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Caves of Narshe Forums > General Squenix Gaming > Final Fantasy XV - How is it playing?

Posted by: Tidu-who 30th November 2016 00:14

With the game out, I figure we should have a place to talk about how the game is and what everyone's impressions are.

My first impression:

Jeez, this 9.4 gig Day One patch says it will take my PS4 up to 4 hours to download. Guess I won't be playing much tonight.

I've read a lot of reviews, and the game sounds great. Happy playing!

Edit: Well, 48 views later and not a single post, so I'm guessing it's not playing much at all around yonder.

My initial battle impressions:

Holy wow is there a lot of enemies on the screen at once. It's hard for me to process all of it. I'm still at the start, after facing my first story battles. I accidentally veered off to explore and a pack of wolves turned into a pack of birds, and just never ending stuff flying everywhere. I lasted 10 minutes, killed at least 15 enemies, all my teammates died, and I finally succumbed. I read somewhere that when you leave the red ring, you lose all the progress you had. So had I run away I would have lost all 15 of those kills...so I tried lasting myself with warp blading around. Oh well. Good first melee.

Posted by: Rangers51 1st December 2016 01:16

I didn't have a machine to play it on until last night, and I don't think I'm getting it until Christmas. I'd be happy to share thoughts if I was able to have any.

Posted by: Tidu-who 1st December 2016 13:34

Thus far, my absolute favorite thing is that they included all the past FF soundtracks. Cruising down the highway with the Highwind Theme from FF7 is just oozing with nostalgia. It's making me remember scenes from the past games that I haven't thought about in years. Such an awesome inclusion. I am really looking forward to getting the Ragnarok theme Ride On from FF8.

Battling is fun. Still hectic, but getting the hang of it. So far this is a VERY fun game.

Posted by: Rangers51 1st December 2016 15:45

I got a text from a friend late last night that read:

"Prompto just whistled the FF victory fanfare after a battle and now this is my game of the year"

So, I'm sold.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 2nd December 2016 20:04

Quote (Tidu-who @ 1st December 2016 14:34)

Well, this sounds utterly incredible. I cannot wait.

Quote (Rangers51)

I got a text from a friend late last night that read:

"Prompto just whistled the FF victory fanfare after a battle and now this is my game of the year"

So, I'm sold.

Yeah, I think I experienced this on the demo - or something like it? I know I did that mini-review but I deliberately wanted to avoid mentioning things like this that I noticed so that everybody else could get the same SQUEEEEEEEEEEE moment I did.

God, I can't wait to play it this weekend...(I've not been able to yet)

Posted by: TrueBOSS 4th December 2016 04:26

I have it. But I work this weekend. Won't be able to crack it open until monday. I could pop it open tomorrow night but I know I'm going to pull an all nighter if I do that....
I'm just glad to hear this game isn't bombing or performing very averagely.

Posted by: Shotgunnova 4th December 2016 13:54

Don't have the game myself, but the "cruising around on highways listening to old themes" stuff sounded pretty awesome. Heard that you're not actually controlling the car most of the time, though -- any truth to that?

Posted by: Elena99 4th December 2016 14:06

Hi! I haven't posted here in a very long time. Anyway, I have a FFXV question that googling couldn't help me with.

So I've started a game on the PS4. If my boyfriend wants to play too, can he create his own file? Or does it only allow one game at a time? I noticed that mine is using 3 spots, and every time I save, it saves in all three. I assume this is something to do with auto-save.

Posted by: Elena99 4th December 2016 14:11

Quote

I'm at a point in the second chapter now where I've been given free reign over the wheels. Also, at the beginning when you first get to drive the car again, I was able to. I noticed that soon after it switched to auto only, but I think it's just in certain cases (I was happy to let it go on auto).

Posted by: Tidu-who 4th December 2016 18:45

Quote (Elena99 @ 4th December 2016 09:11)

Quote

Same here, I got the Road Trip AP and EXP boosts right away, and so when I am busy with other things, I can multi-task and just drive from one side of the map to the other and let AP and EXP rack up. As far as the auto versus manual drive: Early on after Cid & Cindy set you on your way, Ignis gives you the reigns if you like to get a "lay of the land". So you have the option to go auto or manual, that is, until you go to the second rest stop where you meet the dog. After that scene, it goes back to Ignis driving during the day only until later on in Chapter 2 or 3. You can drive manually at night though. But Iron Giants appear.

Posted by: No-Name 5th December 2016 07:27

I am super excited to play this game. I just finished watching the promo anime and yeah count me in.

Posted by: TrueBOSS 6th December 2016 00:00

Quote (Elena99 @ 4th December 2016 08:06)

Have him create a separate profile on the console from your own. From there he can have his own file. This new profile doesn't need to be connected or verified by psn but you guys won't be able to do anything involving psn until you do.

Didn't want to double post so I added onto this comment. I have since played the game now. Love the addition to the older soundtracks to the car. Rocking, "Inside the Giant" from FF IV right now. The game feels like an improved version of XII gameplay wise. It even has the hunts system from that game too.
I am worried about the battle system never getting more interesting as the game progresses. No new characters or classes or crazy new techniques. Hopefully. I'm proven wrong.

Posted by: Tidu-who 8th December 2016 00:59

I can say that the Magic is getting pretty interesting with all of these combinations you can do by throwing in items or loot. Adding status effects, positive or negative. I'm still not quite sure how all this quad cast chaining stuff works. Since there is so little out therefi strategy wise, I am just mixing and matching and seeing what happens.

It's gotten more fun as time has gone on for me. About 18 hours in.

Here's an easy way to get AP which is hard to come by for the most part:

Wait for magitrk soldier drops, hit them with a fire spell to drop their HP, and then just Warp strike the heck out of the screen. Try to get as many free AP upgrades as you can first thing when you start the game too. Driving especially, chocobo is great as well now that I finally have them. Looking forward to chocobo races.

Posted by: TrueBOSS 10th December 2016 19:54

Quote (Tidu-who @ 7th December 2016 18:59)

I agree with you with the magic. I've gotten further in the game and it is really cool. I'm a little bothered by the fact that they limited the elements to ONLY fire, ice, and lightning. (I read somewhere that shadow is an element too. Just not in your magic, but i'm not sure about that as of yet) Either way. That is limiting on some cool spells for water, earth, etc. by axing those. The Quad casts are completely random if you haven't tried them yet. It randomly casts spells from the elements you used to make it.

Another good way to get ap is by fishing easy fish. Everyone will give you 1 ap. Tidu's magiteck method is faster but isn't available as soon as fishing is.

I do have a couple videos I've recorded. I'll probably upload them here soon to show off the combat.

Posted by: Elena99 12th December 2016 00:10

Quote

Thank you, TrueBOSS.

I'm still really enjoying this game, it's so much fun. I also like to see the little touches from previous games, like how Prompto has an Autocrossbow, Bioblaster, Chainsaw, etc.

Posted by: His Shadow 12th December 2016 16:35

As of this moment I am 45 hours in on chapter 7 for a while I didn't do the main story quests until I realized I am going to miss out on summons if I don't jump in.

So far the game is great the journey is everything.

As someone from a big cIty and remember traveling back and forth from Chicago to michagain remembering all the stops in between makes me reminisce of that. So far everything is massive from climbing a mountain to taking a sea side tour.

Being out of my car and enjoying the environment is trying a pleasure.

The main character Noctis is a hero I've been wanting in a final fantasy hero for a while.

Iggy is unique and the food he makes looks mouth watering juicy.

Gladio is your average tough guy

Prompto is literally what every other recent ff hero looks and sounds like. He is annoying and the worst part of my trope but he does fit in, in my merry band.

The new patches coming soon will be interesting battling Square's CEO.

Squares new avatar ideas is interesting as well

Posted by: TrueBOSS 18th December 2016 05:52

Here's a video I recorded back when I was way green in the game. True's First Insane Boss Fight (True Vs Bandersnatch) On Final Fantasy XV
I definitely am way better now but not knowing how to make this fight easier was really fun. Btw, there are no spoilers in this video but my MOJTV crew and I are commentating as the fight occurs.
Anyways, I am enjoying the heck out of this game. Combat never gets dull for me. I enjoy exploring hoping to find some new crazy monster to fight. I've recorded all my favorite fights so far to throw up on my channel sometime.
I do enjoy the sound tracks (for those of you yet to play, the game gives you FF I, VII, and XIII at the start) which kind of upset me. It seems I and VII's track didn't get a lot of songs both of which containing songs that I felt should have made the game. (I not getting it's boss theme or final boss fight with Chaos. VII didn't get Cid's Theme, Jenova's Final Boss Fight Theme, The Mako Reactor Theme, or the Turk's Theme). The rest of the tracks seemed to have had more thought into what songs made or didn't make the game. I am curious about how many sound tracks are on this game. I figured it'd only be the numbered games but I found the tracks for Dissidia and Dissidia Duo the other day.
It's not a big deal. Just a peeve that was triggered for me.

I've been thinking about making a fishing guide for the game since I'm good at digging up info and every guide I've found is missing info that another did have. Anyone interested?

Posted by: Tidu-who 29th December 2016 01:21

A lot of spot on thoughts here that I agree with.

1.) The FF7 music is lacking! There are so many iconic themes they left out, as TrueBOSS mentioned. Cid's, the Turk's theme, and tons of others. I mean, it's all the background music that really puts me back into FF7. I don't need One Winged Angel, everyone's heard it 50,000 times. I'm sad that they didn't include more of the soundtrack.

2.) Combat is still great. I am 65 hours in, and I have so many magic flasks that I can bank Dualcasts, Tricasts, Quintcasts and scan the enemy HP to know what I need to use. 18,000 HP? Dualcast of 9999 coming right up.

3.) The Expericast makes EXP too easy. Rare Coins, Debased Coins, etc are everywhere in the game. And once you learn how they work i.e. ALL you have to do is SPAM them, nothing else matters, not how many enemies you face or level or anything, it's just a fixed amount of EXP per cast...you can really break the game quite easily. I shouldn't have 16 Rare coins, I should have like 2 or 3. Way too powerful.

4.) Prompto STFU. By Chapter 8, he starts asking you to pull over all the time to take a picture, or for the 8,000th time "Hey, who do you want me to take pictures of?" I often set the car on Auto, know that it will be about a 6 minute drive, and then go make coffee or something else. Prompto's stupid prompts automatically answer Yes by default and so Ignis will instead drive the car to where Prompto wants to go instead of the Quest you had queued in that was an 8 minute drive. Very dumb!

5.) Costlemark Tower is glitched, oh so badly glitched. I had to do the dungeon numerous times. There is literature online about the bad glitches everywhere. Here is my advice as it still hasn't been fixed: Finish it in one sitting. It pretends to save your progress if you leave and come back. I think that is the source of the glitches. Takes about 3 hours. Just remember to do it all in one sitting.

Posted by: TrueBOSS 29th December 2016 09:15

Thank my good god that I did 5 all in one sitting then. Had no idea that maze of a dungeon was glitched.

Lol, what about when you're fishing and Gladiolus is constantly telling you to fix your line if it's under half health. Or both Gladiolus and Prompto complain about the size of the fish you're fishing. Sometimes they say funny or cool things or even help but they complain WAY too much in this instance. I haven't screwed around with the experimagic but I did see it was a thing. Might use that to get from 80 to 99 (or 100, which ever this game caps at). Been busy making a fishing guide since the ones online suck with one on Redit being pretty decent but definitely could be done better.

I'm upset with the summoning algorithm around Titan. It appears few people have ever summoned him and I wanna see him! I've seen Ramuh a ridiculous number of times and both Leviathan and Shiva once. But NO TITAN! I'm also upset at how they handled Ifrit but I'll leave that there since more would enter spoiler territory.

Posted by: Tidu-who 29th December 2016 17:50

Quote (TrueBOSS @ 29th December 2016 04:15)

Summoning is indeed difficult and confusing. I know for a fact that I had a chance at Titan, because he was the only one I had and the Summon button appeared, telling me to hit L2. Which I did. And again. And then it went away, then it came back. So I hit L2...and nothing. What the heck? The same thing happened recently which turned out to be Ramuh, but thankfully after the 4th or 5th time I hit L2 it finally happened.

Fishing comments do get annoying. The line is fine, I'm fishing for scrub fish. Stop talking about King's Knight Prompto. The one comment I like is Ignis yelling out "Turn the rod toward the fish! [you idiot]"

The other thing that upset me about Magic is that Status effects are directly linked with it. At first, you think it would be a bonus to be able to throw in some Stop, Death, or a Healcast. But in practice, I find that because of the long cooldown required between casting a spell, it's really only worth it to go full on Strong damage and just try to kill whatever it is with Quintcasts.

A lot of tough enemies will have say 80,000 HP, and your regular sword swipes (even using a weapon they are weak against) with be doing 500-800 damage per swipe. Meanwhile, I can do an instant 50,000 of damage from a strong Quintcast of Blizzara. Why waste time with status effects when you can just reap damage with Magic? Also, Magic is a MUST for crowd control. The battles with 2 or 3 Red Giants, and then 20+ scrub enemies, it sure is nice to be able to just throw down an AOE magic and kill all 20 of the scrubs from your screen instantly.

Posted by: Tidu-who 4th January 2017 13:52

Fnished. Just guh. Basically the whole second half once you set sail for the other continent is frustrating, because there are hints EVERYWHERE that this was unfinished. Altissia is barely seen at all, compared to the large map. The Regalia is referenced for it, but never used. The entire imperial continent seems like it was meant to be explored as well, but is not. Insomnia, the list goes on and on.

All in all, fantastic game. Just felt like the majority of the gameplay was polished and worked in full, and then the rest had large intentions but had to be rushed and unfinished.

Actual Plot Point complaints (includes minor spoilers)

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Chapter 12-15 leaves so much unexplained and so much happens offscreen. I want motivations explained, I want cutscenes showing betrayals, they did this at the start especially with the empire...why did they abandon the use of cutscenes to show what was going on outside of our characters??

In Chapter 15, the time lapse is not explained why. All of the NPCs that you came to know and love, you don't get to see. You just hear a two sentence snippet about what they are doing. I want to see them! I want to explore that world, do more quests. Again, it feels like that world was originally meant to be explored, but nothing.

Why is Umbra a magic time traveling dog? They never explain it, other than she is hanging with Gentitia who says one cryptic line and that's it. What about Pryna, did she have powers too? Are they somehow Astrals?

Lastly, it's not until after you boot up the game again afterwards and play "back in the past" that you really get depressed and feel for the characters, particularly Ignis for me.

Really really liked how they did the end credits.

Specific story complaints, Major Spoilers, DO NOT READ IF NOT FINISHED WITH GAME:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Where do I start? How about the Empire completely made irrelevant? They make it out like the Emperor is this bad guy that you will see or hear from or have to oppose and...oh nm. Secretly offscreen, Ardyn turned everybody to daemons.

While it sounds like Ardyn got a raw deal from Bahamut, that while he was saving people back his day by absorbing their daemon energy, and so Bahamut said he was unpure and couldn't be the true King...That sucks and all. But 1.) Why does that make him end up becoming immortal and never dying? 2.) Why is he instead motivated to act like he did? There seemed to still be good in him. I thought they were going to let Noctis put him finally at peace, and in that afterrealm it again seemed like he had redeeming qualities and was ready to thank Noct, and instead he goes daemon face and they have to perma-kill him. Idk, it just wasn't fleshed out. And they REALLY missed out on a scene with him betraying the Empreror or Ravus, or something. I mean come on. You show up in Niflheim and in 10 seconds it's "Oh, that whole game and plot? Yea Ardyn turned everybody to daemons. K back to Ardyn now".

After Noct meets Bahamut, he doesn't say anything about going into exile or whatever for 10 years. And yet he wakes up on that island, doesn't know that 10 years have gone by, meanwhile all of his friends and everyone are acting like "Oh yeah, 10 years gone" like it was expected for him to go away. How did those people not lose hope? Everything was fuckt, and instead of getting a "We all thought you were gone forever! Where have you been?? Why did you leave us?!?" you basically get a "Man it's good to have you back, was wondering where you were. Yea, the world went to shit. Kinda sucks or whatever. Want to go to Insomnia now?"

And I'm not even going to touch just how damn depressing the ending is. Sigh. I still can't decide definitively if your friends all died as well, with that Ardyn after realm scene. The end credits with all the pictures you took was SO GOOD. Very glad they included that, because I was questioning why they only allowed 150 photos to be saved. I found the "one and only one" picture part hilarious when I was going through the potential options. While Iris would have been funny to have for the end Noct / Luna scene, the idea of taking the Fat Guy from Lost that is in Lestallum...just choosing a picture of him over all of your entire journey and your friends lol. Seeing him there just rips me up lol.

Anyway, this game could have been EPIC. It makes me so mad how rushed and unfinished the last 4-5 chapters felt!

Posted by: No-Name 4th January 2017 23:07

Got the game for christmas, but haven't had time to even load into the ps4 because I had a convention to go to (which was lit af bruh) but if l have time, I'll mess with it tonight. I watched the OVAs and love the characters so far. I know I'll love it and am super excited to see how it plays.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 7th January 2017 14:16

Quote (Tidu-who @ 4th January 2017 14:52)

Tidu, thanks for your posts on this thread - been reading them with interest. Once I've completed the game, I'll come back and read your spoilers - though don't hold your breath, I'm not getting to play as much as I'd like these days.

It saddens me to hear this about the unfinished elements, but at the same time it doesn't surprise me given the game's history. Slightly worrying that this is becoming a trend - the struggle between the auteur to complete his masterpiece and the business wanting to make a return on its commercial product sooner rather than later. MGSV undeniably suffered for the same reason.

Having said that, when it comes to this game - if the areas you mention had been developed and finished as you suspect was intended, surely the game would have been enormously vast? Not that I'm complaining in the slightest, but to my mind it would make it larger than any other game, by some way?

Posted by: Elena99 8th January 2017 14:52

I finished the game, too! I did like it overall, though the ending confused me. A co-worker of mine thinks that there will be a sequel game.

I played this game in kind of a weird way. Because I'm bilingual and I wanted a chance to listen in French, I had French audio and English text. I recommend doing this if you can, it's funny to see the differences sometimes (other language options include Japanese, Spanish and German I think). Sometimes though, I missed something completely because I didn't quite understand the French and the English subtitles, which are tiny, went by way too fast.

Spoilers below:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I was under the impression that Gentiatia is actually Shiva, and she chose to enter the human world as Gentiatia to observe and guide Luna and Noctis. The scene on the train in the icy region showed her changing forms, which is why I think this. For Umbra, is he perhaps Gentiatia's companion who was also "watching over" Noctis and Luna? If this is true, it would make sense to me, at least, why he has time traveling abilities (as much as anything else, anyway). I really like the time traveling thing, because it means that I can go back in time to finish side quests.

Now at the very end, there was a logo change. It went from being Luna in a state of repose to Luna and Noctis. My co-worker thinks that this signifies that there will be a second game. We also think that that end scene was the two of them in the Crystal world, which is their afterlife, and they are dead. I think Ignis, Prompto and Gladiolus went on to finish their lives and help rebuild the world. Who knows what happened to the royal line in that case, though. I would love to see that question answered, and I'm hoping there will be a sequel game to address this.

I found Altissia to be beautiful but really hard to navigate, even when you do figure out how to use the gondolas on the canal system.

Next time I play, I'll do English/English for audio and text and see if my impressions hold up.

Posted by: Tidu-who 8th January 2017 16:13

Stiltzkin - Absolutely. Had they incorporated explorable elements and sidequests to the other continent, more on Altissa, and more near the end of the game, the game would have been incredibly vast. I am not necessarily asking for a fully fleshed out world like your starting continent. But give me SOMETHING. It's just this linear line that is quick quick and...done.

Elena - You are correct in your spoiler about Gentiatia.

My thoughts on the ending:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

While there is consensus that Noct and Luna are in the afterlife, there is a standing argument regarding whether the Crew lived or died. They were getting ready to take on some Iron Giants as Noct went to the Throne Room, so you wouldn't think that they would die from it, especially after he told them to "Stand Tall". However, they do appear in that Purgatory realm attacking Ardyn alonside Noct. Most belief this just to be symbolism that is common to Japanese anime/games that they are "with" him.

Some believe that the empty chairs at the campsite at the very end represents more than just the end of the journey, but that they are empty because all of them died. I do not believe there will be a sequel, I think it's all wrapped up. Noct and Luna, sadly, are dead. The friends I'm not sure, but I don't know how they could make a sequel with just them. There's no business left unfinished.

Umbra started as a go-between for Luna and Noct. It was Luna's dog. She also had a white one named Pryna who we never really saw in detail. The only time we see Umbra with Gentiana is at Altissa at the hotel. I can't even imagine my own reason for why Umbra would have time-traveling powers other than ok...she may have been somewhat connected to Shiva. Okay....? Make Umbra an astral like Gentiana or something! Give me some actual reason!

Complaint: The whole reason for the covenants and the astrals was to fight against the empire. Well the empire didn't even exist by the time they got to the Imperial city, everyone was gone. So then suddenly Bahamut and Shiva show up to help fight Ifrit? And by the way, the only way you would know anything about Ifrit's history (that he rebelled against the other astrals and hated humankind) is through reading those Cosmology books. But there isn't even a HINT why Ifrit was hanging with Ardyn. Wtf? Say somewhere that ARDYN caused Ifrit to rebel or something. Give me something. There's just so many things that happen for no reason. The point is, to defeat Ardyn, all he needed was the Weapons from the Alter, the power of the Kings who came before. That was it. He didn't need the astrals in the end at all. Other than a contrived "Well, he needed the blessing of the astrals first, because otherwise the crystal and the old kings wouldn't accept him". I thought the Astrals were actually going to do something. Instead, Bahamut who by the way is supposed to be the king badass of everything, attacks Ifrit and can't even beat him, which is pathetic, and then Shiva comes in to finish him off later. It was like a "Well, we haven't used Bahamut yet, I guess we can have him kill his old nemesis or something". But fighting Ifrit WAS NEVER Noctis' mission. There was never any buildup whatsoever to a battle with Ifrit. There was nothing. The end of the game was just a giant retcon.

Speaking of which, holy crap Prompto. What was the point of this "Prompto is actually a Magitek" reveal?? There was no further background, no nothing. He just says it, everyone says "hey don't feel bad, no big" and he opens a door or two. And then it's never brought up again. There was no SIGNIFICANCE behind the reveal. I was expecting something like he was actually an undercover spy for the empire, and he was going to feel terrible for betraying guys who became his real friends, but that was his mission since childhood. Or SOMETHING. Again, give me something. What was the point???? Just as a deus ex machina so he could open doors in the Imperial City??

Agreed completely on Altissa by the way. Incredibly difficult to navigate. Why did they make it that way? Nowhere else in the game was that confusing with ups and downs and diagonal paths.

Regarding the explorable other continent, a player used a glitch and was able to explore the whole continent, quite a sprawling landscape. Outside of possible DLC usage, it is really disappointing knowing how much was out there unused:

*Possible spoilers*:

https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xv-player-...lore-1790975993

Posted by: TrueBOSS 17th January 2017 20:15

The game was hella fun. The story does blow for the most part after boarding the boat. I'm not going to say much because you guys have said just about everything needing to be said. I'm hoping these free dlc expansions to the story will clear things up in the future.

Posted by: Kame 18th January 2017 04:28

Seems like this is a good entry in the series. I wish I had a better computer to handle the game because I don't see myself buying a new console just to play it.

Posted by: Rangers51 6th March 2017 02:14

Quote (Kame @ 17th January 2017 22:28)

Seems like this is a good entry in the series. I wish I had a better computer to handle the game because I don't see myself buying a new console just to play it.

Well, it's yet to be announced for PC, so you probably have time to go one route or the other. I have no doubt it will get a Steam release eventually, though.

I've just this morning hit the twenty-hour mark, though I must say that I have spent the vast majority of that time simply doing sidequests - I'm only far enough to be in chapter three, having just visited Lestallum for the first time. My experience in picking it up feels a great deal like Final Fantasy XIII, where it took me a good ten hours for it to sink in its hooks. I haven't adapted to the battle system yet the way I did with 13, though I think I will eventually get there.

The game plays a lot like a more polished version of Lightning Returns, I think. The active battles feel like a more complex version of LR's, but yet also somehow a bit more simple, which is something I can't quite explain. I think the targeting system and the fact that you needn't be constantly switching schema accounts for both feelings at different times. The huge number of quests that are pretty fun while simultaneously being just fetch quests also reminds me a lot of LR.

The driving from place to place is interesting, though a bit frustrating if you're trying to get more than a couple things done in a given day. Having done most of my video game driving over the last few years in GTA V, though, the actual process of driving with the lousy controls is pretty obnoxious. I let Ignis do it - it's way beneath me.

Posted by: fatman 2nd April 2017 18:18

I feel I really need to vent about this game having finished it earlier today. To start positive there's a lot about the game I enjoyed, the combat is really good fun and I enjoyed the music, especially some of the boss fight soundtracks. Graphics are of course very impressive and side quests are a lot of fun even if they're not up to The Witcher 3's standard. Noct's three companions are pretty good generally.

But I feel the game falls apart with its other important characters and the plot. I really do feel at least 50% of the game has been cut due to time constraints and it really shows. Most of the characters you come across in the game clearly signposted as being important often dissappear without a trace or are conveniently swept aside when they had only just been introduced to the player. I was waiting for the game to really pull me in and help me care about what's going on but it never gets out of first gear. Some of the plot ideas seem pretty good on paper but are so poorly executed that I struggled to care at all.

Basically it feels they put more time into to fishing mini game than making a coherent plot. I wonder if my expectations are too high and if I'm being a bit unfair or do others agree?

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 14th April 2017 14:04

I enjoyed my time with XV. Going in I wasn't expecting to become invested in a "bros roadtrip" but by the end I loved the guys and was moved by their struggle.

I have to agree that a lot of story elements felt rushed. It felt like not a lot happened for the first half of the game and then the last couple of chapters were full of exposition dumps. A lot of side characters are underdeveloped. It's especially noticeable in Chapter 14 when a bunch of side characters get mentions of what they are doing now but never appear again. One in particular is supposedly still at your current location so it's weird that you can't see or interact with them.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 7th May 2017 17:11

Well, I've finally finished the story (I spent a long time doing side quests - completed on 152hrs and lvl 91), and I've now also read the various spoiler comments in this thread. I think I agree almost entirely with Tidu's earlier spoiler bubble when talking about the final chapters and ending. I definitely don't think there will be a sequel. More importantly, I ardently believe there shouldn't be a sequel.

The second half of the game, or rather, Ch 9-ish onwards, is horribly rushed, massive plot points get skipped/forgotten/wasted, and you're left wondering how much more material was supposed to be in this game that never made it (and how truly epic the game would have been with it included - both in size and quality). And the thing is, because the game feels so rushed, the plot holes leave you wondering "well, did they have the plan to fill that hole? And if so, what was the plan!?"

There's not much more I think I can add to the understanding of the ending we've been given - in fact I probably have even more questions to add - but in what is as much closure as anything else:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I think Ardyn's motivation is relatively well covered (no worse than many other villains), and in a way I think also the Astrals' role. To me, you can see the remnants of FNC in the plot here. Like in XIII (and X too, tbf), the gods had set a course of action in motion where they had unleashed a great evil and threat upon the world (immortal Ardyn). The only solution is for a great light to be forged to cancel out the threat and restore balance. The bit I struggle with is that it's hard to see how Ardyn doesn't win - He kills Noct and destroys the crystal and rules over darkness, or he gets killed by Noct and finds peace, plus Noct and the crystal still die.

For the same reasons as everybody else, I can't decide what happen to the three remaining musketeers. I think I come down on the side that they lived. I mean, they've survived 10yrs of darkness and also somehow got out of that hangar that Noct had to abandon them in during Ch 13 - so I'm sure they aren't going down at the hands of a couple of Iron Giants. That said, an extra bit of cutscene wouldn't have gone amiss. And if they are dead, then both we and they deserved an epic cutscene of their heroic demise.

On a semi-related note, there are MANY things that happened off camera that shouldn't have - the whole Shiva-killing (hell, that's pre-game), Ignis' injury, the entire Ravus/Iedolus/Empire collapse, Noct and Luna's romance (hell, I'd settle for any reason to mourn Luna that didn't arrive posthumously), Ifrit's entire motivation/purpose ("He just hates humans" is pathetic - then why didn't he try and kill them all before? Hell, how did he even get resurrected, didn't the other 5 Astrals kill him?)...

As has been said above, why can Umbra time travel? I mean, I can invent various reasons loosely connected with Gentiana/Shiva/Oracle, but it would have been much better if they'd explained. Also, the whole go back in time to keep playing with current abilities in Ch 15 - ugh. I understand the commercial motivation for developers doing this, but it always just ruins the story for me. I mean, why? Noct is dead. End of. That said, I do agree with Tidu that it really drives home the sadness for the gang.

Prompto - just wtf!? The way the plot was gearing up I knew a twist was coming, but I was expecting something like "Prompto betrays the others as an Empire spy" or "Prompto is an unaware avatar of Bahamut/Ifrit", or even "Prompto dies falling off the train". Each of those, if delivered well, would have been a brutal gut punch. But what do we get? "Oh, btw, I'm magitek. No worries man, crack on." Furthermore, what exactly is the intended takeaway there? The official Guide states that Verstael (The Empire's almost never mentioned head scientist) is Prompto's biological father. So, is he just a Nif? Is he a Hojo/Sephiroth monster/clone/test tube baby? Is he a baby man-daemon that never got put in an MT suit for some unknown reason? Argggggghhhhh.

One more thing - why is there a Lucian King's tomb on the imperial continent?

There have been some grumbles earlier in the thread about mechanics, and I've gotta say I never really had those struggles. Altissia isn't straightforward, but it's not too bad. And I think it was deliberately designed to be like Venice (which is quite winding and maze-like) and give a bit of a riviera feel. I never struggled with summoning (though I've only ever seen the same bloody astral in battle, plot moments notwithstanding), and I think I'm very much in the minority of people who enjoyed Ch 13 (both as a plot device, but also as the gameplay wasn't as bad as I'd been led to expect), although it did drag on! I do however agree that the magic system was wasted. It's a great idea, but status effects are pointless, and I never created any spells that weren't just the three key elements.

Despite all of the above, I loved this game. Plot holes aside, the ending has laid me low, and god only knows how it would have hit me in the feels had they fleshed out the holes. It's my favourite FF for many years, and potentially a top-5 contender as far as the series goes. I just wish they'd had the time to nail it.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 7th May 2017 17:58

Apologies for the double post, but I think it's better to keep this content separate for ease of reading, so decided against editing my above post.

I've just completed the Ch 13 verse 2 (added in the March 17 patch) alternate playthrough. It adds a bit of extra information to the story - clearly an attempt to plaster over some of the plot holes. If you haven't played it, I recommend it (it's not long). You can access it direct from the main menu under "Special" with no need to play through to it.

The pertinent extra info and my key takeaways are:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

1. A cut scene to show Ravus' death, and also an effort at better explaining Ravus' change of allegiance. Still not brilliant, but almost passable. Would have been a great plot thread to have had Ravus' arc properly fleshed out - he could have been a really good foil, Seifer-esque.

2. A cut scene and boss battle with Iedolas/Foras in his daemon form. Makes it much clearer than the main run-through that he has become this daemon - and the above cut scene gives a subtle run in to it too as it shows the darkness starting to overtake Iedolas. That said, it sets him out as pretty much Gollum, obsessed with his precious crystal.

3. Some scattered radio newscasts which give more detail about the daemon outbreak obliterating the Empire. When added to the journal entries you could find laying around in the main run-through, it cements what happened to the Empire, even though it does nothing to reduce the waste of a good foe!

Posted by: Rangers51 5th June 2017 14:32

Seems like most people aren't playing this any more, at least not at CoN, but I still am. I bailed on the storyline right after the Chapter 13 addition aforementioned, to go back and start cleaning out some quests and such.

I discovered the Colosseum, which I never even noticed before because I kind of skated through Altissia first time around. My daughter and I have become disturbingly interested in what is essentially video game cockfighting, and over the last five hours or so of gameplay, I've managed to go from 1000 medals to 200k, of which I've spent half so far on the Turbocharger and the special fishing reel.

Speaking of Regalia upgrades, how many people here have actually converted the car to be able to fly? I've avoided spoilers on the actual methodology, though I assume that it involves the Colosseum prize chart. It seems like if that's the case, it's a pretty pointless upgrade, which I guess I should have expected...

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 6th June 2017 00:43

I go back to XV each week for the timed quests. I've still got some grindy things to do like catching all the fish but I'll be busy with XIV's new expansion soon so I don't think I'll finish those goals for awhile.

I've gotten the flying upgrade. It doesn't have anything to do with the colosseum.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 7th June 2017 18:57

I still play it pretty consistently, partly for the weekly stuff like ILoveMoombas, though I did take a break for a couple weeks. I'm still a very big fan, now that I'm facing the 'end-game' optional challenges I'm finding a new respect for the battle system and it's depth.

Rangers, the Colosseum is awesome - I lost whole afternoons to it as well, haha. It isn't necessary for the Regalia flight mode however. IIRC, you only have to complete Cindy's sidequest chain to collect most of the parts, collect a couple more parts from certain locations (possibly automatic during storyline, I can't remember), and then speak to her during Chapter 15.

Flight mode is cool and fun, and brings with it some neat new quips from the boys; but it doesn't give any real practical benefits (except a trophy, I think).

Posted by: Elena99 10th June 2017 09:50

There is a Colosseum in FFXV? I had no idea. I'm planning on going back to the game at some point. I read that they're going to release a patch with a lot of improvements to the game and additional storylines that should have been there to begin with.

I modded the car to utilize flight mode, then I realized that it was possible to crash, and when you crash, it's game over. I guess I wasn't interested enough in it to try more.

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 10th June 2017 13:40

The flying car does have one practical use. It's the only way to reach an optional dungeon called the Pitioss Ruins.

Posted by: Rangers51 28th June 2017 20:18

Costlemark Tower is garbage. Yes?

Posted by: Stiltzkin 4th July 2017 11:27

Quote (Rangers51 @ 28th June 2017 21:18)

Costlemark Tower is garbage. Yes?

In what way?

I've seen several accounts online of it being glitched, but I didn't experience any issues myself so I can't say.

Posted by: Rangers51 4th July 2017 13:44

Quote (Stiltzkin @ 4th July 2017 05:27)

Quote (Rangers51 @ 28th June 2017 21:18)

Costlemark Tower is garbage. Yes?

In what way?

I've seen several accounts online of it being glitched, but I didn't experience any issues myself so I can't say.

I mainly just mean the ridiculous ending to the dungeon, with the insane progression of battles through more and more Red Giants. I have ragequit that dungeon twice now and instead went to finish the plot of the game.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Which, by the way, is the most depressing Final Fantasy ending since Tactics. My word.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 6th July 2017 18:41

Quote (Rangers51 @ 4th July 2017 14:44)

Ahhh, gotcha. Yeah, somehow I didn't experience this, and the maze was just looooong, but not full of red giants. Either way, fair point.

Quote (Rangers51 @ 4th July 2017 14:44)

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Which, by the way, is the most depressing Final Fantasy ending since Tactics. My word.

As for this, just, yes.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I was beside myself. Talk about gutting. Kinda spoils the post-endgame for me really - though I guess what is dead may never die.

Posted by: Rangers51 6th July 2017 20:30

Quote (Stiltzkin @ 6th July 2017 12:41)

As for this, just, yes.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I was beside myself. Talk about gutting. Kinda spoils the post-endgame for me really - though I guess what is dead may never die.

Yeah, I've barely picked up the post-endgame because of it.

I think you said in a previous post that you were in triple-digit levels. How on earth did you get there? I'm only at level 65 or so, and I have only a couple quests available right now - Costlemark and the Adamantoise one near Hammerhead. I haven't tried to do any of the dungeons-within-dungeons as yet, but I've done enough hunts to be at level 7. There must be something I'm missing to rack up experience at this point?

Posted by: Stiltzkin 8th July 2017 12:04

I can't fully explain the big gulf between our levels given where you say you are, but I've got to triple figures by a combination of the following:

- I think I've honestly done quite a lot of grinding at certain spots, not deliberately, but just through enjoyment of the open world and trying to complete certain tasks.

- I've used Galdin Quay Resort and Altissia Leville Royal Suite (2x and 3x exp multiplier respectively) for my rest points as frequently as possible, and whenever I've been in a position where I've racked up a good chunk of exp (high 5 figure +), I have actively avoided resting until I can get to one of the above hotels.

- I've spent a fair bit of time doing the weekly/timed hunts.Aside from being a great way to farm AP and complete the ascendancy grids, many of these hunts take the form of "how many of monster X can you kill in 5/10 minutes?" - which means that for 5/10 mins of non-stop fighting, you can rack up a healthy chunk of exp (even more if you use meals/accessories smartly).

- and finally, I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of an early weekly hunt they released, which was "how quickly can you kill 100 cactuar/slactuar?" Each of these little guys gave about 1,000exp each, meaning that you accrued approx 100,000exp with each attempt at the challenge. Once you got into the swing of things, you could knock off the 100 in well under 5mins. After grinding that challenge for half an hour or so, I had almost a million exp, which I then went and tripled in Altissia. This gave me a 20lvl boost in about an hour of real time - and is how I got from a similiar endgame level to you (around 65) to around 85. After that, I was well on my way.

I've now also done most of the dungeon-within-dungeons and have stuck to my multiplier plan when doing them, and this has taken me from low triple figures to I think about lv113 now.

Posted by: Stiltzkin 15th July 2017 10:27

As an update to the above, it appears they're doing another Cactuar-based hunt this weekend. Kill as many as you can in 15mins.

I've only done it once so far, but 15mins of (admittedly kinda repetitive, but certainly easy) effort and I racked up around 400k exp. Even if you repeated that four times and kill an hour of time, most people should be able to rack up 1.5m-2m exp. Pop to Altissia to triple it, and most anybody should be able to romp towards lvl100.

Top tips for maximising kills in the 15mins:

- give Noct the tech turbocharger, a high-volume of Blizzard spells, and the best version of the noiseblaster. Give him an MP boosting outfit.
- Make sure Prompto has Gravisphere tech, and either a Ribbon or some other accessory that will prevent confusion, plus anything that boosts attack. Give him an attack boosting outfit.
- equip Gladio and Iggy with the best generic attack gear, accessories and outfits (or health boosting if you prefer, but either way you shouldn't need to pay much attention to these two guys during what follows.

- the aim of the strategy is to max out the tech bar so that you can activate Gravisphere as much as humanly possible. Always try to target an enemy in the middle of a pack for maximum effect. Don't bother wasting time with any other techs.
- have Noct launch a Blizzard spell into large packs of Cactuar whenever the cooldown wears off. A good spell blend should guarantee 9999, and this should kill several at once.
- top off your approach by spending all your remaining time by positioning Noct near the centre of the action and spamming the noiseblaster power attack (triangle on PS4). This uses MP, but either spend ethers or use warp points for fast regen when needed.
- if you have a reasonably well-developed party with remedial auto-skills and decent stats, you shouldn't need to worry about anybody's health at any point, so just focus on hitting as many groups of Cactuar, as fast and as frequently as possible.

Posted by: TrueBOSS 16th July 2017 03:02

Just came back to this post. I agree fully with a previous post Stiltz posted. The games good but it makes me wonder how much better it could have been. And I did end up moving onto other games but im glad to hear that 15 has reasons to keep playing. I might come back to it now that I've taken a break (I spent all my post game time making that fishing guide and that burnt me out on the game for a while)

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 4th August 2017 14:33

Anyone playing the beta for the XV multiplayer Comrades DLC this week?
I'm not in it myself as I don't have Playstation Plus. Just curious to hear people's thoughts on it if they're playing.

Posted by: Zidane007nl 4th August 2017 16:45

I got the platinum trophy back in April and after that I stopped playing it. Now I play it sometimes when a new update has been released.

I enjoyed playing the game. Beautiful open world with a lot of stuff that you can do. Only most quests are simple fetch quests or defeat enemies. The story is kind of short though.

Quote

Anyone playing the beta for the XV multiplayer Comrades DLC this week?
I'm not in it myself as I don't have Playstation Plus. Just curious to hear people's thoughts on it if they're playing.

I don't have a season pass, so I can't play it either. I've seen streams on Twitch and it looked kind of buggy ...

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 7th August 2017 05:24

Yeah. I read there have been problems with server stability as well.
XV doesn't strike me as a game that needs a multiplayer mode but I'll wait and see how it turns out before passing judgement.

Posted by: Rangers51 16th August 2017 13:55

Quote (Stiltzkin @ 15th July 2017 04:27)

As an update to the above, it appears they're doing another Cactuar-based hunt this weekend. Kill as many as you can in 15mins.

As luck would have it, I've finally had time to pick up the game again this week after about six weeks' layoff, and the hunt starting last night was of the 100 Cactuar+Slactuar variety. It's a grind, for sure, but they drop lots of Mega Potions and Remedies, which makes it more palatable, and even my relatively weak party is able to do about ten kills a minute.

I was able to do it twice last night, and the result was, when combined with a hotel sleep bonus, about 250k XP, good enough for about eight levels in the span of 45 minutes total. Not bad!

Edit

OK, yeah, I see the power of that now. I think I ran through it about ten times over the 24-hour window, and I ended up raising my party in the 25-28 level range just in that. Not only that, I managed to end up in the top 200 for the leaderboard, so, that's pretty sweet given that my first run put me at about #5800.

Posted by: MetroidMorphBall 20th October 2017 23:49

Oh hi guys! It's been awhile, but I finally bought a PS4 Pro and FFXV was the first game I played to completion.

I'll join the general consensus of the old schoolers here. First off, this was the first FF I played to completion since FFX, so that should tell you something. I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay, and especially the open world exploration of Lucis. When I got to Altissia and saw the size of the map I was like "OMG this game is huge! Can't believe they have two giant maps that you can fully explore!"

Which, of course, now I know they don't. The last half of the game is extremely linear and reminds me of FFXIII, which I eventually stopped playing for exactly that reason. While exploring Lucis was a real joy, I finished the second half of FFXV out of a sense of obligation.

It really does feel like a half-finished game. If you go on YouTube and search "Final Fantasy XV out of bounds" you'll find all sorts of videos where people use glitches to explore Tenebrae, Altissia, and Insomnia. There are these GIANT maps filled with buildings and even cars, that were just left on the cutting room floor. And an awesome giant Shiva statue! I don't think it's coincidence that the second half of the story, which speeds through these locations, also feels incomplete and rushed.

My guess is that after 10 years being stuck in development hell, after yet another change in directors when Tetsuya Nomura left the project, Squenix was anxious to just get it out. This is still the first Final Fantasy game I've enjoyed in awhile. They really did update it to a "new" game while plugging in lots of nostalgia factor. But when I watch those out of bounds videos and see how MASSIVE the scale of unused material is, I can't help but feel some disappointment at what could have been.

Posted by: No-Name 11th December 2017 08:18

Right then! Took me about a year to play but l finally beat it. It was excellent overall. Really not a whole lot to say about it to be honest. It was really good. l'll probably play through it again soon.