Board 8 > Listening to the Final Fantasy XV OST makes me want to actually play the game

(+) Yeah! (+)

colliding posted...

My post is a direct response to your earlier statement that the problem of FFXV is the middle, not the end. If your earlier point was to defend the literal ending of the game, then fine. But I got the distinct impression you were referring to "the last five or six chapters" as "the end."

Well yes, the end is distinct from the ending itself. I liked the endgame more than the middle, where it was basically hunts with the occasional plot point.

Should it have been better? Yeah, but that's true of every part of the game. The foundation for a great game is there, and they occasionally build on it. Just not often enough.

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SmartMuffin posted...

If you think that games should actually be fun and enjoyable to play, giving you a sense of reward and progression, you will hate this thing

It's not my fault you can't understand that you're playing a literal demo of a game

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Vlado posted...

The Japanese know what truly matters.

Half of the main characters are homosexual

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foolm0r0n posted...

Everything before it is rushed too. I dunno how you didn't notice that. Just because it has open world filler doesn't mean it's not rushed.

Development wise? Oh hell yeah, obviously. As I said in my first post it's frankly a miracle the game even exists in as quasi-presentable of a state as it does. I mean that past chapter 9 the whole experience is rushed. Before then you have time to just leisurely exist in the open world with the occasional baffling plot intrusion, but after that it's not just the devs who are out of time - you are too, and the game starts rocketing through what little substance remains on the way to the ending.

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Doesn't one of those later chapters take literally five minutes to complete and consists of three fights in a train car or something? I remember thinking it was completely inexcusable.

I'm partially convinced the excuse for some of those later chapters is they had to go from 13 to 15 chapters, so they split up some of the later ones into two chapters so they could hit 15.
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Xiahou Shake posted...

I mean that past chapter 9 the whole experience is rushed.

That's what I mean too. Obviously the linear part is way faster, but the open world parts skip ahead massively each chapter too. If you don't do all the side missions each time, it doesn't feel too different.

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Yeah, the main plot is fairly condensed throughout the game. They're just able to hide it behind a big overworld and lots of sidequests until chapter 9.

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foolm0r0n posted...

If you don't do all the side missions each time, it doesn't feel too different.

Ah, well I did! So that explains the difference. Yeah I can definitely imagine that if you don't hang out in the world whenever you're given the opportunity then the entire game is fucking breakneck. The actual plot points move along at an almost hilarious pace.

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After MGSV I really appreciated that they did dump all that narrative on us even if it made no sense. Much better than nothing.

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Its a real problem.

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metaIslug posted...

Also, the plot being bad is of less importance to MGSV than it is to FFXV

But is it though

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I def enjoyed the generic missions and combat a lot more in XV than MGSV, but both got tiring fast. XV had enough twists in each chapter to keep the gameplay fresh.

Story is hard to say. There is nothing to compare XV's story, so who cares if it's unfinished and you just get some cool anime bro scenes. That's fine.

MGSV is entirely familiar(ish) characters in a universe you're already deeply steeped in, in a series that is known for story before anything else. The lack of story is so glaring that is shines through every line of interaction, every line of dialogue, every silent minute you spend trekking across the desert. Each fulton gives you a split second of joy, enough to forget what you're actually playing. But as hard as they tried, there are not enough fultons to really fill the void left by the story.

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I'm the complete opposite and found the actual gameplay of MGSV much more satisfying than XV. I could sneak around in the fox engine all day.

Story-wise the two games cancel each other out. Both seem to have a story to tell but can't tell it well. Both require additional legwork to actually understand the story, beyond the act of playing the game . For XV, you have to watch a pretty bad prologue movie, download multiple DLC's which aren't integrated into the story very well, and even then you probably need to read a wiki.

For MGSV you gotta listen to hours and hours of tapes, most of which are boring exposition dumps. There are a handful of good ones. Maybe this is in a way Peace Walker's fault, because the tapes there were actually kind of fun, but here they are not. So yeah, story-wise it's a wash. One has cup noodles, the other kazuhira burgers.

I think one of my biggest problems with MGSV is that the Kazuhira burgers gag is like the only time the game even attempts to be funny. It's just a self-serious and kinda depressing game, which is a drastic departure from the cheesy and campy dialogue the series is generally known for.

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I thought all the Code Talker stuff was just the right balance of serious and camp that classic MGS is about. And the tapes are kinda fine too, since like you said in PW they were good. And MGS4 was mostly codec too.

But something about the combination of everything in MGSV ended up being worse than the sum of its parts.

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MGS4 was pretty light on codec, actually. MGS2 is the one that went heavy on it.

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Leonhart4 posted...

I think one of my biggest problems with MGSV is that the Kazuhira burgers gag is like the only time the game even attempts to be funny. It's just a self-serious and kinda depressing game, which is a drastic departure from the cheesy and campy dialogue the series is generally known for.

you do realize you can train a dog to stab someone with a knife while they're distracted by a balloon version of big boss right?

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SantaRPidgey posted...

you do realize you can train a dog to stab someone with a knife while they're distracted by a balloon version of big boss right?

Uh huh, what does that have to do with the humor in the actual story and dialogue?

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I mean I don't know why humor has to be present in the specific way you want it to be. I personally thought MGS V was lighthearted and hilarious.

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SantaRPidgey posted...

I mean I don't know why humor has to be present in the specific way you want it to be. I personally thought MGS V was lighthearted and hilarious.

I mean I was referring specifically to the tone of the dialogue and the story, not the ways you can entertain yourself with the gameplay. If you found that to be lighthearted and hilarious, too, good for you. I don't know how this turned into "why are you upset the game isn't accommodating you" but whatever.

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Like the game is the game, they didn't add stabby wolf or cant-breath-with-clothes-on girl to add a somber tone. Holistically speaking, MGS V is anything but self-serious. That's the only point I'm making

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SantaRPidgey posted...

cant-breath-with-clothes-on girl to add a somber tone

you mean the girl that Kojima literally said "you will be ashamed of your actions" about?

you can say it's not always self-serious but it frequently is

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The actual story of MGSV is absolutely not lighthearted and hilarious. It's much more grim than any other game in the series.

The game retains the absurdity of earlier installments, but we're talking about the story itself and comparing it to prior stories in the series.

Oh, I get why it's grim. It didn't have to be humorless though.

It might have helped if Big Boss had real dialogue.

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colliding posted...

I'm the complete opposite and found the actual gameplay of MGSV much more satisfying than XV. I could sneak around in the fox engine all day.

Oh yeah absolutely.

I've been thinking about playing MGSV again ever since beating it. I don't think there's a way to make FFXV any more fun unless they patched in a Hard mode, and that's still not really the same kind of inherent fun. I will say all the base building and collecting materials and personnel stuff does not really add anything for me. What I really want is multiple Ground Zeroes kind of levels.

Is there any other series that does stealth gameplay like metal gear? Like a Tom Clancy series or something?

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Leonhart4 posted...

But is it though

I guess the way I see it, FFXV is a standalone product. If the story is bad, that's it. FFXV has a bad story.

MGSV is part of a series so....yeah MGSV has a bad story, but I also already considered the MGS story over with 4. I didn't really care for PW so I didn't have much investment in the story anymore anyways.


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I feel like MGSV just becomes too repetitive at some point, so I don't think I could bring myself to play it again without some other incentive.

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pjbasis posted...

I guess the way I see it, FFXV is a standalone product. If the story is bad, that's it. FFXV has a bad story.

MGSV is part of a series so....yeah MGSV has a bad story, but I also already considered the MGS story over with 4. I didn't really care for PW so I didn't have much investment in the story anymore anyways.

Right, but they're both series a lot of people play for the story. It's not enough just for the gameplay to be good, no matter how fun it is. It's the total package people want. Otherwise, they'd just play Splinter Cell or something.

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Leonhart4 posted...

It might have helped if Big Boss had real dialogue.

Still a mystery that Kojima thought it was super cool to bring in a big TV actor for a character that doesn't say anything.

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Perhaps my strongest memory of MGSV is the 10 minute ride in the back of the truck where no one says a word.

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wait episode ardyn isn't included in the Windows Edition? noooo

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oh it's $2.24 on humble right now OKAY FINE

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Snrkiko posted...

wait episode ardyn isn't included in the Windows Edition? noooo

Nope, that was released afterward.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Perhaps my strongest memory of MGSV is the 10 minute ride in the back of the truck where no one says a word.

I think 9/10 players thought that their game had glitched.

I really loved FFXV when I played it. I really thought it was more fun than any game I had played during the Ps2 or Ps3 generations. Not sure if I would agree with that now, but it was a great experience.

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FFXV's characters are fantastic

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