"Was at Gamestart today, and there were a couple of free booths for FF15. It wasn't really supervised, so people were just playing it and we got a couple of hours into the story(Cor joined the party and we got a couple of Royal Arms etc.) When it was my turn to play, we were already in Lestallum. The trip there was really beautiful! Rolling green hills with trams and windmills in the distance! The graphics are really good.
When I got to play, the Regalia was already really banged up. There was physical damage effects on the car, showing scratches and stuff. The car also ran out of gas, and I had to call Cindy to tow it back to Hammerhead so I could refuel it(it cost 100gil). Before I did that, I took the chance to explore Lestallum. Some of you may be disappointed to hear this, but there were invisible walls surrounding the city, so you couldn't jump over the low walls into the valley below(not a big deal really). The city was decently big, but was pretty empty unfortunately. This might be because it was night time. Could be more crowded during the day. Overall, I was really impressed with the scale of the city. Makes me excited to explore the bigger ones like Altissia. After I got towed back to Hammerhead, I decided to roam around to try out the combat. I'm glad to say that the combat is REALLY REALLY GOOD! It's so smooth and fun. I had no problem blocking and countering, dodging and executing combos. It's really very intuitive for anyone who has played an action game, and it really made me wonder how people in the streams could play it so badly...its really not that hard. Warp striking is awesome, landing blows are awesome. And if you time it right, and you're in the right place, you would automatically perform link strikes with your buddies. I gave Prompto the chainsaw looking weapon(sorry forgot the name), and he really went to town with that. It was awesome to watch. I also had a chance to try a Royal Arm...and I must say, I can really see the potential of the combat system now. Basically, I tried the Axe of the Conqueror, and what took me by surprise was how its warp strike attack was completely different from anything we've seen! Noctis will throw the axe high into the air(instead of into the enemy), teleport to the axe, and slam it down onto the enemy doing MAJOR damage. It really makes me excited to see what the other warp strikes of other Royal Arms could be. Maybe one that does an omni strike kinda move? Furthermore, the axe has a passive ability of 'breaking' any enemy it hits. So what I began doing was starting my combo with the Axe so I would break the enemy fast, then switch to my sword and combo it to death. It was extremely satisfying. I also tried magic and I was happy to see that you could auto aim the magic(platinum demo you had to manually aim it). So if you have an enemy targeted, and you press the button to cast the spell, Noct will cast it exactly on the enemy you targeted. Really good for intense fights.
At another session, I played in the area near Lestallum(the rolling green hills area), and fought a bunch of enemies much higher leveled than me. Some of you may be pleased to hear that this is still very much possible. Its super hard but if you time your blocks and rolls well, manage your MP, and use your buddies to attack often, you CAN survive these attacks and win. Waiting to see all the lvl 1 playthroughs now.
I also had a look at the new Ascension Grid, and the skills look really cool. I didn't have time to look at everything, but there was stuff that would regenerate MP on dodging...more powerful warp strikes....more link strike damage etc. Its stuff you guys can already see in videos online, so I won't go into too much detail.
Yea, that was about it for my experience with the game today. Sorry if these are stuff you all already know. Just that I've been frequenting this reddit page for a while now, and just wanted to give something back.
"
