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[sappyday]

Hmm... not necessarily. Based off what you just mentioned, I'm thinking this is how the game will start off :

- Noctis & co. at Lucis while treaty talks are going on
- 2nd last day of treaty talks, to conclude next day.
- Party on the night before the treaty signing, meet Stella scene.
- Nifl attempts a night-time assault at Lucis
- Regis dies/or escapes with Cor
- Noctis escapes with his bros
- Enter Duscae the next morning
- Radio station still unaware that Lucis has been taken over by Nif
- Thus talking as if the treaty will conclude that night, even though they already got back-stabbed
- Nif sending patrol ships to find Noctis

Don't Noctis and Co talk about heading home? Also by their mannerism, especially's Noctis, it seems like nothing has gone down.

 

[Taruranto]

Is it just me who thinks that Noctis looked a bit different in the early CG trailers than his recent version?It's as if the recent model is more thiner or something...
I think i prefer the older version.

Old:



New:

Man, he looks like the posterchild for dark and edgy.

 

[Nightengale]

Don't Noctis and Co talk about heading home? Also by their mannerism, especially's Noctis, it seems like nothing has gone down.

I took Prompto's radio pressing seems to be as if he was trying to get radio transmission from Lucis, but can't because they're driving away from home.

And you're right that they don't look like they've just gotten their kingdom taken over, but it's just a guess.

 

[Asd202]

That's... a lot.

Yeah but they know people will buy it for the demo.

 

[sublimit]

IGN 10/10 "It's like GTA with stats!"

IGN:"What FFXV can learn for GTA!"

 

[Famassu]

It seems weird that we can fight Nif soldiers in this section of the game since a treaty is gonna take place. We know they'll screw them over and become an opposing side but in this section of the game that doesn't seem to be the case.

Maybe Episode Duscae will take place "very early" in the game like exiting Midgar takes place pretty early into FFVII. There's a whole lengthy "prologue" in Lucis. Maybe Episode Duscae takes place 5-7+ hours from the start of the game and there's the whole Nilfheim peace treaty stuff that blows up before Episode Duscae, that could still be thought as "pretty early" into a 40+ hour game.

Some of the timing from the Nilfheim attack on Lucis doesn't match with what they have shown recently (the peace treaty must have gone awry if Noctis is attacked by Nilfheim in Episode Duscae), but there could be several explanations for that. Maybe the radio station they are listening to has been captured by Nilfheim and is on repeat about the whole peace treaty stuff because Nilfheim doesn't want the rest of the world to know what they are doing. That could explain why Prompto looks so frustrated when the radio doesn't seem to work, they aren't getting any news of the current situation after having fled the city. Or maybe they've just used misleading editing in the trailer, and what seems like the peace treaties still going forward is actually just some earlier dialogue from the game that has just been edited to that particular scene in the trailer, even though it happens much later. IIRC Nomura said the E3 2013 trailer's dialogue wasn't from the time of Accordo's attack either, so they have a presedence of using dialogue where it doesn't belong.

 

[Philippo]

Or maybe they've just used misleading editing in the trailer, and what seems like the peace treaties still going forward is actually just some earlier dialogue from the game that has just been edited to that particular scene in the trailer, even though it happens much later. IIRC Nomura said the E3 2013 trailer's dialogue wasn't from the time of Accordo's attack either, so they have a presedence of using dialogue where it doesn't belong.

But it is lip-synched, so that's the dialogue of the scene.

Also they said enemy placement was modified for this video, and probably for the demo too, and in the final game we won't be fighting soldiers in that area.

 

[Damerman]

Yusuke Naora and Yasuyuki Matsunami

those two guys were cool. very interesting info.

 

[threelights]

Kotaku's video is not loading for me, weird. >.>

Is there a direct link to the video, or a youtube link?

 

[Philippo]

Yusuke Naora and Yasuyuki Matsunami

those two guys were cool. very interesting info.

Yeah, together with YoshiP they look to be the big names of SE future.
Fostered by Nomura, of course.

 

[Dark_castle]

Don't Noctis and Co talk about heading home? Also by their mannerism, especially's Noctis, it seems like nothing has gone down.

From the TGS trailer, which I believe is essentially a trailer for the demo, they seem to be heading to the Crown City, not back to Lucis.

Kotaku's video is not loading for me, weird. >.>

Is there a direct link to the video, or a youtube link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV5adG8LYX0

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Maybe the enemy patrols are a mechanic that runs throughout the game after the peace treaty goes awry as a means to have contextualised 'random' battles, that's been added to the Episode Duscae demo to increase the amount of action in the game.

 

[Ikael]

It's certainly better than the alternative of narrow corridors and linear exploration paths of just walking in a straight line from point A to point B.

FFXII and Xenoblade handled having large explorable areas just fine without being detrimental to the story or other aspects of the game.

I don't see why large open areas is a turn off for players to explore beyond the scope of just the story for optional fights or quests.

Story writers handle the plot and story and have no bearing on the map and world designers. If both teams do their job right, I don't see why you can't have an open world game with a good story.

I haven't played Xenoblade so I cannot comment on it, but my fears regarding ff XV comes precisely from my experience with ffXII. Its dungeons were disorientating, grindy, and almost devoid of any plot elements or lore context. I play final fantasy in order to be engrossed with a story, world and characters, not to grind for hours in a dungeon only to be rewarded with a contextual conversation snippet as if I would be playing a rogelike.

Yes, I am sure that plot and gameplay can be properly integrated even inside an open world enviroment (at least theoretically, I have yet to see this) but I don't have too much faith on S-E since they have usually divided their development teams between gameplay and story direction, which leaded to a very bad integration of these elements, something that was quite apparent on both linear ffXIII and open ff XII.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be as open minded as I could be regarding the saga's evolution. But I personally will take a well built linear JRPG with its exploration and secret paths a la ffX one thousand times over the much critically praised, albeit flavourless ffXII.

 

[threelights]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV5adG8LYX0

Thanks a lot! My stupid internet can't load anything properly these days =P

Watching.

 

[Philippo]

I haven't played Xenoblade so I cannot comment on it, but my fears regarding ff XV comes precisely from my experience with ffXII. Its dungeons were disorientating, grindy, and almost devoid of any plot elements or lore context. I play final fantasy in order to be engrossed with a story, world and characters, not to grind for hours in a dungeon only to be rewarded with a contextual conversation snippet as if I would be playing a rogelike.

Yes, I am sure that plot and gameplay can be properly integrated even inside an open world enviroment (at least theoretically, I have yet to see this) but I don't have too much faith on S-E since they have usually divided their development teams between gameplay and story direction, which leaded to a very bad integration of these elements, something that was quite apparent on both linear ffXIII and open ff XII.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be as open minded as I could be regarding the saga's evolution. But I personally will take a well built linear JRPG with its exploration and secret paths a la ffX one thousand times over the much critically praised, albeit flavourless ffXII.

Why base your expectations on a game made by a different team?
Also i'm sure most dungeons and exploration will be optional (hence the introduction of the car), so if you want to focus on the more linear aspects of the game story you can do it, and treat the big zones just like the world map of older FFs.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

Those combat scenes are from the beginning of the game when Nilfheim is attacking & trying to get the crystal and was more of a visualized concept of how Nomura envisioned a powered up Noctis to be like in the game and he even said not to expect Noctis to be able to do all that in the game right from the start. He probably just wanted some visuals of the kind of combat he was thinking for the game so that people would have a better idea of what he was aiming for with Versus XIII with all the verticality, zero-shifting and more action-y approach.

From what I recall, I don't think they were even halfway done with writing the actual story at that point. It was basically Nomura going, "I have this idea." and Square saying, "Make this idea into a scene that we can render as a taste of what you plan on doing!", thus that premier FFVersusXIII trailer happened. I think that scene's equivalent in the game is when Noctis and co. are fighting the Niflheim soldiers outside of the Lucis "castle"(the same one where we see Noctis small a soldier's head into the car door). It's different, but I'm guessing that's the in-game version, as evolved over years from that concept idea.

 

[Dark_castle]

From what I recall, I don't think they were even halfway done with writing the actual story at that point. It was basically Nomura going, "I have this idea." and Square saying, "Make this idea into a scene that we can render as a taste of what you plan on doing!", thus that premier FFVersusXIII trailer happened. I think that scene's equivalent in the game is when Noctis and co. are fighting the Niflheim soldiers outside of the Lucis "castle"(the same one where we see Noctis small a soldier's head into the car door). It's different, but I'm guessing that's the in-game version, as evolved over years from that concept idea.

Well, actually...http://kotaku.com/5575225/final-fantasy-versus-xiii-story-finalized

 

[qualitydisc]

Well, actually...http://kotaku.com/5575225/final-fantasy-versus-xiii-story-finalized

I believe he's talking about 2006's original reveal teaser, whereas that article is from 2010.

 

[Dark_castle]

I believe he's talking about 2006's original reveal teaser, whereas that article is from 2010.

My bad.

 

[qualitydisc]

Hmm... not necessarily. Based off what you just mentioned, I'm thinking this is how the game will start off :

- Noctis & co. at Lucis while treaty talks are going on
- 2nd last day of treaty talks, to conclude next day.
- Party on the night before the treaty signing, meet Stella scene.
- Nifl attempts a night-time assault at Lucis
- Regis dies/or escapes with Cor
- Noctis escapes with his bros
- Enter Duscae the next morning
- Radio station still unaware that Lucis has been taken over by Nif
- Thus talking as if the treaty will conclude that night, even though they already got back-stabbed
- Nif sending patrol ships to find Noctis

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been trying to piece together the order of events

Also by their mannerism, especially's Noctis, it seems like nothing has gone down.

I agree, the scene with the car and the radio news is the one bit that doesn't seem to fit the chronology as we know it. At the beginning of the TGS trailer, we hear on the car's radio that the negotiation of the peace treaty between King Lucis and Aldercapt is to conclude that night, and that the prince is unconcerned about it. Which implies to me that the surprise invasion of Lucis hasn't happened yet. But the whole Episode Duscae seems to me to be the exile trip out of Lucis. So, yeah, something doesn't fit.

 

[Koozek]

Somehow I really feel a bit sorry for Nomura as, let's face it, people are already associating Tabata with FFXV (he's great!) and in case it'll be highly praised as the new saviour of the franchise I could only imagine how it'd sting Nomura^^

 

[Philippo]

Mh, i still think the TGS demo and Episode Duscae are set before the peace signing party, but that doesn't explain why the party is already fighting Niflheim soldiers. Maybe they're there just for demo purpose.
I think it's Duscae (demo) -> Lucis (invasion prologue) -> Duscae

 

[CentroXer]

It wont be out for PC ( I hope, cuz piracy will kill this on PC >-<)

just like piracy killed CoD right?

 

[ZenTzen]

Somehow I really feel a bit sorry for Nomura as, let's face it, people are already associating Tabata with FFXV (he's great!) and in case it'll be highly praised as the new saviour of the franchise I could only imagine how it'd sting Nomura^^

I'm definetly not, i'll praise tabata for providing the constant flow of info, but all this stuff thats been shown bar some stuff, i'll definetly associate it with Nomura, seeing as its all stuff hes been talking about for years

 

[Death Penalty]

I'm definetly not, i'll praise tabata for providing the constant flow of info, but all this stuff thats been shown bar some stuff, i'll definetly associate it with Nomura, seeing as its all stuff hes been talking about for years

You said it. Gameplay wise, I'm still struggling with the fact that we won't get to see Nomura's full vision for the project. With how fantastic everything they've shown so far looks, it's really saying something that I'm still having that struggle. It sounds like Nomura got a really raw deal, and it breaks my heart that he'll almost assuredly never get another crack at a Final Fantasy. He's one of my favorite creators with SE.

 

[Koozek]

I'm definetly not, i'll praise tabata for providing the constant flow of info, but all this stuff thats been shown bar some stuff, i'll definetly associate it with Nomura, seeing as its all stuff hes been talking about for years

Yeah, of course those who've been following it since Versus days know that, but those who only now hear about FFXV definitely will mostly hear Tabata's name when they read news/articles about it.
I wonder if Nomura will ever talk publicly about FFXV's development again^^ Is he even involved in day to day business anymore or is it only KH3 now?

 

[GhostTrick]

Yeah, maybe.

idk, just take every extreme measure to make sure consoles don't die in that country >.>



He doesn't really ride it, it looks more like he uses it to continue his parkour through the buildings.

If anything, even if this released on PC first, it wouldn't kill consoles at all in Japan. It's all about demographics. And Japan don't play on computers.
Japanese games released on Steam mainly target Europe and America.

 

[Falk]

Regarding old v new Noctis. New one from certain angles really does give off the vibe of a kid way out of his depth, especially when the lighting and his crazy hairdo basically shadow his eyes.

It's a subtle yet remarkable effect.

Or I could be just imagining it and talking out of my ass.

 

[Athreous]

just like piracy killed CoD right?

CoD is an online game, which makes those who wanna play it online to actually buy the retail game...

EA, Bethesda and Ubi said it a lot of times, that piracy is a big issue to think about when releasing offline games, and blizzard thought about it, just look at all their current games.

 

[Stark]

Somehow I really feel a bit sorry for Nomura as, let's face it, people are already associating Tabata with FFXV (he's great!) and in case it'll be highly praised as the new saviour of the franchise I could only imagine how it'd sting Nomura^^

Both should be credited. Simple. Tabata's doing a great job, Nomura did a great job.

 

[JuanLatino]

Both should be credited. Simple. Tabata's doing a great job, Nomura did a great job.

Word.

Both are/were important for this Game.

I Think Tabata is more responsible for the new combat System and the open World Aspects, and he is also pushing the development of this game

While on the other side the story, the theme and the characters are Nomuras Work

I really hope SE will give him the credit he deserves. He should be named as the director on the credits aswell

 

[Ishida]

Word.

Both are/were important for this Game.

I Think Tabata is more responsible for the new combat System and the open World Aspects, and he is also pushing the development of this game

While on the other side the story, the theme and the characters are Nomuras Work

I really hope SE will give him the credit he deserves. He should be named as the director on the credits aswell

I'd say Nomura is responsible for the open world aspect, too. We knew that the game was going to have a big open world since around 2008.

 

[JuanLatino]

I'd say Nomura is responsible for the open world aspect, too. We knew that the game was going to have a big open world since around 2008.

yeah youre right i forgot that..
Damm...Must be really hard for Nomura to give up his lifetime project.
Still sad that he left...,

Just imagine Nomura & Tabata doing together the Square Enix Present Shows...

 

[Tidus_Great]

That's really incredible looking. Nothing beats it in terms of graphics and scope.

 

[Talax]

I'd say Nomura is responsible for the open world aspect, too. We knew that the game was going to have a big open world since around 2008.

I personally believe that Tabata is only mainly responsible to expand on everything at this point. I haven't seen anything in the recent trailers bar the fighting mechanics that have shown anything to be different from what Nomura originally described about the game.

 

[Stark]

I'd say Nomura is responsible for the open world aspect, too. We knew that the game was going to have a big open world since around 2008.

I personally believe that Tabata is only mainly responsible to expand on everything at this point. I haven't seen anything in the recent trailers bar the fighting mechanics that have shown anything to be different from what Nomura originally described about the game.

It's why I said both should be credited for the job (good or bad) It's not fair if you put all the criticism onto one person, same with with all the praise. That's a bit immature and disrespectful to the staff that is working or has worked on it.

 

[stay gold]

Getting pretty strong FFVIII vibes from the footage.

Well done Square, I'm interested in your series again

 

[Death Penalty]

I personally believe that Tabata is only mainly responsible to expand on everything at this point. I haven't seen anything in the recent trailers bar the fighting mechanics that have shown anything to be different from what Nomura originally described about the game.

That's what I take away as well. Tabata seems mostly to have simplified the battle system and removed switching characters. I have to wonder how much good publicity he's getting just because SE is ALLOWING him to talk about and show the project where they didn't allow Nomura to do the same.

I don't mean to disrespect Tabata. I'm sure he's done unbelievable levels of work on the project, but most of what everyone seems excited for about XV are things Nomura told us about ages ago while most of the things that are causing unrest seem to be changes made since Tabata took over. This openness he's getting praised for is all well and good, but I doubt it's his influence any more than it was Nomura's influence that kept the project silent. It seems that he's getting a free pass because he officially took over at a time when the PR cycle was allowed to happen.

 

[Stark]

That's what I take away as well. Tabata seems mostly to have simplified the battle system and removed switching characters. I have to wonder how much good publicity he's getting just because SE is ALLOWING him to talk about and show the project where they didn't allow Nomura to do the same.

I'd hold back on the comments that the battle system is simplified. It's just a different take on the same concepts while a lot of it is there. Heck, you can mash the button if you wanted to.

I agree that it was more the company. What gets me is when people start thinking Tabata specifically did some betrayal and took over Nomura's project on purpose for his own personal gain. That needs to stop.

 

[Talax]

That's what I take away as well. Tabata seems mostly to have simplified the battle system and removed switching characters. I have to wonder how much good publicity he's getting just because SE is ALLOWING him to talk about and show the project where they didn't allow Nomura to do the same.

I don't mean to disrespect Tabata. I'm sure he's done unbelievable levels of work on the project, but most of what everyone seems excited for about XV are things Nomura told us about ages ago while most of the things that are causing unrest seem to be changes made since Tabata took over. This openness he's getting praised for is all well and good, but I doubt it's his influence any more than it was Nomura's influence that kept the project silent. It seems that he's getting a free pass because he officially took over at a time when the PR cycle was allowed to happen.

The battle system itself would have probably been simple under Nomura too though, if KH is any indication.
The party switching is slightly disappointing to not have but I can live with it. KH never used it and I never felt the need anyway.

The only thing that gets me is why they removed Nomura's name completely. Let him be the co-director like they announced. It's good publicity since people know him. You can't just keep a person's concepts alive in a game and then not even call him co-director.

But like Stark is saying, this is more company based decisions for which neither person can be blamed. Both have to follow orders and that's what they're doing.

I just hope Nomura gets another chance at FF....

 

[NateDog]

That's what I take away as well. Tabata seems mostly to have simplified the battle system and removed switching characters. I have to wonder how much good publicity he's getting just because SE is ALLOWING him to talk about and show the project where they didn't allow Nomura to do the same.

I don't mean to disrespect Tabata. I'm sure he's done unbelievable levels of work on the project, but most of what everyone seems excited for about XV are things Nomura told us about ages ago while most of the things that are causing unrest seem to be changes made since Tabata took over. This openness he's getting praised for is all well and good, but I doubt it's his influence any more than it was Nomura's influence that kept the project silent. It seems that he's getting a free pass because he officially took over at a time when the PR cycle was allowed to happen.

Hah, I was thinking this exact same thing today. I appreciate what Tabata has done / is doing for the title but Nomura never had the chance to speak about the game or really show it off. He gets it taken away from him (seemingly) and all of a sudden no-one can shut SE up about it and stop them from showing off XV. Of course issues like XIV and XIII's development problems were big factors, but it's unfair for people to be pinning everything good that's coming out about the game on Tabata salvaging what was a complete mess.

 

[Stark]

The battle system itself would have probably been simple under Nomura too though, if KH is any indication.
The party switching is slightly disappointing to not have but I can live with it. KH never used it and I never felt the need anyway.

The only thing that gets me is why they removed Nomura's name completely. Let him be the co-director like they announced. It's good publicity since people know him. You can't just keep a person's concepts alive in a game and then not even call him co-director

Yeah. Besides they're still porting over the entire original BS (outside of character switching) and plan to add more to it. Just wait and see before making such calls. They're certainly not being lazy with it and are putting in hard work.

That also has to do with corporate differences, I bet. It was a negative note he left on.

 

[Biker19]

Yes.

Either way, I just hope to not see this game on PC for a couple of years after it's launch at least, so they can try to sell more consoles in Japan.

PC gaming isn't exactly popular over in Japan anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I can't say the PS4 will ever really take off, but so far, there has been absolutely no reason it should in Japan. I think it's too early for the 'Japan don't console' thing people seem to just believe without seeing the market actually stimulated by must play games intended for that market.

I definitely agree.

 

[jrush64]

I got a question, is this application on the screen part of the luminous studio tools.

Spoiler

 

[HeelPower]

Yusuke Naora and Yasuyuki Matsunami

those two guys were cool. very interesting info.

wait there is a video of them talking ??

EDIT: Nvm I thought there was a new video.

Yeah, together with YoshiP they look to be the big names of SE future.
Fostered by Nomura, of course.

Yusuke Naora is a classic figure since Square Soft days.Art director for some of the most beautiful and sophisticated looking games.

Yes its very nice to have him on board with FFXV.

 

[SPAW]

Mh, i still think the TGS demo and Episode Duscae are set before the peace signing party, but that doesn't explain why the party is already fighting Niflheim soldiers. Maybe they're there just for demo purpose.
I think it's Duscae (demo) -> Lucis (invasion prologue) -> Duscae

the answer to the last part is why one would need a peace treaty signing party in the first place. The nations in versus was supposed to be in a constant warring state ("the natural condition of mankind" ala T. Hobbes), making these border skirmish that we are witnessing a common occurrence. just take a trip down to southern-Ukraine or the south/north Korean border if you want real world examples.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Yusuke Naora is a classic figure since Square Soft days.Art director for some of the most beautiful and sophisticated looking games.

Yes its very nice to have him on board with FFXV.

Ha, Yusuke Naora was the only reason I played through Unlimited Saga.

 

[dramatis]

I got a question, is this application on the screen part of the luminous studio tools.

Spoiler

It's likely. However, it can also be part of the regular 3D modeling softwares.

 

[DeSolos]

I got a question, is this application on the screen part of the luminous studio tools.

Spoiler

Yes this is Luminous' material editor. The node network is used to define how the skin shader works.

 

[Protag]

Oh god the score from the trailer is the overworld theme

YES.