How much of Final Fantasy XV was left unfinished? Spoilers inside

[Jotakori]

It's pretty clear the final product of XV was frankensteined from VsXIII's concepts and hyper condensed. Major parts of the plot being carved out for DLC hurt the experience a ton, too.

I know there have been rumors that the original VsXIII wasn't actually fun to play or its story wasn't working or whatever, but I still constantly wish that's the version we ended up with. Back when Regis actually looked like Noctis' father, they were mafia-esque and worshipped death, Cor and Ravus (and loads of others) seemed like they were gonna play a waaayy bigger roles, we actually gotta freakin' play the Kingsglaive section... It was vaporware, sure, but what little they showed just looked so damn interesting. And spread out over multiple games you know it would have much more thoroughly explored all of its plot, too... just... sigh.

I like-hate XV so much, ugh, what a fkn mess of a game.

 

[Jencks]

The Japanese voice actor for Noctis recently said the first half of the original story was cut from the game and modified into Kingslaive.

Unofficial translation:



Original tweet:

Click to shrink...

Fuck this hurts. Playable Insomnia invasion would do so much for the game in terms of providing context and emotional weight. Why did they decide to cut it of all things?

 

[Valcrist]

Mostly, I wished that the quests out in the world had some kind of lore attached. I didn't really learn anything about the world... the world itself felt kind of paper thin. Games like the Trails series putting it to shame in comparison. The rest of the game was a disappointment as well. MMO style quest design, maze-like dungeons. It certainly felt rushed and unfinished. Especially with the shift from "open world" to more linear later on in the game.

 

[spidye]

It has the best ending of any FF game of the past 15 years, also. Despite everything that's wrong with it it sticks the landing amazingly well, especially in the Royal Edition where every bro (and Cor) gets one final hero moment before the end.

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does it though? I mean it was a bittersweet ending but it didn't feel justified. I still don't have no idea why Luna and Noctis wanted to be together other than the time they played together as kids and you would only know this of you have watched kingsglaive
(haven't played since its release and I may be misremembering things)

 

[entrydenied]

I swear there was a quote out there from people who worked on it that they wanted to include it but for the amount of money and time (about a year) and the strict time line they were on as Square set a deadline for this game to be out, originally the invasion was going to be the opening but for reason like time and budget they cut it and decided to do the movie to work on the rest of the game.

Click to shrink...

If it was really half the game, I felt like the game would have opened with Noctis going on a road trip to gather the royal arms, then going back home for the meeting where Lucis and Niflheim were supposed to sign an agreement/treaty. Then they get invaded and we have to escape. That would have been Act 1. Act 2 would have been what FFXV was, but with more focus on getting the rest of the world's help, like Accordo, and probably Tenebrae, which sounded like it wasn't supposed to have been under Niflheim initially. Act 3 would have been World Of Darkness.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I always felt this video left me wondering how many other systems did they develop that never ended up in the final game. Like did we ever control any animals? Also this train station was never seen again

Click to shrink...

Funnily enough, the train station, or one very closely matching its description, actually makes an appearance in the Episode Luna section of the Dawn of the Future novel.
Those last 3 DLC episodes getting canceled really hammers home what a mess the whole thing was.

 

[Reyes]

Fuck this hurts. Playable Insomnia invasion would do so much for the game in terms of providing context and emotional weight. Why did they decide to cut it of all things?

Click to shrink...

Insominia would have been the opening for the game (going by the big leak on the last site), and as they saw what it would take to make how it was originally planned (remember 2013 trailer was fake and target) the amount of money and time to invest in it while the rest of the game waited would have been too much on the stated deadline by Square (they wanted this to be 1 game instead of three and released by the end of 2016) I imagine the devs couldn't justify it and I can't blame them considering everything.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

It's pretty clear the final product of XV was frankensteined from VsXIII's concepts and hyper condensed. Major parts of the plot being carved out for DLC hurt the experience a ton, too.

I know there have been rumors that the original VsXIII wasn't actually fun to play or its story wasn't working or whatever, but I still constantly wish that's the version we ended up with. Back when Regis actually looked like Noctis' father, they were mafia-esque and worshipped death, Cor and Ravus (and loads of others) seemed like they were gonna play a waaayy bigger roles, we actually gotta freakin' play the Kingsglaive section... It was vaporware, sure, but what little they showed just looked so damn interesting. And spread out over multiple games you know it would have much more thoroughly explored all of its plot, too... just... sigh.

I like-hate XV so much, ugh, what a fkn mess of a game.

Click to shrink...

I've said it before, and I mean it: they probably should've just been honest with us and told us Versus was cancelled and dead and XV was built out of selected concepts from the original idea, rather than pretending Versus turned into XV.

Fuck this hurts. Playable Insomnia invasion would do so much for the game in terms of providing context and emotional weight. Why did they decide to cut it of all things?

Click to shrink...

If there is one thing that is consistent across every single game Hajime Tabata has ever made, it's that the man has absolutely no idea how to pace a story. Every Tabata game, without exception, meanders around and wastes a shitload of time on minutiae before running out of time and trying to rush to an extremely emotional and depressing ending.

Crisis Core did it, Type-0 did it, FFXV did it. It's basically the man's calling card.

does it though? I mean it was a bittersweet ending but it didn't feel justified. I still don't have no idea why Luna and Noctis wanted to be together other than the time they played together as kids and you would only know this of you have watched kingsglaive
(haven't played since its release and I may be misremembering things)

Click to shrink...

For me, the thing about the ending that stuck for me wasn't anything to do with Luna. It was the sheer amount of desperation in Noctis' "Dad, trust in me" line. The way Ray Chase read that line made a lot of elements of Noctis' personality make sense to me. This dude has spent his entire life trying to live up to an expectation he was completely unprepared for and didn't even get to make peace with his largely-absentee dad before Regis died, then he got told he HIMSELF had to die in order to save the entire world.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

If it was really half the game, I felt like the game would have opened with Noctis going on a road trip to gather the royal arms, then going back home for the meeting where Lucis and Niflheim were supposed to sign an agreement/treaty. Then they get invaded and we have to escape. That would have been Act 1. Act 2 would have been what FFXV was, but with more focus on getting the rest of the world's help, like Accordo, and probably Tenebrae, which sounded like it wasn't supposed to have been under Niflheim initially. Act 3 would have been World Of Darkness.

Click to shrink...

If memory serves, back when Versus was written as a trilogy, Part 1 was going to open in Insomnia and the invasion would happen a few hours in. The endgame of Part 1 was busting back into Insomnia to take the city back from the Niflheim army. There was going to be a conflict against the Insomnian traitors, including Gladiolus' father, who would be revealed to be the inside man who let the Niflheim army in through the Wall. Ravus would've factored heavly in here.

Part 2 was going to be world-travelling up to Gralea, and Part 3 was going to be the world of darkness and the conflict with Ardyn.

 

[Reyes]

I've said it before, and I mean it: they probably should've just been honest with us and told us Versus was cancelled and dead and XV was built out of selected concepts from the original idea, rather than pretending Versus turned into XV.

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I would say just scrap the FBN as just alot of it has just been troubled even if I enjoyed and loved XV just everything was not worth it on what the devs went through with that series.

 

[Mocha]

It felt like they made a game using the outline instead of writing out the story.

 

[entrydenied]

The decision to turn the game into one single game was probably made during the transition from Nomura to Tabata, after the game was re-introduced. Probably to not cause delay to other games like FFVIIR and Kingdom Hearts. Imagine if they had made the decision to make XV into 3 games. The 3rd game might still be unreleased.

 

[Reyes]

If memory serves, back when Versus was written as a trilogy, Part 1 was going to open in Insomnia and the invasion would happen a few hours in. The endgame of Part 1 was busting back into Insomnia to take the city back from the Niflheim army. There was going to be a conflict against the Insomnian traitors, including Gladiolus' father, who would be revealed to be the inside man who let the Niflheim army in through the Wall. Ravus would've factored heavly in here.

Part 2 was going to be world-travelling up to Gralea, and Part 3 was going to be the world of darkness and the conflict with Ardyn.

Click to shrink...

Though jesus Imagine trying to do all that on Crystal Tools lol

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Fuck this hurts. Playable Insomnia invasion would do so much for the game in terms of providing context and emotional weight. Why did they decide to cut it of all things?

Click to shrink...

bc the dev team prioritized the open world above all else. Then once the game was nearing its deadline they said "oh shit" and did whatever they could to staple it all together

Snippet from a 4Gamer Interview

Tabata: Making FFXV an open world is an easy way to understand modernization. We also aimed to once again return to that front line with FFXV. If we didn't make such a change, it wouldn't be very convincing if we said, we are competing with Skyrim.

This is why the game will progress alongside the story but we used open world technology to interpret the world. That is one principle I wouldn't bend on.

Tabata:
Right as we merged together with Luminous Studio a few months after announcing FFXV at the 2013 E3. At that point in time, the engineers wouldn't listen and insisted. With Square Enix's current know-how, an open world is impossible. That trend was especially strong with our foreign engineers.

4Gamer:
Even so, "even if we fail, its okay". That's quite the resignation.

Tabata:
If I hadn't said that the team couldn't have confidence and come together. By saying that, we were able to dynamically manage a seamless world, prepare an environment and the team could relax with the thought. "Even if it sucks Tabata is responsible". However, in the end everyone said they didn't like how empty the field was.

Nozue:
They are really doing their best aren't they. (laughs)

Tabata:
I told them, "I told you it's okay if it's empty".

Click to shrink...

 

[Mediking]

It's still a fun game though

 

[PlanetSmasher]

The decision to turn the game into one single game was probably made during the transition from Nomura to Tabata, after the game was re-introduced. Probably to not cause delay to other games like FFVIIR and Kingdom Hearts. Imagine if they had made the decision to make XV into 3 games. The 3rd game might still be unreleased.

Click to shrink...

I would vastly prefer a FFXV trilogy over FFVIIR turning out the way it has, myself. God I hate the writing in VIIR so goddamn much.

 

[entrydenied]

If memory serves, back when Versus was written as a trilogy, Part 1 was going to open in Insomnia and the invasion would happen a few hours in. The endgame of Part 1 was busting back into Insomnia to take the city back from the Niflheim army. There was going to be a conflict against the Insomnian traitors, including Gladiolus' father, who would be revealed to be the inside man who let the Niflheim army in through the Wall. Ravus would've factored heavly in here.

Part 2 was going to be world-travelling up to Gralea, and Part 3 was going to be the world of darkness and the conflict with Ardyn.

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's really quite difficult to know which parts are from the Versus era and which parts are from the post re-reveal era.

The dogs and messagers also had different roles. I remember them being Ninjas who could turn into dogs, but are also messagers of Eos or something. Gentiana was not really supposed to be a messenger who is somehow also Shiva lol

Though jesus Imagine trying to do all that on Crystal Tools lol

Click to shrink...

It is difficult to know which parts were conceived for Versus 13 and which parts came between Nomura and Tabata. Tabata probably had to do a lot of scrubbing to get the game done is 3 years or so.

I would vastly prefer a FFXV trilogy over FFVIIR turning out the way it has, myself. God I hate the writing in VIIR so goddamn much.

Click to shrink...

It might have been a smarter choice to make FFXV a trilogy for the PS4 and have FFVIIR be completely on the PS5 but it is what is it.

 

[Death Penalty]

The Japanese voice actor for Noctis recently said the first half of the original story was cut from the game and modified into Kingslaive.

Unofficial translation:



Original tweet:

Click to shrink...

Such a rough decision that I think set the game up for failure out the gate, even if development had gone swimmingly on the second half.

 

[Reyes]

I would vastly prefer a FFXV trilogy over FFVIIR turning out the way it has, myself. God I hate the writing in VIIR so goddamn much.

Click to shrink...

I imagine for Square doing that with XV they probably couldn't justify it considering its already troubled development and I imagine other issues before the reboot into one game (there own opinon on the state of the FF Brand as we know was not great internally at Square)

Where as with FF7R they have a base and know there an audience for it.

 

[Tora]

At the end of the day I actually enjoyed what was actually made, and the ending credits are pretty empotional but I cant help but wonder what lost potential did FF XV have.

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It's fair to say that this is the general consensus on the game. I loved it but it was so, so flawed

 

[Fat4all]

its kinda nuts how well put together ff7r feels in comparison, but i suppose they've had a lot longer to think about what they would do for an eventual 'remake' of 7

 

[Cels]

is it wrong that i hate these crossovers not because they are bad but because the time spent developing these could have been used to finish the final 3 dlc

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this terra battle crossover quest did suck though, lol.

even though people are speculating (probably correctly) that they spent a lot of their budget on the open world...the open world still sucks. it feels lifeless. all the pitstops are largely the same -- put a shop and a crow's nest diner in there, and voila. a bunch of the buildings are recycled and reused over and over. lots of empty space. NPCs in the same spot day and night. a bunch of copy pasted "sidequests" -- give a driver a repairkit, go here and kill this monster, go here and pick up this item, blah....

 

[Reyes]

its kinda nuts how well put together ff7r feels in comparison, but i suppose they've had a lot longer to think about what they would do for an eventual 'remake' of 7

Click to shrink...

Well they also were not trying to fit what they were thinking would be three games into one game.

 

[Deleted member 54073]

Playing through it was a real slog and I'd say its the worst mainline Final Fantasy game I've played for a long long time.

 

[Fat4all]

kingdom hearts 4 will be secretly be ff15-2

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I imagine for Square doing that with XV they probably couldn't justify it considering its already troubled development and I imagine other issues before the reboot into one game (there own opinon on the state of the FF Brand as we know was not great internally at Square)

Where as with FF7R they have a base and know there an audience for it.

Click to shrink...

I mean... instead of making it a trilogy they tried to make the "Universe of XV" or whatever a thing, before XV was a thing. And of course that backfired hard.

 

[mute]

Everything except the continent you start on is unfinished and taped together.

It's as if FF7 started by completely skipping midgar (that's a youtube video) and everything following the boat at junon is FFXIII.

 

[Charred Knight]

Okay wait I just remember this really confusing scene where Ardyn just acts confused on the train after the big emotional scene and I just got really confused why Ardyn was acting in this absurd manner, and then I just found out that was supposed to be Noctis seeing Prompto as Ardyn but the editing is just so bad that its impossible to tell this. Like Ardyn has this entire bit where he talks in slang, then you try to choke Ardyn, then Prompto appears besides Noctis with no mention of the whole choke thing, then you fight a bunch of the empire, then you see Prompto switch with Ardyn.

How the hell is the audience supposed to understand whats going on with the game is edited this badly

Fuck this hurts. Playable Insomnia invasion would do so much for the game in terms of providing context and emotional weight. Why did they decide to cut it of all things?

Click to shrink...

Money and time, in even the Royal Version, Ignis just walks in and goes "Well looks like Insomnia fell, and apparently Noctis dad knew this was going to happen"

does it though? I mean it was a bittersweet ending but it didn't feel justified. I still don't have no idea why Luna and Noctis wanted to be together other than the time they played together as kids and you would only know this of you have watched kingsglaive
(haven't played since its release and I may be misremembering things)

Click to shrink...

The Royal Edition has a bunch of flashbacks but they really dont add anything. The ending itself where you get to choose what Photo you left on the throne, the logo changing is really good, but it really feels like a payoff that just doesnt have the setup.

 

[Wazzy]

The game was such a disaster I was left so confused at many focal points in the story.

The ending was technically good but the lack of development between characters and relationships failed to make an impact. I personally will never get the love for the bros friendship. It didnt feel authentic at all.

Honestly I still like XV because unlike most I enjoyed the combat and open world even if it was bland and barren. Driving around listening to VIII music was a good memory. It's too bad the game is a mess full of bad writing and sexist shit because it had potential to be great.

 

[Deleted member 2102]

I always felt this video left me wondering how many other systems did they develop that never ended up in the final game. Like did we ever control any animals? Also this train station was never seen again

Click to shrink...

It was wild that the Platinum Demo included the ability to play as a few different monsters, something that doesn't manifest in the main game at all. I was really excited to see how that would slot into the main game, and then it never did.

 

[Spacejaws]

For me it felt like Square-Enix wanted the open world part and were annoyed they had to tag a conclusion on afterwards. The open world feels like the game they designed and the story taped onto it because they sold it as an adventure but it's heart really wasn't in it.

 

[Reyes]

It was wild that the Platinum Demo included the ability to play as a few different monsters, something that doesn't manifest in the main game at all. I was really excited to see how that would slot into the main game, and then it never did.

Click to shrink...

To be fair the Platinum Demo is mostly just demo using the tools and such making the game like the block and the lighting.

Playing as monsters was never intended in either versions of XV or Versus.

 

[Karsha]

Sad thing about this game is what they had in hands...they had a great party with a lot of chemistry between them, they had perhaps the best villain of the series, they had a great ost, they had a great world building and lore...there are some glimpse of greatness in this game but you could see the story is just stitched from unfinished pieces of what could have been a generational classic.

 

[JahIthBer]

Datamining the PC benchmark demo shows there is still lines for Noct & Stella/Luna meeting in Insomnia, im not at all surprised Noct's Japanese VA pretty much says that was cut for Kingsglaive, what a stupid move on Squares part.

Even ignoring all the cut content, the lack of story & interaction with characters is it's biggest problem, the empire being killed off screen is something i like, it's very subversive & makes the atmosphere in chapter 13 spooky as hell, but i can barely even remember the emperor's name or what his plans were, something about crystals?

 

[Famassu]

I've always wondered how the story would have been if this was a trilogy. If FFXV retained some of the base ideas from the latter parts of whatever story they had planned, I wonder if it could've gone something like this:

Part 1: Keep Insomnia as it was originally intended to be when this was still Versus XIII with Noctis meeting Luna at the start of the game in Insomnia (for the first time ever and build their relationship throughout the game, or for the first time in a long time, perhaps rekindling their relationship) & him being a part of trying to fend off the attack and then a desperate escape from the city. Otherwise keep the idea of trying trying to amass power to fight Niflheim while introducing the idea of the starscourge End at the attack & Leviathan fight at Altissia.

Part 2: Start with similar angst among the four friends for what happened in Altissia as Noctis & the gang work through their low morale & figure out their next move. Make Ravus a big part of the sequel as he decides to put up (more of) a fight against Niflheim that leads to the attack on Tenebrae. Make that an integral, dramatic, larger part of the game (kind of like the attack on Insomnia, but around the middle part of the game). End the game in a similar way as FFXV's Niflheim, as far as Noctis being sucked into the crystal goes. Otherwise they could've improved on the Niflheim part. Maybe make the ending happen during the chaos of fighting that Ardyn unleashes. Perhaps closer to the end of it, that way they could keep the horror-ish vibe as Noctis gets closer to the inner circles that are overrun with monsters and otherwise devoid of life at this point. I kind of liked that though it dragged on way too long.

Part 3: Time skip to the World of Ruin, maybe take some inspiration from FFVI with a kind of "gather your party" type deal for the duration of the game that shows just how bleak the situation all around the world is as you regroup with old allies, and then end with a return to Insomnia. If the whole game taking place in the world of ruin feels too bleak, there could be a lengthy prologue that takes place while the world still has some life/light left but Noctis is nowhere to be found.

 

[Djalminha]

I think it's fair concern that, unless you have the resources, time, patience and willingness to crunch your employees of a company like Rockstar, the current development cycles are too much for some games and companies.

Final Fantasy are mega massive games where a new world, lore, combat system, characters, art style, often engine and more are created from scratch for every entry. It's hard to see how that scope is viable nowadays without making the project suffer the consequences.

 

[JahIthBer]

I've always wondered how the story would have been if this was a trilogy. If FFXV retained some of the base ideas from the latter parts of whatever story they had planned, I wonder if it could've gone something like this:

Part 1: Keep Insomnia as it was originally intended to be when this was still Versus XIII with Noctis meeting Luna at the start of the game in Insomnia (for the first time ever and build their relationship throughout the game, or for the first time in a long time, perhaps rekindling their relationship) & him being a part of trying to fend off the attack and then a desperate escape from the city. Otherwise keep the idea of trying trying to amass power to fight Niflheim while introducing the idea of the starscourge End at the attack & Leviathan fight at Altissia.

Part 2: Start with similar angst among the four friends for what happened in Altissia as Noctis & the gang work through their low morale & figure out their next move. Make Ravus a big part of the sequel as he decides to put up (more of) a fight against Niflheim that leads to the attack on Tenebrae. Make that an integral, dramatic, larger part of the game (kind of like the attack on Insomnia, but around the middle part of the game). End the game in a similar way as FFXV's Niflheim, as far as Noctis being sucked into the crystal goes. Otherwise they could've improved on the Niflheim part. Maybe make the ending happen during the chaos of fighting that Ardyn unleashes. Perhaps closer to the end of it, that way they could keep the horror-ish vibe as Noctis gets closer to the inner circles that are overrun with monsters and otherwise devoid of life at this point. I kind of liked that though it dragged on way too long.

Part 3: Time skip to the World of Ruin, maybe take some inspiration from FFVI with a kind of "gather your party" type deal for the duration of the game that shows just how bleak the situation all around the world is as you regroup with old allies, and then end with a return to Insomnia. If the whole game taking place in the world of ruin feels too bleak, there could be a lengthy prologue that takes place while the world still has some life/light left but Noctis is nowhere to be found.

Click to shrink...

The idea for part 3 sounds excellent, the idea of exploring the destroyed world & recruiting everyone again sounds worthy of a trilogy, how you just meet up with the boys at the gas station & skip straight to insomnia is lacking.
Realistically though, i think part 1 being the first continent & part 2 being the second should have wrapped it up just fine, SE was just super determined to make it a single package after the FF13 trillogy underperformed, ah well.

 

[Zen]

I agree with most of the complaints about the game, but in solidarity with Ishida I'll say I still enjoyed it immensely. I'm a terrible critic and a huge FF fan to a fault but my fun factor is genuine. Still had that FF flair to it, for me.

 

[Chumunga64]

It might have been a smarter choice to make FFXV a trilogy for the PS4 and have FFVIIR be completely on the PS5 but it is what is it.

Click to shrink...

most people already go to the sewer dungeon in FFXV more than once so it could make a good substitute for FF7R 😄

 

[Dinzy]

I don't know why I still invest in this fucking franchise. It is basically childhood nostalgia overriding repeated disappointment.
FFXV Sucked
FFXIII Sucked
FFXII Sucked
FFX Sucked
FFIX was awesome and all before were at least good.

Heard FFXVI is PS5 exclusive for one year -> That influenced my decision to get a PS5 now.

 

[ManNR]

I was ready to let this game be the one to renew my love for the entire franchise. I was so hyped.

It effectively killed any goodwill I had left for Final Fantasy.

It remains one of the greatest let-downs for me in my 30+ years of gaming.

As it stands now I am keeping one eye on FFXVI.

 

[PAFenix]

Okay wait I just remember this really confusing scene where Ardyn just acts confused on the train after the big emotional scene and I just got really confused why Ardyn was acting in this absurd manner, and then I just found out that was supposed to be Noctis seeing Prompto as Ardyn but the editing is just so bad that its impossible to tell this. Like Ardyn has this entire bit where he talks in slang, then you try to choke Ardyn, then Prompto appears besides Noctis with no mention of the whole choke thing, then you fight a bunch of the empire, then you see Prompto switch with Ardyn.

How the hell is the audience supposed to understand whats going on with the game is edited this badly






Money and time, in even the Royal Version, Ignis just walks in and goes "Well looks like Insomnia fell, and apparently Noctis dad knew this was going to happen"



The Royal Edition has a bunch of flashbacks but they really dont add anything. The ending itself where you get to choose what Photo you left on the throne, the logo changing is really good, but it really feels like a payoff that just doesnt have the setup.

Click to shrink...

I thought Ardyn was just taunting you as well. Not until just now did I realize that was supposed to be Prompto.

I was going to ask if you played the original or Royal Edition, OP. My overall experience after I finished was horrid, and that was from playing it when it originally released. People claim Royal supposedly fixed plot holes, but glad I haven't made the plunge again if it really doesn't add much to the experience.

 

[Charred Knight]

I think it's fair concern that, unless you have the resources, time, patience and willingness to crunch your employees of a company like Rockstar, the current development cycles are too much for some games and companies.

Final Fantasy are mega massive games where a new world, lore, combat system, characters, art style, often engine and more are created from scratch for every entry. It's hard to see how that scope is viable nowadays without making the project suffer the consequences.

Click to shrink...

At the end of the day I think. this is the main problem. Final Fantasy games sell like 7-8 million copies which is really good for a Japanese game, and still pretty big for most triple A games, but it pales in comparison to what Cyberpunk sold in one week so you cant really compete with those games in creating this huge open world unless you put in.a huge staff, huge amounts of money, and risk having your big tentpole game lose money.

To make something like all those PS1 games that were some of the biggest selling games of the day all involve splitting the game in multiple games, or have to drastically cut those games down.

I agree with most of the complaints about the game, but in solidarity with Ishida I'll say I still enjoyed it immensely. I'm a terrible critic and a huge FF fan to a fault but my fun factor is genuine. Still had that FF flair to it, for me.

Click to shrink...

I beat the main FF XV game, stopped after beating the first area of Witcher 3, and played maybe 30 minutes of Bloodbourne, and was hugely disappointed in Divinity: Original Sin because the chemistry of my two characters was basically "My Divorced grandparents"

So it was doing just enough right that I put in about 80 hours into the game and beat the first DLC.

 

[FinFunnels]

I loved XV. Probably played it for around 200 hours or so and I plan to play through it again on PC sometime soonish. But man do I get depressed watching old trailers for the game and thinking about what could have been.

The story really is a goddamn mess and I honestly hated the last 2/3 of the story or so (especially that part with solo Nocto and the ring powers or whatever. I just remember that chapter being dreadfully long and not fun at all). But despite its flaws I still had a ton of fun with the game, especially the exploration stuff and hunting missions. And even the car.

 

[Charred Knight]

I loved XV. Probably played it for around 200 hours or so and I plan to play through it again on PC sometime soonish. But man do I get depressed watching old trailers for the game and thinking about what could have been.

The story really is a goddamn mess and I honestly hated the last 2/3 of the story or so (especially that part with solo Nocto and the ring powers or whatever. I just remember that chapter being dreadfully long and not fun at all). But despite its flaws I still had a ton of fun with the game, especially the exploration stuff and hunting missions. And even the car.

Click to shrink...

The game honestly has the best exploration transport in Chocobos in particular Horizon 2 needs to totally ripoff chocobo's by allowing me to ride a giant metal terror bird. The hunts were good, and generally fun but I could have done without the "You have to wait for a rainy day to fight this monster"

Also I played a ton out of the fishing minigame.

 

[Toth]

Ugh my fucking heart

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I thought this was common knowledge? It was a bad move all around because the movie was obviously finished much earlier and its story line was already inconsistent with the main game due to Tabata's story changes. Did you ever hear Luna called Princess once in the game? Ravus' personality and actions? Did we ever see people as powerful as Crowe? Heck, even the land around Lucis seemed completely alien to the game. Luna certainly seemed more in tune with the gods (especially since she knows several Messengers!) and not as unsure as when she 'prays'.

I mean I liked the movie but the idea just did not work because the game was too much in flux. They also didn't bother to update lines before the release so it was consistent...

 

[Party]

So I played around 20 hours of this and got to chapter 4 I think. I played it as a mindless time waster podcast game doing random side quests because nothing story wise motivated me to move forward and see things through and it was kind of fun exploring the open world and the combat was weird enough but I even burned out on that.

Does the story later on do a much better job of building camraderie in the party? I know everyone says the interactions between the bros is the best part but of what I played I found their interactions incredibly stilted and awkward. I even got a cutscene between prompto and noctis when resting at a random diner that I was very excited for as I usually love quiet moments between party members like that, but even that was felt like there was no chemistry between the two.

Also fuck all the stuff with Cindy. Gross.

 

[Quinton]

I just properly started FFXV yesterday.

I was about to make a thread about how this is one of the oddest, strangest, and weakest opening few hours I've ever seen for a Final Fantasy title. I can feel every bit of the chaos and lack of focus behind the scenes.

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Watching Kingsglaive before the game is pretty much mandatory, unfortunately. I'd strongly recommend watching Brotherhood as well.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Does the story later on do a much better job of building camraderie in the party? I know everyone says the interactions between the bros is the best part but of what I played I found their interactions incredibly stilted and awkward. I even got a cutscene between prompto and noctis when resting at a random diner that I was very excited for as I usually love quiet moments between party members like that, but even that was felt like there was no chemistry between the two.

Also fuck all the stuff with Cindy. Gross.

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That scene with Prompto is often lauded as the best in the game, so no.

 

[FinFunnels]

The game honestly has the best exploration transport in Chocobos in particular Horizon 2 needs to totally ripoff chocobo's by allowing me to ride a giant metal terror bird. The hunts were good, and generally fun but I could have done without the "You have to wait for a rainy day to fight this monster"

Also I played a ton out of the fishing minigame.

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Being able to rest at camp until certain times of day definitely helped with the hunts (that was patched in way after launch), but yeah waiting around for it to rain could get pretty annoying. I think there might have been a trick you could do to make it rain, but my memory is hazy.

And yeah, I played the fishing a lot too lol

Also, the off road version of the car was pretty sweet to drive around in. Even if it did feel a bit redneck 😅