Final Fantasy XV

Look, Final Fantasy XV is a mess. It's hard to overstate just how troubled its development cycle was, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't show in the final product. It certainly doesn't help that large swathes of the story are told through a multimedia project involving an anime series, a movie, a novel, a demo you can no longer download, among other miscellaneous odds and ends. Regardless, though, there's an earnestness here that I find endlessly compelling with a main cast I couldn't help but fall in love with.
If you're a completionist, you'll spend roughly 40 to 60-ish hours in the first 8 chapters of the game where you'll be completing hunts and side quests, taking photos, fishing, camping, and conquering dungeons. For all that there is to do the open world often feels empty and aimless, but that's where the characters shine. Everything you do you do with your bros, and they're incredibly charming and believable companions.
When the latter half of the game closes around you, that aimless wandering with the guys is what you'll be longing to return to. When the finale hits, the game carefully asks you to reflect on your adventures, and to take a piece with you as you move towards the ending. It's an accurate and moving reflection on growing up and leaving those carefree days behind to embrace the responsibility of adulthood, and how restrictive and dark that responsibility can feel unless the burden is shared.
The seams of Final Fantasy XV may be visible, and they may be jagged, but the tapestry it weaves is beautiful for all of its flaws. If you're open to imperfection in your games, it's well worth grabbing for its frequently low price on sale. And remember: walk tall.

This is one of the most puzzling games I've ever played. Clearly an unfinished game, with many 2-3/10 moments... yet also great many 10/10 ones...
After completing the game 100% I can say that, despite Square Enix's best efforts to turn this into a complete mess, aimed at pleasing everyone, this (to this day) beautiful game has something absolutely crucial, something that not every game has... and that is soul. And nothing is ever going to take that away from Final Fantasy XV.
I will miss these guys. May they all walk tall, until the very end...

The game that let me experience the brotherhood and friendship I never had

I was 15, running around my school in Iran, showing my classmates the trailers for Final Fantasy XV. It made me proud to be a gamer (and future game designer). “This is what games are! Do you see why I’m so passionate about this now?”

Now I’m 27. A whole decade later, I finally played it. I’d been scared — scared it wouldn’t live up to what I saw back then. The reviews weren’t perfect, and that haunted me. But somehow, after all this time, it exceeded my expectations — and that might surprise most people.

This game is genius. Absolute genius — maybe even in ways the developers never intended. Maybe that’s copium. Maybe it’s truth. But either way, FFXV is about something bigger than itself: the beauty of life and its inevitable passing. It’s that one last road trip with the boys. The side quests you hated doing at the time — fetching tomatoes, running errands — somehow become the sweetest memories when it’s all over.

“I’m a king, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!” you think, "why am I fetching tomatoes for you?". But that’s the point — you had the privilege of knowing normalcy. Like capital-L Life itself, the small, mundane things end up meaning the most. By the end, you find yourself missing the early hours — the stupid fetch quests, the campfires, the jokes and banter with your brothers. What you wouldn’t give for one more night under the stars with them.

People wanted another Witcher 3 — a world bursting with content, where every random joe on every corner had a deep story to tell. But FFXV isn’t that kind of game, and Life isn't that kind of experience. Its emptiness is the point. Life isn’t packed with meaning at every turn; it’s quiet, awkward, sometimes tedious. And then one day you look back and realize — that was it. That was life itself.

You don’t remember the massive battles. You remember your brothers. The drives. The fireside laughter. The homemade meals. And somewhere along the way, it stops feeling like a game. It feels like a memory.

Maybe I’m coping. Maybe I’m seeing something that isn’t there. But I’d rather believe it was intentional — that the tedium, the melancholy, the silence — all of it was designed to make you feel the weight of time. And if you play the game with this perspective, it would reach into the depths of your soul and impact you in a way that no other game has.

Final Fantasy XV is messy, beautiful, and painfully human. As I fight back tears, all I want to say is: Ignis, Gladio, Prompto — thank you for living this life with me. You guys... are the best.

My friend bought me this for christmas, said it was his favorite game back in the day
So I played though it, spending a bit more time on sidequests than I needed to, just enjoying the world and camping with the bros, my friend watching on discord when he could
The story missions move things along fast however
before I knew it I was fighting my way though the capitol
My friend sat with me via discord as I made my way through the daemons, through the kings, and then
As we flipped one by one through the photo album, the feels started to hit
The memories of this digital road trip with my digital bros, but also, with my best friend, the one responsible for putting me on this trip in the first place, the one I went to tell every time the game was jank, every time I got closer to the end, every question and every joke along the way.
This game's journey may be imaginary, but it can take us on a real journey too.
Take care of your bros, bros

I feel so grateful to experience Final Fantasy XV, truly. To all of the FFXV developers, thank you for making this game.

By trying to please everyone, Square Enix ended up sort of pleasing a moderate number of people. This isnt a game for people who adore FFX and earlier turn based iterations. This isnt a game for "hard core" rpg enthusiasts who want to become the character. This isnt a game for people who love linear, or almost linear, action RPGs with a hard driving storyline. This is a game that expects you to be the most casual RPG player who likes to mash buttons with a half-way compelling story. There are flashy visuals to please the eyes, cool attack animations to get the blood pumping, and lots of fan service. However, Square then also expects you to spend a number of hours reading lore, watching anime, and digging into forum posts to understand even the basics of the plot. This is a game with no real target audience besides a hand-wave "everyone", and suffers for it.
All that said, there is fun to be had here. What i wouldnt try to do is grind through the game, or play it day after day until you complete it. Its too mindless to hold your attention. Play it for a few hours on the weekend every week, or a couple times a month; complete it over 6 months while playing other, more thoughtful, games. It will leave you with some worthwhile memories, and enough enjoyment to satisfy its current $35.00 price tag.