Final Fantasy 15 FINALLY coming September 30th

[Repner]

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text[./spoiler] without the dot.

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One of my biggest issues is mainly with the lack of proper exposition. Ardyn has a really interesting backstory, but I only really figured it out after watching a Youtube video explaining it. The info is too spread out in Cosmogony books and stuff like that to really piece everything together unless you're taking notes along the way. That and I think everyone agrees that too much happens behind the scenes, such as Iedolas's downfall etc. As far as I know, they added/are adding more scenes to explain things a bit better, but I haven't played through a second time, so we'll see. Other than that, I really liked the characters, and the story is very interesting, if short, once I understood more of it.

Gameplay I really like a lot. The fact that the Astrals decide for themselves when they want to make an appearance makes it more of a special event for me whenever it happens. It's always an exciting moment when the sparks appear around you and the music changes to indicate one of them is ready. The magic system is really clever as well. Big criticism from me though comes from the fact that, since everyone uses their own phoenix downs when you tell them to, you'll pretty much never see a Game Over screen, even when all four party members are down.

 

[Ralyks]

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I have to agree about the story. Looking back, it actually was a pretty good story, and like I said, I felt it ended strong. But the way the story was told was what kinda screwed with it. You basically have to read all of the Cosmogony books and all the notes in Chapter 13 (NOW I get why that chapter pissed people off, or at least gameplay wise), watch Kingsglaive (which I actually kind of enjoyed) and Brotherhood, and I'm guessing/hoping the DLC will flesh it out even more (I may actually consider the season pass for this game).

I kinda liked Arydn, but I feel like more often then not, the creators keep trying to recreate Kefka from FFVI

Also, Adamantoise.... Dear lord, two and a half hours to beat it, but dammit, I took that mountain down. Only one trophy left and I have my Platinum

I should also probably add, with the amount that I overpowered myself, I RARELY used magic.

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Ifrit may be the only time I used magic constantly

 

[Pav]

^ Which trophy are you missing? All I have to do is kill the adamantoise and I'll have the platinum. Then it's back to FFXIII to grind out every item in the game.

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. In retrospect it's one of the shortest Final Fantasy games I've ever played - I'm 85 hours in and I've done virtually every little thing there is to do, aside from a couple endgame dungeons. I still have plenty of untouched hunts but hunts feel quite redundant pretty quickly, otherwise I can't even find any simple side quests left to do.

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I like the story but the latter half of the game really reeks of Square rushing it to launch. Once you set sail for Altissia I feel like the story and setting jump around quite a bit without explaining what exactly you're doing or why. Once Noctis was absorbed into the crystal, I was confused as to why he woke up in a dungeon or something 10 years later. They don't explain what happened to him for 10 years or how he ended up there. I really didn't mind the linear second half of the game but it felt like they could have added a few more chapters to flesh out what was happening.

Also, I have the opposite of Repner's opinion on summons. They were very epic and cool, but my option to actually use them was so limited and infrequent that it felt like a somewhat useless token. Like they were tacked on because summons are a staple of FF games and not utilized in a practical or meaningful way. I've summoned Ramah and Leviathan a couple times each but I've never been able to use Titan.

Something about collecting all of the previous FF soundtracks to play throughout the game also made me incredibly happy. I felt like I was able to revisit all of the past glories along the way and ignited some kind of interest in replaying past games. Once I finish the platinum for XV, I'll be grinding out the plat for XIII and then buying VII on my PS4 so I can platinum that one. I also have the X/X-2 HD remake sitting on a shelf so that's two more FF platinums to nail. I have my work cut out for me, thanks Square.

 

[Ralyks]

I'm only missing the trophy for maxing out Noctis's fishing skill (fishing wasn't exactly my favorite thing on this game). I beat Adamantoise at level 71 and it took 2 and a half hour (multiple in game days definitely passed). I've heard people trying it around level 40ish and it taking nearly a full day or two in real time.

Also, LOVED having all the old soundtracks in the car, makes the drives much more enjoyable (which isn't the worse aspect, taking in the scenery and getting AP while at it). My only regret is I don't think I ever found the soundtrack for VI....

 

[Ralyks]

Got my Platinum trophy! I have more stuff I can do in the game, but I'm going to put it back on the back burner until the DLC starts coming out.

 

[Pav]

Same here. Reading these posts last night inspired me to take on the adamantoise. Beat it in about 90 minutes, got the platinum, now it's back to FFXIII since I've owned it since launch and still never beaten it. I have a couple menace dungeons left but I'll come back to it when there's DLC on the horizon.

 

[Fiction]

I only played the story really, like I really enjoyed it, I did a few side quests and hunts and I felt like I was only 10% into the story or something and then all of a sudden I was on a linear shinkansen headed right towards the end, I felt the story was extremely rushed. I definitely want to go back and do everything else, which I haven't done anything after completion, purely because I was disappointed at the rush of the story, I still enjoyed it, I just felt like it needed some more detail, more adventure in the storyline would have been nice, like it only took us to 3 different locations before it was the linear story.

 

[Ralyks]

Anyone else play with the 1.05 patch? Hearing rather shaky things about it. I honestly haven't gone back to the game after I got the Platinum (not even trying it on my recently acquired PS4 Pro...) and completely skipped the Chocobo Carnival. At this point I'm going to wait to see how the Gladio DLC pans out before determining if I'm going to get the season pass or just trade the game in and be done.