Final Fantasy XV. Is it done?
- Thread starter Francesco
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If you have a beefy PC, I think the steam version is worth playing. The first half of the game at least. Don't play the second half.
Sounds like every single open world game except the Witcher 3.
There likely won't be any more updates to the part of the game that is currently there. Episode Ardyn is still coming though.
In other words, it's as finished as it's going to get. The game is still very flawed to me, but that's more down to the fact I don't think some of the issues were ever going to be fixable with patches. They were too deep rooted, such as the structure of the game being poor - you'd have to completely rework the entire game to fix that.
Is it worth playing? Sure if you can get it for a decent price, while I do think it's deeply flawed, I still think you can enjoy the game.
I will note, I think you do want the DLCs. Just because, if you're like me, without them you'll be pretty annoyed when you come to the respective points in the games where the DLC is set. While it's likely true they didn't start work on that DLC till after it's release so it technically wasn't cut, it was still a really awful way to do DLC in my opinion. There's a royal edition upgrade which includes the season pass at a discount I think? Should probably get that.
In other words, it's as finished as it's going to get. The game is still very flawed to me, but that's more down to the fact I don't think some of the issues were ever going to be fixable with patches. They were too deep rooted, such as the structure of the game being poor - you'd have to completely rework the entire game to fix that.
Is it worth playing? Sure if you can get it for a decent price, while I do think it's deeply flawed, I still think you can enjoy the game.
I will note, I think you do want the DLCs. Just because, if you're like me, without them you'll be pretty annoyed when you come to the respective points in the games where the DLC is set. While it's likely true they didn't start work on that DLC till after it's release so it technically wasn't cut, it was still a really awful way to do DLC in my opinion. There's a royal edition upgrade which includes the season pass at a discount I think? Should probably get that.
If you can get a hold of the Royal edition for cheap, i'd say it's probably worth it. It's as complete as it ever will be since they've up and canceled more than half of their future expansions/episodes, so you don't really have to wait any longer. It just sucks cause a lot of people who didn't like it(myself included) disliked it for so many reasons that it's kinda hard, for me personally anyway, to suggest the game out to anyone with a straight face. It's like, yeah if you waited for two years for the complete version to come out, then I think you should play it AS LONG as you get the royal edition, but then there's that part of me that thinks you might just be better off looking for something else.
Pretty much how I feel about that game as a whole.
Pretty much how I feel about that game as a whole.
It's "okay". I only played the base game when it came out and noped the hell out of there after finishing it. The story was horrible and character motivations were thinner than a dryer sheet. Basic gameplay was alright, but I found the warping mechanic to be janky as all get out. Can't say whether they patched it or not.
As usual with a modern Final Fantasy game the only parts I loved were the art and music. Still, the DLCs might have fixed all that. I'm just not personally interested in shelling out cash to find out.
A thousand times this.
As usual with a modern Final Fantasy game the only parts I loved were the art and music. Still, the DLCs might have fixed all that. I'm just not personally interested in shelling out cash to find out.
A thousand times this.
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It's done besides the last DLC, but check your expectations.
The game could've been so much better if they restructured the open world around the dungeons (one of the best parts of the game), maintained the open world throughout the whole game instead of straight up changing game design 3/4ths into the story, and went full Action RPG with the battle system (combos and proper directional input; no hold button to attack). Gameplay just wasn't a priority with this project, and it's pretty much the only mainline Final Fantasy game with a bad battle system.
The game could've been so much better if they restructured the open world around the dungeons (one of the best parts of the game), maintained the open world throughout the whole game instead of straight up changing game design 3/4ths into the story, and went full Action RPG with the battle system (combos and proper directional input; no hold button to attack). Gameplay just wasn't a priority with this project, and it's pretty much the only mainline Final Fantasy game with a bad battle system.
My personal opinion on FFXV is that of a very bad videogame - I did not have any fun with it and it´s my biggest gaming disappointment. Neither exploration nor combat, a JRPG´s major aspects, were fun to me. And even though the Story does show some potential here and there, you can clearly tell that it´s been stitched together; there are simply way too many design-decisions that were made out of compromises and everyone can see that. I consider the plot to be one of the worst in any medium.
Excellent post. Although I disagree about the story potential comment. Whatever potential there was was thrown out a long time ago.
So, does the royal edition include all the DLC, or are the newer ones extra? If so, I might wait for the complete edition to buy it.
Granted, I first played FFXV in 2018, but it's still my favorite game that I've played this year.
The more linear sections towards the end are still sort of boring from a game play standpoint, but IMO that's when the story becomes a bit more coherent, and if you still miss the open world sections you can always just go back to the past.
The more linear sections towards the end are still sort of boring from a game play standpoint, but IMO that's when the story becomes a bit more coherent, and if you still miss the open world sections you can always just go back to the past.
It includes all the DLC except Episode Ardyn, which is not worth waiting another six months for. Just play it now and if you care about Ardyn worry about his DLC then.
Thanks for the advice, but I'll wait at least until the next sale. I might buy it if it gets more than 50% discount, if not, ill wait till the complete edition.
Oh, certainly, snag it on sale regardless. I'm more just saying that the Ardyn DLC is probably going to be of minimal value to anyone who hasn't already played the game yet.
Its still an incomplete game with some DLC sprinkled on top. Any hope that they'd "complete" the game was a pipe dream.
They made the best out of it I think. The trailers still show enough story content which never made it into the game. Including a controversial storyline with young Luna which was cut due to possible backlash and a more Teenager-Friendly age rating.
With Kingsglaive, the story feels kinda complete. Never understood why people ranting about Ravus. Always thought his storyline was overrated and completely told with Kingsglaive and the events in XV. There are still many characters which suffered from the troubled development. It saddened me to see that there was no place for Cor in the full game. He now is some kind of mentor and plays a pretty unimportant part. But same fate happened to other characters like Aranea.
All in all, I never regretted my journey through Eos. And my experience is based on Vanilla Final Fantasy XV. My impressions will most likely even better when I play the current version next year with all DLC including the Royal Upgrade and Ardyns DLC. It was still a pretty strange move to cancel Season 2 of the DLC's. All in all, people have yet to tell me superior storytelling in current JRPG's. If you say Ys or Tales of I know you are lying ;P
With Kingsglaive, the story feels kinda complete. Never understood why people ranting about Ravus. Always thought his storyline was overrated and completely told with Kingsglaive and the events in XV. There are still many characters which suffered from the troubled development. It saddened me to see that there was no place for Cor in the full game. He now is some kind of mentor and plays a pretty unimportant part. But same fate happened to other characters like Aranea.
All in all, I never regretted my journey through Eos. And my experience is based on Vanilla Final Fantasy XV. My impressions will most likely even better when I play the current version next year with all DLC including the Royal Upgrade and Ardyns DLC. It was still a pretty strange move to cancel Season 2 of the DLC's. All in all, people have yet to tell me superior storytelling in current JRPG's. If you say Ys or Tales of I know you are lying ;P
Poor Cor. From everything I've heard, he was originally planned to be the primary party member in the portion when you first get to the Empire, and that whole section was going to be a second, but smaller, open world segment, which explains why so much of the world is fully modeled if you sequence break outside of the scripted area.
It's pretty much finished, even story wise. Noctis's story is told entirely. Yes we don't get all the backstory we wanted, but you don't need to know every little thing for a story to be complete.
I played the game near a year after launch with the episodes currently out. I played through Episode Gladiolus and Prompto at their correct times, timeline wise, and they've made quite a bit of changes in some of the later level designs compared to launch. I also went and just looked at the cutscenes for Comrades in it's respective timeline as well.
The game was good. I had a lot of fun (especially once I unlocked continuous air dash) and pretty much 100%ed it (need to fish and run around a little more). The harder dungeons were decent and some of the tougher boss fights were pretty damn fun.
I'd recommend the game to pretty much any fantasy fan.
If you truly do care for the story though, then I'd highly recommend watching Kingsglaive before playing the game. For what it's worth, I enjoyed the movie as well. Pretty good music and some great set pieces near the end.
I played the game near a year after launch with the episodes currently out. I played through Episode Gladiolus and Prompto at their correct times, timeline wise, and they've made quite a bit of changes in some of the later level designs compared to launch. I also went and just looked at the cutscenes for Comrades in it's respective timeline as well.
The game was good. I had a lot of fun (especially once I unlocked continuous air dash) and pretty much 100%ed it (need to fish and run around a little more). The harder dungeons were decent and some of the tougher boss fights were pretty damn fun.
I'd recommend the game to pretty much any fantasy fan.
If you truly do care for the story though, then I'd highly recommend watching Kingsglaive before playing the game. For what it's worth, I enjoyed the movie as well. Pretty good music and some great set pieces near the end.
It will never be "finished" now.
DLCs are all just side stories. You might get some extra enjoyment out of playing them, but you're not missing any part of the 'core' experience without them.
Performance is vastly improved in the PC version, especially if you have a strong rig. I don't think there's been many 'optimization' patches since launch though, so console versions (esp. base consoles) are probably still hit or miss performance-wise, especially in the big cities.
Overall, it's still the same emphatically 7 out of 10 game it was two years ago. The graphics are still gorgeous. The combat will still bring you to an incessant internal debate over whether you're actually having fun. The plot is still convoluted and full of holes. The ending chapter is still one of the worst ideas in the history of RPGs. And the chemistry and interactions between the main cast are still surprisingly real and deeply engrossing.
DLCs are all just side stories. You might get some extra enjoyment out of playing them, but you're not missing any part of the 'core' experience without them.
Performance is vastly improved in the PC version, especially if you have a strong rig. I don't think there's been many 'optimization' patches since launch though, so console versions (esp. base consoles) are probably still hit or miss performance-wise, especially in the big cities.
Overall, it's still the same emphatically 7 out of 10 game it was two years ago. The graphics are still gorgeous. The combat will still bring you to an incessant internal debate over whether you're actually having fun. The plot is still convoluted and full of holes. The ending chapter is still one of the worst ideas in the history of RPGs. And the chemistry and interactions between the main cast are still surprisingly real and deeply engrossing.
Eh, the Royal Edition's final chapter is really solid. Chapter 13 still sucks though.
I purchased the digital deluxe edition a while back, but never ended up playing, due to waiting for all the DLC to come out. I was thinking of playing it soon, but am not sure I want to pay for the royal edition upgrade; as someone who hasn't played before, I don't know what is really changing. Is it worth waiting to see if some more complete upgrade comes out (when the final DLC comes out next year), or should I just play what I have? Keep in mind, I'm not really one to replay games very often, so it wouldn't be likely worth it for me to play through once, then upgrade to the royal edition to play through again with changes...
I played base XV when it first came out, none of the DLC, and recently picked up the Royal Edition... will my stats carry over from the base game or do I need to replay to access the DLC?
Huh, I hadn't realized they added a new chapter. Haven't finished the Windows Edition yet, haha. What happens in it?
Basically, the entire final chapter between getting back to Insomnia and the final boss fight is completely different. Insomnia is a fully explorable map with sidequests, a small town, boss fights, and more story scenes involving Cor and the bros. The bros also have a more fitting final boss battle than the way the original version of the game handled them. There's even a completely optional superboss fight against Omega.
The ACTUAL final battles are pretty much unchanged, but all of Chapter 14 is significantly bigger and more story-driven. The one thing you lose is that you don't get to walk through Insomnia listening to Somnus as much, as the original piano/vocal piece gets replaced by a new arrangement early on.
I see. That definitely does sound a lot better. Not being able to explore Insomnia in the original game in particular felt like a missed opportunity.
With all those changes though I'm even more shocked they didn't do anything with Chapter 13. The ending was a little rushed, yeah, but the solo Noctis section before it was prolonged and non-sequitir agony, lol.
Ch13 was altered and somewhat toned down a bit. The ring of Luci was greatly beefed up and added a new counter attack to it
CH14 and 15 are where the big big changes are apparent in the Royal Edition and it's where Noct becomes much more fleshed out and you can see it in his face and mannerisms the burden, the expectations and the duty he has to fulfil
You don't need to beat the game to access the dlc content. The DLC episodes are accessed from a different menu and your stats won't carry over. It will carry over for the Royal dlc though.
So I can play the "new" final chapters? That's cool... I strongly dislike this style of development where the early adopters get a "beta" of an rpg, missing important storyline and context, that will only get patched in at a later date.
Wait, wow I had no idea. So you're saying they added more than just running around the city trying to dodge the level 90s?
They added a shitload more, yeah. There are still some of the ridiculously OP enemies, but you actually have to explore the city and work to make them appear rather than having them gank you at random when you're running on a straight line to the final boss fights.
It's a complete overhaul, and one of the better parts of the game in my opinion. You even get Cor back as a temporary party member for a while, and there's a quest where your multiplayer avatar from Comrades joins your party as a guest for a little bit, if you played that expansion.
Yes. You should be able to explore the new final chapter with your old stats.
The Ignis,Prompto, and Gladio chapters have to be accessed from the menu.
Wow, that's pretty damn cool. It's a pity the game took as long as it did to become complete, but hell that just means it's worth playing.
You can grab FFXV Royal Edition for $15-25. Its worth it, IMO. The game is fun and the boy band and related characters are pretty great. So yeah, get it!
What about the luna dlc?
The Zodiac Age only exists because of FF12 International version. FFXV remasters will just be graphic update. They will not add more story into it.
It's a fair question. I'm waiting to jump in too, and the fact that they seem to keep updating is offputting. I kinda just want to wait til it's finished at this point.
It plays really well and has since launch. A bunch of neat new features like first person mode have dropped, and if you get it on PC you can fuck around with mods so you can even have a good time with that. It's a finished, polished open world experience.
The story is a complete fucking mess though and there's no fixing that, never will be. You can't bolt on 90 minute bits of DLC to fix that, you just sort of have to accept that going in.
The story is a complete fucking mess though and there's no fixing that, never will be. You can't bolt on 90 minute bits of DLC to fix that, you just sort of have to accept that going in.
Heads up: You can't get the Comrades DLC trophies any more, because they've split it off into its own game with its own trophy list. So anyone who starts FFXV now has no chance of getting 100% of the trophies.