FFXV Royal Edition lives up to is subtitle as it is the definitive way to experience the story of FFXV. I originally fell in love with the game back on release but with this re-release I only love the game more, but this most recent playthrough has definitely showed some issues I have with this title. The story follows Noctis, a young prince of a kingdom called Insomnia who begrudgingly accepts his duty to one day be king. The narrative starts with Noctis and his best friends Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis going on a road trip to meet Noctis' fiance Lady Lunafreya. Things are quickly derailed however as back home Noctis' dad is murdered during a peace treaty signing with the kingdom of Nifilheim. Now Noctis is thrust into the shoes of Kinghood as he must fight an enemy nation, and an ancient advisory to emancipate his people and his nation. Most of your playtime will be dedicated to driving around the open world with your buddies as you forge memories, and fight various monsters, and daemons. Open world is something I would use loosely however because if you spend more than a couple minutes exploring the areas off the beaten path you'll be greeted with countless fences and impassible mountains, and what little area you are able to explore off the road rarely has any content worth exploring outside of the occasional dungeon or hunt, and herein lies my main issue with XV and that is that the game came out in a time where every game had to be an open world adventure, and this game tried to do that. The world is very pretty to look at from the road but venture off the beaten path and you will notice things fall apart rather quickly. Despite this the content that is present is really good and engaging and should keep you entertained for hours on end. The combat sees Noctis use his various weapons to deliver devastating damage to his foes in a character action style which is a first for the Final Fantasy mainline series. While many fans bemoan the change in gameplay style I think it is a vast improvement over the nauseatingly mid tier combat styles Square had come up with in the last couple installments as they attempted to reinvent the wheel. As an action game XV isn't the most in depth but it delivers enough variety to take you over the finish line without it all feeling too repetitive which is more than what I can ask for. Royal Edition also adds many new cutscenes not present in the original release to further flesh out the story, and think they are all welcome additions as it helps flesh out certain characters who didn't get much screen time before. Also included with the Royal Edition are all the original DLC for the game excluding Episode Ardyn, and all the DLC help expand the world and story of XV in great ways. I have reviewed the DLC separately so I won't go over them here but they are all worth your time to get the most out of this game's story. Also included is a completely reworked final dungeon, which previously was just 2 hallways. Now the final dungeon is it's own open world area that has it's own side objectives and really helps drive home the devastation that the Nifilheim have caused. Overall while many people deemed XV as the downfall of the main series due to it's combat change, and its tumultuous development history, I think it is a step in the right direction and is a great new beginning for the series, as it seems at the time of writing this review that XVI will take many concepts and ideas explored in this game and expand upon them for the better with the awesome development team behind FFXIV working on it. FFXV is a game that has greatly impacted me on release, and I am glad to say that it still hits as hard if not harder with the new content that has come out since it's initial release and is a must play for any JRPG or gaming fans in general.