@scottjay01: Oh also just wondering . Were you a little bothered that there is going to be a "day one update" that add more story elements to connect Kingsglave to the overall story?

How is it compared to other action RPGs like Dragon Age Inquisition, Dragon's Dogma or Dark Souls in the combat department? Is it mostly stat-based? Do you feel like you have good control over your character? Is it stand-in-one-place-MMO-style combat with abilities on cooldowns? Do the stats determine if you hit someone or only how much damage you do? Does the combat become a bit of a mess with the NPC companions or does it work out fine? Basically I just want to know if the combat system is fun to play as an action game, or of it's secretly a Dragon Age thing where I have to accept it for the story.

@redhotchilimist: @deathshroud:Yes well before the day one patch there were such tiny cuts from kingsglave I believe the patch made it flow allot better also the ability to free warp and the wrap strike drop kick added in are great additions

You have full real time control over your character and you can activate links with your party members, the only cool down would be when you run low on MP and when you use your Armiger mode other than that everything is real time. There is a wait mode if you don't want it to be full real time and what it to be a bit more like FFXII I would say but I think the real time combat is fast fluid and your party AI is great.

One thing I do love about this is when you or any of your team run out of HP you have another bar in which your team (or you) run up to one and other and pick each other up and you get like a lil less than half of your hp back , it's kinda like running up to a friend that's gonna go down that picking him up being like " Come on buddy, we can do this" It all adds to the feel of comradery.

For someone who loved 7 and 8 but only partially played 9 and 10, and subsequently lost almost all interest in the series, do you think this is a good game to jump back in?

P.S. I didn't play any Final Fantasy before 7.

That stuff is already in the game. There is a 7.2 gig patch available when you first play and the rest of the stuff is launch day I presume (like being to warp strike out of battle to traverse a bit faster). This game is going to be updated A LOT I imagine.

To add some more personal impressions I'm on Chapter 3 and just loving it so far. There's just so many little touches too like Prompto humming the Victory Fanfare theme after battles sometimes. The link attacks in battle are super rad. It really drives home the point of them being in sync, with one another. Part of me really wants to mainline the story. I'm level 20 and the current story quest is level 10, but I can't stop doing sidequests, hunts and just exploring. I think a lot of people are going to A) be pleasantly surprised by this game and B) eating some crow, for those that thought this would be a piece of trash. Review day is going to be hilarious regardless.

Suprised no one has asked this yet, so I take the bullet.

What Minigames are there in the game? If its spoilery please use tags.

Just from what I've done personally or know of there is:

1. Chocobo racing

2. Fishing

3. Justice Monster V (pinball game that you can also play on Mobile)

4. I found this quick little Darts minigame. Calling it a minigame might be a stretch, but hey it's there.

I just woke up before and am a little tired so might be missing stuff, but that's off the top of my head.

@kishinfoulux: I laughed out loud when Prompto started humming the battle fanfare. I also really liked the "What's a gil" moment near the beginning of the game.

So, the Duscae demo had this gross black vignetting on the screen the entire time, and it gave me a massive headache every time I tried to play it. Is that still a thing in that area? Is it in every area?

It's easier to see when you shrink the image down, but what I mean is how the edges of the screen are way darker than the center (so look at the trees on the far right compared to the ones in the middle).

Is the magic fun to use? And can you use it often or its only meant to be using sparingly?

I already watched Brotherhood and enjoyed it, but do I need to watch Kingsglaive too? I really don't want to watch Kingsglaive.

Magic is on a cooldown and it can be pretty powerful. So long as you're making sure to draw it from sources in the wild you'll be fine using it somewhat regularly. I tend to save it for Hunts or tougher encounters.

Depending on how much you use when you craft it, you'll get more powerful versions of the spell. It's pretty great to just wipe out a group of enemies with a Fira, Thundaga, or Blizzaga. You also get these items called Magic Flasks and that's what you store the premade spells in, so you can keep them in reserve. So, for example, you can have 3 casts of Fira, 3 casts of Thundaga, and 3 casts of Blizzaga and use whichever is appropriate.

How's the camera? Do you find it hard to keep up with the enemies on screen? When the Gb crew played the demo awhile back it looked aggravating to see enemies constantly dash out of view and the player having to slowly pan left or right. Is there a lock on mechanic that alleviates this problem (if it still exists at all)?

General questions I have.

• How does the save system work? Save anywhere or in designated spots like other FF games.
• Is there any crafting?
• Do character regenerate health after battle like FFXIII or do you need potions and spells?
• Can you program actions of other party members in battle?
• How are character skill trees set up?
• Do characters take damage from the environment before entering battle? Use buffs before battle like the Shrouds in FFXIII?
• Do you have to pay for gas to use the car? I remember there being a scene of them pushing the car.
• Do the level of the enemies correspond to your character or is the world divided up into sections based on level of difficultly. Example: you are level ten but enemies you encounter are between eleven to thirteen. Does the game warn you if your level is too low to face certain enemies?
• Any blatant product placement or references to other Square Enix games like Tomb Raider, Hitman or Deus Ex?
• Any microtranstions such as pay walls or button prompts to buy cosmetic stuff? Or are there placeholders for microtransactions to be added later?

The last Final Fantasy game I played was XIII-2 and I skipped the MMO versions. I was looking forward to playing Persona 5 more then XV. I will take a wait and see approach. I tried to ask non story related questions and will appreciate if you are able to answer any.

@teddie: That's not there at all in the final game.

@zleunamme:

- You can save anywhere as long as you're outside of battle and when you reload you start from exactly where you saved.

- I have not encountered any crafting yet. I have played for 8 hours but I'm just now leaving the starting area because I have been doing side quests.

- Everyone regenerates health after battle. If you or any of your party members loses all health, then you enter a down but not out kind of state where you can be brought back by a team member. If this happens then you lose some of your maximum health, kind of like dark souls but you can fix it with a potion or by resting at camp.

- Party members each have a special move that you can tell them to do when a meter fills up but there is no way to order them around the battlefield.

- There is a teamwork skill tree where you can buy skills for your party members. As far as I can tell, all other trees are just for you.

- When you say characters, do you mean party members or enemies? Party members can take damage if they are hit with your magic attacks. Also, there are no transitions in and out of battle, it's all seamless. You get buffs by eating food at campsites or restaurants.

-You do have to pay for gas but it's only 10gil.

- I don't think enemies level with you but I could be wrong. Like I said earlier, I'm not very far in the story. I have definitely encountered enemies that are way higher level than me and the game warns you not to drive at night because you will find really difficult monsters.

- No product placement that I have seen.

- No micro transactions whatsoever.

Sounding good, I just keep getting put off about getting it for the original ps4. I'm not getting the pro anytime soon but I keep feeling like I should wait until I do. Stupid I know

@daveydave: That's fair enough but if you're worried about the framerate don't be, it's solid.

@themanwithnoplan: The camera is my only real complaint with the game so far. There is a lock on but the doesn't do the best job of keeping up with the enemies moving around on screen so you do have to move the camera manually to keep up. I can't speak to how it compares to the demo as I haven't played it.

@pompouspizza: I am wondering how different the camera will be after the update .

@deathshroud: isn't the 1.01 update that's available now the crown update? Or is it a separate update that's actually coming on day one?

awesome bro! can't wait to get mine!

@pompouspizza: Oh that's too bad. I was hoping they would've fixed that by the final release. Thanks though.

@pompouspizza: Yeah it is , I didn't realize it was available now . Thought they said date of release 11/29.

@pompouspizza: I can't find anything saying that the crown update is available now .

@themanwithnoplan: Yeah it's a shame but I actually really like the combat system overall. I'm really really enjoying the game. I have been getting some strong Dragons Dogma vibes from the creature scale and design.

The 1.01 update is the Crown update: some cutscenes are clearly taken from the Kingsglaive movie (even not having seen that movie, the quality of some cutscenes is way above those in the game itself), and the option to "Share" Prompto's pictures is there, even though it does nothing yet.

My addendum to these two points:

• a certain NPC will upgrade certain weapons for you when you have the right item for it.
• There are 5 to 6 tech trees for different aspects of the game (think Stats, Skills, and so on). On each of those trees there is a node for each character that buffs him. Also, there a separate tree for Noctis.

@gaff: Yeah I had confirmation that it was the crown update just now because I had a cutscene that was clearly from Kingsglave. I just got to the point where I can upgrade my weapons too.

So...is this like Zenoblade?

@shivermetimbers: It can be similar to Xenoblade (Original) but still Xeno is more JMMO in places like combat

@pompouspizza: On the crafting I was thinking if it was more like collecting components and give them somebody to synthesize weapon or armor. On environmental damage, is more like if you character stumble across a dangerous area and get inflicted with a status ailment such as poison. Hit spikes and start battle with ten percent less health, that kind of thing. Thanks for answering my questions.

@zleunamme: I have not been able to craft new weapons but Sid can upgrade weapons for you if you give him components. In regards to the damage question, so far nothing like that has happened yet.

@gaff: I just got a patch update which is the 1.02 which I believe is the crown update with longer kingsglave cut scenes, bug fixes and improved gameplay, like the warp drop kick.

I did as well. The Kingsglaive stuff was already in though, from the prior patch. This one has warping outside of battle, some camera improvements/options, being able to wait til night on Hunts that require it (thank god), and more, etc.

@kishinfoulux: Oh thank god! I couldn't believe there was no wait function for quests that require it. Great to know it's in there!

@kishinfoulux: I had kingsglave very very short clips in before the 1.01 patch but because I finished the game prior to any of this I wonder how long they are when playing the game new

Not gonna lie that's pretty nice of them to roll out a patch for people who are lucky enough to get the game early instead of just waitin to release it day 1

More likely it's just for reviewers.

Do we know when the reviews start to drop?

@daveydave: according to Opencritic reviews are dropping in 5 hours and 47 minutes.

I never post on the GB forums, preferring to lurk and read but I just had to say to everyone who got the game early:

Thanks for not spoiling.

Thanks for posting thought out and useful stuff.

Just be weary of Youtube recommended videos, and other forums. Spoilers have been out there, for like a week and a half. Only gonna get worse once the game actually releases.

Thanks for the kind words.

Heads up Polygon just gave this a 9 in their review!! http://www.polygon.com/2016/11/28/13661570/final-fantasy-15-review-xv-ff15-ps4-playstation-4-xbox-one-square-enix

Can anyone please confirm the option for Japanese subtitles in the North American retail version?

The European SE web store listed Japanese subtitles in the supported languages on the product page.

If this is true, will save me the crazy import prices.

Thanks

@psyence69: Yes bud there is Japanese voice overs and Japanese & English subs on all versions

-Edit and JPN subs too if that's what you wanted

@scottjay01: I wasn't asking about Japanese VO. I already know there is dual audio. What I want is Japanese subtitles/Game UI. Have played through all FF games in Japanese. Not about to change now. If you could look in the options or try changing system language to Japanese, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

@psyence69: I edited my post it says japanese subs are there too.

Is Conan right?

How much emo whining is in it? I hated every character in 13 because they just wouldn't stop whining about fucking everything.