FF15 "more casual, one button action"

[FFFFsephychibi]

Going based on this article from EuroGamer

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

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

[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.