rcs619 said:
My suspicion is that they'll do exactly what they did with 13. Create a world that they don't adequately explain because their budget has ballooned so far out of control that they can't afford to make all the low-key lore-building scenes a proper RPG requires... so they're just going to make a lot of references to things that the players know nothing about and then expect them to look it up in the glossary, or watch the anime, or watch the movie.
Square doesn't want to tell a story any more. They just want to make pretty things, lean on their brand name for success and hope everything works out. Game's not even out yet and they're already pushing movie tie-ins and ridiculous special-editions and a media franchise. Final Fantasy XV has been in development hell for what, about a decade now? Just release the damned game and let us see if it's actually good first before you start draping it in all this multimedia stuff it might (probably) not even deserve.
Final Fantasy XV hasn't earned any of this. It's a new IP, and from the demo, it's looking like an extremely underwhelming one at that.
Well, to be fair, the game we now know as FFXV has only
really been in development for about four to five years now, maybe six, with some reworked assets and a general proof of concept being their starting point. What we knew as Versus XIII apparently never quite got off the ground under Nomura. That being said, I can't really say that this is cause for leniency in judgement or criticism of it. I will say that the new director's attitude toward the game is refreshing, though. While the active time reports or whatever they're called don't necessarily scream 'This is a professional production that you should have confidence in' to me, I do understand the internal reasoning behind it; to prevent another FFXIII. They've cleaned up the UI since Episode Duscae to remove unnecessary effects, they've changed defending from a trigger/bumper to one of the face buttons, and they've slowly been doing their best to work in FF hallmarks by fan request. Although, that could bode poorly for XV and its branching products if they go too heavy with the references. Just thinking about Kingsglaive makes me worry that we might see CGI Aaron Paul interact with a moogle!
Going back to my 'this doesn't scream professional' comment, the very fact that they're so attentive to fans makes me worried. Fans want the old shit, that's how it is and how it always will be. You try anything new, they're going to hate it. In XV's case, the new stuff isn't all that great, but having played Type-0 I have a feeling that Tabata's team know what they're doing. Platinum Demo's last fight where you actually play as the main version of Noctis caught my interest too, especially once I obtained the secret weapons. The Sword/Shield combo especially makes me wonder if the final product will have more timing and speed focus in the interplay of attack and defense, although that's just wishful thinking I suppose. I still want my damn cancels!
