Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@kyleforrester87: I've been mopping up all the side quests before moving on to the next outpost & unfortunately they don't get any better.
It's the worst part of the game by far- just fetch quests & find 'x' in highlighted region.
There's one set of quests were you have to find tiny frogs in a Forrest/Swamp, went straight to a YouTube video for that one. If it wasn't for all the in between & the fact that I want to platinum it, I wouldn't have bothered.

The hunts are FAAARRR better.

@Fight_Teza_Fight: That sucks, no way will I be bothering with all of them then - perhaps after I've cleared the main game I'll have a go.

The side quests are garbage. Once you've played a game like The Witcher 3, where the side-quests were given the same care and attention that the main quest was (and more than some full games), it's downright archaic to see the side-quests in FFXV handled the way they are. Travelling half way across the world to pick up some super important thing that some guy saw but never bothered to pick up, and then carry all the way back, only to find out that in the next quest you're given the exact same thing has happened just in a different place is bonkers. It's just busy work and that's a total drag. MGS V had the same problem - faux-scale through repetition. Having a billion side-quests is no more impressive than having two if all of your billion are exactly the same.

The hunts are better, but the organisation of the hunts is comically inept. Only have one active at a time? What? So I have to remember which outposts have hunts available that I haven't done? Why can't we just log them all and choose which one we're doing from our menu like main quests? I don't know if I don't understand the system or if it really is just super-dumb. Seems badly thought out though.

These problems would be a deal-breaker for me if I didn't enjoy the rest of the game so much. So they're more just annoyances. The samey side-quests are kinda helped by the banter between the characters on the way to the quest markers, too. And the world is lovely so it's not a chore to explore.

Generally though, it seems like they could have cut content from this and it would have been a tighter experience.

@johncalmc: Urgh, agreed. All I can say is I hope the FF7 remake isn't bogged down with this sort of stuff. A few quaint missions like this are all well and good, but you're right, to travel 30 minutes to get a gem from a rock only to be sent off to get another afterwards is ridiculous.

@kyleforrester87: It's totally annoying. Like why can't Dino - the reporter/jeweller that has apparently just wandered into the world from Brooklyn - just give me a big list of all the rocks he wants that I can pick up at my leisure. NOPE. Let's do it one at a time. I SURE HOPE I HAVEN'T JUST BEEN WHERE THE NEXT ROCK IS AND I HAVE TO WALK ALL THE WAY BACK.

@johncalmc: @kyleforrester87: while i agree the quest can be samey you do know there is a fast travel system right?, you don't HAVE to walk or drive everywhere if you have been there before

@FullbringIchigo: Yeah, to be honest though when I start abusing the fast travel system in open world games its a good sign in not having fun anymore. But yeah, I'll still do em, but I won't sweat if I miss a bunch of them too

@FullbringIchigo: Yeah, fast travel is helping. But if you go anywhere you've never driven to you can't use it. And it still doesn't change the insane structure. I've just done like five side-quests for a guy that involved going to a farm and picking vegetables. THE SAME FARM. He didn't give me a shopping list. He didn't say, "While you're there..." He let me go, pick his vegetable, come back, and then asked me to set off again. It's absolutely crazy.

@johncalmc: true that was annoying but i still feel overall for their first preoper open world FF game Square did a really good job

@FullbringIchigo: agreed...it is a lot of fun and it makes you think of things to come. They clearly learned a lot during this and hopefully will improve on it. Tabata for XVI? Without having to wrk on pre-existing mess.

Ran into a pretty nasty bug today. I was running to a quest marker when my party entered combat although there was no enemy in sight & there was no 'danger zone'. Tried to get get away, but it didn't matter how far I ran (was even stuck in combat at one of the outposts). Would've lost 3 hours of progress, had it not been for auto save(still lost 20mins though).

Something to keep in mind, classic JRPG rules apply- keep multiple save files.

Well, I finished it. What a strange game.

Im about 40 hours in and at the beginning of chapter 4 - have been way too busy in doing side quests and levelin up my Party to lv 51 already lol - love the game so far, its everything I was hoping for, although quite some annyoances are present:
Im hoping they will fix the loading times as they are way too Long, also the camera Needs to be fixed further - although theres a lock on, the camera is almost never able to capture the Action and grant a good perspective. Minor annoyances like jumping when u want to pick something up or getting restriced by the Terrain when you follow a quest marker, leading to unnecesary detours got my eyes rolled too.
The Magic and Summon System is a bit awkward and leaves much to be desired - Magic seems completely worthless (well except for if you want to exploit a Level up glitch) and summons are .... well ... graphically impressive, but too randomized and complicated to use.
The Story and the characters are great, especially if you watch "Kingsglaive" and "Brotherhood" and it sure is worthy of the Name/brand FF. Its true that theres no real outstanding Antagonist - those Nifelheimers cant compare to the past Nemesisses like Sephiroth, Kefka, Edea/Ultimacia thats for sure.
What I find disappointing is that a whole lot of the game leaves a "Copy/Paste"-Feeling to me - Areas ("towns"//places where you can shop, gas stations for example) all look totally samey. Theres also hardly any interaction there - no exploring houses or talkin to NPCs - compared to "THE WITCHER" theres a lot of "missed opportunities" here. I miss out on strange characters and just small things that make the gameworld more charming. The Side Quests are indeed repetitive - as in most Jrpgs, and its a shame they are so dull presented, without any meaningful or even fun Side-Story around them or so.
I am hoping for further improvements on the game, namely reduced loading times and also a fixed camera.
SIde Note: FF15 is one of the rare games I did purchase the Season Pass for.
I am hoping for quite some DLCs - not only those additional chapters and the coop-Multiplayer which are confirmed. Im actually hoping for some more High Level Superbosses to Show up. (without wanting to Spoiler anything but - after watching Kingsglaive my hopes were high for a "Diamond Weapon" // Omega Weapon fight - my fav Boss ^^).

@consolfreak1982: I'm chapter 9.. and I love Final Fantasy through and through.. but I would really struggle to describe the story as great, even if you are clued up with the backstory (Kingsglaive etc.)

The 4 main characters, sure - they are great, I really like them, along with many other aspects of the game. But the main story is unnecessarily confusing and generally a bit of an uninteresting mess.

The main story is somewhat shambolic. It's quite badly told in parts and leaves a lot of explanations for things that need explaining out, and completely glosses over things that feel like they should be a bigger deal while giving more time to seemingly inconsequential events. There's bizarre plot inconsistencies. There's lots of weirdness. But that being said, it builds up to quite a sensational finish. And the villain is great.

@kyleforrester87: from what Ive seen so far the Story sure is great - I like the characters, the whole Setting and the universe/gameworld, I do think its very well presented, with enough back Story as well, its emotional and I startet to feel for and with the characters Long before I even started with the main game - all due to the movie Kingsglaive and the short Anime series - and the full released game enhanced that Feeling even more so.
On my side - I cant see any part of FF15s Story as being "confusing" or an "uninteresting mess" - its a war between two Empires - a tale of a kingdom in struggle, and a prince having to leave his kigdom for political reasons, embarking on a journey that will conclude the fate of the world. I gave up on trying to understand some peoples thoughts/opinions/expectations Long ago. What do you expect of an RPG Story lol
All RPGs Feature a Story like that - its mostly always good against evil, a Young hero becoming the saviour and so on.
But please - if anyone knows of another game with production values THAT high - tell me.
I cant remember a single game that had a whole MOVIE just presenting the prehistory of the upcoming final game - made with that much love, Passion and technical awesomness - as Kingsglaive. In other RPGs you get to read the prehistory in a simple side note or a document you find somewhere, here you get to see an (awesome!) animated Movie thats perfect for getting into the Story and gameworld - and connects you to it and of course the characters.
Im well Aware that many People (the majority) did not watch the movie in advance - but as a Fan of Final Fantasy I doubt any true/real Fan would really have missed out on it. Seriously. If you consider yourself a fan, youve watched it. End of the Story.
And - the game itself explains everything pretty well too if you ask me - Scenes from the movie have been added too. So its also not "you saw the movie so of course you know more" - bullsh#€ !
I respect your opinion and criticism - Im also far from saying FF15 is as epic as 4, 6, 7, 8, 10.
Not until I finished it of course

@consolfreak1982: We'll have to respectfully disagree - as I say, while I love FF and like allot about number 15 I simply can't say that the story stands up to the likes of 6,7,8,9 and 10. A lot of criticism has been leveled against this aspect of the game since launch and I can fully appreciate why. I can see what the developers were shooting for half the time, but they've really hit wide of the mark.

@kyleforrester87: I guess thats all relative. Storylines like the one in FF4, 6 and 7 were also unique and had quite some Major twists, plot turns and shocking outcomes to the Story - FF15 is different, thats true. If the Overall Story can hold up or shock me like past FF Titiles - this I cant say because I didnt finish it yet.
But Overall I guess People always expect way too much.
Im a huge FF Fan. Since early childhood. Every new game in the series is for me like birthday, Christmas, easter, my aunts bday, my cats bday, even hannukah - all put together lol
But even as a Fan I am not blinded by my love for FF, I am able to see all the criticism, and Im also Aware of many flaws and things that annoy me during the game.
Id be way interested in your arguments - what exactly do you mean by what you just wrote. Let me Quote it:
"A lot of criticism has been leveled against this aspect of the game since launch and I can fully appreciate why. I can see what the developers were shooting for half the time, but they've really hit wide of the mark."
What exactly were those inconveniences? The devs hitting wide of the mark? How so?

I watched Kinsglaive and Brotherhood and couldn't wait, had to start the game since I loved both so much. I am on my first hour but difficult to judge anything about the game yet. I like camping already, though!

@consolfreak1982: So far, narratively, there hasn't been a single scene or plot twist that has affected me with any emotional response, let alone on par with (say) Aeris getting topped, Lindblum getting destroyed, Dagger chopping her hair off etc.. I can't pick out any key moments or scenes where they have fallen particularly short, because the whole story just feels subpar and wanting, so far anyway. It kind of feels like it has the same problem MGS5 had.

That's not to say other parts of the game havnt been impressive, visiting Lestallum for the first time is a real wow moment, the guys are all great characters and the back and forth is cool, combat is quite fun and more. I am really enjoying it overall.

Edit: actually the scene with Prompto on the sign was pretty cool