I enjoyed the story and game quite a bit and definitely cried during the "wedding" scene at the end. This wasn't because of marketing or anything (in fact, I'd been avoiding trailers for this game for the better part of two years -- and sounds like I made the right call) but because I thought this was an extremely high point on a game I enjoyed thoroughly.
...I just deleted a paragraph explaining why I thought the entire end was wonderful and why it made me very emotional, but arguing over something as extremely subjective as "why did I/didn't I cry over this video game" seems like a huge waste of time. It'd be like trying to explain a joke, you know?
That said, I tend to think streamers tend to ham it up/play into the fact that they have an audience. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I also don't think stuff like that and reaction videos are a good way of gauging public interest. We're all a little different when we're being filmed, for better or for worse.
Also, are you actually seeing lots of people saying XV has the "best story ever"? Because to me the consensus on the storytelling has been that it's actually one of the worst parts of the game. Just wade into any message board forum if you're interested in reading why XV is the worst game since Custer's Revenge and how Tabata should bow apologetically for a minute straight ;) I think you're in the majority when it comes to being critical of the storytelling.
That said, I actually did think this had one of the better, most coherent FF storylines and found its ambiguous storytelling a huge draw that has kept me interested in the mysteries of the world and characters long after having finished the main story (my play count is now pushing 100 hours...).
But let's talk specifics.
Everything Luna dying onwards was a complete mess, and as I was venturing through all those copy-pasted corridors (many rest areas in C13 were identical), I started thinking back on how FF XV was supposed to be this 'epic', 'tear-jerking', 'emotional' game.
No one's gunna argue with you that Chap13 was way too long. The repeated assets (and especially the repeated dormitories) didn't bother me so much because the visual monotony/repetition of a war barracks/bunker thing totally makes sense to me. But yes, WAY too long. I read they're patching the Ring to make it more powerful but imo that wasn't the problem (I actually thought the Holy Dodge looked badass and was fun to pull off). They just need to make the whole thing muuuch shorter. Or at least until you get your party back. From that point on I'm fine with it, since it's ostensibly the "final dungeon" in the game, so it makes sense that it would be long and arduous (...just like the annoying final dungeon of many FFs). And yes I know we still have the World of Ruin to contend with, but all of that is practically a straight line to Ardyn
Because on paper, objectively, FF XV doesn't earn one single beat of its story.
I'm gunna let this use of "objectively" pass and not get annoyed with it. Especially since I disagree with it. :)
The camaraderie between our four heroes is fine enough, but completely, completely devoid of depth thanks to character-building being resigned to the Brotherhood anime.
Game does a terrible job of making you care about these characters from the get-go if you haven't watched Brotherhood (why there isn't a Brotherhood Viewer on the game's main menu goes over my head...). That said, I completely disagree that the camaraderie is only found in the anime and that the characters are devoid of depth. From Prompto's insecurity/budding inferiority complex, to Gladio's exhaustion and seething impatience at having to look after a whiny, precocious Prince, to the entire party dynamics (both mechanically and narratively) crumbling to pieces when Ignis loses his eyesight. You can criticize the storytelling (Prompto announcing to the group he was born in Niflheim says hi) but to say these characters are devoid of depth seems like a hard argument to make.
Iris, on the other hand, is a good example of a character who would have zero depth to her without the anime. I think if you don't know about the Noctis-Gladio-Iris dynamics, and how Noctis stood up for her in front of her intimidating brother, then her nonstop gaga-ness over Noctis in the game would feel very cheap and one dimensional -- it's still not a great story arc, but at the very least the anime contextualizes it and so is a good example of what you were saying.
Luna's death comes out of nowhere, and chances are you'll be too busy scratching your head during Chapter 9 as to WTF she and the team were supposed to be doing anyway to be invested, and Ardyn, whilst you CAN piece together his story and anchor FFXV as some revenge tale overall, ends up highjacking the story and taking the focus completely off the Niflheim invasion/warring regions setup.
I agree with you that I was scratching my head on my way to Altissia (so hang on, what's this about getting Leviathan's blessing? What about the Royal Arms? Are we still getting married..???). This was really mangled in my opinion. That said, her actual death was pretty shocking to me! And the full on cinematic of adult Luna talking to young Noctis I thought was very evocative and powerful, and helped convey the bizarre, unrealistic dynamics of their relationship (Luna was an ideal to him, more than a person, having not seen her in over a decade -- since he was a child). That whole scene, I thought, was beautiful and showed a certain maturation and coming to terms with reality for Noctis.
And yeah, Ardyn does "hijack" the story, but that's by design? Like, you can dislike it, but I found his story very interesting. And it's not like it came out of nowhere. If you're willing to discuss Kingsglaive (which I think is a must if someone is going to even try and engage with XV's story -- and yeah that's a whole other criticism lol), then right from the get go Ardyn is the baddy. He's the one we see talking to Regis. He's the one we see whispering and swaying the Emperor's actions. It's all Ardyn. The Kefka influence is obvious from the start -- and his look in the movie is literally that of a One Winged Angel. xD
But if we exclude Kingsglaive, then again, it's all Ardyn. It's clear from the get go he's helping you out in ways that seem... not conducive nor helpful to the empire? He's operating on another level.
A lot of people complained about the Emperor only being in one scene in the game -- this didn't bug me at all and also gives me a chance to point out something that I LOVE about XV's storytelling: more ambiguous, environmental storytelling. We are never explicitly told where the Emperor has gone, though there is a radio (or newspaper?) that mentions he's gone missing. And then we fight this super strong monster in Chapter 13 a few times. It seems unusually strong. As you progress in chap13, you learn that Niflheim had been experimenting on people, turning into deamons. Around that time you also see that main weird throne room where the Emperor gave that speech earlier in the game to Ravus, Aranea et al. Except this time the room is empty except for... the Emperor's robes. Weird. And we've also seen generic Niflheim suits devoid of bodies littered around the base. When you fight that tough deamon a second time and hear its dramatic speech you realize... that was the emperor. It's an amazing, relatively anticlimactic moment for who many thought was the main villain. To me that was one of the best moments in the game and seems to show that XV's storytelling has taken quite a few cues from the Souls/borne series. Using gameplay mechanics (random tough boss), environmental details (emperor's robes), and little incomplete pieces of information (news of emperor missing) to lead the player to coming up with their own conclusions.
To me that's an extremely satisfying tonal shift to how the story in XV is told. And it's full of those types of "unspoken" details. It eschews long, drawn out, convoluted monologues in favour of brevity and ambiguity. I realize a LOT of people will dislike that, but as someone who LOVES the storytelling in the Souls game, this was definitely such a welcome addition to the series. And that emperor example isn't a one-off. So much of the story and world is pushed to the sidelines, to the details. Like theories about Prompto's mother. Or analyzing the cover of the Cosmology book. Ravus' turmoil and the notes he left behind. Who's the real Izunia? What exactly was Ardyn talking about re: Gentiana's face? Everything beyond the relationship between the four lads seems mysterious and implicit instead of explicit. For better or for worse. I'm not going to argue this is a better way of telling a story. But personally, this is way more effective and satisfying.
Also, I'm not trying to blindly defend the game. A lot of these aspects that I like (the ambiguous storytelling) are probably side effects of them running out of time for the second half. I'll bet they meant for the storytelling to be way more "Final Fantasy" but they had to wrap it up to get the game out in 2016. I also bet the DLC will explain away a lot of the issues people had with the game (Ravus' intentions being made more explicit; Prompto's backstory with the Niffs, etc.). I think the things I like about this game's story are actually happy accidents and a bit of a fluke? haha.
As for other things I liked and didn't like about the game. I found its depiction of women to be a really low mark in a series that has always had a really strong cast of female characters. I mean, I like all the women in the game but all of them have, um, issues.
Luna: gets killed to fuel Noctis' anger. A literal plot device.
Iris: Her character arc doesn't really go much beyond fawning over Noctis. I like that in the World of Ruins she becomes a badass deamon hunter but that isn't seen.
Cindy: that outfit. (again, this would be less of a problem if she wasn't the only woman with a name you meet for like 10 hours lol).
Gentiana: becomes a 90% naked blue lady near the end haha
All these characters are really cool but they don't get the screentime to really develop.
Also, unrelated: I hope they patch the camera so that when you're fighting near bushes/trees they become transparent. This is the worst thing I've ever seen in an FF game.
OH, and they should patch the endings to include the names of all the composers. Right now it just lists Yoko Shimomura and that's... very disingenuous.
Jesus christ I didn't mean for this reply to be so long. Um... what was the question again?
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