Final Fantasy XV

Well, here we are again. Back with another Final Fantasy review. Sooner than expected but where do I even begin? Well, it's very tough to review an overly complex game that took a decade to develop so I'll just let out all my impressions and feelings onto this post as best as I can.

Previously known as Versus XIII, Final Fantasy shifted from being in the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe and became its own game. Great news for me because I am glad I can safely say I have moved on from the nightmare that is FFXIII and Typ-0 and hope is back to a series I adore very much so. FFXV did a lot of great things and as usual I expected more but at least it is playable and enjoyable as well as immersive and addictive. There is a lot to do in it but playing the main quest was more than enough for me. It was enough to tell me this is where I belong, this is the series I have loved growing up to play. In FFXV, you play as Noctis, the crowned prince of Lucis who is shortly declared as king after his father's passing in the prologue of the game. You travel with your band of best friends, Gladiolus, Prompto, and Ignis without spoiling anything further. I'd just like to note my frustration at the presentation of the story because in order to get the fans into it, Square Enix jumped right into different mediums before allowing us to stomach the game itself, Now this is irrelevant to the success of the game, but I believe before moving on to other mediums, the fans should enjoy the game and only the game and not feel forced to watch an animated movie to know the prologue to the game and watch an anime to know essential character information. It might be nitpicking on my part but back in my day, I got all info from the game itself.

There is a lot to say, so I'll jump right into it. Final Fanatasy XV is a spectacular looking game and beautiful in every frame and shape. Cutscenes are as engaging as a next gen game can be and for a while I believed it is what the PS4 was made for. FFXV was targeted for newer fans into the series as well as old die hard fans. Which is why it suffers from an identity crisis the way I saw it. It has a lot of easter eggs from the rest of the series, but nothing that stands out on its own uniquely among the other games. At times you are glad to see bombs, chocobos, malboros and summoning a gigantic Ramuh that looks fantastic but at other times you are exploring an endless and vast universe... In your car, waiting for five minutes on average. Sounds like whining at times, but its also fair to acknowledge these points or lack thereof. Another thing to note is how the development, despite it taking a decade and being delayed twice in a row, still did not completely finish which is why there were a lot of parts in the story skipped including cutscenes that weren't shown. It is sad to say that this phenomenon is occurring a lot nowadays like MGSV. However, let us acknowledge the effort put into this project and how the director listens to the fans' reactions whether it was from the demo or from the game itself with DLC and updates.

Exploration in FFXV is beautiful as it gets whether you are in your car discovering dungeons or outposts. Your characters react to your surroundings and feel somewhat alive based on whatever you surround yourself with. Whether the weather changes or you're on your chocobo and your teammates are excited, they throw a comment here and there and you are immersed within the world until you spend 20 hours in and they start repeating themselves with battle comments. Then you are reminded by how its a video game. But seriously, exploration is fantastic in FFXV especially dungeons, optional or not. They might be scripted but it's a damn good script if you are not too over the level of the monsters within it. Fast traveling saves a lot of time because going back and forth and accepting quests can be tiresome for completionists. There is a lot of variety in dungeons and it is exactly what I enjoyed the most out of any Final Fantasy game, even though puzzles might be minimal here. Going through the story at least is definitely an experience that makes up for what we lacked in XIII.

After beating the game and reaching the end content, you can fly using your car and that would complete the various ways you can travel through the world but you can only land on the roads shown on the map and if you accidentally bump into a mountain and forgot to save your game, prepare to break your controller. The car over time gets newer upgrades and eventually you can also drive at night without worrying an iron giant will block the road and kick your ass.

It certainly is hard to keep up with explaining a huge game and its intricate system so I'll try to explain as best as I can. How I perceived the combat to be is similar to that of Kingdom Hearts in the sense of how quick and engaging it can be. Noctis can warp strike enemies with his royal arms from afar. Warp strikes deplete your MP but you can recharge by hanging in strategic spots. Attacking enemies from behind grants you more critical attacks. You can also link your skills with your teammates against enemies.You engage enemies on the field but that does not necessarily mean they are limited, Soldiers will come from airships and more random beasts prowl about everywhere, more frequently at night as well. Noctis can equip four weapons varying from daggers, short swords, lances and Royal arms all with their own strengths and weaknesses. The magic system is also complex on its own and I am unable to explain how you craft each spell but it does exploit and facilitate the other system by crafting magic drawn from your surroundings just like FFVIII using draw points. Spells can be modified using the loot you pick up from enemies, ranging from inflicting status effects on enemies like Poison or slow or stop and helping your party members like doubling or tripling the earned exp from using it. 

For me, the combat shines during boss fights and hunts. If the exploration in it didn't remind you of FFXII if you have played it, then the bounty hunts will certainly remind you of how engaging it is. Although not as difficult as FFXII's hunts, FFXV managed to have a lot of fights where I was basically fighting for the sake of it and knowing I could die any second without managing to save one more Mega-Phoenix until a summon prompt randomly shows up and saves your ass for good. Summons or maybe I should call them espers show up after certain conditions are met and the most common one for me was Ramuh because he only shows up when the fight is going for too long or when there are too many enemies on the field. For those that love to come up with strategies on a hunt, you will enjoy your time if you are not too over leveled and I really enjoy a long fight because only then do I get to juggle between different tactics if you have Wait mode on. Wait mode basically allows time to stop before you get to plan out which enemy you want to target and which part of him do you want to attack. It's pretty neat once you get used to it because through that you can exploit the proper use of warp attacking because the further the target is from Noctics, the more damage will be inflicted.

Speaking of leveling up, the only way to do that is through camping. Camping facilitates your experience through a dungeon or exploration using Ignis' cooking skills. By learning recipes from restaurants all over the world or eating at a place and knowing its ingredients, your party can gain buffs for a limited time including an experience boost. When you finally camp, you get to level up. Mind you, leveling up is not easy. I've beaten the game and reached end game content with only level 74 on all party members. The system has been exploited though with different tactics mixing a magic that uses experience boosting and sleeping at an inn that gives triple the experience, allowing you to instantly level up to 99 but that's no fun, or is it? The point is from the relentless details I'm throwing at you is that there is in fact a lot to do in the world of FFXV despite it feeling monotonous at times with fetch quests or hunts, there is a lot of engagement with the world. Sure, the NPCs might feel lifeless at times but they managed to capture the essence of a proper JRPG.

The soundtrack is undoubtedly superb and spectacular. Composed by my favorite composer and she is great for Action RPGs. Ever since I played Kingdom Hearts and Parasite Eve, I knew Yoko Shimomura could put her heart and soul into a project and ever since I hear the first ever trailer music from Versus XII's days, I was psyched up for this game. Being an FF fanboy, I wanted them to stick to a signature and singular battle theme but soon I got used to having different battle themes based on regions and situations. They all fit so well, whether it is exclusive to a dungeon or for imperials, it works. Throughout your travels, you get to buy other soundtracks for Final Fantasy games and listen to them while riding the regalia with your teammates. A great callback and a good way to reminisce on how far we've come but the soundtrack already to this game sets itself up to be unique in comparison to other games, although it might not be as grand to some.

Chocobo Racing

Fishing mini game

There are many other aspects other than fighting and hunting for beasts throughout FFXV, and the typical well-known mini games throughout the series are of course the ones I usually ignore. Chocobo Racing and the Fishing mini game. Each of the four characters have their own skills that get to increase alongside your experience. Noctis with his fishing, Ignis with his cooking, Prompro with his photography skills and finally Gladiolus with his treasure hunting abilities. Fishing was fun for the two tries I've attempted other than the tutorial attempt and I can see it having its own time but it certainly was not for me as much as the chocobo racing. I can tell though that they've put effort into it and it is taken quite seriously. Prompto gets to take random photos during your journey and you can accept sidequests that are photography related to enhance it I would assume. The only skill that comes with the territory is treasure hunting where the more you roam about on feet, the more likely you will see rare item drops around you. 

Other than mini games, the rest are side quests that span entire quest lines or even other quests that eventually show you the way to an optional dungeon that is difficult to get through. The difficulty scales high in FFXV especially at the end game content. It adds a lot of replay value for enthusiasts, although not for me since I was immediately disinterested by the fact that the end game dungeons are basic clones of Persona towers, with no aesthetics and just one monster after another. Pretty unimaginative to say the least.

I'm sure I have missed a lot of details and I'm sure there is a lot more to explore in FFXV's universe. However, I am glad and satisfied from a new entry in the series. It brings back hope to the series and makes me content knowing that the revamp of the company's staff is putting genuine effort to please the fans. Not to mention the upcoming FFVII remake is indeed in good hands. There is upcoming story DLC and I am still excited for it. I enjoyed every bit of FFXV with its smallest details like Gladiolus liking noodle cups to my initial hatred towards Prompto and eventually liking him more and more with every joke he cracked. I've been Ahmed Jadaa and you can find Final Fantasy XV on the PS4.