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[GasProblem]

50+ hours for story if you let ai drive you everywhere I think? It is going to be a huge game.

That sounds good.

Man, I just cant decide. There are three games I really want this year, Dragon Quest 7, Pokemon Moon and FFXV, and I can only get two this year really. Making decisions is hard

 

[kokorozashi]

So this site is saying FFXV is running at sub 720p on Xbone, any other sites that state something similar?
http://www.ffdream.com/articles-gc_2016_1_heure_en_compagnie_de_ffxv.html

Google translated:
With a little help from a member at Square-Enix, we had the opportunity to try us a few minutes to the PS4 version of Final Fantasy XV. The opportunity to take a fresh look at a technique previously very overdue. If we had hitherto eluded the unfortunate point, let's frankly render the Xbox One version is far from being worthy of a new generation console. Offering a rather vague rendering turning very often below 720p, this version offers in addition to some questionable texture aliasing to no end. The combination of these factors has given us a cold sweat. For example, during the stage of the establishment of the camp, the feet of chairs held by Noctis look like simple aliased white bars ... In contrast, the PS4 version is much more encouraging. Aliasing is far less marked, the image is sharp and the game seems to run in 1080p. Some 3D objects (some shrubs) and textures always leave a bit to be desired, the clipping / popping (late display of an element on the screen) is still very present, as well as the frame-rate is not yet completely stabilized, but all seems clearly more solid. In short, really a gulf separates the two versions. It is even difficult to imagine what motivated Square Enix to provide the public a version of Xbox One also deficient. Anyway, it allows us to imagine the significant size would have represented the day-one patch on this version. Suddenly, we are surprised to understand why, at least in part, the postponement of the game ...

 

[DarkLordMalik]

That sounds good.

Man, I just cant decide. There are three games I really want this year, Dragon Quest 7, Pokemon Moon and FFXV, and I can only get two this year really. Making decisions is hard

Two of them are on 3DS. Choose one of them depending on your taste (I say Pokemon) and get FFXV for PS4.

Problem solved.

So this site is saying FFXV is running at sub 720p on Xbone, any other sites that state something similar?
http://www.ffdream.com/articles-gc_2016_1_heure_en_compagnie_de_ffxv.html

Google translated:
With a little help from a member at Square-Enix, we had the opportunity to try us a few minutes to the PS4 version of Final Fantasy XV. The opportunity to take a fresh look at a technique previously very overdue. If we had hitherto eluded the unfortunate point, let's frankly render the Xbox One version is far from being worthy of a new generation console. Offering a rather vague rendering turning very often below 720p, this version offers in addition to some questionable texture aliasing to no end. The combination of these factors has given us a cold sweat. For example, during the stage of the establishment of the camp, the feet of chairs held by Noctis look like simple aliased white bars ... In contrast, the PS4 version is much more encouraging. Aliasing is far less marked, the image is sharp and the game seems to run in 1080p. Some 3D objects (some shrubs) and textures always leave a bit to be desired, the clipping / popping (late display of an element on the screen) is still very present, as well as the frame-rate is not yet completely stabilized, but all seems clearly more solid. In short, really a gulf separates the two versions. It is even difficult to imagine what motivated Square Enix to provide the public a version of Xbox One also deficient. Anyway, it allows us to imagine the significant size would have represented the day-one patch on this version. Suddenly, we are surprised to understand why, at least in part, the postponement of the game ...

Doesn't surprise me. Been hearing about the terrible visuals of the Xbox One version.

It's a shame that they decided to shove Xbox One along with PS4 in the 52 minutes video. It served no purpose and made the game look bad for no reason.

 

[Inuhanyou]

They said the PS4 version is the platform of the two that they are putting most of their effort into...

But i hope it doesn't hurt into an FFXIII on xbox scenario. PS3 version was running at native 720p with 2xMSAA but 360 version ran at 1000x500 something with framerate issues and no AA

*EDIT*

it was 1024x576 with 2xMSAA, so it did have AA.

 

[DeSolos]

I'm about to puke......this fish eye reflection bullshit with water......is more disgusting then any graphical problem I have with the game period....this shit would actually drive me insane....the fact that a chunk of bar on the left and right don't display reflections but instead remove it.

please tell me this is intentional because he is fishing


However when they showed that most recent trailer with the Florence song.....the reflections in the water did the exact same shit

The water reflection is pretty much the only problem I have with the game's graphics, it doesn't seems related to fishing.

Not only there are chunks with no reflection at all, it also seems at times that they only show reflections of what's on the screen, ignoring everything else.

That being said, I'm sure that with the upcoming optimization they'll fix this.

Just to be clear about what you're seeing with the reflection. The technique which is on display here is called Screen Space Reflections.

SSR basically takes the currently rendered frame and creates reflections based on what you already see on screen.

Pros:
Really efficient, dynamic reflections that reflect everything(not just environment).
Allows any object near or far to be reflective.
Makes PBR feasible in this generation.(reflections are an important part of how PBR works).

Cons:
By definition, screen space reflections only reflect what you can already see on screen. Anything you can't see on screen cannot be reflected.

There has been research done to fix some of the artifacts of SSR, but by definition, this effect will never perfectly reflect everything. As it stands right now, until we get lighting engines that either use ray tracing, path tracing, or an technique that approximates path/ray tracing(example: voxel cone tracing), it is insanely hard to do reflections these days. Ever notice that in most games mirrors tend to be smashed or only sport very low res reflections? That's why.

Oh and in most other games that reflect everything dynamically, they are accomplishing this using render targets. Basically rerendering the entire scene again from scratch. For games that can barely hit 30fps, rerendering the scene from a different perspective is not feasible, not to mention it would only deliver perspective accurate reflections for objects close to where the reflection is captured from. FFXV used a render target for the car up until(and including) Duscae. Now the car basically reuses the skybox cubemap for reflections.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

They said the PS4 version is the platform of the two that they are putting most of their effort into...

But i hope it doesn't hurt into an FFXIII on xbox scenario. PS3 version was running at native 720p with 2xMSAA but 360 version ran at 1000x500 something with framerate issues and no AA

*EDIT*

it was 1024x576 with 2xMSAA, so it did have AA.

It was perfectly fine and the frame rate issues weren't dealbreaker.

I played FFXIII on 360.

Just to be clear about what you're seeing with the reflection. The technique which is on display here is called Screen Space Reflections.

SSR basically takes the currently rendered frame and creates reflections based on what you already see on screen.

Pros:
Really efficient, dynamic reflections that reflect everything(not just environment).
Allows any object near or far to be reflective.
Makes PBR feasible in this generation.(reflections are an important part of how PBR works).

Cons:
By definition, screen space reflections only reflect what you can already see on screen. Anything you can't see on screen cannot be reflected.

There has been research done to fix some of the artifacts of SSR, but by definition, this effect will never perfectly reflect everything. As it stands right now, until we get lighting engines that either use ray tracing, path tracing, or an technique that approximates path/ray tracing(example: voxel cone tracing), it is insanely hard to do reflections these days. Ever notice that in most games mirrors tend to be smashed or only sport very low res reflections? That's why.

Oh and in most other games that reflect everything dynamically, they are accomplishing this using render targets. Basically rerendering the entire scene again from scratch. For games that can barely hit 30fps, rerendering the scene from a different perspective is not feasible, not to mention it would only deliver perspective accurate reflections for objects close to where the reflection is captured from. FFXV used a render target for the car up until(and including) Duscae. Now the car basically reuses the skybox cubemap for reflections.

I don't think they have the render budget to increase the viewing range of the SSR here. Maybe they can increase it enough so the sides are not as obvious as in the GIF above.

 

[Inuhanyou]

It was perfectly fine and the frame rate issues weren't dealbreaker.

I played FFXIII on 360.

"perfectly fine"? I would not say that, it was definitely far inferior and i also played 13 on 360. Swapping discs wasn't a problem, but the compression they used for the FMV's really destroyed a lot of the presentation because it felt like a second tier priority for them to make the port as good as possible

I'm just hoping they dont make the same mistake here

 

[Tyaren]

Just to be clear about what you're seeing with the reflection. The technique which is on display here is called Screen Space Reflections.

SSR basically takes the currently rendered frame and creates reflections based on what you already see on screen.

Pros:
Really efficient, dynamic reflections that reflect everything(not just environment).
Allows any object near or far to be reflective.
Makes PBR feasible in this generation.(reflections are an important part of how PBR works).

Cons:
By definition, screen space reflections only reflect what you can already see on screen. Anything you can't see on screen cannot be reflected.

There has been research done to fix some of the artifacts of SSR, but by definition, this effect will never perfectly reflect everything. As it stands right now, until we get lighting engines that either use ray tracing, path tracing, or an technique that approximates path/ray tracing(example: voxel cone tracing), it is insanely hard to do reflections these days. Ever notice that in most games mirrors tend to be smashed or only sport very low res reflections? That's why.

Oh and in most other games that reflect everything dynamically, they are accomplishing this using render targets. Basically rerendering the entire scene again from scratch. For games that can barely hit 30fps, rerendering the scene from a different perspective is not feasible, not to mention it would only deliver perspective accurate reflections for objects close to where the reflection is captured from. FFXV used a render target for the car up until(and including) Duscae. Now the car basically reuses the skybox cubemap for reflections.

Good, informative post, thanks.

Some of the best reflections that I have seen so far are in Arkham Knight. They seem to be a bit lower in resolution but they do indeed reflect everything and there are also no noticable glitches or incoherencies.
Made these photos some time ago (on PS4):

 

[Tomeru]

I think you're onto something because its approach feels very hybrid, but not necessarily in a good way because it rubs against peoples sensibilities as it clashes with a lot of expectations that have been formed directly as a result of games which have treaded these familiar territories. It says open world, but just how open or inhabited is it really? It says it's RPG, but (yes I know why) you only play as one character and manipulate his actions in real time. It's those sort of design choices that almost make you wish it pushed more into one direction or the other because if not done right can also cause that feeling of frankengame.

I'd half agree. To me it seems like this game is taking stuff that you usually do with a defined purpose (eat to regenerate health for example), but changes the way you do it, or changes its purpose all together. Best evidence is at the start of thw video, when you choose which meal to prepare. Its harmless at its base, but the way its presented is a different story altogether from opening a menu and choosing from a list. Or, rather, its execution makes it feel different. It really gives off a vibe of mechnics you're not 'supposed' to find in a game like this, yet it feels right at home.

Its the different things you do outside combat and dialogue advacing gameplay, that makes it more role playing than roleplaying.

 

[Z3M0G]

Just to be clear about what you're seeing with the reflection. The technique which is on display here is called Screen Space Reflections.

SSR basically takes the currently rendered frame and creates reflections based on what you already see on screen.

Pros:
Really efficient, dynamic reflections that reflect everything(not just environment).
Allows any object near or far to be reflective.
Makes PBR feasible in this generation.(reflections are an important part of how PBR works).

Cons:
By definition, screen space reflections only reflect what you can already see on screen. Anything you can't see on screen cannot be reflected.

There has been research done to fix some of the artifacts of SSR, but by definition, this effect will never perfectly reflect everything. As it stands right now, until we get lighting engines that either use ray tracing, path tracing, or an technique that approximates path/ray tracing(example: voxel cone tracing), it is insanely hard to do reflections these days. Ever notice that in most games mirrors tend to be smashed or only sport very low res reflections? That's why.

Oh and in most other games that reflect everything dynamically, they are accomplishing this using render targets. Basically rerendering the entire scene again from scratch. For games that can barely hit 30fps, rerendering the scene from a different perspective is not feasible, not to mention it would only deliver perspective accurate reflections for objects close to where the reflection is captured from. FFXV used a render target for the car up until(and including) Duscae. Now the car basically reuses the skybox cubemap for reflections.

There is a lot on screen that is not reflected. I have no issue with the technique you describe, but there is something else that is going on here.

Good, informative post, thanks.

Some of the best reflections that I have seen so far are in Arkham Knight. They seem to be a bit lower in resolution but they do indeed reflect everything and there are also no noticable glitches or incoherencies.
Made these photos some time ago (on PS4):

Reflections this straight on are an entirely different topic and need to be complete double models of the environment. They may leave some objects or texture quality out to cut down on needed resources since a player will likely not spend too much focus on them.

 

[Devilinthiscity]

Iris: It's even more beautiful out here at night.
Noctis: Eeuuh(?)

I still can't get over how bad Noctis looks in that damn hat. Those alternate costumes give me little hope the others will be good.

 

[stargateheaven]

Watched the afrojack trailer again, it's sooo sad the game graphically looks great in that trailer...

Did I?

The bush in the original shot which you said looked like a PS1 game it's VERY FAR from this.

I'm not denying it looks awful, the bush in the other screen you showed should noway be looking like that that close.

 

[Tyaren]

I still can't get over how bad Noctis looks in that damn hat. Those alternate costumes give me little hope the others will be good.

They are kinda stange costume choices, aren't they? At least Noctis' casual clothing is. :/ Gladio, Prompto and Ignis mostly looked okay though:

(I really like this one!)

I wonder if these are all by Roen as well. They made it sound before as if the contract with that Japanese fashion label was very strict.

Maybe the choices are so weird because they plan on making us pay for the real good stuff later as DLC.

 

[SprachBrooks]

Argh, I hope this shit isn't just fetch quests or go kill this monster for a favour type stuff. I hated that and it's what made Dragon Age such a mediocre game.

 

[Philippo]

(I really like this one!)

Will buy these as soon as they become avaible, maybe Prompto red shirt too, only if i can put the jacket on top of it.
Will probably leave Noctis with the OG costume since it's the only one i like

Spoiler

also i can't afford the LE with the suit ;_;

 

[Dark_castle]

Argh, I hope this shit isn't just fetch quests or go kill this monster for a favour type stuff. I hated that and it's what made Dragon Age such a mediocre game.

I hate to break it to you, but Noctis is on one giant fetch quest to collect 13 dead King's weapons.

 

[Asd202]

Doesn't surprise me. Been hearing about the terrible visuals of the Xbox One version.

It's a shame that they decided to shove Xbox One along with PS4 in the 52 minutes video. It served no purpose and made the game look bad for no reason.

You've got to give it to SE there not hiding how

Spoiler

bad

Xbone version looks.

 

[Falk]

I hate to break it to you, but Noctis is on one giant fetch quest to collect 13 dead King's weapons.

i thought it was for a trophy wife

 

[Tyaren]

It's a shame that they decided to shove Xbox One along with PS4 in the 52 minutes video. It served no purpose and made the game look bad for no reason.

Come on, if you and I were Xbox One only owners, we would want to see the version we are getting too. I'd feel bad if I would just only see the comparatively good looking PS4 version and then on release day I'd rub my eyes and wonder what the hell happened.

 

[Gbraga]

Yeah, Tabata said he's changed Noctis' character. He actively didn't like him at first, because he felt like someone who didn't have many faults.

In which ways did he change? He wasn't very specific, and we really didn't see much of Noctis' character, but I really only started liking Noctis from 2014 onwards after Tabata took over.

Now, he feels like a character with more subtleties that slowly developed into who he is when the game starts. I feel like a few lines that Carbuncle had from Platinum Demo were really good in portraying that.

Hm, you know what, you're definitely right, there's a notable difference, and I definitely prefer the XV version of Noctis.

I was thinking "it's just like in the Versus days", but that was more the "he's not what you'd expect by looking at his design" angle, which was indeed true, he was trying to act cool, but was actually very shy, except for when he was in battle, then he was very cocky. It was indeed different from the emo personality one might expect from his design, but it didn't have (or at least didn't show before) the nuances we can see from 2014 onwards.

He's a much more down to earth guy in XV, and has some faults that help define his character. Like, for example, he's kinda lazy. You can see that in Duscae with him being the last one to wake up and still not really wanting to, or in the opening sequence, asking Gladio to push the car by himself, and then wanting to switch places so he didn't have to push anymore for a while (and going by Prompto's dialogue, it wasn't even his turn to take the wheel). I really like that, makes the character more believable, and it'll probably make an even bigger impact when we compare roadtrip carefree Noctis to King Noctis, bearing the weight of his kingdom and his legacy on his shoulders, fighting to reclaim his throne.

I hope Stand by Me plays in other moments during the game as well, it would be nice to have that present to show how he's maturing along with his friends, and how their bond has grown even deeper by going through this journey together.

 

[Koozek]

GameSpot:
In previous interviews you've said this game is a make-or-break moment for Final Fantasy franchise. Now that you're essentially finished, is it a make or a break? Where do you see Final Fantasy in five or 10 years time?

Tabata:
I don't think whether Final Fantasy XV does well or not will kill the franchise or keep it living. I don't think it's really going to mean that. But certainly there are a number of things already clear that Final Fantasy XV will bring to the future of the franchise. To give you a few examples of that, first of all the fact that we're bring it out as a global simultaneous launch. I think in the future that will really be what Final Fantasy does. Secondly is the number of languages and regions that the game is localised for, we should carry on doing that. Then of course the technology used to power Final Fantasy XV means that we can depict and create game experiences that the series just couldn't have done before. I think that's going to shape the future of the Final Fantasy series.​

 

[Philippo]

GameSpot:
In previous interviews you've said this game is a make-or-break moment for Final Fantasy franchise. Now that you're essentially finished, is it a make or a break? Where do you see Final Fantasy in five or 10 years time?

Tabata:
I don't think whether Final Fantasy XV does well or not will kill the franchise or keep it living. I don't think it's really going to mean that. But certainly there are a number of things already clear that Final Fantasy XV will bring to the future of the franchise. To give you a few examples of that, first of all the fact that we're bring it out as a global simultaneous launch. I think in the future that will really be what Final Fantasy does. Secondly is the number of languages and regions that the game is localised for, we should carry on doing that. Then of course the technology used to power Final Fantasy XV means that we can depict and create game experiences that the series just couldn't have done before. I think that's going to shape the future of the Final Fantasy series.​

I still expect FFXVI to come before the end of the gen, 2019 probably.

 

[Koozek]

GameSpot:
I'm interested in the challenges you faced as someone who came into the project part of the way through. It started with Nomura-san at the helm, then you came in and you have your own style. What were the difficulties you faced picking up someone else's work and did you feel like you may not have been able to express what you wanted fully?

Tabata:
When I took over the project I felt that because we'd already made a promise to the fanbase out there with Versus XIII, it was really Square Enix's responsibility to deliver on that project. There was no doubt in my mind when I took over the project that we needed to do this. We don't [think someone should trace around another creative vision]. That's not a good way of doing it because, obviously, two [different] people can't share the same vision.

When I started approaching what to keep in and what to take out, I started thinking [about] everything that we'd already presented to the world with Versus XIII that would work within my new vision of Final Fantasy XV[, all that] was kept with no problem. Anything that would have been difficult to keep in there or couldn't, I cut out. I really tried to make the best use of all the original elements from Verus within Final Fantasy XV. It was a really challenging way to approach it but I think in the end it was the best way and worthwhile.​

 

[AmaterasuOni]

I still expect FFXVI to come before the end of the gen, 2019 probably.

Yeah, in true Japanese style it's being released five months after PS5 launch, and it doesn't support next gen.

 

[Ran rp]

You know, I actually find this general response (that it's a bunch of systems thrown together) a curious and interesting one, as Tabata and other members of the dev team have gone on record multiple times over the years saying FFXV was designed around a being holistic, all-encompassing 'user experience', where everything from how Noctis handles in combat (grounded, with traction, etc), the entire road trip aspect, minigames, sound design, UI, etc. were all continuously gauged against how the built or subtracted from that intended central experience - to convey the feeling of a road trip with bros, through a fantasy based on reality.

I think the ultimate test is when one is playing the game and whether it's immersive enough (that word again, lol) that one can overlook all the little issues with it, rather than nitpicking at stills from the outside, and I do understand that that's what the general public can do at the moment, outside of reading impressions from people who have played it (whether positive or negative).

I think it would be a huge shame if that, at that point, the takeaway was the opposite of the intention though. If a game designed to be a cohesive experience feels like a bunch of systems tacked together just because, then something must have gone horribly wrong.

I can say right now I'm not going to enjoy hours of Skull Face rides. Especially with forced encounters and the inability to simply drive away from them. I can almost see forced encounters as random encounters of old but instead of simply selecting flee from a menu you have to go through the annoying park anim > run > car warp > enter car > drive loop.

There seem to be too many annoyances with the car for me to not become more annoyed and frustrated than immersed. If I had full control of the car and an unrestricted menu (who the hell thought that was a good idea?) I could travel at my own pace and avoid many headaches.

Still not sure if the Chocobo will be a much better option.

...

Here are the original posts detailing the issues with the car for those who haven't seen them.

I was wondering why they didn't just drive past the giant in the demo.

https://www.vg247.com/2016/08/16/fi...nderful-and-definitely-in-need-of-that-delay/

I see a gigantic Iron Giant enemy in the middle of the road and try to ram him. Instead the AI pulls me over and kicks me out to engage in regular combat. When enemies are aggroed you can’t enter the car even to try to make a hasty escape, so I have to run away and pay 100 gil to have the car warped back to me. Open but not.

I didn’t mind all this, to be honest. Even the older FFs aren’t as open as rose-tinted memories lead you to believe, but this is still a jarring choice and one I can see frustrating a lot more casual players used to other games with open-world driving. It’s strange.

That sounds really annoying.

As for the car, tons of people have been telling me "BUT WE KNEW IT WAS ON RAILS AND THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE THE ROAD". Well, yeah. I get you. But that doesn't change the fact it feels like a very cheap/ancient way to drive a car in a blockbuster 2016 title. I'd rather have no car than a halfassed car. It just doesn't feel natural. It feels very sloppy and restricted. I don't get the feeling I'm driving a car. Maybe they'll get it right before the game releases. Who knows. I'm just commenting on what I played right now and I didn't like it that much.

I have huge problems with each one. Let's start with my biggest disappointemnt from this demo:

1) The Driving feels bad, lacks interactivity and betrays what a road trip is about

When I think of the concept of a road trip I think about freedom. About driving around unshackled from any boundaries and obligations, about exploring unknown territory, about going out of your comfort zone. In contrast to all of these concepts FF XV takes all control away from you when you drive. Even when you choose to control the game "manually" you:
-can't leave the road
-can't turn the wheel more than a few cm, while you snap back to your previous position the second you let go from the analogue stick
-can't drive fast
-can't exit the car wherever you want (kinda, but not exactly)
-can't take corners the way you want, the game automatically breaks, even if you pull the Gas button as far as you can

You are basically on a fixed track and you have to hold R2 to keep on driving on that fixed track. Whenever an intersection comes up you hold in the direction you want to drive and the game does the rest for you. When you want to make a U-Turn you just press Square and the game automatically does a U-Turn for you. There is no way for you to do this yourself since you can't actually steer away from the road in front of you. Even if there's a huge, long, endless straight in front of you Noctis will not drive with more than what feels like 15 mp/h, no matter how much you just want to race to your next waypoint. This means that driving long distances takes WAY too long with no way to skip to the end (at least in the demo I played), even in Automatic mode. When I hold X to exit the car, they don't immediatly do it but instead drive a few meters further to a predetermint point where the game allows me to stop. After that, the screen turns black and I stand outside of the car.

Nothing works as you'd expect it to work, nothing feels good, you are never in control and the black screen seems completely unnecessary and betrays the seamless transition they were going for originally.

Your Number 1 method of transportation feels like garbage and isn't fun in the slightest.

...


3.) Exploring the open world is tedious and straight-up not fun

I could go on and on about this point (oh my god using the car is seriously such a fucking chore) but this post is already way too long so I just want to give you one perfect example of how badly thought out almost every aspect of this game is:

I drove on a street when I heard a scream from somewhere and a new side quest popped up. A hunter needed help! I wanted to help him...but the game didn't actually tell me where I should go to do that. The game registered the side quest. It marked it in my Quest Log. And I could even get a waypoint! But not just like that - I had to put in some work. And, honestly? This feels so obviously unintuitive and easy to fix that I think I probably missed a button here. If that's the case, please correct me and I will quote you as soon as I see it. But I tried and tried and didn't find a way. So what did I have to do?

Well, I was driving in my car - and while driving I couldn't access my Skill Menu or Quest Log anymore. The options were gone from the Start Menu. I could only open my map. I had to get out of the car to be able to access the Quest Log. This was the process:

- Getting the sidequest notification
- Holding X to stop the Car
- Waiting for the Car to stop further down the road for no discernible reason
- Getting a Black Screen while my characters left the car.
- Accessing the Quest Log
- Marking the Side Quest as active
- Leaving the Quest Log
- Getting back in the car
- Turning around
- Slooowly accelerating and driving back to the point where I got the notification and go from there

For whatever reason I could only ever track one quest on my mini map. This sounds like a small thing but in an open world game where such notifications hit by the minute, making me leave me car slooooowly only to be able to tell the game to allow me to approach the activity while I could have done so way easier while actually already sitting in my car is a completely unnecessary obstacle between me and my desire to explore the world.

I would go in further detail but just imagine a really ugly Dragon Age: Inquisition and you got the picture.

I'm the guy that wrote the preview with the stuff about how the car controls and the Shenmue comparisons.

So -- here's the thing -- I think the thing the car offers is as some GAFers picked up on above... that sense of travelling through the world, of locomotion. Panning the camera around with music running, etc. When the game is performing well and not throwing up a pig-ugly texture it's a wondrous feeling.

...

Anyway, back to the car: I really like the concept and the feeling behind the journey you take in it. Driving it is clunky and restrained though, and that's something I try to get across in my preview. The incident with the Iron Giant was particularly frustrating. By the back half of the hands-on I'd given up on manually driving since you're barely engaged when you do it - I just started putting it on auto pilot and used the drive time to scenery watch and make notes (not that many players will be making notes, ha).

 

[Philippo]

Poor dude's been pushing the hell out of his body...

 

[dragonzdogma]

Poor dude's been pushing the hell out of his body...

Gosh.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Poor dude's been pushing the hell out of his body...

Man i'd feel really bad if the game bombs and gets bad reviews.

 

[dragonzdogma]

Man i'd feel really bad if the game bombs and gets bad reviews.

It wont. It's Final Fantasy, the most popular RPG in the entire world.

 

[Twookie]

Poor dude's been pushing the hell out of his body...

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Poor dude's been pushing the hell out of his body...

...sheesh and he still won't be done when it releases

 

[Ran rp]

It wont. It's Final Fantasy, the most popular RPG in the entire world.

Is it?

 

[Twookie]

isn't pokemon the most popular rpg

Spoiler

pokemon is an rpg right

either way, i think FFXV is gonna do fine. doubt it's gonna end up on 90+- metacritic but i doubt it's gonna go full duke nukem forever

Spoiler

i hope not atleast ;_;

 

[PhazonBlazer]

I don't think it'll get below an 80 on MC

 

[Voror]

I sort of feel that while of course they want the game to do well saleswise, they'd also like it to do well critically so as to further restore the series name both with named critics and the fan base as a whole.

 

[Kagari]

I don't think it'll get below an 80 on MC

They really want this game to be in the 90s, I imagine.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

They really want this game to be in the 90s, I imagine.

Yup I imagine that's the dream to keep up with the franchise. As much as I'm on board tho eh I don't see 90's I can see 85-88 perhaps with the low end being 80

 

[Styles]

Poor dude's been pushing the hell out of his body...

The sacks under his eyes look bigger everytime a new photo of him surfaces.

 

[Setsu00]

GameSpot:
I'm interested in the challenges you faced as someone who came into the project part of the way through. It started with Nomura-san at the helm, then you came in and you have your own style. What were the difficulties you faced picking up someone else's work and did you feel like you may not have been able to express what you wanted fully?

Tabata:
When I took over the project I felt that because we'd already made a promise to the fanbase out there with Versus XIII, it was really Square Enix's responsibility to deliver on that project. There was no doubt in my mind when I took over the project that we needed to do this. We don't [think someone should trace around another creative vision]. That's not a good way of doing it because, obviously, two [different] people can't share the same vision.

When I started approaching what to keep in and what to take out, I started thinking [about] everything that we'd already presented to the world with Versus XIII that would work within my new vision of Final Fantasy XV[, all that] was kept with no problem. Anything that would have been difficult to keep in there or couldn't, I cut out. I really tried to make the best use of all the original elements from Verus within Final Fantasy XV. It was a really challenging way to approach it but I think in the end it was the best way and worthwhile.​

Despite everything what I wrote previously about FFXV, I honestly appreciate this attempt to deliver Versus XIII. I just don't think he succeeded with this plan worked out. In the end, it looks like everything they salvaged from Versus XIII into XV were its four main characters, the car, the general premise of a roadtrip and the actionized combat. It would have been better to just scrap Versus XIII entirely if they didn't want to pour anymore money into Nomura's project, honestly. They are not doing themselves a favor by burdening themselves with Versus XIII's hype and materials and FFXV is creatively compromised as a result of that.

 

[dragonzdogma]

Yup I imagine that's the dream to keep up with the franchise. As much as I'm on board tho eh I don't see 90's I can see 85-88 perhaps with the low end being 80

What makes you say that?

 

[JBwB]

Yup I imagine that's the dream to keep up with the franchise. As much as I'm on board tho eh I don't see 90's I can see 85-88 perhaps with the low end being 80

Yeah high 80's seems like a safe bet.

The game definitely has the potential to reach the 90's though.

 

[Mar Nosso]

They really want this game to be in the 90s, I imagine.

With the most basic travelling method available, the car, being as clunky and frustrating to control as it is, we're off to a not very promising start for that 90 or more on MC. Honestly thought we were going to be able to control the car like in any other game, like in GTA for example. Quite disappointed.

 

[Toth]

After seeing the movie last night,

I had to wonder how they are going to implement locations like Nilheim and Galahd (maybe) into the game. We have already seen how huge the first three areas have been and we know Altissia and Tenebrae are going to be huge as well. I wonder if we are going to see the war zone depicted at the start of Kingsglaive as well.

 

[Falk]

Especially with forced encounters and the inability to simply drive away from them.

Don't drive at night.

 

[dragonzdogma]

After seeing the movie last night,

I had to wonder how they are going to implement locations like Nilheim and Galahd (maybe) into the game. We have already seen how huge the first three areas have been and we know Altissia and Tenebrae are going to be huge as well. I wonder if we are going to see the war zone depicted at the start of Kingsglaive as well.

In the beginning the player shows the entire map right, it's honestly not as big as imagined. It's like 10 duscae regions?
Don't quote me on this,lol.

 

[Ran rp]

Don't drive at night.

Do monsters only appear on the road at night?

In the beginning the player shows the entire map right, it's honestly not as big as imagined. It's like 10 duscae regions?
Don't quote me on this,lol.

The demo was only a small part of Duscae, I think.

 

[Mifec]

Do monsters only appear on the road at night?

Stronger monsters they titled daemons do.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

What makes you say that?

Mmm idk the combat may not work for some people(even tho from the preview thread haven't seen a preview complain about combat or complain about anything really aside from the car). I think it's going to mixed alil but not in a bad way mixed.

 

[JBwB]

In the beginning the player shows the entire map right, it's honestly not as big as imagined. It's like 10 duscae regions?
Don't quote me on this,lol.

That wasn't the entire map

The question is how much of that land is explorable?

 

[benzy]

In the beginning the player shows the entire map right, it's honestly not as big as imagined. It's like 10 duscae regions?
Don't quote me on this,lol.

We've seen the full map already. The map they showed in the game is missing Altissia, it's not the full map view.