SQUARE ENIX - Single Player RPGs are dead?

MetaMario

I saw some footage of it and I am generally disappointed that the four mains are not part of a J-Pop band.

Insider2000

Stepping away from the Final Fantasy XV discussion, Square is prepping for their 30th anniversary of Final Fantasy by prepping a super combo pack that will include Final Fantasy I-IX to all be playable on PS4 or Vita. Final Fantasy I, II, III, and IV will include their very first original game (meaning II and III will be translated officially for the first time ever) and their most modern format of each one. It seems V and VI won't have their mobile ports. No word on them being the PSX ports. Let's hope not.

http://vgleaks.com/final-fantasy-30th-anniversary-roadmap/

There will be three versions for the Final Fantasy collection:
1. Regular version: games and poster.
2. Collector’s Edition: Games, poster, art book, 8-bit Black Mage keychain, Chocobo plush and two discs with a selection of songs chosen by Nobuo Uematsu.
3. Crystal Complete Edition. It will be only available in limited quantities in the Square Enix’s website for PS4. Crystal Complete Edition will include:

Games: Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Collection titles (FF I to IX), Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, Final Fantasy XV (and all DLC), Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (including all expansions + a 3 month subscription). Special items for Final Fantasy XI Mobile and Final Fantasy XIV will be included as well.

Physical items: all the content included in the Collector’s Edition, two extra discs for the soundtrack, a crystal necklace, a Moogle plush, a Black Mage statue, all three Final Fantasy Trading Card Game starter decks, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV and Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV. Everything will be packed in a luxury chest decorated with the Final Fantasy logo.

Just to clarify: these plans just apply to North America, we don’t know yet about other regions.

Read more http://vgleaks.com/final-fantasy-30th-anniversary-roadmap/

Not gonna lie: I'm thinking about the Crystal Complete edition to a slight extent. Biggest problem will be that I will already have XIV and XV. Maybe I can still return XV… And do I really have to get all those shitty movies?

Also: Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (so the PSP version), and Chrono Trigger are planned to be released on Steam before the end of 2017.

EDIT: Also, also, the article seems to be hinting that the major game releases of the 30th anniversary will be Final Fantasy VII remake, Final Fantasy XII: Zodiac Age, and the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. We shall see if that first one comes true.

Kitsune Inferno

this game has worse load times than sonic 06

I sat 8 minutes on a loading screen after a fast travel.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Insider2000:

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions are planned to be released on Steam before the end of 2017.

Now my friends will have NO excuses.

RoboBlue

@Kitsune:

this game has worse load times than sonic 06

I sat 8 minutes on a loading screen after a fast travel.

Seriously? I've beaten entire gameboy games in less time than that.

@MetaMario:

I saw some footage of it and I am generally disappointed that the four mains are not part of a J-Pop band.

That's what Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE is for.

Kitsune Inferno

There may be some exaggeration there but my brother and I managed a whole conversation on why Xenoblade has a much nore visually impactful world design during the loading screen.

Ruin

@RoboBlue:

That's what Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE is for.

TMS is so that you can be disappointed that your characters are in a J-Pop band

KageKageKing

TMS is actually pretty good.
@Daz:

I just discovered a youtube video called "Adamantoise: the 1 hour boss"

What

Why. Why would you do this again? Is that supposed to be fun? Like, if you get a kick out of fights like these then by all means, but it completely baffles me.

Have you forgot or didn't saw Conan O Brian comment on the 72 hours boss?

HeartOfDarkness

@Daz:

I just discovered a youtube video called "Adamantoise: the 1 hour boss"

What

Why. Why would you do this again? Is that supposed to be fun? Like, if you get a kick out of fights like these then by all means, but it completely baffles me.

Big-boss-battles in 15 are fucking boring, but Adamantoise is by far the worst. Seriously it took my brother almost 2 hours to beat it, and he was level 99.

Robby

@KageKageKing:

TMS is actually pretty good.

Have you forgot or didn't saw Conan O Brian comment on the 72 hours boss?

The 72 hour boss is an exageration by the team. Its the same hour boss mentioned above.

Though apparently if you are underleveled and not ready, yes, it will take much, much longer… but not 15-72 hours.

Insider2000

I honestly don't mind long boss battles in Final Fantasy, as they often have almost this rhythm game to it. Throw attacks, heal, throw attacks, cure status effects, throw attacks, heal, enemy changed form, change set up in response, etc.

I don't see 'long boss fights' as a bad thing as long as there is enjoyment in it. Granted, I can't vouch for XV.

Like FFRK has these long, almost puzzle like boss battles. Neat one was a Black Mage focused boss battle where, depending on the elemental spell you used, a crystal would help you in some way, and you have to form a rhythm with that tactic.

KageKageKing

Daz

@Insider2000:

I honestly don't mind long boss battles in Final Fantasy, as they often have almost this rhythm game to it. Throw attacks, heal, throw attacks, cure status effects, throw attacks, heal, enemy changed form, change set up in response, etc.

I don't see 'long boss fights' as a bad thing as long as there is enjoyment in it. Granted, I can't vouch for XV.

Like FFRK has these long, almost puzzle like boss battles. Neat one was a Black Mage focused boss battle where, depending on the elemental spell you used, a crystal would help you in some way, and you have to form a rhythm with that tactic.

Long unbroken gameplay segments can be fine, as long as they contain variation within that timeframe. Like, you have to do Dr Wilys castle all in one go in the MegaMan games, which can take a while, but its a challenge full of variety.

I can understand the appeal of finding the "rhytm" to a fight, but if the fight is just a 2 hour marathon of that exact, never-changing rhythm…whats the point? You've essentially "solved" the puzzle early on, and then the game goes "good. Now do this 1000 more times, and if you mess up, start over." Different strokes and all that, but to me thats not all that different from the mind-numbing lightning bolt challenge of FFX. I still can't believe I actually did that.

What I'm saying is, if I had to play a 2 hour Elite Beat Agent stage, I wouldn't want it to be just the same 3 minute stage 40 times in a row. I could be wrong, but thats what these marathon-fights look like to me.

Green_vs_Red

@RoboBlue:

Seriously? I've beaten entire gameboy games in less time than that.

That's what Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE is for.

Or Omega Quintet.

Nami

this complete FF pack sounds pretty awesome to me.. but I wonder how much it'll be.

Kitsune Inferno

You know i didnt want to play in Wait Mode cause it feels like a copout (like rpg mode in dissidia) but it actually makes combat more fun and feel more strategic. Is there some way to use Libra in active mode though?

Insider2000

@KageKageKing:

Christ, I'm going to have to do this again in my eventual FFXII HD replay. Oh well…

Although, this person did it in two hours. My first time took about 7 hours and I read the entirety of Uzumaki through it. It was an interesting afternoon in December.

@Daz:

Long unbroken gameplay segments can be fine, as long as they contain variation within that timeframe. Like, you have to do Dr Wilys castle all in one go in the MegaMan games, which can take a while, but its a challenge full of variety.

I can understand the appeal of finding the "rhytm" to a fight, but if the fight is just a 2 hour marathon of that exact, never-changing rhythm…whats the point? You've essentially "solved" the puzzle early on, and then the game goes "good. Now do this 1000 more times, and if you mess up, start over." Different strokes and all that, but to me thats not all that different from the mind-numbing lightning bolt challenge of FFX. I still can't believe I actually did that.

What I'm saying is, if I had to play a 2 hour Elite Beat Agent stage, I wouldn't want it to be just the same 3 minute stage 40 times in a row. I could be wrong, but thats what these marathon-fights look like to me.

I haven't played XV yet, so I can't say in judgment of that fight.

I think, usually, when it comes to some of the big bosses of Final Fantasy, there is a required rhythm, but the fights are not that long. The only time I remember a boss battle that took an insane amount of time was Yiazmat, but you had the benefit of auto battle with you.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Kitsune:

You know i didnt want to play in Wait Mode cause it feels like a copout (like rpg mode in dissidia) but it actually makes combat more fun and feel more strategic. Is there some way to use Libra in active mode though?

See, back when I played the demo for XV, that was my general issue too. I didn't know there was a Wait Mode. Probably going to set that on when I play XV.

MajinArekkusu

@Nami:

this complete FF pack sounds pretty awesome to me.. but I wonder how much it'll be.

Square should say fk it, it is the 30th anniversary and we wanna do something good for the fans. 60 bucks for all those games. :ninja:

… as if. :sad:

Kitsune Inferno

This "story" is insultingly threadbare.

Kishido

Well just some quick words…

FFXV is disappointing for me... The gameplay is dull and the "story"... well it's there. The boy band is "OK" but the character designs are so damn boring. Music is good

2nd mainline Final Fantasy in a row I'm not enjoying... Somehow the franchise lost the magic for me as it seems. Or maybe I'm too old to get into this new "action" gameplay. I do want my good ol round based Final Fantasy with an amazing story, a lot to explore and to do and lovely characters and character designs...

And now hoping for XVI and Persona V

MajinArekkusu

10 year…

! Time skip in the game and nsync looks identical to how they looked before with some mini beards and still wearing the same goddamn clothes, loooooooooooooooooool.

Don't let Tabata direct 16, hell they should give the director of FF14 ARR a shot at it, cause he does a good job with 14.

Kitsune Inferno

Hiroyuki Ito or I quit.

HeartOfDarkness

@MajinArekkusu:

10 year…

! Time skip in the game and nsync looks identical to how they looked before with some mini beards and still wearing the same goddamn clothes, loooooooooooooooooool.

Don't let Tabata direct 16, hell they should give the director of FF14 ARR a shot at it, cause he does a good job with 14.

The animation are different. Noctis walks differently. He also controls differently (not a huge difference, but a still noticeable). And there is a genuinely something different about his character. That is also known as character-growth.

Foolio

I'm glad after 10 whole years he sorta barely walks differently and has subtle character differences. Man that's good character development, 11/10 story.

DarthAsthma

A character growth based on fantasy.
A fantasy based on feedback.
A reality based on sadness.

Ruin

a story based on nonsense

BatrozX

lol I've encountered 2 terrible glitches so far in the game.

One where I fast traveled and spawned out of bounds of the world map. I couldn't call a chocobo and my party members didn't even appear around me. There was no way for me to get back since the world is surrounded by invisible walls. Had to reload last autosave.

The other one was in a story quest on a power plant where I had to defeat all enemies in less than 5 minutes. I defeat all enemies, counter keeps going. After 30 seconds I ran around the place to check if maybe I missed something or I need to be on a specific place to trigger another wave of enemies. Nothing. Time's up, game over. lolwut

King Cannon

@Kitsune:

This "story" is insultingly threadbare.

Don't worry. SE is going to "update the story" alongside some other relatively big changes.

Never heard of that before.

RoboBlue

@Foolio:

I'm glad after 10 whole years he sorta barely walks differently and has subtle character differences. Man that's good character development, 11/10 story.

At least in Naruto most of them got boobs. :ninja:

Kitsune Inferno

@King:

Don't worry. SE is going to "update the story" alongside some other relatively big changes.

Never heard of that before.

That's the insulting part.

Or at least one of them.

HeartOfDarkness

@Foolio:

I'm glad after 10 whole years he sorta barely walks differently and has subtle character differences. Man that's good character development, 11/10 story.

Ahh for your information he also has a beard.

Ruin

timeskip noctis is so cool

he's the coolest

RoboBlue

Insider2000

@Ruin:

timeskip noctis is so cool
http://geekandsundry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CriticalRole-matt-Cover-322x268.jpg

he's the coolest

Hey. Matthew Mercer is wonderful and I will hear nothing else otherwise.

Cyan D. Funk

After 10 years, your anime boyband should've evolved into an Allman Brothers tribute band with beards to match.

Satsuki

Okay, I can't come here anymore since I'm not getting the game until Xmas and I just got spoiled about a "timeskip."

@Ruin:

a story based on nonsense

FF games are always based on nonsense. Where else would you get a game with things like bunny women, walking cacti, mystic spirits, and giant chicken?

King Cannon

Here's some backstory of the game's development. Several spoilers in there though:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=226268927&postcount=1

HeartOfDarkness

So how legit is this? These details are rather general, and seems like anyone can come up with them.

Not a huge fan of these "mysterious team member suddenly crawls outta the cave to let the people know that the game had supposedly troubled-development, and goes into vague-details".

DarthAsthma

My new favorite thing I read today is "FFXV has an amazing story, it just doesn't tell it".

King Cannon

@HeartOfDarkness:

So how legit is this? These details are rather general, and seems like anyone can come up with them.

Not a huge fan of these "mysterious team member suddenly crawls outta the cave to let the people know that the game had supposedly troubled-development, and goes into vague-details".

The same guy leaked the whole story 6 months before.

Kitsune Inferno

Lol what about FF15's story is "amazing"?

! Seriously the empire is on a hunt for the prince like all game but Ardyn can show up and just handwave that entire plotpoint for the sake of continuing his ridiculously convoluted long game?
! Its female heroes suffer from "gotta support Noctis my own character development and independence BE DAMNED" and all the femael villain falls into is the old "not REALLY the bad guy" anime trope that women suffer like all the time (looking at you One Piece). Literally every other villain is cookie cutter generic and lets be honest, the bros arent very interesting either and are almost completely one dimensional.
! "My name is Gladio look at how tough and gruff I am" "Im ignis i am smarter than you and have no time for your wasting time" "Im prompto weereeeee whose ready to be annoyed for 50 hours"

This is my assessment as of end of chapter 8. Im trying to like this game and there is a lot to like.

Just stop trying to convince people this story isnt a completely hot mess. Even if they gave the game staggering depth it would not change the fact that the lead characters are dull generic anime archetypes and weve seen the empire a million times before. Any hint of originality is just pretentious babbling that makes no sense.

HeartOfDarkness

Yea the females characters are not really that interesting, and typical japanese female characters. I like Luna, and Noctis relationship, but it would have benefited from having more scenes to flesh it out. On a side-note; Luna, every time she appeared, saying " Noctis-sama this"," Noctis-sama that", which to me really got in the way believing their relationship, and more importantly made Luna herself a shallow hunk of nothing-ness who is there to support Noctis rather than have an individual character of her own.

Cindy is garbage, and Aranea is pretty ok. Hated Iris at first, and still do, but came to appreciate the fact that writers didn't force romance like a typical japanese fashion. Though both Aranea, and Iris are really helpful in terms of gameplay.

The bros on the other hand are a different story, and will depend on an individual. I agree they sound really one-dimensional on paper, but they are executed in the game differently, and came off as living, and believable characters. At least to me. Previous games have always relied on lengthy-monologues to convey characters, but here the character's are conveyed in a different, subtle, and more believable way. Though as i said, whether someone connect with them will depend on the type of method they like. I personally hated them on paper, but loved them in the game, and ultimately the characters feel more believable then previous games.

On a side-note: The empire's role isn't as big as the trailers made it out to be. They are pretty much pawns, and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. All of their accompolishments, and power came from the real villain of the game.

DarthAsthma

@MajinArekkusu:

Oh so it's the same as bleach and FT? Those two also have THE best shonen stories in them somewhere… I am sure. xD

Yeah not sure xD and I don't want to ask for clarification. Shit just didn't make a lick of sense. Some series mental gymnastics in that sentence.
–-----------------------

Just making this post because tomorrow we're likely to get some DQ11 news with jump festa. And the hype just hit me a little. Super excited.

ARTEMlS

I didn't pay FFXV that much attention, but…

@HeartOfDarkness:

Luna, and Noctis

Really???

DarthAsthma

@HeartOfDarkness:

How does that even make sense? Story is one of the most basic fundamental element that is done before the actual development on the game begins. How can a game have such a incredible level of polish in the area that is by far the most time-consuming, and difficult part of development, and be unfinished, and rushed just because the story wasn't a vomiting fest like MGS4?

The story is finished.PP.

I think it is enough to just say that you know nothing about game development. Because that sentence is not a reality, anywhere that has shipped something.

Ok I actually take it back, maybe it is a reality at Quantic Dream, but they're French so it doesn't count(I still like you Heavy Rain):ninja:

! This is obviously a joke, the quantic dream part

Kitsune Inferno

@HeartOfDarkness:

The bros on the other hand are a different story, and will depend on an individual. I agree they sound really one-dimensional on paper, but they are executed in the game differently, and came off as living, and believable characters. At least to me. Previous games have always relied on lengthy-monologues to convey characters, but here the character's are conveyed in a different, subtle, and more believable way. Though as i said, whether someone connect with them will depend on the type of method they like. I personally hated them on paper, but loved them in the game, and ultimately the characters feel more believable then previous games.

My favorite part is when somebody like Aranea tries to tell you about Biggs and Wedge but then Prompto pops in to quip the same bullshit he's been saying since chapter 1.

Or "Hey, Gladdy, remember when–" "Imperials above us!"

If youre going to tell a subtle story the dont override story conversations with generic bullshit like this, maybe?

DarthAsthma

@HeartOfDarkness:

Game-concepts, and basic-story outline are done before they start actually working on the game. And yes the script is not fully finalized, and can be changed in just like any other creative medium.

Kind of the most important aspect of this. So yes if you're statement was meant to be read as in "done" meaning people are working on these things during pre production then yes. But that didn't make much sense to me because you were using it in an argument to say the "story was done" as in finished. Which just never is the case.

Scripts are nice guidelines to unite people's ideas they're not like movie screenplays or book first drafts like at all. Like with the latter examples you usually get what is on the page in some form(as in you finish the script and give it to a director or editor), in game dev what's on the page often doesn't work as intended(so even if you're David Cage writing your 5000 page script and deliver it, it kind of doesn't mean shit actually), is changed or even thrown away. But most importantly what's on the page is very often also stuff that just simply doesn't make it into game because of lacking resources(money, time). This causes rewrites(which in itself can cause different gaps), etc just to make shit fit on some form even if there are obviously important things missing.

As such it's totally logical to regard FFXV story as unfinished given how much connective tissue was not implemented because of simple production realities.

The shocking truth is no game is ever finished, they are simply declared so by necessity, the art is to not let players notice. And you really notice in FFXV. That's the simple reality.

Night_slayer

I finished my last sealed dungeon costlemark. Game is too easy, except when you can't uses your items.

Storytelling is really messy in this game, look at the witcher 3 miles ahead. It's just too short, you literally can see the ending in 10 hours. Everything interesting HAPPENS OFF SCREEN. You play the entire game in Noctis Pov.

The combat is for me great, but like I said, fair to easy(people may find the combat boring and repetitive. Magic and summons are powerful but lacking in variety. Four summons and 3 basic magic upgradable and ring of lucis has 3 spells.

The only game over screen I have seen it's the first three hours, the rest of the game you can spam potions for the win.

About the fetch quests, I didn't to a lot of them. I was hunting monsters, doing some dungeons. Finding some powerful weapons. There is no grind in this game, you level up to easily. Only thing you need to grind is AP. Even earning money is easy in this game.

Graphics is fine for me, only glitched one in my entire 70 hour playthrough.

Music was great probably the best thing about this game.

Things they cut off:

,

(whole kid segment is cut off),

, The red moon thing from duscae thing is cut off.

Purple Hermit

After a considerably terrible exam, I bought this on an impulse.

And hey the gameplay is actually kinda fun when it works (even though chaining combos is built through holding down the button…??). Would've worked fine as a side project rather than a main-line game.

Story is still garbage tho

DarthAsthma

The one thing I want them to put more frontline in FFXVI are the dungeons. I think I agree with my friend they're really good in FFXV and weirdly the best ones not even mandatory within the main story.

Ruin

so how about that final fantasy my favorite character is barret