Members see less ads - sign up now for free and join the community!
-
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more.
I mean I guess it's how you choose to look at it, one could say that it actually enhances the original ending and its tragic themes. Since in an ideal world (Verse 2) if there was another way, if everyone did do things a little differently, perfectly executed plans, and were in the right places at the right time in this impossibly perfect perfect scenario things would've been better. Verse 2 is the fantasy and the original is the reality where human flaws, oversights, and less than favorable situations are a thing and so you have to bite the bullet and take you can get. It ties into the "Fantasy based on reality" tagline pretty well since Verse 2 is the pure fantasy and the canon ending is the real world.
I'm sure if the multiverse exists then in one of those universes maybe I did everything right and ended up living the ideal life. Doesn't take away from the reality I'm living though and its lessons that things don't always work out and you just gotta roll with the punches. What the characters experience and learn in Verse 2 doesn't necessarily take away from the themes they dealt with in the original. You might say that the fact that another solution exists invalidates Noctis' sacrifice and makes it unnecessary but I could just as easily counter that it was all the more necessary and validated BECAUSE they weren't able to find the ideal solution and it was a toss up between either selfishly wanting to prolong the suffering of millions trying to find the fairytale ending solution or Noct taking responsibility by being realistic and taking the working solution laid out in front of him. The themes of sacrifice, responsibility, and destiny don't suddenly disappear because of what could've been as that possibilty of things going differently is ever present in all scenarios even in real life. Just because you could've done things differently doesn't erase what you've done already and the lessons and themes that came with it.
Anyways I want more canon stuff as well and would honestly be the first one to jump for joy if they were to reveal that they're scrapping the alternate grand finale altogether but at the same time as long as the DLC manages to be informative about the world and lore I'm not dreading it too much. At this point since I've just accepted it as a thing that's happening the only thing that would upset me about it is if it lacks any substance and is just purely a fluff piece. If you're going this route show me the in universe rules, tools, and circumstances that allow this to happen. Show me the inner workings of Eos and its lore. If they decide to forego that then I'll be entirely fine with straight up skipping Episode Noctis because I don't want more unanswered questions in the final piece of content for a game. I'm just looking for information and answers at this point.
I'm sure if the multiverse exists then in one of those universes maybe I did everything right and ended up living the ideal life. Doesn't take away from the reality I'm living though and its lessons that things don't always work out and you just gotta roll with the punches. What the characters experience and learn in Verse 2 doesn't necessarily take away from the themes they dealt with in the original. You might say that the fact that another solution exists invalidates Noctis' sacrifice and makes it unnecessary but I could just as easily counter that it was all the more necessary and validated BECAUSE they weren't able to find the ideal solution and it was a toss up between either selfishly wanting to prolong the suffering of millions trying to find the fairytale ending solution or Noct taking responsibility by being realistic and taking the working solution laid out in front of him. The themes of sacrifice, responsibility, and destiny don't suddenly disappear because of what could've been as that possibilty of things going differently is ever present in all scenarios even in real life. Just because you could've done things differently doesn't erase what you've done already and the lessons and themes that came with it.
Anyways I want more canon stuff as well and would honestly be the first one to jump for joy if they were to reveal that they're scrapping the alternate grand finale altogether but at the same time as long as the DLC manages to be informative about the world and lore I'm not dreading it too much. At this point since I've just accepted it as a thing that's happening the only thing that would upset me about it is if it lacks any substance and is just purely a fluff piece. If you're going this route show me the in universe rules, tools, and circumstances that allow this to happen. Show me the inner workings of Eos and its lore. If they decide to forego that then I'll be entirely fine with straight up skipping Episode Noctis because I don't want more unanswered questions in the final piece of content for a game. I'm just looking for information and answers at this point.
Last edited:
Likes:
Loganight
One way of having what you say is seeing how perfectly everything has gone, with it's incredits scene being everyone "old" with kids, but then once the credits end, we see Noctis at the last campsite alone with Umbra at his side, like when we select "go to past Lucis", making us understand that everything is an ilusion and Noctis still needs to make his sacrifice. He's just watching a posibility using the powers of the cristal, while the bros are sleeping at the tent.
With this route, i can accept having the 3 dlc as something that happens in Ignis Verse 2 route. With the train part being with Ravus instead of Ignis, going to Tenebrae before it's destruction because they go there faster, then protecting the place which alows us to have Aranea at our side in Gralea and she tells us more things about the place.
I can't fit Episode Ardyn and Luna in this scenario. I guess if they're trying to give us a cohesive narrative with the dlc, they have to go in cronological order as they launch.
Damn, BD2 has put themself in a big challenge. I hope they know what they're doing.
With this route, i can accept having the 3 dlc as something that happens in Ignis Verse 2 route. With the train part being with Ravus instead of Ignis, going to Tenebrae before it's destruction because they go there faster, then protecting the place which alows us to have Aranea at our side in Gralea and she tells us more things about the place.
I can't fit Episode Ardyn and Luna in this scenario. I guess if they're trying to give us a cohesive narrative with the dlc, they have to go in cronological order as they launch.
Damn, BD2 has put themself in a big challenge. I hope they know what they're doing.
Likes:
Storm
Do we really know if it's THAT demanded, don't get me wrong I welcome a higher challenge (even though I'm fine with the current difficulty) but I always feel the demand for higher difficult was on the "loud minority" side of the demand.
Likes:
Lord_Ham_Mork
Yeah the fact that out of the 15 items listed we've already gotten 7 and are getting 4 more along with some extra stuff that wasn't promised like an actually playable Ardyn or any story relating to Aranea and Niflheim tells me that Square won't have any problem adding in something as minor as a hard mode from the survey and I can definitely see Gentianna/Shiva being Luna's party member. Cor I'm honestly fine not being able to play as but Iris' unique brawler style among FFXV's cast would be a treat to play. Just give her some good gloves and she's ready to beat the shit out of those daemons..
Likes:
Nova and Lord_Ham_Mork
Nah most of the people I've talked to online and offline about this game seem to agree that the game is too easy without setting limits on yourself. I mean just objectively if you play with enough items you will never die. I'm not saying we need more damage sponges like Omega or Adamantoise but the game could DEFINITELY use some form of higher challenge. That being said I'm actually super glad they reworked the Armiger first because I think that has way more weight in the game's story and translating that to fun gameplay was a smart move on their part.
EDIT: I kind of think what you're talking about played out with the supposed fan demand for a happy ending, though.
EDIT: I kind of think what you're talking about played out with the supposed fan demand for a happy ending, though.
I think everyone wants a hard difficulty but nobody priors it over more story exposition. So it ended being lower in the poll that all the story additions.
Likes:
Cloud_CR and Loganight
Compared to story requests probably not, but i mean compared to demands for an "improved Armiger", which i feel as though were lower than demands for an additional Hard mode. Yet we still got it.
Likes:
Lord_Ham_Mork and Storm
It would be hard to pull off well... though it's fair to point out that it's difficult to pull off anything well. XD;
The key is prioritizing the base game's themes over the desire to offer fanservice. If they can do that, I'm sure they can manage something inoffensive at worst. If they don't... there's not much hope. >_>;
The key is prioritizing the base game's themes over the desire to offer fanservice. If they can do that, I'm sure they can manage something inoffensive at worst. If they don't... there's not much hope. >_>;
Likes:
Lord_Ham_Mork and Jubileus
This is actually pretty sweet what Square did partnering up with Twitch
Likes:
Storm and Lord_Ham_Mork
I mean, given the way this game plays I could only see one way of making it hard (and correct me if anyone doesn't agree):
HARD MODE:
-Scale all regular enemies' level to approximately x1.3-1.4 of Noct's level
-Scale all bosses to x1.5-1.7 of Noct's level
-Adjust the experience needed per level to be higher (so you level up slower)
-Make hourly cooking cooldowns for Ignis (crazy good dishes need longer cooldowns on Iggy before he cooks again)
-Adjust the frequency of finding potions to very low in the world (and heavily nerf Galdio's survival skill)
-Increase the prices of restorative items in shops (eg: make a potion cost 1K, so 10potions=10K, which is good since money is not easy to farm)
-Make a custom tutorial for Hard Mode that stresses the timing of blocking (block just in time = restore health partially etc)
Results:
>Higher level-scaled monsters at all times and slower leveling will prevent you from being overpowered
>Less potions in the world with high shop prices will never result in potion spamming (since it'll be a limited resource)
>And a cooldown on Iggy cooking crazy foods will balance out the insane food buffs that break the game
>The new stress put on the player will have you timing your blocking to restore HP/MP, switching characters to keep distances in tight situations or having the switched character tank some hits while the other party member slowly restores health (so rather than potion spamming, you change character to have the other heal)
HARD MODE:
-Scale all regular enemies' level to approximately x1.3-1.4 of Noct's level
-Scale all bosses to x1.5-1.7 of Noct's level
-Adjust the experience needed per level to be higher (so you level up slower)
-Make hourly cooking cooldowns for Ignis (crazy good dishes need longer cooldowns on Iggy before he cooks again)
-Adjust the frequency of finding potions to very low in the world (and heavily nerf Galdio's survival skill)
-Increase the prices of restorative items in shops (eg: make a potion cost 1K, so 10potions=10K, which is good since money is not easy to farm)
-Make a custom tutorial for Hard Mode that stresses the timing of blocking (block just in time = restore health partially etc)
Results:
>Higher level-scaled monsters at all times and slower leveling will prevent you from being overpowered
>Less potions in the world with high shop prices will never result in potion spamming (since it'll be a limited resource)
>And a cooldown on Iggy cooking crazy foods will balance out the insane food buffs that break the game
>The new stress put on the player will have you timing your blocking to restore HP/MP, switching characters to keep distances in tight situations or having the switched character tank some hits while the other party member slowly restores health (so rather than potion spamming, you change character to have the other heal)
I was talking about alternate endings rather than hard mode, but under the circumstances, I might as well make suggestions for that as well. XD
KHIIFM+ Critical Mode is pretty much the gold standard for hard modes, so I'm inclined to take inspiration from that.
1) The way that FFXV uses its healing items is more similar to the way KHIIFM+ handles healing magic than the way it handles items. As such, strict limits on how many items can be used or attempts to increase the cost of the items for the purpose of creating a sense of attrition are not necessary to make a successful hard mode. Rather, an ideal hard mode would impose a cooldown for healing item use and the need to avoid hits while using healing items while simultaneously making the use of healing items more fluid (say, by adding shortcuts for their use and changing their animations from long cutaways with iframes to shorter equivalents during which the player remains vulnerable).
2) Use of all of the game's systems should become more important rather than the most useful tricks being downgraded. One example of this could be that breaking certain limbs ought to be the difference between futility and success rather than modest enough that it took a long time for the difference to be recognized by the fanbase.
3) Some of the game's more generous elements should be toned down in favor of increased dependence on mechanics. The standard auto-recovery should be disabled, requiring Noct to find cover in order to recover his health; likewise, Noct should recover his MP slowly rather than refill it instantly when he warps to a warp point.
4) In return for a much more challenging rebalancing of the game's enemies compared to Noct, the game should offer more AP up front so the player has more options to choose from and mechanics to play with.
KHIIFM+ Critical Mode is pretty much the gold standard for hard modes, so I'm inclined to take inspiration from that.
1) The way that FFXV uses its healing items is more similar to the way KHIIFM+ handles healing magic than the way it handles items. As such, strict limits on how many items can be used or attempts to increase the cost of the items for the purpose of creating a sense of attrition are not necessary to make a successful hard mode. Rather, an ideal hard mode would impose a cooldown for healing item use and the need to avoid hits while using healing items while simultaneously making the use of healing items more fluid (say, by adding shortcuts for their use and changing their animations from long cutaways with iframes to shorter equivalents during which the player remains vulnerable).
2) Use of all of the game's systems should become more important rather than the most useful tricks being downgraded. One example of this could be that breaking certain limbs ought to be the difference between futility and success rather than modest enough that it took a long time for the difference to be recognized by the fanbase.
3) Some of the game's more generous elements should be toned down in favor of increased dependence on mechanics. The standard auto-recovery should be disabled, requiring Noct to find cover in order to recover his health; likewise, Noct should recover his MP slowly rather than refill it instantly when he warps to a warp point.
4) In return for a much more challenging rebalancing of the game's enemies compared to Noct, the game should offer more AP up front so the player has more options to choose from and mechanics to play with.
Likes:
Storm and Lord_Ham_Mork
The healing items could easily be given a MP cost lore-wise seeing as they're regular soda and energy drinks that gain healing properties through the power of kings, then just make ethers/elixirs hard to come by (maybe not available to buy in shops if you wanna go real old school?) like in most Final Fantasies. Making you rely on phasing more to deal with stronger enemies + a weaker Noctis, alongside making healing items more sparing and cost MP as well as low quantities of restorative MP items available for ready access could make managing MP as a precious resource the main crux of a potential hard mode. Not to mention how essential it is already for warping. Change the way warp points restore MP/HP to be more like Comrades and presto!
Likes:
Storm and Lord_Ham_Mork
Kinda random and probably an unpopular opinion, but I'm not digging the RE boxart. For some reason they release all the cool art for free online and use worse art on the actual product they're trying to sell.
Likes:
CloudBuster
Just gonna say, level scaling generally sucks and is a poor attempt at making the game harder. In RPGs, you want to feel OP eventually, it's the reward for all your hard work. Superbosses should still be hard though, regardless (Omega is awesome for this and the secret dungeons do it well). The problem with FFXV you can feel too OP just from doing a few extra quests halfway through.
Better things they can do are limit the number of items used per battle (or tie it to MP usage as others have said), limit the exp from battles and exp bonuses you gain from magic exploits and hotels/inns, at least until the story is over, and increase monster health and damage.
The above is 99.9% of the problem the game has with overleveling
Better things they can do are limit the number of items used per battle (or tie it to MP usage as others have said), limit the exp from battles and exp bonuses you gain from magic exploits and hotels/inns, at least until the story is over, and increase monster health and damage.
The above is 99.9% of the problem the game has with overleveling
I really like the idea of linking items to magic and nerfing the healing effects of warp points.
I think that with this element the game just needs to increase the difficulty of main story events and nerf the bonuses of the Exp Magic and hotels.
The rest of the game had really neat progression with sidequests, and we clearly will need to be overleved for a lot of challenges, so i would not change any other elements.
I think that with this element the game just needs to increase the difficulty of main story events and nerf the bonuses of the Exp Magic and hotels.
The rest of the game had really neat progression with sidequests, and we clearly will need to be overleved for a lot of challenges, so i would not change any other elements.