Little bit on game structure - not sure if spoiler worthy but just in case:
On Chocobos:
Chocobos can be hired for up to seven days. Summoning one is as easy as blowing on a Chocobo whistle. Chocobos move quickly off road but you'll still rely on the Regalia to cover greater distances. Your bird accrues experience points when riding it and will level up automatically, increasing stamina and infusing it with the ability and will to join battles. Eventually you'll be able to name, colour the feathers of and pin medals on your steed. And yet it never comes together as a rounded component. As soon as you've taken part in a couple of races, you're whisked off to another city and the Chocobos are gone.
Again, there is not any context given to the above in the article...I guess they could rationalise that in the context of the game by putting it down to geographical differences. They are going for 'some degree' of realism, and so not everything is available everywhere or all the time. Seems a bit weird to me though. I hope they don't let their ideas of world building to put too much restriction on the large amount of components they have constructed...
I think it's probably one of those things you can employ simply for gameplay purposes.
Like story wise you don't actually go back in time, but you can in order to finish things up and explore at your leisure and not have everything cut off
I prefer linearity, so that part doesn't ring any alarm bells for me. However, I've always thought of Edge as a good magazine with quality writers on-staff, so the overarching negativity here does concern me.
I think some of my doubts are coming into focus now. I'd like to be able to say otherwise, please don't misunderstand. But it's possible the reasons we've not seen much from Chapters 6-15 is becoming clear. Again, I'm not so hip on just a ton of open world design. Going linear is fine by me. But we don't know for certain that the narrower structure will pay off.
It's not proper time manipulation, it's more like when you beat the final boss in a Jrpg and then you realod from the save file before it with post-game content unlocked. It's not a contextual thing but rather a technical one.
Second half stuff sounds interesting. Where I stand is that it's gonna divide people. It doesn't sound like they're playing it safe, which I do like, and I think it sounds interesting. It could also be terrible, but if the story and atmosphere is there, I'm game.
I will say I'm glad I read it and have sort of an idea of what to expect.
Very much agreed. I admire the effort in trying (what sounds like) new or risky things, even if the execution ends up being poor. I felt this way earlier on, with regards to the all-male cast and road trip scenario being an aspect that distinctly put some people off.
Whilst this new info is really piquing my interest, I still prefer to have tempered expectations. I would rather hear enough criticism to know what are considered "problem areas" and whether or not that would affect my enjoyment. I think the character interactions and combat will carry me through the game, but would still rather not be disappointed.
I think some of my doubts are coming into focus now. I'd like to be able to say otherwise, please don't misunderstand. But it's possible the reasons we've not seen much from Chapters 6-15 is becoming clear. Again, I'm not so hip on just a ton of open world design. Going linear is fine by me. But we don't know for certain that the narrower structure will pay off.
Call me an optimist, but it could also be that they didn't want to show it because of spoilers and lack of context. It could feel "right" during natural play but come across as terrible in marketing. I also don't like seeing everything before I play a game or see a movie anyway, so I think it's a good thing either way.
The entertainment culture is used to seeing much of a product before it's even out. It's why I've been a big fan of how Capcom is handling Resident Evil VII. I'm not saying this stuff will be good, but even if it's because it may not be great, I'm glad they haven't just haphazardly revealed everything yet.
It also gives me hope that the game won't just be entirely the same stuff we've been seeing for the past 3 years.
He says that the game makes you care about the characters, and there's real camaraderie among the four guys as well. He also says that the concept of four rich guys in a JRPG-styled road trip is original, but having no female characters is a bad thing? It reads like he's putting gendered characters as part of a checklist, and that's really weird to me.
Anyway, I only really focused on his comments on the second half of the game as we've heard stuff from the first 5 chapters over and over again. It sounds returning to do earlier parts of the game is disjointed with key mechanics being missing. Still, the parts of the second half that was mentioned sound like what I want and it seems like there's a stronger story focus.
What I'm confused about is how there's a lesser story focus when it looks like the second half of the game is much more focused towards the story.
It's not the linear sounding structure later on that concerns me (especially since that was more or less known already), it's how disjointed it sounds to be.
I read the complete review(?) and now I do worry a bit. :/ Especially regarding the story, the combat system in boss fights and most of all the second half of the game.
Alarm bells immediately started ringing when Tabata first stated the second half would be more linear and that there was this train ride section instead of just continuously exploring the open world in the Regalia. But I thought that this doesn't need to be a bad thing and I should give it a chance. There might be a very good reason for that.
What I now read seems to confirm my biggest worries though. Apparently the second half feels disjointed from the rest and like a relict of the game's troubled past
This all sounds like they really had to cut development short to get the game finally out and that the second half of the game was less intentionally linear and constraint but more linear and constraint out of pure necessity.
I really hope that is not true...and we will soon all see for ourselves, I guess.
This takes me back to the days when XIII was released in Japan and images of the linear maps were sending peeps into panic mode. Also the thousands of "NO TOWNZ!!!" threads.
I still want to believe the second half will be decent, but it does make you wonder if this is the reason why they haven't shown much footage beyond the first 5 chapters.
Just piecing the stuff we have seen from all the trailers, I can imagine Altissia will be the starting point when the game will focus its full effort on the story. Altissia will probably suffer the same fate as Atlantis -> insert car chase sequence here -> beat up a few old guys in Nifelheim -> go back to Insomnia to beat up Ifrit and avenge dad -> final confrontation with Stella, the goddess of death. Blah blah I have no idea wth I'm on about but you get the gist on what Tabata may mean when he says the second half will be linear.
Pls Tabata, just let me summon Titan to smash the end-game corridors and Pyramid heads away!
There are some interesting tidbits from the Edge preview.
It seems like the money system is a bit flawed. As we know, you don't get money from enemies but rather through items in the world that you sell. The problem, however, is that the party tends to use a lot of consumable items in battle, such as potions and elixirs. It seems that because of this your party may end up short on the funds to buy new equipment and weapons in areas.
There also seems to be an abundance of mechanics that are tied to specific regions and parts of the game that don't carry over once you leave ultimately making them feel unfinished. Chocobo stats don't seem to carry over from region to region and certain gameplay options like Cid's weapon customization all but vanish once you've left one location.
To make clear the distinction between the two halves of the game, if you want to return to the open-world area you'll need to travel 'back in time' when at a save point. Once there, you can mop up any unresolved side-missions, until you're ready to return to the present.
Sure would explain why marketing has been focusing so hard on the same areas for well over a year.
Also the part about the combat "falling apart" is exactly what I've been afraid of since Duscae. Sucks to hear, but the writing has been on the wall in both demos and in hands-on previews.
I would be more worried if this preview didn't sound so badly written. As is, it doesn't give us much solid information, just little bullet points for people to freak out over without context. I await more information as always, and will play the game myself soon anyway.
It seems like the money system is a bit flawed. As we know, you don't get money from enemies but rather through items in the world that you sell. The problem, however, is that the party tends to use a lot of consumable items in battle, such as potions and elixirs. It seems that because of this your party may end up short on the funds to buy new equipment and weapons in areas.
Now I'm just curious as to how big the open world section is and the actual content in it. I don't mind the rest of it being different, and I'm not really the biggest fan of open worlds anyway so as long as there's enough content in what part is open world, then it's whatever.
FFXIII's linearity actually wasn't anywhere near the top of the game's problems for me.
The weapons you give to the guys determines their fighting style, and then we have control of their special attacks at the cost of parts of a bar that fills up.
There are some interesting tidbits from the Edge preview.
It seems like the money system is a bit flawed. As we know, you don't get money from enemies but rather through items in the world that you sell. The problem, however, is that the party tends to use a lot of consumable items in battle, such as potions and elixirs. It seems that because of this your party may end up short on the funds to buy new equipment and weapons in areas.
There also seems to be an abundance of mechanics that are tied to specific regions and parts of the game that don't carry over once you leave ultimately making them feel unfinished. Chocobo stats don't seem to carry over from region to region and certain gameplay options like Cid's weapon customization all but vanish once you've left one location.
I'm okay with the money thing, because I think they designed it so that it had people in mind who wander off and spend hours exploring the lands, thus collecting lots of items.
Besides, every other Final Fantasy in existence (and JRPG for that matter) has you the world's richest person by the end of the game. I think having tighter money is potentially a good thing.
Not sure about the other stuff you mentioned though, we'll have to see once we get into the game.
There are at least three open areas we have seen plus the 'Terraverde' grasslands from the concept art. Honestly, the only linear areas we are probably going to see is the whole
Nifleheim invasion which probably ends with Noctis inside the crystal like the TGS trailer showed. This is where a fast paced storyline can work, as you will be fighting for your life and to get into where ever the crystal is kept
Sure would explain why marketing has been focusing so hard on the same areas for well over a year.
Also the part about the combat "falling apart" is exactly what I've been afraid of since Duscae. Sucks to hear, but the writing has been on the wall in both demos and in hands-on previews.
They say the combat works well for the most part, it's at best when Noctis is alone but almost falls apart in boss battles. They complain because of the confusing camera not because it is inherently bad. We also know the camera will be improved with a day one patch.
All this info seems a bit cool and all especially if it is tied to Niflheim or Insomnia . Still Famitsu coverage seems lacking, by now we would have had infor about every summon, every weapon, and every character including shots of endgame.
We are about to get Xenogear'd with the 2nd half of the story.
No but seriously, I can see this being concerning but I think it's all about implementation. They know they have a lot riding on this game and this preview makes it sound like they fucked up pretty badly. I have hope that the dev team knows they need to a hit with this one to save the franchise and have done a good job at delivering it.
Now I'm just curious as to how big the open world section is and the actual content in it. I don't mind the rest of it being different, and I'm not really the biggest fan of open worlds anyway so as long as there's enough content in what part is open world, then it's whatever.
FFXIII's linearity actually wasn't anywhere near the top of the game's problems for me.
I wasn't so bothered by FF XIII's linearity so much as how they stripped away a lot of things that made Final Fantasy games in the past, which was towns, the ability to stop the story and do side content and generally fool around (that is, until late game, which ended up just being all about hunting monsters).
That, and the fact that when you have a design like that, the story better be gripping. I actually lost interest when the world opened up in XIII simply because I got lost in the boring world.
They say the combat works well for the most part, it's at best when Noctis is alone but almost falls apart in boss battles,they complain because of the confusing camera not because it is inherently bad. We also know the camera will be impoved with a day one patch.
A game being at its best when the protagonist is alone after it was sold as being all about the party supporting you is troubling enough, but it mentioned again that large enemy battles are incoherent and chaotic, which is what I was referring to. Going off what I've played and what I've seen, I think the game's combat system has some fundamental flaws.
There are some interesting tidbits from the Edge preview.
It seems like the money system is a bit flawed. As we know, you don't get money from enemies but rather through items in the world that you sell. The problem, however, is that the party tends to use a lot of consumable items in battle, such as potions and elixirs. It seems that because of this your party may end up short on the funds to buy new equipment and weapons in areas.
There also seems to be an abundance of mechanics that are tied to specific regions and parts of the game that don't carry over once you leave ultimately making them feel unfinished. Chocobo stats don't seem to carry over from region to region and certain gameplay options like Cid's weapon customization all but vanish once you've left one location.
You probably have to go back to Hammerhead itself to upgrade the weapons. There is fast travel for this purpose, no? Also, regarding gil, you are supposed to sell enemy drops for money so why worry about potions? Just forgo them for a little bit, kill the mobs with the money drops, sell, and buy your new equipment. Then go bak and get money for potions when you are ready for a big encounter.
FFXII had a very similar design and gil was not always easy to get for every area's new weapons and armors.
None of the fights in Duscae were really a good indication of how actual fights will be. The demo didn't have aerial combat, team attacks or magic. Of course the bosses were boring to fight, all you could do was warpstrike them and whack their feet. Duscae just had the little KH skill menu to give you something to do other than ravage enemies all day.
I feel like the boss fights are more a problem with the camera than their design, the camera works for open field encounters but does seem to be ENTIRELY up to the player to manage during large boss fights. Things like the Titan battle can either look 100% clunky or pretty awesome depending on the person playing.
Doesn't mean it's not terrible though. I mean I enjoy the dialogue in scream movies and half of it is incredibly transparent monologues about the current state of the horror genre. Plus it's not just dialogue, the acting in TLOU runs so many circle around FFXV that it's almost comical given the fact that TLOU is a shorter game.
Doesn't mean it's not terrible though. I mean I enjoy the dialogue in scream movies and half of it is incredibly transparent monologues about the current state of the horror genre. Plus it's not just dialogue, the acting in TLOU runs so many circle around FFXV that it's almost comical given the fact that TLOU is a shorter game.
Why do you always try to force some narrative? Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's universally terrible. You do it in every rpg/anime Style related thread.
Doesn't mean it's not terrible though. I mean I enjoy the dialogue in scream movies and half of it is incredibly transparent monologues about the current state of the horror genre. Plus it's not just dialogue, the acting in TLOU runs so many circle around FFXV that it's almost comical given the fact that TLOU is a shorter game.
Is it safe here in this thread? The other one is full of people going ape shit claiming that they knew this game would be a 100% flop the whole time and the world is ending.
Is it safe here in this thread? The other one is full of people going ape shit claiming that they knew this game would be a 100% flop the whole time and the world is ending.
Is it safe here in this thread? The other one is full of people going ape shit claiming that they knew this game would be a 100% flop the whole time and the world is ending.
It's weird. We had tons of very, very positive impression of this game, and everything was normal. Now one mixed preview appears and suddenly we have 9 pages of panicking, doom and gloom.
I mean the preview wasn't really negative. They loved the first half, enjoyed the combat, enjoyed the characters and the chemistry between the party members. Only complaints were bad camera and a "weird" second half. And, quiet frankly, I liked everything they said about the second half xD! Even if they meant it in a negative way, but the sound of
lone Noctis segments with horror vibe
sounds very appealing to me.
I don't know, for now I'll just wait and see. Only thing I'm sure of right now is that I'm very impressed by how little they've shown of the game. The only thing Edge preview confirmed for me is that we don't know anything about what happens after the first 5 chapters, which excites me to no end.
It's weird. We had tons of very, very positive impression of this game, and everything was normal. Now one mixed preview appears and suddenly we have 9 pages of panicking, doom and gloom.
I mean the preview wasn't really negative. They loved the first half, enjoyed the combat, enjoyed the characters and the chemistry between the party members. Only complaints were bad camera and a "weird" second half. And, quiet frankly, I liked everything they said about the second half xD! Even if they meant it in a negative way, but the sound of
lone Noctis segments with horror vibe
sounds very appealing to me.
I don't know, for now I'll just wait and see. Only thing I'm sure of right now is that I'm very impressed by how little they've shown of the game. The only thing Edge preview confirmed for me is that we don't know anything about what happens after the first 5 chapters, which excites me to no end.
People just look for the one negative and pounce on it immediately, and then extrapolate any criticisms into these game-breaking "facts". One person said "omg I knew this would be just like XIII" like really wtf?
I personally cancelled my pre Order I hate stealth and other random bs in my Final fantasy. Now excuse while I go play ff7 and sneak past these shinra soldier's than proceed to ride my motorcycle and slash enemies awkwardly
It's weird. We had tons of very, very positive impression of this game, and everything was normal. Now one mixed preview appears and suddenly we have 9 pages of panicking, doom and gloom.
I mean the preview wasn't really negative. They loved the first half, enjoyed the combat, enjoyed the characters and the chemistry between the party members. Only complaints were bad camera and a "weird" second half. And, quiet frankly, I liked everything they said about the second half xD! Even if they meant it in a negative way, but the sound of
lone Noctis segments with horror vibe
sounds very appealing to me.
I don't know, for now I'll just wait and see. Only thing I'm sure of right now is that I'm very impressed by how little they've shown of the game. The only thing Edge preview confirmed for me is that we don't know anything about what happens after the first 5 chapters, which excites me to no end.
It's unfortunate, but some people want the game to fail to help the narrative they've been trying to spin or because of other ulterior motives (Nomura's vision, turn-based combat, etc). That is not to say everyone will love it or that it will be GoTY 2016. But there is clear intent to pull the game down from some.
