Endgame discussion! Spoilers! Don't click if you haven't beat it. You've been warned lol ;)

[Tiffany]

Its been so long since I've been on here. But I really enjoyed playing XV and it made me think of here, so here I am. I suppose for safety sake I can put my thoughts into spoilers???? I forget forum policies. Forgive me if I mess up on something.




Anyhoo,

Thoughts on the game?

When I first started playing it, I didn't really like it if I was honest. I thought it was weird to have F&TM singing Stand By Me... so very un-FF like IMHO. I found it hard to relate to the characters, I hadn't watched Kingsglaive or Brotherhood so I was quite lost on the story. I found it weird that after finding out his hometown was toast, Noct just kinda goes about his buisness. I guess you could argue that he knew it was pointless to go back etc, but yeah. I wasn't very fussed about it.

Kept going for the sake of going....

and then came

SPOILER!!:

the Leviathan fight.

That was a massive turning point for me in the game. I was annoyed that for all that getting to Lunafreya was your mission and you never "really" get to her and then she goes and dies was a bit much for me, but the whole fight was freaking awesome. Probably doesn't hurt that Leviathan is my fave summon ha ha.

After that, everything started ramping up. I was confused about Umbra at first, I clearly don't read very well as I thought that if I "went back in time" that all progress would be saved there. So I went through everything, up until the Ravus fight without going back to try and level, earn money and stock up on healing items. I got SCHOOLED the first time I attempted Ravus ha ha. I think I was level 35? Way too low. Figured out just how Umbra worked and then went back in time.

Totally did that experience boost as well. Not sure if you guys know about it, the one where you eat the food that gives 100% exp buff, then do a bunch of exp-cast spells then take out the Bandersnatch north of Hammerhead then sleep in Altissa? Boosted me a lot.

The end was just mint IMO. I loved it. I ended up watching Kingsglaive part way through playing the game... made me a bit sad that Nyx was Ifrit. Such a dick deity lol, when he gave up so much to save everyone. That fight was so long and epic for me. Arden wasn't so bad, not sure if it was because I sucked so much but I had a bunch of summon things pop up so he went down pretty quickly.

Oh and the FEELS with the ending credits. Where it plays Stand By Me again and it totally clicked for me about the song. Maybe I'm getting slow in my old age ha ha.

I'm still lost on some things.... I don't know what triggers a summon in the first place. Certain areas? Events? Condition of Characters?

I'm working on Costlemark atm, I blew through the story knowing I could explore more when I finished the game.

Would love to hear other people's opinions

[Andromeda]

I'll agree about the ending, it was perfect. And I'm not even speaking to the story that happens in the ending. I'm talking about how they actually handled it and the credits. It really made me tear up. It was the perfect way to just wrap and seal everything up for the player.

Spoiler: Getting specific now, on those details, I love you pick a photo that you saved, I had 140 at that point. They even talk about them as you flip through. Then the credits roll and it is actually using your saved photos for the credits. It was the best use of an in-game feature and something you don't even give that much thought to. It just some sort of thing that feels like it was added because everyone had photo modes now. But to bring it all back at the end made it all worth it. Also probably the darkest FF game I've played. The XIII was quite grim the longer the series went on, but I think FFXV takes it. The moment at the end with everyone that you know dead just hanging like puppets half decomposed over throne really nailed home how dark the game was. Not to mention the last third where it is just a conga of bleakness, death and depression. Luna dies, Ignis is blinded (so much of that chapter is sad), Niflheim is just a ghost town filled with deamons and you suddenly are dropped into a survival horror game, then you return to the world ten years later and you have demon walls jumping out at you and a literal world of darkness.

Its got its issues, but I love the game and easily is ranking up there as one of my favorites.

Oh and welcome back Tiffany! Long time no see! ^^

[Tiffany]

Thank you! Good to be back ha ha.

Yes I totally agree. I teared up a bit too with it, when the game started I was all annoyed with the song but wow it really just hits home when you finish the game and watch the ending credits!!!

For all that I couldn't relate to the characters in the beginning, after the events of Altissa hearing them bicker and be mad at each other really got to me. And then when you're on your own in Galea (sp???) with the music, being taunted by Ardyn, not having any of your powers save the one thing that you couldn't bring yourself to use when you got it? Man, all the feels. The FEELS! When he first put it on was pretty epic. Not to mention going back in time and doing previous hunts are a joke now that you can use Death ha ha ha.

Not going to lie, I'm struggling with landing the stupid regalia F. I crash every. single. time. Which sucks because I really want to go to that dungeon. But I suppose I'll have to keep at it. Any tips? LOL

[Andromeda]

Yeah, I crashed the Regalia a few times before I got the handle on it. The first thing I did once I realized it was not going to be easy to land it, I practiced. I found a very straight stretch of highway and kept landing on it until I got the rhythm of it. There are a few things that I do. One I put the brake on, so that what road ahead of me lasts longer. Also even before you're ready to land, but want to land soon start to descend. Just hold the descent button. Once you're where you want then hit it again to land. The descent will only last for so long because you get pulled back up though. So it is best to practice like I said on long stretches of road so you can be safe. If you hit the road hard you're generally going to be fine until you nose dive. The area you want to reach you have to get into descent long before you reach it and then the prompt to land comes to you when you're just hitting the mountains. So it is very deceiving.

[Martial Master]

Beat the game last night at 37 hours. Like I said in the progress thread, it may not be the best FF game ever, but it IS amazing. Well worth the 10 year wait, if you ask me.

On to my thoughts on the finale...

SPOILER!!:

Was surprised to find the figure in the intro was Ifrit all along. Who ever thought he'd ever be a bad guy in one of these?

Chapter 13 was kind of a drag, where the game turned survival horror for a while with the axemen, but even that I could enjoy, with the solitude and deperation. It conveyed a real sense of dread and isolation.

Oh and the feels on those end credits!

[Tiffany]

Martial Master - I totally get ya. I hate jump scares, I was already on edge not having my stuff and the creepiness factor of that level... but then the random POW!!!! things. Aaaaagh. LOL

Lord help me with Pitioss Dungeon. Lord help me. I'm not in very far at all, and I'm pretty sure I know what I'm supposed to do... but can I actually land the jump? NOPE. I'm so not good when RPG type games throw in platforming. That being said, I love the concept of it. Super cool! I'm in the room that spins around. I will get it. At some point

[SuperSabin]

I just beat the game, I really enjoyed it, it definitely did have an emotional impact throughout the game.

SPOILER!!:

Especially with the cutscenes it shows you throughout the game. I like how it shows Noctis and Luna married later in the credits, is that an alternate reality? or is that some sort of afterlife thing?

[Martial Master]

I think it's an afterlife sort of deal. We ARE dealing with a world of spirits and gods, after all. No reason they can't... well, not "live" happily ever after, but exist happily ever after in spirit form?

[Tiffany]

I think its the same as what Martial Master said. They're very definitely dead, but their spirits found each other and are now living out the life they thought they were going to have.... before being groomed to die so everyone else could live.

[Pete]

I finally beat the game! Literally 2 months after I got it.

I absolutely loved the first 8 chapters, where the world was my oyster and I could go anywhere. I enjoyed 9 to 12, where things went from interesting to south very quickly.

I thought the Leviathan fight was amazing, but I could have done without emo Noctis. I get that he lost his wife, but I felt like it was a high school romance until the very end of the game. Even though the game tried to convey that Noct and Luna were destined to be together, I never felt the love until the very end of the game. It always seemed to be a marriage of convenience/ necessity, with no reasonable emotions behind it.

That being said, I love that the game really seemed to be way more about friendship and the love between your party members. It was so much more than my original game of the game just being the hangover with magic.

As for chapter 13, I felt like it would have been perfect, had it been a little shorter. I liked the taunting and isolation, as well as the way you find out about Prompto. I also love that none of it mattered when the party got back together.

As for the very end, I figured that it was Noct and Luna in the afterlife

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