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Final Fantasy XV Impressions: Mark All Spoilers

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For what that worth, my friend back in France is a FF8-9-10 absolute fan and he loving the game like crazy. He says also that the french voice acting is very solid.
 
I feel like people that hate side quests are going to hate this game tbh.

I don't understand why anyone that hates side quests would play it. It's like Skyrim in that manner, if you're not exploring the world and doing random tasks the main quest isn't enough by itself to constitute a full experience.
 
Only about 7 hours in, but doing most/all of the side quests seems like a pretty bad idea. They're mostly generic fetch quests and have little narrative hook, and you just end up being overleveled for the story content.

Seems like doing a few that sound interesting/have good rewards is probably the way to go.
 
Might just trade it in, the gameplay loop for the first 6 hours had just been "auto drive to place, cutscene , rest , repeat", the Dilagoue is enjoyable but something you could just watch on YouTube.
That's not at all what the gameplay loop is unless that's what you're making it, my dude. It's an open world game. Wander around and do side quests and hunts. If you're in the car the whole time you miss a ton of optional stuff.

You might as well say that any gameplay loop is "go to a spot, get a cutscene, go to another spot," if you're gonna boil it down that hard. You don't gotta like the game but don't be obtuse.
 
For what that worth, my friend back in France is a FF8-9-10 absolute fan and he loving the game like crazy. He says also that the french voice acting is very solid.

Oh, we're getting a VF? I'll probably switch to japanese voices, but I'll give the VF a chance then, especially if it is as good as you say. I wonder if I can find the casting voices list somewhere, to check if I recognize some of the voice actors.
 
Might just trade it in, the gameplay loop for the first 6 hours had just been "auto drive to place, cutscene , rest , repeat", the Dilagoue is enjoyable but something you could just watch on YouTube.

Eeek FF13 flashbacks, *shudder*

Not simply because of this comment, but I may put the game on the back burner till after Xmas. I have a meaty assignment due for the 20th of December and there is a good chance I won't be playing many games. No point in paying for FF15 for release when its price will no doubt plummet in the UK.
 
Played only 4 hours so take with caution as the story is just starting.

Regardless, at that point, I might just need to adapt, but some of the underlying mechanism are really not enjoyable... moving around especially is terrible. You can only sprint for like 30 sec, using the Regalia is a feels tedious, simply "summoning" the car uses a loading screen.


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Also, I know, completely different games, but the side quest structure and story development, compared to a game like The Witcher 3 feels like out of the PS2 era.

But, somehow the game keeps me going. I think I might just go on ignoring some of the side content.
 
I don't understand why anyone that hates side quests would play it. It's like Skyrim in that manner, if you're not exploring the world and doing random tasks the main quest isn't enough by itself to constitute a full experience.
I don't understand the recent side quest hate either. It's like when people complain about collectibles when they're often designed in such a way that they use the games' mechanics to their fullest. For example, in Mirror's Edge Catalyst a lot of the collectibles are out of the way and require clever thinking and good timing to reach them - literally the things the main story requires. It's very strange. I understand if people don't have that much time to devote to these games but it doesn't mean that they shouldn't be designed in that way.
 
I feel like people that hate side quests are going to hate this game tbh.

Depends on the quality of the side-quests. There's nothing wrong with optional content as long as gets close to matching the level of attention and production as the main story, like in Witcher 3 or the loyalty missions in Mass Effect 2. If it's just boring MMO fetch quest then no thanks.
 
Oh, we're getting a VF? I'll probably switch to japanese voices, but I'll give the VF a chance then, especially if it is as good as you say. I wonder if I can find the casting voices list somewhere, to check if I recognize some of the voice actors.

My friend is use to go with VF, personally i never do that but maybe that time i'll give it a chance, since japanese imply spending all the time watching subtitle instead of the actual action.

You have a video of the french voice cast.
 
Oh, we're getting a VF? I'll probably switch to japanese voices, but I'll give the VF a chance then, especially if it is as good as you say. I wonder if I can find the casting voices list somewhere, to check if I recognize some of the voice actors.

I second that. VF is really good aside of the lip syncing. Very talented guys, especially the Noctis one.
 
I'd love to hear your impressions on the combat since I remember you were driving me absolutely nuts at one point about the argument over the transition from versus XIII's combat to Duscae's combat and this was before aerial stuff/the Nifl Base footage was revealed so I couldn't say anything, haha.

I remember vaguely the discussion, although don't remember what I exactly said. Lol

I have some thoughts, but is early and I want to unlock more skills and try more weapons.
 
Might just trade it in, the gameplay loop for the first 6 hours had just been "auto drive to place, cutscene , rest , repeat", the Dilagoue is enjoyable but something you could just watch on YouTube.
Umm, so what about the rest of the game? Like the huge chunk of a thing called combat (which personally I believe is better than a lot of recent open world games' combat, def better than Witcher 3's)? You really are just oversimplifying things a bit. If you do that, TMS #FE is just "go through dungeon, cutscene (get special performa), boss, repeat." Witcher 3 "scene, Witcher sense, fight, repeat". Dark Souls "run through area, boss, repeat".
 
Depends on the quality of the side-quests. There's nothing wrong with optional content as long as gets close to matching the level of attention and production as the main story, like in Witcher 3 or the loyalty missions in Mass Effect 2. If it's just boring MMO fetch quest then no thanks.
Some get attention like TW3. I'd say it's about on par in that way? There were plenty of boring quests there too.

The writing isn't always on par with TW3 (in fact I don't think it is all that often at all) but there are enough that aren't just fetch quests.
 
That's not at all what the gameplay loop is unless that's what you're making it, my dude. It's an open world game. Wander around and do side quests and hunts. If you're in the car the whole time you miss a ton of optional stuff.
The side quests are 90% shit mmo quests , walking around constantly to kill X creeps ain't for me, for me that's not a wise time investment.

Umm, so what about the rest of the game? Like the huge chunk of a thing called combat (which personally I believe is better than a lot of recent open world games' combat, def better than Witcher 3's)? You really are just oversimplifying things a bit. If you do that, TMS #FE is just "go through dungeon, cutscene (get special performa), boss, repeat." Witcher 3 "scene, Witcher sense, fight, repeat". Dark Souls "run through area, boss, repeat".

Erm well yeah that is the gameplay loops of dark souls and TMS,,,W3 not so accruate.

But yea theres been no more than a 15 minutes of combat involved in the main story so far, so its not been a huge part of the game. I havent had the chance to do an interesting hunt outside deadeye, which is one of the most tedious 5 minutes in videogames.
 
The side quests are 90% shit mmo quests , walking around constantly to kill X creeps ain't for me, for me that's not a wise time investment.
This is gonna sound blunt, but you're wrong because I have my log open right now and I have to go take a photo, do some fishing, find a dungeon and clear it, ask around to find some engine parts and investigate and figure out where to get some ingredients--and maybe don't play RPGs if you're looking for a "wise time investment." Even TW3 had a whole lot of time wasting.

The only fetch-ass-fetch quests have been hunts and weapon upgrades.
 
Some get attention like TW3. I'd say it's about on par in that way? There were plenty of boring quests there too.

The writing isn't always on par with TW3 (in fact I don't think it is all that often at all) but there are enough that aren't just fetch quests.
Hmm, again, I'm still early in the game, but right now I'd disagree that the quests are on par with TW3.

In TW3, even if a side quest ultimately boils down to a fetch quest in terms of objective, it almost always tells an interesting little story to give you a narrative incentive to complete the quest. So far, I haven't gotten that in this game.
 
Some get attention like TW3. I'd say it's about on par in that way? There were plenty of boring quests there too.

The writing isn't always on par with TW3 (in fact I don't think it is all that often at all) but there are enough that aren't just fetch quests.

Is it easy to figure out from the quest details which quests are which? Is it get 6 coeurl pelts obvious?
 
This is gonna sound blunt, but you're wrong because I have my log open right now and I have to go take a photo, do some fishing, find a dungeon and clear it, ask around to find some engine parts and investigate and figure out where to get some ingredients--and maybe don't play RPGs if you're looking for a "wise time investment." Even TW3 had a whole lot of time wasting.

The only fetch-ass-fetch quests have been hunts and weapon upgrades.

Are you even being sarcastic.
 
Erm well yeah that is the gameplay loops of dark souls and TMS,,,W3 not so accruate.

But yea theres been no more than a 15 minutes of combat involved in the main story so far, so its not been a huge part of the game. I havent had the chance to do an interesting hunt outside deadeye, which is one of the most tedious 5 minutes in videogames.
You played 6 hours and 15 minutes of that was combat? Jesus, the hyperbole here.

Do you get also weapons for doing hunts or just money? How many weapons are in the game?
I'd d say there are more than enough. Some of the outposts and cities sell weapons. Then there are ultimate weapons, hidden weapons and upgradable weapons. I think some quests also give weapons, but don't remember exactly.
 
Hmm, again, I'm still early in the game, but right now I'd disagree that the quests are on par with TW3.

In TW3, even if a side quest ultimately boils down to a fetch quest in terms of objective, it almost always tells an interesting little story to give you a narrative incentive to complete the quest. So far, I haven't gotten that in this game.
I'd disagree on TW3 but that's also because I found a lot of those quests asinine and genuinely dull. It's easy to remember the quests that really stood out narratively but I really didn't enjoy a lot of them.
Is it easy to figure out from the quest details which quests are which? Is it get 6 coeurl pelts obvious?
Yep.
 
Played only 4 hours so take with caution as the story is just starting.

Regardless, at that point, I might just need to adapt, but some of the underlying mechanism are really not enjoyable... moving around especially is terrible. You can only sprint for like 30 sec, using the Regalia is a feels tedious, simply "summoning" the car uses a loading screen.


EDIT


Also, I know, completely different games, but the side quest structure and story development, compared to a game like The Witcher 3 feels like out of the PS2 era.

But, somehow the game keeps me going. I think I might just go on ignoring some of the side content.

BTW you can spring indefinitely. Just click sprint again as Noctis is beginning to straighten out his posture, or turn on the stamina bar and click sprint right as the bar is about to empty.
 
Some get attention like TW3. I'd say it's about on par in that way? There were plenty of boring quests there too.

The writing isn't always on par with TW3 (in fact I don't think it is all that often at all) but there are enough that aren't just fetch quests.

Fetch quests are okay and they have their place but they should never be the majority of the quests in the game (which it sounds like in FFXV). TW3 had a good smattering of different kinds. You had the question marks which are your standard open world checklist kind of thing, the contracts which were more in-depth and had story attached to them, and then the bigger side quests which told bigger stories and at times had a lasting impact on the world.
 
It's always funny when people bring up TW3 as an example of good side quests because while there are many good ones (and many "side" quests which cleverly disguise themselves when they're really involved in the main quest) so many of them boil down to

1) arrive
2) witcher sense and look at red things for 3 minutes
3) go somewhere else
4) get into a fight
5) short chat with NPC and it's over

It's especially funny when people then point to Dragon Age as MMO filler when it has many similar quests, the only difference being the context is usually provided via notes and text in dragon age versus NPC disclosures in tw3.
 
Fetch quests are okay and they have their place but they should never be the majority of the quests in the game (which it sounds like in FFXV). TW3 had a good smattering of different kinds. You had the question marks which are your standard open world checklist kind of thing, the contracts which were more in-depth and had story attached to them, and then the bigger side quests which told bigger stories and at times had a lasting impact on the world.
FFXV has that too. Everything is not fetch quest. Ignore the impressions that basically play the beginning few quests and then enforce it over the whole game, as they are wrong.
 
It's always funny when people bring up TW3 as an example of good side quests because while there are many good ones (and many "side" quests which cleverly disguise themselves when they're really involved in the main quest) so many of them boil down to

1) arrive
2) witcher sense and look at red things for 3 minutes
3) go somewhere else
4) get into a fight
5) short chat with NPC and it's over

Pretty much. They have good writing but the actual design isn't much of a departure from the norm.
 
It's always funny when people bring up TW3 as an example of good side quests because while there are many good ones (and many "side" quests which cleverly disguise themselves when they're really involved in the main quest) so many of them boil down to

1) arrive
2) witcher sense and look at red things for 3 minutes
3) go somewhere else
4) get into a fight
5) short chat with NPC and it's over

That is true, but at least it frames them better. All I've done so far are fetch quests in this game, not that I mind though because side-quests don't need to be completed, they are just there to supplement the main mission.
 
It's always funny when people bring up TW3 as an example of good side quests because while there are many good ones (and many "side" quests which cleverly disguise themselves when they're really involved in the main quest) so many of them boil down to

1) arrive
2) witcher sense and look at red things for 3 minutes
3) go somewhere else
4) get into a fight
5) short chat with NPC and it's over

True, but TW3 is the 3rd game in a series where people have been familiarised around characters they love so repetition and mundane side quests fly a bit. As pointed out though the writing in TW has always been very good, so the quality is in much more abundance than the bad.

FF15 like others that have come before it has to introduce new characters and stories and make you give a shit all within the one game. Heck they tried 3 games to get people to like Lightning.

Point being for better or worse people may not let shit fly as easily in FF15 than TW3. Square proved they can do it, but many of us have been left waiting since the PS1 and PS2 days for a FF we give a shit about.
 
I have just started the game really but I have a question about the ascension grid.

IS THIS IT?! Please tell me it opens up a bit more, this doesn't exactly look like much! I had enough AP to open up 4/5 nodes on the grid the first time I camped and reached level 3.
 
I've got my eye on this game, despite having never really touched a Final Fantasy game before.

Some of these comments fill me with excitement while others fill me with dread. :P

It'll be interesting to see what reviewers make of it.

I'm also looking at Hitman - which is on sale at the minute - but I'm ignoring my head and looking to try something totally different to what I'm used to.

Having said all that, I'm concerned about some of the criticisms regarding the story. It sounds like it's almost non-existent in a traditional sense.

I will continue to pour over this thread.
 
FFXV has that too. Everything is not fetch quest. Ignore the impressions that basically play the beginning few quests and then enforce it over the whole game, as they are wrong.

At this point i'd recommend people not preorder the game and wait for reviews. That, or watch some of the streams basically playing through it right now. Im definitely getting a mostly mmo vibe from most of the questing content ive seen. Along with a very grindy mainstory battle vibe.

So yeah, hold off a bit if you arent into that.
 
I have just started the game really but I have a question about the ascension grid.

IS THIS IT?! Please tell me it opens up a bit more, this doesn't exactly look like much! I had enough AP to open up 4/5 nodes on the grid the first time I camped and reached level 3.
It doesn't open up more but some nodes are expensive. I doubt you will be able to unlock everything by the end of the story unless you do everything which is kind of the point of unlocking.
 
I have just started the game really but I have a question about the ascension grid.

IS THIS IT?! Please tell me it opens up a bit more, this doesn't exactly look like much! I had enough AP to open up 4/5 nodes on the grid the first time I camped and reached level 3.
The basic stuff can be opened easily but the advanced type requires a lot more AP points. Don't worry, it is very hard to maximize the grid. I am level 52 but haven't even fully maximized a single one yet.
 
I've got my eye on this game, despite having never really touched a Final Fantasy game before.

Some of these comments fill me with excitement while others fill me with dread. :P

It'll be interesting to see what reviewers make of it.

I'm also looking at Hitman - which is on sale at the minute - but I'm ignoring my head and looking to try something totally different to what I'm used to.

Having said all that, I'm concerned about some of the criticisms regarding the story. It sound it's almost non-existent in a traditional sense.

I will continue to pour over this thread.

If you've never played an FF game before and are looking for something unique, you could do worse than FF15. I'd check it out blind and really go all in on the discovery aspect
 
PSY・S;225486989 said:
What I need is a guide which tells me which side quests are simple fetches/hunts and which are story/lore relevant.

In about 5 hours of playtime I haven't found one side quest that's lore/story relevant, but people say they're in there so I'm hopeful.
 
That is true, but at least it frames them better. All I've done so far are fetch quests in this game, not that I mind though because side-quests don't need to be completed, they are just there to supplement the main mission.

Pretty much. They have good writing but the actual design isn't much of a departure from the norm.
Yep, where TW3 excelled was in the context for side quests which helped them pass under the radar for what they were. That and a couple standout narrative ones.

Does anyone know where the level 7 goblin hunt is? I'm at the location at night but no goblins, lol.
 
Only about 7 hours in, but doing most/all of the side quests seems like a pretty bad idea. They're mostly generic fetch quests and have little narrative hook, and you just end up being overleveled for the story content.

Seems like doing a few that sound interesting/have good rewards is probably the way to go.

That is what I plan to do going forward. Problem is, there is no way of knowing which one has a good reward.
 
But they are better than Fallout 4 side quests at least right? Kappa

FO4 was certainly a game that the reviewers drank the kool-aid on. A higher metacritic than New Vegas, pls.

FO4 is the MGS5 to the FO series. Improved gameplay, shit story. Bethesda are overrated in the story department, a lot of what they put out is incredibly average. It's not offensively bad, it's just massively overrated. Hence how Obsidian made the best FO game.
 
Yep, where TW3 excelled was in the context for side quests which helped them pass under the radar for what they were. That and a couple standout narrative ones.

Does anyone know where the level 7 goblin hunt is? I'm at the location at night but no goblins, lol.

Is it the demo one near the mine? They popped up on the side of that cliff for me.

If not, no clue. I don't have the game T_T
 
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