come with this bullshit when there a lot of scenes not in Noctis view in the game lol
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
robotrock said:
i get that but imo noctis should have found out his dad died from a phone call not a fucking newspaper several hours after the event
Click to expand...
Considering the entire city was being destroyed I doubt people had time to call Noctis to tell his dad died considering it was a warzone. Also, only two people witnessed his death, one of which died and the other was MIA for a while.

Remember the newspaper was empire propaganda that also reported Noctis and Luna to be dead.
 
Z

Zedark

Member
Hajime Tabata said:
We didn’t want to create a comprehensive and perfectly balanced story in this game.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that doesn't sound like a good design to me. Shame, since it meant in the end that interesting story elements were left completely unclear.
 
H

HeavenlyE

Member
I like the idea of us finding things out at the same time as noctis but they didn't execute this idea very well at all and even broke their own rule in a few cases
 
N

NinjaCoachZ

Member
HeavenlyE said:
I like the idea of us finding things out at the same time as noctis but they didn't execute this idea very well at all and even broke their own rule in a few cases
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. The idea of it is cool in theory but the execution could've been better. That's how I feel about the story in general really.
 
M

Mcdohl

Member
kayos90 said:
Yo, what the fuck kind of reasoning is that? Also, I guess it took like 3 months to think of this excuse?
Click to expand...

I think this had been stated before, but I'm too lazy to find a source.

Anyways... in that case Luna should've have had more coverage on Brotherhood, etc. Because while yes, Noctis might love her and whatnot, even though we're in his shoes during the game, we have very little context about his relationship with Lunafreya.
 
L

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret

Member
pashmilla said:
"...Except those scenes of the empire and the Luna flashbacks. They don't count, because reasons."

This game's story is such a joke smh
Click to expand...

Yeah ever since this quote was revealed I'm seriously hurting but in a laughable way about how bad this is but I believed it. I believed in good characters..... meh.
 
K

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Prince of Space said:
Pretty sure they've talked about the story mainly focusing on viewing events strictly from the chocobro's perspective before.
Click to expand...

Which is a load of horseshit because they added scenes and there exist scenes where Noctis knows nothing about. LIke the scenes with Luna from flashbacks? Or scenes of the Kingsglaive stuff? Or the scene of the Empire? Or the Ravus Scenes? Like.. no. This is straightup making the excuse after the fact. Fuck you Tabata. Don't spit at us.
 
M

McMoneyman

Member
Surprised he didn't go with the classic video game developer statement: "We want to leave it up to the players imagination".
 
Y

Yabberwocky

Member
Dear god, it was all intentional? Half the comments contradict the game itself. Seeing the story through Noctis' eyes doesn't really work, as we quite a few cutscenes that weren't from Noctis' POV at all... and if they wanted to just focus on the main four, why didn't Gladio/Prompto/Ignis have any sub-plots or character development... if Noctis and the player shared the shame experience, does that mean Noctis was sitting around reading about plot points in loading screens, too? The hell, Tabata.
 
B

BrianRoyale

Member
I saved the story of FF15 myself, by choosing the picture of Noctis chowing down on a meat skewer at the end. I don't know if i've enjoyed the ending to a game as much as seeing that.
 
T

TheKastorian

Member
I thought the game was still pretty damn good. The ending was sheer awesomeness and
super emotional
. Would give it a 9.5/10 and if the story was just a little more fleshed-out (don't care that the second half was linear) it would get a 10/10 and be along the greatest FFs ever made.
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
Ooccoo said:
Maybe if you like Dragon Ball

To each its own. I think FFXV is a shitty FF with bad characters, almost no story and poor gameplay.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it. I loved the gameplay, the characters, and the ending was satisfying in a way a FF hasn't been before. I acknowledge it's flaws but I really really enjoyed what I played.
 
B

bluexy

Member
"Experience the story through Noctis' eyes, as he spends the first four years following the events at the start of the game fishing, looking for precious stones, collecting frogs, foraging for cooking ingredients, living in cheap trailers or camping, and mostly just being driven around with three people who rarely talk beyond quips during monster fights. Sure, most people never make it to the actual meaningful story bits, but those aren't really much better anyway."
 
M

Moonlight

Banned
BrianRoyale said:
I saved the story of FF15 myself, by choosing the picture of Noctis chowing down on a meat skewer at the end. I don't know if i've enjoyed the ending to a game as much as seeing that.
Click to expand...
I saved it by making it a photo of Iris. The pay-off was probably the most FFXV made me smile.
 
B

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
HeavenlyE said:
I like the idea of us finding things out at the same time as noctis but they didn't execute this idea very well at all and even broke their own rule in a few cases
Click to expand...

Pretty much, the execution was very poorly planned, but conceptually it was fine. Kingsglaive did a much better job engaging me with the story and lore than the game was ever able.
 
J

James Scott

Banned
I'm pretty sure there are scenes that Noctis doesn't experience like the poorly edited Kingsglaive clip so that doesn't really make sense.
It's a terrible idea in any case
 
T

True Fire

Member
I love how Tabata won't shut the fuck up. He comes across as extremely proud, and I don't doubt for a moment that he'll spend the rest of the generation fixing his mistakes.
 
M

MegaSackman

Member
Noctis
"Oh look, the empire is already destroyed! finally some luck on our side woo hoo!... also, why isn't Cor with us again?"
 
P

Prince of Space

Banned
This certainly explains the team's earlier comments about having more scenes with young Luna and Noctis, as well as with Luna and Ravus, and not knowing where to insert them into the game.

I wonder if any of these scenes were cut to avoid bogging down the player w/ story before they got back to playing the game. We already know the Insomnia invasion was cut partially to get people into the open world as soon as possible.
 
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