Video Game Tuesday: Why FFXV is a Success

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m going into what makes the latest Final Fantasy such a big hit. It’s all about Why FFXV is a Success!

Why?: Because it’s ridiculously fun to play, despite all the story flaws, and there are flaws no question of that. FFXV is just plain fun to play. Even 100+ hours into the game I’m still finding it fun to just run into a battle and start attacking an enemy. I’ve beaten every monster in the game except MA-X Angelus, and despite that I still have hours of things left to do.

Like What?: I still need to beat the secret dungeon, I need to procure the last few Ascension upgrades, minus the wait mode extension upgrades I will probably never get those. I need to find more recipes, and I still haven’t used a single Limit Break spell. I haven’t done all the various tour scenes, and there are plenty of items I need to earn from Totomostro and Justice Monsters 5.

The Scenery: I thoroughly enjoy looking out the side of the Regalia and just enjoying the view while Ignis drives even having beaten the game. The game is just gorgeous to the point of making me wish all games had these kind of graphics. I love going through the photos that Prompto takes every day, and posting them to my Twitter account. Some of them are just hilarious, others are just gorgeous action shots. I honestly wish that we could keep more pictures than the 150 we are limited to.

The future: We are going to be getting plenty of new content starting with the upcoming festival DLC, which will feature a boss fight against the real Square Enix President. I hear that fight is just hilariously fun to do. We’ll be getting more story content in improved cutscenes and other things like the Gladio, Ignis and Prompto DLC episodes. We’ll even get playable Aranea, Cor and Iris in an online multiplayer DLC. Hopefully we’ll get to add them to our party in the free roam after beating the story as well. Frankly I loved having Iris in my party, as she was just a fun character all around.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

 

Video Game Tuesday: 2016 Game of the Year

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m going to cover my pick for top game of this year that I played. I didn’t get to play a bunch of new things, but of those I did I was pleased with one in particular. It’s my 2016 Game of the Year.

Forewarning: Just as a reminder this is of the various games that I played this year and that came out this year. I didn’t get to play many new things and all were on the PS4.

Runner-Up: No it’s not Destiny: Rise of Iron. It’s Klaus, a little indie platformer that was really fun to play and frankly had more story than any part of Destiny ever has had. It was fun and it was good looking to boot.

Game of the Year: Final Fantasy XV, I didn’t have a large pool to choose from, but of the ones I did Final Fantasy XV won most of the usual categories. Gameplay, Art, Music, were all top notch and frankly even though the story could’ve been better I didn’t play another one this year that made me cry, laugh and fume with rage as much as Final Fantasy XV. With more DLC on the way, with online multiplayer being added apparently, I’m hoping that Square will fix the story to make this a game that truly wins Game of the Year from me. If they can improve on it and make it better, Final Fantasy XV will prove to be a real classic game in the future.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

 

Video Game Tuesday: Things in FFXV You Might Miss

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m going to cover some things you might not notice while playing the latest Final Fantasy. It’s Things in FFXV You Might Miss!

Miss? Like What?: Well for example you might not notice that the parties clothing and skin gradually becomes dirty over time if you don’t go to an inn or set up camp every night.

Really?: Yeah it actually happens, in fact you can get burns and bloodstains as well on the characters or even wet hair in addition to wet clothing. In addition all of those changes are reflected in the main menu screen where you can see the party.

Outfits: Speaking of clothes, you can and should choose which outfits you use. Not only does it affect your stats, yes it actually does that, it also changes how the characters interact out in the world. Noct might complain he’s cold and Ignis will retort saying that he should be wearing his jacket, if he’s not wearing one. The opposite happens as well. Personally I use the standard outfit but leave the jackets off for my party since I prefer to be more hard hitting rather than having more defense or hp.

Break Appendages: Not only does this weaken your enemies, but doing so can often lead to valuable items that sell for a pretty penny or are used in various side quests to upgrade weapons. So break all the appendages you can, it’ll make your fights easier and make you more money.

Mother and Child Rice Bowl: You can acquire this in Lestallum by passing by a certain NPC, but this dish is probably the most useful dish in the game early on. It not only boosts EXP gain by 30% it also increases item drop rate by 50%! Seriously, if you aren’t using this when hunting for rare items you are shooting yourself in the foot. It’s also a great way of earning money relatively quickly.

Point Warping in Combat: It’s not just a good way to get a breather, it also replenishes MP to full. This is doable even if you have no MP and have the Stasis status. So get to warping around, and don’t be afraid to use it.

Pull over for Prompto: You might find him annoying, though personally I just found him to be energetic with the Japanese dubbing, but it’s really worth the extra EXP you can get for a relatively easy task. It also adds to the feel of the game.

Guest Party Members: Take a look at their equipment screens for some good laughs. I particularly enjoyed Iris’s technique.

Turn off the HUD: Seriously, turn it off and enjoy the artwork because it’s some of the best ever made. The entire game is beyond beautiful.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

Video Game Tuesday: That Final Fantasy XV Delay

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m talking about Final Fantasy XV! It’s all about That Final Fantasy XV Delay!

Delay?: In case you haven’t heard Final Fantasy XV was delayed from September 27th 2016 to November 29th 2016. It’s only a delay of two months, and considering how long we’ve already waited, a few more months won’t hurt too much.

Really?!?: Yes it’s been delayed once more, but I’d rather it be delayed and improved than it released as a subpar product. The game director straight up admitted they wanted to improve many things including fixing frame rate drops, which a lot of people love to whine about. “OMG it’s not in 60fps it’s the end of the world blah blah blah.” People love to whine about way too many things, and the latest whining about the delay is annoying as hell to me. Either accept that it’ll be a poorly made product like Destiny was at launch wait for the sequel to possibly fix things, I’m not holding much hope on that front by the by, or let them delay it to make the game even better.

Plenty of games were delayed and were well worth the wait. Metal Gear Solid V is a perfect example, that game was delayed for years and after being in development hell for ages it launched to near universal acclaim for Kojima. Sure Konami screwed him over, but that’s a different story for another day. Destiny was hyped up to be a huge project that would have an amazing story and plenty of multiplayer interaction, we still haven’t gotten the first nearly two years later, and the second is a hit and miss. Raiding in Destiny is plenty of fun for a few weeks, but after that it quickly devolves into sheer snoozefests. Player interaction outside of strikes, raiding, or the Crucible is non existent, but in those areas it’s quite fun. Pity we were promised more, and I still have friends who play it every day. I don’t see the draw of a game full of broken promises, but maybe I’m still bitter about Hawkmoon from Y1.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

Video Game Tuesday: Ports vs. Remakes

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m covering a subject that some people from older generations might not fully get, but frustrates the hell out of us younger folks. It’s all about Ports vs. Remakes!

What is a Port?: A port is a direct transfer of a game with little to no updates to the game at all, and if any updates occur usually they are only in terms of control or UI updates to better fit the new hardware. A good example of a port would be the various re-releases of games to the Wii U Virtual Console, it’s pretty much the exact same games with only control updates.

What is a Remake?: A remake is a game that’s been completely remade from the ground up to suit the new hardware, from graphics to controls to game engine everything is new and usually improved. An example of a remake is the remake of Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS. It had completely new controls, new graphics and mostly new systems. However the story of the games stay the same, except maybe they add a new epilogue or something like that.

Why is this frustrating?: Some people think there is no difference between the two, generally these are people who little to nothing about games, however for gamers we’d rather have the latest and greatest. Most of the time, sometimes you just don’t mess with perfection. A Link to the Past is a great example, it had a GameBoy Advance port, and it was mostly unchanged, with only the addition of a seperate game on the cartridge that had a very small impact on A Link to the Past.

What’s better?: It depends on the game, if someone remade E.T., the game that was famously buried in a landfill because no one wanted it, people might be interested. But if they ported that piece of crap? No one will pay for that.