FFXV discussion thread [No Spoilers]

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Slaintimez

Keyblade Master
Sep 9, 2016
795
854
32
i literally can't wait, tho the best stuff is generally revealed on the Ultimania Omega editions.

here we go (another summary from neogaf's user Delaney with few extra tidbits):
  • [*]The Leviathan boss fight was reworked last year because consoles couldn't handle it. Noctis was supposed to warp into floating Altissia buildings and fight soldiers while he weakened Leviathan making her destroy the buildings. Luna joined the party (he says that she was shown in the party interface).
    [*]There wasn't any cut summons.
    [*]In Versus, Gentiana had medium powers like Noctis (I assume this might be the eyes that see the light of expiring souls), she could communicate with Stella. In one of the concepts, she had to hurt herself in order to activate these powers, or lose some of her senses (which lines up with her needing to use glasses or those weird scenes in XV in which she doesn't open her eyes). He thinks that she was not supposed to be Shiva in the original script, since Gentiana could also talk with everyone and used a weapon.
    [*]It wasn't planned for all Tenebrae floating islands to be explorable. The cut content were just a mini dungeon, exploring Luna's house and that's it.
    [*]The World of Ruin content that was cut wasn't open world. After Noctis got out of Galdin Quay, the player would have to explore linear sections in which they would encounter different characters. Not all of Lestallum was supposed to be explorable.
    [*]Adult Iris was supposed to wear the female Kingsglaive uniform. Cidney was Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. would have wore a full body motorcycle suit. Character development, my friends.
    [*]Versus XIII plot: During the last part of the game, one of the villains (allegedly Ardyn) opened the gate to the other dimension/afterlife (which was called Versus). The villains wanted to enter Versus to kill an angel. Since Stella is a ghost, she would have been able to interact with every character in the afterlife world. After the final fight, the angel helped the protagonists come back to the living world but Noctis was too injured, so he ended up sleeping with Stella in the afterlife.
    [*]The "Stella was always dead" twist wouldn't have been revealed until later parts of the game. In some versions of the script, the crystal gave Noctis the focus to kill Stella when they were children; in others; Stella disappeared while Noctis was visiting Tenebrae and he didn't know for sure if she came back home after all those years. Most of the characters couldn't see Stella. Her role in the story was to guide and test Noctis. The angel helped Stella come back to the real world after being dead because she hadn't completed her focus.
    [*]Versus/Nomura XV had been in active development at least one year before the reboot happened.
    [*]Chapter 0 was different last year: The game opened with Kid Noctis walking with Cor in Insomnia and Regis arriving on the Regalia. Regis would hold Noctis in his arms while crying. Bahamut's voice would ask Regis if he was ready for the future. (This was the scene featured in Dawn trailer)
    [*]The Noctis+Luna logo was already done early in TabataXV development.
Kill me please
 
Likes: llazy77

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
It does sound a lot like XIII. Even the Versus gate is like what happened in XIII-2 with Caius. Wouldn't be surprised if the XIII team "borrowed" some ideas from Versus XIII since it wasn't nearing completion anytime soon.
the afterlife gate is an element of the FNC mythology, which is shared between the games.
 

Slaintimez

Keyblade Master
Sep 9, 2016
795
854
32
This sounds so much better than what we actually got. Especially when you know that they could save all the cut content and concepts in the game, if they had 9 more months. Just fucking 9 more months between you, and the game you actually wanted all these years.
Back then, If all consumers would know circumstances and how it will turn out, im sure everyone would gladly wait for 9 months, even 1 more years...
This is depressing.
 
Likes: llazy77

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
28
Argentina
This sounds so much better than what we actually got. Especially when you know that they could save all the cut content and concepts in the game, if they had 9 more months. Just fucking 9 more months between you, and the game you actually wanted all these years.
Back then, If all consumers would know circumstances and how it will turn out, im sure everyone would gladly wait for 9 months, even 1 more years...
This is depressing.
Sounding better doesn't guarantee that the execution would be.
 

Slaintimez

Keyblade Master
Sep 9, 2016
795
854
32
You guys don't get it, i don't talk about Versus leaks, we have a game and this game called Final Fantasy XV.
Im depressed about stuff like World of Ruin section of multiple dungeons, Iris and Cidney, opening of the game was different according to leaks, there was dungeon in Tenebrae, explorable Luna's room, more of Luna presence overall, different Leviathan battle. All these stuff would really help the game to be complete.
 
Likes: Storm

Nova

Warrior of Light
Jul 14, 2015
1,773
2,595
Oooh. Sorry, i was totally confused on whether you were referring to the Versus stuff or not.

Yeah 2016 release was a mistake, even with contracts another year would have been much more viable for the sake of more polish. I feel for BD2.
 
Likes: Slaintimez

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
Didn't know where to post this, so I'm doing it here.

New posts from the same person who recently posted the leak about the dev troubles and original Versus plot, which we now know is legit after the recent Ferrari slip-ups about Umbra on Facebook, lol.

[Obviously spoiler-heavy - only read when you finished the game!!!]
http://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/361987694

Summary:
Original Lev fight details:
There were indoors and outdoors sections, Noctis warped around floating houses around Leviathan and inside he had to fight soldiers. Leviathan had to destroy all the houses and then Noctis proceeded to battle the Leviathan.

No summonsing were cut.

Gentiana details:
Gentiana existed before I entered the team and she was present in the old game, she had medium powers like Noctis and could speak with the female protagonist too. In one of the concepts she had to hurt herself or deprive herself from senses in order to gain powers. I don't know if this was developed. No mention as to if she was still Shiva in the old game but I don't think so since her role does not match.

Ignis was always going to get blinded:
Ignis story was written like this before the re estructure for the download content happened

End Games details:
The ending section was decided when I joined the team. It was planned for Noctis to wake up and encounter every character once at a time. The open world was note explorable, there were quests that limited your movement in the map. The Lestallum map in which Noctis was supposed to meet Iris and other friend was complete, it was not the full city. The idea was to turn the open world in a dungeon in which the player had to skip from one place to another and piece what was happening as Noctis met the other characters.

Cidney & Iris end game look:
Cidney wears like motorcycle suit, it reminded me of Kill Bill, her face didn't change that much. Iris was taller and had a king guard suit.

Ending to Versus details:
I remember that and one point, a big ray of light was supposed to appear in the sky, which was the door to the other dimension, the afterlife (which was called versus and that was the meaning of the game title). A bad character (I think it was Ardyn) caused the gate to this dimension to open. The focus of the villains was to kill an angel who lived in the afterlife and took care of the ghosts. The female protagonist could talk to every character in this dimension. In the end the angel helped the characters to return to their world but Noctis was too damaged and he ended sleeping with the ghosts and the female protagonist.

Nifheliem was never going to be a city in game:
We used the same concept artworks for Gralea from the old game, it was always planned to be filled with demons as far as I know. There were concepts of how the city would have looked like before the demons but there wasn't plans of showing it.

Chapter 13 & Cidney redesign:
The team thought that part was going to be a twist and would surprise players. It was supposed to be tedious but it was thought that players would like it. Ex team mates made these comments about it.

There was a legitimate concern about feedback on female representation on the game, so Cidney was considered to be problematic. This was supposed to be "fixed" with the dark world design for her and her scenes, but they didn't make the cut.

DLC:
However, people who are still working on the team have told me that if the download content is well received, they will think about making something special for other characters. I don't know if they have changed the schedule for the download content since I left.

Stella:
The female protagonist was supposed to appear only to Noctis. She was supposed to be a ghost which visited Noctis from the afterlife. The crystal commanded Noctis to kill her when they were children. In other concepts, I recall her simply disappearing and Noctis returning to his home country without knowing if she was ever found again.

Most of the characters couldn't interact with the female character (which was one of the reasons this character couldn't work with the new narrative for the game and so, it didn't make the cut). Noctis would dream about her and take this hallucinations as reality. She appeared to guide Noctis and lead her to fulfill his duty. She was a special ghost since she died before she could fulfill her mission in life, so the angel helped her come back from the other dimension. The revelation that she had been a ghost for the entire game happened before the gate to the other dimension was opened. This character wasn't in the game when I started my work on it.

The first part of the game was originally (this was still in summer last year) going to feature a children Noctis and Cor walking outside the castle to find Regis getting out of the Regalia. Regis would hold Noctis as Bahamut asked him if he was ready for what was to come. This was a very short introduction, but it didn't make the cut since the team thought it didn't make sense. A portion of the last part of the game was made into the beginning very early this year.

Dogs:
Umbra was a party member in the original Versus game, but he no longer was when I joined the team. I don't recall anything about the dogs being human ever again, but there were concepts for dogs of different fur that transformed into different people, one of the dogs was white (like Pryna) and it turned into a woman.

UPDATE:

Car:
There was negative feedback constantly on how the car moved. Firstly, the car was supposed to move outside of the road too, but it wasn't possible. Then it was decided that the car could fast travel and allow the player to teleport to certian landbmarks. Chocobos weren't added that late into development, the idea was already there when I joined.

Cindey and Iris had bigger roles, if end game wasn't cut:
Cidney and Iris would have had bigger roles. I think this was a side effect. Luna's presence in the game was also affected...

Director:
The director did a great job. The game turned out to be very good considering the state of all things. If they were allowed to release the game in 2017, it could have been the best game ever.

Prompto:
It was not a big deal but there was more material regarding this topic.


More about Ardyn:
Ardyn was supposed to get bigger, with parts of other demons. Big skinless skull, with two wings on his hip. Noctis would only have to fight with one royal weapon and the ring. The fight had multiple sections and after each one, Noctis would use the weapon to harm Ardyn and swap to the next royal arm.


(Thanks to GAF's @Delaney and @Ray Down)
Whether the Umbra thing matches or not, the version of this that I saw before Ferrari spoke out said stuff about Gentiana that didn't really match what he said about her and has, apparently, since been modified to fit more closely.

I also find it rather hilarious that this guy insists on referring to Etro as "an angel" instead of either using her name or calling her a death goddess like she actually is. It reeks of try-hard "I didn't follow this closely enough to have known what I know without inside info"-ness. The same applies to his inconsistency in knowing some things about Versus in detail and not being sure about other stuff because it happened before he left.

I'd take this with an entire shaker of salt.

Anyway:

Re: Ignis being blinded, that was obviously decided prior to Episode Duscae, since one of the King's Swordsworn in the prophecy painting had a bandage over his eyes. No inside info is needed to suss out that that had nothing to do with DLC. ;)

Re: Noct needing to find the other party members in the World of Ruin, that seems plausible, but it also seems like the sort of thing that would have had to change before significant work was done on it, since there's no reason why, say, older character models couldn't have been relocated to Hammerhead instead of going to waste. There's no excuse for Cindy not being at Hammerhead; Talcott even says she's supposed to be there!

Re: Versus, I'd be inclined to think this was complete bunk even if the guy who said it had other claims confirmed, because it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense and sounds like it was made up by someone who was trying to put as much FNC influence in it as possible while feigning ignorance as to many of the known details of the FNC mythos. And, seriously, calling the afterlife Versus? Nomura can come up with some... unique terminology, but that doesn't really feel like his style.

Re: Cindy in particular, if her post-timeskip design was meant to be an answer to the game's female representation problem, there was even less reason why repurposing her appearance wouldn't be prioritized (especially given how trivial it should have been to do).

Re: Stella, her appearing only to Noct doesn't make any sense in light of Ferrari's description of Gentiana as being "Stella's messenger and a point of contact between Niflheim and Tenebrae" and "a bit like Lady Oscar for her Marie Antoinette (Stella), always by her side, of few words, but with a gentle and conforting smile." The "leaker" tries to fix this in his description of Gentiana, but it doesn't really work -- if Stella's only role was to be a ghostly guide for Noct, none of what Ferrari described would be necessary.

Re: the supposed opening, the scene described is plausible. Too plausible, in fact, for the explanation of its removal to hold any water. I mean, the two line description makes perfect sense. Why in the world would the team think that an actual scene in which Bahamut referenced Noct's destiny not make sense? (It's worth pointing out, though, that the "leaker" seems to have forgotten the actual content of the Dawn trailer, because it was the Lucii (rather than Bahamut) that were present when Regis learned of Noct's fate in that trailer.

Re: the dogs, I'm not even sure what the "leaker" is trying to get across. Umbra was a party member but stopped being able to transform into a human after his removal from the party? But they added more dogs who could turn into humans, including Pryna, except that was cut too? Huh?

Re: the car and chocobos, no duh?

Re: Luna and endgame alterations, how would her role possibly have been affected by the World of Ruin being shrunk? She never spoke posthumously.

Re: Ardyn, that sounds absolutely awful. Royal arms are a complete pain to use for more than an attack or two at a time due to the health drain, so having up to thirteen separate sections of a fight against Ardyn's final form where you can't use weapons other than royal arms and the ring (which probably would be limited to Holy in a final boss fight, since the other moves are one-hit kills) sounds like the opposite of a good time. It'd be pretty bizarre on a narrative level, too, since the compassionate send-off Noct gave Ardyn requires Ardyn to look like a dying human being instead of a monster.

And, no, the Lucis crest isn't evidence of the supposed appearance of Ardyn's monster form, because it makes literally zero sense for the usurper who took Ardyn's name because Ardyn was corrupted to take as a symbol an image of a monstrous Ardyn, the heck. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to look at that crest and see the potential it offers for crafting a plausible-sounding final boss design. =P
 
Sep 26, 2013
1,612
626
Didn't know where to post this, so I'm doing it here.

New posts from the same person who recently posted the leak about the dev troubles and original Versus plot, which we now know is legit after the recent Ferrari slip-ups about Umbra on Facebook, lol.

[Obviously spoiler-heavy - only read when you finished the game!!!]
http://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/361987694

Summary:
Stella:
The female protagonist was supposed to appear only to Noctis. She was supposed to be a ghost which visited Noctis from the afterlife. The crystal commanded Noctis to kill her when they were children. In other concepts, I recall her simply disappearing and Noctis returning to his home country without knowing if she was ever found again.

Most of the characters couldn't interact with the female character (which was one of the reasons this character couldn't work with the new narrative for the game and so, it didn't make the cut). Noctis would dream about her and take this hallucinations as reality. She appeared to guide Noctis and lead her to fulfill his duty. She was a special ghost since she died before she could fulfill her mission in life, so the angel helped her come back from the other dimension. The revelation that she had been a ghost for the entire game happened before the gate to the other dimension was opened. This character wasn't in the game when I started my work on it.
So we went from Stella, a character who could have been interesting. To Luna, who is forgettable and nobody important.

Would explain why she couldn't be a party member too I guess.
 

TwoDotsO

Clan Centurio Member
Jul 30, 2016
131
143
I think Stella sounds like a silly, cliche and stupid character. But I also think Luna is pretty much non-existent and only there to serve as a silly plot point for Noctis. Luna is pretty much an inanimate object. She serves the same purpose as the ring or the car: an aid for Noctis that doesn't have a choice in the matter (even if it's claimed that she has).

99% of the things written in message boards are opinions. No need to tell the other that it's only an opinion and that they should formulate it differently. Statements being opinions are the status quo.
 
Oct 19, 2013
410
617
Whether the Umbra thing matches or not, the version of this that I saw before Ferrari spoke out said stuff about Gentiana that didn't really match what he said about her and has, apparently, since been modified to fit more closely.

I also find it rather hilarious that this guy insists on referring to Etro as "an angel" instead of either using her name or calling her a death goddess like she actually is. It reeks of try-hard "I didn't follow this closely enough to have known what I know without inside info"-ness. The same applies to his inconsistency in knowing some things about Versus in detail and not being sure about other stuff because it happened before he left.

I'd take this with an entire shaker of salt.

Anyway:

Re: Ignis being blinded, that was obviously decided prior to Episode Duscae, since one of the King's Swordsworn in the prophecy painting had a bandage over his eyes. No inside info is needed to suss out that that had nothing to do with DLC. ;)

Re: Noct needing to find the other party members in the World of Ruin, that seems plausible, but it also seems like the sort of thing that would have had to change before significant work was done on it, since there's no reason why, say, older character models couldn't have been relocated to Hammerhead instead of going to waste. There's no excuse for Cindy not being at Hammerhead; Talcott even says she's supposed to be there!

Re: Versus, I'd be inclined to think this was complete bunk even if the guy who said it had other claims confirmed, because it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense and sounds like it was made up by someone who was trying to put as much FNC influence in it as possible while feigning ignorance as to many of the known details of the FNC mythos. And, seriously, calling the afterlife Versus? Nomura can come up with some... unique terminology, but that doesn't really feel like his style.

Re: Cindy in particular, if her post-timeskip design was meant to be an answer to the game's female representation problem, there was even less reason why repurposing her appearance wouldn't be prioritized (especially given how trivial it should have been to do).

Re: Stella, her appearing only to Noct doesn't make any sense in light of Ferrari's description of Gentiana as being "Stella's messenger and a point of contact between Niflheim and Tenebrae" and "a bit like Lady Oscar for her Marie Antoinette (Stella), always by her side, of few words, but with a gentle and conforting smile." The "leaker" tries to fix this in his description of Gentiana, but it doesn't really work -- if Stella's only role was to be a ghostly guide for Noct, none of what Ferrari described would be necessary.

Re: the supposed opening, the scene described is plausible. Too plausible, in fact, for the explanation of its removal to hold any water. I mean, the two line description makes perfect sense. Why in the world would the team think that an actual scene in which Bahamut referenced Noct's destiny not make sense? (It's worth pointing out, though, that the "leaker" seems to have forgotten the actual content of the Dawn trailer, because it was the Lucii (rather than Bahamut) that were present when Regis learned of Noct's fate in that trailer.

Re: the dogs, I'm not even sure what the "leaker" is trying to get across. Umbra was a party member but stopped being able to transform into a human after his removal from the party? But they added more dogs who could turn into humans, including Pryna, except that was cut too? Huh?

Re: the car and chocobos, no duh?

Re: Luna and endgame alterations, how would her role possibly have been affected by the World of Ruin being shrunk? She never spoke posthumously.

Re: Ardyn, that sounds absolutely awful. Royal arms are a complete pain to use for more than an attack or two at a time due to the health drain, so having up to thirteen separate sections of a fight against Ardyn's final form where you can't use weapons other than royal arms and the ring (which probably would be limited to Holy in a final boss fight, since the other moves are one-hit kills) sounds like the opposite of a good time. It'd be pretty bizarre on a narrative level, too, since the compassionate send-off Noct gave Ardyn requires Ardyn to look like a dying human being instead of a monster.

And, no, the Lucis crest isn't evidence of the supposed appearance of Ardyn's monster form, because it makes literally zero sense for the usurper who took Ardyn's name because Ardyn was corrupted to take as a symbol an image of a monstrous Ardyn, the heck. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to look at that crest and see the potential it offers for crafting a plausible-sounding final boss design. =P
Poster said they didn't work on Versus nor read the script themselves, and got most of the information from other members of the team and older concept art/documents shown to him as a basis for some of FFXV's assets.


Look, I know I will sound like one of those annoying "I know things, but I can't tell you" guys, but: there's a reason why the leaks' GAF thread wasn't locked yet ;) Let's leave it at that, I won't say more.
 

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
stella is the more interesting character on paper, but she could end like luna with little screen-time for all we know.

the problem with luna is that she barely appears in the game, we don't know her character behind the oracle mantle.

edit:

we do see ghost luna in the train lol
 
Last edited:
Jun 7, 2014
898
625
Poland
Poster said they didn't work on Versus nor read the script themselves, and got most of the information from other members of the team and older concept art/documents shown to him as a basis for some of FFXV's assets.


Look, I know I will sound like one of those annoying "I know things, but I can't tell you" guys, but: there's a reason why the leaks' GAF thread wasn't locked yet ;) Let's leave it at that, I won't say more.
You know, there was also a "reason" Verendus was allowed to spread his leaks for a few years despite being full of shit.