"Final Fantasy XV" Review

Though it is no longer 2016, I'm still reviewing and playing games from 2016 in order to make my end of the year lists all the more accurate. 2016 was a year of trying new things for me. I jumped into Doom earlier this year despite not having any experience in the parent franchise, and now I've played Final Fantasy XV despite having never played a Final Fantasy title. Many other gamers have fond memories of the Final Fantasy VII and the like, but I personally have never gotten into it. Part of the reason why this is the case is the fact that I've never really been into JRPGs. I enjoyed Resonance of Fate and I played many early JRPGs such as Shining Force, Fire Emblem, etc, but in general the modern JRPG formula is one that I just don't like very much. It has always seemed to be flash and trash as opposed to flash and substance. There is always a lot of emphasis on spectacle but not much on story or making spectacle mean something. Despite all of these hangups, however, I had heard good things about Final Fantasy XV. I had heard that the combat had been switched from turn-based to realtime, and while I can definitely appreciate turn-based combat, the fact that Square Enix decided to change up the formula in that way made me think that perhaps this one would be different. Perhaps Final Fantasy XV would be the game that would make me appreciate JRPGs or at the very least help JRPGs change for the better. Well, with major changes comes transition problems as can be expected, but despite a host of flaws, I'm proud to say that as a non-fan of the series, I greatly enjoyed Final Fantasy XV. You may not get that impression once you start reading given the fact that it is also one of the most flawed games I've played in a while. You may start expecting quite a low score as you read, but it is a testament to how much I enjoyed the game that so many flaws couldn't dampen my spirits. I like to pride myself on being detailed and on explaining everything I feel in my reviews, but I just won't be able to do that this time around. I will be trying my best, but my love of Final Fantasy XV kind of defies explanation.
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In Final Fantasy XV, you play as Prince Noctis, who is on his way to be married to his childhood friend, Lunafreya. This marriage will secure an end to a long-raging war between Noctis' country of Lucis and the Niflheim (no, I'm not kidding. That is the name) Empire, which currently is in control of Lunafreya's country of Tenebrae. Noctis is traveling with his three friends: Gladiolus (his bodyguard), Ignis (the cook and former roommate...I think), and Prompto (his best friend since school). However, as Noctis and friends are on their way to the wedding, the Empire takes advantage of a treaty signing ceremony to attack the capital of Lucis. The game opens up on a desert highway, where our heroes are stranded as their car has broken down. From there, they push the car down the highway for a while, completely unaware of the attack on the capital, and a Florence and the Machine cover of "Stand by Me" plays. Now, I've never been a huge Florence and the Machine fan. After all, they performed the credits song for Dragon Age II, and I'm still a little bit sore about that whole ordeal. However, their performance here is great and it does an excellent job of showing us that this game is about friendship and loyalty. All-in-all its a strong opening even if you end up pushing that car for juuuuust a little bit too long. From this point, Noctis and his friends embark on an adventure of friendship and destiny. If that is perhaps a little vague, I'm sure you can forgive me, because the rest of the story is just about as vague.
I went into Final Fantasy XV having watched both Kingsglaive (the two hour film that sets up the events that occur in the background of the beginning) and Brotherhood (the five episode anime series that establishes the motivations of each character), and I would recommend that you do the same. Yes, it means that you'll spend approximately four hours viewing backstory, but take my word for it: You will be able to get attached to the characters and the world much easier if you watch the source material before starting. Now, unfortunately, it is very likely that you will still not know what's going on by the end even if you watch the source material. I definitely had to go through a few theory videos to even remotely grasp the end events, so lackluster is the overall storytelling in Final Fantasy XV. I just don't understand. Everything started off so simple and compelling: A political marriage, an evil empire, and the power of a bloodline. The story could have been much better if the folks at Square Enix had been able to control themselves and keep it simple.
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As bad as the overall storytelling is, however,  Final Fantasy XV's focus is not on the overall story. It is on the moment-to-moment story, the friendship between Noctis and the group, and small moments scattered throughout. If you want proof of this, then I would present the fact that the main threat isn't even introduced until 3/4 of the way through the game as evidence. In this regard, Final Fantasy XV absolutely excels. It is a game that took me by surprise. At first I laughed at Noctis' stupid hair and angst and laughed at the fact that the group came off as a boy band. Then, after a jarring shift in story tone (which I will touch on with NO spoilers later), I realized - Not suddenly started to acknowledge, realized - that I was thoroughly invested in this boy band's struggle. I found myself feeling sorry for some of the characters, and given that I had only seen them as Anime NSYNC up until that point, that is impressive. That Final Fantasy XV is capable of stealing my heart while I'm busy laughing at it is a testament to the excellent job it does with its development of the friendship between the characters.
Let me explain in an incredibly long-winded way. With Brotherhood in the back of one's head the characters' motivations are more clear, but they are still pretty much just cliches. Noctis is the angsty character struggling to come to terms with his place in the world, Gladiolus is the one who obsesses about honor and his duty, Ignis has a British accent and is always the voice of reason, and Prompto constantly yammers on about being hungry and about things being "awesome." These are all character bases that you've undoubtedly seen done thousands of times. Even most of the side characters are the kinds of characters you've seen done before. Iris (the sister of Gladiolus) has a huge crush on Noctis and is a little bit bashful, Cor (the marshal of the Lucis army) beats himself up about having not been able to fulfill his duty, Lunafreya (the bride-to-be) is a female character with absolutely zero personality, etc. Really, the only character with any kind of depth is the main villain, whose identity I won't spoil.
With this in mind, it should seem odd that I got so invested in the story. I know for a fact that it shocked me. Mere sentences ago I accused Lunafreya of having no personality, and I stand by that. Even earlier than that I accused Noctis of being stupid and angsty. One thing that was clear in the story was the fact that, despite the marriage being required for peace, both characters really wanted to be married. I can recall a point in the story that I will say nothing about, but in this moment I forgot that neither character was particularly well developed. In this moment I, too, wanted them to marry because I wanted them to be happy. Having now completed the game I believe the cause of this phenomenon was not because I was invested in the characters themselves, but rather because I became invested in the realistic way that the relationships between them were written.
Hopefully that helps to explain why I loved the story so much. If not, know that it is because I myself am still a little unsure as to why I enjoyed it. It is an odd thing to be snuck up on like that by a game's story.
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In the introduction I mentioned that there were some changes from previous titles in Final Fantasy XV and that one such change was in making the combat realtime. As I mentioned, I have no problem with turn-based combat, but given a choice I will always choose realtime. Call me some of the names that I call people who only play multiplayer games if you must, but that is just the reality of it. While combat in XV is not perfect, I thought that what we got was a decent implementation of strategy elements into realtime combat. You have four slots, one mapped to each of the directional buttons, in which you equip weapons or spells. You can equip swords, daggers, greatswords, shields, firearms, magic weapons from the story, polearms (spears), machinery (things like auto crossbows), fire magic, ice magic, and lightning magic. Different enemies have different weaknesses, so the key is to be flexible with which weapons you use. In a manner similar to Dragon Age, your three friends can only use two kinds of weapons apiece, so it adds a little bit of balance.
Combat is typically a dance of two buttons: the dodge button and the attack button. You hold down the attack button to chain attacks and hold down the dodge button to automatically phase through most attacks at the cost of MP. When your MP gets too low it takes a while to recharge, so an important aspect of combat is keeping an eye on the MP meter. MP is also used to power your "warp strikes." Warp strikes are...*sigh*....really cool. Essentially, Noctis throws whatever weapon he is using and teleports to it. In battle this means you throw your weapon at an enemy and then Noctis attacks this enemy straight out of the teleport. This adds a little bit more mobility to the combat, which is important to me in my post-Doom life. More importantly, in addition to dealing a decent amount of damage, these warp strikes can break off a piece of an enemy or leave an enemy vulnerable to attacks. Moral of the story: keep an eye on the MP meter.
In addition to the MP meter, another aspect of gameplay to keep an eye on is the bar that controls ally skills. As you fight, a meter fills up gradually, and at certain points it allows you to call upon one of your friends to perform a special move. There are many different moves with many different effects, but they can all turn the tide of battle. Earlier I referred to combat as a dance, and that really is the correct term. Battle is chaotic, and you need to pay attention and balance the many meters and techniques in order to win.
We can sit here and talk about how gameplay works or how dancelike it is until we're blue in the face, but the pivotal question is: is it fun? For me, it most certainly is. While it may sound boring to just hold down one button to attack, I would encourage you to take my word for it when I say that it is much more nuanced and complicated than that. After all, I covered maybe a quarter of the amount of ways gameplay can pan out. There are also link strikes, blindsides, blindside links, summons, point warps, Ascension Points (essentially the perks system) and some other little gameplay tidbits that I left out. Ultimately, I am going to be moving on from combat for two reasons: 1) If I were to cover every little thing I would probably never finish and 2) I want to let you discover some of these things yourselves.
One last thing to touch on in this section, though, is experience and leveling up. Every battle you win earns you experience points. Chances are you're played an RPG before, so you know how these things work. Unlike many RPGS, though, you can only level up by sleeping. Whether at a campsite in the wilderness or at a hotel, once you sleep all of the experience you gained since last you slept is tallied up and you level up accordingly. Likewise, individual skills for each character level up depending on certain factors. For instance, Noctis' fishing skill might level up if he went fishing and caught enough rare fish since last he slept. Gladiolus' survival skill might level up depending on how much you walked, Ignis' cooking skill might increase if he made a complex meal, and Prompto's photography skill might increase if he took enough pictures. You can level these skills up anywhere, but each kind of lodging provides a different bonus. If you sleep at a campsite, Ignis will prepare a meal that will give your entire team a certain kind of buff for whatever battles are waiting. If you sleep in a hotel, you don't get buffs, but your experience is multiplied by a certain amount. Where you will sleep will depend on which of these perks you want...or which one is the most readily available, as was often the case for me. Either way you tally up your experience and sort through the photos that Prompto organically takes throughout your journey (he takes photos in the heat of battle and it is actually really endearing).
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I am certain that previous Final Fantasy titles were "open world" in the sense that you could travel freely between places you had already been, but as far as I know, XV might be the first title to be what we might consider a "sandbox." Regardless of whether I'm right or wrong on the history here, Final Fantasy XV takes place in a sandbox setting more akin to Dragon's Dogma than GTAV. That is to say that there ins't much variety in the setting, but it is enjoyable to explore nonetheless. With activities such as fishing, bounty hunting, treasure hunting, various side quests, and photo ops for Prompto's photo collection, there is a lot to do in XV's open world. I didn't think that the side quests were particularly compelling, but the other things made for an enjoyable time. Most of my time not doing the main quests was spent taking on bounty hunts. In nearly every outpost there is a tipster who can point you to groups of creatures that need to be exterminated. Each one of these hunts gives you different rewards and helps to advance your hunter rank. A higher hunter rank gives you the ability to take on higher level hunts. It can be argued that this system is self-serving, but it was fun to do, regardless.
What was less fun about the open world, however, was being chained to the terrible car. Final Fantasy XV is partially a road trip tale, so Noctis and friends mostly get around in a car that handles terribly. Of the many little bitty flaws that this game has, one of the bigger ones is the stupid car. It is confined to the road, so it is not really useful when your objective is in the middle of the wilderness. Not only that, but you can't so much as drive on the wrong side of the road or turn unless at a specific point. So, basically, what it amounts to is sitting through scenery for periods of up to five minutes, and that's if you end up going the correct way the first time, because there is no navigational feedback aside from manually opening the game map and checking where you're headed. You can have Ignis drive and save yourself the hassle of handling the terrible, floaty car, but then it is just five minutes of waiting with even less interaction. All in all, I just don't understand why the car had to be a part of the story. It is so much more fun to walk or ride chocobos through the wilderness, even with the less-than-stellar stamina bar.
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If you've kept up with reviews of Final Fantasy XV, you may have noticed that a common complaint seems to be the second half. This second half is that tone shift I mentioned in one of the initial paragraphs. This is going to be a little difficult to explain, so I'm going to go about it by explaining how it went for me, and hopefully that will make things clearer.
There comes a point in the story where something quite unexpected happens. At that point the story stops being the fun boy band road trip movie and starts taking on an entirely different emotional tone that I can't put an adjective to without spoiling. A non-spoiler word to describe it would definitely be "dark." I found it quite jarring, but it was the point where I realized I really cared about what was going on. This tone shift continues for the entire second half of the game, and at first I thought that other reviewers were out of their minds. I could understand where some of them were coming from; after all, the tone shift marks the end of the open world formula completely. Once the tone shift happens the game becomes almost 100% linear and story-based. I personally loved this portion of the game, however, and I thought that maybe other reviewers were just that mad about losing the open world. Then there came a point where Noctis ended up having to separate from the others for a while in an area made up entirely of corridors. I expected it to be a quick in and out mission, but it ended up being something like three hours of stealth (which isn't really an option until this point in the game). About halfway through that segment I came to a realization: the reviewers weren't talking about the tone shift and subsequent missions. They were talking about this point. Rest assured, dear readers, there are times when the general consensus is correct: that part is the worst part of the entire game. I still enjoyed parts of it, so it wasn't a total loss, but it was actually an objectively bad bit of game design. So if you are going to play Final Fantasy XV, keep an eye peeled. If the tone shift has happened and Noctis ends up having to separate from the others in an especially dark area, prepare yourself. Your experience will probably be infinitely better if you look for the signs and prepare accordingly.
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As I have done in many reviews lately, the last thing I would like to talk about is Final Fantasy XV's technical performance. Thankfully, the game's performance is good more often than not. I never noticed a drop in frame rate in my entire 20+ hours of play time. Likewise, I never noticed any texture pop-in, and the draw distance was consistent and more than suitable throughout. There were a few times in the early hours of the game when enemies would suddenly appear in my position because they hadn't been rendered initially or something like that, but it never took away from my experience and I just viewed it as a taste of what the game might look like if it had random encounters a-la early JRPGs. There were also times when one of Noctis' friends would just disappear from view, but come on. Anyone who actually takes off points for completely harmless little things like that is just nitpicking. All in all, Final Fantasy XV has a strong technical showing even with the chaos that sometimes engulfs the battlefield.
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Final Fantasy XV is a game in which getting around can sometimes be terribly boring and in which a decently sized section towards the end is made up of exclusively bad game design. It has a story that is hard to follow with an ending that comes off as nonsense until you do a lot of research. It may well be one of the more flawed games to come out this year. And yet it stands as a testament to the quality to be found underneath the flawed exterior that my first feeling after beating the game was not confusion at the nonsense ending, but rather deep sadness at the fact that it was over. I can think of only a few other games that I had this experience with: Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 3,  and Tales from the Borderlands being the first ones to come to mind. Some of my favorite games never invoked such a feeling. Ultimately this experience is the kind of thing that only happens when I enjoy every second of the journey more than I enjoy the journey itself...if that makes any sense. Final Fantasy XV might not have the same gigantic impact on gaming culture as titles such as Final Fantasy VII did, but in my personal gaming life it has left me with a hole in my heart that I never knew could exist. I tried starting what may be the last game I have to review before getting my end of the year lists done, The Last Guardian, but I found myself not being able to get invested...because I still just wanted to play Final Fantasy XV. All flaws aside, a product with that kind of staying power is one for the books.
So, let us review:

The car - 0.7
The section towards the end - 0.8
The nonsense story - 0.3

So, the final score for Final Fantasy XV is...
8.2/10 - Good
Great work, Square Enix, great work.