Final Fantasy XV

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5428 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,797 out of 5428
  2. Mixed: 821 out of 5428
  3. Negative: 810 out of 5428
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  1. DonMega
    Dec 2, 2016
    0
    I rated this game earlier a 5/10 and I'm new to the franchise. But I just finished playing with 10 hours and I'm annoyed as hell with the bugs and stupid things that I have to rate it a 0.

    If witcher 3 never came out this might be an great game however this game tries to take a couple things from the witcher 3 game but fails miserably. The travel system in this game is god awful,    I rated this game earlier a 5/10 and I'm new to the franchise. But I just finished playing with 10 hours and I'm annoyed as hell with the bugs and stupid things that I have to rate it a 0.

    If witcher 3 never came out this might be an great game however this game tries to take a couple things from the witcher 3 game but fails miserably.

    The travel system in this game is god awful, worse than witcher. The car system is so retarded. You can kinda drive the car "manually it's called" which means steer left/right, brake and accelerate. If you dinge something with the car, it will suffer massive damage and cost you 500 credits to get it repaired. You can't go offroad or anywhere. Secondly if you set ignii to drive somewhere on auto and you haven't been there ever get ready to wait 10 minutes straight to get there.
    But WAIT!. If say he's driving there and suddenly it turns into night time, guess what. The idiot will stop the car and tell you it's better if you return back to camp/post to sleep the night because it's dangerous. So this means teleporting back to where you started from 8-10 minutes earlier.
    But wait, there's more, say you want to force through the night and try driving manually, if a monster shows up on the road the car will either A) automatically U turn or B) stop and kick everyone from the car forcing you to fight the insane damage daemon that will kill you.
    All in all you'll spend endless hours just driving to places.

    Now in the game you have to collect these swords from dungeons for nocti, these dungeons are ridiculous, they are extremely confusing to get around inside. The minimap is no help and the big map is even more confusing. Get ready to waste 2 hours inside an ice cave back tracking 50 times to find the damn sword piece.

    Another problem is the glitchy quests, there's this one quest I went to, to supposedly mine something. Guess what I get spammed with airships for 30 minutes straight. Sure I get a lot of xp but there is no item at the spot to mine, it just spawns 10 ai every couple seconds.

    The camera is absurd, it's extremely delayed behind the combat and motion. You'll be facing the wrong way 90% of the time during combat.

    I am new to final fantasy so I am rating this based on how happy this game made me. In the beginning I rated it a 5 because for a while I could overlook most of these game breaking designs and bugs but I've had enough of this crap. Wish they would fix all this as overall the story is great, characters are good and it could really be an amazing game.    … Expand
  2. catalysis
    Dec 1, 2016
    2
    This is easily the worst FF game in the series. The story is told entirely through flashbacks and there is no compelling intro, so you are thrown into the world with 4 random dudes and you have no idea why they are even friends. With all the hate FF13 got, this story makes FF13 look like a masterpiece.

    That's only the beginning. There is nothing in this game to actually connect it to    This is easily the worst FF game in the series. The story is told entirely through flashbacks and there is no compelling intro, so you are thrown into the world with 4 random dudes and you have no idea why they are even friends. With all the hate FF13 got, this story makes FF13 look like a masterpiece.

    That's only the beginning. There is nothing in this game to actually connect it to Final Fantasy other than the names of things and a few items thrown in. It's like they took a completely random game and slapped the FF name on it. They have totally abandoned the FF artistic style in favor of realism. The characters play on their cell phones when they are bored and there is even a quest that is an advertisement for real-life brand Cup Noodles. I'm not making this up.

    Combat. I've played the game for almost 8 hours and I have won 95% of the fights by holding down the circle button. Magic is so cumbersome to use, it might as well not even be in the game. This is a kiddie-action sword fighting game. There is so much going on during battles that it's mostly a blur. You will kill 5 enemies by holding down circle, then realize there are two more enemies off camera only because automatic targeting moved to them. It's ok though, because all you need to do is press circle to win.

    There is not enough space here to go over all of the flaws. This is not a Final Fantasy game. It's obvious why they called it final fantasy though, because the game could not stand on it's own.    … Expand
  3. Renih
    Nov 30, 2016
    4
    Three hours into the game I'm still searching for the "Final Fantasy" bit. I think if this game was branded *any other name* (even something like Final Fantasy: Red Dead Redemption version) it would probably be pretty good, but as it stands, I had certain expectations that just aren't being met, at all.
    It's missing key elements that Final Fantasy core series (even 13!) incorporated.    Three hours into the game I'm still searching for the "Final Fantasy" bit. I think if this game was branded *any other name* (even something like Final Fantasy: Red Dead Redemption version) it would probably be pretty good, but as it stands, I had certain expectations that just aren't being met, at all.
    It's missing key elements that Final Fantasy core series (even 13!) incorporated.

    The Combat doesn't feel very final fantasy, it feels like Shadows of Mordor. It's pretty good in its own right, just not Final Fantasy. (Final Fantasy Type-0 was a great example of a real-time combat system that still retained a strong final fantasy feel)

    The party composition ... well, there isn't any. You're stuck with these 3 dudes all wearing black leather, like the protagonist (PS: You cannot change your active playable character)

    Objectively it seems like a fun game, but I loaded it up to play a Final Fantasy game, and after hours of play I was still wanting to play a Final Fantasy game. (In fact, I bought and downloaded FF9 on Steam immediately after shutting down my PS4)    … Expand
  4. I3LINK
    Dec 14, 2016
    0
    I was looking forward to this game and got it on the day of release, but never have I ever gotten rid of a game in less than a week of playing because it's just that bad. I completed the story in 20 hours, and the story fails to engage you in any real way, or to shine a light on any characters to make you care about them. It's the least enjoyable, and least memorable story I've everI was looking forward to this game and got it on the day of release, but never have I ever gotten rid of a game in less than a week of playing because it's just that bad. I completed the story in 20 hours, and the story fails to engage you in any real way, or to shine a light on any characters to make you care about them. It's the least enjoyable, and least memorable story I've ever experienced in any RPG, let alone how short it is. Even if you were underwhelmed by the story like me, you'd hope that at least the endgame content would be extremely epic. Sadly no..... actually this part of the game is even worse than the first 20 hours. You'll spend your time watching your car auto drive around a Texas style setting, you might hop out and run around some wetlands and when enemies appear you just hold the attack button and auto kill anything. If your health runs low you just pop potions and rinse repeat, this gets tedious real quick. I failed to enjoy any music score throughout the game because you spend most of your time listening to music from previous final fantasies, I didn't find any of the other music memorable like it usually is. Side quests are a complete joke, and there's far too many of them. I almost feel like I should rate this game a little higher, maybe because the graphics are nice or something.... But no, for a game that couldn't entertain me for even 1 week, it's just not a game worth playing or spending any money on, I'd sooner give FFXIII another playthrough than play this.… Expand
  5. RichmanJoe
    Dec 1, 2016
    0
    This is a different game with Final Fantasy as the title, while it use many of Final Fantasy's assets, it's not a Final Fantasy game.

    Gameplay is simplified and a bad story only fit for the younger generation.
  6. ReviewPanda1337
    Dec 1, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Hey,
    I just finished the game after 32 hours and I have to say that I'm totally disappointed! Most of the time you're just walking around for side quests (the Fallout experience ;). I guess you could finish the main story line in a mere 20 hours.
    So, why is this game actually bad? First of all, the story has some pretty strange plot devices. I won't spoil you but there is the sudden and unnecessary death of two characters in the game which has absolutely no impact on the gamer because the characters just don't have enough background for you to get sad. Secondly, something will happen to one of the main characters and it has no connection to the story whatsoever. They won't even show how it happened which is pretty bad for a supposed AAA game. Last, the whole second part of the story is just ridiculously boring. They are building up some bad and tough guys in the movie and the preview just for them not to be in the game. I really don't know what geniuses worked at Square Enix...
    I won't critize the action timed press one button bosses. I'm too disappointed in them.
    If you're looking for a solid game with a good story line and developing characters, don't play this game. It's pretty nice to look at but that's that.    … Expand
  7. VidyaBum
    Nov 29, 2016
    3
    Did you know that this game has a car with TWO driving modes?

    One is automatic. You choose automatic, and your destination. The car drives itself there. You can't accelerate the car drive. You can't skip the drive. You can't bypass it in any way. All you can do is watch, and look at the pretty scenery. There is also manual drive. You choose manual, and your destination. You press and    Did you know that this game has a car with TWO driving modes?

    One is automatic. You choose automatic, and your destination. The car drives itself there. You can't accelerate the car drive. You can't skip the drive. You can't bypass it in any way. All you can do is watch, and look at the pretty scenery.

    There is also manual drive. You choose manual, and your destination. You press and hold L2. The car drives itself there. You can't accelerate the car drive. You can't skip the drive. You can't bypass it in any way. BUT you can choose when to stop the car, by letting go of L2. And look at the pretty scenery.

    On a less joke-y judgement(which is still true though, I did not lie to you), the game feels EXTREMELY poor. Probably the biggest mountain of money I've seen thrown at a **** designer (Tetsuya Nomura is easily one of the worst cancers in the entire videogame industry and I cannot believe the number of braindead fanboys he has) so he could stroke his ego hard enough for him.

    A quick pros and cons:
    +it looks nice, alright, not a visual slap to the face like XIII in its time but it looks nice for sure
    +the combat is very limited and has a lot of problems but it is energetic and feels very good in aerial battles and against huge bosses
    +the map is large, I guess
    -characters
    -storytelling
    -battle AIs
    -storytelling
    -the map is large, and it's a huge pain
    -driving
    -storytelling
    -driving in automatic
    -storytelling
    -driving in manual
    -from what I could see 6-7h into the game, apart from some spellcrafting which was a bit neat, there is ONE special attack(a very long distance lunge) in the entire game

    characters: it's a boy band with the Big Guy, the Smart Guy(he has glasses so he's smart), the Annoying Guy, and the King Without A Throat, due to spending too much time whining with it. So Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo and no Leonardo.

    They're bad? I mean, I think the setup speaks for itself: a prince gets his country robbed, his dad is dead, so he takes his boy band childhood friends on a road trip to kill bad guys and succeed at Trials. They're not so "bad" as they are so Nomura it hurts. This man is a living cancer due to always cramming whatever "looks cool" together in the most ridiculous of mishmashes, and I gotta say, the boy band childhood friends is quite beating everything he's done before, even Tidus or Snow.

    Battle AIs:
    A lot of the combat is done against massive mobs. When you die, you don't "die" quite, you can get tapped on the shoulder by a friendly AI to get back with a portion of HP.
    They don't do the tap. They take an insanely long amount of time to do it and it can mean death a lot of times.

    Driving:
    I think my intro was quite clear, but in case it wasn't abundant: this is an open world where you can't drive, only watch. If you drive, you'll quickly regret it as it's pointless and will cost money to repair the car. Also, driving warrants you no battles, so you'll literally waste untold hours just waiting for the damn car to reach its goal. When you get off and go on foot, it's also long and boring, but there's mobs and thus fights. The walking around in a Just Cause 2 size map is as atrocious as you can imagine, although at least you can farm EXP.

    Battle Gameplay:
    As I said fights look really good and feel very dynamic, so that's great. But between the battle AIs that don't rush to save you and instead stumble around, the "protagonist is dead = game is over" crap that was into XIII, was hated, was fixed in XIII-2, and now is brought back by whatever inflated ego at Squeenix who thought it was a great idea like some Lucas forcing Jar Jar Binks into people again and again, the ONE special lunge attack and everything else is just spamming your weapons and crafting some AoE spells WHICH DAMAGE YOUR OWN PARTY by the way, and the general feeling that when you're against many foes you're often cornered into lunging in and out to not get mobbed, and having no reliable AoE attack, I'd say this feels good, but it is extremely underdevelopped.

    -Storytelling
    I could make an entire thesis on why Nomura and his team of ***wits are absolutely cancerous to videogames, and especially to proper storytelling. As I said the Cancerman is unable to not cram something in as long as it looks cool. Even if it's utterly stupid, he'll cram it. The Boy Band Childhood Friends King Ninja Turtles Who Must Get The Holy Weapons To Save The World probably exemplifies it.
    But instead of a thesis, I'll say this: out of the 4-5 hours I've seen of this, there wasn't a single time, not once, where the story wasn't told through flashbacks. Not once. The only story part that wasn't a flashback was when Titan attacked the party. The rest is either dropped(IE doesn't become a story), ignored or is just quest-giving.

    I have played every FF from IV to XII save for X-2 and XI. And XIII and XIII-2.

    This is the laziest storytelling of them all.    … Expand
  8. Azeriel
    Nov 29, 2016
    4
    This is the Final Fantasy game that was created to attract new fans to the series, not satisfied their old long-standing fans.

    Frankly, if you're an old-school fan who is still trying to stay loyal to the title after the fiasco that was FFXIII, this your other chance to walk away. Square clearly gives no **** to the title anymore and it shows on how poorly designed this new game is.    This is the Final Fantasy game that was created to attract new fans to the series, not satisfied their old long-standing fans.

    Frankly, if you're an old-school fan who is still trying to stay loyal to the title after the fiasco that was FFXIII, this your other chance to walk away. Square clearly gives no **** to the title anymore and it shows on how poorly designed this new game is. This is a Final Fantasy in name only and that was it. I predicted another FFXIII flop with this title, and as much as it pained to admit, it is another FFXIII flop. I guess that's what happened when you only care about money. Short campaign, bland characters and story, lack customization, you name it.

    If you're a new fan who is easily amused by the shiny graphic, go for it. Otherwise, skip the title or wait for a sale. Better yet, get The Witcher 3 complete edition as it was on sale recently.

    That would have been a better use of your cash.    … Expand
  9. Scintal
    Dec 13, 2016
    2
    Played more hours on the game. It further confirms the story to be one of the worst of the FFseries.

    For anyone that's just into pretty graphics and Korean boy-band (or perhaps japanese night clubs like Conan O'brien said), this can be attracting I guess. The combat system is not bad. But that're the only good things about the game. Graphics and a somewhat novel fighting system.    Played more hours on the game. It further confirms the story to be one of the worst of the FFseries.

    For anyone that's just into pretty graphics and Korean boy-band (or perhaps japanese night clubs like Conan O'brien said), this can be attracting I guess.

    The combat system is not bad.

    But that're the only good things about the game. Graphics and a somewhat novel fighting system.
    The story's rigid cast (only controlling Noctis?????) is just dull, like ff13-LR dull.

    Magic needed to be gathered? Crappy summons? You bet.

    I guess those the people give it 10 must be paid or just die-hard korean boy band fans. I first rated it as 4, but to balance the ocean of paid reviews, 2 this time. Plus the fact it gets more on my nerves the more I played it.    … Expand
  10. KingMiky1994
    Dec 3, 2016
    0
    10 years for 2 cities, everything blurry, bad facial animation, story sucks big times, copy paste sidequests, hold square to win the game, 20 hours main campagne, empty world, dlc in a ff game

    SE clearly dont know how to make games anymore so I lost all hope with ff7 remake but fanboys will defend those games with their lifes.
    The Industry is doomed
  11. kevinpm
    Dec 5, 2016
    2
    At the start I was enjoying it but now i've played longer I can see how bad this game is...I cant believe I waited all these years to be disappointed by SE AGAIN!!! Please SE cancel FF7R I dont want you ruining that title aswell. And honestly chapter 13....wth were you guys thinking! FFS now port FF9 to the ps4 with trophies so at least I have something decent to play...
  12. wuzup4jc
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    You will either hate it or love it. There isn't much of a middle ground. The combat system reminds me of devil may cry with a bit more strategy involved. The open world has a GTA V feel. The story is great. The graphics are great. Without reading the negative comments I will assume that most people's complaint is that it doesn't FEEL like a final fantasy game. However, after their last fewYou will either hate it or love it. There isn't much of a middle ground. The combat system reminds me of devil may cry with a bit more strategy involved. The open world has a GTA V feel. The story is great. The graphics are great. Without reading the negative comments I will assume that most people's complaint is that it doesn't FEEL like a final fantasy game. However, after their last few debacles that is a GOOD thing :).

    One other thing. Many people will feel like the world / characters seem bland / underdeveloped. In a questionable move, they decided to put most of the back story and development into a youtube series and the movie kingsglaive. If anything, watch the movie. I can't imagine having played this otherwise....so much left out.    … Expand
  13. Zzzlol94
    Nov 29, 2016
    1
    This has to be the most disappointing FF game to date. The combat is bland. Focusing almost entirely on swordplay is a bad move. The car is ridiculously annoying to deal with. Loading times when fast travelling are almost as bad as going there manually. Day/Night cycles is just an additional reason for you to literally wait and do nothing. The game has so much downtime where absolutelyThis has to be the most disappointing FF game to date. The combat is bland. Focusing almost entirely on swordplay is a bad move. The car is ridiculously annoying to deal with. Loading times when fast travelling are almost as bad as going there manually. Day/Night cycles is just an additional reason for you to literally wait and do nothing. The game has so much downtime where absolutely nothing happens, I could get a good rest before starting the interesting stuff again. The combat is either completely broken or the tutorials don't show anything of the important parts of dodging, as dodging seems to be just an elusive mechanic which happens once in a while. It's impossible for me to recommend this to anyone, and at a price of 70€, it's expensive as hell for the most overhyped game of the year.… Expand
  14. zane2k
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    FINAL FANTASY XV is overall a good game. It looks stunning and the story is well written. After a few hours you really get used to the Combat System that I first didn't like but meanwhile you get really cool fight sequences with this system.

    For Players who like can also switch to the slower Wait Combat System. All in all a good game with maybe a few critic points but the goods are    FINAL FANTASY XV is overall a good game. It looks stunning and the story is well written. After a few hours you really get used to the Combat System that I first didn't like but meanwhile you get really cool fight sequences with this system.

    For Players who like can also switch to the slower Wait Combat System.

    All in all a good game with maybe a few critic points but the goods are really far above the bads.    … Expand
  15. strife52
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    Great combat, Amazing music, Great bonding of the main cast. This game is a dream come true. I can only hope that SE continues this trend moving forward.
  16. epistm87
    Dec 1, 2016
    0
    Abysmal Story. dumy dumdum Annoying Characters. - Dumb Villain. weak strategy errible clipping with characters in environments combat is bland this not Final Fantasy
  17. ptrack92
    Dec 20, 2016
    4
    To clarify, I made a Metacritic account solely to review this overwhelmingly disappointing experience. As someone who was still in middle school when "Versus XIII" was announced and became increasingly excited over it's premise; I feel as though I waited long enough to expect a full, complete experience. A decade passed: the title changed, the movie and anime were released, tidbits ofTo clarify, I made a Metacritic account solely to review this overwhelmingly disappointing experience. As someone who was still in middle school when "Versus XIII" was announced and became increasingly excited over it's premise; I feel as though I waited long enough to expect a full, complete experience. A decade passed: the title changed, the movie and anime were released, tidbits of combat and story footage were shown and needless to say everyone, including myself were beyond ready. I'm not even a huge Final Fantasy fan in general, never really appealed to me but this one was different. After starting the game, I was pretty engrossed for the first few hours. The world was expansive and intriguing, characters seemed likable and the combat was flashy. However, as the hours dragged on, so did my experience. Personally, I was always more excited about the combat and exploration than the story. But the latter proved to be nonsensical. Minimalism is fine, but when taken to the extreme that is FF 15's delivery, it becomes problematic. And the real shame is how much potential it had to be fleshed out. The story itself isn't terrible, but the presentation is. Even after watching the contextual media that proceeded it; there are countless gaps in logic, multiple times when vital characters leave the entire game for no apparent reason and it isn't explained, and main villains basically meet ill-fates without any exposition as to what happened or how they got to that point. I will say, without spoiling anything, Ardyn was such a fantastic antagonist. But he was the sole reprieve from an otherwise convoluted plot that wasn't given the time or energy it needed to really shine. And "DLC will fix it" is unacceptable; a main story should at least have a plausible beginning, middle and end, especially for a game that was in development for so long and even received extra backstory before it's release. The combat was also underwhelming. The choice to not make triangle a secondary attack button for varying combos, or to even simply give your party different commands for different scenarios; the list goes on and on. The latter really bothered me because that's where 99% of the game's challenge arose from, your invalid party members dying repeatedly in one or two blows later on in the game when you could've easily told them to "defend" when it seemed necessary. Or to focus attacks on your target, etc. Instead, they rush in constantly with no regard for any semblance of tactics and you have to keep reviving them over and over as a consequence. It's not all bad, it can be fun to watch but holding down two buttons for the majority of your experience doesn't really constitute a "deep" overall system. Directional attacks, summons and magic are all implemented pretty well and some of the boss fights are truly incredible. Graphics and sound design are masterful for the most part and the dialogue isn't nearly as bad as I was thinking it might be. The driving is also a mixed bag, while it gives you a chance to soak up the awesome scenery, it quickly becomes a lost novelty as you sit there for minutes on end with dead-silence. The phrase "it's just a shame" resonates so heavily with so many factors of this game and it really is unfortunate. Even comparing it to something such as Wild Hunt; it's night and day in terms of overall combat mechanics, story structure and character development. I wanted so badly to enjoy this game but I am simply not understanding the praise this game is getting. It may be a result of the hype, but when you really examine it, the overall experience is a shallow one. It also only took me maybe 23 hours to beat while doing a decent amount of the primarily mundane side-quests. Felt absolutely no inclination to go back to the game for any reason, traded it back the day I beat it. My apologies for the long-winded nature of this review but I hope it helps some people on the fence about purchasing. I'd recommend renting it first because I know my opinion is the minority and you may really enjoy what it has to offer and I hope you do. I certainly wanted to.… Expand
  18. guyza123
    Jan 6, 2017
    0
    Hello! I am 26 now, and started with Final Fantasy 8 as a kid, fell in love with it, got to the end of the third disk and could never find Rinoa. Lvled up 3 characters to 100.
    Next was beating Final Fantasy 9, pretty good, if unmemorable.
    Lastly was FF10, absolutely loved that game, bet it 3 times and consider it a masterpiece. I skipped past the next few (10-2 sucked btw) and got FF15    Hello! I am 26 now, and started with Final Fantasy 8 as a kid, fell in love with it, got to the end of the third disk and could never find Rinoa. Lvled up 3 characters to 100.
    Next was beating Final Fantasy 9, pretty good, if unmemorable.
    Lastly was FF10, absolutely loved that game, bet it 3 times and consider it a masterpiece.
    I skipped past the next few (10-2 sucked btw) and got FF15 a month ago.

    After 20 hours gametime, I have gotten to the end of the main storyline in FF15. I have one bit to go but can't be bothered lvling up to beat it.

    It's a real shame. I really wanted to like this game but it is a trainwreck. You start by getting thrown into the middle of a story where everyone knows each other. You're expected to jump into it, with the main character being engaged to some chick across the continent. You're a prince and your guardians are mates already, no idea why. Half an hour in, your father dies and it's meant to be sad, except I don't give a **** because I never got to see any decent character interaction. That sums up the story. It's all tragic but it's impossible to care because the storytelling is rushed and garbage. It's also super predictable and unimaginative.

    The gameplay is also **** Much of the game revolves around walking, riding a chocobo or driving a car around a world that is way to freaking big. And the world is filled with nothing interesting to do. You can catch frogs or fish. You can take photos. The problem with this game is that it tries too hard to emulate real life. Real life is boring as hell and I don't play final FANTASY to relive that ****.

    The open world does not suit this game. I wanted to do the main questline, even though the story sucks, just to be done with it. Sadly a bit of side questing is necessary and it's South American based, with full yee-haw accents. Good job Square-Enix, you have photorealistic outback environments with accurate voiceovers, too bad I don't care. The quests are all uninspired fetch quests.

    Okay, onto the combat. Enemies are out in the field, and they have a circle of influence. If you enter the circle (some 50 yards usually) you are in combat, which is usually a **** The idea is okay, hit circle to attack, square to dodge and triangle to warp around. Now have 4 characters, 10+ enemies, rockets flying everywhere, snipers, poision spray and other **** Combine that with a spastic camera. Combat is usually a frantic pain in the ass.

    Using items feels cheap, as unlike the old turn based FF's, it doesn't waste your time. So if I have 90 potions and 10 elixirs, good luck ever killing me. I can just use them whenever in the middle of battle and boom - instant hp. And it is necessary, as some fights are just **** with no control. At one point I encountered 3 separate monster packs together, and it was harder than any boss battle.

    Another thing is the random level jumps in enemies. There will be a lvl 20 and a lvl 40 in the same area, and it makes you wonder what lvl the area is aimed at.

    Overall, the only highlights of FF15 are the graphics. The music has its moments too. The overall experience sucks ass and reeks of a team that was too big, with no unified vision. I can tell the frustration in the team just through playing the game. It is a disjointed mess, and a sad waste of effort for whoever modelled and animated it, because they worked their ass off. I just can't bring myself to care about the game, it just feels like a chore to play.    … Expand
  19. Picoman
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    Don't worry about the Negative scores. People just find something that is not as good as another RPG and expect it in all games moving forward. The 0 scores should be an indication this mindset.
  20. Dark-Confidant
    Nov 30, 2016
    10
    + Best characters of the entire Final Fantasy franchise.
    + Best world, with best monsters and optional quest.
    + Nice, fast and tactic combat system.
    + Emotive and epic story.
    + Biggest and stronger summons ever.
    + 50000000+ hours.
  21. OreoMan
    Dec 3, 2016
    5
    As a game, I would probably give this a 6 or 7 out of 10. As a Final Fantasy game, its atrocious. Its very clear that SE is trying to appeal to the new generation of western gamers, there is absolutely nothing here for old time fans of the old Nintendo, PS1 and early PS2 games. Its not Final Fantasy, at least not as I know it to be.

    Gameplay: While some aspects feel incredibly    As a game, I would probably give this a 6 or 7 out of 10. As a Final Fantasy game, its atrocious. Its very clear that SE is trying to appeal to the new generation of western gamers, there is absolutely nothing here for old time fans of the old Nintendo, PS1 and early PS2 games. Its not Final Fantasy, at least not as I know it to be.

    Gameplay:

    While some aspects feel incredibly polished, its clear that all their efforts were put into the wrong area. The way that Noctis moves and how he is animated is simply fantastic. If only I could say the same for the combat. To me it feels as if they couldn't decide what they wanted and started over far too many times. It feels directionless and hollow.

    The combat is essentially kingdom hearts except less fluid and with nothing to test your skill at all. It is quite literally hold Square to win. Kingdom Hearts had interesting boss mechanics and ways that enabled you to strategize and try taking down bosses in different ways. Boss fights in FF15 boil down to a glitchy mess most of the time, and the rest of the time is you trying to use the camera properly.

    One boss fight I remember very clearly toward the end of the game really exemplified one of the other major issues with the combat. This issue is the item system, it makes it near impossible to lose, in fact I didn't game over even once during combat in the entire game. This is because when you run out of HP the game gives you plenty of time to just use an item and restore ALL of your health, I really don't understand how they managed to make such an awful system with all the time they had. The item system feels almost shoehorned in, there are no meaningful decisions to be made, its just spamming high potions and elixirs every time one of your useless party members gets hit (which is rather often since they can't seem to do anything for themselves). This halts the combat and makes the experience feel extremely jarring.
    Back to the boss fight I mentioned earlier, I won't spoil who it was, but its just before a rather key moment with the crystal. I spent probably 80% of the time of that boss fight in the item menu using elixirs and high potions on my allies, there was litterally no way to apply any sort of strategy, it was just running around aimlessly as his HP decreased somehow. The most key boss fights of the game amounted to no more than awful looking quick time events. The biggest offender is the Titan boss fight which was absolutely atrocious. Another issue was against Leviathan and the Final boss. The Leviathan boss fight had Noctis flying around launching his weapons as if he was an attack helicopter. I literally held circle and moved around at random to win, it was pathetic, the final boss also had a section like this. They both should have just been a cutscene considering it was impossible to die.

    Music and Atmosphere:

    While the score composed by Yoko Shimomura is fantastic, it barely plays at all on the open world. I came out of the game having not remembered a single track other than the ones played in the trailers. In Final Fantasy games of old every area had its own memorable and interesting theme. Unfortunately I can't say the same for FF15, for me this was the most disappointing thing. I can't even remember the Final boss theme, if it even had one. Its very clear even the developers recognized this issue considering they gave us an MP3 player to play the music of the old games. While I wasn't personally a fan of the road trip aesthetic, It certainly had some moments with great atmosphere along with a sense of Comradery.

    Story:

    Oh dear, where should I begin? The first half felt void of any story at all, I was often doing things that seemed to have no importance on the overall narrative at all, then the second half shoves the shallow plot down your throat with next to no explanation of what is really going on. The only two characters than even developed at all were Gladiolus and Noctis, even then it wasn't by much. "Major" characters shown in trailers basically never appeared, I was incredibly disappointed with the way some of these characters ended up being portrayed. Its hard to talk about this without giving major spoilers but it was incredibly disappointing. One example is the dude that joins your party with the Buzz-cut and Katana (I cant even remember his name for crying out loud), he has no effect at all on the narrative, he has no backstory, I don't even see the point. Speaking of backstory, the game relies FAR too much on its anime for the development of the main cast. This stuff should have been in the game. While the story certainly had some impressive cutscenes, especially with some of the summons toward the end of the game, the overall story ended up being incredibly shallow, rushed, had a lack of character development and was incredibly vague.

    Overall the game took me 22 hours to finish the main story, I would be willing to forgive its short length if the narrative was actually good    … Expand
  22. langtu20
    Dec 3, 2016
    6
    This game is a missed opportunity. It would have been a lot better if directed by Nomura which has more emphasis on interesting plot with characters building. Tabata on the other hand puts more emphasis on boring things like cooking/fishing. He completely turns the game around and stripped away nostagic FF elements, such as using magic and good plot. To me, Tabata is not known forThis game is a missed opportunity. It would have been a lot better if directed by Nomura which has more emphasis on interesting plot with characters building. Tabata on the other hand puts more emphasis on boring things like cooking/fishing. He completely turns the game around and stripped away nostagic FF elements, such as using magic and good plot. To me, Tabata is not known for storytelling and putting together cohesive story. Tabata is good at creating a powerful team, but he IS NOT a creative director. Let him be in charge of putting together a team and do marketing, but let Nomura direct the game pls!!!!… Expand
  23. AngelicStar
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    About a dozen hours into Final Fantasy XV, after I’d slain countless monsters and traveled hundreds of miles and bonded with tight-knit group of friends, a strange feeling swelled in my chest. The four of us stood on the rocky beach of a picturesque lake surrounded by towering green trees. The sun began to set, bathing everything in a gorgeous yellow light. Prompto, the blonde, goofyAbout a dozen hours into Final Fantasy XV, after I’d slain countless monsters and traveled hundreds of miles and bonded with tight-knit group of friends, a strange feeling swelled in my chest. The four of us stood on the rocky beach of a picturesque lake surrounded by towering green trees. The sun began to set, bathing everything in a gorgeous yellow light. Prompto, the blonde, goofy member of our quartet, had just set the timer of his camera and skittered back to the scenic spot so we could all take a photo together. As the shutter made its loud “click!” it dawned on me: I’m really going to miss these guys when this is over.… Expand
  24. Soulreaver186
    Nov 30, 2016
    0
    So terrible it makes FF13 look good. There is some serious denial going on it these reviews and they should be removed for clearly being biased to the material.
  25. Dattwood7
    Nov 29, 2016
    6
    The series has veered so far off course from what made it great in the first place, it's essentially UNRECOGNIZABLE. This is not Final Fantasy. I'm not sure what this is.

    Nevertheless, I'm not going to hate for the sake of hate. (notice I didn't give the game a zero.) Here are some pros and cons: Pros: --Cut-scene graphics are very impressive. --Clearly a lot of time was put into    The series has veered so far off course from what made it great in the first place, it's essentially UNRECOGNIZABLE. This is not Final Fantasy. I'm not sure what this is.

    Nevertheless, I'm not going to hate for the sake of hate. (notice I didn't give the game a zero.) Here are some pros and cons:

    Pros:
    --Cut-scene graphics are very impressive.
    --Clearly a lot of time was put into the game.
    --Combat can be exhilarating at times.
    --Enemy/Boss design is fantastic.
    --Characters/Story/World may appeal to certain people.
    --I hear things later in the game get better, but personally I don't want to wait for that.

    Cons:
    --Story is preposterous, even for this genre.
    --Main cast's looks and personalities are uninspired (this one is the most disappointing because that used to be the series' strong suit.)
    --Main cast never. shuts. up.
    --Combat can be very repetitive (you can literally just hold circle for much of it.)
    --Traveling, at least at first, is excruciatingly dull (in your car, you're unable to even veer off the road!)
    --Side quests are often boring (think typical "fetch" quests.)
    --It doesn't feel like Final Fantasy, at least not to me.

    Again, there may be people who will enjoy it. Judging by the other reviews, there are already quite a few.    … Expand
  26. BuyThisSheet
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    The game of 2016.

    For those who do not rush through the game this will be a masterpiece.

    I would recommend this to Final Fantasy fans and also fans of open world Western RPGs
  27. Greering
    Nov 29, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A game 10 years in the making...where does one even start?

    I followed this game for all of the 10 years, my excitement renewed with the bombastic, and triumphant re-announcement in 2013. And yet, as time went on it became clear, that this was becoming less, and less the game I had been waiting for.

    Now that I have had a chance to complete it, I cannot help but feel lied to and betrayed, robbed of something I will never know.

    The game fails at many things, one of the most important being the combat, the other being the story. To say that the story feels rushed, or hacked to pieces is an understatement. Many important characters have little to no screentime, no time to truly know or understand them, and many seemingly major events happen off-screen, presumably to be sold as DLC later.

    The combat is flashy and pretty, but that is the extent of it on a visual level. It is truly a shame given how wonderfully designed many of the monsters and enemies are. This is no Devil may Cry, or even Kingdom Hearts. This game plays like an action rpg, designed by someone who doesn't actually know how to make such games, or even bother to play or test them.

    There is very clearly, a supreme lack of meaningful boss encounters, and the huge setpiece battles like Titan and Leviathan are all nigh impossible to lose, and play like something right out of a western game, which are often maligned for being mechanically simplistic and overly cinematic to the detriment of fun, challenging, gameplay.

    Many monsters and enemies, have extremely lacking or brief tells to their attacks, and at times it looks as though the monster merely brushes against you in order to damage your characters. This is bad gameplay design, and there is little to no force, or momentum to most attacks, which simply come out of nowhere.

    Sidequests are strewn all over the place, but they are so bland and awful, that it is clear the developers took to a quantity over quality approach. The world map itself, is many, many times smaller tha one would have assumed, with an overall lack of variety.

    The mass marketing blitz, and such as creation of a custom car, making an entire movie, and a multi-part anime series among other things, all sting and feel as though the money expended could have been better spent on the game itself.

    The game's engine is yet another issue, as many areas the game can be beautiful, but at times there are horrible issues with low resolution textures, aliasing, framepacing, and overly exposed or otherwise deficient lighting that drowns out color and detail.

    Another big disappointment is in the Astrals, the famed summons the series is practically known for. There are 7 in th game, yet only 4 of which are "usable". Now I have those in quotes, as the conditions to trigger them seem incredibly obtuse, to the point where you can go almost the entire game without summoning some of them.

    In addition, one of the most iconic summons, the dragon king Bahamut, has one of the most poorly conceived designs in the entire series, appearing as a humanoid knight-like figure, that does not even use their trademark, megaflare attack. One would think that such an unfaithful depiction, would be outright named differently. This is not the legendary Bahamut of Final Fantasy VIII or IX, which perfected his design, and yet the series seems content to continually ignore and drift away from, always in favor of awful, overdesigned, overly busy and toyetic depictions.

    All in all, this may be a harsh review, as there are some things that were good, however the sheer disappointment and dishonesty in just how much has been gutted from the original concept, leaves one bitter.    … Expand
  28. DreamCore
    Mar 12, 2017
    0
    Seriously, this is truly one awful game. The story is pretty much non existant. The side quests are the worst in an RPG to date (deliver tomatoes, collect frogs, find wax for your car, collect dog tags... seriously wtf?). The combat is garbage and essentially consists of holding two different buttons. The world is too big and empty, they clearly made the retarded choice of favoring sizeSeriously, this is truly one awful game. The story is pretty much non existant. The side quests are the worst in an RPG to date (deliver tomatoes, collect frogs, find wax for your car, collect dog tags... seriously wtf?). The combat is garbage and essentially consists of holding two different buttons. The world is too big and empty, they clearly made the retarded choice of favoring size over density. The graphics range from good to garbage. This is probably the worst FF game I've ever played. The only FF thing about this game is the logo, that's it. Stay away from this garbage at all costs.… Expand
  29. MassEffect4Ever
    Nov 29, 2016
    4
    What can I say, after eagerly waiting for this title for so many freaking years? Utter disappointment? Yeah... Took me less than 40 hours to clear the game with most of the side content included. I mean it started off fun enough (while still ignorant about things to come), but ultimately I have not been challenged. I have not been amazed by incredible scenery. I have not been blown away byWhat can I say, after eagerly waiting for this title for so many freaking years? Utter disappointment? Yeah... Took me less than 40 hours to clear the game with most of the side content included. I mean it started off fun enough (while still ignorant about things to come), but ultimately I have not been challenged. I have not been amazed by incredible scenery. I have not been blown away by the depth of an engaging tale. I have barely been satisfied...

    This is No Man's Sky 0.5 as in it doesn't deliver on many of its promises and many things are just mediocre. Game lacks difficulty, the open world disappoints and is not even that open, often linear en uninspired. Driving cars is plain boring. Combat is just WEAK, I mean, not having challenge is one thing, but this uninspired garbage we've seen 1000 times (and done better) before manages to become stale even before you reach the end of this game's surprisingly short storyline. There is no creativity! There is nothing new... What have they done in all these years? I mean, the game's content IS polished, but that content itself is just nothing to write home about...

    The characters are just... awkward, it must be the first time I not only felt no connection, but abhorrence towards them. Bad character development, bad writing... It depresses me to say this, but no person who takes themselves/FF seriously can deny that this is a huge disappointment... Unless blinded by the media's overrating/overhyping efforts (those idiotic "critic" reviews), which ultimately just make this so much more of a let down. It just is NOT that great FF resurrection we all want so much and we better get used to waiting some more...    … Expand
  30. PureImmortal
    Nov 29, 2016
    10
    This game is totally loveable, the characters, the music, the gameplay, the world it all has soul and makes you love everything about it. The world is huge and too distracting for its own good. I have never played a game that made me so eager to go and fight monsters like this one from how smooth, fluid and flashy the combat is. The animations are so fancy and the link strike that you canThis game is totally loveable, the characters, the music, the gameplay, the world it all has soul and makes you love everything about it. The world is huge and too distracting for its own good. I have never played a game that made me so eager to go and fight monsters like this one from how smooth, fluid and flashy the combat is. The animations are so fancy and the link strike that you can never get bored with, especially casting magic at close range where noctis does a back flip to get away. Simple a MASTERPIECE.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Best PS4 Game of 2016
3
#3 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
6
#6 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 109 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 89 out of 109
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 109
  3. Negative: 0 out of 109
  1. BaziCenter
    Feb 14, 2017
    70
    After so many years of development, Final Fantasy XV is not what I expected it to be. The universe is immense and beautiful and the characters are just fine. But the story is short and disappointing and the gameplay suffers from lack of depth. FFXV is a good game, but it can never bring the former glories back to the series.
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  2. Edge Magazine
    Feb 14, 2017
    70
    Even as you reflect on the rarity of a blockbuster that's willing to take real risks, you'll be left with the uncomfortable realisation that ten years wasn't quite long enough, after all. Those jagged edges are, in the end, just a little too sharp. [Feb 2017, p.110]
  3. New Game Network
    Feb 7, 2017
    83
    Despite a divided feel, torn between what it was and what it plans to be, Final Fantasy XV has a lot to offer. If you're a diehard JRPG fan, then it's a positive sign that the series can cross over to a new format. And if you're just looking for an open world adventure, Final Fantasy XV certainly has that in spades, while doing just enough things differently to separate it from the likes of Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls.
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