Final Fantasy XV - Part 2

[RandV]

I just threw up in my mouth a bit. You may not be completely wrong (IRT people taking the wrong message away from the Grandia battle system), but I want you to be. Generally speaking I abhor ARPGs and find the first two Grandia games to be two of the best JRPGs ever made with a perfect battle system.

That battle system is perfection...and I've never played an ARPG and said anything positive about the battle system. I just don't enjoy the inherent mechanics in those types of games, not even Secret of Mana could move the needle for me there.

Yes he's just flat out wrong there. 'Action' JRPG's existed in the 8-bit era, starting with games like the Y's series, and on the SNES you had the first Secret of Mana, Star Ocean, and Tales game to name a few.

Grandia's system on the other hand was an evolution of the Lunar series, and ended up being a dead branch on the evolution tree when the series and the developer fizzled out at the end of the PS2 generation and never made the jump to the next.

This isn't really a very broad topic where X influenced Y influenced Z influenced (...) though. Like I said a few posts above, starting sometime in the mid-90's maybe every JRPG maker started trying their own unique take on making a 'battle system'. If you want to see what a world looks like where every RPG plays the same way, dive into the JRPG Maker ecosystem (not recommended! ).

 

[FLYLine27*]

Ugh, been so busy I haven't been able to play FFXV in a few days...can't wait to get in a few hours tomorrow! Think i'm still on chapter 6.

 

[awesomo]

im on pace to finish the game tonight, shoudl be around 60 hours

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Yes he's just flat out wrong there. 'Action' JRPG's existed in the 8-bit era, starting with games like the Y's series, and on the SNES you had the first Secret of Mana, Star Ocean, and Tales game to name a few.

Grandia's system on the other hand was an evolution of the Lunar series, and ended up being a dead branch on the evolution tree when the series and the developer fizzled out at the end of the PS2 generation and never made the jump to the next.

This isn't really a very broad topic where X influenced Y influenced Z influenced (...) though. Like I said a few posts above, starting sometime in the mid-90's maybe every JRPG maker started trying their own unique take on making a 'battle system'. If you want to see what a world looks like where every RPG plays the same way, dive into the JRPG Maker ecosystem (not recommended! :laugh

Lunar and Grandia are similar in only that you can issue movement commands. That's it. You're grasping at straws here.

 

[FLYLine27*]

im on pace to finish the game tonight, shoudl be around 60 hours

From what I heard, the ending is really good. Enjoy!

 

[RandV]

Yes he's just flat out wrong there. 'Action' JRPG's existed in the 8-bit era, starting with games like the Y's series, and on the SNES you had the first Secret of Mana, Star Ocean, and Tales game to name a few.

Grandia's system on the other hand was an evolution of the Lunar series, and ended up being a dead branch on the evolution tree when the series and the developer fizzled out at the end of the PS2 generation and never made the jump to the next.

This isn't really a very broad topic where X influenced Y influenced Z influenced (...) though. Like I said a few posts above, starting sometime in the mid-90's maybe every JRPG maker started trying their own unique take on making a 'battle system'. If you want to see what a world looks like where every RPG plays the same way, dive into the JRPG Maker ecosystem (not recommended! :laugh

Lunar and Grandia are similar in only that you can issue movement commands. That's it. You're grasping at straws here.

I said it was an evolution from Lunar. Lunar and Grandia are from the same developer, Game Arts, with the former seeing its first (Japanese) release in 1992 and the latter in 1997. One is the spiritual successor to the other.

 

[awesomo]

just finished it, i was level 64 about 55 hours in. Did a lot of side quests so the main quest wasnt very hard by the time i finished it

story was ok. I feel like gamespot and ign were pretty bang on with their 8 scores.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Are there only 4 playable characters in the game or do you acquire other characters as time goes on?

 

[RandV]

Are there only 4 playable characters in the game or do you acquire other characters as time goes on?

Only 4, with talk about adding more through future updates/dlc.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Are there only 4 playable characters in the game or do you acquire other characters as time goes on?

You only play as Noctis as far as I know.

 

[syz]

There are guest characters along the way, all of which are more useful than Prompto.

 

[FLYLine27*]

There are guest characters along the way, all of which are more useful than Prompto.

But they don't take pictures I bet :p

 

[misterchainsaw]

You only play as Noctis as far as I know.

Yeah, there's literally 1 playable character. The others are AI controlled and help you in battle.

 

[Unholy]

**** you Costlemark Tower. Just **** you.

 

[USC Trojans]

**** you Costlemark Tower. Just **** you.

haha, I got sent there on a side mission from that gem guy while I was still on Chapter 8 and level 38 or so. Got the hell out after 5 minutes, and won't be going back till I'm level 99

 

[syz]

Costlemark is one that you have to do to in order to unlock the post-game stuff. And yea I'm pretty sure I have a screenshot of that place that's just a room filled with bombs.

The upside is that at least there are no coeurls in there.

But they don't take pictures I bet :p

They don't have time to take pictures because they aren't always dead.

 

[Unholy]

haha, I got sent there on a side mission from that gem guy while I was still on Chapter 8 and level 38 or so. Got the hell out after 5 minutes, and won't be going back till I'm level 99

Barely made it through the dungeon itself at 61. Screw that place. Getting through it the first time is a lot harder than the boss.

Costlemark is one that you have to do to in order to unlock the post-game stuff. And yea I'm pretty sure I have a screenshot of that place that's just a room filled with bombs.

The upside is that at least there are no coeurls in there.



They don't have time to take pictures because they aren't always dead.

This might be one of the most frustrating things I have encountered in a game before. Team constantly dying, bad camera for that place, mobs constantly up against you making it hard to move around and just get blown up over and over again as more spawn for like 10 minutes. It was the worst.

It's a loop of ground that you have no escape from until it's finally over and then you can leave that area.

There are more small spaces in this place that just make some fights annoying because of the camera and that they just seem to aggro to only you more than usual. A few more bomb areas as well.

I was stupid and saw a red circle on the ground and walked over it. Got sent back to the entrance. Yup I just ran past everything as I made my way back down.

 

[Unholy]

Just finished. Enjoyed the last two chapters. Got to level 68.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Whoa, never knew Hfboards had this sub-forum. Cool!

So I've put 65 hours into the game. Just finishing up a couple hunts and about to do Costlemark before finishing the main quest.

I would probably give it a 8.5/10 or so. I think it's a great game, but a poor Final Fantasy. I know more fragmented and weak storytelling is the cost of an open world game, but the way the story is delivered is an embarrassment to the Final Fantasy lineage. Having said that, I really enjoy a lot about the game and still think the franchise may be making a recovery. But I wish it wasn't a numbered title in the main series (which is why the Versus title seems even more fitting in retrospect).

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Yeah, the further away I get from initial release excitement, the more I realize this story stinks. It's a rushed mess.

The game was clearly unfinished, unfortunately. It has a great foundation for a solid story, too. That's probably the most frustrating part of it all.

Also, the Steyliff menace dungeon is way worse that Costlemark, IMO. Costlemark gets convoluted and confusing, but Steyliff menace is one hundred floors (literally one hundred) of ridiculously hard fights. You better bring 99 elixirs and hi-elixirs for that dungeon.

 

[Gardner McKay]

It is on sale today only on Amazon for $35.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Starting to get the hang of combat.

6 hours in and I still haven't left the first area.

 

[awesomo]

Ya chapter 13 felt like it should be chapter 16 or 17 there. Felt like a rushed game

 

[USC Trojans]

Okay, I beat the game...the ending was touching, but I think they could have done many things better to make it even more of an impact. Actually, the overall story wasn't bad, it's just that they did not flesh it out properly.

[SPOIL]
The four major plot elements of the game that they could have done better in my opinion were:

1) Ardyn on a personal vendetta against the crown - up until before the time skip, he was just this random guy who shows up, acts all smug, and then leaves. Even at the end you don't really get a sense that he's this big villain.

2) Lunafreya dying - we get a series of short flashbacks to when her and Noct were kids, but the first time we actually see her in the present, she dies. I had completely no attachment to her as a character...and I find myself not caring that she got killed. They nailed it in FF7 with Aerith by having her join your group for half the game first.

3) The reveal that Noctis was not being groomed to be king, but to sacrifice himself to save the world from the daemons - okay, I never got the sense that he was being groomed to be king. Just a couple of bros on a road trip, collecting weapons and stuff...so the twist was kind of lost with me.

4) His bros being with Noct through it all, and sacrificing their lives to he can fulfill his destiny - okay, the ending got to me, with the slide show and the last camp before their sacrifice. It just felt convenient to me. I wanted to see their brotherhood fleshed out more beyond just friendly banter throughout the game.

[/SPOIL]

 

[Big McLargehuge]

The fact that the game is unfinished is rather infuriating...I'm at the point where I could walk away until they 'fix' it, but I also know that I never return to games I walk away from like this and it'll be months until they can implement everything they want and I am enjoying it enough that I want to finish it.

I'm really not fond of this 'release it now and fix it later' strategy for a single-player game. Or any game, really, if you're not going to use the Early Access tag...but how many people does Square think are actually going to play this all the way through twice?