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[APZonerunner]

but wtf happened to this guy?


I saw him in like one cutscene and that was it. Which is extra lame because he was in the older trailers. Does anyone know what he was supposed to be? I read something bout him being the head of the Niflheim Magitek Forces' Research or something. They should have been a boss of a military base or something. Or the game should really have gone full Devil May Cry 4 and had the higher ups of Niflheim all be able to transform into demons for second half boss fights, like the Agnus/Credo & higher ups of the Order. They could have even had Rayvus be Credo.

Also the story does absolutely nothing of value with the Niflheim Emperor. I mean yes, They do make him that annoying lvl 35 daemon who you can't kill until its scripted, but all they do there is throw in a few dialogue lines and its weak at best.They should have gone the DMC4 Sanctus route with him as well IMO. What you get is thoroughly unsatisfying and un-cathartic fight with none of the tension you could have had if you confronted him as the Emperor first and let him give his villain speech™ before he transforms and you kill him anyway

As much as I enjoyed parts of this game, the more i think it over, the more soured i am on it. I'm definitely gonna wait for all its additions to be out before I i play it again. In the meantime I think i'm gonna write some thing for how i think the game should have gone instead

Here's a fun one you might not know, though it's been discussed to death in this thread: That guy is Prompto's biological father. You know where it's revealed? The official strategy guide.

tiduslaughing.gif

(He is indeed also the Empire's Hojo-like figure - he designed the MTs, etc.)

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Man, Ravus has such a terrific design.

I agree. Best design in the game IMO.

 

[Magusx]

Here's a fun one you might not know, though it's been discussed to death in this thread: That guy is Prompto's biological father. You know where it's revealed? The official strategy guide.

tiduslaughing.gif

(He is indeed also the Empire's Hojo-like figure - he designed the MTs, etc.)

Man what this could have been

 

[CLBridges]

I started the Pitioss(?) Dungeon last night. Pretty cool but super frustrating at times. Didn't get to finish but oh well. Gonna save that dungeon as the very last thing I complete in FFXV. Think I'll just fish and hunt today.

 

[Tyaren]

but wtf happened to this guy?

I saw him in like one cutscene and that was it. Which is extra lame because he was in the older trailers. Does anyone know what he was supposed to be?

Oh, don't mind Verstael. He's just the guy that we have to thank for all the Magitek soldiers, weapons and daemons...and he's Prompto's father.

 

[Golnei]

I saw him in like one cutscene and that was it. Which is extra lame because he was in the older trailers. Does anyone know what he was supposed to be? I read something bout him being the head of the Niflheim Magitek Forces' Research or something. They should have been a boss of a military base or something. Or the game should really have gone full Devil May Cry 4 and had the higher ups of Niflheim all be able to transform into demons for second half boss fights, like the Agnus/Credo & higher ups of the Order. They could have even had Rayvus be Credo.

Also the story does absolutely nothing of value with the Niflheim Emperor. I mean yes, They do make him that annoying lvl 35 daemon who you can't kill until its scripted, but all they do there is throw in a few dialogue lines and its weak at best.They should have gone the DMC4 Sanctus route with him as well IMO. What you get is thoroughly unsatisfying and un-cathartic fight with none of the tension you could have had if you confronted him as the Emperor first and let him give his villain speech™ before he transforms and you kill him anyway

This is the first time I've ever heard a game's narrative get compared to DMC4's negatively. That's one of the most tangible signs that something went horribly wrong.

To a point, I guess I agree. 4's antagonists may have gone nowhere and been utterly uninteresting, but at least they got screentime and were adequately integrated into gameplay.

Ardyn's swords are probably from the Lucis Caelum line proper in any case

If Ardyn's swords, hair and hot pink Armiger are representative of the true Caelum line, maybe it didn't start with a king, but a Queen.

Noctis' final battle would literally be "versus XIII".

 

[jimmypython]

If anything this entire game gives me hope that FFXVI will be better. The core game of FFXV is great, it's just that the plot and the narrative direction is so wonky which ultimately muddies the water.

I feel absolutely the opposite. I'm so worried about the future of this series.

Because the upper management idiots of this company aren't going anywhere any time soon.

 

[Zakalwe]

Strategy guide twisting the knife.

 

[HeelPower]

but wtf happened to this guy?

There's more to Cup Noodle in this game than there is to this guy or the Niflheim emperor.

Talk about development priorities.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

If Ardyn's swords, hair and hot pink Armiger are representative of the true Caelum line, maybe it didn't start with a king, but a Queen.

Noctis' final battle would literally be "versus XIII".

LOL, you find out the end of LR took place a couple thousand years before current FFXV and that Ardyn is Lightning's son (a reason why he had powers to do certain things, like absorb the Starscourge and heal daemons). Killing Ardyn is killing Lightning's bloodline.

^_^

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Anybody got a summary what this story was actually about? Just finished the story and it was a mystery to me. No idea why I did anything. I don't think I've ever played an RPG that explains nothing and where everything relevant either happens in some movie, anime or off screen.

Also, why is the ending considered good? Anime stuff happens but I can't think of a single valuable information I got from that scene?

 

[HeelPower]

I think you could have met her in Altissa actually. Tragic (unbeknownst to them) last date around that city. It'd actually have forced them to do something with Altissa to make it fun for that kind of interaction rather than the empty, disappointing husk that it is.

I also think having the diary be browsable would have been a neat "lore" touch.

She needed to be featured prominently in the game.

Lestallum makes more sense as a hideout till she meets and delivers the ring to Noctis ,which was her goal at the end of Kingsglaive.Its also much closer to Insomnia and easier to get to after sustaining injury in the battle.

Iris is a pointless character.Luna should've been in her place.Would've been nice to have Luna be a prominent party member from chapter 3 all the way to Alitissia.

 

[Kagari]

There's more to Cup Noodle in this game than there is to this guy or the Niflheim emperor.

Talk about development priorities.

This is the real problem isn't it. They spent more time making food rather than a complete story.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I don't think the lack of story can be blamed on the writers. It just looks like a lot of the story elemenets were cut from here and there and then mashed together so rather than having a coherent vision, the game was developed around these cut scenarios that, when put together, didn't make much sense.

They were creating a story like they were developing the gameplay systems that we used to see in the ATR. At the end of the day, they just put it all together and called it a day instead of going through it as a whole and then looking at it to see how the narrative works once completed. So suppose that the cg scenes and ending were developed completely outside from the main story and then just put in as required, which is why it often feels like a disjointed mess.

Honestly FFXV is not the first FF game to go through this messy story and FFXII also had its fair share of messy plot development, particulalrly in th second half.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

As someone pointed out earlier, Cup of Noodles got more character development than Luna.

2/3 of the game is trying to get to her. You finally do and oh she's way over there.... dead.

The game gave men no real reason to care. Heck her and Noct have only spoken in notes over the last 12 years. You didn't know he actually gave a real shit until after her death.

Man this game just plain shit the bed at the end of ch 9.

 

[Sylas]

He's not the 14th King, though, he's the 114th, as shown in the ending (Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV on the banners) - they just handwave that away by having Cor point out that over thousands of years many of the older swords have been lost or destroyed, but, yeah. Presumably he could've just gathered ANY 13. There may even be some more out there.

I'm also curious about Ardyn's swords, actually... does it ever explain this? (Silly question I imagine, ha) Are they also Lucian king swords from ages ago?

Oh, well I'm a dumbass. It never actually explains Ardyn's swords though, no.

 

[HeelPower]

This is the real problem isn't it. They spent more time making food rather than a complete story.

There's a hundred different photo-realistic food models in this game.

I amnot sure it was worth it,especially given how dire the situation was with core aspects of the game.They were just glorified stat modifiers at the end of the day.

It was effort much better spent elsewhere in the grand scheme of things.

Was the food/camping stuff part of Nomura's initial direction ?

 

[Kagari]

There's a hundred different photo-realistic food models in this game.

I amnot sure it was worth it,especially given how dire the situation was with core aspects of the game.They were just glorified stat modifiers at the end of the day.

It was effort much better spent elsewhere in the grand scheme of things.

Was the food/camping stuff part of Nomura's initial direction ?

I can't recall him ever mentioning it.

 

[Ferr986]

There's a hundred different photo-realistic food models in this game.

I amnot sure it was worth it,especially given how dire the situation was with core aspects of the game.They were just glorified stat modifiers at the end of the day.

It was effort much better spent elsewhere in the grand scheme of things.

Was the food/camping stuff part of Nomura's initial direction ?

I don't think it was that much of an effort doing food models, and I'm pretty sure their absence would not make any of the shortcomings from the game better.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Can someone kindly explain to me - in the simplest fashion- just who or what Ardyn actually is?

I think a scene where he explains it the music was louder than his voice and I didn't have subs on. :/

 

[Distresssss]

Can someone kindly explain to me - in the simplest fashion- just who or what Ardyn actually is?

I think a scene where he explains it the music was louder than his voice and I didn't have subs on. :/

He is the true ancestor to the Lucis Caiem line that was trying to do the right thing forever ago and got punished because the gods are dicks.

So he's bided his time and set things in motion so when the Champion of Light shows up he can finish them off in spite.

Also that scene pretty much incorporates the package that is FFXV. I couldn't hear anything he was saying either.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

I don't think it was that much of an effort doing food models, and I'm pretty sure their absence would not make any of the shortcomings from the game better.

but add up the movie, the demos that arent part of the game, the terrible side quests, all the areas and scenes from trailers that arent part of the game.

Clear focus is what hurt the core of the game so badly. Spending too much time one food and advertisements is only one part of that.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Pitioss Dungeon is brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It did get frustrating towards the end because while the controls surprised me for how good they handled the platofrming, they aren't designed to jump from tiny platform to platform.

I think you should consider this dungeon mandatory during your playthrough. It's obvious a ton of work went into it and really quite the imaginative mind behind making this all work.

You have to let go of LS when you're above the platform. My biggest concerns were the

Spoiler

2D part and the last part of the moving/low grav part. You have to make some questionable drops on the bars and another shitty jump after the kneeling statue.

There is a shitty serial platform jump at the end that obviously doesn't work but the checkpoint is right behind it.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Can someone kindly explain to me - in the simplest fashion- just who or what Ardyn actually is?

I think a scene where he explains it the music was louder than his voice and I didn't have subs on. :/

My brother and I had the same issue. The sound was terribly mixed in that scene.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

She needed to be featured prominently in the game.

Lestallum makes more sense as a hideout till she meets and delivers the ring to Noctis ,which was her goal at the end of Kingsglaive.Its also much closer to Insomnia and easier to get to after sustaining injury in the battle.

Iris is a pointless character.Luna should've been in her place.Would've been nice to have Luna be a prominent party member from chapter 3 all the way to Alitissia.

I like Iris and she's a "fun" addition, but you're right in that's largely pointless.

Still don't know how much I like the idea of adding her at Lestallum.

There's a hundred different photo-realistic food models in this game.

I amnot sure it was worth it,especially given how dire the situation was with core aspects of the game.They were just glorified stat modifiers at the end of the day.

It was effort much better spent elsewhere in the grand scheme of things.

Was the food/camping stuff part of Nomura's initial direction ?

Shades of that goddamn flower pot in FFXIV lol.

 

[Jonnax]

Can someone kindly explain to me - in the simplest fashion- just who or what Ardyn actually is?

I think a scene where he explains it the music was louder than his voice and I didn't have subs on. :/

A guy was chosen by the astrals about 2000 years ago to absorb the starscurge.

That was Ardyn Lucis Caelum.

However the astrals rejected him once he was about to ascend for some reason and the king at the time whose name was Izunia also shunned him.

Ardyn decided to take on the name Izunia and go after the king's descendants and Cristal.

What he wanted Noctis to do is absorb all the power of the crystal. Then when Ardyn kills him, he destroys the crystal as well.

Now that confusing thing is that Ifreet turns out to the be one that started the starscurge.

(Starscurge being the longer nights and people turning into demons)

And Ardyn and him are either working together or Ardyn is working for him.


Whether Ardyn and the jealous king were related I don't know. But the Izunia line which Noctis is part of call themselves Lucis.

 

[dramatis]

You have to consider whether they could have used the time and resources devoted to nonsense like Cindy and food models on other things, like better animated cutscenes (better cutscene direction???), more cutscenes, and so on.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

You have to consider whether they could have used the time and resources devoted to nonsense like Cindy and food models on other things, like better animated cutscenes (better cutscene direction???), more cutscenes, and so on.

The fact that they spent even a second on that godawful Cindymobile DLC will always be a travesty.

 

[Cjdamon042]

I think a scene where he explains it the music was louder than his voice and I didn't have subs on. :/

That scene really annoyed me. Did anyone in QA play it and not think "I can't hear what he's saying"? Baffling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpEY3vVUAtY

I watched that earlier which does a decent job at explaining some things about the character. I also agree with the guy who made it in saying that Ardyn is one of my favourite villains. It's just a shame some things weren't explained very well and that the rest of the story as a whole fell massively flat.

 

[Tyaren]

Can someone kindly explain to me - in the simplest fashion- just who or what Ardyn actually is?

Ardyn was the original Lucis Caelum, he was a revered healer (kinda like the Oracle) and chosen by the Gods to end the very first Starscourge, that Ifrit let loose by the way.
Ardyn/Lucis Caelum managed to defeat the Starscourge but only by absorbing all daemons into himself. He got incredibly powerful by that and immortal, but in the God's and people's eyes he was now tainted/corrupted. A jealous king named Izunia brought Ardyn down and took his name for his line. On top of that the God's refused Ardyn to enter afterlife. Ardyn felt wronged, took Izunia's name instead and swore to end the line of the fake Lucis Caelums. Now he conspires with Ifrit to bring about the second Starscourge to take down the Lucis Caelums...

 

[orthodoxy1095]

This is the real problem isn't it. They spent more time making food rather than a complete story.

Speaking of problems, did you ever finish that review?

 

[Distresssss]

Speaking of problems, did you ever finish that review?

Kagari and I disagree on a lot of Dragonball stuff but I bet overall we agree on this game. :/

 

[HeelPower]

I don't think it was that much of an effort doing food models, and I'm pretty sure their absence would not make any of the shortcomings from the game better.

You'd be surprised.

I remember talks of a developer spending two weeks modeling nothing but rocks during FFXIII's own troubled early years of development.

Given how detailed & Numerous the food models,that had to have taken some(misdirected)effort.

 

[sonto340]

If Ardyn's swords, hair and hot pink Armiger are representative of the true Caelum line, maybe it didn't start with a king, but a Queen.

Noctis' final battle would literally be "versus XIII".

Fuck

 

[Eccocid]

wait...you kill emperor???? whereee? i finished the game last week and i dont remember such battle. is it missable?

 

[HeelPower]

I like Iris and she's a "fun" addition, but you're right in that's largely pointless.

Still don't know how much I like the idea of adding her at Lestallum.

Shades of that goddamn flower pot in FFXIV lol.

lol what's that about ?

wait...you kill emperor???? whereee? i finished the game last week and i dont remember such battle. is it missable?

Its a random monster in chapter 13 lol.

He turned apparently.

 

[Ruff]

wait...you kill emperor???? whereee? i finished the game last week and i dont remember such battle. is it missable?

It's the invincible Foras daemon that chases you around through the middle of chapter 13. You fight him for real when you reunite with your bros, near the end just before the Ravus fight. When you kill him he spouts some stuff about becoming the ruler of the world. It's completely understandable if you didn't notice since this fact gets brushed aside quite quickly if you didn't hear the short voiceover.

 

[Falk]

This is the real problem isn't it. They spent more time making food rather than a complete story.

You have to consider whether they could have used the time and resources devoted to nonsense like Cindy and food models on other things, like better animated cutscenes (better cutscene direction???), more cutscenes, and so on.

I'm not one to buy into the 'lol if the team didn't spend time making food models we'd have gotten a finished game', but even the closest disciplinary work, since it's the art dept, was invested instead into say, better cutscenes, there's still a bunch of other considerations. ASSUMING (and disclaimer here that this is completely separate from the 4chan talk, and not to be taken as 'falk's insider look into the last months of the dev cycle') there were script changes happening here and there, cutscenes would be dependent on everything from the writing being locked down, VA being planned and executed, etc before work on it could be finalized, while food is pretty much done when it's done regardless of what else happens with the game.

That being said, tangentially there are some really beautiful cutscenes in terms of direction and presentation - the ending camp scene, Tenebrae flashbacks, Ardyn and Noctis at the crystal, etc, and quite the boatload of open world jank with stiff NPCs elsewhere.

I think it goes back to the big overarching comment people have regarding the game. There's a lot of proof that Square Enix can deliver top-notch stuff within FFXV itself. At many steps along the way the necessity of picking and choosing battles unfortunately do show.

 

[Eccocid]

It's the invincible Foras daemon that chases you around through the middle of chapter 13. You fight him for real when you reunite with your bros, near the end just before the Ravus fight. When you kill him he spouts some stuff about becoming the ruler of the world. It's completely understandable if you didn't notice since this fact gets brushed aside quite quickly if you didn't hear the short voiceover.

oh wow never noticed. i vaguely remember seeing a throne or something like that at the elevator which is opened by Promto. tbh i was rushing all thise chapters and trying to finish game asap.

 

[Eoyote]

I was actually really gutted that the game/PS4 wouldn't let me screencap that image of the four empty seats on the campsite from the end. That was a great image and would have been a good one to keep.

Such a shame.

I really liked that scene as well, and was also disappointed the screen block was still on. Thankfully I was running my Elgato so I was able to grab it from there. You can grab it from here if you'd like: http://i.imgur.com/fjg56aT.png

 

[Ludens]

I honestly don't understand how this game got so good reviews. I can understand MGSV, even if part of the plot was missing, the gameplay was top notch at least.
With FFXV, 3/4 of the plot are missing, the game still feels so bugged expecially when you spent some good time in the game (I noticed now with a 40 hours save I'm getting more and more bugs, while when I was doing the main quest only, I got none: enemies spawing in the air, X button stops working and only a reboot fix the issue, black screen with music going on after a loading screen, characters who disappear from time to time etc, I suspect there's something going wrong with the save, like it happened in Skyrim) and the gameplay is not even good. On Normal I had no problems on killing pretty much everything until now, just mash O, use the royal weapons power when is full, use summons when the game gives you the chance, proceed. When there are a lot of enemies on the screen is pretty much impossible understanding what is going on.

Fetch quests are just awful and they are here just to waste the player's time artificially increasing the game's lenght, same for the trophy list with unfair things like "level up survival skill to 10".

Loading times everywhere, road trip are just boring and you literally watch the screen doing nothing for several minutes (in fact during travels when fast travel is not available I read something, browse the internet etc.).

I'm not pissed just because I'll trade the game this week recovering the full money I spent on it thanks to an awesome pre-order offer, but the game needed at least another year of development and a good director.

Tabata in my opinion isn't a good director, you can't simply cut stuff randomly hoping something will stick on the wall.

 

[CGwizz]

It doesn't feel like a series with a future. The most promising title to come within the next 3 years is a retelling of the past.

The only way Square can release a good story is remaking games, sad but true, they just cant do it anymore. Better remake ff7 then 6 and stop trying to do new entries.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

He is the true ancestor to the Lucis Caiem line that was trying to do the right thing forever ago and got punished because the gods are dicks.

Not a big fan of flashbacks as a means of story delivery, but seems to me this would have been a good opportunity to show this in a visual way to emphasize the importance. Would have been beneficial, I think.

 

[Slater]

The only way Square can release a good story is remaking games, sad but true, they just cant do it anymore. Better remake ff7 then 6 and stop trying to do new entries.

XIV exists bruh

 

[CGwizz]

XIV exists bruh

I played ff14 for 2 months straight every day and dont see it. Dont even remember the story to be honest with you, was so good that i dont remember it xD

 

[dramatis]

I'm not one to buy into the 'lol if the team didn't spend time making food models we'd have gotten a finished game', but even the closest disciplinary work, since it's the art dept, was invested instead into say, better cutscenes, there's still a bunch of other considerations. ASSUMING (and disclaimer here that this is completely separate from the 4chan talk, and not to be taken as 'falk's insider look into the last months of the dev cycle') there were script changes happening here and there, cutscenes would be dependent on everything from the writing being locked down, VA being planned and executed, etc before work on it could be finalized, while food is pretty much done when it's done regardless of what else happens with the game.

This can be used to excuse erratic storytelling (particularly if scenes are dropped or added).

But I do not think your reasoning can be used to excuse Cindy. Because it's quite clear they put an inordinate amount of effort into her for all of the shitty reasons that everybody knows.

lol what's that about ?

'PC' refers to player character. The original FF14 looked beautiful but ran terribly.

 

[Zakalwe]

XIV exists bruh

While that's good for an MMO, it's definitely not a great story overall. It felt slightly sterile or something, to me at least, and lacked real charm or humour.

There were some good story beats and scenes scattered throughout, but the bulk was long winded and slightly convoluted.

8/10 for an MMO
6/10 overall

 

[HeelPower]

I honestly don't understand how this game got so good reviews. I can understand MGSV, even if part of the plot was missing, the gameplay was top notch at least.
With FFXV, 3/4 of the plot are missing, the game still feels so bugged expecially when you spent some good time in the game (I noticed now with a 40 hours save I'm getting more and more bugs, while when I was doing the main quest only, I got none: enemies spawing in the air, X button stops working and only a reboot fix the issue, black screen with music going on after a loading screen, characters who disappear from time to time etc, I suspect there's something going wrong with the save, like it happened in Skyrim) and the gameplay is not even good. On Normal I had no problems on killing pretty much everything until now, just mash O, use the royal weapons power when is full, use summons when the game gives you the chance, proceed. When there are a lot of enemies on the screen is pretty much impossible understanding what is going on.

Fetch quests are just awful and they are here just to waste the player's time artificially increasing the game's lenght, same for the trophy list with unfair things like "level up survival skill to 10".

Loading times everywhere, road trip are just boring and you literally watch the screen doing nothing for several minutes (in fact during travels when fast travel is not available I read something, browse the internet etc.).

I started out playing slowly in the open world section then I quickly lost interest.

Navigating the world became frustrating and repetitive and the combat & sidequests just didn't do it for me.So I found no purpose in trying to take on higher level fights.Its just bad.

I think its interesting that the combat isn't getting bashed to hell like the story is.I mean Witcher 3 combat constantly gets criticism ,but I think it was better than XV's combat.

The gameplay in XV deserves just as much criticism as the story got.

 

[formasymphonic]

Here's a fun one you might not know, though it's been discussed to death in this thread: That guy is Prompto's biological father. You know where it's revealed? The official strategy guide.

tiduslaughing.gif

(He is indeed also the Empire's Hojo-like figure - he designed the MTs, etc.)

Here's praying that baldness isn't hereditary in Prompto's family.

Edit:

I really liked that scene as well, and was also disappointed the screen block was still on. Thankfully I was running my Elgato so I was able to grab it from there. You can grab it from here if you'd like: http://i.imgur.com/fjg56aT.png

Thanks a lot for this. I really did get the feels when it came up in-game.

 

[LiK]

Ardyn was the original Lucis Caelum, he was a revered healer (kinda like the Oracle) and chosen by the Gods to end the very first Starscourge, that Ifrit let loose by the way.
Ardyn/Lucis Caelum managed to defeat the Starscourge but only by absorbing all daemons into himself. He got incredibly powerful by that and immortal, but in the God's and people's eyes he was now tainted/corrupted. A jealous king named Izunia brought Ardyn down and took his name for his line. On top of that the God's refused Ardyn to enter afterlife. Ardyn felt wronged, took Izunia's name instead and swore to end the line of the fake Lucis Caelums. Now he conspires with Ifrit to bring about the second Starscourge to take down the Lucis Caelums...

You've just explained 20 hours of the plot in a short post. Bravo.