Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

[Leopold_Bloom]

They will continue making adjustments until the last minute before the game goes gold. If they’re unable to fixate on the 30fps, they will do something different.

I wonder what this means?

I remember when Ready at Dawn tried to make The Order:1886 in 24 fps, for a cinematic effect, but apparently it felt bad to play.

Reckon they'll cut the resolution if they can't lock it down?

 

[yeah_93]

I doubt it. When they say something is a 40 hour story mode, that's if you know where you're going and what you're doing and you don't dawdle. FFXII, I think, was called a 40 hour story, but the average in real life terms is 58 hours: http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=3529

That's the longest story mode in any FF game, and this one sounds like it could potentially top it. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 330 hour platinum trophy here.

I recall KH: Birth by Sleep was supposed to take 15 hours to get through each character's story. I got 8 hours on average for each. So yeah, I wouldn't put much thought into what they say. Could be longer, could be shorter.

 

[DrBretto]

I wonder what this means?

I remember when Ready at Dawn tried to make The Order:1886 in 24 fps, for a cinematic effect, but apparently it felt bad to play.

Reckon they'll cut the resolution if they can't lock it down?

That's exactly what I was thinking. And I SWEAR I read something from forever ago that said they'd bring it down to 900p if they had to. I could be thinking of a different game, but it really seems like it would be this one because this is the only one I can think of that had question marks about the frame rate to begin with.

Anyway this:

As for the game’s resolution, it’ll be revealed at the release event on March 31st.

Has me somewhat "concerned" that they will ultimately have to cut the resolution down. I use "concerned" with quotes because ultimately, it's a barely noticable difference from 900 to 1080 and the more important aspect is the framerate, so it won't be so bad. The mere fact that they're planning to talk about the resolution at the event tells me 1080 is in question, though.

 

[Koozek]

I wonder what this means?

I remember when Ready at Dawn tried to make The Order:1886 in 24 fps, for a cinematic effect, but apparently it felt bad to play.

Reckon they'll cut the resolution if they can't lock it down?

Probably scale down some visual effects, or variable if not reduced resolution. They'll prioritize framerate according to Tabata (from a few months ago):

"Tech design:
If time doesn’t flow, weather doesn’t change, or the world is not seamless, or letting the number of monsters decrease, then it’s possible to deliver far more beautiful graphics or arts. However, sacrificing UX and put priority on graphics is definitely not what the team wants to do.
The team is challenging to deliver a fantastic UX with keeping as much high quality as possible in graphics.

[...]

Q4:
The team is challenging to deliver as much high frame rate and resolution as possible. 30 fps is their goal. Tabata is confident that they can pass this threshold. The resolution will be fixed after they give a go for the final frame rate."

 

[DrBretto]

I wonder what this means?

I remember when Ready at Dawn tried to make The Order:1886 in 24 fps, for a cinematic effect, but apparently it felt bad to play.

Reckon they'll cut the resolution if they can't lock it down?

Well, this is also true. It's all speculation. I was just going by FF games, assuming there'd be a correlation there, but realistically, there aren't that many people involved with this one that were involved with, say, FFVI, so it could mean nothing.

I'm sticking with my interpretation though, on account of the hype high I'm on this morning

 

[Leopold_Bloom]

That's exactly what I was thinking. And I SWEAR I read something from forever ago that said they'd bring it down to 900p if they had to. I could be thinking of a different game, but it really seems like it would be this one because this is the only one I can think of that had question marks about the frame rate to begin with.

Anyway this:



Has me somewhat "concerned" that they will ultimately have to cut the resolution down. I use "concerned" with quotes because ultimately, it's a barely noticable difference from 900 to 1080 and the more important aspect is the framerate, so it won't be so bad. The mere fact that they're planning to talk about the resolution at the event tells me 1080 is in question, though.

Yeah, I found it strange, how he mentioned that they were announcing the resolution>

So; they're gonna announce the resolution next week, but will have to do something different if they cannot lock down the FPS? Once it's announced, it's pretty much locked-in.
I'd say it's safe to assume, that the resolution is what it is, at this stage; and that they may just tone back some of the more taxing effects, if needs be.

 

[yeah_93]

Yeah, I found it strange, how he mentioned that they were announcing the resolution>

So; they're gonna announce the resolution next week, but will have to do something different if they cannot lock down the FPS? Once it's announced, it's pretty much locked-in.
I'd say it's safe to assume, that the resolution is what it is, at this stage; and that they may just tone back some of the more taxing effects, if needs be.

Can't wait to see the comments if they announce 900p is the resolution.

 

[DrBretto]

It'll be hysteria for sure.

 

[llazy77]

Does anyone know what Tabata said when they showed the old trailer with Old design Regis?

 

[Rin]

Does anyone know what Tabata said when they showed the old trailer with Old design Regis?

I'm working on an "additional minor details" list about the stream. Will update when I've finished watching the stream and writing the points.

UPDATE: Tabata didn't say anything about old Regis in this stream.

Some additional minor details about the trailer from the live stream (from 31:53 to 1:01:20):
• (While running the E3 2013 trailer) Tabata says SE have been developing XV all this time with the E3 2013 image in mind.
• (While running the Dawn 2.0 teaser) The trailer prepared for the Uncovered event will be a "full spec" trailer with things like story and battle scenes rather than being a teaser like the Dawn ones. Tabata said that during last year's Gamescom and TGS, he prioritized continuing development over revealing footage. He said that making full trailers is costly since taking various parts of development and putting them together are required; the development team also have deadlines to meet at the same time. He also says that he understands fans' request for a full trailer.
• (While running the Niflheim Base Battle Footage trailer) Sneaking is important but not the ultimate form of game play in XV. Tabata says that the size of the game's world means that having destructible buildings and objects all over the world is impossible. That's why they've added in areas such as these bases. This is actually test footage from when the team were working on tweaking friend mechanics. I couldn't understand what Tabata was saying when he was talking about those tests.
• (While running the Chocobo/Fishing footage) Tabata says watching this makes him feel nostalgic. Even though this footage was presented 6 months ago at TGS, Tabata says this footage is a year old. Chocobos in XV have been made faster and higher than those in previous FFs (to get people excited to ride them). Driving and chocobo riding mechanics are similar to regular driving games. Tabata calls fishing “battling with fish," and the activity will feel pretty real. About cooking, people had made actual food and then scanned it for use in the game. There are many ingredients for cooking in the game. Back to fishing, Noctis is a prince so he hasn’t gone fishing before, but in XV, he’ll go fishing for the first time and gradually, over the course of the game, get really into it. In that sense fishing isn’t just a mini-game but also part of the game’s story.

Other details 1 (from 1:01:20 to 1:23:19):
• (World of Wonder picture) Tabata says the Behemoth quest was very different at first from what we’ve seen in Episode Duscae. It used to be that the area lacked any signs of the presence of a Behemoth; instead, it was one of the moments from older games where the enemy reveals itself in a stylish fashion and then the battle begins. However, Tabata says that would be cheapening the experience. The team took advantage of the seamless open world and better technologies to add in a bit of fear and anticipation while advancing in the quest.
• (Battle towel picture) A staff member made this towel herself. Perhaps it’ll turn into merchandise? Just kidding. Tabata says he’ll consider the idea.
• (Behemoth bone picture) These are reference models used to create Behemoths. The key art to the right of the Gamescom one (father and son) is a picture of a fallen Insomnia and Luna that we see at the end of Episode Duscae.
• (World map picture) The team used this model to check scales and whatnot at the start of development. The red dot that we see around the middle of the world map is where Titan is located. The desert area on the map isn’t actually a desert but a plain. When asked about the red and white pins, Tabata says he can’t remember what the white pins are for. He thinks they might have been for towns, but he says the locations are a bit different now. The building we see on the left is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building model that serves as the model for the palace in Insomnia.
• (Workout area picture) No significant comments in particular here. They went off-topic so I kind of zoned out. This area was set up for employees’ sake when XV had been in deep development.
• (Development floor picture) As mentioned in various articles, Cactuars do make an appearance in XV; they can dodge Noctis’s warps.

Other details 2 (around 1:23:19 to 1:44:52):
• About the release date leak: Tabata says to see at the real event whether or not the date is real. A bunch of viewers tried guessing the release date. Tabata says the date is this year, and the game won’t fall into 2017. About one person’s guess on April, “it’s not spring,” Tabata said. (lol) October and November seem to be popular guesses among the viewers. About May (one viewer commented that his/her birthday’s in May), Tabata did make a comment that they can’t release the game that soon.
• Next week’s event will have more than just the release date reveal. Tabata says hosting an event just to announce a release date is “stupid. Like, 'who do you think you are!?'” A few surprises are also going to be there.
• Why LA? The biggest reason is that delivering news in English means reaching the largest possible audience.
• About Uncovered’s surprises: viewers wrote wild ideas. One person wrote “16” (FFXVI), lol. Tabata says he knows that this event will need to respond to the enthusiasm of the fans. He tells us to look forward to everything.
• Questions from the audience: before that, there’s a bag of chips and a bottle of cola shown on air. They’re cola-flavored chips and potato chips-flavored cola (not kidding, but Tabata later on says it tastes like regular cola) but have nothing to do with FFXV in terms of a collaboration. Tabata swears by Sprite. lol

• What is Noctis’s age? A: It will be officially revealed at a certain time.
• Have you met Mr. Sakaguchi? The answer’s already been mentioned in other articles. Yes, Tabata did.
• Please look forward to the Japanese version of the Uncovered PV.
• Do you get along with Yoshida (FFXIV Director)? A: Yes.
• What’s the tech demo like? A: Details at next week’s event.
• Answering a comment about the game’s length (already discussed).
• About airships (already discussed): what form the airship will take had been decided a while ago.
• About frame rate (already discussed).
• About resolution: they will talk about specifications in detail next week.
• About PS4 bundle: in the works (already discussed).

End of questions.

Tabata says some pretty interesting things at the end but nothing too significant. One thing that caught my ear was his comment about achieving in other games things they couldn't do in XV.

Tabata hopes that people will pre-order XV after watching Uncovered (Japan opens pre-orders on March 31 local time, after Uncovered).

He will arrive in Los Angeles on Monday. At the time of the stream, he said that preparations for next week have not yet finished.

Translations not vetted; I take responsibility for misinformation.

 

[Death Penalty]

You're doing god's work, Rin. Thank you.

 

[DrBretto]

Thank you!

 

[Koozek]

I'm working on an "additional minor details" list about the stream. Will update when I've finished watching the stream and writing the points.

UPDATE: Tabata didn't say anything about old Regis in this stream.

Some additional minor details about the trailer from the live stream (from 31:53 to 1:01:20):
• (While running the E3 2013 trailer) Tabata says SE have been developing XV all this time with the E3 2013 image in mind.
• (While running the Dawn 2.0 teaser) The trailer prepared for the Uncovered event will be a "full spec" trailer with things like story and battle scenes rather than being a teaser like the Dawn ones. Tabata said that during last year's Gamescom and TGS, he prioritized continuing development over revealing footage. He said that making full trailers is costly since taking various parts of development and putting them together are required; the development team also have deadlines to meet at the same time. He also says that he understands fans' request for a full trailer.
• (While running the Niflheim Base Battle Footage trailer) Sneaking is important but not the ultimate form of game play in XV. Tabata says that the size of the game's world means that having destructible buildings and objects all over the world is impossible. That's why they've added in areas such as these bases. This is actually test footage from when the team were working on tweaking friend mechanics. I couldn't understand what Tabata was saying when he was talking about those tests.
• (While running the Chocobo/Fishing footage) Tabata says watching this makes him feel nostalgic. Even though this footage was presented 6 months ago at TGS, Tabata says this footage is a year old. Chocobos in XV have been made faster and higher than those in previous FFs (to get people excited to ride them). Driving and chocobo riding mechanics are similar to regular driving games. Tabata calls fishing “battling with fish," and the activity will feel pretty real. About cooking, people had made actual food and then scanned it for use in the game. There are many ingredients for cooking in the game. Back to fishing, Noctis is a prince so he hasn’t gone fishing before, but in XV, he’ll go fishing for the first time and gradually, over the course of the game, get really into it. In that sense fishing isn’t just a mini-game but also part of the game’s story.

Other details 1 (from 1:01:20 to 1:23:19):
• (World of Wonder picture) Tabata says the Behemoth quest was very different at first from what we’ve seen in Episode Duscae. It used to be that the area lacked any signs of the presence of a Behemoth; instead, it was one of the moments from older games where the enemy reveals itself in a stylish fashion and then the battle begins. However, Tabata says that would be cheapening the experience. The team took advantage of the seamless open world and better technologies to add in a bit of fear and anticipation while advancing in the quest.
• (Battle towel picture) A staff member made this towel herself. Perhaps it’ll turn into merchandise? Just kidding. Tabata says he’ll consider the idea.
• (Behemoth bone picture) These are reference models used to create Behemoths. The key art to the right of the Gamescom one (father and son) is a picture of a fallen Insomnia and Luna that we see at the end of Episode Duscae.
• (World map picture) The team used this model to check scales and whatnot at the start of development. The red dot that we see around the middle of the world map is where Titan is located. The desert area on the map isn’t actually a desert but a plain. When asked about the red and white pins, Tabata says he can’t remember what the white pins are for. He thinks they might have been for towns, but he says the locations are a bit different now. The building we see on the left is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building model that serves as the model for the palace in Insomnia.
• (Workout area picture) No significant comments in particular here. They went off-topic so I kind of zoned out. This area was set up for employees’ sake when XV had been in deep development.
• (Development floor picture) As mentioned in various articles, Cactuars do make an appearance in XV; they can dodge Noctis’s warps.

Other details 2 (around 1:23:19 to 1:44:52):
• About the release date leak: Tabata says to see at the real event whether or not the date is real. A bunch of viewers tried guessing the release date. Tabata says the date is this year, and the game won’t fall into 2017. About one person’s guess on April, “it’s not spring,” Tabata said. (lol) October and November seem to be popular guesses among the viewers. About May (one viewer commented that his/her birthday’s in May), Tabata did make a comment that they can’t release the game that soon.
• Next week’s event will have more than just the release date reveal. Tabata says hosting an event just to announce a release date is “stupid. Like, 'who do you think you are!?'” A few surprises are also going to be there.
• Why LA? The biggest reason is that delivering news in English means reaching the largest possible audience.
• About Uncovered’s surprises: viewers wrote wild ideas. One person wrote “16” (FFXVI), lol. Tabata says he knows that this event will need to respond to the enthusiasm of the fans. He tells us to look forward to everything.
• Questions from the audience: before that, there’s a bag of chips and a bottle of cola shown on air. They’re cola-flavored chips and potato chips-flavored cola (not kidding, but Tabata later on says it tastes like regular cola) but have nothing to do with FFXV in terms of a collaboration. Tabata swears by Sprite. lol

• What is Noctis’s age? A: It will be officially revealed at a certain time.
• Have you met Mr. Sakaguchi? The answer’s already been mentioned in other articles. Yes, Tabata did.
• Please look forward to the Japanese version of the Uncovered PV.
• Do you get along with Yoshida (FFXIV Director)? A: Yes.
• What’s the tech demo like? A: Details at next week’s event.
• Answering a comment about the game’s length (already discussed).
• About airships (already discussed): what form the airship will take had been decided a while ago.
• About frame rate (already discussed).
• About resolution: they will talk about specifications in detail next week.
• About PS4 bundle: in the works (already discussed).

End of questions.

Tabata says some pretty interesting things at the end but nothing too significant. One thing that caught my ear was his comment about achieving in other games things they couldn't do in XV.

Tabata hopes that people will pre-order XV after watching Uncovered (Japan opens pre-orders on March 31 local time, after Uncovered).

He will arrive in Los Angeles on Monday. At the time of the stream, he said that preparations for next week have not yet finished.

Translations not vetted; I take responsibility for misinformation.

 

[LeonBlade]

There goes my hope of the game not being longer than 40hs, though it still may be possible to beat the game under that time.

Why would you hope for the game being shorter?

 

[Koozek]

Why would you hope for the game being shorter?

I don't like too long games either, nowadays. 40h for the main story would have been perfect. Whoever wants more can do sidequests along the way. That way the main story won't be padded with filler.

 

[Death Penalty]

For myself, ladle as much XV into my trough as you want. I'll devour it all and be hungry for more.

 

[DrBretto]

Yeah, personally, I'm hoping for a 330 hour Platinum run. The more the better. I see a difference in the pacing on, say a 12 or 14 hour game versus a 30+ hour game, but 40-50 shouldn't change its category. I'm hoping it just means 10 more hours of awesome that we expected.

 

[Momo]

I'm getting more hyped fot this game to be honest, one of the things that I wanted to see in this game was the equipment, I know that the FF games didn't showed the equipment on the characters but I can Imagine cool armors etc...

I think I'm going to wait for the PS4 bundle since I don't own one haha.

 

[15thCrystal]

My excitement for Uncovered tenfolds with every tweet the FFXV account makes and it was pretty high to start with. I really need a new trailer and story footage. Next Wednesday can't come soon enough.

 

[Lulcielid]

I really need a new trailer and story footage. Next Wednesday can't come soon enough.

The waiting will kill me since I won´t be at home by the time the trailer (and juicy news) comes out.