I 100% agree that the game felt rushed at the end, particularly after the timeskip. I played the game totally blind so I didn't even know there was a timeskip and I got whiplash from the way Noctis just... goes to bed for a decade in a single cutscene. The boys are said to have gone their separate ways in the meantime, only regrouping occasionally, and I so badly want to know how that went down. FFXV is all about the boy band, the writers can't just leave out ten years of their character development like they can with everyone else!
Regarding Lunafreya, she feels like three different characters to me. In the movie, she's principled and courageous. In the book, she's preachy and won't shut up about Noctis. In the game, she hardly has any presence but whenever she is there, it's tropey as hell. She's a Damsel in Distress, Love Interest, Heroic Sacrifice, Precious Princess and it suuuuuucks. I agree that there were too many cooks because there's so much going on with her that surely the chefs had forgotten what they put in the pot as they were burning cooking the script.
More than anything though, I despise the "romance" between her and Noctis. They only ever met a few times as children and that was 12 years in the past by the time of the game! Their only communication has been passing notes and they haven't even managed to fill a single notebook since then! And they're both bad texters! Their union is a literal political marriage to unite the Lucis bloodline with that of the Oracle! And this marriage was decided for them at birth, by force! BY ARDYN!!! I can't express in words how much I fucking hate how the game ends with them kissing, how the game's logo is the pair of them together, how the book had the chance to take a different path but instead doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on this godawful ship for the true ending. Surely, surely the writers lost track of everything they wrote down?
Also, FFXV has acts? Haha to be honest I didn't even parse what happened until well after I finished the game. But the story isn't what drew me in anyway. The chemistry between the guys is what FFXV is all about and it's why I don't mind that everything else is pretty shit. If I were in charge, I'd've put even less effort on the plot in favor of more time with the group because it's sorely lacking in non-Noctis interactions. We the fans deserve to see more of the Gladi/Prompto, Gladi/Iggy, and Iggy/Prompto dynamic.
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.
No lol it sucks so much that the other three boys are unplayable until you unlock them one by one on the skill tree. And that you can only momentarily play as them during a fight, after which you'll immediately switch back to Noctis. Noctis is the lamest one!
The devs couldn't even give us the decency of playing as them in comrades beyond one (1) mission. The only good mission.
I don't understand. You're saying 12 improved combat at the expense of its story? And that 15 did that too? But 12's an autobattler that's all about political intrigue and 15's so trivial that it might as well be an autobattler (its story is a mess though, I agree).
That's hilarious! I can't even imagine a serious Yakuza game. Aren't the latest two set in Hawaii where you fight against sharks and shit? How many sharks has Kiryu bashed with a bat, I wonder?
You gotta play Bravely Second! It's the best game out of the three by a landslide imo. It rebalanced the job system so that combining skills is more consequential and added a few more jobs that are mechanically interesting such as exorcist (a job that specializes in reverting the game state, like unkilling an ally or unspending your MP).
Its plot is also very well told. I mean, it's just a final fantasy game so it's not revolutionary or anything but it has a metanarrative that is unforgettable because of a certain moment that you'll know when you get there.
Consider playing the demo too because it's essentially a prologue; it has some story and character development that isn't in the main game at all.
Also if you like Pokemon then you'll probably like the Yokai Watch series too. They're the same genre but Yokai Watch is goofier, has better writing, a bigger world, and just has more effort put into it in general. Though its battle system is less strategic, it's not a big deal if you're playing casually. The 3D is gorgeous too fwiw
I recommend you play 1 first because it's the most basic and some of its plot gets referenced later, but it's not that important tbh. 2 and 3 are both fantastic though and are very different from each other so you should play both. Concurrently, even, because they're pretty distinct.
(btw Psychic Specters is the definitive version of 2. YW1 doesn't have separate versions. And the definitive version of YW3 is the only one that got localized)
Yes. Lemmy/the fediverse is this social media platform. It's like email where there are many independent domains that communicate with each other. The biggest servers are lemmy.world, lemm.ee, sh.itjust.works, lemmy.ml, and hexbear.net
Hexbear was separate from the rest until last year so that's why people say it isn't lemmy even though it is.
It's surprising how dark partners in time gets. If it weren't for the cartoony art style it would be way too disturbing for kids to play. Such a shame it never got remastered because it's the first M&L game I played and it's my favorite one.
Isn't that more like pouring gasoline on a fire that Americans created themselves? These influencers already had long careers being fascist with much support from their audience before being contacted by Tenet media. It isn't Russia mind-controlling America, it's some chuds from RT signal boosting their fav celebrities.
Also there are many other unrelated outlets that spew the same bullshit: the Daily Wire, Breitbart, Babylon Bee, PragerU, etc. And they all throw around more money than ten million dollars (not that that isn't a lot of money, but it's definitely not enough to sway the politics of an entire country lol)
Americans place a lot of emphasis on Russian influence because it provides cover for homegrown fascism, justifies their war against Russia, and directs attention away from international American propaganda that is 1,000,000x more pervasive and effective.
That would rock so hard! FFXV reminds me a lot of Yakuza like a dragon but it's missing the crucial karaoke sessions and that's a huge oversight.