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[jimmypython]

After the glowing previews and great reviews of FF13 due to hype culture and advertising dollars, I have 0 faith in professional reviews for this game. I'll wait for post release GAF impressions/reviews, but even then how soon after release did GAF expose all the warts and disappointment that was FF13?

I have to agree with this.

Same goes to FF13-2, Lightning Returns, and Dark Souls 2


edit:

Just saw some parts for the video. Even though they have GREATLY improved the performance and other technical side of things, the final build of the Titan battle is still not good in my eyes - from a gameplay perspective.

 

[eso76]

I'm shocked, tbh but I hope they're right

 

[Ploid 3.0]

At this rate, I'll wait on the first 60 hours. Then the second 120 hours for the real impressions.

 

[Ishida]

Only at GAF you can get a thread about very positive previews on a game, and still get posts like "don't trust previews", "I'll keep my expectations very low" from the very usual people.

It happened in the earlier impressions thread, too.

Anyways, this is shaping up to be pretty good! It's been a long time coming... Almost there...

 

[Holundrian]

Only at GAF you can get a thread about very positive previews on a game, and still get posts like "don't trust previews", "I'll keep my expectations very low" from the very usual people.

It happened in the earlier impressions thread, too.

Anyways, this is shaping up to be pretty good! It's been a long time coming... Almost there...

Only at gaf you can have people that love the idea of a game so much they refuse to look at the reality of years of gaming releases and buy into anything that feeds their hype while trying to throw shade on anyone trying to stay level headed.

Rofl. Dude be real, we live in a world of Diablo 3, FF XIII, Colonial Marines, NMS, Sim City, etc etc etc etc etc etc.... There's really nothing illogical about people being cautious. If you're not that's fine but don't make it seem like we're the outlandish ones.

 

[Sjefen]

Really hope the game have a strong finish as well, so many games this gen have had strong first part but uninspired end game

 

[Schryver]

Maybe I will play my first Final Fantasy. But probably not

 

[Arkeband]

Only at GAF you can get a thread about very positive previews on a game, and still get posts like "don't trust previews", "I'll keep my expectations very low" from the very usual people.

It happened in the earlier impressions thread, too.

Anyways, this is shaping up to be pretty good! It's been a long time coming... Almost there...

And in every thread where they show something suboptimal or downright alarming, you'll get the "usual suspects" making up excuse after excuse and trying to shoo negativity out of the thread.

Which one is more constructive?

 

[Vital Tundra]

15 hours isn't enough for a good impression for me when the game is so long.

 

[MilkBeard]

One things for sure: This game will probably rival the best music in the series. I feel that way from things like how there are so many different battle themes, to Shimomura's beautiful, sweeping compositions.

One of my biggest gripes of the music in Final Fantasy is the fact that the battle theme really starts to annoy me after many hours. This game will help change that by providing different themes.

I just watched the combat with the crabs by the river, and I'm getting pretty excited just to play around in the world. I'm also impressed by how much banter there is at every turn.

On the downsides, I'd say that there is still some noticeable pop-in, and the fact that the camera is going to be a bit of a hindrance at times.

 

[Kwansu Dudes]

Only at gaf you can have people that love the idea of a game so much they refuse to look at the reality of years of gaming releases and buy into anything that feeds their hype while trying to throw shade on anyone trying to stay level headed.

Rofl. Dude be real, we live in a world of Diablo 3, FF XIII, Colonial Marines, NMS, Sim City, etc etc etc etc etc etc.... There's really nothing illogical about people being cautious. If you're not that's fine but don't make it seem like we're the outlandish ones.

I think your stance is valid given SE's history and how they've handled FFXV so far. This is my most anticipated game of the year, but I will not be surprised if it ends up being mediocre, bad. I do, however, hope that it exceeds everyone's expectations.

 

[Socivol]

Some of the banter is hilarious and sounds just like my friends and I. Specifically when Prompto is talking about a King's Tale and Noctis says he would be a special character and then Gladio says "Hell no. If anyone's a rare it's me." Literally made me lol The game looks great I'm super excited.

One thing I will say is Ardyn is soooooooo creepy! When they walked in the store and he was just hanging out it was so unsettling to me.

 

[Ralemont]

And in every thread where they show something suboptimal or downright alarming, you'll get the "usual suspects" making up excuse after excuse and trying to shoo negativity out of the thread.

Which one is more constructive?

Could you be a little more specific? Because when they were, for example, showing earlier builds with crappy optimization and the "excuses" were "wait until we see the November gold version" and that excuse turned out to be 100% correct, is that not constructive? Similarly, people saying the Platinum Demo was just a tech demo and didn't represent what the game was going to be like were also correct. That's not constructive? Certainly more constructive than going into a preview thread to say "don't trust previews".

 

[Holundrian]

I think your stance is valid given SE's history and how they've handled FFXV so far. This is my most anticipated game of the year, but I will not be surprised if it ends up being mediocre, bad. I do, however, hope that it exceeds everyone's expectations.

Dude me too. I want nothing more for this game be mindblowingly awesome I don't even mind if I'm not that much into the gameplay if the characters not even the story but the characters are entertaining. But really the times are just over where I'm going to buy FF on blind faith. It's been a ~ decade since I last enjoyed a FF game. Too bad that I'm just not into MMOs anymore.

 

[AkirraKrylon]

I think your stance is valid given SE's history and how they've handled FFXV so far. This is my most anticipated game of the year, but I will not be surprised if it ends up being mediocre, bad. I do, however, hope that it exceeds everyone's expectations.

Unless they SERIOUSLY botch the story I just can't see this game being bad. Good but not as great as we hoped? Maybe....but not bad.

 

[RoKKeR]

Can you play this game with Japanese VO's but English UI elements?

 

[KupoNut]

I hope these previews can win back the hearts of people who've made their judgement based on the poor Platinum Demo or their E3 showcase.

 

[LastCupOfSorrow]

FFIII was the last FF I can honestly say blew me away. Wish they'd go back to those days...

 

[sappyday]

Can you play this game with Japanese VO's but English UI elements?

Yes. Subtitles and everything although the subtitles are the same as if you are playing it in english.

 

[RoKKeR]

Yes. Subtitles and everything although the subtitles are the same as if you are playing it in english.

Well damn, never played a FF game before but I might just have to give this one a go! Thanks for the response.

 

[Arkeband]

Could you be a little more specific? Because when they were, for example, showing earlier builds with crappy optimization and the "excuses" were "wait until we see the November gold version" and that excuse turned out to be 100% correct, is that not constructive? Similarly, people saying the Platinum Demo was just a tech demo and didn't represent what the game was going to be like were also correct. That's not constructive? Certainly more constructive than going into a preview thread to say "don't trust previews".

"They ended up being right" is a pretty weak defense unless they can see into the future, otherwise they were just making shit up and hoping for the best.

 

[Zhao_Yun]

FFIII was the last FF I can honestly say blew me away. Wish they'd go back to those days...

FFIII or FFIII (VI)?

 

[kromeo]

FFIII or FFIII (VI)?

I refuse to believe anyone in history has ever been blown away by III (nes) and then not liked the 3 snes games...

 

[Markitron]

No sir. In fact, just pretend it was some sort of glorified tech demo.

No and they should remove that demo. That demo was made by two people to just throw at people to plump up the Uncovered event. The only thing representative is the final battle but even then you're missing out on most of the gameplay elements from the final game. We might play as little Noctis in the final game but there won't be an actual part where you have to collect crystals and shit.

Not really, it was more of a tech demo than anything else. It won't be in the final game at all. And for what it's worth, the preview I played is so much better than the Platinum Demo that you shouldn't even compare them.

Not even remotely. It's was quickly made by 2 people on the team just for the demo. Such a stupid idea from the marketing team. Gave the wrong impression and just left so many newcomers to the game confused. How many played the demo for a few minutes and thought the final game was a platformer where you have to collect crystals and drive around as miniature toy cars, lol. How they not just added a battle arena-like mode where you fight a few enemies with the full main party to get a grasp of the real game's combat is beyond me.

This is good to hear, I didn't know much about the game but that demo completely soured me on it before I even gave it a chance.

 

[FTF]

Nice, great to hear. Hype rising!

 

[Deckard Chapel]

I do mention that both of those exist and explain that they're both worth watching in the next paragraph of my preview, but that both of those seem to do a lot of heavy narrative lifting to get FF15's gameplay going as quickly as possible. The 'what' is pretty easy to follow just from playing the game, but the specific 'whys' are a little more unclear, unless you've seen Kingslaive and Brotherhood.

I saw that

Do you agree that for all players to fully understand the narrative at/prior to the beginning of the game, that Kingsglaive and Brotherhood are essential viewing?

 

[Auto_aim1]

Damnit Phil, 1 more month.

 

[Deckard Chapel]

Maybe I will play my first Final Fantasy. But probably not

?

 

[JayBabay]

Going to resist watching anything but man I am surprised by the enthusiasm he's having for the game. That is great news and telling of how much better things must have got when the focus is on the actual game and not on jarring technical difficulties.

 

[Socivol]

Armiger also looks like it did in those 2013 videos where the phantom weapons stab the opponent which Noctis attacks them.

 

[LordKasual]

Only at gaf you can have people that love the idea of a game so much they refuse to look at the reality of years of gaming releases and buy into anything that feeds their hype while trying to throw shade on anyone trying to stay level headed.

Rofl. Dude be real, we live in a world of Diablo 3, FF XIII, Colonial Marines, NMS, Sim City, etc etc etc etc etc etc.... There's really nothing illogical about people being cautious. If you're not that's fine but don't make it seem like we're the outlandish ones.

FFXIII and FFXIV 1.0 have come and gone already though, and we've seen Square not only acknowledge these games as failures, but in XIV's case, do a complete 180 and bring the game from shitstain to something that nobody really has anything negative to say about anymore. Square is actually a rare case of criticism reaching the top and creating tangible, playable change.

Skepticism in FFXV's ambition is understandable, but Square Enix has made legitimate strides towards making games that don't piss their fans off. And so much of XV's development has been made available that it isn't even possible for Square to pull a Colonial Marines, Sim City, or No Mans Sky.

In order for FFXV to even approach that level of fuckery, they would have had to be advertising the game with high-end PC footage from reveal up until September 29th, when the master version released looking like garbage. But since then, we've gotten a delay, people have actually played that version, and the game currently looks better than it did in Episode Duscae, which hasn't even been the case since the Uncovered footage.


So being cautious is fine, but this game has been showing steady improvement and promise with each showing, and most importantly, even at its lowest point ("Master Version" at gamescom), Square has not been shy in allowing people to actually play the product while more or less unchained.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

FFXIII and FFXIV 1.0 have come and gone already though, and we've seen Square not only acknowledge these games as failures, but in XIV's case, do a complete 180 and bring the game from shitstain to something that nobody really has anything negative to say about anymore. Square is actually a rare case of criticism reaching the top and creating tangible, playable change.

Skepticism in FFXV's ambition is understandable, but Square Enix has made legitimate strides towards making games that don't piss their fans off. And so much of XV's development has been made available that it isn't even possible for Square to pull a Colonial Marines, Sim City, or No Mans Sky.

In order for FFXV to even approach that level of fuckery, they would have had to be advertising the game with high-end PC footage from reveal up until September 29th, when the master version released looking like garbage. But since then, we've gotten a delay, people have actually played that version, and the game currently looks better than it did in Episode Duscae, which hasn't even been the case since the Uncovered footage.


So being cautious is fine, but this game has been showing steady improvement and promise with each showing, and most importantly, even at its lowest point ("Master Version" at gamescom), Square has not been shy in allowing people to actually play the product.

I dunno. Triad Wars, Nosgoth, Type 0 and Star Ocean 5 pissed plenty of people off from where I could see it from (I personally like Type 0 but plenty did not like that game, which is from the same dev as FFXV). Granted, only one of those was developed by Square Japan but I'm not really sure if you're talking just them or Square-Enix as a whole, here.

 

[Terbinator]

Wtf at 16s in the video, wtf happens to Noctis' body ? o__O

Removed his hips for that autofellatio

 

[Auctopus]

Honestly a bit surprised it's "very good", even more surprised Kollar has a positive opinion.

Glad either way.

 

[JerkShep]

A positive preview? I for one am shocked

Jokes aside, I'm happy it seems to live up to expectations but I'm still wary, especially about story and characters.

 

[Plywood]

"Spoiler free" you lie polygon, you lie.

 

[Shifty1897]

The video looks awesome, but we were all burned by positive previews and reviews of FFXIII only to find out the game wasn't nearly as good as people made it seem.

I'll see how everyone feels about it after Christmas before buying.

 

[AkirraKrylon]

The video looks awesome, but we were all burned by positive previews and reviews of FFXIII only to find out the game wasn't nearly as good as people made it seem.

I'll see how everyone feels about it after Christmas before buying.

Someone already mentioned this but they are right - we are living in a post XIII world and no one is giving SE the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Suplexer]

Sorry if this was already mentioned, but how is the framerate? If the framerate is at least a consistent 30 I'm just going to buy the damn game because I have never been excited for a Final Fantasy game unless you count Kingdom Hearts. It'll be nice to have something to play during the semester break.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

Cue the gushing and quoting single sentences to reinforce hype confidence!!!1

I'm glad at least a few people remember how well reviewed 13 was. Or infamous GTA4. Or Aliens Colonial Marines. Or release Destiny.

Go away and let us enjoy this. -_- I can't imagine how fun some of you must be at parties.

 

[SaniOYOYOY]

God how many battle theme does this game has? Yoko unloading goodness.

Strangely for me when apocalipsis noctis was named for the first time, my hype rises like 10 times! totally prefer an epic music like that to be dedicated to Noctis rather than Titan.

 

[Koozek]

nvm

 

[Toth]

FFXIII and FFXIV 1.0 have come and gone already though, and we've seen Square not only acknowledge these games as failures, but in XIV's case, do a complete 180 and bring the game from shitstain to something that nobody really has anything negative to say about anymore. Square is actually a rare case of criticism reaching the top and creating tangible, playable change.

Where in the world did you see SE ever define FFXIII as a failure? The entire series was a huge success for them, albeit not critically. Tabata had said the game was divisive among fans, which is certainly is. They also acknowledge that some design choices didn't work, which is also true. But calling it a failure? Please provide a source.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Looks like manual dodging has i-frames now.

Neat.

 

[TGO]

I'm just surprised this is coming from Polygon

 

[RevolverRoden]

It's time.

 

[LordKasual]

I dunno. Triad Wars, Nosgoth, Type 0 and Star Ocean 5 pissed plenty of people off from where I could see it from (I personally like Type 0 but plenty did not like that game, which is from the same dev as FFXV). Granted, only one of those was developed by Square Japan but I'm not really sure if you're talking just them or Square-Enix as a whole, here.

Yeah Type-0 is the only game of those that Square Enix actually developed. The rest they only published, similarly to Hitman, Just Cause, and Tomb Raider, which are doing great as far as i can tell.

Where in the world did you see SE ever define FFXIII as a failure? The entire series was a huge success for them, albeit not critically. Tabata had said the game was divisive among fans, which is certainly is. They also acknowledge that some design choices didn't work, which is also true. But calling it a failure? Please provide a source.

As clarification, no of course the game wasn't a financial failure, but critically? Yeah, it's an anomaly. Hell, the whole beginning of the Uncovered event was them basically apologizing for what we can assume was FFXIII and FFXIV 1.0, the only 2 real FF games to release since XII. And since by that point ARR had already had its success and Heavensward already active, i'm going to say it was aimed towards FFXIII.

"Failure" may be a strong word, and my bias against the game may be oozing out a bit, but square has been speaking against it, and for good reason. XIV 1.0, XIII, and Versus all came from the same time period of FNC and Crystal Tools. And the trend i'm starting to see is that Square just brings in someone new on a project that's tripping over itself, and they get shit done by shaking up the foundation which wasn't working. Tabata has been saying and doing alot of the same things it seems that YoshiP did when he was promoted on XIV. And as a result of those similar actions, ARR and Heavensward turned out pretty damn good. And Final Fantasy XV is now rocking a completely new shell of an impressive scale.


So what i'm getting at is, yes there is totally a reason to be cautious of FFXV, but all things considered, i don't know why people are expecting the game to be a trainwreck. With the sole exception of FFXIV 1.0, i cant recall a 1st-party Square game that released at such a low quality. And sure enough, XV is now looking so much better than it was a few months ago that people are legitimately questioning whether its still running on the same hardware.

Edit: Okay, All the Bravest was pretty fucking bad. But now we have Brave Exvius which is basically the same thing, except not total shit, so yeah.

 

[Jeels]

"Failure" may be a strong word, and my bias against the game may be oozing out a bit, but square has been speaking against it, and for good reason. XIV 1.0, XIII, and Versus all came from the same time period of FNC and Crystal Tools. And the trend i'm starting to see is that Square just brings in someone new on a project that's tripping over itself, and they get shit done by shaking up the foundation which wasn't working. Tabata has been saying and doing alot of the same things it seems that YoshiP did when he was promoted on XIV. And as a result of those similar actions, ARR and Heavensward turned out pretty damn good. And Final Fantasy XV is now rocking a completely new shell of an impressive scale.


So what i'm getting at is, yes there is totally a reason to be cautious of FFXV, but all things considered, i don't know why people are expecting the game to be a trainwreck. With the sole exception of FFXIV 1.0, i cant recall a 1st-party Square game that released at such a low quality. And sure enough, XV is now looking so much better than it was a few months ago that people are legitimately questioning whether its still running on the same hardware.

That's fair, my qualms have always been with whether the story and writing would be any good, not if the gameplay and tech would hold up. Kingsglaive left a very, very sour taste and after Type 0, XIII, and WoFF, I have no faith in any non FFXIV writers at Square.

 

[BocoDragon]

After the glowing previews and great reviews of FF13 due to hype culture and advertising dollars, I have 0 faith in professional reviews for this game. I'll wait for post release GAF impressions/reviews, but even then how soon after release did GAF expose all the warts and disappointment that was FF13?

???

I don't live in this timeline. The moment XIII dropped in Japan there was a big "uh oh" about the game's linearity. There were articles on Kotaku etc showing "straight line" map layouts and the mood was increasingly grim.

 

[PshycoNinja]

Isn't that kind of the writer's point though? The mainstream fan isn't going to be watching these things before playing the game nor should they have to to get the full picture.

The game's story is completely independent and can be enjoyed without watching anything else. But like any expanded universe, you can appreciate things a bit more when you know the tiny nods.