FFXV is actually such a hilarious franchise, story wise. Some plot elements exist only in trailers. Theres four DLC and they make you buy one. At least one DLC has an alternative ending from the main game. The demo has a different plot than the actual game. There's a movie and an anime prequel. Whenever cutscenes from them get used in game it's so obvious and they don't even do it in a way to highlight tension. By all reports by the end you are weeping. It's a really fun game. One quest has you kidnap an enemy general and he escapes the same quest and this isnt relevant. One of the enemy commanders randomly joins you in fights after you go tomb raiding together even before she defects. There's a whole chunk of what used to be a multi-player game content missing from the main game. Assassin's creed is canon

Wait this means I can do pitioss now. As soon as I recover from emotional devastation there is nothing holding me back

Honestly after thinking about it (again, not having read the novel but seeing some summaries and trying to find some translations....)

I agree with those who think the bahamut is main evil dude thing is just making the original story weaker, and cheapens this alt verse. Stories where there's just One Guy Who Is Ultra Evil and You Can Stab Him to End Evil are not my favorite to start with and I don't like it more here

Things I appreciate about ffxv: in dungeons once you kill mobs even if you leave and return 20 hours later they are still gone

Brought to you by: im finally braving costlemark again

Watching the FF Versus XIII trailers and

- what would eventually become ff15 thing has been into development since 2006??? Jesus

- it used to be for the ps3 lmao

- so many familiar characters?? Aranea was there from the start ah

- the trailers show a fair amount completed! Aside from graphics overhaul, it's super easy to notice similar locations. I wonder how much of the game actually got produced. Because there is a LOT of mechanics that seem fully finished, various locations, and some plot

Speaking of the plot though, I get the feeling it wasn't very long either. I wonder if that's why they changed it to a main series game?

- full (affectionate) offense to ffxv but them actually fighting their way out of insomnia after noctis gets a power trip is fascinating and much better than the, admittedly fun though awkward, "ardyn is feeling like projecting himself and his fiance onto noctis and luna and arranged their marriage but Regis got the wedding set in a different country thus getting noctis out of insomnia"

- like I understand why they did the change-- noctis /aquiring/ his op power is the main plot of the game and its already short -- but the original one sounds much more fascinating. Like where exactly was the plot supposed to go from there if noctis starts out with his full armiger??

- that said I do like the stabby stabby armiger acquisition from ffxv.

Though It's impossible to compare with "death goddess gave it to me" bc versus13 didn't get made at all so I don't know how it would vibe

- also I get the vibe that some of the strongest parts of 15 are remnants from versus13. BUT like I said, i also get the vibe that versus13 was already suffering from lack of really meaty plot. All the trailers only focus on noctis and Co escaping insomnia/fighting in accordo, with some little hints of weird death magic (?). Of course a game trailer showing just the first 1/3rd of a game is smart but it does make me wonder just... what this game was supposed to end up as?

Like it's clearly sold as a revenge tale with fantasy strangeness in the trailers. Would it have been them going after the empire????

- prompto looks SO different and it's weird.

Terra wars (?) Collab time! Unlike ff14 I have zero knowledge of this game so uh. This will be interesting!

Thus far seems like... solheim ruins? Intriguing. I like Sarah

The game has a habit of pushing luna-as-bride as her whole character which... its not that I don't ship them, or think they're cute. I like Luna! But in addition to her small amount of screen time and the fact that, prior to getting to Tenebrae, she is fully focused on her role as oracle and never gives an opinion on anything else like...

Yeah tenebrae is built to be a sad trip bit, oh woe, luna loves noctis and ravus has nuance to his assholery...

But when being a bride is ALL anyone comments on re:luna it just leaves an ashy taste in my mouth

And it's done

Brb gotta cry

an unfortunate side effect of playing episode ignis and wondering just what the backstory is that ravus clocked ardyn immediately is that i now ship them but like, in an exclusively fucked up way

Time for episode ignis. Already off to a banger start baby noctis I want to squish you so bad

The funniest part of the ffxiv side of the ffxv collab is that Noctis is a bombshell beauty in Eorzea

The funniest part of the ffxv side of the collab, corroborated by the the ffxiv side, is that Noctis is a furry

The more I play FFXV the more I realize... this is the closest I've come to recreating the feeling of playing genshin impact back when I enjoyed it

The comrades dlc is nice to light up map with but is it worth the grinding

The convo with bahamut inside the crystal has big "got added in a later patch" vibes

I know it's a collab but the fact that universe travel canonically exists and happened often enough in the solheim era for teleporters to exist and deities from other universes to have statues in ffxv sure is a thing

my main takeaway from watching the trailers is i would absolutely play versus13, but mostly because having played ffxv and enjoyed it a lot despite its many flaws, im desperate to see these alternate versions of the characters like

noctis that is SO war hungry. this guy saw his kingdom fall around him and probably his dad died and gave him the armiger and now he's high on power and out for revenge

like he has to be talked down from trying to assasinate the emperor

he's like im the most powerful person here! im not leaving! and the buddyguards are like BRO they're after /you/ if you dont leave more people die

just what a fascinating contrast with a noctis who was not in insomnia when it fell and isnt instantly op from the start and is mostly sad and trying to figure out his purpose amidst the ruins

but like the others too??

former criminal gunslinger prompto who is now best friends with the prince???

actually mafia prince noctis like what a fucking concept. when i think of mafia princes it just makes me think of khr

he's like "ignis plan for a retribution thats ten times worse than what they did to us" and ignis goes "it'll be 100 times worse" like bro

honestly im just SO amused by it

also what would the alt plot be? aside from revenge etc. does evil mafia prince noctis ever come to consider the costs of war. does he have to confront the refugee identity and loss of homeland etc from the kingslave movie. are the gods involved at all. does ardyn exist. is the goddess of death evil or does she just do her job. there's like zero mention of demons but they're still fighting iron giants. who is stella even

just. versus13 is honestly more interesting to me because of what it turned into eventually. the two games are so different but such interesting reflections. im desperate to play it now.

also again cannot emphasize how different ffxv's announcement trailer is from the actual game. the announced a game so different than what they actually made. twice. its hilarious