Gameinformer May Cover: FFXV

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

I know of at least one person who was there and this was his take (take this for what it's worth, which isn't much) :

Spoiler

From what I saw at an event that will remain carefully vague because I wasn't supposed to be there, it is bland boring oatmeal. The combat didn't feel good (I haven't tried the new demo yet) and environments I've seen are trying so hard to be "mostly realistic" (That part isn't secret, it's been that way since this was Versus XIII) that they lack character and any real reason to explore them. And what I've seen of the narrative is an enormous emoji shrug.

I think this game is going to be a commercial disappointment, especIally in Japan (and I think there are too many good competitors to distinguish it in other territories). It won't kill Square or anything, but I'm not sure that it won't kill mainline Final Fantasy. They should have cancelled it five years ago. Even if it's significantly better than I think it is, it's not good enough.

But, keep in mind, this is not a fan of the genre, it was based on seeing it, not playing it, and he probably thought the combat was like the first part of the demo trailer. I think it's likely he judged it too early, but the part about there being no compelling reason to explore the scenery echos a concern I have had ever since someone tried to gauge the size of the world. I think we should be prepared for a considerable amount of empty space in this game, which, BTW, I am totally OK with, but expect a lot of people screaming about this at the top of their fingertips about when the game is released.

Edit: please do not link this outside of this site.

Wait a minute what the hell?. Who is this person that said this?. Is he reliable in any way?.

 

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

It seems people are just going to give up of FFXV after one guys shallow opinion.

 

[DrBretto]

Wait a minute what the hell?. Who is this person that said this?. Is he reliable in any way?.

He is reliable in that he did see it andtgat is his real opinion. But, from what I saw in the magazine article, he just didn't know what he was seeing. My faith in this game is quite high.

 

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

He is reliable in that he did see it andtgat is his real opinion. But, from what I saw in the magazine article, he just didn't know what he was seeing. My faith in this game is quite high.

I'm a bit confused. Was this person the guy writing the article for Game Informer?.

 

[DrBretto]

I'm a bit confused. Was this person the guy writing the article for Game Informer?.

He was not. The guy who wrote the article for GameInformer seemed to enjoy it. (The article was more factual than an opinion piece, but from his Twitter feed, seems really excited about the game.)

The other quote is just a guy I know. There were a lot of people in the press that were given that same access (ie, someone else that saw the same part of the game the GameInformer article was about). But this article overshadows his opinion by like a million.

 

[Rin]

The issue is live but I dont have a sub can anyone get it and post the scans here?

GI comes down on people hard for reposting their stuff.

 

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

He was not. The guy who wrote the article for GameInformer seemed to enjoy it. (The article was more factual than an opinion piece, but from his Twitter feed, seems really excited about the game.)

The other quote is just a guy I know. There were a lot of people in the press that were given that same access (ie, someone else that saw the same part of the game the GameInformer article was about). But this article overshadows his opinion by like a million.

Thanks for clearing that up. I saw the tweet earlier from the guy from GI which showed that he was really excited about what he experienced which is why I was so taken aback by the other guys opinion. All the information from GI article really has me excited even more than I already was. This looks like one of the greatest games ever made to me from the looks of it.

 

[DrBretto]

Thanks for clearing that up. I saw the tweet earlier from the guy from GI which showed that he was really excited about what he experienced which is why I was so taken aback by the other guys opinion. All the information from GI article really has me excited even more than I already was. This looks like one of the greatest games ever made to me from the looks of it.

Couldn't agree more. I wasn't expecting to be able to read the article so soon, so I posted that take since it was relevant. Like I said, I already believed he was selling the game short, but this article really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about how badly I'm going to rub it in this dude's face when this game explodes.

Seriously, sincerely think we're seeing something special with this game. I think it's different enough that some people won't get it at first. Because they'll think it's supposed to be Witcher 4 or something, but they'll get used to it quick and it's gonna spread like crazy.

 

[Chocobocoholic]

I thinks its time to go on a media blackout until september I already read the article and got the entire first chapter spoiled and i already kinda regret it not looking at any more info on this game until i get my hands on it

Ooohhh I definitely won't be reading this, then!

 

[Mistwalker]

Ooohhh I definitely won't be reading this, then!

I'm starting my media blackout today. But as a last thing to say, I found it perturbing (I don't know what other term to use) to know that when Tabata took the project around 2012 and started studying the situation of the Final Fantasy franchise, he found it to be a dying franchise that was sliding down.

Bad direction choices from Square Enix, divisive games like the XIII trilogy and the huge failure of XIV 1.0 almost killed the franchise before our eyes. I hope (from the bottom of my tiny, old and hopefull heart) that Tabata's team can save it with FFXV. Sakaguchi-san, Amano-san and Uematsu-san believe on this team. I will as well.

 

[Storm]

I bet episode zero will have the Dawn trailer events, with you learning about Noctis near death-experience

Spoiler

and controlling Regis against Marilith.

pls lol.

 

[Chocobocoholic]

I'm starting my media blackout today. But as a last thing to say, I found it perturbing (I don't know what other term to use) to know that when Tabata took the project around 2012 and started studying the situation of the Final Fantasy franchise, he found it to be a dying franchise that was sliding down.

Bad direction choices from Square Enix, divisive games like the XIII trilogy and the huge failure of XIV 1.0 almost killed the franchise before our eyes. I hope (from the bottom of my tiny, old and hopefull heart) that Tabata's team can save it with FFXV. Sakaguchi-san, Amano-san and Uematsu-san believe on this team. I will as well.

I think I'll start mine, too. It's going to be tough!

And I wonder if Versus XIII was really in that bad of a state when Tabata took over? The way he's going on is like he is the saviour of the franchise, but he directed Type-0 which wasn't bad, but wasn't amazing.

 

[DrBretto]

I'm sure most of you have seen it all by now, but here's a spoiler free list of everything revealed in this article:

Courtesy of Neogaf and Lunafreya on Gamefaqs.

-You can make branching decisions. Similar to older FFs dialogue choices; Example: Cidney asks Noctis what do they need to fix the car? Noctis can either reply with, a discount, a loan, or ask his friends. Gameinformer asked friends, Gladio responded, said they should hunt for monsters, Noct/Gladio's relationship went up, and Noct's attack increased by 50% until the end of the day.

-The game have magic synthesis to create new spells;

-There will be a growth system where you can spend ability points on weapon skills, Noctis, the party, bonuses etc. ;

-GI says there's a instrumental version of this in the game:

-Four quest types: for fun (fishing/chocobo race), main story, monster hunts and regional quests. Currently over 200 quests and they're working on more;

-Tabata: "We have no intention to create sequels out of this";

-Weapon types includes: swords, daggers, lances, firearms, shields, royal arms, spells, and something called "machines" which weren't revealed yet;

-The trunk of the Regalia acts as party storage;

-Each party member has their own "special talent" that improves with use. One example given is Prompto will ask the crew to take pit stops with the car where everyone gets out, goes to a spot and he takes photographs. You can then share these photo's on social media. The more you do it the better his pictures will be. These are in the game for both character development and will have real consequences for the game. Prompto is photography, Noctis is fishing, Ignis is cooking, and Gladiolus is survival instincts;

-When you call a summon they won't always do the same thing. They are entities that exist in the world itself. So depending on the situation they will do different things. Examples given Titan sometimes will run up and melee hit an enemy, sometimes he will throw boulders at the enemy and its possible he will even give up and leave the battle. They will also act differently in a dungeon than they will in the overworld. Its a huge focus for the staff for Summons to feel exciting and a major event when they show up, not just some random monster that swoops in. They want a sense of awe with them;

-One of the screenshots has Ignis with a spear;

-GI has this to say, "FFXV isn't Witcher 3 or Dragon Age Inquisition in terms of your to-do list. That isn't necessarily bad because your quest log isn't bloated by insignificant or uninteresting tasks.....inspires a feeling similar to pre-PS2 Final Fantasies where there were huge overworld maps that made the setting seem authentic and enormous - even if you didn't find a quest every step.";

-You can improve and forge weapons from materials you collect;

-Final Fantasy XV has had a release of September 30, 2016 since December 2013. Same time, Tabata took over as Director in December 2013, and Nomura went off to work on KH3/FFVll:R. Kingsglaive has existed from 2013;

And the story-related points: (Details pretty much all of Chapter 1 - spoiler warning)

Spoiler

Story related info:

-The game has a Chapter 0 (Prlogue) but GI wasn't allowed to see it;

-So the game starts with the car breaking down after the opening sequence. No Behemoth hunt.

-About Ardyn: shows up fairly early it looks like. The crew tries to take the ferry to Altissia and he stops them telling them service is suspended. At this point they don't know of the invasion.


-Noctis and co. find out about the invasion by reading a newspaper and then try and go back to the city but are blocked off by Niflheim forces.


-Kagari interpretation of the game's first chapter: So the first chapter after the opening sequence seems to go something like this:

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE PLAYTHROUGH OF CHAPTER 1

Noctis and friends are on their way to Altissia -> car breaks down outside Lucis in a town called Leide -> you meet up with Cid and Cidney at Hammerhead who agree to repair the car and Cidney sends you on some quests (kill monsters) -> car is repaired, gang goes to deliver a package for Cidney -> package delivered to the black dog seen in the trailers, named Umbra -> flashback to Noctis and Luna childhood -> Noctis and co. set out to a coast town to catch a ferry to Altissia,meet up with Ardyn who says they're closed off for now -> sidequests -> party goes to hotel, reads about Lucis attack in the newspaper -> they get back in the car and head back to Lucis right away -> they fight through some Niflheim troops and eventually see what's happened on the horizon -> Cor calls and delivers the bad news -> chapter 1 ends.

-Tabata state that There will be a centralized foe. Not an assortment of villians as the "main enemy". Think of it like Sephiroth there will be a singular major villian;

-Luna might have affection for Noctis, but Noctis is too complicated to care or unwilling to reciprocate it

-In regards to FFVII remake. Looking at the FFXIII saga as a model of release (three full-fledged games). Each game will be the size of a FFXIII game is specifically stated. In other words full scale 30+ hour RPG, and they also say plot wise nothing is off the table in terms of changes. They clarify they aren't changing everything but Kitase, Nomura, and Nojima feel since they were involved with the original game that they have the liberty to add / change what they want while still making fans happy. They also state they want FFVII Remake to gave a much shorter development cycle than FFXV.

 

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

Anyone know when GI is dropping today's FFXV update?.

 

[DrBretto]

No one knows yet. The site just keeps saying today, but no time or anything. People are asking all over the 'net, and I don't think there's an answer yet.

 

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

No one knows yet. The site just keeps saying today, but no time or anything. People are asking all over the 'net, and I don't think there's an answer yet.

I'm kinda surprised it is taking so long honestly. They dropped the cover reveal around 11 yesterday morning. Oh well I just need to be more patient lol.

Edit: I spoke too soon lol. It's up now.

 

[Rin]

Game Informer have uploaded a video interview detailing the first chapter of XV: http://www.gameinformer.com/themes/...final-fantasy-xvs-opening-gameplay&GroupKeys=

Please watch at your discretion.

 

[Storm]

Noctis can drive the car too, apparently.

 

[DrBretto]

I watched it, and if you read the gameinformer article, it's perfectly safe. It's really just a couple of clips from the early game. It's mid-range spoilers, but not going to ruin anything for most.

 

[BladeRunner]

The future is here