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GAME: Final Fantasy XV


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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 358
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:00 am Reply with quote
So yeah I have barely been able to play the game but I'm having fun so far. While I have a couple of minor nitpicky problems with the game, my only major hang up so far is a cutscene in chapter 1. spoiler[The cutscene where the king dies] feels less like it's a part of the game and more of a commercial for Kingsglaive (which is an okay movie with a boring protagonist).
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:11 pm Reply with quote
I feel like a lot of the story problem come from two simple things that could have been easily avoided, the long development time and the focus on multi media product.

The jarring shift in narrative that happen at the middle is almost certainly due to the long development time, where one of these parts (most likely the later one) was made first and then the game got delayed to make the other parts even though they don't really fit together. The two part then had to be painfully duck taped together and this didn't leave the story unscratched.

Then the focus on multi media stuff (the movie and TV show) just means that there are point where important story information is just missing, most likely because its supposed to be filled in by those other form of media. But personally I don't have any interest in watching them. Releasing media tie to a game before the game come out seems really foolish to me, I don't have any vested interest in those characters, why would I pay more money to see them? The only thing I care about is the game itself, anything that's not in it shouldn't affect it.

Overall the game is pretty fun but nothing exceptional. The combat system could easily be improved by a few modification (limiting the number of attack you can do either trough set combo length or a stamina bar) but its not the worse open world combat system that we got in the last few years by far and its at least flashy and has a very good monster variety. The roadtrip and friendship element really work, but sadly there's nowhere near enough response by the character so they always repeat themselves "Oh! Love the lighting!". The quest are your standard "go there do that" and they repeat themselves a bit too much, but the environment variety smooth out the experience and make it pleasant nonetheless. The city variety is particularly impressive, I've yet to see all of them but those I've seen were very unique and well crafted.
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lostinagoodbook



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 114
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:10 pm Reply with quote
Are there no women in this game?
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AnimenexuS





PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 3:29 pm Reply with quote
lostinagoodbook wrote:
Are there no women in this game?


Yes, there is But none of them are playable. But there are hot men riding on Chocobo's.
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Kurohei



Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 597
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:29 pm Reply with quote
lostinagoodbook wrote:
Are there no women in this game?


Minor spoiler but not really, spoiler[there are two women who join your party temporarily for a short time.]
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bleachj0j



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 923
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:32 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
I feel like a lot of the story problem come from two simple things that could have been easily avoided, the long development time and the focus on multi media product.

The jarring shift in narrative that happen at the middle is almost certainly due to the long development time, where one of these parts (most likely the later one) was made first and then the game got delayed to make the other parts even though they don't really fit together. The two part then had to be painfully duck taped together and this didn't leave the story unscratched.

Then the focus on multi media stuff (the movie and TV show) just means that there are point where important story information is just missing, most likely because its supposed to be filled in by those other form of media. But personally I don't have any interest in watching them. Releasing media tie to a game before the game come out seems really foolish to me, I don't have any vested interest in those characters, why would I pay more money to see them? The only thing I care about is the game itself, anything that's not in it shouldn't affect it.

Overall the game is pretty fun but nothing exceptional. The combat system could easily be improved by a few modification (limiting the number of attack you can do either trough set combo length or a stamina bar) but its not the worse open world combat system that we got in the last few years by far and its at least flashy and has a very good monster variety. The roadtrip and friendship element really work, but sadly there's nowhere near enough response by the character so they always repeat themselves "Oh! Love the lighting!". The quest are your standard "go there do that" and they repeat themselves a bit too much, but the environment variety smooth out the experience and make it pleasant nonetheless. The city variety is particularly impressive, I've yet to see all of them but those I've seen were very unique and well crafted.


Pretty much agreed. I'm personally not watching any of the tie-ins while playing simply because I want the story that is in the game. I'm at chapter 4 and the story is laughably bad. The game really wanted to be a WRPG but, they've unfortunately taken all the negatives with that. Particularly that the story has no sense of pacing or tone. Not to mention the wonky animation during some cutscenes.
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xchampion



Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 370
Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Spike Terra wrote:
So yeah I have barely been able to play the game but I'm having fun so far. While I have a couple of minor nitpicky problems with the game, my only major hang up so far is a cutscene in chapter 1. spoiler[The cutscene where the king dies] feels less like it's a part of the game and more of a commercial for Kingsglaive (which is an okay movie with a boring protagonist).


You're partially right. Those beginning cut scenes weren't originally in the game, but Square added them so the people who didn't watch the movie, could still get the backstory. They were included in the day one patch. They do in fact come straight from the movie and the "omen" trailer.

https://www.vg247.com/2016/11/28/final-fantasy-15-day-one-crown-update-full-patch-notes-8-gb/
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ryanvamp



Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 416
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 7:39 pm Reply with quote
I can't help but feeling reviews have been insanely merciful with this game. It's an action RPG yet the combat feels too simple and none of the several reviews I checked out had anything good to say about the story...only the strong interactions between the bishonens.
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whitesox123



Joined: 31 Jan 2012
Posts: 42
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 10:34 pm Reply with quote
ryanvamp wrote:
I can't help but feeling reviews have been insanely merciful with this game. It's an action RPG yet the combat feels too simple and none of the several reviews I checked out had anything good to say about the story...only the strong interactions between the bishonens.
I mean you say simple but compared to other open world RPGs its fairly complex especially if you want to get really good at using warping effectively and not just spamming it. This is also a huge step up from FF13 which only had you press one button most of the time.
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ryanvamp



Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 416
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:04 pm Reply with quote
whitesox123 wrote:
ryanvamp wrote:
I can't help but feeling reviews have been insanely merciful with this game. It's an action RPG yet the combat feels too simple and none of the several reviews I checked out had anything good to say about the story...only the strong interactions between the bishonens.
I mean you say simple but compared to other open world RPGs its fairly complex especially if you want to get really good at using warping effectively and not just spamming it. This is also a huge step up from FF13 which only had you press one button most of the time.


I certainly won't deny that. This looks better than the whole Lighting trilogy.
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Tajima



Joined: 13 Apr 2015
Posts: 82
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:35 pm Reply with quote
[quote="bleachj0j"]
meiam wrote:
I'm personally not watching any of the tie-ins while playing simply because I want the story that is in the game.


Then you are missing more than half of the story. You may not like it, but it's nonsensical to say that the "story" is laughably bad when they've made it more than clear that this is a multimedia project.

Hell, without watching Kingslaive (which comes with most copies of the game) you're missing basically the entire backstory.
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 2240
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:45 pm Reply with quote
ryanvamp wrote:
I can't help but feeling reviews have been insanely merciful with this game. It's an action RPG yet the combat feels too simple and none of the several reviews I checked out had anything good to say about the story...only the strong interactions between the bishonens.


I haven't yet played the game, but I'd guess that for most folks, strong characters can do a lot to prop up a failing story. Heck, stripped down to its bare bones, The Last of Us isn't exactly novel in the story it's trying to tell, but the characters are what make it shine. It's pretty much the opposite of say, Heavy Rain, which had a fairly layered and complicated plot, but generally flat characters who were hard to connect to emotionally. So I'd hazard a guess that while there's probably plenty of world-shattering events surrounding the main plot of FF15, its heart lies with the boys.

That said, I'm thinking of holding off on the game for a good while. I've heard murmurings that several impactful events happen "off-screen", and that they seem to involve your party members, so we'll see if the party-member-centric DLC that comes down the pipeline addresses any of those issues.
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Ambimunch



Joined: 30 Aug 2012
Posts: 2012
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 12:42 am Reply with quote
Good review (and I don't say that often on this site). Everything about this game works, except the story. It's coherent, and it "makes sense" - but far too many "chunks" are missing. Even re-watching some trailers from 2013/2014 will show just how much material ultimately got pawned in the final product.

Nonetheless, the world, gameplay and the characters make up for the weak story. I'd score it as an 8.5/10 right after beating it, but would bump it up to a 9/10 in retrospect. Good job Square, keep it up!

--

As for the plot problem, it's quite easy to spot the main issue. Essentially, the original vision had Noct and the guys escape the city during the invasion. This opening essentially got replaced with the film and took Noct out of the city during the invasion completely. As such, the issue is that most people didn't watch the movie, plus the game does a poor job of communicating the impact of the Crown City falling. You're left wondering "what am I even doing?"
The easy fix would have been to include Noctis fleeing Insomnia, spoiler[his fathers slaughter], and a motive for Noct and the player to go on a journey to become stronger, spoiler[become allies with Gods], and reclaim the Throne. I am in the minority, but I truly think that would have been a better approach than having the prequel movie.
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pikopika



Joined: 21 Nov 2014
Posts: 195
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:48 am Reply with quote
Quote:
But halfway through, it feels like somebody remembered to hit the Final Fantasy button, and the remainder of the game is a story-driven cutscene-heavy linear adventure that abandons the US-inspired open road for the truly fantastic locations you traditionally expect from this franchise.

Yup, that sounds about right. Final Fantasy doesn't change in that sense. Laughing
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Lord Oink



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 876
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 5:57 am Reply with quote
I imagine the second half is the remnants of Nomura's original vision before Tabata came in and changed everything. Which sucks because the second half sounds like a game I'd much rather play.
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