How do you sell FF15 to a non-fan friend?

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APZonerunner

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#1
So... you've got a friend who isn't a current FF fan or even a lapsed FF fan. Or if they are lapsed, they maybe played one game around the PS1 era. Maybe they're not even that into JRPGs, but let's assume they do like RPGs in general. They play Dragon Age, The Witcher, Fallout and Elder Scrolls - IE a prime audience for FF15 to grow into. So. My question to you is this: based on the materials Square has released for the game, how do you sell the game to them?

Let's set the stage here: for me, these friends are in their mid-20s. Some with kids, some without, all with careers and partners and all that stuff. They are 'core' gamers in the respect that they all own up-to-date consoles and equipment, and buy many games a year. But they don't spend time on twitter or NeoGAF or the like, and they maybe have an RSS to one or two major game sites. That's it. They've never watched an E3 press conference live in their life. They may have seen a bit of FF15 somehow, but mostly they haven't been in its marketing sights. I've sold them on games often; a link posted into a group chat, by whipping my phone out in the pub and showing them a few minutes of video over drinks. It's not impossible. So, again - how do you sell to them?

I ask this based off a chat being had elsewhere: we were discussing FF15's showing over the past few years. I think a lot of fans have been focused on quantity of demos and showings - and in that, fans tend to fall into two camps.

One group is saying: "This pace is great. It's been 10 years. It's time for all the information,"

And the other is saying: "No, they're showing too much. It's like we know everything already," (Which admittedly isn't helped by spoilers and leaks, but let's put that aside for a second.

In fact, let's put all that aside for a second -- because as I said the reason I got to the question of how you sell the game to a friend is because I think they've done quite well with quantity of information (I think they've nailed it, actually), but I have concerns about quality.

What I've been feeling is that there isn't one slice of promotion for this game I could point a friend like that to. A one-stop-shop that a person could see and become sold on. Now don't get me wrong - this is a gigantic game, so one certainly can't expect to get everything in a few minutes, but it's about selling it, not elaborating everything, of course.

Let me elaborate: The Reclaim Your Throne trailer is a great broad-audience hitting trailer, but much of the rest of Uncovered wasn't really relevant to that audience. Too long, too droning, and ultimately there wasn't actually much gameplay.

Duscae is a good slice - a great slice, even, but is now fairly dated to the actual game, which is a weird incidence but it is what it is. I don't really personally rate Platinum, and I actually think the playing as a kid would be something of a turn-off to some of those potential converts.

I'm left with one clip I adore, which is the Stealth Base segment. That's a wonderfully edited video. In three and a half minutes it ironically tells me more about what the game actually is than most of Uncovered. I just wish there'd been more of that, you know?! If there'd been 15 or 20 minutes of footage as dense and interesting as that without loads and loads of talking, without interruption, without focusing too deeply on one thing (the E3 demo's mistake) - a strong vertical slice, basically - I feel like I could convert somebody to FF15's cause with one or two youtube links... and in this day and age, I think that's incredibly valuable.

Also: Kingsglaive. Those trailers are great, the world looks fascinating in them, and THOSE can sell the game. (Indeed, I've felt compelled to link the last two Kingsglaive trailers to my non-fan friends, so that says something.)

Anyway, yeah - what would you do? Do you feel like the stuff released can be targeted that way? This isn't me asking for advice, but me posing the question to see how people feel about how the game has been shown off in the run up to its launch.
 
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LeonBlade

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#2
My friend who I've known since 2006 hasn't really played any Final Fantasy games before, he's really excited for Final Fantasy XV though. He's seen some of the trailers and the combat and wants to get the game when it comes out. He's also seen the trailer for Kingsglaive and wants to watch the movie as well.
 

Omegataco

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Apr 1, 2016
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#3
I think awesome trailers are really the best way to market a Final Fantasy game personally, and this is part of the reason why I have been a little aggravated with XV's recent marketing campaign thus far. I think it's nigh impossible to market a Final Fantasy game using a 10 minute demo such as XV's Titan demo which barely showcases any of the game's gameplay systems. Final Fantasy has always been about the experience as a whole, with all of the game's systems, music, story, characters, and progression systems working together to bring the experience to life.

When I think of all the past Final Fantasy games, I really can't think of a single segment in any of them that would appropriately fit the format of a ten minute demo and would market the game as a whole very well. I think XV should have done something similar to what Nintendo did with Breath of the Wild at E3 and just let the public play around in Chapter 1 for about an hour (I know that they in fact did this with some members of the press); this would have provided a much better idea of how the game looks, plays, and feels. It's pretty aggravating because I hear that they're preparing another new demo for Gamescom and I suspect (due to some hints from Tabata at E3) that it's going to be like the Titan demo and is going to be a highly edited and compact segment of the Leviathan encounter.
 
Oct 19, 2013
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#4
Yeah, I thought about this, too. Most of my best friends fall exactly into that category you described. "Core" but not "hardcore" enough to spend hours on GAF and whatnot to analyze every bit of information from interviews, ATR, tweets etc. They buy and honestly even play more games than I do, however. Now a few of them have been life-long FF-fans and are extremely hyped about FFXV. Two others who never played FF or JRPGs in general have seen us play Episode Duscae, including the Ramuh moment, and a few days later they mentioned FFXV again at a party saying they were excited for it. I'm sure Platinum Demo wouldn't have had the same effect and most likely even the opposite one.

In retrospect I'm afraid the Reclaim Your Throne trailer could be a bit of a turn-off with its music (personally I like it) and would probably show others the AfroJack/E3 '16 one until a new, better trailer comes out (gamescom, or rather TGS?). I don't think anyone besides the hardcore fans are bothered much by the music - the Stand By Me song would probably feel more off and unfitting to outsiders. Besides the E3 one has the flying car in it (plus explosionsss!), which looks cool and "badass" to many more mainstream gamers :p

I hope the final release trailer is much better than what we've gotten so far and showcases combat (slower/less cuts so you can understand what's going on, otherwise it looks way too chaotic at times), exploration with every possible vehicle at different daytimes and at least one big set-piece so you don't have to show different trailers when wanting to recommend it to someone.

The recent Kingsglaive trailer is the best thing to come out of the whole FFXV Universe marketing and the friends I showed it to were really impressed.
 

Solid Sora

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#5
I have a bunch of "like video games but never tried FF" friends. Most of them not into JRPGs. I got all of them interested into XV by a combo of this, this and this. I noticed that the "battles look like anime" aspect is the most appealing part to them, they also like the huge summons.

I think it's much easier to get the "not hardcore" people into this game since you can very selective in the bits you're going to show to them. They don't have to go through all we went through, no Dawn trailer after months of nothing, no afrojack trailer when we expected a bombastic story heavy one for E3, etc. All they have to see are the warp strikes (which are mind-blowing for first timers, btw), Altissia, huge summons, that cool platinum demo combo video, that super cool Niflheim base infiltration trailer. With years of materials and demos, it's easy to do a better job in marketing this game than what square did :p.
 
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LeonBlade

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#6
I have a bunch of "like video games but never tried FF" friends. Most of them not into JRPGs. I got all of them interested into XV by a combo of this, this and this. I noticed that the "battles look like anime" aspect is the most appealing part to them, they also like the huge summons.

I think it's much easier to get the "not hardcore" people into this game since you can very selective in the bits you're going to show to them. They don't have to go through all we went through, no Dawn trailer after months of nothing, no afrojack trailer when we expected a bombastic story heavy one for E3, etc. All they have to see are the warp strikes (which are mind-blowing for first timers, btw), Altissia, huge summons, that cool platinum demo combo video, that super cool Niflheim base infiltration trailer. With years of materials and demos, it's easy to do a better job in marketing this game than what square did :p.
For the average person the marketing for this game is actually completely fine and functions a lot like what you are mentioning with your friends. I've seen plenty of people excited for cool things and just not really care about the things that aren't a big hit. Even die hard fans who don't care for some of the trailers still use things like Dawn in speculation videos, so even they still get something out of them.

I think the problem with a lot of the people who have been waiting for 10 years they are really picky and entitled which is why they feel like things are a lot worse than they really are. Either that, or I'm in the abnormal side of things where seeing a trailer that isn't completely mind blowing to me doesn't really bother me. I've seen a lot of conversations that go on for like thirty minutes discussing things that I feel like are just a waste of time in the grand scheme of this game over something insignificant like a marketing detail that the millions of Final Fantasy fans and even general gamers just don't give a fuck about.

You're right about picking and choosing the best ones to show. I've shown the high action stuff to people when I get excited to show them and they always have a good reaction to it.
 

Nye

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Jul 17, 2016
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#7
I think its very easy to sell non-FF fans to FFXV, especially with action route XV is taking. There are plenty of great footage you show your friend, just make sure they don't touch the Platinum Demo as, in my opinion, does a very bad job at showcasing the potential of the game-play. After all, a demo put together by 2 people in 2 months is nothing like the final result, especially with trailers like the Niflheim Base Battle that does a better job showcasing the action, party commands, and magic.

The Uncovered trailer (JP) one is a good choice too, as it showcases the over the top action with a great mixture of the world and the "Bro" theme the game is going for. And if your friend cares about the world design or its scale, I think The World of Wonder trailer is a good addition to the mix as it gives you an idea of how diverse the world is.

As for story bits trailer I am afraid there aren't much to go on from here. The Dawn trailers were good IMO but I really doubt it'll sell anyone who doesn't follow the game, after all the trailers feel like theory invoking ones for the fans and not for the public. However, the recent Kingsglaive trailer does a great job at hyping up the story setting for XV, so I believe your friend might actually like it.
 
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ChingleeTribal

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Mar 27, 2016
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#8
Well there is a guy I work with who played games like COD. I showed him the Uncovered trailer and the first thing he said is "you have to push your car? Why?" and I explained to him that you have to fuel up every now and then in the game. He replied in unexpected excitement saying "how come no other games done this?! I've been waiting for a game to do this kind of thing".

I also showed him the latest Kingsglaive trailer and he's like "This is how the game should be. I like this more than the stuff you showed me about the game*laughs*".
 
Likes: Koozek
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#9
Well there is a guy I work with who played games like COD. I showed him the Uncovered trailer and the first thing he said is "you have to push your car? Why?" and I explained to him that you have to fuel up every now and then in the game. He replied in unexpected excitement saying "how come no other games done this?! I've been waiting for a game to do this kind of thing".

I also showed him the latest Kingsglaive trailer and he's like "This is how the game should be. I like this more than the stuff you showed me about the game*laughs*".
Absolutly not surprising^^ I honestly feel the same these days. For me it's the perfect balance of Western & Japanese design philosophies. That and Agni's should be the direction of future FFs, IMO.

BTW, I remember Tabata recently saying that pushing your car is something which probably only happens in the intro. Don't know if he meant that it only happens once in the story and otherwise it's just really rare for you car to run out of fuel. Can't find the source, right now, though.
 

SilverGlyph

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Feb 27, 2016
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#11
My strategy is always the same when I pick a game that I want to introduce to friends. I give them a little bit of background about the game, then show them a trailer (one that I think encompasses a decent amount of gameplay, story, and cinematics altogether, at least for the games that have those latter two). I tell them anything else about stuff you can do in the game that I think is interesting, and answer any questions they may have.

Sometimes it doesn't get to any of the later stages. It all depends on what the person finds compelling in a game to begin with. I don't think you can go wrong with a "reclaim your throne and save the world from a war" plot, as it's pretty standard in media, good enough for a broad audience. You might start to lose them at the trailer though; it's where the genre, gameplay, design, aesthetics etc. all come to light. And that's really where you have to know the person you're recommending the game to. In this instance, since the friend in your scenario likes western RPGs, I don't think there's anything about any of the trailers that would turn them away.

My favorite trailer is still the E3 2013 reveal and rename-- it's got all of the above: gameplay, story, and cinematics. I also think it has the most fitting music (sorry Florence and Afrojack). In contrast, I quite dislike the Dawn trailer because it really tells you nothing. Just a man holding his kid and sobbing. I'm not sure who that trailer is for, actually.

Additionally, I would show them footage of the massive Ramuh summon-- something that shows the scale of what you can actually do regularly in the game.

I'm slowly trying to get my BF excited for FFXV, but he's a tough customer!