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[BocoDragon]

XIII-2 seemed very intent on tapping into the western RPG playerbase, or at the least learning what makes them WRPGs tick. I think it was as much a learning/experimental experience for Square that they were willing to take considering it was fundamentally not a mainline game, and with Tri-Ace developing a lot of it. Many of its subsystems are literally staples of WRPG.

Non-linear story progression, check
Dialogue options, check (lol)
QTE, check (god damnit)
Vast array of recruitable party members, check, sorta (this was done in previous FF games though)
Multiple endings, check
Interactive/dynamic music, check
Lots and lots of DLC strung out on a pseudo-fixed schedule, check
Story DLC (lol), check

I took DLC stuff to be a new normal for FF.

LR had costumes you could buy, and if it were a larger release, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had story DLC too.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see extensive DLC when XV finally releases.

 

[Falk]

I took DLC stuff to be a new normal for FF.

LR had costumes you could buy, and if it were a larger release, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had story DLC too.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see extensive DLC when XV finally releases.

Eh, there's two general trends to DLC that I've noticed in this past gen.

The nickel-and-diming sell-everything-you-can including levels, cosmetics, items, etc. (*cough*BN*cough*)

The "we want to help retain the playerbase for a good long time so our DLC schedule is planned out every few weeks to continuously be engaging and often story/content-based" most notably Mass Effect, Bioshock Infinite, etc.

XIII-2 seemed to attempt to do the latter. LR went back to the former which isn't uncommon at all in Japanese dev.

The latter kinda makes sense in the environment we're in. Not only is DLC purchase unaffected by used games trade since the money goes to platform and dev rather than the traders, but helping retain players (hypothetically) curbs the amount of used copies in circulation shortly after the game releases. It's just another band aid on a stack of band aids to deal with used games trade.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

New Famitsu scans. Nothing new in the screnshots, just different shots of the scene with Cidney and the party.

A few infos:
- Tabata guesses that there are currently ~400 people working on Final Fantasy XV ( inhouse and extern)
- Some people of the development team like the idea of implementing a battle arena in Final Fantasy XV like in FFVII
- Tabata has currently no plans for DLC but he usually likes the idea to expand a game with new content that improves its replayability
- They'll talk about minigames after Episode Duscae is out
- Spoiler of the demo's beginning:

Spoiler

The first scene of Episode Duscae is the 4 guys waking up in a tent

Thanks to GermanFFBlog!

All awesome.

Glad there's none of that 1000 member dev team nonsense we've heard before with AAA production. Resi 6/Ubisoft Games I think?

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

- Tabata said that they're aware of the youtube comments after the "FFVII Ps4 reveal" lol
- You won't be able to leave the road with the car. You'll need other forms of transportations such as Chocobo's for exploration.

(Again, thanks to GermanFFBlog)

*Hashimoto Sweat Wipe with Towel*

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

No DLC plans? This game is like......a fantasy.

 

[cackhyena]

No DLC plans? This game is like......a fantasy.

Nice.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

If a controllable Airship is cut it seems to me it's more down to technical limitations as opposed to budget/scope cuts.

I mean it's only possible with a seamless map and that's very difficult with modern FF games due to the unique locations.

 

[MultiJhonny]

If a controllable Airship is cut it seems to me it's more down to technical limitations as opposed to budget/scope cuts.

I mean it's only possible with a seamless map and that's very difficult with modern FF games due to the unique locations.

That's what I was thinking as well pertaining to the airships. But Tabata did say he will address them after the demo is out.

 

[threelights]

If a controllable Airship is cut it seems to me it's more down to technical limitations as opposed to budget/scope cuts.

I mean it's only possible with a seamless map and that's very difficult with modern FF games due to the unique locations.

Which is a shame, I would absolutely take a loading screen for the airship if it meant that it would be a better version of Type-0's airship, such a fun thing to have.

I really hope they opt for loading screen to a less detailed world map than opting for no airship at all.

 

[DeSolos]

If a controllable Airship is cut it seems to me it's more down to technical limitations as opposed to budget/scope cuts.

I mean it's only possible with a seamless map and that's very difficult with modern FF games due to the unique locations.

It's definitely more of a technical issue than anything. Asset wise they already have airships, and flight mechanics are actually way easier to implement than other vehicles(not much to worry about in the sky).

When it comes to open world games performance all comes down to visibility. If you can see it, it has to render(or at least one of a list of about 4 or 5 versions of it at various levels of detail).

When you're walking through Duscae, you'll notice it's sort of shaped like a basin, with mountains on all sides. That's to make sure you don't see assets from other areas. When you fly, this sorta goes out the window as you're suddenly able to see many more assets than when you're walking(even at lower levels of detail it's still a problem).

GTAV handles this problem with a giant mountain range in the middle of the map that is both tall and long so you have to fly very far before you render too many assets of high detail. There aren't many technical tricks you can do without getting into research and development land(very time consuming and full of unproven techniques). The best ways of dealing with this issue come down to how you design your map to control visibility. They could make the world larger and more barren between major areas, but that could sacrifice how convenient it is to travel by car.

It'll be interesting to see how they attempt to resolve this.

 

[Dark_castle]

I absolutely loved the way VII did battle arena, with unique handicaps, but great reward and challenge.

So hearing that XV probably have something like it is music to my ears.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

I absolutely loved the way VII did battle arena, with unique handicaps, but great reward and challenge.

So hearing that XV probably have something like it is music to my ears.

Yeah, features like that are always so awesome, so I hope they can put a solid one in.

 

[Turin]

I absolutely loved the way VII did battle arena, with unique handicaps, but great reward and challenge.

So hearing that XV probably have something like it is music to my ears.

Bringin back some fond memories.