FF15 "more casual, one button action"

[FFFFsephychibi]

Going based on this article from EuroGamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-22-meet-hajime-tabata-final-fantasys-latest-saviour?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialoomph)


Tabata's also in pursuit of a Final Fantasy that's not as overwhelming as its predecessors, and one that can be enjoyed by a broader audience. "With Final Fantasy 15, I do want to make it more casual," he says. "Of course the depth of the game is going to be there, but I want to make it so players can easily experience the satisfaction of the depth of the game." There's an option to set that car to drive itself, allowing players to sit back and take in the sights - although there is also an option to drive it manually, should they want to engage more fully with the world.

"Another example is in the combat," explains Tabata. "With the hardware specifications of the newer consoles, it's possible to set it up so you have different enemies and different choices of attacks you can enter in, but I want to simplify that. It'll basically be a one-button action, and the AI intuitively outputs an action that kind of satisfies, gives you that instant gratification, and it connects with the simple touch of a button. I myself am not getting any younger. I don't want to be frantically pushing buttons. I also want to utilise the intelligence of the hardware spec, and not have to go through too much hassle or trouble in order to execute moves."

Edit: This too (http://gematsu.com/2014/09/final-fantasy-xv-director-talks-development-open-world-combat-demo)


Speaking to 4Gamer, Tabata said gameplay is less about focusing on menus and more about playing around and navigating 3D spaces, albeit with predetermined moves. He describes it as similar to Final Fantasy XII‘s Gambit System.

There are no menu commands in combat. It controls like an action game where players switch between offense and defense. You can only control Noctis, but you can give orders to other party members. And you can call up the menu screen to give commands to everyone, swap out weapons, etc.

Not sure if anyone has been keeping up with the articles over the past few days discussing the battle mechanics. I think this is pretty important. These quotes are especially alarming to me. I'm frightened. Being closer to 12 is not that scary because in KH you can set up your decks and party commands. It 's more of they removed party member switching and it's sounding like everything is automated. The defend button works the same way as the attack.

Please discuss.

[Shauna]

Press one button to do things? Sounds like Final Fantasy.

[Fynn]

Press one button to do things? Sounds like Final Fantasy.

Indeed. From what I'm seeing, it seems more in the vein for FFXII than KH in that regard. It probably just means less button mashing.

[Ayen]

At least now people will stop comparing it to a hack and slash game. Since, you know, those require button mashing to get anywhere.

Although I'm not sure where the comparison even came from.

[FFFFsephychibi]

Hehe it definitely sounds like Final Fantasy :P But initially this was supposed to be more similar to KH's gameplay and it's kind of a bummer hearing this after 8 years. The 'casual' part is what scares me the most, when I hear casual I think mobile. And is a concern for lack of depth to the gameplay core.

I also feel like the " I myself am not getting any younger. I don't want to be frantically pushing buttons." quote is really uninspired and lazy from a game design perspective. So basically your going to make design decisions based on how old and cranky you feel. Dear lord.

[Del Murder]

I also feel like the " I myself am not getting any younger. I don't want to be frantically pushing buttons." quote is really uninspired and lazy from a game design perspective. So basically your going to make design decisions based on how old and cranky you feel. Dear lord.
Yeah that quote is pretty bad.

As a person who loves menus and tons of options in battle I don't know how I feel about this direction. It will probably be fine. The main thing that concerns me is that you can only control Noctis. :( That is not Final Fantasy. :(

[Freya]

They'll probably have a gambit like thing like what was in XII

[Del Murder]

Yeah 'control the leader' I'm used to since that's what we got in the last couple FF games and how RPGs are going in general. I'm more annoyed that the 'leader' has to always be Noctis. In KH it worked because Sora was the 'chosen one' and the party members were more for support, although recent games have been moving in the direction of having more playable characters. In ME it works because you are playing your avatar and are experiencing the game through his eyes. For this to work in FFXV Noctis has to be a very strong and dynamic character with a variety of abilities (to accommodate a variety of play styles) so I'm hoping he's not another one-dimensional Lightning.

[Freya]

I know at least battle wise he'll be diverse? If I recall you can pick whatever specialty he just can do the teleporty thing cause he's got royal blood

[Pumpkin]

Yeah I'm really not jazzed about only controlling Noctis. I was really hoping all this news would get me all hyped up again, but its actually done the opposite.

But I'll still give it a try. Could be an awesome game, who knows :monster:

[fat_moogle]

I'm hearing a lot of confusion over Noctis being the only playable character. Some say this is true for the demo, but others think the actual game will be different. Do we have anything concrete yet?

[Fynn]

I honestly don't think I'd be very miffed if it turns out to be the case in the full game. I mean, I would love to have that kind of freedom like I had in FFXII and Xenoblade, but the Last Story proved that you don't need to control others to feel that they're all your characters.

[Freya]

Noctis is the main. You will be controlling other characters by adjusting their battle style and strategies from the menu but not them directly.

[Wolf Kanno]

I pretty much always felt that Noctis would always be the only playable character. As for making the gameplay more casual friendly with one button interface, that has been part of the series course since 94 so I don't see why people are whining about FF being made to cater to the lowest common denominator of player because they have always done that since VI.

I'm hoping combat will have a bit more variety but I always expected this game to play like KH with Noctis as the only playable character and the rest of the cast would be A.I. it's an Action-RPG, they have always had you controlling one character with A.I. partners since the days of Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean 1, and Secret of Mana on the SNES. KH games have never allowed you to use the partner characters in battle so why would you think that Versus XIII would be any different?

[FFFFsephychibi]

I pretty much always felt that Noctis would always be the only playable character. As for making the gameplay more casual friendly with one button interface, that has been part of the series course since 94 so I don't see why people are whining about FF being made to cater to the lowest common denominator of player because they have always done that since VI.

I'm hoping combat will have a bit more variety but I always expected this game to play like KH with Noctis as the only playable character and the rest of the cast would be A.I. it's an Action-RPG, they have always had you controlling one character with A.I. partners since the days of Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean 1, and Secret of Mana on the SNES. KH games have never allowed you to use the partner characters in battle so why would you think that Versus XIII would be any different?

It's a bummer to hear because there initially was character switching in versus 13, (plus you've always been able to switch party members in FF)
AND, the e3 trailer 2013 and 2011 ff15 trailer showed us switching to prompto in 3rd person shooting mode ;_;

Now it feels like they've taken a fun mechanic away

Plus on top of that, the battle system, is not KH style anymore.
It's like playing ff12 without being able to switch characters.

[Fynn]

I pretty much always felt that Noctis would always be the only playable character. As for making the gameplay more casual friendly with one button interface, that has been part of the series course since 94 so I don't see why people are whining about FF being made to cater to the lowest common denominator of player because they have always done that since VI.

I'm hoping combat will have a bit more variety but I always expected this game to play like KH with Noctis as the only playable character and the rest of the cast would be A.I. it's an Action-RPG, they have always had you controlling one character with A.I. partners since the days of Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean 1, and Secret of Mana on the SNES. KH games have never allowed you to use the partner characters in battle so why would you think that Versus XIII would be any different?

It's a bummer to hear because there initially was character switching in versus 13, (plus you've always been able to switch party members in FF)
AND, the e3 trailer 2013 and 2011 ff15 trailer showed us switching to prompto in 3rd person shooting mode ;_;

Now it feels like they've taken a fun mechanic away

Plus on top of that, the battle system, is not KH style anymore.
It's like playing ff12 without being able to switch characters.

They showed you could control Prompto for a short whole in a specific situation. They did the same with Ignis in the live gameplay footage.

[Pete for President]

Sounds to me like we're getting a lazy, superficial tour through pretty scenery.

[Psychotic]

Yeah 'control the leader' I'm used to since that's what we got in the last couple FF games and how RPGs are going in general. I'm more annoyed that the 'leader' has to always be Noctis. In KH it worked because Sora was the 'chosen one' and the party members were more for support, although recent games have been moving in the direction of having more playable characters. In ME it works because you are playing your avatar and are experiencing the game through his eyes. For this to work in FFXV Noctis has to be a very strong and dynamic character with a variety of abilities (to accommodate a variety of play styles) so I'm hoping he's not another one-dimensional Lightning.Noctis is the only character with super cool powers and is also the only character who can equip every single weapon type. So here's hoping.

[Del Murder]

I'm hoping combat will have a bit more variety but I always expected this game to play like KH with Noctis as the only playable character and the rest of the cast would be A.I. it's an Action-RPG, they have always had you controlling one character with A.I. partners since the days of Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean 1, and Secret of Mana on the SNES. KH games have never allowed you to use the partner characters in battle so why would you think that Versus XIII would be any different?
I didn't expect Versus XIII to be different but I did expect Final Fantasy XV to be different. And now that they are the same the expectations have changed even if the game hasn't.

Anyway, it has to be true that you'll have more control over your party choices than in KH and maybe you can influence them directly through the pause menu or hotkeys like in Mass Effect. Setting a few gambits with no direct control during the flow of battle just isn't going to cut it and I can't imagine they'd regress like that.

Also Noctis may end up being a badass. I can dig super cool powers and multiple weapons.

[Karifean]

Eh... I don't really care for this. If they say this I hope it's more FFXIII-esque in that even though there's Auto-Battle that does pretty much all command-inputting for you, there's still the option of choosing everything manually, and there's more to do than just spam Auto-Battle. Some good boss fights can make all the difference here.

[Wolf Kanno]

It's a bummer to hear because there initially was character switching in versus 13, (plus you've always been able to switch party members in FF)
AND, the e3 trailer 2013 and 2011 ff15 trailer showed us switching to prompto in 3rd person shooting mode ;_;

Now it feels like they've taken a fun mechanic away

As The White Wizard of Fynn pointed out, the current gameplay video shows you switching to other party members to pull off special moves and finishers so there is no reason to believe this is the case at the moment.


Plus on top of that, the battle system, is not KH style anymore.
It's like playing ff12 without being able to switch characters.

I disagree, the combat I've seen is very reminiscent of KH's battle system, the FFXII comment only pertains to the interface of the game where the Gambit system allowed the player to not have to fuss with too many menus by setting up the A.I. to do it for you which frankly isn't that different from most Action-RPGs. Basically, he's explaining that you won't be raped by goblins while trying to scroll down a menu looking for that cure spell because you'll already have it set up by buttons and A.I. prompts. You know unlock KH1 where the menu system made doing anything that wasn't button mashing a chore and an easy way to let enemies and bosses get a free hit on you.



I didn't expect Versus XIII to be different but I did expect Final Fantasy XV to be different. And now that they are the same the expectations have changed even if the game hasn't.

Anyway, it has to be true that you'll have more control over your party choices than in KH and maybe you can influence them directly through the pause menu or hotkeys like in Mass Effect. Setting a few gambits with no direct control during the flow of battle just isn't going to cut it and I can't imagine they'd regress like that.

Also Noctis may end up being a badass. I can dig super cool powers and multiple weapons.

Honestly I never bothered with the hotkey nonsense in ME and I've always felt the Gambit System was well designed and could easily be expanded in future installments, of anything it spoiled me on tolerating other games with A.I. partners because it offered far greater control, so personally its a welcome return if the designers feel we have to deal with A.I. partners, I'd rather have some real control over it after dealing with the nonsense from XIII.

Versus XIII was always touted as a very different FF experience, hell Nomura even said it wasn't a numbered title because it was going to be radically different game from traditional FFs so when SE decided to bite the bullet and make it FFXV, I didn't expect that to change and I'm just finding it surprising to see so many people feel it was suppose to.. Frankly, I feel that everything I've seen and heard about the game is a vast improvement over what we were handed last gen.

[Rostum]

I'm not too fussed with the action combat, it makes things more exciting. However, I just hope that battles require some deep strategy and not just button mashing.

[DMKA]

Yeah, this news worries me a bit. I hope we're just all misunderstanding or it's a bad translation.

http://www.ff-xv.net/images/media/4dc4db23_FFVXIIITPS.png

See that? I was a lot more excited when it was a mishmash of the KH and FFXII battle systems.

I'm taking it all with a grain of salt though. I don't think we'll have quite the right idea of how it plays until that demo comes out.

[Del Murder]

Honestly I never bothered with the hotkey nonsense in ME and I've always felt the Gambit System was well designed and could easily be expanded in future installments, of anything it spoiled me on tolerating other games with A.I. partners because it offered far greater control, so personally its a welcome return if the designers feel we have to deal with A.I. partners, I'd rather have some real control over it after dealing with the nonsense from XIII.
I'm happy to see that return as well, but again, in FFXII you could switch the party member you controlled on the fly and input individual commands to party members as needed. An expansion of the gambit system would be welcome, but not at the cost of flexibility to adjust tactics in real time.

[Wolf Kanno]

My guess is that you may still be able to switch out party members on the fly its just they have predetermined set-ups. It will most likely be like KH where only Sora (or in some games who you can actually control) has customization and the others will be more straightforward besides A.I. set-ups and probably changing out finishers. I have a feeling this game's customization won't be far from KHII.

[Momiji]

Welp. At least this makes XII look good in comparison.

[Freya]

XII was great, Momiji :colbert:

[Fynn]

XII was great, Momiji :colbert:

What's this? Someone dates deny XII's greatness? :stare:

[Momiji]

I stand by what I say :redface:

[Hannibal_Khan]

http://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/2hbdp8/i_might_have_found_something_big_on_ffxvs_combat/

"Note that the game apparatus according to the present invention can cast various attacks based on the correspondence between positional conditions and attack methods set by the player even when the same operating button is pressed;however, it is also possible, for example, to switch, BY A PLAYER'S OPERATION, between a game mode to which the present invention is applied and in which various attacks can be cast based on the correspondence between positional conditions and attack methods set by the player, AND A NORMAL GAME MODE IN WHICH VARIOUS ATTACKS CAN BE CAST BY THE PLAYER BY PRESSING A PLURALITY OF BUTTONS."
This patent seems to indicate that there are two modes of combat, the one-button gambit-like system of control, or what seems to be a more active, kingdom hearts like combat system.

I guess it will all be speculation until we get our hands on the demo

[fat_moogle]

http://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/2hbdp8/i_might_have_found_something_big_on_ffxvs_combat/

"Note that the game apparatus according to the present invention can cast various attacks based on the correspondence between positional conditions and attack methods set by the player even when the same operating button is pressed;however, it is also possible, for example, to switch, BY A PLAYER'S OPERATION, between a game mode to which the present invention is applied and in which various attacks can be cast based on the correspondence between positional conditions and attack methods set by the player, AND A NORMAL GAME MODE IN WHICH VARIOUS ATTACKS CAN BE CAST BY THE PLAYER BY PRESSING A PLURALITY OF BUTTONS."
This patent seems to indicate that there are two modes of combat, the one-button gambit-like system of control, or what seems to be a more active, kingdom hearts like combat system.

I guess it will all be speculation until we get our hands on the demo
This makes sense.

In the overture demo there was a window in the bottom left with different commands during battle, but in the actual trailer there wasn't. Maybe this was the difference between the two game modes?

[Fynn]

That window was showing which character was targeting what with what attack.

[fat_moogle]

That window was showing which character was targeting what with what attack.Oh, really? If that's the case then way to burst my bubble! The reason I thought it was a command screen is because it also appears out of battle, with what seems to be the "warp" command enabling Noctis to scale that building.

[FFFFsephychibi]

http://giant.gfycat.com/SelfassuredShinyIlsamochadegu.gif
I found this on another forum, someones concept for how the controls will work based off of Tabata's description. Interesting.

http://i.minus.com/inPHyu0thxKJ7.gif
And found this over there as well XD! LOLOL!!!



Yeah, this news worries me a bit. I hope we're just all misunderstanding or it's a bad translation.

http://www.ff-xv.net/images/media/4dc4db23_FFVXIIITPS.png

See that? I was a lot more excited when it was a mishmash of the KH and FFXII battle systems.

I'm taking it all with a grain of salt though. I don't think we'll have quite the right idea of how it plays until that demo comes out.

Mmm yeah I hope it's abad translation too also, yeah this gameplay got me so pumped for the game back then!!!




I pretty much always felt that Noctis would always be the only playable character. As for making the gameplay more casual friendly with one button interface, that has been part of the series course since 94 so I don't see why people are whining about FF being made to cater to the lowest common denominator of player because they have always done that since VI.

I'm hoping combat will have a bit more variety but I always expected this game to play like KH with Noctis as the only playable character and the rest of the cast would be A.I. it's an Action-RPG, they have always had you controlling one character with A.I. partners since the days of Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean 1, and Secret of Mana on the SNES. KH games have never allowed you to use the partner characters in battle so why would you think that Versus XIII would be any different?

It's a bummer to hear because there initially was character switching in versus 13, (plus you've always been able to switch party members in FF)
AND, the e3 trailer 2013 and 2011 ff15 trailer showed us switching to prompto in 3rd person shooting mode ;_;

Now it feels like they've taken a fun mechanic away

Plus on top of that, the battle system, is not KH style anymore.
It's like playing ff12 without being able to switch characters.

They showed you could control Prompto for a short whole in a specific situation. They did the same with Ignis in the live gameplay footage.

It still hasn't been confirmed yet if there's character switching. In the link to the interview it says there is no character switching and noctis is the only playable character. However people are speculating if that is solely for the demo or not, still waiting on official details, until then I really hope it happens.

[Uchu]

When I first read the article I was a little bit like 'oh, one button...'. But I don't think it's going to be quite as simple as that quote suggests, so I'm not worried.

[chionos]

I would love to see both modes implemented. A more passive and contextual gambit-like system and a more active straight up action-oriented system with the option to move back and forth between the two modes. Tabata's other example for the casualness of the game was the car, which has the option of an auto, or a manual mode. So hopefully this is an indication that the combat also will have options to make it more casual.

I've expected all along that it would be uni-character focused battle, so only being able to "control" Noctis isn't a big deal. Don't get me wrong, I don't prefer it, but it's not like it's coming as a surprise.

In the end, if the world is as immersive as Tabata has claimed he wants it to be, I'll be sold. Even if the combat's not perfect, if the world is worth living in for a while, if the characters are worth some attention, if the story is compelling or engaging, then I'll be a happy camper. Because that's what initially, many many years ago, sucked me into the FF universe. Not combat, not controls or cameras or any other technical nonsense, but the fact of an immersive, unique, engaging world that I could spend some time in and forget myself.

[fat_moogle]

I hope that concept GIF was leaked by someone at Square Enix! xD

It looks soooo smooth.

[Fox]

I hope that concept GIF was leaked by someone at Square Enix! xDIt looks soooo smooth.I believe it's based on the control scheme suggested by somebody on GAF who everyone there is convinced is an insider. He's that guy that "everyone just trusts, OK?" and is "always right about this stuff". Which sounds like the least legit thing in the world but I kinda trust it. You don't get a reputation on the internet without being reliable! xD Hey everyone btw. I followed moogle here from FXN ;)

[Hannibal_Khan]

I would love to see both modes implemented. A more passive and contextual gambit-like system and a more active straight up action-oriented system with the option to move back and forth between the two modes. Tabata's other example for the casualness of the game was the car, which has the option of an auto, or a manual mode. So hopefully this is an indication that the combat also will have options to make it more casual.

I've expected all along that it would be uni-character focused battle, so only being able to "control" Noctis isn't a big deal. Don't get me wrong, I don't prefer it, but it's not like it's coming as a surprise.

In the end, if the world is as immersive as Tabata has claimed he wants it to be, I'll be sold. Even if the combat's not perfect, if the world is worth living in for a while, if the characters are worth some attention, if the story is compelling or engaging, then I'll be a happy camper. Because that's what initially, many many years ago, sucked me into the FF universe. Not combat, not controls or cameras or any other technical nonsense, but the fact of an immersive, unique, engaging world that I could spend some time in and forget myself.

Well there doing an extended demo on Oct 2 8pm jpn time(thats 6am here). Maybe they will gives us a good explanation of these alternate modes then.

[Fynn]

I hope that concept GIF was leaked by someone at Square Enix! xDIt looks soooo smooth.I believe it's based on the control scheme suggested by somebody on GAF who everyone there is convinced is an insider. He's that guy that "everyone just trusts, OK?" and is "always right about this stuff". Which sounds like the least legit thing in the world but I kinda trust it. You don't get a reputation on the internet without being reliable! xD Hey everyone btw. I followed moogle here from FXN ;)

So basically they're like our Aulayna :monster:

[fat_moogle]

I hope that concept GIF was leaked by someone at Square Enix! xDIt looks soooo smooth.I believe it's based on the control scheme suggested by somebody on GAF who everyone there is convinced is an insider. He's that guy that "everyone just trusts, OK?" and is "always right about this stuff". Which sounds like the least legit thing in the world but I kinda trust it. You don't get a reputation on the internet without being reliable! xD Hey everyone btw. I followed moogle here from FXN ;)
Hey, Fox! Good to see you here :D

Ooohhh as much as I'd like to believe that insider I'm going to wait for clarification on this matter. If it is true then I think that system will work well.

It should also put some of the naysayers to rest who are petitioning to change the battle system before they even know how it works. Hopefully we find out more on the 2nd October.

[FFFFsephychibi]

~~~welcome Hannibal_Khan and FOX yoooo!!!!~~~

I've been trying to complete KHFM HD, so I played it over the weekend. It could be I'm just getting old like Tabata too, but I'm actually more accepting now to the idea of holding the attack and defend button. Originally I was more confused about how I felt about it but now I'm more confident in it. As KH is just mashing x, forever with occasional jump/dodge/magic

Not to be rude as I love KH1, but looking back at it as a 24 year old and initially playing it at 14, the battle system doesn't really have much depth, even some of the levels feel cramped and tiny without enough enemies. FF15 sounds pretty similar to KH with attack, dodge, and if they add warp and magic to be freely executed, it will basically play the same aside from maybe not having a jump button.

So I definitely think the customization and gambit aspect will add what FF15 needs, that strategy and depth. And the holding button thing will be fine ~less nervous~




I hope that concept GIF was leaked by someone at Square Enix! xDIt looks soooo smooth.I believe it's based on the control scheme suggested by somebody on GAF who everyone there is convinced is an insider. He's that guy that "everyone just trusts, OK?" and is "always right about this stuff". Which sounds like the least legit thing in the world but I kinda trust it. You don't get a reputation on the internet without being reliable! xD Hey everyone btw. I followed moogle here from FXN ;)

Yes that's where it's from :D Would be cool if this person is legit! It's so easy to get lost in gaf!!!