[Final Fantasy] V Four Job Fiesta starts Monday! Play for charity! Play for fun!

Axen

I am of the mind that the story doesn't even really start until you leave the Open World. Man, from then on I fucking enjoyed the hell out of myself! What a ride!

I was finally able to put my finger on what exactly bothered me about the story during the Open World portion. The answer was that the quest tracker seemed to know more about what was happening then I did. There were numerous times I'd complete an objective only to have the quest tracker update telling me to go here/talk to this person/do this thing. Problem is that story wise no one tells you to do those things. Tracker would say "go to Y and talk with X!", but how do I know that this X person is in Y and how do I know this X person is the one to talk to in the first place? No one in game brought it up!

Without a quest tracker I think it would be nearly impossible to do the main story during the Open World.

Blackjack

From everything I've been reading, XV seems like a kind of subpar game that does a pretty good job of making you forget that while playing it?

Grove

Blackjack wrote: »

From everything I've been reading, XV seems like a kind of subpar game that does a pretty good job of making you forget that while playing it?

I disagree with that. I think it's an ambitious game that came up slightly short in a couple of areas, but succeeded in most everything else.

There's absolutely no way I could look at this game and call it subpar.

SwashbucklerXX

"More than the sum of its parts" is a phrase that works well for it. There are seams here and there, but there's something oddly magical about it all.

Axen

Yeah I'd say, as mentioned before, my only real gripe is with the story and even then that's relegated to the Open World phase of it. I wouldn't say it was bad, but shallow would be a good word for it. I feel like there were missing scenes from the Open World story. The on rails portion was, IMHO, fucking aces.

Otherwise the rest of my gripes are merely quibbles. Lack of a move list, no way to tell what you can safely sell, buying/selling of items is more of a chore then it needs to be, not being able to directly equip stuff you bought (which is something I thought became standard in JRPGs a long time ago), and the Summons are not as useful as I'd have thought (I only ever seen it happen three times, two of which were story related and the jury is out on the third time).

Things I do like,

Combat! Took me a bit to get the hang of it, but I really enjoy it. Wait Mode made it all the better for me.
Character interactions are top class! And not just among the boys, everyone they interact with is pretty great.
World is immense and beautiful!
The on rails portion was full of awesome memorable moments and set pieces.
The main bad I came to hate in a fantastically good way. God damn they are the fucking worst. Definitely one of my more favorite villains from any game.
Exploration! So many hidden things and dungeons!
A ton of attention to detail in the game. Small things like Gladio pouring Ignis a drink while he is driving, handing it to him, Ignis taking a drink and placing it in the cup holder. Or the car coming to a stop because animals are crossing.
The photos! The photos! They took something I thought would be stupid and made it a Feels Engine!


All in all FFXV has easily become one of my favorite FF games.

Blackjack

That's fair! I guess I'm reading more (not just here but also here to an extent) about the things that don't work because the things that do work are obvious while playing and not worth mentioning

Axen

Blackjack wrote: »

That's fair! I guess I'm reading more (not just here but also here to an extent) about the things that don't work because the things that do work are obvious while playing and not worth mentioning

This I think is a fair assessment.

Given the game's trouble development history I feel like a lot of people were bracing for the worst, I know I was. Thankfully they delivered a pretty solid and fun game with a few rough edges.

The game sold 5 million on its first day and has become the fastest selling FF game in the series history. Coupled with SE's other releases this year they've done pretty fucking well for themselves this year. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another 10 years for a new mainline FF game though.

Dragkonias

Honestly, from what I've gathered of FFXV.

For the folks who wanted to like the game, they probably will.

For people who didn't, they probably won't.

For folks in the middle it'll probably be a bit more iffy.

Basically there are a lot of moving parts, good and bad, and your enjoyment will probably come down to which ones you choose to focus on.

Beezel

part of me wishes it wasn't as easy as it is to gain exp or that there were level caps based on the actual story content you have completed.

Dragkonias

Beezel wrote: »

part of me wishes it wasn't as easy as it is to gain exp or that there were level caps based on the actual story content you have completed.

The free dlc coming up actually lets you restrict your level gain.

Beezel

from another forum but I think this is an interesting read on what might have went down with FFXV

"Yeah, I'm still on Chapter 2 and it's very clear where and how the game's dangling threads were hacked off to make room for something actually playable. I still have trouble putting it down, though, even though it's disjointed and janky and often ugly as sin.

If nothing else FFXV is really interesting as an examination into how a game developer salvages a project that had gone totally out of control with its own ambition. Tabata and co. pasted together what cutscenes they had, SE released Brotherhood and Kingsglaive to paper over some of more crucial missing story bits, and the rest of the game is basically cored out to make room for as much actual gameplay as possible. "

Dragkonias

I mean you don't even have to speculate with that.

Hell, the entire basic concept they had going with Versus was scrapped halfway through production.

I should know because I was really into the whole star-crossed lovers from warring families deal and sad to see them scrap it.

Axen

As I said before, when you get out of the open world and get in to the on rails portion it is like night and day as far as the story goes. There are some down right powerful moments. Some shocking, some seen from a mile away, but holy shit it is a ride.

Y'know how it feels like an FF game either has a good story and blah gameplay or great gameplay and blah story? FFXV with its open world and on rails finish really feels like they tried to staple together both sides of the puzzle. It's not perfect, but there really is something for everyone in FFXV IMHO.

edit- Honestly, as much as I love the open world (and I really, really do) I feel like if the whole game was like the on rails portion it'd have made FFXV a damn strong contender for one of the best FF stories.

Blackjack

You are the only person I've seen that hasn't called the story a hot mess, tbh

Dragkonias

Blackjack wrote: »

You are the only person I've seen that hasn't called the story a hot mess, tbh

So far most of the "praise" I've seen for the last stretch of the game is "ambitious but flawed in execution".

Personally I tend to be fine with those kinds of things but yeah.

Vincent Grayson

Blackjack wrote: »

From everything I've been reading, XV seems like a kind of subpar game that does a pretty good job of making you forget that while playing it?

I mean, it has flaws, sure. But it's honestly the most compelling and innovative open world gameplay has been for me since GTA3.

Dragkonias

Yeah as far as open world games go, I actually think a lot of devs can take notes from XV.

As far as being a FF goes...well we all never agree on FFs anyway.

Axen

Blackjack wrote: »

You are the only person I've seen that hasn't called the story a hot mess, tbh

Eh, everything leading up to the on rails portion pretty much is.

A lot of Final Fantasy games (and JRPGs) become incomprehensible gibberish by the end. FFXV whole end game story is darn right mundane by comparison. Motivations of both protagonist and antagonist are some of the oldest motivations in the world.

All of the plot and character development pretty much happens in the on rails portion. It is damn near the real start of the story. Before all that I was pretty fucking lost as to what was happening.

Vincent Grayson

Dragkonias wrote: »

Yeah as far as open world games go, I actually think a lot of devs can take notes from XV.

As far as being a FF goes...well we all never agree on FFs anyway.

I don't think this style of open world would work as well without the whole "road trip" concept, but I wouldn't mind seeing future FF games at least integrate stuff like the party having a lot of random interaction outside of scripted cutscenes. That really knots the team together in a way that just doesn't happen in most party-based games.

MagicPrime

So these random packs of imperial soldiers dropping in are starting to annoy the every loving fuck out of me. They aren't necessarily hard, I can typically blow them all up with a Fira bomb. But they are quickly outpacing the amount of magic I can draw/drain and in those times where they drop in during a fight with a beast the gunfire is just constant pain in the ass.

Anyone have any strategies for that? Other than just blowing them up with Fira bombs? It's not even the swordsmen. Its the fucking infantry with the rifles.

Genji-Gloves

Despite it's flaws with some of the random knitted pieces of story and while I yet to finish it......this is up as one of my favorite final fantasy games.

BlackDragon480

I may have a side quest problem...

After getting to the second region that opens in chapter three, I may have lost track of time, banked 60K+XP, then stayed at Galdin Quay and hit 40 before ever seeing Lestallia.

Send help, and a supply of Fat Chocobo Triple Deckers for the road (daddy needs that 50% XP boost).

Viskod

I still think the combat is dull. There's virtually no difference in the combat at the start of the game, than at the end of the game. The combat never grows or evolves with Noctis outside of getting Armiger for just bonus damage on all your hits. Hell, your AI companions get a plethora of new passive and active abilities, but all Noctis gets are improved dodges and an air step.

Noctis should have a list of various special abilities that you can assign to Triangle, Warp Strike being the default.

Javen

So I think I completely misunderstood the way hotel xp bonus works until just now.

For a long time I treated it like the food buff, where staying there boosted the subsequent xp you got after staying there. This thread made me realize that it doubled the xp you had gathered prior to resting. But there are also foods and spells that boost xp gain while out in the field? Does using an exp boosting spell multiple times in one battle also multiply its effects, or is it only once per combat?

Professor Snugglesworth

On the subject, if you eat food from a restaurant before you rest at an Inn, does the effect go away when you wake up?

Also wondering if there's a penalty to eating when the party's already full (i.e. overwriting a status boost with a different status boost). One of the patrons cautioned against overeating so I'm wondering if they thought that far. Ditto on if you go days without sleeping.

Viskod

The XP Food Buffs work just like any other Food Buff, you get more XP for as long as you have the buff. The food buff has no effect on how your XP is tallied when resting.

BlackDragon480

IME, spells are just for that combat encounter and food buffs are for the duration of the food's effect (there are nodes in the Exploration tree that extend that timeframe).

Javen

I was mostly referring to something like, if I have 3 uses of an exp cast thundara, if I use it 3 times in one encounter, does it triple the xp boost it gives you? or does the boost only apply once so it's best to use the spell one time for each time you're in combat to maximize the effect?

Grundlestiltskin

Viskod wrote: »

I still think the combat is dull. There's virtually no difference in the combat at the start of the game, than at the end of the game. The combat never grows or evolves with Noctis outside of getting Armiger for just bonus damage on all your hits. Hell, your AI companions get a plethora of new passive and active abilities, but all Noctis gets are improved dodges and an air step.

I guess it feels similar to the Witcher 3 for me in that regard, then? Though I only ever found Witcher 3 combat serviceable at best, whereas I'm actively enjoying every moment of FFXV combat. Hopefully that lasts.

klemming

I'm pretty sure I've read that exp boosts stack with themselves, so yes you can/should use all the spells. Haven't managed to try it myself yet, though.

BlackDragon480

I haven't seen it stack in a single encounter, so I'm thinking it mearly keeps track of the last boost applied, same as food buffs (only one set active at a time).

As for overeating, I haven't run into any negative effects, but u only have one buff active at a time, so no eating at a restaurant then running to camp and having Ignis whip up something with the same effect.

And if there's any negative effects from not sleeping, I haven't encountered them. That giant side quest orgy I described a few posts back, I was going for six days straight only stopping to eat another Fat Chocobo sandwich at Wiz's when necessary.

Beezel

so for the people that have made it that far, I just finished chapter 3 and going into chapter 4 and this dude I'm with says it's the "Point of no return"

does this mark the end of the open world stuff?

Professor Snugglesworth

Viskod wrote: »

The XP Food Buffs work just like any other Food Buff, you get more XP for as long as you have the buff. The food buff has no effect on how your XP is tallied when resting.

No, I mean will the food buff vanish once I rest?

Cuz, you know, I'm sleeping the hours away.

BlackDragon480

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

Viskod wrote: »

The XP Food Buffs work just like any other Food Buff, you get more XP for as long as you have the buff. The food buff has no effect on how your XP is tallied when resting.

No, I mean will the food buff vanish once I rest?

Cuz, you know, I'm sleeping the hours away.

If you haven't invested in the food buff time extensions in the Exploration tree, most likely. The initial boost time without those nodes is like 12.game hours, so if it doesn't run out your buff, it'll at least be mostly gone by the time the party wakes up.

Dark Raven X

Skimmed the thread, due to not being able to really play this for the near future

Is it correct that the structure of this game is like a reverse of the more recent FF formula?

That you start out with free roam, then get locked into a linear story for the latter half? That's pretty intriguing!

Is the free roam stuff just that (massive) map from the road trip demo, and then when you get to where you're going it becomes more restricted?

mosssnack

So I'm using control scheme "c" and I can't figure out how to use the perma lock on. Things I've read online says to use RB once you're initially locked on, but it isn't working.

Shamus

LB/RB at the same time. The tutorial also runs you through it.

Genji-Gloves

Beezel wrote: »

so for the people that have made it that far, I just finished chapter 3 and going into chapter 4 and this dude I'm with says it's the "Point of no return"

does this mark the end of the open world stuff?

No I'm at chatper 8 free world again. Hunting

metaghost

The game likes to warn you about things becoming inaccessible constantly. It's pretty annoying.

Javen

Beezel wrote: »

so for the people that have made it that far, I just finished chapter 3 and going into chapter 4 and this dude I'm with says it's the "Point of no return"

does this mark the end of the open world stuff?

Not for the whole game, but there are portions where you're on rails for varying amounts of time. It gives you the 'you can't come back here for awhile' for each one.