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[Jangowuzhere]

I've started thinking about Final Fantasy XV again. The most memorable part of this game would have to be the inciting incident in this game's story. Not because it's good or anything, but more the fact that EVERYTHING about it is completely wrong.

The opening hours of FFXV are actually pretty great. Honestly, it's one of the best openings to a game I've played in recent memory. You're driving to your wedding, your car breaks down, and now you gotta do oddjobs to pay for the repairs...that's it. It sounds lame, but it's actually nice slow opening that allows you to take in the world and bond with your buddies. It allows you to explore the game and its mechanics a bit before thrusting you into the world saving story. I was completely hooked on the game at this point.

Then...you get to this shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJxnYiXDs2E&t=26m24s

Actually, before this horrible cutscene, you are overloaded with a bunch of CG nonsense from the spinoff movie Kingsglaive. The way the movie scenes are shoved into this game is so fucking amateur, why was this even needed? Anyway, this cutscene is what kicks off the story for this game. Noctis's father is slain and his home city is destroyed by an evil invading empire. This is a life changing event for our main character. How does Noctis learn all of this?

FROM A FUCKING NEWSPAPER!

This is just...insulting on so many levels. There are thousands of ways to directly involve the main character into this story, and they chose a goddamn newspaper!? At the top of my head: an assassination squad from Neflihem ambushes Noctis on his wedding trip. Noctis and his buds fight off the assassins and end up interrogating one of them for information. The assassin spills the beans that Noctis's home city is rubble and his father is dead. Nefihelm also wants Noctis to die, so they will keep pursuing him relentlessly until they finally kill him. This is cliche and basic, but it gets the job done. But no, instead, we learn all this information from a newspaper. The most impersonal and least interesting way to convey LIFE CHANGING information to a character. Noctis and his bros don't even look all that upset about it. The cinematography and the area this scene takes place in is so damn boring. They can't even get this shitty scene to have any ounce of realism or humanity. To top it off, this is a world that has modern technology similar to our reality. Why the heck are they getting this information from a print paper of all things? They have SMARTPHONES and the INTERNET. If the dev team is going to be lazy with its storytelling, they can at least be fricken consistent with the world they have established.

I know a lot of people were disappointed by the various plot elements later on, but honestly, I stopped caring at this point. I knew everything after the fact was going to be terrible. If they're going to cop out with this crappy opening, then the stuff that comes later wasn't going to be any better.

This game was a lot more interesting when it was simply just a road trip to a dude's wedding.

 

[USMC43]

Game sucked ass.

 

[LiK]

WIth all their technology, it was pretty odd they got news from a newspaper. I dunno what they were thinking.

 

[Hexxen-Panda]

I found the fake boss fight at the very start to be more baffling and pointless, because you do nothing in the sequence and learn nothing from it.

 

[Wagram]

That's the least of XV's story problems. I'm still trying to figure out the dog journal.

 

[KZXcellent]

They honestly should have gotten rid of the smartphones. It makes it ridiculous especially when you have to explain stuff like the game's opening or how Noctis only communicates with Luna via a dog messenger.

 

[Smellycat]

Yeah, I haven't played much of the game but it was baffling that Noctis found out from a newspaper. Not one person called him or anything?

 

[Trigonometrize.]

I think they were trying to reinforce the "reality" part of "this is a fantasy based off of reality."

I remember it being weird though.

I found the fake boss fight at the very start to be more baffling and pointless, because you do nothing in the sequence and learn nothing from it.

In medias res sequences are almost always pointless to me.

 

[Blood Diamonds]

I hate XV so much lol

#prayforff7r

 

[Dmax3901]

It doesn't really have an opening imho. It's like they cut out the opening 20-30 mins and left it as is.

 

[LotusHD]

They honestly should have gotten rid of the smartphones. It makes it ridiculous especially when you have to explain stuff like the game's opening or how Noctis only communicates with Luna via a dog messenger.

Or how you have smartphones, yet for some reason you don't use them to speed up the whole process of accepting and completing Hunts.

 

[ErasureAcer]

Unless the story is about the media, one of the rules of writing a story is to leave the media out of it.

I agree. The start to the game was pretty good. It starts to go down right about here.

 

[KZXcellent]

Or how you have smartphones, yet for some reason you don't use them to speed up the whole accepting and completing Hunts.

This didn't occur to me and now I'm just mad.

 

[arturo2666]

Piss take first post by junior was great.

Also, yes, that whole segment was pretty piss poor.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I found the fake boss fight at the very start to be more baffling and pointless, because you do nothing in the sequence and learn nothing from it.

Yeah that by far was the biggest issue I had from the opening

 

[Eyothrie]

Savage!

 

[Fukuzatsu]

I think they were trying to reinforce the "reality" part of "this is a fantasy based off of reality."

I remember it being weird though.

Even then you would think some manner of message would reach Noctis' smartphone faster than a newspaper.

 

[Socivol]

The newspaper was stupid since they have smartphones that still work. It would've made more sense if when it happened the attack disabled cell communication for all of Lucis.

 

[Smellycat]

I found the fake boss fight at the very start to be more baffling and pointless, because you do nothing in the sequence and learn nothing from it.

wait, that "boss fight" isn't a prelude of another boss fight towards the end of the game? I haven't played much of FFVX but I had always assumed that it was the case.

 

[Champion]

MY GOD the VA in this game is terrible. Sounds like a parody.

 

[meltingparappa]

This always struck me as one of the more visible seams left from frantically trying to construct SOMETHING with whatever time they had left.

I'll always wonder whether or not this replaced a better opening reveal that had to be cut at the 11th hour like the other content that rumors suggest.

They honestly should have gotten rid of the smartphones. It makes it ridiculous especially when you have to explain stuff like the game's opening or how Noctis only communicates with Luna via a dog messenger.

Gotta work in that tie-in app though!

 

[jb1234]

I found the fake boss fight at the very start to be more baffling and pointless, because you do nothing in the sequence and learn nothing from it.

Yup. It's pretty sloppily handled but I guess they felt they needed *some* action at the beginning because a bunch of bros pushing a car down a road is hardly exciting.

 

[LiK]

MY GOD the VA in this game is terrible. Sounds like a parody.

I switched to JPN to save myself from the stilted English dub.

 

[Dark_castle]

Tabata is a businessman, not a creator.

 

[Blablurn]

It was weird but I bought it anyway. Didnt mind it. Very good game.

 

[Squarehard]

Thought for a second here this was the games deliberately sabotaged thread.

 

[The Illiterati]

I find the Stand by Me moment even worse, as its a moment that's completely unearned. I don't know any of these characters, but the game is telling me I should feel something for them as I push my broken down car. This honestly could have been at least a somewhat effective attempt at character development were it not the opening scene.

 

[Kyne]

honestly Kingsglaive would have made a much better game lol.

 

[aett]

This game was a lot more interesting when it was simply just a road trip to a dude's wedding.

At a certain point, well before the game actually released, I went into a media blackout of sorts and this is what I thought the bulk of the game was actually about. When I played the opening, I was all for it, and then the newspaper scene happened and the actual journey was much less interesting.

 

[kiaaa]

MY GOD the VA in this game is terrible. Sounds like a parody.

The game has problems, but the VA was fine in most places, and great in some others.

 

[RecRoulette]

honestly Kingsglaive would have made a much better game lol.

Good news...

 

[Mailbox]

Edit: as expected, endless shitting about 15 rather than talking about the OP >.>

I'm not a fan of the opening, but not because of the newspaper. Tbh it makes sense for me, but i get why some may be miffed about it.

Imo, the problem is that we have no real reason to care about Regis and Insomnia at this point in the game's story. If they gave us a small sequence where we drive through the city and we have characters talking about life in the city all wide-eye'd like, it would work a lot better.

I echo the sentiment that the actual opening of the game is straight up missing.

Or how you have smartphones, yet for some reason you don't use them to speed up the whole process of accepting and completing Hunts.

This didn't occur to me and now I'm just mad.

tbf, completing quests via phonecall makes sense when you put it that way, but how do they get the bounty? Gil isn't attributed to a credit account, and items sure as hell can't be teleported to you (the car store was added post launch and doesn't make sense either, but whatever).

However, having some application where you can accept quests would have been ideal, yes.

 

[LotusHD]

I find the Stand by Me moment even worse, as its a moment that's completely unearned. I don't know any of these characters, but the game is telling me I should feel something for them as I push my broken down car. This honestly could have been at least a somewhat effective attempt at character development were it not the opening scene.

I don't really think it's about being earned or unearned. I just saw it as an interesting way to start off the game.

 

[RDreamer]

Thought this thread was going to be about that wretched Prologue/Chapter 0 thing. What the fuck was that? It was seriously awful.

 

[theofficefan99]

The entirety of FFXV's embarrassing excuse of a "main story" is completely baffling.

 

[Dragun619]

Yea, remember like the first couple trailers for Versus where it literally had them escaping the city while it's under siege?

Meh, Super disappointed that they cut that all out and just did some separate movie and have the gang just set outside city instead. smh

 

[meltingparappa]

I find the Stand by Me moment even worse, as its a moment that's completely unearned.

I think it works better if you've seen Brotherhood, because if you were coming in 100% blind you may have only the faintest idea that these are lifelong friends.

But that just adds to the fact that the narrative would have been better if there was some way to work elements of Brotherhood and Kingsglaive into the main game, instead of having them spun off on their own. That once again goes back to the time, budget, and pressures of making a cross-media giant of a game, at the expense of the narrative.

The pieces are all mostly there, just... not in one place to look at linearly.

 

[LotusHD]

I
tbf, completing quests via phonecall makes sense when you put it that way, but how do they get the bounty? Gil isn't attributed to a credit account, and items sure as hell can't be teleported to you (the car store was added post launch and doesn't make sense either, but whatever).

However, having some application where you can accept quests would have been ideal, yes.

Give them the XV version of Venmo. Or like you said, at the very least allow us to accept hunts through the damn thing. Or have a cutscene where the screen cuts to black and puts us right at the location of where we received the hunt, or they meet us, or whatever.

They just made the whole thing so damn unwieldly.

 

[bananafactory]

Holy shit those scenes were just cut from the CG movie? That explains so much

 

[encephalon]

Or, everything story related in the game.

 

[Havok1313]

Is it so hard to believe that their society could have smartphone-like devices, but aren't glued to them 24/7 the way we are? That newspapers haven't all but died out the way ours have?

Game has a fair number of problems but being upset at fantasy aspects of a fantasy world is so nitpicky. I don't recall thinking this was outrageous at all.

-edit- there's quite a lot of radio usage going on in this world too. did that upset people in the same way?

 

[The Illiterati]

I don't really think it's about being earned or unearned. I just saw it as an interesting way to start off the game.

I think you could open the game that way without the song. WITH the song, it's trying to cram this "You're with your FRIENDS" feeling down your throat.

And honestly, the whole mise en scene was wrong. The song was meant to be played at night, with the lights of the gas station in the distance beckoning you home.

As it is, you're sweating during a sultry song about friendship with three strangers pushing a car down a blank highway.

 

[jiggle]

It`s not as ridiculous as sexting using dog mail really

 

[LotusHD]

I think you could open the game that way without the song. WITH the song, it's trying to cram this "You're with your FRIENDS" feeling down your throat.

And honestly, the whole mise en scene was wrong. The song was meant to be played at night, with the lights of the gas station in the distance beckoning you home.

As it is, you're sweating during a sultry song about friendship with three strangers pushing a car down a blank highway.

I guess, really didn't see it like that.

It`s not as ridiculous as sexting using dog mail really

Dead

 

[Crossing Eden]

Is it so hard to believe that their society could have smartphone-like devices, but aren't glued to them 24/7 the way we are? That newspapers haven't all but died out the way ours have?

Game has a fair number of problems but being upset at fantasy aspects of a fantasy world is so nitpicky. I don't recall thinking this was outrageous at all.

-edit- there's quite a lot of radio usage going on in this world too. did that upset people in the same way?

How are newspapers a fantasy aspect? And kinda yea. Smartphones are straight up meticulously designed to be addictive for users.

 

[LotusHD]

Is it so hard to believe that their society could have smartphone-like devices, but aren't glued to them 24/7 the way we are? That newspapers haven't all but died out the way ours have?

Game has a fair number of problems but being upset at fantasy aspects of a fantasy world is so nitpicky. I don't recall thinking this was outrageous at all.

-edit- there's quite a lot of radio usage going on in this world too. did that upset people in the same way?

It's not really a nitpick, it was a pretty damn lame way to find out about what happened, as OP said, there was a lot of better ways they could've went about it.

 

[Mailbox]

Give them the XV version of Venmo. Or like you said, at the very least allow us to accept hunts through the damn thing. Or have a cutscene where the screen cuts to black and puts us right at the location of where we received the hunt, or they meet us, or whatever.

They just made the whole thing so damn unwieldly.

There is also the case of how outside of insomnia is over 30 years behind in terms of tech. They likely don't have apps, much less app developers. So something like an app would actually crush that idea that outside of insomnia was left to rot by Regis.

That, AND All of those options are just plain bad though.
an auto movement alters game-feel, and would include more loading than one would like to handle. The whole idea of "you can hand in your quest when you get to a pitstop" makes sense if you are on your way to another quest.
Having someone just go to you wouldn't make sense b/c that just straight up doesn't make any sense. Why would they go out of their way to congratulate you? Would they go alone or with a hunter b/c of dangers? What about night hunts, since everyone stays inside and hunters don't go out unless they need to? Its just not a smart world building choice is all.

My opinion, if they do go with an application design (which, due to themeing, they shouldn't) it would have to go like this:
- Accept quest via phone
- Once quest is done, you receive the hunt xp and are able to get more hunts as you level up your hunt score. You can then accept a new quest.
- You can only get the hunt perks from a tipster, but you can get all the items and gil you have saved up from hunts.


(for everyone who complains "WHY NOT SMARTPHONES, WHY NEWSPAPER" we should note that outside of insomnia is literally like the 1970's compared to now, only with monsters and daemons.)

 

[Apdiddy]

I thought the problem you had was in how wooden their reactions were to finding out, not how they found out. Noctis came close to doing actual acting, while the rest were just reading lines. I kept waiting for a full blown argument between Ignis and Noctis, but nope.

 

[Toth]

Good news...

? What are you talking about? I mean yes you okay as Kingsglaive in the mulitplayer but its not the opening.

On topic, it was indeed an odd way to convey the event, A smartphone call or alert would have been better ALTHOUGH the game does mention that communication systems are down around the city. I think Tabata was going for Noctis' total and complete shock at the news and the use of a newspaper was meant to give enough Noctis some amount of doubt that the event actually occurred.

 

[nickgia]

WIth all their technology, it was pretty odd they got news from a newspaper. I dunno what they were thinking.

How else are you going to find out that a wedding dress is on display?