Final Fantasy XV Reviews

  • MrHCherMrHCher93,345
    12 Aug 2017
    16 7 4
    Oh boyyy, this game.

    If I had to give it a ranking I would say its around 8/10. Why 8 you may ask? Well, let start with the problems with the game before we start with the best bits. Also, spoilers just in case.

    Problemo numbero uno, travelling via car. This feature is great and all don't get me wrong but its kinda useless when Ignis can literally drive you everywhere on Auto-Pilot. I'm not talking about fast-travel by the way, that is also a great feature which every open-world game should have but Auto-Pilot is kinda lazy mode driving also you autotrack the roads when you drive. So the question I got for this is why do you, Noctis, drive as well as Ignis and what difference does it make? And before you say Ignis will start to drive at night as well, which is another thing I'm confused about, what's the point? Just hold right trigger and move the stick left or right when you need to. That's it.

    Problemo numbero dos, combat. Not gonna say the combat is fantastic or horribly bad but its inbetween and the weapon selection isn't great either but that's off topic. Let's say you are in a combo of hits from holding B but you notice that you are about to get hit. You cannot press X to dodge it no matter what. Everytime I see an enemy about to strike me during my combos I get to X as fast as possible but nope you are denied. Also, trying to activate Armiger sometimes is a bit tricky but that might be controller error. Also one more thing about combat, if you "die" you can just revive your self with a Phoenix Downs with literally no consequences and no interruptions, unlike the other FF games, which kinda makes normal mode pointless. That and Phoenix Downs cost like 1000gils so pretty easy to get 99 of those. Same with other items by the way, all pretty cheap.

    Problemo numbero tres, story, sort of. Its the main big bad guy. I don't get who he is or why he is evil. I've watched the cutscenes from the game but not seen the movies, Brotherhood and Kingsgaive, so when the bad guy announced his full name I still had no idea who he was. Unlike the other FF games, you learn about the villains background slowly as well as what their motives are. In this one you only know his name and his motives, well sort of. But during the last boss fight, not within dialogue but in the fight, you learn who the big bad is with his "forms". Soooo its not that hard to figure out but it would have been nice if they told you.

    Now the best bits of the game.
    A: The graphics. HAVE YOU SEEN THE LANDSCAPE, IT'S PRETTY AS F************.
    B: The conversations between your companions are fantastic and from my point of view, it reminds me of a great group of friends hanging out and well being friends with the banter.
    C: The music is a great soundtrack. You need tension in a boss fight? Got it. You need calm smoothing moment? Got it. You want a song to represent friends? Redo Ben King's Stand By Me and make it done by a great Pop group.
    D: Whistles. This mechanic is great literally. I need a chocobo? No need to run into a forest to find one just call for it. Oh I want to fight the same group of monsters again? *Whistle*. Its just great to have something so simple.
    E: Wouldn't say this is a best bit but good for Achievement Hunters, the achievements (base game). If you play this like a normal RPG you would get 80% of achievements. Nothing too taxing, not too much grinding. That and the chapters aren't too long to complete for you achievement streakers. The only tricky one is probably the superboss mountain tortoise. Level 99 and has over 5 Million HP. Yeah thats gonna be a while but it is a superboss.
    4.0
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    DarkLord ZephyrGreat review, I do have some comments though.

    I'm not sure how you don't know who the big bad is or why they're doing it. When they said their full name I understood exactly what was going on, and then they told a story which was about what brought them to this point. Shortly after that another character explains it further along with their motives. Granted the audio was a little muddled up during that, but yeah they clarify it pretty well.

    On the topic of driving, Ignis has always been Noct's caretaker; cooking food, driving him around, making sure he does his homework. He's essentially his butler, but that's only something you'd know from watching his Brotherhood episode. And the point of autopilot is to take in the scenery and hear the conversations. You are literally Noct hanging out in a car with your buds driving along the countryside.

    I definitely agree with the combat, once you realize how easy it is to stock items and how effective they are (which I didn't learn until the boss battle at the end of chapter 12/13) the game is cake. Frankly I don't think I ever used an item before that. I also had issues with dodging and activating armiger.

    I have more but at this point I feel like I'm doing a review myself, lol.
    Posted by DarkLord Zephyr on 08 Jan 18 at 19:26
    MrHCherGreat feedback my dude, to respond on some things as well:

    The villain backstory, for me, was weak, barely any information and lead up for this guy besides "Oh I'm evil, look at me. Or am I evil?". But there have been updates to the story since I've last played so that might have changed everything so I'm guessing this character who speaks of the villain's motives is new.

    The driving topic was based on the fact that why are we, the player, driving? There is literally no point for us to drive since Ignis drives for us most of the time (besides the story driven moments or night driving until Ignis thinks you are tough enough).

    Other than those points, thanks for commenting. And also go ahead and make a review, your counterpoints to mine are appreciated.
    Posted by MrHCher on 08 Jan 18 at 20:18
    WhyattThrash
    Auto-Pilot is kinda lazy mode driving also you autotrack the roads when you drive.
    So I take it you never changed the car to off-road, which lets you drive anywhere you want and is available as soon as you reach the garage (first village)?
    Posted by WhyattThrash on 01 Jun 20 at 21:02
  • rocking23nfrocking23nf671,264
    14 Feb 2017
    20 18 8
    Sweet, the game we have been waiting for, final fantasy is back with a vengance......well more like a whimper.

    im not much a writer so im going to list the pros and cons of this game.

    Pros
    - Graphics are amazing, world looks real, enemies look amazing.
    - Seamless fighting, no waiting for a load screen to fight (can be a con to some people)
    - its Final Fantasy!

    What i only have 3 pros? yes because this is a terrible game.
    Cons
    - Story, i have no clue what is going on, something about a prince, and a princess, maybe i need to read a book or a movie or something, but as someone who has played most final fantasy games, i have no idea what is going on.
    - battle, hold down B to win, repeat for every fight, pop a potion when low on HP.
    - There is no armor that i can see, so basically you buy a new weapon every 3-4 hours and thats it.
    - no crafting
    - theres 100s of quests, and they are all the same, fetch this item.
    - all towns/outposts look identical, i cant even tell you the name of one single town after playing for 35 hours because they have no character to them at all.
    - you drive everywhere, want to do a quest, sit and wait for 10 minutes while your car drives there, or spend 20 minutes walking there.
    - summons, cant figure out how to use them, they only appear to be useable in big boss fights when you cant possibly win the fight.
    -Chapter 13, this should be removed the game, nothing screams fun like spending 3 hours, finding access cards without any weapons.
    -loading times, some areas take 2+minutes to load, at least it seems that long, i didnt actually time it.
    -leveling, you only level up when you sleep, levels didnt seem to matter to me, because the enemies in the open world seem to level with me, the quest line didnt, so you will find if you are level 35-40 when starting the main quests, you will slaughter everything.
    AP system, you earn AP for doing things like driving, catching a fish, one hit kills, which you can buy new skills, of which you dont need any of them, since the game is hold down B to win.
    - fishing, to complete this game you will have to fish for hours, not sure why this was added.

    to conclude, this game looks amazing on the surface, once you get past the first 10 hours, it goes downhill quick, the last 6-7 story quests of the game were terrible.

    I would put this game on a rent only list, and hopefully Square gets thier act together to save this franchise.
    1.5
  • JoFuRiJoFuRi204,741 204,741 GamerScore
    01 Jun 2018
    4 4 1
    Bar about two hours of Final Fantasy VII, I hadn’t played a single entry of the much-acclaimed series until XV. So to be greeted with a message stating that the game was for fans and newcomers alike was reassuring; I wouldn’t be thrust into a plot that made no sense, or gameplay mechanics that I didn’t understand.

    For the opening 10 hours or so, I was pretty impressed. The game is beautiful, the music engaging, the plot intriguing, and it genuinely felt like the start of an epic adventure with three companions. A few quests gently ease you in to the swing of things, and much of the world is blocked off in place of one ‘introductory’ area in the ilk of The Witcher 3, but I liked that. It drip-fed things in and never felt overwhelming.

    Doing the odd fetch-quest early on felt like it could just be a means to introduce you to the combat and allow the characters to grow on you as you learned their personalities. The fact that you can’t drive the car until a certain level also withheld that excitement so you had something to look forward to and strive towards. It all felt very much like it was building up to something.

    Unfortunately… it wasn’t. Not really. The bulk of the world opened up after a few quests, but all that really meant was more travelling between quest markers. I ended up just handing the driving over to other characters anyway such was how tedious it was to handle, and the fetch-quest system became ludicrously repetitive – and never even tried to hide the fact. It was literally a case of talking to character A, killing an enemy or retrieving an item, returning to character A to hand in the quest, then immediately being met with another question mark above their head to signify an identical quest just with a different tacked-on story.

    Other activities include hunting, which you effectively do in most quests anyway, and Chocobo racing, which seemed to completely glitch out on me as the animals I was riding on the back of wouldn’t accelerate. Fishing was dull and bore minimal reward, and not once did I feel incentivised to customise my car with any of the many decals I’d found.

    The combat rarely felt satisfying; consisting mainly of holding the circle button. The block and parry system was inconsistent, weapons didn’t feel to have any weight, and magic was just another bonus hit instead of a tactical option or a fighting style. My teammates seemed so reluctant to aid me anytime I got struck down that it felt like they were wanting it to end as quickly as I was. And in the midst of a big hunt where you’re close to bringing down an enemy that far out-levels you, it’s not uncommon to suddenly have a ship full of enemy troopers descend on you and randomly spoil your whole attack plan.

    The last few chapters of the game all take place in one convoluted bulk and actually had me longing to be back in the empty wilderness of the open world. I’d completely lost interest in the plot by that point, so my only motivation for play was to plug on long enough to reach the end.

    Final Fantasy XV feels like a game that wanted to be adored, but then the developers actually just couldn’t be bothered making the effort. The side-quests are unforgivably bad in my book, and there’s so little else that then makes up for that. The high points came early on, when I was feeling a connection forming to the quartet I had joined and was exploring the compact but interesting opening area. After that, it just seems like they ran out of ideas, and thought putting everything on a bigger scale would subsequently make it better.
    4.0
  • Mikeplays00Mikeplays00615,265 615,265 GamerScore
    01 Feb 2021
    1 3 0
    Please note, at the time of writing I have not yet finished the DLC for FF15.

    So the Final Fantasy series, maybe I'm just a nostalgia nerd, but the series in general appears to have taken a slow yet steady downward spiral since Final Fantasy X. I'll try and focus on reviewing FF15 on it's own merits, but I may well compare it to other Final Fantasy games anyway.

    The plot of FF15 focuses on Prince Noctis, (and the other 3 members of the angsty emo boyband, Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignis), setting off on a journey to meet with Noctis' bride to be, Lady Lunafreya. Along the way they end up helping out with various tasks (see; busy work, because square enix couldn't make a full 40 hour game with out side quests like "go here, fetch this/kill that"). The game is "open world sandbox" because every game is open world sandbox now (yes, I understand that a sprawling open world is crucial to most JRPGs, however the tedium of collecting random documents, especially in the "Royal edition" simply stinks of collecting feathers in "Assassin's Creed 2")

    As is often the case with FF games, the opening cinematics (and indeed, most of the cut scenes throughout the game), don't so much as focus on world building and lore craft, as much as bash you over the head with a 2x4 with the words "story, plot, drama" scribbled on it in crayon. It's worth noting you can skip most cut scenes, but if you do that you're effectively cutting your "play" time in half, if not more.

    The combat is now fully action based, no turnbased combat here, not even the hybrid mix from games like FF12, FF13 or kingdom hearts. Which was fine, however I never felt challenged by it, once I learned I can just hold "B" and attack nonstop with twin daggers, stunlocking most enemies, it became an exercise in holding the button until everything else was dead. Most of the big boss fights (which would be epic if you actually had to do anything) are quick time events, and it felt very anticlimactic towards the end of the story.

    My biggest gripe with this game, is I found noctis (and his band of mates who all look like they cut their hair with a chainsaw then style it with a leaf blower), boring, unlikeable and unrelatable. For me it was a bit like going to a one direction concert, fine in short bursts with ear plugs, but I wouldn't want it to be the last thing I heard. The lack of character progression is stunning, midway through the game *spoilers* "something" happens to Lunafreya, I imagine if you were invested in the character it would be a very gut wrenching and emotional moment. Something that is spoiled by the fact WE'VE ONLY SEEN HER A HANDFUL OF TIMES! Most of which were in flashbacks so it was difficult for me to be invested in it. Yet just after this scene, Ignis appears, and he's been blinded, there is little explanation given about it and very quickly things are back to normal. I'd have been much more interested in seeing how that happened, a character that's been around from the start, and we actually interact with genuinely goes through something that could have been a really interesting character development, hardship, overcoming etc. And its swept under the proverbial rug...

    Maybe I'm not in the target audience, being a little bit older and actually enjoying older FF games and the dragon quest series, but the game says "A final fantasy for fans and first timers" everytime you start it up. So if I didn't enjoy it, is the fault with me, or square enix for making unlikeable characters? My take is, if I can relate to characters I have less in common with than Noctis and the terrible threesome, then it's on the developers/writers for making them unlikable.

    Difficulty 4/10
    Gameplay 2/10
    100% completion time 80-100hrs
    2.5
  • DJBringaDJBringa708,670
    08 Jul 2018
    4 6 0
    I'll start this review by saying Final Fantasy XV was the first FF game I've played since the early 2000s on my Gameboy. So I'm not a first timer, but the console version was definitely new to me.

    I've honestly fell in love with this game from the moment I picked it up and I've played over 170 hours in the past few months. There are some pros and cons to this game, as there are with any. I know this game has received mixed reviews and it seems to depend on the player's experience with the series.

    Like I said before, this was my first FFXV for Xbox so this perspective comes from a fairly new player....

    PROS:

    - The game is very easy to learn. I was expecting a complicated set up but I had all the basics down for this game fairly quickly
    - Tons of content. With dozens of hours of gameplay in the main story line, combined with many hours of DLC, you can almost never run out of things to do in FFXV
    - The main characters. Honestly the dynamic of Noct, Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto was very silly, funny, and relatable. It felt almost like what I'd expect an adventure with my best friends to feel like.
    - Diverse list of achievements. What I've enjoyed in my hunt for 100% completion of FFXV is that the achievements are not repetitive, not overly simple or complicated, and they make you experience everything the game has to offer
    - Charming secondary characters. Aside from the main 4 characters, I've enjoyed the secondary characters, such as Cindy, Cid, Gladio's sister (can't remember her name off the top of my head), etc.
    - Many different fighting strategy options. From switching to different characters to utilizing each character's unique skills, you can approach battles with so many different approaches. Even at the point I'm at in the game, I still find new ways to win each time I pick up the game

    I could list a few more, but these are the main positives I took away from the gameplay. Now I did have a few cons, but nothing that took away from my love for the game.

    CONS:

    - THE LOAD SCREENS (Especially in Comrades DLC). I certainly don't mind waiting for a game as vast and expansive as FFXV to load, but man it can get exhausting and boring to wait anywhere from 10-60 seconds for every single load screen. It doesn't feel like much waiting each time, but those minutes really start to add up and drag out gameplay time
    - Occasional glitches. In a few boss fights, the boss would freeze up and I would be able to attack them until they die. This bailed me out on some of the harder fights but it took away my sense of accomplishment for winning the fights on my own.
    - Audio issues. Now, I don't know if this is unique to me or if I just got a bad disc when I purchased the used game. When I play FFXV and then use a different app on my Xbox (youtube, hulu, etc.) and then return to the FFXV game, the audio will be either completely cut off or making repetitive sounds, which results in me having to force stop the game to re-open it again properly.
    - There's no season pass that includes all add-ons. I purchased the regular edition of the game with no add-ons originally. I bought the season pass thinking it would include all bonus content, but it only had the individual character episodes and Comrades so I will have to spend another 15 on the royal pack in order to accumulate all content to get every achievement.
    - Confusing story line. I know I'm fairly new to FF, however I struggled to understand the storyline even as the game progressed. It appears as though this has been a common complaint among fans of this series so it definitely wasn't just me.

    Overall, FFXV has become one of my favorite games and it has been worth every single penny I've spent and will spend in the future. It's a wonderful game for first-time FF players interested in RPG's or FF in general. Easy mechanics to learn, not too difficult or confusing, and fun characters and missions make this game an easy 5 stars from me. Just like any game, FFXV has its flaws, but its positives significantly outweigh the negatives.
    5.0
  • TheCharityGamerTheCharityGamer1,055,172
    13 Jan 2017 13 Jan 2017
    8 14 7
    Let me just start off by saying I have played and completed ever main Final Fantasy (1-15) ever made, with the exception of 13. I played 13 but never complete it because eww.

    Now with that out of the way welcome to my review of a truly unique experience on next gen consoles. So mount your chocobos and turn your radio to your favorite Final Fantasy game as we travel throughout the brand new world of Eos.

    Speaking of your favorite Final Fantasy soundtrack it's in the game. One of the best things implemented into this game is the ability to listen to all the old soundtracks from previous games. Now you can't listen to these all the time. The exceptions being in certain areas, on a chocobo (but that's ok it has a awesome chocobo song), and in combat. Can't complain about that though they want you to hear their soundtrack as well.

    The number one complaint you will hear is about side-missions and hunts. They are mostly, I would say 90%, fetch and kill quests with one here and there that really stands out. When they do stand out though its memorable even though most of those memorable quests are after the game.

    These characters feel so real. For example the book Gladious is reading changes every so often, Prompto will ask you who to take pictures of ( Creepy...), Ignis will ask you to help him cook, they will do and say certain things based on what you do, and sometimes they sit in the car and say nothing. They feel and act like normal people, its truly an amazing job Square has done.

    What's your favorite part about this game? What's the best part? I hear you cry. My favorite part has to be chapter 13 laugh but we will get to that. I truly think these questions have the same answer. You can play how you want. You want to just play the main story and get some achievements? Yeah sure you can do that. You want to just hunt down monsters terrorizing your world? You can do that. You want to do everything? 100+ hours and you can do that to. This game has something for everyone the Final Fantasy fan boy, the achievement hunter, and the compeltionist will find their hearts desire here.

    But my favorite enemy? Tonberry Jedi knights I had to stick this somewhere in this review, because it was awesome. It was original, the right amount of hard, and Tonberry Jedi knights! What more could you ask for. Because there's nothing more original then a small green creature in a brown clock with a 'light saber'. Wait....... Shit. Well its fun all right?

    The main story for this game and the gameplay in general are both phenomenal. Don't get me wrong the story is still a coming of age tale staring a spiky haired kid, that hasn't changed. However this time you got your boy band. Wait what? You don't think that's cool? Yeah because none of you wanted to be a backstreet boy right? Moving on.... The main story quickly picks up as you are thrown into this world doing hunts, side missions, and meeting the cast of the game. Like Dave, Cid, Cindy, etc. Cindy helps you customize your car and upgrade it eventually to be able to fly! Awesome flying car is awesome and you can thank those. I mean her!

    As you further the story to the last chapters the game story begins to leave you question on why there are all these plot holes? Well all your question can be answered by watching a hour long movie that should have released with the game. It fills everything in, seriously watch the movie. It's an unfortunate set back for a game that was almost perfect up to this point. It is however nothing compared to chapter 13.

    Chapter 13 is awful. It's linear, there's no warp striking for most of it, and it so long. Hey Square what's your problem with the number 13? Seriously? Chapter 13 is going to make you mad, it's going to drain you, and it's going to make you question why you are playing this game. I implore you to get through it. Put down the controller for awhile if you have to do whatever it takes to get to the end game is worth it I promise.

    Speaking of the end game the final two bosses are so much fun. With the exception of there are the best in the game. The ending is truly heartwarming and rewarding. It's truly an amazing end to an amazing story, everything come together.

    After the game is over you can go back to the past using your dog. This opens up those memorable side missions I was talking about. Whether its the secret dungeons, the legendary weapon quests, or the turtle they are all amazing. There is so much to do in this game and it's almost perfect.

    At the point of writing this I only have the level 99 dungeon and the turtle left to beat.

    Let's whip out the yellow legal pad!
    ITS PROS AND CONS TIME

    Pros:
    Story is told well
    Characters feel real
    Tonberry jedi knights
    Flying car
    Lots to do
    Old soundtracks ready to be heard

    Cons:
    Anything involving chapter 13 or the number 13
    Most side missions are not unique
    Final Fantasy now sponsored by Coleman
    Movie explaining story not included with game
    4.0
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