Final Fantasy XV

[Calpis]

One thing that I am worried about is the combat. Is holding down 1 button and switching different stances any different from the paradigm shift in FF13?

That's not even close to my experience with the combat. I suppose once you're too high a level for the enemies your fighting it would come to holding down attack until they're dead, but normally defending and parrying are necessary, and changing up which weapons to use on which enemies are pretty regular occurrences.

I totally don't agree with Zoltan about how it doesn't feel like a Final Fantasy, or that it's nonsense to longtime fans. I grew up on the SNES classics (FFVI mostly) and this game is really close to what I was expecting FFX to be like.

Re: the world size, I haven't played FF14 yet but it definitely is huge. Felt much more open and varied than Xenoblade, which already to me was pretty big.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Of course, saying that old school FF fans aren't going to like it is just my speculation but I would very much like to hear what aspects of FFXV do feel like a Final Fantasy game to you. Because I can think of a whole lot of reasons to the contrary.

[Calpis]

The idea of having a large and seamless (or at least seemingly seamless) open world to explore, great music, fun battles, basically just a feeling of grandiose or living world. I think everything else (aesthetic, era, character design, turn based vs realtime, etc) that I see a lot of people criticizing this game for are far less important than having a simple story with an engaging battle system, or just enjoyable game mechanics in general.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Hmm. I can't say that you've convinced me. A seamless or open world is not a common find in Final Fantasy games. I don't see how good music and fun battles are markedly Final Fantasy either. A simple story and enjoyable mechanics may be more important depending on what you're looking for in a game, but those things don't make it inherently a Final Fantasy game.

I don't know what others have said, but here is why I don't think it's a Final Fantasy game. The battle system feels overwhelmingly like an non-JRPG action game. Kingdom Hearts and Star Ocean have actions battle systems but they still feel like JRPGs. The open world aspect has resulted in very MMO-ish side quests. I fear that there will also be a bunch of collect-a-thon fetch quests in the final game. Thirdly, there is no magic. Where's my Fire-Fira-Firaga action? The combination of all these little things culminates in a game that seems far removed from Final Fantasy.

[Calpis]

That's cool. I wasn't trying to convince you of anything. Just saying what my expectations for the game are. I don't care what people think what makes a FF game.

Magic is in the final game though. I remember something about the devs saying the magic system or effects aren't ready so that's why they're not in the demo.

[Admiral_C]

Thirdly, there is no magic.

That's true. In a deleted scene, Ramuh was saying that Noctis' whole sword-out-of-thin-air bit was just a cheap parlor trick.

[Avatar of Justice]

My biggest problem with this game is that it felt much more like a western game than a JRPG. Between the waymarkers guiding you everywhere, cover points to regenerate MP, and clearly delineated warp points on conveniently placed metal towers, I felt like I was playing Assassin's Creed or Gears of War, not Final Fantasy. Most of the level progression and character management system in the game is (hopefully) locked off in the demo which really makes it hard to get a feel for how JRPG'y it actually is.

Waymarker and leading the player by the nose make me feel like I'm constantly in a tunnel. Instead of doing a big open world kind of thing, I'd prefer smaller, more tightly designed, memorable areas. See Dark Souls, FFX, or FFVII for how to do this.

[Brandon Strader]

Ff7 had way makers, the giant white glove that told you where to go whenever you were in a town

[The Legendary Zoltan]

I don't remember any hand in FFVII pointing the way.

The warping is way less fun than I expected it to be because I thought you could do it to anywhere. Specific points makes it way less fun. I suppose there will be trial and error warping puzzles to climb a building. That would be fun for me.

If they would just fix the camera, lock on, and frame rate, it would be a MASSIVE improvement. They need to pull the camera way further back and up and let it follow your locked on enemy from that position, battles would feel so much better.

One thing this demo does really well but I fear is only designed this way for the demo is the exploration. Nobody cares about finding random items to sell, but the fact that you could see a sword stuck in a random rock, pull it out and suddenly have a brand new insane attack is wonderful. I'm a big proponent of less treasure chests with way better treasure. If they want to put potions in treasure chests, they should just put one chest with five potions instead of five chests with one potion each. Nobody was ever happy that they got a potion from a chest. Getting five is another story though.

Also, I FOUND A RARE ENEMY! I found a Mesmenir, killed it and got a Mesmenir Blade. That was nice.

[PforPianist]

I have not played the game,

that said, what you said about weapons being retrieved from monsters, that is what I imagined ff13 to be when I first heard about it. That should add new dynamics to the battle system. I think as long as you do it well (which, in my opinion, ff13 didn't do well) you can call it FF. i have to admit, that what drew me in to the FF series, is decidedly missing from the later ones. My favourite is still 9, for the sheer fact of sidequests, and great abilities in battle. I persevered through to the end of the game and wanted to play it again.

[Thin Crust]

 

This is a description of the things that it takes to make this game. This is the first game that really feels truly a large enough gap between the last gen to be fully considered next gen.  Of course, I don't have a next gen console yet so I can't comment on things like the witcher 3, but FF15 is looking like the most advanced and technologically impressive game I have ever seen.

[Brandon Strader]

The Order 1886 is probably the best looking video game of all time...  but I too am excited to see how Final Fantasy XV changes the face of gaming when it finally comes out I think they're skipping E3 to give more FF15 news at Gamescom...

[Brandon Strader]

Nobody has said anything & I haven't had the chance to play it myself so I haven't said anything, but for the sake of updating anyone who doesn't know, there was a considerable FF15 demo patch that went live recently.. among other things, it:

 

- Improved the battle system

- Added sidequests with the characters

- Added a new "mega boss" that is difficult to kill. 

[Thin Crust]

Well look at that!  A Final Fantasy XV movie is coming out with Sean Bean playing King Regis.  Check out the trailer

 

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/03/31/final-fantasy-15-movie-kingsglaive-announced

 

And at the same time, they are making a FF15 anime.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/03/31/final-fantasy-15-brotherhood-trailer

And one more for good measure.  A new trailer.  I'm digging the music.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/03/31/final-fantasy-15-environment-trailer

[Brandon Strader]

A few new trailers at the Uncovered event. Very good event. And a new demo. I already finished it. Very cool. Short but well optimized. First episode of the anime was great. 

And an Audi R8

[Hipnotyk]

On 3/25/2015 at 0:21 PM, Brandon Strader said:

Ff7 had way makers, the giant white glove that told you where to go whenever you were in a town

IIRC, the glove pointed at Cloud or whoever the party leader is and it can be toggled on or off to locate him easier, along with the arrows which show where you can go (not necessarily where you NEED to go).

It wasn't like FFXIII which literally just points you in the direction of the next objective.

[DrumUltimA]

I will admit that while I haven't cared about Final Fantasy in like, almost a decade, this event did a good job of getting me excited.

[Brandon Strader]

I'd be satisfied if the game got delayed a year and we just got the anime, the movie, the Audi R8 (jk lol) the mini-game, to hold us over until it came out. The sheer amount of content and the fact that it's all pretty awesome is really surprising. Square did an awesome job here. 

Not to be a self-promoting butt, however I remixed that one song you guys might be hearing in some of these trailers, I don't think an official title has been released yet. But regardless, here is said mix. It's on the panel though it's been on there so long it's looking like they might reject it for being too loud. (qq)

 

You can pre-order the game already on the PS Store (gosh darn!) and it comes with an Amano pre-order theme... that plays music and has crazy clashing artwork that makes it so you can't read anything. That's awesome. 

[Newt]

I played through the demo... The game just feels bad. They seemingly put all the emphasis on the combat, but it's not as good as devil may cry, god of war, dark souls, monster hunter, or even ragnarok odyssey.

[Calpis]

Loved the demo. Short but enough to understand the changes made since Episode Duscae. I kinda think the battle system is a little less strategic trading off for faster pace. I read an interview saying that the magic system is going to be similar to the draw system. That makes me worry but as long as they don't tie it to your stats like FFVIII did, it should be okay. I'm looking forward to the September 30 release. 

[Brandon Strader]

I loved the draw system. It made it so easy to make your guys OP by drawing 100 of the right stuff and slotting it. I think the platinum demo shows the magic being sort of like "items" which is kinda cool I guess. Maybe it's similar to draw in that you use a magic like a consumable item rather than with MP. In which case it's not specifically similar to FF8, I think most of the FF games have had some form of magical item where if you use it, it casts a certain spell. This reminds me of that. Though it's the acquisition of the magic that will determine how similar it is to ff8. How do you get the items? Random drops? That'd be interesting. 

[Native Jovian]

The only real problem with the draw system was that drawing 100 of a given spell the first time you ran across it was necessary in order to make your characters more powerful, but it was boring.  Having to spend an hour or so just grabbing spells from monsters sucked.  The concept (steal spells from monsters, attach spells to stats to make them more powerful) was interesting, but the execution was tedious.  Maybe make it so that using the draw command once filled your stock of that spell up to max?  Or make it so that junctioning a spell to a stat didn't depend on how many of the spell you had stored, just on which spell it was?  (ie, junctioning fire to strength has the same effect whether you have 1 fire or 100 fire stored up.)

[Kadosho]

Interesting to see diverse opinions about XV thus far. I haven't played the demo as of yet, but reading descriptions intrigues me. The "open world" concept, including the time management system work in tandem well. But the grinding, its always been a part of the series. And watched some gameplay trailers, I feel that XV wants to break the mold from traditional RPG design. If FF can evolve, this may be the one to do so.

[Brandon Strader]

https://www.gameinformer.com/p/ffxv.aspx

 

game informer doing a month of FF 15 reveals. A few already up!

[Thin Crust]

I clicked the link and saw "An extensive look at FF15's first chapter" and I thought, why would I ever want to look at that?  Why would anyone want spoilers?  The first chapter is supposed to be jaw dropping and get you hooked.  Reading spoilers will just ruin the experience.

 

What did you guys think about the movie?  Personally, I hate it when you play a game or watch a movie that you know how it's going to end.  Like how you knew what was going to happen at the end of Halo Reach or Crisis Core.  And from what we already know about the attack at the peace summit, the movie looks to have an obvious story direction.  Other than that, I enjoy fast paced action and crazy fight scenes and this movie looks to have plenty in it.