Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

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ptdebate
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Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby ptdebate » November 18th, 2016, 8:47 pm

The game that is now known as Final Fantasy XV was announced in May of 2006. I was a teenager in my junior year of high school. Final Fantasy XV is finally about to be released. Now I am in the second half of my 20s.

There are three demos, an animated series, a short film and a feature-length film, but still no game. That all changes on November 29. For those who haven't been following but are interested in getting up to speed, Eurogamer did a short video primer on YouTube chronicling every important event in the FFXV universe leading up to the beginning of the game.

I've played all three demos and obsessed over every bit of material relating to FFXV. You don't need to do that to enjoy the game though. Granted, I've only had the opportunity to play the first few hours, but what I've seen so far leads me to believe that this will be a terrific time.

Who else is excited for this game? Anyone just now hearing about it? I know a good deal of random info about it so far so if you're on the fence, feel free to ask me!

David
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby David » November 20th, 2016, 7:13 pm

I'm a reformed Final Fantasy fan, loving FF4-9, and being lukewarm on everything since. FF10 was great at the time, but after playing the remastered version and not being able to stomach more than three hours of it I can't say I enjoy it anymore. Both online titles (11 and 14) didn't move the meter for me, and FF12 I didn't even play. FF13 was okay - I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.

And now nothing about FF15 looks good to me.

I played the demo that came out earlier this year and hated it. I was reading that the game is supposedly much better than the demo, but I'm still skeptical. The cast is the most boring looking cast in a Final Fantasy ever. Great, four dudes in their late teens on a road trip. The battle system looks like Kingdom Hearts, which I'm also not to keen on.

I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm not as into JRPGs anymore, or because Persona 3/4 were so much better than any other JRPG in recent years (IMO) that they ruined this game for me. If you can sell me on it I'm all ears. I WANT to like it, if only because I care about the series, and if I'm being honest if the reviews are halfway decent I'll probably end up getting it anyways.

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JustLikeHeaven
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby JustLikeHeaven » November 21st, 2016, 8:38 pm

I will probably get this game at some point...maybe the week it comes out. Not sure.

I'm not really all that hyped up for it. To me this game is Final Fantasy in name only. I give Square Enix credit for evolving the franchise past it's 8-bit and 16-bit roots, but it has gotten to the point where it barely resembles the original series in any way. Just because it has the same names of spells, Cid, Chocobos, and other things fans expect doesn't mean it's Final Fantasy. For me the series died when creator and visionary, Hironobu Sakaguchi stopped making them. So Final Fantasy IX was the last TRULY great game in the series. It was also the last time there was anything even remotely "Fantasy" in the game.

I miss the old games where your party would be a band of people you REALLY cared about and could be anything from Ninja's, reformed Knights, or some sort of weird creature. Now they painstakingly make the characters these anime inspired pretty boys. Remember how friggin' cool Barrett was in FFVII? Or how awesome it was to have Mog in your party in FFIII/VI? The games had personality and with zero spoken dialogue made you feel connected to both the world and the characters in it.

The more Square tries to cater to Western audiences by abandoning their classic JRPG roots of the series, the less impressive the games become. I also agree with David that Persona has taken over the crown as the new JRPG franchise to beat. I'm honestly MUCH more excited for Persona 5.

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ptdebate
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby ptdebate » November 25th, 2016, 10:21 pm

David wrote:And now nothing about FF15 looks good to me.

I played the demo that came out earlier this year and hated it. I was reading that the game is supposedly much better than the demo, but I'm still skeptical. The cast is the most boring looking cast in a Final Fantasy ever. Great, four dudes in their late teens on a road trip. The battle system looks like Kingdom Hearts, which I'm also not to keen on.


Is that the Platinum Demo you're referring to? Because having played a semi-final version of the game, I can say that that "demo" (if it can be called one) is a pretty poor representation of the final game. I too was pretty disappointed with the switch to a real-time battle system but I enjoy it for what it is. Final Fantasy has always scratched this itch I have for something in between a tactical game and an action-adventure. Since the first two demos they've added a function to FFXV called "wait mode" that allows you to pause the action and decide your next move. The combat, however, is still more-or-less like a more polished, strategic spin on Kingdom Hearts. It's not traditional, but it does have a nice feel to it.

JustLikeHeaven wrote:I miss the old games where your party would be a band of people you REALLY cared about and could be anything from Ninja's, reformed Knights, or some sort of weird creature. Now they painstakingly make the characters these anime inspired pretty boys. Remember how friggin' cool Barrett was in FFVII?


The cast is more interesting than you might believe at first glance. They did a lot to flesh out the main characters in a miniseries released prior to the game. The way the personalities play off of one another is at times very entertaining. I felt like group chemistry was pretty low in VII outside of the main four (Barrett, Tifa, Cloud, and Aeris); I believe reducing the party to four was a studied move. There's only so much you can do to develop a huge cast and make them all feel like fully-realized characters. Final Fantasy XIII's storytelling felt scatterbrained because of this.

If there is one term I could use to boil down FFXV's style it's "naturalistic." The way magic looks and behaves, the mundanity of the setting, and the worldly inspirations of the character and environment design all contribute to a sense that this is some weird alternate version of reality rather than a complete fantasy. Final Fantasy VIII approached this idea in certain ways but lacked the points of distinction that FFVII's world had--a real sense of "place" everywhere you went.

Side note--the summons in FFXV restore the sense of grandiosity that I think has been gone for a while. These are perhaps the most awe-inspiring summons ever.

Now to the most important question: does this feel like a Final Fantasy? I definitely feel that it captures the essence of what this series is about, even if the trappings seem different. The director is quoted as having said that Final Fantasy VI is his favorite and I believe we have the darker tone of FFXV's story to thank for that. There's also a lot of levity in the main characters' interactions that reminds me of characters like Locke, Sabin, and from FFVI.

I'm reserving enthusiasm a little, but I'm also very excited.

David
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby David » November 29th, 2016, 10:12 am

I bought the game over the weekend for Xbox One for $30. I would've preferred to play on Playstation since I associate the franchise with it, but I'm not gonna complain getting it half price. Reviews are looking great, with most negative talking points revolving around the half-baked story. I read that the story can be confusing, especially if you didn't watch the accompanying move Kingsglaive and an anime series. There's no chance I'm watching either, so hopefully I'll be able to piece everything together. I don't know if a game can ever live up to a ten year development cycle (...Last Guardian) but this one looks like a success.

Alucard1191
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby Alucard1191 » November 29th, 2016, 11:46 am

Add me to the list of "I liked Final Fantasy before FFX" ranks. I genuinely love FFs 1-8, (the actual 3rd was never released in english, so I haven't played that one, but I have 1-2 on PS, as well as 5. (I bought them back in the 90's when they were re-releasing them.) I also played FF7 somewhat recently, (last year) and found it was still fun. I really feel the series jumped the shark though with X and I've never been able to go back. While X itself isn't TOO bad, the fact that it was the only major game to actually GET a sequel, and a HORRIBLE one that was more or less based on teenage boys masturbation habits. (all the 3 female characters that would 'job change' by changing into kinky revealing clothing.)

Then there was the MMO one, and by that point, squaresoft was lost to me. I don't pay crazy attention to the video game world anymore, I'm married and don't have the time or energy, so maybe I'm missing some hidden gem Square's made lately, but I really feel that company has lost it's mojo since the 90's and early 2000's.

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ptdebate
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby ptdebate » November 29th, 2016, 1:02 pm

David wrote:I bought the game over the weekend for Xbox One for $30.


How did you manage that? I feel like a fool for preordering it at $60! :P

I'll start playing it today so let's exchange notes!

David
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Re: Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XV

Postby David » November 29th, 2016, 8:42 pm

ptdebate wrote:
David wrote:I bought the game over the weekend for Xbox One for $30.


How did you manage that? I feel like a fool for preordering it at $60! :P

I'll start playing it today so let's exchange notes!


Newegg had a deal for the Xbox version...but I got impatient today and just bought it on PS4. Played about an hour and a half. Characters seem less douchey than they initially looked. I think I'll grow to like them a lot. Game runs fine. Combat seems a little simple, but fun. The one thing I wish I could do is drive the car wherever I want like an open world racing game. They keep you pretty much on rails, and when I tried to crash head-on with another car it braked automatically and wouldn't let me. I'll probably use the auto-drive and listen to the old Final Fantasy soundtracks. I live that they put those in there!


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