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[HeelPower]

'PC' refers to player character. The original FF14 looked beautiful but ran terribly.

wow...

That does it.The food stuff in XV undoubtedly was a similar situation...What a waste.

 

[Ludens]

I started out playing slowly in the open world section then I quickly lost interest.

Navigating the world became frustrating and repetitive and the combat & sidequests just didn't do it for me.So I found no purpose in trying to take on higher level fights.Its just bad.

I think its interesting that the combat isn't getting bashed to hell like the story is.I mean Witcher 3 combat constantly gets criticism ,but I think it was better than XV's combat.

The gameplay in XV deserves just as much criticism as the story got.

Yeah, I had no problem with Witcher 3 combat system. It wasn't deep, but it worked well, you always understood what was happening on the screen, plus if you were playing on the highest difficulty, there was a strategy element involved pushing you on using mutagens and signs. On FFXV apparently the key to win is to mash O. Yeah, from time to time you can cast some spells, but in my opinion the way magic is handled in this game is awfull, if you don't follow a guide good luck on crafting something usefull or devastating. You can't experiment because your spells will end and you will be forced to look for other magic sites.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I started out playing slowly in the open world section then I quickly lost interest.

Navigating the world became frustrating and repetitive and the combat & sidequests just didn't do it for me.So I found no purpose in trying to take on higher level fights.Its just bad.

I think its interesting that the combat isn't getting bashed to hell like the story is.I mean Witcher 3 combat constantly gets criticism ,but I think it was better than XV's combat.

The gameplay in XV deserves just as much criticism as the story got.

I honestly think you are just burned out on the game. The combat has its fair shsre of issues but the verticality combined with the freedom it gives makes it far better than Witcher 3. I won't get into the semantics of why because it is just endless arguments one after another.

The reason the game os getting good reviews is because not sum of its parts but because of the overall package. The gameplay alone isn't getting it good reviews and the story certainly isn't doing it any favor but having played the game from start to the end, the characterization, sense of discovery, the combat, and the way the game perfectly conveys the sense of an adventure, this clicks with a lot of people and hence when the journey ends, we see our memorable pics, it tends to make people emotional.

I can understand why you didn't like the game and which is why it would be hard for you to accept it, but FFXV is a genuinely good game that isn't without its faults. But again, which game isn't?

 

[Zakalwe]

I honestly don't understand how this game got so good reviews. I can understand MGSV, even if part of the plot was missing, the gameplay was top notch at least.
With FFXV, 3/4 of the plot are missing, the game still feels so bugged expecially when you spent some good time in the game (I noticed now with a 40 hours save I'm getting more and more bugs, while when I was doing the main quest only, I got none: enemies spawing in the air, X button stops working and only a reboot fix the issue, black screen with music going on after a loading screen, characters who disappear from time to time etc, I suspect there's something going wrong with the save, like it happened in Skyrim) and the gameplay is not even good. On Normal I had no problems on killing pretty much everything until now, just mash O, use the royal weapons power when is full, use summons when the game gives you the chance, proceed. When there are a lot of enemies on the screen is pretty much impossible understanding what is going on.

Fetch quests are just awful and they are here just to waste the player's time artificially increasing the game's lenght, same for the trophy list with unfair things like "level up survival skill to 10".

Loading times everywhere, road trip are just boring and you literally watch the screen doing nothing for several minutes (in fact during travels when fast travel is not available I read something, browse the internet etc.).

I'm not pissed just because I'll trade the game this week recovering the full money I spent on it thanks to an awesome pre-order offer, but the game needed at least another year of development and a good director.

Tabata in my opinion isn't a good director, you can't simply cut stuff randomly hoping something will stick on the wall.

I can honestly say the gameplay is great imo. Traversal is slick, combat is engaging, the world rewards exploring meaningfully (dungeons, items that matter, random larger enemy encounters, hidden pieces of character interactions between the bros).

The battle system was weird at first, but it struck me as turn based/real time hybrid and once I had that notion and embraced the automation/real time mix I found a responsive and visually stunning system. The camera can be terrible though, as can the lock on, and some encounters like Adamanioise really bring out the jank.

Every single RPG, even TW3, can have side quests boiled down to the same things.

Go here and collect/do/kill X, for example.

TW3 backs it up with well written story beats for even the smallest quests.

XV backs it up with extremely solid gameplay and the occasional unique interaction between the bros.

The overall narrative is a disjointed, awkward mess, but the core of the game being so good and the fact the ending triples down on the best thing about the game (the relationship between the bros) made me ultimately forgive these things enough to call the overall experience my GOTY.

What I will say is that I'm quite sad the problems the game has do exist, especially with the story. There are other issues too, and if they weren't there this might even have a shot at my GOAT.

I'm looking forward to the additions, but my expectations are fully in check. They won't be adding as much as some people hope, and I very much doubt those who really dislike the game will have their opinion changed. I would love to be proven wrong, of course.

Anyway, I tried to explain a different opinion. I hope you can see it from the other side now even if you can't feel it.

 

[Falk]

But I do not think your reasoning can be used to excuse Cindy. Because it's quite clear they put an inordinate amount of effort into her for all of the shitty reasons that everybody knows.

I had to Ctrl-F my own post to be sure; never said anything about Cindy ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[HeelPower]

Yeah, I had no problem with Witcher 3 combat system. It wasn't deep, but it worked well, you always understood what was happening on the screen, plus if you were playing on the highest difficulty, there was a strategy element involved pushing you on using mutagens and signs. On FFXV apparently the key to win is to mash O. Yeah, from time to time you can cast some spells, but in my opinion the way magic is handled in this game is awfull, if you don't follow a guide good luck on crafting something usefull or devastating. You can't experiment because your spells will end and you will be forced to look for other magic sites.

Not to mention the camera ,and the parry system.

The combat is essentially like the arkham games.Dodge/Wail on enemies then wait for the flashing Square button to come on screen.

But the enemy attacks/movements are so erratic that its unrewarding/unfun to try to react to & learn their patterns.Its better just wait for the parry to come or spam warp/magic from a distance.

 

[ZeroX03]

It's going to be really interesting to look back on this game's reputation in a few years. The DLC and patches might fix technical stuff and expand on a few dropped story points, but overall the game is a big mess that still ends up being pretty enjoyable despite all those flaws. But how that ages will be fun to watch. I foresee plenty of "well at least it was better than XIII" comments.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Yeah, I had no problem with Witcher 3 combat system. It wasn't deep, but it worked well, you always understood what was happening on the screen, plus if you were playing on the highest difficulty, there was a strategy element involved pushing you on using mutagens and signs. On FFXV apparently the key to win is to mash O. Yeah, from time to time you can cast some spells, but in my opinion the way magic is handled in this game is awfull, if you don't follow a guide good luck on crafting something usefull or devastating. You can't experiment because your spells will end and you will be forced to look for other magic sites.

This post basically comes across from someone that didn't dive into the magic system.

The game tells you exactly which spell is being crafted. There is nothing unknown here. You are free to practice as you see fit, without having to worry about the randomness of it. Not sure why you needed a guide to understand it.

Magic is easily available throughout the world map since it is located near camping points and strategically placed around dungeons. They have also dedicated a whole Ascension Grid for magic which helps in crafting powerful spells or getting more magical elements from the draw points. If you never used them, then this is not the fault of the game.

By the end of the game, magic becomes a very powerful tool and strategically utilizing it to exploit the monsters weakness saves a lot of headache with the attacking, which you call 'button mashing' here.

 

[Elios83]

I still don't get all the details about Ardyn's past.
Many missing or conflicting elements.
Was he part of the royal family of Lucis or was he just a healer?
Was he already chosen by the crystal when he started to heal people using his powers and then betrayed and denied of the light power that simply would have killed him anyway with the daemons inside him in the end?
Who was this king who demonized him that is suggested to be an Inzunia that robbed him of the Lucis Caelum name?
If there was an other king and his family name was Izunia this goes against the theory that Ardyn belonged to a royal family, but in that case there was no reason why Ardyn expected to be chosen by the crystal just because he was a healer.
At the same time Ardyn can summon weapons similar to those used by Noctis so he seems to have access to the legacy of the old kings as well but he shouldn't belong to that family.....
Is the scourge a cyclical thing like Sin in FFX?

An other final question....the people hanged up in the throne room are: Luna, Nyx, Regis and...the fourth one?? Seems Aldercapt to me? But he was turned into a deamon in chapter 13 so he's not him.

 

[HeelPower]

I honestly think you are just burned out on the game. The combat has its fair shsre of issues but the verticality combined with the freedom it gives makes it far better than Witcher 3. I won't get into the semantics of why because it is just endless arguments one after another.

The reason the game os getting good reviews is because not sum of its parts but because of the overall package. The gameplay alone isn't getting it good reviews and the story certainly isn't doing it any favor but having played the game from start to the end, the characterization, sense of discovery, the combat, and the way the game perfectly conveys the sense of an adventure, this clicks with a lot of people and hence when the journey ends, we see our memorable pics, it tends to make people emotional.

I can understand why you didn't like the game and which is why it would be hard for you to accept it, but FFXV is a genuinely good game that isn't without its faults. But again, which game isn't?

I think different players have different expectations and backgrounds going into the game.

As someone who's played numerous action RPGs with far,far more competent action systems,it was underwhelming with occasionally fun fights here & there.

One thing I could give it is that its beginner friendly and easy to get into which could be why a lot of non-action players might find it a fun system.

 

[CLBridges]

Well, guess I was closer than I thought with Pitioss, cleared it and got black hood. Guess I'll go ahead and shoot for the plat trophy today, maybe.

On another note, I do agree that a lot of story elements were missing and some just weren't detailed enough to catch it. But, my overall experience has been great so I'll rate this as a good entry into the franchise. Looking forward to future dlc to see how those stories are laid out.

I think FFXV will be a learning experience for SE for future mainline FF's and good practice for FF7R. During my play-time with this game I've come across a few things that made me think, "so that's how it's gonna work for this scene in FF7R". That's probably just me though, I'm kinda easy to please regarding video games

 

[CGwizz]

Well, guess I was closer than I thought with Pitioss, cleared it and got black hood. Guess I'll go ahead and shoot for the plat trophy today, maybe.

On another note, I do agree that a lot of story elements were missing and some just weren't detailed enough to catch it. But, my overall experience has been great so I'll rate this as a good entry into the franchise. Looking forward to future dlc to see how those stories are laid out.

I think FFXV will be a learning experience for SE for future mainline FF's and good practice for FF7R. During my play-time with this game I've come across a few things that made me think, "so that's how it's gonna work for this scene in FF7R". That's probably just me though, I'm kinda easy to please regarding video games

Square learning from their mistakes ? AHAHAHAH

 

[Ruff]

Interesting post I saw on reddit:

"So. Prompto. Nifilheim. Let’s talk about some shit.

Nifilheim breeds humans like livestock to use in their experiments. These humans are branded and numbered at birth. Probably categorized too maybe Idk. So Prompto has this bar code tattooed on his wrist. A key code that can open doors in Nifilheim bases. I always wondered why he always wore that ugly wristband... And now the bracelets but those are cute so I didn’t really question those. He probably has some markings on his arm too. An ID number maybe? That would explain the bandana.
We all know it was hiding something. Prompto was born to be turned into a daemon. He somehow escaped the base as a baby or a toddler. He was with Noct in elementary school at age 8, so he must have been too little to remember. I hope his DLC tells us wtf happened and how tf he got into Lucis, Insomnia too of all places damn. So that explains why he had a sad and lonely childhood living alone, no family, no friends, living off of fast food because he can’t cook and it’s cheap so he got fat (I relate rip), and not having a chance to develop or learn any social skills. Thus him being far too nervous to approach Noct when they were kids.
Back to the main theory I want to discuss. I am honestly surprised no one has made this connection yet... But I see how it could be very easily overlooked. There is a boss fight in a certain familiar cave we all know. Fociaugh Hollow. We need to go find Ramuh’s totem or whatever, that’s cool. We’ve been in there before in a certain wonderful demo. However, something is very wrong here this time, and it is way more significant than we think. The Naga. She’s a daemon created by Nifilheim, as are all of the daemons. She was once a human... Being breeded... Before being horribly experimented on and transformed into a giant snake daemon. Why does that matter, hmm? Because she says something very, very interesting. She says “My baby...” and grabs, who else? Prompto. She rips Prompto off of the cliff, claiming he is her baby. Is that really what she meant? Possibly. Was she just angry at the intruders? Probably. However, she continues with the weirdly specific dialogue with the boys. She asks Noctis, “My baby... Where?”
Now, this might not seem significant, but it’s the answer options that make it so. Noct can answer with “I don’t know”, or “I know where.” Maybe he just wants to bluff to get out of it. Maybe. However if you say you do know where, she immediately claims that you stole him from her. Why would you steal a baby Naga? Why wouldn’t she think “oh you know where he is? Can you bring him here/take me to him?” Maybe because she’s a mindless killing machine? No. She knows where her son is. She wants him back. She misses her baby. She is not just a mindless, heartless killing machine at all. The human who lost her baby is still in there, crying out for her son. Of course, these boys have no idea that’s even the case or that turning humans into daemons is even possible at this point. At this point in the game, they still have no idea where these daemons are coming from, and they still think the MTs are just machines, not daemons inside electronic exoskeletons. Prompto has no clue either. He doesn’t know his mother could be a daemon now. He’s just panicking and freaking out that a giant slimey snake monster just ripped him off of a cliff in a dark scary cave. But that daemon could very possibly be, and probably is, what has become of Prompto’s mother. And the saddest part is, she knows. She knows full well. She recognized him. She knew that was her baby. She knew (assumed) Noct took him from her. When really neither Noct or Prompto have any idea at all who she really is or what happened to her or baby Prompto. She was sad. She wanted her son back. And what’s even more sad? Her son was the one who ended up killing her."

Seems a little farfetched but that actually could be true? Just another important plot element sliding by ala Emperor daemon?

 

[Suzushiiro]

I would definitely say the biggest thing the game could have used was to give Luna (and possibly Regis) chapters where they join as a guest character for a while, like they did with Iris and Aranea (puzzling that they got these and not Luna considering their lack of relevance to the overall narrative.) With Luna it would have been easy enough, just say "oh yeah we have to do the Leviathan thing but there's also a royal tomb you need to raid around here so lemme give you a hand with that" and have her around for a dungeon and exploring Altissia. A small dungeon-type thing with Regis before leaving the city could have easily been the tutorial.

 

[Zakalwe]

Not to mention the camera ,and the parry system.

The combat is essentially like the arkham games.Dodge/Wail on enemies then wait for the flashing Square button to come on screen.

But the enemy attacks/movements are so erratic that its unrewarding/unfun to try to react to & learn their patterns.Its better just wait for the parry to come or spam warp/magic from a distance.

That's a very reductive way of looking at it. I get AAA often, avoid excessive potion use by mitigating/avoiding damage, and mix up all the battle system's options.

I find it easy to read enemies unless the camera is shitting itself or a tree is blocking my view. Large group battles never feel unfair or unmanageable otherwise.

It never feels as bland as the impression you just gave.

I think different players have different expectations and backgrounds going into the game.

As someone who's played numerous action RPGs with far,far more competent action systems,it was underwhelming with occasionally fun fights here & there.

One thing I could give it is that its beginner friendly and easy to get into which could be why a lot of non-action players might find it a fun system.

This system ranks up there with the best imo, or it will when they fix the camera (hoping!).

And I've played a lot of action RPGs. It's as good as I've ever seen.

 

[jimmypython]

It really isn't.Even the battle system for me never really came together as something fully featured and fully functional.

There's not a single of aspect of FFXV that exudes excellence.



Yeah that's it...

There really won't be another new FF for a decade or so ,and its pretty much anyone's guess how that one may turn out.

There's the remake ,but one was hoping for a brand new powerful experience.

while I agree with almost everything, there are still some beautiful shots in the game. The art direction and using of lighting are sometimes very amazing.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I think different players have different expectations and backgrounds going into the game.

As someone who's played numerous action RPGs with far,far more competent action systems,it was underwhelming with occasionally fun fights here & there.

One thing I could give it is that its beginner friendly and easy to get into which could be why a lot of non-action players might find it a fun system.

I have played the best action RPG that exists, which is Dragon's Dogma

Trust me, I know how the combat works in action RPGs and I just think that you never got into the game, because maybe, you were just frustrated over the game as a whole.

As for me, I really enjoyed my time with the game and consider the combat system one of the best in a FF. It is really enjoyable but not without its faults, especially when it comes to the camera system.

 

[CLBridges]

Square learning from their mistakes ? AHAHAHAH

Wishful thinking on my part, I know lol. But, I think FFXV was a step above FFXIII in overall experience, take that as you will.

 

[Ludens]

This post basically comes across from someone that didn't dive into the magic system.

The game tells you exactly which spell is being crafted. There is nothing unknown here. You are free to practice as you see fit, without having to worry about the randomness of it. Not sure why you needed a guide to understand it.

Magic is easily available throughout the world map since it is located near camping points and strategically placed around dungeons. They have also dedicated a whole Ascension Grid for magic which helps in crafting powerful spells or getting more magical elements from the draw points. If you never used them, then this is not the fault of the game.

By the end of the game, magic becomes a very powerful tool and strategically utilizing it to exploit the monsters weakness saves a lot of headache with the attacking, which you call 'button mashing' here.

The game tells you the name of the spell you craft, but you need to cast it in order to understand what it does. The point anyway is until now the game never provided something so hard I need to think about or find ways to survive. Even that 120 level boss is way too easy if you have a decent stock of healing items.
In older FF without a solid, planned strategy you couldn't beat some of the optional bosses, here they all go down with button mashing.

 

[Zakalwe]

There's not a single of aspect of FFXV that exudes excellence.
[

General gameplay
Battle system
Relationship building
Making exploration feel rewarding
Art design
Ending
Main villain
Some visually stunning areas
Some dungeons

All these things excuse excellence to me.

If only the story were the same in quality, and the various pacing issues could be fixed.

The game tells you the name of the spell you craft, but you need to cast it in order to understand what it does.

Before you craft it it tells you:

What its elemental properties are.
What its side effect is (heal, slow, poison, multi cast, etc...)
And the potency of both things.
How many time it can be used.

What more do you need to know?

 

[Elios83]

Interesting post I saw on reddit:

"So. Prompto. Nifilheim. Let’s talk about some shit.

Nifilheim breeds humans like livestock to use in their experiments. These humans are branded and numbered at birth. Probably categorized too maybe Idk. So Prompto has this bar code tattooed on his wrist. A key code that can open doors in Nifilheim bases. I always wondered why he always wore that ugly wristband... And now the bracelets but those are cute so I didn’t really question those. He probably has some markings on his arm too. An ID number maybe? That would explain the bandana.
We all know it was hiding something. Prompto was born to be turned into a daemon. He somehow escaped the base as a baby or a toddler. He was with Noct in elementary school at age 8, so he must have been too little to remember. I hope his DLC tells us wtf happened and how tf he got into Lucis, Insomnia too of all places damn. So that explains why he had a sad and lonely childhood living alone, no family, no friends, living off of fast food because he can’t cook and it’s cheap so he got fat (I relate rip), and not having a chance to develop or learn any social skills. Thus him being far too nervous to approach Noct when they were kids.
Back to the main theory I want to discuss. I am honestly surprised no one has made this connection yet... But I see how it could be very easily overlooked. There is a boss fight in a certain familiar cave we all know. Fociaugh Hollow. We need to go find Ramuh’s totem or whatever, that’s cool. We’ve been in there before in a certain wonderful demo. However, something is very wrong here this time, and it is way more significant than we think. The Naga. She’s a daemon created by Nifilheim, as are all of the daemons. She was once a human... Being breeded... Before being horribly experimented on and transformed into a giant snake daemon. Why does that matter, hmm? Because she says something very, very interesting. She says “My baby...” and grabs, who else? Prompto. She rips Prompto off of the cliff, claiming he is her baby. Is that really what she meant? Possibly. Was she just angry at the intruders? Probably. However, she continues with the weirdly specific dialogue with the boys. She asks Noctis, “My baby... Where?”
Now, this might not seem significant, but it’s the answer options that make it so. Noct can answer with “I don’t know”, or “I know where.” Maybe he just wants to bluff to get out of it. Maybe. However if you say you do know where, she immediately claims that you stole him from her. Why would you steal a baby Naga? Why wouldn’t she think “oh you know where he is? Can you bring him here/take me to him?” Maybe because she’s a mindless killing machine? No. She knows where her son is. She wants him back. She misses her baby. She is not just a mindless, heartless killing machine at all. The human who lost her baby is still in there, crying out for her son. Of course, these boys have no idea that’s even the case or that turning humans into daemons is even possible at this point. At this point in the game, they still have no idea where these daemons are coming from, and they still think the MTs are just machines, not daemons inside electronic exoskeletons. Prompto has no clue either. He doesn’t know his mother could be a daemon now. He’s just panicking and freaking out that a giant slimey snake monster just ripped him off of a cliff in a dark scary cave. But that daemon could very possibly be, and probably is, what has become of Prompto’s mother. And the saddest part is, she knows. She knows full well. She recognized him. She knew that was her baby. She knew (assumed) Noct took him from her. When really neither Noct or Prompto have any idea at all who she really is or what happened to her or baby Prompto. She was sad. She wanted her son back. And what’s even more sad? Her son was the one who ended up killing her."

Seems a little farfetched but that actually could be true? Just another important plot element sliding by ala Emperor daemon?

Yes I made that connection as well.
Naga still has a bit of humanity left in her after turning or being turned into a deamon and wants her baby back.
Why she sees her baby in Prompto I guess is open to your personal interpretation, it could be because she was a Niflheim woman and recognized Prompto to be a Niflheim baby destined to be a specimen to become a magitek soldier like maybe her own son was...or maybe Prompto was actually her son LOL.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

The game tells you the name of the spell you craft, but you need to cast it in order to understand what it does.

What?

It tells you whether the spell is Fire/Lighting/Ice. It tells you whether it is Quadcast/Tricast. It tells you whether it is random spell. It tells you the status effects that can occur with the spell. It also tells you how many times it can be used and how much power it has.

What exactly is confusing here unless you never played a FF before? :S

 

[Cjdamon042]

Interesting post I saw on reddit:



Seems a little farfetched but that actually could be true? Just another important plot element sliding by ala Emperor daemon?

That...actually makes a lot of sense. It's a neat nod come to think of it. Though most people probably won't make the connection. I had completely forgot about that Naga fight myself.

 

[Lights and Waves]

I beat the game using barely any magic. The crafting system is so obtuse and requires so many clicks, and the annoyance of friendly fire isn't worth it.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

On another note, I do agree that a lot of story elements were missing and some just weren't detailed enough to catch it. But, my overall experience has been great so I'll rate this as a good entry into the franchise. Looking forward to future dlc to see how those stories are laid out.

This is how I feel.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

I beat the game using barely any magic. The crafting system is so obtuse and requires so many clicks, and the annoyance of friendly fire isn't worth it.

friendly fire is fine, just kill the teammates, they are fucking useless anyway. And with them in "Danger" mode you can use rescue to dodge attacks. I used Rescue and teammate attacks to dodge every one of Ravus's attacks, much less effort than point warping.

 

[Zakalwe]

I beat the game using barely any magic. The crafting system is so obtuse and requires so many clicks, and the annoyance of friendly fire isn't worth it.

How is it obtuse?

Select which element and how much to raise potency/produce a mix.

Add catalyst for secondary effect (multi-cast, increased spell amount, status effects, heal, etc...).

Increase number of catalysts for added potency of secondary effect/overall spell.

I'll admit I found the craft button itself difficult to find at first for some reason, but overall it was very intuitive for me once I actually took more than a cursory glance.

As for FF. Spells don't hit your team for much, not unless you use a particularly powerful spell.

You can use Iggy's regroup to set up more powerful spells, but it absolutely would have been better to have some kind of "clear the area" conman attached to spells.

 

[CGwizz]

Yes I made that connection as well.
Naga still has a bit of humanity left in her after turning or being turned into a deamon and wants her baby back.
Why she sees her baby in Prompto I guess is open to your personal interpretation, it could be because she was a Niflheim woman and recognized Prompto to be a Niflheim baby destined to be a specimen to become a magitek soldier like maybe her own son was...or maybe Prompto was actually her son LOL.

I must be real fucking dumb, when sehe said she wanted her baby i was thinking about the naga that noctis cut the fucking head clean in the anime , the naga that killed his mother, maibe that naga was the baby for this older naga xD

 

[CGwizz]

How is it obtuse?

Select which element and how much to raise potency/produce a mix.

Add catalyst for secondary effect (multi-cast, increased spell amount, status effects, heal, etc...).

Increase number of catalysts for added potency of secondary effect/overall spell.

I'll admit I found the craft button itself difficult to find at first for some reason, but overall it was very intuitive for me once I actually took more than a cursory glance.

I found it boring to stop and suck the magic from the rocks , after some time it got boring, same with picking items, i just stoped doing it cause we dont even need that shit to beat the game.

 

[Socivol]

The game tells you the name of the spell you craft, but you need to cast it in order to understand what it does. The point anyway is until now the game never provided something so hard I need to think about or find ways to survive. Even that 120 level boss is way too easy if you have a decent stock of healing items.
In older FF without a solid, planned strategy you couldn't beat some of the optional bosses, here they all go down with button mashing.

This isn't accurate. The game tells you exactly what you are going to get before you even craft the magic. It just sounds like you didn't actually put any effort or attention into using the magic system.

 

[Zakalwe]

Interesting post I saw on reddit:

"So. Prompto. Nifilheim. Let’s talk about some shit.

Nifilheim breeds humans like livestock to use in their experiments. These humans are branded and numbered at birth. Probably categorized too maybe Idk. So Prompto has this bar code tattooed on his wrist. A key code that can open doors in Nifilheim bases. I always wondered why he always wore that ugly wristband... And now the bracelets but those are cute so I didn’t really question those. He probably has some markings on his arm too. An ID number maybe? That would explain the bandana.
We all know it was hiding something. Prompto was born to be turned into a daemon. He somehow escaped the base as a baby or a toddler. He was with Noct in elementary school at age 8, so he must have been too little to remember. I hope his DLC tells us wtf happened and how tf he got into Lucis, Insomnia too of all places damn. So that explains why he had a sad and lonely childhood living alone, no family, no friends, living off of fast food because he can’t cook and it’s cheap so he got fat (I relate rip), and not having a chance to develop or learn any social skills. Thus him being far too nervous to approach Noct when they were kids.
Back to the main theory I want to discuss. I am honestly surprised no one has made this connection yet... But I see how it could be very easily overlooked. There is a boss fight in a certain familiar cave we all know. Fociaugh Hollow. We need to go find Ramuh’s totem or whatever, that’s cool. We’ve been in there before in a certain wonderful demo. However, something is very wrong here this time, and it is way more significant than we think. The Naga. She’s a daemon created by Nifilheim, as are all of the daemons. She was once a human... Being breeded... Before being horribly experimented on and transformed into a giant snake daemon. Why does that matter, hmm? Because she says something very, very interesting. She says “My baby...” and grabs, who else? Prompto. She rips Prompto off of the cliff, claiming he is her baby. Is that really what she meant? Possibly. Was she just angry at the intruders? Probably. However, she continues with the weirdly specific dialogue with the boys. She asks Noctis, “My baby... Where?”
Now, this might not seem significant, but it’s the answer options that make it so. Noct can answer with “I don’t know”, or “I know where.” Maybe he just wants to bluff to get out of it. Maybe. However if you say you do know where, she immediately claims that you stole him from her. Why would you steal a baby Naga? Why wouldn’t she think “oh you know where he is? Can you bring him here/take me to him?” Maybe because she’s a mindless killing machine? No. She knows where her son is. She wants him back. She misses her baby. She is not just a mindless, heartless killing machine at all. The human who lost her baby is still in there, crying out for her son. Of course, these boys have no idea that’s even the case or that turning humans into daemons is even possible at this point. At this point in the game, they still have no idea where these daemons are coming from, and they still think the MTs are just machines, not daemons inside electronic exoskeletons. Prompto has no clue either. He doesn’t know his mother could be a daemon now. He’s just panicking and freaking out that a giant slimey snake monster just ripped him off of a cliff in a dark scary cave. But that daemon could very possibly be, and probably is, what has become of Prompto’s mother. And the saddest part is, she knows. She knows full well. She recognized him. She knew that was her baby. She knew (assumed) Noct took him from her. When really neither Noct or Prompto have any idea at all who she really is or what happened to her or baby Prompto. She was sad. She wanted her son back. And what’s even more sad? Her son was the one who ended up killing her."

Seems a little farfetched but that actually could be true? Just another important plot element sliding by ala Emperor daemon?

Not al daemons were created by the empire though. They used daemons to create their soldiers and certain monsters they use, but the general daemons you see in the world are actual wild/true daemons.

This is made absolutely clear when Aranea states she is in the demon hunting business, that the empire have b

I found it boring to stop and suck the magic from the rocks , after some time it got boring, same with picking items, i just stoped doing it cause we dont even need that shit to beat the game.

You could beat the game without using the Ascension tree. That wouldn't be much fun though

I can definitely appreciate you found the process a chore, I had a blast concocting/storing spells. I never actively went hunting for deposits though, so maybe I avoided some frustration. I explored a lot, and naturally came across them and banked/crafted whenever I could.
een rounding up daemons to use in their experiments.

The Naga/Prompto link doesn't seem right, imo.

 

[Zakalwe]

Edit: double post.

 

[HeelPower]

I have played the best action RPG that exists, which is Dragon's Dogma

Trust me, I know how the combat works in action RPGs and I just think that you never got into the game, because maybe, you were just frustrated over the game as a whole.

As for me, I really enjoyed my time with the game and consider the combat system one of the best in a FF. It is really enjoyable but not without its faults, especially when it comes to the camera system.

General gameplay
Battle system


All these things excuse excellence to me.

I'll say this.

A great action system entails the following :

1)Precise,crisp inputs.So you can unfailingly time your moves as per the situation.

2)Balanced input/recovery frames(in relation to damage/hitbox) on every move you execute.

3)Enemies that have clearly defined patterns(also clearly defined hitboxes/wind up/recovery frames) that you can track, learn & react to.

These elements combine:so you can plan your moves accordingly.This enables a precise and interesting risk/reward system.A failure must be due to mistiming/misreading of the enemy on your part.

FFXV's soup of mashing/warping/chaos ,and poorly thought out input system(be it in relation to player character or the enemies) ,bad camera,bad lock on system doesn't fulfill any of these things I look for in an action system.

It has beautiful animations & flashy special effects so it can be fun in a beat em up/arcadey style of gameplay.(which is legitimate game design,just not the kind I enjoy or love)

I won't say that I never had fun with it ,but this isn't a system I can see myself being seriously invested into.Certainly not a system I want to play for a 100+ hours.

 

[Ludens]

General gameplay
Battle system
Relationship building
Making exploration feel rewarding
Art design
Ending
Main villain
Some visually stunning areas
Some dungeons

All these things excuse excellence to me.

If only the story were the same in quality, and the various pacing issues could be fixed.



Before you craft it it tells you:

What its elemental properties are.
What its side effect is (heal, slow, poison, multi cast, etc...)
And the potency of both things.
How many time it can be used.

What more do you need to know?

Well, you can't really know until you use it on the field, in my opinion. Of course the info give you an idea, but I think you need to properly use it to understand how effective it is. I'm of the opinion, anyway, a grimoire would be usefull in this game, so you exactly know what to craft without experimenting too much.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Interesting post I saw on reddit:

"So. Prompto. Nifilheim. Let’s talk about some shit.

-snip-

Seems a little farfetched but that actually could be true? Just another important plot element sliding by ala Emperor daemon?

I could go with this. The only thing that is off about Prompto in general that maybe someone could clear up....Aranea says the empire starting falling to shit "10 years ago" about when Ardyn showed up. Wasn't he the one that pushed daemon research and the MTs? But Prompto is much older than 10...? I must be missing something.

I'll say this.

A great action system entails the following :

1)Precise,crisp inputs.So you can unfailingly time your moves as per the situation.

2)Balanced input/recovery frames(in relation to damage/hitbox) on every move you execute.

3)Enemies that have clearly defined patterns(also clearly defined hitboxes/wind up/recovery frames) that you can track, learn & react to.

These elements combine:so you can plan your moves accordingly.This enables a precise and interesting risk/reward system.A failure must be due to mistiming/misreading of the enemy on your part.

FFXV's soup of mashing/warping/chaos ,and poorly thought out input system(be it in relation to player character or the enemies) ,bad camera,bad lock on system doesn't fulfill any of these things I look for in an action system.

It has beautiful animations & flashy special effects so it can be fun in a beat em up/arcadey style of gameplay.(which is legitimate game design,just not the kind I enjoy or love)

I won't say that I never had fun with it ,but this isn't a system I can see myself being seriously invested into.Certainly not a system I want to play for a 100+ hours.

Amen to every single part of this. Couldn't agree more.

 

[Ferr986]

You can say to that Naga that you don't know where his baby is and then she says you'll be his new baby, if I'm not mistaken.

That wouldn't make sense if the Naga knew Prompto was his "baby" so yeah, that theory doesn't work to me.

 

[Ketkat]

General gameplay
Battle system
Relationship building
Making exploration feel rewarding
Ending
Main villain

I really don't know how you can say that any of these are excellent. The combat feels like a bare ones action game, except you don't even have to do just guards in order to get the benefit of a counter. You can literally just hold square a whole fight and be fine. I literally never felt in real danger, and I've killed ever superboss besides the weapon at level 50.

The relationships are actually pretty poorly built as well. The main 4 are already friends, and how they got there and met are actually inside of an anime that's not in the game. No one else in the game has any development.

Exploration doesn't feel rewarding either. You find little pieces of trash here and there, but 95% of that stuff is worthless while you need to keep some of it for quests here and there. All of the hidden dungeons that you think are hidden actually all have quests that send you straight in there. And a lot of them hunts for the bosses that were in them as well.

And the ending and main villain. What even was Ardyn's plan? He wanted to kill Noctis, so he helps Noctis get all these powers? Why was Ardyn siding with Ifrit and his starscourge? Ardyn had literally stopped it beforehand by absorbing the demons instead of using the crystal, I think? So why would he give all of that up and kill the whole planet, just to kill Noctis when he had literally tons of opportunities before that? And if he hated the royal line so much, why didn't he go to kill Regis with the empire's army? At that point in time, the Empire had to be pretty much in ruins and full of demons as it was, so he had nothing to gain from hiding himself from the protagonists longer. I dunno. You can like the game all you want, but you can't sit here and tell me that the ending and villain are "excellent"

 

[Zakalwe]

I really don't know how you can say that any of these are excellent. The combat feels like a bare ones action game, except you don't even have to do just guards in order to get the benefit of a counter. You can literally just hold square a whole fight and be fine. I literally never felt in real danger, and I've killed ever superboss besides the weapon at level 50.

The relationships are actually pretty poorly built as well. The main 4 are already friends, and how they got there and met are actually inside of an anime that's not in the game. No one else in the game has any development.

Exploration doesn't feel rewarding either. You find little pieces of trash here and there, but 95% of that stuff is worthless while you need to keep some of it for quests here and there. All of the hidden dungeons that you think are hidden actually all have quests that send you straight in there. And a lot of them hunts for the bosses that were in them as well.

And the ending and main villain. What even was Ardyn's plan? He wanted to kill Noctis, so he helps Noctis get all these powers? Why was Ardyn siding with Ifrit and his starscourge? Ardyn had literally stopped it beforehand by absorbing the demons instead of using the crystal, I think? So why would he give all of that up and kill the whole planet, just to kill Noctis when he had literally tons of opportunities before that? And if he hated the royal line so much, why didn't he go to kill Regis with the empire's army? At that point in time, the Empire had to be pretty much in ruins and full of demons as it was, so he had nothing to gain from hiding himself from the protagonists longer. I dunno. You can like the game all you want, but you can't sit here and tell me that the ending and villain are "excellent"

I can sit here and tell you these things are excellent because I believe they are. I'm not calling the game perfect, I've written as much about the game's myriad issues as I have its strengths, but these things are where I believe the game excels.

I'm too tired to detail why again for the time being, but you can check my post history if you're interested.

I'll say this.

A great action system entails the following :

1)Precise,crisp inputs.So you can unfailingly time your moves as per the situation.

2)Balanced input/recovery frames(in relation to damage/hitbox) on every move you execute.

3)Enemies that have clearly defined patterns(also clearly defined hitboxes/wind up/recovery frames) that you can track, learn & react to.

These elements combine:so you can plan your moves accordingly.This enables a precise and interesting risk/reward system.A failure must be due to mistiming/misreading of the enemy on your part.

FFXV's soup of mashing/warping/chaos ,and poorly thought out input system(be it in relation to player character or the enemies) ,bad camera,bad lock on system doesn't fulfill any of these things I look for in an action system.

It has beautiful animations & flashy special effects so it can be fun in a beat em up/arcadey style of gameplay.(which is legitimate game design,just not the kind I enjoy or love)

I won't say that I never had fun with it ,but this isn't a system I can see myself being seriously invested into.Certainly not a system I want to play for a 100+ hours.

Honestly, you're looking at the battle system wrong if you expect pixel action precision. This is a hybrid of turn-based and real time. You need to embrace the automation, and while the combat seems hectic you use he automated aspects like auto-dodge and team techs to manage give you room to read the battle.

Enemies can be read, you can avoid almost every attack even in large groups. Auto dodge for certain attacks, warp/manual roll (invinci frames on both) for others.

And the latter larger attacks have obvious wind ups/tells.

The problem is mainly the camera. Switching to Far when outside and Closest inside mitigates tre issues somewhat, and you can definitely learn to play around the problems it introduces, but it does impact the system negatively. If they can fix this and perhaps refine the targeting system it would be perfect for me.

 

[Elios83]

And the ending and main villain. What even was Ardyn's plan? He wanted to kill Noctis, so he helps Noctis get all these powers? Why was Ardyn siding with Ifrit and his starscourge? Ardyn had literally stopped it beforehand by absorbing the demons instead of using the crystal, I think? So why would he give all of that up and kill the whole planet, just to kill Noctis when he had literally tons of opportunities before that? And if he hated the royal line so much, why didn't he go to kill Regis with the empire's army? At that point in time, the Empire had to be pretty much in ruins and full of demons as it was, so he had nothing to gain from hiding himself from the protagonists longer. I dunno. You can like the game all you want, but you can't sit here and tell me that the ending and villain are "excellent"

I think you're missing a few elements here.
Ardyn has a grudge against the Crystal and the gods for initially choosing him and then denying him the power of the light in the end. The same power that would have killed him erasing deamons and giving him peace.
He was just like Noctis but his story ended in a bad way because he thought he was doing the right thing by healing people and instead he became corrupted by the daemons trapped inside him and the Crystal rejected him and his throne was robbed by the Izunia family who took his family name and one of their kings ended up being the new chosen one by the Crystal.
Ardyn wants to help Noctis to get the power of the crystal and kill him because that's the only way he has to destroy both the power of the crystal and end the Lucis family-line.
If he has success he gets his revenge, if he fails at least he'll get final peace, so in any case he's not really losing.
And about Regis....what you're suggesting is precisely what happened in the movie!
He used the Niflheim empire to get to Insomnia, kill Regis and prepare the setting for Noctis to get the power of the crystal.

 

[Tyaren]

He wanted to kill Noctis, so he helps Noctis get all these powers?

He wanted to kill King Noctis, which he only could become through the blessings of the gods and of the crystal. Ardyn had to guide and support Noctis a little bit on his way.

Why was Ardyn siding with Ifrit and his starscourge? Ardyn had literally stopped it beforehand by absorbing the demons instead of using the crystal, I think?

Because of Bitterness and vengefulness? He sacrificed his humanity only to be fucked over and cast out. Now he's back for revenge and what is better and more ironic than a second Starscourge?
Regarding Ifrit: They enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And if he hated the royal line so much, why didn't he go to kill Regis with the empire's army?

That's exactly what happened in Kingsglaive. Glauca, the highest general of the Niflheim army, killed Regis.

 

[Ketkat]

Ardyn wants to help Noctis to get the power of the crystal because that's the only way he has to destroy both the power of the crystal and end the Lucis family-line.

And about Regis....what you're suggesting is precisely what happened in the movie!
He used the Niflheim empire to get to Insomnia, kill Regis and prepare the setting for Noctis to get the power of the crystal.

How is that the only way to end the Lucis family-line? Noctis is the last in line, he can just kill him any time and its solved right then and there. The crystal wasn't really showing any powers as it was, as shown by the World of Ruin being the state of the world.

And I was going with the idea that the Emperor, the actual leader of the Empire, was the one sending out invasion orders. The Emperor was literally screaming for the Ring and Crystal as he fought as a demon. Why did he want them? What were his plans to use them for?

He wanted to kill King Noctis, which he only could become through the blessings of the gods and of the crystal. Ardyn had to guide and support Noctis a little bit on his way.




That's exactly what happened in Kingsglaive. Glauca, the highest general of the Niflheim army killed Regis.

Exactly. Glauca killed Regist. Ardyn was all about making it personal with Noctis, and having to kill him himself, so why not Regis? And why did he want to kill King Noctis, and not just Noctis?

 

[Mobius 1]

I think it's 2000 years ago. So there's no way Noct is only 14th since using the ring is supposed to age the person using it faster (unless that was dropped).

The banners read CXIV = 114. Not 14.

 

[formasymphonic]

That Prompto/Naga shit is deepest lore territory

 

[Elios83]

How is that the only way to end the Lucis family-line? Noctis is the last in line, he can just kill him any time and its solved right then and there. The crystal wasn't really showing any powers as it was, as shown by the World of Ruin being the state of the world.

And I was going with the idea that the Emperor, the actual leader of the Empire, was the one sending out invasion orders. The Emperor was literally screaming for the Ring and Crystal as he fought as a demon. Why did he want them? What were his plans to use them for?

No, killing Noctis in a random moment would just end the Lucis family-line but he would not achieve his major goal of getting revenge against the crystal power and the gods who rejected him. He needs the chosen one to get all the power of the crystal within himself and then kill him to destroy that power.
The Emperor was just a pawn, he's just like the Dagger's queen mother in FFIX, he wanted the crystal power to dominate the world for himself, and Ardyn used his greed to use him for his purposes.

Honestly the main plot is pretty clear. There are a few details about the past missing but you can't say that the story has no sense if you have really followed the events.

 

[SlasherJPC]

You know, as short as the campaign can be completed, I party think that has to do with the combat being real time. If combat was turn based and slower, I could see it taking a lot longer.

Also the more I think about my time with the game, yes I can think of things that I wish was better or more elaborated on. Yet at the same time, there is plenty I did enjoy. The small details of story told via the world, items found, npc dialog, and then these God of War/Uncharted like set peices in an open world RPG. It's all rather impressive. The story no doubt has a lot of details the player has to figure out, so taken at face value can seem very barebones. Yet taking all the details discovered, and putting the story together, it's rather cool, just told unevenly and disjointed.

 

[Tyaren]

Exactly. Glauca killed Regist. Ardyn was all about making it personal with Noctis, and having to kill him himself, so why not Regis? And why did he want to kill King Noctis, and not just Noctis?

Because Noctis was the very last one in line of the Lucis Caelums. It was ending that line that gave him the greatest satisfaction. Regis was "just" the second last.
Also, Noctis was not only to become the last king but he was also additionally the first "Chosen One" by the Gods and the crystal after Ardyn himself.

 

[jimmypython]

You know, as short as the campaign can be completed, I party think that has to do with the combat being real time. If combat was turn based and slower, I could see it taking a lot longer.

Also the more I think about my time with the game, yes I can think of things that I wish was better or more elaborated on. Yet at the same time, there is plenty I did enjoy. The small details of story told via the world, items found, npc dialog, and then these God of War/Uncharted like set peices in an open world RPG. It's all rather impressive. The story no doubt has a lot of details the player has to figure out, so taken at face value can seem very barebones. Yet taking all the details discovered, and putting the story together, it's rather cool, just told unevenly and disjointed.

seems you are a fellow souls games fan. or you would enjoy the story of those games if you haven't already

 

[Ketkat]

No, killing Noctis in a random moment would just end the Lucis family-line but he would not achieve his major goal of getting revenge against the crystal power and the gods who rejected him. He needs the chosen one to get all the power of the crystal within himself and then kill him to destroy that power.

How is kidnapping the crystal and killing its chosen one not the revenge?

The Emperor was just a pawn, he's just like the Dagger's queen mother in FFIX, he wanted the crystal power to dominate the world for himself, and Ardyn used his greed to use him for his purposes.

Except in 9, we knew Brahne's motivations for the wars that she was leading, and we knew that she was being manipulated through scenes that took place between her/beatrix/kuja.

At no point in the story of 15 are we shown anything involving the Emperor except the starting scene, and him as a demon. We don't have any basis for why the Emperor would side with Ardyn to the point of appointing him to a high ranking position and going to war for him.

Honestly the main plot is pretty clear. There are a few details about the past missing but you can't say that the story has no sense if you have really followed the events.

When you have to go off assumptions like you are with the Emperor, I'm not sure its very clear. For all you know, the Emperor could have agreed with Ardyn and wanted to bring in a bunch of demons. We literally don't know his motivations.

 

[Lunafreya Nox Fleuret]

You know, as short as the campaign can be completed, I party think that has to do with the combat being real time. If combat was turn based and slower, I could see it taking a lot longer.

I think the entire second half of the game was rushed and that's why it ended super quickly. Look closely at the map of Altissia and there's so many unused assets and pieces of land in the back, same with Niflheim. I'd suspect we were supposed to be able to explore stuff there including Luna's home but for some reason they made the invasion happen too early in Tenebrae and everything was locked off I guess. As for the game being an ARPG, I don't think that should take away from the time of the story. It was just a super bad case of rushing out the game for release sadly. Even the whole city of Insomnia is locked off and the region of Cavaugh.

 

[Damerman]

I would definitely say the biggest thing the game could have used was to give Luna (and possibly Regis) chapters where they join as a guest character for a while, like they did with Iris and Aranea (puzzling that they got these and not Luna considering their lack of relevance to the overall narrative.) With Luna it would have been easy enough, just say "oh yeah we have to do the Leviathan thing but there's also a royal tomb you need to raid around here so lemme give you a hand with that" and have her around for a dungeon and exploring Altissia. A small dungeon-type thing with Regis before leaving the city could have easily been the tutorial.

Dont agree with the regis dungeon, but a dungeon with luna in altisia is a really good idea.