Final Fantasy XV

[Pojodin]

I'm thinking gameplay will be closer to what Duscae provided. During the uncovered thing they said that Platinum Demo was it's own separate thing to unlock Carbuncle, whereas Duscae was a part of the final game. I might be reading into it wrong, but I'm guessing they switched things up a bit for the Platinum Demo due to its brevity and unusual content.

[Mister Jack]

Well that would explain it, but it can sure be confusing to put out two demos with completely different styles of gameplay.

[CorgiShinobi]

I played the demo last night and it's alright.

 

Took me a while to wrap my head around "Hold  to Defend." Noct doesn't show signs he's defending, but when a enemy swings, he goes into defense. Then I was able to parry the boss of the dreamscape and do some crazy maneuvers. I didn't unlock Gold, mainly because you've got to dedicate yourself to "platforming" in the dining room. If you unlock Silver, you can access the Cross Shuriken in the final area, and I guess when you beat the boss, a Platinum plate unlocks so you can use the Hero's Shield.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

I unlocked all levels of plates but didn't find the cross shuriken or the heroes shield.

[deanb]

I didn't get any of that stuff apart from Carbuncle. It was certainly weird, though interesting. I played it on the PSTV though (trying to avoid room as much as possible atm) so any jankiness I put down to the signal.

[deanb]

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

 

Game Informer have a FFXV section with some neat articles if wanting to learn more.

[Pojodin]

Nice! They seem to address most of the more prominent questions.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Pojodin

[Strangelove]

The demo wasn't very good. Hard to believe that this is what they be been working on for so many years.

I know games should have their own identity, but Final Fantasy living in its own bubble has hurt it immensely. What they do doesn't work. They need to look at good recent RPGs for some inspiration.

If they're not willing to go back to what they used to do, then move forward and catch up to what everyone else is doing.

[deanb]

 

Some decent look environments, and seem rather large compared to what they've had in past games.

[deanb]

 

PS4 and PSVR trailer. Honestly the VR implementation looks really shitty n half hearted but at least done in a way that won't impact the main game.

 

On Xbox stage they had a boss fight, it looked really really wank and I think maybe not the best sequence they could have done, maybe would have been better with a bit of traversing and smaller mobs to maybe then end with a big titan boss popping up instead of making it the main feature.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, my thought watching that demo was that it looked extremely un-fun.  It was basically get knocked down over and over and over.

[deanb]

 

It seems, especially based on the FFXV playlist on Spotify that recently went up, that Florence + the Machine is the main song person for FFXV. Kinda hoping it's just a couple one offs like when they did pop-songs for FFX n such. Really liked Somnus from the first trailer.

 

 

Oh on the above, it seems I didn't post it here, but there was a Chinese demo of the same boss fight that ran a lot better in actually looking somewhat compelling. Not sure I'd be able to find it again though.

 

Also some screenshots of their food:

 

 

 

Apparently some of your guys will have different favourite foods which'll sway the buffs you get from eating certain foods at restaurants. Bunch of pictures here but the wording is all Japanese

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1014495.html

[deanb]

Delayed to end of November:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/08/final-fantasy-xv-worldwide-launch-officially-delayed-to-november-29/

 

It seems the idea is to avoid having to put out a day-one patch. Seems a bit weird but whatever.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

There's some quite heavy discounts on the preorders (£35 on console) so I don't think there's a lot of confidence this is the big draw it once was. How was that demo thing received? I thought it was awful but I could be in the minority

[TheMightyEthan]

Seems a bit weird but whatever.

Says the guy who was complaining about No Man's Sky's day one patch and how they shouldn't have sent it for pressing until it was done.  

[deanb]

It had a day one patch?

 

(anyway at least we're fairly certain that this doesn't have MP )

 

@TFG: There was the Duscae Demo or whatever that came with Type-0 HD that was more of a slice of the actual game. I guess the public demo was more an old-fashioned style demo in that it was specifically made as such.

 

edit: anyway the whole Duscae thing is exactly the kind of thing NMS should have done anyway in the whole "early access" thing to take on feedback n make changes. Here's the UI changes:

[TCP]

Holy shit the FFXV subreddit is incredible. This is better than the NMS meltdown. So many salty anime fans. 

[deanb]

 

Only watched a few minutes so far. Heh opening with Stand By Me

They're wearing way too much black for a sunny day.

 

And the opening is mainly the original demo, though bit more expanded, n few tweaks and additions.

 

Trying to place that background music, it's definitely a riff on a past tune.

[deanb]

So having watched all of the above video now:

- The fog is pretty cool

- Like that the hunts are back, seem like FFXII style.

- Seems to be a choice system in place which I believe is a first for a FF game, though I doubt it'll be overly complex. Mainly shown for like bartering on price of completing some hunts, decisions made in how to proceed in some quests.

- Driving looks cool and the chat between them all looks quite good. I like that each of them also has a weird arbitrary skill that levels up such as survival, cooking, fishing and photography.

- Petrol gauge is the wrong way around for some reason.

- Not a huge fan of the southern drawl but eh.

- Only stickler I think for me will still be the combat, but seems you do get some flexibility in using magic n such (you draw elemental power from places of power or what not and use that to "craft" magic spells)

- It is rather damn pretty.

 

So yeah, looking forward to it (assuming not delayed further than November but with the stuff they're rolling out I think it's fairly close).

 

Also the first 12 minutes of Kingsglaive. Not watched yet.

[Mister Jack]

I'm still not totally sure about the combat.  It was rather dull in that weird demo/episode they released a little while ago.  Clearly they've made some changes since then but will it be enough?  Guess I'll find out.  I mean, it's not like I'm not going to buy Final Fantasy XV after all this time.

 

Also, press     to attack is weird to me.  It makes sense for Japan since that's the button they use to confirm everything over there, but I'm surprised they aren't changing it to     for the US release like how they changed it to     for all the other FF games after VII.  It's a minor nitpick, but it still bugs me.  I'm so used to using     to attack in pretty much every action game these days.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Mister Jack

[deanb]

Pumped up by the above stuff I've jumped onto the Duscae demo again (I'd had some bugs that stopped my playing too far the first time but it's had a few updates since). It uses square to attack in that (though there's quite a few things different from the above videos such as not having the d-pad thing for picking individual weapons) so I dunno. Likely an options to remap, or different control schemes. There usually has been in FF titles.

 

Quite interesting to see what has stayed the same and what has changed. For example Cindys workshop is more sort of 50s American diner style in Duscae but it's more Cids workshop in the main game and called "The Hammerhead" with appropriate forecourt design to match. There's also a regular sort of looking general store next to the garage in the demo, but in the above video it's the restaurant/shop/mark place with a more circular design. Duscae also seems to be much larger in the above too.

 

The camping mechanics are mostly the same though you get given what you're given in the demo.

Combat wise you do pick different weapons for different slots so you have multiple weapons at once, but it's in the moves you execute how/when they're used/summoned (such as a parry, forward thrust, initial attack etc) rather than on your d-pad (d-pad left/right is used to pick your special attack which use MP and are equipped alongside your weapons (as in like the lance you can equip gives you "dragoon jump" n Bloodsword gives you "drain"). Team mate combos are a tad fiddly to execute, not seen any sign of them in the above so dunno if they've been scrapped or not. The nice thing in the above video that's missing in the Duscae is a mini-map, can be a pain when you get the red alert up top you're spotted/walking through a predators path, but cos it's shrubbery you can't make anything out right away and have to do a 360 pan to find the enemy.

 

It's really quite nice in a lot of the incidental animation. Noctis will wipe his brow after a bout of sprinting, the small shrubs give way as you walk through them. The other team mates kinda do their own thing, they're not just "follow leader = 10m" type AI. Sort of a bit like the conversations in Mass Effect too, but hear being the same team at all times I guess they can do more focus on that since they know who is with you and where so easier to write response scripts.

 

It feels like a kind of like a 8th gen version of FFXII in many aspects. I kind of hope the team mates have some kind of gambit system so you can have them compliment your playstyle (They each definitely have their own unique play style, one favours the big buster like swords, other guns, and other short daggers). In the demo you're a bit limited, just got Noctis to minimally update. I think actually that's a big thing missing from the newer public demo is the areas and the other team members. Just having Noctis means it's more compared to single PC action games like Witcher, when it's more on par with the ME and DA bioware titles.

[TCP]

 

Wait, who the fuck is voicing Cindy??!!?!??!!?!!

[deanb]

So I watched Kingsglaive. You go in knowing much of the major plot points since this is a prequel to FFXV (the "post-credits scene" is the start of FFXV with their car breaking down).

 

It's not gonna be a classic, never went in expecting that but it's damn pretty and gives a chunk of insight into FFXV. E.g who the guys on the cover are:

 

They're essentially the "gods" of Lucis, the city-state Noctis is from. They given the monarch power, like actual "I can summon giant statues to fight for me" type power, in return for a sacrifice. The trade is conducted through a royal ring, which is being transported to Noctis at some point in the game. 

 

Also in the film we see not just one, as some cities might have problems dealing with, but about five Diamond Weapons used in the attack against Insomnia (stupid name for a city, ut it's ruled by "King Regis" which is equally silly name). So they're a thing that Niflhiem has access to, I guess in line with their "magitek" capabilities. I imagine we'll see Magitek Armour at some point too. There is a sort of metal-gear type looking machine they use which might be their magitek armour?

 

Pretty certain we've seen a future boss too, though he ends the film in not too great shape so who knows.

 

Also Ardyn is gonna be great.

[deanb]

 

It sucks on the quality, I think it's cut from a stream. But some more gameplay, from the current version of the game so they're able to go to places some of press haven't been able to on their demos. Like the little touch that if you brake hard in the car everyone gets minor whiplash. Also later they have a minor fuck up with a spell and end up with clothes all ashy n burnt which is a nice touch, though already seen some of those effects with using fire and it leaving scorched grass.

Also feed kinda funny too, very responsive audience and demo player. There is a wee glitch where Gladio suddenly pops in next to you, but I imagine that's the kind of stuff they're delaying the game for.

 

I'm getting kinda hyped for this. Amazing to see the changes to it over the years from Versus XIII then to Duscae, Platinum demo and the streams of the gameplay. Kinda looking quite close to FFXII style too.

Some more info of late is it's more open world for the start of the game, the final part of the game is more linear. Which I guess helps with story telling a bit. Also, which I guess I should have picked up from earlier video, is that it spans 10 years so you end up with older Noctis with a beard looking a bit like Regis.

[deanb]

https://gaming.youtube.com/watch?v=T0dabzg9GbM

 

Live performance of the tunes with the London Philharmonic over at Abbey Road. Started at 7PM (local time is 7:07pm as of this posting) running for an hour, I imagine they'll let you go back n watch it.