Combat - I thought the combat was OK; it did remind me quite a bit of Kingdom Hearts, and a little of Crisis Core. I understand this is the direction Squeenix will probably take all their RPGs (action-oriented) because its the most relevant to today, but I slightly disagree with this, although I am probably in the minority here because I still like turn-based combat and do not believe it should be deprecated or obsolete...I also am one of the few people to have liked XIIIs combat - I actually thought it was one of the best final fantasy combat systems made - and certainly the most relevant in present-day JRPGs. (hope they bring that back somehow.) I felt like the combat in XV removed all sense of strategy in battles. (it is pretty button mashy). Yes, I know there is a 'Wait' mode that slightly brings the strategy back into the game, but that just seems very half-assed to me.
Story - A tough one to talk about. I thought the story in Lucis / the first half of the game was kind of non-existent. I was too lost doing pointless side quests, that it kept the main story from grabbing me. I think there should have been a better balance here. The second half of the game was better from a story standpoint, and it became WAY more final fantasy-ish. Having said that, I still think it was a TAD on the weak side. I think the story is better than XIII's and even XII's, so that is a definite improvement, but for me it was too basic and did not offer enough twists and turns for me to consider it one of the better FF stories. The ending brought SOME aid to that, as I thought Noctis and everyone dying did bring about a more mature side to the story and kept it from being TOO basic. My main complaint is, again, the first half of the game just does not grab me and I am a believer that Final Fantasy games NEED to have strong stories and themes. (which is why XII and XIII were not the best for me)
Characters - A positive note. This is the first Final Fantasy since X where I genuinely care about the characters. Whether or not you like Noct and the Bros, they DO kind of make you care about them and understand the bond between them. (XII was weak because there was no real 'central' character, and XIII was weak because I just did not give a care about any of the characters - they were all way too annoying to me, and the story was way too confusing to actually get attached to them). It is on this note that FFXV finally does something good and is one way that it is a return to form. I like how it was a set few characters that are in your party, and so you have room to grow attached to them. I found myself actually caring when Procto got kidnapped and even moreso when Ignis became blind.
Sidequests - I have to say this is a huge gripe with me. I found the sidequests in this game to be trash. Apart from the hunts (which really work in any FF), I found most of the sidequests a big waste of time and they produced more 'fluff' in the game than anything. Sure they may have increased the game length from 30 hours to 100+, but why would I care about having a game that lasts 100 hours if 70% of that game is walking from a store to grab a tomato and giving it to someone who wants it. I found this section of the game to be just too repetitive and not relative enough to the central plot. It supposed to be a roadtrip for bros, which I guess makes sense, but thinking on FFVII's golden chocobos, or IXs Chocobo digging, or even VIIIs tetra master and hidden summons, this was just a big boring disappointment. They tried to make this game too much like a fallout or skyrim in this regard, and while this may have worked for the general audience, It absolutely did not work for me.
Graphics - The game looks good, but I dont really concern myself with graphics unless it hinders me from actually playing the game. (Think PSone RPGs which now look a big hard on the eyes) I wont really say anything about this part of the game. I suppose I should mention that HDR makes a HUUUGEEE difference though compared to regular non-hdr play.
Miscellaneous - I have to mention one more thing here that bothers me - the traveling. The car, the constant walking, the fast travel (and at times lack thereof) all annoy me far too much here. I understand this game wanted to feel vast, and have a giant real-life world, but what that in-turn created was a time-consuming movement from point A to Point B. I think the best example I can give was doing 4 or 5 hunts near the Vesperpool in succession. It was literally fast travel to the nearby outpost, talk to the hunt issuer, fast travel to the Vesperpool ROAD, grab a chocobo and walk to the desired spot in the vesperpool, defeat the monster. Fast Travel back to the car, fast travel back to the outpost. multiple this by 5 for 5 hunts, and you have just wasted about 20 - 30 minutes in just fast travel. and add even more fast traveling if you monster happens to be INSIDE a dungeon. (you then have to run to the spot in the dungeon fast travel back outside after). I do not have a suggestion for a solution here, but why do I have to fast travel to the car and THEN to my destination...just let me fast travel directly where I wanted to go. Maybe introducing save points and fast traveling to the save points could have fixed this issue...
Conclusion: I know I sound harsh in this review - but that because I hold Final Fantasy to such a high standard. VI - X were all absolutely fantastic games IMO, and it still is my favorite series in video games (with FFIX being my favorite video game period). With that said, I have to say that the biggest issue with Final Fantasy XV is its a game without a real identity. Because Squeenix wanted to reach such a broad audience with this game, they literally took all the parts from every AAA game on the market and meshed it into XV. It has Fallouts open world and sidequests, Mass Effects decision making, parts of Metal Gear Solid's stealth, and things like adding a car. All these keep this game from developing an identity as a Final Fantasy game - ironically that is what this game is missing the most - the feeling of a final fantasy. I would only say the game starts feeling like an FF once you hit altissia and the game turns more linear (although slightly TOO linear) I understand that if this was a turn-based RPG with smaller scope it would probably not have sold as many copies and attracted as many new players, but I cant help but feel the loyal FF lovers got a bit of the shaft as a result.
Conversely, the game IS good. I cannot help but feel if this game was named something other than Final Fantasy XV - hell maybe even Final Fantasy Versus, it would not have received such a critical response from me. I enjoyed it and it is the first FF since X that I actually sat down and played without coming back to finish it 8 months later. I also appreciate the game was not Fallout sized in time length. I finished a bunch of sidequests and the main story in 40 hours. It is fun and I do recommend playing it. My main gripes just stem that if this is truly a Final Fantasy Proper (main entry in the series) it probably should have followed formulae a tad more. (this without mentioning the 10 year development hell).
i.e. FFXV is good game, I have to say it does feel like a step forward from XIII in character and game development, nice to see Squeenix addressing issues that half plagued FF for the last decade hopefully it is onward and upward from here and we get to the level of quality from the PSone/SNES days.
that key is at the bottom of my keyboard, I'll never know. I really don't want to re-write everything I had written before so I'll just summarize as well as say it's a pretty good game. Took a little bit to get into it, a couple hours at least. Part of that is because character creation takes so long thanks to the conquest portion.
Besides the inverted camera controls that I wish I could change, the only complaint I can make so far is that the graphics are more realistic and less anime-ish, but that's more of a personal gripe. A couple of friends have told me to skip 4 and go straight to 5, but 4 doesn't seem terrible. I really liked 3, so maybe it isn't as bad as I've heard.
