Final Fantasy XV First Impressions...faith restored?

[Shiken]

I was not sure I was going to get this game to be honest with you all.  While I loved the franchise all yhe way through 10 (never played 12), the XIII trilogy ruined the franchise for me.  While I did enjoy XIV ARR, I feared for the future of the single player mainline games.

 

So here I was doing some last minute xmas shopping, and for some reason this game popped into my head.  Xmas has always been the time of year I would get the next Final Fantasy growing up, so maybe nostalgia had a hand in it, but I did an impulse buy and fired it up.  I expected critics to pick the game apart, but it actually scored very well by today's standards.  Also the user reviews also seemed very well recieved, aside from the usual haters of the franchise trying to drag the score down.  In the end, it remained in the green.  Aside from this little bit of research however, I knew nothing about the game.

 

I went into it truly blind as to what to expect due to my initial lack of interest.  I must say however, I am so glad I ended up buying this game.  Now I will be very brief as this is not a review, but merely my first impressions after 15 hours of play.

 

Pros

 

Cast: I was initially worried in this regard, but the more realistic group of friends approach is actually a nice change of pace from the stereotype rag tag team that the franchise normally uses.

 

Story: Very solid and very interesting.  My only issue with it is some of the pacing so far, but I will get into that.

 

World: Absolutely beautiful, and a joy to explore.  It would appear that along with certain hot spots for items to spawn, there are also random item spawns that you can come across as well.  This encourages you to constantly explore.

 

Content: There are a ton of hunts, side quests, and optional dungeons to explore in this game.  I am happy to say that the amount of things to do fits the open world setting of the game.

 

Combat: Very fast paced and fun.  It is also suprisingly requires strategy as well despite only controling one character.  Also your companions still feel like a true element of the battle as you will need to use teamwork in order to be victorious, especially in harder battles.

 

Cons

 

Pacing: The pacing of the game leaves something to be desired as it can sometimes be hard to follow.  The Kingsglaive movie really helps make sense of what is going on in the beginning of the game, but I feel like not enough people would know to watch it.  I was lucky enough to come across it in my research trying to see if I missed something, but it should not have to be that way.  The movie is a hood watch and I did not mind watching it to get the whole picture, but a reference to it at the start of the game would have been great so everyone would at least know it exists and should be watched.

 

Repetitive side quests: Final Fantasy XV suffers from what most massive open world games do that actually deliver on content, and that is repetitive fetch quests for side missions.  This is nothing new and the fun combat minimizes it, but it is still there and had to be mentioned.

 

Lack of focus: Again this is a bi product of open world games, but it is so easy to get lost in side quests that you forget that there is an evil empire you must take down.  Minor issue and it is nothing we have not seen before, but it is there.

 

All in all

 

So far, this game has restored my faith in the franchise.  It actually feels like a Final Fantasy game in a modernized setting.  I am lovong it so far, and from what I understand it only gets better as the endgame content after the story is actually the best part.  If you are a Final Fantasy fan or even have had been curious of the franchise before XIII ruined it, give this one a shot.  It is by no means the best in the franchise, but it is a great and worthy entry overall.

 

Also be sure to rent or buy the Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy  XV movie off of the PSN or XBL store.  It is a good watch and it really helps shed some light on the back story surrounding the plot.

 

There is also a less important five episode anime that you can track down and stream called Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV as well that focuses on the back stories of the the game's main cast, but it is only available subbed to my knowledge.  I watched both and think it was worth my time, so check it out.

 

I hope this helps some of you who were on the fence as I was.  Happy gaming!