Platinum Demo - Some thoughts before release
0the purported x amount of polygons dedicated for Noctis's hair. Worth it.
Just getting some stuff off my mind before XV gets released. I'm kinda losing interest with it, mainly due to how different it is now as compared to when it was supposed to be Versus XIII some many many years ago.
The point of this departure, or trigger I should say, is when in the announced 1st hour gameplay shown recently where - and in my own interpretation - ...
"The death of a king and father you didn't have a chance to apologise or say farewell because he sent you away for your safety and avoid watching him die. Quest complete!"
...Way to ruin the moment there guys! In a short way of saying things...
In Versus XIII, the world was presented to have a grim undertone yet grounded in reality. Now we have flying car and squeaky Moogle toy. The world of XV, polished to a sheen but is not the slightest bit lively as compared the flat paintings of VIII or IX.
Old Noctis had the typical FF emo main character feel, but I kinda feel that it works, being a prince in a modern world in which royalty has direct influence in the kingdom, and that his personality may stem from growing up into the role/responsibility he may or may not want or is ready for. New Noctis has the superstar syndrome, nonchalantly accepting delighted gasps and fanfare wherever he goes, an entourage to deal with trivial matters (except some side-quests where the game designers see fit that Noctis himself is most appropriate to negotiate and/or procure info), and he's just kinda nonchalant about his birthright as well.
The old king was the most charismatic old character I've seen designed, a straight up man-in-suit look giving off a stern personality, a hard shell with a soft care Noctis may have subconsciously inherited as the distance between father and son grew further as familial bond often do etc etc... Now he looks like a homeless man attaching pieces of cloths and metals on him with an unkempt facial hair to boot. Somehow having to look physically stressed kinda plays down the whole burden on a king the game is trying to emphasise on him. And what's with him sitting on the throne burning his hand like a street magician in the Kingsglaive promotional trailers?
His entourage are all just typical archetype of single personalities - loyal, brute, and stupid. All of which just happen to like this spoiled brat the way he was, is and going to become. Somehow I don't get the feeling that any conflict will arise from deep seeded resentment, because bromance ya'll. Fist bumps cure all pain, physical and emotional.
Although I hate XIII for it's gameplay, I liked that it (hopefully) marked the point of departure from the Cosmos-Chaos mythology FFs have been building their world from. This new convoluted belief system really gave another layer of depth to a fictional world, as any such system do, even in reality. And the more convoluted the better. XIII made the mistake of making it a central plot element rather than a background influence to player's perception of the world. Agito XIII, even after it became Type-0, fulfilled its original role in the compilation to somewhat introduce Lindzei. Versus XIII was supposed to focus on Etro, and it doesn't seem to be much traces of her left in XV now from what I can see. I see only titans and their magnificent gigantic ass...ets.
Gameplay, or more specifically, combat is what I'm only interested in now. XV is implementing a very fresh combo system that delegates the commands primarily into starter, filler, finisher, counter and aerial. It is sth I've not seen done before (at least to this scale) and may just pioneer a new system for others to cheaply follow. Although it's very rough at the moment. Manoeuvrability is still very rigid for my taste, or at least when compared to Kingdom Hearts.
In the past, when Versus XIII was first scrapped, I had thoughts that the game would not live up to the trailer anyway and they'd better off make a movie instead, improving upon what they achieved with Advent Children. Well, they made both, and Kingsglaive was very definitely not what I had in mind.
By the way, what happened to "the eyes that see dying light"? That was removed as well I assume?
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