A Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers.
It's been five years already since I started a marathon of the most recognizable JRPG series, and then reviewing them here. As stand alone titles, each one would bring something new to the table, be it a new combat system, a gripping plot, or a new setting.
The fan community is heavily divided by not only which main title is the best or worst, but also by which of them contributed objectively the most, critically or commercially, groundbreaking or tiresomely.
With Final Fantasy XV, a title for which we have waited a long time, I am once again confounded and conflicted with emotions as to how I would rate it. Following after in my opinion a disastrous direction with XIII, it manages to reverse flip that one's structure.
Love it or hate it, open world is the current trend in video gaming. And this is also the game's strongest point. It's combat system is like a lite edition compared to say, Kingdom Hearts, but for me it worked and it had enough variety with it's weapons while magic and summons took a backseat.
The so called "boy band" or the 4 heroes/brothers for life are all likable, from big brother vanguard Gladio to energetic Prompto to my favorite cooking Ignis who gives gentle advice at night, they accompany Noctis, a fairly convincing protagonist destined and strong willed to claim his heritage.
Quests are granted pretty standard, from fetching to delivering to combating, to miscellaneous activities like Chocobo Racing and fishing, the side content of Final Fantasy XV is easily satisfying, so much that I leveled just enough in order to finish the main story.
And that's easily the game's weakest point, alongside the second half direction of returning to tight corridors and hallways, with Chapter 13 standing out as the most generic and redundant time in this fantasy, reflecting on everything that is wrong with the industry today.
Granted, Final Fantasy storylines have always gone over the top, but atleast some of them remain classic in nature and have a well constructed narrative and presentation to show them off, alongside drama and emotional effects. With XV, I didn't care on the grand picture for what was happening, as camping out at night or exploring was more satisfying.
Graphically, it's also a mixed bag, alongside glitches and bugs that really should not had happened with this game's infamous development hell/vaporware status. At times the landscapes, outposts and the people can be beautiful, but at other times, NPC's can freeze or move awkward, and textures can fail, depending on the camera's angle.
The priorities as to how the game got designed in it's categories sometimes also questioned me back towards the Japanese developers at Square Enix as to what they were thinking, and once again does Chapter 13 come to mind and be the prime example.
In the end though, I really enjoyed the first half as I took my time driving around the land with the Regalia and 3 of my best virtual buddies while memorizing with tunes from all of the old main Final Fantasy soundtracks, which easily beats out the second half.
Rating: 7.5
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