Big changes coming to Final Fantasy XV following feedback

[Venocide]

Noctis' voice, a minimap, difficulty options and tightening of the camera are all on the list.

 

Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata has revealed some of the changes coming to the upcoming RPG following all the fan feedback that was provided for the Episode Duscae demo.

 

In a special episode of Active Time Report, Tabata and marketing manager Akio Ofuji explained what many people found troubling, and how the developer is taking steps to make the end product more palatable.

 

Tabata acknowledged the game's controls received the lowest score, with the camera, lock-on and a general feeling of chaos in combat all coming under scrutiny. He's acknowledged this and has promised the team are "thoroughly" addressing it. Tabata also promised your team's AI would be bumped up, while a minimap and difficulty option will be added.

 

As for complaints about performance, the director explained the demo didn't have anti-aliasing, while the finished game will have. Similarly, frame rate optimisation will be an absolute priority going further, and everyone feels frame rate is more important than resolution.

 

Tabata also revealed the top complaints for North American and European players differed, with those from the US complaining Noctis' voice sounds weirdly like Batman, while Europeans weren't comfortable with the sexualised depiction of Cindy.

 

In relation to the voice, Tabata explained the lines were done quite last minute and by the time he realised it didn't work, it was too late. Thankfully, Square has already re-recorded the lines to make Noct seem younger, and this is the direction that will be taken for the rest of the game.

 

With regards to Cindy's portrayal, Tabata emphasised she isn't meant to be a sexy character and, if that's the problem, it could be because she was created by male devs and so they'll rein it. The touchstone for him is apparently a character you wouldn't be embarrassed with your parents seeing while you're playing in the living room. He also said again some female characters may appear as guest party members, and the men in the party will change their behaviour accordingly when that happens.

 

Source: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/04/28/big-changes-coming-to-final-fantasy-15-following-feedback

 

 

[Royalredpanda]

 

Noctis' voice, a minimap, difficulty options and tightening of the camera are all on the list.

 

Tabata also revealed the top complaints for North American and European players differed, with those from the US complaining Noctis' voice sounds weirdly like Batman, while Europeans weren't comfortable with the sexualised depiction of Cindy.

 

In relation to the voice, Tabata explained the lines were done quite last minute and by the time he realised it didn't work, it was too late. Thankfully, Square has already re-recorded the lines to make Noct seem younger, and this is the direction that will be taken for the rest of the game.

 

With regards to Cindy's portrayal, Tabata emphasised she isn't meant to be a sexy character and, if that's the problem, it could be because she was created by male devs and so they'll rein it. The touchstone for him is apparently a character you wouldn't be embarrassed with your parents seeing while you're playing in the living room. He also said again some female characters may appear as guest party members, and the men in the party will change their behaviour accordingly when that happens.

 

 

Glad I'm not the only one who had a problem with his voice and that they themselves noticed. Besides that, I laughed at the Cindy part. Specifically the bold part

[Dragon-Archon]

 

 

Tabata also revealed the top complaints for North American and European players differed, with those from the US complaining Noctis' voice sounds weirdly like Batman, while Europeans weren't comfortable with the sexualised depiction of Cindy.

LOL, I didn't expect this. 

 

After reading this, it seems they were rushed to release the demo. Here's hoping they don't screw up the game, I've been waiting for it since 2006.

[RoD_HiGo]

I'm glad they are taking notes about Noctis' voice, it was the thing that bugged me the most about the demo.

 

Good job, Square Enix, now please don't troll us at E3 and give us a release date.

[1973456]

I'm glad they're focusing refining game play and performance at I felt like I was just mashing away in hopes that something would happen.

 

 

And this......

 

"and everyone feels frame rate is more important than resolution. "

 

This is a good sign.

 

 

 

Super excited for this installment in the FF franchise can't wait to play it.

[damon8r351]

Still probably won't stop people from bitching that it didn't meet their expectations. :T

[thegirlruka]

I just didn't like that I couldn't put the subtitles on until after I started the game. It's probably just because it wasn't the real game yet. And I actually liked Noctis's voice...

[D-Tron]

Still probably won't stop people from bitching that it didn't meet their expectations. :T

I guarantee that you could bundle this game (hell, any game) with a cure for cancer and people would still find reasons to bitch. :/

[Satoshi Ookami]

I guarantee that you could bundle this game (hell, any game) with a cure for cancer and people would still find reasons to bitch. :/

Obviously. If they couldn't use the cure, they wouldn't get a bonus.

[Venocide]

Here's a more detailed list of what Hajime Tabata said.

 

 

 

1) “The lock-on is useless” - Lock-on doesn’t keep enemies on screen; the camera doesn’t follow them properly. Tabata agreed, noting that you could press R3 for a better lock-on option, but that the demo never quite made that clear. Things will be FIXED.

 

2) “The camera is too close, I can’t tell what’s going on.” Especially during battles and in confined spaces. “Not being able to tell what’s going on in the game is unacceptable,” Tabata said, promising that they’ve got a lot of work left to do on the camera. “...Ultimately, we may consider allowing the player to choose from different camera distances.”

 

3) Poor/”heavy” camera control: “We’ll make sure the camera is smoother.”

 

4) “The AI is dumb. Allies get in the way.” Players say that party members get in Noct’s way as they try to move around. For the final game, Tabata said he wants to get more feelings of camaraderie—bros broing out—so they’re doing plenty more work on the AI, and adding a lot more of the types of bro interactions you see in the demo. “The demo is just a glimpse of what might be possible,” he said. So this will presumably become less of a problem.

 

5) “The jaggies. But the drop in frame-rate is even more concerning.” They’re going to add anti-aliasing to fix the jaggies. Frame-rate—which they say was the #1 complaint from players in North America and Europe—is a “high-priority issue,” Tabta said. They’re going to prioritize it during optimization. Their goal is “full HD” (1080p) and 30FPS, but frame-rate is more important to them than resolution. (Smart!)

 

6) “So I get that motion is realistic. But because of that, it feels slow.” Heavy weapons will feel sluggish, Tabata noted. “We are highly focused on footing, or being connected to the ground.” Immersion is a big thing for them, which might have led to these complaints. Tabata wondered if this particular gripe drew from people watching the E3 2013 trailer—which Tabata admits was a target, not a reflection of real gameplay—and thinking combat should look more like that.

 

7) “Can you at least add a minimap or compass?” That’s the plan. They’re also looking into a radar of some sort to show where enemies/allies are on screen, although Tabata won’t promise that.

 

8) “I want a dodge action that doesn’t rely on MP.” There actually is a dodge roll, Tabata said—that’ll be your default dodge action. The “warp-dodge” that was in the demo is a higher-level dodge; the normal dodge-roll couldn’t be implemented for Duscae.

 

9) “A game that’s all about hiding behind rocks and replenishing MP.” Huh. “That’s one way to put it,” Tabata said, laughing. I guess the real complaint here is that people had to spend too much time regenerating their MP, which Tabata says won’t really be a problem, because in the final game you’ll have many more options in combat—magic, combos, etc.—and battles will be shorter, so you won’t have to replenish MP as much. But Tabata said he likes the strategy of running away and recovering MP when you’re in a pinch. “It’ll be about how you construct your battles with the available MP.”

 

10) “Battles are too difficult. No, battles are too easy.” Japanese players said the game was too hard; Western players said it was too easy. “I think the best solution is to include difficulty options,” Tabata said. They’re planning on a simultaneous worldwide release for FFXV instead of releasing first in Japan and then in the rest of the world.

 

11) “It’s too monotonous.” Battles felt repetitive, players said, both because of control issues and because they were way too lengthy. The devs said they’re thinking about adding button remapping. “The monotony is probably due to battles feeling long,” Tabata said, adding that in the real game, you’ll have more options, so battles won’t feel as repetitive.

 

12) “The stamina needed for dashing is annoying.” Tabata and Ofuji both agreed that this isn’t really a problem, although they said that dashing distance and speed could be improved by eating certain foods at camp.

 

13) Players would like to see warping usable as a regular means for moving around. “Until some part of February, this was actually possible,” Tabata said. That was the plan, but it caused a lot of bugs, so they scrapped warps for regular field movement. All that said, Tabata noted that the final release will offer a lot more warp points, especially in battles—”It will become part of your strategy.”

 

14) “Please let me cancel attacks by evading.” Tabata agreed. “I was actually screaming inside for this too.” In the final game, you’ll be able to evade mid-attack.

 

15) “Lots of bugs.”

 

Ofuji: “We’re very sorry.”

 

Tabata: “Who would’ve thought you could get to Titan like that?”

 

Source: http://kotaku.com/square-addresses-the-top-xv-criticisms-of-final-fantasy-1700668422?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Edited April 28, 2015 by Venocide