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[Suzushiiro]

So basically it's the literal opposite of FFXIII, which started super-linear before opening up a bit in the late game.

Honestly, my desire to bother with side content tends to go down as the story starts ramping up, so this sounds like it'll work out great for me.

 

[GinoFelino]

A poorly cobbled together frankenstein of a game.

Alright, I'm done here.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

A game focusing on a time skip can't have you going back to other cities and doing things as if it were yesterday.

RDR did it

Spoiler

kinda

 

[bigol]

If you choose to focus only on the negative, sure, but there's plenty of positive notes in there.

Generally, I get the feeling he really enjoyed his time with it, warts and all.

I get the feeling the only real complaint is about the shift to the more linear second half, it seems like he wanted the game to be a huge open world game disliking the more traditional Final Fantasy approach.

He also complains the game is good but it's hold back by "its past".

This reads like a 6 or 7. Definitely not a GOTY contender...

EDGE reviewed FF XIII with a 5 because it had an interesting world that we never explore.

 

[UrbanRats]

I hope that second half isn't like MGSV's ACT 2, where it was basically the game design equivalent of "Yadda yadda yadda".
It sounds like it, but i want to remain optimist (still, not going to preorder, and waiting for impressions).

 

[brandonh83]

I wish the entire game was like that second half to be frank.

I think it'll start to kick in, hopefully, right around when I'm like "ok I think I'm done open-worldin' now" lol

Could even be a best of both worlds scenario, people get the open freedom that was lacking in XIII, people start to get a tighter pacing/narrative in the second half. That could work, but yeah it's gonna be divisive.

I hope that second half isn't like MGSV, where it was basically the game design equivalent of "Yadda yadda yadda".

That sounds like the entirety of MGSV to me

 

[adamsapple]

Whelp ... that's very underwhelming. The spoilered part in the OP actually brought my enthusiasm down quite a bit.

Spoiler

I understand at a time they need to wrap up the story, but surely they could have done that while retaining the open ended freedom. It's like this game is the reverse FFXIII.

 

[Paracelsus]

Some backup on that one.

Yeah, and also the linear "what is this" second half of the game leading to the ending.

 

[Ray Down]

Is the article generally negative? Is there anything positive to be gleaned from it?

If you choose to focus only on the negative, sure, but there's plenty of positive notes in there.

Generally, I get the feeling he really enjoyed his time with it, warts and all.

.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Alright, I'm done here.

Now now. That's nothing new. Been doing that since day 1

 

[SpideySenses]

If the second half of the game is as good as the first, they should have been showing it to more than just one magazine/website, I know spoilers and stuff but as it stands it feels like they've made a very conscious decision to only show the more appealing half of the game.

 

[Z3M0G]

From what I understand, basically, only Cid can upgrade them and he is located in the first region... so, you have to backtrack...

If that's all it is... wow, so what. Sounds like fast-travel is a thing.

I was worried you LOST upgrades, and had to RE-APPLY them or something... that's how the initial reactions read to me...

 

[badcrumble]

I've seen scans from the article. Sounds...really really bad in the end.

Spoiler

And I knew that the lack of female characters would be damaging, as the article put it.

I'm still Day One. But the game sounds like a bit of a bust.

Spoiler

Clothes that you can buy are all worse than the default outfits so there's no point. Options like modifying weapons with Cid are introduced and discarded permanently almost as soon as they arrives. Chocobo racing lasts only a few races, then it's gone forever

Really, really bad

Yeah, stuff like that worries me more than the basic narrative structure of the game. FFVI was partly linear and partly open and that was fine, but it also felt like the game had a coherent vision all the way through

Establishing subsystems that are only there for one part of the game and then abandoning those subsystems is... not good.

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Not reading that second half spoilers since I wanna see it experience it first hand in the game, but if the worries are from the game becoming too linear then I should be okay with this.

I generally like well thought linear environments over open world. So if it's a good linear section then I'm more than fine with it.

 

[Dark_3nergy]

I'm not sure what you're getting at? From the sound of things you don't lose your characters items or strength when you change regions. If you get stronger, you'll still have all of your equipment and levels when you go back to another area. I can almost promise you that you'll need to do that for some of the hunts and side quests.

As for regional mechanics... there's not a ton of information about what that actually means in tota. Chocobo stuff not rolling over makes some amount of sense, but do we know if a chocobo has region-specific uses? Like some can run across water in a water-heavy area, others can climb mountainous areas better, and then maybe there's a whole system dedicated to getting the "right" chocobo that does everything! Do you get to keep the chocobo stuff when you return to a region?

Cid's stuff just makes it sound like you have to go back to do it which is... duh?

The vagueness of the preview is frustrating.

Just take what I said at face value and that is all it is a reaction post. From my perspective, what I wrote in my original post is the conclusion I came to. Whether or not it comes to light is yet another matter we will all discover when the title launches.

Yes, I whole hardily agree, the information can be cherry picked and perceived in a number of ways and it comes off as very vague.

 

[robotrock]

I hope that second half isn't like MGSV, where it was basically the game design equivalent of "Yadda yadda yadda".
It sounds like it, but i want to remain optimist (still, not going to preorder, and waiting for impressions).

MGSV's first half had barely any story focus...and then the second half had even less than that and focused just on grinding.

This sounds like the second half will be more story dense with a lot of cutscenes and stuff?

 

[Jarmel]

I hope that second half isn't like MGSV's ACT 2, where it was basically the game design equivalent of "Yadda yadda yadda".
It sounds like it, but i want to remain optimist (still, not going to preorder, and waiting for impressions).

MGSV Act 2 was 'we broke son and we need to get this shit out the door'. If it's of the same caliber in FFXV then this game is going to get raked across the coals.

 

[Socivol]

After reading the whole preview that was pretty brutal. It seemed like the person that played didn't really care for the game.

 

[Kouriozan]

Imagine playing Xenoblade Chronicle X and then at the Chapter 10 it become

Spoiler

corridor only gameplay with jump scare (because lol)

, it's going to feel awful honestly.

 

[Gbraga]

I'm ok with this.

Except for forced stealth segments, they're always bad.

 

[CountBlack]

at least we still have FFVII Remake coming .. that can't be bad. it can't..

Spoiler

it can't

 

[Jarmel]

Imagine playing Xenoblade Chronicle X and then at the Chapter 10 it become

Spoiler

corridor only gameplay with jump scare (because lol)

, it's going to feel awful honestly.

Xenoblade Chronicles did become more linear as you progressed through the game.

The story in Chronicles X was garbage so I don't think it should be the model for anything on a narrative front. It probably would have been a better game if they had linear sections near endgame.

 

[Mister Megative]

A poorly cobbled together frankenstein of a game.

Lol fucking seriously?

 

[Z3M0G]

It doesn't really reveal too much. It may give you an idea of the game's structure toward the end, but there's no plot spoilers.

... I've been avoiding all black bars in this thread so far because reactions feel like it was plot related spoilers...

Can anyone else 2nd this?

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

MGSV Act 2 was 'we broke son and we need to get this shit out the door'. If it's of the same caliber in FFXV then this game is going to get raked across the coals.

Mgs didn't get raked at all tho lol the meta reads like nobody even cared at that point. Gameplay was solid that was enough.

 

[Vex_]

SO Iwasnt gonna read the second half, but now Im glad I did.

WTF is gaf complaining about exactly? LOL They make one mention of a set piece after only 40hours of gameplay, and people are trippin? LMAO. We dont even know how long it took for them to get to that particular point. We dont even know what follows afterwards.

This sounds like a nice change of pace and Im sure the ENTIRE rest of the game wont even be like that anyways. Come on now.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Guys no matter what this game was never going to live up to the hype that some people had for it. It's mostly cause of the 10 year wait but no matter what, it can get 10s across the board and some people will still say that the 10 year wait wasn't worth it and that the game is bad. It happened to Duke Nukem, it might happen to The Last Guardian, it'll probably happen to XV as well.

All in all I'm still excited for this but I want more previews and reviews than just this one. No matter how respected it is. I like the idea of the second half though!

 

[Kanann]

Imagine playing Xenoblade Chronicle X and then at the Chapter 10 it become

Spoiler

corridor only gameplay with jump scare (because lol)

, it's going to feel awful honestly.

Xenoblade XX become scifi-horror confirmed.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

RDR did it

Spoiler

kinda

Ha, you're right.

Spoiler

kinda

I'd imagine after something potentially catastrophic map wide plot-wise plus the time skip would be pretty jarring going back to chocobo racing or whatever.

 

[Derkon]

I've seen scans from the article. Sounds...really really bad in the end.

Spoiler

And I knew that the lack of female characters would be damaging, as the article put it.

I'm still Day One. But the game sounds like a bit of a bust.

Spoiler

Clothes that you can buy are all worse than the default outfits so there's no point. Options like modifying weapons with Cid are introduced and discarded permanently almost as soon as they arrives. Chocobo racing lasts only a few races, then it's gone forever

Ugh, not too fond of this.

 

[bigol]

Whelp ... that's very underwhelming. The spoilered part in the OP actually brought my enthusiasm down quite a bit.

Spoiler

I understand at a time they need to wrap up the story, but surely they could have done that while retaining the open ended freedom. It's like this game is the reverse FFXIII.

The preview says you can have the open ended freedom until the end, by teleporting to the open world area.

 

[brandonh83]

MGSV Act 2 was 'we broke son and we need to get this shit out the door'. If it's of the same caliber in FFXV then this game is going to get raked across the coals.

There's a huge difference though. Chapter 2 of MGSV was a lot of repeated missions with a half-baked (if that) story in the middle. It also had no real conclusion. The "linear" stuff in FFXV doesn't sound like that at all, nor does it sound like the game doesn't have a proper climax/finale. It sounds like the "openness" begins to pare down in the second half to focus on the plot more, with only the last stretch or so being in a dungeon or dungeon-like environment which is typical of most RPG's.

This doesn't sound like an MGSV case at all. Sure, that choice for them to go more narrative instead of making the open world even more open...er could be because of budget/time, but it doesn't say that the entire second half of the game is linear weirdness.

Though I'll admit, we're all basically going on fumes at this information. I don't think we have a lot to go on, let alone enough context.

 

[Geg]

Ah, panicking and hyperbole, this is what I've missed about FFXV threads.

 

[UrbanRats]

MGSV's first half had barely any story focus...and then the second half had even less than that and focused just on grinding.

This sounds like the second half will be more story dense with a lot of cutscenes and stuff?

Honestly story isn't much of a worry for me, never gave it much thought in any FF, i'm talking more about game design, and what you can expect to see.
I just hope the linearity isn't a by product of them running out of time and money, and wanting to close the project in a decent time frame, so they lock you in copy pasted corridors or similar gimmicks.
I hope the switch makes sense.

As for the MGSV parallel, all of MGSV feels like it's stringing you along with very little in terms of story, but in terms of gameplay, it's in ACT 2 that they go completely shameless, reusing old missions and similar shit.

 

[Jarmel]

Mgs didn't get raked at all tho lol the meta reads like nobody even cared at that point. Gameplay was solid that was enough.

Precisely. The gameplay in MGSV saved it from getting savaged, like it probably should have. There's going to be nothing like that saving FFXV.

There's a huge difference though. Chapter 2 of MGSV was a lot of repeated missions with a half-baked (if that) story in the middle. It also had no real conclusion. The "linear" stuff in FFXV doesn't sound like that at all, nor does it sound like the game doesn't have a proper climax/finale. It sounds like the "openness" begins to pare down in the second half to focus on the plot more, with only the last stretch or so being in a dungeon or dungeon-like environment which is typical of most RPG's.

This doesn't sound like an MGSV case at all. Sure, that choice for them to go more narrative instead of making the open world even more open...er could be because of budget/time, but it doesn't say that the entire second half of the game is linear weirdness.

I don't think it's going to be as bad as Act 2 where that was just a complete failure and collapse of the development team.

 

[F0rneus]

After reading the whole preview that was pretty brutal. It seemed like the person that played didn't really care for the game.

Yeah, if you only read the segments that were posted here it sounds positive, but in context of the whole article...Not so much. There's a lot not posted here.

Spoiler

Luna is a waste. She's barely in the game. The bromance has good parts (including an emotional rooftop scene) but the lack of female characters is "a damaging oversight". The plot is lacking. The game is "litered with stuctural issues". The take away from the article is that Tabata managed to make an eccentric, and original game that never escapes it's development hell past.

 

[artsi]

I'm not worried, a lot of Final Fantasy games have had more linear moments mixed with generally open structure.

 

[Munba]

This preview is a mess, badly written too. And no concrete info in 40 hours lol..

Waiting for some serious reviews.

 

[Holundrian]

Guys no matter what this game was never going to live up to the hype that some people had for it. It's mostly cause of the 10 year wait but no matter what, it can get 10s across the board and some people will still say that the 10 year wait wasn't worth it and that the game is bad. It happened to Duke Nukem, it might happen to The Last Guardian, it'll probably happen to XV as well.

All in all I'm still excited for this but I want more previews and reviews than just this one. No matter how respected it is. I like the idea of the second half though!

No that actually didn't happen to Duke Nukem didn't receive 10s across the board it was just bad. Lul. Or did reality rewrite itself when i didn't pay attention?

 

[brandonh83]

I don't think it's going to be as bad as Act 2 where that was just a complete failure and collapse of the development team.

I don't see it being that major a clusterfuck, no. There's likely problems, but I don't see it being disappointing at least on that caliber.

 

[Socivol]

... I've been avoiding all black bars in this thread so far because reactions feel like it was plot related spoilers...

Can anyone else 2nd this?

True. It does kind of confirms who the game's villain is but if you've seen the trailers you won't be surprised.

 

[AzureFlame]

I remember that they gave FFX a 6 out of 10.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Yeah, if you only read the segments that were posted here it sounds positive, but in context of the whole article...Not so much. There's a lot not posted here.

Spoiler

Luna is a waste. She's barely in the game. The bromance has good parts (including an emotional rooftop scene) but the lack of female characters is "a damaging oversight". The plot is lacking. The game is "litered with stuctural issues".

Did X-2 receive the same arguments about the all female party or was it better there? I haven't played X-2 yet.

 

[LordKasual]

Its insane how easily impressionable GAF can be sometimes...

GAF: "GOTY!!"

5 minutes later

GAF: "pre-order cancelled im out fam"

"Wow, the improvements were amazing! This game is shaping up better than anyone expected!"

*one preview later*

"Fears confirmed, development hell, bad directing, zero vision, 5/10"

MGSV Act 2 was 'we broke son and we need to get this shit out the door'. If it's of the same caliber in FFXV then this game is going to get raked across the coals.

Well, let's hope it does get raked as hard as MGSV did.

Because that translates to perfect review scores and unique standards that exclude things like poor story telling, dialogue, broken game design and a totally incomplete second half.

 

[Missingnomer]

... I've been avoiding all black bars in this thread so far because reactions feel like it was plot related spoilers...

Can anyone else 2nd this?

I read the black bars. There is no direct plot spoilers. More of just a plot mechanic spoiler. Nothing major. People are mostly complaining about the transition in the latter half of the game. Personally, it isn't a big deal at all. I prefer this style of game design (i.e. Witcher 3).

 

[DOWN]

OP conclusions seem kinda negative

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

I remember that they gave FFX a 6 out of 10.

Hmmm sounds accurate to me.

 

[F0rneus]

Did X-2 receive the same arguments about the all female party or was it better there? I haven't played X-2 yet.

In the end does it matter? Fact is FFXV doesn't pull it off. It's as simple as that unfortunaly, and I was hoping that it would, but I had a feeling it really wouldn't.

 

[robotrock]

Honestly story isn't much of a worry for me, never gave it much thought in any FF, i'm talking more about game design, and what you can expect to see.
I just hope the linearity isn't a by product of them running out of time and money, and wanting to close the project in a decent time frame, so they lock you in copy pasted corridors or similar gimmicks.
I hope the switch makes sense.

As for the MGSV parallel, all of MGSV feels like it's stringing you along with very little in terms of story, but in terms of gameplay, it's in ACT 2 that they go completely shameless, reusing old missions and similar shit.

Yeah, hoping the switch is going to be some good linear stuff like an Uncharted or something.

 

[AzureFlame]

Hmmm sounds accurate to me.

Not to me tho lol.