The Final Fantasy Mega Thread - Now playing FFXV

"As I said, the focus of most of the development time ended up being the Lucis area so the later parts of the game had a lot of cut content that wasn't ready. However, as far as I know, the fact that the empire is completely in chaos once you get to it never changed."
"Talking about the Leviathan level, I remember the level design being a bit different last year and it had to be sort of redesigned because it didn't run well and the engine was having problems."
"I'm probably wrong about this since I'm not that familiar to plot terms and stuff from the 13 universe but I think more than one crystal existed in the game and that each crystal had a family which acted as bodyguards. Noctis was part of the Lucis family and the heroine was part of the other family. And the game had a lot to do with death so Noctis was continously using the weapons of dead family members."
"When I was told that a certain level (snowy area with Shiva statue) was going to get deleted anyway after working on it for weeks nonstop and then having to work on a bootleg version for that level."
"The team had to keep a lot of things from the past projects because the former director shared details about them. I assume Ravus was one of those things that had to be kept because details about him were previously announced."
"However, I have to say that the story had to be partly rewritten last year (after the movie had entered full production) so that's why that character might have inconsistencies between the game and film."
"I heard that the team had to change and delete certain scenes about her [Luna] because they portrayed her in a way that would have been criticized nowadays. And like what happened with everything else, it seems like her role in the story wasn't able to get fixed before release."
"There were references to the heroine having been abused by other characters, some scenes would have featured Luna crying because of her health and there were also mentions of her goal in life being meeting the male protagonist's expectations/objectives, which the team considered that were going to be problematic since the game had been carrying a bad reputation because of the way they portrayed female characters. "
"The game centered about death, ghosts and hallucination/dreams. Noctis killed the female protagonist before the game started but he didn't remember. Ardyn was Noctis ancestor and he was responsible of the crystals disappearing over time (the only one left was Lucis crystal). Regis died in front of Noctis because his bodyguards betrayed him. The protagonists had to leave the capital because their nation lost the war."
"The game didn't focus on summons that much (they still existed) and instead there were actual gods which didn't appear physically. One of the gods was the main antagonist of the first FF game. Each nation was inspired by a different capital of the world. The empire was using ghosts as weapons. Ravus wanted to kill Noctis for having killed her sister. The game ended in another dimension which was supposed to be their version of the after-life"
"At the end of the game, you say? I think it was supposed to be left open for interpretation. If I recall correctly, they weren't suppose to have any death scene or anything so I assume they are alive."
"The end part of the game was supposed to be bigger. I know for a fact that dark world Lestallum was finished. Old Iris was also featured in some scenes. Cindy too (and I also recall them not wanting to change the Cindy design even though it was problematic because her older design implied character development)."
"There was supposed to be a small dungeon in Tenebrae which also got cut. If I recall correctly, the invasion didn't begin until the protagonists entered the city. "
"If you mean why is that chapter [13] inspired by survival horror elements, the team thought it was going to be a good change of pace that would build momentum. Seems like the level failed to deliver and annoyed players, which I understand. "
"The game has had barely 3 years of actual development time."
"I don't think any of my mates read the original script. If you mean the 2015 script for FF15, then yeah, most of us know what changed in the story and world design."
"That stuff was cut but they will have to rewrite and re voice those scenes since I assume they are not entirely compatible narrative wise with what the final game showed. "
"Well, the first stop after Altissia had an (smaller) open world area and you could drive the car alone.
There was a level leading up to when you encounter the Shiva statue.
The dark world section of the game featured more enviroments, you encountered each party member in different locations and you could explore part of Lestallum.
The final boss (which was another Ardyn form) got cut early this year.
The Tenebrae invasion happened after the protagonist entered the city and you got to explore a very small section of the city and Luna's chamber.
Scenes that featured Luna got cut because they were considered to be problematic.
Cor got written out of the last half of the story since it made no sense for him to show up (he was Noctis companion during the small open area after Altissia)."
"Like I said, Luna was featured in more scenes but they got cut. The original Leviathan fight combined interiors and exteriors and many enemies on screen, Luna also appeared.
Like I said earlier, the final form for Ardyn was cut early this year. I haven't heard anything from the strategy guide but it might not have updated information about the story."

Things are mostly OK, to the nights are getting longer faster, to Shiva is dead somehow, to imperial attack on train, to the Empire is overrun oh god the world is ending, all finishing off with you entering the worst part of the game.