Usually my reviews average around a paragraph or two that explain my general feelings, but this is a game that I cannot condense my feelings on since it has left me baffled and confused in ways that need more elaboration. I don’t think it is necessary, but for context going in keep note that I am a diehard FF fan and aside from the MMOs and FFXIII I have played every mainline game and a good number of non-mainline FF entries that have given me some extra appreciation or annoyances that might not be present to a new fan.
Final Fantasy XV is a MESS. But it is a mess that sometimes works. I walked away from this game a little spitefully, because sometimes it is brilliant and wonderful, but so often it is among the worst of the series and maybe even the genre. Through all of it though, I think I like this game?
There are two games in FFXV that are frankenstein-ingly stitched together into one creature, one game that is really polished, creative, and charming- and another that is frustrating, padded, boring, and disrespectful to the player. The ugly side is the one that makes up more of the experience, but the good side is so enjoyable it makes it worth it.
When this game is propelling you down its main story you will not be very invested, at least I wasn’t. The game feels extremely rushed and incomplete. Of its 14 story chapters, maybe 3 of them feel like something actually happens, and when it does it typically involves some event or character that is paper thin. So much of this story is just things being told to you without really being able to experience or invest yourself in. The easiest comparison to make that I found is Metal Gear Solid V, a game where so much was cut it makes it feel so hollow- only made worse by the surrounding series it is a part of being so strong in this regard. There are a few moments I really enjoyed in its main story- a couple of flashy encounters and set pieces, a couple funny moments, and a genuinely pretty great ending- but of the ~20 hours of story there is here, it is severely underdeveloped and has a lot of missed potential. I wanted to be more invested in the main story, as its setup is pretty effective for as simple as it was, and I really liked a lot of the side characters, but there is not much substance here to really enjoy.
When this game is showing off its combat and mechanics, it is equally as underwhelming. I’ve never gravitated towards action rpgs nearly as much as their turn-based counterparts, and this game was quite possibly the worst execution of the gameplay style I have experienced thus far. At best, this game is a mindless, flashy and mildly satisfying albeit hollow experience. At worst, it is a frustrating, padded, boring mess. There is nothing engaging here, and oftentimes the biggest challenges (outside of its sometimes ridiculously poorly designed challenges like costlemark tower) are fighting with the camera, ai, or the boring and repetitive animations you watch every time you use an item. It is a button mashy (or holdey, in this case), boring, exhausting experience in desperate need of variety, customization options, and fat-trimming. As a jrpg, the character progression is woefully limited to not even allow fun builds or satisfying growth. Everyone is a physical fighter, you equip their strongest weapon and an accessory and that is about the extent of it. There is a big shared skill tree, but the effects it grants are so minimal I forgot about it for the majority of the game and was perfectly fine. It is especially lame given this cast is so small and given a ton of time to showcase the diversity in their personalities, and the fact there are so many FF jobs deeply rooted in its iconography and experience, that nobody here gets to be a black or white mage, thief, or anything else.
There is a huge emphasis on side content in this game due to its open world structure- and frankly its lack of substance in the main story- and it achieved mixed results. There are so many great side missions you can do, my favorite was this big exciting stealth mission against a behemoth, then it transitions into a boss fight that is big, explosive, and exciting, and then the reward is unlocking the ability to rent chocobos. That questline is so interesting, fun, expansive, and grants an incredibly useful and tangible award. Quests like that, or even the simpler but still really fun challenges like taking pictures of landscapes are great times, but they are far and few between. Lots of the quests are simple fetch quests or ask you to slay a monster- something that feels especially redundant since FF12 style monster hunts return here- and given doing quests gives far more xp and money than just old fashioned monster grinding, you will no doubt end up with a huge list of mindless quests you feel an obligation to do despite little genuine motivation or investment.
There is more I don’t like about this game. The character specific skills are so uneven. Prompto’s photography skill is always leveling up since he is always taking pictures, but if you want to level up Noctis or Gladio’s fishing and survival skills respectively, get ready to fish for upwards of 6 hours or rubber band your control stick and leave the console on overnight
(why they made this skill only level up from on foot travel in a game with three separate types of vehicle transportation is beyond me). The dungeons in this game are almost all very dull and linear. The last third of the game or so is the worst of it all, stripping you not only of the fun open world, but party members and even weapons as you experience its pitifully boring, long, linear, and annoying final dungeons and encounters.
That being said, I still kinda like this game. The main party of the game is so enjoyable it made a lot of the annoying and tedious parts of this game feel fun regardless. It didn’t matter that the quests felt time-wastey when the people along with me felt so alive and personable. The main playable Noctis wasn’t too interesting, though playing as him made him feel avatar-esque even if he did talk and have characteristics. The other three, however, were wonderful. I loved hearing their banter, watching their little personality quirks show themselves in how they fought, walked, and interacted with the world. Hearing them have little conversations was wonderful, and I found it so charming that they would do things like ask to pull over to take pictures of pretty landscapes, argue about petty things, have their own favorite foods, or even give you a high five in the heat of the battles. None of them have particularly deep stories, but they didn’t need to as the best story you could tell with them was developing a real friendship, and they nailed that. The world being big lends itself to lame side missions as stated, but it was so invigorating and exciting to be able to just explore at my own pace, and finding a new (expansive, beautiful, and varied) town or dungeon was always a highlight that rewarded my effort and curiosity. It clicked with me a little while into this game what it reminded me of. Four adventurers freely exploring around and creating a grand adventure? That is Final Fantasy. Despite this game having almost nothing in common with classic FF in terms of its execution of the world, gameplay, mechanics, etc. The spirit behind this game is arguably the purest FF experience since maybe FF3? Somehow this game is as alienating as it was familiar to me, and honestly, I kinda respect it. This game could’ve been either a very safe and forgettable game, or it could’ve been something completely unrecognizable, but it managed to be somewhere in the middle. It is a very memorable, fresh, and addictive experience but it still feels familiar- even if not a great game.
I don't have a good segway into this, but the music is also good. This soundtrack isn’t a top tier FF soundtrack as the competition is so incredibly fierce, but there is some great stuff here, with the soft acoustic guitar town themes being my personal favorites. I also like that the town themes had contextual versions, in Lestallum for example, as you enter its theme is soft and catchy but understated, but as you walk into its little marketplace with live performers and tons of townsfolk more instrumentation builds up the song and gives it a lot of character. Good stuff here, and just needed to be mentioned.
This game is absolutely defined by its little moments, small details that really stand out and make the game feel so alive. While the whole entire package is full of a lot of missteps, that spirit carried the experience until the end and beyond for me. I did get the platinum trophy for this game despite how much of this game frustrated or disappointed me. Maybe it was spite for how annoyed I was that they abandoned the open world for the last chunk of the game. Maybe I just wanted to prove something to myself that I am the dumbest but most committed JRPG fan there ever was. Maybe I was hypnotized by the charm of the experience and just didn’t want to hang up my coat and leave my boys quite yet. However, I think it goes to show that even the huge and notable faults this game falls under there is still an experience to salvage. If someone came up to me and said FFXV is a great game, I could easily empathize with that sentiment. I could just as easily empathize with someone who said it was the worst in the series. Maybe as time goes on longer I will forgive the faults, or maybe they will become more apparent, but as it is I am right down the middle with this game. At the very least, this games quality allows for a lot of discussion, and I find that a lot more fun and interesting than if this game was just a waste of time that I would never think about again.
I didn’t play the DLC stuff as I didn’t think it was necessary, especially if they end up being more linear and don’t have the context of the entire party working together and interacting. Maybe someday I will but I have had my fill with this game for now.
If you have not played FFXV I don’t want this review to scare you away as much as I want it to encourage you to try it out yourself and see where you fall on the scale. Grab a cup noodles and a coleman camping chair and go binge it for yourself and see.
Final Fantasy XV is a MESS. But it is a mess that sometimes works. I walked away from this game a little spitefully, because sometimes it is brilliant and wonderful, but so often it is among the worst of the series and maybe even the genre. Through all of it though, I think I like this game?
There are two games in FFXV that are frankenstein-ingly stitched together into one creature, one game that is really polished, creative, and charming- and another that is frustrating, padded, boring, and disrespectful to the player. The ugly side is the one that makes up more of the experience, but the good side is so enjoyable it makes it worth it.
When this game is propelling you down its main story you will not be very invested, at least I wasn’t. The game feels extremely rushed and incomplete. Of its 14 story chapters, maybe 3 of them feel like something actually happens, and when it does it typically involves some event or character that is paper thin. So much of this story is just things being told to you without really being able to experience or invest yourself in. The easiest comparison to make that I found is Metal Gear Solid V, a game where so much was cut it makes it feel so hollow- only made worse by the surrounding series it is a part of being so strong in this regard. There are a few moments I really enjoyed in its main story- a couple of flashy encounters and set pieces, a couple funny moments, and a genuinely pretty great ending- but of the ~20 hours of story there is here, it is severely underdeveloped and has a lot of missed potential. I wanted to be more invested in the main story, as its setup is pretty effective for as simple as it was, and I really liked a lot of the side characters, but there is not much substance here to really enjoy.
When this game is showing off its combat and mechanics, it is equally as underwhelming. I’ve never gravitated towards action rpgs nearly as much as their turn-based counterparts, and this game was quite possibly the worst execution of the gameplay style I have experienced thus far. At best, this game is a mindless, flashy and mildly satisfying albeit hollow experience. At worst, it is a frustrating, padded, boring mess. There is nothing engaging here, and oftentimes the biggest challenges (outside of its sometimes ridiculously poorly designed challenges like costlemark tower) are fighting with the camera, ai, or the boring and repetitive animations you watch every time you use an item. It is a button mashy (or holdey, in this case), boring, exhausting experience in desperate need of variety, customization options, and fat-trimming. As a jrpg, the character progression is woefully limited to not even allow fun builds or satisfying growth. Everyone is a physical fighter, you equip their strongest weapon and an accessory and that is about the extent of it. There is a big shared skill tree, but the effects it grants are so minimal I forgot about it for the majority of the game and was perfectly fine. It is especially lame given this cast is so small and given a ton of time to showcase the diversity in their personalities, and the fact there are so many FF jobs deeply rooted in its iconography and experience, that nobody here gets to be a black or white mage, thief, or anything else.
There is a huge emphasis on side content in this game due to its open world structure- and frankly its lack of substance in the main story- and it achieved mixed results. There are so many great side missions you can do, my favorite was this big exciting stealth mission against a behemoth, then it transitions into a boss fight that is big, explosive, and exciting, and then the reward is unlocking the ability to rent chocobos. That questline is so interesting, fun, expansive, and grants an incredibly useful and tangible award. Quests like that, or even the simpler but still really fun challenges like taking pictures of landscapes are great times, but they are far and few between. Lots of the quests are simple fetch quests or ask you to slay a monster- something that feels especially redundant since FF12 style monster hunts return here- and given doing quests gives far more xp and money than just old fashioned monster grinding, you will no doubt end up with a huge list of mindless quests you feel an obligation to do despite little genuine motivation or investment.
There is more I don’t like about this game. The character specific skills are so uneven. Prompto’s photography skill is always leveling up since he is always taking pictures, but if you want to level up Noctis or Gladio’s fishing and survival skills respectively, get ready to fish for upwards of 6 hours or rubber band your control stick and leave the console on overnight
(why they made this skill only level up from on foot travel in a game with three separate types of vehicle transportation is beyond me). The dungeons in this game are almost all very dull and linear. The last third of the game or so is the worst of it all, stripping you not only of the fun open world, but party members and even weapons as you experience its pitifully boring, long, linear, and annoying final dungeons and encounters.
That being said, I still kinda like this game. The main party of the game is so enjoyable it made a lot of the annoying and tedious parts of this game feel fun regardless. It didn’t matter that the quests felt time-wastey when the people along with me felt so alive and personable. The main playable Noctis wasn’t too interesting, though playing as him made him feel avatar-esque even if he did talk and have characteristics. The other three, however, were wonderful. I loved hearing their banter, watching their little personality quirks show themselves in how they fought, walked, and interacted with the world. Hearing them have little conversations was wonderful, and I found it so charming that they would do things like ask to pull over to take pictures of pretty landscapes, argue about petty things, have their own favorite foods, or even give you a high five in the heat of the battles. None of them have particularly deep stories, but they didn’t need to as the best story you could tell with them was developing a real friendship, and they nailed that. The world being big lends itself to lame side missions as stated, but it was so invigorating and exciting to be able to just explore at my own pace, and finding a new (expansive, beautiful, and varied) town or dungeon was always a highlight that rewarded my effort and curiosity. It clicked with me a little while into this game what it reminded me of. Four adventurers freely exploring around and creating a grand adventure? That is Final Fantasy. Despite this game having almost nothing in common with classic FF in terms of its execution of the world, gameplay, mechanics, etc. The spirit behind this game is arguably the purest FF experience since maybe FF3? Somehow this game is as alienating as it was familiar to me, and honestly, I kinda respect it. This game could’ve been either a very safe and forgettable game, or it could’ve been something completely unrecognizable, but it managed to be somewhere in the middle. It is a very memorable, fresh, and addictive experience but it still feels familiar- even if not a great game.
I don't have a good segway into this, but the music is also good. This soundtrack isn’t a top tier FF soundtrack as the competition is so incredibly fierce, but there is some great stuff here, with the soft acoustic guitar town themes being my personal favorites. I also like that the town themes had contextual versions, in Lestallum for example, as you enter its theme is soft and catchy but understated, but as you walk into its little marketplace with live performers and tons of townsfolk more instrumentation builds up the song and gives it a lot of character. Good stuff here, and just needed to be mentioned.
This game is absolutely defined by its little moments, small details that really stand out and make the game feel so alive. While the whole entire package is full of a lot of missteps, that spirit carried the experience until the end and beyond for me. I did get the platinum trophy for this game despite how much of this game frustrated or disappointed me. Maybe it was spite for how annoyed I was that they abandoned the open world for the last chunk of the game. Maybe I just wanted to prove something to myself that I am the dumbest but most committed JRPG fan there ever was. Maybe I was hypnotized by the charm of the experience and just didn’t want to hang up my coat and leave my boys quite yet. However, I think it goes to show that even the huge and notable faults this game falls under there is still an experience to salvage. If someone came up to me and said FFXV is a great game, I could easily empathize with that sentiment. I could just as easily empathize with someone who said it was the worst in the series. Maybe as time goes on longer I will forgive the faults, or maybe they will become more apparent, but as it is I am right down the middle with this game. At the very least, this games quality allows for a lot of discussion, and I find that a lot more fun and interesting than if this game was just a waste of time that I would never think about again.
I didn’t play the DLC stuff as I didn’t think it was necessary, especially if they end up being more linear and don’t have the context of the entire party working together and interacting. Maybe someday I will but I have had my fill with this game for now.
If you have not played FFXV I don’t want this review to scare you away as much as I want it to encourage you to try it out yourself and see where you fall on the scale. Grab a cup noodles and a coleman camping chair and go binge it for yourself and see.