this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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12 is linear with only one ending yeah, but its politics are remarkably grounded and well-integrated into its world. It's light on the crystal, magic, divinity stuff and heavy on the geopolitical. Out of all the FF games, Ivalice is the setting that's the most thought through imo.
Regarding 15, it's funny how the combat mechanics are most relevant in comrades where targeting weak points to break them actually matters. And this might just be how I played the game, but I didn't mind the shift toward the end. I got my fill of wandering, camping and questing before I set sail so the oppressive hallways came off as a purposeful artistic choice to set the tone. Like, the road trip has ended, the boys are in enemy territory, they're being obviously manipulated by Ardyn, and there's nothing they can do about it. The miserable way the boys are restrained into realizing the worst ending feels thematic.
The OVA and movie came out before the game released, didn't they? I'll admit, I liked them but I'm also a massive FFXV fan so that might be apologia.
I genuinely enjoyed the way the crew fractures and falls apart towards the end, only to have to come together despite themselves for the finale.
But it all happens in a rush, because they burned through their budget and squandered so much time/energy on the Act One overworld that ends up meaning nothing.
The better FF games tend to take you though the setting two or three times - first to set the stage, then to establish the stakes, and finally (in epilogue) to pay off the conclusion.
Because 15 wants to keep stringing out the world in Act 2 and 3, the stakes/pay off are heavily clipped. Lunafreya is built up enormously in Act 1 only for Act 2 to exist in what feels like a closet. By Act 3, she feels like an afterthought. And all the scene setting in Act 1 collapses by Act 3, because they never had time to properly mod the original continent into its "bad ending" failed state. All those side characters and places you met just vanish.
You never get that Golden Saucer moment - discovering the wonder, witnessing the seedy underbelly, and then finally watching it flounder in the face of calamity.
Yes. And (setting aside the fact the movie was mid) they felt very disjointed from the game itself.
I remember watching the Gungrave anime and genuinely enjoying how they morphed a Scarface-esque mob story into Sci-Fi bullet hell backstory. Was excited to see something like that.
Instead, it was this cheesy canned action-romance that mashed proper nouns in with a mush of noisy melodrama. The OVA was much better. But it sets up a bunch of story beats that the game barely explores.
Who thing feels like a Too Many Cooks situation.