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All-New Press Previews of Final Fantasy XV's First 5 Chapters

Rappy

Member
All the gameplay footage we are seeing is footage from a preview build Square Enix sent out to journalists or used as demos on conventions. The preview build ends after athe 5th chapter.
The first 5 chapters play in the Kindom of Lucis with it's areas Leide, Duscae and Cleigne. It is after chapter 5 that you leave the kingdom also referred to as a continent for Altissia, which is situated on another continent. That is about the 1/3 mark of the game. So there are lots regions we don't know of yet and all info we got so far suggests that there is at least one more open-world continent the size of Lucis before the more linear part of the game begins in the latter 1/3 of it.
Well those PGW footage vids are likely past CH 5 and they still only showed old areas. I get the concern, but yeah there're tons of reasons (or at least a few good ones) why they may not want to show these areas. And even if the other areas are not as "open" than the starting ones, I don't think that necessarily means they're bad.
 

Tyaren

Member
Unfortunately I really think this is the case. The only open area is going to be the first mass of land and the rest linear and shit. I'm so scared this game development might ve been rushed to the level that first part is pic and second super underwhelming.

First of all, calm down. ;) Tabata backpedaled regarding the linearity of the second half of the game. It is actually towards the end of the second half of the game that the approach will become more linear/story focused.
Also, we still don't know what that more linear approach really means. I very much doubt it will be just FFXIII corridors.
You also will be able to fast travel back to the open-world areas at any time, according to Tabata.
There will be a second continent called Terra Verde that is still mostly under wraps. All we have seen of it is concept art and it suggests it is just as varied and open as the Lucian continent. Probably even larger.
Since the complete region of Duscae is, according to the developers, just 10 percent of the whole game world, that means that Lucis is about 30% of the whole game world and that there is a whopping 70% of gameworld left.

Well those PGW footage vids are likely past CH 5 and they still only showed old areas. I get the concern, but yeah there're tons of reasons (or at least a few good ones) why they may not want to show these areas. And even if the other areas are not as "open" than the starting ones, I don't think that necessarily means they're bad.

What suggests they must be past chapter 5?
 
What's the consensus on the dub performance. Always have had a soft spot for ff English dub but the first demo was the only thing I remember and that wasn't the best.
 

KupoNut

Member
Nothing big but someone did an interview with Aranea's voice actor (Kari Wahlgren)

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/80938/article/interview-kari-wahlgren-on-final-fantasy-xv-anime-and-localization/

Some details that I think are new:
- Aranea is a pro mercenary fighter. because she's a gun for hire, her loyalties are always in question and could change depending on the highest bidder or who she actually isn't bored with
- Morally ambiguous side
- Her favorite part of recording was the chemistry and interaction between her and the party, "it's going to be a treat"
 
What's the consensus on the dub performance. Always have had a soft spot for ff English dub but the first demo was the only thing I remember and that wasn't the best.

Above average for a JRPG but not close at all in quality to something like Naughty Dog or other AAA western studios.
 

Tyaren

Member
Nothing big but someone did an interview with Aranea's voice actor (Kari Wahlgren)

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/80938/article/interview-kari-wahlgren-on-final-fantasy-xv-anime-and-localization/

Some details that I think are new:
- Aranea is a pro mercenary fighter. because she's a gun for hire, her loyalties are always in question and could change depending on the highest bidder or who she actually isn't bored with
- Morally ambiguous side
- Her favorite part of recording was the chemistry and interaction between her and the party, "it's going to be a treat"


Thanks for that. :)
I had a feeling for a while that Aranea might actually switch sides and that she might even be a guest party member. They went out of their way to introduce and promote her a while back. Way more than any other enemy character. Also, didn't Tabata mention she would be quite important to the story?
 
Thanks for that. :)
I had a feeling for a while that Aranea might actually switch sides and that she might even be a guest party member. They went out of their way to introduce and promote her a while back. Way more than any other enemy character. Also, didn't Tabata mention she would be quite important to the story?

Same here. Moreover, she is a Dragoon, and Dragoons are all about honor and shame. Simply put there has never been a true Dragoon villain in the series. (The closest was Kain Highwind but he was brainwashed and he did repent.)
 

Renmyra

Member
Nothing big but someone did an interview with Aranea's voice actor (Kari Wahlgren)

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/80938/article/interview-kari-wahlgren-on-final-fantasy-xv-anime-and-localization/

Some details that I think are new:
- Aranea is a pro mercenary fighter. because she's a gun for hire, her loyalties are always in question and could change depending on the highest bidder or who she actually isn't bored with
- Morally ambiguous side
- Her favorite part of recording was the chemistry and interaction between her and the party, "it's going to be a treat"

I have a feeling she's gonna come saving the party like Beatrix.
 

Rappy

Member
What suggests they must be past chapter 5?
The royal arms they have and the ring.
Nothing big but someone did an interview with Aranea's voice actor (Kari Wahlgren)

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/80938/article/interview-kari-wahlgren-on-final-fantasy-xv-anime-and-localization/

Some details that I think are new:
- Aranea is a pro mercenary fighter. because she's a gun for hire, her loyalties are always in question and could change depending on the highest bidder or who she actually isn't bored with
- Morally ambiguous side
- Her favorite part of recording was the chemistry and interaction between her and the party, "it's going to be a treat"
Perhaps my earlier speculation will be true! I ship Aranea x Ignis!
Above average for a JRPG but not close at all in quality to something like Naughty Dog or other AAA western studios.
Who woulda thunk, western speaking studios having a better direction for western dubbing. I guess this is why Capcom got the Spec OPs: The line writer on board for re7
 

Rappy

Member
They can unlock that for demos. They did unlock stuff you get way later in the game for demos before. I very much doubt they gave anyone the complete game so far.
Whatever you say, man. Looks like an odd choice of royal/phantom arms + ring to include for what they demoed if that's the case.
 

Limality

Banned
Whatever you say, man. Looks like an odd choice of royal/phantom arms + ring to include for what they demoed if that's the case.

I remember the FF VIII Demo...you got to play the Siege of Dollet part. Rinoa was playable and you were able to summon Leviathan. It's likely they unlocked some stuff much earlier...
 
D

Deleted member 20920

Unconfirmed Member
One question that has been on and off my mind is what they'll do about the Royal Tombs and weapons. Given that they belong to past kings, it wouldn't make sense to have them on the other continents. Unless a long time ago, Lucis actually had more lands that they progressively lost to the other countries. And why does Luna or the oracles hold one of the royal weapons?

I guess it could be that Lucis really used to be bigger and Noct will get some of these weapons from the other continents, maybe not via tombs.
 

Koozek

Member
CwkhzriWQAAmaPF.jpg
 

Rappy

Member
I remember the FF VIII Demo...you got to play the Siege of Dollet part. Rinoa was playable and you were able to summon Leviathan. It's likely they unlocked some stuff much earlier...
They had
the ring of the lucii casting the death spell (which seemingly had no effect on enemies showed off or they just didn't really use it) and the trident of the oracle
. And people at PGW didn't actually get to play that specific demo they presented did they?
 

Tyaren

Member

Was Noctis' casual outfit really the best they could come up with? I can't imagine how any designer thought this was an awesome alternative to his black Roen look. I hope there will be more clothing in the game.

Somebody really needs to warn Gladio that his pants are plotting to strangle him.

Yeah, he'd look a lot cooler if he wouldn't pull up his pants to his waist. :/
 
First of all, calm down. ;) Tabata backpedaled regarding the linearity of the second half of the game. It is actually towards the end of the second half of the game that the approach will become more linear/story focused.
Also, we still don't know what that more linear approach really means. I very much doubt it will be just FFXIII corridors.
You also will be able to fast travel back to the open-world areas at any time, according to Tabata.
There will be a second continent called Terra Verde that is still mostly under wraps. All we have seen of it is concept art and it suggests it is just as varied and open as the Lucian continent. Probably even larger.
Since the complete region of Duscae is, according to the developers, just 10 percent of the whole game world, that means that Lucis is about 30% of the whole game world and that there is a whopping 70% of gameworld left.



What suggests they must be past chapter 5?

Well, the loading screen at the beginning of the PGW presentation does literally say "Epilogue: Memory of travel" as the chapter label, and says "explore at your discretion, you may find new things".

It's safe to say that they were showing stuff you can do in those areas in the post-game. Of course, there are likely other open world areas in the post game (including whatever comes post-Ch 5).
 

Rappy

Member
Was Noctis' casual outfit really the best they could come up with? I can't imagine how any designer thought this was an awesome alternative to his black Roen look. I hope there will be more clothing in the game.
They're casual clothes. What would you want it to be? I personally think it's an awesome alternative because I dislike his roen outfit to the point that any alternative we've seen is awesome. Sure, the casual could be better though but the jacketless version is the best of all the casuals. I say remove the hat and maybe gloves though. I'd rather have the costume with the sukajan if that becomes available somehow, but then I'm not sure what else kind of outfits would fit this "road trip" game.
 

Koozek

Member
Was Noctis' casual outfit really the best they could come up with? I can't imagine how any designer thought this was an awesome alternative to his black Roen look. I hope there will be more clothing in the game.
I just wish you could take off the hat, other than that I like it, especially the jacket. Simple short and jeans combo, bothing wrong with that as a casual outfit.
 

Koozek

Member
Got my 65 inch 4k tv this weekend, ps4 pro and FF XV paid off with trade and awaiting release dates:

200w.gif
What type of HDR though? Seems to be super confusing still with no clear standard yet.
Three points:

A. What we have now is a very early implementations of the HDR specs. This results in configuration issues and features being incomplete or just missing.

B. HDR we're talking about is not a graphical technology, it's a display technology. As such it's wildly different between different TV sets, and while this difference will probably become smaller in the future it will still be there, always. Thus anyone saying anything on HDR should always provide his TV model for people to understand what was used to get these impressions.

C. HDR increases the possible values range. This results in higher contrast ratio (mostly brighter whites as black levels are limited by panel technology even on LDR screens) and wider colors choice. What a game do with this is totally up to the game however, so it's completely possible that one game will become more vivid in HDR mode while another will become muted instead. This is an artistic choice, not something which the tech itself impose. You just have wider ranges of brightness and colors on HDR TVs, how you use them is up to you.
 
Was Noctis' casual outfit really the best they could come up with? I can't imagine how any designer thought this was an awesome alternative to his black Roen look. I hope there will be more clothing in the game.



Yeah, he'd look a lot cooler if he wouldn't pull up his pants to his waist. :/

You kids and your sagging culture. Gladio showing that true Cary Grant class.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
What's the consensus on the dub performance. Always have had a soft spot for ff English dub but the first demo was the only thing I remember and that wasn't the best.
It's legitimately god awful if you have any respect for the acting medium, it's one of those things where it's incredibly obvious the actors were not allowed to give a lot of input into what the character would say on top of a poor script. in terms of presentation, (script, cinematography, pacing), the cutscenes in FFXV are below par, especially when we're getting shit like Mafia III's glorious presentation.. Which is a shame since the in-game character animation is actually top tier especially with all the physical interactions between the cast so it'd be great to see that care carried over to making non awkward cutscenes.
 

Tyaren

Member
They're casual clothes. What would you want it to be? I personally think it's an awesome alternative because I dislike his roen outfit to the point that any alternative we've seen is awesome. Sure, the casual could be better though but the jacketless version is the best of all the casuals. I say remove the hat and maybe gloves though. I'd rather have the costume with the sukajan if that becomes available somehow, but then I'm not sure what else kind of outfits would fit this "road trip" game.

So you think it is an "awesome" alternative but only without the jacket and you would also like to have the hat and the gloves removed (which you unfortunately can't). So you are actually not really content with it either...but it's still awesome? XD
It's also less a casual outfit and more a golfer outfit, namely look 3:

izod-golf-clothes-sunday-pink.jpg


You kids and your sagging culture. Gladio showing that true Cary Grant class.

Lol, when I was in high school I was the exact opposite of those sagging culture kids.
 
It's legitimately god awful if you have any respect for the acting medium, it's one of those things where it's incredibly obvious the actors were not allowed to give a lot of input into what the character would say on top of a poor script. in terms of presentation, (script, cinematography, pacing), the cutscenes in FFXV are below par, especially when we're getting shit like Mafia III's glorious presentation.. Which is a shame since the in-game character animation is actually top tier especially with all the physical interactions between the cast so it'd be great to see that care carried over to making non awkward cutscenes.

I think lots of folks have questioned it, but "legitimately god awful" is in no way a consensus. In fact, that's definitional for hyperbole - If XV is painted with such terms, what words are left for TRULY awful dubs?

Now "below par" for AAA, that may well be true.
 
I think lots of folks have questioned it, but "legitimately god awful" is in no way a consensus. In fact, that's definitional for hyperbole - If XV is painted with such terms, what words are left for TRULY awful dubs?

Now "below par" for AAA, that may well be true.
Don't bother
There are god awful dubs ffxv is not one
 

benzy

Member
The dub sounds pretty decent especially in the banter out in the open world. In serious cutscenes is when it can get kind of weird.
 

Damerman

Member
It's legitimately god awful if you have any respect for the acting medium, it's one of those things where it's incredibly obvious the actors were not allowed to give a lot of input into what the character would say on top of a poor script. in terms of presentation, (script, cinematography, pacing), the cutscenes in FFXV are below par, especially when we're getting shit like Mafia III's glorious presentation.. Which is a shame since the in-game character animation is actually top tier especially with all the physical interactions between the cast so it'd be great to see that care carried over to making non awkward cutscenes.

holy shit that mafia 3 link. gotta pick that game up.
 
『Inaba Resident』;223214719 said:
Thought the dub was bad when I first heard it during gamescom but now that I've gotten more of it. its pretty decent.
Still using Japanese voices though

I'll use french dub. After hearing the dub for the JP expo trailer, I've made my mind on this :

1. I'll play FFXV start to finish in french.
2. I'll replay another time FFXV in english just to see the english dub.
3. I'll finally replay FFXV 100% in jp dub, because I want to hear the original dub too.
 

Koozek

Member
I'll use french dub. After hearing the dub for the JP expo trailer, I've made my mind on this :

1. I'll play FFXV start to finish in french.
2. I'll replay another time FFXV in english just to see the english dub.
3. I'll finally replay FFXV 100% in jp dub, because I want to hear the original dub too.
The French dub sounded good to me too (I don't know the language, though), but Cor was hilariously unfitting, lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqiT0q6Dys&t=16m35s
 

Tyaren

Member
The French dub sounded good to me too (I don't know the language, though), but Cor was hilariously unfitting, lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqiT0q6Dys&t=16m35s

Lol, hearing him with that voice actually made me laugh ou loud. Yeah, he sounds awful. Gladiolus and Prompto imo also don't sound good in French. Gladiolus sounds like an old man and Prompto sounds really squeaky.
I wished I knew in which video I saw it, but when the group approached Galdin Quay and Prompto was talking about getting massages he sounded like Mickey...no, actually like Minnie Mouse. XD
 

Koozek

Member
Lol, hearing him with that voice actually made me laugh ou loud. Yeah, he sounds awful. Gladiolus and Prompto imo also don't sound good in French. Gladiolus sounds like an old man and Prompto sounds really squeaky.
I wished I knew in which video I saw it, but when the group approached Galdin Quay and Prompto was talking about getting massages he sounded like Mickey...no, actually like Minnie Mouse. XD
Me too :D Just reminded me of this video of the Dutch host who couldn't hold back because of his guest's high voice (one of the first viral videos I remember from my early internet days):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQa3R3wczAU
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I think lots of folks have questioned it, but "legitimately god awful" is in no way a consensus. In fact, that's definitional for hyperbole - If XV is painted with such terms, what words are left for TRULY awful dubs?

Now "below par" for AAA, that may well be true.
I mean, just listen to it. Maybe without looking at the video itself. Maybe not god awful, but it's so bad compared to what actors are capable of these days that I can't even call it good. It's painfully obvious that none of the actors were in the same room at all during the recording sessions. Like, during an animatic critique, if I asked a student if it was a scratch track or placeholder and they told me no, I'd tell them to find new actors immediately.

The words for truly awful dubs is "Fuck why even bother?"

holy shit that mafia 3 link. gotta pick that game up.
Right? It's so good. This is how far the medium has come in terms of pacing, (a couple years ago we had Wolfenstein but Mafia III takes it to a new level). Also as a warning the game is intensely repetitive, like AC1 repetitive. Feels really good to play but holy shit did they really drop the ball on mission types.
 

Samimista

Member
Nothing big but someone did an interview with Aranea's voice actor (Kari Wahlgren)

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/80938/article/interview-kari-wahlgren-on-final-fantasy-xv-anime-and-localization/

Some details that I think are new:
- Aranea is a pro mercenary fighter. because she's a gun for hire, her loyalties are always in question and could change depending on the highest bidder or who she actually isn't bored with
- Morally ambiguous side
- Her favorite part of recording was the chemistry and interaction between her and the party, "it's going to be a treat"

I had a feeling Aranea was more of an anti-hero.

Guess she'll eventually help out Noct and co.
 

Aside from Noctis's, I kinda think these outfits could have worked well as the defaults outfits. They're more realistic than the actual default ones and there would have been less complaints about the cast looking like a K-pop band or wearing all black high fashion clothes.
 

Samimista

Member
Aside from Noctis's, I kinda think these outfits could have worked well as the defaults outfits. They're more realistic than the actual default ones and there would have been less complaints about the cast looking like a K-pop band or wearing all black high fashion clothes.

I especially like Ignis' outfit. The pinstripe shirt and suspenders are a good combo.
 
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