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[sappyday]

Been thinking the same. Maybe the recent comment from Tabata that Ocarina of Time is an inspiration for FFXV was actually playing on this timeskip and not just on the world structure.

Plus that FFVI is his favorite of all the FFs. The

Spoiler

Red Sky/Plague of the Stars event might be something akin to FFVI's after event. During this time we play as the older crew.

 

[jett]

I'm not sure what's going on with the opening they have now. There's no real weight behind it.

It's just an awful beginning. This is why it's hard for me think that's what they went with right from the start. It's a wet fart.

Nope. There was some old stuff in the Jump Festa trailer from December 2014 but it was all of the invasion stuff we know is out of the game.

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

lol you're right. Even using old Versus CG and also never before seen CG ... In late 2014!

 

[squall211]

Bro, it's right there in the shot you posted.



The overarching goal is to go to the moon.

Lunar Whale confirmed?

 

[Saven]

This is the first time on GAF I've seen someone complain about too much gameplay, not enough story.

And its weird too, 'cause it's almost like saying FFXV has no plot even though we've seen plenty of it already.

You haven't been in many MGSV threads have you?

 

[Balls]

Yea the opening is just lame. We went from experiencing the invasion of Insomnia to our car breaking down and pushing it to a gas station lol.

 

[Shredderi]

Yea the opening is just lame. We went from experiencing the invasion of Insomnia to our car breaking down and pushing it to a gas station lol.

Yeah would have liked to play the invasion myself. I mean I'm prolly not gonna get the game anyway but yeah.

 

[Gbraga]

Yea the opening is just lame. We went from experiencing the invasion of Insomnia to our car breaking down and pushing it to a gas station lol.

Conceptually, I really enjoy the idea of them having their road trip bonding time and then finding out about what was going on while they were having fun, and Noctis' reaction to learning that his father knew it was going to happen but didn't say anything in order to protect him. But it's just undeniable that running around Insomnia and fighting would be really damn cool.

Since Tabata mentioned there's a bunch of post-game content, I hope we get to walk around a little bit in a recovered Insomnia as Older Noctis, that would be some nice fanservice. Even if it's just a small piece of it that's explorable. We've seen too much of Insomnia for them to just throw it away like that. I get that development realities made them cut a lot of shit to fit in one game, but except other regions have some HUGE surprises in store, I can't see why they wouldn't choose to cut some area we never even saw instead of, you know, pretty much the only thing we saw for several years.

 

[DangerMouse]

My impression so far is that, it's going to be very much like FFXII as far as story and its presence goes. you're probably right.

I'm not expecting too many long cutscenes and interruptions like that. I think that makes making a story trailer harder for them. They have had no issues before spoiling everything in trailers.

Hmmm maybe. I'm not exactly worried about it yet it but I am curious about it and hope they aren't as stingy with the CGI as it seems they might be. I definitely wonder how much is actually going to "happen" in the game (event wise) and how much character development the characters will have to face. But I think scale of the world, locations, and gameplay will be good. Now we need to know about the story and character development and whether the events can actually capture enough of that Final Fantasy scale and bring it home since they haven't shown much of it at all.

Yeah, that's one of my concerns as well, I mean, the combat mechanics do seem interesting, but I'm pretty skeptical that they and the enemies will be well designed enough to really keep me interested for the length of the game that I'm supposed to be. I like a number of the concepts that seem to be included in the story, you know, the road trip, growing as friends, all that, but I haven't really seen anything writing wise in quite a while that I found particularly engaging. That's the thing that I'm particularly worried about. I like the art direction a lot, and I think I'll find the gameplay decent, but I want memorable world building, characters, emotional sequences on top of that. I mean, I'm not going to just assume that it isn't there, but you know, having to edit out parts of the story to get the game out on time, I think it's reasonable to at least be concerned about whether or not the result will actually be all that interesting.

Yeah.

For those who suggest that this is out of an effort to avoid spoilers, ...

1. This robs Square-Enix of marketing material. This would mean a conscious decision to not market the game based on the spectacle that it has been largely famous for for nearly two decades. I'm sure they want to "maximize" enjoyment of their game so much that they are willing to sacrifice potential sales by being unwilling to show the vast majority of the story the game contains.
2. Again, they have shown no hesitation to show story spoilers int he past. Especially not to this degree.

To be fair, they've also picked some incredibly odd stuff in the marketing material at times even over stuff we know is in the game so it could just be that Tabata just has weird ideas of what to show. Like the titan demo being the last thing they show at an E3 several months before the game comes out? I mean the scale is impressive but it's a pretty small, narrow thing to show this close to launch in the scale of a JRPGs story.

Conceptually, I really enjoy the idea of them having their road trip bonding time and then finding out about what was going on while they were having fun, and Noctis' reaction to learning that his father knew it was going to happen but didn't say anything in order to protect him. But it's just undeniable that running around Insomnia and fighting would be really damn cool.

Yeah, it's a weird open.

 

[encephalon]

I wonder how involved Tabata is in the trailer direction, marketing, etc.

I guess I'll have to revise my expectation that at least the opening would be a major event ...

 

[AuthenticM]

I have that same feeling from last year when I was waiting for MGS V. This feeling that I will be disappointed by what the narration has to offer.

 

[Inuhanyou]

It's just an awful beginning. This is why it's hard for me think that's what they went with right from the start. It's a wet fart.


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

lol you're right. Even using old Versus CG and also never before seen CG ... In late 2014!

Back when Nomura's assets were still in the game. Old man with white hair, best Regis, ect. All expunged at this point.

Its been a ride, this game's journey.

 

[birthbysleep]

The lead game designer did a Q&A just recently and said that something to the effect of that the old games used cut scenes to tell the story, and now it's interactive or some shit. Basically, it made me feel a MGSV vibe, or even Star Ocean. Have we seen ANY evidence of CGI scenes besides

Spoiler

the opening of Regis seeing his douche at the time son and the bros off?

Ive recently seen that they're still using some shots of the Noctis/Cor CGI on some of the promotional material in Japan. Probably just for advertising though...

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Yeaaah that's an unsurprising reason. They should've just rewritten everything, o just make a classic FF-style intro cut-scene. I mean, man, lots of shit happens in FF12's intro.

FF12's intro is a fucking master class in pacing and editing. I don't think there are very many games I can think of with a better introductory video/FMV/whatever.

 

[Yabberwocky]

FF12's intro is a fucking master class in pacing and editing. I don't think there are very many games I can think of with a better introductory video/FMV/whatever.

Preach! So goddamn good.

 

[encephalon]

Perhaps this is obvious, but another possibility is that the story has been going through a lot of changes, preventing them from being able to release footage that might otherwise be scrapped or amended. A constantly evolving and changing story might also explain the current state of the intro.

 

[Nya]

It could be a deliberate choice to keep story light within the game itself and signal a difference in design philosophy towards this title. By excising the insomnia invasion, they avoid having a long, cutscene heavy early game event that could lead to criticism that it's yet another "movie-game." Brotherhood provides background for those who want it, but doesn't get in the way of the gameplay of those who don't have the patience for it. The game may be designed as a story-light title, where the story provides its framework, but with the "open world" Square wanted to prove that it could offer front and center throughout the journey.

It could be the result of the game's apparent development issues, but I think it being a deliberate choice is a much more likely one.

Why would they "keep the story light" if Tabata keeps saying over and over how much he wants to focus on the story and even want to make people cry. It's literally the one thing he emphasized on, why would he all of a sudden keep the story just "light". Remember that they're dealing with a story content that was supposed to a trilogy, they are compressing all that story bits in one game so obviously there are a lot left to tell that we don't know about. Heck, even back in Versus days we knew nothing of what's to come beyond Insomnia but people still gave Nomura the benefit of the doubt.

Indeed, it does not, but that's what the game comes off as. Who knows why they cut the intro from the game. Maybe it was too technically demanding as they had envisioned it. Maybe they realized they wouldn't have had enough time to finish all of their set-pieces(The Leviathan set-piece also seems to be completely different from the 2013 trailer). Maybe it just flat out sucked in-game. For me, it's a strange move for this game to plop you into its world as if you're already familiar with everything and everyone. It introduces you to nothing. You must watch Kingsglaive and Brotherhood to get any sense of place.

Now, about the uneventfulness... Have they even demoed any meaningful quests in this game since Episode Duscae? I'm honestly asking cuz I can't think of one, despite them releasing an hour-long video. I'm not even talking about major story spoilers. CDPR demoed a decently-sized proper Witcher 3 quest a year before release, and yet it didn't really spoil anything from the plot in it. Frankly I don't see how 50 minutes of essentially unfocused b-roll footage from a location we've already seen a million times is supposed to help.



I can only judge by what I am given, not by what I imagine or hope.

Again, the Versus Epic was so big that Nomura initially wanted to tell it through multiple sequels. Tabata said the reason they had to cut the whole Insomnia invasion was because they couldn't fit everything in one game without spending 3 more years in development. Maybe they thought there are better things to include in the story so they had to make that cut. There is story content, but we don't know what they are just like how we had no clue of what is beyond Insomnia back in Versus days. We haven't seen the Leviathan sequence in XV, I am sure it will be different, but its too early to judge when we haven't even seen the fight yet. Tabata said the next time they show a summon it will be the Leviathan fight, so until then its unfair to pass judgment based on a feeling.

The 50 minutes footage was only meant to show off the gameplay aspect of the game, and I honestly don't understand why anyone would consider this a bad thing. If they spoiled the story and hadn't made those cuts in the footage people will still complain about the story being spoiled, I just don't get why anyone would want to get spoiled prior to the game release.

Also, people are complaining about the lack of CGI in 2016? lol. TLOU did most of its storytelling through environment, the conversation Ellie and Joel had while exploring were the most enjoyable to me, same thing with The Witcher 3. If they handled it as well as these two games did, then I won't have any problems. Again, we shouldn't judge a product before trying it first, its like saying MGSV will have the best story ever based on its trailer.

 

[encephalon]

Why would they "keep the story light" if Tabata keeps saying over and over how much he wants to focus on the story and even want to make people cry. It's literally the one thing he emphasized on, why would he all of a sudden keep the story just "light". Remember that they're dealing with a story content that was supposed to a trilogy, they are compressing all that story bits in one game so obviously there are a lot left to tell that we don't know about. Heck, even back in Versus days we knew nothing of what's to come beyond Insomnia but people still gave Nomura the benefit of the doubt.

Do you have any quotes? We've seen the intro/beginning of the game now, and it is very, very "light."

The original vision for the game was scrapped. Characters lost their place and the framework that would have allowed for multiple iterations is probably gone.

 

[Nya]

Do you have any quotes? We've seen the intro/beginning of the game now, and it is very, very "light."

The original vision for the game was scrapped. Characters lost their place and the framework that would have allowed for multiple iterations is probably gone.

Aware of just how much time players invest in RPGs, to Tabata-san, “having a good story is as essential as having good gameplay”. He sees it as his responsibility to see the two elements merge into a seamless experience for the player.

Source

When speaking with Game Informer, Tabata express his believe that the hours invested into gaming deserve a strong ending. Stating, “I want to create a very emotional ending to the game and want to make as many people cry as possible,” he said. “You’re spending so many hours playing the game, so when I finish a game and it ends on a sour note and it doesn’t move me, it gets me disappointed. At least make me cry or give me some emotion! I want to give a moving ending for the consumers who invest so much time.”

Source

That’s quite a broad statement, so it’s quite easy to misunderstand me. But really, what it all comes down to is the story, the experience, and how great a story that is. And the way I see it the technology is important, it’s very important, but it’s important because you use that to tell the story. The combat system, the art, the whole game development, the technology itself – that’s all about telling the story. And all of the aspects of the game.

Source

When we first sat down to re-plan the project that’s Final Fantasy XV, we really looked at which elements we need and should use and could do to create that kind of unique gameplay experience that we wouldn’t really get anywhere else. It was a very in-depth discussion about what elements to keep and what to throw away or change. We felt because the theme we’re trying to handle here with the story is such a massive epic tale, we really couldn’t fit all of that into the game that we had the time to make. So we wanted to show the essential things to get the best story across, which is where we decided on that—that’s reflected in the final form of the game.

Source

That's enough for me to believe that Tabata cares about the story. Heck, he didn't make the game a fully open world so it doesn't mess with pacing and progress of the story.

Of course the base that allowed for multiple sequels is gone because they changed it in favor of making it a one game, its only natural that few things are going to be cut, changed, or replaced (e.g. Stella & FNC) but that doesn't mean that all elements from Versus were removed. We still have the war, the roadtrip, characters, main scenario .. etc that much is still very much there. Correct me if I am wrong, even Nomura changed a lot of stuff back in Versus days.

The thing is, Versus was never a real game, it was a mere concept and everything we've seen wasn't even in game. When the title became XV, Versus was only 25% done, we don't know what happens post Insomnia, so we can't say for sure what stayed in the story and what was scrapped, we can only take the dev word for it.

Of course the intro is light as we don't have that Insomnia invasion scene anymore, but that doesn't automatically mean the game is going to be all rainbow and sunshine with no story what so ever. In one of the ATRs Tabata said that the game will have its emotional and serious moments. Whether he will deliver or not that part remains unknown, we are promised a 50 hour story content and judging the entire story based the first 10 minutes of the game is certainly not fair. The beginning of XIII was solid but it didn't help much when the story turned out to be shit, XV deserves a chance to prove itself before we burry it to the ground saying its going to be shit. Also, its very important to judge XV as it is and not for what Versus could have been as a lot of its appeal came from glorified fan expectations.

I can think of so many anime/movies/games that starts off slow but becomes great as the story progresses, its all about the build-up after all and I am willing to give XV the benefit of the doubt. I am not saying you can't be cautious or even skeptical, I understand why you would be (I am too sometimes), but I don't think Tabata would just straight up lie about something he has been emphasizing on as far as I remember.

 

[CrimsonSquall]

Very well put Nya

 

[bunkitz]

I understand the concern and do share it to a degree due to the lack of much, if any information regarding the "Plague of the Stars," but thankfully, Kingsglaive has put most of that worrying to rest.

I don't know why, though, but I'm stubbornly optimistic about the game even after having read some discouraging stuff every now and then. That is unlike how I usually am with other games, so it's a strange feeling for me. It makes me think that the story's going to be enjoyable and that it will be eventful and simply a good Final Fantasy game. Maybe not as good as most of its predecessors, but a good one nonetheless. After all, there's still plenty we haven't seen or even know about the game.

 

[SilentRob]

Something I learned: When certain things you normally expect don't appear in trailers and aren't a focus of marketing at all, it's highly unlikely the reason is that you are not supposed to get spoiled. It's a lot more likely that those things you expect to be there just aren't there.

I keep thinking this when reading FFXV threads, for example when people are worried about how many of the screenshots and video footage seem to be captured in the Duscae region. You could hope that this is the case to not spoil the other areas - but that's not really how marketing for such a huge title works. If there are great, amazing open world areas to show, they probably would. If you don't see something in dozens of trailers and screenshots it's probably because it's just not there.

I would love to be wrong about this, but I'm doing myself the favor of only expecting exactly what I've seen and played of the game, not what I hope to be there against all evidence. Yeah, Tabata says the Story is a focus. But you can bet that Square Enix would have showed a lot more of their impressive CG cutscenes and graphically mindblowing, scripted scenes - if they were actually there.

Right now I'm expecting Dragon Age Inquisition with a log of in game dialogue scenes and the scripted scenes to not really go beyond what we've seen with the fight against the giant during E3. I'd be euphoric if stuff like the escape from the city from the FF XV announcement trailer in 2013 was actually in the game, but I'd also be very surprised. Neither the game's graphic engine nor its controls seem to be able to support these scenes.

EDIT: Actually I just realized that Tabata already confirmed that whole scene is not in the game. Have we ever seen an actual, in game, epic scene like this after the announcement trailer? Because I don't really remember much other than the Summons (which isn't really what I'm talking about here) and the boss fight against the Titan. It's almost exclusively: Drive and run around Duscae.

 

[encephalon]

That's enough for me to believe that Tabata cares about the story. Heck, he didn't make the game a fully open world so it doesn't mess with pacing and progress of the story.

Of course the base that allowed for multiple sequels is gone because they changed it in favor of making it a one game, its only natural that few things are going to be cut, changed, or replaced (e.g. Stella & FNC) but that doesn't mean that all elements from Versus were removed. We still have the war, the roadtrip, characters, main scenario .. etc that much is still very much there. Correct me if I am wrong, even Nomura changed a lot of stuff back in Versus days.

The thing is, Versus was never a real game, it was a mere concept and everything we've seen wasn't even in game. When the title became XV, Versus was only 25% done, we don't know what happens post Insomnia, so we can't say for sure what stayed in the story and what was scrapped, we can only take the dev word for it.

Of course the intro is light as we don't have that Insomnia invasion scene anymore, but that doesn't automatically mean the game is going to be all rainbow and sunshine with no story what so ever. In one of the ATRs Tabata said that the game will have its emotional and serious moments. Whether he will deliver or not that part remains unknown, we are promised a 50 hour story content and judging the entire story based the first 10 minutes of the game is certainly not fair. The beginning of XIII was solid but it didn't help much when the story turned out to be shit, XV deserves a chance to prove itself before we burry it to the ground saying its going to be shit. Also, its very important to judge XV as it is and not for what Versus could have been as a lot of its appeal came from glorified fan expectations.

I can think of so many anime/movies/games that starts off slow but becomes great as the story progresses, its all about the build-up after all and I am willing to give XV the benefit of the doubt. I am not saying you can't be cautious or even skeptical, I understand why you would be (I am too sometimes), but I don't think Tabata would just straight up lie about something he has been emphasizing on as far as I remember.

Thank you for taking the time to find those links. Finding quotes that suggest Tabata cares about story do not mean that there will be a certain story density within the game. Tabata could easily be trying to tell a "good" story within the constraints of being asked to be more minimalist in his approach (or believing that a minimalist approach would be better suited to the game). Again, the beginning of the game IS light on story. Incredibly. I don't see why I'm not allowed to judge a game based on the first ten minutes, especially when it corroborates my fears. Yes, the rest of FFXIII was poor, but if the opening of the game had been botched the game would have been even worse off for it. The same is true of every Final Fantasy. This is the portion of the game that is supposed to draw us into FFXV's world. I don't see why I should be asked to hand wave it.

This quote suggests telling story through gameplay:

The combat system, the art, the whole game development, the technology itself – that’s all about telling the story. And all of the aspects of the game.

You don't need to tell me that FFXV is not Versus and that it's a different project. But it was certainly born FROM Versus, and as such, comparisons are inevitable. It's fine that FFXV is different, but it doesn't seem to have shown much of anything to offer to replace what is no longer in the game. But even for the very early state Versus was in, we've still seen more story content from Versus than from XV.

There was supposedly Versus gameplay in this trailer. I'm also considering FFXV 2013 to be part of Versus content, at least in terms of story, because at the time they still contained the same story. We know the gameplay wasn't real there, though.

 

[Koozek]

Source



Source


Source


Source

That's enough for me to believe that Tabata cares about the story. Heck, he didn't make the game a fully open world so it doesn't mess with pacing and progress of the story.

Of course the base that allowed for multiple sequels is gone because they changed it in favor of making it a one game, its only natural that few things are going to be cut, changed, or replaced (e.g. Stella & FNC) but that doesn't mean that all elements from Versus were removed. We still have the war, the roadtrip, characters, main scenario .. etc that much is still very much there. Correct me if I am wrong, even Nomura changed a lot of stuff back in Versus days.

The thing is, Versus was never a real game, it was a mere concept and everything we've seen wasn't even in game. When the title became XV, Versus was only 25% done, we don't know what happens post Insomnia, so we can't say for sure what stayed in the story and what was scrapped, we can only take the dev word for it.

Of course the intro is light as we don't have that Insomnia invasion scene anymore, but that doesn't automatically mean the game is going to be all rainbow and sunshine with no story what so ever. In one of the ATRs Tabata said that the game will have its emotional and serious moments. Whether he will deliver or not that part remains unknown, we are promised a 50 hour story content and judging the entire story based the first 10 minutes of the game is certainly not fair. The beginning of XIII was solid but it didn't help much when the story turned out to be shit, XV deserves a chance to prove itself before we burry it to the ground saying its going to be shit. Also, its very important to judge XV as it is and not for what Versus could have been as a lot of its appeal came from glorified fan expectations.

I can think of so many anime/movies/games that starts off slow but becomes great as the story progresses, its all about the build-up after all and I am willing to give XV the benefit of the doubt. I am not saying you can't be cautious or even skeptical, I understand why you would be (I am too sometimes), but I don't think Tabata would just straight up lie about something he has been emphasizing on as far as I remember.

Great post!

 

[catbrush]

I'd be euphoric if stuff like the escape from the city from the FF XV announcement trailer in 2013 was actually in the game, but I'd also be very surprised. Neither the game's graphic engine nor its controls seem to be able to support these scenes.

EDIT: Actually I just realized that Tabata already confirmed that whole scene is not in the game. Have we ever seen an actual, in game, epic scene like this after the announcement trailer? Because I don't really remember much other than the Summons (which isn't really what I'm talking about here) and the boss fight against the Titan. It's almost exclusively: Drive and run around Duscae.

The Altissia invasion from the 2013 FFXV announcement trailer is not the scene Tabata is referring to, and is likely still in the game. The Niflheim invasion was originally the opening of Versus XIII, but was moved to Kingsglaive.

 

[SilentRob]

The Altissia invasion from the 2013 FFXV announcement trailer is not the scene Tabata is referring to, and is likely still in the game. The Niflheim invasion was originally the opening of Versus XIII, but was moved to Kingsglaive.

Ah, I see, so he was just talking about the scenes before the "CG gameplay"? Sorry about the confusion, wasn't aware of that.

I remain skeptical since we haven't seen this scene running in the actual game as it exists today as far as I'm aware and it seems unlikely to me that the current engine could even manage to deal with all the stuff going on there, but this gives me a little more hope, thanks for the correction.

 

[Gbraga]

The Altissia invasion from the 2013 FFXV announcement trailer is not the scene Tabata is referring to, and is likely still in the game. The Niflheim invasion was originally the opening of Versus XIII, but was moved to Kingsglaive.

And you can see a short moment of the Leviathan encounter in the E3 2016 trailer, so it's still in there, in some capacity. I'm not expecting a faithful reproduction of the 2013 trailer, but that's because that was CG, not because of a change of plans.

 

[SilentRob]

And you can see a short moment of the Leviathan encounter in the E3 2016 trailer, so it's still in there, in some capacity. I'm not expecting a faithful reproduction of the 2013 trailer, but that's because that was CG, not because of a change of plans.

You are totally right! Alright, looking forward to that part in the game then. Really interested in how they turned this high concept trailer into actual gameplay.

 

[Gbraga]

You are totally right! Alright, looking forward to that part in the game then. Really interested in how they turned this high concept trailer into actual gameplay.

It would be amazing if they managed to make it look similar to the 2013 trailer, even if highly scripted, but I doubt it, unfortunately. Even if just because of the engine giving them too much trouble on "normal gameplay" already.

EDIT: Later on in the trailer you have a non-cutscene shot as well: https://youtu.be/otVk3EEjgd8?t=99

 

[Falk]

But even for the very early state Versus was in, we've still seen more story content from Versus than from XV.

Could you list what you think were story beats shown in Versus? I'm legitimately curious what people got out of 7 years of trailers. Here, I'll help and start you off with some OTOH stuff

- The reveal where Noctis goes apeshit in front of the citadel and massacres a bunch of soldiers
- Noctis and Stella meeting at the party -> invasion starts
- Noctis and Stella facing off
- Noctis heading towards King Regis in a forest
- The face off between Noctis and hooded guy
- DRIVER SAN & the toll gate/security checkpoint
- Noctis walking past Ignis
edit:
- a lighter composition shot of the 4 bros doing bro things with head in armpits etc

edit2: I guess this also highly depends whether that period between E3 2013 and Jump Festa 2014 (counted that way since there are CG scenes in there which have been retconned by Kingsglaive) counts as Versus or FFXV.

 

[Gbraga]

edit2: I guess this also highly counts if that period between E3 2013 and Jump Festa 2014 (counted that way since there are CG scenes in there which have been retconned by Kingsglaive) as Versus or FFXV.

That would be stretching, since TGS 2014 already shows the Duscae roadtrip and them hearing about the peace treaty on radio. So Noctis in Insomnia during the invasion was already gone for quite some time by the time we got the Jump Festa 2014 trailer. Maybe they wanted to have the invasion as a CG cutscene in-game instead of the movie or something, but it was no longer the way it was on Versus for a while.

 

[Falk]

Right, but at the same time (kingsglaive minor screenplay spoiler)

Spoiler

you don't have robot guards kicking the door in on the signing ceremony

I mean, who is to say what changes took place when? If there was a gradual series of changes, when did it stop being "versus XIII" and become "XV"?

 

[Gbraga]

Did anyone get to read what the guy leaking stuff had to say about Versus? I wish I could read that.

EDIT: Not related to the current discussion, but that's from E3 2016:

Is the Shinjuku area an explorable town in the game?

Insomnia is not in the game as an explorable town. But it is a field for battle. It’s not just the area in front of city hall that we’ve been showing—it’s actually a wider, wider area. It’s not an explorable, full-fledged town like Altissia is, per say, but it is a location where you’ll carry out battle. It will make sense and everyone will understand as they watch Kingsglaive and get a sense of what that environment is.

It would be really cool if we got to fight our way into Insomnia, basically going the opposite way from the Versus XIII gameplay. The first time I read that interview, I thought "yeah, that confirms it won't be nearly as big as it was in Versus", but thinking about it again, was it ever an explorable town? All we saw was precisely a location where you carry out battle. We didn't exactly have time to smell the flowers and do side quests for NPCs in the middle of the Niflheim invasion. Maybe that was part of the prologue, but at least it was never shown. So who knows, maybe we'll get to see some of the same scenes we did in Versus. That would be awesome.

 

[CrimsonSquall]

So y'all are convinced this game is literally 4 bros running around a forest/desert for 50 hrs? Other areas have been shown in the trailers, just not as extensively.

I am astonished how many ppl really think this game will have u stuck in the same area the whole time. Guess the marketing really has fucked up

 

[encephalon]

I'm sure you'll do plenty of traveling in XV.

Could you list what you think were story beats shown in Versus? I'm legitimately curious what people got out of 7 years of trailers. Here, I'll help and start you off with some OTOH stuff

- The reveal where Noctis goes apeshit in front of the citadel and massacres a bunch of soldiers
- Noctis and Stella meeting at the party -> invasion starts
- Noctis and Stella facing off
- Noctis heading towards King Regis in a forest
- The face off between Noctis and hooded guy
- DRIVER SAN & the toll gate/security checkpoint
- Noctis walking past Ignis
edit:
- a lighter composition shot of the 4 bros doing bro things with head in armpits etc

edit2: I guess this also highly depends whether that period between E3 2013 and Jump Festa 2014 (counted that way since there are CG scenes in there which have been retconned by Kingsglaive) counts as Versus or FFXV.

Sorry, let me clarify. I don't mean that Versus marketing gave us a bigger picture of the story in the game, which was largely shrouded in mystery. Just that we saw more story content from Versus than we have of XV in terms of time spent in promotional materials showing off cutscenes, etc. This is partly because that's what Versus had to show off; versus gameplay didn't exist until post FFXIII.