Support NeoGAF

[brandonh83]

are you ok? lol

The only thing I want to do right now is

Spoiler

fuck Ardyn up fucking piece of shit

Major FFVII vibes in that regard.

 

[JeffZero]

Yes, love the driving! I've collected most of the soundtracks, have tricked out the Regalia, pop it into zoom out mode, and just cruise.

Can't make up my mind on favorite driving music. FF4, FF6, FF9 field themes are all great for this. Matoya's Cave has got a surprising amount of play.

Spira unplugged.

Hmm, just wish the Florence songs and the prelude from the World of Wonder trailer were unlockable.

Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII is the song I play most frequently in Leide, because the environments remind me of that game's central continent. Over the Hill is the field track I choose rather frequently for Duscae. Cleigne can go either way. I start in game mornings off with Terra's Theme and dusk is Spira Unplugged. When it rains, Thunder Plains and Giza Plains (huh) are common picks. Along the way, I'll play whatever else springs to mind, but these are my lovely staples. The battle tracks don't get much traction, although I fiddle with them while walking around on occasion.

I am too meticulous, lol.

 

[pots555]

Just finished watching Kingsglaive. It was pretty good. Glad I'm only on chapter 3 of the game because I feel I will understand the story better from now on.

 

[Rean]

So where do I find keys for the vaults?

 

[Celeras]

Getting close to the end. Does this game have a post-game save to go back and do stuff, or do I need to make sure I have a separate save pre-final boss or w.e?

May be dating myself with this question but it's final fantasy lol

 

[TheGreatDirector]

The only thing I want to do right now is

Spoiler

fuck Ardyn up fucking piece of shit

Major FFVII vibes in that regard.

Lol.

Spoiler

I still like the dude even after he did that.

 

[brandonh83]

What is this reacting to?

Chapter 9 ending

 

[Unknown One]

Lol.

Spoiler

I still like the dude even after he did that.

Spoiler

Yeah, he's pretty charismatic and after how he was treated, I don't blame him for being that vengeful.

 

[RDreamer]

After everyone was saying how great the other control systems are I tried them and how the fuck do you people dodge roll at all using L2. It just doesn't work.

 

[YankeeDonB]

Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII is the song I play most frequently in Leide, because the environments remind me of that game's central continent. Over the Hill is the field track I choose rather frequently for Duscae. Cleigne can go either way. I start in game mornings off with Terra's Theme and dusk is Spira Unplugged. When it rains, Thunder Plains and Giza Plains (huh) are common picks. Along the way, I'll play whatever else springs to mind, but these are my lovely staples. The battle tracks don't get much traction, although I fiddle with them while walking around on occasion.

I am too meticulous, lol.

A testament to your good taste!

Agreed on battle themes -- I really only want to listen to them when in battle, but A. that's not possible here, and B. Shimomura's battle themes in this game are awesome.

Just saw another comment about picking cave music. Hadn't even occurred to me! Going to have to dig into that....

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

After everyone was saying how great the other control systems are I tried them and how the fuck do you people dodge roll at all using L2. It just doesn't work.

I think people are usually talking about type B which puts dodge on L1.

So you can lock on with R1, dodge and defend with L1 while maintaining control of the camera all at the same time.

 

[wmlk]

OMG I'M PLAYING FINARU FANTAJI FIFTEEN

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH


I'm never leaving Open Combat

 

[Seven Force]

Fyi, any location by a body of water gets 200x better to explore if you play Fisherman's Horizon.

 

[JeffZero]

A testament to your good taste!

Agreed on battle themes -- I really only want to listen to them when in battle, but A. that's not possible here, and B. Shimomura's battle themes in this game are awesome.

Just saw another comment about picking cave music. Hadn't even occurred to me! Going to have to dig into that....

Oh yeah... cave music. I'm going to have to figure that one out as well... let me know what you come up with.

And yeah. Shimomura's battle tracks are just too damned good so I don't even mind not being able to listen to the mp3 player in fights.

Fyi, any location by a body of water gets 200x better to explore if you play Fisherman's Horizon.

I play that while pulling into Galdin Quay!

 

[Gbraga]

After everyone was saying how great the other control systems are I tried them and how the fuck do you people dodge roll at all using L2. It just doesn't work.

I tried C today as well, didn't work for me at all, haha. Quickly went back to A. It just works to me.

 

[WarAdept]

After everyone was saying how great the other control systems are I tried them and how the fuck do you people dodge roll at all using L2. It just doesn't work.

I'm too used to Platinum games. So I play XV like a Platinum Game. Dodge as a trigger button. Shame the Attack Button is R2, but eh what are you gonna do. It's better than "A Type" horrid control layout. Lock on as R1 and Hard Lock as R3? Go away.

 

[Meowster]

What's the best strategy for maxing out survival? Getting a rubber band and strapping it around the controller and leaving the game alone for an hour and a half?

 

[Seven Force]

I play that while pulling into Galdin Quay!

Haha, same! It actually came on by the chance the first time I made my way there.

With regards to music for caves, the Dissidia 012 arrangements of IV and V's dungeon themes, Phantom Forest and Find Your Way are my go tos.

Any time it's raining (usually in Duscae), the Dissidia version of Movement in Green works pretty well.

 

[JeffZero]

With regards to music for caves, the Dissidia 012 arrangements of IV and V's dungeon themes, Phantom Forest and Find Your Way are my go tos.

Any time it's raining (usually in Duscae), the Dissidia version of Movement in Green works pretty well.

Hey, thanks for the tips!

 

[CielTynave]

Finally got my copy of the game, and really not much to say after about 7 hours except fuck the camera, don't like having to rest at camp to level up, having to use a second button to hard lock sucks, and I really wish we could just remap individual buttons in game instead of picking between different control layouts. Type A would have been perfect if I could just swap the Square and Circle buttons only.

Also, when can I get the MP3 player?

 

[wmlk]

I tried C today as well, didn't work for me at all, haha. Quickly went back to A. It just works to me.

A is working for me too, but after switching to B I'm so confused and reverting I was so confused.

Triangle and warp makes so much sense.

 

[RDreamer]

I think people are usually talking about type B which puts dodge on L1.

So you can lock on with R1, dodge and defend with L1 while maintaining control of the camera all at the same time.

Yeah I'm trying B now. It does seem better though I'm still fumbling around because I spent 30 hours on A.

I'm too used to Platinum games. So I play XV like a Platinum Game. Dodge as a trigger button. Shame the Attack Button is R2, but eh what are you gonna do. It's better than "A Type" horrid control layout. Lock on as R1 and Hard Lock as R3? Go away.

It's so spongy it feels like I'm "waiting" too long to dodge roll, if you know what I mean. I guess I'm not used to platinum games. Do they really put dodge on L2?

 

[LotusHD]

A is working for me too, but after switching to B I'm so confused and reverting I was so confused.

Triangle and warp makes so much sense.

I tried C today as well, didn't work for me at all, haha. Quickly went back to A. It just works to me.

Just use Control Type B guys. Forget Type C (imo), Forget Type A. I was used to Type A too as someone that had already spent like 10 hours on the Judgment Demo, but then I saw the light...

 

[ViciousDS]

Find Your Way and The Castle are my go-to dungeon songs.

FFVIII the GOAT.

FFVIII is tied with IX for second in my book. I loved the setting of VIII a ton. No FF game has yet to give me that impact of the assault on balamb garden either. Running from one entrance to another while controlling your character avoiding CGI flares and firas. Then to finally take it back and have the whole fucking school take off and fly was absoltely stunning. Then ragnarok and flying the ship.

God I want a FF in space.....after how bad Star ocean has been recently square cool pull of the best looking space RPG since till the end of time on the PS2 days.

 

[Lexxism]

lol. Never mind.

 

[Damerman]

Copying and pasting this post that I made in the spoiler thread sans putting in spoiler marks.

Alright, let’s get this out of the way. For the most part on implementation and getting shit actually done and running, FFXV actually does more right than wrong. That being said I heard the phrase “the game has done more right than wrong overall as a game” numerous times both in real life and on this board and I want to clarify that this is simply not a true statement. Also just because a game does more right than wrong doesn’t automatically make it a great nor a good game. It simply means it passed the checkmark of being a passable game. That is all. Having said this, I want to say that my time with the game was not completely pointless. We can all live with liking bad games or shows or music or whatnot. There are certain things in life we know are bad but we enjoy (like fast food from time to time). XV is one of those games for me. But I want to specifically lay out why XV is not a good game and I’m going to lay it out in two simple topics: narrative and game design.

The story at is core and in terms of pretext and plotpoints are absolutely great. It has a makings for a great story. The ascension of a young and naive prince, brotherhood between friends as they travel, an empire that has dabbled to deep with science, a legend and prophecy in the making for centuries. All of these are great story elements that stand on its own and together create something intricate that can easily be enjoyed by anyone immersed in old tales. Unfortunately where the story falls short is simply the execution. The ideas I listed above are only few of the interesting plot elements and points in the game. XV simply put juggles way too many narrative ideas and doesn't allow the game's flow to bridge all these elements together in a coherent manner.

Spoiler

Let's use the example Starscourge. It's never mentioned in the game outside of the tutorial segment. It's not used once. At all. However, this is a central conflict to the game that the protagonists fight against but is put into the background as the game focuses more on the actions to prevent the Starscourge. Which brings us to a narrative dissonance. There is so much emphasis on the action itself that the game never explains why that action is important. It's a simple thing to note that Noctis, while attempting to gain vengeance, is also juggling with his destiny to end the Starscourge, which brings eternal night, and in order to accomplish this he must gather the strength of the Astrals. There are numerous instances where this is happening whether it be the Ring of the Lucii or Luna's involvement with the legends. It's just terrible execution. I hear the terminology that the game has terrible writing. The writing is actually not that bad. The problem is that a lot of the writing is non-existent. This isn't necessarily bad writing but just really bad storyboarding. What happens is people remove entire panels and segments from a storyboard and it becomes difficult to stitch elements of the plot together to make something coherent. This is what most likely happened in regards to the conflict with the Nifelheim Empire. There was supposed to be a conflict but there simply wasn't enough time to develop this conflict in the game so the game cut it out entirely. Instead the invasion of Insomnia is used to propel the entirety Noctis' journey. It no longer becomes a story of vengeance and ascension (though the game would like you to believe it is) but a story of a legacy of lies and a main consumed by hatred. So essentially what I'm summarizing is that there are too many plot elements, not enough time for those elements to be baked, not enough time for those elements to be explained, and simply a terribly storyboarded narrative. Even the last cutscene made me go "why is all of this action important?" It just doesn't make sense. Things happen and the viewer is expected to know what is going on.

I could write an entire paper about how the game hamfists a shitty female protagonist but I will briefly summarize how I feel about Luna. This character is clearly meant to evoke a certain emotion and that much is clear because the game constantly tries to reinforce the importance of Luna to Noctis (though the game doesn't spend nearly enough time giving her screentime). Just as a conjecture, my guess is that the CG scene was already done for Luna dying but most likely they didn't have the time to do everything in regards to her, just like everything else. That point aside, Luna fails to evoke an emotion but more importantly conflicts with the central and only emotional theme in the entire game: brotherhood and brotherly love. You travel with Noctis, Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto this entire game. Whether you hated Prompto's lines or hated Gladio's douchieness or enjoyed Ignis quips or etc, the game made you feel soemthing about this game. Throughout the game you see a pre-existing bond between these characters get stronger. They were close friends that were most likely somewhat superficial, like most common friendships are, but over the struggles and harsh times they encounter they become more open and become a tighter group. While even this plot and theme is half-baked it's the only aspect of the story that truly evoked a strong emotion in the game. I will say that I legit teared up when Noctis gave a speech to his friends at the end of the game about how he felt. The game is extremely touching in reinforcing that they did struggle and through their share of joyful and painful moments, they did start and end the journey together. As a complementing theme to the aforementioned theme is "stand." Regis reinforces the idea to Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto that they don't guide or help Noctis but merely standing by him. Even Luna as she struggles to face her fate reinforces the idea of not necessarily wanting to help Noctis but stand by him. Then comes the end of the game where finally Noctis reinforces the idea to his friends to stand tall. The theme of standing amongst each other is really strong as it is togetherness and comradery that ultimately prevails. Back to the original point of brotherhood, this stands direct contrast to the romantic relationship (or lack thereof) between Noctis and Luna. Luna ultimately exists to progress the plot forward. There is nothing of consequence that really happens whether Luna is there or not. The game could've easily been re-written in some way where Noctis journeys to bind with the Astrals. The game tries to reinforce the romance between the two when the game should've really spent more time building upon the relationship of the four male protagonists. I teared up only twice in the game. Once in the post credits camping scene. The second is when Noctis asks Prompto to take a photo with him to the final battle. Holy shit what a feels moment. The game has you take pictures and I never really went back and took at them. I only saved the ones that I thought were memorable for me. However, that scene where you go through all of the pictures you saved up to that point was a whirlwind of emotions that makes you feel like you really came far with the four characters. Just... amazing (i chose the first picture if you care).

I can go more into why the story fails and succeeds but I think these two solid ways exemplify the major issues the game has.

In terms of gameplay, the game suffers immensely from pacing. Obviously this is due to narrative reasons. That being said I wish this game was linear like FFXIII. I don't mean this in terms of map design but in terms of moving the plot forward from one point to the next. The problem with open world games is that there is no sense of urgency and there is no sense of importance when significant things happen. When the Empire invades Insomnia and Noctis is quick to get revenge but has the option to spend the next dozen or so hours just scouring the world... it's just wrong... on so many levels. The game would've really sealed how important things happening are. Alas, this is not the case and as a result the game's play and flow just doesn't sit right and isn't a neatly woven experience. Additionally the game's open world while beautiful to look at is just not fun to travel. The dungeons themselves are great and so are the environments itself but the practicality of traveling through shrubs that block you too frequently and a camera that is dogshit leaves little be desired. Xenoblade had it right years ago. What the fuck XV. Quests are also bad but this is expected to be honest.....

The combat is an absolute mess and disaster. I'm a super fan when it comes to action oriented combat. I abhor the mess that XV has become. One is partially because the game doesn't challenge you to the point where you actually utilize the toolsets you have properly and the encounters suck. Let's break this out into multiple segments. We'll talk about the fundamentals attacks, how they function, and what impacts it has. Then we'll go over combat options you have at your arsenal. Then we'll go over encounter design and how that relates to the two topics that preceded it.

The combat is a simple attack with a button (which creates Blitzes) with a rhythmic press here and there for strong finisher (which are referred to as Finishers). The idea is great as you can continue to whale on the enemy until they are dead with the occasional Finishers to break and appendage. Then you have the warp strike which will allow you to make you very mobile. The dodge and parry are relegated to simple defense and attack buttons. Then you also have the ability to throw magic here and there. All of this on paper sounds great. Unfortunately this doesn't well because the game the game is way too inconsistent in execution. The animations for attacks are super clunky and doesn't have the finesse of something like Kingdom Hearts. It's difficult, annoying, and cumbersome to swap weapons in a Blitz string. The magic damages your own allies (albeit not much). The parry system is stupidly broken and overpowered. It's not good. The combat system itself is not balanced nor playtested clearly. This is what is called a passable action combat system. KH2 perfected combat 10 years ago. Come on Square.


Cheers.

this is all that i agree with. and the responsiveness of the controls in comparison to kindom hearts... other than that, i think you have combat dead wrong. the combat system is extremely flexible, albeit in a very awkward way. techniques alone give the combat system a whole new dimension. the only thing that i would do different is assign a tech bar to each party member, as a shared one is a little unfair and forces me to save my techs for ignis' regroup. this harms your ability to react to situations quickly(capitalize on a vulnerable enemy for maximum damage versus regrouping when too many people are down versus crowd controlling a massive mob and nuking them with magic). at a certain point, i felt like i was playing a strategy game because i was just letting the party do all the work while i made noctis just heal and call out techniques depending if i wanted the to be offensive or defensive.

other than that, your points about the plot and story telling are exactly on point.

 

[RoboPlato]

Are you using the Royal Arms to Warp Strike?

There's only three possibilities.
1. A super strong enemy hit you
2. You were using a royal arm. The more enemies you hit, the more your HP is drained and some royal arms eat more HP than the others.
3. A combination of 1 and 2.

LOL it was the Royal Arms.

OOPS

I feel like a dumbass.

 

[LotusHD]

Finally got my copy of the game, and really not much to say after about 7 hours except fuck the camera, don't like having to rest at camp to level up, having to use a second button to hard lock sucks, and I really wish we could just remap individual buttons in game instead of picking between different control layouts. Type A would have been perfect if I could just swap the Square and Circle buttons only.

Also, when can I get the MP3 player?

When Ch. 3 begins

 

[YankeeDonB]

OMG I'M PLAYING FINARU FANTAJI FIFTEEN

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH


I'm never leaving Open Combat

Yo. We made it.

Also, try and get used to control type B. It ends up being a lot slicker than A, even though I agree warp feels good on triangle.

The ability to easily dodge while moving and controlling camera is key.

Also, lets you manually hold lock (r1) and drop instantly for through warps.

I liked C at first, but when precision dodging gets more important, having dodge on L1 instead of L2 is crucial.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

Finished the game

But Im confused...what was wrong with chapter 13 again? I was relieved that the chapter wasnt as short as the previous ones and to be frank, I liked it

 

[Gbraga]

A is working for me too, but after switching to B I'm so confused and reverting I was so confused.

Triangle and warp makes so much sense.

Yep. Warp on triangle is perfect.

This blink ability can be found on combat under ascension but I can't seem to find it. What do I need to unlock this ability?

What do you mean? You did find it, but can't unlock it? That must be a bug, there's no secret to getting it.

 

[Damerman]

Finished the game

But Im confused...what was wrong with chapter 13 again? I was relieved that the chapter wasnt as short as the previous ones and to be frank, I liked it

I'm on the same boat... the hate for chapter 13 has me dumbfounded because it was so ubiquitous.

 

[Celeras]

Just use Control Type B guys. Forget Type C (imo), Forget Type A. I was used to Type A too as someone that had already spent like 10 hours on the Judgment Demo, but then I saw the light...

C is best.

 

[wmlk]

I'm gonna take dozens of pretty images during Open Combat. No HUD, minimap, close camera at the citadel???? *swoons*

 

[WarAdept]

It's so spongy it feels like I'm "waiting" too long to dodge roll, if you know what I mean. I guess I'm not used to platinum games. Do they really put dodge on L2?

Yeah they put Dodge on the triggers, but even the slightest tap lets you dodge in those games, so it's not like XV where you have to fully press the trigger down.

B is much better than A, but L1 as dodge is still weird to me.

And C is by far the best setup for hard locks. L1 + R1 together.

 

[Quonny]

All these A and B plebs.

 

[SoraanTribal]

About Altissia..

Spoiler

Is there anything to explore here really? The map looks big but having finished chapter 9, it looks like most of it is not explorable. I'd love to walk around fighting enemies near the city and see it off in the distance.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

FF15 is one of my favorite games in recent memory. i'm usually retro gaming and haven't really touched my ps4 aside from Fry Cry 4. but man! this has been a surprise. i'm really enjoying the game, main story and side quests so far. i watched Kingsclaive first so the story made sense. (i'd probably be complaining if i didn't watch it)


this is coming from FF13 where i death spammed Adamantoise's for hours to get those rare drops bc the main quest was so boring and the story was broken. i had way more fun capturing beasts than playing the main story.

for FF15 i'm digging the companion interactions and the main quest is pretty fun. i'm at chapter 12 and decided to take a break to do the hunting missions. both are equally engaging. (well i'm engaged in being cheap... by shooting everyone with a pistol from far away and then running away and coming back to auto phoenix any characters that died so i can get XP for the whole party when an enemy is about to die)

 

[Lynx_7]

Got my copy today, taking my time with it. 5 hours in, still at the first chapter, did a lot of hunts and I might have killed a later mark earlier than I could officially accept. I'm still getting used to the combat, I like it but some fights can get pretty messy all around and I'm like "I have no idea if I'm doing this right". But you know, so far I'm into it! I'm enjoying the whole roadtrip concept, hunting is fun and this is the first FF game I'm really enjoying since X. Feels like meeting an old friend you had an ugly fallout and didn't get along with for years, but now you two worked things out and are having a good time.


By the way, is there not a faster way to change tracks on the Regalia? Takes forever to get to the song I want to.

 

[Zafir]

Finished the game

But Im confused...what was wrong with chapter 13 again? I was relieved that the chapter wasnt as short as the previous ones and to be frank, I liked it

It just, wasn't fun, at all.

It went on waaaaay to long and just ended up being tedious. Not difficult or anything, just tedious.

I wished the chapters had been longer, but not if it means you're forced through such blergh gameplay.

 

[Apt101]

It's relaxing listening to old FF soundtracks while cruising. I'm going to get the Asc. that adds AP when on long car rides.

 

[Lexxism]

What do you mean? You did find it, but can't unlock it? That must be a bug, there's no secret to getting it.

Sorry. I found it. I'm blind.

 

[Gbraga]

Got my copy today, taking my time with it. 5 hours in, still at the first chapter, did a lot of hunts and I might have killed a later mark earlier than I could officially accept. I'm still getting used to the combat, I like it but some fights can get pretty messy all around and I'm like "I have no idea if I'm doing this right". But you know, so far I'm into it! I'm enjoying the whole roadtrip concept, hunting is fun and this is the first FF game I'm really enjoying since X. Feels like meeting an old friend you had an ugly fallout and didn't get along with for years, but now you two worked things out and are having a good time.


By the way, is there not a faster way to change tracks on the Regalia? Takes forever to get to the song I want to.

Hold the d-pad left/right button to cycle through games.

Sorry. I found it. I'm blind.

Oh, cool! It really is a game changer. I can't recommend it enough. I'll definitely continue to bother people telling them to get it.

 

[ScientificPizza]

this has probably been answered a billion times but can you miss side content if you just go straight through the story?

 

[Gbraga]

this has probably been answered a billion times but can you miss side content if you just go straight through the story?

You can go back and do it at any time, even after the credits.

You'll probably end up underleveled for some of the late game if you don't do any side stuff at all, though.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Oh shit is right.

 

[wmlk]

Also, jumping and then attacking is super helpful if you're lost as to where the enemies are or if you want to close the distance.

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/806323640664985600/pu/vid/1280x720/-u5JVPPByIzdMXxw.mp4

 

[ScientificPizza]

You can go back and do it at any time, even after the credits.

You'll probably end up underleveled for some of the late game if you don't do any side stuff at all, though.

I've done a lot of side stuff and am at lvl 35, but i've only done one main mission so far in chapter 3 !3?-7/3 the side content has been kinda overwhelming

 

[Orion514]

Is there a ton of stuff you miss my not going out and exploring all the world? (Dungeons and such)

I ask because I've been just going from side quest to side quest by level and that doesn't really promote exploration much. It doesn't help that the world just doesn't intrigue me enough that it makes me want to actively go out to see what's over a hill or behind that tree in the distance etc. Witcher 3 must have just ruined me on that regard lol.

 

[Cornbread78]

I can't believe how fast you all are flying through the game. I need to quite my jobs and just play games all day. I'm sure my wife won't mind dammit! I need more fun time!