The Quarterly JRPG Club - Q3 2017 - Final Fantasy XV! (Starting July 1)

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Hey all! Time for another spin of the bingo cage, and this time the cage has chosen something for you to savor in a cool dark room this summer while the world boils away and turns into a Mad-Max-like hellscape out there.

This summer/fall we'll be playing:

IMAGE(http://imgur.com/eWmSR4U.png)

Here's what the playthrough counts stack up to be:

IMAGE(http://imgur.com/sistyMY.png)

If anyone's already played this, a guide to how we should divide this up would be nice. I have a player's guide for it, so if no one steps up, I'll try and do my best with that.

Feel free to crack it open and get going!

Original / parent thread here: https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/...

Damnable Bear wrote:

If anyone's already played this, a guide to how we should divide this up would be nice.

I think I spent about 30-40 hours in Chapter 3 alone so I don't think you want me doing this

Hm. Tempted to join in. I played about 20 hours and got half-way before deciding I loathed what it was doing. At the same time, though, I do want to finish it. I'm not just being difficult, I dearly want to love it.

As for structuring, it's a bit hard. There's a lot of meandering to do, and I feel that really enriches the experience given the road-trip theme. Overall it can be a short game, so when you decide to push onto the next segment, it can be done very quickly.

Damnable Bear wrote:

If anyone's already played this, a guide to how we should divide this up would be nice.

July through late September - Chapters 1-8
End of September - Start Chapter 9, feel overwhelming sense of regret that Chapters 1-8 are over, set down controller and Youtube the ending of game if curious

walterqchocobo wrote:
Damnable Bear wrote:

If anyone's already played this, a guide to how we should divide this up would be nice.

July through late September - Chapters 1-8
End of September - Start Chapter 9, feel overwhelming sense of regret that Chapters 1-8 are over, set down controller and Youtube the ending of game if curious

Gonna be honest, Walter ain't entirely wrong. It also depends on if you wanna roll in end-game content into the mixture.

I'm tempted to do a new game plus but in reality I know I just don't got the time.

I get the feeling that this is one of those games that I will start playing, think "I'm going to platinum that sh*t", and then give up halfway through and just rush to the end.

Played a bit this morning, changed the default outfits (not a fan of black), and then fought a few monsters, completed two sidequests. Not sure I like the combat so far. Probably because I suck at it. I might want to replay the tutorials again (I played them months ago when I bought the game, and then... haven't touched it until today).

One quick note: I don't know if this was the case before, but when I booted the game this morning, the game doesn't fill the screen completely, there are thin black borders on all sides. Am I the only one noticing that? (I'm playing on a regular PS4.)

For what it's worth, it took a while for the combat to "click" with me when I started. Give it time, and be sure to turn on "wait mode" in the options which helps a ton.

I'm going to try to mostly lurk here since I've thoroughly completed the game and already registered plenty of strong opinions in the main thread. However, to assist with pacing and breaking this up:

* Chapters 1-2 are more linear and finish with mission Declaration Of War. Should not take too long.

* Chapter 3 is titled The Open World, appropriately, because that's when you get it. People will spend a LOT of time on this chapter. Final mission is The Way Of Gods And Kings.

* Chapters 4-8 offer you plenty of narrative while still in the open world. Final mission of Chapter 8 is A Brave New World; it puts you on a boat and you know it's coming. As some new quests open up and you see the end coming, people might again linger in Chapter 8.

* Chapter 9 moves you to a whole new area. A number of new quests will open up specific to this area so you might want to tarry for a little bit. Final mission is The Trial Of Leviathan. The amount of time you spend here will be really variable, depending on how you feel about hunts and optional material.

* Chapter 10-15 are pretty linear and move you through them. You'll probably spend a bit of time on them, but you'll move through these chapters much faster than previous ones.

* Post-game, there are a bunch of optional dungeons and hunts and a few quests that open up.

Although the game gives you the option to drop back to the open world at almost any time after Chapter 8, as far as pacing goes, it will feel awkward to do so. You are likely to want to keep moving forward once you've progressed to this point.

My rough suggestion if you want to keep pace together would be that you should hit Chapter 3 in a couple weeks, then spend six weeks in chapters 3-8. (Perhaps set a hard deadline to move from Chapter 3 to Chapter 8, so you don't have to keep spoilering the story. The world stays open in Chapter 8; it's just the temptation to enjoy the sidequests that distracts you from the meat of the story.) Move on to Chapter 9 for the final month, and expect the final week or two to be spent post-game and/or on DLC.

I will join this. I don't believe I will be a consistent member but...

bobbywatson wrote:

I get the feeling that this is one of those games that I will start playing, think "I'm going to platinum that sh*t", and then give up halfway through and just rush to the end.

If it makes you feel better, I did get the platinum and it wasn't too bad. The worst part is raising the camping and fishing levels to max along with a couple of the post-game trophies. The combat took a LONG time for me to figure out but redoing the tutorials definitely helped.

Question for Beeporama and walterqchocobo:

Should I bother to do all the hunts in chapter 1 before I move on to chapter 2, or will these still be available later?

I will probably have to redo the combat tutorial, because I'm having my ass beaten to a pulp during the hunts Crowd control is pretty hard too, and focusing on only one enemy at a time is... not easy.

bobbywatson wrote:

Question for Beeporama and walterqchocobo:

Should I bother to do all the hunts in chapter 1 before I move on to chapter 2, or will these still be available later?

They will still be available later. I try to do the hunts as they're available because they are a good source of resources but be aware too that their recommended levels are sometimes unrealistic (typically the ones that are labeled as harder) and also don't take gear into account.

FF XV was my #1 game last year, and I stopped at the end of Chapter 8, and I never got on the boat. I knew it was a mixed bag ahead of me, so I delayed and eventually went on to other games.

I equate it to watching the first season of an amazing TV show, knowing the second season is not as good and not having the urge to continue (see Twin Peaks, for instance). I'd like to finish it one day, so I may join in.

shoptroll wrote:
bobbywatson wrote:

Question for Beeporama and walterqchocobo:

Should I bother to do all the hunts in chapter 1 before I move on to chapter 2, or will these still be available later?

They will still be available later. I try to do the hunts as they're available because they are a good source of resources but be aware too that their recommended levels are sometimes unrealistic (typically the ones that are labeled as harder) and also don't take gear into account.

Made it to chapter 2 yesterday, looks like everything is still there.

I must like the game, because I played six hours of it this weekend. Combat is still not clicking. And I haven't touched magic yet. I should probably redo the tutorials this week.

shoptroll wrote:
bobbywatson wrote:

Question for Beeporama and walterqchocobo:

Should I bother to do all the hunts in chapter 1 before I move on to chapter 2, or will these still be available later?

They will still be available later. I try to do the hunts as they're available because they are a good source of resources but be aware too that their recommended levels are sometimes unrealistic (typically the ones that are labeled as harder) and also don't take gear into account.

I completely agree with shoptroll. I can't really think of anything that is missable in this game; subquests don't disappear. (I mean, you can miss a handful of chests in some areas, but they only contain easily replaced consumables.)

The levels on the story missions are usually pretty realistic, but I agree that the hunts will be harder than their levels unless you've been keeping pace in the story and acquiring the gear and abilities to go with those levels.

Combat isn't as bad as expected so far, both in terms of complexity and quality. It's still holding my interest. Presentation is pretty good, and I'm pretty happy I'm using JP audio. I don't think I could stomach English dubs on this one.

I've never played a Final Fantasy game. As a matter of fact, I've never played a JRPG before, but I've had my eye on this game ever since it released last year... and I just bought it so that I can play with you guys. I'm excited!

Turns out chapters 1 and 2 are pretty short, especially if you stick to the critical path. I didn't, and it only took 6.5 hours to get to chapter 3.

I've actually accumulated a good number of quests though, so it looks like it will be a while before I get back to saving the world. It can wait, right? I mean, I have a Chocobo forest to visit.

Mario_Alba wrote:

I've never played a Final Fantasy game. As a matter of fact, I've never played a JRPG before, but I've had my eye on this game ever since it released last year... and I just bought it so that I can play with you guys. I'm excited!

That's awesome! If you don't like this one, don't take it as anything against JRPGs. They've changed so much over the years that it's possible that you just like different things about them through time. Hope you enjoy though!

Damnable Bear wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:

I've never played a Final Fantasy game. As a matter of fact, I've never played a JRPG before, but I've had my eye on this game ever since it released last year... and I just bought it so that I can play with you guys. I'm excited!

That's awesome! If you don't like this one, don't take it as anything against JRPGs. They've changed so much over the years that it's possible that you just like different things about them through time. Hope you enjoy though!

Thanks! I've been tempted by this one, Nier Automata, and Persona 5, but this is the first one I've gotten, so we'll see how it turns out. I like the modern setting with fantasy elements, and the fact that combat is not turn-based, so I'm looking forward to trying it out. It'll be a few days until it's delivered, but I can't wait!

The dirty secret of JRPGs is that it's an incredibly, almost absurdly broad genre. It encompasses everything from real-time to turn-based, linear to open world, strategy to visual novel, and everything in between. If you're not put off by the aesthetics of the genre, there's a lot of gameplay variety available.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

The dirty secret of JRPGs is that it's an incredibly, almost absurdly broad genre. It encompasses everything from real-time to turn-based, linear to open world, strategy to visual novel, and everything in between. If you're not put off by the aesthetics of the genre, there's a lot of gameplay variety available.

I like anime and manga, so the aesthetics are a big draw. To tell you the truth, it's always been the idea of turn-based combat that's prevented me from playing both RPGs and JRPGs. As a matter of fact, Bloodborne (and a few hours of the first Dark Souls) is the only RPG game I've ever played, but I'm trying to expand my horizons so that I don't feel like I'm always playing the same game with a different skin. And that game, just like FFXV, doesn't have turn-based combat, which is part of what makes them interesting to me.

Mario, you should definitely check out Yakuza 0. It has all the facets of a JRPG while still holding onto the pseudo-open world vibe and some melee combat. It's an action game in a JRPG's body, if you will. Pretty neat. The story is great too - I just finished it.

Also, I've kind of decided I'm not going to gate anything off by month. I'm just gonna let you all do whatever you want, play what feels good as you want to. I don't know how spoilery (or how much people will care) the game gets, but if so, just limit some of that in here. Otherwise, go nuts! Feels weird putting thresholds on an open world game with such weird pacing.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

The dirty secret of JRPGs is that it's an incredibly, almost absurdly broad genre. It encompasses everything from real-time to turn-based, linear to open world, strategy to visual novel, and everything in between. If you're not put off by the aesthetics of the genre, there's a lot of gameplay variety available.

And a broad variety of settings too. Probably more so than Western RPGs, at least judging by what usually gets talked about in the gaming press.

Damnable Bear wrote:

Also, I've kind of decided I'm not going to gate anything off by month. I'm just gonna let you all do whatever you want, play what feels good as you want to. I don't know how spoilery (or how much people will care) the game gets, but if so, just limit some of that in here. Otherwise, go nuts! Feels weird putting thresholds on an open world game with such weird pacing.

This is a pretty good move. There's only a handful of items I'd say are story spoilers, and they're pretty "you know them when you get there".

I'm waiting until I've beaten Nier: Automata to boot up Episode Gladiolus and Episode Prompto.

Damnable Bear wrote:

Mario, you should definitely check out Yakuza 0. It has all the facets of a JRPG while still holding onto the pseudo-open world vibe and some melee combat. It's an action game in a JRPG's body, if you will. Pretty neat. The story is great too - I just finished it.

I'll add it to my list .

I'm really enjoying myself. The fact that talking to people adds stuff to your map is actually a nice touch. If you don't want the symbols there, they won't be cluttering up the map if you don't talk with people. I'm wrapping stuff up on the first area, side quests and such, but man, it felt good to take down a lv 12 monster as a level 5 squad.

Remember to eat good food.

Unfortunately, a lot of the best stat boosts (not to mention EXP boosts) actually come from diners and hotels, which discourages camping.

Prompto signing the Final Fantasy victory fanfare is, so far, my favorite thing about the game.

Also, apparently the Prompto DLC is actually good? I might have to buy it when I get to that point in the game.

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