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[Larxia]

What could have been...

To me the best and most hurtful trailer is this one :



NOTHING from this trailer is in the final game. This trailer is the most polished and dream-ish version of the game we've seen imo. It seemed so fantastic, I was so hyped when I saw this...

 

[Power Pro]

God dammit, this thread just had to remind me of this game's existence.

I don't know much about what could have been, but what I played was a disappointed unfinished boring mess. I really hated how they broke up so much out of the story in other media, like an anime, or cg movie...that is such bull shit. If your game can't stand on it's own, then you've already fucked up so much. I felt nothing for these characters also. It's so bad, and I usually am pretty forgiving of mediocre games, but this was just a mishmash of bad ideas all around.

It's crazy to me that Square-Enix was able to do so well with Final Fantasy 7 remake, and it was nice to see they haven't lost their way completely, but XV really shook my faith in the franchise for a bit.

 

[Kumomeme]

To me the best and most hurtful trailer is this one :



NOTHING from this trailer is in the final game. This trailer is the most polished and dream-ish version of the game we've seen imo. It seemed so fantastic, I was so hyped when I saw this...

personally, still the best trailer square enix made.

 

[NT80]

I played through it for the first time on PC quite recently after It'd gotten a bunch of updates I believe. I quite liked it and saw a lot of potential in it but it's an up and down experience. The graphics are the best I've seen so far and some of those beautiful cities are great to walk around in. I did start to care about the characters towards the end. The combat I actually found quite tough further into the game. I'm not sure if they changed anything in this version or I was doing something wrong.

I think when you get the totality of the story it's very good but unfortunately you don't all of that in the game itself. I played the available dlc and read the book which covered the cancelled dlc and added more background.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Biggest problem with the multi-media story approach was that the story wasn't cohesive at all. Speaks volumes that FFXVI will be wide linear and contained in one piece of media. Best way to deliver an impactful story imo.

 

[Rickyiez]

One of the worst games I have ever played. Absolute abomination. Shit is held together by duct tape and the corpse of a failed previous project. It was originally FF Versus XIII and apart of that stupid Fabulnobodygivesafuck crystal saga.

It did felt like that when I played it for the first time. Dumb fake car traversal , bushes clipping during combat, incredibly boring combat and irredeemable dull characters. I had more fun playing 3/10 games during the 360 era like Bullet Witch

 

[EDMIX]

I think FFXV turned out as good as it was going to. With that hack Nomura, anything excluded was likely along the lines of Kingdom Hearts, Crisis Core nonsense.

Really hope FFXVI presses the reset button. With the trailers alone, cringe and gobbledygook have been turned down from 12 to 5.

Thats my take on this.

As someone thats followed this game since its reveal on PS3 as Versus XIII....some of you need to really let this shit go.

You don't know what this shit was "suppose" to be and most evidence doesn't suggest this massive, deep ,revolutionary type RPG. Even those fanfictioning over this whole

"what could have been"

what could have been if given more time

what it could have been if it was more complete,

completely disregard what we fucking got from those cities wasn't any good.

It was window dressing...you go to a city, buy a few things, do the quest hunts and thats pretty much it.

After beating the game twice already and seeing some of the DLC stuff that released years later, I don't buy that what you think you would have gotten with "more time" or "more complete" was going to be any good...

You got more time and Square put out DLC with content instead of a lot of the things many of you are weeping over.

I believe......it wasn't any good, I think that out of bounds thing doesn't show some deep city they would have did a bunch of shit with, they don't even do much with the cities already in the game, you already got an answer to what they'd do with more time, you got that DLC.

Don't you think its odd that City isn't the DLC?

Sweet Stella - May you rest peacefully in your eternal slumber.

May that retarded replacement wannabe burn in each of the 9 hells.

......

FFXV was a mess. I have 1000% faith in XVI and Yoshi-P though.

The lolz, shit even this.

I have a theory that those triggered over the City not being 100% there or Stella just make up in their minds that any of that shit was going to be good....if the cities in the fucking game RIGHT NOW are just barren window dressing type things, what makes you think the city you didn't see was the REAL game changer and Square was like "nah, after 10 years, lets make a bad city instead for lolz bbq" lol

Second...Luna's character is just dog shit boring, oh shit but Stella was where the real game was? If they felt ok replacing Stella with "luna" its likely cause that character was just as boring or something. If they felt ok leaving behind that city, its cause HOW they did those cities, it was simply a empty place that likely didn't offer much or they didn't have anything for it other then some intro or something.

So let me put it simply for folks who keep thinking some masterful RPG was just left on the cutting room floor...
If a chef fucked up your meal, the eggs tasted uncooked and like cat shit (don't ask me how I know), the coffee tasted like Racoon Pee (dm me for the full story on that one), if they took 10 times as long and then told you "I had to leave some things behind that didn't make sense for the meal sir"

Are you sure what they left behind was magically going to be the best shit if THIS is what they gave you? So I have nothing but the highest respect for the director that got this game out and I feel they made the best choices based on what they were given, I merely doubt what we lost was as great as some of you assume, if some of you hate FFXV or feel its lacks a lot of things, adding in Stella is still ignoring the story is shit lol Adding in another City is still ignoring the cities we have already...are not that great and just window dressing.

Thats like saying you hate AC Valhalla and its soooooo bloated, boring cities, shitty story, oh but dat City they cut, THAT was da game changer broz, that ONE CHARACTER, yup I have no doubt THAT story would have been GREAT lol

You guys merely want what in your minds you thought it would be, I don't think many of you have fully dealt with the reality that those elements were left behind, even when the DLC was made after the fact...maybe it was left out for a logical reason as I'm sure Square loves money and would love to just sell that shit if it was that damn good.

sorry for the baby forest. lol

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Square loves money and would love to just sell that shit

Slightly FTFY

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Man what a kick in the balls for a lifelong Final Fantasy fan. A thirteen year stretch during which only one mainline single-player FF game is released, and it’s just bits and pieces cobbled together from the remains of a much bigger and more ambitious game.

If you believe all the rumors (and I think it’s credible), they didn’t even know if/when there would be a FF XVI, it was dependent on how well XV performed. Also it sounds like they were pleasantly surprised that it got so-so ratings instead of being completely demolished.

Let’s hope XVI is the start of a new era. With Tabata gone and Nomura (hopefully) siloed into Kingdom Hearts + FF VII Remake, the series might finally break out of its slump.

 

[German Hops]

A thirteen year stretch during which only one mainline single-player FF game is released, and it’s just bits and pieces cobbled together from the remains of a much bigger and more ambitious game.

lol I remember a time when we'd get a new Final Fantasy every other year.
Oh my what wonder

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

lol I remember a time when we'd get a new Final Fantasy every other year.
Oh my what wonder

Heck, 1-10 all came out in a span of 14 years. Really puts it in perspective.

Of course they’re doing other stuff too (remakes, sequels, mobile, mmos, etc), but still. I miss the days when you’d get some big, ambitious, genre defining game every year or two. Hard to believe it was ever that way.

 

[Valonquar]

If only Yoshida had risen to power slightly earlier.

 

[TheCed]

I think FFXV turned out as good as it was going to. With that hack Nomura, anything excluded was likely along the lines of Kingdom Hearts, Crisis Core nonsense.

Really hope FFXVI presses the reset button. With the trailers alone, cringe and gobbledygook have been turned down from 12 to 5.

Crisis Core was Tabata's game
So was FFXV

and In both case, Nojima is Senario writer.

A bit tired to see Nomura getting blamed for everything. He's not perfect but he gets too much hate.

 

[OGM_Madness]

The issue with FFXV is that it simply took forever to come out. If it had released as is but for PS3, it would have been fine, but it consumed Square for so long… it was never going to accomplish everything it needed to do and be. That’s why I’m excited about FFXVI, it seems like a tight project that had a proper dev cycle. Nothing too crazy or ambitious, just enough to get us excited and deliver. I hope they keep doing smaller/tighter projects, since FF has always been about the music, the visuals and the story, not so much as a envelope pushing franchise in terms of tech and what games can be… that’s for GTA IMHO.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Man what a kick in the balls for a lifelong Final Fantasy fan. A thirteen year stretch during which only one mainline single-player FF game is released, and it’s just bits and pieces cobbled together from the remains of a much bigger and more ambitious game.

If you believe all the rumors (and I think it’s credible), they didn’t even know if/when there would be a FF XVI, it was dependent on how well XV performed. Also it sounds like they were pleasantly surprised that it got so-so ratings instead of being completely demolished.

Let’s hope XVI is the start of a new era. With Tabata gone and Nomura (hopefully) siloed into Kingdom Hearts + FF VII Remake, the series might finally break out of its slump.

Its like they built this massive burrito, then as they lifted it up to serve it, it all fell apart, and they couldnt get more money or time to make a new burrito, so they scrounged up whatever edible bits were on the floor, stuffed it into a tortilla, and said “heres final fantasy xv, fuck you.”

 

[Interfectum]

The initial pitch to me sounded amazing (4 dudes on a road trip) but they fucked the entire thing up from the start. It doesn't feel like a "road trip" in an open world where you can go back to the start at any time.

The game should have been a linear experience that made you feel like you were legit on a road trip and then layer on the final fantasy trappings.

 

[fallingdove]

Crisis Core was Tabata's game
So was FFXV

and In both case, Nojima is Senario writer.

A bit tired to see Nomura getting blamed for everything. He's not perfect but he gets too much hate.

Nomura was creative director on Crisis Core.

Nomura developed the story concept for FFXV, designed the main characters and was game director for a number of years.

To suggest that Nomura didn’t shape these titles is straight up dishonest. Nomura has produced some timeless art but Bo don’t know story, gameplay, level design, or character development.

 

[kiphalfton]

Crisis Core was Tabata's game
So was FFXV

and In both case, Nojima is Senario writer.

A bit tired to see Nomura getting blamed for everything. He's not perfect but he gets too much hate.

FFXV, Crisis Core, and FF Type-0 all had crappy gameplay that just wasn't fun. I don't know if all the blame can come down to Tabata himself, but considering how much better Versus XIII looked than XV, it's hard not to point fingers.

On the flip side pretty much everything Nomura has worked on has been fun and/or good.

Don't know how people can still act like it's somehow Nomura's fault FF XV turned out underwhelming.

 

[kiphalfton]

Nomura was creative director on Crisis Core.

Nomura developed the story concept for FFXV, designed the main characters and was game director for a number of years.

To suggest that Nomura didn’t shape these titles is straight up dishonest. Nomura has produced some timeless art but Bo don’t know story, gameplay, level design, or character development.

Everybody knows pretty much everything from Versus XIII was scrapped, besides Noctis/Ignis/etc. character design, so not sure WTF your point is.

But he's the scapegoat, so sure.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

The initial pitch to me sounded amazing (4 dudes on a road trip) but they fucked the entire thing up from the start. It doesn't feel like a "road trip" in an open world where you can go back to the start at any time.

The game should have been a linear experience that made you feel like you were legit on a road trip and then layer on the final fantasy trappings.

Yup, open world format made it literally feel like you were driving around in cricles on an island, rather than travelling through the world.

 

[night13x]

Thats my take on this.

As someone thats followed this game since its reveal on PS3 as Versus XIII....some of you need to really let this shit go.

You don't know what this shit was "suppose" to be and most evidence doesn't suggest this massive, deep ,revolutionary type RPG. Even those fanfictioning over this whole

"what could have been"



completely disregard what we fucking got from those cities wasn't any good.

It was window dressing...you go to a city, buy a few things, do the quest hunts and thats pretty much it.

After beating the game twice already and seeing some of the DLC stuff that released years later, I don't buy that what you think you would have gotten with "more time" or "more complete" was going to be any good...

You got more time and Square put out DLC with content instead of a lot of the things many of you are weeping over.

I believe......it wasn't any good, I think that out of bounds thing doesn't show some deep city they would have did a bunch of shit with, they don't even do much with the cities already in the game, you already got an answer to what they'd do with more time, you got that DLC.

Don't you think its odd that City isn't the DLC?



The lolz, shit even this.

I have a theory that those triggered over the City not being 100% there or Stella just make up in their minds that any of that shit was going to be good....if the cities in the fucking game RIGHT NOW are just barren window dressing type things, what makes you think the city you didn't see was the REAL game changer and Square was like "nah, after 10 years, lets make a bad city instead for lolz bbq" lol

Second...Luna's character is just dog shit boring, oh shit but Stella was where the real game was? If they felt ok replacing Stella with "luna" its likely cause that character was just as boring or something. If they felt ok leaving behind that city, its cause HOW they did those cities, it was simply a empty place that likely didn't offer much or they didn't have anything for it other then some intro or something.

So let me put it simply for folks who keep thinking some masterful RPG was just left on the cutting room floor...
If a chef fucked up your meal, the eggs tasted uncooked and like cat shit (don't ask me how I know), the coffee tasted like Racoon Pee (dm me for the full story on that one), if they took 10 times as long and then told you "I had to leave some things behind that didn't make sense for the meal sir"

Are you sure what they left behind was magically going to be the best shit if THIS is what they gave you? So I have nothing but the highest respect for the director that got this game out and I feel they made the best choices based on what they were given, I merely doubt what we lost was as great as some of you assume, if some of you hate FFXV or feel its lacks a lot of things, adding in Stella is still ignoring the story is shit lol Adding in another City is still ignoring the cities we have already...are not that great and just window dressing.

Thats like saying you hate AC Valhalla and its soooooo bloated, boring cities, shitty story, oh but dat City they cut, THAT was da game changer broz, that ONE CHARACTER, yup I have no doubt THAT story would have been GREAT lol

You guys merely want what in your minds you thought it would be, I don't think many of you have fully dealt with the reality that those elements were left behind, even when the DLC was made after the fact...maybe it was left out for a logical reason as I'm sure Square loves money and would love to just sell that shit if it was that damn good.

sorry for the baby forest. lol

I actually agree with most if not all what you just said actually. Versus 13 at it's initial trailer was released (back when dinosaurs ruled the earth), was fucking awesome...but a concept video. After that it was just a cluster F after cluster F. No time, effort, gil, Mega potions, nights at the loveless hotel, etc could ever save FF15. I personally blame "square enix" as a whole instead of just one person. It should of never came to what it turned out to be and most of it was just pure mismanagement. There was no "if we had more time we could of..." I mean fuck, Director Tabata literally skipped town in the development of 2nd season of DLC that never came to be. That was how bad that shit show was.

Stella - I liked the concept of the character...and what was presented to us originally. For like a decade, I was excited for this character and then well... let's just say this - instead of spider-man we got Spooder-man lol.

I pray to the Twelve that FFXVI is everything I think it is going to be so that we can bury the memory of FF15 for good and move on with the series.

 

[jimmypython]

What could have been...

Looks like this party-member-switching battle system was eventually implemented in FF7 remake

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Looks like this party-member-switching battle system was eventually implemented in FF7 remake

For all the heat Nomura gets, I'd say he has a pretty clear idea in his head about how his games will look and play and his action games have simple mechanics, whilst Tabata's XV and the battle system felt like a mess to play.

 

[Ar¢tos]

From a musical POV, some of FFXV content is very different from the original compositions.
I feel truly sorry for Yoko Shimomura's team, having the trouble of composing the music, recording it with orchestra, doing piano arrangements for the Piano Collections, recording the arrangements, sending it to the studio not owning a single piece of the music, and then have the music butchered into j-pop mixes in the game (like Valse di Fantastica, that the original version was only used for 10secs in a promotional trailer).

 

[Meicyn]

For all the heat Nomura gets, I'd say he has a pretty clear idea in his head about how his games will look and play

Not sure I’d agree given Nomura at one point watched Les Miserables and wanted to turn FFXV into a musical.

E3 2013: Final Fantasy 15 Was Almost a Musical - IGN

Why did Tetsuya Nomura come into work one day intent on turning FFXV into a musical?

www.ign.com

The dude is an eccentric through and through, and eccentric personalities come up with some wild and crazy experiences… you need those folks because you can’t beat their creativity. But it takes years to make a game, and having a director who’s ready to change an entire product after watching the latest movie sounds like nightmare fuel.

 

[UnNamed]

I always hope they release an alternative FFXV with the original story as it was meant to be, with all the old material from the PS3 version. It would be so different it could pass as a new FF, they could name it FF Versus XV.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I always hope they release an alternative FFXV with the original story as it was meant to be, with all the old material from the PS3 version. It would be so different it could pass as a new FF, they could name it FF Versus XV.

I would love final Fantasy xv remake, if it meant we got the content complete original vision before it was chopped to bits

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

It had to come out eventually. And the game was really only in full production for those last 3 years, where Tabata and his team had 3 years to try and cobble together a game out of the first 7 years of what was essentially overly-ambitious, unfocused pre-production asset building.

That what they put together in those three years turned out as well as it did is really quite something. Even before the DLC, FFXV is one of my favorite games of the last generation. Not on the same level as Witcher 3, but I loved the “4 besties on a trip around the world” theme and a many of the dungeons were special. Still never did all the post-game content, but it was supposedly top-tier.

The story and the ending in particular have stuck with me to this day. it was really an amazing story.

 

[fallingdove]

Everybody knows pretty much everything from Versus XIII was scrapped, besides Noctis/Ignis/etc. character design, so not sure WTF your point is.

But he's the scapegoat, so sure.

Don’t be so dense. They didn’t scrap the entire game and start over. By the time Nomura left, he had already left his mark on the gameplay, story, world and overall visual design.

Nomura’s signature is all over these games, it’s not just making him a scapegoat.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Don’t be so dense. They didn’t scrap the entire game and start over. By the time Nomura left, he had already left his mark on the gameplay, story, world and overall visual design.

Nomura’s signature is all over these games, it’s not just making him a scapegoat.

They built what they could out of the stuff that had been made up to that point, and tried to put together a shippable product in 3 years. So the basic DNA of the game seems like it mostly made it into the product. If Nomura had stayed on the project and had that original team been given another 10 years (20 total) to make the game as originally intended, I guess it could’ve been something truly spectacular. But I don’t think that was ever even a remote possibility. The game languished for years til Tabata was tasked with trying to make a cohesive, shippable game out of that mess.

 

[Captain Toad]

Worst. Final Fantasy. Ever.

 

[TheCed]

Nomura was creative director on Crisis Core.

Nomura developed the story concept for FFXV, designed the main characters and was game director for a number of years.

To suggest that Nomura didn’t shape these titles is straight up dishonest. Nomura has produced some timeless art but Bo don’t know story, gameplay, level design, or character development.

The PS3 era was terrible for Square overall with a lot of projects being cancelled here and there. FFXIV 1.0 caused a lot of problems.

Versus and XV are 2 different games that only kept part of the settings. Nomura had nothing to do with how XV turned out, yeah character design... but aside from that nothing else, The guy wasn't allowed to even mention Versus for a while.

Creative director is not director, he came up with the general idea for the game's story and Nojima wrote a script for said ideas. Tabata had to make a game with said script.
Nomura doesn't have full control of everything.

Again, criticism is fine but man does he get a lot on it for things he shouldn't get blamed for.

 

[Clear]

In games, unlike film, you can't just fix shit up in the edit.

Every decision, every change, you get to live with. So when you have such a long and troubled development history, obviously the amount of cut or unused content really mounts up.

Its all very well having some huge assets built, but you still need to fill them with the game, so if your options are to half-ass it, or just regretfully jettison it, the latter is obviously the right choice.

To be honest, I thought the game was pretty decent given the circumstances. Its far from the best and most complete title the series has to offer, but its absolutely not the train-wreck a lot of people would have you believe.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

In games, unlike film, you can't just fix shit up in the edit.

Every decision, every change, you get to live with. So when you have such a long and troubled development history, obviously the amount of cut or unused content really mounts up.

Its all very well having some huge assets built, but you still need to fill them with the game, so if your options are to half-ass it, or just regretfully jettison it, the latter is obviously the right choice.

To be honest, I thought the game was pretty decent given the circumstances. Its far from the best and most complete title the series has to offer, but its absolutely not the train-wreck a lot of people would have you believe.

It is a trainwreck.

It has its story split between the game, the movie, and the anime and NONE of it is consistent or cohesive. In the movie, Luna is referred to as “princess,” and can’t use magic. In the game, Luna is referred to as “oracle” and can use magic with and without her trident. The devs clearly realized this too late, which is why we have that laughable explanation on the radio in Chapter 1 where some official says “Luna will be suspending her duties as an oracle during her stay in Insomnia” as if that takes care of the blatant inconsistency. Just one of the many examples of the sloppy writing that’s prevalent throughout the game.

The game itself has an initial 8 chapters of what essentially amounts to “fucking around.” Aka, “we spent so many resources trying to build an open world and ruined the story in the process and we’re just going to do what we can with it.” That’s why we have missions like “avenge Jared,” “follow the creepy homeless guy in his car because he somehow knows that Noctis is having visions of Titan,” and “let’s walk to the military base that stole our car because it wouldn’t feel right to use a temporary car even though the world is in danger.”

Then we have Chapter 9 which is an absolute embarrassment, it’s Cliff’s Notes politics for 10 minutes followed by the most embarrassing AAA “set piece” I’ve ever seen along with the Titan fight.

Then comes Chapters 10-14 which feel like a hugely truncated Final Fantasy title.


Outside of this, the gameplay is beyond messy, with the spastic camera, the half-baked systems (such as Magic and the whole upgrade system in general), and the spammable items and 2 HP bars and summons that save you when near death and almost always having a warp point that can fully heal you in battle. The geniuses in development thought it was a good idea to design the combat, filled with overly-lengthy animations, behind holding a button, so the game almost never feels right and can easily look and feel incredibly janky.

The game is open world but Noctis controls like the air is filled with molasses, the car is not fun to use, chocobos get old fast.

A lot of people love the “bros” but I never got much depth out of them, and if anything their shallow and repetitive dialogue and ESPECIALLY Prompto’s constant requesting for picture taking got on my nerves.


It’s a trainwreck and a total embarrassment. It’s duct-taped from beginning to end and when the design has “Tabata” and “we have no idea what we’re doing” written all over it I’m not sure how other people think otherwise? There’s even an interview where Tabata said that he wants an open world even though the dev team was against it and that “it’s okay if it’s empty.”


IN ADDITION, even after Nomura left the project, a lot of trailer footage was totally scrapped until Uncovered, which was in, what, March of 2016 when the game released November of 2016? The “Dawn” trailers in 2015 were meant as a marketing reboot…. And none of the footage was in the game outside of Regis holding Noctis being used for 1 second in a flashback. Also, the person that leaked the plot 6 months prior to release stated that they “keep rewriting lines” and that the story was rewritten like, the year-of. And it shows.


EDIT: I forgot about the catalyst of the story being shown in the game via newspaper (even though Insomnia is a couple of miles away) and then a sloppily-edited montage of Kingsglaive footage in a post-release patch.

 

[Swift_Star]

It’s a tie between this and 2 for the Worst game in the franchise. This game still leaves a bitter taste on my mouth.

 

[Green_Eyes]

I remember how much I was looking forward to XIII and XV, only to be severely let down both times. SE has long since lost respect for their own franchise. They constantly milk them with so many spin-offs and re-releases, spreading themselves so thin that they don't put in the time and quality into their mainline games...or anything they make for that matter.

Barring the MMO's, there hasn't been an epic Squaresoft game since FFX (games like Octopath and Bravely are good, but not epic by past standards).

 

[Clear]

It is a trainwreck.

That's your opinion. I had a good time with the game, I suspect because I wasn't overly hung-up on what is wasn't. i.e. Versus XV.

It has its story split between the game, the movie, and the anime and NONE of it is consistent or cohesive. In the movie, Luna is referred to as “princess,” and can’t use magic. In the game, Luna is referred to as “oracle” and can use magic with and without her trident. The devs clearly realized this too late, which is why we have that laughable explanation on the radio in Chapter 1 where some official says “Luna will be suspending her duties as an oracle during her stay in Insomnia” as if that takes care of the blatant inconsistency. Just one of the many examples of the sloppy writing that’s prevalent throughout the game.

Oracle is a synonym for soothsayer or prognosticator, not a black mage or whatever. The character is basically a Macguffin anyway.

The game itself has an initial 8 chapters of what essentially amounts to “fucking around.” Aka, “we spent so many resources trying to build an open world and ruined the story in the process and we’re just going to do what we can with it.” That’s why we have missions like “avenge Jared,” “follow the creepy homeless guy in his car because he somehow knows that Noctis is having visions of Titan,” and “let’s walk to the military base that stole our car because it wouldn’t feel right to use a temporary car even though the world is in danger.”

Its character-based, which makes sense for the road-trip narrative.

A lot of people love the “bros” but I never got much depth out of them, and if anything their shallow and repetitive dialogue and ESPECIALLY Prompto’s constant requesting for picture taking got on my nerves.

Well, there you go! I thought it was a pretty refreshing take on the party dynamic. And obviously, if the character's don't click for you in a character-driven story you're shit out of luck.

Your loss I guess.

 

[nocsi]

Worst. Final Fantasy. Ever.

It’s a tie between this and 2 for the Worst game in the franchise. This game still leaves a bitter taste on my mouth.

Feel free to elaborate your thoughts/feelings. There was a disclaimer at the beginning of FF15 that the game was for both new and old fans.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

That's your opinion. I had a good time with the game, I suspect because I wasn't overly hung-up on what is wasn't. i.e. Versus XV.




Oracle is a synonym for soothsayer or prognosticator, not a black mage or whatever. The character is basically a Macguffin anyway.



Its character-based, which makes sense for the road-trip narrative.



Well, there you go! I thought it was a pretty refreshing take on the party dynamic. And obviously, if the character's don't click for you in a character-driven story you're shit out of luck.

Your loss I guess.

The “clarification” you made on what Oracle technically means has nothing to do with what I said.

The “character-based” excuse… does not refute anything I said.

Even if I liked the “bros” the game has a ridiculous amount of flaws.

Have a good day!

 

[Ma-Yuan]

I still to this day despise FFXV... incoherent incomplete mess and an insult to fans. But I can accept people had fun it and like it.

 

[Captain Toad]

Feel free to elaborate your thoughts/feelings.

Game sucks.

 

[kiphalfton]

Don’t be so dense. They didn’t scrap the entire game and start over. By the time Nomura left, he had already left his mark on the gameplay, story, world and overall visual design.

Nomura’s signature is all over these games, it’s not just making him a scapegoat.

Yes, because all the locales we saw in Versus XIII were in XV and vice versa. As well as it being solo, having the same general story, etc. Oh wait, no it wasn't.

Just admit you have a hate boner for Nomura and move on.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

I would love final Fantasy xv remake, if it meant we got the content complete original vision before it was chopped to bits

Made the point in the thread if they were to do it, then would make sense to do it for the current gen as the assets still hold up very well.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

They built what they could out of the stuff that had been made up to that point, and tried to put together a shippable product in 3 years. So the basic DNA of the game seems like it mostly made it into the product. If Nomura had stayed on the project and had that original team been given another 10 years (20 total) to make the game as originally intended, I guess it could’ve been something truly spectacular. But I don’t think that was ever even a remote possibility. The game languished for years til Tabata was tasked with trying to make a cohesive, shippable game out of that mess.

Believe Nomura wanted to tell the narrative he'd crafted over two games. Recall reading that in a leak after the game released.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I have a hate boner for Nomura and I bare this boner proudly.

Look at Kingdom Hearts. That’s what you get when Nomura has complete creative control. It’s ridiculously convoluted and pretentious while simultaneously being infantile and embarrassing.

Stupid character designs. Dumb corny dialog that just goes on and on, talking in circles. Tweens yapping about fate and destiny and darkness and shit.

Yeah, Nomura sucks and you can easily detect his stink on everything he touches.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

It is a trainwreck.

It has its story split between the game, the movie, and the anime and NONE of it is consistent or cohesive. In the movie, Luna is referred to as “princess,” and can’t use magic. In the game, Luna is referred to as “oracle” and can use magic with and without her trident. The devs clearly realized this too late, which is why we have that laughable explanation on the radio in Chapter 1 where some official says “Luna will be suspending her duties as an oracle during her stay in Insomnia” as if that takes care of the blatant inconsistency. Just one of the many examples of the sloppy writing that’s prevalent throughout the game.

The game itself has an initial 8 chapters of what essentially amounts to “fucking around.” Aka, “we spent so many resources trying to build an open world and ruined the story in the process and we’re just going to do what we can with it.” That’s why we have missions like “avenge Jared,” “follow the creepy homeless guy in his car because he somehow knows that Noctis is having visions of Titan,” and “let’s walk to the military base that stole our car because it wouldn’t feel right to use a temporary car even though the world is in danger.”

Then we have Chapter 9 which is an absolute embarrassment, it’s Cliff’s Notes politics for 10 minutes followed by the most embarrassing AAA “set piece” I’ve ever seen along with the Titan fight.

Then comes Chapters 10-14 which feel like a hugely truncated Final Fantasy title.


Outside of this, the gameplay is beyond messy, with the spastic camera, the half-baked systems (such as Magic and the whole upgrade system in general), and the spammable items and 2 HP bars and summons that save you when near death and almost always having a warp point that can fully heal you in battle. The geniuses in development thought it was a good idea to design the combat, filled with overly-lengthy animations, behind holding a button, so the game almost never feels right and can easily look and feel incredibly janky.

The game is open world but Noctis controls like the air is filled with molasses, the car is not fun to use, chocobos get old fast.

A lot of people love the “bros” but I never got much depth out of them, and if anything their shallow and repetitive dialogue and ESPECIALLY Prompto’s constant requesting for picture taking got on my nerves.


It’s a trainwreck and a total embarrassment. It’s duct-taped from beginning to end and when the design has “Tabata” and “we have no idea what we’re doing” written all over it I’m not sure how other people think otherwise? There’s even an interview where Tabata said that he wants an open world even though the dev team was against it and that “it’s okay if it’s empty.”


IN ADDITION, even after Nomura left the project, a lot of trailer footage was totally scrapped until Uncovered, which was in, what, March of 2016 when the game released November of 2016? The “Dawn” trailers in 2015 were meant as a marketing reboot…. And none of the footage was in the game outside of Regis holding Noctis being used for 1 second in a flashback. Also, the person that leaked the plot 6 months prior to release stated that they “keep rewriting lines” and that the story was rewritten like, the year-of. And it shows.


EDIT: I forgot about the catalyst of the story being shown in the game via newspaper (even though Insomnia is a couple of miles away) and then a sloppily-edited montage of Kingsglaive footage in a post-release patch.

Very good summary of how badly Tabata and the new faces he hired nerfed the project. Nomura's team had some serious talent, like Jun Akiyama and lots of other series veterans who were replaced with new hires and recently promoted younger devs. Clearly they weren't up to the task.

What's interesting is that Japanese devs and workers in general still tend to stick to a company for a long time, so I wonder if Tabata was forced out or if he left of his own accord.

 

[Synless]

Shiva is fucking thicc in this game tho

we can all agree on that.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Shiva is fucking thicc in this game tho

we can all agree on that.

I don’t think I even managed to summon her once. I don’t remember what she looks like.

 

[KiNg-MU]

A while back I posted to Reddit how I would improve the narrative structure of FFXV given the current FFXV universe. I tried to make it something that could happen realistically, so no major rewrites just simple additions, inserts and edits mainly to bring all of the FFXV universe into the singular game format and expand on story elements that needed it. It is a lengthy read but I can assure you that it is worth it as I put some time and thought into it and am proud of how it came through! At the time I posted it was fresh off of my FFXV playthrough consuming all of its media (trailers and novel included) in an appropriate sequential order similar to what can be seen in the post.



If SE/LumiPro would ever come back to this game, especially for its 10th/15th anniversary (2026/2031), and they were to implement at least some of the things I suggested it would completely transform the FFXV experience into a completely different game. And who knows what LumiPro are working on now that Forspoken has released and they are now undoubtedly working on their next project...

I know some would rather see a Versus reboot but I don't think that's feasible at this point and I would rather much see Nomura's ideas in KH4/Verum Rex and I think he does as well at this point... XV stands on its own now and has deviated to the point where it has its own identity but has too much of a similar image to Versus, making it redundant to be a thing and potentially a financial liability. I personally am of those that enjoyed the original ideas of Versus and what XV had to offer and unfortunately, both could not be fleshed out, and I wish the day would come that they are in the form of an FFXV COMPLETE so to speak and whatever the future is with KH and Verum Rex.

But anyway thank you if you took the time to read this and the linked post!

 

[swaffles23]

I still enjoyed my time with it and get the urge to replay it from time to time. My daughter and I was super hyped for it(she was 11 at the time and was her first FF game) we watched the movie, anime, read the book and she still loves it.

It's a shame because Fabula Nova Crystallis was interesting and Square fumbled it.