Review: Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV was fast games announced way back in 2006 as part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy shared world, with Final Fantasy XIII as its starting point. With Tetsuya Nomura initially behind the project, Final Fantasy XV was originally Final Fantasy Versus XIII and another game in the set, Final Fantasy Agito XIII became Final Fantasy Type-0. However, as Final Fantasy XIII got sequel after sequel, and Type-0 was released and re-released in HD, Versus XIII was left without any word as to its status, and for many years, at that.

Review: Final Fantasy XV

Seven years later, in 2013, the project finally resurfaced, with a new project head in Hajime Tabata (who was also behind Type-0's development), new consoles for it to be on (PS4 and Xbox One, whereas Versus XIII was a scheduled PS3 release), and - most notably - a name change: from Versus XIII to XV. Subsequently, all references to the XIII universe such as L'Cie, Etro and, well, Lightning, were removed or reworked and Final Fantasy XV got its own universe with several different pieces of media to build up its lore.

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Yet, after ten long years of development, the game now known as Final Fantasy XV still finds a way to feel rushed. Well, that depends on what type of Final Fantasy player you are: one who plays for the gameplay, or one who plays for the story. This game ends up being a significantly different experience depending on which one you are.

For the gameplay-oriented, the battle system will be the game's main draw, and its a battle system unlike any other mainline Final Fantasy before it.

Throughout the game, the player controls only its main character: Noctis Lucis Caellum, the crown prince of Lucis. A button is designated for Noctis to attack, one to "warp-strike" to a specific spot or area, one to defend or parry, as well as one to access items, and more. His companions usually consist of his bodyguard Gladiolus, his advisor Ignis and his good albeit goofy friend Prompto. The game's AI handles these three characters, though the player can have each character activate a specific ability once a tech bar is filled up enough to do so. Rarely, additional characters can join the party for a little bit, but its never that long.

Noctis can equip basically any weapon in the game (you can equip four which Noctis can freely swap between), as well as "elemental grenades" which count as the game's magic. You, the player, "craft" magic from Fire, Ice, or Lightning deposits, and you can add a catalyst item to boost your magic as well. The other characters can equip a single main weapon type, and either a secondary weapon type or magic.

Battles can easily become a clustered, hectic mess, where mashing your attack and defend buttons just has to do to get you through mobs of enemies. Magic is very powerful, especially after you boost it with catalysts, but they're really only reliable in Noctis' hands, and they do hurt your allies as well, though as you level up that becomes less and less of an issue. Airborne enemies can be bothersome as well, as you're forced to use either warp strikes, magic or long-range weapons, none of which are ideal.

Still, it does feel great to pull off a parry on enemies or dealing additional damage via back attacks or through partner link-strikes. Being able to wipe out entire mobs of enemies with a single "grenade" of magic is quite satisfying as well. Overall, I enjoy how this game handles battling, its definitely more active than in Final Fantasies past, though not entirely seamless either.

Final Fantasy XV is broken up into 14 chapters (with a 15th chapter strictly for postgame content). For much of the first eight chapters, you're given the freedom to drive, ride, run, and otherwise explore the game's world at your leisure. This includes scores of hunts, sidequests and dungeons which contain ancient weapons that player is advised to acquire (though only a few are mandatory overall).

Quickly, you'll become accustomed to the party's main method of travel: their sleek car the Regalia. You can redesign or decorate its outer body, interior and wheels (the body you'll likely require items to do so) and there are sidequests you can do with the game's main mechanic - Cindy - to upgrade to the car to make it go faster, improve its fuel mileage or upgrade the headlights to make night-driving worry-free.

The diners in the game offer their unique sets of monster hunts. These are the bulk of the side material, with all sorts of monsters both familiar or not to provide a steady challenge. The dungeons - most of which are only optional - are fun to traverse through and offer the most fun of the optional content.

Many of the sidequests, though, are not as exciting. They are either glorified hunts, or are glorified fetch quests which require you to search a very specific part or parts of a larger area. Sometimes, these searches can be interrupted by enemies, making the process somewhat frustrating.

Another annoyance is how time consuming traveling is. Whether by foot, car, or chocobo, it can take quite awhile to get from destination from destination. If you use the Regalia to quick travel to previous locations, the load times between each use is quite lengthy as well. Subsequently, you'd have to set aside quite a bit of time if you decide to partake in this game's sidequests.