Final Fantasy XV feels a bit like the spinoff it was originally intended to be as far as game mechanics go. If they increased the focus on hunts and possibly crafting they could pull it off a little better, possibly when they add some sort of online component. I forsee co-op, arenas, and buddy hunts in the World of Ruin with Cindy, Iris, Aranea, and Cor as NPC's to fuck around with.
At this point it feels a bit like a poorly done Souls Square style without the lore dumps scattered around the world. A lot of the story complaints could be handled with a few lore dumps and exposition vie NPC's. The optional dungeons offer a challenge that is non existent from the vanilla game, so they will most likely expand those along with the character based DLC. Ultimately we have an action RPG that has been further streamlined into simplicity with some fairly good exploration/dungeon crawling involved. Most of the good dungeons are not unlocked until after you beat the game which is a change for the series. It reeks more of Bethesda really.
It needed another 6 months to be pulled off a little better, but people would have flipped out. It does have the best fishing minigame I have ever played in it and the photography mechanic is decent although it could have been improved with a firstperson view. The repeated dialog is atrocious, but if you are playing during the story it doesn't repeat as much. I would have those barks decreased by 75% at least.
"Sounds like a waste of time and money" says Ignis. I'm sure many here would agree with you buddy. This game isn't exactly geared to the Codex crowd, but those who like JRPG's will most likely find something enjoyable. I think a lot of the hate from the FF fanbase is largely due to a rabid following of any Versus material the past decade. If you keep building the game up to be something it is not, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. This is not disregarding any of the games faults, like the real time combat, plot holes, and relegating key plot points to 2 mediocre movie tie-ins. If you play on Wait mode with the camera sensitivity turned down you can alleviate some issues.
Still that being said the companion control is severely limited to the point where I don't know what they were thinking. Even adding similar abilities to other party members like some sort of Rally ability from Glados to duplicate the Regroup Ignis has, or extra firearm attacks for Prompto would have worked. I would have extended the "sphere" grid a lot. No limit breaks for the characters sucks dick too. Links don't replace that.
I am surprised to see how well Warp worked out, but I dislike how they gutted the magic system by limiting spell types. For a game of this type the crafting options are non existent. Final Fantasy VIII had the weapon upgrades you got from monster loot which would have worked here for other things besides weapons. Cid's weapon upgrades were too limited.
The Astrals are awesome, but they are limited and triggered rarely unless you get your ass kicked. They are basically nukes, but you can get cool shit like this:
It feels like they gutted the Final Fantasy XIII elements and replaced them with Arthurian/Christian mythology without expounding on the lore as much. A lot is left for interpretation or more likely DLC. People complained about Final Fantasy XIII being too linear and having too many cutscenes, but this game didn't have enough linear story beats or lore dumps. It shouldn't be hard to scatter a bunch of that shit across the world in magazines or collectibles to appease the lore whores.
Overall it is one of the more divisive entries in the series, but still a decent one considering the development issues. This is the first mainline entry to feature a Season Pass I think so there is that. I recall reading that Final Fantasy VII was completed in a little over a year because they focused on the tech first, then the game after the fact. This game feels a bit like that with adjusted development time for 2016.
They need to remove the invisible wall shit and add some fucking NPC's to TALK to like in the old games. The world feels lifeless when you can't talk to a fucking thing. The ambient dialog/storytelling is hit or miss in those regards. A lot of the main story is told through missable random chats heard while running around from no-name NPC's. You can really tell this is Square's early attempt at capitalizing off the Ubisoft/GTA crowd. Removing turn based is probably the biggest issue right off the bat, along with removing companion control which they are so intent on for some reason I will never understand. Ardyn is a pretty good Kefkaesque style villain actually, but he has very little development. Chapter 13 is a definite low point when it switches to survival horror for the whole fucking thing then they remove your party in the final battle. So many poor choices mixed in with good potential mar what would have been a return to form.
Kingsglaive and Brotherhood being relegated to side stories when they are vital to certain character motivations is stupid as hell. Ravos gets no love in the game, but is vital to the movie. Luna is in the movie, but not as much in the game along with Regis and General Glauca - one of the most wasted villains in recent memory. You liked the Judges? Here is a guy who has that persona mixed in with a fucking Terminator but they leave him to fight Nyx, which only has a minor role in a missable novella prologue and a background cameo in the final battle. Weird as shit. Square Enix is insane.
would play again.
