New Final Fantasy XV trailer released at Jump Festa 2015!

[Fox]

It is certainly looking promising. I don't think it will disappoint in gameplay and world setting. The only somewhat unknown factor at this point is how much sense the story will make.

Agreed. Although I can live with an incoherent or even underwhelming story, as long as the characters are strong enough to carry it. That's what got me through the latter half of FFXII, where the story quality started dropping significantly. Characters like Balthier, Ashe and Gabranth really carried it through to the end.

[Mirage]

good gameplay and setting is enough for me to enjoy a game, so i'm not worried really. A story doesn't need to be extraordinary to me, but it does need to be coherent if I'm not going to get pretty upset over it.

[Vyk]

I think I'm the opposite, sadly. FFX and Star Ocean: The Last Hope had some fun battle systems and mildly interesting worlds. But the stories and characters ruined both games for me. So I have to be invested in what's going on and the characters involved, at least in a longer RPG style game, or I lose interest quickly in how fun the gameplay is. I think gameplay can only carry me for like 10 hours. So if there's no resolution in that timeframe, I'll have had my fill of the gameplay and be done with the story and characters if they're not good enough :/

[Mirage]

I would have to disagree on both accounts there. FFX had somewhat interesting gameplay but ultimately a bit boring combat. The last hope wasn't *that bad*, but it was inferior in every way compared to its predecessor.

I actually l iked FFX' story though, but i hated both SO4's story and its characters .

[fat_moogle]

The only somewhat unknown factor at this point is how much sense the story will make.

That's my feelings in a nutshell. There's no doubt in my mind at the moment that FFXV is going to be an extremely impressive game. Everything shown so far looks great and I'm looking forward to delving in to the experience. I just hope that the story is decent; It doesn't have to be the BEST FF story ever, but hopefully it all makes sense and is explained fully to us throughout the course of the game. Not like in FFXIII where you needed to access the datalogs in the menu to uncover quite important parts of the story.

And on the subject of FFXIII I'd really love for FFXV to be a self contained experience. NO SEQUELS. When the game ends I want it to END. I think that is the only way that SE can bring and end to the Fabula Nova Crystallis banner of games and move on to something completely new (no L'Cie, fal'Cie etc) with Final Fantasy XVI.

[Ayen]

I need to have a balance myself. When the gameplay is bad but the story is good I find myself unable to enjoy it, and when the gameplay is great and the story is rubbish I don't care because there's nothing to get me invested.

[Loony BoB]

Awww, man, I was really liking her name as Cidney. Cindy is the name of my first childhood crush when I was like, seven years old. It's a nice name but I really liked the tomboyish feel of "Cidney", and the fact that it was still Cid, but with 'ney' tagged on. This is less Cid-y.

Everything about the trailer is awesome for me, though. And I really, really, really hope we get to be a dog and a frog. xD

As for story vs. gameplay, I think for me it's more "characters vs. gameplay" - I worry that one or two of these characters might not have the same appeal that the diverse cast of FFXIII had. I remain, however, optimistic (as always) that I will find them all good in the end. Not keen on Noctis' voice, and I worry he's going to fall back into the same boat as Squall, Cloud, Lightning et al in being overly moody. I prefer the Zidane/Zack style.

[Tyson]

As for story vs. gameplay, I think for me it's more "characters vs. gameplay" - I worry that one or two of these characters might not have the same appeal that the diverse cast of FFXIII had. I remain, however, optimistic (as always) that I will find them all good in the end. Not keen on Noctis' voice, and I worry he's going to fall back into the same boat as Squall, Cloud, Lightning et al in being overly moody. I prefer the Zidane/Zack style.

See I'd love him to be like Cloud or Squall! My biggest concern about 15 is the story and characters. The last main Final Fantasy game where I truly liked the cast and story was FFX.

Everything else about 15 I love so far. Art style, Music, Graphics, Gameplay, Open World. The characters will make or break the game for me tho. I've only been able to complete 12 once because of the characters :/

[Loony BoB]

Of the FF's I've played and finished, not including MMOs...

I: Story: Forgettable and rather simple. Characters: No real personality.
II: Story: Alright. Characters: Very little depth added to them overall, but they were okay. The guest characters were highlights, though.
V: Story: Forgettable and rather simple. Characters: Pretty cool.
VI: Story: Alright. Characters: Meh to Excellent.
VII: Story: Great! Characters: Good to Excellent.
VIII: Story: All over the place (Absurd to Great). Characters: Good.
IX: Story: Good. Characters: Alright to Great.
X: Story: Good. Characters: Awful (unfortunately the main cast) to Great.
XII: Story: Shockingly easy to forget it, but it's alright. Characters: Alright to Good.
XIII: Story: Great concept, awful execution (bad to good in range). Characters: Great! The depth of this game really worked.
XIII-2: Story: Bad. Characters: Alright.
LR: Story: Bad to alright. Characters: Alright.

In other words, I can't think of many FF games that have had both good characters and good storyline. Sometimes a few bad characters ruin the entire thing for me, but story never really has a huge impact on how much I end up loving the game, with the exception of FFVII, and that's all down to how directly involved the characters were to the history behind the storyline itself (unlike FFXIII) and how they had good reasons for this (unlike FFVIII).

FFIX probably comes second to VII for me when it comes to story+characters, and after that I wouldn't know where to look in the FF series, really. Story has never been their strongest point, has it? It was always characters for me. I mean, sure, the story is often better than you'll get in other video games where gameplay is king, but character writing in FF tends to be what makes it amazing for me.

[Tyson]

Of the FF's I've played and finished, not including MMOs...

I: Story: Forgettable and rather simple. Characters: No real personality.
II: Story: Alright. Characters: Very little depth added to them overall, but they were okay. The guest characters were highlights, though.
V: Story: Forgettable and rather simple. Characters: Pretty cool.
VI: Story: Alright. Characters: Meh to Excellent.
VII: Story: Great! Characters: Good to Excellent.
VIII: Story: All over the place (Absurd to Great). Characters: Good.
IX: Story: Good. Characters: Alright to Great.
X: Story: Good. Characters: Awful (unfortunately the main cast) to Great.
XII: Story: Shockingly easy to forget it, but it's alright. Characters: Alright to Good.
XIII: Story: Great concept, awful execution (bad to good in range). Characters: Great! The depth of this game really worked.
XIII-2: Story: Bad. Characters: Alright.
LR: Story: Bad to alright. Characters: Alright.

In other words, I can't think of many FF games that have had both good characters and good storyline. Sometimes a few bad characters ruin the entire thing for me, but story never really has a huge impact on how much I end up loving the game, with the exception of FFVII, and that's all down to how directly involved the characters were to the history behind the storyline itself (unlike FFXIII) and how they had good reasons for this (unlike FFVIII).

FFIX probably comes second to VII for me when it comes to story+characters, and after that I wouldn't know where to look in the FF series, really. Story has never been their strongest point, has it? It was always characters for me. I mean, sure, the story is often better than you'll get in other video games where gameplay is king, but character writing in FF tends to be what makes it amazing for me.

I agree with your entire list from 1-10. I hated both the story and characters of 12 and 13 tho :P

You're right tho, really the storyline isn't as important as the characters. FF8 is one of my fav's and the story is a mess in the second half. The cast carry it for me tho. 7 is really the only one I can think off that really hit the sweet spot of having both the story and characters.

[Vyk]

Very interesting idea. Iv'e never really actually broken down my games to see if some of the ones I enjoy are actually because of the story or characters. I think most of my more memorable experiences hit that sweet spot where they were both enjoyable for me. So I am probably a lot more picky. In fact I know I am. Considering how rare it is for me to play a game to completion and then rave about it.

[Del Murder]

The story is the painting and the characters are the brushes. You can come up with a decent picture by throwing paint randomly on a canvas but you need to be really lucky. Alternatively, a palette of colors is pretty to look at but without a picture they are pretty meaningless. A game needs both story and characters. I thought FFVI and VII did the best job combining story with character. It's rare that I'll like a game with good 'characters' but no good story. I'm not interested in looking spending 40 hours with a pile of paintbrushes.

[Lawr]

FORGET TITAN AND ADAMANTOISE. DRIVING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD WILL BE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE.

[Fox]

FORGET TITAN AND ADAMANTOISE. DRIVING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD WILL BE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE.

!!!

I didn't even notice! Finally being British pays off!

[Mirage]

I thought it was pretty obvious seeing as they drive on the wrong side in japan as well