Final Fantasy XV SPOILER THREAD

Anyone saying XIII was the better game in terms of story is crazy. XV was clearly thrown together due to a lack of time and the story could have been told way better, but what we got mostly makes sense and is way more interesting than the garbage story in XIII. Also, people are forgetting just how poorly XIII told its story as well, since you were basically required to read through the in game dictionary and even then it barely made any sense. XV also had way better characters, which help the story have more of an impact.

Tbh, I like the world and characters of XV enough where I'd actually like for them to make some more games in this world to flesh it out.


=======

I've actually also got a question regarding Ardyn that I was hoping you guys could help me out with. I think I mostly understand him and his motivations from what was said in the game, but I'm a little confused as to the details regarding his relationship with the royal family. So based on his real last name, was he one of Noctis's ancestors? Someone who was supposed to be king, but was banished by the current king before that could happen? Or was his line the true line of kings, only to be cast aside as a new family (Noctis's line) was promoted to be the new Kings by the Gods? If possible, could you also point me to dialogue from the game that clarifies these points?
 
The Emperor said:
XV kind of was in this respect though was it not. All the FNC depth was gone

Its story was the simplest of all FF's bar I-III, V and they still screwed up

Good director with a smooth dev cycle is what we need
Click to expand...

I wouldn't blame Tabata here, but yeah definitely smooth dev cycle.

Edzi said:

Tbh, I like the world and characters of XV enough where I'd actually like for them to make some more games in this world to flesh it out more.


\
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I'll legitimately cry if we dont get more of XV's world.
 
On the topic of summons, i never got the Titan to show up aside from the mandatory scene in which he appears. All the others appeared, Shiva appearing the most for some reason.

Like the magic system, i really didn't like how the Summons were handled in this game, hopefully the fixes to the game will make things more interesting.
 
Killer Queen said:
I wouldn't blame Tabata here, but yeah definitely smooth dev cycle.



I'll legitimately cry if we dont get more of XV's world.
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When type-0 had similar narrative issues how can one not blame tabata?

His lack of narrative vision and reactionary nature to fan feedback permeating into the storytelling is particularly worrying.
 
Edzi said:
Anyone saying XIII was the better game in terms of story is crazy. XV was clearly thrown together due to a lack of time and the story could have been told way better, but what we got mostly makes sense and is way more interesting than the garbage story in XIII. Also, people are forgetting just how poorly XIII told it's story as well, since you were basically required to read through the in game dictionary and even then it barely made any sense. XV also had way better characters, which help the story have more of an impact.

Tbh, I like the world and characters of XV enough where I'd actually like for them to make some more games in this world to flesh it out.


=======

I've actually also got a question regarding Ardyn that I was hoping you guys could help me out with. I think I mostly understand him and his motivations from what was said in the game, but I'm a little confused as to the details regarding his relationship with the royal family. So based on his real last name, was he one of Noctis's ancestors? Someone who was supposed to be king, but was banished by the current king before that could happen? Or was his line the true line of kings, only to be cast aside as a new family (Noctis's line) was promoted to be the new Kings by the Gods? If possible, could you also point me to dialogue from the game that clarifies these points?
Click to expand...
At least XIII doesnt need you to read the frikkin strategy guide to understand key plot elements such as ifrit starting the starscourge and to know verstael is prompto's dad

And at least XIII's characters all go through an arc.

Not so crazy to think XIII has the better story to be quite frank :p

Also each to their own but a group of people branded to destroy their floating utopia where gods are machines for me was wayyyyyy more interesting than a 'reclaim your throne' story.
 
The Emperor said:
XV kind of was in this respect though was it not. All the FNC depth was gone

Its story was the simplest of all FF's bar I-III, V and they still screwed up

Good director with a smooth dev cycle is what we need
Click to expand...

The premise was simple, and actually a great one, but they bog it down with too much unnecessary stuff and end up making it feel more disjointed and confusing than most of the rest of the numbered series.

Really what they need to do most is to go into the next project with a much more defined story board and cut the fluff. You can still make a huge open world game and have all or nearly all of the story/writing/dialogue content feel relevant to the story, tone, and overall world (Witcher 3). So I don't mean cut it down to the point of having little story or only content directly focused on the main plot, or anything like that.

I mean be willing to ask "is this plot point going anywhere?", and if it isn't, cut it. Be willing to ask "is this pacing jarring?" and if it is, fix it. Be willing to not require people to watch a movie and an anime to understand what's even going on in your game. If you aren't going to do anything with a plot beat, don't use it.

This game went through major development hell so I get why it is the way that it is, but their focus for the next game should be ensuring that doesn't happen again. The biggest issue with the game, in my eyes, is how completely disjointed a lot of the plot beats feel. A LOT of the potentially interesting plot beats lose a lot of impact because of it.

Despite the terrible pacing, the main party grew on me a lot, so they really had something with their focus on those four guys and the "grand scale road trip". They just didn't deliver enough on the stuff surrounding them.
 
Killer Queen said:
I'll legitimately cry if we dont get more of XV's world.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if I think about it it hurts me, too. But unfortunately it seems like that might be the case. It just feels like it's been in the making for too long and has much more to say/tell that stopping here like this does not do it justice. Also, how 'bout that Ardyn prequel. Eos 2000 years earlier? Getting even more up close and personal with the gods? Man it would be an instant sell for me. But that's just the tip of it. There's a lot more here that's only glimpsed at but at its essence is so good, which is why to have a second stab at it with an actually consistently coherent, meatily-paced story would be redemption on a plate for me.
 
Beat the main story tonight. May jump back for side stuff, but honestly I don't see myself caring enough.

It's a 8/10 in my book, but just like everyone else said Chapter 13 is a shit show of a slog. The story is a bit confusing at times, and has some not fleshed out characters. On top of that very few memorable bosses unless you go Monster Hunting and doing the side stuff.

Combat? Small upgrade from the demo. Still sort of plays itself. Never got a game over. I hate the way they did magic, hate the way they did summons, and disliked the fact that stats were tied to outfits so you never actually wore other outfits than the starting ones.

It's a solid experience though visually, musically, the lead characters are good ones, and I enjoyed the ending in its entirety.

Definitely worth recommending to FF and JRPG fans. Outside of that? Tough call.
 
Edzi said:
Anyone saying XIII was the better game in terms of story is crazy. XV was clearly thrown together due to a lack of time and the story could have been told way better, but what we got mostly makes sense and is way more interesting than the garbage story in XIII. Also, people are forgetting just how poorly XIII told it's story as well, since you were basically required to read through the in game dictionary and even then it barely made any sense. XV also had way better characters, which help the story have more of an impact.

Tbh, I like the world and characters of XV enough where I'd actually like for them to make some more games in this world to flesh it out more.
Click to expand...

I mean your argument comes down to the fact you preferred XV's potential over what XIII actually managed to achieve. Which not everyone is going to agree with. I do agree XV had the potential to have a fantastic story and be way better than XIII, the pieces were there. To me that makes it all the more frustrating that it just didn't deliver. Instead we got a fractured story, where it felt like you were reading a book which had half of its pages ripped out.

Compare that to XIII, which by the way I understood without reading the datalog, where despite some of its issues (Leaving out some of the prequel novel stuff, the questionable dialogue) I came out of the game feeling fairly satisfied. It was far from the best, but I mostly understood the story(besides the ending - which I felt was a bit shit).

Even should you have needed to read the datalog in XIII, that's still preferable to XV's option of either -

A) Not telling you at all
B) Forcing you to watch a movie or watch an anime to understand crucial information (At least for the XIII's prequel books, the crucial information from it was still put in the main game)
C) Said information being locked behind optional content such as random books dotted about, random talking NPCs, random radio broadcasts all of which are easily miss able.
D) In the case of the bro's, buy the DLC to find out more.
 
Finished it tonight. The kernel of FFXV is one of my favorites in the series, but it felt shorter and a lot less fleshed out than previous titles. Too much major stuff happens off-screen, like one of those TV shows where they don't have the budget to show you everything. Hopefully the upcoming patches will fix that. Would've been nice to see more of the fall of the Empire rather than just reading about it on some easy-to-miss clipboards. Or scenes of the refugees at Lestallum reacting when the sun is coming up again. Maybe some scenes of the rebuilding efforts in Insomnia, to show how they begin to move on without Noct. The game made me do a lot of reading between the lines.

Wonderfully emotional story arc for the four bros, and Ardyn was a great villain with clear motives for his actions and true scene-chewing charisma. It felt like every other character got short shrift, but watching the four on their journey and seeing them develop the bonds they do was touching from start to finish.

I just wish the game had been longer and had more cutscenes (maybe a lot more).
 
TissueBox said:
Yeah, if I think about it it hurts me, too. But unfortunately it seems like that might be the case. It just feels like it's been in the making for too long and has much more to say/tell that stopping here like this does not do it justice. Also, how 'bout that Ardyn prequel. Eos 2000 years earlier? Getting even more up close and personal with the gods? Man it would be an instant sell for me. But that's just the tip of it. There's a lot more here that's only glimpsed at but at its essence is so good, which is why to have a second stab at it with an actually consistently coherent, meatily-paced story would be redemption on a plate for me.
Click to expand...

Honestly, if they fix the story its a 10/10 game for me so I really hope they do because it's got so much potential . I don't know how much I want an Ardyn prequel per say, I want them to expand his story in this game and tie up all the loose ends. But the world of Eos, its art and everything is toooooo good to leave behind.

I will permanently brand myself and post proof on GAF if it means getting FFXV-2.

The only thing though is I don't know if I want another protagonist that's not like Noctis in the world of Eos, gameplay wise.
 
Zafir said:
I mean your argument comes down to the fact you preferred XV's potential over what XIII actually managed to achieve. Which not everyone is going to agree with. I do agree XV had the potential to have a fantastic story and be way better than XIII, the pieces were there. To me that makes it all the more frustrating that it just didn't deliver. Instead we got a fractured story, where it felt like you were reading a book which had half of its pages ripped out.

Compare that to XIII, which by the way I understood without reading the datalog, where despite some of its issues (Leaving out some of the prequel novel stuff, the questionable dialogue) I came out of the game feeling fairly satisfied. It was far from the best, but I mostly understood the story(besides the ending - which I felt was a bit shit).

Even should you have needed to read the datalog in XIII, that's still preferable to XV's option of either -

A) Not telling you at all
B) Forcing you to watch a movie or watch an anime to understand crucial information (At least for the XIII's prequel books, the crucial information from it was still put in the main game)
C) Said information being locked behind optional content such as random books dotted about, random talking NPCs, random radio broadcasts all of which are easily miss able.
D) In the case of the bro's, buy the DLC to find out more.
Click to expand...

I think I just prioritize the characters and how the story ends, which just so happen to be the strong points of XV and the weakest parts of XIII.
 
It cracks me up that there are cell phones, but that two main characters use a damn Shiba Inu as a courier instead. Shibas are stubborn and usually do the opposite of whatever you want them to do - because that's more fun.
Also, mine think shredding paper is one of life's true pleasures so that journal would be toast.
 
Really wonder how much time got spent creating this map. It's like a real map object with the images on all the proper panels and you can see each fold with gaps between. Only saw it once in my 2nd playthrough from a random npc holding it. Maybe it was easy to make though, what do I know?
LNPd8Xj.jpg
 
McMoneyman said:
Didn't know about BD5 hiring for a huge project. Let's hope!
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I'm quoting myself from the leak thread:

toleoring said:
can't be completely certain about the authenticity of the leaks

but one absolutely verified and official truth is Business Devision 5 is mass recruiting for a new project started back in March (ALL major dev positions), for people who are not aware of.

It seems the process is still on-going as the webpage is still online: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/recruit/career/group/5bd/

It is highly possible it's not for FFXIV 4.0, as the website also has positions designated for FFXIV.


I also heard Ito is with BD5 now, and that FF12 Zodiac Age is handled by BD5: I need source for these.


FF XVI by Ito, produced by Yoshi-P! Believe!!
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Hiroshi Minagawa (FF12, currently FF14 UI design) is credited as superior for both dragon quest builders and FF12 Zodiac Age. This could mean FF12 Zodiac Age is being developed by BD5. The game also puts Ito as supervisor and apparently it is not just a empty title: he is actively involved in balancing the game according to the E3 interview. So it makes sense that Ito is with BD 5.

Now this mass hiring apparently is not for FF14 and there is even a banner on the website saying: a new project under way.

The best case scenario would be FFXVI directed by Ito, produced by Yoshida and Written by Matsuno on contract. There is no doubt about Matsuno's directing capability (FFT, VS, Ogre battle games), but apparently he mentally can't handle mega size productions (i.e. FF12)....so contractor writing would be the best role for Matsuno - the man wrote FFT, VS, Orge battle games.
 
I find it amusing that 2016 was the year media was banking on my childhood nostalgia the most - FF, Dragon Ball, Batman/Superman - and all 3 of these have god awful writing and story telling lol.
 
roflwaffles said:
I find it amusing that 2016 was the year media was banking on my childhood nostalgia the most - FF, Dragon Ball, Batman/Superman - and all 3 of these have god awful writing and story telling lol.
Click to expand...
Is Star Wars a childhood nostalgia thing for you because Rogue One looks set to deliver based on early impressions
 
Mailbox said:
Who they are is very clear.

Its from left to right: Aldercept, Regis, Luna, Nyx.
With the 2 most important to noct, Regis and Luna in front.
Click to expand...

I had to look up who Aldercept and Nyx were, lol. Game does such a terrible job at getting you to give a shit about moments like this. Not only did I not get to see their faces for long, but two of them belonged to characters that basically weren't even in the game...? Haha
 
roflwaffles said:
I find it amusing that 2016 was the year media was banking on my childhood nostalgia the most - FF, Dragon Ball, Batman/Superman - and all 3 of these have god awful writing and story telling lol.
Click to expand...

My 2 favorite gaming franchises(MGS and FF) disappointed me greatly with the paper-thin stories this year and last.

Yes I know you can argue like MGS4 and FF13 might have been disappointments, but I still feel those were "complete" I suppose. Both FF15 and MGS5 had great gameplay though!


Edit: Whats that theme called that plays during the final scene with Noctis and Luna? Sounds like theme that always plays during the end of Final Fantasy games.
 
Well after killing the Adamantoise, the lv 120 WEAPON boss, the 110 ronin hunt boss and the OP angelsomething mech. I think I'm done at level 70. Unless there are any harder ones out there? I don't really care enough for the seal dungeon slogfests.
 
I fought the level 110 samurai hunt and Aranea helped out :3
She glitched out though and didn't appear anywhere and I couldn't use highwind.
that was until I used regroup, then the fight was super fun and great :3


Magnus said:
I had to look up who Aldercept and Nyx were, lol. Game does such a terrible job at getting you to give a shit about moments like this. Not only did I not get to see their faces for long, but two of them belonged to characters that basically weren't even in the game...? Haha
Click to expand...

Its called easter egging.
Its meant to be a lil nod so that people who did watch the movie go a lil something.
Since Regis and Luna are still up front, it still has large amounts of impact (at least it did for me)
 
McMoneyman said:
I hope Final Fantasy XVI has better storytelling than this. Feels like half the story is missing.

I quite liked the ending though.
Click to expand...
I think every single Final Fantasy has better storytelling than Final Fantasy XV so it shouldn't be too hard to get back to what works. If they want inspiration, I would go to Final Fantasy Tactics. Tactics does an amazing job of scene jumping to various locations in order to give us a view of a wide variety of characters---good and bad. Another entry I'd love them to take inspiration from is Final Fantasy X. I think it has some great character interactions. There are multiple scenes in Final Fantasy X that people might consider boring, where they just let characters hang out and chat. Some of these moments shed light on how unique personalities can grow deep bonds with one another. A personal favorite is when in the lightning plains Yuna reveals to the group that
Seymour wants to marry her.
They give the scene time to linger and breathe, as we go about hearing each of the member's opinions on the matter in a very natural way.

Now I think I'm just rambling about how great other Final Fantasy entries are....
 
Ever notice that news about Ravus getting promoted to commander of the imperial forces is only heard after Gladio returns to the party?

Maybe Glauca survived Kingsglaive and will be in his DLC...!?
 
SolVanderlyn said:
Ever notice that news about Ravus getting promoted to commander of the imperial forces is only heard after Gladio returns to the party?

Maybe Glauca survived Kingsglaive and will be in his DLC...!?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that is unlikely. Aranea talks about the new commander while he's gone, which implies this has been going on for a bit prior to meeting her. Ravus also talks about how he commands the troops much earlier.

I would love to see that though :/
 
SolVanderlyn said:
Ever notice that news about Ravus getting promoted to commander of the imperial forces is only heard after Gladio retuRNs
Click to expand...
I think I heard that on the radio before I raided the first base. Makes sense cause he mentions it too when you run into him on that mission.
 
Dang. My hopes are dashed.
 
I just finished that nice small game, A King's Tale.

Man, I would kill for a prequel game with Regis and his pals.

One of the greatest aspects of XV is its possibility for expansion.

No sequel, but some prequels would be amazing for further exploring this amazing world and its mythos.
 
FFXIII is seriously not hard to understand without reading the datalog. The game starts having events that no longer make sense within the context of the lore, but things like what lcie and falcie are are communicated to the player. FFXIII ends up nonsense and it's full of terrible cheese, but at least it's a story that's told. It's characters and drama aren't the best, especially with the localization, but neither are any from the SFC era and people love VI.
 
encephalon said:
FFXIII is seriously not hard to understand without reading the datalog. The game starts having events that no longer make sense within the context of the lore, but things like what lcie and falcie are are communicated to the player. FFXIII ends up nonsense and it's full of terrible cheese, but at least it's a story that's told. It's characters and drama aren't the best, especially with the localization, but neither are any from the SFC era and people love VI.
Click to expand...
Final Fantasy XIII is in the bottom bucket of Final Fantasy entries for me, but having said that I honestly never had difficulty understanding the story on my first play through. I didn't mess with the datalog either.
 
encephalon said:
FFXIII is seriously not hard to understand without reading the datalog. The game starts having events that no longer make sense within the context of the lore, but things like what lcie and falcie are are communicated to the player. FFXIII ends up nonsense and it's full of terrible cheese, but at least it's a story that's told. It's characters and drama aren't the best, especially with the localization, but neither are any from the SFC era and people love VI.
Click to expand...

XV's story is leagues..... LEAGUES.....better than XIII, XII, V, or VIII.
 
Call me crazy, but I'm a bit of a believer that every story is good as long as it is told well. And where XV blew chunks is at telling it's story.
SolVanderlyn said:
Hey, VIII started out good.
Click to expand...
This is why everytime I replay VIII I say to myself "This is way better than I remember" and later "Damn, this is amazing" and later "What is going on?!"
 
Vincent Alexander said:
Call me crazy, but I'm a bit of a believer that every story is good as long as it is told well. And where XV blew chunks is at telling it's story.

This is why everytime I replay VIII I say to myself "This is way better than I remember" and later "Damn, this is amazing" and later "What is going on?!"
Click to expand...

I think what you're getting at is "every Story can be satisfying if its narrative is well done"

I personally think the plot of FF15 is actually compelling and great, but its narrative is really bad and messes up the plot.
 
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