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some guy leaked FFXV's story six months ago | up: newer 4chan stuff as of Dec 9th

Yazzees

Member
Ok now that I think about it, it still continued the story. The game begins at the ending cutscene of XIII but this time Lightning is chosen by Etro to be the Goddess and disappears from her friends and family. The rest of the game is Sarah and Noel fucking around in the past and present.

Who

What

That still sounds random and stupid and totally divorced from the previous game
 

DNAbro

Member
What does XIII-2 retcon, exactly? I don't know much about the game.

Lightning gets whisked away to another dimension and her sister is the only one who realizes this. Every one else is like "oh i guess she sacrificed herself like Fang and Vanille"
 

Ydelnae

Member
What does XIII-2 reckon, exactly? I don't know much about the game.

Lightning gets wiped out of existence before the original game ends and the ending we saw in the first game turns out to have been a unreliable memory by the protagonist
which later turns out to be what actually happened?
 
hindsight is helpful

square thought at one point that crystal tools was going to be hot shit that they could license out and reap the sweet royalties

lmao

That's true but I'm just saying that SE should have gone to battle stations in 2009ish and focused one getting at least one more mainline FF game out that generation and getting a mainline KH game out the door too. It sounds like their "Oh Shit" moment instead didn't hit until 2013 and with the increased production times of this generation we are now in 3 years into another generation where a new FF mainline barely got out the door and KH3 is nowhere in sight.

They should have seen the writing on the wall sooner.

I do think they are being smart with FF7R- enlisting Cyber Connect was a stroke of genius. They desperately needed someone who can actually ship technically accomplished games.
 

rhandino

Banned
What does XIII-2 retcon, exactly? I don't know much about the game.
The original had a pretty strong happy and decisive ending with no room for an obvious sequel.

XIII-2 starts by retconning the happy ending to give motivation to the new set of protagonists and the best part is that the bulk of the retcon is a fucking novellete released only on Japan.

Square-Enix, ladies and gentleman.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Lightning gets whisked away to another dimension and her sister is the only one who realizes this. Every one else is like "oh i guess she sacrificed herself like Fang and Vanille"

Lightning gets wiped out of existence before the original game ends and the ending we saw in the first game turns out to have been a unreliable memory by the protagonist
which later turns out to be what actually happened?

Whoooooa.
 

Yazzees

Member
What's with people attachment for this character that appeared in a couple of trailers and spoke some cryptic bs a couple of years ago?

Am I the only one finding this very weird? Am I missing something?

You're not the only one. I find it weird too, you basically took the words out of my mouth. I've just stopped pointing it out because it's been years.
 

Infest

Member
What's with people attachment for this character that appeared in a couple of trailers and spoke some cryptic bs a couple of years ago?

Am I the only one finding this very weird? Am I missing something?

She had more interaction with Noctis in those trailers than Luna in the entire final game...
 

Hachiman

Neo Member
What happened to Versus is screamingly obvious in my opinion.

FFXIII and FFXIV were in full production between 2005 and 2009, an elongated process due to the problems they had with the engine. Versus XIII was obviously pencilled in from the start to release some time after XIII because their "edgy alternative" would always need to follow their orthodox mainline entry.

Essentially this means as a project it would have the lowest priority in terms of active production, but tons of time in pre-production/conceping/prototyping... exactly the sort of situation where a single game gets blown out into a putative trilogy because when you don't have the staff to do something, you may as well expand and iterate on what you have in the hopes it will turn into something amazing.

Unfortunately, shit happens. XIII launches late and to a decidedly mixed response, then XIV lays a fucking egg really setting the cat amongst the pigeons. After 18 months of flailing around trying to fix this failed MMO, they eventually decide to throw everything they have into essentially rebuilding the game from the ground up as fast as possible. A hail-mary pass that essentially consigns all their other major projects onto the back burner for the duration.

Especially risky, single-platform products like Versus XIII.

Toriyama meanwhile is keeping the lights on by recycling the FFXIII assets into a cost-effective and heavily outsourced sequel that evidently was never pre-planned as it begins with a hard-reset on the plot of the original.

LR I really wouldn't be shocked to discover if it was built on the bones of the engine variant originally earmarked for V13 given its quasi --open world structure and dynamic TOD/lighting system. Some funding for this would likely seem more logical than V13 given its multi-platform nature and "completing the trilogy" (haha) gimmick.

Long story short, I'd be surprised if a great deal more than what was used for promotional purposes for Versus XIII actually ever existed in code. I'm sure there's stacks of paperwork and concept assets, but beyond some cg and vertical slice proof-of-concepts, it was always vaporware kept alive solely by Nojima's name and corporate standing.

Looking at what was going on elsewhere in the company over the entire duration of its "development", a team of the size neccessary to execute the project would never have been available.

Really interesting write-up. I'd love to know what was happening inside SE during this time, but that probably won't happen anytime soon, if ever.
 

Trago

Member
I'm scared shitless for Square's upcoming major projects. FFVIIR, KH3, DQXI, I hope that high management fuckery doesn't mess with the development with these titles. The fact that they're all being developed on Unreal 4 is a really good sign though.
 

Gbraga

Member
Bummer about all the cut content if true, but oh well. It happens.

There's a lot of cut stuff from Souls games, too, a lot of it fully voiced and the files are left in the disc, so people can extract it in the PC version. I hope the same can be done for this game, I'm very curious.
 

MoonFrog

Member
Tbh, I'm going into FFXV later this month with pretty low expectations, but these threads are making me both be morbidly curious and have trepidation.
 
We got a decent game with some 10 year missteps.

XIII-2 literally begins by retconning the ending to XIII.

I was so annoyed by that, it was so stupid. XIII had a lot of potential in terms of lore and world-building that the first game barely used... aaaaaand we got XIII-2/LR instead. I'm not a Vanille fan, but jeez, surely there would have been better ways to make Lightning a driving force in the sequel(s) than all of that hilarious goddess rubbish.

...at least we got memes out of it!
 
Whoa man! I was interested in the thread and you just happened to be here too haha! How was I supposed to know Carrot would be back? Time to research!
Alright let me tell you about Carrot as vaguely as possible. Like lightning Carrot is the Goat of the one piece verse. She makes lightning look like the shit that is cloud. Nd ability spoilers
she uses actual lightning
 

DVCY201

Member
And this is at least partly why I look forward to the story more in Nier: Automata. Taro Yoko's games may be weird as hell, but they allow more original ideas that you generally wouldn't see in other games.

Honestly, his stories are what I look forward to the most. Some of the best in the industry, I wouldn't want him to ever change
 

jett

D-Member
What happened to Versus is screamingly obvious in my opinion.

FFXIII and FFXIV were in full production between 2005 and 2009, an elongated process due to the problems they had with the engine. Versus XIII was obviously pencilled in from the start to release some time after XIII because their "edgy alternative" would always need to follow their orthodox mainline entry.

Essentially this means as a project it would have the lowest priority in terms of active production, but tons of time in pre-production/conceping/prototyping... exactly the sort of situation where a single game gets blown out into a putative trilogy because when you don't have the staff to do something, you may as well expand and iterate on what you have in the hopes it will turn into something amazing.

Unfortunately, shit happens. XIII launches late and to a decidedly mixed response, then XIV lays a fucking egg really setting the cat amongst the pigeons. After 18 months of flailing around trying to fix this failed MMO, they eventually decide to throw everything they have into essentially rebuilding the game from the ground up as fast as possible. A hail-mary pass that essentially consigns all their other major projects onto the back burner for the duration.

Especially risky, single-platform products like Versus XIII.

Toriyama meanwhile is keeping the lights on by recycling the FFXIII assets into a cost-effective and heavily outsourced sequel that evidently was never pre-planned as it begins with a hard-reset on the plot of the original.

LR I really wouldn't be shocked to discover if it was built on the bones of the engine variant originally earmarked for V13 given its quasi --open world structure and dynamic TOD/lighting system. Some funding for this would likely seem more logical than V13 given its multi-platform nature and "completing the trilogy" (haha) gimmick.

Long story short, I'd be surprised if a great deal more than what was used for promotional purposes for Versus XIII actually ever existed in code. I'm sure there's stacks of paperwork and concept assets, but beyond some cg and vertical slice proof-of-concepts, it was always vaporware kept alive solely by Nojima's name and corporate standing.

Looking at what was going on elsewhere in the company over the entire duration of its "development", a team of the size neccessary to execute the project would never have been available.

That sounds like a pretty excellent appraisal of the situation.

Funny how Squeenix's 10 year-old fuckups are still biting them in the ass. I insist they should've let FFXV go and not gone ahead with any DLC plans of any sort. Enough with this frankenabortion of a game.
 
Alright let me tell you about Carrot as vaguely as possible. Like lightning Carrot is the Goat of the one piece verse. She makes lightning look like the shit that is cloud. Nd ability spoilers
she uses actual lightning
Oh! Hope she doesn't divide fans as much as "the Queen" does...

I just saw a picture of her. Is she a freaking rabbit?!
 

Yazzees

Member
I really hope the hyperbole isn't turning anyone off from FFXV. It's absolutely a worthwhile play all things considered.
 
That sounds like a pretty excellent appraisal of the situation.

Funny how Squeenix's 10 year-old fuckups are still biting them in the ass. I insist they should've let FFXV go and not gone ahead with any DLC plans of any sort. Enough with this frankenabortion of a game.

At that point the game was probably 50% complete and they knew they needed a new FF game to win back some respect from fans.
 

MoonFrog

Member
It's a good game that could have much much better. I enjoyed my time with it.

Yeah. I'm wondering if low expectations will help me see what it does offer without being crushed by where it sounds like it fails. Sometimes these threads make it all sound very crushing, though.

Idk. I mean, I think FF has lost its way, but I have been moved by Square's earnestness these days with, say, ARR and sort of want to give it a go and see what they are trying to offer now, even if in many ways it is contrary to what I would have them offer.

DQXI is the much more promising sequel, imo and I wish FF targeted traditional JRPG fans harder and had a better head on its shoulders. But still, I want to try this and I caved on cyber Monday for TLG coming up anyway.
 

jett

D-Member
No, thanks. I want to see that DLC.

The adventures of how Prompto got captured.
The adventures of how Gladio got a scar on his face.
The aventures of how Ignis went blind.

Yay.

At that point the game was probably 50% complete and they knew they needed a new FF game to win back some respect from fans.

I'm just talking about DLC plans. They should've forgotten about the game after it released and moved the fuck on.
 

Ishida

Banned
RIP Hooded Ravus. You just wanted revenge :(

Yeah man. I'm also going to miss the badass scar that Noctis made him, and forced him to wear that mask. :(

The adventures of how Prompto got captured.
The adventures of how Gladio got a scar on his face.
The aventures of how Ignis went blind.

Yay.
.

Yay indeed! More gameplay.

Also, why should they forget about the game when it's reviewing and selling well? Thank goodness you don't work at any company's finance department. :p
 
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