Just to pin a sort of date to me finishing this game, this is the last of the mainline Final Fantasy games I had to finish, I've played all of them and are waiting for Final Fantasy 16.

On that note, this was THE Final Fantasy I was almost sure I was gonna hate. My first exposure to the game was watching a friend play like the first hour or so of it, in this my only thoughts were, "okay so it plays like FFXI and the setting seems very steampunk." (Mind you this was years ago when the only FF games I had under my belt were, 4, 6, 7, 11) So at the time the game didn't seem too interesting due to me playing FFXI at that time and the setting didn't look interesting to me.

Fast forward to now where I've played the whole series and this game was the last one and I gotta say it sounds weird, but I'm glad I waited until last for this one, I don't think I would have enjoyed it without the other entrees opening my mind to how different the series had become over time.

I guess let's start with the graphics...I usually don't put too much stock into how a game looks as long as it's playable and the graphics don't get in the way, but this game is beautiful! Everywhere I went, I loved how open and expansive each place seemed. Villages had many people and activities and you aren't forced to interact with them most of the time. The lands between the town are amazingly big and open, teeming with enemies that you can see and kinda act like they do things outside just being exp fodder, like some cast Protect or Shell as they walk around despite no danger.
The character's look amazing as well, it's honestly just a beautiful as a whole.

Next is the music, which honestly, it's hard to say much about, it's really good music, but feels weird it has a boss theme, but no battle theme at all. The music is very fitting while you are playing, but I can't see too many people remembering much of it outside the game. Also, odd note, but I really love the sound FX for casting magic and cure.

Now to my favorite part...the gameplay, I LOVE that the combat is seamless and out in the open, it feels like you can fight anything at any time, however you like, and by that, I mean the License System which acts pretty much as a job system of the past games, allowing you to learn magic, skills, set up different equipment and upgrades and so on. The License Board adds that extra incentive to fight battles, it's not just a grind to get levels up which is still a thing, but now you get points to spend on the License Board and build the team you want.
Along with this is a kinda odd system known as the Gambit System, if you've familiar with FFXI and have done macros for your skills then it's like that, for those not familiar with that, it's a sort of auto command that let's your party members follow a string of commands based on certain things being met, for example: "If ally's HP 30% or less then Cast Cura" so the character will cast Cura anytime an Ally has 30% or less of their health, it's a really good way of making the AI very useful and allows the player to customize how they like and reward for learning how the system works. I really feel other JRPGs needs this (especially the FF7 Remake).

And lastly is probably the somewhat weaker part of the game...story. No, the story is not bad at all, it's actually a very interesting one that I won't spoil, but I'll say the story didn't push me forward at all honestly, it was the gameplay, the story is just window dressing, though I'll say I do like all the characters in the story and it's pretty well voice acted...I think the story feels too much like a story you'd read just to read and not one you'd be emotionally invested in. I do gotta say I like Vaan though, I know he got a lot of flak as a character, but he's pretty decent.

So, I'm pretty happy my last Final Fantasy of the mainline games was good as it was, I can definitely recommend this game to anyone who just likes the idea of a classic feeling JRPG in a 3D setting with a really good world to explore.