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[Caronte]

I wouldn't be shocked at this point. That whole sequence was a tech demo and now they're being iffy on the whole swimming thing even being in the game. ffs

I'm so disappointed right now.

 

[Road]

HD female characters are hard.

You didn't need insider info to know Luna was not Stella. You just need to stop and pay attention for 30 seconds to see how radically different the characters were. It was already Luna in the 2013 trailer as well, they were just lying saying it was Stella.

If this game ends up being great, it will be the most legendary game development story of all time. But they'll probably just make a final update to the demo in 2016 removing the wording "Episode Duscae" and say "Here's FFXV. We just removed everything else because it didn't make sense".

As for my previous post, Cor is a male so he's safe... maybe...





...probably dead too.

 

[xxdoshiyarovexx]

I wouldn't be shocked at this point. That whole sequence was a tech demo and now they're being iffy on the whole swimming thing even being in the game. ffs

Majitek armor control probably wont make it either.

 

[saher]

I dont care about stella as long as hime chan is still in

 

[Philippo]

Finally got time to sit and watch through the whole ATR.

As someone who's been obsessively following the game for the last 9 years, i went from depressed by the news, then dubious and finally cautiosly optimistic.

Listen, i loved the original concept of Versus XIII, hell that's what kept me hooked the most rather than everything else. Stella, heroine of the game, rival to Noctis and potential love interest? All over my place.

But that is no more, and it's time to let go that this is not Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Will it be completely different from Versus XIII, or slightly altered? Will it be worse, on par or even better than the original vision? I don't know, but i'm more than willing to give them a fair chance without prejudice, because what they showed us is that Tabata and the team are doing everything in their power to deliver the very best they can while keeping the origins as intact as ever, and by looking at this last statement you can see it's been more than a business decision, but there's real passion under it.

Of course this doesn't mean that this isn't Nomura&Nojima game no more, they still gave it birth and it has some of the highest potential i've ever seen in a game thanks to them, but it's really pointless to judge what it has become using the "uh but they changed it" as a negative factor, to me seems a disrespect considering they're even being so honest about it instead of just keeping silent like most companies would do.

So simply go on guys, give us what you can and i promise, at least for my self, that i'll judge your game for what it is, not for what it has become of another game's concept.

Side-note: i love how natural and comical are Tabata and Oda(?), that part where they don't remember Niflheim's name or when they ask how everyone behind the camera's doing cracked me up.

 

[ConceptX]

Judging by this thread, I guess saying SE underestimated the backlash to the removal of you know who is an understatement.

I doubt they really care.

It's a minor change.

None of us really knew anything about the character, nor do we about the new one, it wasn't a selling point of the game, she wasn't/isn't playable.

Massive hyperbole on forums is not the majority.

I mean people are saying they have no interest in the entire game because a side character has now been changed with a slightly different side character, in an entirely different game.

I don't know what people expected, but it was obvious from the day of the title change that it would be a different game, it went from spin off to mainline, of course it was all going to change, it was a change of audience. everything needed reworked to fit the new target.

Sure I would of preferred to see Stella, and preferred to have experienced the original story, but it's not the end of the world some people are making out.

I expect that FF16 will be far more rounded an experience, and likely be the "real" Final Fantasy of this generation.

 

[Pappasman]

especially with Dissidia writers on hand

Spoiler

(Dissidia was an incoherent mess of a story.

)

Did anyone honestly expect Dissidia to have a coherent story? It was a crossover fighting game ffs.

 

[Rats Off To Ya]

Exactly. A game is worth nothing if it won't be finished.

Basically this.

I've discovered since the announcement of FFXV that there was this whole community of people devouring every bit of Versus content and attaching all kinds of unrealistic, romanticized expectations to it. But guess what: that game never even existed, not really. I'll take the one I actually get to play.

 

[Ishida]

People overreacting as expected. I will judge the game on it's own merits and not on what I "imagined" Versus XIII would have been.

 

[CrimsonCrescendo]

Versus as a game was doomed from the start since Nomura seemed to just dream up new concepts at the drop of a hat without any thought on how to implement it all. Those concepts include: At the very least three distinct gameplay styles (what we see with Noctis, 3rd person elements with Prompto, something else with Ignis/Gladiolus), on the fly switching of characters, KH gameplay, context sensitive gameplay, free roam cities, free roaming with numerous vehicle types (tanks, airships, mechs, chocobos, etc), "A new kind of cutscene", destructible environments, open world, real time destruction of a city, the list goes on. It was literally "I'M GOING TO MAKE THE BEST GAME EVAAAAAARRRR!!!!" but a company was actually going to try to foot that bill. What we see with XV now is a team of 200 to 300 (according to Tabata) looking at that and saying "We got to get this out in 2 or 3 years" and cutting accordingly. I understand disappointment, but this could be seen a mile away and was inevitable.

Stella being taken out sucks, though.

 

[Save 'N Quit]

Nova Crystallis ‏@Nova_Crystallis 4m4 minutes ago
The black haired woman we saw in 2013 and the dragoon lady from 2011 are still in the game.

This is the only thing that matters.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

One question I'd like answered, are openworld airships still in the game like Nomura wanted?

Nothing in XV will be like Nomura wanted or even could do even if he had 20 years of development time.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

What? Love interest + one-on-one fight do not cancel each other out. They have established the fight in previous trailers and then decided to show a different angle? Stella appeared the same way she did in previous trailers just with different clothes and different locations.

Everything about Stella has been said. Nomura trailers were great in showing what characters were about. Their personality, their history and their relationship with other characters.
We progressively got to know Stella's character with each passing trailer, screenshot and trailer subtitle. I'm sorry for you if you didn't catch all of that but many people did.

What trailer? The DKS one was the only one where we get to witness a more mature and badass Stella, and it was never seen again. That too was a concept CGI of Versus from Visual Works. It was also a lot more mature and dark fantasy where Noctis brutally killed the soldiers.

Nomura had already redesigned Stella from its original 2006 reveal to 2009, where she looked younger, same with Noctis. The character then went through another redesign in 2011.

Thankfully I don't have the same attachment to a character that never existed (except as Kagari's avatar) so I am not that affected by this news.

 

[Poetic.Injustice]

The most interesting character of the game has been removed, what a shame.

 

[Slateboard]

I still wish this game was about a bunch of friends on a road trip and the ending is when they actually reach their destination after encountering so many things along the way.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

Square really doesn't want anyone to buy this game right?

 

[PBalfredo]

This scene's not gonna happen now, is it...

If they make her just some damsel in distress... ugh.

Which trailer did this appear in? I've somehow missed this and this is my first time hearing that Stella could have been a boss fight.

 

[Holundrian]

If FF15's story/characters(I think I can somewhat live with a meh story but super good characters) are plain bad I think I'm done with the series. Last straw for me.

What irks me of the removal of Stella is how they decided to show us Luna for the first time vs how they decided to show us Stella for the first time. I can't help but shake the feeling that this won't be a good change.

 

[Caronte]

to me seems a disrespect considering they're even being so honest about it instead of just keeping silent like most companies would do.

But they have been silent. This happened years ago, not last week.

 

[Mcdohl]

People overreacting as expected. I will judge the game on it's own merits and not on what I "imagined" Versus XIII would have been.

Well, it depends on how you value a game's worth though. The original intent and expression have been removed in favor of releasing.

Yes, maybe showing Versus13 was a mistake, but maybe so was transforming it to something different as well. Why not start anew then?

 

[Rats Off To Ya]

It's sad that people will always compare this (real, playable) game to Nomura's impossible fantasy. Ah, well.

 

[Kintaro]

BTW whats wrong with the FFX port to PS4?

 

[DiipuSurotu]

BTW whats wrong with the FFX port to PS4?

Tidus's face somehow looks worse than two gens ago.

 

[Ray Down]

BTW whats wrong with the FFX port to PS4?

Thinks something with the RNG.

 

[Megidolaon]

What the...? Just how far in development is this game? I was under the impression it was quite far, but I admit I haven't followed it too closely for a few years. But they're writing a new script now!? Oh boy...

Stella and Luna may look very similar, but Luna does look younger and I dunno, more cutesy and "fragile". Just the vibe sge gives off.

I have a feeling of why they're possibly rewriting the story, too. I'm 90% sure I remember Nomura saying in an interview a looong ass time ago that he wanted no love story, just a guy bonding story with Hamlet inspiration. I thought that was awesome. But now it seems they scrapped that and now Luna is the cliche childhood friend/love interest. Gag. I guess they thought a mainline FF needs to have a love story to increase broader appeal. Sad.

I don't really like FF romance or love stories in games. I did like X's romance but even that got too melodramatic at times. VII was good because it didn't dominate the story, and I really disliked VIII and IX's handling of it. XII didnt focus on a love story which I found refreshing, but sadly I remember a lot of bitching on message boards about it back in the day.

Even with Type-0 it felt like it was originally gonna be just the 12 Class Zero members, and Machina and Rem felt tacked on somewhere half way thru development to add a love story. And while I like Class Zero and as wonky as Type 0's story was, I enjoyed it except for the love story which was so lame it almost ruined it. It felt so forced and generic and unnecessary.

So yeah, this isn't looking good. Ive been pessimistic for a long time, and this just adds to it. A lot of the things I got excited for seem to be lost, and I'm not even sure how much this is even gonna stick to Nomura's original vision. Things like multiple playable characters are cut. Things like the airships, taking cell phone pics, getting the XII guy to handle realistic interaction are unclear to still be in. The trailer for when it was on PS3 looked awesome, and I fear it's not gonna be as vast/open as I hope. And its been changed to now fit the focus test cookie cutter checklist cliche with the cutesy love interest, it seems.

I wonder what happened to Nojima/Nomua's original story. Man, this is looking bad...

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

No! So from potential lovers they have changed it to childhood friends? How much has the story changed?

If anything, it's the other way around.

We had a strong girl from a rival family who had similar abilities to the protagonist, being stuck in a Romeo and Juliet-esque star-crossed lovers situation. That was the pitch and some people found it interesting and an appealing point of the game.

But it has been 9 years...

OT: Fuck Square. I bet the whole Romeo/Juliet thing that was the basis of this game, is all gone now. And of course Luna will be a mindless doll. Unlike Stella that appeared to be an interesting character that could put up against Noctis and his party.

Wasn't her the face of ffxv together with noctis?

Removing her implies a HUGE story change imo, after all ffxv looked like a romeo & juliet x final fantasy, now the game looks more like a bro road movie.

Honestly already when someone said that ffxv was like a road movie i felt that something was not right...

There still very well might be a Romeo/Juliet plot angle or whatever.

She looked like a strong, confident character (that was going to fight against noctis in the older trailers) while the new Luna is that cute,shy and innocent girl.
Due these personality changes, the fight between Noctis and Stella probalby won't happen anymore and Luna will be the tpyical waifu !
People are also scared, that the Romeo & Juliets theme is gone.

Since im not seeing FF Versus in this game anymore, i actualy don't care. But i think thats the main conern of the others

Agreed on every single word, i'm not bummed cause of the design, but cause Stealla passed an cool vibe and in the trailers it was clearly she liked Noctis but would have to fight him, fantasy romeo and juliet, and many even joked that she would be one of the late game bosses... Luna appears that will be the damsel that we have to rescue of a late game boss..

God damn it. The whole Romeo and Juliet inspired Final Fanatsy was one of my main attractions to this game. It still might be a love story but Nomuras vision is gone.

All that Romeo + Juliet quoting makes me think the majority of what people "thought" FFVersusXIII/FFXV was going to be about was based on an inaccurate perception, misread information and pure mental alchemy. They never said there was going to be a Romeo+Juliet plot, and don't get confused with "Shakespearean" + "male and female rival" meaning "Romeo+Juliet. If you jumped to that conclusion, all this anguish over a proposed R+J plot is your own fault.

As least black haired lady is still in.

However, does this mean they may move away from the Shakespearean vibe? I hope not.

Referencing Shakespeare meant a few things. One, the influence was not based on any one particular piece of Shakespeare, but was to be influenced how he uses drama and tragedy to invoke emotions. Again, this makes sense given how Nomura said one of the MAJOR themes of this game was going to be loss and death, and the pain that comes with coping with the loss of loved ones. There's no literal Romeo & Juliet inspiration, nor Hamlet inspiration. That's all conjured up by the fans(they have a knack of doing that kind of thing all the time). The Shakespearean quote(which originates from Hamlet) was expressed in being a reflection of a main theme of the game more than nodding to a specific plot being aped. Basically, the gist is that there is no concept of good or evil, just a gray area where your experience on either side deems it so. It's basically noting that the world of Versus/FFXV is not going to be black and white, but even the enemies will be justified(or have motivations that are understandable), while there might be some actions taken by the "heroes" that isn't considered "good". No specific Romeo+Juliet/Hamlet/Macbeth/Julius Caesar ripping, just an interesting concept applied to a fantasy world based on reality.

"Don't worry guys, the original concept and ideas from Nomura will be intact" -SquareEnix

Who's to say it isn't? We know during all the released trailers, Nomura was making up stuff as they went along. Who's to say he wasn't changing stuff, as well? I can guess that, what he originally came up with when the original trailer was revealed back in 2006 was not exactly what he felt while he finished his concept years later. Story, especially in such an early pre-production, ALWAYS changes. Though, from what we DO know(sans Stella), the gist of FFXV DOES remain the same:

Niflheim is taking the crystals of all the other nations, with Lucis being the last. Lucis falls and Noctis has to get the crystal back.

Lucis was always going to be based on Shinjuku(which it still is). Nifleheim was always going to be the "medieval army with high technology"(which they still are. Accordo was always going to be based on Venice(which it still is). There was always going to be a "road trip" aspect to the quest(which, duh, is still a big part of the game). There was always going to be a focus on classical FF elements, like classic monsters and classic summons, represented in classic fashion(which a LOT are).

Now, don't get me wrong, they probably IS some drastic change regarding tone. Nomura said he wanted Versus to be dark and depressing(make you tear up). He also said Stella and Noctis weren't going to be lovers, but good friends. See, this is where I see the change happening. Likely, they are going to make Noctis and Luna lovers, and the tone will be lightened up. Not bad, but I was really interested in the more darker aspect of the game. Hell, I found interest in Noctis and Stella NOT being lovers. I recall Nomura once saying that love comes in many ways, and there can be very strong love between friends. It doesn't always have to be about romance, which made me think that maybe they'd explore something MORE than just the "boyfriend loves girlfriend" trope that's overdone(and in JRPGs, in particular, are overdone badly in the most saccharine way possible). My fear is, basically, they are going to dumb the story down just to appeal to the "lowest common denominator" crowd. I hope I'm wrong.

And personally, given how early Versus was announced(really bad on Square Enix's part, actually), I'm guessing the early concepts to the final draft might be similar to this(FF Versus XIII)

versus(hehe) this(FFXV)

 

[Supermanisdead]

This scene's not gonna happen now, is it...

If they make her just some damsel in distress... ugh.

She had such a cool design and cool powers. Luna just seems so much younger and less interesting. I don't care about Luna, give me STELLA.

 

[Reveirg]

I wouldn't be shocked at this point. That whole sequence was a tech demo and now they're being iffy on the whole swimming thing even being in the game. ffs

I thought the point in rebooting the game was to stop making excuses and get stuff done. This ATR was basically "btw we took everything you guys were excited about with Versus and threw it away".
They should've made that point very clear from the start. Instead, they let Versus' death linger on from 2013 to 2015 -- as if 2006-2012 wasn't long enough.
Hopefully they can move on and try to get us hyped again at Gamescom. The "re-re-reveal" better be really good.

Spoiler

On a personal note, I'm still hyped as hell, I loved the demo.

 

[BocoDragon]

I think it's amazing how you can make a rather generic little trailer with a man and a woman playing with magic, wait 9 years, and people will have created all these elaborate fantasies about it.

 

[Ahnez]

Which trailer did this appear in? I've somehow missed this and this is my first time hearing that Stella could have been a boss fight.

edit3:

This one is not mirrored

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Three years ago:

Kotaku has heard from several sources that the game, as originally intended, is done for.

Another source tells Kotaku that, a few months back, Final Fantasy Versus XIII's development and resources had actually been folded into another game, which is to be the next numeric Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy XV. Whether this meant actual game assets and code or simply the movement of staff was unclear. This information was independently corroborated by yet another source, though it's important to note both had learned of the "folding" prior to the more recent news of its outright cancellation.

Whether it's been cancelled entirely or had resources absorbed into a newer, larger project, the game we once knew as Final Fantasy Versus XIII would seem to be no more. Even if Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been cancelled, I'm inclined to believe that whatever Versus was, or whatever had been created for the game, will turn up in some form in Final Fantasy XV.

reaction from gaf:

Fakeeee. It's that time of the month where Kotaku is running short of visitors

It's Kotaku, so I'll go ahead and not believe this at all.

It's fucking Kotaku.

Which means the game is probably still very healthy.

Yeah, this isn't true.

I'd almost say this was a ploy by Ashcraft to get Square to comment on the status of the game. But since they won't (probably because of a re-reveal with a name change), something like this would force their hand.

Huh? I meant that it's obvious why Kotaku made this article.

Spoiler

Hits

Really doubt this is true, but if it ever was I would honestly never touch a future Square Enix game again. Versus has been my most anticipated game since it was announced, and even something like Kingdom Hearts 3 wouldn't be able to end my boycott.

Luckily it's just Kotaku.

dont give kotaku hits people..

Not gonna happen. Nomura will make the best FF in a while

To mis-quote a Chase & Status sample "I need hits, from the public: I tell what the bloggers what to say, understand?"

Need moar source pls.

Its odd to see people losing their shit over something from a site as "reputable" as Kotaku, its a "Rumour" from a site renowned for its bullshit.

Id further believe a rumor about iran loving the jews, than a rumor from kotaku no offense, but this comes off as real tabloidish journalism designed to get ff fans in a frenzy for hits. Thats how this comes off

Wow Shitaku once again becomes desperate for hits.

I don't care for Versus anymore but i'm sure some people still working on it in some shadowy corner of SE offices.

Theatrhythm including the Versus XIII song in it tells me they never ever have intentions of cancelling this game. This is Nomura's baby.

Kotaku looking for hits.

If there is even the slightest news regarding Versus in the upcoming months i think we should finally ban them.

SO glad that this is a Kotaku rumor since I can disregard it with safe certainty.
I am sure that they thank everyone for the hits that they are being given though.

lol, kotaku

LMAO... Yeah right after spending all that time and money some people really think SE is just going to let this game die?

Or it's never going to be released? Or it's for next generation?

Yes I know it's taking so very long.... But it's still coming out and on the PS3.

I wonder, are there people out there who derive sexual pleasure from spreading misinformation and fear mongering?

Yea, I think they do this for hit. The possibility of this actually happening is really low. The production cost already gone into this development and Nomura recently stating that he is prepared to show new information makes me believe this rumor is most likely false. Plus, Square Enix would not want to have another event on their hand lol!

How to generate hits on your video game news site.

Step one: Pick out a game that hasn't shown off anything for a while.
Step two: Claim you have unnamed sources that have said that it is cancelled.
Step three: Contact their support and when they give you a generic response make a big deal about how they didn't tell you want you asked.
Step four: make sure to add a line to save face when it's proven you were lying about how you can't be sure if it was cancelled.
Step Five: profit.

this is what I am seeing here, just unnammed sources, and a support email that just said we can't tell you anything at this time. If this was posted on a few other sites (neogaf included) I might be inclined to believe it, but I can recall a number of times kotaku has run with stuff that hasn't been accurate so I am hard pressed to believe this is real news. If it turns out to be true it would be a bummer, but absolute worst case I can see with ffvs13 is that it gets rebranded to ff15

Loltaku.

I'll take Kagari's word over Kotaku in Final Fantasy stuff any day of the week. Kotaku will be the farthest thing from my mind when I'm playing vsXIII.

Long thread. I'll trust Kagari over Kotaku anonymous sources...

It's really more of a ploy to grab hits.

I hope Kotaku got the hits they were looking for.

I don't think it'll be worse or anything.People will soon just forget about it and kotaku will continue fishing for hits with similar rumours.

Kotaku should still be banned in my honest opinion.

Rumor: Kotaku to be banned from NeoGAF?

We all knew that was the case. Kotaku simply wanted free clicks like usual...

EDUCATE the DOUBTERS Kagari. This game has them seething. It will be amazing. I never doubt Nomura.

Can we ban Kotaku yet?

What can't Kotaku get away with?

I knew they just wanted clicks and conformation from SE that the game is still on its way.

And my complete lack of faith in Ashcraft's "reporting" is once again justified.

For SE's sake, I'm glad to hear that things seem to be going decently well behind the scenes wrt Versus XIII.

Kotaku: Fake news of the week

So, Kotaku is banned on GAF now or what?

If Joystiq got a 1-2 year ban for that "midnight announcement" thing they did awhile back, I don't see how Kotaku so deftly avoids the judgment.

Kotaku: actively trying to fool games journalists

Craptaku rumors should be banned from GAF, IMO.

Oh, Kotaku. Full of shit, as usual. Can we please ban them off of NeoGAF?

Rumour Fact: Kotaku are full of shit

Lol, kotaku reports Versus as "back!" as if it had ceased to exist in the midst of their unsubstantiated rumor.

Seriously? They're the ones putting it out there based on obviously bullshit sources. If they didn't get shit for reporting false rumours then what consequences would there be for just making any old shit up?

The saddest part about this whole thing is that a number of sites (like IGN) actually reported it as truth.

wwww at kotaku.

wwwww @ them still not getting banned tho
O___o

Kotaku loves your ad revenue money.

Will never take Kotaku seriously again.

Oh, so Kotaku was (once again) full of shit? What a shock.

To me it's a matter of credibility. Guy claimed to have sources and he was willing to post it. So he's either an idiot for believing that source or he's making stuff up. Makes the site look really bad in my books.

If I can draw an analogy to sports there's solid rumour posting and there's garbage rumour posting. Insiders that report rumours that are not yet confirmed but turn out to be true in a few days are the ones who deserve your respect. To me, those are the only types of rumours that should be posted if you consider yourself to be a credible site.

i wouldn't be surprised if you were a freelance contributor for the site.
They're all about hits at this point, this rumor was pulled out of a place located between two buttcheeks. and we're supposed to thank them for more non-information from SE? Get over yourselves.

Only fools doubt lord nomura-sama.

Kotaku tabloid is wrong again.

Why the hell not? Uh, because reporting bullshit should logically lower someone's credibility? That's how journalism works.

And I find it offensive that you seriously just tried pull the old 'blog' defence.



So? Even if they trusted their sources, that doesn't mean they should be able to place the blame on them and walk away without a scratch. Kotaku put their name on the line and were wrong. Does that mean that they'll always get things wrong? No but maybe next time, they'll be more thorough and actually get things right.

FYI my argument is that all criticism is completely fair because they fucked up and that they should learn from this. If they don't learn from this, they're idiots and shouldn't be trusted.



Exactly.

When I originally read Kotaku's post I was wondering what or who their source was. I suspected them of such tactics just for clicks but I didn't think they'd go with such a big named title.

Shame on you. No wonder Sayid, err... Crecente couldn't stand being apart of that machine anymore.

They already know what "rumors" mean. The problem is the rumors become "lies" if they are proven false. And sites that publicize/report too many false rumors will devalue in the readers' eyes.

Plus there is no reason why sites need to earn $$$ based on forwarding rumors instead of better reporting. It's not that hard right ?

If Fox News reports a rumour, are you going to believe it? I sure as hell don't, because they report complete bullshit all the time and have no credibility. If Al Jazeera reports a rumour though, I'm far more likely to believe it because they have far higher journalistic standards and I actually trust them. That's the point. Reporting something is pointless if you're so unreliable no-one believes you.

They deserve a permaban more than any other site out there IMO.If we don't ban them now,i guess they will never be banned. :/

pretty obvious that when kotaku is the head of a rumor, its bullshit. never thought it was cancelled.

It wouldn't surprise me if some guy at Kotaku found it funny to create his own rumour and spread on the internet. You know that sensational site is after the hits.

SQUARE! WADA! KAGARI!

Fuck yeah! Kotaku is actively trying to fool GAF - ban 'em

lol, like I said, never trust Kotaku rumor. Can't believe some people actually fell for that shit.

Maybe if people didn't hold SE under utter contempt this generation more people would have brushed this rumour off like any reasonable spectator.

The world is full of pessimists though, and SE can do no right it seems.

I'm 100% sure it was just a fake rumour made up by Kotaku themselves in order to generate hits.
And they will do it again since this really works for them.

Wow.Are you fucking kidding me?have you heard of a thing called greed?
No matter how many hits they have they are never enough.The foundation of their site has been built on fake rumours like these and on trolling articles.They would have been stupid to change now,it's what their "fans" expect from them.

And since it works for them they will continue spreading fake rumours about "hot" topics.

No shit.

Gaming website will do anything for some traffic.

That's one possibility (of that being a genuine rumor).

The other possibility is they made up the rumor themselves.They took a risk but they also generated hundreds of thousands hits.And since this is kotaku it was a risk worth taking for them.They could have easily got both without having any real sources at all.They gambled the hits on the expense of their credibility as a site (if they have any).

Personally i believe it's the second.

Called for it in the last thread as well, but glad the kotaku ban is being called for. Extreme yes, but these no proof rumors from them are awful. Might as well cite myself as a news source and make threads.

Also TGS GET READY.

Kotaku being Kotaku.

Of course it's not cancelled. Did anyone really believe it was cancelled?

Besides Kotaku, I mean. Good to know they're still awful.

I'm guessing Kotaku will be banned from Neogaf after this?.

But they had super legit mysterious anonymous inside sources!

Hey Kotaku Staff Stephen Totilo I have some impressions about your statements in the thread, can I get you to comment on the accuracy of what you have said?What about all that traffic and advertisement revenue generated by links and source stories that quoted Kotaku on other websites? Maybe you just forgot about the money aspect since you were just thinking purely in terms of the prestige your position as an internet gaming journalist provides...?If you were so concerned about printing an accurate story and getting a comment for the story in a timely fashion, then why was the story posted on a Friday? Isn't that the end of the business week? What a strange coincidence. Could it be that a story such as this would not have been able to be published if you had gotten an official comment in the first place? Perhaps this question is like finding out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The world may never know.
There is a huge difference between the details of a situation being murky and something like "THIS GAME IS CANCELLED" being regarded as newsworthy. Again, I guess your "mysterious anonymous sources" let you down, but is it right that you won't name them because they don't exist? Err, I mean, because it's not their fault? You said this was because the situation was murky. Can you comment on whether it was greater, less than or equal to the murkiness of your publication's ethics and standards of journalism?The lack of any qualifications by staff and the quality of Kotaku's reports directly influence my opinion of its writing. Glad we agree there.Haha, see, at the very least you all are always good for a laugh. Thanks for all the fish.

I just hope you guys have learned to triple check your sources. Versus may be in development hell, but there is no way SE cancel it, the game is carrying the future of the FF brand, any idiot can see that.

It's nothing about the believability of the rumour, it's about the source of the rumour. One of three things has happened, they've made it up, which is possible, SE are now lying, and they were right, which is obviously not true, or their source is garbage.

If it's the first or the third, they're either incompetent, or untrustworthy, in both cases, they're worthless.

I love how indignant the Kotaku people are acting on Twitter about how Square doesn't feel the need to immediately deny every rumor they make up.

The more I read about how the rumor supposedly came about the less it makes sense.

Square Enix simply didn't deem the rumor worthy of respsonse. They don't need to equivocate.

Didn't mind their rumor, but really?
Just accept the rumor is false and apologize.
Don't like how they're spinning this back on SE.

Some people here think we just discovered Kotaku yesterday and that we don't understand the difference between rumour and fact when the real issues here are the possibility of this being made up and the fact they posted a rumour from an untrusted source.

Their greediness for more hits made them risk whatever they have left from their credibility and they got ridiculed in the end.Well at least they got the hits they wanted so i guess it's not all bad for them.

The purpose of the rumor was for Kotaku to get more hits. I honestly wouldn't be surprised in the least bit if Kotaku's "sources" were Kotaku themselves. I'm glad at the final outcome and SE's comment, but let's not thank Kotaku for a completely accidental and latent effect of their...ahem.."quality journalism."

give stephentotilo a junior kotaku tag plz

Is there a possibility that Versus will be a NextBox or and a NextStation title? Maybe they are holding it back for another year or two.

No.

no way they spend this much time and effort and possibly money on it and not take advantage of the large base.

 

[Ishida]

Well, it depends on how you value a game's worth though. The original intent and expression have been removed in favor of releasing.

Yes, maybe showing Versus13 was a mistake, but maybe so was transforming it to something different as well. Why not start anew then?

The point is, just how different is it? Let's see what we actually knew from Versus XIII, and what we actually know about FFXV.

**Versus XIII: Story focus on friendship and brotherhood. Roadtrip with bros about getting your kingdom's crystal back.

Final Fantasy XV: The same.


**Versus XIII: Noctis relationship with his father is important.

Final Fantasy XV: The same.


**Versus XIII: Lucis has the last crystal of the world and Niflheim steals it.

Final Fantasy XV: The same.


**Versus XIII: Noctis meets Stella at the party and Lucis gets attacked at this point. Noctis escapes the city along with his friends.

Final Fantasy XV: Noctis and his friends are not in Lucis when the attack happens. Noctis and Luna may have known each other since childhood.

--------------------------------


That is literally what we know about the story in both games. Yet people are acting like "OMG everything I knew about Versus is dead!!", which is ridiculous.

From what we fans know, the story seems almost the same. Only some sequences of events have been changed and Stella was replaced by Luna. Everything else, again, from what we know, seems exactly the same.

People are acting like if we had tons of info about Versus XIII's storyline and characters. We didn't. Everything we knew about that game was basic-level, and 95% of that information seems to be the same we are getting for FFXV.

I'm sure a lot more was changed from Versus to XV, but those are things we never knew about in the first place.

People are quick to scream and overreact.

We don't even know if Luna will fight or not. People are already judging her character as "weak" and "damsel in distress" from 3 seconds of footage. We don't know what her personality is. We don't know if she will fight Noctis.

People put Stella in a very high pedestal for basically no reason.

"B-but she looked cool and strong! And she fought Noctis! And she was determined! Luna is NOTHING like that!".

Is she not? Do we actually know what her role is, or are we dismissing her already because "she is not Stella"? That sounds ridiculous to me.


I truly wish people actually tried to keep a cool head about this. 95% of what we ACTUALLY KNEW about Versus still seems to be in XV. Lots of slippery slope arguments here including stuff like "I guess the toll booth scene is also gone now". Really? Jesus Christ, people, just wait to see more or just get out of the hype of this game completely.

 

[oldboss]

ステラれた

Not bad. Not bad.

 

[Ochibi]

Has Tabata mentioned the car customization before? He talks about it early on in the video. That sounds like it would be a pretty major sidequest. Sounds like you collect the necessary items and then take them to Cindy for her to do the upgrades.

http://www.finaland.com/?rub=site&page=news&id=5275

Finaland : Is the FFXV's car customizable ? Can we cast spells on it to go faster, for example ? Will she be important from the beginning to the end ? Is the aircraft still relevant ?

H.T. : We're planning to make the car customizable. About if the car is important is the story, the car is not such a major element of the story in that way. The way we see the car, it is like the fifth character, the fifth companion. He’s gonna be through all through the game right to the end as a character but probably not a massive element as the story no. About the airship, they are quite related to the opposing faction in the game and the story so I don’t think I should probably be answering that at this time but they will be revealed later.

 

[Toxi]

 

[Sylver]

One great deviantart cosplay now ruined.

 

[Klossen]

edit2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGyVZRHZ2ow&t=233

Here the correct link

Wow. That looked so good. What a tragedy.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

The point is, just how different is it? Let's see what we actually knew from Versus XIII, and what we actually know about FFXV.

**Versus XIII: Story focus on friendship and brotherhood. Roadtrip with bros about getting your kingdom's crystal back.

Final Fantasy XV: The same.


**Versus XIII: Noctis relationship with his father is important.

Final Fantasy XV: The same.


**Versus XIII: Lucis has the last crystal of the world and Niflheim steals it.

Final Fantasy XV: The same.


**Versus XIII: Noctis meets Stella at the party and Lucis gets attacked at this point. Noctis escapes the city along with his friends.

Final Fantasy XV: Noctis and his friends are not in Lucis when the attack happens. Noctis and Luna may have known each other since childhood.

--------------------------------


That is literally what we know about the story in both games. Yet people are acting like "OMG everything I knew about Versus is dead!!", which is ridiculous.

From what we fans know, the story seems almost the same. Only some sequences of events have been changed and Stella was replaced by Luna. Everything else, again, from what we know, seems exactly the same.

People are acting like if we had tons of info about Versus XIII's storyline and characters. We didn't. Everything we knew about that game was basic-level, and 95% of that information seems to be the same we are getting for FFXV.

I'm sure a lot more was changed from Versus to XV, but those are things we never knew about in the first place.

People are quick to scream and overreact.

We don't even know if Luna will fight or not. People are already judging her character as "weak" and "damsel in distress" from 3 seconds of footage. We don't know what her personality is. We don't know if she will fight Noctis.

People put Stella in a very high pedestal for basically no reason.

"B-but she looked cool and strong! And she fought Noctis! And she was determined! Luna is NOTHING like that!".

Is she not? Do we actually know what her role is, or are we dismissing her already because "she is not Stella"? That sounds ridiculous to me.


I truly wish people actually tried to keep a cool head about this. 95% of what we ACTUALLY KNEW about Versus still seems to be in XV. Lots of slippery slope arguments here including stuff like "I guess the toll booth scene is also gone now". Really? Jesus Christ, people, just wait to see more or just get out of the hype of this game completely.

If you want to say that in the broader and most general sense the game is the same, yeah, you may be right.

Everything below from the highest brush you try to paint the reality, every single aspect of the game has been overhauled one way or another.

 

[Seven Force]

reaction from gaf:

Goddamn.

 

[hal9001]

If anything, it's the other way around.

All that Romeo + Juliet quoting makes me think the majority of what people "thought" FFVersusXIII/FFXV was going to be about was based on an inaccurate perception, misread information and pure mental alchemy. They never said there was going to be a Romeo+Juliet plot, and don't get confused with "Shakespearean" + "male and female rival" meaning "Romeo+Juliet. If you jumped to that conclusion, all this anguish over a proposed R+J plot is your own fault.

Referencing Shakespeare meant a few things. One, the influence was not based on any one particular piece of Shakespeare, but was to be influenced how he uses drama and tragedy to invoke emotions. Again, this makes sense given how Nomura said one of the MAJOR themes of this game was going to be loss and death, and the pain that comes with coping with the loss of loved ones. There's no literal Romeo & Juliet inspiration, nor Hamlet inspiration. That's all conjured up by the fans(they have a knack of doing that kind of thing all the time). The Shakespearean quote(which originates from Hamlet) was expressed in being a reflection of a main theme of the game more than nodding to a specific plot being aped. Basically, the gist is that there is no concept of good or evil, just a gray area where your experience on either side deems it so. It's basically noting that the world of Versus/FFXV is not going to be black and white, but even the enemies will be justified(or have motivations that are understandable), while there might be some actions taken by the "heroes" that isn't considered "good". No specific Romeo+Juliet/Hamlet/Macbeth/Julius Caesar ripping, just an interesting concept applied to a fantasy world based on reality.

I agree that maybe it has been overblown but disagree that he didnt intend at least some of it to be inspired from it . Nomura has clearly stated that his influence on FFXV would have been a sort of mash up of Baz Lurhmans films including Romeo and Juliet:

While still on the topic of film, Nomura told us that he likes to leave work at work, so he tends not to play a whole lot of games at home. Instead, he consumes movies like a junky – 2 or 3 of them on most nights. His biggest cinematic inspiration is Baz Lurhman, the visionary Australian director behind Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and most recently The Great Gatsby. If Nomura is able to capture some of the magic of those movies and use it in Final Fantasy XV, we could be in for something special.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/06/13/e3-2013-final-fantasy-xv-was-almost-a-musical

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Three years ago:

reaction from gaf:

That's a big pile o bodies.

People will still react 'loltaku' and 'ban kotaku' going forward tho. Disheartening.

 

[Ishida]

If you want to say that in the broader and most general sense the game is the same, yeah, you may be right.

Everything below from the highest brush you try to paint the reality, every single aspect of the game has been overhauled one way or another.

But that's my point. Pretty much everything we knew about Versus was "in a broader and most general sense". We never got incredibly specific details about the plot. Hell, even the personalities and roles of Noctis' companions seems to be the same.

Again, I'm SURE that A LOT was changed from Versus to XV, but did we actually KNEW about those things? They were handled internally by the devs, of course, but I'm sure they were never revealed to the public.

My issue here is with the overreaction. People are screaming that "everything they knew" about Versus is now dead. "Everything"? What's "everything"?


People had this weird fan fiction level of speculation about Versus XIII.

 

[HeelPower]

I remember getting lambasted on here when I said Nomura's VersusXIII is no more and that game will probably change down to the very core of it.

Well there you go guys ! The 2013 reveal was a complete farce and them saying we're following Nomura's vision was a lie.

 

[BocoDragon]

But that's my point. Pretty much everything we knew about Versus was "in a broader and most general sense". We never got incredibly specific details about the plot. Hell, even the personalities and roles of Noctis' companions seems to be the same.

Again, I'm SURE that A LOT was changed from Versus to XV, but did we actually KNEW about those things? They were handled internally by the devs, of course, but I'm sure they were never revealed to the public.

My issue here is with the overreaction. People are screaming that "everything they knew" about Versus is now dead. "Everything"? What's "everything"?

Head canon.

 

[Rats Off To Ya]

Three years ago:






reaction from gaf:

Legendary post.

 

[Ishida]

Head canon.

Precisely!

Regarding the plot of both games, we could list the details that we actually know about, side by side, and the only differences would be the Stella character, and the sequence of events of the Niflheim invasion.

People are ranting, as you said, because FFXV will no longer fit their own head canon. Hell, Versus XIII perhaps would not even fit either, if it was released.

Now we'll have damsel in distress.

That scene looked amazing, a shame we'll never get it.

Ladies and gentlemen, Exhibit A.

 

[NHarmonic.]

This scene's not gonna happen now, is it...

If they make her just some damsel in distress... ugh.

Now we'll have damsel in distress.

That scene looked amazing, a shame we'll never get it.

 

[jschreier]

Three years ago:






reaction from gaf:

Good post.

 

[Galactic Barret]

After playing KH2.5, I have a strong feeling Stella will be repurposed as Kairi for KH3. Either way, I would have waited for the original vision and only hope that the current game will be decent enough.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

i guess Stella won't be getting her groove back.. I'm still extremely hype for this game.