Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

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somni

PSICOM Soldier
Nov 26, 2013
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In light of the recent changes, I'm come to the realization that Versus XIII should have never been renamed XV.
I think the changes stem from that re-branding itself.

We know the numerical FF's serve as the flagship titles, representing the franchise as 'essential Final Fantasy experiences.'
Final Fantasy being a commercially successful franchise, that puts a lot of pressure to appeal to wider audiences. Which I think is the "issue" if you will, with XV. Even with all the factors that seemingly plagued this game's development, none of them have affected its development as drastically as the re-branding (for better or worse).

As a spinoff, the game felt quite experimental as far as FF's go. As Nomura mentioned in the past, the game was meant to be progressive, while challenging series norms. Without the pressures of being a mainline title, Nomura had time and license to do just that. Being re-branded into XV caused a lot of that leeway to go out the window. Now the game has to get out the door on a tight fiscal schedule. And any necessary sacrifices will be made to meat that deadline.

The game itself seems to have shifted in tone too. I definitely recall the Versus XIII footage being darker and moodier, both aesthetically & tonally. Which makes me think that the game originally was also going for M rating, much like Type-0. Little details like how characters and enemies bled in battle affirmed that. I'm a bit sour, but still look forward to FFXV a great deal. I just hope they don't make any other drastic changes, like removing airship traversal or the environmental damage. Well they did remove one of the game's key main characters after 9 years (because reasons), so who knows at this point.

Side note, I think aesthetically, this target render was a sweet spot:

 
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Infest

Blitzball Champion
Sep 8, 2014
540
346
Germany
There are several reasons why they HAD to rebrand the game.
The main one was to get rid of the XIII-trilogy's bad image -> start a new identity and to give it the public attention that a project of this size needs.

@ "Versus XIII footage being darker and moodier" :
As I already said several times. It's not a change of the game's atmosphere but a change of the direction in the recent trailers. We haven't got a story-trailer since 2013 and watching the bonus video from Episode Duscae already gives me the same "dark" atmosphere.


I hope nobody really expected a game that's completely like this during the whole game. Nomura always said that the game will have light hearted and funny scenes as well. The overal theme from the very first presentation of versus XIII was "bonds" and that hasn't changed with XV.
 

llazy77

Warrior of Light
May 27, 2014
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This game still has nojima's plot and nomuras concept just some stuff its being changed around a little it should still be the same dark tone and all.
 
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Lulcielid

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Oct 9, 2014
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somni said:
I think the changes stem from that re-branding itself.
Changes would´ve happened even if the re-branding never happened

somni said:
(...)Being re-branded into XV caused a lot of that leeway to go out the window. Now the game has to get out the door on a tight fiscal schedule. And any necessary sacrifices will be made to meat that deadline.
Under what proof do you claim that the leeway went out the window ? Because i don´t see SE putting any kind of restriction on XV. Re-branding or not the game would still have a deadline to meet. Could you elaborate on the notion of "making sacrificies=meeting deadlines on time" ?

somni said:
The game itself seems to have shifted in tone too. I definitely recall the Versus XIII footage being darker and moodier, both aesthetically & tonally. Which makes me think that the game originally was also going for M rating, much like Type-0. Little details like how characters and enemies bled in battle affirmed that. I'm a bit sour, but still look forward to FFXV a great deal. I just hope they don't make any other drastic changes, like removing airship traversal or the environmental damage. Well they did remove one of the game's key main characters after 9 years (because reasons), so who knows at this point.
If you ask me i barely see a shift in tome , minus that XV ups it by a slight margin, like in compare this fight in this trailer from VersusXIII:
from 3:32 to 3:57
Now a trailer from XV:
and surprise XV shows something that VersusXIII hasn´t done before, showing soldiers bleeding when hit by swords during gameplay, VXIII(2006) only did it in a prerendered CG cutscene, though to be honest i don´t care too much about present/absent of blood.
Also this tells to me the tone is still there:
Now if you say that the post TGS2014 trailers shows a shift in tome, i´d say thats something that was already in the game but never revealed before, as well as being XV´s themes of bond and brotherhood, which by the way are the words used to describe VXIII themes when it was revealed back in 2006.

I think thats all, now lets wait for the news and updates from Gamescom. Peace.
 

APZonerunner

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Jul 25, 2013
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Changes would´ve happened even if the re-branding never happened
I think you're both correct, really. Changes absolutely would have happened if the re-branding never happened, but as a result of the rebrand they're now more severe. A great example is that when Versus was announced, people like Nomura, Hashimoto and Square Enix PR in general indicated it'd be a higher-rated title, and probably feature the sort of material that would net a M rating in the US. This was demonstrated fairly well in the first trailer, which had splashes of blood FF would never usually touch - compare this to, say, the opening of FF12, where Rasler's death is bloodless and very sanitary indeed.

One of the results of this being a 'main line' game with main-line appeal is that this game now must target a PEGI 16/T rating - something fairly different from what was initially envisioned and talked about.

Similarly, Tabata is straight up on the record saying one of the reasons they simplified the battle system down from weapon switching & party member switching is because as a main-line FF they need to have concessions for players who don't like action or are more used to turn-based action, and are FF fans for that reason.

So, yes - the FF15 branding had a profound impact. However, no game would've made it through development untouched and so Versus would've changed, but no doubt less heavily, before release.

Under what proof do you claim that the leeway went out the window ? Because i don´t see SE putting any kind of restriction on XV. Re-branding or not the game would still have a deadline to meet. Could you elaborate on the notion of "making sacrificies=meeting deadlines on time" ?

I don't think leeway went out of the window in a timing sense because it's 15 - even if the game hadn't been turned into 15 I think at this point the pressure would be on to make a return on its costly investment. However, as described above - I think being a main-line FF imparts certain pressures and expectations that have changed what the game is.

I think the tonal change is fairly evident, to be honest - it's most plain in Noctis' characterisation, that's the easiest place to spot it; I think it's nuts to deny it. But it is what it is. It's where we're at. No point in dwelling.
 
Oct 8, 2014
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So Stella is no more, huh? DAMN YOU SQUARE! HOW DARE YOU SCRAP MY WAIFU!!!


So i haven't been on here in a minute, is there any new info on Luna or her role in the story?
 

Azuardo

Keyblade Master
Moderator
Sep 26, 2013
755
279
Random quick question:

Will the 2.0 update to the XV demo be an automatic update? I still haven't played the demo properly yet, and I want to get through it before 2.0 comes out. But I don't want the update to be applied automatically. I know I could keep the PS4 offline or cancel the download, but just want to double check if we have any info on this.
 

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
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Random quick question:

Will the 2.0 update to the XV demo be an automatic update? I still haven't played the demo properly yet, and I want to get through it before 2.0 comes out. But I don't want the update to be applied automatically. I know I could keep the PS4 offline or cancel the download, but just want to double check if we have any info on this.
No confirmation regarding that.
 

Azuardo

Keyblade Master
Moderator
Sep 26, 2013
755
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I think I'd prefer some minor update to occur to then allow you to choose to download the full update from inside the game itself on the title screen. Allow users to have the choice to update it or not. I'm trying to run through the demo now in case I can't cancel the update.

Immediate annoyance is not having the run button on the L2 or R2 triggers. I prefer the LRFF13 setup so that I can have my right thumb free to do whatever whilst running with a trigger.
 

Azuardo

Keyblade Master
Moderator
Sep 26, 2013
755
279
Unless I'm missing something or something unlocks later on, they do absolutely nothing.

The focus stuff seems to be on L1/R1.
 
I think I'd prefer some minor update to occur to then allow you to choose to download the full update from inside the game itself on the title screen. Allow users to have the choice to update it or not. I'm trying to run through the demo now in case I can't cancel the update.

Immediate annoyance is not having the run button on the L2 or R2 triggers. I prefer the LRFF13 setup so that I can have my right thumb free to do whatever whilst running with a trigger.
You could try L3. If I understand correctly, you're currently trying to sprint by holding the attack button, right?
 
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Azuardo

Keyblade Master
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Sep 26, 2013
755
279
You could try L3. If I understand correctly, you're currently trying to sprint by holding the attack button, right?
Hey, that works, thanks. I don't like it as much as holding triggers to comfortably and easily stop and start when I want, but it's a solution that lets me spin the camera with my right thumb now.

-sigh- What was wrong with the LR setup? Nothing.
 
Found this reaction video to be pretty funny. Hope 2.0 lives up to that hype lol.

Hey, that works, thanks. I don't like it as much as holding triggers to comfortably and easily stop and start when I want, but it's a solution that lets me spin the camera with my right thumb now.

-sigh- What was wrong with the LR setup? Nothing.
I don't actually have trouble with button-based sprinting, since I hold controllers in a claw-like position, but yeah, LR's setup was pretty nice. I tried to do some speedrunning with that game and it felt pretty comfortable as opposed to other games with similar running mechanics, such as the Souls games.
 
I don't understand reaction videos. "Hey guys, watch me watch this video".

Why...?
There are many possible reasons to why.

One could say that people enjoy drama and things which emulate a change from what is considered a normal routine in life.

Another could say that a scene of genuine surprise stands out more prominently, and is thus entertaining, in a culture that has seemed to trivialise the act of knowing.

It's also possible to say that it is simply a genre different from movies or television. People seek escapes from reality, but do so by watching authentic scenes of people doing uncommon things rather than the imaginative creation of a director and his team.

Definitely a question worth asking, but there's no clear answer. The phenomenon is relatively new to all of us, so I'm sure there are people doing intensive studies into it as we speak.
 

llazy77

Warrior of Light
May 27, 2014
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Im curious about that other demo Tabata promised a little back where it would be free to all users Where you could control the day and night cycle and use magic. You guys think that will ever be released?