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Post by bad guy™ on Feb 15, 2017 15:37:59 GMT -5
I'm so close to completing the side quest achievements I can taste it. Did you finally realize that Ignis is the best? Nope. Still find him annoying as balls and I'm right at the point of no return. Prompto is awesome though.
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BorrachoBancho
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Nov 17, 2016 2:29:36 GMT -5
Posts: 428
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Post by BorrachoBancho on Feb 15, 2017 17:26:18 GMT -5
Prompto is a bit of a dork, but I think he's alright. He's pretty much just a less macho Zell. Noctis is easily my least favorite though. I feel like hes just sort of there during story scenes.
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Post by punksnotdead on Feb 16, 2017 14:36:48 GMT -5
I finally finished the story mode of the game. I got to level 59 and I had enough of running around doing quests. I have to say, I really enjoyed the hell out of the actual story mode of the game. Ardyn is pretty damn awesome imo. Levels 8-14 flew by quickly. It's kind of convoluted in parts though. I put these in spoilers in case someone is still level building and doesn't want the plot ruined for them. From what I gathered, Ardyn is the first of Noctis' bloodline and the crystal rejected him. So in turn, he took in all of the demons to try and help save his world, and it made him go crazy. So he's been plotting his revenge this entire time until someone from the Lucis Caelum bloodline was worthy of the crystal, so Noctis. This part of the story is fantastic. Noctis sacrificing himself to the Kings in order to go into the afterlife and defeat Ardyn forever was sensational. That scene actually gave me a Sephiroth/Cloud vibe. I thought the two of them on the throne was a really poetic way to end the game and I like how the pictures were incorporated into the ending scene and getting your certificate.
What I didn't necessarily think was clear was the relationship between everyone leading up to that point. We really had no idea what was going on with Ravus because it all seemed to be happening away from the main story. So when they show him talking to Luna about fulfilling her duty, it's pretty confusing imo as to which side he was on, even though I assume he was a bit of a "Snape" to the story. But he shows up dead, and then undead, and there is kind of not enough there for my liking.
I do have to comment on how visually striking some of the cut scenes were. Ardyn on the throne with everyone hanging from above was my favorite, but Gentiana/Shiva touching Ardyn on the lips on the train was excellent as well. Since I brought that up, the Astral's were truly incorporated into the main story at the end and I thought that was great. Shiva was there the whole time but Bahamut played such a key role in explaining Noctis' destiny and then we understood why Ardyn wanted Noctis and Co to go after Titan in the early stages of the game. Ifrit wanting to watch the world burn as Ardyn's attack dog was a fun fight too.
However, here is the main problem I had with the story that I thought was incredibly under developed; the war seemed to be between Niflheim, the invaders, and Lucis. That sh*t goes right out the window by the time we realize what is going on. Like ledolas Aldercapt is this super important character in Kingsglaive and he's really phased out of the main story of the game (off screen mind you). I really wish they would have more clearly addressed that Ardyn was manipulating Aldercapt and we would have seen him fall. That way when the game switches gears and it stops being about one ruler over taking a Nation, it's clearly about one demon King, so to speak, holding Eos hostage to the nightfall. I think it turned out to be better than I originally thought. I finished with just under 67 hours played. I did use Umbra and I think it's freaking awesome the characters are in the chapter 14 attires, which I think are immensely better than the full game attires. I also grabbed the flying car but automatically dying when you crash land is kind of a deterrent to use the thing as a ship. The gameplay isn't perfect, and I think so much of the game being front loaded really hurts the overall pacing of the game. It's too GTA and too reluctant on doing optional tasks that are an aside to this world threatening problem. So I have a problem with that, personally. The story is actually really good, but it's under developed. Almost like they had this really good idea for a story but we only got the start of the story in the form of a movie and the end of the story in the final 4 or so chapters of the game, which I think hurts its overall spot in FF history. Still though, the dungeons were really fun, the hunting was fun, I think the weapons upgrading was fine, and the battle system was definitely unique with the phasing, especially once you started doing the upgrades on the AP grid. The night/day dynamic was more frustrating than it was fun imo. Trying to level build, especially early on, by saving experience points and waiting out the night was frustrating as hell. The game is obviously much better once you're over Lvl 40 or so and you can get the headlights for the Regalia. I think if I had to spot it, I'd say this is definitely the best game since FFX. I don't know how much that's saying but I think it's more memorable than XIII and unequivocally better than XII. It mostly uses the best of both of those games imo. I personally don't think I'd put this above any of my very favorites though. 7, 6, 10, 8 and then XV probably jumps in the conversation with 4 and 5. I do think it's weird that you have to have seen a full length movie and 5 mini shorts in order to get the full spectrum of the story. I would have much preferred to buy 2, or even 3, installments of the game over an extended period of time had we gotten that story all in gameplay form. So that makes it a weird one to place imo. Still though, it's got a pretty good story, once you decipher it. I just wish the progression of the game wasn't front loaded and that there was more story early on the way there was at the end.
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Post by bad guy™ on Feb 17, 2017 15:18:43 GMT -5
Finished the game. Initial thoughts. T R W might enjoy these. Ok, so after the battle with Leviathan and Luna dying, which pissed me off very much which I'll address later, I gained a new respect for Ignis fighting blind. He was kind of a drag in the dungeon under the quarry but luckily he was surprisingly helpful in the battle against Ifith. I knew when Irnis was fighting Ardyn on the train he was going to somehow knock Prompto off of the train, I didn't expect Ardyn to be able to ing shapeshift. Speaking of Ardyn, fantastic twist with him being one of the original members of Noct's family but was rejected by the crystal. The final battle against him when you're both flying around was really fun; then the animation of the 13 Royal Arms being used against Ardyn as the finishing blow...the cinematic was marvelous. Now for the complaints. One, Noctis did not have to die. I get that he Ascended but his father could have shown him mercy when he was in spectral form when the 13 were killing him. They could have found a way for him to purge the demons without killing him. It seemed so blatantly obvious that after they killed Luna, Noctis could have ruled with Iris as his Queen, finally making Gladio's family nobility. Would have been well deserved. Two, who the is king now? Noctis was the last of his line, and Luna's family was wiped out. Does it fall to Ignis? Marshall? Cid? That's a question I would have liked answered when they did kill Noct. Three, they do not make the save option at the end of the game an easy read. For me to get the final battle armor and the flying car I am going to have to go back and rebeat Ardyn. That pisses me off a little bit that they didn't clarify the options. Fourth and finally, when do we get the next one? They're on a ing roll with XIII, Type-0 and now XV with that specific Chrystalium series. But, I guess Notc dying to purge the world might just end that part of the series which kind of sucks.
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Post by punksnotdead on Feb 18, 2017 9:21:40 GMT -5
I would say XV was the end of the Fabula Nova Crytallis. The only reason 13 and 15 even share it is because 15 was actually 13-versus. So much of what was planned as gameplay for that series got turned into Brotherhood and Kingsglaive because it had been in development 10 years and they needed to produce something. That's also why so much of the story in 15 happens off screen.
I look for 16 to be a totally new setting. Regardless, we're getting the FFVII Remake next, which has to be broken down into multiple games, and they still have to put Kingdom Hearts 3 out, which has been in development for 11(?) or so years. So a new main series Final Fantasy game could be a very long way off.
FFVII is the greatest game of all time imo and fans have been asking for a Remake since the release of the PS3, largely due to how amazing Advent Children turned out. I know Square was hell bent on proving they could release a next gen title that compared to 7, or even X, but I think it's largely agreed upon they haven't been able to do it. So it's time to sh*t or get off the pot with the Remake. The real tragedy is that had they actually gotten to finish 15 the way they intended, now knowing what the back half of the game is like and really digging Kingsglaive and Nyx in particular, I think 15 could have easily been a top 3 FF title of all time.
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Post by bad guy™ on Feb 18, 2017 15:17:37 GMT -5
I would say XV was the end of the Fabula Nova Crytallis. The only reason 13 and 15 even share it is because 15 was actually 13-versus. So much of what was planned as gameplay for that series got turned into Brotherhood and Kingsglaive because it had been in development 10 years and they needed to produce something. That's also why so much of the story in 15 happens off screen. I look for 16 to be a totally new setting. Regardless, we're getting the FFVII Remake next, which has to be broken down into multiple games, and they still have to put Kingdom Hearts 3 out, which has been in development for 11(?) or so years. So a new main series Final Fantasy game could be a very long way off. FFVII is the greatest game of all time imo and fans have been asking for a Remake since the release of the PS3, largely due to how amazing Advent Children turned out. I know Square was hell bent on proving they could release a next gen title that compared to 7, or even X, but I think it's largely agreed upon they haven't been able to do it. So it's time to sh*t or get off the pot with the Remake. The real tragedy is that had they actually gotten to finish 15 the way they intended, now knowing what the back half of the game is like and really digging Kingsglaive and Nyx in particular, I think 15 could have easily been a top 3 FF title of all time. Yeah, it was a fitting ending. As long as they keep the open world, fluid fight mechanics I could really care less ultimately what XVI is set in. That's why I hated the series for so long. As someone who loves Pokemon, you'd be surprised how much I hate turn based RPGs.
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Post by punksnotdead on Feb 18, 2017 16:20:06 GMT -5
I would say XV was the end of the Fabula Nova Crytallis. The only reason 13 and 15 even share it is because 15 was actually 13-versus. So much of what was planned as gameplay for that series got turned into Brotherhood and Kingsglaive because it had been in development 10 years and they needed to produce something. That's also why so much of the story in 15 happens off screen. I look for 16 to be a totally new setting. Regardless, we're getting the FFVII Remake next, which has to be broken down into multiple games, and they still have to put Kingdom Hearts 3 out, which has been in development for 11(?) or so years. So a new main series Final Fantasy game could be a very long way off. FFVII is the greatest game of all time imo and fans have been asking for a Remake since the release of the PS3, largely due to how amazing Advent Children turned out. I know Square was hell bent on proving they could release a next gen title that compared to 7, or even X, but I think it's largely agreed upon they haven't been able to do it. So it's time to sh*t or get off the pot with the Remake. The real tragedy is that had they actually gotten to finish 15 the way they intended, now knowing what the back half of the game is like and really digging Kingsglaive and Nyx in particular, I think 15 could have easily been a top 3 FF title of all time. Yeah, it was a fitting ending. As long as they keep the open world, fluid fight mechanics I could really care less ultimately what XVI is set in. That's why I hated the series for so long. As someone who loves Pokemon, you'd be surprised how much I hate turn based RPGs. They aren't going back to turn based. SE has said they think the fighting style has gone in the right direction and they don't plan on looking back. I love turn based because of the strategy that goes into it. Like the elemental stuff never really matters in this game. So while I can accept this is where they've gone, and that most people prefer it, I hope they can find a way to make the magic matter again. Plus, I think we need limit breaks and more frequent summoning. Noctis' phase technique really saves the fighting style of 15 imo. Without that it's largely just a button masher with some team up maneuvers.
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Post by bad guy™ on Feb 18, 2017 16:43:03 GMT -5
Yeah, it was a fitting ending. As long as they keep the open world, fluid fight mechanics I could really care less ultimately what XVI is set in. That's why I hated the series for so long. As someone who loves Pokemon, you'd be surprised how much I hate turn based RPGs. They aren't going back to turn based. SE has said they think the fighting style has gone in the right direction and they don't plan on looking back. I love turn based because of the strategy that goes into it. Like the elemental stuff never really matters in this game. So while I can accept this is where they've gone, and that most people prefer it, I hope they can find a way to make the magic matter again. Plus, I think we need limit breaks and more frequent summoning. Noctis' phase technique really saves the fighting style of 15 imo. Without that it's largely just a button masher with some team up maneuvers. Eh. To each their own. The only time I can tolerate turn based is games like Pokemon, Civ Rev, and Halo Wars. Strategy games. But you can accomplish strategy and formation without having to be turn based. Look at The Witcher, if you are going to fight a boss you had better ing meditate and prepare all of your blades with mixed oils and plan super far ahead or else you're screwed. It's a nice combination.
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BorrachoBancho
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Nov 17, 2016 2:29:36 GMT -5
Posts: 428
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Post by BorrachoBancho on Feb 19, 2017 16:42:01 GMT -5
So I just finished the game. I honestly have no idea how you guys managed to find such joy from the story provided within the game itself and how it was presented. Maybe Kingsglaive and Brotherhood really pull things together as a whole for the story, but this game did a horrifically bad job of getting me invested into the characters. I shouldn't have to buy or research a movie and web series to feel any sort of connection to whats provided within the game itself. I legitimately felt next to nothing for any of these characters and what happens to them. By the later half of the game, I was infuriated with all the off screen bulls*it. Characters dying, the empire doing foul stuff, party members getting injured, etc. The games form of storytelling primarily relied on suddenly telling you something important occurred, as opposed to you experiencing it.
I likely need to sleep on this one a bit, then look into the other story content. I definitely found plenty of enjoyment in the side stuff, but from a character/story standpoint, this game was a huge let down.
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Post by punksnotdead on Feb 20, 2017 15:13:48 GMT -5
So I just finished the game. I honestly have no idea how you guys managed to find such joy from the story provided within the game itself and how it was presented. Maybe Kingsglaive and Brotherhood really pull things together as a whole for the story, but this game did a horrifically bad job of getting me invested into the characters. I shouldn't have to buy or research a movie and web series to feel any sort of connection to whats provided within the game itself. I legitimately felt next to nothing for any of these characters and what happens to them. By the later half of the game, I was infuriated with all the off screen bulls*it. Characters dying, the empire doing foul stuff, party members getting injured, etc. The games form of storytelling primarily relied on suddenly telling you something important occurred, as opposed to you experiencing it.
I likely need to sleep on this one a bit, then look into the other story content. I definitely found plenty of enjoyment in the side stuff, but from a character/story standpoint, this game was a huge let down. I said this very early on that if you didn't see Kingsglaive, I have no clue how you can understand the narrative of the game. That was the singular way I knew what was happening for the first 8 or so chapters of the game. At that point, the game totally changes course, seemingly skipping to an over arching narrative they wanted to tell the entire time about Ardyn and the Astrals. But Kingsglaive gave me the base foundation for what happened to Regis, and what all of the radio newscasts meant when you would activate those throughout the game, which were probably really important if you hadn't seen Kingsglaive because they were feeding you information from inside Insomnia. Let me try and help break it down, at least from my understanding of the game, into 3 separate parts:
Part 1:
Kingsglaive, so Nyx's story with the ring and him helping get the ring to Luna and understanding what kind of power the ring possessed. This gives a clear idea of how Noctis can eventually use the ring in Chapter 14. In addition to Nyx, at the same time, is Regis being overthrown by Niflheim and ledolas Aldercapt, who we would later find out was being manipulated by Ardyn, who ledolas (and the audience) assumed was just his chancellor.
This is largely where the game picks up. Noctis and Co leave the city and everything that happens in Kingsglaive, which is such a huge chunk of what sets off this road trip to Luna, should have been the opening chapters for the game imo. Now, we see Noctis in pursuit of Luna but finds out early on that his father had fallen. In the mean time, he discovers he needs to go find the 13 Royal Arms to help in his fight to take back Insomnia. This is kind of a jumbled mess because the Royal Arms are largely optional. If the game was linear, which it probably was at one point, they would have all been important chapters of the game. They weren't and this portion of the game is kind of pushed to the back burner as largely side quest since we know that Noctis can summon 13 Kings and defeat Ardyn without having found all of them.
Anyway, most of the early part of the game is just filler that I personally don't think got finished. Your only job before Chapter 8 or so is to just level build, and chase down Niflheim bases/soldiers and sort of slowly get information on where Lunafreya has been taken. Ultimately, you will end up at the Light House where Cid can tell a bit of his past and what each of the party members should mean to Noctis (the gravity of losing anyone in the group). Then you can head to Altissia and finally meet up with Luna again face-to-face, just to see her die at the hands of Ardyn.
Part 2:
This is the biggest omission to the game. We at least got the movie for the first part, but this is largely where everything starts taking place off screen. I honestly don't know what to say here other than we mainly need to know that Ardyn betrays ledolas Aldercapt. If we skip to the train scene, we know that Ardyn is our big bad and that Niflheim trying to take over Insomnia is kind of irrelevant. We learn that Shiva had to inhabit Gentiana, who was one of her messengers (someone who can speak directly to the Gods), after Ardyn defeated her original form, which was the giant Shiva form/statue we saw outside of the train in the snow.
Ravus (Luna's brother) is a bit of a side story here that gets tied up off screen. Ravus blames Regis for the death of his mother (Kingsglaive) and then blames Noctis for not understanding that using/acquiring the Astrals is actually killing Luna, which she and Ravus both know is actually her purpose as an Oracle. This is where we get that super interesting scene where Luna asks Ravus if he will deliver the ring to Noctis, but then Ravus motivates her to fulfill her duties and even lies to Ardyn to protect her, when in reality Ardyn needed that to happen anyway. The only thing we can now surmise is that Ravus became an enemy to Niflheim for letting Noctis/Luna succeed, and by extension failing on his own, and then he was killed by a swarm of Niflheim soldiers, which we actually see his fallen body at the start of Chapter 13 (? I think that was the start of the elevator Chapter).
Part 3:
Chapter 13. This is where we find out largely everything. Ardyn pushes Noctis through the maze the entire chapter. The goal is to discover that Ardyn is actually Ardyn Lucis Caelum. Which means, Ardyn is actually a member of Noctis' bloodline. Remember that magazine you found throughout the game that showed pictures of Astrals with, what we assumed was, a single human man? Well, that was Ardyn. My opinion is that Bahamut came down and gifted the crystal to Ardyn, and Eos is his mother (she's sitting to the right and watching as Ardyn receives the gift of the light in the picture). We see that same picture from the Cosmology book over-and-over throughout the game and it's definitely trying to tell us something.
Because Ardyn was gifted the light, he was able to consume the Starscourge (just like Luna), and more specifically the demons that were all over Eos (the world not the Astral). However, when he tried to use the crystal in order to wipe out the Starscourge forever and join the Astral Realm (where we see Noctis and Luna on the throne at the end), he is rejected. He was rejected because of the demons inside of him that made him immortal. This drives Ardyn to seek vengeance on any future king that would be chosen as a way to get back at the Astral's that rejected him. (I hope that's clear. Ardyn did everything he possibly could to save mankind and the Astrals rejected him for it. So that's why he wants to end his own (and the Astrals) bloodline on Eos)
Ardyn bides his time for 2000 years and finally Noctis is chosen. At that moment, he dares Noctis to consume the power of the crystal (which takes 10 years) and to come back and stop him when he's ready. Ardyn lets the Starscourge consume Eos, turning the whole world to 24 hours of night with demons on the loose, and Noctis powers up and finally returns. Then Noctis kills himself on the throne so that he can go after Ardyn in the afterlife and vanquish him forever with the help of the 13 Kings. However, in doing so, Noctis ends the Lucis Caelum bloodline, which is what Arydn wanted all along. Thus Noctis wins by ridding Eos of the Starscourge forever, but Ardyn wins over the Astrals for ending the demi God bloodline that started with him.
There is also a side story that comes to us via the Pitioss dungeon that tells the tale of Ifrit. Ifrit created the Starscourge and the other Astrals imprison him for it. We also find out in that same dungeon that they kill someone he loves. Ifrit escapes his jailer (Titan) and travels to the underworld where he finds out Eos was bound and murdered, potentially for carrying a human child (Ardyn). Ifrit flies out of the underworld with Eos' body and promises to seek vengeance on the other Astrals. This is why Arydn and Ifrit work together at the end of the game and why Ifrit is still enemies with the other Astrals. The Genji Gloves are actually located in Eos' belly button inside of Pitioss (Genji meaning Original Rule). That also points at Eos being Arydn's mother and the start of the Lucis Caelum bloodline, and would explain why one of the other Astrals punished/killed her since it was forbidden for an Astral to love/procreate with a man.
This is all largely why I took so much out of the ending of the game. There are lots of puzzle pieces, mostly dealing in Greek Mythology. I 100% understand people who didn't enjoy the story. It's a ton of assumption to assimilate. However, I think understanding Arydn's motivation and seeing that both Noctis and Ardyn were linked and had a destiny to fulfill, made the story more poetic. This is why I'm convinced that if the game was actually completed in the way that they had intended, it would have been one of the very best Final Fantasy games of all time, and probably one of the most compelling games ever, period. That didn't happen and I think it turned out to be a Final Fantasy game cut in the vein of a WRPG with more potential than maybe any other game I've ever played. I don't think it's fair that you have educate yourself with supplemental information about this game in order to enjoy it. However, I did that and I think the story is pretty fantastic. As unfair as it might be, it's kind of up to each individual on how much they want to get out of the story. As I've said before, it's unique and weird in that way. I don't know how a company can expect fans do so much work to enjoy the game but that's exactly what happened. I liked Ardyn a ton and thought Noctis was great at the end. I don't think the other three were particularly good. Prompto was the damsel in distress pretty much the whole game, both in battle and the story, and that pissed me off. The story wasn't about any of them though and there wasn't any depth to any of their stories. They were just there in the battle party and to fill up time with dialogue. The secondary characters outside of the Noctis/Ardyn narrative add very little to the game imo. I didn't have a problem with that but I'm glad they didn't ask me to try and care about any of them either.
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Post by punksnotdead on Mar 1, 2017 14:22:23 GMT -5
Did anyone else complete the Pitioss Dungeon and get the Black Hood? Probably the most difficult grind of any dungeon I've ever played. There isn't a single battle, but I was in there for hours. I probably should have just tapped out and watched a walkthrough but every time I was ready to rip my hair out it let me go just a little bit further. It really rewarded you for jump-after-jump but it just kept going. I actually got all of the way to the Eos statue, after like 4 straight hours of play, jumped on her, and fell off. So I had to pause the game last night and pick up from that area this morning.
But from having to land the car in the mountains, to all of the ridiculous jumps from one tiny beam to the next, it might have been the most patience I've ever had to display playing a game, at least in recent memory. I thought the jumps got progressively more difficult too the closer you got to the end. I honestly thought once I got the gloves it would be smooth sailing but I really struggled once I got back into the top section of that main entrance area. At least once you smashed the statues you were able to get back to your spot quickly if you fell in that area, which really wasn't the case for the first 6 or so areas.
I guess maybe if you weren't trying to largely pick up everything it would have been a little easier but I have to think that even if you know where you're going you're still going to have Noctis randomly turning his body during jumps and randomly running off of stuff as he lands or doing that stupid tumble roll. I had a super hard time with the Death Train too once I got to the top. Like I jumped to the beams, landed on the very top but then when I had to jump back on it to get to the other side I kept rolling and not being able to jump to the lip for the next area. The upside down and rotating blocks about made me sick at one point too.
End of the day, it might be the very best and very worst dungeon I've ever played. So props to them for that haha. The statues themselves are awesome, and I like getting the Ifrit story in that form. I wish there would have been more explanation to that though. Like maybe when you jump through the butterflies it tells you what is going on as you move from room-to-room.
So yeah, curious to know anyone else's experience with Pitioss, especially if you ran it blind like I did. It was like 6-7 hours for me all-in.
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Post by bad guy™ on Mar 30, 2017 20:11:50 GMT -5
Gladio DLC has dropped. Installing now. LEGGO!
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Post by Professor Sparlin on Mar 31, 2017 23:54:52 GMT -5
Gladio DLC has dropped. Installing now. LEGGO! Just installed as well. Have played since X-mas. I skipped the canival, but got all the DLC dropped on PSN. Also, pre-ordered Cindy from SE Store.
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Post by bad guy™ on Apr 1, 2017 14:56:42 GMT -5
Gladio DLC has dropped. Installing now. LEGGO! Just installed as well. Have played since X-mas. I skipped the canival, but got all the DLC dropped on PSN. Also, pre-ordered Cindy from SE Store. Man, the carnival was a blast. You really missed out.
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