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Final Fantasy XV tech demo presentation by Tabata (Demo gameplay details added)

Squire

Banned
I was struck by the realization that these are the most Japanese-looking characters I've ever seen in a JRPG.

These guys? Really?

There's a concerned effort here to do the exact opposite. I think it's working, too. I've seen at least two-three dudes that look like Prompto IRL. And they're not Japanese.
 

sn00zer

Member
Im beginning to wonder if Square can even afford to make another game that uses the capabilities of the engine after FFXV...maybe DQ, only other franchise that would be safe enough to sink the resources
 

Mr. RHC

Member
kuDBIno.gif

fTvJduW.gif
 

Somnia

Member
Im beginning to wonder if Square can even afford to make another game that uses the capabilities of the engine after FFXV...maybe DQ, only other franchise that would be safe enough to sink the resources

They'll want to keep using the engine to justify the cost of making the engine. Not all games have to be as large as XV using the engine.
 
Im beginning to wonder if Square can even afford to make another game that uses the capabilities of the engine after FFXV...maybe DQ, only other franchise that would be safe enough to sink the resources
They don't have to make every game a huge open world. That alone eats up cost and resources. Hopefully they can stick with this engine for the entire generation so we don't have to have a repeat of last.
 

frostshade

Neo Member
Im beginning to wonder if Square can even afford to make another game that uses the capabilities of the engine after FFXV...maybe DQ, only other franchise that would be safe enough to sink the resources

FFXV-2/FFXVI.

They need to recoup losses somehow and justify building the engine in the first place.
 
They don't have to make every game a huge open world. That alone eats up cost and resources. Hopefully they can stick with this engine for the entire generation so we don't have to have a repeat of last.
Hell, if FFXV is as gigantic as they hint, they could basically make games half it's size and they still might be rather large compared to the JRPGs of the PS360 era. I still say, Dragon Quest VIII isn't as large as XV seems(the vistas of FFXV makes it seem it's considerably MASSIVE), but it was still large enough to give that epic feel(like you were traveling through a large world), yet small enough that you didn't get lost or feel like the trek was too time consuming. A similar example would be Wild ARMs 5's world. Square doesnt' have to strive for every game to meet or exceed FFXV's size(though for the FF series, they'd likely have to because anything else would be a step backwards), but other non-FF titles, they can surely go the DQ8/WA5 route(maybe push size one notch above those) and still keep that spirit of exploring a "world" that a lot of JRPGs have lost in the previous generation.
 

Meowster

Member
Im beginning to wonder if Square can even afford to make another game that uses the capabilities of the engine after FFXV...maybe DQ, only other franchise that would be safe enough to sink the resources
Not including the inevitable XV-2, they will probably use the engine for Type-1 since they are using it on mainline systems - especially since Tabata is the main director of both.
 
Im beginning to wonder if Square can even afford to make another game that uses the capabilities of the engine after FFXV...maybe DQ, only other franchise that would be safe enough to sink the resources

If the game sells 10,000,000 like it easily will then there is no way they don't make money off of it.

This first game is the hard part. Now they will have the engine in place and from the looks of it, it will last through the generation just fine and will always look good.

It would help too if they didn't keep messing with the game itself so much and recreating major aspects of it. Who knows how many back to the drawing board moments this game had
 
Yeah, even the in-game gameplay models look CG thanks to the lighting and shaders. Incredible.

ibmhRixr94zoai.gif

Ian Sinclair would be a cool choice to voice him based on Dandy.

That glass-effect on the interface is nuts, especially from a performance point of view. It really shows how much ambition is put even in the smallest components of the game I think. Hopefully we'll see a menu in the near future.

Yeah, they put some crazy detail into the menus sometimes.

The hair is still one of the most impressive things imo. So fluffly.

ibdFfdTEGOdoaw.gif

Black magic.


Impressive as heck, so glad the sword teleporting is still in.
 
FFXV-2.

They need to recoup losses somehow.

Personally, I think they can keep much of the assets and use them for future games. Why waste, say, perfectly good trees. The trees seen in XV could be used for FFXVI. If they want, they could provide subtle changes(slightly tweak the color of grass or bushes, add different shaped petals to flower models and alter the texture of tree bark). I actually don't see anything wrong with that. So far, what they've got of natural settings and structure is top notch, and it would be a shame to dump those assets and start over from the ground up with the next game. Not saying there can't be anything new, because new models is a given(new towns, new characters, new monsters), but a lot of the geographical areas could basically be lifted, hills, trees, mountains and oceans being placed in totally different areas(to create a new world different in layout to XV's) and and there you've got it!
 
If the game sells 10,000,000 like it easily will then there is no way they don't make money off of it.

This first game is the hard part. Now they will have the engine in place and from the looks of it, it will last through the generation just fine and will always look good.

It would help too if they didn't keep messing with the game itself so much and recreating major aspects of it. Who knows how many back to the drawing board moments this game had

This. They've gotten so bad at wasteful development practices rather than refining what they have, recreating and creating stuff that never gets used that they seemingly practically have whole games of mostly created content that ends up in the trash.
 
Personally, I think they can keep much of the assets and use them for future games. Why waste, say, perfectly good trees. The trees seen in XV could be used for FFXVI. If they want, they could provide subtle changes(slightly tweak the color of grass or bushes, add different shaped petals to flower models and alter the texture of tree bark). I actually don't see anything wrong with that.

I think it would be pretty cool actually. Would remind me of the 2D era when they used to recycle sprites and tilesets in the successive games (up to FFV).
 

frostshade

Neo Member
Personally, I think they can keep much of the assets and use them for future games. Why waste, say, perfectly good trees. The trees seen in XV could be used for FFXVI. If they want, they could provide subtle changes(slightly tweak the color of grass or bushes, add different shaped petals to flower models and alter the texture of tree bark). I actually don't see anything wrong with that.

That would be the most logical scenario in case this game doesn't meet sales expectations (Square has some crazy expectations in general imo) or the reception towards the game is very positive.

The engine might be used for FF16 though depending on how many sequel's FF15 has (for what it's worth, I'm guessing at least 2 sequels bringing another trilogy in our midst.)

EDIT: It will probably show up in their Dive-In catalog in the future and possibly PC. This is a big money sink. They need every outlet available to recoup as fast as possible and profit on top of that.
 
Even with the case of Matsuno, I feel that the "Final Fantasy" brand has it's restrictions which kinda holds back the grey morality of stories. Just comparing Tactics Ogre and Vagrant Story to Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII makes it pretty clear to me that the company is much more comfortable giving creative freedom to storylines without the FF brand attached. FFT probably got away with a lot more than a FF game should, but even there I think making the church the obvious enemy suppressing the "truth" in the world is pretty black and white, and Ramza was always the clear hero with little moral ambiguity. The same can be said of Vaan and Ashe in FFXII. On the other hand, with TO and VS, even the protagonists were made much more complex in psychology and moral right. TO even gives the player options to be a vicious and undesirable person, which is pretty unique.

Agreed. There's probably a lot of truth to that, I wouldn't be surprised if they felt more comfortable pushing a little more outside of the big brand.
 
I think it would be pretty cool actually. Would remind me of the 2D era when they used to recycle sprites and tilesets in the successive games (up to FFV).

IMO, it's a smart way of doing things(maybe even eco-friendly, in a video game type of way, hehe). It would save time and money, which I'm sure would benefit the development of the games. Imagine if they had to recreate EVERYTHING all over again? And it's not necessarily going a cheapo route, but if you can reuse assets efficiently, reuse as MUCH as possible, but just give use a new perspective with those assets.
 

Lucent

Member
Would be nice if they got the sword to where it doesn't need pre-selected spots to launch it on the levels. I just wanna mess around. See a tree or building and zip up to it. Have the NPCs be like "wtf?" lol
 

CHC

Member
Ugh why are they doing this... I'm supposed to be jaded and cynical about this game, not excited and optimistic!!
 
Resting gun on the shoulder and bouncing it a few times: check
Rub index finger under nose to relieve itch: check
Scratch the back of head as if to contemplate a thought: check
"Smart" guy with glasses standing with arms folded: check

Anime cliches ftw!
 
i7EXGqMb1gL0X.gif


Favorite moments.

Cannot wait to explore these HD towns. Art direction is beautiful.

Also about the team moves, do you think it might be like Chrono Triggers Dual/Triple tech system......that would be amazing.

Agreed those two shots are gorgeous!

Also, unlike some others I expect Stella to be playable, for at least a major part of the game, but not towards the beginning. I wonder if the black haired girl we know nothing about yet, besides that she exists, will be though.
 

TaiKH92

Banned
Lots of speculation going on. What we know from the first real gameplay of FFXV is:

- you hold the "attack" button and Noctis automatically attacks nearby enemies with different weapons and combos and/or attack in combination with party members, depending on the situation.

- you hold the "defense" button and Noctis automatically evades physical attacks from nearby enemies.

- the "fire" command is selected and while Noctis is casting the spell you can choose the target, then release it.

- when none of the above is not selected, the "warp" ability is targeting warp points or enemies (in this case, the command name changes to "warp attack").

- you can move Noctis around in the battlefield.

- your party members attack, defend and move on the field without your input.

ugh too much "automatically" I hope I can change it to manual or something



"- you can move Noctis around in the battlefield."

^That should be a given
 

chaosaeon

Member
I was a big FF fan since the NES days but I stopped playing after FFX, I guess I just got burnt out or something. FFXV is looking like it could bring me back, looks amazing.

This is exactly what happened with me. I still have the collector's edition of XII with the steelbook never opened.

I can't tell if the weapons constantly appearing and disappearing is annoying or not.

I was starting to think I was the only one who thought this. In the very first trailers of the game years ago I remember thinking this was some kind of special move/limit break etc where he could summons swords or something. I'm not sure if I like it being a constant thing I'm going to see for almost every move.
 

injurai

Banned
ugh too much "automatically" I hope I can change it to manual or something



"- you can move Noctis around in the battlefield."

^That should be a given

It's more of a queueing system. Remember you can control all 4 of your party members, use them in real time and set them to different stances. There will be plenty of feedback and actions to take at any given moment. It's less of a hack and slash and more an rpg/rts sort of situation if that makes sense.
 

Squire

Banned
Why not? Most people seem to like him.

He strikes me as a really generic VA. That was a huge issue with XIII, too. They opted to cast unknowns, but they were unknowns for a reason: they were mediocre actors and the script didn't help. Obviously Troy is more than capable and Ali Hillis is excellent in Mass Effect, but everyone else in that game was painfully C/D-tier.
 

watershed

Banned
Lots of speculation going on. What we know from the first real gameplay of FFXV is:

- you hold the "attack" button and Noctis automatically attacks nearby enemies with different weapons and combos and/or attack in combination with party members, depending on the situation.

- you hold the "defense" button and Noctis automatically evades physical attacks from nearby enemies.

- the "fire" command is selected and while Noctis is casting the spell you can choose the target, then release it.

- when none of the above is not selected, the "warp" ability is targeting warp points or enemies (in this case, the command name changes to "warp attack").

- you can move Noctis around in the battlefield.

- your party members attack, defend and move on the field without your input.


What we don't know:

- if we can switch party members
- if we can have the option of pressing the attack button individually for each physical attack
- if we can select the weapon Noctis uses
- if we can change how the party members AI behave
- if we can issue commands to party members while in battle
- if we can jump
- how do we choose which commands are available for the battle
- how do we select targets
- how summoning works

"bu bu bu Nomura said"

What he said about the gameplay is borderline irrelevant. I will stick with the actual game called FFXV being done by Hajime Tabata and forget the vaporware called FFVersusXIII that was not developed by Nomura for 7 years.
The degree of automation and the accompanying animations to make the battles look dynamic is what worries me. It seems like SE has been trying to simplify FF combat more and more to get the cinematic look of the combat right. But I'm worried they've sacrificed the quality and depth of the gameplay in order to achieve a flowing, cinematic style of combat.
 
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