As a fan of the newer Square releases, I have been intrigued by every title that has come out in the Final Fantasy series since Crisis Core on the PSP in 2007. Fast forward 9 years to 2016, and we have one of the later releases that came out pretty much in the middle of the Playstation 4's lifetime. We now have much talk surfacing about the next major console, which seems to be materializing into a prospective date next year or the end of 2020. Earlier on, I reviewed Crisis Core and spoke about how surprisingly emotional and real it was. Normally, Final Fantasy games are overly hokey, and rob the emotional investment from the story with nonsense that irk you. This game was somewhere in between, yet it delivered in many ways.
I was blown away by the graphics from the very beginning. The sunlight effects were so vivid and reminiscent of Mass Effect Andromeda. And unlike that game, this had a night and day cycle. However, early in the game, this is hampered by the fact that enemies you can't hope to face come out at night, and you are even warned to stay in town at that time. You are forced to listen, because early on, they will decimate you if you try to face them. This sucked some of the exploration out at night time, even though there were missions you could take that required night travel, where you took the gamble. The game is loaded with towns, outposts and cites to visit and discover. Each one has several outlets for purchasing food items and healing items. Food items, including meals that your own party can cook, give huge bonuses to your stats for the next dungeon.
The game tells the story of Noctis- prince of Lucis, as he travels with his companions and friends- Gladiolus, Prompto, and Ignis, on their way to bring him to his betrothed Princess Luna Freya. He is set to take the throne, upon which he will receive great power. Gerald, is a disgruntled servant of the empire of Nihelm that is in opposition to Noctics' kingdom, and he seeks power himself and take the power of the crystal that their family protects. The enemy seeks to thwart the marriage of Noctic and Luna Freya. They also kill the king in the process and start a war. The plot gets a bit convoluted along the way, and even comical at times, but it's always in good taste. Towards the end of the game, the emotion picks up, and the theme is truly about frienship. In fact, it so deeply explores that aspect of relationships that is is tear-jerking. It is truly vivid and thorough how it brings it out and stresses its importance. It cast aside the love story you may expect, while still not ignoring it. One thing I have always complimented even bad Final Fantasy games on, is their ability to sell romance. They achieve that in this game with friendship.
In this game, you have weapons merchants in the various towns, and there are various weapon types, but not a huge difference overall. I started in the outset using guns along with one-handed blades. Noctis can equip 4 items at a time. He can learn and concoct magic up to insanely strong levels, and wield large swords or fast blades. He can also equip shields. Gladiolus and company each can equip a portion of these things in combat as they assist you. Your allies can equip spells as well with the right upgrades. Noctis alone can learn summon spells which randomly become available in very intense fights, and they are so powerful, you are left wondering what happened, as they obliterate what was an unbeatable enemy. It happens so rarely that it's always awe inspiring. Noctis himself is quite powerful, but doesn't have full control over what he can do until later in the game. When the tech meter fills in combat he can enter a mode called Armiger, where he has enhanced evasion and speed and gets free damage and invincibility for a period of time. He gathers what are Royal Arms at various sites throughout their journey, that increase his power over time.
The combat system in this game is in real time, and combos are achieved by spamming the circle button rapidly. Noctis can, however, run out of stamina, and require a recovery period where he is vulnerable if you attack too much. You warp with the triangle button to select vantage points, or if locked onto an enemy, you will warp attack into them, bypassing some defense on their part. The square button is for evasion, and can be held or press at the right time to avoid attacks. There is no block, you only evade or attempt a counter. This feature works poorly, and when the enemies get aggressive later in the game, you will find yourself getting laced visciously while slamming on the evade button. There is a counter mechanic, but it doesn't work well with barrages at all. In the later parts of the game, while trying to finesse harder enemies, I found myself attacking like a fool and running away to heal constantly, due to how back the block mechanic is. There was even a time when there were 2 Medusa bosses on a dark street, and they kept turning me to stone until I ran out of recovery items and died. All you do, while trying to skill up on an enemy, is find yourself being laced and beaten into near death state despite trying to dodge and counter. Every combat system needs to have a specific block mechanic.
As I mentioned, Noctis can craft spells through Elemency. Using draw points like in FF8, scattered throughout the world, which replenish, he can draw fire, ice, or electricity, to combine with other miscellaneous items you find or buy that can further boost the spell or add additional effects. The issue with spells in this game, is that they are indiscriminate. You spend fights being swarmed by enemies. When you cast a powerful spell, it covers some area. You manually aim it, but getting a window of large separation is close to impossible. When you cast a level 99 Ice spell with a stone attribute, it fills the entire screen and almost the entire area. Everyone including you and your team are hurt and effected. I don't know what idiot thought that was a good idea. I've lost battles due to that stupid mechanic. Noctis can also warp, which is one of his main powers. It allows him to cling to vantage points and heal or set up a counter strike. However, the area around him can be demolished bringing him down to the ground.
The game is full of interesting side quests, such as delivering a package, finding special frogs or plants, or eliminating a threat. It was interesting, as you drive around in the theme car of the game- The Regalia. It is a sweet car. You can buy and play various soundtracks while driving around the world. Noctis can even go fishing and build on that skill while gathering items. Some quests have you discovering a huge dungeon buried in a luscious forest, and battling an insane boss at the end, to emerge back into the sunlight. I truly loved how bright and inviting the game was. The overworld, as mentioned, is enormous. The game bears similarity to Mass Effect, except it takes place on one planet. However, I must say, I think FFXV might have the bigger world, if only by a little. I never explored everything. You can literally get lost in the wild. Similar to Breath of the Wild, as far as you can see, you can roam, except with this game, it is all packed with varying localities and regions that have their own secrets. And the map opens up even more each time you visit an outpost and get info from the local eatery on mission locations and stuff. It quickly becomes overwhelming. I was thinking by a couple of hours into the game, "There is no way I'm ever going to cover all the places available." It is insanely huge, I dare say like a miniature real-life world.
The leveling system is called Ascension. It is a grid across many pages, similar to FFX. I despised how it was set up, because it costs an extreme amount to buy skills, and by the end of the game, I was choosing which powers and skills I was never going to see or benefit from which was annoying. I ended up grinding at the end, because I was playing on hard, and I was getting crushed by enemies in the last part. I'm glad I realized you can use Umbra- the royal dog, to go back in time to areas of the game and continue quests and exploration in real time. The last boss- Gerald will have you hating his guts by the end of the game. For whatever reason, he appears to help the party during the early stages of the war between kingdoms. He then begins to sabotage them left and right. He lures them on wild goose chases, and then lifts them from confusion at the last moment, just toying with them, and trying to get Noctis to acquire great power so they could face each other, as he wants the throne. He is truly wicked and annoying. The fight with him was epic and fulfilling. It was during that time, and down to the end that the game hits an emotional crescendo. Noctis fights to near death.
The emotional scenes at the end of how much friendship means to them all, through all of the fights that happen in the game, really get you into it. It was so raw that you may find yourself crying as it unfolds. The game is brimming with passion and life. It's shocking that it received mainly criticism. I loved this game a lot, and it was Luscious! 9.2/10
