It also turns out there's a lot of new (voiced) lines added to the Pocket Edition. These range from hearing Gladio tell Sania to "Stay beautiful" when he first meets her at Hammerhead; to Prompto mentioning that he rescued Pryna and wishes she would come visit the way Umbra does; to Gentiana outright saying
the covenants are taking their toll on Lunafreya's limited strength, and that Noct needs to hurry.
Seems like that last bit should have been in the main game, and maybe it is (I know one of the optional exchanges from Chapter 4 has Ignis say
"If the strain of the rites is as Gentiana suggested, I fear she's far worse off than we are,"
but I've heard a lot of optional lines from Chapter 4, yet never heard that stuff).
I've decided I may as well add these new lines to the lore archive script. Most of them just function as additional information, though there are a few instances where they replace dialogue in the original -- and in some cases, the order of the original dialogue is altered, conversations condensed, etc. I'm not going to do an actual script for the Pocket Edition, though, so not every instance of altered/condensed dialogue will be in here.
I'm mainly focused on inserting little drop-down boxes marked "Pocket Edition-only dialogue" where these conversations with completely new dialogue appear.
I'd also add that with fish you're anticipating a struggle from, ease off the line before you think you need to (i.e. before the "tension" notification appears). Just walk on eggshells with those fish, basically -- easing the line in a little at a time, always anticipating that the next second will come with the fish thrashing fiercely.
The Pocket Edition is turning out to be a sweet little thing.
In addition to those extra lines I mentioned before, the Leviathan sequence in this version of the game has actually been improved over that of the main game by making it a little more similar to what was shown off during the E3 trailer back in 2013. There are a lot more magitek troopers between Noct and Leviathan in this version too.
There's also now a semi-dungeon for the vicinity of
Shiva's body, as the deathclaw boss sends Noct, Gladio and Iggy down to the ground from the train tracks, requiring them to make their way back up.
It's hard to see this as anything but an improvement over the original presentation of that portion.
Finally, in what may actually be a "leak" of sorts of upcoming content from the Royal Edition/Royal Pack, the final battle of the game sees its dialogue greatly expanded, with scripted triggers for some rare dialogue that was previously heard only at random, as well as a whole lot of new, fully voiced lines (with even some newly revealed lore!). Watch the video behind the spoiler tag below, and watch all three phases of the fight, as they all have new and/or expanded dialogue:
I love the little touches to those -- the Pocket Edition graphics on Lunafreya's phone, and the "Monster of the Deep" movie poster behind Cidney. That last one is also gold for different reasons.
A live panel with the developers of FFXV was held at the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Exhibition on February 13, 2017 (7:30-8:30 PM JST). The panel included a signing event and a live drawing demo.
寺田武史 Takeshi Terada, Director of FFXV EPISODE IGNIS
高橋和也 Kazuya Takahashi, Director of FFXV COMRADES
中澤孝継 Takatsugu Nakazawa, Director of FFXV ROYAL EDITION
6 members of the FFXV art team
Summary of the panel as translated from the tweets of twitter user つばささん and RIKUKAさん
Many thanks to つばささん and RIKUKAさん as well as /u/kero_0206 and /u/scissorman for bringing this to my attention!
Note: the following info is essentially a retelling of a retelling. While I'll do my best to translate accurately, I did not actually attend the panel, so I cannot personally vouch for the truthfulness of the tweets. Please proceed with an open mind.
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Because Ignis's characterization was more difficult to get across compared to Prompto and Gladio's, they decided to give him more screen time when they were making Chapter 1 (ex: Ignis pulling Noctis by the shoulder).
Ignis's tours were more difficult to come up with than Prompto and Gladio's. They couldn't come up with anything apart from cooking, so they used the word "glasses" as a starting point in the brainstorming stage.
The car-pushing event at the beginning of Chapter 1 was initially going to be 15 minutes long.
To increase the feelings of excitement and anticipation that a journey entails, the Rock of Ravatogh was made to be visible while the player pushes the car in Chapter 1.
In Chapter 3, it was initially assumed that there would be more people going to Iris in Lestallum than to the Chocobos, but it turned out to be the other way around.
There will be voice lines exclusive to the quest "The Sword in the Waterfall" (t/n: also in Chapter 3).
Various additions in the Royal Edition will supplement the main story.
The team couldn't go into detail, but there will be another update in March.
Episode Duscae was originally going to be "Episode Titan," but it was later changed to be a demo centered around an open-world experience.
A new map in Chapter 14 of Insomnia was confirmed to be included in the Royal Edition.
A scene that was cut from the main game in which Gladio flirts with Sania in Hammerhead was added to the FFXV Pocket Edition. Other conversations that were cut from the main game will also be in FFXV PE.
The live drawing demo was drawn in the style of Yoshitaka Amano. Pictures here, here and here.
It was originally planned for players to be able to craft items in the trunk of the Regalia. For example, if you put meat into it, it would become jerky. Though this was not implemented, it evolved into plans for an event in which Cindy puts luggage into the trunk. Ultimately, the trunk was cut from the game.
Episode Ignis was going to be like a strategy-based/"command" RPG (t/n: think games like Dragon Age). Final Fantasy Tactics was also taken into consideration, but this made battles rather boring, so it became what it is now.
Battle commands in Comrades were discussed. The team also shared problems and funny anecdotes that came up when they were developing the commands.
Noctis was originally going to have a bachelor party in Galdin Quay, but because of Tabata, it was deemed that it wouldn't happen in this situation/it would be hard to actually relax given the circumstances, so it was cut from the game.
(t/n: possible typos in the explanation.
First translation assumes この状況てそらはない is supposed to be この状況でそれはない; second translation assumes the same sentence is supposed to be この状況で空がない.
Edits courtesy of /u/Kairi52474 .)
The multiple endings of Episode Ignis were troubling at the beginning. There was also debate over what would happen upon putting on the ring. The team started developing from the idea that loss of vision was not for fashionable/aesthetic reasons. As for the multiple endings, because the ending of the main game was already good, the alternate ending carries a sense of denial to it (in the sense that it effectively rejects reality/the true ending and the events that lead up to it).
Other rejected ideas include one where adamantite was a necessary component of the boat.
On Comrades: "everything is Carbungle's fault" lol
There seem to be plans to change the graphics of Behemoths, Bombs, and Flans.
The team was very fastidious about roadside props/accessories.
It was not discussed very clearly, but there was talk of Glaives in Insomnia.
The appearance of Coeurls was dialed back for the sake of balance because they were too strong.
