Game:

Final Fantasy XV (2016)

Category:

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Duration: 3:30:56

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This is a combat-focused runthrough of the game that starts with selecting "New Game" and ends with killing Deadeye (postgame) without using summon, items or cover regen, clocking at just under 3h30m. This is -not- a speed run by any stretch of imagination. I threw this together mainly for myself because I was lacking footage that supported what I was trying to say in debates and discussion about the combat system, presentation, features, highlighting things I think could be improved upon, etc. No running commentary. I did it from the start so that I wouldn’t simply be doing a bunch of encounters where Noctis is already OP as far as the demo goes. (although there’s some of that in the second half of this video)

There are a lot of things that people do not realize are in the game (partially due to a barebones tutorial), and a lot of things people wish FFXV would be. At its core, however, as mentioned by Sun and Haz during the PAX East presentation, there are a few pillars on which FFXV combat is built on
- Balancing offense and defense
- Managing MP
- Parrying
- Selecting the right weapons for the right slots (This really isn’t built upon enough in the demo though)
FFXV is it’s own thing and isn’t going to change

A lot of the combat encounters I get into in this runthrough are to demonstrate the nuance already possible within the limited moveset that the demo presents. This involves things like successfully dealing with all the different monster types with the least amount of fuss, going on the defensive when necessary, making use of flinching/staggering, making use of the Techniques, disengaging when things gets rough or overwhelming, etc. You could say I’m pretty proficient at the combat system and it’s totally possible from picking up pointers just by watching. Yet at the same time this is a no-bullshit start-to-end run with no editing. I do screw up quite a bit, and I’m not trying to hide errors in my play - that is not the point of the video. Essentially keep in mind I’m not cherry picking highlights to make combat look better than it is.

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The basic structure of this video is two parts divided roughly in half. Combat doesn’t really get interesting until the second half when especially Knightsguard is obtained.

The ‘main quest’ of the demo, involving:
- 7:00 Combat tutorial
- 12:39 Misc tutorials (fighting the first Sabertusks, Garula and Magitek troops)
- 24:30 Tracking Deadeye + stealth section
- 41:47 The plan and failure
- 55:30 Visiting Wiz’ chocobo post
- 1:04:50 Visiting the Goblin cave and obtaining summon
- 1:27:40 Going back to Deadeye and throwing just to summon
- 1:33:00 Getting the 4th sword (I get it here rather than at the start so that I’m doing e.g. the Goblin cave without being OP)
- 1:34:40 Fixing the car, ending the demo including the spoilery bits

Postgame, involving
- 1:42:30 Levelling to 46 (so, a LOT of combat)
- 3:08:50 Beating Deadeye without using the summon, items, or excessive cover to regenerate MP.

I kept a running timer while doing the postgame and broke off to fight Deadeye when I figured the fight would bring the two halves roughly to equal length.

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For quick-navigation, here are some of the more interesting combat encounters:
- 30:50 - Basic Sabertusk pack - warp-flinch is your friend, as is preemptively vanquishing to save time
- 48:10 - Garula pack with Magitek troops dropping in - near-flawless swapping between offensive and defensive
- 58:20 - Saberclaw pack without food buff - it gets a little tedious but shows that parries are actually predictable before the animation begins if you pay attention to positioning
- 1:11:47 - Lots of goblins
- 1:15:00 - Lots of goblins EP2 Revenge of the Armiger
POSTGAME
(Most of the other postgame combat encounters are worth watching for different reasons)
- 1:44:35 - A fight where I end up bailing because no food buffs is terrible
- 2:34:30 - is one of the more interesting prolonged encounters, complete with bugs.
- 2:46:20 - wat lol. MORE BUGS. Oh well, since combat is the point of this runthrough, I abort.

Further opinion and verdict here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=157528282&postcount=7851

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