Those who are playing today: Was it worth the wait?

[Freya]

Question in the title! I haven't picked it up yet due to funds. But was it worth the wait?

[Sephiroth]

Considering the final scene before the FIN, yes, it was worth the wait. But I could enjoy it since Friday already.

It is not perfect though. Like everything else.

[Tyson]

I'm currently 8 hours in, around chapter 6-7. Will probably put another 8 hours into it tomorrow haha

It is my favorite FF since FFX. Definitely worth the wait in my opinion right now.....however I will have to see how the full story unfolds first.

[Fynn]

Apparently a huge percentage of reviewers agree that the ending is pretty much perfect. So can't wait what you guys all have to say about it once you beat it!

As for me, I still have to wait an indeterminate amount of time :(

[Freya]

Well but was it worth the decade wait though?

Is it like: OMG THIS IS AMAZING! So glad I waited ten years for this!

or is it: Oh it's pretty good. I could have had it 5 years ago though.

[Fox]

Only like 3 hours in. It's... hard to say? Currently I rank it significantly above XIII but below everything else. If you look at it like "This is what we've waited for since 2006!" then the answer is no. But if you think of it as being freshly announced at E3 2013, it's much more reasonable.

I just am not massively keen on the combat - it's fun but I'm not good enough to have much control over it. And there aren't enough 'RPG' bits outside of that for me to dig into. The Ascension Grid is a super super cut down version of the Sphere Grid. And not having control over all of my characters makes me sad. I want a gambit system. This would be a hundred times more interesting to me if I had some proper control over the rest of my party (and if the magic system didn't suck).

The magic system really does suck IMO. It's not that it has no use... just that it has only very limited use and isn't particularly interesting to do so. In short my main criticism of the game is that my RPG doesn't have much RPG in it.

Hopefully I'm going to start getting into some more meaty story soon; haven't even done a dungeon yet.

[Fynn]

Well but was it worth the decade wait though?

Is it like: OMG THIS IS AMAZING! So glad I waited ten years for this!

or is it: Oh it's pretty good. I could have had it 5 years ago though.

Expecting it to be 10-year-wait amazing is totally unrealistic simply because, no, it was not made for ten years and no, had it released 5 years ago this would have been a completely different game under Nomura's direction, etc (who probably didn't really have that much of a vision instead of a few concepts).

I think it's fair to approach this game as just its own thing and see what it has to offer instead of "Well, this little trout better damn be the best thing since sliced bread to make up for the ten years I've been waiting or I'm gonna throw a fit!"

Because a lot of people online are doing that. And it's terrible. Like, "I'm gonna trout on this all over place so no one buys this and SE crashes and burns" terrible.

[Sephiroth]

The story feels a lot to me like what we have now is just what was made for the last 2 years. A lot seems left out. I have written a thread about my review and did a Metacritic review as well.

http://www.metacritic.com/user/YakusokuNoJi

The metacritic one is relatively spoiler-free.

And no, it does not feel like a 10 year in development game. It is not like they had anything 10 years ago anyway except a few ideas. They even said they announced it too early. Still I like it just like every other Final Fantasy.

A game that features Yoda Tonberrys and has such an incredible final scene as the one after the credits cannot be bad.

[Psychotic]

I just opened it up to a 29 minute install and a fucking 9 GB day 1 patch :colbert:

[Shauna]

I was hoping that I might be able to have a shot tonight after Fantastic Beasts, but if there's all those updates... maybe not. xD

[Psychotic]

You can play without the 9GB patch, just can't do online features.

[Yar]

Well but was it worth the decade wait though?

Is it like: OMG THIS IS AMAZING! So glad I waited ten years for this!

or is it: Oh it's pretty good. I could have had it 5 years ago though.

I'll withhold judgment on how good it is until I've played more but just playing it now I do not feel that it really needed to take ten years to make this.

[Bubba]

I just opened it up to a 29 minute install and a smurfing 9 GB day 1 patch :colbert:

Same.

[Psychotic]

The worst thing about it is I'm pretty sure Tabata made a big deal about not wanting a Day 1 patch when he explained why they pushed back the launch two months. Bloody hell.

[Fynn]

It was so you wouldn't get a 27GB patch

[Formalhaut]

It was so you wouldn't get a 27GB patchIt lessens the sting, but it is still a 9 GB patch. It's the best of a uncomfortable situation, I guess.

[Fox]

The worst thing about it is I'm pretty sure Tabata made a big deal about not wanting a Day 1 patch when he explained why they pushed back the launch two months. Bloody hell.

It wasn't about not wanting a day 1 patch - that much was inevitable. It was to ensure that if you didn't/couldn't get the day 1 patch, you still had an experience that met a minimum level of quality. From what I gathered from the patch notes, most of the 9GB is CG cutscenes from Kingsglaive/trailers that they're cutting in to flesh out certain plot events.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Like Fix said the majority of the data for the Crown Update is the KG and Omen scenes. The rest is mostly QoL and some bug fixing.

[Psychotic]

Seems a wee bit late to be adding story scenes but hey ho.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

They were too big to add to disc apparently.

[Momiji]

I picked up my copy. My expectations are not as high as my standards (then again, I have been known to play some really dumb stuff anyway), but my viewpoint is if it's as hilariously bad as I've been hearing, then I'll get some great laughs out of it-- and if it isn't and I find things in it that I genuinely enjoy, then it's a net win either way.

I sound really mean about it, and I really don't mean to, but FFXV has looked less and less appealing as time went on in its development that I just was not impressed at all (much like how I've felt with pretty much every new FF since FFXII). I'm still playing it in the hopes that I'll unironically be impressed with it.

I do plan on streaming it; is there a rule or policy against posting links to streams and such here?

[Squall Leonhart Loire]

It's really fun and the production value/scale of the game is gorgeous. The story, I'm not feeling it and the overall "FF" feel isn't there.

[Carl the Llama]

Current;y sitting in chapter 10 and having played 76 hours so far, I can say I throughly enjoy the game, the combat imo is outstanding, with wait mode turned on and the quick switches between what weapons and magic you get to play about with I find it very entertaining.

I would have most definitely had bought it day one but I got lucky and won it in a twitch givaway, so not only did I get it for free, I also highly rate the game, the camaraderie between your 4 guys is excellent and they all gel well together. I do have a few minor gripes with the story, but other then that I am loving the experience.

[Bright Shield]

Worth a 10 year wait? Hell no. It would have to be the greatest game ever to justify a wait that long, and it's far from that.

[Aulayna]

Worth a 10 year wait? No.

Worth (realistically) a 3 year wait since it was re-branded and most likely entered full-scale production? Yes.

[Loony BoB]

I never really consider how long I've waited when evaluating a game.

FFXV is a great game. I'm gonna Platinum it. I think I have 3-4 trophies left to go.... fishing, cooking, and the L99 hunt. Honestly the trophies are kinda simple considering how much content there is in the game that could have trophies for it (eg. Menaces Below Lucis). There is a lot for people who like endgame in this thing. I have goals I want to reach beyond the Platinum trophy such as getting the best gear, fighting the toughest fights, getting all L99 characters (92 so far) and... maybe... maybe (probably not) max out Ascension. The grind for that is absurd, though.

[Wolf Kanno]

As someone who never believed Versus XIII ever made it past the concept stage, I feel it's better to assume that XV's development really began when Tabata took over and the title became a numbered entry. At which point it's only been in development for four to five years, and the results make more sense.

As of right now, it's a hell of a lot better than FFXIII which was pretty much the only bar of quality I placed on this game.

[Aulayna]

It's weird to say, but I honestly can't help escaping the feeling that the main game could've done with a little more time in the oven, maybe just another 3-6 months or so. The post-end stuff is great, the side stuff is generally good. But the later stages of the main story really feel under-cooked compared to the earlier parts. If the later parts had reached the bar set by the earlier parts, this would've easily have hit legendary status and gone from an 8/10 to a 10/10.

Like when you get a pizza, a tad undercooked but it's still nice enough, but you know in the back of your mind that with just a few more minutes in the oven and it would've been perfect.

[Wolf Kanno]

It's weird to say, but I honestly can't help escaping the feeling that the main game could've done with a little more time in the oven, maybe just another 3-6 months or so. The post-end stuff is great, the side stuff is generally good. But the later stages of the main story really feel under-cooked compared to the earlier parts. If the later parts had reached the bar set by the earlier parts, this would've easily have hit legendary status and gone from an 8/10 to a 10/10.

Like when you get a pizza, a tad undercooked but it's still nice enough, but you know in the back of your mind that with just a few more minutes in the oven and it would've been perfect.

While I am nowhere near the end of XV (still Chapter 3) and thus I can't say anything on the matter regarding it, I feel this comment can honestly apply to most of the FF series. There are very few entries where I feel the endgame is as engaging as the beginning. Even FFs I adore like IX and XII, I often felt the final few hours are some of the worst parts of the game for me.

[Squall Leonhart Loire]

A Japanese person on another forum had supposedly revealed the true story of Versus XIII. I am not sure if he's accurate whatsoever but I have to say....

Here's the link to the thread - http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/932981-final-fantasy-xv/74675878

If this person is true than it makes me even more dissapointed in XV. The game is lovely but it has a very unpolished feel to it. As if they rushed it out to get it out there as soon as possible.

Yeah, it's a solid game but the 10 year wait wasn't worth it.

(I wanted that Versus XIII plot.)

[Sephiroth]

Except this "plot" was made up by someone on the internet.

[Squall Leonhart Loire]

Most likely(now that I've read it again) but I still think that Nomura's original vision, whatever the case may be, would have made XV a lot more worth it. It's a good game but it's obvious many things were cut and Tabata had to rush the story out.

[Fynn]

It's weird to say, but I honestly can't help escaping the feeling that the main game could've done with a little more time in the oven, maybe just another 3-6 months or so. The post-end stuff is great, the side stuff is generally good. But the later stages of the main story really feel under-cooked compared to the earlier parts. If the later parts had reached the bar set by the earlier parts, this would've easily have hit legendary status and gone from an 8/10 to a 10/10.

Like when you get a pizza, a tad undercooked but it's still nice enough, but you know in the back of your mind that with just a few more minutes in the oven and it would've been perfect.

While I am nowhere near the end of XV (still Chapter 3) and thus I can't say anything on the matter regarding it, I feel this comment can honestly apply to most of the FF series. There are very few entries where I feel the endgame is as engaging as the beginning. Even FFs I adore like IX and XII, I often felt the final few hours are some of the worst parts of the game for me.

Yeah. As I'm playing all the FFs in order now, I can confirm that this is the case for pretty much all FFs except IV. VII especially is bad with this with a mind-bogglingly bad second disc that no one seems to remember.

EDIT: Also, honestly? That gamefaqs summary sounds really crappy

Also, why on earth would they waste the time and resources to completely rewrite a story that was done? It's clear this is all fake and Versus was nothing more than a concept

[Aulayna]

While I am skeptical of that GameFAQs post, and would take it with a pinch of salt, the story did actually get changed and re-written though. That's why Stella and some of the other supporting characters got dropped, along with the gala in Insomnia where Noctis and Stella discussed the Amano painting of Etro. Versus XIII was originally going to be multiple games and they had to condense the entire thing down into 1 game (and still ended up spinning out crucial plot points into other media). It was also originally part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology, something which isn't even referred too in FFXV, no Amano painting of Etro etc.

Although a lot of the GameFAQs post ties in quite well with this one from NeoGAF (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1233181) (spoiler heavy link) which was posted ahead of E3 this year and pretty much got the entire plot of XV accurate.

[Fynn]

I'd argue that all of those scenes were still pretty much just concepts of what they plan might happen in the game.

So basically, it's what the writers would start with and decide on the story from there, even scrapping many of those initial concepts. Except this time, they announced it before even workshopping it. That's the crucial difference. Hence my earlier comparison - had the same thing happened to VII, people would have been upset that we didn't get that original game where it was just Cloud, Aerith and Barret, and "who the hell is this lame childhood friend chick? She's sexist as hell! This story was way better until they went and changed it"

[Loony BoB]

While I agree that the last stages of the story clearly weren't up to scratch (particularly the parts highlighted by Aulayna in this thread or another or something - basically post Levi, pre-final boss), I have to say the postgame experience has been fantastic so far compared to other entries. I have spent a lot of time doing various things, am one trophy away from Platinum Trophy now and more notably still have buckets of content I have yet to even touch, which is allegedly notably tougher than anything I've yet done.

Pretty sure it's also the first game I've ever maxed out my characters at L99, MMOs and XIII excepted (since in XIII there aren't really levels).

[Aulayna]

I'd argue that all of those scenes were still pretty much just concepts of what they plan might happen in the game.

So basically, it's what the writers would start with and decide on the story from there, even scrapping many of those initial concepts. Except this time, they announced it before even workshopping it. That's the crucial difference. Hence my earlier comparison - had the same thing happened to VII, people would have been upset that we didn't get that original game where it was just Cloud, Aerith and Barret, and "who the hell is this lame childhood friend chick? She's sexist as hell! This story was way better until they went and changed it"

Sure, but they still dropped characters even after the game was rebranded to FFXV. From the background image of EoFF alone, which is a promotional image released as part of the E3 2013 press kit (so not even that long ago), 3 of the 4 characters aren't even in the game at all and the 1 of that is barely features for more than a few minutes screentime and a a few lines of dialogue. I can get behind the logic for stuff from 5+ years ago that was dropped, but stuff as recent as 3 years ago shows there was a pretty big shift, pretty recently, and it all coincides with when Tabata and the Type-0 team took over the project full time. We know from interviews (http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/08/31/pax-2015-versus-13-was-20-25-done-before-it-became-final-fantasy-15) with Nomura (http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/19/4444292/tetsuya-nomura-and-why-final-fantasy-versus-13-became-final-fantasy-15) and Tabata (http://www.novacrystallis.com/2016/06/tabata-on-why-final-fantasy-xvs-original-opening-was-cut/) that Versus XIII was around 25% done before it was rebranded to FFXV and targetted for PS4/Xone instead of PS3. 25% is pretty past the concept stage.

As dubious as the GameFAQs post is, it's pretty obvious that the game went through some big changes as a result of the change of director and outsourcing of some elements so there may be some truth (again especially taking the NeoGAF post into account too) in some of the rumours. After they already wasted time and resources on getting a project to 25% over 7 years, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that time and resources were spent cutting the scale down and re-writing/re-working to make the scope more manageable.

Either way, we'll probably never know so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Again, as I said in another thread, I don't necessarily think Nomura's version would've been any better, and I thoroughly enjoyed what we got.


While I agree that the last stages of the story clearly weren't up to scratch (particularly the parts highlighted by Aulayna in this thread or another or something - basically post Levi, pre-final boss), I have to say the postgame experience has been fantastic so far compared to other entries. I have spent a lot of time doing various things, am one trophy away from Platinum Trophy now and more notably still have buckets of content I have yet to even touch, which is allegedly notably tougher than anything I've yet done.

Pretty sure it's also the first game I've ever maxed out my characters at L99, MMOs and XIII excepted (since in XIII there aren't really levels).

Yeah, the post-game stuff is fantastic. Probably the best offering in a main-numbered title in quite some time. I would've loved to have had optional fights with Cerberus, Ultros or Diamond Weapon from Kingsglaive though.

[Fynn]

Pretty sure they;re all in, even if not in-game, then in Kingsglaive at least. Of course, Stella was replaced than Luna, but other than that the hooded man was revealed to be Ravus at one point, and Regis and Clarus have had their designs severely altered before the movie.

[BreakfastGrilledCheese]

Question in the title! I haven't picked it up yet due to funds. But was it worth the wait?

This game could have come out 4 years ago or 4 years from now and I'd probably play it no matter what. Final Fantasy titles are always on my wishlist. At this point I don't know if I'm ever hyped for the game itself or the nostalgia factor.

Still, I think this game is amazing so far and is worth the money just as a good game on its own without the franchise behind it.

Edit: Besides, I need SOMETHING to do while I wait for Persona 5 to come out, right?

[Scruffington]

Was it worth the wait? Yes.

Was it worth the disappointment? No.

We never got the game we were promised. All of the promotional material from 2013 on (the Dawn trailer, the trailer with Noctis and his mates camping in front of the moon) never made it to the final release.