Yep, that is very likely how it went down.
So I found this amusing
Yeah there are at least four, perhaps five royal arms that are attached to the main plot, and about that many are attached to sidequest areas. Some are just found in mausoleums you'll stumble across. Sadly I never got much use out of them due to their drawbacks, except for the last story one in the game.
Ok cool thanks
Some of them are connected to quests or story events, but many of them are hidden away on the map. Explore Duscae carefully.
So I know the Royal Arms are mostly optional but do you remember if they’re connected to some side quests or if they’re just found randomly around the map?
Oh I agree that a lot of XV's criticism is largely due to unrealistic expectations. It still astounds me that people still believe that vXIII was somehow in full production during all that time between it's announcement and rebranding as XV. I also agree that I feel XV is going to be one of those entries that may have a mark against it for some of it's execution (like how IX still gets reamed for the strategy guide) but overall, fans will come to appreciate it for what it did do.
Oh yeah, while a lot of the design reminds me of XII in a good way, it’s definitely not as ahead of its time as that game was. And yet at the same time I’ve kind of accepted that FF doesn’t really need to break any new ground, and just the fact that I’m loving it FAR more than I had anticipated is really enough for me at this point. SE did need to catch up and honestly? I feel their effort in that regard is really solid. I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about the open world, but I really don’t think it’s clearly inferior to any of the other open worlds that I’ve played around in. I can’t help but feel the weight of expectations for this game has made people way too critical of it. Though I do hope it’ll get looked on as FFXII is now eventually. I know a lot of new players loved it. My brother’s girlfriend actually played this as her first FF and loved it so much she cried, and from what I’ve seen online, a lot of people have that reaction. And even now in my little thread I can see that now that the emotions have died down, people actually have mostly positive things to say about the game. So I’m hoping XV will eventually be remembered fondly.
Well I'm glad you've been enjoying it so far. I felt it was a better game than the fanbase said it was at the time. I feel my one issue with the game that you kind of indirectly pointed out is that it's overall design always had a bit of a "been there, done that" vibe. It wasn't like XII that felt very ahead of it's time. More like a catch up game where SE was following the gaming trends instead of setting one. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad or wasn't executed well. Just a bit disappointing that SE has been unable to really capture that trend setting ideal they were known for back in the 90s. XIII is certainly the least successful of the FNC. I agree it tried to stray too far from the materials it was deconstructing to make the connection work, and frankly it's execution of the FNC themes always lacked cohesion. It always felt like a game made with feelings, rather than any common sense.
I actually really like the gameplay so far. The open world is fun to explore and I wouldn’t say it really pales in comparison to Xenoblade X, Witcher 3 or BotW. I love each of those worlds fir different reasons and while XV’s quest design leaves something to be desired, it’s got plenty of character both in the form of party banter as well as the various side characters with their own little storylines. I also really like the battle system. It’s not super complex, but I really enjoy the button holding. It feels like an old man’s action RPG battle mode and somehow that’s just perfect for me when I just want to unwind in the evening after a hard day’s work But honestly, I feel XV’s overall story is good not only because of the characters, but the themes seem to be really nice and mature too. There’s a certain level of tragedy to the Lucis family line that I don’t think we’ve seen in FF before. Regis is basically Job, except this time there’s no angel that comes to stop him from fulfilling a tyrannical God’s cruel request. I find it funny how this is pretty much a similar set-up to FFX, but it actually feels tragic this time because the characters feel so human and there’s no “screw this let’s just take down the gods” moment. (At least until Dawn of the Future...) One last thought I have on FNC is that I feel XV and Type-0 embody the theme much better that XIII ever did, and the reason for that is painfully simple. XIII tried to distance itself from previous FFs way too hard, while the other two wear their legacy on their sleeves. It’s hard to do a story deconstructing Classic FF setups when you don’t actually reference the thing being deconstructed. In XIII, the l’Cie are chosen by fal’Cie - they may be stand-ins for the crystals, but they’re so far removed from the crystals both in concept and design that you really have to squint to see the connection between the two. Whereas FFXV literally starts with a line about four heroes of light chosen by the crystal and Type-0 has four crystals keeping the world in balance. I feel like both of those games show what FNC was really designed to be. But then of course Toriyama did his thing and smurfed it up.
