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killscreencinema · 6 years ago

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Final Fantasy XV (PlayStation 4)

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A Final Fantasy for fans and first timers... is the first words we’re greeted by as we boot up Final Fantasy XV, ya know, the one with a hunky all male cast of four who look like a K-pop band.

Though, to be fair, as far as equality in sexual objectification is concerned, it doesn’t take long before absurdly scantily clad ladies show up in the game in the form of Cindy, a friendly auto mechanic, with a distinct Southern twang, and a penchant for prominently displaying her decolletage*; and Aranea Highwind, a Dragoon and, I can only assume from her outfit, S&M enthusiast.

*To elaborate on this point, Cindy has a tendency to move in very unnatural ways during conversation, such as bending or leaning forward, like she’s practicing her Maxim cover pose, which serves no other purpose than give the player a good look at her cleavage. While this is an unfortunately common trope in anime and video games, it bugs me... not because for SJW reasons, more because NOBODY MOVES LIKE THIS!

Anywhoozles, I guess my point is that before this game was released, it seemed like there was a lot of bitching about the main boy band cast, but let Cindy and Aranea serve as reminders that Final Fantasy XV is an anomaly in an industry that normally caters predominantly to straight males.

End of rant - on with the review!

Final Fantasy XV, released by Square Enix in 2016, starts off with the main character, Noctis, crown prince of the kingdom of Lucia, setting off on a road trip with his buddies... his entourage if you will... as one last hurrah before he gets married to the lovely Lunafreya. While gone, though, the capital city of Insomnia is attacked by the evil Niflheim Empire, the king is assassinated, and a power Crystal is stolen for an unknown, likely destructive, purpose. To retaliate against the Empire, Noctis and friends travel the countryside in search of the Royal Arms, powerful relics left by previous Lucian kings, as well as the blessings of the godlike Astrals in order to gain their assistance in the battle ahead.

Say what you will about the bro-ness of it all, the plot is nice and simple, with a fairly clear goal and memorable if somewhat archetypal characters. Noctis is the reluctant hero with a destiny; Ignis is the snoody intellectual; Gladio is the surly tough guy; and Prompto is the wisecracking lovable loser - the “Ducky” of the group, if I can borrow a reference to Pretty in Pink that only people may age will maybe get. We’ve seen these characters in hundreds of other stories, but darn it if these protagonists don’t have a charming dynamic with each other that makes bantering fun to listen to (although it gets repetitive as they’ll often repeat the same conversation loops throughout the game - I can’t tell how many times I’ve heard Prince Noctis suddenly whine that it’s too hot before Gladio curtly replies, “Then lose the jacket.”).

The only character I didn’t feel worked as well is the villain Ardyn. He looks douchey enough, with his MRA fedora and an outfit that looks like a Goodwill vomited on him, but I never felt like I had a clear understanding of his motives nor his connection to Noctis, until its the information is dumped at the climax of the game, and even then, I could barely hear what the hell anyone was saying because the music drowned out the dialogue. What I could glean of Ardyn’s motivation seemed kind of weak though. The moment you meet Ardyn, he seems like a harmless weirdo who wants to help, but everyone in the Noctis’ party is immediately wary of his intentions for no real reason except the video game knows he’s the villain. I feel like reveals such as this are more effective the closer the villain is personally to the protagonist. Had Ardyn been a trusted chancellor of Noctis’ father, and even a beloved mentor for the prince, masquerading as an ally and one of the few survivors of the Imperial attack, only to betray Noctis as a crucial moment (along the lines of what happens in Altissa that seals the deal as far as Ardyn’s role in the story goes), then I would have felt more investment in this conflict. Such as it is, I didn’t really give a shit and that’s kind of where the story slowly fell apart for me.

What I did enjoy all the way through was the gameplay. This entry of Final Fantasy dispenses with turn-based combat altogether, instead leaning hard into full-on real time fighting reminiscent of Kingdom Hearts. While it’s fast paced and fun, the Final Fantasy fanboy in me still misses the good ol’ fashion slap fight combat the series was built on. I certainly hope this style of fighting isn’t going to be what we get for the FF7 remake.

One of my favorite aspects of the combat is how summons work in the game. As you build alliances with Astrals, you can call on them during battles to assist you with a massive attack so powerful it leaves total devastation in the surrounding environment (which is a beautiful touch). However, you can summon them at will, as the option to summon them only pops up if you meet certain requirements during battle. For example, if Noctis’ HP is critical and the battle has been going on too long, you may or may not get the option to summon Ramuh (the wizardy lightening god). While it’s good that the player can’t use these summons whenever they want, as it would GREATLY Nerf the challenge level of the game (these attacks will often end any boss fight instantly), it’s also rather frustrating figuring out how to trigger the summon if only so you can see the cool animation. Thank goodness for YouTube, I guess!

I really dug the familiar modern aesthetics of our world mixed with a fantasy setting of Lucis. This is nothing new in the Final Fantasy series, as both Final Fantasy 7, and to a larger degree FF8, both effectively achieved this mix. Speaking of which, the overall throwback to earlier FF games are nice, such as the idea of an evil Empire equipped with magical technology that they use to dominate the world ala Final Fantasy VI (my personal favorite of the games btw). Seeing Magitek engines and troops with modern graphics almost makes me pine for a remake of Final Fantasy VI... though I worry such a thing might take the magic out the experience of playing the 16-bit game.

Anyway, while I liked the world of FF 15... I feel like we barely scrape the surface of it. Whereas in nearly every game in the series you are eventually able to travel the entire world at will, visiting every nook and cranny, with Final Fantasy XV, you’re limited to Noctis’ kingdom of Lucis, a watery Venice-like city called Altissa, and... that’s about it. It just feels very, very... small. Also there are invisible barriers, and in a post-BOTW world, this is unacceptable. Granted this game was probably already nearly complete by the time of Breath of the Wild’s release, nevertheless, games like Skyrim and the entire Elder Scrolls series existed and had little to no invisible barriers. So my point is this: invisible barriers are obsolete. If you consider you game “open world”, artificial barriers shouldn’t exist. I should be able to jump my Chocobo over a goddamn road barrier like I’m Evil fucking Kenieval, not suddenly have my leap impeded by nothing, forcing me to find a more inconvenient, circuitous route to my destination.

Anyway, once you begin getting used to the overworld, at some point during the story, the game thrusts you on “rails” and it’s good-bye open world, hello unwelcome Final Fantasy XIII style corridor gameplay. You can go back to the open world at any point, but that doesn’t make finishing the game any less of a tedious slog. The game’s momentum comes to a HUGE halt once Noctis is completely separated from his friends and is left wandering the bland, dark corridors of an Imperial lab for what feels like a goddamn eternity.

So I guess what I’m saying is Final Fantasy XV, an otherwise excellent game, really shits the bed at the climax, but is ultimately still worth checking out.

#final fantasy #final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #noctis #gladio #prompto #ignis #rpg #jrpg #role playing games #square enix #ps4 #playstation 4 #sony #video games

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oraculideluna · 6 years ago

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Just out of curiosity if you could have any ships on Luna which ones would you be most interested in exploring? Actually relationships in general platonic and romantic, are there any you really want to explore?

Hello there, Anon!

I’m generally open to exploring anything that seems like it could have chemistry and would work. I have a ship that’s a crossover between XV and the Stormlight Archive book series, and it’s one that maybe doesn’t seem like it should work at first, but me and the other mun have put in some serious time and dedication to not only building up the characters’ relationship, but also making the two worlds merge into one in a way that makes sense and is really interesting. I’m not saying I need that level of dedication (I put 150+ hours into a book series to help make it work better xD), but it’s an example of chemistry and communication that I really love in a ship.

So I really am open to various ships if we think it can work, even if they’re crossover or AU.

As for some I’m looking for? Well…like I’ve said before, I sometimes have reservations over openly posting things about particular ships because I would hate for someone to think that I’m writing with them purely for the purpose of shipping, or that I’m expecting them to ship with me. That is never the case. I will never autoship save on very rare occasions (like on my multi, I write a married woman, and if an RPer of her husband came along, that’s one I’d discuss an autoship with).

That said! Here are some I’ve been wanting. And these don’t have to be romantic. While the romance and intimacy are stellar parts of a ship, close friendships cannot be understated and are every bit as valid and wonderful and heartbreakingly beautiful. But anyway, here goes the list:

Gladiolus. Since shortly after I picked up Luna, I’ve realized that Gladio is the kind of man that she’s attracted to. Not just on a physical level, but what she’s seen of his personality, how he carries himself, that he isn’t afraid to be casual with people. I think also, to a degree, he could be someone who could help convince Luna that she isn’t just her destiny. Yes, it’s what she needs to follow through with, but she maybe doesn’t need to be so selfless along the way. She’s allowed to have a bit of fun, she’s allowed to take a break, she’s allowed to tell people ‘no’. I think these two would be very fun and interesting, and I think they’d balance each other out well.

Ignis. I might be a little biased because I used to write with an Ignis back in 2016 that was amazing and who I had a lot of writing chemistry with, but this ship is so interesting to me. They’re both so alike in a lot of ways, but just different enough that it would be neat to see how they influence and how they enable each other. They’d be a bit more proper in public, courtly, elegant, perhaps a hint mischievous (because I’ve seen a lot of Ignis writers, and all of them have a cheeky side). But I think, when alone, there’s the possible dynamic of both of them learning to tear down propriety, shedding decorum as they remove jewelry and coats and layers until they’re just people.

I’m always a bit torn on Prompto for a ship because, while I adore the idea, I also think they’d make better friends. Not saying I’m against the idea of shipping with him, I’d still definitely be down for exploring it. As a friendship or a ship, though, they’d bring a lot of good out in each other. She isn’t judgmental and he’s so playful, and I don’t think they’d have too many reservations about being vulnerable with each other. They could really be a lot of fun together.

Nyx. Oh god, I’m such a softie for Nyx. I love that man, and I’ve seen so many incredible Nyx writers around. I’d love to continue exploring a relationship with him, platonic or romantic (though the romance is wonderful).

I’ve got partners for a few other ships (Noctis and Ardyn specifically), but these are ones I’ve been actively wanting to explore further. I’ve also seen a bit of Aranea and Luna, and Cindy and Luna, and I think they could have a lot of potential, but I’d really need to find writing partners of those characters to see how it could even develop.

Also! I have so many other verses! My FFVIII and FFX verses are probably the ones that see the most action outside of my main XV verse, and while I’ve had a couple ships come and go in VIII, I’ve had none in X, and those are some verses I’d love to dive deeper into with friends and romantic relationships. Or any of my verses really! Some aren’t as active, like VII and XII, but gosh, my Mad Max verse, Detroit: Become Human, Kingsman - I don’t have particular characters in mind for those, but they’d be awesome to really be able to dive into more.

#Anonymous #° Answers #(this got a little long winded - sorry about that!)#(this isn't very concise but covers the basics I guess ahaha)#(feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!)

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nautilusopus · 6 years ago

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AU where FF15 is good but FF7 is really bad

15 was so so close to being good and understanding what made VII/IX/whatever work. Like, they looked at it and went, “roadtrip friendships. Got it.” And then just threw in exactly that without actually writing any of the stuff that would normally go with a friendship or a road trip.

Like, have you ever read a fic where five chapters in, a couple just kinda turns up? And not even one of the well-established couples, either – some off the wall shit where the characters don’t even know the other exists in canon. And the author just dumps this on you out of the blue, and then proceeds to act as though of course this pairing makes sense, and thus doesn’t explain a goddamn thing about what’s going on as they continue to exchange sweet nothings and pecks on the cheek as though nothing is out of the ordinary. You, not giving a rat’s ass about ships in general and having clicked on the fic in the first place for its premise, try not to let it concern you too much, but as the ship starts eating up more and more screentime, you start getting a little frustrated that you’re not being given anything to justify it. And I don’t mean justify as in “BUT IN EPISODE 30 IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT BUTTERCAT/SENTIENT COFFEE FILTER WAS CANON, EVERYONE KNOWS HE VIEWS CRABCAKE-KUN AS A SIBLING FIGURE” nonsense, I mean justify as in, since this relationship’s kind of whipped up wholecloth, how did these people meet? What drew them to one another? How did they realise they loved one another? (And no, “her smile lit up the whole room and they knew she was the one” does not fucking count.) The whole point of shipping with something like this is to explore all these what-if questions and actually getting to directly create this dynamic themselves. Why would you make the ship and then not do that? What are you even doing at this point? Just slapping two people together for the aesthetic? That could have been interesting, why are you avoiding what seems to be your own premise? Maybe I wanted to see what led up to all this, XxX_stephanie_ff_luvver38_XxX! Maybe I wanted the dirt on Buttercat/Empty Gum Wrapper-san and its development within the context of the story! Did you ever think of that? Huh?

Final Fantasy XV is like this, but for an entire game.

They go to the trouble of writing these four guys implied to have a lot of history with each other that led to them being as close as they are, but that’s just it – it’s only ever implied. It’s so much easier to just imply than it is to go through the trouble of having your protagonists meet, and grow fond of one another, and take the audience through an emotional arc with them as we see them change and grow with each other for the better, AKA all the good parts of seeing a cool friendship roadtrip. And it’s worse than it would be if it were just a fanfic, because if you have a well-established enough relationship, whether it was romantic or not, then at the very least there you can get away with not fleshing anything out, because whatever it’s Cloud and Zack, we know who they are and why they like each other, let’s fast-forward to the part where they’re making out. XV is an original property and everything that the audience is going to know about it is going to be in the game. You can’t fast-forward to the good part because there’s nothing to fast-forward from but a shitty-writing-because-this-game-was-in-development-for-over-a-decade-and-it-shows-shaped void. They sell their game on Friendship Roadtrip Back To The Basics, and then just skipped to the end result because they didn’t want to have to actually resolve any arcs that they started, because they couldn’t start any arcs, because aaaaa shit this game ships tomorrow and it’s already November and we’re two months overdue just push it out we’ll put the backstories in DLC they’ll never notice shhhhhh – and more importantly, because they’ve learned they don’t actually need to, because the fans are happy with basically whatever and have collectively switched off their quality relationship filters since they’re just gonna write fic filling in the blanks anyway. Just look at Crisis Core, or literally any Kingdom Hearts game after Chain of Memories. It has all the grand gestures and emotional beats of something important happening, with no actual payoff. Prompto’s “surprise I’m a clone now let’s never speak of this again” is the most egregious example of this, with Luna’s “romance” and Ignis going blind offscreen and being whatever about it being close contenders as well. All “ clever speshul plot bombshells”, no actual significance towards the characters themselves or even the narrative in general. And don’t even get me started on the female characters, you assholes had this figured out all the way back in FFV, this isn’t hard.

So basically what I’m saying is that Final Fanatsy XV was written by Steven Moffat OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

#asks #fifteen #and i get that not ALL of this is tabata's fault #square's upper management is kinda awful iirc #but christ this thing is broken on a much deeper level than something a better development cycle could have fixed #Anonymous

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somnusvincitomnia · 6 years ago

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SHIPPING INFO !! Answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?: It’s more of an ot4, but I think polyship roadtrip/chocobrot4 is both my favorite and also inherent to how I play my character & how I see their dynamics. Regardless of who in particular I’m playing with or who I ship Noct with, I write him as having had some degree of feelings for all three of his friends (and Luna, tbh). Polyamory doesn’t always work/happen and because I don’t have a lot of shared verses yet on this blog, most of my threads that are headed in a ship direction/are shippy are for 1x1 pairs- but I still see Noctis as having or having had feelings for all of them, and (in non-ot4 situations) putting them aside to try and focus on making one partner happy. (Or, as it sometimes is in the case of Promptis- Gladio and Ignis already being in a relationship, and Noctis not wanting to disrupt/intrude on their feelings for each other, so sharing his romantic partnership with Prompto and simply admiring Gladio & Ignis/their happiness with each other from afar) I just feel like he loves them all so much! Who he is as a person is shaped by how deeply he loves all three of them, and while I adore the individual ships I think the concept of Noctis being able to pick a favorite/romantically loving one but not the others just isn’t plausible to him. It’s just whether the relationship works out or whether he’s willing to act on those feelings that changes verse to verse.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: A pretty broad range of stuff. While I adore a good, healthy, loving ship, I’m also both willing and interested in exploring the unhealthy, the messy, the unrequited, etc. I- so far- have mostly focused on small-scale mess on this blog- mutual feelings that are unable to be acted upon for propriety’s sake, leftover feelings that are unresolved between two trauma survivors who never expected to live this long, the uncomfortable question of consent and power dynamic in a situation where a lover is appointed by one’s birthright, etc. But I’m also perfectly willing to work with downright unhealthy ships, manipulation, gaslighting, abuse, you name it. It requires a little more trust between partners, but ultimately I like exploring every aspect of relationships, good and bad. I actually tend to prefer a little drama to pure, happy fluff! I think the ideal state of a thread for me is bittersweet- they’re in love, but ___. That being said, I have some boundaries! My rules page covers most of them, but they’re mostly common squicks/triggers- I also generally discuss what I am and am not willing to do with partners OOC before we get into any ship situation, so I’m always willing to have someone approach and ask, so that at the very least I can give an honest yes or no!

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?:

two thousand years is still within range so Honestly, it’s character dependent. There are some characters well within Noct’s age range I’m uncomfortable shipping him with, and some outside of it that I am. In general, I’m completely uninterested in shipping him with anyone in his father’s retinue- so Weskham, Clarus, Cor, etc, but this is more about history and his view on them than about age gap. On the other hand, Ardyn is still on the table for sheer interest in the chaotic, messy, awful dynamic there. In the other direction, I won’t ship him (at his canon age of 20) with anyone younger than 18-19. 20 is not terribly much older than an 18 year old, but I’m still more inclined to ship him with characters who are 19+. While I do like post-canon Noct/Iris, it’s a hell of a lot different for a 25 year old and a 30 yo than it is a 15 and 20 yo. But in AUs where he is younger- pre-canon, or (for example) the Hero Academia AU, I’m willing to ship him with classmates or peers the same age as him.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: Absolutely, but I’m highly selective when roleplaying, too. Overall I need a good OOC and IC dynamic before I ship, because... well, first and foremost because I want someone who it’s fun to discuss (read: scream about) our ship with. I’m also a slow burn bitch, so I prefer a nice buildup or at least a good amount of IC exchanges/asks & ooc talk before we ship.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NS/FW?: Honestly I would say the moment a character makes any mention of/reference to being turned on. I’m pretty cautious with my NSFW tagging, so once things look vaguely heavy, I’ll at least stick a “mild nsfw” tag on there.

WHO ARE THE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?: I have a pretty broad range of them, but the main ones are: Prompto, Ignis, Gladio, Luna, (25 y/o) Iris. I can also be persuaded to like him with Cindy or Aranea, depending on the interaction and buildup. Aside from that, it’s all based on interaction! I can like him with anyone, including OCs and/or crossover ships, if we have a good dynamic!

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: Definitely. It’s absolutely fine to have characters flirt or make advances and/or send in romantic memes without asking- but before presuming romantic reciprocation or relationship I definitely like to talk OOC about it. All the ships I have going/building right now came from talking OOC about them! It’s a great way to figure out what you want out of the ship and how to build it.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: Despite Noctis’s feelings for the others being a central component to his character, I think I prefere a good exploration over pure fluff/pure shippy stuff. Almost all the ship threads I have/ships I have on this blog focus on exploring both characters rather than focusing on the happy or sexy aspects of a relationship. It’s super fun writing some kinds of fluff, but I get a little worn out if it’s more than a little kissing/cuddling/sweetly making macaroni together or whatever. Gotta have conflict, internal or external!

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: Definitely. Well, first and foremost I play Noctis as poly, so IC he’s comfortable with the idea of multiple partners, and OOC I like lots of different ships and dynamics! I am a little hesitant about shipping with multiple iterations of the same character- not because I don’t like shipping with multiples, but because it can be kind of hard to come up with multiple unique scenarios for them to interact/get together/etc and I worry about ideas from different threads bleeding into each other. But if I think the dynamic is right and if they mesh well, I’m down for that too!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: I gotta say chocobrot4 again!! I just want all of them to be happy. Together. And kiss. Because they all love each other.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: 1.) begin playing with me (send meme/approach on messenger/starter call/etc) 2.) have characters interact 3.) ask if i am interested in shipping 4.) ????? 5.) profit

Tagged by: @lustralium Tagging: @bestchocobro @floweringeclipse @edenslostwallflower @descientia @silenceisgoaded @ravusnightblossom @oraculideluna and uhhhh thats all that tumblr auto suggested i tag so im gonna also say anyone else who sees this and wants to tag me!

#op #answered #meme #tag meme #shipping #shipping info #ooc

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moonraccoon-exe · 7 years ago

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I've seen a few people calling Gladio abusive because of the train scene (I personally think it's bs but to each their own.) what are your thoughts?

Hallo! Thank you for the question! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

I have always and will always defend Gladio regarding that train scene.

We must consider some important factors:

1. Repressed feelings/Coping Mechanisms (main reason to me)

2. His duty/role in the story.

3. Lack of understanding/Stereotypes.

Honestly, I don’t think the three points can be described as separated because they all have to merge in one, so here is what I see and think about Gladio, his psyche, and the train scene.

Gladio is a man that was raised not only as a soldier, but under the concept of having to be the best soldier of the world, because it’s expected from him to be this unmovable wall, this unhumanly, impossibly strong and un-defeatable thing. I don’t know if you people know how soldiers are trained, but they’re basically trained to be cold-minded, to not lose the head, and to not let emotions overtake, so they can think 100% with the brain and 0% with the heart.

Gladio was not only trained this way, he was raised this way; we see him laugh and be playful, but that’s outside of duty. Within it, it’s always the head cool and never panicking (except for that bit in Episode Ignis when he “freaked out” because Ignis was not answering through the com).

We see it in that small freak out, I’ll talk about it later.

All in all, Gladio’s into this philosophy of “duty now, feelings later”. We can take as long as we want in-game to do stuff, but I think that canon story is all one event after the other, no breaks in between (only the necessary stops, etc.). Knowing this, I have the idea that Gladio never gave himself a chance to mourn.

We see Noctis mourn and feel bad onscreen shortly after Insomnia’s Fall and Regis’ death, but not Gladio, or any of the guys; however, Prompto does have his breakdown in his episode, as does Ignis (of sorts), but not Gladio; his episode is not self discovery and emotions, he was looking for a way to become strong for Noctis; for his duty. Always his duty, always his duty, Gladio’s centered and focused 100% in his duty through the game because he has to.

He says it himself during Titan’s trail; “when you can’t focus, I do it for you”. It doesn’t mean he’s being selfish and a cocky idiot; he’s saying that it’s his duty to focus when Noctis can’t, not something he masters, but something he’s forced to attend to.

So all the time it’s “Focus, focus, focus”, not a moment for emotions.

Let’s see, from Gladio’s perspective, all the shocking events that anyone would mourn but he didn’t:

Insomnia’s Fall. His father’s death. His king’s death. The loss of his homeland. The stress of not knowing Iris’ state (for a few days). Jared’s loss, which has to be particularly and majorly heavy for Gladio, as Jared was the Amicitia butler, and he most probably knew Gladio ever since Gladio was born, let’s say a second father or even a grandfather figure. Altissia in chaos. Lunafreya’s death.

And what I think finished affecting him, Ignis’ injury.

I don’t mean this as “omg they love each other” (which they do, just in a brotherly way). This has two sides, 1. the feelings for Ignis and 2. the personal side.

On a side, of course it would affect him to find his friend heavily injured, almost in agony, and then see him lose sight. It mustn’t be easy for anyone, to watch a dear one go through such tragedy. There’s a chart that shows the kind of relationships between the four bros individually, and Gladio’s with Ignis’ was something the sorts of “The person that understands the situation as I do”; they understand each other, and the dynamic and interaction feels like they’re best friends the way Noctis and Prompto are, if just not as bouncy and hyperactive and funny, rather serious and quieter.

Watching and living through a dear friend’s, a dear brother’s tragedy, it must be terrific. Because death can’t be helped, but to watch someone lose sight? And someone so dear to him.

And then the “selfish” side; imagine being tasked since you’re born with the only single one duty of protecting, saving and aiding the life of someone else, and watch someone else do it for you. Imagine being tasked with the only one duty of making sacrifices for one person, and watch someone dear to him do it in your place, right after you thought you were strong enough to do it yourself.

I don’t mean Gladio was angered that Ignis made bigger sacrifices, on the opposite; I think it must have destroyed Gladio.

“It was supposed to be me, not you” not a canon phrase, but one that I think must have gone through Gladio’s head a million times. He was supposed to die for Noctis, not Lunafreya. He was supposed to put the ring on, not Ignis. He was supposed to have been injured and face the Chancellor, not Ignis. He was supposed to be the one losing sight, not Ignis, not Ignis, never Ignis.

Because Gladio was raised with that idea, that he’s living just to keep Noctis safe and to go through all the hells and heavens and earths to keep him safe. So to acknowledge that he almost let Noctis die, and he didn’t because a dear friend made a huge sacrifice for him, and watch both of them at your feet, while you’re entirely unharmed?

Gladio must have been dealing with huge guilt, an enormous guilt, guilt in measures we cannot comprehend.

So we add all the previous events to the massive guilt and the struggle of watching a dear friend going through his own tragedy.

And it doesn’t take a genius to know sooner or later he had to explode.

I like to compare our emotions or “soul” to a glass of water, and each problem or tragedy etc. is a drop (or many drops, depending on the situation). Gladio’s trained to keep the water inside, calm and cool, where everyone else drops the water at times before it’s full. So Gladio naturally, whether consciously or not, started keeping all inside, a drop for each event, and half a drop for each that that he didn’t give proper care to the glass.

Until his glass was full to the top. Full to the very top, unable to take a single drop of water more.

So it’s as soon as something else happens, as soon as the tiniest of events happens, that the glass spills the content. Because even if it was a tiny, stupid, unimportant drop of water, it was the last drop of water, the only one necessary to spill the entire glass’ content.

And that’s what happens to Gladio. He has his glass full for major events, and it’s a minor one that drops it.

Its name? Noctis not putting the ring on.

Let’s retake it; Gladio has been repressing an enormous quantity of negative emotions within himself for the sake of his duty, until he became full.

So it’s not that the fact that Noctis hadn’t put the ring on what makes Gladio so angry; it’s not because of one thing, it’s because of a thousand things that were triggered by only one. Gladio talking about the ring is only the tip of the iceberg; the real thing is all under the water and out of everyone’s sights, at least out of the sight of the people that are not comprehensive or understanding enough to go further the things that are said and cannot read the subtext.

Noctis not putting the ring on was not an excuse, but it also wasn’t the only motif or reason for him to explode the way he did; it’s everything he had been carrying, hiding behind the mask of only one fact.

And here’s where enters the part of stereotypes.

We are so used to have a stereotype for each emotion that we think they’re all the same and we all react the same. We immediately link emotions to other words that we can’t get out of the zone of stereotype and into the zone of understanding and we think we all react and feel the same. We hear “sadness” and we think we all cry. We hear joy and we all think we all smile or laugh. We hear anger and we all think we yell. We hear fear and we all think we shake.

And honestly that’s not that; those are common factors that are shared among the great majority of people, but we don’t stop to understand that it’s always on different levels, different ways, and sometimes it’s not even that. There’s people that laugh when they’re scared, people who go mute and can just walk around when they’re joyful, the world is so big and vast and humankind is so unique and different and special and we’re all so different that not two people among the billions of them will ever feel the same way.

My happiness will never feel the same than yours, nor my sadness, nor my anger, and any other emotion. We can comprehend each other’s emotions but we can’t truly understand them because they’re a personal experience and only we know how we experiment them and how we feel them and how we demonstrate them.

So everyone sees Gladio raging out and screaming, frowning and shoving faces, that what we think immediately is “He’s angry”. And yes, yes, he’s fucking angry, but an emotion can be a way to demonstrate another emotion. So yes, Gladio’s angry, but we never stop to think that his anger is only the way to express other things.

I learned in a course of psychology during high school that anger is only the way to hide sadness. I’m angry at you because you were late, and it made me angry because it hurt me to feel you don’t care, which makes me sad. I’m angry at the world’s homophobia, and I’m angry because I can’t believe this much hatred exists, and it makes me sad. I’m angry at my mom for not coming to my birthday party, and I’m angry about it because I wanted her to be here and it hurt that she didn’t come (these are all merely examples).

Yes, I’m angry that you’re not putting that ring on, and it makes me angry because you’re not filling your duty when others have made huge sacrifices so you do, and honestly it hurts to see the position you’re in, the position I’m in, the position he’s in, and I feel like I’m failing you, so please do your duty because I’ve been standing a thousand hells this far for you and I can’t stand to see I couldn’t do it right and have failed you.

Things change, hm?

I think Gladio feels like he failed Noctis because Noctis is not acting as he should be doing it, and instead of feeling it’s all on Noctis, Gladio, who was tasked with making Noctis succeed, sees him fail and doesn’t see him fail but sees himself fail. Because if Noctis failed it’s only because Gladio failed (this thought, in his head).

So we add all that we know, Insomnia, Regis, Clarus, Jared, Iris, Ignis, Lunafreya, his own failure, all into one, and then one tiny fact is added, of course there’s only so much one person can take.

Back to the emotions and stereotypes, I meant to say that we all think of the word “sad” and we think everyone cries, but honestly everyone has their own way of showing sadness. There’s some that hide it, some that stay quiet, some that furiously cry, some that silently cry, some that decide to vent it into punching things, etc.

Gladio’s way of expressing sadness may as well be screaming and hiding behind anger. Because that’s how he was taught to react; no time to cry, just punch things and yell. So, considering he grew up into the philosophy of a cool, dead head, and making the terribly mixture of it with a huge, enormous repressing of emotions, he becomes conflicted, he wants to cry but his brain has no idea how to do that, and what is the only other door that’s open? Anger. So all that Gladio has to cry, he shows it through anger instead. Because that’s his sadness, different from everyone else’s, because I insist none of us show or feel the emotions the same way.

Noctis not putting the ring on probably did upset him, yes, and it annoyed him, but it was more the trigger and excuse than the entire view of his rage. Gladio’s not abusive or exaggerating or an idiot for screaming at Noctis for something that may seem so trivial; what he talks about is only the trigger, the tip of the iceberg. The real thing hides underneath and behind.

Usually, when we have a trigger of these sorts, we end up going back to the real reason even if just indirectly.

It happens a lot to me with my mom. She’s a bit explosive as well, and I’m super understanding about this issue of people’s emotions and not digging into stereotypes, and I tend to listen very well, so I’m usually her target when she wants to rant about something. And one day you can see her getting upset at me for something like not washing a fork, and three minutes into her rage, she’s talking about why her brothers don’t support or help her when she needs it.

It has nothing to do with the fork. If I wasn’t as understanding as I am, I’d think all the outrage was towards me, against me, because of the fork. But I know the fork was only her trigger, and the real reason goes deeper and into other things.

And what does Gladio say?

He starts talking about the ring, but then, a bit out of place without being too out of place “Ignis took one for you too, and for what!?”

Hm? *wiggles eyebrows*

And you know why my mom usually rages at me (without insulting or harming me in any way)? Because she knows I understand, I never yell back, and because she trusts me.

It’s easy for emotions to break free without your consent in front of people you trust.

So Gladio’s outrage doesn’t only mean he was sad, frustrated and scared, it can also speak about his trust into Noctis. Honestly, if he wouldn’t believe in him, he wouldn’t have given a damn about the ring. But he wants Noctis to grow as a mature king and fill his role and be responsible and he knows he can do it, so that Noctis is not doing it angers him because he knows he can, and it just triggered him.

Besides, Gladio grows with this idea that he has to be some sort of mentor and guide for Noctis, his protector, the brotherly figure that should be wise and that will “focus when Noctis can’t”. So the adviser having the moral down in the dumps, and Prompto having no official duty, Gladio must feel, consciously or not, that it’s on his hands to take the reins and do something, and he wants to put Noctis in his place and be the main column to keep things up.

But Gladio, by this point, is so frustrated himself. Imagine trying to lift everyone’s spirits when honestly you don’t want to or can’t. Of course it turns into frustration, because he knows what’s needed but he doesn’t have it, but no one else has it, so he tries to force himself to it, and only ends up more angered and frustrated, and his attempt to lecture Noctis turns into an argument.

And just a friendly reminder: GLADIO IS ONLY 23 YEARS OLD. Nobody can expect him to be the wisest or anything. They’re all stupidly young, so young and put into situations that would freak anyone of any age out, especially someone their age, because they’re past the “I don’t understand, so I face it fearlessly” stage and the “I understand fully and have experience enough to face it” stage,t hey’re right in the middle, where they understand perfectly the risks and the problems, but don’t know how to deal with them.

Gladio’s 23. He’s young, he’s hot-headed at times, of course, of course. It happens. People in the early twenties still don’t know where and how to go, we’re not wise or mature enough yet as much as we think we are, and situations as hard and heavy as the guys face, of course it’ll throw them off-guard and out their knowledge and reach.

To be honest, I think that to be so young, he did excepcionally good, incredibly excellent, facing everything.

Having one breakdown is just natural and logical, and it doesn’t take any credit from him. It was fair; he had gone through the journey wise and strong, much wiser and stronger than anyone should ask from someone his age. So a breakdown was very well deserved.

Thing is people don’t understand that “breakdown” is not only crying, it can also be anger, and it won’t stop being a breakdown. Different demonstrations, same thing.

And even though I’m sure I’m forgetting something because I always post stuff forgetting about the best damn arguments or parts, this is what I think of Gladio’s outrage in the train, why I understand and support and love it, and why I think it’s natural and very well needed.

I love you, Gladio.

#coon thoughts #coon replies #i will forever defend you gladio #you're a soft teddy bear of a man #a complex human being #and you deserve three times the love you're getting #you poor thing #if it had been ignis yelling at him nobody would have batted an eyelash #but because it was the big tough guy everyone loses the head #but if gladio had cried instead #he'd be tagged as weak #WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE #LET MEN HAVE EMOTIONS

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leorugiet · 8 years ago

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☢ Are there any ships that you would like to write for one day? Any that you wouldn't?

Questions for the Mun

(*sees this question*

*my thirst multishiping ass* sWEATS

I love almost all ships! Platonic, romantic, sexual, even toxic, I just love the aspect of playing out how exactly a character’s relationship would go. Ones that interest me are probably Cor x Luna, Cor x Gladio, Cor x Noctis, Cor x Ignis, Cor x Drautos, Cor x Nyx, Cor x Loqi adsfdgfhgjhkj, SO MANY, I didn’t include ones like, Cor x Prompto, Ardyn, Aranea, because I’ve already actually been RPing them.

I think honestly in terms of romantic or sexual, anyone that’s too young Cor just would not really be apart of. Iris and Talcott for example, they’re very young, and pre-time skip, that’s a no go, they’re children, essentially. I don’t RP that stuff with underage muses. But platonic or dad-cor kind of relationship? I’d love to RP that! So, I think any ship is fine by me, as long as I just get to explore different dynamics between the characters. Basically, I’m very open to ideas. :>)

#ooc #mun speaks #ignore me #shipping mention #my thirsty shipping ass knows no bounds #gimme all the ships #culinarystrategist

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eirenare · 8 years ago

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FFXV: chapter 13.2 & Episode Gladiolus

[SPOILER ALERT!]

Okay so yesterday was an amazing day full of FFXV, and these are my opinions on Chapter 13.2 and Episode Gladiolus.

[ABOUT CHAPTER 13.2]

I have to say that I was a bit desappointed of how short 13.2 was and Gladio’s gameplay didn’t convince me too much (don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad at all, I just didn’t have all the fun I thought I would have), and even though we got to see not as much as I thought about Ravus and Emperor Iedolas, it was something nice.

We got to finally see what the hell happened with the Emperor (holy molly he’s truly obsessed with the crystal) and Ravus, we got them clashing and Ravus walking tall and having faith in Noctis as a King... To then get his arm cut off by Ardyn, who trolled the hell out of him taking Noctis’ form because Ravus probably didn’t know that Ardyn could do that. Which hurts a lot because the last time Ravus sees Noctis is when he’s almost fully a Daemon, and he probably thought it was the real Noctis who cut his arm.

Seeing Gladio and Ignis interact alone together with “worried parents mode” engaged was amazing, Gladio being all protective around him, and Ignis having his wits sharp (MY GOODNESS that savage “alternative facts” phrase he dropped, 10/10)... And seriously, seeing how much they worry about Noctis is truly endearing. Also seeing Gladio freak out just after Emperor Iedolas’ appears as a Daemon to attack them is quite interesting.

[ABOUT EPISODE GLADIOLUS]

I thought it was going to be good, but... My god, it was way better than that, it was AMAZING in every sense and I have nothing to complain about. Square-Enix did a really cool job with this, and I can’t wait to see the rest of the DLCs.

Damn, just the way the DLC starts is really nice, with a combo of Gladio complimenting Ignis’ cooking, that awkward silence between them and the “who’s the other” comment (my Gladnis inner shipper was jumping with joy). Also Prompto being all interested and Noctis joking around was cute and made me start smiling.

And well, didn’t I just say I wasn’t very much convinced about Gladio’s gameplay? Well, you can forget that: it seems that the reason why I didn’t enjoy it so much was because the enemies in Zegnautus were overall weak and enemy mobs weren’t big.

Once you get to play this DLC and get bigger foes and bigger enemy mobs, the gameplay gets actually interesting and funny. I have to say that Enkido’s design was awesome and I loved it.

And the place you explore is just downright BEAUTIFUL. You see inner ruins, you see Taelpar Crag itself, and there’s many details.

The story of the DLC, damn, I really liked it. It was deeper than I thought, and you actually get to know a lot more about Cor, which is awesome (omg how Cor described himself when he was 15 years old, young, very full of himself, sassy Cor confirmed). There were also some details about the Shield role and Clarus that I loved so much. And not to mention how fucking epic Gilgamesh is. And there are MANY details of the lore (and some things will even rise more interesting questions), between what you get to see in the loading screens (seriously, DON’T MISS THEM!), and what you get to know in between conversations. Also Cor and Gladio being good bros and having that pupil/master dynamic is PRECIOUS and COR SMILES and my feels just DIED.

And damn, the MUSIC. It was EPIC. I just stood there in the menu screen not doing anything until the song ended l. And every piece of music is beautiful and amazing, and so powerful.

The fact that you have 2 difficulties to choose from (Easy and Standard), that every one of these two gives you a different diploma when you beat the story part of the DLC, that there are more things than just the story mode (like a mode with points that gives you extras depending on how much you score —for example, the “outfit” of shirtless Gladio for the game and I think also for the DLC— and a Duel mode to battle Cor) and that there’s trophies, just makes it even more awesome because you can actually replay it a lot just for funsies.

And he ending... Damn dude, my feels.

Also, neing able to take the Genji Sword/Katana to the main game, along with two abilities, it’s really cool.

I just ended up smiling like an idiot right after I finished the DLC, and that smile was plastered on my face all the time almost until I went to bed. Which was 4 AM. But it was worth staying up so late last night to play this.

Definitely, buying the Season Pass was very worth.

#FFXV spoilers #FF15 spoilers #Final Fantasy XV spoilers #Final Fantasy 15 spoilers #FFXV chapter 13.2 #FFXV Episode Gladiolus #FF15 Episode Gladiolus #Final Fantasy XV Episode Gladiolus #Final Fantasy 15 Episode Gladiolus #FFXV #FF15 #Final Fantasy XV #Final Fantasy 15

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soft-sunflower · 8 years ago

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so igotta ask y u dont ship nocts with any of the chocobros lol ur afraid of gay ships or somthing?

What? Afraid of gay ships? No, not in the slightest. In fact, I ship Ignis and Gladio together in this fandom. In another fandom, Fairy Tail for example, I ship Kagura and Millianna, so I’m not afraid of gay ships at all. Why is your tone so condescending toward me? The reason why I do not multi-ship Noctis or ship him with any of the chocobros is because I simply do not feel a romantic dynamic coming from him to any of the guys and vice versa.Prompto is Noct’s best friend. The type of person he can hang out and game with and act stupid with. You can be best friends and really love your friends without it being romantic. You can want to be there for your friends to lean, worry for them, cry for them or even save them and get angry for them without it being romantic.Ignis is Noct’s royal advisor and what I like to fondly refer to a “mom friend” much to some of the fandom’s dismay. Ignis helps guide Noct in the right directions to make the correct choices. He’s also very understanding and genuinely helpful. When it seems Noct could stray from his path or lose his way, Ignis pulls him back in. That to me is not only Ignis doing his duty, but guiding someone he cares about, his friend, in the right direction. Why do I have to view that as romantic? I don’t. Gladio is Noct’s shield/bodyguard/whatever you want to call him. He has a goal and a duty to the royal family of Lucis. He pulls Noct out of tight spots, kicks him in the ass when he needs it and is very much a “papa bear” type figure for Noct. Gladio is very much a “tough love” type person as well for Noctis. There are definitely no romantic vibes there. Listen, anon, with all due respect, for me, Noct’s relationship with all the guys is very much built on brotherhood and a sibling bond/platonic love. More than once they are referred to as Noct’s “brothers” and “friends” not his “beloved” in the sense that Luna is. Does that make sense? I’m all for people shipping whatever they desire, truly, I am… but it’s kind of hurtful to be accused of essentially being a homophobic because I simply don’t feel a romantic dynamic with Noct and the bros… They’re his brothers who stick by him no matter what. But how about next time you have something to ask me, you don’t just assume shit about me and be a jerk in your asks, capiche?

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #noctis lucis caelum #chocobros #anon asks #man this ask was honestly really rude

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transgamerthoughts · 8 years ago

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Final Fantasy XV: Thoughts and Ramblings

I’ve just finished a more detailed playthrough of Final Fantasy XV. There’s plenty to talk about but today is strange and my mind is scattered so I thought it best to keep things loose. It worked for Infinite Warfare. My general takeaway is that I like Final Fantasy XV more than I should. It is a broken, shattered game but one that managed to win me over in spite of itself.

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS POST

1. Let’s start positive here. FFXV has one of my favorite game worlds and settings in a long time. This is impressive given how surprisingly little of it we really explore in detail. There’s essentially two major cities in this game, with a handful of minor locations. Whereas other Final Fantasy games are globe trotting affairs, FFXV remains relatively local until the latter end of the game.

By this point, you’re no longer dealing with an open world design however. For all intents and purposes, FFXV’s largest gameplay chuck takes place within the nation of Lucis and its various regions. The map isn’t dense with things to do but strong art direction and environment design gives ever location an air of believability that most games do not manage. It isn’t on the same level as The Witcher 3 but FF XV is chasing after the great Western open worlds and does so admirably. The world is fun to be in and feels steeped in a larger history and lore that feels suitably epic and magical.

2. The core cast of characters are enjoyable and memorable as well. The four party members banter and have clearly developing relationships. It adds a lot to the experience. There are weak links in the chain; Gladio tends to be far less personable than we are meant to believe and Ignis’ traits remain fairly static until a major bit of action in the plot physically handicaps him. These are minor complaints considering how well the group dynamics flow. By the end of the game, the four protagonists feel like true brothers.

The secondary cast is pretty fun as well. Iris is a charming and likable character who honestly should have accompanied the party longer than she did. Aranea makes for a memorable rival turned frenemy, and while we don’t get to spend too much time with Cor Leonis, his gravitas served the initial parts of the game very well.

On top of this, we have one of the most memorable antagonists in the series history. Ardyn is charismatic, intelligent, watchable, and when the times demand it, he can become truly sinister. There are the subtle hints of true depth for this character; he feels complicated and worn. The plot fails to investigate his highly interesting history but he still manages to make an impression. I’ve not had this fun with a Final Fantasy villain in a long time.

3. A lot of these characters draw strength from strong vocal performances and animations. Ray Chase gives a shockingly good turn as Noctis, a character who starts petty and fairly unlikable grows into a commanding presence. Darin De Paul gives an outstanding turn as Ardyn, oozing charm while slipping into more sinister vocal ranges when needed.

One of the best performances in the game actually comes from Robbie Daymond as Prompto. He brings a wonderful energy to the chipper gunslinger but also imbues him with a raw sense of vulnerability. The voce work merges well with quality animations. In particular, there’s a moment where Luna tells Ardyn that redemption is in his reach if he were to choose it and the facial animation manages to communicate an astounding range of thoughts and emotions within around five seconds. It’s great and shows how important the interplay between multiple disciplines are when creating digital performances.

4. Combat can be frustrating but I found that there’s a nice sense of push and pull to the entire affair. It’s not as technique heavy as Episode Duscae implied. Instead, the challenge is finding times to maintain your offensive actions and your defensive dodging stance. With larger groups of enemies, you will get tossed around from time to time and it can be frustrating. But after a while, you’ll find yourself slipping through guards to deliver big hits, performing strong combination attacks with your bros, and warping around the battlefield to perform deadly, magical acrobatics.

5. The game starts with an amazingly interesting core conceit that I think gets squandered. The road trip angle is given a new weight when Cor makes it clear that for Noctis to succeed against the empire, he needs to reclaim the power of the past kings of Lucis. Awesome. That sounds like a neat quest set up. But the game only has Noctis recover a few of these relics during the plot, sometimes without intending to. This then gives way to communion with the various gods around the world.

It would have been a perfectly acceptable and desirable plot to have Noctis seek out the power of kings and gods with the Empire hounding him along the way only for Ardyn to betray everyone near the latter half. In fact, that structure seems fundamentally etched into the structure of the game as an open world experience. And yet, the game abandons the quest for the king’s power, makes it unclear why Noctis is even seeking the gods (or rather, if they are seeking him), and the game totally abandons the Empire.

The best example of this is Ravus. He’s the commander of Imperial forces, a skill swordsman, Luna’s brother, someone with a personal (if misplaced) grudge on the kingdom of Lucis, and all around bad dude. He was even in Kingsglaive. In FF XV, you encounter him once before he is blamed for the disastrous events in Altissia, turned into a daemon offscreen by Ardyn, and killed in one of the game’s most lack luster bossfights. This is frankly unacceptable from a series that managed to make me give a shit about villains as minor Scarlet and fuckin’ Heidegger but Ravus is basically Beatrix by way of Char Aznable and he’s completely misused. It’s downright sinful.

Similarly, the Emperor has a single scene. If the game took time to build him up, we might have had a betrayal as memorable as Kefka’s when Ardyn usurps power and tosses the realms into chaos. No such luck here. We also only see Minister Verstael for a single cutscene but this is the dude who runs the empire’s weapons program and manufactures MTs using knowledge gained from Ardyn. He’s also, technically, Prompto’s father. There’s loads of potential here that is also wasted because the game hits ludicrous speed after Altissia and never slows the fuck down. As the result, I feel like I’m missing a significant portion of the game.

6. In keeping with the botched story elements, we have the biggest missed opportunity when Ardyn basically creates and eternal night that lasts ten whole years. The world is plunged into chaos, daemons reign supreme, humanity is hiding in a few final bastions of resistance against the hordes. And yet, when we awake into the World of Ruin, we’re not given a new variation of the game map to explore. Instead, we get an expositional dump by Talcott before easily reuniting with out companions.

Yet, in the intervening ten years, a lot of stuff has happened. Ignis has become a badass blind warrior, Aranea has gone from Imperial mercenary to champion of the people with an entire army at her command, Iris, working alongside Cor, has become so awesome that she’s known as “Iris the Demonslayer,” and Talcott, the young boy we knew from years before, has become a veteran hunter in his own right.

Why do I not see the characters again? Imagine if I woke in the World of Ruin with only Gladio to greet me, ever faithful for years as guardian of the Crystal. Talcott joins us as a temporary guest character as we journey from settlement to settlement, helping restore order while also reuniting with our friends. We could help Cindy in a brief story sequence that reunites us with Prompto, we could encounter Aranea and Ignis as they search ancient ruins for information of how to defeat Ardyn, we could reinforce Cor and Iris at Gladio’s request in a battle against daemons attacking Lestallum.

The set up is right there in the background but instead, we get an exposition dump, no satisfying reunion scene with the gang, and we’re able to immediately head to Insomnia to fight Ardyn. If the first half of the game is missing the Empire, the latter half of the game is missing basically everything.

8. In spite of these obvious oversights and missteps, the ending made me cry. It’s well done. I even think it could have been more dramatic. As it stands, Noctis gives up his life for the people of the world and the fates of his best bros feel ambiguous. I think they should have doubled down even harder on the heartbreak here and showed their last stand. If this is a game about gradually assuming responsibility, that needs to extend to the other protagonists in order to be thematically complete.

I also think that while Ardyn should have died, there was no need to have the strange moment with him in the spirit realm. If we had someone gotten to understand Arydn’s past in more detail, perhaps during the time Noctis spends in the crystal, it would have been enough to land the final blow on him and wish him peace in the next life. The ending is good but I can’t help thinking it ought to have been great.

9. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think this game needed a codex. The world is full of amazingly interesting history that I’d gladly read about. Imagine walking into a dungeon and walking away with ancient lore you discovered on old tablets or spending time in Altissia with some type of tour guide and getting a beefier codex for it. As stated, the world is amazingly interesting. Lestallum is a city run by women, Titan is holding up a perpetually falling comet in the middle of Duscae, the Empire and Lucis had major wars, the tombs of old kings litter the land. This is interesting stuff I want to know more about

Say what you will about how FF XIII made the codex necessary to understanding I actually know the religion in that world and the cosmology. In FF XV, I still don’t quite understand what an Oracle is and that’s literally the profession of one of the (ostensibly) most important characters in the game.

10. Speaking of Luna, she suffers from the same issue as her brother; we don’t get to spend time with her. Occasionally, we see flashes to her life and her side journey but this is a powerful character. Instead, she is relegated largely to the sidelines until Altissia, where we reunite with her just long enough for Ardyn to kill her.

Luna is a prophet, mage, and priestess who can stare down literal gods and heal magical blight. FF XV could have easily given us moments where we play as here or structured itself such that we actually get worthwhile perspective cuts to what she was doing for much of the story. It would have made her death actually mean something.

11. This game has one of the best soundtracks of the series. It is a powerhouse and Yoko Shimomura nails just about every track. Shimomura has always done very well with strings and piano. Here, that strength aptly bridges the gap between the more realistic aspects of the setting with the fantasy. I don’t have an in depth analysis here. It’s just very good.

In general, the biggest issue with FFXV is that is is fractured. The open world is great, if lacking in variety. But I forgive that because of how enrapturing it is. The characters are wonderful but the plot misuses them or ignores them constantly. I genuinely like this game but I know that a better scenario designer could have gotten something much more coherent. That’s the biggest problem; this game just falls apart by the end and even if it manages to hit a strong emotional climax, you’re let with the overwhelming feeling that while it was a good time, it could have been genuinely great.

#Final Fantasy #final fantasy xv

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sweetchcolate · 7 years ago

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What kinda bums me is that if you comment on how you’re tired of all that extra FFXV content and wish Square would focus more on the story elements or making the plot more coherent, you always get:

if you don’t like it, then don’t play it!!!

smh, another FFXV hater here. let us enjoy the game, you hater!!

Like, no. I love FF15, it does some great things in terms of the chocobros’ relationships and dynamics, it’s neat to travel the world while songs from older titles play. I like killing all kinds of monsters and trying to find new ways to increase the number of XP I get in one sitting.

But I also know that FF15′s got some major flaws, some that can be fixed by Square. For example, the infamous chapter 13: some hated it because of its drastic shift from open world to corridors and hallways. The loss of your weapons wasn’t compensated all that well with the ring’s power. There were also odd plot elements concerning Gralea, the demons, and Ravius.

So what did Square do? Well, the couldn’t change the linearity aspect, but they added little notes, a cutscene for Ravius, they augmented the ring’s power. They tried to explore the area in the Prompto DLC (as well as the way Prompto and Verstael were related, something only mentioned in a relationship chart and no where in the game).

Tbh, if FF15′s story didn’t feel so cut up, if it hadn’t faced development hell, (and if it weren’t for the fact SE touted the title for well over 10 years when they could have revealed the first trailers in 2010-2011, thus avoiding the unavoidable hype culture and complains about how it wasn’t versus 13 anymore, or how Nomura’s vision was changed), I wouldn’t mind the extra content.

Hell, I would be dying with excitement right now: “more stuff to do in this great game I enjoyed, heck yeah!”

But that’s not the case: the game’s got some big issues, especially in terms of pacing and story. Things that kinda leave me... empty. Wanting more. But not getting anything but theories and hypotheses.

I don’t mind the Chocobo Carnival thing, I don’t mind the Gladio or Prompto or Ignis or AC DLCs. It’s neat, more things to do in game.

What I do mind however are all the spinoffs: the New Empire mobile game, the King’s Tale spinoff, the Pocket Edition mobile game. Things that are related to the FF15 world, but not the game I bought.

._.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv dlc #sweetchcolate's nonsense of the day #...#sigh #ranting #i guess

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symbianosgames · 8 years ago

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When Square Enix finally shipped Final Fantasy XV late last year, many players were pleasantly surprised by the game’s focus on capturing the mundane details of the protagonists’ road trip to save the world.

The in-game snapshots and selfies captured by the protagonist's companion Prompto aren't always in focus, but the way in which they capture both actual and imagined in-game moments delighted players and inspired more than a few game developers.

Prasert “Sun” Prasertvithyakarn served as lead designer on Final Fantasy XV’s buddy system and AI; at GDC this week he took the stage to talk a bit about how the AI-driven snapshot system was designed and built.

“When we designed this game, what we felt was most important was the UX: the user experience. All systems and features are there to maximize the road trip experience for the player,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “And of course when we talk about road trips, we have to talk about photos.”

He says that taking trips with his friends inspired him to pitch the idea for the system to the game’s design team, and they came up with a selfie system for the game that had three goals:

Photos must serves as an achievement for players. They should reward players for accomplishing things, and remind players of things that happened.

Photos should stir imagination and help flesh out the narrative, breathing life into the characters and suggesting stories that aren’t actually part of the game. “I believe good games should tell more stories than what has actually been made or told,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “The good thing is that we only make one frame, but you actually see a lot. That’s a trick.”

Photos must be unique, fun, and able to be shared online, easily -- with minimal work from the player. “Prompto’s snapshots are all auto, so to share or not to share is the only question.” Moreover, the team made sure that some of the AI-driven snapshots would be of things that players don’t normally see -- the Ignis character without his glasses, for example. This, says Prasertvithyakarn, would make the player feel lucky and encourage them to share it with their friends.

“Humans have several reasons to take pictures, so we had to have several triggers,” said Prasertvithyakarn. So the game has auto-snapshot triggers like events (during important cinematics, interactive vents, or reaching new destinations) or whims. “You don’t always need a reason to take a picture, do you?” Prasertvithyakarn said. “Although we say ‘whim’, there is a pattern behind this; we take whim triggers only when there are no other triggers around.”

A graphical breakdown of Prompto's selfie system

This, he explains, ensures that Prompto is able to take snapshots that are unep. He notes that no trigger works perfectly, but together, the mesh to generate a good variety of snapshots.

The snapshot AI also classifies photos into 20 themes. Exciting battlefield shots, for example, or selfies, or “wonderful” -- shots that try to capture the world’s beauty via tricks like wide angles.

Once a snapshot is triggered and the AI picks a theme, it can apply “detail enhancements” -- making a character turn to face the camera and strike a pose, for example. The AI then checks the subject’s bone and collision info to try and frame the snapshot well. Next, it can apply some post-processing to replicate Instagram-esque filters.

After a photo is captured, the game sorts it into an album of images captured that day.

“We don’t want users to spend too much time looking at this, so we try to reduce it to 8-12 pictures per day,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “But we actually take 20 or more photos a day.”

So the game’s team designed a redundancy score and uniqueness score that’s dynamically applied to each photo, based on what’s been captured. The game then autofilters some shots out every day, and displays the rest as the album from which the player can pick and choose what ot save.

“I believe what we get from this is one of the most powerful storytelling tools in Final Fantasy XV,” said Prasertvithyakarn. He acknowledges RPGs are about stories, but they’re also about storytelling.

“How can we possibly persist on doing the storyteliing through cinemaitcs and a linear script, when players spend 99 percent of their time running around inside the world and fighitng the mosters with their friends?” said Prasertvithyakarn.

Instead, he says his goal with Final Fantasy XV was to evoke an emotional response in players by giving them room to tell their own stories, and reinforcing those stories with systems like Prompto’s snapshots.

“When Aerith died, I cried a lot,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “And ever since then I wanted to be a designer who makes games that make people cry.”

In terms of lessons learned, Prasertvithyakarn shared a few -- starting with the importance of setting reasonable scope.

“You need to sacrifice something; you can’t do everything, especially when you’re trying to make a new feature,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “If you don’t have a very concrete goal you will go astray and spend time doing things you don’t really want. So try to hold on to your goals, and make them clear.”

So as an example, Prasertvithyakarn said the team was tempted to allow players to tell Prompto what to shoot. Bt it would be costly (they’d have to create a new interface to guide Prompto's photographic eye, and all the available buttons were already assigned), so the team compromised and made it so Prompto can only be told what to photographed during battles, where there was already an interface in place for telling allies what to do.

He also recommends fellow devs with an interest in these sorts of systems spend time researching AI, and know the limits of what AI can do.

“Be a researcher, but be a producer,” advised Prasertvithyakarn. “I am an AI researcher too, and we research it; making AI is fun.”

Prasertvithyakarn closed out his talk with a word of encouragement for fellow devs: if you think you have a cool idea, don't give up -- even if it seems like a silly, bad idea during development.

“When you are doing a new thing, it’s really hard to share the final visions with other people. So don’t give up! Time will tell,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “Because now that everything is finished, people come up to me and say 'oh, Prompto's snapshots are great.' But many many times during development, people would come up to me and say this feature isn’t working; it’s not fun at all.”

“If you guys are challengers and you are trying to make new things that nobodoy knows before, be prepared to not be understood; be prepared for critics. But if you believe it’s the right thing then just walk tall, and never, ever give up,” said Prasertvithyakarn. “That’s the key to making something new, I guess.”

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