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The (free) update should be coming out mid-to-late May, at least it seems to be the target. There will be a new Active Time Report video too, to be released just after the demo update in May.
Apparently the new demo will feature:
15 main issues with the demo according to users(Tabata feedback included):
1. Lock-on
Tabata’s comment: “I see. Honestly, there were many instances where we also felt that the targeting system wasn’t behaving as we had envisioned. We do take it seriously that this was the #1 criticism. Right after the demo was released, our team was able to play it from a consumer standpoint, and concerns about the targeting immediately came up. The most common internal criticism was that the targeted enemy would go off-screen.
“There are two rationales for this, and for the first one, regarding the targeted enemy getting lost off-screen, this was due to an imperfect implementation of the system. We’ve already begun addressing it.
2. Camera too close.
Tabata’s comment: “When fighting a herd of garulas, there are times when the player keeps getting hit, and I agree that it’s difficult to understand what’s going on when that happens. And, near the entrance to the dungeon, there’s an enemy called the saberclaw. When facing saberclaws, it gets pretty difficult to see what’s happening.
"There were also times where it wasn’t functioning well because of the terrain, and we’ve made note of it already."
“So it can definitely be improved, and we will improve it. Not being able to tell what’s going on in a game is unacceptable, so much like the previous criticism about not being able to target enemies, basic functions such as these will be addressed, so that you won’t feel the game is difficult to play.
“Ideally, we would have one camera programmed to adjust to every situation, but in the demo, we noticed many instances where the camera wasn’t able to fully adapt to various terrains. So ultimately, we may consider allowing the player to choose from different camera distances.”
3. Camera felt sluggish and heavy (planning to pull it back when in combat and possibly add camera controls for players)
Tabata’s comment: “We’ll make sure the camera is smoother. Simple as that. It’s the result of a lot of things, but we’ll examine the variables one by one and make sure the camera controls are smooth.”
4. A.I. is dumb. Allies get in the way of moving.
Tabata’s comment: “That’s a pretty direct way of putting it. First, in regards to getting in the way of the player, that’s a hindrance to the game’s experience. So we will properly address it from the programming end so that the party members avoid getting in the way of each other.
“On the other hand, as far as the AI being dumb, I don’t think that everything about the AI is dumb. There should have been times in Episode Duscae where you felt both camaraderie and a sense of self-awareness from the AI characters.
“So we’re fully aware that the AI is dumb. I get upset, too, when they go and get themselves knocked out.”
5. Jaggies, the drop in framerate. (anti-aliasing will be in the full game; will prioritize framerate over resolution although still aiming for full HD)
Tabata’s comment: “The frame rate was the most common feedback from North America and Europe, wasn’t it?
“The jaggies and frame rates are two separate issues, but in regards to the jaggies, we weren’t able to implement anti-aliasing in the demo. That’s why the jaggies stood out a bit, but anti-aliasing will be implemented in the full game. The amount of jaggies will be reduced, so for the demo we apologize. They shouldn’t be in the full game, so please rest assured.”
“As for the frame rate, that is a serious matter. We consider it a high priority issue. If we simply reduce the number of objects that need to be rendered and computed, like reducing the number of monsters or limited AI behavior, we can reduce the processing load on the CPU. Reducing the number of processes would naturally result in a stable, higher frame rate. But achieving a high frame rate by doing so isn’t going to satisfy our fans.
“So the only option is to persistently optimize. Currently, the bottleneck during battles is the VFX and UI. As we head to mastering, we’ll probably repeat the process of optimizing as much as we can and re-evaluate how objects are being rendered.”
“We are working towards full HD. It’s not just me. The engineers and artists are all aiming for full HD. But from hearing the honest feedback from players who tried the demo, it becomes apparent that the frame rate is more important than the resolution. It’s pretty easy to understand, actually. Prioritizing resolution by sacrificing frame rate is presumably unacceptable for our game, so our highest priority will most likely be the frame rate."
6. Motion and movement is slow, specifically battle movements (Speed from previous trailers like the E3 behemoth fight was reduced due to Noctis being near unstoppable and eliminating the need for a party)
Tabata’s comment: “First, I think some of this has to do with weapon actions. If you’re using a heavy weapon, then the movement is consequently going to feel sluggish. It is a little difficult to determine whether the sluggish motion is the result of a weapon, or something else. So we are working on trying to increase the dynamic range of the action by differentiating the sense of speed when using a light weapon and the sense of weigh when using a heavy weapon.
“But in regards to basic movements… we are highly focused on footing, or feeling connected to the ground. This isn’t just about the contact between characters or aiming to make every and all movements realistic, but more importantly, it’s about making sure the player character truly feels like party of the Final Fantasy XV world, as that will in return allow the player to immerse themselves in the game, and experience everything in the game as something that truly belongs.
(Some of this criticism might come from wanting the speed of the E3 2013 trailer.)
“I think people who played the demo will know that when activating Armiger, movements become warps, and general movement is faster. However, a problem came up while we were designing that Behemoth battle for the E3 trailer as a prototype. It eliminates the need for a party battle. Basically, Noctis becomes unstoppable. So if this game was designed around Noct alone going all out at all times, then we can probably set the default speed to that level. But that’s not the design. We want players to face various situations and use Noct’s full power in moments of need, but under normal circumstances, it’s about fighting with your party members and using joint attacks. That’s how we want to differentiate the gameplay."
7. Mini-map? (They will add one)
Tabata’s comment: “Ah, yes. We will.”
(How about a radar? Being able to tell where your party members and enemies are during frantic battles.)
“So normally when you think mini-map, it’s there so that you don’t get lost in the field, to identify which direction you’re facing, to know where your objective is, and to get a rough grasp of the relative position and distance. Now, within that, the request is to include detailed high resolution information about your surrounding enemies, right?
“We’ll look into it.
8. Want for a dodge action that doesn't rely on MP (the warp dodge was a leveled up version of the dodge roll, that doesn't need MP, which will also be in the main game)
Tabata’s comment: “You’re talking about something like a dodge roll, right? So, there actually is a dodge roll. I think it was in the E3 trailer, too. That’s the default dodge, and the warp-dodge that was in the demo is a higher level dodge action.
“So why was there only warp-dodge in the demo? There are two reasons. First is, we couldn’t prepare the UI elements for switching up abilities. So it came down to dodge roll, or warp-dodge. Second, we were nearing the memory limit, so we had to really watch the resources so that things wouldn’t be too sluggish. It was at the last minute, but we decided to go with warp-dodge since it doesn’t require as much of a load as dodge roll. So we had to axe the dodge roll, but if you want a dodge action that doesn’t rely on MP, it exists.”
9. Having to hide behind rocks to recover MP, Everything relies on MP(probably won't lose the focus on MP)
Tabata’s comment: “The amount of MP that recovers, and the time needed to recover is something we balanced within the context of this demo, so I think what you’re seeing is a result of that. For the final release, before even worrying about MP use, there are other features that will be included. There will be various features to shorten the time or each battle. Whether it be magic, or combo-ing with joint attacks, there will be a lot of tactics at the player’s disposal, so the amount of time spent recovering MP will probably go down in proportion to that.
“Since you have full control over everything, it’ll be about how you construct your battles with the available MP. So if you’re in a pinch, then there will probably be situations where you need to distance yourself and recover MP, but I think the need for that will decrease. We’ll be sure to balance all the features so people won’t think this is a game where you just hide behind rocks waiting for MP.
10. Battles are too difficult (Japan found battles difficult, NA found them easy; possibility of adding a difficulty option)
Tabata’s comment: “Before we mastered, we had our L.A. and London offices play it and had them fill out a survey, to see if the current battle balance is right. We got the same exact responses from them, too. I felt like I was being asked to look right while looking left. So I think the best solution is to include difficulty options.
“There’s no difficulty option currently in the works for the final release. But since we’re working towards releasing the game simultaneously worldwide, instead of releasing first in Japan and then to the rest of the world, we do feel there is a sense of obligation to fulfill lots of needs. And as one of those needs, we understand that difficulty options may be important.
“So I think we’ll include it. We will.”
11. Game is too monotonous; repetitive battles, bad controls (looking to add button remapping for players)
Tabata’s comment: “When you say controls are bad, I think one way to look at it is that the response is bad, and another is when you thought you did something, but nothing happened on the game side. So either it’s not doing what you wanted to do, or something feels like it’s not working the way it should.
“I think there are multiple ways to look at this, so I’m not sure which is the right one. But one thing we were thinking about is allowing players to remap the button configuration to their liking. But there is probably more to it, so I would like to dive deeper into this and get the full picture.
“It did stand out a lot earlier in that earlier diagram…. so we will look at each one.
“Now, about the ‘too monotonous’ criticism… The monotony is probably due to battles feeling long. (Like the hiding behind rocks?) Yes. That probably also contributed to making the battles feel long. And also, for players who are seasoned action gamers, the demo didn’t include a lot of situations to take advantage of your skills, so you probably couldn’t carry out battles the way you wanted to, thus making it feel too monotonous overall.”
(There’s no magic and only one joint attack…)
“As I said earlier, resolving the issue of battles being too long will also resolve the issue of battles feeling too monotonous, so I think it’ll change things a lot. Especially because you’ll have the tools to shorten battles so that’ll have a great effect on the experience. In that sense, I feel like it will become less of a problem. And then, if we were to add the difficulty settings, maybe it can bring out the more technical skills.”
12. The stamina for sprinting is annoying (looking to make certain foods may improve dashing distance and speed in the full game)
“I see, but you know… Instead of being able to run to the ends of that world while ignoring stamina, I’d prefer to see them get tired… So I think it’s better to have ups and downs. As long as we place importance on treating them like living characters. But in terms of dashing distance and speed, well… Improving both by eating certain foods, I think that would be a neat feature for Final Fantasy XV.
“So if you procure the right ingredients to strengthen your boost for the next day, then you can make that meal. If people were stressed out by the dash in the demo, I think this will take care of it.”
13. Warping as a regular means of travel (was implementable in February but caused many bugs so was cut; unlikely to be in the full game)
Tabata’s comment: “Yes, yes. So, until some part of February, this was actually possible. That was our plan. But it caused so many bugs. So ultimately, we felt it would be pretty tough and prevent us from mastering. That’s how many bugs occurred as a result of this feature. So we decided to limit it to just battles. This isn’t something I want to tell our players. Although I just did.”
(Is this something you can achieve with enough QA time in the final release?)
“Well, here’s the thing. Since this is an open world and we’re seamlessly reading data, to be able to warp through that would be a pretty outrageous feature. So honestly, at this point we haven’t found a breakthrough to be able to achieve that without resulting in bugs. If we did find a way, it would’ve been in the demo, but we didn’t. I can’t say with absolute confidence that we’ll be able to manage it in the final release. If a breakthrough happens, I’m sure we’d implement it so you could use warping as a means of getting around, but there’s a good chance it will be left as is.
“But, well, even if we had to limit warping to just battles in the final release, I would like to find a way to open it up a bit in some fun way. That, at least, I think would be possible. Warping does feel good, and I want players to experience that as much as possible, so if you could allow us to be more flexible with how we could possibly allow warping, then we would like to come up with something.”
(Players want to see more blue-marker warp points.)
“There will be many more. The final release will have many more warp points, and there will be fights where there are numerous warp points, making you take advantage of them to clear enemies. It will become part of your strategy.”
(Can you warp directly up?)
“Yes, there will be a need for vertical warping. Dynamic warping will be an essential part of battles, whether you use it to your advantage or to avoid enemies. There was a little of this in the Behemoth battle, but we’re trying to incorporate it into normal battles, too, so that it’s not limited to specific sequences. I think players can look forward to it.
14. Cancel attacks by evading (even Tabata wanted this when playing; already implemented in the full game although you can't cancel out of every attack)
Tabata’s comment: “I was actually screaming inside for this, too. ‘I totally just dodged!’ But I’m still attacking, and I get blasted away. We’re going to let players evade mid-attack, right? Right? (Tabata is talking to the staff sitting behind the camera.) Let’s do it. Let’s make sure you’ll be able to evade mid-attack.”
(So if I press evade during an attack…)
“So it’s not whenever, wherever. We did have plans to make attack-canceling evades a feature. Um, why didn’t we put that in the demo again? (Tabata is again talking to staff.)
…
“So simply put, we would’ve had to work in action cancellation frames into that motion and fine tune that, but for various reasons, we couldn’t invest that much time into the demo, and that’s why it wasn’t included. Now that we have delivered the demo, we’re already able to cancel attacks. It’s already in that for sure. We were dodge rolling mid-attack, right? (Again at staff.) Yes.
“But you can evade out of every attack? (Tabata questions staff.) No, right? I see, so you can’t cancel out every single attack. So this is going to require some strategy and technique. I’m not fully aware of all the details at the moment, so I’ll go over this once we’ve locked in the final features.”
15. Bugs everywhere (lol they realized people could get to Titan)
Tabata’s comment: “My apologies. If only we could say this was intentional (the Titan visit). But we were completely blindsided. ‘What? You can get to the Titan?’ One day we came to work and everyone was talking about it. It got us good. We all saw it. ‘Yeah, we can get to him.’
“At least we can laugh about the Titan bug, but jokes aside, we heard about bugs where players lost their save data and needed to start over. There were those kinds of bugs, as well. So in that regard, we sincerely apologize. As we work on the final release, bugs like the aforementioned ones caused by warping in the the field, our know-how isn’t quite affluent yet when it comes to action in an open-world environment, so we are honestly faced with many unforeseen bugs. So we’ll be very thorough as we head towards the final release. I sincerely apologize for an inconvenience.”
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Top NA complaint: Noctis' voice is too deep -- sounds like Batman. Players felt they weren't able to connect with him since he looks like a young guy, and doesn't sound that way. The Director stated that he wanted to include voiceover in the demo, but timing was tight so by the time they realized the voice directing wasn't what they wanted, it was already late into the schedule, etc. The final game already has different voice acting.
Top Europe complaint: Cindy was too sexy. The Director stated "she's actually not meant to be an erotic character", but that she's supposed to be an energetic outdoorsy character. They didn't feel it would be too problematic for her to show up on screen while you parents are in the living room. They don't want to change the current concept, but they want to make sure they "maintain the boundary" by "maybe moderating the way she's presented, where it appears as though overly sexual themes are being brought to the forefront, because that's not who she's supposed to be".
Wanting a female party member: Their concept was in following the four guys "in an environment where they can be themselves". "Normally it's just the four guys, so the tent's probably not in tip top shape, but if a female character were thrown into the mix, you can expect things to be a little different than usual. They'll probably clean, and say things they wouldn't normally say around her. I think it'll be fun to see the differences when the guys are being themselves, and when it's not just the four of them. Please look forward to seeing the difference when a guest character joins the party".
E3, Gamescom, and Promotion for the Main Game
“First, by releasing Episode Duscae, we think we reached one of our major milestones. I mentioned that we’re working on an update, but we feel we were able to properly execute what we consider the prologue leading up to the big release. So moving forward, with the release of the demo, instead of an extension of how we’ve been releasing information up until this point, we would like to begin releasing pertinent information about Final Fantasy XV to all regions where the game will be released.
(To start promoting the main game?)
“That’s correct. That’s what we are preparing for. Because of this, E3 doesn’t give us sufficient time to fully prepare. So I have been discussing with our marketing teams, and we’ve actually been considering Gamescom in August, instead of E3, as the target for our next major reveal.
“That’s our line of thinking. So we’ll be taking a break from E3 this year.”
(I think we’ll have a short trailer for E3, but it will serve as a segue into what we’re preparing for Gamescom.)
“I think so. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that the promotion for the main title will officially begin at Gamescom.”
(After that, there’s PAX Prime at the end of August to early September, then TGS in Japan in mid-September. This group of events will be the platform of our reboot, or re-start, towards the release of the main game.)
Read more at http://gematsu.com/2015/04/final-fantasy-xv-feedback-live-stream-full-report-episode-duscae-2-0-coming-mid-may#vPEQ4L1QmXCzkSrw.99
Apparently the new demo will feature:
Confirmed:
- AXB enhancements
- Improved camera and targetting system
- additional combat actions and overall rebalancing, more joint attacks
- combat tweaks like MP usage, etc. more range of action for each weapon
- add dodge rolls
Maybe:
- party split-up for quests
- stabilized framerate
- Still aiming for FULL HD.
- Frame rate has a higher priority than resolution since it affects gameplay directly.
- The only solution is to optimize the game until the end.
- They won't reduce the number of objects (or limiting the AI) that need to be rendered in order to obtain a more stable framerate.
15 main issues with the demo according to users(Tabata feedback included):
1. Lock-on
Tabata’s comment: “I see. Honestly, there were many instances where we also felt that the targeting system wasn’t behaving as we had envisioned. We do take it seriously that this was the #1 criticism. Right after the demo was released, our team was able to play it from a consumer standpoint, and concerns about the targeting immediately came up. The most common internal criticism was that the targeted enemy would go off-screen.
“There are two rationales for this, and for the first one, regarding the targeted enemy getting lost off-screen, this was due to an imperfect implementation of the system. We’ve already begun addressing it.
2. Camera too close.
Tabata’s comment: “When fighting a herd of garulas, there are times when the player keeps getting hit, and I agree that it’s difficult to understand what’s going on when that happens. And, near the entrance to the dungeon, there’s an enemy called the saberclaw. When facing saberclaws, it gets pretty difficult to see what’s happening.
"There were also times where it wasn’t functioning well because of the terrain, and we’ve made note of it already."
“So it can definitely be improved, and we will improve it. Not being able to tell what’s going on in a game is unacceptable, so much like the previous criticism about not being able to target enemies, basic functions such as these will be addressed, so that you won’t feel the game is difficult to play.
“Ideally, we would have one camera programmed to adjust to every situation, but in the demo, we noticed many instances where the camera wasn’t able to fully adapt to various terrains. So ultimately, we may consider allowing the player to choose from different camera distances.”
3. Camera felt sluggish and heavy (planning to pull it back when in combat and possibly add camera controls for players)
Tabata’s comment: “We’ll make sure the camera is smoother. Simple as that. It’s the result of a lot of things, but we’ll examine the variables one by one and make sure the camera controls are smooth.”
4. A.I. is dumb. Allies get in the way of moving.
Tabata’s comment: “That’s a pretty direct way of putting it. First, in regards to getting in the way of the player, that’s a hindrance to the game’s experience. So we will properly address it from the programming end so that the party members avoid getting in the way of each other.
“On the other hand, as far as the AI being dumb, I don’t think that everything about the AI is dumb. There should have been times in Episode Duscae where you felt both camaraderie and a sense of self-awareness from the AI characters.
“So we’re fully aware that the AI is dumb. I get upset, too, when they go and get themselves knocked out.”
5. Jaggies, the drop in framerate. (anti-aliasing will be in the full game; will prioritize framerate over resolution although still aiming for full HD)
Tabata’s comment: “The frame rate was the most common feedback from North America and Europe, wasn’t it?
“The jaggies and frame rates are two separate issues, but in regards to the jaggies, we weren’t able to implement anti-aliasing in the demo. That’s why the jaggies stood out a bit, but anti-aliasing will be implemented in the full game. The amount of jaggies will be reduced, so for the demo we apologize. They shouldn’t be in the full game, so please rest assured.”
“As for the frame rate, that is a serious matter. We consider it a high priority issue. If we simply reduce the number of objects that need to be rendered and computed, like reducing the number of monsters or limited AI behavior, we can reduce the processing load on the CPU. Reducing the number of processes would naturally result in a stable, higher frame rate. But achieving a high frame rate by doing so isn’t going to satisfy our fans.
“So the only option is to persistently optimize. Currently, the bottleneck during battles is the VFX and UI. As we head to mastering, we’ll probably repeat the process of optimizing as much as we can and re-evaluate how objects are being rendered.”
“We are working towards full HD. It’s not just me. The engineers and artists are all aiming for full HD. But from hearing the honest feedback from players who tried the demo, it becomes apparent that the frame rate is more important than the resolution. It’s pretty easy to understand, actually. Prioritizing resolution by sacrificing frame rate is presumably unacceptable for our game, so our highest priority will most likely be the frame rate."
6. Motion and movement is slow, specifically battle movements (Speed from previous trailers like the E3 behemoth fight was reduced due to Noctis being near unstoppable and eliminating the need for a party)
Tabata’s comment: “First, I think some of this has to do with weapon actions. If you’re using a heavy weapon, then the movement is consequently going to feel sluggish. It is a little difficult to determine whether the sluggish motion is the result of a weapon, or something else. So we are working on trying to increase the dynamic range of the action by differentiating the sense of speed when using a light weapon and the sense of weigh when using a heavy weapon.
“But in regards to basic movements… we are highly focused on footing, or feeling connected to the ground. This isn’t just about the contact between characters or aiming to make every and all movements realistic, but more importantly, it’s about making sure the player character truly feels like party of the Final Fantasy XV world, as that will in return allow the player to immerse themselves in the game, and experience everything in the game as something that truly belongs.
(Some of this criticism might come from wanting the speed of the E3 2013 trailer.)
“I think people who played the demo will know that when activating Armiger, movements become warps, and general movement is faster. However, a problem came up while we were designing that Behemoth battle for the E3 trailer as a prototype. It eliminates the need for a party battle. Basically, Noctis becomes unstoppable. So if this game was designed around Noct alone going all out at all times, then we can probably set the default speed to that level. But that’s not the design. We want players to face various situations and use Noct’s full power in moments of need, but under normal circumstances, it’s about fighting with your party members and using joint attacks. That’s how we want to differentiate the gameplay."
7. Mini-map? (They will add one)
Tabata’s comment: “Ah, yes. We will.”
(How about a radar? Being able to tell where your party members and enemies are during frantic battles.)
“So normally when you think mini-map, it’s there so that you don’t get lost in the field, to identify which direction you’re facing, to know where your objective is, and to get a rough grasp of the relative position and distance. Now, within that, the request is to include detailed high resolution information about your surrounding enemies, right?
“We’ll look into it.
8. Want for a dodge action that doesn't rely on MP (the warp dodge was a leveled up version of the dodge roll, that doesn't need MP, which will also be in the main game)
Tabata’s comment: “You’re talking about something like a dodge roll, right? So, there actually is a dodge roll. I think it was in the E3 trailer, too. That’s the default dodge, and the warp-dodge that was in the demo is a higher level dodge action.
“So why was there only warp-dodge in the demo? There are two reasons. First is, we couldn’t prepare the UI elements for switching up abilities. So it came down to dodge roll, or warp-dodge. Second, we were nearing the memory limit, so we had to really watch the resources so that things wouldn’t be too sluggish. It was at the last minute, but we decided to go with warp-dodge since it doesn’t require as much of a load as dodge roll. So we had to axe the dodge roll, but if you want a dodge action that doesn’t rely on MP, it exists.”
9. Having to hide behind rocks to recover MP, Everything relies on MP(probably won't lose the focus on MP)
Tabata’s comment: “The amount of MP that recovers, and the time needed to recover is something we balanced within the context of this demo, so I think what you’re seeing is a result of that. For the final release, before even worrying about MP use, there are other features that will be included. There will be various features to shorten the time or each battle. Whether it be magic, or combo-ing with joint attacks, there will be a lot of tactics at the player’s disposal, so the amount of time spent recovering MP will probably go down in proportion to that.
“Since you have full control over everything, it’ll be about how you construct your battles with the available MP. So if you’re in a pinch, then there will probably be situations where you need to distance yourself and recover MP, but I think the need for that will decrease. We’ll be sure to balance all the features so people won’t think this is a game where you just hide behind rocks waiting for MP.
10. Battles are too difficult (Japan found battles difficult, NA found them easy; possibility of adding a difficulty option)
Tabata’s comment: “Before we mastered, we had our L.A. and London offices play it and had them fill out a survey, to see if the current battle balance is right. We got the same exact responses from them, too. I felt like I was being asked to look right while looking left. So I think the best solution is to include difficulty options.
“There’s no difficulty option currently in the works for the final release. But since we’re working towards releasing the game simultaneously worldwide, instead of releasing first in Japan and then to the rest of the world, we do feel there is a sense of obligation to fulfill lots of needs. And as one of those needs, we understand that difficulty options may be important.
“So I think we’ll include it. We will.”
11. Game is too monotonous; repetitive battles, bad controls (looking to add button remapping for players)
Tabata’s comment: “When you say controls are bad, I think one way to look at it is that the response is bad, and another is when you thought you did something, but nothing happened on the game side. So either it’s not doing what you wanted to do, or something feels like it’s not working the way it should.
“I think there are multiple ways to look at this, so I’m not sure which is the right one. But one thing we were thinking about is allowing players to remap the button configuration to their liking. But there is probably more to it, so I would like to dive deeper into this and get the full picture.
“It did stand out a lot earlier in that earlier diagram…. so we will look at each one.
“Now, about the ‘too monotonous’ criticism… The monotony is probably due to battles feeling long. (Like the hiding behind rocks?) Yes. That probably also contributed to making the battles feel long. And also, for players who are seasoned action gamers, the demo didn’t include a lot of situations to take advantage of your skills, so you probably couldn’t carry out battles the way you wanted to, thus making it feel too monotonous overall.”
(There’s no magic and only one joint attack…)
“As I said earlier, resolving the issue of battles being too long will also resolve the issue of battles feeling too monotonous, so I think it’ll change things a lot. Especially because you’ll have the tools to shorten battles so that’ll have a great effect on the experience. In that sense, I feel like it will become less of a problem. And then, if we were to add the difficulty settings, maybe it can bring out the more technical skills.”
12. The stamina for sprinting is annoying (looking to make certain foods may improve dashing distance and speed in the full game)
“I see, but you know… Instead of being able to run to the ends of that world while ignoring stamina, I’d prefer to see them get tired… So I think it’s better to have ups and downs. As long as we place importance on treating them like living characters. But in terms of dashing distance and speed, well… Improving both by eating certain foods, I think that would be a neat feature for Final Fantasy XV.
“So if you procure the right ingredients to strengthen your boost for the next day, then you can make that meal. If people were stressed out by the dash in the demo, I think this will take care of it.”
13. Warping as a regular means of travel (was implementable in February but caused many bugs so was cut; unlikely to be in the full game)
Tabata’s comment: “Yes, yes. So, until some part of February, this was actually possible. That was our plan. But it caused so many bugs. So ultimately, we felt it would be pretty tough and prevent us from mastering. That’s how many bugs occurred as a result of this feature. So we decided to limit it to just battles. This isn’t something I want to tell our players. Although I just did.”
(Is this something you can achieve with enough QA time in the final release?)
“Well, here’s the thing. Since this is an open world and we’re seamlessly reading data, to be able to warp through that would be a pretty outrageous feature. So honestly, at this point we haven’t found a breakthrough to be able to achieve that without resulting in bugs. If we did find a way, it would’ve been in the demo, but we didn’t. I can’t say with absolute confidence that we’ll be able to manage it in the final release. If a breakthrough happens, I’m sure we’d implement it so you could use warping as a means of getting around, but there’s a good chance it will be left as is.
“But, well, even if we had to limit warping to just battles in the final release, I would like to find a way to open it up a bit in some fun way. That, at least, I think would be possible. Warping does feel good, and I want players to experience that as much as possible, so if you could allow us to be more flexible with how we could possibly allow warping, then we would like to come up with something.”
(Players want to see more blue-marker warp points.)
“There will be many more. The final release will have many more warp points, and there will be fights where there are numerous warp points, making you take advantage of them to clear enemies. It will become part of your strategy.”
(Can you warp directly up?)
“Yes, there will be a need for vertical warping. Dynamic warping will be an essential part of battles, whether you use it to your advantage or to avoid enemies. There was a little of this in the Behemoth battle, but we’re trying to incorporate it into normal battles, too, so that it’s not limited to specific sequences. I think players can look forward to it.
14. Cancel attacks by evading (even Tabata wanted this when playing; already implemented in the full game although you can't cancel out of every attack)
Tabata’s comment: “I was actually screaming inside for this, too. ‘I totally just dodged!’ But I’m still attacking, and I get blasted away. We’re going to let players evade mid-attack, right? Right? (Tabata is talking to the staff sitting behind the camera.) Let’s do it. Let’s make sure you’ll be able to evade mid-attack.”
(So if I press evade during an attack…)
“So it’s not whenever, wherever. We did have plans to make attack-canceling evades a feature. Um, why didn’t we put that in the demo again? (Tabata is again talking to staff.)
…
“So simply put, we would’ve had to work in action cancellation frames into that motion and fine tune that, but for various reasons, we couldn’t invest that much time into the demo, and that’s why it wasn’t included. Now that we have delivered the demo, we’re already able to cancel attacks. It’s already in that for sure. We were dodge rolling mid-attack, right? (Again at staff.) Yes.
“But you can evade out of every attack? (Tabata questions staff.) No, right? I see, so you can’t cancel out every single attack. So this is going to require some strategy and technique. I’m not fully aware of all the details at the moment, so I’ll go over this once we’ve locked in the final features.”
15. Bugs everywhere (lol they realized people could get to Titan)
Tabata’s comment: “My apologies. If only we could say this was intentional (the Titan visit). But we were completely blindsided. ‘What? You can get to the Titan?’ One day we came to work and everyone was talking about it. It got us good. We all saw it. ‘Yeah, we can get to him.’
“At least we can laugh about the Titan bug, but jokes aside, we heard about bugs where players lost their save data and needed to start over. There were those kinds of bugs, as well. So in that regard, we sincerely apologize. As we work on the final release, bugs like the aforementioned ones caused by warping in the the field, our know-how isn’t quite affluent yet when it comes to action in an open-world environment, so we are honestly faced with many unforeseen bugs. So we’ll be very thorough as we head towards the final release. I sincerely apologize for an inconvenience.”
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Top NA complaint: Noctis' voice is too deep -- sounds like Batman. Players felt they weren't able to connect with him since he looks like a young guy, and doesn't sound that way. The Director stated that he wanted to include voiceover in the demo, but timing was tight so by the time they realized the voice directing wasn't what they wanted, it was already late into the schedule, etc. The final game already has different voice acting.
Top Europe complaint: Cindy was too sexy. The Director stated "she's actually not meant to be an erotic character", but that she's supposed to be an energetic outdoorsy character. They didn't feel it would be too problematic for her to show up on screen while you parents are in the living room. They don't want to change the current concept, but they want to make sure they "maintain the boundary" by "maybe moderating the way she's presented, where it appears as though overly sexual themes are being brought to the forefront, because that's not who she's supposed to be".
Wanting a female party member: Their concept was in following the four guys "in an environment where they can be themselves". "Normally it's just the four guys, so the tent's probably not in tip top shape, but if a female character were thrown into the mix, you can expect things to be a little different than usual. They'll probably clean, and say things they wouldn't normally say around her. I think it'll be fun to see the differences when the guys are being themselves, and when it's not just the four of them. Please look forward to seeing the difference when a guest character joins the party".
E3, Gamescom, and Promotion for the Main Game
“First, by releasing Episode Duscae, we think we reached one of our major milestones. I mentioned that we’re working on an update, but we feel we were able to properly execute what we consider the prologue leading up to the big release. So moving forward, with the release of the demo, instead of an extension of how we’ve been releasing information up until this point, we would like to begin releasing pertinent information about Final Fantasy XV to all regions where the game will be released.
(To start promoting the main game?)
“That’s correct. That’s what we are preparing for. Because of this, E3 doesn’t give us sufficient time to fully prepare. So I have been discussing with our marketing teams, and we’ve actually been considering Gamescom in August, instead of E3, as the target for our next major reveal.
“That’s our line of thinking. So we’ll be taking a break from E3 this year.”
(I think we’ll have a short trailer for E3, but it will serve as a segue into what we’re preparing for Gamescom.)
“I think so. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that the promotion for the main title will officially begin at Gamescom.”
(After that, there’s PAX Prime at the end of August to early September, then TGS in Japan in mid-September. This group of events will be the platform of our reboot, or re-start, towards the release of the main game.)
Read more at http://gematsu.com/2015/04/final-fantasy-xv-feedback-live-stream-full-report-episode-duscae-2-0-coming-mid-may#vPEQ4L1QmXCzkSrw.99
