Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

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Nova

Warrior of Light
Jul 14, 2015
1,773
2,595
Theory: It has less to do with enemies not dealing enough dmg or their AI not being challenging but more with the game giving Noctis having waay to many tools/get out of jail free cards.
  • 13 types of weapons. 4 slots in real-time
  • Noctis can use them all with no restriction. ^ Above, despite the ability to pause and select of course
  • The weapons are customizable to fit the needs. Aside from getting Ultima earlier on than expected i don't think they'd need to tweak this aspect too a significant degree
  • Warping Powers in general. They can also technically cap MP consumption & lower damage output (not that i particularly want lowered dmg tbf) to a certain amount if needed
  • Relative useful tech skills (mainly Ignis' buffs) I don't think they're too exploitable but i haven't unlocked/used all of them yet so i could be full of shit
  • Relative good food buffs. ^ Same stance as above
  • Armiger. Its fine as is imo
  • Cross Links & Slash Links. ^
  • Allies can heal Noctis. ^
  • Recovery Item spamming. The biggest complaint i've personally witnessed difficulty-wise, hence the suggestions of limiting them. This kinda goes back to part of my belief of recovery item abusage partially indicating the player not being up to snuff, not that i have a problem with them limiting the stocks.
  • Warp Points for instant MP recovery. I believe they did this to reduce the complaints people had about crouching/hanging for a bit of time before heading back to action since Episode Duscae.
Thoughts?
Bolded
 
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Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
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If you want hard, I'd say sell all your curative items, including phoenix downs. Have nothing at all times, never buy potions, sell any that you pick up. The game you thought was easy might just be different now...
Never had to do that for Kingdom Hearts, or any Final Fantasy title I could still get a game over with 99 potions, and a couple of Phoenix Downs. This is why I just wish they took more from Kingdom Hearts than they ended up doing, or at the very least for a hard mode.

0HP game over, Phoenix downs for party members only, Item cooldowns.
 

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
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Unknown, Unknown
If you use a lot of potions or items when you play, that's on you. It's your choice.

Too much "they should do this my way and how I want it" and not enough "ah so they created the game like this to appeal to a wide range of gamers".

*smh*

Remember: "This is a Final Fantasy for fans and first timers"

Keep in mind it still hasn't been that long since the game was released, and with the survey and upcoming updates, more improvements will be made. It's painful listening to some people talk like things are going to be stuck as they are now. Jesus.
I think it's because older titles you could be like that you can have lots of potions, and still get game overs, if you weren't that skilled. It's fine to create game to appeal to mass people, but that doesn't mean gimping the difficulty so bad almost no one gets a game over.
 

Nova

Warrior of Light
Jul 14, 2015
1,773
2,595
The way i prefer doing it currently is keeping all recovery items stocked up to 5 while saving the rest of my gil for other relevant needs. Even then, i like being in the situation of getting gud in action while minimizing chances of reaching critical health from deadly hits.
 

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
29
Argentina
I was thinking, maybe the fact that Noctis has 2 HP bars makes getting game over harder.

Re: Spammable items
I recently though about a possible solution:
  • When Noctis enters danger state he can´t do anything, this includes not being able to enter commands on the item list to heal himself.
  • The recovery item has to be one on a weapon ring slot + they have a cooldown per usage (like a magic flask).
EDIT: Ignore the first option, Noctis can only use items this way.
 
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xXShuyaXx

Forest Owl
May 25, 2016
353
654
32
Never had to do that for Kingdom Hearts, or any Final Fantasy title I could still get a game over with 99 potions, and a couple of Phoenix Downs. This is why I just wish they took more from Kingdom Hearts than they ended up doing, or at the very least for a hard mode.

0HP game over, Phoenix downs for party members only, Item cooldowns.
Just because you didn't have to do in the past means you can't or shouldn't do it now? That's literally the most backwards way of thinking. Like why? Why can't you do it now? Just because you didn't have to in the past? Okay, I didn't have to pay any bills or taxes in the past, so I shouldn't have to pay now? Liek wut?

You have a choice here. You can choose to make the game harder, yet you choose not to because of some foolish chain from the past. Like...
 

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
27
Unknown, Unknown
Just because you didn't have to do in the past means you can't or shouldn't do it now? That's literally the most backwards way of thinking. Like why? Why can't you do it now? Just because you didn't have to in the past? Okay, I didn't have to pay any bills or taxes in the past, so I shouldn't have to pay now? Liek wut?

You have a choice here. You can choose to make the game harder, yet you choose not to because of some foolish chain from the past. Like...
Even without gimping the game was still challenging, so why can't FFXV be the same way that's the point I was trying to get accross, that's just bad difficulty design. I could gimp in Kingdom Hearts 2, and old FF games as well, it's not necessary unlike FFXV to get some challenge in the story part of the game.
 

T.O.T

Blitzball Champion
Feb 2, 2017
533
540
Even without gimping the game was still challenging, so why can't FFXV be the same way that's the point I was trying to get accross, that's just bad difficulty design. I could gimp in Kingdom Hearts 2, and old FF games as well, it's not necessary unlike FFXV to get some challenge in the story part of the game.
It seems to me your nostalgia is really blinding your judgement.

FFVIII's battles are so easy that it's possible to run throughout the entire game without a single death. Have Heros/Holy Wars for some of the optional bosses and now you don't even have to worry about taking damage. Yes, the game even has a battle meter that will reflect party member deaths and kills. Hell, it's even possible to manipulate the level of a good number of enemies in the game once you get the GF Tonberry. The difficulty of that game lies in mastering the Junction System and learning how to play Triple Triad.

FFX took away any urgency to think on your feet. If you wanted 10 minutes to make a move...go right on ahead. End game content...approach everything the same way just about. Spam Quick Hit and make sure everybody has Auto-Life and/or a passive ability to use a Phoenix Down when somebody dies. Not all that challenging if you ask me.

If you want to talk about bad design, I can bring up FFII. That game can literally put a player in a position where they have to do self damage to their own party members in order to get stronger, because that's how wonky that battle system can be.

Unlike most FF games, FFXV gives the player one of the best damage options upfront (link strikes). In some ways, FFXV cuts out a lot of the unnecessary grinding to get some of the best options available. Sure, FFXV does have some flaws in the battle system, but so does a lot of the past entries as well.
 
Likes: Nova

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
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It seems to me your nostalgia is really blinding your judgement.

FFVIII's battles are so easy that it's possible to run throughout the entire game without a single death. Have Heros/Holy Wars for some of the optional bosses and now you don't even have to worry about taking damage. Yes, the game even has a battle meter that will reflect party member deaths and kills. Hell, it's even possible to manipulate the level of a good number of enemies in the game once you get the GF Tonberry. The difficulty of that game lies in mastering the Junction System and learning how to play Triple Triad.

FFX took away any urgency to think on your feet. If you wanted 10 minutes to make a move...go right on ahead. End game content...approach everything the same way just about. Spam Quick Hit and make sure everybody has Auto-Life and/or a passive ability to use a Phoenix Down when somebody dies. Not all that challenging if you ask me.

If you want to talk about bad design, I can bring up FFII. That game can literally put a player in a position where they have to do self damage to their own party members in order to get stronger, because that's how wonky that battle system can be.

Unlike most FF games, FFXV gives the player one of the best damage options upfront (link strikes). In some ways, FFXV cuts out a lot of the unnecessary grinding to get some of the best options available. Sure, FFXV does have some flaws in the battle system, but so does a lot of the past entries as well.

Actually I'm pretty new to FF, I started when I was 16 years old, now I'm 19, so I don't really have any nostalgia for the franchise hell I'm one of the people that don't like ATB combat and would rather Final Fantasy go in a more real-time combat situation, my gripe is how easy FFXV can be to the point where it's pretty hard to get a game over as you can stock up on potions, and phoenix downs and when you hit 0 use a potion, or a Phoenix down to recover all of your HP as opposed to previous games you get 0HP, for all three party members it's game over, and they didn't decide to have a hard mode but are putting in invincibility suits, yes there were flaws in the previous FF games, hell I beat Sephiroth on my first try in FF7, but it was still moderately possible to get a game over if you messed up your strategy and didn't have a good amount of knowledge on FF games( or both).

"FFVIII's battles are so easy that it's possible to run throughout the entire game without a single death. Have Heros/Holy Wars for some of the optional bosses and now you don't even have to worry about taking damage. Yes, the game even has a battle meter that will reflect party member deaths and kills. Hell, it's even possible to manipulate the level of a good number of enemies in the game once you get the GF Tonberry. The difficulty of that game lies in mastering the Junction System and learning how to play Triple Triad. "
There was still difficulty, hell I remember having a story boss Adel she was probably one of the toughest bosses I dealt with for any Final Fantasy I believe I died 40-50 times against her, and I was new to FF at the time, and it took GF spams, Hero Drink, Haste, and Kamazie from Squall to beat her, and my party was pretty badly beat up as a result.

"FFX took away any urgency to think on your feet. If you wanted 10 minutes to make a move...go right on ahead. End game content...approach everything the same way just about. Spam Quick Hit and make sure everybody has Auto-Life and/or a passive ability to use a Phoenix Down when somebody dies. Not all that challenging if you ask me. " I finished FFX just recently FFX was more about strategy, I never got Quick Hit, nor did I have Auto-Life or Auto-Phoenix can't think of a new person that just picked up the game would know this, it was only me looking stuff up got me able to do such a thing, and Yunalesca, Jecht, Seymour Flux were some of the hardest bosses I've ever faced, holy shit, didn't help that I was probably under leveled, so I had to use strategy to get me through each battle(Fuck Zombie).

Never played Final Fantasy II, though if I really wanted to compare difficulty I wouldn't compare FFXV to it's predecessors, as it's more comparable to Kingdom Hearts which I would say is more difficult, especially the first one, the second one was easier, but with bosses like Xaldin, and Xigbar for instance holy shit they were tough(I was 14 when I started playing Kingdom Hearts) If there are some things I wish they just copied from Kingdom Hearts apart from the magic system, would be or at least for a hard mode. (0 HP results in game over, Phoenix downs are for party members only not main character, and for good measure item cooldowns)
 

T.O.T

Blitzball Champion
Feb 2, 2017
533
540
@Hey Everyone It looks like to me most of the difficulty that you claim exists was due to your own lack of experience and/or skill instead of the game itself. Out of all the bosses you named off, Yunalesca is really the only one that requires a unique strategy. Take Adel for example from FFVIII. All that has to be done in that fight is not to use any AoE based attacks that would hit Rinoa. Since most boss encounters in that game are single encounter anyway, nothing really should change on your end as the player.

You don't really have any nostalgia for the franchise? You have so much nostalgia toward Versus XIII (your post history proves it if you want to take a look at it) that you may be just as bad to me as the some of the FFVII fans that talk that game up like it's the Holy Grail of gaming. It's okay to have nostalgia, but it may not be the best course of action to allow it to be a detriment to your judgement.
 

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
FFX was my first ever FF game, so naturally I massively effed up the sphere grid with none of the characters learning the moves that they were supposed to, hence why I found it very hard and struggled immensely.

To give you an idea: no idea what Haste was, Flare, Holy, Yuna and Lulu somehow went on to learn physical attacks halfway through, Tidus went through Kimahri's path, Wakka didn't learn debuff moves, Rikku didn't learn mix, Kimahri was utterly useless, and so on. My characters were utterly shite and I made the experience way more harder than it needed to be.

Complete and total clusterfuck. Disastrous.

But second time playthrough, since I knew exactly what I needed to do, the game was prettt easy and I cursed my stupidity over my first playthrough.

This goes with all the other FF games I played afterwards.

So I think it's as @T.O.T said, difficultly is in part due to one's own lack of experience and/or skill instead of the game itself.

As the player, you're in control of what happens.

Not getting game overs in FFXV isn't the issue here. Having to spam items in the first place, which happens when you're not good at the game, is the real issue here.
 

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
27
Unknown, Unknown
@Hey Everyone It looks like to me most of the difficulty that you claim exists was due to your own lack of experience and/or skill instead of the game itself. Out of all the bosses you named off, Yunalesca is really the only one that requires a unique strategy. Take Adel for example from FFVIII. All that has to be done in that fight is not to use any AoE based attacks that would hit Rinoa. Since most boss encounters in that game are single encounter anyway, nothing really should change on your end as the player.

You don't really have any nostalgia for the franchise? You have so much nostalgia toward Versus XIII (your post history proves it if you want to take a look at it) that you may be just as bad to me as the some of the FFVII fans that talk that game up like it's the Holy Grail of gaming. It's okay to have nostalgia, but it may not be the best course of action to allow it to be a detriment to your judgement.
Actually I found out about Versus XIII in 2011-2012 where I saw the 2006 trailer, and the gameplay trailer, I watched all the trailers on youtube because I was so interested in the game from looking at those two trailers I didn't know about FF in 2006, ok well I might have known, but I was too focused on Megaman that is where real nostalgia lies, the Kingdom Hearts esque combat trailer really helped, if the game trailer came out and it was ATB I'd probably wouldn't have cared, and just stuck with Kingdom Hearts. So no I'm actually pretty new to this franchise( Looked at the E3 Trailer for FFXV, loved it, it was so hype, and I was craving for that game looked interesting, and I love the KH combat system so why not, in fact it was FFXV 2013 that made me give this franchise a try), the fact that they gutted so much from the Versus trailers that interested me, mainly 2011, and 2013 ugh feels bad man.
It's more of them not building upon the concepts, but instead opting to remove them entirely. Which I was somewhat ok with at first, but then the final product, and watching those trailers, not to say that FFXV is bad or that Versus XIII would have been better, but I kinda wished they just built upon the concepts that got me interested in FFXV in the first place, like Etro, the revenge plot, the combat system, character switching, the citadel fight you have no idea how much I was looking forward to that fight. I wish they had built upon what they had shown instead of taking it away, to the point where it's not longer Versus XIII. :( leaves me feeling blue balls. If it was going to be disappointing at least let me see that for myself, at least let me see that yeah Versus XIII is crap, or is disappointing at least it would give me closure.
I think it's really a combination of FFXV being disappointing, doesn't make a good case as to why it was a good idea to remove the stuff that got me interested in it, and now what got me into FFXV is no longer there anymore, and I might never get it. I might never get to see if Versus XIII was going to be better, worse, or roughly equal, and that saddens me.

"It looks like to me most of the difficulty that you claim exists was due to your own lack of experience and/or skill instead of the game itself." That's the point, I'm trying to get across, anyone who lacks experience in FF can no game over FFXV in the story mode i easy, buy potions, buy Phoenix downs, grind. What you described to defeat bosses, and enemies takes experience trial and error, or just looking it up on the internet, someone who just picked up the game wouldn't know therefore wouldn't do that, for FFXV pick up potions and Phoenix downs, grind till your overleveled, and your good, won't get a game over, doesn't help that some of the bosses are a joke(Oh the serpent of the seas what doth happened to thee).
 
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Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
27
Unknown, Unknown
FFX was my first ever FF game, so naturally I massively effed up the sphere grid with none of the characters learning the moves that they were supposed to, hence why I found it very hard and struggled immensely.

To give you an idea: no idea what Haste was, Flare, Holy, Yuna and Lulu somehow went on to learn physical attacks halfway through, Tidus went through Kimahri's path, Wakka didn't learn debuff moves, Rikku didn't learn mix, Kimahri was utterly useless, and so on. My characters were utterly shite and I made the experience way more harder than it needed to be.

Complete and total clusterfuck. Disastrous.

But second time playthrough, since I knew exactly what I needed to do, the game was prettt easy and I cursed my stupidity over my first playthrough.

This goes with all the other FF games I played afterwards.

So I think it's as @T.O.T said, difficultly is in part due to one's own lack of experience and/or skill instead of the game itself.

As the player, you're in control of what happens.

Not getting game overs in FFXV isn't the issue here. Having to spam items in the first place, which happens when you're not good at the game, is the real issue here.
"Not getting game overs in FFXV isn't the issue here. Having to spam items in the first place, which happens when you're not good at the game, is the real issue here." That's the thing though, I spammed Items in Kingdom Hearts 3D, still got game overs there, spamming items shouldn't save you in a properly designed game unless it's for easy mode then I understand, but for Normal mode no, obviously you lack skill in an action RPG if you have to spam items, but that shouldn't save you from getting game overs forcing you to actually get better at the game. I mean how hard would it have been to code a cooldown timer, have an item limit like Kingdom Hearts, Game over once your HP hits zero, and Phoenix Downs only being usable for party members other than Noctis. This is where I just wished they ripped from Kingdom Hearts beat by beat.
 

Jubileus

Warrior of Light
Oct 7, 2016
1,651
1,369
This is where I just wished they ripped from Kingdom Hearts beat by beat.
Final Fantasy is Final Fantasy. Kingdom Hearts is Kingdom Hearts.

It's not a good thing to completely copy and rip something off 100% from another series.

Similarities and being inspired by another game is fine, but FFXV does need to have its own unique system.

Personally I think the battle system is great and very fun and addictive. They can only improve upon it now imo.
 

T.O.T

Blitzball Champion
Feb 2, 2017
533
540
That's the point, I'm trying to get across, anyone who lacks experience in FF can no game over FFXV in the story mode i easy, buy potions, buy Phoenix downs, grind. What you described to defeat bosses, and enemies takes experience trial and error, or just looking it up on the internet, someone who just picked up the game wouldn't know therefore wouldn't do that, for FFXV pick up potions and Phoenix downs, grind till your overleveled, and your good, won't get a game over, doesn't help that some of the bosses are a joke(Oh the serpent of the seas what doth happened to thee).
Artificial difficulty works both ways. Take Dark Souls for example. Kitting enemies is a legit strategy. On the other hand though, it's possible to gain high ground on an enemy and just pew pew at them until they are dead which in some aspect is cheesing. There's no threat of damage in such a situation. With FFXV, yes it is possible to completely stock up to the max on every single recovery item to not get a game over. Now, the question comes down to how much you are having to rely on such a cheesing method to get through fights. Is the method playing a bigger role than the strategy approach in the fight? You already had experience from playing KH games, which mind you a good number of people will say isn't all that challenging unless the game is played on Critical Mode.
 

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
27
Unknown, Unknown
Artificial difficulty works both ways. Take Dark Souls for example. Kitting enemies is a legit strategy. On the other hand though, it's possible to gain high ground on an enemy and just pew pew at them until they are dead which in some aspect is cheesing. There's no threat of damage in such a situation. With FFXV, yes it is possible to completely stock up to the max on every single recovery item to not get a game over. Now, the question comes down to how much you are having to rely on such a cheesing method to get through fights. Is the method playing a bigger role than the strategy approach in the fight? You already had experience from playing KH games, which mind you a good number of people will say isn't all that challenging unless the game is played on Critical Mode.
The Kingdom Hearts games are not like Dark Souls that I'm aware of, but there is still enough difficulty to where you can't just stock up on items, and make yourself never get a game over, if FFXV's Normal was the same difficulty as KH2, I'd be satisfied. They are challenging enough to the average player, especially Kingdom Hearts 1, and some of the bosses in Kingdom Hearts 2.If FFXV had that level of difficulty no one would complain.
 

Hey Everyone

Keyblade Master
Dec 30, 2016
794
191
27
Unknown, Unknown
Final Fantasy is Final Fantasy. Kingdom Hearts is Kingdom Hearts.

It's not a good thing to completely copy and rip something off 100% from another series.

Similarities and being inspired by another game is fine, but FFXV does need to have its own unique system.

Personally I think the battle system is great and very fun and addictive. They can only improve upon it now imo.
Never said 100 percent, just parts that worked of that series that is all. ie. How items worked, and how magic worked(have some be AoE, but the rest no)