Support NeoGAF

[Ludens]

Well, I just completed the game. I don't know what I can really say about it. I kinda liked it and enjoyed what I played, but the game is really full of issues and for me it's not even remotely close to those 9/10 it got in and there.
The overworld is just dull and boring, the car travel is unsufferable, wasting a good amount of the player's time, there's no reason in a game we should look at a screen for ten minutes doing nothing just ro reach the destination, with some dialogues in the background which doesn't even cover all the travel usually, just a small portion of it.
Hunts are boring excluding some of them, sides are boring, cities are a missed chance, since they feel so empty compared to old FF titles but even to games like Witcher 3. I can understand creating buildings in which you can enter is hard, but man, in those cities there's literally nothing you can visit. Altissia is a pain to navigate, because you are forced to use the gondola. Yeah, nice view etc. etc, but nothing else.
Same for Lestallum.
The plot is a disaster. Not in the sense is bad, the story more or less is very standard, with the final sacrifice of the hero, but the way the game is narrated...oh, man.
So much happening off-screen, so many questions.
The big evil dude is just...dunno, bland? Yeah, he is immortal, yeah, he wants revenge, but still he helps Noctis and co. several times because...he wants to fight him on full power pretty much? He is like e less crazy Kefka, only immortal and with a "cool" look.

I didn't like the enviroments too, this fantasy based on reality look just...boring. Also where is the reality? Only because the car, the way characters wear and, as I said, the architecture of some places?

I give the game a 6.5/10, as I wrote I enjoyed it but there are just so many issues I can't really suggest this to someone who never played a FF to start loving the franchise.

I find also disrispectful the fact SE probably cut out contents to ship the game and sell them later as dlcs (yeah, I'm pretty sure the 3 dlcs for the 3 guys will just cover the plot holes left unsolved in the main game).

I don't even want to talk about cut content in general, since a lot of people already pointed that out in this same thread.

 

[Lights and Waves]

I couldn't tell you a thing about Caius except I think he yelled a lot?

I don't even remember any of the final bosses. I'll give you this though, I do remember who Caius is which is more than I can say for any other villain in the XIII games. There was a woman who looked sort of like Quistis but did nothing right?

13: Talking sword and evil robot baby
13-2: 3 Bahamuts at once, Caius on the beach
LR: Bhunivelze fused with a checkerboard floor tile

I'd say they were all pretty memorable. As for XV, I think the fight with Ifrit was more memorable than Ardyn.

 

[nOoblet16]

Luna and Noctis not communicating for 12 years I can understand still somehow since her kingdom allied itself with Empire. But what's the excuse for not using a phone to communicate after the marriage is planned ? Why use that stupid dog to communicate through written one line text messages? That to me is an oversight more than anything because it seems like they wanted them co communicate with a feeling of old fantasy stories except smartphone exist in this world and literally everyone uses them. Btw in Kingsglaive there's no mention of Luna being Oracle ornsomething right ? Weird considering she has so much screen time.


Anyways so this is what the story DLCs will be most likely then:
Gladio : When he goes away
Ignis : When he loses his sight
Prompto : When he gets taken, we'll probably see stuff about his origins here

Although I wonder if we'll find out how Ignis turned into Daredevil. Most likely we are just suppose to take that at its face value and believe he somehow learned to fight while being blind..lol

 

[ThingontheFloor]

I've left a rubber band on my sticks to max my survival skill. Hopefully when I wake up it'll be done.

Haha yup, my Platinum journey ended with me rubber banding my controller to max out Survival which was at about 8/10 when I finished the game, took about another 5 hours of running around. I also had a weird bug toward the end where Prompto would no longer take photos and I was stuck at 9/10 for hours until I reset my PS4 which solved it for some reason, maybe a memory issue.

 

[nOoblet16]

13: Talking sword and evil robot baby
13-2: 3 Bahamuts at once, Caius on the beach
LR: Bhunivelze fused with a checkerboard floor tile

I'd say they were all pretty memorable. As for XV, I think the fight with Ifrit was more memorable than Ardyn.

Well considering Ifrit is the reason all things went to shit (he is the reason for plague) and the fact that it was him in the cold opening I'd say it's usual to have his fight be more memorable.

What I liked about the Ardyn fight was that there was no "This isn't even my final form" moment. Although the Matrix Revolutions air fight should have come before the one foot fight...and he should have had more on foot moves than just warp strikes and 1-2 attack.

 

[Jake2by4]

So Noctis was groomed to die?

 

[nOoblet16]

I've left a rubber band on my sticks to max my survival skill. Hopefully when I wake up it'll be done.

It's what I am doing now while I play Rainbow Six on Xbox. My survival was already at 9 and it's been going for about 49 mins, I just switched channels to see if Noctis is still running..and he is...except he is far away from.where I started.

 

[Ludens]

So Noctis was groomed to die?

Not initially, but after meeting Bahamuth, he understand the only way to kill Ardyn is to summon the Knights of the Round sacrificing his life...just like it happened in Kingsglaive.

 

[ZeroX03]

13: Talking sword and evil robot baby
13-2: 3 Bahamuts at once, Caius on the beach
LR: Bhunivelze fused with a checkerboard floor tile

I'd say they were all pretty memorable. As for XV, I think the fight with Ifrit was more memorable than Ardyn.

Yeah I don't remember any of those. I've beaten everything in all of the XIII games and I couldn't tell you much about any of them, it's all either super forgettable or I've blocked it out. I can't even recognize most of the music, except for the stuff that was in Theatrhythm due to repetition.

 

[NeonBlack]

Wish we could have seen what Ignis was doing when he went blind instead of just being told.

 

[Jake2by4]

Not initially, but after meeting Bahamuth, he understand the only way to kill Ardyn is to summon the Knights of the Round sacrificing his life...just like it happened in Kingsglaive.

The story and kingsglavie only adds to my confusion.

 

[Mendrox]

Wish we could have seen what Ignis was doing when he went blind instead of just being told.

We will next year

 

[nOoblet16]

Yeah I don't remember any of those. I've beaten everything in all of the XIII games and I couldn't tell you much about any of them, it's all either super forgettable or I've blocked it out. I can't even recognize most of the music, except for the stuff that was in Theatrhythm due to repetition.

It's this.

 

[Meowster]

13: Talking sword and evil robot baby
13-2: 3 Bahamuts at once, Caius on the beach
LR: Bhunivelze fused with a checkerboard floor tile

I'd say they were all pretty memorable. As for XV, I think the fight with Ifrit was more memorable than Ardyn.

Bhubivelze was a good fight and I liked the three Bahamuts but the rest of the final bosses weren't as memorable. I only remember Orphan because of the incredible songs that play during that fight.

 

[AkirraKrylon]

The big evil dude is just...dunno, bland? Yeah, he is immortal, yeah, he wants revenge, but still he helps Noctis and co. several times because...he wants to fight him on full power pretty much? He is like e less crazy Kefka, only immortal and with a "cool" look.

I keep seeing this posted in a lot of places and just thought I'd clarify for those who missed the point.


Ardyn needed Noctis to claim/absorb the crystal's power before he killed him. Had he killed Noctis before that, the crystal would live on and just choose another as its champion.

Ardyn: "Noct, killing you as a mortal will bring me scant satisfaction. Claim the crystal's power, arise as its champion."

Basically he is saying killing him before he claims the crystal is basically worthless to him because it does not serve his purpose. He wants to end the Lucian line and completely destroy the crystal all in one fell swoop.

 

[Ricerocket]

This game is depressing. I take it the whole gang is dead after seeing the campfire scene? Noctis lived a short life to serve a purpose only to be stabbed and killed on the throne and suffers when seeing his friend showing up where they shouldn't be.

I really hope I am wrong, this is fucked up.

 

[sabertoothzombie]

This game is depressing. I take it the whole gang is dead after seeing the campfire scene? Noctis lived a short life to serve a purpose only to be stabbed and killed on the throne and suffers when seeing his friend showing up where they shouldn't be.

I really hope I am wrong, this is fucked up.

I don't think they are. I think that scene is just before they get to the citadel. I hope so at least...

 

[Ludens]

When you see a Tabata FF you already know

Spoiler

all characters will die.

At least they "explained" the Amano cover of the game, lol.

 

[Jake2by4]

Wasn't the story rewritten by the person who did Dissida, correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Tyaren]

This game is depressing. I take it the whole gang is dead after seeing the campfire scene? Noctis lived a short life to serve a purpose only to be stabbed and killed on the throne and suffers when seeing his friend showing up where they shouldn't be.

I really hope I am wrong, this is fucked up.

I don't think we should take both the campfire scene or the afterlife marriage literally. I think they are more symbolic and meant to cater to the players that might be devastated by the outcome of the game. You should make sense of them the way you want to.
After the ending I felt melancholic for two days but these two additional scenes softened the blow a little bit.

 

[Sylas]

Well, four - 50% - of the people we see in that scene are 100% definitely dead - Regis, Luna, Noctis and Adryn. Only their spirit remains in all 4 cases. The other 4 we don't see die, but we see them about to face down impossible odds to buy Noctis time. I think it's fairly safe to assume they die and like Regis and Luna hold on spiritually to assist Noctis in obliterating Ardyn in the beyond.

Aaaactually... (hate that phrase. Term? Word? Fuck it)

Only Ardyn actually sees Prompto, Ignis and Gladio. The game makes a very deliberate choice of only showing us them in the "afterlife" when we're seeing Noctis from Ardyn's perspective--the camera is behind Ardyn. It's at this time that we also see Regis with a Noct even though he'd taken his Knights of the Round form at this point and had been absorbed by the ring.

When the camera pans away from Ardyn's perspective is when we see Luna and the guys aren't there anymore. I took Ghost!Regis, Prompto, Ignis and Gladio as the people that helped Noctis get to this point as opposed to people that are helping him win that final confrontation--because why were they completely gone for the remainder of that scene? You could say that they were just cut but I kinda doubt they were just left out at the very end.

I don't think they are. I think that scene is just before they get to the citadel. I hope so at least...

Of course the campfire scene is before the citadel. Noct is telling them that he came back only to die. It's why none of them put up a fight or try to stop him--they already knew. He made his peace with it but the concept of dying became difficult to deal with when he was faced with the reality of leaving his friends, but this time at his own volition.

 

[Mythos]

Maybe i am the only one, but i was really disappointed by Bahamut, he reminded me of FFXIII Summons, and i hated them with passion. And i just expected a Dragon, and not a Power Ranger ^^

I keep seeing this posted in a lot of places and just thought I'd clarify for those who missed the point.


Ardyn needed Noctis to claim/absorb the crystal's power before he killed him. Had he killed Noctis before that, the crystal would live on and just choose another as its champion.

Ardyn: "Noct, killing you as a mortal will bring me scant satisfaction. Claim the crystal's power, arise as its champion."

Basically he is saying killing him before he claims the crystal is basically worthless to him because it does not serve his purpose. He wants to end the Lucian line and completely destroy the crystal all in one fell swoop.

But if Noctis didn't succeed, wouldn't the Crystal just choose a new champion? Is there even a way to destroy the Crystal, cause it's the soul the Planet.

I found Ardyns motives a little bit weird. I get it, that he wanted to kill the Lucis line, but that isn't really that difficult for him, is it? Probably he just wanted to die, and that's why he needed Noctis in his the chosen one form, and also after killing him, Noctis says something like "now you can finally rest".

 

[Kagari]

The honeymoon period didn't last very long, did it.

 

[Lights and Waves]

Maybe i am the only one, but i was really disappointed by Bahamut, he reminded me of FFXIII Summons, and i hated them with passion. And i just expected a Dragon, and not a Power Ranger ^^

Disagree. I thought this was his best design to date. The voice effect he had was so fucking cool.

- - -

Is there any reason to collect all the Royal Arms, beyond getting a trophy or something? As annoying as it is, the game should have required you to go back and fetch all of them so they could force the player to watch a few more interactions between the characters.

I found the Arms in the forest and on the volcano and those were both pretty fun sequences.

 

[saveweyard]

The honeymoon period didn't last very long, did it.

The things people would tend to discuss in a spoiler thread are the weakest aspects of the game.

 

[Sylas]

Disagree. I thought this was his best design to date. The voice effect he had was so fucking cool.

- - -

Is there any reason to collect all the Royal Arms, beyond getting a trophy or something? As annoying as it is, the game should have required you to go back and fetch all of them so they could force the player to watch a few more interactions between the characters.

I found the Arms in the forest and on the volcano and those were both pretty fun sequences.

No real reason outside of the trophy, nope. I was disappointed when the big storybeats relating to the armiger (Levi and Ardyn) just sorta gave you all 13.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

The things people would tend to discuss in a spoiler thread are the weakest aspects of the game.

There are strong aspects?

 

[Mendrox]

The honeymoon period didn't last very long, did it.

Nope 10-14 killed it all for me

 

[Ruff]

Haha, Chapter 10 is literally just like having a roadtrip with a passive aggressive girl/boyfriend. I don't even fucking know WHY he is mad at me.

 

[sora87]

Ok, the camp fire scene during the credits did get to me a little hahaha, but then that abrupt cut away snapped me out of it, should have let it linger a few seconds come on.

Also that very ending of them both happy and married, why? Symbolise they're both happy in death?

 

[DarkLordMalik]

The honeymoon period didn't last very long, did it.

There was never any honeymoon for the story. Read the beginning when the spoilers leaked.

 

[saveweyard]

There are strong aspects?

Non-storytelling and plot related aspects, sure. I'm really enjoying my minute-to-minute interactions with the game.

 

[jimmypython]

The honeymoon period didn't last very long, did it.

It's tremendous joy when more and more people are sharing the same view.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

There are strong aspects?

Are we doing this now?

Combat
Open World
Characters
Side Content
Ending

All are strong aspects for this game. Sorry if the game didn't click for you.

 

[jimmypython]

There are strong aspects?

Music.

Gameplay is also not good. It's hilarious how bad the combat is when compared to the likes of something like Birth by Sleep or KH2.

THIS!

 

[kayos90]

Non-storytelling and plot related aspects, sure. I'm really enjoying my minute-to-minute interactions with the game.

Gameplay is also not good. It's hilarious how bad the combat is when compared to the likes of something like Birth by Sleep or KH2.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Are we doing this now?

Combat awful
Open World extremely awful
Characters lol
Side Content uhh, I did a few side quests and gave up
Ending we just spent 2 pages talking about this shit

All are strong aspects for this game. Sorry if the game didn't click for you.

the intro has Cindy telling you to go kill 5 enemies in a circle mmo style. Right from the outset this game was awful.

The things this game does well are the little things that make you appreciate good games more. Prompto's camera, the graphics and Vistas, mini games, animations. The core is so fucking bad that none of it matters.

If this wasn't part of my favorite franchise of all time I would've just walked away by now and forgot it existed

 

[wrowa]

Gameplay is also not good. It's hilarious how bad the combat is when compared to the likes of something like Birth by Sleep or KH2.

Eh, I prefer FFXV's combat over KH's any time of the day.

I don't consider myself a FF fan, though, so talking about FFXV always reminds me a bit of talking about MGS5 where everyone hated the game for its dumb story when it's easily and by far my favorite MGS ever thanks to its amazing gameplay.

FFXV isn't as good, but I love the combat, I think the world design is solid and I generally just enjoy wasting my time with meaningless quests. It's a mess, especially when it comes to story, but I still enjoy it a lot.

I'm also a weirdo who thought infiltrating bases was a fun change of pace and who thought chapter 13's gimmick was neat outside of overstaying its welcome and going on for way too long, though.

 

[Chille]

Are we doing this now?

Combat
Open World
Characters
Side Content
Ending

All are strong aspects for this game. Sorry if the game didn't click for you.

I have had more fun doing the side quests in this game then nearly any other RPG, I actually want to Plat this

 

[kuroshiki]

Are we doing this now?

Combat
Open World
Characters
Side Content
Ending

All are strong aspects for this game. Sorry if the game didn't click for you.

You got to be kidding me right.

Open world aspect is basically huge land mass with not much to do.

Characters are basically non-existence espeically on NPC side.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Gameplay is also not good. It's hilarious how bad the combat is when compared to the likes of something like Birth by Sleep or KH2.

It's not comparable, might as well throw in bayo and DMC to further your point.

 

[Chille]

the intro has Cindy telling you to go kill 5 enemies in a circle mmo style. Right from the outset this game was awful.

The things this game does well are the little things that make you appreciate good games more. Prompto's camera, the graphics and Vistas, mini games, animations. The core is so fucking bad that none of it matters.

If this wasn't part of my favorite franchise of all time I would've just walked away by now and forgot it existed

I loved the ending guess I am one of the few, also loved the side quests I dont want a huge story with them I just want to go out kill a few things and be done.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

the intro has Cindy telling you to go kill 5 enemies in a circle mmo style. Right from the outset this game was awful.

The things this game does well are the little things that make you appreciate good games more. Prompto's camera, the graphics and Vistas, mini games, animations. The core is so fucking bad that none of it matters.

If this wasn't part of my favorite franchise of all time I would've just walked away by now and forgot it existed

Ok. Thanks for sharing your opinion.

You got to be kidding me right.

Open world aspect is basically huge land mass with not much to do.

Characters are basically non-existence espeically on NPC side.

The points which are listed is basically what is praised in every review. These are also echoed by many in the OT. You are free to form your own opinion though.

The only thing that is universally hated is the story and camera during certain encounters.

 

[kayos90]

It's not comparable, might as well throw in bayo and DMC to further your point.

DMC and Bayo are not RPGs. They're not remotely comparable. KH and BbS is within the same genre and hell made by the same companies who have excelled in creating action based RPGs. It's highly comparable.

 

[SargerusBR]

XV has the best combat of any main entry of the franchise.


Fight me IRL.

 

[jimmypython]

It's not comparable, might as well throw in bayo and DMC to further your point.

Wat? Those games are frame precise action games...KH games are FF-like RPGs and those games still use menu commands to combat.

If anything, FFXV, or what Tabata wanted, seems closer to DMC.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Are we doing this now?

Combat
Open World
Characters
Side Content
Ending

All are strong aspects for this game. Sorry if the game didn't click for you.

Agree with these.

But characters needs to be changed to main characters.

 

[Holundrian]

You got to be kidding me right.

Open world aspect is basically huge land mass with not much to do.

Characters are basically non-existence espeically on NPC side.

No you don't get it. It's Shakespearean design, omitting things, sheer brilliance.

 

[Burbeting]

I'd argue FFXV has more enjoyable combat than Birth by sleep. BBS just has too many problems, even if it's highly enjoyable.

KH2 though, that combat is amazing (especially Final Mix)

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Wat? Those games are frame precise action games...KH games are FF-like RPGs and those games still use menu commands to combat.

If anything, FFXV, or what Tabata wanted, seems closer to DMC.

KH2.5 final remix isn't a walk in a park (at least on critical or proud mode)