So I just completed the demo. Took me around 3 hours, that included plenty of messing around and whatnot.

Pros:

- Visually, as expected, looks pretty damn amazing.

- Combat is a ton of fun. Crazy part is magic hasn't even been implemented yet. Also for those who though it would be "herp derp hold down attack to win" yeah you're gonna die if you do that. You can't cancel out of an attack so it's got that Souls game thing of committing to an attack.

- Music is quite good

- RAMUH SUMMON ZOMG (seriously it's fucking bonkers and hilarious)

- From what I can tell there are no load times (unless you warp to a camp). It's basically a long initial load and then once your in nothing. There are some parts where I suspect they are "masking" the load perhaps, like "squeeze through this narrow passage into the cave".

Cons:

- I sort of expected this but that framerate needs to be improved. I suspect/hope it will be by the final game, but I imagine there will still be drops that happen from time to time. For the record it's not awful or anything, but it is noticeable.

- No car driving in demo (coincidentally the main mission in the demo is getting the funds to pay the repair bill for the car).

- The camera can be a bit wonky at times. To go along with that lock on, when on faster enemies, can be a bit messy.

There's probably other stuff I'm missing, but I need to get to bed. I'm super jazzed and my faith has been rewarded. So yeah post your own thoughts or even questions you may have. Guess I should actually play that Type-0 game too since that came with my demo. >_>

*edit* Found this good combat tutorial video elsewhere and figured I'd throw it here to assist people and give some tips about things they may not know.

I wonder how many buy Type-0 HD just to get their hands on the demo?

I didn't like it. Combat feels like a complete mess, for a number of reasons: your AI companions seem rather useless (and die a lot), enemies like to swarm you in numbers that make parsing the situation next to impossible, trying to hit enemies can be an exercise in frustration as they never stop moving, the camera is in WAY too tight, and it's rarely worth doing anything other than hold down the attack button. Some of these are things that can potentially be changed before release, sure, but I didn't have a very good time with what was in the demo. It feels like one of those JRPG combat systems that try action-styled combat and don't manage to hit that smoothness of a "true" action game.

Besides the combat, I also had issues with the repeated dialogue samples (which is probably due to the demo), the framerate (again, demo), and the overall artstyle of the area (which looked pretty plain). Outside of the artstyle, there are some nice effects, particularly with special abilities and nighttime/cave darkness. Voice acting seems decent, if a little bland in this particular situation. There's a nice size to the area and a lot to see and do. Still, my overall impression is a negative one. I wasn't particularly excited for this game in the first place, but this demo left me with pretty much no desire to play more, barring some big changes to the final game.

@nilazz: Hey man if it worked for Zone of the Enders it can work for FF. Though the reviews I have seen of type-0 make it sound pretty good.

I don't have either new system so I can't play it yet but I saw that Ramuh summon and I was totally blown away. Like took me from barely caring about it to majorly hyped with barely a single minute of video.

@nilazz: $60 just to play a demo would be an odd thing to do. Especially given that type-0 is getting some good reviews. Still waiting for my copy from Amazon though.

Is the demo on the disc or a download? Just curious to know how I soon I can be expecting to check this out. Can't wait for Type-0

@zirilius: It is a download, about 6GB.

*raises hand*

There are definitely a ton of enemies roaming around. What I would have happen sometimes is I'd be fighting those sabretusks, and then those Magitek troops would dropship in and it would just be chaos. In cases like that I would just flee.

I had a rough go of it in the beginning, but upon gaining some levels my dudes weren't dying nearly as much. Ignis seems to be a healer, or at least as access to cure spells, but doesn't seem to use often enough. I wanna say there is a gambit system that will be in place though, unless I remember wrong. That should help hopefully.

I pre orederd the digital version on Xbox One and it will download both.

Also the official account has confirmed that the PS4 version runs at 900p and Xbox One at 800p. I'd love to see 1080p, but I don't expect that to happen.

@kishinfoulux: @tuxfool: Thanks guys. I'll get this started tonight to be ready for my morning game sessions.

I love it, it's beautiful, different combat wise (which I like every FF to be), the summon is a sight to be seen, I really dig the friendship vibe and having your party step in and take a hit for you if things are going south, Very like able characters...at least in Japanese, I always love the dual language option.

It's a demo/trail of a game around 60% at the end of the day. There will be frame issues and fixes in the retail but all in all it just made me hope even more this is a late Christmas release, if not worldwide at least in Japan!

Could someone clue me in on details of th leveling system?

Gettin hyped. Fuckin hell, I wanted to get a new PC this year, not a PS4.

@sparky_buzzsaw: You earn exp by defeating eneimies, but from my hour I spent, it seems to only apply(Level Up) when you rest at a campsite.

@scottjay01: Yeah I did the same. The english VO was pretty bad.

@joey2683: I'm wondering more about the specifics of ehat happens when you level up. Is it a sphere grid type system, etc.?

I thought it was fine. Much, much better than the voice acting in the pack in game.

@sparky_buzzsaw: You just level up and that's it. There is a technique thing at the bottom of the level bars that's locked in the demo, though, so who knows. There has to be something more to the leveling system that this surely.

I think it looks beautiful, and thus far I like the characters. The British guy seems like he will be my favorite, easily.

That being said, early impressions of combat are not good, not good at all, for me. It feels super clunky, super non-responsive, and super slow. I had a hard time fiddling with the lock on system, and getting it to keep the same thing targeted, instead of just moving around to whats closest. The AI seems to like to ignore me when I need a quick heal, even though I'm staggering right next to them. I also felt like the dodge/parry system wasn't working every time I tried to use it properly.

Anything issue I have with the game is the camera during combat. I wish it was a bit more zoomed out from the character, as I feel like having a wider view on the field would help a lot in multiple enemy encounters, of which there seem to be many.

I'll keep at the demo though, I admire the game for breaking from the Final Fantasy mold, and first impressions of the world and story seem good to me. Hopefully it's just a combat issue that eventually "clicks" and then it seems super simple.

That Behemoth scene though...straight out of Jurassic Park.

@takayamasama: I thiiiiink if you HOLD R1 it will keep locked on to an enemy. At least that's what I was doing and it worked.

Not sure what you mean by " FF mold " though. FF hasn't really had a mold since IX. Maybe X, but that's slightly pushing it.

You have to hold it to get it lock on, but once it locks on, you can let go of R1

Think you can also just click on the right stick.

Yeah going by the demo you get your monster kill EXP and quest EXP and your food bonuses. I imagine full game you'll be learning your abilities/skills there as well.

Im kinda confused but is it true there is no magic what so ever in game or just the demo... If some im not sure how ill like this no magic system and seems you only play as one person seems very shallow in combat with very little changes besides switching your melee weapon which all look so similar.

There is magic, but it's not in the demo. Tabata was quite forthcoming (as he tends to be) and said it wasn't ready for the demo so he didn't include it.

Also don't judge the combat until you play it.

On going off popular opinion from demo i watched some on youtube.

I don't like Final Fantasy but I like what I've played of the demo and Type-0 thus far. I actually really like the combat and the Monster Hunter aspects of the game. Type-0 is reminding me of Persona with the limited days and stuff.

Magic was not ready so they didn't include it.

I really want to like the good parts of it but I didn't play it for more than 20min because of the god awful framerate.

I really enjoyed the demo on the Xbox. My favorite RPG since Dragon's Dogma. I spent about 4-5 hours on it and thought it was a good adventure that has some challenging stuff in it. Once I learned a few tricks with the combat I really started to like it. I was frustrated at first because it was different than what I'm used to, and I just got done playing through Bayonetta. It does loosely resemble Type-0 in the way it controls.

The enemies can pile up very very quickly if you're not careful in the cave or outside in the wetlands at night in some spots. The game probably isn't optimized the way the full product should be. The only really bad frame rate I saw was when I escaped the Behemoth the first time. The rest of the time the frame rate is fine and it seemed to me to be around 30 FPS. 60 would be great, but I don't expect it on the Xbox or PS4 for most games of this calibre. I don't expect a game like FF to move like Bayonetta, and I don't really want that since there is more strategy here. The game is stunning to look at from every angle, and I thought it played well once I figured out the monsters' attacks. it really is like monster hunter in those ways.

Once I got the Ramuh I almost crapped my pants when I summoned him. Holy shit.

I took on the Behemoth in the Wetlands post-game at level 30 and beat him after about 40 minutes. I purposely did not want to use the summon, and it worked out because of the Armiger ability. I'm going to use that a lot in the full game as it's a pretty cool ability.

I wish Prompto didn't get himself killed so much, and sometimes the other AI companions get in my way. Yes, I'm thinking of Ignis.

There was an option at the car for "Take the wheel." It was greyed out, but that sounds a little promising. Thought I don't expect we'll be running over Chocobos.

The combat is much more than just attacking. Even at the stage the combat is at now where there is no magic you still have to balance defense and offense quite a bit. Pretty much all actions except your basic attacks use up MP, which can either be regenerated over time or by hitting enemies with normal attacks with certain weapons. You also have stronger attacks that will stagger enemies often when you attack right after dodging an enemy attack.

The combat isn't as deep as Devil May Cry or anything, it is still an RPG, but there is a decent amount of challenge and depth to it.

Overall I loved the demo. Found the combat a little rough at the start but after playing for a while I grew to really like it. The game is just gorgeous in every way too. The environments look great, the animations are generally pretty good, the effects on attacks and general little touches (stuff like your characters hair and clothes being affected by the wind created by dropships) all add up to make a spectacular looking game. I even found the voice acting to be pretty decent, my only complaint is that I hope there is a good variety in dialogue from your allies as I started to here the same lines from them only after 15 minutes or so of playing.

I am totally hyped for XV now, it is being everything I hoped it would be so far.

I can't play the demo. Anyone have a recommendation for a full play through of the demo online?

From the videos i saw the combat looks like garbage to me. Need to play it for myself though.

Haven't finished watching myself, but I'll assume Mr. Happy goes through the whole thing. It's an archive of the stream he did from a few days ago.

http://www.twitch.tv/mrhappy1227/v/3911576

Yeah Prompto has a knack for dying, which is sort of odd since he's a ranged character. He does have pretty low HP though. Gladio is sturdy as hell though.

And yeah once you get the full set of Armiger abilities it's pretty rad. You can just do crazy sword summon limit break attack shit. I tried taking on the Behemoth there as well and man it was taking long so I just nuked him with Ramuh again...lol. It's a fun fight though.

Oh and man, unlike other games with a similar type move, but Drain Blade is SUPER useful. Restores a ton of HP and doesn't cost that much MP to boot.

My only problems with it were things I can brush aside because it's a demo like framerate and lack of AA. Other than that I thought it was amazing. The combat, the voice acting (Japanese that is), the art, the music. Holy shit the music when the Goblins show up is amazing. It reminds a lot of the Hollow Bastion theme from KH. Seriously the only thing I didn't like was frame drops. Looks like the game I'm most excited about next year.

For those who are having issues with the camera, here's some useful tips from the lads on neogaf

-R1 to target

-Press R1 two seconds to lock the target, being able to move the camera and change targets with the right stick...

and..

-Press R1 and true-lock it with R3 and you won't be able to move the camera but the camera will follow the target.

I know I did...well I also had an interest in Type-0 too.

I'll say this: Its got me intriqued in modern Final Fantasy. Funny how that series is shedding its turn-based roots brick by brick.

I have to say that I'm impressed by what I've seen by the demo. Haven't finished it yet but I did just unlock Ramuh (still haven't seen the summon though) and I have been having a lot of fun.

There is definite room for improvement on a couple of things. I wished switching skills was mapped to a different button as I don't particularly like taking my hand of the left stick to be switch. While going through the caves with the goblins my teammates constantly blocked my path.

But man I really liked the look of this, the feel of the combat was great, and I liked the party banter. Combat feel impactful and I felt I never felt frustrated by not being able to parry. If I failed a parry I always felt it was my fault for trying to do one more thing prior to parrying.

I'm definitely more excited for this now than I was previously. I liked the more action based combat, mixed with the combat system of XIII, and hopefully mixed with a gambit system similar to XII.

Now on to Type-0

Having just finished this I just have to say I'm blown away by that summon. I'm really curious how those are going to work throughout the course of the game but wow. Just wow.

Finally beat Deadeye with no Ramuh. Fight took a while but I discovered you can do a aerial combo when using the Armiger mode. Hardlock onto an enemy then warp strike them and you go into a crazy KH style aerial combo that deals so much damage. Really excited to see what the late game combat will be like, I find it already so much fun with just the basic stuff implemented in the demo.

I finished it at the 5 hour mark and I have to say I'm definitely impressed with it so far. I really like the setting and the combat so I'll be interested to see what the final product ends up being. Definite pre-order once a release date comes up.

I just played this at my friends house.

Pros

• Combat felt better than I expected out of a Square Enix action game.
• It only took a couple minute tutorial to explain everything and then we were in the game. Hopefully main game doesn't draw it out longer.
• I love that there isn't a minimap. It made me appreciate the graphics a lot more.
• Graphics are pretty. I hope there's variety to the environments, because this one was a little plain, but well realized.
• I really dig the music, Yoko Shimomura's awesome.

Cons

• Combat definitely feels like it's missing something. Fighting those blue guys who just run all around was no fun. Maybe magic will fix that.
• Armiger is cool but it seems like it could easily break balance, and if the combat becomes a matter of using armiger, recharging mp, then using it again then I think they fucked up.
• Characters seem kinda lame. Ignis is just Balthier. I hope there's more characters, preferably not dressed in black, maybe some girls. I hope they have interesting stories and aren't all style.
• Forced me to walk sometimes. Fuck that forever.

So I guess the demo didn't really sell me on XV, but it definitely made me see how this game could be fun once all of the systems are in place. If the systems end up fitting well together, they come up with some interesting environments to explore, and the story/characters turn out cool, then this game could be pretty awesome. We'll see.

@mushymushrooms said:

For those who are having issues with the camera, here's some useful tips from the lads on neogaf

-R1 to target

-Press R1 two seconds to lock the target, being able to move the camera and change targets with the right stick...

and..

-Press R1 and true-lock it with R3 and you won't be able to move the camera but the camera will follow the target.

This is great to know, thanks! I booted up the demo this evening and was really quite enjoying it, but the camera and tracking enemies was bumming me out.

Combat is quite fun (which I was pleased to find, because I really wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not), though in a tough fight with a herd of Snuffleupaguses (that some magitek troops soon joined too) where I found myself regularly losing all of my HP I wasn't super huge on the whole down state thing (though it's nice that you're not just immediately KOed).

I'm also not sure on how easily your MP depletes and then having to wait for it to recharge. Finding cover could also be kind of annoying depending on where I was and at that point I wasn't really enjoying the process of stumbling around and crouching behind something. Hopefully I'll get better at managing that stuff?

This is the first time in a LONG time I felt like it was fun playing a Final Fantasy. In most cases I play the games for the story and the combat doesn't really do much for me, not that it's bad but not something that I find very entertaining.
But with FFXV just the act of running around, exploring the world and fighting felt fun, the potential for the final release is HUGE.

@hunter5024: You know what, yeah, you're right! Fuck minimaps! Who needs them anymore! Fuck em! We give them too much credit! Over-rated is all they are.

In regards to HP basically think of the White bar almost like a shield in Halo. When that gets depleted your red bar getting emptied is what will actually KO you. If you continue to take hits, without the white bar, you actual max HP will drop until you either use a potion, a body helps you out, or you wait it out. Don't worry though this isn't some Souls game thing. Your max HP will be restored when you rest at a camp or trailer.

As for MP, obviously it gets better with management the more you level, since you have more MP. If you put the Blood Sword in the Barrage slot, however, you'll get MP back for a majority of your attacks which is super helpful. You won't do as much damage as you would if you had the Zwei there, for example, but I'm fine with the tradeoff of less damage, but being able to use Skills more.

I only watched the quicklook but it looks great. I'm surprised at how different it is, I like the idea of fully real-time combat.

It's got a nice fucking car in it, that's for damn sure.