Will Final Fantasy XV be the darkest Final Fantasy to date, based on the story of Hamlet?

After re-emerging from the depths of obscurity at this year’s E3, Final Fantasy XV managed to grab the attention of the team here at games™ not because of its graphical splendour or its action-oriented battle system, but because of its intriguing premise and art-direction.

[sonypsnow]

It'll be Great!

[gamesTM_dom]

From everything I've seen so far, I think this is going to be the game that gets the series back on track. It's been waning since XII, with too much focus on becoming an action-RPG.

Lightning Returns was a brave experiment that could only be tried out in a side-series like XIII. Appalling overall, but the game/battle mechanics were innovative and boundary-pushing. Is Square applies lessons learned to XV, it'll be a masterpiece.

[Kurisu]

Fingers crossed! Here's hoping that Square Enix haven't got rid of the world map and airships! I'm really intrigued to know more about the story, characters and gameplay. Can't wait for a media blowout!

[feraldrgn]

I just hope Lightning doesn't show up ANYWHERE.

The characters, theme & battle system look intriguing as all heck.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

Lightning wont be but, expect some of the mythology of XIII to be there.

@Tiqila
idk how large a role XIII's mythology will play. Just expect some mention of Etro, L'Cie, Fal'Cie, gods in general. Since its part of Fabula Nova Crystallis

[feraldrgn]

I could live with that I guess, as long as they don't shove her character in there as a cameo appearance or some such.
Toriyama is so out of touch with the Final Fantasy fanbase:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

I want the entire focus to be on FFXV.

[Irishguy95]

FFXIII -> http://www.aceshowbiz.com/i...
FFXV -> http://media.officialplayst...

Seriously, all it takes is a quick goole search to find out FFXIII and FFXV don't have a connection. I don't understand why so many people can't understand it.

Is wrath of the titans, the movie, related to God of War the game? That is the same as asking if FFXIII is related to FFXV. The answer is, no. They draw from the same mythos

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

I don't mind if she's like in a secret side mission or some shit. I wouldn't want her like a part of the plot or anything though.

[Simco876]

Am I not mistaken that this is still an action-RPG? Still basically the same as XIII but in a modern world. The video clips from E3 shows no relation to the old school FF games.

PASS. I was hoping they would go back to basics, but it's not looking that way. Will hold up for XVII, maybe the VII behind the X will give FF what it needs.

[gamesTM_dom]

It'll still be action-RPG, sure, but if you've played Lightning Returns, that's done given the genre a more hardcore RPG edge then other things in the same vein I've seen so far.

Honestly, I wouldn't write XV off yet - once more information comes out, I'm sure it'll become clear the game is keen to stay relevant to typical FF tropes, but whilst trying to do something new on a new system. Just look at what X did - completely revalidated the FF formula for the PS2. I think we can expect the same of XV on next-gen.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

If theres one relation to the old games the E3 trailer showed it's that there will be a fight over at least one crystal.

[Capt-FuzzyPants]

Gameplay will be like Kingdom Hearts, which isn't really similar to FF13.

[MrSwankSinatra]

Dude this game play similar to kingdom hearts, that's totally different from XIII

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

It seems like a good game. I'd be really surprised if it was bad. Although, XIII did let me down at least in terms of gameplay and that looked pretty good until it came out.

[MoveTheGlow]

"According to a post on Kokatu[sic], some Japanese players aren’t thrilled with the idea of an FF game set in a world that so closely resembles their own."

Japan! The last time Square made a full RPG set in modern Tokyo, it was The World Ends With You. The odds are in its favor, give it a chance!

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

There is only one city in FF XV that is set in a Tokyo influenced city which is Lucis. There are going to be other cities and towns that look nothing like that. I am incredibly excited for this.

[Summons75]

This is really old news. I knew the story was goinged to be based on Hamlet years ago when people were pretending there was no info on VS13.

Love Hamlet so no worries about the story.

[HeavenlySnipes]

I think FFXII had the most mature story out of the ones I've played, not the tired "villain wants to destroy the world, its up to you to stop him"

The star wars theme to the story was welcome in my eyes

[Inception]

Imho, the most mature FF story is FF Tactics. You can have all elements from politics, love, revenge, friends became enemy, etc in this game. The characters also very believeable.

I also like XII, but because Yasumi Matsuno got out in the middle of the project, the story felt rushed / unfinished. If only Matsuno doesn't have problem with his health, i'm sure XII will be as amazing as Tactics.

[goldwyncq]

That was the main problem with FFXII - it focused on politics instead of a character driven story what most FF games are known for.

[Hicken]

But, you see, those politics drove the characters. XII had a great story because the characters reacted to the world around them on a much more organic level than usual. I, for one, thought it was one of the most compete games, in terms of story. It may have lacked in typical FF tropes, but it definitely felt to me like one of the most fully realized worlds and stories in the franchise.

[Inception]

Politics is not the problem with XII story. The only main problem is Matsuno doesn't have the chance to finished all of his work for XII, including the story, because he got problem with his health. Than SE replaced Matsuno with other people who had difference direction compare to him. As you can see, the result is lot of fans felt dissapointed with the story.

The producer, Akitoshi Kawazu, also noted that the story had flaw and frustrated because there's a lot of conflict between FF Tactics team (Matsuno team) and PlayOnline team about how the story progress. No wonder SE took 4 years developing XII because they changed a lot of XII design / story
http://www.gamekult.com/act...

Even Hironobu Sakaguchi himself doesn't want to play XII and just watched the opening FMV when he knew Matsuno not handling the game anymore.

@Hicken

I agreed with you about politics can drove the characters motivation. That's why i really loved FF Tactics story.

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

XII intimidated me. It started out seeming like a typical linear FF game, but then it's like: here, you're in a town now. Do stuff. It threw me off because it was a Final Fantasy title.

[JohnnyAkiba]

So...there is no monkey writing the story this time?

[kingdom18]

Tetsuya Nomura will be... Now I love KH but.... we don't need 4 games to understand the story of XV and some guessing.

[JohnnyAkiba]

And data logs from FFXIII. lol

[GamingNerd013]

This is one of the main reason I got my beloved PS4 4 besides KH3 as I almost fainted of happiness seeing it being reveal last E3. And I can't wait to play it as well everything looks so amazing and good. The graphics look sick the combat omg I'm so happy they made it like KH series though it looks more like DMC series as well. And last the main chars. Looks bad ass and 4 once I don't mind having a main chars. That is more anti hero but more of a whatever he wants 4 him self and exprinceing. Sadness pain and lust 4 power and revenge.

[kingdom18]

Same reason for me. It just wouldn't feel the same to play it on a Microsoft console to me. And I know we're going to get tons of JRPG exclusives.

[clockward100]

Yall think we might see the main. character from final fantasy 15 in kingdom hearts3 that will be cool

[kingdom18]

I would love it if they would add more FF to Kingdom Hearts again. I dream of a FF world in KH3.

[minialex]

I don't know about this one... With every new Final fantasy i keep hoping it will renew my faith in the franchise. But i have a gut feeling that this won't be it either. It looks pretty... but very grey!

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

Every FF game is vastly different from the last so there's never much reason to give up on the series entirely. Even if there's like 4 FF games in a row you don't like, the next one could very well be one you greatly enjoy. Although it's also true that if you're a fan of the older games to an extreme degree, each title moves further and further from those.