Final Fantasy XV Demo Previews/Impressions Thread
- Thread starter DarkLordMalik
- Start date
Well let's find out: Jason, were you talking about open world games in general or those specific titles? Because - for me at least - there's a big difference in how the worlds of Far Cry, Skyrim or Just Cause are crafted compared to others like Xenoblade or GTAV.
MS are not getting the marketing deal. I will avatar bet on that.
threelights
Member
I'm pretty sure square wouldn't waste all of this beautiful geometry, it'll be in the game.
Every time I rewatch that city footage from Jump Festa and remember them saying that that was just a small city in the game compared to the rest, I get my hopes up about being able to walk everywhere in Accordo.
And then I look at this Accordo picture again and all I can say is "naah, no way."
Yeah I'm not surprised that's going to rustle some feathers, but I don't care if that scene is in the game, if I just had to sit for 40 minutes going through that ass section. If I have to keep loathing my way through sections staring at those dudes and their trench coats to get to places like Accordo, no thanks. The only thing that would salvage it for me right about now, is if instead of that awkward section at the end of what looks like Ifrit snorting down on them which totally failed to create any sort of suspense, you had Sephiroth come down and stab these 2 straight in the heart, with a big "You win" message. I think I would have came away very happy with that.
Anyway, I realize some of you like it, so I will stop there but hopefully Square listens to some of their other fans, that really don't like where they are taking FF.
When reading the impressions this is the first thing that popped into my head.
I'm dead ass sure I'll waste a shit ton of time just staring at the title screen thinking "is this real", especially since the theme is violin Somnus.
the_sun_king
Member
I hope they don't.
FFXV threads exist in a pocket dimension where GAF has an exaggerated influence on the direction of the game, feedback is taboo, and high stakes are attached to every expressed complaint or concern. It's a strange phenomenon.
Anyway, it's exciting reading these impressions. People seem to be digging the world, characterization, and combat. This is exactly what I wanted to hear:
Jason Schreier said:
So I have been waiting and waiting and waiting ever since I first saw the game to make up my mind about it, and gave it every chance in the world I could, but I think I have seen enough to...well to at least complain about it and have a little rant. The style and characters of this game just never appealed to me from the get go, they haven't improved, and the setting is love/hate, with more hate than love, from what I have seen so far. There's zero charm or personality in any of them. It's a bunch of bad Squall clones running around I just can't see myself ever caring for any of them, and would spent more time playing the game pulling for the enemy. I would have liked Noctis a lot more if he was just the little boy from the trailer throughout the entire game. Square went from one extreme to the other with their clothing, from ridiculous to the point of embarrassing over the top craziness...to incredibly boring and plain. But at least the prior made me feel something. These leave me numb. The worst part is that in that demo it looks like they're fighting FF-like creatures in a field that looks more like the Vanishing of Ethan Carter. And I didn't say Skyrim or The Witcher, because even those games actually have a more interesting "fantasy-looking" outdoors than that demo, which is the total opposite from the artistic environments that should permeate every area in an FF game. Square were one of the best at designing fantastic environments in the 2D era, but ever since they moved FF to 3D, especially with this latest version, they have failed to recapture that in 3D for the majority of what they have shown us. Maybe they should take a look at Bungie and their artists for Destiny, because the environments in that game are an example of how to translate fantastic 2D art to 3D the right way. I liked the original E3 trailer but ever since then, everything they've released looks more and more like a sequel to FFXI, which I would be more ok with if this was an mmorpg.
It just doesn't look or feel like FF to me. I wanted to see more of this:
And less of everything else that's been posted in the OP and has been released since that original trailer. Heck I'd prefer it 1000 more if instead of this game, Square just continued building on the Luminos tech demo. And based on the lukewarm impressions of the previews, this could end up like every other game that took 10+ years to develop....
Phew...I really wanted to get that off my chest and now I really want to finish my FF7 re-run because modern FF is looking almost dead to me. And it doesn't help this game at all that I just finished the Sleeping Forrest and the City of Angels section, which is just so full of atmosphere, intrigue, ominous fright,... before looking at these environments. What the hell happened?
Uh, have you really seen the 3D FFs of the last 14 years? You want more imaginative designs and don't even mention the FFXIII trilogy? Still some of the most beautiful environments (check this, this or that). BUT it's extremely abstract and ethereal and I'm getting tired of that, too. I'm really happy with FFXV's very unique mix of grounded reality and fantasy ("fantasy based on reality" is the main motto of this game). It's refreshing after so many years of FFXIII's beautiful but over-designed style.
Also, remember that they've really only shown this same area for nearly 6 months, now. The full game will obviously have a lot of different kinds of areas and maybe even more fantastical elements. Just relax and wait a bit more
Dynasty8
Member
It's still surreal to me.
I can't wait to get lost in this world...and it's a fucking demo too.
Cornbread78
Member
Ok, this sounds awesome. .
30.
Edge_Maverick
Member
Do we know the demo's resolution?
That's what people were complaining about earlier? I also think it sounds great.
Under 1080. Probably 720.
One interesting I noticed, and it's something Square did back in the PS3/360 days, is that they gave western publications Xbox One B-Roll footage/screenshots and Japanese publications like Famitsu PS4 B-Roll footage/screen shots. Now this reasoning made sense last gen where the 360 was handily beating the PS3 in the United States, but it makes less sense this gen where the PS4 is handily outselling the Xbox One in pretty much every Western region.
I'm with you man. I've been waiting for this since I first saw it and these few days left for the demo to release are going to feel long as hell. I'm nor even going to read the impressions, I just want to play the game and beat up one of those cows.
Uh, have you really seen the 3D FFs of the last 14 years? You want more imaginative designs and don't even mention the FFXIII trilogy? Still some of the most beautiful environments (check this, this or that). BUT it's extremely abstract and ethereal and I'm getting tired of that, too. I'm really happy with FFXV's very unique mix of grounded reality and fantasy ("fantasy based on reality" is the main motto of this game). It's refreshing after so many years of FFXIII's beautiful but over-designed style.
Also, remember that they've really only shown this same area for nearly 6 months, now. The full game will obviously have a lot of different kinds of areas and maybe even more fantastical elements. Just relax and wait a bit more
I've been here and as I said, I even prefer them over this, but I can only give my impressions of what they have shown. The grounded in reality isn't what I am seeing there. It's the complete opposite for me. I'm seeing a broken continuation between the "realism" and "fantasy". More like 2 distinct clashing styles. If you're going to have these fantastic creatures running around, your "realistic" trees and foliage shouldn't look like pine trees and typical real life fauna I see down the street. The characters and enemies should at least fool you that they belong in, live in, and thrive in that environment, and they don't.
Like really...
What I see here is just 2 gigantic creatures totally out of place. The only explanation that might work for me for is that perhaps a bunch of aliens accidentally dropped their cargo on earth.
Even before Avatar which was a great example of how to do it right and make it believable, Jurrassic Park in the 90's, which is hardly realistic, at least understood the importance of giving the brachiosaurus something he could eat that matched his appearance and creating an environment that could fool you for long enough to not break the immersion that it can be habitable and inhabited by their creatures...
And even if you go typical plains lakes and wooded fields, it still looks like they belong in this setting. It's coherent.
I don't care if they want to go and do a mix between realism and fantasy, but it still needs to have some coherency and consistency to tie it all together. And not only is that seriously missing for me, it's to the point where it's immersion breaking.
Cornbread78
Member
Lol, no idea, people are always going to complain if it doesn't fit their personal expectations. I guess we really won't know until we play the full story to make sure there is still character development involved.
"Just play better" is a really shitty rebuttal to the assertion that one of the games mechanics isn't up to snuff. It isn't up to the player to balance out a games design inadequecies.
MHWilliams
Member
Japanese voices x
Feels most like Dragon Age Inquisition's Hinterlands, as I said in my preview.
We supposedly can't discuss game mechanics either because Tabata's gonna yell "FEEDBACK GUYS, FEEDBACK!" and change the game into Call of Duty on a whim or something.
That's unfortunate.
Vire
Member
Hmm... Doesn't seem like it to me, seems much more open than Dragon Age.
Are the Japanese voices included in the demo?
I'm not sure how much open a game could be. Duscae probably isn't as big as the Hinterlabds, funny enough.
Vire
Member
The Hinterlands, while large in size - does not feature the same level of openness that I'm seeing in these videos.
In Final Fantasy it seems like the vistas go on for miles. Dragon Age you are put in many different interconnecting circular arena type areas.
The new screens from the demo build looks sub-1080p and pretty blurry compared to the February screens. Seems like they have another build that's 1080p, but just couldn't quite reach it for a stable demo release.
Demo
Feb Build
Demo
Feb Build
wow do we get XP boosts for better performance?
You're almost certainly going to be traversing the same types of areas here. That's why they make the distinction Duscae is a region.
It's nice you can see off in the distance, but how much of that can you actually reach? We'll see in a week or so, but I bet it's smaller than the Hinterlands, all said and done.
FarmerGiles
Member
Let's watch someone else drive a car, then complain about the handling.
I'm loving everything I'm seeing from the combat. But I can't pass full judgement until I actually play the demo extensively and try out various combo/techniques.
I honestly can't wait for this demo to get out in the wild and see the crazy ass combo vids people show off.
And it seems all the previews are generally positive of the actual mechanics of the game. The only issues seem technical at this point.
I honestly can't wait for this demo to get out in the wild and see the crazy ass combo vids people show off.
And it seems all the previews are generally positive of the actual mechanics of the game. The only issues seem technical at this point.
threelights
Member
No, you're right, let's complain that the game doesn't do enough by itself and actually requires player input.
Game design is not about making the game do more for you, it's about balance, but you clearly don't seem to think that is the case, so go right ahead, complain that Noctis doesn't also automatically walks up to the enemy and attacks them, what "inadequate" game design.
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Dont know much of anything about inquisition, is that a good thing?
The new screens from the demo build looks sub-1080p and pretty blurry compared to the February screens. Seems like they have another build that's 1080p, but just couldn't quite reach it for a stable demo release.
Demo
Feb Build
Demo
Feb Build
For one you're looking at two different platform versions here. Your odd numbered screens are XB1 and the even ones are PS4.
MagnaderAlpha
Member
I don't know, FF's been doing "Earth-like" areas where fantasy creatures dwell for a while:
That's basically a rocky field, lake, pine trees and hills in the distance. Fantasy, more than straight-up sci-fi, tends to set worlds in very "Earth-like" environments that happens to feature un-earthly creatures. I think it comes with the territory.
There's also the Veldt:
which likely was based on the real thing:
But again, that's fantasy. It looks like you're looking more for something more science-fiction based and alien. And while the FF has dabbled in science fiction, when it does fantasy, it has kept true to the "earth-like" inspirations, even with games like FFVII and FFVIII. The only truly bizarre "worlds" in the FF series, visually, I'd say would be Spira and FFXIII's Gran Pulse/Cocoon.
THOUGH, the fact of the matter is, we've ONLY seen the more "earth-like" areas of FFXV's world. We don't know all the different locations. That one scene of the "red" area felt "alien" to me(and even had alien-looking creatures flying around). Just because Duscae region looks a certain way, don't go believing that's how the whole world looks. If you take our world by comparison, geographically, it's diverse as hell. The Sahara Desert don't look like the Mohave Desert, despite being deserts.
Depends what you mean by open world. I doubt you can go anywhere right from the start of the game, but the actual areas look very open.
Nothing1016
Member
I'm probably just gonna be staring and crying. As I watch the title screen unfold. 9 years man. 9 years of anticipation and hopes.
theofficefan99
Junior Member
I'm pretty sure square wouldn't waste all of this beautiful geometry, it'll be in the game.
I think you guys are being way too paranoid. Just because the game's been focusing on a demo location for the past 5 months doesn't mean it's the only location in the game.
^Dat salt. Just because I think asking for a better lock-on is a legitimate criticism, I also expect the game to play itself? You wear that "Defensive" badge, friend. You've earned it.
threelights
Member
MultiJhonny
Banned
Exactly. People seem to think that this is the only area of the game, when they have been telling us straight up that this is a part of an area in the full game that is just one area of the entire game.
Lashley
Why does he wear the mask!?
Wasn't really that excited since I miss the turn based combat, but just watched this video from Gamespot and I'm super hyped now. Looks really fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTZRpUYS34c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTZRpUYS34c
Stone Ocean
Member
It's almost as if they want to sell people on the demo so they buy Type 0
Nice to see you don't read the stuff I write
What in the world are you talking about? Where in the world did Inorigo even suggest that game design isn't about balance?
No one's saying that the game should play itself. You're probably the one who didn't read it correctly.
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
So much media on this game! Some decent impressions. Kind of what I was expecting. Shall listen to that TetraCast podcast.