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Skorpion

Educated
Joined
Jan 31, 2023
Messages
347
Devil may cry combat... count me out on this one :(
 

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
Watching this and wondering: what's the point of creating a combat system where fighting a regular mob takes 50+ hits to kill it? Such a waste of time.

I skipped around a bit through the video. There was animal life and such being killed quickly. The larger / stronger guys looked to take a while but nothing crazy. The fighting is important so there really shouldnt be much in the way of one shotting everything.
It does give a an impression of that at the start of the fights with the first few hits. As soon as you get into combos or the dog/party members get involved the HP bars go down reasonably quickly.

By nature of the combat system I do like the notion of a high skill ceiling previewers got. Even if they didn't have the arsenal available yet to get a better look.
 

cvv

Arcane
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Messages
19,128
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Kingdom of Bohemia
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
I don't even know why I've never played FF15. I guess the previous game was MMO so I assumed they were done with single-player RPGs and would churn out only live service games from now on. Never even checked it out when it came out on Steam.

Interestingly I was watching some FF16 first-impressions today and the Tuber said the game is decidedly darker and more mature than the series has been up until now. Is FF15 that much more anime in comparison? (I mean the trademark cringe dialogue, retarded story, high-school grade drama, the lot). I wouldn't be against giving it a try in preparation for 16, if it's at least marginally bearable.

FYI I absolutely loved all Japanese non-anime games I've ever played - FromSoft games, Dragon's Dogma, both Niohs, Phantom Pain, some of the best gaming I've ever experienced (well except Death Stranding, that was a fucking atrocity). Is FF15 comparable?)
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2022
Messages
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Is FF15 that much more anime in comparison? (I mean the trademark cringe dialogue, retarded story, high-school grade drama, the lot).

No. The first half has a lot of camaraderie but it doesn't have slapstick gag comedy like in earlier FFs. Then once you reach Venice the story has a somber tone all of the way to the end. Might be worth checking out.

The game is short. Biggest issue is that the game had a start and stop development over a decade as Nomura's vision kept changing and dev members were being constantly pulled off to work on other projects. Then Nomura got booted from the project and Tabata was told to make something within a 2 year deadline, which is not enough. It's incredible that FF15 came out of that as decent as it is, but you can see a lot of wasted potential. You never get to explore the empire or the World of Ruin.

The other issue with FF15 is the aesthetic. It's set in Southern California. Boring flat grasslands and deserts, boring concrete pavement, boring post-modernist architecture, people wearing T-shirts and jeans, etc. It isn't an escapist fantasy setting like the other FFs. Even FF13 looked more interesting.

Also, you can't control the whole party, and you have action combat.
 

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
. It's incredible that FF15 came out of that as decent as it is, but you can see a lot of wasted potential.
I said it before, but I disagree with that. Tabata messed up plenty himself.

The media offensive, the open world focus (including 99999999 of the same car quest to fill it), the narrative skipping problems (Which again is a common, repeating problem with him), the Dawn of the Future retardation/retconning instead of finishing to fix the previous and so on are on his hat. Not that his team was any better as recently again proven by Forspoken.

There's lots of good things about XV in concept. But that doesn't stop it from being terrible executed. Additional time would have changed nothing about that. Those 2 years could have also ended up in a much better game than what we got, because development wasn't focused during it either. Rather in some ways scope was expanded which bit it in the ass.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
13,349
I don't even know why I've never played FF15. I guess the previous game was MMO so I assumed they were done with single-player RPGs and would churn out only live service games from now on. Never even checked it out when it came out on Steam.

Interestingly I was watching some FF16 first-impressions today and the Tuber said the game is decidedly darker and more mature than the series has been up until now. Is FF15 that much more anime in comparison? (I mean the trademark cringe dialogue, retarded story, high-school grade drama, the lot). I wouldn't be against giving it a try in preparation for 16, if it's at least marginally bearable.

FYI I absolutely loved all Japanese non-anime games I've ever played - FromSoft games, Dragon's Dogma, both Niohs, Phantom Pain, some of the best gaming I've ever experienced (well except Death Stranding, that was a fucking atrocity). Is FF15 comparable?)
In terms of gameplay, Final Fantasy XV is much like a failed version of Dragon's Dogma; the framework is the same, but the developers failed at implementation in every respect. Thus, the player has a four-person party but is stuck with the same four people for the entire game, and the three that aren't controlled by the player have little versatility. Those three have a few special skills they can use in combat, but these special skills are reliant on a single party-wide bar filling up and are boring in comparison with DD's myriad skills. There are many enormous monsters that can be confronted as boss fights or optional hunts, but these are largely wasted since the game lacks the climbing and other interactivity found in Dragon's Dogma (which also means combat against smaller enemies is less interesting). The player-character (Noctis) can utilize all types of weapons but regardless the player succeeds at combat just by holding down the attack button while occasionally pressing the dodge button or casting a spell. There are three elements that can be used to make spells, and items can be added for additional effects, but they all work more or less the same in combat except that certain enemies are weak to some elements and resistant to others. There is superficially a large Open World to explore, but in practice the player simply drives the party's automobile (!) to the nearest spot on a road and then runs a short distance to the destination. There are dungeons, but the ones encountered in the normal course of a game (i.e. not counting post-game content) are more linear and less well-designed than those found in base Dragon's Dogma, and I'm sure that FF XV's post-game dungeons don't hold a candle to the Bitterblack Isle megadungeon added in the Dark Arisen expansion.

The non-gameplay elements are even worse, in particular with a horrendous dissonance between the overarching storyline (Noctis' kingdom is destroyed early in the game) and the camping trip vibe that continues for much of the game until linearity takes over.
 

TwoEdge

Scholar
Joined
Jan 27, 2017
Messages
317
Devil may cry combat... count me out on this one :(
I'm on the opposite side. My problem with the series is that, aside from occasionally having to fiddle with weird and convoluted systems, which can be exploited to infinity but also be completely ignored, the only skills you ever need to beat most Final Fantasy entries are patience and the ability to press 'x' on your controller. Any time they add a loop that requires even a tiny modicum of skill they get me, because the setting and worldbuilding tend to be genuinely interesting, if not overtly anime. Now you tell me they've hired a Devil May Cry lead to develop proper character action combat?! Dare I dream?

:d1p:

Yeah, they got me already, if it comes to PC, that is.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
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Messages
13,349
the only skills you ever need to beat most Final Fantasy entries are patience and the ability to press 'x' on your controller.

This is only true for the braindead easy PS1 era FF games. Try that in the classic FF games or X or XIII and you will have bad time.
True, but of course there's the strange case of Final Fantasy XII where the player sets up a series of conditional if-then statements in the "Gambit" system by which the characters operate in combat, and then doesn't even need to press 'x'. :M
 

TwoEdge

Scholar
Joined
Jan 27, 2017
Messages
317
the only skills you ever need to beat most Final Fantasy entries are patience and the ability to press 'x' on your controller.

This is only true for the braindead easy PS1 era FF games. Try that in the classic FF games or X or XIII and you will have bad time.
True, but of course there's the strange case of Final Fantasy XII where the player sets up a series of conditional if-then statements in the "Gambit" system by which the characters operate in combat, and then doesn't even need to press 'x'. :M
Which, ironically, is my favorite in the mainline series, because Ivalice is a better-realized and coherent setting, and optimizing gambits IS the main gameplay loop (not having to load into combat is a bonus) and not some side activity. Don't get me wrong, I grew up with the franchise and it will always have a special place in my heart, but I prefer when they cap the skill floor higher than pegging the square in the square hole. I find Tactics is where it's at, but I don't mind that they're experimenting with character action systems.
 

Raghar

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
24,334
I always disabled autocombat for character I controlled. It felt more right. Other people, yea using potion when they are nearly dead is common sense... Right?
 

cruel

Prophet
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
1,042
Any strong leads about gay / woke stuff in this? Is it more about some random hobo hugging other hobo in the corner (optional / skippable) or more like 'watch 2 guys making out for 5min in an unskippable cutscene / in your face kind of stuff'? Considering pre-ordering this, but I won't if this is the latter case.
 

notpl

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 6, 2021
Messages
1,686
Any strong leads about gay / woke stuff in this? Is it more about some random hobo hugging other hobo in the corner (optional / skippable) or more like 'watch 2 guys making out for 5min in an unskippable cutscene / in your face kind of stuff'? Considering pre-ordering this, but I won't if this is the latter case.
No final fantasy has ever had anything even remotely close to a sex scene. What do you fucking think?
 

cruel

Prophet
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
1,042
The game is officially banned in Saudi Arabia due to LGBT+ content, something is clearly there, the question only becomes 'how much':

https://www.glitched.online/final-fantasy-xvi-has-been-banned-in-saudi-arabia/
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/final-fantasy-16-has-been-banned-in-saudi-arabia/

A leak was posted a few months ago detailing that Final Fantasy XVI would be blocked from release in the Middle East due to a certain gay character in the game having explicit scenes. Square Enix refused to censor or alter the scenes which led to the recent official ban from authorities. The identity of the character has already been leaked online but we won’t be posting their name here for spoiler reasons.
 

notpl

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 6, 2021
Messages
1,686
Saudi Arabia performatively bans virtually every new release that contains any references whatsoever to drug use, sexuality, religion, gambling, or violence. The games are still easily available and in many cases the bans are officially lifted after people stop paying attention.

I mean, maybe after 30 years this is finally going to be the final fantasy with hardcore on-screen penetration and bestiality, but since I'm not an idiot my assumption is that two men kiss or something. Since LGBT content in general is proscribed, "explicit scene" could also just mean a dialogue where two men are stated unequivocally to be in a relationship, rather than the typical use of "explicit" in the cinemax sense.
 
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Elttharion

Learned
Joined
Jan 10, 2023
Messages
3,160
Any strong leads about gay / woke stuff in this? Is it more about some random hobo hugging other hobo in the corner (optional / skippable) or more like 'watch 2 guys making out for 5min in an unskippable cutscene / in your face kind of stuff'? Considering pre-ordering this, but I won't if this is the latter case.
The leak said there would be explicit homossexual scenes in the game fwiw. Wether they meant actual sex or kissing, caressing, etc is anyone's guess.
This is the same leak who said the Saudis would ban the game and that had the correct names for some of the major characters as well as some plot points and other details.

Supossedly this dude is gay and has one or more lovers. He is a major character in the game.


xhdkt4vee7ta1.jpg

I tried to find the leak and couldnt, sorry. IIRC its from 4 chan so take it with a grain of salt and all that.
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
Any strong leads about gay / woke stuff in this? Is it more about some random hobo hugging other hobo in the corner (optional / skippable) or more like 'watch 2 guys making out for 5min in an unskippable cutscene / in your face kind of stuff'? Considering pre-ordering this, but I won't if this is the latter case.
I'm of the persuasion you should almost never preorder but I firmly doubt that FF is going for in-your-face sexual content of any variety. Square-Enix is probably not going to suddenly do SJW shit either. They tend to do their own thing. But, Square-Enix is no stranger to fucking up games (including main entries in the Final Fantasy series) and producing soulless dreck on their own. Wait-and-see is a healthy attitude to gaming purchases.
 

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
Any strong leads about gay / woke stuff in this? Is it more about some random hobo hugging other hobo in the corner (optional / skippable) or more like 'watch 2 guys making out for 5min in an unskippable cutscene / in your face kind of stuff'? Considering pre-ordering this, but I won't if this is the latter case.
Worth to mention that the charachter in question is Bahamut‘s dominant and of the FF evul empire that razed the main charachters home to the ground. He‘s also been described as kind of an artsy type and so far makes a very self-rightous impression on me in trailers.

So there‘s a very good chance you‘re beating the shit out of him at some point (probably late game, its Bahamut) and he sounds very fantasy/dark fantasy gay, not SJW gay (so far).

But refer to the previous advice and wait a bit before purchasing. Always the best idea.
 
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