Final Fantasy XV: Platinum Demo Thread

Stopped following XV a few years ago and the screens I've seen in this thread (and other recent XV threads) don't look terribly good. Does the game look as rough as it does in motion?
 
Pretty underwhelmed by the whole demo.

Controls didn't feel great. Movement and combat just felt janky. Frame-rate was awful even by console standards.
 
The demo impressions have been more and more about performance hyperbole as it gets clearer that there won't be a day and date PC version. I wonder why?
 
You're missing my point.
Pretty sure I got it. You don't like XV combat, and it's not just the demo. And then I talked about my own points...

Something about the control of Noctis feels weird, especially during attack. It's as I said before, the game feels like it is in semi-automatic mode. Whatever command has some kind of automation behind it, sometimes are delayed, sometimes against your will. Very subtle things, but when you play it, and then you played other Action RPG, you can feel the awkwardness, the clumsiness, and hectic-ness in FFXV.

On the surface, FFXV looked like it's similar to KH, but when it comes to smooth, responsive gameplay, FFXV is nowhere near the level of that of KH. Give FFXV 100x more game systems to it and it wouldn't matter. It's the damn fundamental of FFXV that doesn't sit right with me.
The bolded is the point of XV's combat. It's a real time RPG format, not an action (or even action RPG) game. Yes every action has "automation" behind it, because its based around RPG interactions rather than physical 3d collisions.

I'm not saying the final version won't be broken or that it's not valid to think it "feels wrong", because I get that myself. But the way you describe it tells me you are excepting some kind of action or action RPG response from the controls, which this game is not intending to be.

This demo still does suck though.
 
What do people who enjoyed Duscae think of the combat now?

Really disappointed about the IQ and framerate complaints, though. Still excited to try this tonight, but man :/
 
overreactions to a demo where they said it was for all ages and people new to the final fantasy genre....meaning it was guaranteed to be shallow and not have a ton of depth....good god.

Watch the trailer again and read the wording.
 
Any Soulsborne players here try to dodge the Iron Knight as if it were a Souls game just on pure gut instinct to 'having to fight something very muchedly biggers than you'?

I know I did, and kept reverting to that mindset... I had to TELL myself look this is a fucking SQUEENIX product, alright? Its a press A to Awesome product, not a 'git gud' product!...
 
What do people who enjoyed Duscae think of the combat now?

Really disappointed about the IQ and framerate complaints, though. Still excited to try this tonight, but man :/

I played 56+ hours of Episode Duscae but I can't compare the combat system because in this new demo we just control Noct. However, it feels OK but lacks something, I don't know...
 
The demo impressions have been more and more about performance hyperbole as it gets clearer that there won't be a day and date PC version. I wonder why?

To be honest,,, performance on ps4 is quite bad. Resolution is < 1080p, aliasing all over the place, with only 2 characters on screen fps dip to 20.
And fps dip in the only gameplay moment of the demo...
And I'm a "console supporter" ...
And the game has like 10 years...
And we have just 6 months before release...
Really... It's that bad
I wonder how it runs on Xbox One
 
I'm playing through it at the moment. Two things...

This is straight up Kingdom Hearts, not FF.

The graphics... this demo isn't meant to be representative of the final product visually is it? It looks decidely unimpressive, and that's putting it politely.
 
What an awful demo. Definitely more of a tech demo than a game demo and totally felt more like kingdom hearts than Final fantasy throughout. Really hope that they'll iron out the framerate issues weve seen with FFXV thus far.

This was definitely a BAD demo to out out there for free. I certainly don't think it's going to convince people to pick up the game.
 
What do people who enjoyed Duscae think of the combat now?

Really disappointed about the IQ and framerate complaints, though. Still excited to try this tonight, but man :/

I sort of liked the Duscae gameplay.

I'm liking the manual switch but fighting the enemy at the end is awkward as hell and nothing I tried to do really worked without waiting for a counter prompt. Or you can just hack at him since you can't really die in the demo.
 
It's cool to hate on Final Fantasy now, it's the trend. While I get that people might straight up not like the demo and felt disappointed, some of the comments made about it are too overreacted for the sake of being harsh.

I didn't finish the demo yet, but saying that this is an embarrasment and stuff like that it's too much. I'm not surprised to see negative comments about the game here after the "square and the fans deserve all the leaks because the game was announced in 2006" and "i'm glad their stupid event is pointless now" type of posts that were made here yesterday. People are entitled to their own opinion, and I'm fine with people criticizing the game and calling out when S-E gets it wrong, but now it just seem like people who aren't even interested in the game or neither are informed about what the game actually is just drop their negativeness in these threads.

This was a tech demo. The complaints about the combat having some sort of lag, the resolution being lower than expected and similar are completely justified. It's your own take on the game systems and your opinion about it, but sometimes is like people just want to take the things that don't are perfect in this game and blow it out of proportion just to make sure that everyone knows that Square-Enix is dead & doesn't know how to develop a good game anymore.
 
My reaction upon finishing it was "...Why release that?" It didn't demonstrate the gameplay, it didn't demonstrate the story or setting, and while it demonstrated the tech, I'm not really satisfied with it. The framerate is wonky, shadows are low quality, the LOD on distant objects (for example, the bridges over the balcony in Altissia) is pretty poor. I did enjoy the last fight more than anything else, but I did feel an odd disconnect in the timing of dodges in particular. Technically, I was hoping the game was further along at this point.

I still have lots of hopes for the main game, and I'll go into it with Carbumper (I really should have named it that), but I'm more deflated having played it than hyped. Have yet to watch the Uncovered show, so maybe that'll salvage my feelings.
 
The demo impressions have been more and more about performance hyperbole as it gets clearer that there won't be a day and date PC version. I wonder why?

Probably because people want it to run decently on the only platform they'll be able to play?

I don't mind not having a PC version, playing great japanese games that don't come out on PC is the main reason I have a console, after all, but they should at least have acceptable performance.

I played 56+ hours of Episode Duscae but I can't compare the combat system because in this new demo we just control Noct. However, it feels OK but lacks something, I don't know...

You mean like mechanics to give ir more depth, or for them to polish a bit more what is already there?

This is straight up Kingdom Hearts, not FF.

The graphics... this demo isn't meant to be representative of the final product visually is it? It looks decidely unimpressive, and that's putting it politely.

totally felt more like kingdom hearts than Final fantasy throughout.

The comparisons to KH make me very happy, not gonna lie. The trailer for the demo really made me think of Roxas' intro section in KH II.

I sort of liked the Duscae gameplay.

I'm liking the manual switch but fighting the enemy at the end is awkward as hell and nothing I tried to do really worked without waiting for a counter prompt. Or you can just hack at him since you can't really die in the demo.

Well, that's kind of good news, since it shows they probably didn't give a shit about balancing for this fight, because you can't die. We'll see.
 
It's cool to hate on Final Fantasy now, it's the trend. While I get that people might straight up not like the demo and felt disappointed, some of the comments made about it are too overreacted for the sake of being harsh.

I didn't finish the demo yet, but saying that this is an embarrasment and stuff like that it's too much. I'm not surprised to see negative comments about the game here after the "square and the fans deserve all the leaks because the game was announced in 2006" and "i'm glad their stupid event is pointless now" type of posts that were made here yesterday. People are entitled to their own opinion, and I'm fine with people criticizing the game and calling out when S-E gets it wrong, but now it just seem like people who aren't even interested in the game or neither are informed about what the game actually is just drop their negativeness in these threads.

This was a tech demo. The complaints about the combat having some sort of lag, the resolution being lower than expected and similar are completely justified. It's your own take on the game systems and your opinion about it, but sometimes is like people just want to take the things that don't are perfect in this game and blow it out of proportion just to make sure that everyone knows that Square-Enix is dead & doesn't know how to develop a good game anymore.

Dude just no. It wasn't pitched as a tech demo and it's basically THE demo SE is putting out there for people to download for free and try. As a demo for FFXV it falls terribly short in pretty much every conceivable way. People aren't saying this because "it's cool to hate" they're saying it because they care and it's implications for FFXV are worrisome.

It is absolutely baffling that SE thought it was a good idea to release this as a representation of their game to the masses. Like seriously what the fuck were they thinking?
 
Wow, the demo did the opposite for me. Now I can wait the eventual PC release with no problem, and if it won't happen, I'll take the game for sub 30€.
Really, the combat is jankier than Episode Duscae, graphics are poor (trailers seem awesome, but I found nothing of that in this demo), the framerate is horrible, SE put some random crystal around to artificially increase the lenght of this 20 minutes demonstrative.
The final area is so poor...dunno, I still think this could be a nice game, but it's not the masterpiece SE is trying to sell for sure.
 
The janky movement reminds me of another game.

Final Fantasy XIV.

The 1.0 release.

I was there for that shitshow. Animations were prioritized over player responsiveness. I'm getting the same feeling when I move the character around in this demo. That's not a good first impression.
 
Played through the demo quickly. Some thoughts:

- The texture work is amazing!
- The lighting and reflections are amazing!
- Music is godly!
- Just running around towns and different areas feels good.
- Lock-on seemed to work fine. Didn't lose track of enemies, but that maybe coz they weren't fast enough?
- Switching weapon mid-combo flows reasonably smoothly.
- Loved that the Carbuncle didn't actually speak like those XIII-2 moogles. Sounds FTW!
- Liked that we got to visit a bunch of reminiscent areas that we've seen in the trailers. I had a smile every time I entered a new area.
- Meteorain rocks!


- The camera is nauseating (too close, sticks to Noctis when jumping). Needs to be fixed.
- The combat is still the same hold button to attack nonsense. Without Knightsguard, it's feels really really poor. Responsiveness? What responsiveness.
- Targetting magic feels clunky. Might be better to lock on to enemies and execute on them? Or if sticking with the current system, maybe the game can pause while you select exactly where you want to target your spell?
- Using the d-pad to switch weapons and magic is a poor design choice. Having to lift your thumb from the left stick, which stops your movements, ruins the flow of the combat. But I don't think this is going to change, and even my suggestion on how to fix this would be a bit of an overhaul.


I think it's best to just play this game for the story and the scenery, and don't worry about the combat. Would be awesome if we could play this in 4K 60 fps.
 
My god the overreactions in this thead are hilarious

You are writing off a Game based on a tech demo.

Luminous is kinda shit tech and that is what the game is built on so it is important.

* * *

The frame rate feels painful to look at and I don't know why. It could be the lack of blur and bad framepacing/micro-stuttering? [Calling dark10x, where are you?] Whatever it is, it just isn't pleasing.

gfx for an aaa game in 2016 are on bad.

Combat is unresponsive, sub-par action RPG.

Invisible walls kinda ruin the feeling of being in a place.

Foxbunnypuppy is cute, however his squeak gets annoying.

Edit, and yeah the camera is nauseating.
* * *


Kingdom hearts is unreal 4, right?
 
What makes this a 'tech demo' and not just a demo? As far as I know a tech demo is a non-playable thing that shows off a new engine or a new console, not something like this. If this doesn't represent the full game, why release it at all? What is a demo for if not for people to download it to see what the full game's about before they make their purchase?

Like five posts in the last page are getting upset with people for judging a game based on the only thing the developers have released for the public to judge. Square isn't calling it a 'tech demo', or a 'don't judge the full game on this it's just for funsies demo'. It's a demo. It's the first time people are getting to play the game ever. If it isn't indicative of what the game's going to be, that's Square's fault, not ours.
 
Can someone with experience from the previous demo explain some of the strategies and combos in XV's combat system? I've been testing with the Iron Golem repeatedly but nothing seems to work as I would expect it to.

Tap Square to dodge does absolutely nothing. I'm getting hit by attacks that aren't even remotely connecting to the character. There also seem to be no i-frames.

Holding Square to defend works sometimes but it leaves Noct in a weird unresponsive state for about 2 seconds. Tried switching weapons, attacking, teleporting but you are just stuck in something like a recovery animation. Any way to avoid this?

Using Triangle to teleport to the Golem seems like a bad idea as I have to defend immediately without attacking otherwise I'll get smacked. Tried using multiple teleport points to get to the Golem's back but his attacks hit even while sticking to the back.

I found the fastest and most reliable way to kill him was holding Circle while having the great sword equipped (he staggers every 3-4 hits). That can't be it, right?
 
Luminous is kinda shit tech and that is what the game is built on so it is important.

* * *
Except for lighting, gfx are on par or worse than xiii from 2009.
Game looks like ass, but you're objectively wrong.
Combat is unresponsive, sub-par action RPG.

Invisible walls kinda ruin the feeling of being in a place.

When it comes to cs, sadly, i expected it. I mean, as much as i wanted to be wrong, it was pretty obvious to me since some of those PS4 gameplay trailers. The other thing is unfortunate too, especially in an open world game, but hopefully the game still manages to be good and fun as a whole.

Kingdom hearts is unreal 4, right?
Yeah, UE4.
 
Hopefully FFXVI will be turn based.

Yup.

If they can't do action RPG right, just don't do it. Action open world RPG is so demanding, and they have to go all flashy because it's FF. Even the more realistic western RPGs are still struggling with IQ & performance after all these years. The action combat doesn't seem to be that good anyway.

Action was a mistake.
 
Does anyone know how long this will be up on the stores? I tried looking for an answer everywhere but I can't find it. Hoping it'll be up at least until the game releases.
 
What makes this a 'tech demo' and not just a demo? As far as I know a tech demo is a non-playable thing that shows off a new engine or a new console, not something like this. If this doesn't represent the full game, why release it at all? What is a demo for if not for people to download it to see what the full game's about before they make their purchase?

Like five posts in the last page are getting upset with people for judging a game based on the only thing the developers have released for the public to judge. Square isn't calling it a 'tech demo', or a 'don't judge the full game on this it's just for funsies demo'. It's a demo. It's the first time people are getting to play the game ever. If it isn't indicative of what the game's going to be, that's Square's fault, not ours.

It is a duplicitous way to dismiss valid criticism.
 
The comparisons to KH make me very happy, not gonna lie. The trailer for the demo really made me think of Roxas' intro section in KH II.

Well, that's kind of good news, since it shows they probably didn't give a shit about balancing for this fight, because you can't die. We'll see.

It does kind of feel like KH when you're a kid and not being challenged by anything. I wish it was more like KH at this point.

As I've said earlier, I felt oddly restrained as adult Noct. I also felt restrained in Duscae but at least I had an effective means to fight the enemy's in the game.

I expect the final product to be a lot better but the ongoing story with the combat continues that it looks like one thing and feels unexpectedly cumbersome when you get your hands on it.
 
What makes this a 'tech demo' and not just a demo? As far as I know a tech demo is a non-playable thing that shows off a new engine or a new console, not something like this. If this doesn't represent the full game, why release it at all? What is a demo for if not for people to download it to see what the full game's about before they make their purchase?

Like five posts in the last page are getting upset with people for judging a game based on the only thing the developers have released for the public to judge. Square isn't calling it a 'tech demo', or a 'don't judge the full game on this it's just for funsies demo'. It's a demo. It's the first time people are getting to play the game ever. If it isn't indicative of what the game's going to be, that's Square's fault, not ours.

It isn't a tech demo, but it is pretty obviously a (very loosely) tied-together series of internal test rooms, what with all the night/weather/transformations switches.

Not that they're trying to sell it as that, mind you, nor would it make criticism invalid if they were. This is definitely trying to get people excited over the game.
 
Can someone with experience from the previous demo explain some of the strategies and combos in XV's combat system? I've been testing with the Iron Golem repeatedly but nothing seems to work as I would expect it to.

Tap Square to dodge does absolutely nothing. I'm getting hit by attacks that aren't even remotely connecting to the character. There also seem to be no i-frames.

Holding Square to defend works sometimes but it leaves Noct in a weird unresponsive state for about 2 seconds. Tried switching weapons, attacking, teleporting but you are just stuck in something like a recovery animation. Any way to avoid this?

Using Triangle to teleport to the Golem seems like a bad idea as I have to defend immediately without attacking otherwise I'll get smacked. Tried using multiple teleport points to get to the Golem's back but his attacks hit even while sticking to the back.

I found the fastest and most reliable way to kill him was holding Circle while having the great sword equipped (he staggers every 3-4 hits). That can't be it, right?

Episode Duscae had an ability called Knightsguard that let you heal completely the damage your took, if you timed a button press right after taking a hit. That ability was kind of a patch for this battle system. Without it, this system is really really poor.

But thinking about it, I think Episode Duscae 2.0 was a little more responsive than this demo. It's been some time since I played it though, so might be mis-remembering.

Overall, the game still prioritises animation too much. It doesn't care for player responsiveness. It's probably best to not expect much from this game's combat.
 
Very underwhelming demo, I have no idea why they released that. It doesn't change my desire to play the game in september but I can't imagine anybody not familiar with Final Fantasy being interested in XV after playing that demo, what a waste of time.

At least, we now have confirmation that the music is going to be excellent but I hope the combat, movement and the camera will be better / different in the final game. I know there is going to be a lot more to the combat system but that was a terrible first taste (I was not able the play the previous demo).
 
I just started it and already dont like it. The massive aliasing on the hair in cutscenes ruins the whole image, its so distracting. I'd rather they just use billboards.

I noticed the framerate immediately and jumping with the locked camera just feels weird makes me almost feel ill(and I hardly ever get ill with games). I doubt I could play the full game if it's like this.

I dont know maybe it's better as I go along or in the full game.
 
Pretty sure I got it. You don't like XV combat, and it's not just the demo. And then I talked about my own points...


The bolded is the point of XV's combat. It's a real time RPG format, not an action (or even action RPG) game. Yes every action has "automation" behind it, because its based around RPG interactions rather than physical 3d collisions.

I'm not saying the final version won't be broken or that it's not valid to think it "feels wrong", because I get that myself. But the way you describe it tells me you are excepting some kind of action or action RPG response from the controls, which this game is not intending to be.

This demo still does suck though.

So you're saying FFXV is not really an Action RPG even though it's being marketed as one? You know, FFXV's combat reminds me of that of Dragon Age: Inquisition, I guess that's where their inspiration came from. -_-
 
I noticed the framerate immediately and jumping with the locked camera just feels weird makes me almost feel ill(and I hardly ever get ill with games).

This is my biggest complaint. Anyone else feeling this way or has my coffee cream gone off?
 
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