Final Fantasy XV

After playing this game for over 200 hours, acquiring every achievement, grinding the Menace dungeons, and completing several super bosses in hunts, I can honestly say it is extremely difficult to explain why I kept playing this game.
Final Fantasy XV is not a game I would recommend to everyone. As a writer of fanfiction in the past, it's fair to say that I embellish a lot of what many would call sparse or plagued storylines to improve them in my head. I read things into a story that don't actually exist or didn't come from author intention. When I finished playing Star Ocean: the Last Hope, my immediate reaction was 'I could have written this better.'
I only mention this because while I think this is part of what draws me to Final Fantasy XV, I may have been able to write a better story, but I cannot make a better game. The ambition of the game and everything it tries to be stands out far more than a story left wanting.
Like many, when the Final Fantasy XIII announcement hit, I most looked forward to the action title Final Fantasy Versus XIII. More than a decade later, that game never saw the light of day, but its spiritual successor, Final Fantasy XV hit the shelves instead. If you haven't heard the stories of development tragedy plaguing this game, then feel free to look them up. Suffice to say, much of this title saw reconfiguration after reconfiguration and rushed through the door to come out unfinished. Only after the release of 20+ hours of DLC and additional content did the story come to some form of fruition.
Rather than blame the development cycle, the thing that most draws me to finish every additional hour of FFXV content is that the ambition of the project not only remained intact but nearly exploded. The biggest problem with FFXV comes from the fact that it attempts to function as a title that satisfies everyone on every note. The load screen itself tells you that this game should be a title for long time fans and first timers. And audience so broad can only find themselves disappointed.
FFXV's story might be unfinished, but the vision of the gameplay also came to life halfway to what could have been. FFXV boasted the most "polygons" of any game at the time of its release and still satisfies the graphical prowess the FF series demands, but the most compelling thing about FF is also its gameplay innovation. In this game, you can play an FPS, you can play a Batman style puzzle and scare tactics game, you can play a 1v1 action slog, you can play some kind of parkour akin to Assassin's Creed, you can even boot up an MMORPG that no one else will bother to connect to. Unfortunately none of it came out that great.
But I love it anyway. Many times, it's mind-numbing and grindy; it's unimaginative and retreads and rehashes the same enemy models or dungeons. As someone who loves optional dungeons and bosses, it felt insanely disappointing that every Menace dungeon recycled the same floor system and general color palette. One exception exists that I won't spoil, but did you want to play a platformer in your RPG? You're once again in luck, but it, again, might not be up to your expectations.
I don't think I've ever played a game that tries to make a homage to the greats of every genre, but I love to imagine that someone thought it would be possible. It's a terrible idea, really, but it's amazing that someone tried to execute it anyway.
You can blame the development cycle, but no matter what, the ambition remained intact. You can see what this game could have been with each chapter as you play through it. I don't play it to imagine what it could have been, I play it for what it attempted and the ambition encased in every moment. Too soon and too late didn't deter the FFXV vision. Many have hated the direction of the Final Fantasy franchise recently, but I'd much rather play a game that tries to be everything than another pixel remaster rehashing what we already know SquareEnix can do.
If you love -- not imagining what could have been -- but seeing undeterred imagination, even in the face of failure, this game is for you.
If not, then I understand that. But I can also say that I enjoyed most of my 200 hours of Final Fantasy XV. It isn't a great game, but it is an ambitious one. That is worth your time.

I pre-ordered this game on the PlayStation 4, and I own it on Steam. I even own and completed the Pocket Edition on Switch multiple times. I also own the CDs, the DLC book... yeah I own a lot of FFXV merchandise. I'm definitely a fan girl. I was really looking forward to Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and I'm glad this game finally came, even if it wasn't the "most complete" vision.
I absolutely love the interaction between all the characters! I always love stories with bromances, and I felt that it was done very well. Prompto, Noctis, Gladio, Ignis.. I truly felt like I was on a camping trip with the boys, we laughed, we argued, we cried (and a lot), we ate around a campfire, and we got permission to enter a girl's only workplace. And the banter between the boys, and there was a ton of banter everywhere! I definitely learned in my first play through on PS4 to rest at more campfires to find some cutscenes. Unfortunately, this game needed DLC (and a book) to just finish the story of the game. I'm saddened by that fact.
The gameplay is great. I always love coming back to this game occasionally. Warping, changing weapons, the Royal Arms, magic, summons, and more warping. I have way too much fun with getting into pointless combats. The beginning is a bit rough on the player and night combat is extremely frustrating. I did feel rewarded as a player when I got powerful enough to overcome my fears of nighttime... although there's way too much AP to grind for everything easily, but that is typical of a Final Fantasy game.
I heard that some people had trouble with Chapter 14 because they were under-leveled.. I did not experience this myself, but that is because Final Fantasy typically meant grinding for hours for levels/abilities... But that isn't so well known to beginners for the FF series, even though this game has a disclaimer of being friendly to new players. My co-worker just recently expressed his dissatisfaction because he was having trouble on this chapter because he was rushing the game since he loved the story, but he himself is a newer Final Fantasy player, so he didn't realize that he would get soft-locked.
Moving on, I heard not many people enjoyed the magic system, but I LOVED it. I enjoyed that it was a "limited" amount... or, well, until a collector like me loves to collect items for infinite magic creation and find me some magic flasks. You eventually get enough magic flasks to hold magic, and I love creating multi-cast spells for maximum chaos. The realism of the magic hurting my companions was a plus, but also annoyed me when- PROMPTO, CAN YOU PLEASE LIVE AND NOT PUT YOURSELF IN HARMS WAY. WHY DO YOU HAVE LOW HEALTH POINTS!??! Besides Prompto dying a lot in the beginning, I really had a lot of fun mixing and matching magic.
The music is my favorite in the entire series. Yoko Shimomura blew me away with the OST. I'm terrible at talking about music, but I recommend looking up some of FFXV's music if you're interested.
I love the graphics. I love the models of all the characters. I love how the summon's look. This version Leviathan and Ramuh are my favorite from the series of Final Fantasy. However, I think FFXV has the ugliest looking carbuncle. That thing gave me nightmares.
I've read a lot of reviews on the negatives of this game. Honestly, most of those negatives really didn't bother me that much. But I do have a few gripes.
I do WISH that the characters received a better completed story upon launch. I love that we have DLC now, and I'm still working on this game slowly, and I'm really sad we got the very last DLC as a book. I'm happy the DLC is really nice in terms of graphics and gameplay and music, but I kinda wish these stories were in from the beginning... These characters deserved a story that was more cohesive and complete upon launch. Also, I feel like it's too convoluted to jump out of your main game to load into DLC... and then it's like "when should I play this I don't wanna get too spoiled." Ugh. I just wish everything was in ONE save. I know it's not probable and not possible to fix, but I dislike it still.
Another con that this game is a typical Final Fantasy game, so you know end-game grinds? Yeah. Dungeons that don't make sense, rainbow frogs that you have to find at the only clue of "water" aka ANYWHERE in the world, 100 floor GREAT THIS IS FUN, and oh, did I mention the puzzle dungeon you have to fly to that took me six hours to complete, well at least the first time... and not to mention no checkpoints for that puzzle......... A truly, frustrating, yet typical Final Fantasy experience. But, even with those cons, I feel most quests had a satisfying feeling when I completed it.
Except the puzzle. I love puzzles, but I am not ashamed to admit I threw the controller quite a few times and wondered if I was too stupid to figure out some parts of the hidden dungeon. This dungeon was way too long. I felt like Hogwarts Legacy's secret puzzles have a better length to a hidden puzzle dungeon. I mean, it's kinda cool, I guess when I think about it, and the reward is worth it (but it's one item), but so much pain...
I hope that one day, maybe a "re-vision" of this game could be done with a completed story.... Also a way better optimized game, because c'mon, it took me years to finally get the funds to build a PC to play this game at awesome high quality experience. This game running on my old 2060 felt worse than my PlayStation 4 launch experience.

This game really, genuinely made me feel what it would be like to have friends. 10/10 Just 4 friends hanging out simulator.

I bought this game on PS4 back then when it released.
The camping music gave me a feeling i can not describe, the vibes of this game are/were so unique.. I know its got its flaws of course but this game is made with so much love and passion while still trying hard to meet the financial expectations of their company, i think we really have to appreciate this wonderful piece of ART.
It still causes some emotional reactions to me when i think back.. i had to purchase it for pc because it has 32:9 Widescreen support and i really wanna jump back in time again to relife that experience
A personsal Thank you to all the Devs for making this game
To everybody else: May your journey be as unforgettable as mine was :)
Rating 10/10

Final Fantasy XV is a beautiful game. That's a corny way to start off a review, but I want to get out with it. I know it had a long and troubled production, and that it came out unfinished, and it rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. I remember reading forum discussions in 2013 where players would ask, "Do companies think it's right to make us wait ten years for a game?"
Well, if they put stuff out on par with this game, they absolutely can. I'll get on with my life in the meanwhile. I'm a bit more sympathetic to those who played it on release. But I can't really know or care much about how the game was seven years ago, so much as what it was like when I was playing it seven days ago.
It tells the tale of four friends who set out on a journey to obtain a ring and end up fighting a threat that could plunge the world in darkness forevermore (J. R. R. Tolkien should sue). Prince Noctis and his childhood friends-turned-bodyguards are planning to have the best road trip ever before he gets married and saves the world and all that. These lads are a Japanese schoolgirl's wet dream - carelessly handsome, unabashedly silly, and more concerned with the trendiness of their clothes than the gravitas of their duties.
This is the highlight of Final Fantasy XV - the main cast is a bunch of sheltered dandies who have to come to terms with the greatness that has been thrust upon them. Their personal growth, their earnest moments of brotherhood, and their banter-laden interactions are the heart of the narrative. The hero isn't a po-faced paladin of justice - he's one of the guys. Watching him mature into a true king is quite the journey.
Final Fantasy XV also has one of the most beautifully rendered open worlds I've seen. It caused me to appreciate nature more, because real life looks a lot like Final Fantasy XV. And trust me, you spend about as much time driving in this game as you would in real life. The car, the Regalia, is the fifth main character. If there's one thing I could wish for, it would be that your control over the car wasn't so limited for most of the game. But even with its mostly autopilot navigation, sitting back and admiring the scenery while listening to music from past FF titles was quite the experience.
This open-world design continues for half the game, of which most of your time will be spent doing sidequests. I'm told I generally rush RPGs, but I definitely didn't rush Final Fantasy XV, because there's so much to do - and so much fun to be had doing it. It's enough to put the main story on the backburner, it is, what with all the games-within-a-game it offers. Fishing? Monster hunting? Pinball on steroids? This game has it. And with the game's reward mechanics, plus the promise of interesting conversations with the supporting cast, nearly every sidequest feels worth doing. Even if it's a blatant advertisement for Cup Noodles. Look, they had to get the budget to make this game look so beautiful somewhere, okay?
In an inversion of Final Fantasy XIII, the first half of XV is open-world and laden with sidequests, while the second half is linear. I know 'linearity' is a dirty word to a lot of gamers, but I can't complain about it in either of these games. Once the plot in Final Fantasy XV starts getting funneled towards its conclusion, it also becomes much more focused and much more heartrending. I was almost in tears in this game's campaign as I've been with all the previous games I've played put together. And I commend the game's writing and directing team for being unafraid to commit to the tragedy, something quite a few Final Fantasy stories pull back from at the last moment. For its story alone, Final Fantasy XV is a triumph.
This game also marks a true departure from the Active Time Battle system of past Final Fantasies, something the series has been trying to break away from for over a decade. Finally, the series commits to real-time hack-and-slash combat. There's a wait mode, but it seems to simply be an accessibility option for handicapped players. The combat is a lot of fun. Once you get the hang of the dodge/parry mechanics, and can switch between defense and aggression on the fly, there's a lot of fun to be had, even if the camera sometimes obstructs your view when fighting large enemies.
While I encountered no major bugs during my playthrough, there is no hiding the fact that this is very much a game that spent ten years in development. Final Fantasy XV is hardly consistent, but then again, the Final Fantasy series as a whole isn't consistent. My favourite analogy to make is that if Dragon Quest is AC/DC, Final Fantasy is Guns N' Roses. It's large, unwieldy and all over the place, but if it's a series of very low lows (FF XIII-2), it also has very high highs. Final Fantasy XV is a very high high. If Metal Gear Solid V hadn't come out, on release XV would have been the greatest unfinished game ever made. But it is finished now, with DLC episodes to fill in the blanks and show how adaptable the game engine is to different gameplay styles, and it goes on sale for a fiver. There is no better time to play this game than now.
Ultimately, Final Fantasy XV is a fantastic experience with a lot to do and even more to appreciate. Its emphasis on brotherhood reminded me of my own college clique. I oughta call those guys sometime.

Final Fantasy XV - A Masterpiece?
I hadn't played any Final Fantasy games before. I decided to start with Final Fantasy XV after playing the demo, and in my opinion, the game immediately starts off strong.

The story grips you right from the start (spoiler alert),beginning with your departure from Insomnia to meet with Luna. However, as always, the journey is not an easy one... In the end of the demo, Noctis's father, Regis, dies, leaving Noctis alone with no family except for his hope in Luna, the demo ends at a very intriguing point, leaving me eager to continue the game and see what happens next. And what follows is even more fascinating. When you buy the game, you'll experience moments that may bring tears, shock, or joy. Overall story rating: 10/10
In terms of gameplay, the controls weren't difficult to manage, but I played with a gamepad because playing with a keyboard is not comfortable at all. The game is challenging to control, so I recommend playing with a gamepad to avoid frustration. It's difficult to execute combos and overall combat can be tough. If you don't have a gamepad, I don't recommend purchasing one, as it could negatively impact your opinion of the gameplay. The in-game tutorial explains everything thoroughly and introduces the game very well. There's no need to grind, unless you want to. I recommend not skipping the tutorial text if you're just starting to get familiar with the game. Overall gameplay rating: 9/10
There are no complaints about the audio. The sound quality is excellent, though it may not be everyone's cup of tea. I can't say it gave me a "wow" effect, but it's simply high-quality audio. The voice acting is top-notch, both in Russian and English (which I used during my playthrough). Overall audio rating: 9/10
Additional information for those interested: the graphics are top-notch, but as a result, the game is very demanding on PC. With an RTX3060 graphics card, Ryzen 3600 processor, and 32GB of RAM, I experienced crashes and freezes. However, according to reviews, this happens rarely—I guess I'm just unlucky. The game is very demanding on high or ultra graphics settings if you want to play with such visual fidelity. There were no bugs that hindered gameplay, except for one additional online collaboration mission where characters stopped in the middle of a mission, but you can exit to the main menu using the interface. The time it takes to complete the game varies for everyone, so it's hard to say exactly how much time it will take. If you only focus on the main story, the game will take about 20-30 hours. The additional episodes take up little time.
I rate the game a 9/10. There are few games with such beautiful graphics and an interesting story nowadays. The game was released in 2016 for PS, and in 2018 for PC with improved graphics. Even now, it's still relevant graphically. Few games can boast such audio quality. I hope my recommendation was helpful to you, and with that, I've said all I wanted to about the game!

A very underrated game.
The story is good.
The graphics are amazing.
The music beautiful.
The sound great.
The bromance is insane and feels like real characters.
The only negative comment is the sheer lack of content. And repeating the same silly quests.
Shame, this is seriously one of those RPGs that with more time and love, could have been the greatest RPG of all time.
Still worth buying.,