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

AlexFlame116 said:
Earlier I heard the rumor about
Ardyn being the person in the logo due to the fact that his artwork shows him with one wing
. Has that been debunked or is it still possible?
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I'd find this very hard to believe. The sun rising in the background of the logo strongly suggests that the figure is the goddess Eos (goddess of the dawn, Dawn trailer, Eos is the name of the world, etc.).
 
Crossing Eden said:
Bad acting isn't inherent to the video game medium. Video games often remind you that they're games the second the gameplay starts and a wall cycle, hid, and bunch of systems kick in over well animated and acted cutscenes.
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I have a long post in my head but I don't want to type on my phone. I will put my thoughts in the "raise your flame shield" thread. In short, I agree with the guy who posted in that thread that videogame is the worst medium for story telling - and I'd add that it doesn't hinder people from enjoying videogame story.
 
Crossing Eden said:
Bad acting isn't inherent to the video game medium. Video games often remind you that they're games the second the gameplay starts and a wall cycle, hid, and bunch of systems kick in over well animated and acted cutscenes.
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No offense but please just let people enjoy what they want. You can be right if you want in your head and with the probable evidence.
 
AlexFlame116 said:
Earlier I heard the rumor about
Ardyn being the person in the logo due to the fact that his artwork shows him with one wing
. Has that been debunked or is it still possible?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that originally, the logo was meant to correspond with Etro.
To that point the episode duscae ending shows the "figure" in the logo as benevolent and holy rather than villainous. Also, looks like a woman (although... angels and japan, so idk)

Pkmymb0.png
 
theSlacker said:
I don't particularly care about the changes made in FF14 nor am I one of the people that goes out of their way to complain about it, but I can easily see their point of view when it comes to completely changing the context/character of something major through localization. You can add/have "flavor, personality and nuance" without altering story/changing a character/scene fundamentally. What is odd to me is that you can't even see that point of view even if you don't agree with it.

To answer your question though, an easy example is Midgardsormr's dialog as part of the story pre Heavensward.
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I was going to use Midgardsormr as an example, actually. Nothing he said actually changed, you can get all the same information from his dialogue. I can very much see that point of view, I hold the opinion myself sometimes. I may be wrong, but it seems as though you're arguing that a character like Midgarsormr was somehow unnecessarily "changed", or padded up with his dialect, when that is literally how his dialogue was written to begin with.

In XIV's case, it isn't even a matter of "localized" vs "original", and aside from simply not being able to understand what someone like Urianger or Midgardsormr is telling you, the only real complaint here is that it isn't "like the japanese version". Which, again, is a statement that doesn't even apply there. They aren't really separate entities.

With Stormblood in development, I doubt XV has had the same level of collaboration as XIV has had recently. But in no way would that hurt the game.


theSlacker said:
Honestly this isn't even something I had thought of, and a reason why I didn't/don't really pay that much mind to the FF14 localization changes. Now I'm more worried.
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It makes you more worried when the localization teams and writers are in sync with one another....?
 
AkirraKrylon said:
I'd find this very hard to believe. The sun rising in the background of the logo strongly suggests that the figure is the goddess Eos (goddess of the dawn, Dawn trailer, Eos is the name of the world, etc.).
Click to expand...


Mailbox said:
Pretty sure that originally, the logo was meant to correspond with Etro.
To that point the episode duscae ending shows the "figure" in the logo as benevolent and holy rather than villainous. Also, looks like a woman (although... angels and japan, so idk)

Pkmymb0.png
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I've been thinking. I always thought it was supposed to be the goddess or one of the females. I just heard the other rumors here once.
 
LordKasual said:
I was going to use Midgardsormr as an example, actually. Nothing he said actually changed, you can get all the same information from his dialogue. I can very much see that point of view, I hold the opinion myself sometimes. I may be wrong, but it seems as though you're arguing that a character like Midgarsormr was somehow unnecessarily "changed", or padded up with his dialect, when that is literally how his dialogue was written to begin with.

In XIV's case, it isn't even a matter of "localized" vs "original", and aside from simply not being able to understand what someone like Urianger or Midgardsormr is telling you, the only real complaint here is that it isn't "like the japanese version". Which, again, is a statement that doesn't even apply there. They aren't really separate entities.

With Stormblood in development, I doubt XV has had the same level of collaboration as XIV has had recently. But in no way would that hurt the game.
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Neg. I'm not arguing that since it isn't something that really bothered me because of the situation of the lore team's involvement and input into the localization team's work. I'm saying that I could see the point of view of the people that did have a problem with it because the changes were noticeable even with that in mind, and even though I don't really agree. It was a direct response to your statement here;
LordKasual said:
When it comes to the localization of games like XIV and FFXII, I can't see how anyone can complain about the work the localization team puts in.
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because, again, I find it really easy to see how/why people would complain about it, even if I don't agree with them.

LordKasual said:
It makes you more worried when the localization teams and writers are in sync with one another....?
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Neg. Worried about the FF15 localization since I don't think that is the case here, in contrast to FF14 where changes didn't bother me because of the writers had their input. Sorry if I worded it poorly.
 
Where can I find information about the magic targeting system?
Has it been updated from the PD?

Is it still as hard as throwing a pokeball?
I've seen contextual magic being used, so that's kinda cool.
 
dragonzdogma said:
Where can I find information about the magic targeting system?
Has it been updated from the PD?

Is it still as hard as throwing a pokeball?
I've seen contextual magic being used, so that's kinda cool.
Click to expand...

Apparently, now it tracks and auto-aims if you're soft-locked onto an enemy. Just tap the button and it will always go the enemy you've targeted, or hold and manually aim.
 
Then why a boat would be in that painting in the first place... and why would it be traversing the clouds ?! I mean, it's clearly a hint that doomtrain is an hidden summon in the game imo
 
theSlacker said:
Neg. Worried about the FF15 localization since I don't think that is the case here, in contrast to FF14 where changes didn't bother me because of the writers had their input. Sorry if I worded it poorly.
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Yeah, considering how different the English and Japanese scripts are already from what we've seen.
 
XII and XIV have God-awful faux-Shakespeare localization. Every time I hear the word selfsame or Godsdamn I die a little. War of the Lions was slightly less offensive, but in the same camp. It's right up there with the punny DQ localizations for me. Just play it straight. Straight does not equal boring.

/opinions

It's why I'm really glad XV has dual audio, since its translation seems a little iffy, too.
 
Koozek said:
Dude, am I confusing you with someone else or were you working on FFXV in Q&A?^^
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Q&A? :P

Kagari said:
Yeah, considering how different the English and Japanese scripts are already from what we've seen.
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XIV is also very different from it's Japanese script. Come on...

XV retains character motivations and personalities well. It's as close to the Japanese script as one could realistically hope for.

Edit: My argument here is that every localized game has changes done to them when being localized. XV's changes are very minor in comparison to other FF games. The changes aren't egregious, and don't negatively affect the game.
 
Koozek said:
Yeah, most likely Bahamut:
Code: 
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qtsAh7m.png[/IMG]
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I'm not caught up in the lore or demos or most previews so I didn't even know what this was.

But now I want a real edition. I wish I didn't go reading fan theories after Google searching that. Now I'm even more hyped!
 
Aters said:
I have a long post in my head but I don't want to type on my phone. I will put my thoughts in the "raise your flame shield" thread. In short, I agree with the guy who posted in that thread that videogame is the worst medium for story telling - and I'd add that it doesn't hinder people from enjoying videogame story.
Click to expand...
It's the best medium for interactive storytelling.

AlexFlame116 said:
No offense but please just let people enjoy what they want. You can be right if you want in your head and with the probable evidence.
Click to expand...
I mean I did give evidence that the acting wasn't very good. The more we accept mediocre acting the less chances are that it'll improve. :/
 
Aters said:
The word interactive is directly against storytelling. The best story I experienced is always when the author dictate the experience.
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It doesn't have to be. That's why some games are more linear than others. Personally, when a game hits all the right buttons, from gameplay to story, it gives me a level of immersion beyond what I get from tv/movies/books. And I might not be in the majority, but a big part of the reason I play games is for the story.
 
Aters said:
The word interactive is directly against storytelling. The best story I experienced is always when the author dictate the experience.
Click to expand...

The thing with this line of thinking is that it ignores the potential uses of video games for narrative purposes. Due to shear length and the fact that you are playing it, relationship context and environmental context are greatly enhanced

You also seem to think cutscenes can't be magnified with gameplay pre or post the cutscene.

TLOU does this extremely well imo. The scene where
Joel is bleeding out and you have to stumble you're way out of the University
wouldn't have been nearly as interesting emotional or heart-wrenching. Or even the events with
David capturing and wanting to eat Ellie.
It wouldn't have been as pertinent if it weren't for the fact that you had to have each other's backs when Clickers were upon you despite the tension.

And don't even get me started on the end with the doctors. Hint:
You didn't have to kill them all.

The key to storytelling in video games is using the time the game gives you and the interactivity of things to give crazy good amounts of context and understanding. Because of this, the potential in depth of a game storyline is basically limitless.

The problem is that most games tend not to do it all that well. There have been some great game narratives, but I wouldn't judge someone if they said that movie or graphic novel or animation storytelling is better. Its expected; those media have been around much much longer and have expectations and easily teachable (if hard to master) tools to make good storytelling. Gaming is much harder if only due to the shear scope and potential for differentiation you could have in your storytelling needs. (a perfect example to contrast TLOU would be something like Tomas Was Alone which chose to have it narrative be done via Narration, but was supplemented and expounded upon by the player's actions in the levels.

Basically what I'm saying is that Gaming actually is the strongest medium for storytelling and narratives, but its really quite hard and most devs drop the ball.
 
Crossing Eden said:
I mean I did give evidence that the acting wasn't very good. The more we accept mediocre acting the less chances are that it'll improve. :/
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I mean, that really isn't evidence as it is your subjective opinion. There are things objectively not good in your example, like the syncing/dialogue matching the animations, or perhaps the dialogue itself (why is Gladio telling Noct to calm down when all Noct was doing was whining?). But, the voice acting itself seemed decent to me (and to others it seems "good"). But when you say mediocre, I feel that you mean less than decent. And sure, I guess no one accepted anything less than great, than we'd perhaps have better voice acting in all games.
 
AkirraKrylon said:
One thing I never really thought about with the list of astrals listed in that pic...(may be spoiler-y)


Each astral listed is described with, generally, a positive or complimentary tone. Steadfast, sharp, gentle, relentless, unbending....


And then Ifrit. FICKLE. How weird is that? Why would they choose that word to describe him? Given the Chapter 0 stuff and the fact that he is listed last kinda hints at 1.) He is very strong (perhaps the strongest astral?) and 2.) He probably doesn't like us.

Definition of fickle: changing frequently, especially as regards one's loyalties, interests, or affection.

Very very interesting....
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My guess is that
Ifrit has joined Ardyn/Niflheim's side and has betrayed the other Astrals. If you look at that one painting from the end of Episode Duscae, you'll notice that all other Astrals are accounted for (Ramuh, Titan, Shiva, Bahamut and Leviathan), except for Ifrit. There might've been a sort of rift between the five and Ifrit. Hell, another theory is that Ardyn IS Ifrit (as they said the Astrals could take human form).

The funny thing some overlooked with the Ifrit battle is that some(I'm sure others have picked this up) believe you are fighting him in the throne room. Nah, it is in front of the castle(where you fight the Iron Giant in the Platinum Demo). His throne is on the Regis Memorial platform. Way to disrespect Noctis's daddy, Iffy!

MoonsaultSlayer said:
Is that gonna be Diablos on the left hugging the mermaid?
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It's Bahamut hugging Leviathan. As I noted above, Ifrit isn't there. Hmmmm....
 
Is there also a roundup for all the other characters appearing on that painting/picture? For example in the background, are these former kings?
 
Part 2 of USGamer's preview, focusing on the combat:

Final Fantasy XV Travel Diary, Day Two: Force Your Way
- An in-depth look at Final Fantasy XV's combat system, and how it's improved from the early demos.

It's possible to play it as a pure, real-time action game... but I don't recommend it. Combat can be hectic, and not necessarily in a good way. Enemies don't have as many tells on their actions as in a good action game like Bayonetta, and they have a tendency to gang up on Noctis. You can make use of defensive phasing, but FFXV doesn't quite come together as an action game... which is fine. It's an RPG, and despite the enormous shift in its underlying design philosophy from previous games in the series, I've found myself surprised by how much it evokes classic Final Fantasy. It's a nebulous thing, the idea of "feel" and "fidelity," but there's more of it here than I would have anticipated.​
 
Crossing Eden said:
It's the best medium for interactive storytelling.


I mean I did give evidence that the acting wasn't very good. The more we accept mediocre acting the less chances are that it'll improve. :/
Click to expand...
But again it's your opinion though disguised as a fact. I'm not going to argue with you about this because I know at the end you'll win since you have more time to find evidence to back you up. Also if we only accepted superior acting and never gave the newbies a shot then we would have Nolan North, Troy Baker, and Laura Bailey (and others) voice everyone.

I'll be honest here and say that I don't really care about good and bad voice acting that much compared to others. True there is a limit for me but this game hasn't reached it yet.


EDIT: But we're derailing this thread so I should probably stop sorry guys!
 
Koozek said:
Part 2 of USGamer's preview, focusing on the combat:

Final Fantasy XV Travel Diary, Day Two: Force Your Way
- An in-depth look at Final Fantasy XV's combat system, and how it's improved from the early demos.

It's possible to play it as a pure, real-time action game... but I don't recommend it. Combat can be hectic, and not necessarily in a good way. Enemies don't have as many tells on their actions as in a good action game like Bayonetta, and they have a tendency to gang up on Noctis. You can make use of defensive phasing, but FFXV doesn't quite come together as an action game... which is fine. It's an RPG, and despite the enormous shift in its underlying design philosophy from previous games in the series, I've found myself surprised by how much it evokes classic Final Fantasy. It's a nebulous thing, the idea of "feel" and "fidelity," but there's more of it here than I would have anticipated.​
Click to expand...

Ha, I beat you to the punch Koozek! A rare occurrence indeed...
 
Crossing Eden said:
I mean I did give evidence that the acting wasn't very good. The more we accept mediocre acting the less chances are that it'll improve. :/
Click to expand...

That Gladio/Noctis scene is really frustrating, especially as both Ignis and Gladio had started to sound a bit more natural around the Titan segment. The dialogue in that scene is clunky, the acting is stilted, and dialogue doesn't have a natural flow. Noctis has some nice subtle face animation going on there, so it's even more jarring. I really like the cast they've assembled (and how passionate the actors all are about the game!), but I'm still really surprised this is the quality level on a mainline FF. I don't know if it's a localized directorial issue, or what - even Matthew Mercer sounds really stilted as Cor, and that's Matthew Mercer! He could voice every character in the game, and make it sound believable. (I finally got my shit together and started watching Critical Role, he's a literal wizard.) Positively, though, the more clunkier delivery is an issue I've only really had with Noctis/Gladio/Ignis/Cor. Prompto/Regis/Ardyn sound great, Cindy is fun, and I like Luna and Iris in English more than their Japanese counterparts. Kari Wahlgren as Aranea should be amazing.

OrionX said:
It doesn't have to be. That's why some games are more linear than others. Personally, when a game hits all the right buttons, from gameplay to story, it gives me a level of immersion beyond what I get from tv/movies/books. And I might not be in the majority, but a big part of the reason I play games is for the story.
Click to expand...

Mailbox said:
-

Basically what I'm saying is that Gaming actually is the strongest medium for storytelling and narratives, but its really quite hard and most devs drop the ball.
Click to expand...

Yeah, absolutely agree with both of those comments. I'm also really looking forward to seeing what Tabata has in store with FFXV in that regard, as he always tries to do something interesting with player interactivity. I wasn't a fan of Crisis Core and Type-0 story and character-wise for the most part, but both games tried to do interesting things for player interaction with the story via gameplay mechanics. Playing through the ending of Crisis Core in particular was extremely memorable due to how it integrated gameplay mechanics into the story. I bawled my way through it in Japanese version, aaaaaand then had the same reaction replaying it in English.

Renmyra said:
You should try playing Life is Strange.
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I'm still heartbroken, lawd.
 
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