This is a game I never planned on buying.
I saw it being demoed at E3 a few times. The more recent demos they had were a bit glitchy, and the premise wasn't too clear. I only tried that one demo they had, the Platinum demo, and it completely turned me off on buying this game.
I've been burned before by Final Fantasy. Full disclosure, Final Fantasy VI and VII are some of my favorite games of-all-time. From that point onwards, the series has been having a steep decline in terms of relevance. At some point the games just become way too Japanese in their strangeness and it can be hard to relate with a few of the later titles.
Yeah, I even gave Final Fantasy XIII a shot. I never finished it because it just didn't pull me in. At that point, I realized that maybe Final Fantasy can never realize its past glory. It just didn't have that shot of inspiration which the older Final Fantasy games had. The series was just behind in terms of technology, storytelling and gameplay when compared to other games from western developers.
What convinced me to give FFXV a try was that CG movie they released, Kingsglaive. I had a chance to see it and it was really nice to see an all new Final Fantasy world with interesting modern elements and epic battles. The feel of the movie was actually quite Western and this made me think that maybe the game is worth trying. Also, there was tons of hype being generated by people who already had the game.
So against my better judgment I bought this game. It was a good mistake to make.
The first thing I did was to go through the tutorial. There was a huge improvement in their implementation of the real-time combat, which was really bad in the Platinum demo. In the full game, combat really feels fleshed out, and after 46+ hours of gameplay I can honestly say it could probably compete with something like God of War or Devil May Cry -- if they sort out the camera issues. It is a really good system, and it feels like it belongs in a true action game instead of an RPG game. The action gameplay actually made it fun to fire up this game, or to mess with random mobs of enemies. It just felt really good in the full game...in the demo there was a lack of sensation when you hit something, but in the full game, each hit lands with a satisfying spark effect or a rumble effect in your hands, which feels great and makes combat worth doing over and over. Even after having finished the game, one of the things I remember the most is the satisfying action gameplay.
The other thing that caught my attention about 4-5 hours in, is the open world. Square Enix went above and beyond their usual conventions with this open world. While it is true it still has a few invisible walls, generally there are quite a few big, open spaces with a lot of things to see and do. Open world areas are not just flat and peppered with trees like some of their previous attempts. They have some interesting geography which makes traveling by foot quite pleasant. Monster variety is pretty good and there are occasionally some huge monsters roaming around the open world which are worth fighting.
The thing that almost made this the greatest FF game of all time is the characters. Everyone's first impression of these guys is 'hey, it's the Backstreet boys', and it's unfortunate that some may be turned off by this from trying out the game. The truth is, Square couldn't get away (probably) from making characters with practical role-playing game outfits like knights armor or things like that....without the ridiculous hairstyles or outfits, would the game still be truly a Square Enix game? I guess I could personally justify it as a branding issue if they didn't make the cast look the way they do now. If they just up and followed every other Western RPG trope, would Final Fantasy still be Final Fantasy?
(I'm just happy they don't look like Tidus or Vaan, thank God)
These characters are really well fleshed out and they have a good friendship demonstrated throughout the course of the entire game. You could make an entire game out of them just having humorous conversations with each other and it would still be an awesome game...it's just that good. Whoever did the writing for the game's characters needs to be given a medal....they've approximated some good, modern day characters with these, and they don't have too much of the teenage angst that is usually in Japanese RPGs.
The story in the game is very straightforward, until you get to the end where it gets a bit vague. I really enjoyed the story until the ending which, quite frankly, was a bit of a letdown. The last battle you get just isn't as epic as some of the others that you have in the game. I was expecting some huge monstrosity laying waste to everything, but that wasn't what I got.
There's also a feeling that the game isn't complete. Square Enix recently mentioned that they're updating the game, adding events, sidequests, storyline bits and more....but having completed the game now, I have this nagging feeling that they cut out a LOT of content just to make the deadline. Some events in the game 'just happen' and there is that distinct feeling that there would have been some major events that the player would have experienced, but maybe there was just not enough time to put them in. Final Fantasy XV feels awesome and delivers on a lot of fronts, but after you finish it, you get the feeling that there was more game that was supposed to be in there...they just ran out of time.
Now don't get me wrong -- I think the game is still very good. In fact, Final Fantasy XV is the closest ANY Japanese developer has ever gotten to making something as huge and relevant as Mass Effect, Skyrim, or Dragon Age Inquisition, or Witcher 3. FFXV can hang with those games in terms of its systems and open world. Just be forewarned that after you complete it you will get that feeling that it isn't a complete product. Later on Square Enix talked about their Season Pass and how it will have the storylines of the other characters --- you know, things that were in the previous games by default. For this game, you have to shell out $25 or more to experience the rest of it.
It's hard to fault Square Enix because the game you do get is really, really huge and there are some really great moments in the game that are memorable on their own. At the same time, I hope that Square realizes how close they were to topping FF6/7 with this game....they were so close and it is a little disappointing that they don't reach those heights. Despite this, I still think FFXV is a monumental achievement for Square Enix. I really hope the additional content they're working on is going to flesh out the storyline more, maybe give you a better 'final battle' or just make the whole product more cohesive.
Now don't get me wrong -- I think the game is still very good. In fact, Final Fantasy XV is the closest ANY Japanese developer has ever gotten to making something as huge and relevant as Mass Effect, Skyrim, or Dragon Age Inquisition, or Witcher 3. FFXV can hang with those games in terms of its systems and open world. Just be forewarned that after you complete it you will get that feeling that it isn't a complete product. Later on Square Enix talked about their Season Pass and how it will have the storylines of the other characters --- you know, things that were in the previous games by default. For this game, you have to shell out $25 or more to experience the rest of it.
It's hard to fault Square Enix because the game you do get is really, really huge and there are some really great moments in the game that are memorable on their own. At the same time, I hope that Square realizes how close they were to topping FF6/7 with this game....they were so close and it is a little disappointing that they don't reach those heights. Despite this, I still think FFXV is a monumental achievement for Square Enix. I really hope the additional content they're working on is going to flesh out the storyline more, maybe give you a better 'final battle' or just make the whole product more cohesive.