JAKE CURNOW PRESENTS
Final Fantasy XV
Playstation 4 Version
As is very often the case with any of the highly acclaimed Final Fantasy titles, Finaly Fantasy XV starts off by planting seeds of mysteriousness, intrigue, and wonder into the minds of its players. Right out of the gates, players take control of a future version of Noctis; Final Fantasy XV's main protagonist, in the middle of a extraordinarily intense battle versus a hellish looking creature of whom is seemingly undefeatable.
After the above mentioned confrontation, players are quickly transported back to the present time where Noctis and a band of friends are standing before the King of Lucis, the latter territory of which is the last remaining bastion not under control of the games main antogonistic entity: the Empire of Niflheim. It is immediately revealed that Prince Noctis is the son of King Regis, and Noctis is the biological heir to the throne.
In the beginning segment of Final Fantasy XV's story, Noctis' objective is absolutely clear; he is to journey from the Kingdom of Lucis to Accordo's Capital city of Altissia in order to marry Lady Lunafreya to demonstrate a process of unification and political stability throughout the world of Eos. As the complex political process and Final Fantasy XV's story unfolds, Noctis and his three key allies: Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis find themselves with a series of roadblocks on their journey at just about every possible junction.
Although the Kingdom of Lucis is at odds with the Empire, the Kingdom of Lucis has an advantage having been given a magical artifact (known as the "crystal") by the deities of Eos. Obviously the militaristic regime of the Empire has a keen interest in obstructing the Kingdom's power by seizing control of the crystal and its magical power through force alone -- an act of which can send the planet of Eos, and its people, into a downward spiral of turmoil, death, and destruction.
Players are given the option to participate in a Final Fantaxy XV combat tutorial before immersing themselves into the core game, and long time Final Fantasy fans are going to immediately notice the fact that XV's combat system is RADICALLY different from previous series entries -- especially when directly compared to Final Fantasy XIII.
Identical in nature to Final Fantasy XV's tutorial mode, players will find themselves combatively engaging their opponents in the exact location wherever they are found in the open world map; whether it be in the midst of a wide open desert like area, a forest, or an Empire controlled military base. That said: Final Fantasy XV doesn't feature the iconic randomly generated battles, which also means that enemies can usually be avoided (if desired by the player). Despite the fact that Final Fantasy XV features four main protagonists, players are PRIMARILY given control over Noctis himself. Running, jumping, and exploring the open world of Eos is all exclusively done with the player using Noctis, and Noctis is the character that players will primarily be using during battle. Indeed, each of the three additional companions primarily function on their own during battle, although each of them has the ability to perform various "techniques" -- such as Gladio's "Dawnhammer" -- if given the command by the party leader: Noctis.
What I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, is that Final Fantasy XV possibly contains the most un-intuitive combat system in the history of the core numerical franchise. There's certainly a degree of depth to the combat system that players can study as they progress through the game to implement some of their combat tactics with a decent level of finesse. However, the majority of Final Fantasy XV players may never understand the true depth of the combat system, and are likely to discover that they can practically button mash their way through the entire game -- up to, and including, some of the toughest boss fights Final Fantasy XV has to offer.
Regardless of the fact that Final Fantasy XV's combat system can absolutely be intense and spectacular at times, I've very often found myself just repeatedly "warp striking" my way through lesser enemies in virtually every single fight just to gain the easy "AP" points -- the latter of which are used to upgrade each of the Final Fantasy XV characters, or provide them with new abilities and techniques.
Many of the boss fights turned out to be rather boring, and there are certain areas in the game where it can become a technical DISASTER to fight higher level enemies, such as some of the games toughest standard enemies (called "Daemons"), in an area filled with trees. "Daemons" are an enemy class that exclusively come out at night, and aren't exactly the biggest threat to deal with provided that a player is high level enough, however... If a player finds themselves in a heavily forested area, at night, with a ton of hard to deal with enemies popping up all at once -- not only can the camera tend to go haywire, but it can also be particularly frustrating to even get a visual lock on the enemies because of objects obstructing a players view.
Regardless of the fact that Final Fantasy XV seems to have a hit or miss combat system, the majority of core characters throughout the game have solid personalities, and with excellent voice acting. Aside from the overly-political nuances of Final Fantasy XV's story, simply observing the character development of the main cast was absolutely awesome.
The destiny and objective of Prince Noctis tends to slightly shift throughout the core of Final Fantasy XV's story, sometimes at the mercy of very unfortunate plot twists. One of the Prince's core goals, however, is to ensure his biological right to become the next King of Lucis, yet an endless path of challenges lie before him. Throughout his quest, Noctis is tasked with not only obtaining the endorsement of some of the mightiest creatures tasked with the protection of Eos, he is also on a quest to gather the weapons of his forebearers -- all of which are said to have tremendous power contained within them.
Interesting enough, as Noctis continues to form an alliance with the titanic beasts of Eos (called "Astrals"), he is able to call about these allies in the middle of battle -- similar to how a "summoning" is performed in prior Final Fantasy entries. The difference this time around, however, is that Noctis only has the ability to summon the Astrals in VERY specific battle situations, as opposed to utlizing their destructive power in every single battle. This, in my personal opinion, is one of the most exciting aspects of the Final Fantasy XV combat system, because although there is (allegedly) a complex mathematical system in reference to if and when Noctis can perform a summon -- the ability to conduct such a summoning is actually quite rare. When Noctis is finally aloud to perform a summoning, however, the process in which his enemies are defeated is absolutely breathtaking.
The vast majority of Final Fantasy XV allows players to explore the open world of Eos either by foot, or by use of Noctis' vehicle called the Regalia. Grand Theft Auto fans need not get their hopes up TOO MUCH, however, since the method in which the Regalia is used on the road is extremely controlled -- aside from a big surprise upon game completion. Traveling the world of Eos on foot is virtually identical (in theory) to just about every mainline Final Fantasy entry in franchise history, in the sense that players have the full option of locating enemies and farming them for experience and AP points. The leveling up process, however, is very difficult from prior series entries since it requires players to rest, at either a camp site or lodge, in order to have their experience points added to their characters overall level.
Final Fantasy XV's open world is, from a graphical standpoint, excellent looking, regardless of the fact that there certainly could have had more diversity among the landscape. In addition to randomly stumbling across some very interesting looking creatures, players also have the option of taking on (non-story related) side quests, or even "hunts", the latter of which tasks players with hunting down and destroying certain types of beasts for a bounty.
At around the mid-way point through Final Fantasy XV's core story, players are removed from the open world atmosphere, of which the story tends to seriously intensify providing players with a more linear and focused route to their next objective. When Noctis finally arrives in Altissia, for example, I would recommend fascining youre seat belts, because what takes place during this period of the game is one of the most spectacular sequences in the history of Final Fantasy, absolutely without a doubt.
I personally enjoyed the linear second half of Final Fantasy XV because it put an excellent degree on focus of story progression, however... Players who want their fix of that Final Fantasy open world environment need not worry, since Noctis is (eventually) given the option to return to both Altissia, and the open world, at will and for as long as they wish.
Although Noctis himself has the ability to use virtually any weapon class of his hearts desire, whether it be magic, heavy swords, or pistols -- the three additional characters are far more limited with their equipment use; each of them having the ability to only use certain weapon classes. This, in my personal opinion, is a good thing, as it tends to give each of the threee additional characters their own unique style. My only true gripe with weapon usage (during combat) is that there can be friendly fire when using magic. For example: if I cast a fire spell directly onto a targetted enemy with a member of my team standing too close to the target, the fire spell will actually damage my team member as well -- which certainly doesn't help my (already) negative view on Final Fantasy XV's combat system.
As is the traditional case with Final Fantasy entries, Final Fantasy XV is able to immerse players into the atmosphere of the game with breathtaking visuals, excellent voice acting, and iconic scenes captivating the imagination of its players. Very often, however, the mood can easily be shattered by the fast onset of an uninspiring musical score when entering a town, or simply going into the main menu. Extensive loading times, and a poor, confusing ending also doesn't help the situation.
Like virtually every video game currently out there on the market today, Final Fantasy XV definitely has its fair share of flaws, as well as areas of the game that should have been met with higher standards. Yet with all of it's flaws, Final Fantasy XV is able to deliver another successful entry into the saga with an engaging atmosphere, spectacular character development, and some of the most epic story-related sequences in Final Fantasy history. Indeed, the combat system could certainly use some refinement, and the ending may require players to conduct additional research on the internet to alleviate confusion... But with Final Fantasy XV already delivering the goods and potentially leaving room for its own evolution, I personally expect Japanese RPG's to continue remaining competitive in the video gaming market for a very long time.
OVERALL RATING
8.3/10