FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION

So, final thoughts : FFXV is a very rough diamond, cursed by its dev hell but saved by the care put into it afterward with all the post-launch DLC and updates to flesh out the story.

The open world is very meh and doesnt really add much besides busy work to the game but slows the pace to really help you enjoy time with the bros
Really enjoy the aesthetic of the world with the modern looks and tech
Sadly some side characters dont really add much but are still very enjoyable to have around
Battle system is kinda funky but still somewhat enjoyable once you get the flow of it

But everything pre-chapter 7/8 is kinda meh but everything post open world ramps the game up from a 5/10 to a solid 7.5-8/10 once it starts focusing the story a lot more with linear design and thematic battles, possibly a 8.5/10 if you REALLY get into the story with ALL the extended universe stuff.

Played this game through on Xbox, Loved it. now I get the chance to replay it again with a little memory of the game.

Im constantly reminded of past Final Fantasy games and that is really cool along with fun combat and a touching story.

finally beat the game this is my 5th playthrough and this is still my favorite game of all time.

loved every second of it :'D they made the world feel so alive and captured the feeling of just wandering with your best friends so beautifully. some parts of the story that weren't so relevant were completely underdeveloped (or not at all) but the main story was still so mesmerizing and i loved the combat system once i got used to it.



give me back my boys that title screen change was sick :'))))))))

One of the most flawed experiences I ever had. I bought it on release for the Xbox One back when it came out.. I was so excited with the trailers and it would be my first Final Fantasy game. Happily, as I was nothing but a kid, I had lots of fun with it and LOVED the game only to find out about it's terrible reviews and general negativity around it.

After beating it again, almost 10 years later (yeah... holy shit.) I can say that it is indeed a flawed game. It's combat "somewhat" works, its story is so poorly told that I gotta be honest, I didn't understand most of it, and it's still one of my favorite gaming experiences of recent years.
Besides every issue I mentioned, there is just a lot of love and charm to be found in this game, not only that, the main cast is SO GOOD and fun to be around with that eventually, you keep playing just to see more interactions.
I mentioned before that I didn't understand most of the story, and I'm not kidding. I have no CLUE what the hell is altissia, what is that giant fish demon thingy and I don't know what was the deal with the villain. What I know is that it still was more than enough to make me cry at the ending, and honestly, this gotta count for something.
It's a charming game, relatively short and sometimes really fun. Give it a go!

Combat is garbage. The game as a whole is unsatisfying tbh. My "in game" hours played are mostly letting the game sitting paused on my pc trying to motivate myself to get back in and finish it.

Recently bought this on my PC after years playing it over and over on PS4/PS5. This is my favorite game out of all of the final fantasy and can't wait to see more in the future! This is so nostalgic and ahead of it's time.

didn't enjoy it so much at launch but as time went on maybe my taste changed or I was able to actually appreciate this game fully. A lot has been said about this game and all I can add is it is fun but can be "boring" I enjoy the auto drive sim honestly I can play on my phone or do something on my other monitor. The combat is not bad actually its like a watered down ff 16. And the graphics are amazing the cut scenes in this game make me want to watch the Final fantasy movies.

The whole game just feels like one long list of sidequests and despite having an RTX4060, it has still crashed multiple times for no reason

Combat feels janky and bad, and you can't even customize the gamepad controls.

Party members are dumped on you with no introduction. None of them have any likeable personality and each exists to fill out a trope.

If you get the sense that FFXV feels like an MMO, that's because it was made by a dude who only does MMOs.

Most of the setting music is absolutely terrible, usually being a guitar or harmonica cover of older FF tracks. I guess they figured this was suitable for fantasy California?

I got this super cheap on sale and I still feel regret.

graphics make me want to sob but was fun and unique and i love most final fantasy games so im bias but this is peak

could've easily been one of the best games of all time but the fact that they couldn't just make the full game with all the story contents where they should be is a bit disappointing. use a guide as for how to understand the story better and you will definitely enjoy it a lot

Great looking game with the optional 4k download. I haven't gotten to far into the story, but it seems pretty standard for Final Fantasy.

I don't know what to tell you. It is a game that i enjoyed somewhat and then decided to just go for the main quest line.
The story could be interesting if it was portrayed or executed well. If somebody took the story and remixed it a bit with all of the added extra things they did with the movies and such. Maybe it would have made for a good book or manga. But what they did is confusing and boring. I did like the Open world riding along with the Boyz stopping for pictures or getting engine parts to upgrade the ride and such, fishing and hunting is fun. Anyway i enjoy all of the side stuff but the main story really soured me on the game, maybe i will come back way later and continue playing now that i just do the side content.
But tldr story is mid and 2b skin for Ignis goes hard. but this at a heavy sale.

This game is a bit deceiving in that the opening cutscenes and gameplay make it seem like it'll be interesting but it becomes tedious and annoying after the 2-3 hour mark. This game has one of the most frustrating travel systems in recent memory which is why I put it down. Seemingly every quest involves fast traveling close to the objective and then having to run half a mile to reach it in the middle of nowhere before fast traveling back and running even more to find the person to turn it in. So much of the game is just spent aimlessly running through open desert it gets boring and grating real fast. Maybe I'll pick it up again when I'm feeling more patient but I just found it way too boring.

After struggling to play Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, this game is a welcome change. It makes so much more sense, is visually beautiful, both the music and the art. Very good tutorials.

FF15 is a masterclass at confusing and scattered story telling. Detailing the story of a young prince and his rock band of misfits as they travel the countryside in the worlds most expensive mode of transportation only to eventually lead themselves back home, without said worlds most expensive mode of transportation.

NO seriously the story is actually pretty good, and one of my favorite FF stories to date. Sadly it took the windows edition to eventually see this most of the full story to fruition, and even then that took far too long to reach our PC screens. And even then the story is by far nothing complete without being knee deep in reading, movie, and anime material along it's windy road at explaining a true, full, and understood story.


But why is that?

Well if you want to travel with the prince of light your going to have to put your controller down, that is if you care to see the story play out point for point. Here, and example, and i'll do my best to only spoil one early game part of it:

"Noctis leaves the city in a cut-scene."
"Player starts to play the game for roughly 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on playtime."
"Player witnesses another cut-scene of the city....."

HOLD IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright put your controllers down because this "cut-scene' is actually a full fledged movie that's roughly 110 minutes, or almost equal to 2 full hours of Final Fantasy lore that your going to need to know for anything later to make any sense. And i'm sure many will tell me no that's not true, but a lot happens in this movie and a lot we never fully get an understanding on, even in the complete edition.

A lot of spoilers too, so for those more interested just take my word for it, you'll be confused why Luna has what she does, why the kingdom at all fell, why the empire are jerks, and why the crystal is important, and that we even had one in the city to begin with now stolen.

Starting to see my point yet?


This game is chalk full of it. DLC that came out months after release that impact moments of the story we simply randomly brush off as "I guess will never know" leading to critical moments in character development and behind the scenes questions. Things that, while they show up in game lead to nothing or simply confuse players. Looking at your Prompto.

Writing that gives alternative story lines and branching narrative to the reasons why Luna's brother hates Noctis, and why Noctis has nearly 0 personality and reasons why he does anything. You know lore.


I could go on, but I'll spare you from anymore needless banter if you somehow made it this far. So while the story is good and interesting it's only such when you understand it in it's full, and this game still does not do that. I could talk about other things also like gameplay or technical issues but these are not why I play a Final Fantasy game. I come for the story, the world and I only got 1/4 of the pie.

Plus, without a story, what is a Final Fantasy game? Unless you like to ride in the Regalia, which, I wont disagree.

Great story although it gets muddy at points, combat was fun and responsive 7/10

This is my favourite Final Fantasy game currently. I say this with a caveat which is that it actually isn't a great game because bizarre/unfinished story and also the fact that the game-play is just some terribly thought out button mashing mess.

The reason this game is my favourite FF game is that the setting and atmosphere of this game are truly remarkable and is unmatched by many of RPG games I've played. It was worth buying and playing just for the world you play in and the road-trip mechanic.

The effort they put into the episode Argyn DLC would have been better used for finishing and improving the base game.

So i've finished this game years after i first started it and the reason for this is the last couple of missions that have a completely different feel than the earlier ones.
It starts out like a fairly open-world rpg with a beautiful world, interesting locations / story and quite fun game mechanics.
But later on it changes into a boring dungeon crawler in linear indoor and outdoor spaces. The story also seems to stop developing and gets rushed into oblivion. by the time i reached the ending i felt zero emotional attachment to the whole thing, mainly because the ending is just as bad and rushed as the later missions.
So yeah, i played on to finish it and experience the conclusion but was left disappointed.

This is one of my all-time favourite games and was also my first ever Final Fantasy titles. I love the bromance in this story and the beautiful landscapes. The visuals look great on PC with the 4K texture pack. I understand some Final Fantasy loyalists often frown upon this entry, but I really enjoyed it. Prompto is one of my favourites, not just in this game, but in all games I have ever played (although Cloud and Noctis come close from the FF series). Shame FF15 never got fully implemented as they cut the DLC short, but what does exist is pretty decent. I highly recommend this game.

I've waited 4 years for this game, bought a whole PS4 for it and enjoyed every second of it. I think someone who didn't follow the production of this game and hasnt consumed the additional media to this game will have a hard time finding any sort of bond with the characters in the game because sadly the game seems very rushed despite the long production time (probably because they kept scrapping ideas and starting anew). That being said, I DID do all of that and I DID have a connection to these characters and loved seeing the interactions between the boys in game and out of it. I quickly grew fond of this game despite its quirks and bugs and to this day this is still my favourite game of all time.
Since I stopped using my Playstation and started investing into proper PCs I felt like something was missing so I quickly spent another dime on the Windows version of this game.
It runs horrible and my PC is really not bad, especially for this game. But it still captures the same feeling I had as a 15 year old kid booting this game up for the first time, hearing the Somnus theme and falling in love with Final Fantasy all over again.

One of the best final fantasy games for new players to jump into. The story, gameplay and combat is great alongside the soundtrack. Replayability 10/10, so many optional side quest and exploration waiting to happen. The only downside is that the game made me realize I'm a *terrible* driver lol.

10/10 Overall
10/10 Story
10/10 characters I love Prompto and the whole dynamic with the guys
8/10 It felt the same for most of it but the overall game just makes up for it
I got mine on sale for around +20 amazing deal fosho must buy

6/10
Final Fantasy XV is easily the one I had the most curiosity for just due to how split it is among fans. Is it good, or is it terrible. Is it a misunderstood masterpiece, or is it a stain in the final fantasy legacy. I have fully tried to experience FF15, mainly through the story (didn't do post game content), I've watched the movie, watched the anime, done all the dlc, and will be reading the book after this review. Even after doing all that, I have come to accept that while no, I do not think FF15 is a misunderstood masterpiece or a stain in the final fantasy legacy, it is easy to see that it was a FF game with such high potential, ruined by a complex development hell, unrealized story potential, and a game that feels like it has missing pieces all over the place.

Story
This is easily the most talked about point of this game, with either the largest praise or the largest criticisms. Is it a masterpiece of a story? I wouldn't say, but I would say it is honestly a pretty damn good story... in theory. Understanding FF15 is understanding the 10 year development hell this game went through, with the most important point being they had to fire the old director, and made the new director cobble up whatever they had in 2-3 years, which while does seem like a ton of time, is NOT the amount of time needed to make a game of this scale. What is created is a great story, told in a piss poor way. Game starts and is centered around a war you have no idea about? Explained in the 2 hour long movie Kingsglaive. Main character and 3 of his buddies the game expects you to know who they are? Explained in the 1 hour long anime. Characters go missing and aren't explained what tf they did? Explained in the DLC. So many bits of this game has unexplained plot points that never go answered cause well, they weren't for awhile. With the final product we have now and with ALL of those new story bits, it does tell a pretty interesting story once you step back to understand everything... But of course you can't understand EVERYTHING cause now the future dlc got cancelled, so the final dlc of Ardyn which does explain the MUCH NEEDED reasoning for his motivations, creates a new plot of a evil god that will never be explained. It is just a mess and I do not blame anybody for just saying fuck it. The early chapters were honestly pretty good as well once I've watched the 2 shows, but it does screech into a halt from past chapter 3 all the way to around chapter 9-10. Even once you get to the new story development, if you do not play the dlc you end up missing a ton of context. With the context, it is amazing, as you witness Noctis come to terms with what he has to do as a king, and achieve his true mission... however only for the ardyn dlc to bring a new threat that will never be resolved. Even with this rant I still did like the story a ton even with how terrible it is told, messages of fate, with the main story focusing on following your true fate, and hints of defying your fate in the dlc were sprinkled, I can only dream if they actually realize the story's full potential.

Character
The characters of 15 share the same sentiment I have with the story, amazing potential, wasted with missing plot explanations and the inability to tell the player why they should care for anybody. Not only are the character designs for this game just so damn good, but playing through the DLC shows how much potential they all had, but is ruined by the story only taking place in Noctis' point of view. The four main characters feel like true friends, but you would never know that unless you saw the anime before that, and you will never understand their motivations when they go missing till you play the dlc. You spend so much time with them that it is a shame the game didn't deliver their development naturally throughout the game. Prompto ended up becoming my favorite of the friends, but only because I loved his arc during his dlc. Gladio has a great older brother vibe to him that honestly, the base game did do a good job with along ignis, who is made even better with his dlc. Noctis himself was really damn good, but fails to reach the heights of other main characters in FF due to how short the game cuts off his development, and rushes his development near the end once the time skip happens. The biggest waste was easily Luna, who barely had any screen time at all. I cared little for her character, and her biggest moment in the game made me realize that she was just wasted. Ardyn was also such an amazing villain, in theory. He has such a peak design and has the building blocks to be one of the best FF villains, as his dlc finally explains his motivations. However, the dlc throws the blame towards an evil god we will never see the conclusion to. The other characters were interesting, but needed more development. Easily the highest potential cast I have ever seen in many of the FF games, but wasted by how much time they were given to develop in the main story.

Gameplay
Honestly, I liked the gameplay, especially after accepting this FF game is not traditional. Driving around the world, finding things to do around the world and doing hunts was a pretty enjoyable thing to do. Some issues do arise later on though. First, the combat at first is just a hold left click and dodge with right click, but the parry loop and upgrading the parry so it becomes pretty strong was very fun to do, even upgrading the standard combat was pretty fun. The magic system in this game was just broken, you either avoid it all together and barely use any magic in the game, or craft the spells and realize that while limited, they can nearly one shot most bosses in this game due to their insane damage potential. Getting bored of noctis gameplay? upgrade the casts so you can play as them, who all have much different gameplay loops to Noctis. After awhile however I wasn't feeling that much into the combat loop, making me for the first time in awhile not want to grind the post game for the superboss and quite honestly, I blame the sudden halt past chapter 10. The game decides to ditch what makes the gameplay special and make it a more linear, restricted experience. You lose your friends so no more switching, you lose the car, you lose your powers and are given a ring that is quite literally busted, but is not that fun to use. It is a shame cause I can see myself playing through the post game if that last chapters of this game doesn't ditch what makes this game so special in the first place. The DLC focus on the other party members and do showcase how special their moveset are, especially Ardyn, which the game does a wonderful job showing that while he is very strong, he mirrors Noctis in nearly every way.

Music
Pretty good music, you can tell how much love was put into the soundtrack of this game. Somnus, Valse Di Fantastica, Noctis theme, the character and dlc songs, it is pretty hard to hate on the OST just cause of how beautiful it really is. Alongside that, the game includes songs from previous FF games all the way to ff14, it is all so damn amazing.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
- Performance issues even with a 4070 super, but probably because I turned everything to max including NVIDIA features.
-Terra and FF14 crossover side quests were pretty damn good.

Conclusion
If I were to talk about all of the pieces of this game as a total, I would probably say this game would had been one of the best FF games. However with how scattered the storytelling is, how lacking in story focused side content, and how instead of fixing the game as a whole, they did bandage solutions of telling you important aspects in either dlc, or a different media makes this game very hard to recommend. However, I still think this game was pretty fun at the end of the game, but easily is the most missed potential FF entry I have played yet.
6/10

A flawed but deeply loving gem of a game. Through development hell this game emerged and the Windows Edition is the perfect experience. Don't be afraid to do a little research on what order to watch/play things though, trust me, it'll make the experience even better.

This was the second Final Fantasy game I ever tried (and honestly, it might be my last; not because it was bad, but just because I’m not super into the series). That said, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed traveling in a game as much as I did in this one. The world feels so alive, and the bond between the characters? Absolutely priceless. The story had me completely hooked, and man... I wish I had a friend group like that in real life.

I played this instead of studying (no regrets), and honestly, it was the best decision. I was stuck in my hometown during the summer thanks to university nonsense, and this game made my days so much better.

If you’re looking for an unforgettable journey, go for it.

This is my second playthrough of this game from back when it was released and it's even better the 2nd time. The PC texures take it to a whole new level.

Definetly not the best Final Fantasy game. Story feels kind of nonsense every now and then. It's not justified you have to watch the animes to understand everything as a videogame should be understandable on its own. Combat feels kind of lame. Just spam B/circle and use plenty of potions. Enemies are a damage sponge. Buy it only for about 10-20€.

After all it's kiiiind of enjoyable somehow.

It feels like half the story ended up on the cutting room floor, but a bigger issue it is such a buggy broken unstable port that I can't recommend it. Stutters even on a 4080 and Ryzen 7900X. Have to save and restart it once an hour to avoid crashes. I don't have any stability issues with my other games (except FF16, but that is still far more stable than this turd)

After a restart, I spent 20 minutes on the tedious Cerberus fight grinding that health bar down to zero, only to get a 5 second cutscene, and then his health back up to 100% and literally the same fight in the same location, only for the game to crash out part way through and lose all progress. I'm done. I don't care enough about the story to deal with this. I wish I could refund it but please don't buy this game.

Lovely Final Fantasy

Great combat and story check it out if you love FF.

i conquered this game originally on xbox at launch. The game is slow paced, mechanically easy, empty world, lots of fetch missions, with a radius mission where you wander around hoping to find a needle, story is broken up with forced plots with a lot of off screen stuff that happens. The combat is either hold a button, hold a dodge or lock on then teleport to enemy. So loooooots of bad stuff with this game. still better than 13 so it gets thumbs up

With a slight pacing fix and having an option to play all the DLC's when they take place in the story and this game would be a 10/10

I remember playing this game on PS4, the first time I've played any final fantasy games and i'm very grateful. That fact, that i can play it on the computer for the first time is amazing, you can add mod which was interesting. The time i spend grinding on this game is one of the best experience I've had. I'm bad at explaining things. Should you play this game, yes the hype when it first came out was in incredible. Something ill cherish forever. Thank You for coming to my ted talk ^^

👍
I'll give this game a positive because i still enjoyed my experience with it, but i can't help but point out how much potential this game had with its story. Even if you watch everything and play the dlcs when you need to, there's still clearly shit missing which is just so sad and disappointing. This could've been one of the best games in the franchise but just fell way too short.

Imo the gameplay, lore and character moments between the main 4 guys was enough for me to remain invested and have fun.

Originally released for the Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4), I was hoping this game will be released to the PC and my wish came true but originally didn't have the Computer to support this. My nephew has built me a computer and it took me some time to purchase this game due to cost and my limited Internet access.

Finally bought this game after running the Game Benchmark tool (2022) and was advised of "Average" performance on normal setting, What interested me on this game is the removal of the Active Turn Bar (ATB) and focused on real time Action similar to "The Third Birthday" (Or Parasite Eve 3 to some people).

The good side is the tuneup they made for the PC version and I loved every part of it, from the real time effects and interaction to the ability to explore the world as needed. Cindy ( or the "Eye candy" mechanic) also reminds me of what SquareEnix would do in terms of character details (don't forget the Chocobo!!!), I have breathe a sigh of relief for staying on the PC platform instead of buying the PS4 (I have the OG Playstation and Playstation Portable so don't worry Sony!)

Even though there were minor issue on character responsiveness during battle or some attack doesn't land even though the animation did register, I found it minor and really enjoy the experience.

This is one of the expensive purchase I made and was really thankful about it, I hope I can enjoy this more and hopefully SquareEnix is doing their best to surprise me in the future.

Note: To SquareEnix, please be patience with my purchases since It cost a fortune to buy a game and don't forget to return to your root on why you have developed the Final Fantasy series, I have bought the Final Fantasy 7,8,9,X,X-2 after 2 decades and XV is my way of thanking your company for releasing your game to Steam. Thank you for reliving my younger years. (Respectful Bow...)

very fun and entertaining and the mods make it 10/10

love the game, its gorgeous and i love the gameplay mechanics

After I let this one sink in, and reading some more about its quite troubled development, I have to say it’s a small miracle we got what we got. This is actually a very well made FF with likable characters. Even though most side characters you only meet once or twice and they are never seen nor heard from again. But as it stands I’m actually really happy I got back to this one and finished it with 100% achievements. Though the comrades stuff I could have done without.

For achievement hunters a guide is really recommended, especially for the otherwise easily missed data entries. Besides this it just takes around 100 hours give or take to get them all. In the end, in my opinion, worth it though.

60fps in average graphic on legion go looks good

Great storyline. combat can be very tricky though when using the keyboard/mouse ... if you study the combat moves closely it'll you help you survive and win. if all else fails google some youtube videos from other players.

Game is pretty cool. It's the closest to FFXII out of the entire series which i consider a plus. Also, kinda scratches that Mass Effect itch.

I had some stuttering issues in 4k on a system that should more than be able to handle it fine, Ddjusted a bunch of options and followed a bunch of forums posts to little avail. Oddly enough, downloading the 4k texture pack and turning everything to high made it look much better and ran smooth as butter. Just posting this hear because it worked for me and I hadn't read about this anywhere.

Also, Free Palestine

Not the worst Final Fantasy i've every played nor is it my favorite, the game has its fair share of problems but i'll say that after giving the game a real chance i think the game is pretty solid but its obviously incomplete.

The game has its fair share of problems, its clear that the game was really ambitious but it has a REALLY troubled development but i think they tried their best for this Royal/Windows Edition. Final Fantasy 15 probably has the smallest party compared to other mainline games and the game itself relies heavily on the development and interplay between the 4 characters, the game quickly establish their relationship and group dynamic right as the game starts while the standard pattern for a Final Fantasy game is the character meeting and getting to know each other as the game progress which is not a bad thing. Though i feel like the attack on Insomnia before the second chapter could be more impactful if they let you run around and explore the city for a bit and see more of Noctis and his father relationship without having to see other piece of media to know it, even though they put a scene from the Kingsglaive movie in this version which i feel like isn't enough with how quickly the plot progresses from there but it was honestly a good call instead of not showing it at all.
The game actually have a good story, but it was told in probably one of the worst way with how all over the place it is if you want to know about what happens before the game in multiple form of media.

Most people say that the battle system are bad because all you had to do is hold 1 button down and the battle play itself, i mean yeah you obviously wouldn't have a good time if you decided to choose the most unfun and least effective way to play, its not as deep as a full on action game but you got quite a big variety of attacks with how each different weapon have different directional attack to play around with, though the game didn't explicitly told you about the directional attack
even though positioning is an important factor in combat.
Not to mention the soundtracks are great, can't go wrong with Yoko Shimomura.

The open world settings compliment the roadtrip adventure concept of the game, i actually find myself enjoying traversal with the car and didn't use the fast travel that much... and the picture mechanic for each day in the game is really cool with how it randomly generated depends on what you do, it gives your adventure some personal touch. Even though the lighting acts a bit weird sometimes, for a game from 2018 FF15 still looks really good and more importantly THE FOOD LOOKS REALLY GOOD, the game even have some cool enviromental impact detail of magic spells that FF16 didn't have and i personally think the blizzard spell in XV is the best one in the series.

After going through development hell im glad that the DLCs helped the game a bit with its weird pacing, and lets us get another playable character that plays differently. The new final dungeon does a really good job naturally letting you play as each party members as the fight progress.
The game is not that long but when the credits rolls it felt like a long journey and felt rewarding to me.
Despite all the hate i find myself liking the game and i really enjoyed playing it, you can't go wrong by giving it a try, especially on sale. Kinda reminds me of FF8 where people either love it or hate it.

Still wish they didn't cancel the Aranea DLC, but hey at least the game has chocobo drifting!

For me personally, this game is very fun and been the most entertaining story I've played so far. It may not be perfect but it's still great.

I am kinda new to final fantasy so this is not pretending to be a review, but my impressions.

This game has a lot of cons, and it took some time and few attempts for it to click. I think part of the issue is the clunky menus/UI, however the settings and spectacular fantasy got me interested to the point I was able to finally get the gameplay and enjoy the game to its fullest.

As a long-time Final Fantasy fan, FFXV truly hit home for me. The first half of the game is a fantastic road trip, letting you bond with your friends while taking in the beautiful world. It’s an unforgettable experience, and the music is chef’s kiss—especially the main theme, which sticks with you long after the credits roll.

Gameplay-wise, it’s solid, but I can’t help but prefer the action and depth of FFVII Remake and Rebirth. That said, the combat is fluid, and the world itself is full of charm.

The story starts off as a bittersweet journey, pulling you in, and by the end, it’s a dark and emotional ride that I absolutely loved. The plot is compelling and has its twists, with Ardyn being one of the most intriguing villains in the franchise. The DLCs really dive deeper into his character, making him even more fascinating.

Noctis’ character development is great, and by the end, Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto feel like family. The relationships you build with them throughout the game add so much depth.

While FFXV may not be the best in the series, it stands on its own with a unique vibe, a captivating world, an emotional story, and a soundtrack that deserves to be remembered. The side quests can get repetitive, and some gameplay elements could have been improved, but overall, it’s a solid game.

Strong 8.5/10—definitely memorable, and the ending of the main game and Chapter 9 will stay with me forever.

Well... the game is pretty, looks very good, flashy even... But the story doesn't really feel "emotional" or credible enough. Example: a character dies and the protagonist is off to get some amethysts for a random dude (the quest is available right after the event). Not only that but the side quests are mostly fetch "item 39" and bring to Xyz person which makes for boring sidequests that I am doing my best to avoid.

Plus, the game feels soooooooooooooooooooooooooo slow, there's 13 screens to say "hey, you completed a quest". Example: in a quest I brought some tomatoes to a dude, after I delivered them there were unsinkable messages of "Quest completed, you brought tomatoes" (3 secs) "Here are your rewards" (3secs) then the dude: "Hey man, thanks" (5 secs), then the blonde companion goes "Hey, we did a good thing" (5 secs), then Noct just stands there. JUST GIVE ME THE COMPLETED MESSAGE ALREADY AND LET ME MOVE ON.

The is a flustrating experience so far. The combat is basically done by pressing 2 buttons: X to attack (in an Xbox controller) and B to teleport, with a few far and between situations to press RT to command your companions to attack in a special way (NOTE: they do almost NO DAMAGE to enemies otherwise). BORING AS HELL.
Oh, but there'are some cute girls. And food recipes, lots of them, everywhere, "Hey a red smelly cactus" dude in glasses: "DID YOU JUST SAY NEW RECIPE?".
So far, the most boring, empty and vague Final Fantasy I've played. Go play the other FF, they are less boring.

I see a colossal amount of good ratings for the story so I will try and finish this game, let's see if I will bite my tongue.

You know, I kinda wish we got the rest of this game's DLC and it didn't get shitcanned, because there's the bones of something truly special buried within Final Fantasy XV that I can't quite describe but I'm going to attempt to here anyway. Most of the people who would want to purchase this game probably already have, but since FFXVI is out and Clive is in Tekken 8, I'm sure people will probably have some mild interest in this and at that I think some explanation is warranted as to what this is, and what it is not.

This game is not a good story, but it is a story with good characters. It's not a good action game, but it is a game with good action. This game is not an open world adventure, but it does have a world that is open to have adventures in. This game is not a dungeon crawler, but it does have dungeons you can crawl through, sometimes literally. It's a simulacrum of many different types of games, coming together to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts, but probably in a bad way with how heavy it gets.

For example, this game has a LOT of side-missions and sidequests. Maybe I don't wanna do a solid 50-60 hunt quests where I go to a random place, kill a random monster and return for money I won't spend and materials I won't use. But the process of doing those quests, and going to those random locations and beating those random monsters, reveals something I might actually want to use, like a gathering point for materials I will use or a fishing spot for fish I will catch or a campsite for resting and eating food that is useful to continuing the game.

These missions aren't difficult. Nothing in this game is difficult, even its hardest challenges and most in-depth setpieces. It's an easy game, made even easier by how cracked out leveling up is even though they try to restrict you by only tallying experience when you rest. But since you can easily double the amount of experience you gain within the first hour of the game, and then in its second half find a way to triple it and go even further, it's not like leveling will actually be difficult. Same goes for equipment -- the materials you find are plentiful and the weapons and gear you can discover or that drop from enemies or bosses keep you going with minimal effort.

Shoot, you can even turn the game on an easier mode so you're just kinda rolling around steamrolling everything. Even the deadly monsters that appear at night that you're supposed to be afraid of (and probably are at first since they're three times your level) are actually pretty surmountable and later trivial because of the sheer number of recovery items and combat options you have for dealing with stuff like this. That doesn't even cover your ability to swap to any of your other bros and change what game you're playing (Dark Souls for Gladio, a shittier DMC for Ignis and a surprisingly competent third person shooter for Prompto) when you don't feel like dealing with Noctis's busted-ass auto-fighting and teleporting powers.

So where IS the effort in this game? I suppose it's in riding chocobos over the sweeping landscapes, or admiring the scenery while you're doing the speed limit on the highway in your Mercedes-Benz, or the dopamine hit you get from doing an impromptu dual tech with your one-to-three best friends in the whole wide world or the cute little interactions the Backstreet Anime Boys have when they're chilling in the car or at camp. They play cards, they swipe their phones to help each other in gacha game raids, they hoist up and sit on the top of the seats in the convertible when the sun's out, they banter and laugh and give you a front-row seat to everything they do, every photo they take, every meal they eat. In that sense, this game is... Amazing. This journey is amazing, something truly wonderful to spectate and bring to its conclusion.

But that's the problem: You're spectating it. You're watching it unfold, but not really being an active participant in doing so. The plot is a series of checkpoints and serious conversations held by people who are far away from the moments that have ruined their lives and emotionally unimpactful developments that you know you're supposed to care about, but that you don't really understand. There's a few reasons why. The translation is one of them. If you pick up the English Subtitles For Japanese Voice-Over mod that uses yu_eriyama's retranslation of the story, you get a much stronger understanding of how the characters are feeling than in the original.

The other is probably the game's budgetary limitations and development hell. FFXV started life in 2009 as a side-game to Final Fantasy XIII, and we all know the story of how Squeenix handled that, including the disastrous launch of FFXIV and its later extremely popular revival and the general loss of brand power of Final Fantasy compared to the 90s and early 2000s. So when this game launched on the PS4, it was a complete mess; the story was barely complete (they had to add cutscenes that were just footage from the movie to make it make more sense), they had to expand and revise the final areas in a post-game patch, they only got to release four DLCs for the game out of a planned seven (most of the story's main heroines were supposed to get a DLC), and even the multiplayer was tacked-on but also unusually important for understanding the state of the world at the end of the game, which is never something you want to do.

Most FF fans know this already. This game is fraught. But you can see where decisions Squeenix made during this game's development showed up later. Kingdom Hearts 3's combat probably wouldn't be so loose and full of spectacle and ridiculous particle effects if this game didn't have them. Same goes for FFXVI. This game also sold well enough to give the developers the breathing room to make FFXIV something truly special, to make more, better Final Fantasy games and to release a bunch of remakes and updates of games that people loved in the past, like Trials of Mana or Saga Frontier Remastered. It saved the franchise, and it really tries to push the envelope of what an RPG actually is.

An RPG isn't necessarily just a set of numbers and statistics, or a narrative that you shape and participate through your actions. If we want to talk about roles, FFXV's role for you is pretty clear: You're here to enjoy the show. The anime boys are here to put it on for you, and be your guides through it, and maybe remind you that there's more fun to be had in the journey than just in its conclusion.