I know there was a similiar thread but that thread was over 2 months old and since we are closer to what I understand is the story patch being released. I think it is march 28 it will get released but apparently it will only add stuff to chapter 13, and I don't know if I will add anything else to the story.

I guess I have a couple of questions:

1. Will it be foolish to start playing the game now? The thing is I don't really have anything else to play right now.

2. Is the story completely incomprehensible to understand without the patch?

3. Would it be necessary for me to watch the movie and anime before playing to understand the story? If so will the upcoming story patch actually fix this issue and have the missing story parts from the movie/anime in the game?

March 28th isn't that far away. I'd base it on two questions.

Do you have something else to keep you busy until then?

Will waiting and playing Final Fantasy after the patch interfere with other games/plans after the 28th?

I would watch the movie at least if you start playing now. It's alright. Nothing special that you'll want to rewatch, but it gives you context and shows you what's happening. I heard the anime is basically just backstory for the friends, so if you need explanations as to why they're with Noctis then you'll want to watch that. Personally I skipped the anime because I'm okay with not knowing their history.

Just watch the movie and Youtube shorts before you play it. To improve on the story, they would need another 1-2 years of development. Realistically, there is no patch that'll fix the issues, it'd cost too much money. It seems like they'll fill in some stuff with w/e DLC that's coming. Did you play MGSV? It kinda has the same problem. What's missing is the super production intensive stuff. The chapter 13 issue is overblown. It's not great but it's ok and a change of pace, it's just not something I'd be excited about doing again, say in a new game+.

I've been kinda waiting for the story patch to dive in too. But from the little bit that I've played chapter 13 seems to be a ways into the game so at the very least you can start the game and focus more on sidequests and hunts until that major patch is released.

Maybe just skip it? This game fell off of everybodys radar FAST, just kind of uninspired.

I would say based on the story patching they've already done, you are fine either way. I played through and had a couple questions about what was happening around the end. Did some research and re-watched the ending scenes and it made a lot more sense. I don't know how much of that information is going to be patched in as exposition or not, so you may be waiting for a lot of nothing, or just more scenes from Kingsglaive awkwardly spliced in.

1. No, you should go ahead and start it now. Especially considering you don't have anything else to play at the moment.

2. The story is not nearly "completely incomprehensible," but it is a mess of stuff stitched together with lots of parts half-baked or missing. The main plot thread is not hard to follow though.

3. The movie and anime give background on the characters, story, and world. It's not essential to understanding the game; it's supplemental. You might give it a try and see if it grabs you. There's no indication that the story patch will incorporate anything from the anime or movie, so I wouldn't expect that to happen.

The strange thing about the story patch is that it's supposedly just going to address Chapter 13, which mainly stands out for its pacing issues (it drags on a lot). Ch 13's messy story parts are not particularly worse than the rest of the game's. So even if SE magically makes the story in Ch 13 amazing (which, realistically, I think is unlikely), it'll still be sandwiched within plenty of other story mess. The game's story problems cut to the very core of the game's troubled development and no patch could ever address such deep-rooted issues; the game would have to be rebuilt from the ground up.

That said, the story does have moments that are compelling, so it's not all bad. There's clearly potential there, but a lot of it goes unrealized.

No idea how future patches will affect gameplay, but I seriously doubt any plans they're pursuing will be sufficient to "fix" FFXV's story. This isn't Kingdom of Heaven.

I would second watching the movie and anime and just playing the game now.

Why did you even write anything if you don't have something meaningful to add to the thread?

The question wasn't if I should play the game. It was only a question of when I should play it.

this game blows, don't even play it.

go pick up a different RPG, there are TONS out there to play.

If you are thinking about playing it then play it. Chapter 13 isn't going to make or break the game in terms of story and if you've gotten that far then chances are good you're going to finish it. Without knowing exactly they are going to be changing to Chapter 13 then I feel there isn't any point in waiting.

A few months of development isn't going to fix the story. Just play it, the best part of that game is the open world/combat stuff anyway.

In my opinion, this story is such a godawful mess that the only thing that can "fix" it is if they remade the entire thing. A couple of patches isn't going to do much of anything. Just jump in now. You might enjoy it either way.

@castiel: just thought it was worth weighing in, we are talking about a game that shipped with an incomplete story, didn't know that criticism was taboo. Enjoy the game.