Replaying FFXV

[Wolf Kanno]

Been replaying this entry since I'm doing my own FF marathon, but starting backwards.

I haven't touched this entry since the OG came out and I finished it before the DLC even landed and never looked back. Now I'm playing Royal Edition with all the patches and it's been an interesting experience to say the least. Definitely one of those moments where I can see how someone who came in later is going to have a radically different impression from us Day 1 scrubs.

New cutscenes that clear up stuff or just add in more promotional stuff. More books filling in the background of the world, a datalog to keep track of characters, more gameplay options like making the rest of the squad playable, more enemy variety with Imperial and Daemon encounters, more music options for the car, and other little tweaks. It's been interesting going through it with just my memories of the original.

I'm at Chpter 6 heading to the Vesperpool to get a part for the boat to Altissia. I'll be playing the first of the DLC soon as well.

[Psychotic]

That's probably going to be an interesting experience. I've always held that the game was released half-finished and it was really disappointing, because it wasn't without its charms. I find it a bit difficult to reconcile. I am, as you say, a Day 1 scrub. They charged me full price and I paid it because I'm a sucker for this series, and I guess the original FFXIV aside, they've never lacked for quality or polish.

I'm particularly intrigued by the background lore being added in. It felt weird that the most info we got about the world and characters was totally outside of the game, in Kingsglaive and Brotherhood. You can tell interesting stories this way, so I hope it's not just a case of "show, don't tell? What does that mean?" info dumping.

[Wolf Kanno]

Most of the background info is really about the regions themselves. Like we know that Lestallum is based around a power plant using the heat of the meteor to power the region. This was old in the OG as well, but the new info expands this to talk about how the person who pioneered this was a woman, and she pioneered the new town and had the factory built. It's the reason why there are more female NPCs wandering around too, because the founder made it a female centric vocation. Likewise, a lot of the dungeons get expansions too from these books you can find or reading the bestiary. The Goblin Daemons in the Balouve Mines are actually the corrupted miners that formally worked there.

The Datalogs just give you character bios and will slowly expand as the story unfolds. It also gives you info on the monsters of the game and the Astrals as well. Pretty neat. It's a lot of little things that add up to make the experience more smooth than the OG version.

[Fynn]

Yeah I’ve only ever played the game when it came out on Windows, so basically complete, and I had a blast with it. I can never excuse the politics that led to the original release being so lackluster, but I’m exceptionally happy with the game I got and I hope more people give it another shot abdcsee

[Vincent, Thunder God]

Most of the background info is really about the regions themselves. Like we know that Lestallum is based around a power plant using the heat of the meteor to power the region. This was old in the OG as well, but the new info expands this to talk about how the person who pioneered this was a woman, and she pioneered the new town and had the factory built. It's the reason why there are more female NPCs wandering around too, because the founder made it a female centric vocation. Likewise, a lot of the dungeons get expansions too from these books you can find or reading the bestiary. The Goblin Daemons in the Balouve Mines are actually the corrupted miners that formally worked there.

The Datalogs just give you character bios and will slowly expand as the story unfolds. It also gives you info on the monsters of the game and the Astrals as well. Pretty neat. It's a lot of little things that add up to make the experience more smooth than the OG version.

I find it interesting that so many of these games, or rather in how they are presented in the media, get so preoccupied with gender, the gender of the characters, and arbitrary distinctions in and around not just parentage and whatnot, but who created what race, whether the protagonist is male or female, and so on. Surely with the advances of feminism where they currently are, even in videogame media, specifically in a series better known, supposedly, for somewhat better representation, we wouldn't still be hung up on whether a character is male or female.

[Wolf Kanno]

I imagine part of it was to compensate for a lot of the controversy surrounding the game in terms of how it handled female characters. A lot of fans were turned off by the fact the whole team was male only, and disappointed by how Cindy and Lunafreya were handled as well. Whether this little tidbit even makes up for it depends on the person. I just thought it was neat and I reached Lestallum not too long ago, so it's one of the new world building info dumps I remember.

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Even though I haven't gone to the Vesperpool yet, I'm currently going to try and tackle Castlemark Tower and get the final optional Royal weapon for Noctis. I've been more aggressive about using hotels and waiting until I have huge XP amounts to do so, but I'm already in the low 60s for my team and only in Chapter 6. I kind of feel like the devs should have balanced this out a bit more by either lowering XP games the longer you go without rest or start penalizing your stats and/or status. The worst you get is some whining. There are some other immersion breaking elements as well such as night being extremely dangerous for people to wander around, and yet fishing is still available to do and monsters and the empire are kind enough not to bother you, as though some how everything in Eos has signed a treaty to never harass fisherman because fish are the true menace of the gods and planet.

The other thing that has struck me as interesting due to some recent developments in One Piece of all thing is how the game refers to Eos as a star instead of a planet. Turns out this is because star shares the same word as planet in Japanese and they don't make much of a distinction of either.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

Do you have any tips for a first-time player of the Royal Edition? I am just downloading the PS4 update file now.

[Wolf Kanno]

• Start off prioritizing skills that earn AP 9Exploration skills), then accessory slots, then combat skills. I'm currently experimenting with the stat boost skills because their description sounds incredibly vague but essentially they sound like you get bigger boosts the longer you wait to unlock them since the boost is based off your level. If you're not going to use Wait mode, then ignore it.
• Likewise, you should prioritize survival over raising attack power in the early to mid game. Most Foods offer an attack boost, so focus on items that raise HP and defense first. You will also want to invest in status protection items for the team.
• You can't travel by car at night until you reach a certain level (Like 40ish), and even then, you won't be able to travel without being harassed until at least halfway through the game when you finish Cindy's quest line. Your best option is to unlock Chocobos ASAP to circumvent this since they can easily outrun enemies.
• Staying at hotels gives an XP boost, but camping allows Ignis to make food which often give way better stat buffs than what you can buy at diners. If you complete a huge set of quests and earn a ton of XP quickly, go to a hotel (preferably the beach resort one or Altissia) but if you need to tackle a dungeon or fight a powerful hunt above your average party level, then camp first to get the food buff.
• There is a Coeurl that spawns by the first Royal Tomb you visit in the plot with Cor in Chapter 2. Make sure you target it's head with Warp Strikes and skills so you can earn a Coeurl Whisker needed to upgrade the Drain Lance. Likewise, once you reach Duscae, you can find a mark hunt that pits you against a Helixacorn which is an Ixion/Unicorn like enemy but massive. Make sure you Warp Strike it's head to get its horn because you need it in the chain of quests to upgrade the Engine Blade into the Ultima Blade.If you fail, remember that Hunts can be repeated.
• The DLC items are mostly okay for the early chapters, with the exception of the Ragnarok which is got serious legs on it with a huge base ATK and a secondary ability to boost Warp Strike damage. It won't become obsolete until you get some serious levels. Some of Noctis' LC outfits also confer bonuses.
• Don't forget to use items when you use Elemancy. They can help boost magic to higher damage tiers or you can give them secondary effects like healing or debuffing the enemy. Magic is especially great at dealing with random Magitech Troops since they usually drop down from their airships in tight formations, making them easy targets for a spell.
• If you want a serious boost early on, then do the FFXIV and Terra Wars collab quests as soon as they open. XIV gives you a powerful Astral summon and Terra Wars gives you an OP one handed sword.
• Timed Quests are a pain, but give you massive XP boosts if you complete them.
• Mission objectives can be a pain o implement but reward huge AP boosts. So try to complete them as they appear.
• Always buy every new food item you find in restaurants, Ignis can usually make them after he tries them.
• Fish, a lot, and any chance you get. Especially after you unlock the skill to earn AP. Fish also have a day/night cycle, so you should always fish at both times to catch everything.
• While it can be a pain, you do have the ability to switch out a characters skill and equipment mid-battle. So don't be afraid to switch around if you need to use different skills. Prompto has a great low level skills to deal with daemons that debuffs them, but you can then switch him back to one of his more offensive skills after. Likewise, Ignis should probably start boss fights and hunts with Enhancement equipped to boost Noct's attack and then you can switch him to his other skills based on your needs.
• Don't rely on Astrals too much. There are certain dungeons and plot points where they won't activate no matter what, and while there damage is ridiculous, it is still possible for high level enemies to survive their wrath. Fun fact though, Noct will use every summon he earns (except Garuda from the XIV event) at least once in the course of the plot.
• Always check every item shop. The car section will sometimes have expensive but useful parts you can install for the Regalia to make it more efficient. Just make sure you go back to the Hammerhead to have Cindy install them for you. Likewise, the shops will also occasionally have recipes for Ignis to buy and new music for the car.
• Always check things your party members point out, they usually will net you an item or recipe.
• Like FFXII before it, always take advantage of having a guest character in your party. You usually can't do dungeons with them, except for one with Iris, but you can do Hunts to a limited degree depending on how bad the plot railroads you.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

well i always like a good "survival" playthrough, if you catch me drift! /dun take me lucky charms, mwaha

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm going to start the Gladiola DLC tonight. Just finished the Vesperpool sequence with Aranea, who is easily one of the game's best characters.

One thin tha surprises me still about this game is how buggy it still is. I've had characters try to use items and freeze with their animation and I feel the game has a bit of a path finding problem like SoM did. Labyrinth dungeons can be a pain because seven daemons will spawn and it's just Noct fighting because the other three are still trapped two rooms back.

I also did the XIV event quest, and I forget how Garuda winds up being your most used summon since her conditions are so easy to meet. But ran into a bug where the game switched to the summon music, but I finished the battle before the summon option even loaded, so the music just stayed until I finished the dungeon.

Hunts are also amusing to me because there are Rank 7 hunts (I'm only rank 6 currently) that have me fighting enemies I regularly trash in dungeons right now that I can't access. Meanwhile I just took on two Rank 5 missions that involve challenging harder versions of two dungeon bosses that are higher levels than the Rank 7 missions. Progression for hunts is weird.

Also holy elemental weapons are a bit broken in this game and it's a shame Prompto doesn't have one. I also wished that collecting all the Royal Arms awarded you something more in this game. specifically, I would like acquiring all of them to either drop the HP drain effect or remove the weapons drawbacks. They are an interesting if underutilized element of the game and plot for me.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

HOLY HOLY, LET GO OF EVERYONE

[Wolf Kanno]

Episode Gladio is done, and was a bit weird. More action game than I was expecting, but that's not a bad thing. The timed block/rage bar mechanic was really neat, even if I suck at blocking style action mechanics. The full Maelstrom Weapon Art is also badass. I also never realized how strong Gladio is. He's swinging around a greatsword one-handed and lifting stone pillars out of the ground to use as a club. Some of his counter moves are really cool too.

I especially loved how most of the boss type enemies are named after characters from Mesopotamian mythology such as Nergal and Humbaba. While XV Gilgamesh isn't the usual comic relief boisterous bruiser we all know and love, I do like the narrative he's given in this game.

I unlocked both the Genji Blade and Rugged Attire. The sword is cool, and I like the design and story behind it. The Rugged attire is a bit disappointing but at least SE finally gave us a shirtless design. I also feel like Glady should have gotten a more serious injury for beating Gilgamesh. Also, Cor is a beast.

Now that the Vesperpool opened up, I have a smurf ton of quests opening up. I'm starting to get a little burnt out, so I may dive back into the main plot and slam dunk this game instead.

[Fynn]

Episode Gladio is certainly the weakest of the DLC. It’s clear they still didn’t really know what they were doing with these episodes and it’s just weird how little it actually adds to the story, let alone explaining why Gladio left the party in the first place. Also, I personally was disappointed with Gilgamesh. If you’re gonna do a completely different character, why not just give us a completely different character? Anyway, im definitely not complaining about shirtless Gladio. Still shame about his lack of ass though lmao

[Wolf Kanno]

I actually dig the interpretation of Gilgamesh in this. I don't feel he has to always be the boisterous moron we all know and love. It also brings back the idea of him being a recurring, though not necessarily the same, character he was given in earlier games.

I haven't played the other DLC, so I can't compare at the moment, but this one was neat and offered a nice diversion. I would agree that nothing was really gained by missing out on it though since its impact can be explained in a sentence of "Gladio left to to do some training with the dude who started his position" and leave it at that.

Other than that, I'm just slowly burning myself out with the glut of side-quests that unlock in Chapter 8. I know it's the final chapter with Open World elements, but this feels a bit excessive. Like did every dungeon need two additional quests to go back in, especially since one is usually just looking for an item and the other is just a rematch with the dungeon boss with higher stats?

So I may cut my losses and just jump back into the plot proper. Not like my team isn't Lv. 81 and going to curbstomp everything else in the main plot now.

[Fynn]

Yeah if you’re feeling burnt out, I’d just make a beeline for the end. Once I get to XV I actually plan to do as little side content as possible. There’s some cool worldbuilding in some of the quest lines, but most of them are completely skippable