How am I supposed to beat the full field Chocobo Race? I can get a solid lead, but in the final stretch all 3 of them always pass me, even if I use my boosts as well.
The other races prior to this have been fine, but each time I try this they seem to rubber band and get past me just before the finish.
Medieval is what was hinted by Verendus (RIP) so take it as what it is.
But that said, don't expect a return to turn-based, but not flashy action like XV either. The best part of each of the FF games is that they always try to innovate and improve the combat system so it is not the same for every mainline game.
Transparency bug definitely has to do with when a cutscene occurs/commandeers the game engine while one of the bros is close to the camera (which temporarily makes them translucent). When the cutscene ends the game engine doesn't think to update their translucency value. If you move the camera close enough that the translucency algo kicks in again though, it fixes itself.
Speaking of which it'd be real swell if that feature was applied to trees.
I'm expecting XVI to go back to linear once more, but will probably use the open world elements XV had. Hopefully kinda like multiple "Pulse" locations with adjoining towns/outposts/whatever,
I'm expecting XVI to go back to linear once more, but will probably use the open world elements XV had. Hopefully kinda like multiple "Pulse" locations with adjoining towns/outposts/whatever,
I don't believe so. I think they learned a lot with the open world and with so many positive reviews, they'll probably continue this with the next sequel. I'm expecting the next game to be smaller in scope probably but I think the openjw orld will stay for the mainline series. Maybe the linear stuff will end up with spin-offs.
Yeah, text really is too small. More games should have Text Magnifyer options like in Lightning Returns. Luckily Tabata said last week that they'd patch the fonts.
[Chapter 13 story spoiler in the rest of his message in the link!]
Something bad that did not feel like FF at all. This game is just badly designed. And I am not even touching the story or lack thereof. I am 40 hours in and it felt more like a struggle than having fun.
Yeah, text really is too small. More games should have Text Magnifyer options like in Lightning Returns. Luckily Tabata said last week that they'd patch the fonts.
[Chapter 13 story spoiler in the rest of his message in the link!]
Something bad that did not feel like FF at all. This game is just badly designed. And I am not even touching the story or lack thereof. I am 40 hours in and it felt more like a struggle than having fun.
Considering the game can be beaten in 25 hours i guess you did lots of sidequests. And sidequests are just boring,that should explain why you felt it was more of a struggle. I'm surprised you feel the game is bad yet still played 40 hours.
So once you hit chapter 8 does the game just kind of assume you to know your limits? I was wandering around getting some cash from Vyv when one of those floating pop-up bases shows up. I go to investigate and start the infiltration. I'm level ~42 at this point. I stealth my way around and blow up the generator then (not a story spoiler)
shit hits the fan and I get attacked by what feels like the entire imperial army at level 47+. The assassins tear me up, I power through that, then the mechs start dropping and I item my way through one hit kill after one hit kill, then the BIG mechs show up (at level 51 FFS) and I get lucky because the AI breaks on one so it just stands there. I kill them both get a fuck ton of XP but at this point my item reserves are almost completely depleted, between here and crestholm
I'm almost penniless, mostly tapped on items (including the heavy hitting ones like megalixers and mega phoenixes) all because I never say die. The smart thing would have been to reload before the infiltration and wait until better prepared but I'm trying to keep save scumming to a minimum.
I'm trying to clear up sidequests and stuff before
I take the boat to Altissa
and getting cash to resupply is high on my priority list.
Last night I finally reached the part where combat just clicked with me.
Prior to this, I found fights to be fun but on the easy side since it's so easy to overlevel and I overlevelled before difficult late-game bosses. However, last night I did a post-game quest that pitted me against a lvl 120 Naglfar. And boy did it hit hard, almost every attack was 9999 and my boys all went down like flies.
I entered the battle knowing nothing and not expecting much, but oh boy it ended up being a 1-on-1 with me and him. Of course, I panicked initially, debating whether to run away and consult a guide or to soldier on. I initially tried to pick it off from afar with a Cerberus, but it didn't work, it's attacks were too far reaching. I tried a bit of magic, it wasn't so useful as the thing had monstrous amounts of health.
Then I finally did what I should've done a long time ago roperly read its telegraphs and attack whenever opportunity presents. And since I had unlimited airsteps and MP recovery unlocked, it was a viable strategy. The next 20 minutes or so were just fun, frantically airstepping around him, quickly warping away and warp-stiking him back when he's doing the AoE attack of his which is actually telegraphed (unlike other monsters), and engaging the Armiger and wailing on him when the bar is charged.
It was the most complex set of moves I pulled off since fighting the lvl 38 Bandersnatch in the Judgment Demo at level 5.
Once he's almost down, I used a Mega Phoenix and had Ignis Overwhelm him. It was exhilarating and I haven't felt this way since Bloodborne. The exp he gave was pitiful though.
I feel your pain, they kill the framerate and make it really really annoying to fight.
Nooo, I have to beat it again? Did it yesterday and that was probably the single battle where I wasted the most items (I'm on level 77) outside of my two Coastmark runs (because I couldn't find the right way after having gone through all 4 paths - probably because of that one effin' junction in the last path that I didn't notice and that led me to the room full of monsters again, argh).
Thanks for this, I had no idea! I kept wondered why fights in dungeons were wearing me down so much and why my guys would walk around with low HP all the time. I didn't think of using elixers.
I'm missing a lot of stuff in general because of the small font which just isn't readable from my couch without using the PS4's zoom function (my vision is better than 100%).
Finished! Well, the main game, plenty of post-game content to dig into when I get back from Holiday travel.
Re the final chapter (some serious spoliers):
Wow, a lot of high points in this. Great atmosphere, Ifrit and Ardyn make awesome enemies, two of the most fun fights in the game for me so far. With airdance and a good loadout, I really felt like I was in control of both battles, lots of air battle, dodging, strategic warp strikes, etc. The use of the pictures in the ending was smart, and very emotionally affecting. Along with Crisis Cores' slot wheel break, I really do feel Tabata has a gift for making incidental mechanics pay off big time at endgame. I still don't really get what happened though. Noctis sacrificed himself to... summon KoTR to kill Ardyn a second time, and somehow THAT cleared the plague of stars? Was Ardyn like the devil? Was he somehow responsible for the eternal night? Why do parasitic infections affect the day/night cycle anyway? What was with the last scene w/ Noct/Luna? The afterlife? A dream of what could have been? What's the role of the crystal in the plague of stars? I felt like I paid attention, and I've seen all the extra content, but I'm still vague on all these points.
Generally speaking, I like this game a lot. The world was fun to explore. The dungeons were well designed. The battle system is a lot of fun, and after 65 hours, I'm liking it more and more. When you have all the tools at your disposal and they become more intuitive to use you can pull off some fluid and fantastic looking fights. The main four were good characters, and great work was put into developing their relationship through the journey. As most noted, this was a high point. The summons are jaw dropping and I liked their implementation. Not knowing when they'll pop and then having them show up to save the day is always satisfying. I loved cruising in the car.
On the less positive side, there is just no denying that the story delivery in this game was all over the map. So much happens off screen, and there's very little coherent flow from most chapters to the next. This leads to a strange disconnect between what you spend most of your time doing, and what's actually happening in the story. The stakes feel much lower than they are because of this. I liked the cold open (minus Ch. 0), but not enough was done to provide coherent context to the journey, and the pacing was too stilted. I found it much like XII and XIII, in that I liked some of the characters, liked the broad strokes of the story, but did not feel a cohesive and well paced journey emerged, as in X, IX, VII, VI, and IV. I didn't feel this was due to the failing of any particular chapter, but rather the way the game was built from the ground up. It privileged world and set piece and emergent characterization, not plot delivery.
This is what I hope they most work on for VIIR and XVI. I think Kitase is the SE director who has best been able to deliver this feeling of being on a genuine epic journey in the past, so his heavy involvement with VIIR gives me good hope that they'll re-realize that feeling with that game in a fresh way. But I don't think Tabata or Toriyama quite have the mojo on that front.
I'll need more time to think about where I'd rank it overall. I do think it was a promising move post XIII trilogy, but SE has a ways to go to get back to the glory days. Story telling story telling story telling! There were great moments in XV that suggest they can do it, but they just have to be strung together in a better way to deliver the full classic FF experience.
For now, I'd place it somewhere around here in my rankings: VI, VII, X, IV, (Tactics), IX, XIVRR, XII, XV, V, XIII, (X-2), I, III, (XIII-2), VIII, II, (LR).
I don't believe so. I think they learned a lot with the open world and with so many positive reviews, they'll probably continue this with the next sequel. I'm expecting the next game to be smaller in scope probably but I think the openjw orld will stay for the mainline series. Maybe the linear stuff will end up with spin-offs.
?? XV has the worst average reviews in the main series and the worst week 1 sales in Japan. You may personally like the open world formula, but don't try to pretend like this is some stunning new level of success for the series.
In fact, there's a good chance that this will end up the most expensive, worst reviewed, longest in development, least profitable, least selling main-series game at least since the NES era.
?? XV has the worst average reviews in the main series and the worst week 1 sales in Japan. You may personally like the open world formula, but don't try to pretend like this is some stunning new level of success for the series.
In fact, there's a good chance that this will end up the most expensive, worst reviewed, longest in development, least profitable, least selling main-series game at least since the NES era.
I prepared for the worst due to the massive amount of negative feedback from GAF, but honestly, I didn´t really saw anything as offensive as some of the previous comments lead me to believe.
I wouldn´t even call it a bad chapter, just a little tedious and with some severely underworked story bits, but that´s it.
?? XV has the worst average reviews in the main series and the worst week 1 sales in Japan. You may personally like the open world formula, but don't try to pretend like this is some stunning new level of success for the series.
In fact, there's a good chance that this will end up the most expensive, worst reviewed, longest in development, least profitable, least selling main-series game at least since the NES era.
I've seen nothing but positive scores from major outlets even with the criticisms. Currently 82 on Metacritic so that ain't half bad. Maybe "worst" scoring in mainline series but it's not a disaster.
I prepared for the worst due to the massive amount of negative feedback from GAF, but honestly, I didn´t really saw anything as offensive as some of the previous comments lead me to believe.
I wouldn´t even call it a bad chapter, just a little tedious and with some severely underworked story bits, but that´s it.
I've seen nothing but positive scores from major outlets even with the criticisms. Currently 82 on Metacritic so that ain't half bad. Maybe "worst" scoring in mainline series but it's not a disaster.
XV is a "success" in that Square-Enix actually managed to ship the damn thing and make it pretty good. But I absolutely stand by my statement that this could likely be the worst game in the main series by nearly every objective measure we can think of (average critical score, budget, development time, sales #s).
Well... actually you just have to lower his health enough to break him apart... after three or four times I think you can finish him off
At first I was fighting like I usually do, but then I found out that attaccking from distance by just keeping pressed O triggered a mega powerful attack where noctis literally nuke him with magic swords... O_O
And that quickened the process for me...
XV is a "success" in that Square-Enix actually managed to ship the damn thing and make it pretty good. But I absolutely stand by my statement that this could likely be the worst game in the main series by nearly every objective measure we can think of (average critical score, budget, development time, sales #s).
XV is a "success" in that Square-Enix actually managed to ship the damn thing and make it pretty good. But I absolutely stand by my statement that this could likely be the worst game in the main series by nearly every objective measure we can think of (average critical score, budget, development time, sales #s).
The company is probably looking at some of those measurements differently. There's what actually happened due to fuckery and inflating of budget, time, etc, and then there's what the game would probably actually cost if they had a vision down from the beginning. The first of those things is what their bottom line relies on, but the second of those things is what they'll probably look closer at for FFXVI, assuming they think they can actually ship a game quicker and get the development pipeline down. I'm pretty sure with unreal engine they think they can, and I think they can now, too.
With all of those weird variables out of the way, I think they probably do stick with open world for the next one (that is if they're literally waiting until now to make the decision). This game reviewed well when you consider all the messy problems is still has. I think largely open world games inflate scores when you compare them to more linear ones. (not always, but statistically I think they do) And if you believe the leaks, the team thought it would do worse than it did. Even if you don't believe the leaks there's no way the team would have been confident in great review scores with what they shipped out. I'm sure it outperformed expectations critically.
That plus with sales kind of dropping off in Japan they're going to be leaning in heavier on what they at least perceive as western preferences.
I honestly think the earlier FFs were all great because of the teamwork. Pinning their success on a single individual isn't the way to go here.
For example, FFX had like 3 directors. Motomu Toriyama (event), Takayoshi Nakazato (map), Toshirou Tsuchida (battle). Kitase was the producer for it.
The Sakaguchi era FFs were great in this aspect but after that, everything seems to have fallen apart. FFXV gives me hope that they are on the right track so hopefully the next mainline games manage to reach the heights of FFVI to FFX.
FFXIII and the entire FNC was just a result of bad mangement AND development practices within Square Enix that carried them through the PS2 era but completely fell the fuck apart when the next generation consoles dropped. Alot of this came to light when XIV bombed and YoshiP was brought in, and he thoroughly explained just why XIV was such a mess. And following ARR's success, I suppose all of Square's divisions just followed suit with the philosophy.
I think the biggest insight into what went wrong in the age of FNC is how both Yoshida and Tabata mentioned a more employee-inclusive development pipeline. It sounds to me like the FNC games were just a jumbled, disjointed mess of artists, programmers, writers, ect just doing things assembly line style, and when it all comes together, the pieces barely fit, so they have to just shave bits off to make it work. They shaved so much shit off of FFXIII that they spun 2 sequels with it.
I think the fact that FFXV actually reviewed well despite the very transparent problems it had is proof that what they're doing is working.
Noctis has the Royal blood so he can do magic and share it with his bros, I think. You'll notice only Noct can absorb magic from those elemental rocks.
XV is a "success" in that Square-Enix actually managed to ship the damn thing and make it pretty good. But I absolutely stand by my statement that this could likely be the worst game in the main series by nearly every objective measure we can think of (average critical score, budget, development time, sales #s).
"Critical score" is just about as close to an opposite of "objective measure" as you can get in this scope. Especially considering this is the fifteenth entry in a long-running franchise.
No point in bringing up the budget because XV absolutely did not have a normal development cycle
Same with development time. If we're being honest, the fact that XV is scoring as high as it is right now is probably a huge win for Square. I highly doubt Square is looking at XV's metacritic in the same way a typical AAA company would. Nothing about XV's development was normal and the state of consoles in Japan isn't normal either.
FFXV is an open world, single character, action-oriented Final Fantasy game. People who expected this game to gain overwhelmingly positive reviews are delusional, no matter how good it was there was bound to be at least three or four review sites that injected series bias and dragged the score down. This is especially true for User scores. Just look at how much of GAF is claiming the game is a travesty.
It's amazing to finally play this after being announced (in some form) over 10 years ago. Before PS3 even launched in America.
It's actually kind of sad. XII, XIII, XIV, and XV have all been huge clusterfucks in their own way. Imagine going back to your 2006 self and saying "XIII won't come out until 2009, Versus won't come out until 2016, and both of them will have obvious compromises made in order to get the games out the door."
Here's hoping that this is the end of the Final Fantasy dark ages. If anybody in S-E's upper management has half a brain, there is a team dedicated to analyzing the shit out of what went wrong over the last 10 years and making damn sure it doesn't happen again. And they've put together a company-wide initiative for all future games to have <=3 years development schedules.
As bad as the last decade has been, I give S-E huge credit for keeping the series alive. It's a miracle Final Fantasy still exists as a AAA series and not just some mobile piece of shit.
*catch fish*
*Prompto makes a stupid quip*
"Talk about backseat fishing"
repeat for the end of time, except for when i have a new line and it snaps because a fish is flipping out at max tension and there's nothing i can do and then Ignis chimes in all smug like"make sure you change your line regularly"
Just hit chapter 5, Level 27... I'm loving this bloody game!!
Man, the dungeons are next level intense and fun: that Ice one was pretty hard, I didn't take it seriously and got stomped.....lesson learned, prepare for dungeons BIGTIME.
"Critical score" is just about as close to an opposite of "objective measure" as you can get in this scope. Especially considering this is the fifteenth entry in a long-running franchise.
No point in bringing up the budget because XV absolutely did not have a normal development cycle
Same with development time. If we're being honest, the fact that XV is scoring as high as it is right now is probably a huge win for Square. I highly doubt Square is looking at XV's metacritic in the same way a typical AAA company would. Nothing about XV's development was normal and the state of consoles in Japan isn't normal either.
FFXV is an open world, single character, action-oriented Final Fantasy game. People who expected this game to gain overwhelmingly positive reviews are delusional, no matter how good it was there was bound to be at least three or four review sites that injected series bias and dragged the score down. This is especially true for User scores. Just look at how much of GAF is claiming the game is a travesty.
Okay, for the last time, I am not saying it's a bad game. I'm saying it's ridiculous to claim that XV is so successful, the open-world formula will be the future of the series.
*catch fish*
*Prompto makes a stupid quip*
"Talk about backseat fishing"
repeat for the end of time, except for when i have a new line and it snaps because a fish is flipping out at max tension and there's nothing i can do and then Ignis chimes in all smug like"make sure you change your line regularly"
How am I supposed to beat the full field Chocobo Race? I can get a solid lead, but in the final stretch all 3 of them always pass me, even if I use my boosts as well.
The other races prior to this have been fine, but each time I try this they seem to rubber band and get past me just before the finish.
