So, let’s get the basics out of the way. Final Fantasy XV, or Final Fantasy Versus VIII as it was known at one point, was finally released after a development cycle of roughly ten years. There’s some irony in this given that the game’s story itself is supposed to span the course of ten years. But was it worth the wait?
The story of Final Fantasy XV takes place in a modern like world where one of the nations relies heavily on the protection of its king, who does so with the help of the last remaining magical crystal. As expected, rival nations envy the king and his safe haven and it’s only a matter of time before they join together to destroy everything he worked to achieve and take off with the crystal. Fortunately the king has a backup plan in the form of his son, Noctis, who with his band ma…. loyal friends sworn to protect him escape the fallen nation and goes off on a quest to gain power and take back what was rightfully his from the main antagonist, the Empire and its ruler. Funnily enough, it’s a lot easier to process all of this information by watching Kingsglaive, a CGI film that tells the story of the fall of the nation, Lucis, through the eyes of the king’s bodyguards. The game attempts to incorporate some key scenes from this CGI film, but it’s a lot easier to process it all by watching it and getting a better insight of why Noctis is on this quest.
Perhaps one of the biggest problems with the game though is how little it seems to care about sharing background story for its characters. Beyond the couple of flashbacks given to Noctis, the rest of his companions are more or less left as blank slates who only seem to live to protect their future king. Indeed, this issue becomes more apparent when characters who we are supposedly meant to care about perish. It’s quite difficult to to do so when there’s little reason given beyond the fact that a fictional human being has lost his/her life.
Whilst remarkable, Final Fantasy XV/s willingness to cater for the generation of selfies and living in the now can border on the obsessive. Each of the members in the squad has a skill that he gets better at performing throughout the course of the story. Well, it’s up to the player to ensure that Noctis gets better at fishing, if that is an activity that is of interest to the player. Prompto is obsessed with taking as many photos as possible and they usually consist of selfies. This means that Prompto will regularly ask the player to stop (completely optional) at different times for key photo opportunities. At first it’s endearing and the fact that Prompto dutifully takes photos and shares them with the group whenever they are resting is adorable. Yet, ideas like this make it seem like the team may have sacrificed what could have perhaps been time better spent focusing on improving some of the weaker aspects of the title.
The real time combat, although revolutionary for a franchise like Final Fantasy isn’t exactly on par with what similar titles already offer. It works when dealing with most normal enemies seeing as they aren’t that much of a nuisance to deal with. However, it is during some of the frankly not as epic as expected boss fights that glaring issues start to pop up. There are rare times where it’s necessary for Noctis to dart around the sky clashing blades with enemies and it doesn’t feel like the player is doing much beyond pressing a button. Then there are bosses where pressing buttons at the right times is all that is necessary to eventually defeat them. Most of the tougher battles are seemingly easier to win by mashing attack buttons and hoping for the best. Whilst considered archaic, at least the old Final Fantasy turn based fighting system worked and made it a lot easier to come up with different strategies.
At least the supporting characters are used efficiently in battle. Each of them has skills that players can assign to them and use in combat once the required amount in a bar has been filled. They can also work well as a team by coordinating attacks to deal a lot more damage.
The magic abilities that have made Final Fantasy so special are confined to a crafting system that creates different attacks based on items used to combine with raw elemental energy. The only real glimpse of magic comes from the mighty mythical beings, like Shiva, that Noctis can summon when a fight isn’t going well or during certain times in key boss battles.
At least Noctis and his squad have access to a wide variety of weapons that can be purchased or obtained in quests. Whilst some of the weapons Noctis acquires from the tombs of previous kings are powerful tools, they also have a tendency for drawing his very life force when he damages enemies.
In this title, health is represented in the form of two bars. The first bar doesn’t seem to last very long and a hit or two from a fairly powerful enemy will deplete it. This then means that the character has been downed and it is necessary for a comrade to get him up, use a health item or run away from the battle when possible. Players can also prevent being downed by using items or resting at clearly marked spots (also restores a bar used for a short range teleport ability) on the field. If the second health bar is depleted when downed, then only the power of the mighty Phoenix Down item will bring back the character. A companion losing all health is fine, but it’s game over if it happens to Noctis. This rather complex system seems unnecessary and it means spending a significant amount of time buying and using different supplies. It’s particularly annoying when running out of Elixirs, since they are used to recover the health bar when not downed.
What Final Fantasy XV does exceptionally well is delivering one of the very few worlds, outside of the MMO genre, that truly feels alive. Hang around eavesdropping in one of the early towns that the characters visit and you’ll find out that it’s more or less being run by its female characters. The women literally run the town and work whilst most of the men seem to take care of their offspring and live a life of pleasure. It’s fascinating to find such a concept in a game and one that has such a focus on its male only main cast of good looking young men. Albeit it has its drawbacks, such as coming across far too powerful creatures far earlier than expected, it is great to be given the freedom to more or less explore the land as the story progresses. Each section of the land is given its own identity from the mostly desert terrain at the start to the lush Venice style town. If anything, Final Fantasy XV is a treat for the eyes and one well worth spending hours exploring.
Although, this freedom to explore is narrowed down to corridors late into the story, it isn’t the main reason for concern. Instead, this is down to stealth game mechanics that don’t work particularly well for a title such as this. Being forced to play hide and seek with creatures, or even just follow enemies in rare quests earlier in the story, didn’t feel particularity enjoyable and the controls certainly didn’t help.
It’s not a Japenese role playing game without the typical dungeons and in this case they are usually dark caves. These dark caves are where Noctis will find the weapons of the previous kings that are needed to reclaim his throne. It’s in these that a glimmer of potential is usually found as players try to make their way through the various paths to get to the entrance of the tomb and a confrontation with a slightly more powerful enemy. Part of the reason that makes dungeons so memorable are the music tracks that help to make players feel isolated when exploring these confined spaces. In fact, the title contains a couple of excellent music tracks that are played in dungeons.
But it would take ages to get to any of these key locations without the help of the trusty car (or Chocobo). It’s interesting to note that some of the memorable moments from the story happened whilst traveling inside the car. Players can choose to manually drive or pick one of the characters, Ignis, as the designated driver. It’s necessary to drive to a new location before being given the option to instantly be moved there at the cost of some Gil (money). The most wonderful interactions will usually happen inside the car. Characters will randomly take selfies or even whip out a book and start reading it. Not being able to know for sure how these four characters will interact with each other is one of the highlights of the game.
The story itself feels predictable and it’s very rare to not know a story twist long before it’s been revealed. Those that watched the Kingsglaive film will not doubt be disappointed that the feisty prince Luna doesn’t have much of a role in the game. In fact, the story more or less focuses on the four characters, which isn’t particularly helpful when not much backstory is given for them. It makes it harder to relate to some of the challenges they face later on and the same goes for supporting characters who tend to pop up just as quickly as they are left behind. The way that the ten year story span idea is dealt with is also somewhat anti-climactic.
There is a healthy amount of side quests to find and complete throughout the course of the story. There is even a helpful feature that makes it possible to return to earlier parts of the game to access sections that players would not be able to visit. But admittedly for those who are just interested in completing the story, the main reason for completing the odd side quest will come down to earning much needed Gil and experience. Oddly enough, experience is only used to level up characters when they rest at one of the different available locations. This may have been done to get players to experience some of the special bonding moments between team mates, but it’s somewhat baffling to not be able to make immediate use the experience gained in the lead up to a dungeon boss fight.
There is no doubt that Final Fantasy XV is a mesmerising title to look at whilst playing. The character models for the main characters are incredibly detailed and it’s fascinating to witness the amount of animations and voice lines they were given to make their interactions seem real. But it’s this attention to smaller details that also makes the shallow moments more apparent, such as when seeing how limited the combat system can be during certain fights. Whilst the inclusion of popular modern concepts such as selfies are great when playing, it’s difficult to pinpoint iconic moments as remarkable as those found in previous Final Fantasy titles. Just like the best selfies that will most likely become obsolete the moment better ones are taken, playing Final Fantasy XV seems to have a similar effect – in that the latest unintentionally funny selfie/photo that Prompto takes quickly becomes the next memorable aspect of the title.
It’s been ten long years in the making, but time has certainly not been kind and there have been better similar titles released since then. Final Fantasy XV’s open world is a pleasure to explore, but it’s also a superficial one that fails to be as memorable as some of the previous titles.
