Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

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Lord_Ham_Mork

SOLDIER Second Class
Feb 23, 2018
344
587
31
Okay I just watched the anniversary stream lol and they said this about Episode Ardyn(I'm paraphrasing ofc)" We'll be adding grappling functions from Episode Ignis, so that you can fly around Shinjuku" why are they calling it Shinjuku?
Insomnia is based on cities from Japan.
It means it will feel like you're flying through that city.
 

Bazztek

Keyblade Master
May 26, 2014
719
1,890
Okay I just watched the anniversary stream lol and they said this about Episode Ardyn(I'm paraphrasing ofc)" We'll be adding grappling functions from Episode Ignis, so that you can fly around Shinjuku" why are they calling it Shinjuku?
Because Insomnia is based on Shinjuku.




The Ep Ardyn teaser shows Ardyn warping between buildings.
 
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TheLittleOnionKnight

Balamb Garden Freshman
Feb 28, 2018
19
43
41
I'm hoping most of the city to will made available too us this time around, if not all of it. After all, they've had a full year to develop it now and assets for a good majority of Insomnia already existed thanks too the Royal Edition.

It's a shame though that regardless of what size it is, be it what your predicted or what I'm expecting... Insomnia's going to be relegated too Episode Ardyn. I mean I'd pay good money for a proper epilogue there with Noct/Regis/Cor & the boys. A bit of time spent in Insomnia too help establish the city and its importance too the party as well as give some of the important characters that didn't get enough screen time (like Regis, Cor, etc) a bit more of it would've been incredible. And a patch that could let us return too the city in the main game with umbra would've been awesome...
Agree. It's a shame they never set-up Insomnia's importance in-game. Too bad that prologue isn't going to happen.
 

Unoder

Yevonite
Feb 20, 2018
56
89
36
Because Insomnia is based on Shinjuku.




The Ep Ardyn teaser shows Ardyn warping between buildings.
Yea I remember back in the versus days Nomura would go into detail about how inspired Insomnia was by Shinjuku, it really sounded like him and the team were quite proud of what they'd built and I can't wait to FINALLY explore it after all this time.

But Destiny Islands is a really tiny area that is inherently linear in design, what you're proposing they do for a prologue makes it sound like you want a full open world Insomnia city with complete NPC interaction, quests, shops and stores etc with every thing possible which would never have been doable in the game development timeframe given to them anyway, like not even Destiny Islands gets that treatment, and IIRC Destiny Islands was only cutscenes in KH2 too, hell we saw an entirely new area of Destiny Islands where the people actually live in KH2 yet that was never actually gameplay, it was only in cutscene. Hence why I said having Parting Ways as cutscenes interspersed between some linear section of Insomnia is as feasable it could really get for a pre-destruction Insomnia prologue from Noctis's perspective and with some gameplay training and/or minigames with Gladio and other crownsguard at most, because that already would give as much as Destiny Islands gives.

Again it makes 0 sense for there to be any possible training against Nyx or Regis at that time and for you to actually explore any meaningful area of the city and "discover" any secrets. You aren't really "exploring" anything in Destiny islands, it's just two small tiny areas with like 5 NPCs, and functionally Destiny Islands works the same as any "area" in KH because the entire game is structured linearly for its area level design and it acts as a tutorial for the actual gameplay loop of KH, what you are saying they do for Insomnia isn't like that.

Also again, Episode Ardyn functions as a battlefield the same way as Episode Ignis, Gladio and Prompto did, and even though you could buy items in those that was mainly because Prompto uses the vending machines and Ignis leaves the money in the unmanned till because he's a good boy, while Ardyn likely wouldn't be the type to do any of that, the Insomnia that is going to be in that functions not like what you are saying when you are describing what you want out of an Insomnia prologue, assets are the only real thing it could share, since you are basically describing an actual RPG city.
It makes perfect sense for Noct to train with Regis actually. I'm sure the king is worried about sending his only son out into a world filled with monsters & daemons, especially considering that if the prince dies than the world is truly f*****. He would want to make sure his son is strong, ready, and capable of taking on any dangers that could manifest on his journey and its through that incentive I think that we could train with him. As for Nyx, I think it would be a pretty awesome off the cuff kind of optional thing. I mean, even if it wasn't actually recognized as canon like the KH1 Sephiroth Boss fight it's still something I think would be pretty cool.

Anyway, I should clarify here that I'm not actually opposed to the idea of a linear so long as I could still interact with unique npc's to help give the place some life, train/spar with a few folks and establish the kind of character building with Regis and a few others that we've talked about previously than sure, I'd love it. It would go a long way to filling to hole left by the cities complete absence in the game... but I would still prefer the FULL city at our disposal. Visiting all the landmarks, uncovering all the lore, etc in addition to a pw prologue would go a much longer way towards establishing a connection to the city, and really making ppl care about it. Also, being able to return to it later on in the game and rematch Regis who's at lvl 120 now or something could be awesome.
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
I don't think that an Insomnia addition is likely, but there is one way it could be done that could work reasonably well:

Replace the tutorial and lore room options with a KH-style extended tutorial in Insomnia.

Since it'd still be optional, the beginning of the game could remain as-is. The current tutorial/lore room would become a room in the Citadel, where Noct can either read the descriptions of the paintings or talk to Gladio to do combat tutorial things. Beyond that, they could add some of the events from Parting Ways, make a few photography/Chocochick quests to push the player towards some points of interest (say, the restaurant where Noct used to work), have Noct buy something with his Lucian credit card in non-Gil currency, have NPCs mention some important lore (like it being safe to go out at night in Insomnia because of the Wall), and let Noct do training fights with his friends and Regis (and perhaps learn further tutorial tips from them, like Ignis talking about cooking and Prompto talking about photography). Once the player's ready, they can just talk to the relevant NPC to trigger the beginning of the game.
 

Bazztek

Keyblade Master
May 26, 2014
719
1,890
It makes perfect sense for Noct to train with Regis actually.
It doesn't, at all though, because Noctis is not able to go see Regis because Regis is too busy with his kingly duties, that's the entire reason why him not getting a chance to see Regis before the day he actually leaves was an actual thing during Parting Ways, again having Noctis up and meet him just because completely undermines not only that but the significance that their actual last time seeing each other has. The implication is that Regis has been swamped by his duties that he hasn't had any time at all to spend with Noctis, if you could just go and start fighting with him out of the blue it would make no sense. That's also why Regis has people like Gladio and Ignis with Noctis.

Again it's nice to want things, but you are just thinking this from a "I want this and that to happen!" instead of what's actually realistically feasible in that time frame and what's actually feasible for people to even make in given the limited dev time and money they would have to do so.
 

stolas

Sphere Hunter
Feb 20, 2018
225
348
I think for Insomnia to be included with interesting gameplay and to expand that first chunk is asking for a different game at least from a story standpoint. They wrote themselves into a corner by removing Noctis from the Invasion and used Nyx as a placeholder and creating other content like Parting Ways to fill in the gaps. If they hadn't done that it would have fixed the main of gripes people had with the story; establishing a relationship with Luna/ Regis and showing what Noctis lost by being chased out of his kingdom. It would have also addressed that narrative that Noctis is wayward or at least made it more clear, other than what was shown in brotherhood. But I digress.
They aren't fixing jack to the main story. I highly doubt they are adding in a DLC area. If that's the case what is stopping they from adding in the Gladio DLC area or post Leviathan Altissia? It like the same conversation that was brought up about Luna. If she becomes playable, why not add in Aranea, Iris, and Cor? The reason is because its too much work at this point. Episode Ardyn is going to be maybe 15 mins worth of cutscenes and shoehorned story about Ardyn. Remember this is content that was flesh out two years after the games release. Also they are giving us a special prologue so it's less assets/ animating/ rendering they have to create. This is going to be just as messy as when they added in the backstory about Ifrit a year later that doesn't make sense with a slide show of art that looked like it belonged on deviant art. Keep your expectations low, it's less disappointing.
 

NikoZ

PSICOM Soldier
Feb 18, 2018
87
125
24
I think for Insomnia to be included with interesting gameplay and to expand that first chunk is asking for a different game at least from a story standpoint. They wrote themselves into a corner by removing Noctis from the Invasion and used Nyx as a placeholder and creating other content like Parting Ways to fill in the gaps. If they hadn't done that it would have fixed the main of gripes people had with the story; establishing a relationship with Luna/ Regis and showing what Noctis lost by being chased out of his kingdom. It would have also addressed that narrative that Noctis is wayward or at least made it more clear, other than what was shown in brotherhood. But I digress.
They aren't fixing jack to the main story. I highly doubt they are adding in a DLC area. If that's the case what is stopping they from adding in the Gladio DLC area or post Leviathan Altissia? It like the same conversation that was brought up about Luna. If she becomes playable, why not add in Aranea, Iris, and Cor? The reason is because its too much work at this point. Episode Ardyn is going to be maybe 15 mins worth of cutscenes and shoehorned story about Ardyn. Remember this is content that was flesh out two years after the games release. Also they are giving us a special prologue so it's less assets/ animating/ rendering they have to create. This is going to be just as messy as when they added in the backstory about Ifrit a year later that doesn't make sense with a slide show of art that looked like it belonged on deviant art. Keep your expectations low, it's less disappointing.
What? Adding Luna is not the same as the others. We have been talking about this a million times. Luna=animations, voice overs and so on created, was supposed to be in RE. Iris, Cor, Aranea= none of that.It's okay, we get it, you're sooo over the game at this point, a lot of people are. Sadly, you're not being realistic either :)
 

Vallen

Forest Owl
Mar 4, 2018
372
797
29
At this stage I’ll be happy if they put the “open combat” or “time attack” on the main screen permanently so I can kill shit as young Noct in the citadel courtyard. But I still expect it won’t happen..
 
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Lord_Ham_Mork

SOLDIER Second Class
Feb 23, 2018
344
587
31
Okay so to take away from all the pessimism, do ya'll that think Ep. Ardyn is going to have a day-night cycle or nah. I really wanna see those glowing Shinjuku-esque signs!
It will start at day and it will end at night (we can see that in the trailer). I doubt Ardyn stays more than 1 day in the city.
 

TheLittleOnionKnight

Balamb Garden Freshman
Feb 28, 2018
19
43
41
That prologue is one of the most interesting elements of the early Versus promotional stuff in my opinion.
Here, here. I'd take that over an unnecessarily huge Lucis anyday.

Yea I remember back in the versus days Nomura would go into detail about how inspired Insomnia was by Shinjuku, it really sounded like him and the team were quite proud of what they'd built and I can't wait to FINALLY explore it after all this time.


It makes perfect sense for Noct to train with Regis actually. I'm sure the king is worried about sending his only son out into a world filled with monsters & daemons, especially considering that if the prince dies than the world is truly f*****. He would want to make sure his son is strong, ready, and capable of taking on any dangers that could manifest on his journey and its through that incentive I think that we could train with him. As for Nyx, I think it would be a pretty awesome off the cuff kind of optional thing. I mean, even if it wasn't actually recognized as canon like the KH1 Sephiroth Boss fight it's still something I think would be pretty cool.

Anyway, I should clarify here that I'm not actually opposed to the idea of a linear so long as I could still interact with unique npc's to help give the place some life, train/spar with a few folks and establish the kind of character building with Regis and a few others that we've talked about previously than sure, I'd love it. It would go a long way to filling to hole left by the cities complete absence in the game... but I would still prefer the FULL city at our disposal. Visiting all the landmarks, uncovering all the lore, etc in addition to a pw prologue would go a much longer way towards establishing a connection to the city, and really making ppl care about it. Also, being able to return to it later on in the game and rematch Regis who's at lvl 120 now or something could be awesome.
Any interaction with Regis would have had to take place before the events detailed in Parting Ways (which only details the last couple of days before parting), but yes, agree with your sentiment. If only.
 

stolas

Sphere Hunter
Feb 20, 2018
225
348
What? Adding Luna is not the same as the others. We have been talking about this a million times. Luna=animations, voice overs and so on created, was supposed to be in RE. Iris, Cor, Aranea= none of that.It's okay, we get it, you're sooo over the game at this point, a lot of people are. Sadly, you're not being realistic either :)
Those characters already have that stuff done... Which is my point. If they aren't adding the already fleshed-out side characters it's unlikely they'll add Luna. That accessory that was found in the datamine that was linked to Luna could now just be for enabling the Bahamut summon, for instance. Just because her animations are finished doesn't mean anything. And I do think I'm being realistic from a production standpoint. The project isn't getting anymore money. No budget= no extra stuff. The artist and programmers aren't just going to work on stuff because their is a fan demand and certainly not working for free. Those artist are being pushed onto other projects that is having money allocated to it, that's how production teams work. That's why Versus took so long to develop, no money/ no team=no viable content.
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
Those characters already have that stuff done... Which is my point. If they aren't adding the already fleshed-out side characters it's unlikely they'll add Luna. That accessory that was found in the datamine that was linked to Luna could now just be for enabling the Bahamut summon, for instance. Just because her animations are finished doesn't mean anything. And I do think I'm being realistic from a production standpoint. The project isn't getting anymore money. No budget= no extra stuff. The artist and programmers aren't just going to work on stuff because their is a fan demand and certainly not working for free. Those artist are being pushed onto other projects that is having money allocated to it, that's how production teams work. That's why Versus took so long to develop, no money/ no team=no viable content.
Why assume that no money exists for the game besides what is being used for Episode Ardyn's development?

The cancellation of the remaining DLCs doesn't mean that money that would have been used for an Episode Ardyn-adjacent patch, for one thing. As far as I can tell, the free patches served the role of advertising for the previous Episodes, so one last free patch to advertise Episode Ardyn would actually make a lot of sense.

And, with that in mind, the Luna content would probably be one of the least expensive ways to add something that the fanbase would find legitimately exciting. It was created for the Royal Edition and the decision to remove it seems almost certain to have been the result of the decision, approximately a month before the Royal Edition's release, to create another season of DLC, so it would probably just need to be put through QA rather than created from the ground up. Anything else they'd do for marketing would probably cost more.
 

Unoder

Yevonite
Feb 20, 2018
56
89
36
I'm liking the passionate discussion we've got going on here, but I really wish some ppl would try to be optimistic because if there's little to no need for something, no demand rather, it's unlikely to ever happen. Anyway, I hope we can come to a compromise on this Insomnia Prologue thing and that it reaches the right eyes in time...
Anyway, on to the topic of funding and whatnot... forgive me for being presumptuous again but I think whoever took over for Tabata s*** themselves earlier this year when they saw the turn out at TGS. One would assume after taking over control he/she cancelled the DLC's assuming 2 yrs later most ppl had moved on, and that there wasn't any interest... and than FFXV has the biggest turnout haha. I still remember how shocked & apologetic they were, and when I think about it now retrospectively they probably already new the DLC's were cancelled, or at the very least knew they were going to be and I'd like to imagine the whole situation inspired the powers that be to give the dev team a bit more budget. However, I'd like to think that seeing with tangible proof that there's still a lot of interest from fans for this game that they want to give us something more than just Episode Ardyn, and I think an Insomnia prologue based off of Parting Ways would be perfect. Linear or not.

It doesn't, at all though, because Noctis is not able to go see Regis because Regis is too busy with his kingly duties, that's the entire reason why him not getting a chance to see Regis before the day he actually leaves was an actual thing during Parting Ways, again having Noctis up and meet him just because completely undermines not only that but the significance that their actual last time seeing each other has. The implication is that Regis has been swamped by his duties that he hasn't had any time at all to spend with Noctis, if you could just go and start fighting with him out of the blue it would make no sense. That's also why Regis has people like Gladio and Ignis with Noctis.

Again it's nice to want things, but you are just thinking this from a "I want this and that to happen!" instead of what's actually realistically feasible in that time frame and what's actually feasible for people to even make in given the limited dev time and money they would have to do so.
Where there's a will there's a way, for example: Picture this, we start up the Insomnia prologue DLC and we're greeted by a nice 2-3 minute, beautiful cutscene showing off Insomnia. The large buildings, the markets, the citizens, the animals, the citadel, etc. Immediately following that final shot showing off the citadel we transition inside where we're presented with Noctis & Regis. Cue some dialogue about how Regis wants to see how well Gladio has trained Noct, and a new & improved tutorial begins. Once the game feels you've found your bearings your bearings the "real" battle begins (with Regis at level 5 or something for balances sake) and once you finish Noct heads to bed, kicks up his feet and goes to sleep - during which he has a dream about him and his father from when he was younger. Cutscenes could work here, as for what it could be hmm maybe the "we have to eat the food or they'll send the cook away" scene from the versus days, and/or something based off of the dawn trailers where we actually get to hear some of Regis Inner Monologue (yes, I know it's Noct's dream but, it's through our perspective)... Now, once the cutscene(s) has finished a transition could pop up telling us "weeks later" or, months later if that would make you happy, then cue the Parting Ways inspired prologue without having to change it's canon but still giving us a training battle against Regis & finally rewarding Noctis father with some much needed character development in game.

Those characters already have that stuff done... Which is my point. If they aren't adding the already fleshed-out side characters it's unlikely they'll add Luna.
Who said they're not going to add those other characters? They may have been waiting to finish Aranea's play style so they could release a patch that let us play all the guest party members at the same time. Lets hope that they had finished it and that's something they're working on, or at the very least (and it would be a shame), lets hope that they at least at the movesets for Cor & Iris which are available in Comrades. Something else that I think would be awesome is a way to have them join your party again during non-story related free-roaming, for balancing reasons they should be given a proper health bar so that they're not immortal anymore and it would require a few new voice lines for them but it certainly wouldn't sabotage the budget.
 
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