Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

Members see less ads - sign up now for free and join the community!

  • This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more.

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
26
Unknown, Unknown
>KH had to be changed not only because Luminous wasn't finished yet but also because the engine team was tied up and wouldn't have been much use in training a team whose experience was limited to portable games in the workings of a current-gen engine. None of those issues would affect an BD2 game made using Luminous. It's completely absurd to think that there's something inherently problematic about the engine itself.

And, for the record, while KH is looking far better now than it did before, I still prefer Luminous' look to UE4's. The more use Squenix gets out of Luminous, the better, as far as I'm concerned

My problem isn't the engine I don't think the engine itself is awful no I just think it's an unnecessary headache with very little to show for it.

XV was clearly marred by engine issues and time constraints.

Square wasn't willing to give up the time so at the very least they should have let them switch engine in 2013 to UE4 something that's finished something that can make some very graphically impressive games look at Hellblade if UE4 can do stuff like that then XV shouldn't be that big of a problem. I'm willing to take a slight depreciation in graphics if it ultimately means ok better gameplay, whatever makes the development smoother so that it shows in the game itself. So they aren't wasting time with engine glitches that they themselves had to solve when BD3 ran into them they just had to call Epic and they were fixed, Tabata and his team had to iron out, optimize everything themselves and thus things got rushed.

It also seems to me that they are going to continue adding to this thing might be better than what XV went through but ultimately unnecessary with little to show for it.

> an impressive character creator, a vehicle with fewer area limitations, two festivals with unique game mechanics, a timed hunt system, a bestiary, a chapter select system, and a fully-tricked out PC version (complete with 4k textures, improved visual effects, and a first-person mode).
All of which could have been done in Unreal Engine 4 without the detriments to the main game as I said I don't care about the bonus content after the fact I want the main base to be solid as in good boss fights no ripping out story or whatever and having a smooth development so that you aren't wasting your time on engine issues.


>KH had to be changed not only because Luminous wasn't finished yet but also because the engine team was tied up and wouldn't have been much use in training a team whose experience was limited to portable games in the workings of a current-gen engine.
Oh is that why BD2 mainly worked on portable games? Those guys were limited to portable games and they were solely working with Luminous

>FFXV is a 25+ hour set-piece-heavy open world action RPG that took maybe four years to develop after the shift to current-gen. Given the genre and the production values, that's not a bad turnaround time... and Luminous was still being developed alongside the game.

Would have been much better if the development was much smoother without the engine issues half the boss fights in the game were rushed and incredibly simplistic it's almost as if they didn't have any time to work on them when 0.2 boss fights are much better you know got a problem.

>Not to mention, if the expansions have showed us anything, it's that Luminous Pro is actually quite versatile. Within a little over a year of launch, they'll have added a 30-45min story expansion, a two hour action game expansion
Where is this story expansion you talking Comrades what does that to do with engine as far none of this addresses my main concerns on how less smooth the development goes it affects the game in the long run I don't really care about your DLC's which should have been stories in game which could have done in Unreal and they would have probably had the time to do it without having to worry about console optimization issues which affected quite a bit of the set pieces. #MyLeviathan

All I'm going to say is Luminous is a alright engine just an unnecessary burden that doesn't do much for your game

Also lol at FFXV Unique magic system

It's FFVIII's draw system if it was more shit also what does to do with the engine this is a game mechanic Unreal can do this.
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
My problem isn't the engine I don't think the engine itself is awful no I just think it's an unnecessary headache with very little to show for it.

XV was clearly marred by engine issues and time constraints.

Square wasn't willing to give up the time so at the very least they should have let them switch engine in 2013 to UE4 something that's finished something that can make some very graphically impressive games look at Hellblade if UE4 can do stuff like that then XV shouldn't be that big of a problem. I'm willing to take a slight depreciation in graphics if it ultimately means ok better gameplay, whatever makes the development smoother so that it shows in the game itself. So they aren't wasting time with engine glitches that they themselves had to solve when BD3 ran into them they just had to call Epic and they were fixed, Tabata and his team had to iron out, optimize everything themselves and thus things got rushed.

It also seems to me that they are going to continue adding to this thing might be better than what XV went through but ultimately unnecessary with little to show for it.
I'm not convinced that UE4 would have even saved Squenix much time, honestly. I mean, they would have needed the same amount of assets either way, set-pieces always require unique coding regardless of what engine a game is running, and UE4 wasn't a competent open-world engine in 2013. If anything, they'd have just made the game with less staff, since they wouldn't have needed a dedicated engine team.

Or, in other words, even if the game would have turned out graphically identical with UE4, I don't think it would have made a difference with regards to any of FFXV's major issues, because FFXV is a very different game than Hellblade.

All of which could have been done in Unreal Engine 4 without the detriments to the main game as I said I don't care about the bonus content after the fact I want the main base to be solid as in good boss fights no ripping out story or whatever and having a smooth development so that you aren't wasting your time on engine issues.
I think you missed my point, namely, that Luminous Pro circa 2017 is quite capable of pumping out unique content at a fair clip with a team much smaller than was required for FFXV itself, and, as such, there's no reason not to use it going forward.

Oh is that why BD2 mainly worked on portable games? Those guys were limited to portable games and they were solely working with Luminous
BD2 includes the Type-0 team, but the Luminous engine development team seems to have been drawn from elsewhere. As such, the Luminous team could teach the Type-0 team how to work with the HD engine as they were making it, since they were right there to offer support. It would have been much more difficult for the Luminous team to support two separate games simultaneously, especially given that KH's Osaka team wasn't even in the same building.

Would have been much better if the development was much smoother without the engine issues half the boss fights in the game were rushed and incredibly simplistic it's almost as if they didn't have any time to work on them when 0.2 boss fights are much better you know got a problem.
There's no reason to think a different engine would have made any difference in that regard. Highly-tuned boss fights require a different skill-set than engine creation, boss fights tuning can take place even when the engine team has run into snags, and the KH team has always been Squenix's varsity team with regards to ARPG boss fights. =P

Where is this story expansion you talking Comrades what does that to do with engine as far none of this addresses my main concerns on how less smooth the development goes it affects the game in the long run I don't really care about your DLC's which should have been stories in game which could have done in Unreal and they would have probably had the time to do it without having to worry about console optimization issues which affected quite a bit of the set pieces. #MyLeviathan
The story expansion in question is Ch. 13:2.

As for what the DLCs have to do with the engine, they demonstrate that the engine can be easily repurposed for different types of gameplay, which bodes well for the engine's future.

And, for what it's worth, the Leviathan set-piece would have been at least as much of a problem in UE4 as it was in Luminous. Squenix was never going to cheat console players of the full set-piece either way, and nothing about UE4 suggests that it would have responded well to being asked to run that sort of set-piece within an open world.

All I'm going to say is Luminous is a alright engine just an unnecessary burden that doesn't do much for your game
Unless your game requires some of the same unique systems as FFXV, which do not exist in the base UE4 code.

Also lol at FFXV Unique magic system

It's FFVIII's draw system if it was more shit also what does to do with the engine this is a game mechanic Unreal can do this.
I was referring to the new magic system that was added for the multiplayer, which is unique insofar as it had to be built from scratch rather than pulled from the main game.
 

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
better but not quite as amazing as playing as him in the past (i don't mind if they do a linear dlc).

i just hope they don't choose the easy way, Ardyn deserves this (and his VA too!), a dlc like this might elevate him as best villain of the series; the potential is there.
He's already best villain in my eyes but more story would make more people realise that he is >=D

better but not quite as amazing as playing as him in the past (i don't mind if they do a linear dlc).



what do you guys honestly think about this? dat luna hahaha
if i'm not mistaken i read the game was downloaded 10 million times? they're going all in with these ads.
What the actual...? Jesus square...

Thing is... those ads are working since the game has been downloaded so many times...

First thing I asked was: A while ago a survey asked about which kind of content we as fans would like to see in the future - so, who won the race?

A: It was Ardyn´s backstory that the majority voted for - so we clearly got the message he´s the person fans want to know more about. We´re not sure as of yet how we´ll do it though - it´s a lot of story, and telling a character´s story is always the most difficult and detailed part of a game. So, we don´t know yet whether we´ll make it another game, no dlc though, it would be a full game, or a movie, comic etc. We really want to tell his story though. Second in the survey was Luna´s story by the way.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing and welcome!

Omg... they don't know yet but... the possible option of turning that into a game?!? I am sooo ok with that.

Will we someday get more lore, especially about the astrals and their relations to the royal family, and about the background of pitioss dungeon?

A: Ah well, you know, we created pitioss as a mystery, a puzzle to be solved by the player. So let´s just not talk about that and instead move on, shall we? (laughs) When it comes to the hexatheon, there sure was a lot going on between them, but for now there are no plans on diving further into their backstory. They are a part of the magic of this world, and as such, tightly intertwined with it, but that´s all for now. I´ll keep it in mind though.
Awww... After Ardyn the Hexatheon's story was next on the list of what I wanted most.

Seriously it sounds so epic to the point that it can move the game's story up by a lot of notches.

Do it Square... doo iitttttt.

All kidding aside... I mean the Hexatheon play such a huge role in the game's lore, that it would leave a huge gaping hole in the story (or even more so..) if they add more content but don't fill in the gaps with their backstory.

It's going to feel like something vital is missing.

They can just incorporate the Hexatheon's story in with Ardyn's story since they're so interrelated.

I think Square is having trouble with the story because they're compartmentalizing and segmenting the story into sections.

It doesn't have to be that way Square. You can blend storylines.

(Holy crap I've said the word "story" so many times in this post lol...)
 
Last edited:

SonOfEtro

Warrior of Light
May 2, 2016
1,036
1,192
As for KHIII, at this point I'm mostly annoyed by how low the polycount is on the character models, since they seem to have fixed the shaders. Then again, the Woody model looked pretty good, so... who knows?
I think that's probably more a stylistic choice.
BD2 includes the Type-0 team, but the Luminous engine development team seems to have been drawn from elsewhere. As such, the Luminous team could teach the Type-0 team how to work with the HD engine as they were making it, since they were right there to offer support. It would have been much more difficult for the Luminous team to support two separate games simultaneously, especially given that KH's Osaka team wasn't even in the same building.
The Luminous Engine team was once a completely standalone team. It was Tabata that merged all the teams together to develop the game.

And I actually remember SQEX commenting on the issue. They wanted the engine actually finished for one game before committing it to any more than one game. They didn't want to repeat the fiasco of Crystal Tools, where they used an in-development engine for multiple expansive projects. Now it's finished, they're setting to on new projects while also maintaining XV as an evolving experience.
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
I think that's probably more a stylistic choice.
Apart from PSOne throwbacks like FFXV Pocket Edition, poly count isn't a stylistic choice. KH in particular was known for releasing pre-release screenshots that completely rounded out all the polygon edges while it was still using its original PS2-esque style. There's no way that Squenix doesn't think higher poly isn't better for KH.

The Luminous Engine team was once a completely standalone team. It was Tabata that merged all the teams together to develop the game.

And I actually remember SQEX commenting on the issue. They wanted the engine actually finished for one game before committing it to any more than one game. They didn't want to repeat the fiasco of Crystal Tools, where they used an in-development engine for multiple expansive projects. Now it's finished, they're setting to on new projects while also maintaining XV as an evolving experience.
True, though that doesn't change the fact that the Luminous Engine team had nothing to do with portable games.

And finishing the engine within the context of one game -- particularly a game like FFXV, which demanded all kinds of functionality -- was clearly the best thing they could have done. There certainly doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the current state of the engine.
 

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
I think Square is having trouble with the story because they're compartmentalizing and segmenting the story into sections.

It doesn't have to be that way Square. You can blend storylines.
yeah, they'd have to deal with another scarscourge, the beginning of the Lucis line, introduce Izunia, include cutscenes of a Hexatheon's meeting or something like that, new areas...

but a new game or movie is a risky move, it could add unnecessary drama especially if it doesn't meet expectations, a big dlc to end the updates in a high-note would be ideal for me; they don't need to make an open-world section, just do a linear story progression throught key places, showing bits of the culture of solheim, gameplay segments like healing the infected or fighting daemons...

anyway, he won the survey we'll get something, but sadly i just expect vague news regarding this until 2018.

edit: thinking about it, having a middle aged man as a protagonist of a FF (full game/or dlc), where he's actually the good guy that turns into the villain of the story, is so amazing on paper and could lead to a very fresh experience... i can't help to be hyped, i really hope they can deliver.
 
Last edited:

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
but a new game or movie is a risky move, it could add unnecessary drama especially if it doesn't meet expectations, a big dlc to end the updates in a high-note would be ideal for me; they don't need to make an open-world section, just do a linear story progression throught key places, showing bits of the culture of solheim, gameplay segments like healing the infected or fighting daemons...
I'd honestly be happy with lengthy cutscenes about his story being added into the main game at this point.

Doesn't need to be a game or dlc, so long as we get the full story one way or another.

I prefer it to be added into the main game first and foremost so that it can provide the full story and experience without having to go to another medium.

My second preference would be a game. I don't think the dlc can provide the full experience for his story, which seems to be jam packed with a lot of content.

anyway, he won the survey we'll get something, but sadly i just expect vague news regarding this until 2018.
Yeah it's gonna be a long wait.

It's past mid year though so time flies pretty quickly.

edit: thinking about it, having a middle aged man as a protagonist of a FF (full game/or dlc), where he's actually the good guy that turns into the villain of the story, is so amazing on paper and could lead to a very fresh experience... i can't help to be hyped, i really hope they can deliver.
Agreed.

He looks to be in his late 30's early 40's.

All the FF protags have been teens or 21 haven't they?
 
Likes: Storm

SonOfEtro

Warrior of Light
May 2, 2016
1,036
1,192
edit: thinking about it, having a middle aged man as a protagonist of a FF (full game/or dlc), where he's actually the good guy that turns into the villain of the story, is so amazing on paper and could lead to a very fresh experience... i can't help to be hyped, i really hope they can deliver.
Funny thing. That was done in in the Western/Gestalt version of Nier back in 2010. I remember that approach being hailed as fresh and original.
 
Likes: Storm

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
a few tidbits about the upcoming AC event

https://twitter.com/RedMakuzawa/status/902053148851716096

"FFXV Assassin's Festival is roughly 3 hours in content. Collab is 3 times larger than the devs originally planned."

https://twitter.com/RedMakuzawa/status/902055840336642048

"Originally Noctis' favorite game was set to be Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft agreed to doing a collab after discussing the 2 games."

btw august 30 is noctis birthday, that's why he'll get the robe on that day lol.
and there's a theory around that the chocobo on the AC collab trailer is the black chocobo chick you saved on the game.

btw i gotta commend SQ for the number of free costumes we're getting.
 
Last edited:

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
Wow 3 hours worth of content? That is way more than what I expected. Same length as episode Prompto.

That'd be so cute if the black chocobo is the one we saved.

I have a theory about that...

Perhaps the black Chocobo we saved is the distant descendent of the one Ardyn rode in the past?

I mean they're pretty rare so perhaps it hailed from a line of royal black chocobos :D
 
Likes: Storm

SonOfEtro

Warrior of Light
May 2, 2016
1,036
1,192
Is it just me or does Tabata look deathly tired there?

The man needs sleep.

Anyways, congrats to him and the team for snagging the awards.
I'm damn sure he's tired. He's probably exhausted.

Oh, and there's been new information from the German fan event. Apparently, while the team want to dive deeper into the backstory of Ardyn Izunia, they won't be doing it with DLC. They're considering other routes ranging from a full spin-off game to a feature film to a comic series.

EDIT:
Oh yes, and an additional little titbit. The staff have confirmed that Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto survived the final battle in front of the palace of Insomnnia and lived to see the dawn brought about by Noctis' sacrifice.
 
Last edited:

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
yeah we discussed about that, a full game might be too much for me, but still is amazing we're getting more content about him (i'm also pleased that he made his presence into episode prompto and the upcoming episode ignis, which is something i didn't expect).

if they go and decide to make a full game, i wonder how that would be? controlling him in battle would be similar to how we play as noctis i suppose, since he is able to use royal arms and elemancy.

considering that jesus had disciples and ardyn was a messianic figure in that time, i'd guess his followers would be party members?
 
Last edited:

Noctis_Caelum

Chocobo Knight
Jul 15, 2014
214
285

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
if they go and decide to make a full game, i wonder how that would be? controlling him in battle would be similar to how we play as noctis i suppose, since he is able to use royal arms and elemancy.

considering that jesus had disciples and ardyn was a messianic figure in that time, i'd guess his followers would be party members?
This is "if" they're taking the game route and not the movie or comic path. I don't think too many people would be happy with the latter tbh.

It depends on their budget and with the way Tabata answered the questions in that interview, they're having difficulty fitting everything in still.

My point is I'm curious as to what they mean by a "full game". As in 40+ hours? Cuz that would take years and they don't have years.

It could be 10 hours? 5? 5 hours is dlc length so I'm just curious as to what he means by "game" per se.

Interesting point about the party members. They'd have to come up with new characters for that.
From what I'm seeing, he's like Luna in that he just traveled around healing people by himself but with his chocobo companion instead of Gentiana.... or maybe she accompanied him too?
 
Likes: Storm

SonOfEtro

Warrior of Light
May 2, 2016
1,036
1,192
This is "if" they're taking the game route and not the movie or comic path. I don't think too many people would be happy with the latter tbh.
I wouldn't object to a 2½ movie detailing Ardyn's youth, his receiving the gift of the Astrals and using it as he sees fit, and his betrayal by both the Astrals and the royal line which stole his surname. Might be a chance to develop him as a character in a different way, showing his human side rather than simply portraying him as a wandering healer (that would be rather bland in my opinion). I'd love to her Darin de Paul doing both his mature Ardyn for present-day segments and a younger version of him.

Also, wouldn't it be great if he was accompanied by someone, and that someone was Gilgamesh, and that Ardyn agreed to grant Gilgamesh a kind of immortality as part of his wish to gain revenge on the Astrals and the King's line. But that's just pure wishful thinking on my part. Gilgamesh will sadly probably remain an eyebrow-raising McGuffin.
 

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
I wouldn't object to a 2½ movie detailing Ardyn's youth, his receiving the gift of the Astrals and using it as he sees fit, and his betrayal by both the Astrals and the royal line which stole his surname. Might be a chance to develop him as a character in a different way, showing his human side rather than simply portraying him as a wandering healer (that would be rather bland in my opinion). I'd love to her Darin de Paul doing both his mature Ardyn for present-day segments and a younger version of him.

Also, wouldn't it be great if he was accompanied by someone, and that someone was Gilgamesh, and that Ardyn agreed to grant Gilgamesh a kind of immortality as part of his wish to gain revenge on the Astrals and the King's line. But that's just pure wishful thinking on my part. Gilgamesh will sadly probably remain an eyebrow-raising McGuffin.
I guess I'm not too fussed over the medium so long as they tell the story well and do it justice

That's my main concern.

However if I had to choose, I'd pick a game.

Fully agree that Darin de Paul should voice him again if it's a film. Most likely it will be since he voiced Ardyn in KG anyway and he loves the role.

There is the possibility of an anime too. I guess the least desirable route would be the comic.

They're still deciding. Other than the options mentioned above I think that's all the mediums they can tell his story on... unless they're going to create a mobile game cuz fuck no to that.

Another thing is I wonder if they're going to wedge in the Astrals story into Ardyn's?

I admit, I was disappointed when Tabata said they had no plans on telling the Astrals story but if you think about it, the Astrals and Ardyn's tale are so intertwined that I can't help but think that they will be included in some way.