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So... Pitioss Dungeon in FF15

The best/worst discussion is interesting, upon reflection I've decided it is: The best executed, and the worst idea, and overall fascinating.

It's such a terrible fit for the game in so many ways but the execution is so incredibly brilliant and surprising, it should be studied by all junior designers who haven't quite grasped the difference between the impact of ideas and execution in game dev. Whoever pitched the FFXV team the idea "Hey let's make a Mario Galaxy tier platforming dungeon that's longer and more complex than any other piece of content in the entire game" has balls of steel.
 
Zareka said:
I did this entire dungeon in one sitting and then my car blew up outside before I saved.

Seriously, I wanted more of this dungeon. I thought FFXV was extremely mediocre, but Pitioss. Man. One of the best dungeons I've in any game in a long, long time. Hell I'd be fine if the entire game was like this.
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Same for me. I don't particularly like this game, but the puzzle dungeon was amazing.
 
I managed to get there once before I had the key, but since then I crash every time I try to land. Why are the Regalia Type F's controls so terrible? Why do I press the buttons to land and slow down, only for the car to seemingly decide to do the complete opposite?

Even landing on a normal road is an exercise in frustration.
 
The dungeon was good overall but I gave up after spending hours trying to go past one area. I'm not good at platforming and there is not enough checkpoints so any subtle mistake will let you do a long segment again. Also it hurts seeing some people doing it in like 2 minutes, or even 30 seconds (when they hv the warp glitch enabled) haha
 
If a mediocre platforming section with really wooly and imprecise controls is being held up as the best part of FFXV, that says a lot about FFXV doesn't it? Says a lot about its other dungeons and its core combat that so many people think the game is at its best when it throws all of that away. I mean, the game was not built to be a platformer and it shows.

Despite that, I agree that it was the best part of the game by far, but only because the rest of it was pretty much garbage. I would have enjoyed the dungeon more if it wasn't for the overuse of the 45 degree angle sections.
 
Is this strictly post game? I have the option to do the final mission but I went back and now I'm just mopping up some side stuff.
 
I loved it. It has some great aesthetics. Looked amazing sometimes, surreal even.

I hope there will be more DLC like this
 
I thought it was pretty much bullshit. Unique for sure and one of the most memorable scenes in the game, but a dungeon focused on platforming in a game that's not designed around platforming is almost always a recipe for disaster. The controls just aren't good enough for it.
 
I hated the 5 hours it took me to beat the dungeon. FFXV is NOT a platforming game. There were so many times I died because of bull shit. You cant even have nictis do a 180 degree turn without Noctis taking a step in the direction you flick the joystick, the jumps are very hard to make percise, and Noctis rolls seemingly random after a long fall. So my question is why in the fuck would they make a level that requires Mario bros level platforming? By the time I wanted to quit I already played 2.5 hours and felt obligated to finish. The only upside is the tons of valuable items and the best accessory for Noctis.
 
7 hours ??!!?!. That's a lot.

Either way. I agree, it's both awesome and terrible, the perfect dungeon for a game that is, IMO, also awesome and terrible at the same time.

The level design and variety in the dungeon is amazing. It has some better puzzles and areas than actual puzzle games.
But nothing about the controls or physics of the game was made or designed for a dungeon like this. The jumping in particular was obviously never ment for precision platforming.
 
This was an amazing dungeon, because half of the platforming that was required almost felt like trying to abuse the game's mechanics and glitch the game to get Noctis to jump far enough. I think the game not being made for platforming is part of what made it so fun for me, though also painful. The dungeon's design was great overall, I especially loved the demon wall thing and walking on the tiny skewed pathways in the dark. And the goddess statue. Definitely one of the most enjoyable dungeons in an FF.

But they should have added a save point halfway through, since doing all that in one go was very, very exhausting.
 
Byvar said:
But they should have added a save point halfway through, since doing all that in one go was very, very exhausting.
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You know you can open a whole bunch of shortcuts so you can go back outside and save every once in a while, right? Though there are a few sections that go waaaay too long without a shortcut opening up.
 
MasterOfNone said:
wow... the exact same thing happened to me. I haven't replayed the game since and I'm afraid the same thing will happen if I try again. Of course next time I'll actually save after completing it...
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There's no need to even do that. You can just have the car tow back to hammerhead from the menu.
 
Best dungeon in the game, best dungeon in the series.

More 'Tomb Raider' than the 2 recent reboot entries. No hand holding, difficult, but fair enough to not feel artificially difficult. It was a wonderful platforming dungeon.

You spend the first few sections or so getting accustomed to Noctis' physics and animations.

Then the dungeon just pulls no punches and allows itself to become an entirely different game.
 
I really didn't care for it myself. But I'm not much of a fan of platforming these days, especially with a camera and loose controls from it being a game not build for platforming.

It's is a well designed area that aside though.
 
I dug how out of the way it's location was. After crashing at least 15 times trying to land on that tiny strip it was so satisfying wandering around in this hidden area that was practically off the map. Then finding this strange forgotten ruin that was unlike anything I had seen before in the game. It felt special in the same way that making long treks to out of the way places in games like FF XI did.

Also, I'm a dumbass because I wasn't even sure how to enter the place at first. Oh, there's a bar missing on the fence lol. Puzzles in the dungeon were pretty thoughtful and I was amazed to find something like this in a FF game.
 
Lumpy Onion said:
I dug how out of the way it's location was. After crashing at least 15 times trying to land on that tiny strip it was so satisfying wandering around in this hidden area that was practically off the map. Then finding this strange forgotten ruin that was unlike anything I had seen before in the game. It felt special in the same way that making long treks to out of the way places in games like FF XI did.

Also, I'm a dumbass because I wasn't even sure how to enter the place at first. Oh, there's a bar missing on the fence lol. Puzzles in the dungeon were pretty thoughtful and I was amazed to find something like this in a FF game.
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Finding this dungeon was a puzzle. Entering this dungeon was a puzzle!

The guy who designed all of this needs a fucking raise, stat.
 
I really hope at least one of the DLCs employs some of the design principles of this dungeon. More puzzle-solving, Dark Souls-esque "holy shit I finally beat it" moments would be great.
 
Loved this dungeon. Decided to tackle it late at night, was up till 3AM. My hands were shaking afterward. And the way it just... ends without any fanfare. It felt like an amazing nightmare.
 
It is great. Except for the part where Noctis has a automatic roll on landing that throws you into an abyss.

Each room has a new and interesting idea that it then tries to iterate on. It really bums me out that the game includes something this weird and innovative and hides it in a post-game corner, while everyone has to go through the garbage pile that is Chapter 13. Whoever spent the time designing Pitioss deserved better.
 
jorgeton said:
Loved this dungeon. Decided to tackle it late at night, was up till 3AM. My hands were shaking afterward. And the way it just... ends without any fanfare. It felt like an amazing nightmare.
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And the end is literally behind the first wall you see.

It's terrific design. Masterclass of dungeon design.
 
I had to split my playthrough of it between two days because I ended up playing it til like 2 in the morning and still had like 25% of it left to go, but yeah despite a few frustrating parts I loved it. The puzzle-platforming parts in the first half were a lot better than the more precision platforming parts later on though.

And yeah like the OP I would love to see a full 3D map of the whole thing just to see how it all fits together.
 
This is the last big piece of content I need to do. But... after biffing the landing 4 or 5 times I took a break and have been playing Darkest Dungeon and Berseria. Need to go back though....
 
I spent six hours and needed the help of my teenage children to complete this thing. The item you get at the end is nice but ultimately not worth the trouble.

The design of the dungeon is fine, but the game's mechanics (especially for jumping) let it down.
 
It took me about 5 hours, went on a date halfway through the dungeon with my system on rest mode. I thought it was terrible, if only because the heavy movement with a large turning radius Noctis has (that's more reminiscent of western games like Batman or Assassin's Creed) doesn't jive well with precise platforming mechanics. And some parts were really counterintuitive, like where some platforms you could stick on and others you couldn't.
 
Easily the best dungeon in any FF, let alone any RPG.

The atmosphere is really something else. No background into how it got there, who built it, for what purpose, and what any of the statues represent. The tilted nature of the platforming during the second half is something else, too.

The giant skull wall was a pretty great shock to see the first time. You open the door, and see this thing that should be the cover of a metal album roaring towards you so fast, only to have it stop mere inches away from you. It was a really cool feeling the first time. It turned out to be one of the better puzzles in the dungeon, too.

Finally going through all of the areas and ending up back in the first section was almost frustrating, but it made the last leg of the journey feel more special.

I also forgot to save the first time I left and crashed the car trying to land. I did the dungeon again in about a quarter of the time and it was still awesome to see.
 
Imp the Dimp said:
Best FF dungeon every by a landslide. Also better platforming than Uncharted 4 and TLG combined.

FFXV was one hell of a game.
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Get the fuck out with that. I completed Pitioss and the platforming you have to do is complete shit compared to almost anything with a jump button. FFXV was NOT meant for this and is pretty shit at it. Pretty sure the dungeon is a troll to all the players.
 
Dmax3901 said:
This was what happened to me after spending 4 hours getting through it.
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First thing I did after this dungeon was to manually save.

I started this dungeon at 5 am and didn't know it doesn't autosave, was almost going to finish it but I was sleepy af so I put the console to rest mode after around 4 hours to get some sleep and continue it in the morning, only to wake up to find that the power went out while I was sleeping.

I don't even want to remember this tragedy.

Also quoting myself from the OT:
he who dwells said:
Just finished the Pitioss Dungeon and I seriously can't remember the last time I was this frustrated from a game.

Who greenlit this? who the fuck designed this? I almost threw my controller, after spending 4 hours jesus christ !
Don't get me wrong, the dungeon looks cool as fuck, and the design is just genius ! but the platforming ugggh.

This is legitimately one of my worst gaming experiences and I love this game to death. I almost feel proud for completing this.
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I think it's among the best in the series, despite some obvious design flaws that leads to some serious frustration. It's really different and unique, and when it starts getting really mind bending is when it shines despite it also being when the issues with the platforming also are at their worse.

I'll say this, if they could have designed the dungeon to also take into account and at times require warp striking, I think it would have been remarkable. It's a shame, but overall I really really like the dungeon.

EDIT: I've also discovered a weird fascination with playforming in open world RPG's, despite it being almost universally terrible in an objective way. Like Dragon Age: Inquisition, Fallout 4, The Witcher III...the goofy platforming is charming and unexpected and I quite enjoy it for some reason.
 
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