Onimusha78
Member
Interesting little video going over the character synopsis' in the gameinformer article https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDfRPLTsGE
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Final Fantasy XV: Platinum Demo Thread
- Thread starter zewone
- Start date
Tribes of Trusty
Member
So I played the demo for a little bit (like Duscae which I played only for 2 measly hours really).
While I initially didn't like Duscae but grew to like how it played (and the combat system), I really didn't like this demo as a whole.
I really enjoyed the setting and feeling of the demo. Also I see a lot of posts about how the game is weak graphics wise. Sure there are some poor textures and some aliasing, but globally I find the game to run really well and to look quite good. Maybe the art direction makes up for the technical side ?
I really didn't like how the fight went. I don't know, is this how the final game is supposed to play ? Maybe I didn't understand a lot about it, but I'd rather return to a fighting system like Duscae at the moment.
While I initially didn't like Duscae but grew to like how it played (and the combat system), I really didn't like this demo as a whole.
I really enjoyed the setting and feeling of the demo. Also I see a lot of posts about how the game is weak graphics wise. Sure there are some poor textures and some aliasing, but globally I find the game to run really well and to look quite good. Maybe the art direction makes up for the technical side ?
I really didn't like how the fight went. I don't know, is this how the final game is supposed to play ? Maybe I didn't understand a lot about it, but I'd rather return to a fighting system like Duscae at the moment.
Exentryk
Member
Did you pick up the Shield and Shuriken in the last area? Did you try Aerial combat? Did you try directional attacks?
There is a lot you can do once you explore the system. Use the Shield, and perfect block the Giant and keep stunning it. That should feel satisfying.
Exentryk
Member
Hopefully they get someone who can show the nuances of the combat.
NoctisVsStar
Member
Might as well pick us up off the streets XD
Did anyone else notice how the playroom is the room where we first saw gameplay footage from the 2013 trailer?
Wireframe
Member
Tribes of Trusty
Member
Ok that looks pretty dope. I hope the final game will have tutorials or a manual to explain all the nuances.
SE NA staff is streaming the demo, right now:
https://www.twitch.tv/squareenix
https://www.twitch.tv/squareenix
Well this was certainly disappointing.
Graphically, it's a dog. It is very clearly a last gen game touched up, which is understandable considering its development history. But it doesn't look as good as The Last of Us remastered, never mind modern games like Witcher 3. The textures are clunky, the anti-aliasing very bad, and the facial stuff and animations you see in the demo are very rudimentary.
Gameplay wise it's hard to judge given there isn't much there, but I was dissapointed that it followed the usual JRpG convention of having you plough throw lots of utterly pointless enemies who cannot possibly hurt you. Holding down circle to kill something isn't very testing gameplay, and it doesn't even have the thrill of at least aiming with a gun or something. The entire system felt overly simple, and whilst there might be hidden depths if the game doesn't make you use them then there's no point to it. It did not feel good or engaging at all.
Also, finally, it does feel like this has just strayed far, far too far from the series roots to be a mainline FF game. I hate to sound like a stick in the mud, but this isn't an RPG (unless Devil May Cry and God of War are also RPGs now). Again, understand it's the fault of the change in the development cycle but this might be better off as its own thing rather than being badged as a FF.
Overall very dissapointing. It's actually flipped this Into the 'don't buy' category unless there's a huge improvement. Not a great demo at all.
Graphically, it's a dog. It is very clearly a last gen game touched up, which is understandable considering its development history. But it doesn't look as good as The Last of Us remastered, never mind modern games like Witcher 3. The textures are clunky, the anti-aliasing very bad, and the facial stuff and animations you see in the demo are very rudimentary.
Gameplay wise it's hard to judge given there isn't much there, but I was dissapointed that it followed the usual JRpG convention of having you plough throw lots of utterly pointless enemies who cannot possibly hurt you. Holding down circle to kill something isn't very testing gameplay, and it doesn't even have the thrill of at least aiming with a gun or something. The entire system felt overly simple, and whilst there might be hidden depths if the game doesn't make you use them then there's no point to it. It did not feel good or engaging at all.
Also, finally, it does feel like this has just strayed far, far too far from the series roots to be a mainline FF game. I hate to sound like a stick in the mud, but this isn't an RPG (unless Devil May Cry and God of War are also RPGs now). Again, understand it's the fault of the change in the development cycle but this might be better off as its own thing rather than being badged as a FF.
Overall very dissapointing. It's actually flipped this Into the 'don't buy' category unless there's a huge improvement. Not a great demo at all.
Garrett Hawke
Member
What on earth...
I guarantee you would change your tune if it had decent image quality. There is nothing PS360 or last gen about it, bar maybe poor LOD buildings that shouldn't even be in the final game. It has probably some of the best real time lighting in games, the animations are incredibly fluid and realistic with great cloth and hair physics, and the materials and weather are so much more impressive than anything TW3 has to offer.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I feel that this is exaggerating quite a bit. Considering how good the current trailer looks, (despite the visual concessions), it looks nothing like a touched up last gen game. This was very clearly made in a short amount of time compared to the actual game. If anything, i'm afraid it looks too good and am very worried about performance.
Ok.
I'm talking the graphics in the demo, I've not seen the trailer. The graphics in the demo are bad. The textures are huge and low rezz (particulary in the playroom). The buildings in the distance in the city are just boxes. Noctis's face appears hardly animated, and the anti-aliasing on his clothing is dreadful. And yet somehow it doesn't hit 30 fps steadily.
The main game might be beautiful, but this demo is not. It just doesn't look great, sorry, and it absolutely doesn't look like a cutting edge current game game.
(And his running animation is plain bad - did they borrow Vanille's skeleton from ff13? Humans don't run like that!)
The main game might be beautiful, but this demo is not. It just doesn't look great, sorry, and it absolutely doesn't look like a cutting edge current game game.
(And his running animation is plain bad - did they borrow Vanille's skeleton from ff13? Humans don't run like that!)
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
I ran into a bug where I killed the Iron Giant with the Shuriken Warp Strike and sent the game into permanent slo mo mode.
It was actually pretty funny.
Whenever I see people say XV is too different I remember when either Tabata or Sakaguchi (can't remember which) said something about how Final Fantasy has always been known for doing new stuff with each main game.
When you look at all the new numbered entries they've always done something different than the last whether it's the world and characters, battle system, story, etc. It makes sense that a new Final Fantasy game should stand out from the rest and try something that no previous game has which XV has plenty of based on what's been shown so far.
The whole road trip theme to the adventure is something I haven't seen before in a game, combine that with the amazing visuals, awe inspiring summons, battle system, story (we've only gotten bits and pieces but it intrigues me) I can't be more excited for this entry because I simply don't know what to expect. There's so much we don't know about that having to wait 6 more months to explore it all is going to be difficult.
It was actually pretty funny.
Whenever I see people say XV is too different I remember when either Tabata or Sakaguchi (can't remember which) said something about how Final Fantasy has always been known for doing new stuff with each main game.
When you look at all the new numbered entries they've always done something different than the last whether it's the world and characters, battle system, story, etc. It makes sense that a new Final Fantasy game should stand out from the rest and try something that no previous game has which XV has plenty of based on what's been shown so far.
The whole road trip theme to the adventure is something I haven't seen before in a game, combine that with the amazing visuals, awe inspiring summons, battle system, story (we've only gotten bits and pieces but it intrigues me) I can't be more excited for this entry because I simply don't know what to expect. There's so much we don't know about that having to wait 6 more months to explore it all is going to be difficult.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
RPG demos usually don't put you at the end game in terms of stuff that you can do in them.
Usually they put you at the beginning or a little bit past it like Tales of Vespseria where you had the forest where you could fight Gattuso at the end. In there you were missing IIRC Burst Artes, Mystic Artes, all the skills that expand/lifts restrictions on what you can do in combat.
At most they just give you a little sample of the early game where you don't have much (like every other RPG since you get more stuff over time as you level).
The Platinum Demo is a bit of a special case since it won't be present in the full game. The beginning portions of the demo where you control kid Noctis has a stripped down version of the combat system featured at the end since all you can really do is normal attacks/fireworks spell. It's clear that the focus here is on fucking with the environment since those plates are all over the place.
I would have liked better a demo that didn't have the kid Noctis stuff and just had you maybe fight with the rest of the party against some random enemies but overall I'm ok with what we got because we could at least mess around with combat stuff versus the Iron Giant.
I'm still wondering about how summons are going to be handled, how party weapons/armor will be obtained, and how the skill system works. Like if that includes Active Skills like Tempest/Full Thrust/Jump/Drain Blade or does it include that and passive skills like Double Jump/Longer Aerial Combo/Longer Dodge Roll, stuff like that.
KingdomHeartsFan
Member
The guys hair at 0:40, it hurts my eyes...
dragonzdogma
Member
What's your favorite FF or Rpg demo? FFVIII for me.
Loved that exclusive ost also.
Loved that exclusive ost also.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
Duscae demo.
I don't really remember much from RPG demos I've played in the past so I really only have that and the ToV one to compare to.
The Duscae demo is pretty decent since you can run around a fairly open area and do some random quests plus the Behemoth stuff. It also lets us see one of the summons in addition to an early version of the battle system (which is markedly different in the Platinum demo).
I still replay it every couple of months and I'll probably do the same as we get closer to FFXV's launch.
YankeeDonB
Member
There was something cool about VIII's demo. Didn't we get to see Leviathan summon?
But yeah, Duscae has got to be my overall favorite FF demo. Just gives a lot of space to get a feel for the world, the characters, the enemies, and some of the battle system (although it's obviously been updated).
I'm not generally a fan of demos for RPGs though. So much of what makes an RPG good emerges slowly over time w/ the system and characters and the journey.
NoctisVsStar
Member
I remember getting those demos on gaming mags lol but VIII is my favorite FF.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
I think what's going to be really interesting are the differences between how people approach the combat once the game is out.
I imagine we'll see videos of people playing through the game mostly holding square for lengthy periods of time followed up by some normal attacks.
And then we'll have videos of people warping/air dodging around while switching weapons and making ample use of the Skills and other systems that aren't in the demo.
I imagine we'll see videos of people playing through the game mostly holding square for lengthy periods of time followed up by some normal attacks.
And then we'll have videos of people warping/air dodging around while switching weapons and making ample use of the Skills and other systems that aren't in the demo.
YankeeDonB
Member
I'm honestly dreading a "game plays itself" backlash similar to with XII and XIII.
I think the system in XV will be plenty deep (it already is in Platinum, even without a lot of the final game mechanics). Of course, neither XII nor XIII played themselves either, but SE's push for surface accessibility of mechanics sure provides a lot of fodder for drive-by hate.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
I think that's pretty much unavoidable. Even if a game has tutorials, you always get the people who just clicked right by them then complain afterwards why the game didn't tell them about something that was explained in the first hour or so.
Still I hope the OT has info to help people realize that there's more to the game than just holding O on the ground. Hopefully the game itself shows this too.
NoctisVsStar
Member
Comes with the territory not everyone is creative on the fly and a lot of folks aren't bothered by experimenting. The disparity of how many will play this game will be interesting to see even with a proper tutorial.
chozen
Member
YankeeDonB
Member
Nice shoutout for the demo from Schreier over at Kotaku. He links that combat video we were all passing around earlier in the thread (where I first saw the sweet unlocked through warp). Thing has 170,000 views now! SE should sponsor that poster, this kind of video speaks volumes to combat flexibility/depth.
I dont know why they didnt just do Kingdom Hearts combat with Mass Effect companon commands and call it a day
YankeeDonB
Member
I actually quite like the look of how they're doing companion commands. You trigger their specials from a menu, and they're accessible via an ATB type recharge mechanic. It's a nice through line to old school party based ATB. And actually is kind of similar to ME where you just trigger companions' specials with the radial menu.
Yeah but the FFXV members seem like they can only be controlled using specials, outside of that they dont do much.
Exentryk
Member
The companion commands are done by pressing L2+dpad, which is a pretty good system. This gives the player the control as to when to use party actions. There are also other party actions that get triggered automatically by just being near party characters.
The hold button for Noctis though, yeah, it likely won't review well. May be if SE is smart, they've addressed it as part of the two battle modes this game has. But that would require a massive overhaul of animations and combat programming, and I just don't see it happening.
We're most definitely stuck with the hold-button setup, so might as well get used to it.
YankeeDonB
Member
Supposedly the party AI is now a lot better from Duscae (we'll see), but yeah, still limited control as far as we know. Curious if we get any AI settings for partners (focus on healing/etc).
I dunno about that. There's been an interview recently talking about a system where you can assign actions to party members. Didn't sound like specials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tedjuyFnuss
YankeeDonB
Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tedjuyFnuss
Somewhere here.
There are a few things mentioned, such as summoning conditions (Noctis low HP, party member low HP, etc.).
potatohead
Member
Neither do I fam. Neither do I.
If you want to see what that looks like you can watch this though.... that's what they had originally on PS3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ7MwTXYLpg
They scrapped it for whatever is going on now.... lol.
As far as I'm concerned that looks like it plays better than FF XV.
At least we're getting Kingdom Hearts 3 anyway so it's all good.
What I see here is so unsatisfying to watch. Thank goodness Nomura and co. changed it to what we saw in E3 2013, which looked floaty but had a sense of speed to it. Movement wise, we're getting E3 2013 if we're looking at the demo. Seriously, you couldn't even do a warp strike in that footage you linked. That alone changes the movement and adds such a fun element to it.
And you can cut a trailer and make anything look good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO7nyrNBFXA
The Niflheim base footage has been very well received and that trailer is nothing but combat.
YankeeDonB
Member
Thanks, hadn't seen that one. Sounds like we'll get quite a bit of customization in how we grow the characters.
Other interesting piece I hadn't heard - first half of the game is traveling seamlessly through open world via car. Second half works somewhat differently and involves more train travel. Not sure what that means, but intriguing.
Edit: also going to agree with you on old versus prototype gameplay. Looked floaty and quite limited. I think if we had ended up with that in Duscae and Platinum we'd be hearing even more complaining than we are.
Joei
Member
I just replayed the Platinum demo again and while I still think the first 3 sections are a drag, the fight with the Iron Golem went a lot better. I got the secret weapons, experimented more and realized I could use the Armiger technique as well as cast magic instead of using those one items. The first time I had no clue what was going on and everything left a sour taste in my mouth. Plus I was kind of in a hurry (my son was napping and I had finish the demo asap last time). Still don't think it's a great demo, but there's a lot more to the golem fight then you're lead to believe with those weird fights on the first three sections. I can't wait to sink my teeth into the final version of the combat.
I hope and am crossing my fingers they update Duscae before the game releases with the most current battle system.
After watching Brotherhood and the Kingsglaive trailer, I went ahead and preordered the 90$ version from BestBuy. Really psyched for this game now.
I hope and am crossing my fingers they update Duscae before the game releases with the most current battle system.
After watching Brotherhood and the Kingsglaive trailer, I went ahead and preordered the 90$ version from BestBuy. Really psyched for this game now.
YankeeDonB
Member
Nice - we've said it a lot in here, but SE really should have put in some kind of tutorial. And the final game will have even more to dig into (party abilities, upgradable elemental spells, another tier of separate mystic spells, summons, etc.).
Simo
Member
Yeah the Japanese Final Fantasy VIII demo that came with Brave Fencer. I spent a ridiculous amount to import it all but it was well worth it as I played the demo to death, bonus for the awesome FF melody rendition on the demo main menu and also Leviathan and the first uses of the Dual Shock controller? Holy shit.
I remember at first when I played the demo a few times I had no idea you could hit R1 to pull the trigger on Squall's Gunblade to deal extra damage! I didn't find out until C&VG issue came out a few weeks later with a feature about the demo and they mentioned that part....! LOL
I think the demo had other titles on there too including Ehergeiz? I still have Brave Fencer and the demo.
Totally agree. The combat is fun to experiment with and I can't wait for the final game but it was a terrible demo to drop on the masses with no information whatsoever. I feel like the Duscae demo would of been a far better trial for everyone to try given it better represents the game. Alas I can't even get it since the codes expired last month.
edotlee
Member
Jason Schreier seems to enjoy the demo. http://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xvs-new-demo-is-delightful-1770284489
There are certainly faults with the demo, but by being able to mess around with the combat mechanics, it let me know the big potential of battle system. I don't know about anyone else, but it left me excited about playing the game in September.
Agreed.
There are certainly faults with the demo, but by being able to mess around with the combat mechanics, it let me know the big potential of battle system. I don't know about anyone else, but it left me excited about playing the game in September.
