more ffxv!
Dec. 5th, 2016 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenluaPlayed more FFXV Saturday, through like chapter 5.
* i mean, i'm already spinning up ideas for how i'd deal with this even if the game doesn't. i vaguely remember some interview with some ffxv developer, where he said they did the lifelong-friends-on-roadtrip thing in order to tell stories that are impossible with the random-adventurerers-who-met-like-last-week thing, and this is a prime example of the sort of meaty storytelling you can do in that framework. i was bitching on tumblr the other day how fantasy/scifi stories only deal with new romance, as opposed to the (imho) more interesting travails and trials and unique experiences a relationship faces once you already know/like/trust/love each other. already-well-established friendship is another interesting axis to play with! one that's more common, obviously, but traditional final fantasy storylines really do focus on novelty and meetings and newness and beginnings; this would cool/different territory to dig into.
- CHOCOBO RIDING IS SO FUN
i spent like an hour just riding around on my chocobo
friend was like "are you not going to take the car"
i was like "who the fuck takes a car when there's CHOCOBOS"
"ok point but this is gonna take a long damn time so i'm getting some coffee"
i actually have no idea if chocobo riding is fun in any objective sense. just. there's chocobos. they're adorable. they make cute "wark!" noises when you flutter-jump with them. in my heart of hearts i am still seven years old and i just discovered chocobos and i am simultaneously incredibly sad they are not real but incredibly happy i can play a game where they are. - i think the dragon age style banter is less effective than it was in, y'know, actual dragon age. in ffxv they seem to repeat themselves a little too often (in hindsight it's remarkable how little dragon age's occassionally-repetitive battle-banter grated on me), and they sometimes spell stuff out in travel banter in ways that feel unnatural / weird. sometimes it's just infodumping that really should've been in the main story/cutscenes, "HEY NOCT TELL ME MORE ABOUT HOW AN ORACLE WORKS" etc.
but for a specific example re: unnatural dialogue: here's a bit i'm paraphrasing from memory, with the part that made me groan boldfaced
prompto: dude your vision must suck, ha your glasses are lame
ignis: actually it's not that bad
prompto: wait really?
ignits: yeah it's good enough i don't even really need them to drive
prompto: why don't you not wear them sometimes then
noct: you don't get it, do you, prompto
prompto: get what
noct: ignis likes everything to be crystal-clear
ignis: it's true i prefer to avoid ambiguity
groooooan. i mean i'm imagining the real-world equivalent would be something like, idk, me hangin out with my bros while people casually remark on my wearing huge scarves all the time because i need to feel enveloped and protected or something. it's so unnatural, right?!?! and spelling out "nerd character wears glasses because he wants ~clarity~ and ~precision~ in all things is. so ham-handed. and unnecessary; while the presentation of this guy's personality hasn't been the most exciting, it's been consistent; i could've inferred the dude is into clarity on my own. - mostly i'm waiting for these guys to ascend their archetypes; mostly i'm just like "the spunky/annoying one, the serious/straight-laced one, and the chill/muscleman one, got it"
the moment when gladiolus yells at noct for being a whiny piece of shit was interesting! it was the first moment we got where i felt the natural, mingled tension-and-closeness a friendship goes through when you are Dealing With Some Shit. if the game goes on to develop that dynamic then color me interested.* meanwhile i am still playing largely because the gameplay is rollicking good fun. - on a possibly-weird-and-personal note: bout this time almost two years ago, i was drinking a lot and playing dragon age inquistion, a game i hypothesized that i basically wouldn't have liked unless i was kind of sad and drinking a lot at the time. that game was also (i'm pretty sure) my first foray into western-style quest-ish mmo-ish rpgs. i think that colors my experience playing ffxv, in weird ways. on the one hand, it still has the weird soothing quality i felt in dragon age, where checking off quests feels very controlled and dopamine-y. on the other hand, i'm significantly less sad than i was while i was playing dragon age; i'm not sure if that's making me more critical of the game than i would be otherwise? it's just, making comparisons between the two feels increasingly weird to me, in an indescribable way; i'm not just comparing two games in a similar genre but two very different periods in my life. i don't think i've had such a stark example before of how the state you're in when you come into a game/piece of art/etc can dramatically affect the way you feel/interpret/enjoy/etc it.
* i mean, i'm already spinning up ideas for how i'd deal with this even if the game doesn't. i vaguely remember some interview with some ffxv developer, where he said they did the lifelong-friends-on-roadtrip thing in order to tell stories that are impossible with the random-adventurerers-who-met-like-last-week thing, and this is a prime example of the sort of meaty storytelling you can do in that framework. i was bitching on tumblr the other day how fantasy/scifi stories only deal with new romance, as opposed to the (imho) more interesting travails and trials and unique experiences a relationship faces once you already know/like/trust/love each other. already-well-established friendship is another interesting axis to play with! one that's more common, obviously, but traditional final fantasy storylines really do focus on novelty and meetings and newness and beginnings; this would cool/different territory to dig into.
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Date: 2016-12-29 04:09 am (UTC)