Final Fantasy XV (previously Versus XIII)

I'm hoping that the next batch of DLC fixes at least a few of the gameplay and narrative problems. I liked the game, but the story often felt disjointed, and the gameplay to be incomplete in some way. I think that tbe script was still being worked on in 2016, and it shows. I also think that the game had to be released by 2016, so that could be another reason for the problems. And man oh man were Luna and Noctis suffocated violently by the red string. And slight non sequiter, but I wished we could have explored more metropolitan areas, and maybe even the Empire's capital.

Oh look another girl with better chemistry with Noct then Luna... and she's DLC from another GAME

Poor Luna. How is Terra Wars?

So the Six turned on him because he committed the crime of giving people the opportunity to live instead of forcefully euthanizing them?

The Occuria might finally have competition for the title of "biggest dickead"

Edited by TheAirman on Sep 25th 2018 at 1:17:16 PM

Hiso hiso ( jerkass gods )

She even gets more shared screentime with him too.

Astrals: "Okay Ardyn, it's great that you're healing people. Really, it is. But you've turned yourself into a daemon in the process. We can't let you into the Crystal, you'd probably poison it or something. The whole point of this Crystal thing is to get rid of the light eating microbes, and you're made out of them. So we're going to make your little brother the king instead. No hard feelings?"

Ardyn: "...Could you at least kill me so I don't have to live like this? Being a human-shaped mass of space germs isn't exactly pleasant."

Astrals: "Nope, sorry. You'll have to wait about a couple thousand years before the King of Light shows up who can purify you. So...good luck!"

Ardyn: "..."

Edited by M84 on Sep 27th 2018 at 10:51:26 PM

Ardyn: "Hiso Hiso!" ( Fuck you too! )

Edited by Mizerous on Sep 27th 2018 at 10:55:15 AM

That's about the long and short of it.

Super Wolf's video on the game.

This game looks worse than I originally thought and I wasn't too keen on it then. That magic system seems dreadful.

I completely forgot about space lab dragon.

A lot of Square Enix games tend to have a bizarre disconnect between the creatures you fight and the rewards they yield - Julius just kind of plopping Ultima Weapon in your lap after beating him in a Kingdom Hearts game is a stand out, but half the time in those games I find myself asking where and why the reward I was gifted with came from. It just feels that much more pronounced in a game that professes to have an open, cohesive world, I guess.

The specific example is especially bizarre though because the setup involves the weapon being stolen- which feels like it would be significant and have some kind of payoff and story behind it, but it doesn't.

The reason it comes off like that is- IMPERIALS ABOVE US!

I think the thing that's most interesting about all this, since he's not really saying anything new, at the end of the day, is how little it really matters. It's a painfully mediocre game, but it sold millions, continues to truck along with its DLC train, and a lot of people have said, here and elsewhere, that they thoroughly enjoyed it despite half the story being hacked away from it, the undercooked world, the braindead combat, and more.

I don't think a game even needs to be remotely good for it be a success: it just needs to look and feel good enough to get you through it. Or have a big enough name and big enough budget and marketing campaign pushing it.

People are stupid sheep. :V

I'm sorry for enjoying a game despite all the warts? I just got back into playing it (still haven't beaten it myself, but I watched my brother play and beat the vanilla version of the game before I bought it myself to get ready for multiplayer), but I didn't really start to like it until they releases Comrades and added the ability to switch characters during combat.

Anyways I get that the game has issues, but they aren't really ruining my enjoyment of XV, which is a bit more than I can say about XIII and XII (though I do plan to get the Zodiac Age rerelease someday).

+

I don't think people who like the game are sheep or dumb or whatever. Mostly I just think it's interesting that this really rough game still managed to work and appeal to such a huge crowd despite it.

I really didn't like much of any of it myself, but there's a lot of other games I'm fond of that I think are objectively pretty bad, too. Quality's not really objective at the end of the day, I guess.

I will say that it worries me a lot about the future, though. It's proof that they can release a title that's not as full cooked as it could be and still make a killing off of it, and that's a bad road to go down in this industry, particularly with its expanded universe and how much of that you need to consume to get the whole story.

Edited by Hashil on Oct 1st 2018 at 12:50:27 PM

I think I forced myself to finish this game.

The combat just became infuriating because you can easily be one-shotted plus the mobs of enemies constantly interrupting you, the open-world was boring as fuck, & the story was pretty shite.

Honestly I regret supporting this unfinished travesty.

Edited by slimcoder on Oct 1st 2018 at 11:47:36 AM

I think it's more that this game happened to have one particular hook that resonated with a lot of players very strongly. When you're able to do that people can forgive a lot. Life is Strange is another example I can think of which is of debatable overall quality, but a lot of people love it nonetheless because they can empathize so well with some of the characters.

That's the one constant I've seen from people defending the game, that the bromance/character dynamics between Noctis and his posse and the other high points of the game were enough to carry the experience despite the flaws.

I found that aspect to be fun for a few hours but they just weren't deep enough for any of it to be meaningful after that.

Edited by LordVatek on Oct 1st 2018 at 6:04:33 AM

Yeah, there are some annoying bugs that are hampering my experience like a fishing bug that forced me to restart.

So I have played up to doing the two hunts at the first outpost place and also collecting the first dog tag. Level 8.

Things seem t be going well. My low tier comp plays it more or less smoothly with only the very rare momentary freeze.

I spent all my early AP to unlock playing as Gladio. Fucking annihilated those horses in the second Hunt, way easier than with controlling Noctis. His playstyle is totally my kinda thing in a game like this. Only problem is he doesn't get Wait Mode like Noctis does so I'll definitely have to control Noctis in a lot of fights probably.

Wait Mode is awesome for many reasons. The "look at the colored numbers to see what works" thing was not going to work for me at all so having enemy affinities displayed like this is greatly appreciated.

Do these places where you get magic refill or do you have to keep finding new places to tap magic? I'm actually kinda interested in the magic system now. I used to think it looked dumb and annoying but I've come around on that, too. I like the strategy and preparation involved n it.

Not wasting any AP on that any time soon, though. So many things I want to get and magic seems like a power that can wait until after I've gotten the basics essentials. Made sure to get Ignis' Regroup since I recall it saving Kuvo and friends many times and I am sure I'll need it.

That Hunt Battle Theme is the best piece of music I've heard so far. It starts off so nothing but goddam it gets amazing.

I remember the order of story events more or less. I'm gonna try to just chill out and do random stuff before everything goes to Hell. I've already gotten some interesting dialogue Kuvo and them didn't with Noctis discussing how his dad apparently went on a roadtrip of his own with his own bros. I suspect there's a lot of flavor dialogue depending on where you are in the plot so I wanna camp and do little things as much as I can.

Ya know, I give Square credit for learning from their mistakes in FFXIII. That game is the single most joyless and relentlessly serious entry in the series. FFX is the darkest FF in terms of its tone and its commitment to that tone but it still has plenty of humor. FFXIII is unquestionably the FF game with the least levity in the entire series and it suffers because of it. I think this is a big flaw that gets brought up much less than the lack of towns and whatnot.

They rectified this magnificently in XIII-2 and I'm playing XV for the first time and I think XV, much like XIII-2, is the beneficiary of all those mistakes. Mistakes aren't necessarily bad, especially since Square learned from them and made better games because of it.

I don't mean to dig on FFXIII so much but it was the last numbered mainline FF game before this (I don't count FFXIV) and clearly had an effect on the games to come after. Granted, FFXIV has sold like mad so maybe it had an effect on this, too. I dunno, I don't play MMO's.

Still, my point is, FFXV is very, very fun. I'm SOL on Dino's first sidequest since I tried to do it way earlier and there was a Level 20 monster there. I tried to go back to complete it but that is an infinite Imperial spawn point or something. I wipe out one team and another immediately drops down. They were obliterating me until I leveled up some and also realized Accessories are very useful. They are the only source of Vitality in this game so they are my armor, essentially.

I've had little moments with Gladio, Prompto and Ignis. I like them all but Prompto is most assuredly my least favorite. He needs to stop singing about Chocobos when I'm trying to focus on finding stuff. Why does Ignis have to go blind instead of Prompto? I need Ignis to drive. I hate vehicles in these kinds of games. But the time will come when that lovely Auto function will be gone. Annoying.

I guess if you're gonna have a shitty tracking and stealth part of your JRPG I can give you props for letting me skip passed it if I fail. I could not even vaguely spot Deadeye there was so much mist or whatever.

I remember back before FFXV came out all the pretentious Latin mishmash names made a lot of people suspect XV would be tryhard garbage. I definitely thought that. I wonder at what point they decided let's have Noctis be Noct. Whoever thought that probably changed the whole face of the game.

This all being said, Luna is played so painfully straight that she's unbearable. I could not care less about this character. We'rve regrssed to FFIV Rosa levels of blandness.

I mentioned how Prompto earlier acts all happy go lucky but is really troubled inside. This is also what got some folks to like Vanille in FFXIII; all the bubbly stuff was just a front. But ya know, at this point, just being happy without it being a mask for being miserable would probably be more innovative.

So I was gonna do the Courl hunt. They're Level 34 I think it was, I'm Level 31. Sure there are five of them but how hard can be it be? I was dying in about 20 seconds but then all of a sudden dramatic music plays and...yes. Ramuh to the rescue! He's all like "Lightning resistance? Lol"

Kinda feel like it's almost cheating , an instawin button. Then again, Titan came in and rescued me during a Hunt where Level 47 Imperials attacked so I can't complain.

Level 36 and finally about to set sail with Iris. Had so many Hunts and other quests to complete but I got lots of Gil for it and some good items.

Since I'm taking the fight to the Empire now, does this mean I get to hear more of the best song in the game?

Man, looking over all this, I've barely written anything for 50 hours of gameplay. That's a good sign though since I've been so thoroughly engrossed in the game I haven't wanted to stop to write.

Magic is awesome. Fishing is awesome. The Bros are awesome. Ardyn is cool. Luna sucks. Nobody cares about Jared. I can't wait to play even more of this awesome game. Fuck Jared but I will strike a blow for my old man, King Reggie. I honestly wanna hear more about Regis' and Cid's road trip....

Luna will never live it down as most bland heroine