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Any reason to think Final Fantasy XV won't disappoint?

Dinda

Member
I think this is the first mainline Final Fantasy that i have basically no hopes for (not counting the mainline sequels), so i don't think it can dissapoint me.

The Main Party has absolutely no diversity to it and they look totally unappealing to me.

But the biggest problem is the action system, that just doesn't look like an Final Fantasy game to me, it looks like a bland action game, presented in admittedly gorgeous way.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Nomura directs it doesn't help to be honest.
I like Nomura, as a Designer. As a Game Director i don't know.
The Kingdom Hearts Games didn't interest me all that much, but I'm not really a Disney Fan, so that may play a role too.
I played a bit of 1 and 2, and the battle System, while fun, is nothing that i wanted to see anywhere near the Final Fantasy games.


I may be a bit harsh with the game, but i would be alot more comfortable with it if it would still be a spin off and not a mainline title.
 
I've played every Final Fantasy and I know that they have had sci-fi elements in the past, but the games were still based in high fantasy first and technology was sprinkled in. It seems the other way around now. All I'm saying is there is room for both to co-exist.
If you read the interviews and replay the games... It doesn't look like this is very different than FF7, 8, 10, and 13 in that you start off in a more tech based location and you will explore more fantastical areas as you progress. The key difference is only that the tech based location is based on the modern world here.
 

CTLance

Member
Let me put it this way.

I am expecting to get a FFXIV 1.0 level of entertainment out of it, but maybe we'll get FFXIV 2.0 levels of entertainment.

It would still be FFXIV 2.0, but at least it wouldn't be FFXIV 1.0.

I probably won't be disappointed. Sorry, Op.
 
The reason why turn based fans view this as essentially the death knell is petty simple.

As you follow this chain , the games become more and more ARPG like
Final Fantasy XII (ATB with no Wait option) -> Final Fantasy XIII (+ no party control) -> Final Fantasy XV (total ARPG)
as such having something that is an out and out ARPG seems like the door closing on the traditional system.

If it had gone

IX (ATB) -> X (Turn Based) - > XV (ARPG)
Turn based fans would probably still be disappointed but it wouldn't have the same final nail in the coffin/ death knell feel about it. All the reassurance in the world doesn't mean much when there's such a clear pattern.

There's something tragic about watching something you used to love slowly become something else entirely.
 

rockx4

Member
I have no faith in this game at all. SE's track record with FF this past gen was horrendous. It doesn't look like the character designs are any better than FFXIII, and this was practically developed alongside that and delayed into next gen... then renamed to spark interest. Sounds more like a last ditch plan to me. If it turns out to better than XIII then I'd be pleasantly surprised, but seriously SE's FF characters\plot haven't been any good in a long while.
 
I have no faith in this game at all. SE's track record with FF this past gen was horrendous. It doesn't look like the character designs are any better than FFXIII, and this was practically developed alongside that and delayed into next gen... then renamed to spark interest. Sounds more like a last ditch plan to me. If it turns out to better than XIII then I'd be pleasantly surprised, but seriously SE's FF characters\plot haven't been any good in a long while.

It's probably worth remembering that the game that started it all didn't have any consistently present characters or even much of a plot (it was just an excuse to move you from one boss to the next). FFII was the first one to really have much in that way and if we're going to be honest it's much more of a spiritual originator of the Saga games than it is a Final Fantasy. The original III had no real characters either , though it did have a plot. It isn't until IV that you see real characters and plot in something that is recognizably Final Fantasy. And even after IV the quality of the characters, plot and ability to convey each of the previous has been pretty variable.
 

AJ_Wings

Member
I think the gameplay's gonna be pretty solid and I'm really liking the art direction. Have no faith whatsoever on the story and writing being any good but eh I hope it surprises me in some aspects.
 

rockx4

Member
It's probably worth remembering that the game that started it all didn't have any consistently present characters or even much of a plot (it was just an excuse to move you from one boss to the next). FFII was the first one to really have much in that way and if we're going to be honest it's much more of a spiritual originator of the Saga games than it is a Final Fantasy. The original III had no real characters either , though it did have a plot. It isn't until IV that you see real characters and plot in something that is recognizably Final Fantasy. And even after IV the quality of the characters, plot and ability to convey each of the previous has been pretty variable.

Which is fine with me. I find my self preferring silent protags\and or a character creator system with NPCs voiced. I greatly enjoy DQ games because I don't have to play a crappy character with shitty dialogue. I prefer my internal monologue in comparison to dribble SE considers dialogue, which sounds 100x worst when its voice acted. I greatly enjoyed DQIX and I created the whole party.

If they have no good character ideas that let me make my own fucken characters.
 

Famassu

Member
Still not sold on the gameplay, Story seems increasingly reminiscent of animu. Sure looks pretty, Though.
Cold war turning into an actual global/regional war and cities being devastated by huge monsters is animu now?

And this is only playing with expectations, not to mention Square Enix is, until proven wrong, not the same company it was on the SNES/PSX era.
Most of the action RPGs Square Enix have developed as of late are miles ahead of Squaresoft's "classics", as far as gameplay goes. And given that this is trying to be more serious story and is mostly rooted on a slightly more realistic premise of "war over power", this shouldn't have any Chocolinas or convoluted time-travel in it. If they can just keep the melodrama down to a sensible level (which they so far have done, how people act in the trailers hasn't been too over the top), then the story could be enjoyable as well.

Honestly, it's Nomura. I feel like if anybody is going to get Final Fantasy right again it's him. Other than The 3rd Birthday's story (gameplay was fun) he hasn't really been involved in bad products.
Nomura had nothing to do with 3rd Birthday's story, that was all Toriyama.

Nope, no reason to expect it to suddenly be way better than the games they put out in the past 7 years.
Apart from FFXIII & XIV 1.0, the games they have released in the past 7 years have been awesome, from TWEWY to Birth By Sleep to Bravely Default. It's stupid to condemn the whole company based on basically two games. SQEX is and has been so much more than just XIII & XIV 1.0.

I am a little worried that it will be too actiony but I think the atmosphere will sell me on it. Just do NOT make it so linear like XIII
It won't be.


Nomura fans love and overhype anything he makes. I myself don't have any faith in Square anymore, so I'll wait till the game is out.
That's because all the game's he's been involved in (more than just being a character designer) have been at the very least decent, many of them even great.

What do you mean 'why does this matter'?

Why did people get pissed when Shadowrun turned into an FPS? Or when any other series suddenly swapped into another genre? It alienates the original fans.
People got pissed because Shadowrun is JUST a multiplayer FPS. People wouldn't have been quite as pissed if it was a Shadowrun FPS RPG in the veins of Fallout: New Vegas and Vampire: The Masquerade

SquareEnix hasn't had a good track record with FF for pretty much a decade. The people currently behind the wheel seem to be more interested in perfumes, fasion and making FF a musical than producing a good game.
FF Type-0 was good and while XIII-2 was lackluster in comparison to the best FFs, it wasn't a bad or completely broken game by any means.

The visuals of XV look good but that's about it. From the looks of it, you play a single character and the other guys in your party are doing their own thing. It may as well be Gears of War or Mass Effect.
You can switch control in real time and probably dictate somehow how the characters act independently as well

But despite all of this, I still have hope that it'll be good. The graphics have impressed me enough that I am interested in seeing more of it at this point and the battle system may be salvageable. I just do not care for the people running the show right now as they have proven to me that they don't seem to understand what makes Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy.
Nomura hasn't really made a mainline FF game before. The most he has done is be part of writing the initial story for FFVII with Sakaguchi, but that was then almost completely changed by Kitase & Co.

Pretty much agree with this, it's been so long since there's been a good FF game, last one I liked was FFX, and that was when they were still Squaresoft...
There has been good FF games after X. Too bad if FFXII wasn't to your tastes, but it's unarguably a great game.

This game is from Nomura and Tabata

Nomura directed Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and TWEWY

Tabata directed Crisis Core and FF Type-0

This game is in pretty good hands
Nomura didn't direct TWEWY, he just pushed it to be a bigger project than it initially was after seeing it & liking it and helped a bit creatively (kind of a Miyamoto-like role, not directing but still looking up how the game was progressing at times and exchanging ideas of what to do and perhaps change).
 

Famassu

Member
That's the next-gen version though. Did they actually say they scrapped all the assets from Versus when they started XV? They were still making a current-gen version until last year.

I still think this is mostly the game they've been developing since 2006, but upgraded to new hardware with the original version cancelled. Then again, we never got to play Versus, so we have no idea how good or bad that might've been.
No, next-gen development started last year, but they didn't enter full production of the PS3 version either until in the second half of 2011 (around July 2011 or so), before that it was being kind of "lifted off the ground" by a small team. I guess that at that point they noticed there was just too much stuff they'd have to cut if it was to be still a PS3 game so they abandoned current-gen.


And the impression I've gotten is that they haven't scrapped content from its PS3 version, they've just been upgrading all of it to next-gen standards while also doing some new stuff that PS4Bone makes possible.
 

fertygo

Member
I look forward to it because this time they're not half-assing to being action-rpg.

Also maybe just me but when I look to the trailer, even the very first one.. I can feel that Final Fantasy "charisma" something that I don't feel since X, I just know XII and XIII not gonna satisfying. But its different for XIV.

Maybe they most likely would disappoint me, but this time I'm on the hype train.
 

Exodist

Member
I think it looks pretty good, but considering its development history, it can't be anything but a disappointment. Everyone will want a knockout 10/10 title, especially after XIII, but I reckon we'll get a solid, but not amazing, game. The setting and style/tone of it all looks like a great Final Fantasy game, and I really dig the modern day type world with magic and stuff, but I'm not sure the gameplay is going to be great in terms of everything but the combat, which looks good. I'm just talking in terms of freedom, side-quests, the difficulty and so on. I will admit I've read up basically nothing on Versus, so I don't know if they've previously spoke about these things.
 
My hype for this has been like a rollercoaster. One minute, I'm like, "Hey, maybe this will be pretty cool!' The next I'm like, "eh, why was I even excited for this". The only consistent thought I have about this game is that I'm certain the plot will be a trainwreck.
 

Silky

Banned
FFXIII and the games associated with it are all really flawed due to the inconsistencies of the Fabula Nova Crysallis arc. It's without a doubt one of the worst parts in FF time, so since FFXV is the start of something new, and the fact that it has Type-0 people working on it, it's essentially guaranteed to be better than XIII.

That being said, FFXIII isn't a bad trilogy. Yeah, the first one is slower than piss in the startup (only 30 hours then you /really/ start to experience the game! lololol), but XIII-2 should be played by everyone. XIII-2 got it, and got it down packed. I have the same faith that LR will be the real fruit of SE's labour, and if possible a taste on what we could see in the future of SE games.
 

DigitalDevilSummoner

zero cognitive reasoning abilities
I think it looks pretty good, but considering its development history, it can't be anything but a disappointment.

It's "troubled" development history has been greatly exaggerated. They said it themselves that only after ff type-0 was complete, in late 2011, that did Versus go into full production.
 

Famassu

Member
Which would only make it all the more disappointing when it doesn't meet your expectations. Expect nothing good of Square and you cannot be disappointed. It's been the mantra for a full generation now.
If I've liked about 90% of the SQEX games I've bought a lot (TWEWY, BBS, DDD, Dissidia, 3rd Birthday, Theathrhythm etc.), though of course not all of those were master-pieces, why should I be one of those annoyingly pessimistic assholes that infest all parts of the Internet & world today who must absolutely shit on everything and anything? I'd rather be hopeful because of SQEX incredibly awesome handheld output (given these people are partly responsible for some of those) than a negative nancy just because of FFXIII & XIV 1.0 not turning out to be great. They still have talent to develop great games, shittons of it. I don't see anything in FFXV that's worth doubting the end product's quality over, especially knowing the people behind the game and everything they've said about it.

Just because FFXV is on consoles doesn't suddenly take away all the talent away from the development team. FFXIII & XIV were disappointing because they were rushed out after initial problems with development tools (a majority of FFXIII's content was done within the last year of development from late 2008 to late 2009, before that they were just struggling with the tech) and they INITIALLY made some stupid design decisions. FFXIII was always going to be that linear, it was always going to do away with many of the series staples (Nomura said in 2006 or 2007 how even though Versus XIII is an action RPG, it would still be the more traditional FF of the two upcoming FFs in many ways). FFXIII was designed that way not because it was a console game, but because Toriyama & Kitase wanted it to be so.

FFXV isn't rushed by any definition of the word and its design philosophies are actually good ones (big semi-open world with tons to explore, should-be-fun speedy action RPG combat, a more serious story of a world on the brink of another world war). Nothing they've shown and said about the game gets any kind of STOP STOP STOP WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOOOOOOO reaction like a lot of FFXIII's design stuff does or XIV's dumb design decisions did even before launch (limiting playtime? lolwut).

Take your own advice.

Too bad if FFXIII wasn't to your tastes, but it's unarguably a great game.
FFXIII isn't unarguably a great game. It has tons of stuff that's unarguably not up to standards as far as FF games go. It lacks freedom, it's super-linear for a large majority of the game, the presence of villains (or "villains") is kind of weak, the lore of the world is badly expressed, there's nothing else to do in the game but fight enemies etc. You can, however, argue that it's still an enjoyable game. I certainly didn't hate the game.

With that comment I just really meant that FFXIII is one of the only big games from SQEX that got a kind of disappointing reception GENERALLY and that their output otherwise has been incredibly stellar, even if it has been on handhelds
 
I understand being cautious but geez guys. This game is shaping up to be a really great product. The story looks heartfelt and will actually expand upon the lives of several characters and how they grow as people. The combat looks flashy yes but it also looks deep. It takes someone with real skill to pull off the moves shown in the gameplay trailer. Switching between weapons, warping, parrying, dodging, blocking, switching between characters, using magic and items. Your juggling a lot of systems there. It's certainly not "press X for everything awesome".

The music is fantastic of the three tracks we have heard from the game. Yoko Shimomura is absolutely brilliant. Story is written by Nojima and Nomura. Last FF they both wrote together was FFVII so.... yeah.

You have the open world with epic set pieces (you know... the ones you saw throughout the epic E3 trailer) that Final Fantasy made famous.

I literally have a ton of friends and family who are now interested in trying the series out because of the trailer I showed them. Remember the last time traditionalists were cautious and new fans were excited for a Final Fantasy? That was Final Fantasy VII.

And the team did an interview a few years back where the team said they were proud they were on the team and they are basically as excited for this game as they were when they were making FFVI, FFVII and FFX. That tells me the team understands the vision for the game and they understand and know how great it will be.

I understand everyone's guard is up for this game but can we let the game prove itself and give it the benefit of the doubt like we have given every other Final Fantasy. If we gave X, XII and XIII a chance I think XV and Nomura at least deserve a chance and a shot to get you excited.

--------------------------

P.S. It also bugs me when people say "no matter how amazing it is it will still disappoint me". Grow up.
We don't know a thing at this point about the story or gameplay. Final Fantasy XIII looked incredible up to launch and ended up being nothing but polish.
 

tapedeck

Do I win a prize for talking about my penis on the Internet???
I like what Ive seen so far, and Square has a lot riding on this game. Yeah I think it will actually deliver this time.
 
its blatantly a poor attempt to shove in final fantasy elements, like behemoths and leviathan into a kingdom hearts game.

it might turn out to be a decent action rpg like kingdom hearts did, but it definitely won't be a proper final fantasy game.

the development cycle has gone on too long, and the whole thing has been a train wreck, too many changes of direction etc.
 

ZenTzen

Member
its blatantly a poor attempt to shove in final fantasy elements, like behemoths and leviathan into a kingdom hearts game.

it might turn out to be a decent action rpg like kingdom hearts did, but it definitely won't be a proper final fantasy game.

the development cycle has gone on too long, and the whole thing has been a train wreck, too many changes of direction etc.

If anything it has been shown that everything Nomura has said about the game is true, so no, there hasnt been changes in direction, also the game only went into full production on ps3 2-3 years ago, until they decided to change it to ps4 Xbone, so no it hasnt been that long of a development time, and why wouldnt there be FF elements in a game called Final Fantasy.
 
I'm not too keen on the combat showing, there was parts where it looked really sluggish, I'm worried about it not being fluid, as well as guards doing very little damage to you
 

Naudi

Banned
Lucky for me I'm blinded by my FF fanboism so every game seems amazing to me...Including XIII. I'm also looking forward to Lightning Returns.

With that said I am slightly less excited for XV then i was when XIII was announced.I think SE shenanigans are starting to get to me :/
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Wasn't the other problem of FFXIII was that it was also struggling when it comes to large areas thus there's a lot of linearity?

I believe the game sort of struggled when it came to Gran Pulse (see long loading, 360 version struggling, and the evidence that Gran Pulse looks less detailed than the other maps of FFXIII such as no grass).

You know, if FFXIII was released at least a year after the PS3 was released, it could have garnered a better reception and people won't have elevated expectations from it... And it seems like FFXV is becoming a victim of very high expectations.
 

SSM25

Member
I wish FF would come back to its roots instead of the emo techno crap it has become.

That said, no I don't have faith on XV being good.
 

RangerBAD

Member
I think the things that could disappoint me is if the gameplay doesn't really live up to what I expect or that the game is really short. It may be an action RPG, but it's still a Final Fantasy and I expect a good length to the game.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Wasn't the other problem of FFXIII was that it was also struggling when it comes to large areas thus there's a lot of linearity?

I believe the game sort of struggled when it came to Gran Pulse (see long loading, 360 version struggling, and the evidence that Gran Pulse looks less detailed than the other maps of FFXIII such as no grass).

You know, if FFXIII was released at least a year after the PS3 was released, it could have garnered a better reception and people won't have elevated expectations from it... And it seems like FFXV is becoming a victim of very high expectations.

Crystal Tools can't handle open areas very well - part of the reason why FFXIV 1.x was crippled even on high end PCs.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Crystal Tools can't handle open areas very well - part of the reason why FFXIV 1.x was crippled even on high end PCs.

Man, I wonder how LR:FFXIII would run since it seems that game is aiming a lot of giant maps. It's already running badly in the town areas in the first trailers.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Man, I wonder how LR:FFXIII would run since it seems that game is aiming a lot of giant maps. It's already running badly in the town areas in the first trailers.

They said they modified it for LR to run the open world better...we'll see how that goes.
 

snitsky

Member
I would need to have any expectations to be disappointed.

Basically the same here. I hate the character art style, I hate the setting, and now that it's a mainline numbered title I hate it being an ARPG even more. That I've never really liked a Nomura helmed game doesn't help much either.

I'll try to keep an open mind when I play it, but at this point I'm not expecting much.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Basically the same here. I hate the character art style, I hate the setting, and now that it's a mainline numbered title I hate it being an ARPG even more. That I've never really liked a Nomura helmed game doesn't help much either.

I'll try to keep an open mind when I play it, but at this point I'm not expecting much.

I don't see how the characters look terrible though. Noctis probably but the rest of the cast look normal compared to the other FF games especially Cor, Gladiolus, and probably Ignis.

I can understand if you hate their clothes.
 

RangerBAD

Member
Man, I wonder how LR:FFXIII would run since it seems that game is aiming a lot of giant maps. It's already running badly in the town areas in the first trailers.

It's supposed to be running on a higher version of it. That's what Toriyama said in a recent interview. A version that works better with open areas, I guess.
 
I would be surprised if it's anything BUT at this point.

Which is a shame because at the start of this generation it was probably the game I was most interested in.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Polarized? I thought it was pretty much universally hated as an ultra linear piece of shit.

It's definitely one of the most polarizing entries in the series. You have the people who loved it, and the people who didn't. The middle ground isn't nearly as vocal.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Guess we'll find out in November.

Looking forward to your "Lightning again" suffering since you'll be one of the few GAFfers to be importing the game. :D
 

snitsky

Member
I don't see how the characters look terrible though. Noctis probably but the rest of the cast look normal compared to the other FF games especially Cor, Gladiolus, and probably Ignis.

I can understand if you hate their clothes.

Yeah, it's more their clothing than anything. I guess that falls in with hating the setting. I'm not crazy about having modern settings (clothes, vehicles, etc.) in fantasy games.
 
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