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Final Fantasy XV TGS 2014 Trailer | Lord Nomura giveth us His only Son so we may live
- Thread starter Kagari
- Start date
I agree the UI in XV looks great. Simplistic and elegant. The glass effect in the background was also a nice touch.
I'm pretty neutral as of now, i'd have to see it complete before.
I just hope the classic glove pointer (of your avatar lol) is still there.
Also, the damage numbers are too damn small.
Exentryk
Member
I actually prefer them like this - small and unobtrusive. I'd like to see enemy HP bars tho. Guessing they were just hidden in that demo.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Problem with XV's UI is the lack of personality. Minimalist (or non existent at all) it's ok with me, but anonymous no. It's a FF and UI has always been a part of the general artstyle the game was going for. Here I see nothing of that, just a bland hud.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
I would like to see hard lock being used this time, if it's still there.
PshycoNinja
Member
It has a reflective crystal overlay in the background to the UI. Very much in line with a theme the game has set. I want function over form but even the look is nice. I don't need a UI that covers half the screen and has a lot of busy nothingness.
Yup. You can see them and you can see how much damage your attacks are causing without being obtrusive. It's nice. Honestly better format and size than XII and X.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Me neither. That doesn't make this hud more stylish than what actually is not. Bland is the only adjective I have for it. For now. But I'm pretty sure this is not final and will change vastly. No big AAA dev. would release an incomplete and rushed mess like this. Especially not S-E with a main FF entry. It will change.
As for the numbers of the damage, I think it's time for FF to move past them and remove them completely. I really don't see why we still need them while damage can now be shown in multiple ways without turning the screen in a math liceum exam.
PshycoNinja
Member
I hope not. I like it a lot. Best UI of a single player FF in a long time.
Exentryk
Member
Doesn't need soft locking if gambits and movement are deciding the targets. So the ones used while casting magic were hard locks.
Canis lupus
Member
.
I like the minimalism of the UI with the modern white font on the glassy (notice things distort behind them) panes. Looks like there's some retail space reserved for MP to the right of HP perhaps. Perhaps not.
Wonder if they'll add in that little bar below Noct's HP (E3 trailer) that has something to do with his warping or maybe they thought it was unnecessary.
That main/party menu better be slick-looking though 'cause I'm a stickler for that stuff.
Wonder if they'll add in that little bar below Noct's HP (E3 trailer) that has something to do with his warping or maybe they thought it was unnecessary.
That main/party menu better be slick-looking though 'cause I'm a stickler for that stuff.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Also – but this is just me – I really hope this game will not feature any minimap/radar on the hud. I find them so distracting and annoying (see XIII and XIV) that I end up seeing more of that than what really the game shows me. Exploration should happen through actual exploring of the 3d space and not through a 2dMap. MAP in the menu is fine, just not in the HUD. With this comes of course a level design that doesn't force you in having one, so it's not just as easy as saying "make it optional". Because when it's optional (see XIV), it means you really need it (NPC hinters, way arrors for objectives ect.). No Map means Intelligent Design also.
Exentryk
Member
I disagree. Given the large explorable areas, a map is very much needed to plan your exploration.
I'd be okay with a button that hides the map on the screen, for players than don't want to use it.
PshycoNinja
Member
I don't mind either way. It wasn't necessary for XIII. XIV needed it but it didn't distract me. I am sure they can do something where you touch the touchpad and a map pops up to glance at and touch it again to put away. Won't bother me either way.
I don't think a minimap would be particularly helpful. In fact, I think minimaps in general are a poor compromise in game design. They shouldn't be required, and games would actually play better without them.
In the case of FFXII, the only usefulness of the minimap was showing where NPCs were in the area. It wasn't useful for exploration at all because the areas were generally larger and wider than the minimap could display. You only end up seeing the area immediately around you in the minimap, and you can already see all that by... looking at the screen.
In the case of games like TES and Fallout, there is no minimap, and it shows that you don't need one to play the game. You need to use the main map from time to time to see where locations are with relation to each other, but an actual minimap serves no purpose.
In the case of GTA, AC, and other open world action games of this sort, the minimap actually hampers the experience of the game. They are designed as easy to read "go-to-here" interfaces which OCD players can use to hit off checklists in terms of collectibles, events, or whatever. That's a really poor way to play a game. They also hurt the players ability to naturally familiarize with the environments if they pay attention to the minimap's auto-directions instead of just exploring the game world. If there are no auto-directions and markers, then the minimap becomes completely useless.
In the case of FFXII, the only usefulness of the minimap was showing where NPCs were in the area. It wasn't useful for exploration at all because the areas were generally larger and wider than the minimap could display. You only end up seeing the area immediately around you in the minimap, and you can already see all that by... looking at the screen.
In the case of games like TES and Fallout, there is no minimap, and it shows that you don't need one to play the game. You need to use the main map from time to time to see where locations are with relation to each other, but an actual minimap serves no purpose.
In the case of GTA, AC, and other open world action games of this sort, the minimap actually hampers the experience of the game. They are designed as easy to read "go-to-here" interfaces which OCD players can use to hit off checklists in terms of collectibles, events, or whatever. That's a really poor way to play a game. They also hurt the players ability to naturally familiarize with the environments if they pay attention to the minimap's auto-directions instead of just exploring the game world. If there are no auto-directions and markers, then the minimap becomes completely useless.
Like what?
You want a game with large open open environments not to have a minimap or radar? Perfo are you nuts?
If you want the option to turn it off, that's kinda weird too, but I guess I can understand it. It's going to be included though. You should take whatever energy you're putting into hoping it won't be and channel that into seething else.
FFXIII had a more of a radar than a minimap, though it was redundant, since it's not like you could get lost.
If they're going for large open-environments, radar is a must for FFXV by the standards of modern convenience; Some people just want to know they're going in the right direction with zero fuss. I understand that and I think most designers also do and try to respect it.
Optimal solution: Just make it a toggle.
You know, something like... map X on your menu map and then having slight UI cues as well as your party giving you verbal "Hey, wrong way dude" or movement cues (leading ahead of you) as directionary feedback would be kinda neat.
As long as it's not HEY LISTEN, mite b cool.
Wrong game? I didn't say anything about FFXIII.
So I guess The Elder Scrolls and Fallout don't have large open environments? Lol.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
I think soft locking is still there by default, whenever Noctis and others are momentarily fixed at targeting a specific target's direction without switching to another. Hard locking might be gone however, freeing a button for a shortcut command.
The UI is not final as of the tech demo, but even at its current state, I like the idea of clean, uncluttered UI that focuses more on the battlefield and individual actions rather than looking at words and boxes and stuffs, for an action-based game. They got that philosophy right for me. Now it's down to the final execution.
I completely disagree with your damage number argument. Being a RPG, the ability to gauge your character and their various abilities performance is important for progression. Numbers are most concise way to exemplify that. Health bars are good to have around especially for action games, but it doesn't mean a lot when it comes to theorycrafting builds and skills/combos that can output the best dps and what not. It all comes down to the digits.
PshycoNinja
Member
Not a mini-map but an actual map. Activate/deactivate map.
Wrong game? I didn't say anything about FFXIII.
Ah, my bad.
So I guess The Elder Scrolls and Fallout don't have large open environments? Lol.[/QUOTE]
They do, though I personally didn't enjoy navigating them much (I didn't really enjoy either series in general though).
I see your point though and I think you see mine. Not everybody wants to explore. Sometimes I want to, sometimes I just want to get on with it and cut to the chase. And it doesn't hurt my experience, personally. Games that will let me save some time when I need to actively add to my enjoyment.
Speaking of which, you know what other big Japanese franchise which has traditionally had a minimap in the UI removed it when it went full open world? MGSV. Lol. I guess Kojima doesn't respect the "standards of modern convenience" either!
/eyeroll
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Speaking of which, you know what other big Japanese franchise which has traditionally had a minimap in the UI removed it when it went full open world? MGSV. Lol. I guess Kojima doesn't respect the "standards of modern convenience" either!
Yeah, always on spot. Alot of open world games you mentioned do not need minimaps and they're among the biggest worlds you get to explore in the genre.
Exentryk
Member
Sorry, I don't understand what you're trying to say here. We didn't see any kind of lock ons cycling the enemies, and it's not really needed.
Has XV ever been marketed as a "mature" game? I don't remember so, not in the sense of gore and violence, maybe "mature" as in serious tone to the story but I don't remember it worded as such either, but my memory is pretty bad so.
The blood colour thing, I believe is sort of a way around keeping blood in a game without coming into rating issues, as mainline games are generally pretty tame when it comes to violence and gore, usually using story over gore. I can't remember if 13 or 12 has blood in it, 10 has a single scene with (red) blood in (The first boss in the water).
As for the UI, I'm loving the minimalist look, my favourite UI of the FF games is FFX HD (Slight changes in the HD version that made it nicer and cleaner).
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Not too sure about normal attacks, but there is one for magic.
Targeting Behemoth.
Targeting Goblin.
Myths
Member
Not much to say about the UI as far as function since there's likely tons of information being hidden. The weapons belt from last year's trailer told me more than this years UI build altogether az i was able to get an idea of the battle direction. I don't expect much aesthetically...what a little distortion effect? Lol...
So what is your guys thoughts on the gameplay we have seen (in that it looks action oriented as opposed to anything turn or time based)?
Personally I am really looking forward to it seeing as how it looks so close to an actual organic fight. I'm hoping the gameplay is challenging and not just mash x to win. Nothing wrong with that type of game but I really hope we can get into the combat and do really amazing feats.
Personally I am really looking forward to it seeing as how it looks so close to an actual organic fight. I'm hoping the gameplay is challenging and not just mash x to win. Nothing wrong with that type of game but I really hope we can get into the combat and do really amazing feats.
I'm not sure about the whole "a lot of UI is still hidden" thing. I think for battles this is pretty much going to be it, maybe a small tooltip that tells you when you picked up an item, gain experience.
I don't expect an on-screen minimap or HP/cast bars, it's a realistic action game after all and I think you'll be able to guesstimate enemies HP' by looking at how they behave.
Sure I hope I'm wrong but the whole UI seems to be designed to be minimal and out-of-the way so the player can focus more on the action and what's happening on the field than on numbers or statistics.
I don't expect an on-screen minimap or HP/cast bars, it's a realistic action game after all and I think you'll be able to guesstimate enemies HP' by looking at how they behave.
Sure I hope I'm wrong but the whole UI seems to be designed to be minimal and out-of-the way so the player can focus more on the action and what's happening on the field than on numbers or statistics.
I was more excited when this was supposed to be a kind of more weighty Kingdom Hearts combat-wise, the most recent revelations have me a bit doubtful whether this is the route they should have taken instead of what we thought it would be like in the past. Not that it will suck total ass, it could be really fun in the end, but more so that what they've shown before would have been better in many ways. It will be a big downgrade if there is no control of the other characters, attacking is too automized, if you can't jump and if the zero-shift is super limited instead of the gamer being able to zap his way to the rooftops of skyscrapers. A Final Fantasy game with somewhat Kingdom Hearts like team-based combat set in a modern-ish world with a backdrop of politics & war is basically one of my dream games.
Exentryk
Member
Yeah, that's what I mentioned are hard locks, as they are being used manually so Noctis doesn't attack the nearby Goblins via gambits.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Really? It's just that they look like soft lock to me. The same lens were there in 2013 gameplay video and they appear to be soft locks. The hard locks were rounder, thicker lens.
donutzsick
Member
From a ui and appreciating more of the scenery/art/level design, i def can see the argument for mini maps being bad. I also agree you have a much better experience when you actually engage with a game and learn its locales from experience and actually go on an adventure. Good game design would encourage an enjoyable experience by engaging with what you see.
However, from a min max standpoint i would be opening the map all the time to see the quickest route for my destination or to accomplish my goal. At that point, why not just have a mini map. I liked the old world map system a lot, where you can choose between no minimap, a small mini map, slightly larger minimap, or just look at your map full screen.
When it comes to something like FFXV where the world and story are setting up to be very interesting, I want to play it without a minimap because immersing in that world seems like it will pay off big.
However, from a min max standpoint i would be opening the map all the time to see the quickest route for my destination or to accomplish my goal. At that point, why not just have a mini map. I liked the old world map system a lot, where you can choose between no minimap, a small mini map, slightly larger minimap, or just look at your map full screen.
When it comes to something like FFXV where the world and story are setting up to be very interesting, I want to play it without a minimap because immersing in that world seems like it will pay off big.
The 2011 and 2013 trailers showed both blue and red blood.
Exentryk
Member
Yeah, I know. Previously they looked different. But now, since they only need one type, they probably replaced it.
Still, if the game has some sort of a manual mode, both types of locks could still be in the game.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Well, the first pre-rendered CGI trailer with a little bit of the kind of combat Nomura was visioning for the game had plenty of blood and Noctis snapping the necks of enemies & dropping them to their death. It was definitely a bit more violent/gore-ish than your typical FF. Not God of War level gore, but still more than FFs usually have (which is more often than not zero blood outside of a cutscene or two), and I do remember them talking about how they could do that because it's not a mainline FF which they need to keep a bit more civil because the fanbase does have it's younger audience as well whereas with FFVsXIII Nomura was aiming for a slightly older audience, which would have been reflected in the combat as well.
Isn't Japan really iffy about any kind of media showing excessive amounts of (red) blood if that blood comes from humans (and animals?)? That's why so many Japanese games & such have the protagonists fighting against robots/cyborgs that explode or might spill blood-like fluids & such instead of other human beings and games that do have human on human violence don't have any (red) blood. It could just be that they make trailers with blue blood with the final game having red (outside Japan).
Let's just hope the translation to mainline series hasn't altered the darker themes of the story (death, war between countries, 2st/3rd world comparisons etc.)!
Oh yeah, totally forgot that type of censorships happens.
I guess you're right with us getting red blood.
HeartlessNobody213
Member
This is me basically word for word. I still look forward to playing it, but the KH like gameplay that was initially stated for the game was what sold it for me in the first place.
After hearing the battle system changed, I was pissed off to be honest, but I'm over it now and just hope the game is good. The only thing that bothers me is that from what I hear, you can't jump anymore and like you said, teleportation will be limited to certain points.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
There have always been fixed warp points since the beginning.
MissDeviling
Member
I think this is why people argue against mini-maps. If you see your destination it becomes what a member called "GPS gaming". You're pretty much just counting the kilometres and just staring at your map as you travel (like in Skyrim, IIRC). I thought Okami and DQ8 did great jobs in averting both problems. In the former, you hold down a button to dim your whole real-time exploration while bringing up a map that covers most of the screen, discouraging you from bringing it up all the time so you can appreciate the surroundings. In the latter example, you don't have a mini-map at all, but a compass that's on screen as you travel. You can refer to a map but you can't walk at the same time, so you're encouraged to really get your bearings. Both have a grand sense of exploration because the open fields had distinct landmarks that helped you navigate without a mini-map, and you were able to appreciate the visual spectacles because you didn't always have a mini-map covering a corner of your screen.
Can't find a screen of Okami's, but here's DQ8's:
Good to see someone noticed this. It took my 5th rewatch to take note.
I wonder if all status affects will challenge you with realistic effects. I hope it is as good or better than how Wildstar handled status effects if they decide to go this route but considering how much something like this can change combat flow I'm sort of hoping they don't do this.
donutzsick
Member
This is so true! I sometimes literally just stare at the distance number and smaller and smaller instead of looking at the environment. It is not fun at all. Agree with you on the DQ8 and Okami examples too, both games i appreciated the environments a lot in because of how they were set up.