Topic: Final Fantasy XV - Update Road Map

[Claimh Solais]

I dunno if any of you have gotten around to playing FFXV, but if you've beaten it, I'm pretty sure many of you thought the second half of the game was a complete mess, Chapter 13 in particular. Well, Tabata is aware of this, and has confirmed this: Due to the positive reception of the game and the massive sales they've made, they are substantially increasing the amount of updates they are planning for the game.

As follows:
-Chapter 13 will be revamped entirely, so it's not so god damn awful. In particular, the Ring of the Lucii will be buffed up so that it doesn't suck so much and wind up as the most underwhelming weapon in the entire game.

-The latter half of the game will be receiving more cutscenes to flesh it out, complete with full voice acting. If you've beaten the game, you're aware the latter half of the story, just like the game, was a broken, incoherent mess. Well, Tabata plans to fix that.

-Additional playable characters are planned for the main game. I'm assuming this means Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio will now be playable. But one could hope that the other temporary party members like Cor will be playable as well.

-We might be getting the ability to create our own characters.

-Other long-term updates are planned to keep players interested.

-New Game + will be added, which might add in additional items and gameplay modification options (like setting level caps and such).

-New boss battles planned, and limited time hunts. Daily hunts and such are a possibility.

-DLC schedule confirmed:
--------1. Holiday Pack (possibly this month? Boss battle against Square CEO, NG+, etc.)
--------2. Booster Pack (I'm guessing next month, no idea what this is)
--------3. Episode Gladiolus (DLC story where you play as Gladio, possibly during the random time he leaves your party)
--------4. Episode Ignis (DLC story where you play as Ignis, possibly his point-of-view during Altissia)
--------5. Episode Prompto (DLC story where you play as Prompto, possibly his point-of-view during the late game events)
--------6. War Buddy Expansion (Online co-op expansion pack)




While I enjoyed the hell out of the game and its my contender for GOTY 2016, the game has wrought with problems. MASSIVE problems. Seems Square has every plan to fix them, which is a very good thing. Let's see what happens, eh? What are all y'all's thoughts?

[Shiroi Koumori]

I am waiting for the update for the 2nd part but dang, please do not make it more than 9GB crown update... that shit took me 5 hours to download. T_T Or maybe not.... god... how many hours would I waste waiting.... T_T
Hahaha at least the tiny font issues will be addressed, I have to play sitting 2 feet in front of the 32"TV

What about the camera issues? We are not friends. I already set it to far but when there are trees..... I'm fighting blind and I know the dungeons would be much more difficult. I haven't entered in any yet. I'm still in Chap 1 and taking it way too slow (free time issues irl).
And what about the TVs that are older which cut off part of the right hand side of the screen? At least for my TV, I still see the full HP bars and the map, but it cuts off at that place.

Yeah I am aware of Chap 13 being a big hot mess. *reddit*

Hmmm... I'm just a newbie in the PS4 world, anyone please answer this question.
If I am downloading a patch for the same game I'm playing, can I play the game while the patch is downloading?

[Claimh Solais]

What about the camera issues? We are not friends. I already set it to far but when there are trees..... I'm fighting blind and I know the dungeons would be much more difficult. I haven't entered in any yet. I'm still in Chap 1 and taking it way too slow (free time issues irl).

The sad part is that this could easily be fixed by doing what most games do and allow you to see silhouettes of your characters and enemies when behind trees. No word on if this will be fixed.

Hmmm... I'm just a newbie in the PS4 world, anyone please answer this question.
If I am downloading a patch for the same game I'm playing, can I play the game while the patch is downloading?

As far as I'm aware, yes? I think it's just that the game can't be played online, which the game doesn't have anyway (yet). I'm not sure if it pauses the download or not.

[KaZudra]

I'm still fixated if it's good or not, from a perspective that I enjoyed the Action RPG Final Fantasy games (Crisis Core, Type-0 (though, something was definately lost in the HD version))
Will I enjoy this one, and, How well does it perform (the Demo ran like ass on Xbox One)?

[Claimh Solais]

I'm still fixated if it's good or not, from a perspective that I enjoyed the Action RPG Final Fantasy games (Crisis Core, Type-0 (though, something was definately lost in the HD version))
Will I enjoy this one, and, How well does it perform (the Demo ran like ass on Xbox One)?

I played the full version on Xbox One. Runs at a solid 30 FPS the whole way through, save for when you get to Altissia, where it drops down to like 20 only for a few minutes where you walk around. When the action starts there it jumps back up to 30.

I've yet to encounter any glitches or anything.

[affinity]

the longterm DLC might save and redeem it if it adds playable female characters, female avatar creation, and more, the lore and timeline has lots of room and possibilities before and after the time the current story takes place,

http://gematsu.com/2016/12/final-fantasy-xv-update-roadmap-detailed-additional-playable-characters-event-scenes-avatar-system-consideration

the true complete FFXV has yet to be established, so until then, not interested until they give more what more fans want out of it, by then, it could even be at a discount sale perhaps FFXV might eventually transform into the single player equivalent of FFXIV, where people can play in FFXV world with their own preferred created character and expanded and improve things about it (look at the FFXV npcs, they could be used as assets for character creation, and FFXV NPC models look better than FFXIV's, male and female character creation for FFXV world in single player would be AWESOME). 

there is potential to make FFXV a game for more types of FF fans.  Even Tabata must be aware that current FFXV is below the standards and ignores a large part of the fanbase (it's really Tetsuya Nomura's fault, he made FFXV theme about brotherhood and nothing else, which is stupid and sexist and something that's done too much in a lot of videogames, including military shooters.), so the longterm DLC expansions and features and improves could transform and evolve it into a FF more would be interested in

FFXV is currently a mess and below FF fans standards
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1322896

FFXV really is a disgrace and disaster in its current state, turning its back on a large part of the fanbase
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1322843

but the DLCs and add ons and patches could fix at least some of it, or most of it, especially if it has great avatar creation options like FFXIV has.   Like I said, FFXV does have outstanding graphics and animations, so they really could make FFXV more for more people instead of just one demographic.

I said it before, but it was obvious FFXV was going to be rejected by a larger amount of people, especially with how disrespectful and inconsiderate it (and its movie) is towards female characters, female roles and females in general.

Maybe they will make playable Luna episode, and the avatar creation open world aspect could storywise take place after FFXV story, I haven't read much spoilers, but I think there could still be monsters and new villains they could add to the world, so it's not exactly peaceful after the previous plot.

I love Xenoblade X and it is great news FFXV might potentially be transcended into a much greater and open videogame where players can play as whatever they want and look more how they want.

The battle system could get a upgrade too, adding things like leader switching and more. 

they do have a foundation of gameplay that has great potential, there is great ways they can fix it and make it more open.  It's already obvious they suck at storytelling, but character creation, and giving females strong playable roles, could really add 100s of hours and purchase incentives to it.

[X]

Things like patches and fixes that come with DLCs should not be an issue to begin with. Games (no matter the company that makes them) should not be leaving the factory floor until virtually everything has been fixed and polished. Just like in the pre-iternet days.There's a unhealthy trend that's been going on for quite a while now, where companies will just ship out a game early in order to bank on sales. And not care if it has bugs or other related problems. "worry not. We have the internet! We can solve all these problems in the next release..." I call bulls**t on this kind of mentality. It's disgraceful. It's lazy. Bethesda is one of those companies that thinks this way. And there are others that have since fallen suit. If I ran a company this would absolutely NOT happen. It would be unacceptable and frowned upon. I much prefer quality over quantity. I'd rather release a product that I can be proud to have made, and one that the fans can be proud to own. While the internet has proven to be a boon to the gaming industry, it has also proven to be a crux as well.

[Claimh Solais]

The issue is a good chunk of the fan-base. For example, take Tekken 7. The game has been in development for consoles for a looooooong time. And you have a huge chunk of the fighting game fan-base saying "Just release the game early and add the extra characters and stuff in later as a free update."

Street Fighter V does exactly that. And people do nothing but complain about them releasing an unfinished game (shit netcode aside).

It was the same issue with this game. Being that I hung out with a lot of the FF fan-base during this game's development, a lot of people were urging Square to just release it already. Game was announced as delayed? People got mad. So after a while, they finally announced a September 30 release date. People were ecstatic. And then they announced it would be delayed to November 29. And people were pissed. A lot of the fans actually cussed out Squeenix and personally insulted Tabata a lot of the time.

And now the game is finally out, and now people are complaining about it being unfinished. Tabata even talked about this, stating that he wanted Niflheim's invasion of Insomnia (as seen in the Kingsglaive prequel film) to actually be a large part of the game, but completing it might have pushed the game's development back some year or two. As a result, it was taken out and a movie was made about it instead.

Squeenix made a stupid decision back in 2006 to announce this game before any actual work was done on it, and Tabata did the best he could with what he had when he got handed the reins in 2012. His team was under a lot of pressure to get the game out, and with fans being continually impatient, if they kept delaying it, it could've hurt potential sales with waning interest (they are a business first and foremost, and making money is the name of the game for any business).

I'm not being an apologist for the game, as while I did enjoy it, the game was riddled with problems (particularly in the back half. I had almost zero problems with the front half. Chapter 13 is abysmal and made me very noticeably angry from how bad it was), but game development simply isn't the same as it was back in the 90's or early 2000's. Building a game from the ground up is simply a much heavier task these days, and games will almost always get stuck with deadlines whether consumers or the developers like it or not.

And that being said, at least Tabata and his team are addressing the issues, which is a lot more than what can be said about most developers. Take for example, Hello Games. They stayed silent about No Man's Sky for months. Assassin's Creed: Unity is still a broken mess and Ubisoft clearly has no intention of fixing it after two years. FFXV has been out for only a week, and Tabata has promised to add a lot more to the game and fix it up so that it could be much more enjoyable.

Also, irrelevant to the topic, but this

If I ran a company this would absolutely NOT happen. It would be unacceptable and frowned upon. I much prefer quality over quantity. I'd rather release a product that I can be proud to have made, and one that the fans can be proud to own.

is pretty easy to say when you're not in charge of a billion-dollar multi-national company. With how big Squeenix is, it's absolutely no surprise stuff like this would happen. Other examples would be Ubisoft and EA. Promises are made but aren't always kept, and sometimes the one who makes the promise isn't even at fault.

[Shiroi Koumori]

It's all about the money.... (I know there's a Noct pic with this circulating online)
"Please your shareholders and piss off your fans, but hey, they already bought it anyway. $$$"
It seems every game company is going the EA and Ubisoft route.

I said it before, but it was obvious FFXV was going to be rejected by a larger amount of people, especially with how disrespectful and inconsiderate it (and its movie) is towards female characters, female roles and females in general.

Hmmm... I didn't find it disrespectful to females in general. Maybe it is just me, but I found Luna having strong inner strength in the movie.
As for the purchase decision, I lean towards male characters and the more ikemen they are, the better it is. An entire party of ikemen characters = heaven~♪ (Inner fujoshi speaking ignore this)

[Claimh Solais]

Hmmm... I didn't find it disrespectful to females in general. Maybe it is just me, but I found Luna having strong inner strength in the movie.

As did I. However, she's horribly underused in the game. Like many others, she hardly has any screentime. A huge example of the bare-bones barely-there story in the latter half of the game.

[Shiroi Koumori]

As did I. However, she's horribly underused in the game. Like many others, she hardly has any screentime. A huge example of the bare-bones barely-there story in the latter half of the game.

Ah, well, I haven't progressed there yet. But I'd take your word for it.
The game should have been delayed even more. We've already waited for 10 years, what's another one? Hahaha! I totally forgot that this game will come out this year until the media hype in the months leading up to the release.

[Inccubus]

Fans should stop buying into the hype and buy games when they are finished instead of playing this stupid game of first kid on the block to have the new thing. Companies have noticed this willingness to drop cash on a promise and a smile and are exploiting it.

That aside, I have always hated the lean towards this kind of gameplay in the mainline FF series and now it is exactly where I feared it would go. This is only compounded by the fact that SE is apparently incapable of telling a coherent story anymore.

To hell with Final Fantasy. Give me more Bravely Default and port the mobile FF games to console or steam.

PS- SE, please stop half-assing your ports so we don't have to mod every game you release just so our eyes don't bleed.

[Jazz Paladin Productions]

Fans should stop buying into the hype and buy games when they are finished instead of playing this stupid game of first kid on the block to have the new thing. Companies have noticed this willingness to drop cash on a promise and a smile and are exploiting it.

That aside, I have always hated the lean towards this kind of gameplay in the mainline FF series and now it is exactly where I feared it would go. Give me more Bravely Default and port the mobile FF games to console or steam.

And this is why I am going through FF IV complete on my PSTV again now. Sure, the mechanics may "seem" outdated, but the game sure looks a lot better than when it first came out...and more to the point, I have fun, and love the pacing...

I'm not a fan of this real-time action RPG that the series has become, and hence am not really looking forward to the  FF VII remake either...Pining for the classic JRPG feel still, but I doubt we'll see much of those days from Square Enix ever again...

And I can remember a time when you'd never see a Final Fantasy game with ratings under an average of 9/10 or 90%.  I miss those days as well...

[Shiroi Koumori]

Update patch 1.03 finally fixed my tv screen issue and Cid can now upgrade multiple weapons simultaneously.
Since I still haven't finished the game yet, I can't comment on the NG+ but reddit users say the NG+ is fail because it is just the same easy/normal diffficulty. I suppose you only want to do the NG+ for blitzing through the story again. Unless they put another upgrade to this when January rolls around with the Carnival event.

And because I'm an idiot, I forgot to access the PS store to get the Holiday pack. Oh well, I'll just DL it after Christmas.

[Claimh Solais]

There's not even a harder difficulty?

Good job, Square. lol