Sweeet, ill try that. Thanks!
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Final Fantasy XV |OT| There and back again.
- Thread starter Kagari
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XANDER CAGE
Member
Alright, I'll bite. It takes just over five minutes to drive, at full throttle, across GTAV's entire map. Driving to any of the locations within that space for a mission is likely shorter. Keep in mind that with Ignis's senior citizen driving habits, it can often take more than five minutes to get to a location not even close to the other end of the map in FFXV. I'm looking at three side quests in my menu right now that will take 7, 8, and 5 minutes respectively to autodrive to from my current location. Not to mention that, in GTA, driving is part of the actual game, and I have full control, and messing around in cars can be fun on its own.
Now, I'm not saying FFXV needs to be as robust as GTA, but FFXV definitely comes up short here in terms of design. It doesn't help that side quests are pretty randomly distributed - in most RPGs, like The Witcher 3 or something, quests are sort of centralized around each hub area. It might take me around five minutes to ride my horse in TW3 between major cities, but I'm not doing that very often - in FFXV, people in Lestallum give me fetch quests all over the damn place, so I am constantly making these long journeys. It's not just a matter of distance, it's the sense that I constantly HAVE to be traveling these long distances over and over for basic quests, and I can't even be trusted to drive the car. And no, I'm not going to ride a chocobo along the freeway for 20 minutes.
Finally reached Altissia, which they've hyped for years as this amazing, huge city that you can get lost in. It is actually fairly small, restricted and all the stuff you can't go to in the distance (like 2/3 of the city) looks like a low polygon toy town. I'm honestly so disappointed. 
Oh, Square Enix, are HD towns still so hard?
Oh, Square Enix, are HD towns still so hard?
FoxnHurley
Member
That quest is pretty easy. Just listen for the croaking, which will signal one is nearby. Spoiler for that quest
You're gonna be doing a lot frog hunting for that lady...haha. Yellow frogs come next.
Leveling up Gladios' survival skill gives him the ability to salvage rarer items from enemies after battles. Elixir drops will now be Hi-Elixir, same goes with potions and other items such as coins used to gain EXP bonuses when combined with magic. I'd say it's pretty useful!
SoraanTribal
Member
Any tips on getting fish to bite? Sometimes it seems random. I'll vary up how quickly I'm reeling the line in, but I just dunno.
yup, that too.
Infinite_Daremo
Member
I understand the difficulty of programming. But I also don't expect a big company like Square Enix to lack the funds or technology to develop such tech. They even absorbed Eidos and had available tech from the Just Cause dev team who have done open world traversal really well.
Are you using the right bait? If you are, you should see that red enemy bar on the top of your screen which means you can catch that fish. Then i just vary the speed and usually they hook on the first or second try.
Watch the red bar at the top of the screen, and watch the fish if the water is clear enough. Reel in very slowly by just tapping R2 to keep the fish's attention. When the bar is full, the fish will bite.
There might be a better way to do it but it works well for me.
I just watched Kingsglaive and its absolutely ridiculous that
Also it doesn't matter what anyone says, having to watch a film to supplement the main story in the game is complete bullshit. There are things in the film that are a necessity to know.
that attack could have happened without Noctis and co being alerted to it somehow.
Gladio's skill was definitely the most half-assed. Feels like "ok, so we got cooking, photographing and fishing. Are we really not giving Gladio anything?"
This comparison doesn't make any sense at all.
ShadowKhaN
Banned
Can someone please help me with this?
Idk what happened but for some reason whenever i walk on grass now I hear this crackling noise
ive never heard this before and nothing I do gets rid of it, its ruining the game for me
Idk what happened but for some reason whenever i walk on grass now I hear this crackling noise
ive never heard this before and nothing I do gets rid of it, its ruining the game for me
Played it and am dissapointed with many things (apparent map size, lack of lore explanation, lack of epic starting cutscenes, graphics aren't really that hot looking etc.). However, I actually really like it thus far. It is a very charming game and I like the sense of friendship between the main characters. And there are also many surprising elements I didn't expect to like (combat in particular). Still very early in the game though.
Why don't you take off your jacket?
I've been enjoying the hell out of this game. 7 hrs in and in ch 3. I could always go back and do side quests, right?
Thank you.
Well, firstly I don't think it's fair to compare GTA style open worlds to more traditional RPG open worlds as games like GTA revolve around driving and speed is part of the design, while more traditional RPG open worlds go with the 'mount' standard to better compliment the idea of exploration (too fast a speed would make it pointless).
So it seems obvious to me that map traversal in GTA would be much faster.
And I also believe you're misremembering TW3. There were tonnes of quests that forced you to use roach to run across the map. Maybe it had less, but there were definitely enough to produce the same issue.
Not to mention roach was like some demonic amalgamation of the chocobo and car and controlled twice as bad.
Although I could be wrong about TW3 and FFXV in terms of how often both force you to run X distance. I'd be quite interested to see a comparison somehow (not asking you to do that at all, just curiosity). I have an idea of what you mean now anyway, so thank you for taking the time.
All I know is that, to me, traversal seems very much in keeping with what I expect from an open world.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Er... while the grappling hook in Just Cause is nice, all the vehicles in those games are varying degrees of awful to control.
DarkLordMalik
Member
Haha, you didn't really have to outright call me out here. There are countless others in this thread that seem to be doing fine with the combat so it shows that I am not the only one.
Anyways dude, chill out. Calling it 'advancement in game design' is laughable because you are not a developer and your comments aren't going to convince any devs. Certainly not if you have trouble playing a game in the intended way.
Muskieratboi
Member
Protip: Ride your chocobo every damn chance you get. Once he hit Level 5, Chichiri became faster than the God damn car!
Ahw poor Prompto
Not sure but someone mentioned getting it at a camp iirc. Personally I don't remember where I got it but it was after he told me he was tired and asked if we could go to sleep soon.
Ahw poor Prompto
It's since that Brotherhood episode that Prompto became my favourite of the group. Can't wait to see how they will develop his episode. I also hope they explain better a certain thing about his past.
Lights and Waves
Member
Do you still get the long car ride AP if you use fast travel?
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Both Guard and rolling shares the same function. If you don't like that comparisson, you could try any evasion move in any other action game.
artsi
Member
Nah man, you gotta ride.
GwyndolinCinder
Member
Right go post a video of you fighting that mob without taking damage,with full control of the camera? Like according to you, this is the intended method for the fight https://youtu.be/NiegzrXKDI0??
But o shit, spells have cast time and dont insta kill.
Telling people to chill out, because they say "no this is shit, your argument is illogical for x reason"?
There's also a Dish that Ignis can make that increases item drop rate. It's worth it.
Lights and Waves
Member
Okey dokey, I've been using the long rides anyway so I can hear the conversations and get the group photos.
Cleigne's battle theme is basically that Jesus Camp gif.
No, he's telling you to chill out because you've been constantly keeping this bullshit "I guess some people just like flashy shit", "I guess I'm just too evolved and appreciate actually refined games" attitude throughout the whole thread.
I really like you as an user in general, but in this thread? Holy shit.
People are not dumb because they disagree with your thoughts on a videogame.
I haven't been getting any convos
SoraanTribal
Member
Thanks! I usually go really fast, then slow/tap it. I'll just try tapping it and see if they bite quicker. Sometimes the red bar fills up all the way, then I "lose" them for whatever reason.
But Dark Souls doesn't give you a million iframes on many other moves. When you have several ways of abusing iframes and avoiding damage, there's absolutely nothing flawed with having attacks you can't avoid with some of them.
DarkStream
Member
I don't know man, this game...
So... divisive!
I really liked the first 10 hours or so.
I was doing mostly side-quests.
I really enjoyed the world, game looks stunning too and I like the combat more than I would have thought.
After reaching level 35 or so, I continued the main story. Currently in Chapter
.
Now it hits me:
1) 90% of sidequests are braindead. I feel like I never had to fetch so much food for people in any game before!! I fear I burnt out on those, hoping for them to get better. A decent story would be a nice "pick me up" now, but so far, nothing.....
2) Jarring transition into the story focused, more linear aspects of the game. Feels weird. Feels like two games glued together.
3) Summons - Yeah, cool beans.... never have seen one come help me in 20 hours of playing.... (well except for
4) Driving. So much driving. Or loading. A lot of loading when fast travelling.
5) Magic is extremely basic and no fun. Looks nice at least.
6) Again, where dat story at, bro? Jared is dead? Uuuuhhh....
7) I never died once so far. I'm not saying FFs are usually hard games, but damn.
Kinda losing interest in the game at chapter
. There probably isn't much main story left, but yeah.. How time consuming are the remaining chapters?
I sound kinda negative but I really enjoyed my time with it so far. Just a couple of things that struck me as odd.
So... divisive!
I really liked the first 10 hours or so.
I was doing mostly side-quests.
I really enjoyed the world, game looks stunning too and I like the combat more than I would have thought.
After reaching level 35 or so, I continued the main story. Currently in Chapter
9
Now it hits me:
1) 90% of sidequests are braindead. I feel like I never had to fetch so much food for people in any game before!! I fear I burnt out on those, hoping for them to get better. A decent story would be a nice "pick me up" now, but so far, nothing.....
2) Jarring transition into the story focused, more linear aspects of the game. Feels weird. Feels like two games glued together.
I know, I can switch between open world and city, but still....
Ramuh. I guess that was for story reasons.)
5) Magic is extremely basic and no fun. Looks nice at least.
6) Again, where dat story at, bro? Jared is dead? Uuuuhhh....
7) I never died once so far. I'm not saying FFs are usually hard games, but damn.
Kinda losing interest in the game at chapter
9
I sound kinda negative but I really enjoyed my time with it so far. Just a couple of things that struck me as odd.
DarkLordMalik
Member
You are near the end. I'd say barely 4-5 hours left now.
SoldierOfLight
Member
Yeah I don't think so. I tried fast traveling, with the loading time (Xbox) I might as well just auto the ride and hear cool tunes while gaining AP.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Some of them shouldn't include instant AoE attacks of a half dozen of enemies in a small crowded room.
DarkStream
Member
Cheers, that's what I figured. I guess I'll walk the walk then ;-)
Alright, yesterday I said that Chapter XIII was one of the most negative experiences I can recall playing a game and I said that I would elaborate on why. Guess that time is now. I'll break it down into different segments and why the game near collapses at this point and is obviously the low point of the game as a whole. Which makes it all the more hilarious that Chapter XIV is the high point.
The first issue is the art design. Chapter XIV is the first time the player sees a modern city in the game. Now instead of the game taking you through different urban sectors or examining urban scrawl, the player is almost entirely indoors after the beginning. The player is then forced to go down a large number of corridors with little interesting art design in them. Visually it's by far the most bland segment in the game where you can tell the development team copy and paste'd assets in an attempt to pad out time. I think the most interesting thing on the visual side was some holograms in one of the board rooms, and it's not because the holograms were exceptionally well done but rather because it was better than looking at metallic walls and boxes everywhere. Another modern city in Final Fantasy would be Midgar, which I assume was a reference point for XV, however Midgar actually had character. The player explored the slums in detail in FFVII but also got to see other sides of the city. The game up until this point generally had good art design and let the art team got to spread their wings a bit. With Chapter XIII however, it feels like the development team ran out of time and needed to pad the runtime out.
The second issue is the level design itself. Instead of the level feeling like a journey into
, it instead just comes across as a never ending series of corridors. There's little sense of progression to the mission and more like a number of corridors with a few set arenas. The player is traveling down a bunch of straight lines leading to another box room. The only time where I felt that it was an interesting labyrinth was with the Card A, B, and C series of locked room puzzles. The issue isn't about possibly getting lost, I never did, but rather how utterly boring the level itself is. You're just going from room to room to upgrade to different levels of a security clearance card.
The third issue is the gameplay mechanics. So due to bullshit plot reasons Noctis doesn't have any of his combat gear and only a limited number of new spells. Too bad those spells are garbage and rely way too much on your MP stats. The new spells aren't a very effective way of clearing out the limited number of enemies and are extremely annoying to use later in the level. The first is that the drain/explosion spell doesn't work well on enemies with large amounts of HP as while you're waiting for them to explode, they can charge you and interrupt the process. That pretty much leaves the dodge damage and the other spell that completely drains your MP bar. The dodge damage one relies on the enemy attacking you which is tedious and takes forever but it's really the only reliable way of getting through a number of the enemy encounters. I guess you could just chug Ethers constantly and spam the nuke option though. Regardless, one of the most praised elements of the game is the combat system and the game takes that from you and gives you a shitty replacement that is both both boring and aggravating to use. With the warp combat mechanics gone, the game becomes an utter drag to play. It's also worth mentioning how one of the enemies is literally fucking invincible for story reasons. I was level 60 at this point and wanted to fight one of the enemies and just beat it but I can't due to story reasons so the game just refills its healthbar and forces you to run because that's what the plot demands of you.
The game then seems to highlight using the stealth mechanics which are atrocious even by the open world genre standards. The only game I can think of where the stealth mechanics were just as halfbaked but also supposed to be used this numerously is Uncharted 3. I opted out of using the stealth altogether and just going the combat approach. What makes this even more frustrating is that the game previously at least tried to make the stealth options fun through the warp stealth kill. Now it's just avoiding enemies in pipes. So they made bad gameplay, from earlier in the game, even worse. It's beyond baffling as the game is doubling down on its worst aspect.
The other aspect on the gameplay side is how much slower your character is for a number of reasons. One segment has your character stumbling and choking for a bit due to
gas. There are numerous dead bodies laying around that serve to grab you and make you mash O to escape them before they blow up. For chunks of the level you can do this semi-stroll instead of the usual run. It comes across as the development staff doing everything they can to stall you from just finishing the game.
Next issue is on the story side. At this point things happening offscreen is the norm. This Chapter continues that honorable tradition by not explaining or hinting at
. The plot being bad is nothing new to the game at this stage so that's not the biggest of issues. What I did have a problem with was
constant commentary through the level. Instead of the taunting coming across as biting, it reminded me of Kai Leng's ('The Cereal Killer') dialogue in Mass Effect 3. It's childish/annoying and he never shuts the fuck up. The only time I thought the taunting was effective was at the very end when
.
takes a different tone other than his usual joking one and I thought that scene worked because
was vocalizing a lot of Noctis's own fears. I also should add that it's funny that a
I also caught
repeating a number of his own lines so I guess they ran out of the budget for the voice actors too.
Now all of this wouldn't be too bad (well it is all still bad) if it wasn't for the fucking length of the goddamn level. It's easily the longest chapter in the game spanning at minimum one hour, if you try to bumrush your way through it, to around 3 hours. You can't even escape the level and break it up until near the end
. The longest chapter in the game is also by far the worst one. It was around the hour and a half mark that I could feel my goodwill towards the game burning away quicker and quicker with each minute. The level itself is pure padding and the developers chose to pad it in a way by making the game literally worse to play. I can't even recommend rushing through it as there are tons of notes laying around that explain critical background information that help to make sense of the story.
Just complete garbage of a level through and through. It makes FFXV a noticeably worse game through its inclusion. I should quickly mention as well that I had a little bit of difficulty with the
That wasn't the biggest of deals though.
The first issue is the art design. Chapter XIV is the first time the player sees a modern city in the game. Now instead of the game taking you through different urban sectors or examining urban scrawl, the player is almost entirely indoors after the beginning. The player is then forced to go down a large number of corridors with little interesting art design in them. Visually it's by far the most bland segment in the game where you can tell the development team copy and paste'd assets in an attempt to pad out time. I think the most interesting thing on the visual side was some holograms in one of the board rooms, and it's not because the holograms were exceptionally well done but rather because it was better than looking at metallic walls and boxes everywhere. Another modern city in Final Fantasy would be Midgar, which I assume was a reference point for XV, however Midgar actually had character. The player explored the slums in detail in FFVII but also got to see other sides of the city. The game up until this point generally had good art design and let the art team got to spread their wings a bit. With Chapter XIII however, it feels like the development team ran out of time and needed to pad the runtime out.
The second issue is the level design itself. Instead of the level feeling like a journey into
the depths of the fortress
The third issue is the gameplay mechanics. So due to bullshit plot reasons Noctis doesn't have any of his combat gear and only a limited number of new spells. Too bad those spells are garbage and rely way too much on your MP stats. The new spells aren't a very effective way of clearing out the limited number of enemies and are extremely annoying to use later in the level. The first is that the drain/explosion spell doesn't work well on enemies with large amounts of HP as while you're waiting for them to explode, they can charge you and interrupt the process. That pretty much leaves the dodge damage and the other spell that completely drains your MP bar. The dodge damage one relies on the enemy attacking you which is tedious and takes forever but it's really the only reliable way of getting through a number of the enemy encounters. I guess you could just chug Ethers constantly and spam the nuke option though. Regardless, one of the most praised elements of the game is the combat system and the game takes that from you and gives you a shitty replacement that is both both boring and aggravating to use. With the warp combat mechanics gone, the game becomes an utter drag to play. It's also worth mentioning how one of the enemies is literally fucking invincible for story reasons. I was level 60 at this point and wanted to fight one of the enemies and just beat it but I can't due to story reasons so the game just refills its healthbar and forces you to run because that's what the plot demands of you.
The game then seems to highlight using the stealth mechanics which are atrocious even by the open world genre standards. The only game I can think of where the stealth mechanics were just as halfbaked but also supposed to be used this numerously is Uncharted 3. I opted out of using the stealth altogether and just going the combat approach. What makes this even more frustrating is that the game previously at least tried to make the stealth options fun through the warp stealth kill. Now it's just avoiding enemies in pipes. So they made bad gameplay, from earlier in the game, even worse. It's beyond baffling as the game is doubling down on its worst aspect.
The other aspect on the gameplay side is how much slower your character is for a number of reasons. One segment has your character stumbling and choking for a bit due to
poison
Next issue is on the story side. At this point things happening offscreen is the norm. This Chapter continues that honorable tradition by not explaining or hinting at
the Empire essentially collapsing prior to this or Prompto's background
Ardyn's
Noctis is going up the elevator after leaving his friends behind
Ardyn
Ardyn
big deal was made of leaving behind your crew but they end up being there less than five minutes later anyway. I guess they took there were side doors to that hanger.
Ardyn
Now all of this wouldn't be too bad (well it is all still bad) if it wasn't for the fucking length of the goddamn level. It's easily the longest chapter in the game spanning at minimum one hour, if you try to bumrush your way through it, to around 3 hours. You can't even escape the level and break it up until near the end
when you get your powers back
Just complete garbage of a level through and through. It makes FFXV a noticeably worse game through its inclusion. I should quickly mention as well that I had a little bit of difficulty with the
car at the beginning as it got stuck on an object and going in reverse was janky as fuck as it felt like the car needed to completely stop all forward motion before going in reverse. Just goes to show how the driving mechanics in this game were undercooked.
SuperSaiyanAkuma
Banned
Is anyone else having trouble getting the "
side quest to pop? Despite having all three nesscecary items?
into unknown frontiers"
Finished the game. I honestly found it quite overrated.
The story's a mess with terrible pacing and many events occurring off-screen.
Chapter 13 was abysmal and one of the worst things I've experienced in an otherwise decent game.
Side quests are MMO-tier and have very little effort put into them.
Combat was fun, but some of the encounters were not. Costlemark Tower was awful and made me start hating the combat.
The game had some nice setpieces in the main chapters; wish there had been more of those. The main chapters in general were very short.
The main characters had a good rapport, and were one of the best parts of the game.
Overall probably a 7/10 for me; despite the complaints, it did have its moments.
The story's a mess with terrible pacing and many events occurring off-screen.
Chapter 13 was abysmal and one of the worst things I've experienced in an otherwise decent game.
Side quests are MMO-tier and have very little effort put into them.
Combat was fun, but some of the encounters were not. Costlemark Tower was awful and made me start hating the combat.
The game had some nice setpieces in the main chapters; wish there had been more of those. The main chapters in general were very short.
The main characters had a good rapport, and were one of the best parts of the game.
Overall probably a 7/10 for me; despite the complaints, it did have its moments.
That video with many enemies in a tiny room I agree that looked really bad. But that's an issue with encounter/level design, not with the fact that certain moves can't be avoided by holding Guard.
Seven Force
Banned
Finally got 333 AP. Was going to get the Airdance ability, but I opted for Impervious instead, since I already had the timing down for that from playing Episode Duscae a bunch.
Not like I have enough MP to take advantage of Airdance currently anyway, lol.
Not like I have enough MP to take advantage of Airdance currently anyway, lol.
GwyndolinCinder
Member
I dont say they are, but as always the response to criticism of the encounter system is "you are doing it wrong, i do it X way, X way works..." (doesnt provide any evidence to this way), when people say "Yea that doesnt work", the next response is "chill out".
Assuming that i think someone must be dumb, for enjoying flashiness over mechanics is just an assumption, i'm merely observing that people dont argue in favor that the encounters are well designed, just in favor that they find it fun.
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