Love your style man! Just found your channel yesterday. Good stuff man. Games are an important part of our lives that need to be more explored in the way you are talking about them.
Probably four years to late, but I want try to answer the questions in 6:05 about the suits of the purgees/soon-exiled-to-Pulse-folks: 1. The hood-outfits are a mixture of hazmat-suits ( the clunky shoes ) and medieval/modern prisoner-garb. It follows the misinformation/politic of the Sanctum that people who have been "infected by Pulse" have to be isolated and contained physically, before being send to Pulse. Quasi the inverse of what a hazmat-suit should do normaly. It also probably draws inspiration from execution/ It also allows an easier anomyzation from the prisoners, since unless you count the symbols on the hood-front, everyone basicaly now looks the same. Also the suggested heavyness of those robes, must be part of the intended hindering-effect, otherwise Hope and Vanille wouldn`t have discarded them. ( If you ignore the meta-perspective, that those robes would have contined to cover-up the real clothing-design of those characters ) . The hoods give them a touch of monklike appearance or are just a modernization for the bags, that people sometimes wore over their heads on their execution. Also they help with the dehumanization-process, since "faceless" people are scary. But the designers made it subtle, instead of going the Hannibal-mask-route or with more visible restraints, since the Sanctums tries to sell the image, that those people aren`t shipped t their death, but are "brave emigrants who will colonize the wilderness of Pulse". 2. The glowy parts, are a exageration of reflective stripes, just like ( american?) prison-suits have that garish neon-orange-color, so escapees can be spotted easier in the landscape or at night. They are also probably a visual reminder, that FF13 has it`s sci-fi-tones. I mean, if people hear sci-fi, what would be the first color they would think of, beside black? Electric/Neon Blue, I would bet. Short those blue danglies are just there, that they have an easier time, seeing and shooting people in the dark, as an precaution. Also white it nice visible on distance and at night, too. Oh and even without visible asiatic design-touches, there is still the white equals death-meaning in Japan/east-asiatic region. Some dev probably thought, it would be "sneaky" by symbolizing the coming doom of those people, by already making them wear white clothes for their future funeral. ( something a japanese gamer would get, but would go over the head, of an american/european gamer, since our funeral-colors are "flipped" per tradition ) . 3. If there is an Ultimania for FF13, it would probably show that this place is very close to the outer shell of Cocoon and it`s crack( since people live inside the sphere that is it ) and having a city made out of highwyays and skyscrapers is also a sci-fi staple. Also data-log states, that it is an abandoned city. 4. Personal taste? Some designer must have thought it a cool goatee? Lorewise- i don`t know.
Heh, you and me both, you and me both... Hell, I look to Edmund and Yoko Taro as inspirations to with Thatgamecompany and Super Giant Games being two of my favorite studios, all of this wouldn't have been possible without ffvii
Completed FFXV in April 2018 (due to the release of the PC version); and I fully understand your statement regarding awe over the visuals alone. The moment I realized that there are verbal cues for low fuel, low health and contextual markers for marked quests, I killed off the HUD just to be able to appreciate the game even more. However, I cannot shake the feeling that FFXV is just one side of the proverbial coin. Part of a much larger story that may actually need a second entry in the form of a FFXV-2....
7:30 Alright, I want to play this now. I always love a good bromance, and it's nice to see a core relationship focused around friendship rather than love (though I have no doubt Tumblr has already done everything in its power to change that XD)
good job man, hope youre fine. i agree so much with this review, this game played with my feelings so much man, i even think that when the game finally dropped the ball actually did a service for the last act of the game and how it picks up, but yeah i agree a lot.
Codex Entry Great to have you back Ryan. You have very much become my favorite RUclipsr and I look forward to every video you put out. Glad to hear everything is OK though you made me worried when you mentioned medical stuff :( I've never played a FF game, which is terrible I know. FF7 has been sitting in my Steam library for probably a year now so maybe it's about time to download it...
The medical stuff is just a small dental issue. Nothing major, but it is causing me to have to waste some time on getting things in order. Should be an official non-issue by mid-Jan tho. I'm currently replayed FF7 right now and am incredibly surprised how well it's aged. There's a couple hiccups here and there, but overall, it's still holding up incredibly well. I highly recommend playing it if you've got the time.
I was also "hurt" by the XIII trilogy, but after this I feel a little more confidant about trying out XV. Still waiting for the "complete" edition though, and hopefully it will be released on PC as well.
It's not the best FF (Look at 6,7, or 9 for that), and it has it's failings, but it is definitely worth playing, especially for the 35 bucks it costs on amazon atm.
In all honnestly I must be a weird guy, I'm one of these guys who actually think FFXIII wasn't a bad game and think FFXII is a masterpiece (my favorite alongside IV and IX) and VI, VII and X while good games are massively overrated, so yeah I'm a weird one, and in all honnestly considerly the massive mess that was FFXV development I wasn't excpecting FFXV to be a great game, but I really didn't excpect this. I'm not gonna lie it isn't a bad game but it's definitly the most wasted potential I have ever play in my life which makes me hating it even more than if it was a shitty game, for first the Musics is absolutly wonderful that is probably the only aspect of the game that you can't argue with. Now the characters are honnestly good I really liked the 4 main characters they are honnestly great and their interaction and dialogs make them the most realistic cast we ever had in a Final Fantasy game (and since I'm french I will say than for once the French Dub for the 4 main characters is really awesome just by listen to them you understand perfectly that they are a bunch of friends that trully cares for each other), and most the other character are really good and interesting. But the problem is the story I really can't believe it we have a great cast and overall good character, we have a world with a gigantic potential but the story just don't use them at all which is extremely frustrating for me everything was there to make an incredible story, but they just completly failed to exploit what they made, the main characters aren't developped enough (and if you didn't watch the anime you know nearly nothing about them) and the other character are just wasted some of them just vanish without any explanation, the world is barely used like they could have made exploring the Dark World like the World of Ruin in FFVI that would have been awesome, the continent of Nifelheim isn't developped at all (despite having a map even greater than the actual oper-world) and not to mention the deliberate plot holes just to put paying DLC and they have the balls to do this kind of shit after having making us wait for 10 years this is just despicable and makes me hate this game even more. And the gameplay the Battle system is actually the point I hate the most about this game, I put it simply for me after Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (which had an awesome and overall well balance Battle System) every A-RPG Square Enix has made as decent battle system at best but FFXV's combat are complete mess, I really don't see how people enjoy this battle system I cannot, first off the camera is complete and utter garbage I can't believe this it's even worst than the first Kingdom Hearts's camera like common we are in 2016 with a game that has been in development for at least 3 years how a camera can be so bad (espacially when there is a lot of ennemies or a colossal ennemy like Titan, Leviathan and Adamantoise) even worst the lock system is garbage to sometime it delock for no reason common even FFType-0 didn't fail in that department, the result is that combat are a complete mess and not fun at all, espacially in close area, the AI of your party member sucks even KHI and FFXIII's AI was way better most of the time they just do nothing other than getting hit stupidly by an attack that they could have avoid easily, let's not mention the dodge system is automatic making absolutly no satisfaction at all and even the combo are automatic just press Circle and Noctis attack alone which in Action-RPG is just stupid for me on top of that the games has no challenge what so ever and it's completly unbalance (Magie is OP that's all). Even technically the game seems unfinished not counting some really annoying glitches that can happen sometime for no reason and seem completly random if they happened or not, but there's also like when I was flying with the Regalia Type-F sometime I could see Buildings poping up sometime I even had Loading Time while I was just flying around, also some graphical glitch but that's not too bad, I also had one crash just by validate camping (happen only once thankfully). Well in other words I think this game wasn't for me, the result is this is the most disappointing game I ever play, and I wasn't expecting that much the game has some good point but everything just makes me feel it could have been so much better in every way.
My own take on FFXIII is a bit strange- I thought the game was both amazing and lackluster. I thought highly of its combat mechanics, enemy designs, and the expansiveness of the world post-story. But I was thoroughly unimpressed by the actual story and how the story was, in some ways, a giant tutorial (never giving you full access to your party until ch.9 I believe and full access to your abilities for the majority of the game). I don't mind the linearity in the game's structure and I understand some of the reasoning behind some of the decisions I did not like (like the auto-battle feature), but I do mind what felt like a lack of respect from the game. It felt like the game was constantly trying to hold my hand through its mechanics and restricting my ability to explore its system fully because it didn't believe that I could actually learn and improve on my own.
Well here I go, being the stick in the mud of this comment section, and say that FF15 is a bad game. It is a game that is broken and unfinished, and they are actively making it worse with the patches and DLC. It's saving grace is definitely the interactions between the four heroes, but everything else from the gameplay to the story is disgustingly unfinished. The only difficult thing about the game is whenever enemies turn you into a frog and you cannot take action. The combat itself is as complex as making a ham sandwich, because all you need to do is press two buttons. Warpstrike? Finicky, unresponsive, and ads no real depth besides being a faster way to either get close or run away. Magic is pointless, as it needs a guide to make anything useful, and by the time you can make spells for the endgame, they become spells that are guaranteed to kill your friends and deal superfluous damage to the enemy. The characters are just as bad if not worse. Granted the interactions with the boys are great, they lack significant depth, with Noctis being the worst offender of this. He has hardly any defined character and would have done better being a silent protagonist/self-insert avatar. At one point he's a quiet loner, but then he's the life of the party, but then he cares about random peoples problems, but then is a cold, morally grey character who won't take any shit. And then there's Luna, who is just a giant "fuck you" to anyone who ever plays the game. Luna has zero character, zero writing, and zero interesting or likable traits. She's just there to be "important" and nothing else. It's inconceivable that Luna is so bad, when Stella, the character that they erased to have Luna fit in, had more character development and personality in a single cutscene with no voice acting, than Luna had in a whole game, anime, and movie combined. And then there's the actual story itself. The best way I can sum up how bad it is, is by saying that the plot is like if i said "Wanna hear a joke? Your mom!" The whole story is just a punchline without proper buildup. That all said, FF15 is still a game that I like, shocker I know, but the more I really think and reflect on it, the worse the game gets in my eyes.
I agree with the overwhelming majority of your points (Really disagree with the Noctis one, but so it goes), but for me, I'm willing to overlook a lot of problems if a game is doing something interesting or is enjoyable moment to moment. As such, a fantasy game with roadtrip elements and great small moments with fast, twitchy combat appealed to me. I won't like, I think it's kind of been made obsolete by the existence of Nier Automata, but I still think back on it fondly, as uneven as it might be. Will definitely have to replay it in the future to earnestly stand by my opinions though.
I think that’s the thing with fantasy. I don’t believe everything should be critisized from a Highschool English teacher’s “objective” point of view. If Fairy tales were critisized by how realistic they are then there would be no point in creating them, and making them realistic (for example), and more balanced, will not serve the purpose of the story. I believe that as the game serves something, especially if it’s unique to itself, on the price of other and rather not as important details, then it would be simply useless to critisize it, especially from this one usual approach.
As someone who likes 13, I can understand it. Lightning is not a very likeable person. You have to put up with Hope. Period. Snow, Satzch, and Fang are the only really likeable ones, and you don't even get Fang in your party until you're half way through the game. Combine that with absolutely zero sidequests until you're 3/4 of the way through and then you have to do nothing but sidequests until you're strong enough to take on the last 2 hours of content, and it's easy to see why people wouldn't like it. The battle system is good, but doesn't have the opportunity to really stretch its legs until 30 hours in because you don't have any choice in who's in your party or what roles you'd like the people to fill. You don't have any touching small moments with NPCs, because the only people you get to interact with are Hope's dad and Cid. And of the 2 times you meet Cid, he's a boss the 2nd time. 13-2 is a better game in nearly every regard than 13. They open up the battle system right away, both your main characters can take any of the roles and you can fill your 3rd spot with a wide array of captured enemies so you can always experiement. There are sidequests everywhere, the game's only 30 hours long in total, and you only have to deal with Hope for, like, 45 minutes tops. It just has a goofy timetravel plot that's not particularly great, but at least you get to go and meet people, help them with their problems, and feel like you're really doing something for the world. Like, you know what would happen to the world if the entire party of 13 failed and died? Nothing. The world would have continued on as it had been doing, no great evil would have befallen mankind, nothing would have happened. Humanity would have kept living on cocoon for a long time more, while the Falcie tried, and failed, to kill off the entire world. They could only operate through 3rd party proxies, and most poor saps who are chosen are just Hope. And Hope is worthless if you want to wipe out humanity. 10, meanwhile, throws a diverse party at you with branching leveling paths, the ability to freely swap between all party members at all times, give or take the few times someone leaves the party for their own reasons, has one of the better FF turn-based battle systems, has sidequests all through the main story, has a number of NPCs to interact with including a few good standouts with their own stories via said sidequests, has some puzzles at every town, has more than 2 characters go through real growth, has actual villains you don't just find out about at the end of the game , etc, etc. And X-2 is not as good a sequel to X as 13-2 was to 13, but it's not as bad as many people make it out to be. It has a solid combat system, the job system works well, and it has a branching storyline and multiple outcomes. It's just too tonally different from X to be what people wanted. See also 13-3, the game so bad I won't go over it.
No they're not. No build diversity in XIII. Early game or end game. X had so many harder fights and more side quests. And auto battle spam. It's not very good. I'm sick of these people claiming X and XIII are similar when they are absolutely not. The issue isn't the surface level overworld. Then there's characters like Snow who is just a jerk for the most part and every unimportant main non playable character.
Terrible combat system, hope is the only character written believably and he's not even likable, snow and fang are the only likeable ones and sazh is a racial stereotype
Best KH game? Sorry there's only one good KH game and that's called KH2FM+. Honestly by WRPG standards I don't think the combat is bad, but I'd like to say that's a very very low standard with only TW3 being good. But then again very few JRPGs have this open world feel today. You know the kind the ubisofts the GTAs. So it's a great step in the right direction. I mean Xenoblade Chronicles X was a bigger step in said direction but you don't know about that. But honestly combat doesn't feel that bad. Yes it's easy but it's flashy enough to keep you entertained. You won't be juggling dragons like in Lightning Returns but it's still better than Skyrim. And yeah low bar as I said but it's fine because it's not supposed to be the best ARGP combat. And there's more stuff to do besides combat. If you're like Ubisoft games and want an ok melee combat system this is an easy recommend. But you are actually right. This feels the least FF. And I'm counting XIII which even if you exclude its sequels felt more like a Final Fantasy because it was still about the human spirit and its struggle for freedom. FF has always been about fighting gods and interdimensional beings and overthrowing empires but for the first time it's about friendship. And I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand banter is always good. It is never not good. But on the other it feels like the characters are designed to fill a role before being characters. Smart one, goofy one, big one, main one. This does make it easier to build relationships across because you only have a few combinations to worry about. Like what does Kimahri think of Rikku? Also I'm surprised they didn't have the girl one. I've been in friendships where we did have one girl in our group. That should have been no brainer to add. Girls play this game as well and while the guys are eye candy surely one of them could have been the girl or have a girl with them? I don't know. Maybe it's cause they don't talk about guy stuff enough for the all guy thing to mean anything. It's like a PG version of non gay bromances. Where's the scene where they play kill fuck marry? I mean come on some when it's all guys you will talk about girls. It's not how I remember my guy friends in my youth. Except for Prompto. It's just that I can't help think to that scene where Laguna gets a cramp and think huh, that's totally a guy thing to happen. Or have people like Irvine and Selphie get together and think that's so cute. I feel like if VIII adopted XV's setup and focus on friendship it would be infinitely better than XV. It's fine as is but I feel a lot of wasted potential. The alternate end of Type-0 is a great example of what I expect from this kind of setup. I really feel like the trade off to a more relationship focused story is not as good as it should have been. But it is the best part. And in fact a really good part of the game. It's just that when it comes to FF I expect a little less modern and reflecting of real life and more an allegory for real life. Locke and Rachel, Celes oh god Celes, Tidus' adorable attitude to the duty bound Yuna. I feel like part of why XV's set up works is because we can vaguely insert our friends in each of the four main characters. Even if it's not perfect being able to insert them in is still a big help. They're your friends not Noctis' friends. The fantasy is going on this adventure with your friends. If you could name the main characters, you could easily find someone from real life to put in their place. And while it may sound like the characters are blank slates I'd like to think of them as just blank enough to project on. What really sucks is that if this game had a multiplayer where you can experience the open world with friends as these four friends it would be really great at selling the fantasy. What's more is I think it could actually work in gameplay.
I think you just sold me on trying this FF game.
Love your style man! Just found your channel yesterday. Good stuff man. Games are an important part of our lives that need to be more explored in the way you are talking about them.
Probably four years to late, but I want try to answer the questions in 6:05 about the suits of the purgees/soon-exiled-to-Pulse-folks:
1. The hood-outfits are a mixture of hazmat-suits ( the clunky shoes ) and medieval/modern prisoner-garb. It follows the misinformation/politic of the Sanctum that people who have been "infected by Pulse" have to be isolated and contained physically, before being send to Pulse. Quasi the inverse of what a hazmat-suit should do normaly. It also probably draws inspiration from execution/
It also allows an easier anomyzation from the prisoners, since unless you count the symbols on the hood-front, everyone basicaly now looks the same. Also the suggested heavyness of those robes, must be part of the intended hindering-effect, otherwise Hope and Vanille wouldn`t have discarded them. ( If you ignore the meta-perspective, that those robes would have contined to cover-up the real clothing-design of those characters ) . The hoods give them a touch of monklike appearance or are just a modernization for the bags, that people sometimes wore over their heads on their execution. Also they help with the dehumanization-process, since "faceless" people are scary. But the designers made it subtle, instead of going the Hannibal-mask-route or with more visible restraints, since the Sanctums tries to sell the image, that those people aren`t shipped t their death, but are "brave emigrants who will colonize the wilderness of Pulse".
2. The glowy parts, are a exageration of reflective stripes, just like ( american?) prison-suits have that garish neon-orange-color, so escapees can be spotted easier in the landscape or at night. They are also probably a visual reminder, that FF13 has it`s sci-fi-tones. I mean, if people hear sci-fi, what would be the first color they would think of, beside black? Electric/Neon Blue, I would bet. Short those blue danglies are just there, that they have an easier time, seeing and shooting people in the dark, as an precaution. Also white it nice visible on distance and at night, too. Oh and even without visible asiatic design-touches, there is still the white equals death-meaning in Japan/east-asiatic region. Some dev probably thought, it would be "sneaky" by symbolizing the coming doom of those people, by already making them wear white clothes for their future funeral. ( something a japanese gamer would get, but would go over the head, of an american/european gamer, since our funeral-colors are "flipped" per tradition ) .
3. If there is an Ultimania for FF13, it would probably show that this place is very close to the outer shell of Cocoon and it`s crack( since people live inside the sphere that is it ) and having a city made out of highwyays and skyscrapers is also a sci-fi staple. Also data-log states, that it is an abandoned city.
4. Personal taste? Some designer must have thought it a cool goatee? Lorewise- i don`t know.
Heh, you and me both, you and me both...
Hell, I look to Edmund and Yoko Taro as inspirations to with Thatgamecompany and Super Giant Games being two of my favorite studios, all of this wouldn't have been possible without ffvii
Completed FFXV in April 2018 (due to the release of the PC version); and I fully understand your statement regarding awe over the visuals alone. The moment I realized that there are verbal cues for low fuel, low health and contextual markers for marked quests, I killed off the HUD just to be able to appreciate the game even more. However, I cannot shake the feeling that FFXV is just one side of the proverbial coin. Part of a much larger story that may actually need a second entry in the form of a FFXV-2....
7:30 Alright, I want to play this now. I always love a good bromance, and it's nice to see a core relationship focused around friendship rather than love (though I have no doubt Tumblr has already done everything in its power to change that XD)
this is so golden
good job man, hope youre fine. i agree so much with this review, this game played with my feelings so much man, i even think that when the game finally dropped the ball actually did a service for the last act of the game and how it picks up, but yeah i agree a lot.
HE'S BACK AHHHHHHH:D
Not dead, just sleeping
Codex Entry Great to have you back Ryan. You have very much become my favorite RUclipsr and I look forward to every video you put out. Glad to hear everything is OK though you made me worried when you mentioned medical stuff :( I've never played a FF game, which is terrible I know. FF7 has been sitting in my Steam library for probably a year now so maybe it's about time to download it...
The medical stuff is just a small dental issue. Nothing major, but it is causing me to have to waste some time on getting things in order. Should be an official non-issue by mid-Jan tho. I'm currently replayed FF7 right now and am incredibly surprised how well it's aged. There's a couple hiccups here and there, but overall, it's still holding up incredibly well. I highly recommend playing it if you've got the time.
Thats good to know, Ill try to get into it in between all the family time around Christmas. Mind if I ask what your holiday plans are?
Spending christmas with my gf's family, beyond that, most of my time will probably be spent on editing the two coming vids.
:20 ah the classic open mouth :o of PC FF VII
You sound a lot like the youtuber Digibro. Had to double take at your channel name.
As someone who's a big fan of Digibro, this is super flattering, ty.
lol imagine if he played it again with all the patches
Definitely looking forward to doing that playthrough when everything is said and done with the DLC
1:24 Well clearly this Metallica reference was done before hearing Hardwired to self-destruct
Ya know what, I'll agree with that. Hardwired was pretty good even if it had some of the worst cover art ever.
Yep... it kind of looks like a DmC boss sketch
I was also "hurt" by the XIII trilogy, but after this I feel a little more confidant about trying out XV. Still waiting for the "complete" edition though, and hopefully it will be released on PC as well.
The Royal edition is out now :)
FF12 was the last great one I would argue
9:50 woah there I didn't say anything. Just wipe.
So what you're saying is, as someone that's never played a FF game, it's worth playing?
It's not the best FF (Look at 6,7, or 9 for that), and it has it's failings, but it is definitely worth playing, especially for the 35 bucks it costs on amazon atm.
Hmm... Do I get anything for maxing the social links?
In all honnestly I must be a weird guy, I'm one of these guys who actually think FFXIII wasn't a bad game and think FFXII is a masterpiece (my favorite alongside IV and IX) and VI, VII and X while good games are massively overrated, so yeah I'm a weird one, and in all honnestly considerly the massive mess that was FFXV development I wasn't excpecting FFXV to be a great game, but I really didn't excpect this.
I'm not gonna lie it isn't a bad game but it's definitly the most wasted potential I have ever play in my life which makes me hating it even more than if it was a shitty game, for first the Musics is absolutly wonderful that is probably the only aspect of the game that you can't argue with. Now the characters are honnestly good I really liked the 4 main characters they are honnestly great and their interaction and dialogs make them the most realistic cast we ever had in a Final Fantasy game (and since I'm french I will say than for once the French Dub for the 4 main characters is really awesome just by listen to them you understand perfectly that they are a bunch of friends that trully cares for each other), and most the other character are really good and interesting.
But the problem is the story I really can't believe it we have a great cast and overall good character, we have a world with a gigantic potential but the story just don't use them at all which is extremely frustrating for me everything was there to make an incredible story, but they just completly failed to exploit what they made, the main characters aren't developped enough (and if you didn't watch the anime you know nearly nothing about them) and the other character are just wasted some of them just vanish without any explanation, the world is barely used like they could have made exploring the Dark World like the World of Ruin in FFVI that would have been awesome, the continent of Nifelheim isn't developped at all (despite having a map even greater than the actual oper-world) and not to mention the deliberate plot holes just to put paying DLC and they have the balls to do this kind of shit after having making us wait for 10 years this is just despicable and makes me hate this game even more.
And the gameplay the Battle system is actually the point I hate the most about this game, I put it simply for me after Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (which had an awesome and overall well balance Battle System) every A-RPG Square Enix has made as decent battle system at best but FFXV's combat are complete mess, I really don't see how people enjoy this battle system I cannot, first off the camera is complete and utter garbage I can't believe this it's even worst than the first Kingdom Hearts's camera like common we are in 2016 with a game that has been in development for at least 3 years how a camera can be so bad (espacially when there is a lot of ennemies or a colossal ennemy like Titan, Leviathan and Adamantoise) even worst the lock system is garbage to sometime it delock for no reason common even FFType-0 didn't fail in that department, the result is that combat are a complete mess and not fun at all, espacially in close area, the AI of your party member sucks even KHI and FFXIII's AI was way better most of the time they just do nothing other than getting hit stupidly by an attack that they could have avoid easily, let's not mention the dodge system is automatic making absolutly no satisfaction at all and even the combo are automatic just press Circle and Noctis attack alone which in Action-RPG is just stupid for me on top of that the games has no challenge what so ever and it's completly unbalance (Magie is OP that's all).
Even technically the game seems unfinished not counting some really annoying glitches that can happen sometime for no reason and seem completly random if they happened or not, but there's also like when I was flying with the Regalia Type-F sometime I could see Buildings poping up sometime I even had Loading Time while I was just flying around, also some graphical glitch but that's not too bad, I also had one crash just by validate camping (happen only once thankfully).
Well in other words I think this game wasn't for me, the result is this is the most disappointing game I ever play, and I wasn't expecting that much the game has some good point but everything just makes me feel it could have been so much better in every way.
Nesouk Kefka With you on XIII, fear not!
My own take on FFXIII is a bit strange- I thought the game was both amazing and lackluster. I thought highly of its combat mechanics, enemy designs, and the expansiveness of the world post-story. But I was thoroughly unimpressed by the actual story and how the story was, in some ways, a giant tutorial (never giving you full access to your party until ch.9 I believe and full access to your abilities for the majority of the game). I don't mind the linearity in the game's structure and I understand some of the reasoning behind some of the decisions I did not like (like the auto-battle feature), but I do mind what felt like a lack of respect from the game. It felt like the game was constantly trying to hold my hand through its mechanics and restricting my ability to explore its system fully because it didn't believe that I could actually learn and improve on my own.
Good review ^_^
Well here I go, being the stick in the mud of this comment section, and say that FF15 is a bad game. It is a game that is broken and unfinished, and they are actively making it worse with the patches and DLC. It's saving grace is definitely the interactions between the four heroes, but everything else from the gameplay to the story is disgustingly unfinished. The only difficult thing about the game is whenever enemies turn you into a frog and you cannot take action. The combat itself is as complex as making a ham sandwich, because all you need to do is press two buttons. Warpstrike? Finicky, unresponsive, and ads no real depth besides being a faster way to either get close or run away. Magic is pointless, as it needs a guide to make anything useful, and by the time you can make spells for the endgame, they become spells that are guaranteed to kill your friends and deal superfluous damage to the enemy.
The characters are just as bad if not worse. Granted the interactions with the boys are great, they lack significant depth, with Noctis being the worst offender of this. He has hardly any defined character and would have done better being a silent protagonist/self-insert avatar. At one point he's a quiet loner, but then he's the life of the party, but then he cares about random peoples problems, but then is a cold, morally grey character who won't take any shit. And then there's Luna, who is just a giant "fuck you" to anyone who ever plays the game. Luna has zero character, zero writing, and zero interesting or likable traits. She's just there to be "important" and nothing else. It's inconceivable that Luna is so bad, when Stella, the character that they erased to have Luna fit in, had more character development and personality in a single cutscene with no voice acting, than Luna had in a whole game, anime, and movie combined.
And then there's the actual story itself. The best way I can sum up how bad it is, is by saying that the plot is like if i said "Wanna hear a joke? Your mom!" The whole story is just a punchline without proper buildup.
That all said, FF15 is still a game that I like, shocker I know, but the more I really think and reflect on it, the worse the game gets in my eyes.
I agree with the overwhelming majority of your points (Really disagree with the Noctis one, but so it goes), but for me, I'm willing to overlook a lot of problems if a game is doing something interesting or is enjoyable moment to moment. As such, a fantasy game with roadtrip elements and great small moments with fast, twitchy combat appealed to me. I won't like, I think it's kind of been made obsolete by the existence of Nier Automata, but I still think back on it fondly, as uneven as it might be. Will definitely have to replay it in the future to earnestly stand by my opinions though.
I think that’s the thing with fantasy. I don’t believe everything should be critisized from a Highschool English teacher’s “objective” point of view. If Fairy tales were critisized by how realistic they are then there would be no point in creating them, and making them realistic (for example), and more balanced, will not serve the purpose of the story. I believe that as the game serves something, especially if it’s unique to itself, on the price of other and rather not as important details, then it would be simply useless to critisize it, especially from this one usual approach.
Saad Armouti This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.
FFXV is the best RPG on the PS4.
Hmmm :)
why people hate FF13 when thay love FF10? in many things thay very similar... and ya, FF12 very good game
As someone who likes 13, I can understand it. Lightning is not a very likeable person. You have to put up with Hope. Period. Snow, Satzch, and Fang are the only really likeable ones, and you don't even get Fang in your party until you're half way through the game.
Combine that with absolutely zero sidequests until you're 3/4 of the way through and then you have to do nothing but sidequests until you're strong enough to take on the last 2 hours of content, and it's easy to see why people wouldn't like it. The battle system is good, but doesn't have the opportunity to really stretch its legs until 30 hours in because you don't have any choice in who's in your party or what roles you'd like the people to fill. You don't have any touching small moments with NPCs, because the only people you get to interact with are Hope's dad and Cid. And of the 2 times you meet Cid, he's a boss the 2nd time.
13-2 is a better game in nearly every regard than 13. They open up the battle system right away, both your main characters can take any of the roles and you can fill your 3rd spot with a wide array of captured enemies so you can always experiement. There are sidequests everywhere, the game's only 30 hours long in total, and you only have to deal with Hope for, like, 45 minutes tops. It just has a goofy timetravel plot that's not particularly great, but at least you get to go and meet people, help them with their problems, and feel like you're really doing something for the world.
Like, you know what would happen to the world if the entire party of 13 failed and died? Nothing. The world would have continued on as it had been doing, no great evil would have befallen mankind, nothing would have happened. Humanity would have kept living on cocoon for a long time more, while the Falcie tried, and failed, to kill off the entire world. They could only operate through 3rd party proxies, and most poor saps who are chosen are just Hope. And Hope is worthless if you want to wipe out humanity.
10, meanwhile, throws a diverse party at you with branching leveling paths, the ability to freely swap between all party members at all times, give or take the few times someone leaves the party for their own reasons, has one of the better FF turn-based battle systems, has sidequests all through the main story, has a number of NPCs to interact with including a few good standouts with their own stories via said sidequests, has some puzzles at every town, has more than 2 characters go through real growth, has actual villains you don't just find out about at the end of the game , etc, etc. And X-2 is not as good a sequel to X as 13-2 was to 13, but it's not as bad as many people make it out to be. It has a solid combat system, the job system works well, and it has a branching storyline and multiple outcomes. It's just too tonally different from X to be what people wanted. See also 13-3, the game so bad I won't go over it.
No they're not. No build diversity in XIII. Early game or end game. X had so many harder fights and more side quests. And auto battle spam. It's not very good. I'm sick of these people claiming X and XIII are similar when they are absolutely not. The issue isn't the surface level overworld.
Then there's characters like Snow who is just a jerk for the most part and every unimportant main non playable character.
Terrible combat system, hope is the only character written believably and he's not even likable, snow and fang are the only likeable ones and sazh is a racial stereotype
Best KH game? Sorry there's only one good KH game and that's called KH2FM+. Honestly by WRPG standards I don't think the combat is bad, but I'd like to say that's a very very low standard with only TW3 being good. But then again very few JRPGs have this open world feel today. You know the kind the ubisofts the GTAs. So it's a great step in the right direction. I mean Xenoblade Chronicles X was a bigger step in said direction but you don't know about that. But honestly combat doesn't feel that bad. Yes it's easy but it's flashy enough to keep you entertained. You won't be juggling dragons like in Lightning Returns but it's still better than Skyrim. And yeah low bar as I said but it's fine because it's not supposed to be the best ARGP combat. And there's more stuff to do besides combat. If you're like Ubisoft games and want an ok melee combat system this is an easy recommend.
But you are actually right. This feels the least FF. And I'm counting XIII which even if you exclude its sequels felt more like a Final Fantasy because it was still about the human spirit and its struggle for freedom. FF has always been about fighting gods and interdimensional beings and overthrowing empires but for the first time it's about friendship. And I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand banter is always good. It is never not good. But on the other it feels like the characters are designed to fill a role before being characters. Smart one, goofy one, big one, main one. This does make it easier to build relationships across because you only have a few combinations to worry about. Like what does Kimahri think of Rikku? Also I'm surprised they didn't have the girl one. I've been in friendships where we did have one girl in our group. That should have been no brainer to add. Girls play this game as well and while the guys are eye candy surely one of them could have been the girl or have a girl with them? I don't know. Maybe it's cause they don't talk about guy stuff enough for the all guy thing to mean anything. It's like a PG version of non gay bromances. Where's the scene where they play kill fuck marry? I mean come on some when it's all guys you will talk about girls. It's not how I remember my guy friends in my youth. Except for Prompto. It's just that I can't help think to that scene where Laguna gets a cramp and think huh, that's totally a guy thing to happen. Or have people like Irvine and Selphie get together and think that's so cute. I feel like if VIII adopted XV's setup and focus on friendship it would be infinitely better than XV. It's fine as is but I feel a lot of wasted potential. The alternate end of Type-0 is a great example of what I expect from this kind of setup. I really feel like the trade off to a more relationship focused story is not as good as it should have been. But it is the best part. And in fact a really good part of the game. It's just that when it comes to FF I expect a little less modern and reflecting of real life and more an allegory for real life. Locke and Rachel, Celes oh god Celes, Tidus' adorable attitude to the duty bound Yuna. I feel like part of why XV's set up works is because we can vaguely insert our friends in each of the four main characters. Even if it's not perfect being able to insert them in is still a big help. They're your friends not Noctis' friends. The fantasy is going on this adventure with your friends. If you could name the main characters, you could easily find someone from real life to put in their place. And while it may sound like the characters are blank slates I'd like to think of them as just blank enough to project on. What really sucks is that if this game had a multiplayer where you can experience the open world with friends as these four friends it would be really great at selling the fantasy. What's more is I think it could actually work in gameplay.
I thought it was a huge pile of shit. Terrible shredded mess of a story and characters, with boring repetitive gameplay