Final Fantasy XV (was Versus XIII)

Some places in Europe (including Sweden) are trying to adopt the Black Friday thing. Because we adopted so much already from America, we might as well go on with the tradition.

Tetsujin said:

Wait, is Black Friday a thing for us? I thought that was American.

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Don't get me started on that... it's been getting popular over the last few years. With some stores actually getting their prices up weeks before just so they can go back to the original for Black Friday. I tell you!

Currently in chapter 3, some non spoiler thoughts:

Negatives

- In the first two chapters I got to drive the car twice manually. Once in the beginning and once later when Ignis we shouldn't be out at night and I veto him. The actual driving is limited and not very fluid.

- Some of the control aren't great, you jump with X but you also have to pick up stuff with X. Not a great combination.

- Battle system so far has been for me press buttons until something good happens, it's annoying.

- On a non 4K tv graphics aren't impressive, they look dated. I'm setting up my 4K tv today so thoughts on that later.

- I have to go to sleep to get my exp, why?

- A lot of times lips and the speaking audio are not in sync.

- Most of the NPC and their quests are boring.

- I hate Cydney's accent.

Positives

- Prompto is great.

- I've liked Noctis so far.

- Car music.

- I like the guys interactions.

- Dave.

The game's been goodish not great so far. The game has taken aspects from Dragon Age and The Witcher but not remotely done as well.

I have to go to sleep to get my exp, why?

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I like this. Different accommodations offer different exp bonuses, depending on how good the rest will be. I racked up a ton of exp and stayed at the expensive place that offers 2.0x
Mad levels.

I have the game since Tuesday and I've not even started playing.

Joe said:

I have to go to sleep to get my exp, why?

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I like this. Different accommodations offer different exp bonuses, depending on how good the rest will be. I racked up a ton of exp and stayed at the expensive place that offers 2.0x
Mad levels.

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It's very D&D/prior Elder Scrolls games


Also starting chapter 3 you can drive the car whenever you want.

I remember liking how nights in Episode Duscae actually looked dark unlike most other games. The effect seems to be gone. Probably lighting downgrade to increase performance...

Is it just me or does the water at Galdin Quay mostly look like a painted floor?

Also, this shit bugs me:

Why does the Lucis Kingdom use a different currency for everything outside Insomnia?
Why do the protagonists not seem to be aware of that? Why did Regis allow these ignorant kids to go on a trip with zero usable money?
I know it's mostly for gameplay purposes of not starting you out completely loaded but it makes not a lot of sense from a story perspective imo.

Why does no one recognize the freaking CHANCELLOR OF NIFLHEIM?! Don't they have any education in Insomnia? News? He is literally one of the leaders of the invading nation!!!

You think? I thought the nights look very dark. They're definitely still a lot darker than Skyrim.

And Regis didn't know who Ardyn was in Kingsglaive either, iirc. He must not be a very public figure. The Emperor must do all the public appearances.

ForceStealer said:

You think? I thought the nights look very dark. They're definitely still a lot darker than Skyrim.

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Definitely a lot less dark than ED. Could be a regional thing though as lighting conditions change from area to area (happened in ED when you go out of bounds).
I guess I'll see once I reach Duscae and can make a direct comparison!

And Regis didn't know who Ardyn was in Kingsglaive either. He must not be a very public figure.

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Regis immediately recognized him.

"Has Niflheim grown so bold that they send the chancellor himself
as envoy? And under no guard at that?"

Ah, yes. Sorry, I just remembered Ardyn introducing himself and assumed he was doing so out of necessity.

Odder still,

I don't know if I can click that spoiler or not.

I'm only at chapter 2.

Yeah, I'd prefer to have story-related stuff in the spoiler thread, so you know for sure it's a spoiler and shit . That, and use the spoiler tag argument to indicate what the spoiler is about or after what chapter it's not spoilery anymore.

What are the reviewers saying? I'm getting a vibe that it's an okayish title; haven't heard any wild excitement about it being game of the year and shit yet, the excitement has mostly been about it being the first new original FF game since seven years or so and Finally Having It and having paid a lot of monies for the special edition.

My thoughts:

Manual Car controls are stiff, but I'd take that over a racing sim or Grand Theft Auto any day.

It's 500+ additional gil if you get in an accident, and Cindy scolds you. I'd take that over Car Insurance, BUT

I'd rather not bang the car around too much at those prices, thanks.

Plus I was never a good driver in real life so stiff controls helped guide my wild steering, even for U-turns. Plus there's the issue of REDACTED forcing you to race down to REDACTED later on.

It doesn't help that my allies freak out whenever I swap Armigers, sheesh.

Ah, come on, it wouldn't be Final Fantasy without inexplicable plotholes.

FFXV worldwide sales over 5 million, fastest selling title in the series

nvm my previous remark

Well, that's yet another day of not getting the game.

And from tomorrow to Sunday, it'll be busy as hell and I won't really be home that much. I may not play it until Monday. Ouch.

Cthulhu said:

Yeah, I'd prefer to have story-related stuff in the spoiler thread, so you know for sure it's a spoiler and shit . That, and use the spoiler tag argument to indicate what the spoiler is about or after what chapter it's not spoilery anymore.

What are the reviewers saying? I'm getting a vibe that it's an okayish title; haven't heard any wild excitement about it being game of the year and shit yet, the excitement has mostly been about it being the first new original FF game since seven years or so and Finally Having It and having paid a lot of monies for the special edition.

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The issue with that is that people are kind of just openly discussing shit in there. My intention was for the spoiler thread to be for open spoiler discussion, but Joe ruined that by making an opening post telling people to use spoiler tags lololol

I'll continue to post here exclusively until I've completed the game.

Reviews are pretty much universally "this is a great game with some big flaws and a step in the right direction for FF".

I don't have a full opinion yet, I'm just finishing Chapter 4 XD

And I'm just noticing more and more things that make this game feel... dead / lifeless.

* Poor character animations and asynchronous or unconvincing lip sync.
* Poor sound design. Flying things that make no sounds. Visuals of gunfire but no sound.
* Bland and uninspiring level and environment (at least in the early part I'm at), unlike Kingsglaive which did it much better imo

I'll need to replay or watch bits of XIII, but long story short, I can't help but think that the previous games did it better. yes they did

edit: okay slight adjustment: there's a cutscene at the start of chapter three that, at points, has well-timed lip sync; it shows off pretty decent facial animations and expressions and such, during the close-ups. The not-close-ups just show... very little. Copy / pasted and static soldier models and shit.
I get the feeling that the main issue Square has, not just with this but also with XIII, is that they insist on making their own engines. Which is fine on the one side, but on the other, it's not anymore, not for this generation of gaems. Focus on the art, story, animations, sound, music, less on the technology.

......................................i can't believe i'm saying this..............but looking back at it now, ffxiii is a lot more engaging story and direction-wise

...............................wow

Besides the magic and combat (which I'm slowly getting better at) my only minor complaint so far is that it feels like they open up way too many side quests whenever you hit a new area. I knew the first half of this would be open world, but the amount of shit that pops up in every new place is almost insane. At least I can prioritize which quest takes precedence, so the map isn't leading me in a completely different direction than where I want to go.

Chocobos. I love the chocobos. Haven't tried any racing yet, but I've them to quite a few hunts.

This is why I said I'm not fond of open world!! Shit tends to get crazy and lose focus. I'm still hopeful that it won't be that bad.

[/baselessopinionbeforeiplaythegame]

I don't feel as much of an "I should do this" vibe with the quests as with e.g. Skyrim though, which... probably means the sidequests aren't as rewarding.

I mean I just .

Also, I only just now remembered that there is a skill tree of sorts. While leveling up happens overnight, going and spending points after leveling up is a manual action, one which you don't actually get any reminders of after leveling. Derp. I have 200 points to spend now.

(I'm ~6 hours in, early chapter 3, backtracked to do some sidequests now)

Have to say, in a way it's a leisurely game, as in, there's no real pushing you in any direction. I'm sure less bitter gamers will enjoy doing all the sidequests, exploring, etc. On that note, question:

I know Random Nobody's feelings on this already (I was writing this as he made his comment a few posts above ironically enough), but can some more of you who are actually playing the game weigh in on whether you feel invested in this cast and their struggles? Because having watched a playthrough of the game, I just find myself not caring about any of these people at all.

Lord knows FFXIII had its problems, as well as a few named NPCs it could have dropped without them being missed, but it feels that way with nearly everyone who appears in this game. Hell, it could have probably benefited from excising some, because then it wouldn't seem so much like the development team abandoned all these ideas after they had already begun writing, modeling and coding characters into the game -- and then just left it all at that stage of development once it was decided they wouldn't be used after all.

I can't imagine how much more apathetic I would feel had I not gone to the theatre to see "Kingsglaive," nor how much more irrelevant characters like would seem. Even would feel like an extended cameo at best.

I realize that you'll always feel more immersed in a game when you're actually playing it, but when XIII came out, I didn't have a PS3 yet, and I was compelled to watch a Japanese playthrough once, an English playthrough twice, go purchase the special hardback strategy guide Piggyback put out, and still want to play the game when the opportunity arose.

Even for the most expendable named NPCs in that game, you can still point to at least one scene where you think "They were relevant there." I don't know why more than half these people are even in XV!

Some irrelevant NPCs here overshadow characters who were important in "Kingsglaive," even when the character doing the supplanting gets only one or two scenes at most in XV. That's ridiculous!

And you know, you could almost forgive all this if it was just a narrative strongly driven by its world building, cosmology and associated lore. You can't even say that much, though. Unlike XIII, there is absolutely nothing about the lore to ponder over, nor any incentive to do so.

There was just a serious problem in the vision for this game from what I have experienced so far.