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Famitsu interview with Tabata details Final Fantasy XV's battle system and more

wmlk

Member
I highly doubt they cut character switching. Highly, highly doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi5PAz9KPk4&feature=youtu.be

Tabata and marketing guy talk about 'switching' to different characters and then proceed to show off how they look. I think they just don't want to show off anyone who's not Noctis at this point.

Regardless, I'm open to letting my voice be heard about the battle system sooner than later. I just want to know more and hopefully nothing is dumbed down right now and it's not too late.
 

injurai

Banned
I highly doubt they cut character switching. Highly, highly doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi5PAz9KPk4&feature=youtu.be

Tabata and marketing guy talk about 'switching' to different characters and then proceed to show off how they look. I think they just don't want to show off anyone who's not Noctis at this point.

Regardless, I'm open to letting my voice be heard about the battle system sooner than later. I just want to know more and hopefully nothing is dumbed down right now and it's not too late.

I'm open to tones of changes in combat, but I really want to have character switching. That compounds the strategy and complexity of gameplay.
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
Thanks for the link Fuu, but those are just PR talk. But I did find an interesting line over at Square Portal.

The basic idea is to build the battles upon a continuous flow of movements; this continuous flow is based on the combination of buttons you press and each action is chained into another in a seamless way.

Source: http://squareportal.net/2014/09/22/...-five-interviews-and-tons-of-new-information/

Now I could be grasping at straws, it doesn't sound like a single button holding here at all.
 
I'm looking through the e3 2013 trailers and i can't see what you are talking about...

There's a very short part where the camera is distinctly following Promtpo, he goes into cover, and he aims at an enemy in 3rd person. It isn't much, but it was enough that a lot of people still though character switching was in. Being fair to Square, I'm sure it was a target render of what they wanted to do and it end up being cut as a result of Tabata's change in direction.

But whatever. I'll keep up with the game, I just can't help but feel disappointed at the apparent changes (people keep on saying there's conflicting information, so I'll wait until we hear more)
 
I still think it'll just play the same as some characters in Type-0 (like Ace), hold the button for auto-attacks, hold the button and a direction for infinite dodges, or mash either if you want, makes no difference. The game is still pretty hard.

If we think it's just two buttons, the "auto-attack" and the "auto-dodge", then there's no reason at all for there to be no party control. After all, everyone's attacks are completely done and they apparently have the same amount of attacks as Noctis, so just map that to the hold of a button.

I'm also skeptical about people saying that weapon switching is out. In the trailer and demo we saw that you're almost always fighting around 10 enemies at once (yes, I took that number out of my ass), and they don't just stand there (some attacks in the demo come from outside of the screen even). And yet, there are combos like this:

iPvB6MVfIMtwt.gif


The very first combo he does, it's slow, it's heavy and definitely not something you want when fighting 10 enemies that attack fast. "Oh, he built his 'deck' like this", I highly doubt it. This is a demo, so probably he would be using the "default" deck, which, for balance sake, should never start with a heavy attack, specially if you're fighting tiny enemies whose entire plan is to do fast and weak attacks that would (probably) cancel you out of your animation.

My guess is that he probably switched it manually (you can even see that there's a slight pause every time he switches weapons), and that he pressed "attack" manually. However, during the second half of that very gif, he does a sword into spear combo. THAT is probably the "deck" he set up and there you can see the change between weapons is instantaneous. It's also much better for a default deck, since it's simple fast sword hits into a spear finisher.

Lastly, let's not forget that the game also has some sort of friendly fire. Why would they even bother with this if everything is so automated?
 

Damerman

Member
I think Kingdom Hearts' problem is more about the lack of challenge in the main content than the combat itself. Even though it's simple, when you get to the harder fights, it gets very very fun.

Can't wait to fight the Final Mix bosses again when 2.5 comes out.

though i agree... the rapidity at which you could dodge in kh2, and that glide and the block and the attack all of those were blazing fast, it made no difference if you were tapping it or holding it(if the holding functionality was implemented in the KH games).

The point of Arpgs like Demon's souls, the first kingdom hearts and the KH2 boss fights is understanding when ur opponent is open for attacks and when its time to dodge and block. Ok, i understand that you want the nuance of constanly mashing buttons for "feedback" but there is a meta nuance in how you read enemies and move your character in the 3d space. how do you know that holding buttons for attack and evade will make the game easier? well, is street fighter easier when you hold the block button to block? we don't fully understand the functionalities of noctis... we don't know how he casts magic, how he teleports, if he blocks, if he dodges, whether what weapon he is using effects his defense as seen in this gif

ib4nJW4HJVWxx.gif
 

Damerman

Member
So do we know if there's some sort of diceroll tied to the auto-attack/defend? What influence do a character's stats have on the speed at which they move/attack? Are people so fixated on getting an action/reflex-oriented system that they aren't willing to entertain the possibility of a more stats-oriented system?

that would be a major plus for me, as i'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. how knows what other people might think though.
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
Actually who told us about these infos? (No character swap, no weapon manual swap and no jump)

Was it confirmed by Tabata? Or all of this is coming from the insider who played an older version of the demo?

Im not saying the last one has no credibility, but if thats the case we should wait even more cautiously for more infos about that. Maybe we will have more then we are expecting right now.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
this is what is disheartening the most. we have plenty of action games with the fundamental controls of dragons dogma... Its essentially a reclothed DMC4. Its great... I'm a huge dragon's dogma fan... but thats its exactly it...dragon's dogma... let that IP do what it does. No one does what dragon's dogma does... with the climbing and the classes and the platforming... its fucking excellent... but why does every other franchise have to do the same thing?
I'm not asking for a reskinned DD(though that would be fantastic), but it wouldn't hurt to borrow certain elements from IP's that are in the same genre.
 
From what we've heard of the combat system so far, I can't really think of much to compare it to, with the holding of buttons to enter different modes and all. If SE is building a combat system that is new and original for their first FF game of the new gen in this rinse repeat AAA industry, shouldn't that be viewed as a good thing? At least until it's proven to be crap?
 

sn00zer

Member
what bothers me the most about ur post is the fact that everything that you are complaining about the recent videos could easily be true for the old videos... How do you know there is no jump? in the gameplay video from e3 13, Noctis does aerial attacks.... granted he does it from teleporting, but why waste animation resources on aerial attacks if the only way you can get into the air is if you throw ur sword onto high things to fall from them? lets be logical here. has tabata said that there is no jump? no... have we seen aerial animations? yes...

THE ONLY THING! that isn't in the new videos is party switching and if we are going to remain consistent with what "everyone was expecting from versus" well then, the TGS 14 footage is even more kingdom hearts like... when was the last time you played as Donald or goofy?

-No jump button when demo was shown for press at tgs
-Defense stance feinting is new and looks to replace reliance on roll dodging
-realtime weapon switching as been removed in favor of automation
-removal of party switching
-no mention of hold button combat/defense at e3

I will agree that its arguable that direct jumping was not in the e3 trailer, but it was not confirmed until tgs. Regardless the game that was promised so many years ago and was again reiterated at e3 in interviews was an action RPG in Final Fantasy universe.

The combat looks to be moving backwards to longer animations and less direct input. Its main hook is changing, and people are getting upset. Its understandable when people have been waiting 8 years for a game and once it gets close to actually materializing the whole point of the game in the first place is shifting.
 

HHTurtle

Neo Member
You know, you're perfectly free to translate all 3 long interviews from Famitsu, 4Gamer, and Dengeki if you want. I'm sure some people will appreciate having full translations of the interviews for free.

But before you spend time doing that, I'll just warn you that you should not expect that just because there are full translations, that it will give people "context" automatically and that discussion will become positive. You will find that it will probably be exactly the same as it is now, because it's not the details most people care about, just what is in their minds. Right now the huge backlash is because people want KH gameplay, and they're getting Tabata's Type-0 Lite gameplay instead. They're going to be angry regardless. Details don't matter. The people who actually care about discussing gameplay mechanics already have a good understanding of how this will likely control and play. I translated the details which would be important to them, to give an understanding of how the mechanics work. Just like how in the previous thread for the tech demo we had a good discussion on the mechanics and what they might mean.

So yeah, if you want to spend more time translating even more stuff so people have more things to read, that's a noble intent. If your intention instead is to try and fight the "wave of negativity" about Tabata and Type-0, then I really think you'll be wasting your time because people at large don't care about changing their minds until they experience something themselves. That's the advice I would give you based on my experience contributing to the forum for a long, long time. :)

Thank you for the advice. Yeah, I realize the futility on trying to convince those who already have a pre-set agenda.

I would still like to address the "Tabata's Type-0 Lite gameplay" issue. The most recent demo presentation (Yes, the one where you're all getting your gifs from) is from a FF Type-0 HD Emergency Talk Show. The Talk Show was only 30 minutes and wasn't part of the main TGS event. Furthermore, the original objective of the talk show was to present more FF Type-0 HD and FF Agito+ info to the public, not FFXV.

The FFXV segment was included at the last minute. They never really planned for it. They explained that the demo is far from a representation of the final game and Tabata specifically said that he didn't want to go into detail concerning the battle system, choosing to use simple explanations instead. Furthermore, the UI was missing a lot of features. Most importantly, they were short on time.

I have translated the entire thing: http://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantas...nslation_for_ffxv_segment_during_ff_type0_hd/

I know it's long but at least, it shows how unplanned the FFXV segment was.
 

Gbraga

Member
Thank you for the advice. Yeah, I realize the futility on trying to convince those who already have a pre-set agenda.

I would still like to address the "Tabata's Type-0 Lite gameplay" issue. The most recent demo presentation (Yes, the one where you're all getting your gifs from) is from a FF Type-0 HD Emergency Talk Show. The Talk Show was only 30 minutes and wasn't part of the main TGS event. Furthermore, the original objective of the talk show was to present more FF Type-0 HD and FF Agito+ info to the public, not FFXV.

The FFXV segment was included at the last minute. They never really planned for it. They explained that the demo is far from a representation of the final game and Tabata specifically said that he didn't want to go into detail concerning the battle system, choosing to use simple explanations instead. Furthermore, the UI was missing a lot of features.

I have translated the entire thing: http://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantas...nslation_for_ffxv_segment_during_ff_type0_hd/

I know it's long but at least, it shows how unplanned the FFXV segment was.

Wow, thank you for this, already got some info I didn't read before, confirming Chocobos.

I wonder how they'll look like so it won't look too weird with those characters.
 

koutoru

Member
I highly doubt they cut character switching. Highly, highly doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi5PAz9KPk4&feature=youtu.be

Tabata and marketing guy talk about 'switching' to different characters and then proceed to show off how they look. I think they just don't want to show off anyone who's not Noctis at this point.

Regardless, I'm open to letting my voice be heard about the battle system sooner than later. I just want to know more and hopefully nothing is dumbed down right now and it's not too late.

They also said they're completely switching to the Luminous engine from their previous propitiatory engine called "Ebony".

So basically in terms of engines it's been on:
Crystal Tools -> Ebony ->Luminous.
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
Thank you for the advice. Yeah, I realize the futility on trying to convince those who already have a pre-set agenda.

I would still like to address the "Tabata's Type-0 Lite gameplay" issue. The most recent demo presentation (Yes, the one where you're all getting your gifs from) is from a FF Type-0 HD Emergency Talk Show. The Talk Show was only 30 minutes and wasn't part of the main TGS event. Furthermore, the original objective of the talk show was to present more FF Type-0 HD and FF Agito+ info to the public, not FFXV.

The FFXV segment was included at the last minute. They never really planned for it. They explained that the demo is far from a representation of the final game and Tabata specifically said that he didn't want to go into detail concerning the battle system, choosing to use simple explanations instead. Furthermore, the UI was missing a lot of features. Most importantly, they were short on time.

I have translated the entire thing: http://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantas...nslation_for_ffxv_segment_during_ff_type0_hd/

I know it's long but at least, it shows how unplanned the FFXV segment was.

Thanks a lot for your effort. And the bolded statement is interesting. I will read it all after finishing my studies! :)
 

duckroll

Member
Actually who told us about these infos? (No character swap, no weapon manual swap and no jump)

Was it confirmed by Tabata? Or all of this is coming from the insider who played an older version of the demo?

Im not saying the last one has no credibility, but if thats the case we should wait even more cautiously for more infos about that. Maybe we will have more then we are expecting right now.

Character swapping - This comes from the 4Gamer interview with Tabata. He says that "the player only controls Noctis" while the party members are AI driven with settings you can change in the menu. It is unclear if Noctis is definitely the only playable character, or if he is simply just describing how the current demo plays.

Weapon swapping - In the Famitsu interview with Tabata, he says to think of equipping weapons like a deck. You set various weapons on the deck, and the most effective one is selected based on the situation in combat. Again it is not 100% clear if there is manual selection, but it definitely sounds automated to some extend.

Jumping - No one has seen or mentioned jumping in combat since the game has been reintroduced as XV. The insider who played it said there was no jumping in the controls, but there was a weapon switch button.

What is confirmed so far is:
- You hold an attack button to do continuous attacks
- You hold a defend button to do evasive moves
- You can warp onto various places on the field if there's a warp cursor available
- There is a weapon deck for Noctis
- Assist Attacks with other party members are context-based and influenced by the weapons and abilities equipped
- Party members are AI-driven, and behaviors can be configured in the menu
 

Alex

Member
Seems interesting, depends on the execution and the general depth to it. Also depends how many fun levers and dials they give us to play with behind the scenes, as well. It's a little... oddball, though. They're not being transparent enough with their intentions. I am glad, however, that it doesn't play like Kingdom Hearts, I mean I'd have taken that in a pinch but I'm happy to hear it's not chasing the ARPG route quite as firmly.

They should have been thinking about a more stable future format for the series with XII. That game had every building block for modernizing the franchise and keeping it relevant with the way we've shifted. The framework really was there, it just needed reiteration and further layers. It was such a shame to see it all tossed out in favor of so much scattershot.
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
Character swapping - This comes from the 4Gamer interview with Tabata. He says that "the player only controls Noctis" while the party members are AI driven with settings you can change in the menu. It is unclear if Noctis is definitely the only playable character, or if he is simply just describing how the current demo plays.

Weapon swapping - In the Famitsu interview with Tabata, he says to think of equipping weapons like a deck. You set various weapons on the deck, and the most effective one is selected based on the situation in combat. Again it is not 100% clear if there is manual selection, but it definitely sounds automated to some extend.

Jumping - No one has seen or mentioned jumping in combat since the game has been reintroduced as XV. The insider who played it said there was no jumping in the controls, but there was a weapon switch button.

What is confirmed so far is:
- You hold an attack button to do continuous attacks
- You hold a defend button to do evasive moves
- You can warp onto various places on the field if there's a warp cursor available
- There is a weapon deck for Noctis
- Assist Attacks with other party members are context-based and influenced by the weapons and abilities equipped
- Party members are AI-driven, and behaviors can be configured in the menu

Ok I see now! Thanks a lot for the clarification! :)
I guess we will have the Jump Festa to confirm what is still uncertain then. Looking forward to it already!
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
You know what would make everyone happy? Do multiple battle systems mode and let people choose at start of the game!

Option A: Kingdom Hearts mode

Option B: Type-0 + FFXII mode

Option C: Classic ATB turn-based mode

Problem solved, but you would have to wait another 25 years for it to come out.
 

HHTurtle

Neo Member
Thanks for the kind words, guys! I really appreciate them. :D

@duckroll
You can fight the Adamantoise seen in the trailer, but it might take 30 in-game days to beat it.

I really think that Tabata was just joking when he talked about the 30 day-battle thing.

It's the 4th Q&A counting from the image of the Adamantaimai.

――やり込み要素としては、トレーラーに出ていたアダマンタイマイとも戦えるとか。これと戦ったら、相当時間が経ちそうですね。

田畑 ゲーム内時間で、30日くらいかかるんじゃないですかね(笑)。頭から尾までキロ単位という巨大な相手で、どこを殴ってもダメージを与えられはしますが、足踏みだけでやられてしまうかも……という具合に、リアルに戦うことを想定しつつゲームに落とし込むと思います。

-- As a side activity, can we fight the Adamantaimai that appeared in the trailer? If we are able to fight it, it seems like it would take a lot of time.

Tabata: In terms of in-game time, I'm guessing it would take about 30 days to defeat it (laugh). Judging by its length from head to tail and its great mass, you can attack any part of it to deal damage but you might be defeated by its stomp... That's how tough it is but I think this is an enemy that many players will want to battle against.

The (笑)or (laugh) symbol suggests that he probably wasn't being serious at that time.

Many people are taking your quote as proof for the Adamantaimai being some kind of superboss and I don't want people to be misled. Can you please remove the "30 day" part from the first post until we get more info on the Adamantaimai?
 

benzy

Member
Thanks for the link Fuu, but those are just PR talk. But I did find an interesting line over at Square Portal.

The basic idea is to build the battles upon a continuous flow of movements; this continuous flow is based on the combination of buttons you press and each action is chained into another in a seamless way.

Source: http://squareportal.net/2014/09/22/...-five-interviews-and-tons-of-new-information/

Now I could be grasping at straws, it doesn't sound like a single button holding here at all.

This is the same translation from Kotaku, which sounds like you hold the button for continuous flow. There is no single button that makes a single attack.

"The controls aren't you simply press a button once for a single action to happen," said Tabata. "Rather, they are a continuous flow of movements. It's more about the movements that are associated with the buttons and building upon them for actions through the combat system."

http://kotaku.com/the-man-who-saved-final-fantasy-xv-1637142585
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
character switching is still in. Read the last paragraph.

http://squareportal.net/2014/09/20/everything-about-final-fantasy-xv-the-overture-live-demo/

who even misinterpreted this shit? you people are killing me.

Oh... you're right!

We were also introduced with the character switch system, which was shown back in 2011. Now in 2014, you just need to press a button to seamlessly change from a character to another. Attacking, guarding and evading happens by pressing the buttons, and by holding down the guard/attack button, the character will use them automatically. The auto-mode still needs more explanation since it may not be as simple as it sounds.

And it seems that the atacks can also be done pressing the button, and not necessairly holding it.

Thats interesting! So, the guy who wrote that was there seing it by himself?
Thtas great news if true (and it seems reliable). =)

Maybe Tabata was stating only about that current situation then when he said about controlling only Noctis.

Edit: Nah, anyway, so that seems contradicted to the other interview there. Well, I will wait Jump Festa or a new interview more detailed. Its looking pretty good though, I dont care it you need to hold to atack or if the party is controlled by some gambit-like system as long as it plays good, and I'm having faith on it.
 

benzy

Member
character switching is still in. Read the last paragraph.

http://squareportal.net/2014/09/20/everything-about-final-fantasy-xv-the-overture-live-demo/

who even misinterpreted this shit? you people are killing me.

You just basically ignored all of the Tabata interviews where he says character cooperation is automatic, and that only Noctis is playable.

4gamer interview:

There are no menu commands in combat. It controls like an action game where players switch between offense and defense. You can only control Noctis, but you can give orders to other party members. And you can call up the menu screen to give commands to everyone, swap out weapons, etc.

http://gematsu.com/2014/09/final-fantasy-xv-director-talks-development-open-world-combat-demo
 

ec0ec0

Member
An opinion doesnt become a fact if you put the word fact at the end.

unless its a truthfact xD (reference to crazy buttons on a train (cboat))

edit: about the character changing thing... it was already said that tabata comment could have been about the demo. I think that we are not sure.
 

benzy

Member
edit: about the character changing thing... it was already said that tabata comment could have been about the demo. I think that we are not sure.

They were talking about the game in general. There was no mention of the demo when Noctis being the only playable character came up.
 

duckroll

Member
I really think that Tabata was just joking when he talked about the 30 day-battle thing.

You're free to think whatever you want about it, just like everyone else. At this point you're the only one in the entire thread who even cares so much about whether it takes exactly 30 days to beat the monster. No one else seems to really care. I dunno why you keep mentioning it over and over again. Lol.
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
This is the same translation from Kotaku, which sounds like you hold the button for continuous flow. There is no single button that makes a single attack.



http://kotaku.com/the-man-who-saved-final-fantasy-xv-1637142585

It's still cryptic as fuck. It could still be interpreted as successive button pressing that results in one seamless, continuous flow of actions. What if we tap the attack button rather than holding it? Nobody can guarantee an answer of what will happen here. Basic knowledge of things like this is missing, really.
 

HHTurtle

Neo Member
You're free to think whatever you want about it, just like everyone else. At this point you're the only one in the entire thread who even cares so much about whether it takes exactly 30 days to beat the monster. No one else seems to really care. I dunno why you keep mentioning it over and over again. Lol.

Important part of quote.
Many people are taking your quote as proof for the Adamantaimai being some kind of superboss.
 

ec0ec0

Member
Tabata: In terms of in-game time, I'm guessing it would take about 30 days to defeat it (laugh). Judging by its length from head to tail and its great mass, you can attack any part of it to deal damage but you might be defeated by its stomp... That's how tough it is but I think this is an enemy that many players will want to battle against.

The (笑)or (laugh) symbol suggests that he probably wasn't being serious at that time.

I appreciate your effort, even if this doesnt seem important at all.
 
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