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Final Fantasy XV was something else

SCB3

Member
I liked it until Chapter 13, it was such a drag and the story fell apart hard

THe Combat just seemed to be to spam heals and mash as well, I remember it being really cool and flashy but with no substance at all
 

March Climber

Gold Member
This guide is so stupid, it's just about obsessively experiencing things in chronological order and recommends playing dlc up to a point then looking away during the credits so that you don't see things you haven't seen yet.
It's not that complicated. Watch the anime, watch the movie, play the entire game, then play the dlcs.
The point of me posting the guide is less of ‘do it exactly like this’ and more of ‘why isn’t this stuff outside of the main game, in the main game?’ complaint.

There are legitimate moments in 15 where an event will happen, the protagonists are already aware of the story and significance of it, and it’s never fully shown or explained to the player. Instead when you’re going to google it, you’re told to watch an anime, check out this CGI movie, read this book, or play this other prequel game for the missing context.

It’s the one mainline Final Fantasy game that feels like it was taken apart and scattered into multiple separate pieces.
 

Neilg

Member
The point of me posting the guide is less of ‘do it exactly like this’ and more of ‘why isn’t this stuff outside of the main game, in the main game?’ complaint.

There are legitimate moments in 15 where an event will happen, the protagonists are already aware of the story and significance of it, and it’s never fully shown or explained to the player. Instead when you’re going to google it, you’re told to watch an anime, check out this CGI movie, read this book, or play this other prequel game for the missing context.

It’s the one mainline Final Fantasy game that feels like it was taken apart and scattered into multiple separate pieces.

I can think of one moment, and that's before chapter 1 after the prologue with the movie. That's the only time.
But also, importantly - Noctis does not experience those events. that's why it's not in the game. The game is about what he experiences. Having a movie show off events that happen elsewhere in the world is the only big cross media thing they did (and I honestly think it was pretty successful in allowing those events to breathe and feel dramatic without reducing it to cutscenes)

The anime is not necessary but it does build on the characters and can be viewed whenever through the playthrough, it's just a nice bit of backstory. It's not taken from the game and would not make any sense for those moments to have been part of the game.
And the main game is following noctis so you don't get to see what the other characters were up to until you play the DLC. That was intended right from the start but I've got no problem with how they handled that. It's all designed to be played after you finished IMO.

The books and little spin offs are just flavor that was added to the world long after the game was released and arent remotely necessary. It's like suggesting people need to read the halo books to enjoy the fps. they're for the obsessives who wanted the team to create more stories in the world and build on the lore, they're not the main story of ff15. e: lol I just read the novellas have two alternative endings. I don't know what the fuck they're even about but there's no way that's necessary at all.


here's the order, it's not complicated:
1) watch the movie
2) play the game
3) play the DLC if you want to see what the other characters got up to
optional, whenever - if you care about the characters, there's an anime about when they were kids.

Cyberpunk has a main game, DLC, and an anime. The only thing FF15 has that's different and important/notable is the movie.
 
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stn

Member
I enjoyed it, beat it last year. If the DLC trophies could be had without version downgrading exploits, I would go back and plat the game. It was very solid and I enjoyed the story.
 

Rambone

Member
I liked it well enough. Finished the base game and the Royal Edition content, minus a few DLC 'episode' stories regarding the main supporting characters.
 

Gp1

Member
I liked it until Chapter 13, it was such a drag and the story fell apart hard

THe Combat just seemed to be to spam heals and mash as well, I remember it being really cool and flashy but with no substance at all

The main problem is although the combat is well developed and gives you a lot of options (parry, warps, mp warps, magic, links, arminger etc) but you can simply power level through it based on simply attack and massive item heal.

Hard mod tries to correct that by amping enemy damage and limiting you heal stock (so it forces you to get in and out of combat, parry etc). But then the enemies can simply soak up everything that you throw at them.
A random encounters could take the same time as a normal boss battle.

When you consider it as a system without the balancing, the only low point imho is the summons and the magic (magic is op as hell).

The problem is that Square simply can't balance their games anymore.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
I completely agree. I have actually platinumed XV twice. I found the game really magical and more like FFX. Great story, combat, exploration and just all round good vibes.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Personal opinion.

FFXV is not only the best mainline FF game, but it's probably the best JRPG ever made.

FFXV gave me the same feeling of when I played RPGS on the PS1. A new sense of wonder and adventure only found in video games.

FFXV is one of my GOATs.
 

March Climber

Gold Member
I can think of one moment, and that's before chapter 1 after the prologue with the movie. That's the only time.
But also, importantly - Noctis does not experience those events. that's why it's not in the game. The game is about what he experiences. Having a movie show off events that happen elsewhere in the world is the only big cross media thing they did (and I honestly think it was pretty successful in allowing those events to breathe and feel dramatic without reducing it to cutscenes)

The anime is not necessary but it does build on the characters and can be viewed whenever through the playthrough, it's just a nice bit of backstory. It's not taken from the game and would not make any sense for those moments to have been part of the game.
And the main game is following noctis so you don't get to see what the other characters were up to until you play the DLC. That was intended right from the start but I've got no problem with how they handled that. It's all designed to be played after you finished IMO.

The books and little spin offs are just flavor that was added to the world long after the game was released and arent remotely necessary. It's like suggesting people need to read the halo books to enjoy the fps. they're for the obsessives who wanted the team to create more stories in the world and build on the lore, they're not the main story of ff15. e: lol I just read the novellas have two alternative endings. I don't know what the fuck they're even about but there's no way that's necessary at all.


here's the order, it's not complicated:
1) watch the movie
2) play the game
3) play the DLC if you want to see what the other characters got up to
optional, whenever - if you care about the characters, there's an anime about when they were kids.

Cyberpunk has a main game, DLC, and an anime. The only thing FF15 has that's different and important/notable is the movie.
N Neilg There seems to be a misunderstanding here. I think you feel that explaining it out to me (even though I’m already aware of everything you’re saying) justifies what Square Enix did with the narrative of FF15.

It doesn’t. The whole ‘must take place from Noctis’ perspective’ is damage control from developers and some of the fans. The behind the scenes story about how this game came together through troubled development, a multitude of story bits that were cut, luminous engine being a mess, etc. and it all ending with Tabata leaving the company and them cancelling content should be seen as all big red flag signs, but you still have people today defending this game like it’s a hidden masterpiece.

It’s not. It’s just a decently fun game with questionable design choices and a messy narrative. It is like a Netflix season of video games.

(For context, Netflix will greenlight 1 or 2 seasons of a really good I.P. and then randomly shelve it when it is not up to par with viewership, meaning that you technically get content and some of it could be built upon or improved, but instead you come away from it longing for what could have been.)

No one here is saying any of that content outside the game is mandatory. Anyone is free to play the game and experience a half-ass narrative. All I am simply doing is pointing out one of my least favorite, glaring flaws of that narrative.
 

Irobot82

Member
Square lately has a horrible tendency to make you wait on things in their games. I hate when things have to get paused or menus you can't quickly skip through. It's so damn frustrating. They did it in FF16 as well.
 
The movie was kind of a turd. A confusing mess of a film. All you need to know is that the kingdom fell.
Major plot twist was predictable as hell. But i liked King Regis and Nyx.

Funny thing:
After Crowe is found dead
there was some dialogue between Titus, Nyx and Libertus that I could swear it was taken from Predator. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Titus says "... she was a good soldier..."


seconds later Libertus says "... but those eyes..., damn there was something about those eyes..."
 
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Chukhopops

Member
I remember being so fucking hyped for XV, watching the Kingsglaive movie on VoD (not bad but completely irrelevant to the plot of XV in the end) and then playing the actual game.

I still have the Royal Edition steelbook on Xbox and good lord was it bad at launch, horrible image quality, glitches, the worst fast travel system ever designed where you would wait 10+ minutes to go anywhere, a character just disappearing and coming back blind just to sell you a DLC episode, magic killing your friends, one playable character in the entire game and of course that legendary Chapter 13 (and the dark world too I guess).

It became a lot better with the actual Royal Edition and patches but it’s still imo the second worst FF mainline game after XVI.
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
The movie was kind of a turd. A confusing mess of a film. All you need to know is that the kingdom fell.

They killed the cutest girl like in the first half. Also Diamond Weapon from FFVII was there? And the dude in the movie was cooler than the fuckin emo twink you play as in the actual game. What a disaster.
 

Krathoon

Gold Member
I remember being so fucking hyped for XV, watching the Kingsglaive movie on VoD (not bad but completely irrelevant to the plot of XV in the end) and then playing the actual game.

I still have the Royal Edition steelbook on Xbox and good lord was it bad at launch, horrible image quality, glitches, the worst fast travel system ever designed where you would wait 10+ minutes to go anywhere, a character just disappearing and coming back blind just to sell you a DLC episode, magic killing your friends, one playable character in the entire game and of course that legendary Chapter 13 (and the dark world too I guess).

It became a lot better with the actual Royal Edition and patches but it’s still imo the second worst FF mainline game after XVI.
The cool thing about the Royal Edition was it dropped to like $20 and it had most of the DLC. I bought it even when I had the collectors edition.

The windows version also dropped to really cheap and I got that too.
 
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WoJ

Member
I started playing XV earlier this year before Rebirth came out. I ended up shelving it for Rebirth. And since I haven't finished Rebirth yet because my work commitments have been huge this year....but I really enjoyed what I played of XV so far. I got about 20 hours in and mostly spent a ton of time exploring and doing hunts.

I enjoyed the combat, the dynamic with the guys, and found the boss fights to be really fun. I'm looking forward to getting back to it after work calms down in November and finishing it.
 
The franchise died with 13

The fucking hell is shit homie? You tell me.



Actually I will put it into spoiler to avoid giving it openly.

This scene maybe seen cringe to most people but in actuality it is starting point of Snow's background as one the playable characters.

Also in 13's world, being a l'Cie really means starting the end days of your would be "normal life". It is the real turning point of life in that universe. That was the main plot's starting point.

Again, it can be seen as cringe, I can understand that. But it really fits into the whole story and story presentation.
 

PeteBull

Member
One of the few preorders i did in last 10 years(other included persona5 and diablo4-rip), and never regretted it, hell it looks better from forspoken, on base ps4 xD
 

Larxia

Member
not bad but completely irrelevant to the plot of XV in the end
Uh? Irrevelant? I think it's mandatory to watch Kingsglaive before playing the game. It contains one if not the most important event in the story, and what we all had been waiting to see and play for years, the Insomnia invasion.
It's a shame that it's in a movie instead of being in the game, that's for sure... but I really wouldn't call it irrelevant at all.
 

NahaNago

Member
I was very hyped for 15. It didn't meet my expectations, but I still like it more than 16 and 13.
I enjoyed it more than 16 and 13 but I still haven't even finished the game. I got lost into running around and fighting monsters and exploring that I got annoyed with the game when I actually made progress in the story in a direction I didn't like so I ended up not finishing it but I finished 16 and 13 which I liked a lot less.
I started playing XV earlier this year before Rebirth came out. I ended up shelving it for Rebirth. And since I haven't finished Rebirth yet because my work commitments have been huge this year....but I really enjoyed what I played of XV so far. I got about 20 hours in and mostly spent a ton of time exploring and doing hunts.

I enjoyed the combat, the dynamic with the guys, and found the boss fights to be really fun. I'm looking forward to getting back to it after work calms down in November and finishing it.
Exploring and hunting was great. I really liked the idea of just traveling while doing those things but it was supposed to be an emergency trip but it felt like some chill boys trip when traveling in the car, seems weird. Maybe a much slower paced ff that has you travel by wagon/caravan group while heading towards a non emergency goal would make better sense for a game or set it up by area/chapter for a sense of urgency with a breakdown reason to stay in a certain area.
 

Ma-Yuan

Member
Its just so damn incomplete. I don't like that you need dlc to understand the story. I don't like open worlds for the sake of an open world with no coherent narrative. When finished the last boss i was like thats it? Really? Biggest FF disappointment for me ever.
 

Ponderling

Member
Prompto doesn't know what gil is, this is after they dine at a restaurant outside of the palace walls in the anime series, which they presumably paid gil for.
There are American Express adverts on the gas station doors but these jackasses don't even know the local currency.
This is my lasting memory of XV.
 
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Shake Your Rump

Gold Member
Dreadful game.

Bought deluxe edition at release. I watched the movie three times (with various family members) before even playing. Watched the anime. The game story still made no sense. They initially left out so much of the story. I don't know how anyone who hadn't seen the movie would have even a vague clue as to what was going on. After a week or so, they patched in clips from the movie to help explain things.

The whole game was disjointed. It also had that "we gotta hurry to this place ASAP!!!", meanwhile you are helping people find cats, fishing, chocobo riding, etc. everything except what the plot needs you to do.

Combat was broken. Magic was literally useless as your teammates would just stand there and get fried.

I got to a certain point and gave up. Worst Final Fantasy game ever. Probably one of the worst games I've played in my 45 years on earth.

The movie was sweet, though!
 

consoul

Member
FFXV hurts because you can see glimpses of what it should have been.

What's there is incomplete, and yet it still has a great atmosphere. I really enjoyed what was there, but it was just shards of a broken whole.
 
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