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. Trahmada
    Dec 11, 2016
    4
    Way too many glitches for a game that took 10 years to make, froze up on me in a dungeon which i couldn't save in lost an hour of game play. Story is WAAYYY too short and unfulfiling, not enough character development and side missions are generic and boring. Probably one of the worst Final Fantasy games ever, Square Enix should be ashamed of this giant piece of crap.

    Camera angles are,    Way too many glitches for a game that took 10 years to make, froze up on me in a dungeon which i couldn't save in lost an hour of game play. Story is WAAYYY too short and unfulfiling, not enough character development and side missions are generic and boring. Probably one of the worst Final Fantasy games ever, Square Enix should be ashamed of this giant piece of crap.

    Camera angles are, horrible. Allies block you from going into places and you cant move them or go through them and they also get lost while doing some dungeons because the creators clearly didn't care about Final Fantasy fans when they made this game. Lost all of my respect for Square Enix.    … Expand
  2. Sap-ete-10
    Dec 11, 2016
    4
    What is FF's company doing? Pls... -.-

    Let's start with the bad: MMO style questing. I'm not sure why this is even in an Final Fantasy, but it has no place in a single player RPG. It stretches the game out artificially. Combat: The combat is easy, but lacks depth. Holding square for automatic dodging seems like a cop out in terms of making the combat fun. The enemies run around in    What is FF's company doing? Pls... -.-

    Let's start with the bad:

    MMO style questing. I'm not sure why this is even in an Final Fantasy, but it has no place in a single player RPG. It stretches the game out artificially.

    Combat: The combat is easy, but lacks depth. Holding square for automatic dodging seems like a cop out in terms of making the combat fun. The enemies run around in combat and sometimes you have to chase them trying to get the killing blow. Its not innovative or fun after awhile, it becomes more of a task.

    The open world design: I understand open world designs are popular with certain games, but I do not think Final Fantasy benefited from it. There is so much open world that there seems to be no purpose other than to hide things or make travelling take time. If the world were condensed it could look better and combat would probably be better due to added time to improve it during development.. They likely spent so much time to make this world and then littered it with monsters to slay. Random encounters in the old games could become annoying, but running around forever in a lifeless open world is definitely worse.

    Progression: The ascension chart doesn't give you the depth or flexibility other final fantasies like 10 did. In 10 you could really build a character up the way you want. Here in 15 its pretty limited.

    Characters: The game opens with Noctis being a child as his father sends him away. Having seen Kings Glaive and what happens to his father and the capital it made it more bothersome that the main character would be such a child under such serious conditions of war and an arranged marriage to restore peace. Add on that he is travelling with his 3 best friends who all look like teenagers who exclusively buy their clothes at hot topic and I'm not going to care too much about them. Everyone wants to write about how the story is about these 4, but that's trying to pick one positive out of the game and the story and it really should be about the kingdom and over coming evil. When the story is so bad that we try to make the relationships between the characters the reason to call it good its an even bigger failure. Also you don't really see much character growth from them.

    There are not great characters that I want to see more of or admire. Go and look at FF4 or FF6. For SNES sprites those characters had more depth than the ones in FF15. Even FF10 had much better characters.

    Side Games: Ever since FF6 and FF7 side games/activities have played a big part in Final Fantasy games. Here they seem like an after thought. The arcade games are terrible, time consuming, and not rewarding enough. Chocobo racing is okay, but not great.

    That's it for the bad or I will never get to the good.

    First good thing is that combat is easy. Anyone can beat this game.

    For those who feel RPGs are too confusing this game makes everything very easy. Magic is kind of pointless and Summons make it even easier. Plus you can hide mid combat by hanging at certain points to heal.

    The food looks really good and the boosts are nice. Actually the boosts are almost too nice that in some cases it seems like they lowered the players stats to put more focus on the cooking. Seems like they are still coping MMOs a bit still.

    The auto pilot on the car is nice.

    It runs relatively well, but I do seem the frame rate drop quite a bit.

    that's all I have for good.

    Honestly this is not the game fans expected or deserved. I feel like true final fantasy fans will have to live in the past because square isn't capable of making good games anymore. When I was growing up they were the top in the industry. Their games were massive and played really well. Square used to be on the cutting edge of graphics and here in FF15 the hair on the characters looks chunky.

    I know a lot of people wanted this game to be great, so did I. The fact is that it isn't a great game. I don't care what critics say or release day reviewers. The game is not a 10, 9, 8 or 7. I could accept someone giving it a 6, but anything above that is a lie.

    Now I know I'm no authority on this, but check videos on youtube and really look at the game. Don't just listen to the media campaign. We know companies pay for reviews and part of me wonders how many of these user reviews are actually people square paid to give the game a ten. I know that sounds a lot like a conspiracy theory, but square spent too much on this game not to take steps to guarantee its success. We have all seen the power of marketing.

    I recommend waiting for the game to drop in price. Its not as good as people are saying. There are far better games made in far less time. Please don't be fooled    … Expand
  3. brat1111
    Apr 12, 2017
    4
    FFXV : This game has many problems : the dialogue is very repetitive, they say the same things over and over again, it's so annoying. Plus, if you fight enemies in a place where there is bushes the bushes get in front of the camera and you can't see what you're doing. Also, the driving scenes are so tedious, you can't fast travel anywhere and you have to sit there and just wait, and whoFFXV : This game has many problems : the dialogue is very repetitive, they say the same things over and over again, it's so annoying. Plus, if you fight enemies in a place where there is bushes the bushes get in front of the camera and you can't see what you're doing. Also, the driving scenes are so tedious, you can't fast travel anywhere and you have to sit there and just wait, and who thought it would be a good idea to make us refuel the car all the time? Reminds me of ghostbusters for the NES. Another problem is that you can accidentally warp too far away in a battle and if the battle takes place on a bridge you cannot get back up there, it's so messed up. Lastly, they don't bother explaining the plot a lot and this is very confusing. I am very disappointed with you guys. I have been playing ff since ff 7 but no more.… Expand
  4. governadorma
    Jan 5, 2017
    4
    Para um jogo que está há mais de 10 anos em produção é uma vergonha, ainda mais quando se trata de uma empresa renomada, tal como a Square. São tantos problemas em um único game que citarei apenas alguns: missões secundárias repetitivas e desmotivadoras, que se resumem no defasado sistema de leva e traz de determinado item de um ponto A ao B; ausência de magias e summoners; falso "mundoPara um jogo que está há mais de 10 anos em produção é uma vergonha, ainda mais quando se trata de uma empresa renomada, tal como a Square. São tantos problemas em um único game que citarei apenas alguns: missões secundárias repetitivas e desmotivadoras, que se resumem no defasado sistema de leva e traz de determinado item de um ponto A ao B; ausência de magias e summoners; falso "mundo aberto" (os personagens não trafegam livremente por todo ele, por exemplo: você não consegue atravessar um córrego, tem de contorná-lo até encontrar uma ponte parte para fazer a travessia; você não tem total liberdade para controlar o Regalia (automóvel utilizado para longas distância - vai tudo no automático) e a versão melhorada dele que o transforma em "avião" consegue ser mais absurda ainda; narrativa confusa; árvore de habilidades desinteressante; jogo de pescaria monótono... ...ah, cansei...… Expand
  5. Kimccchi
    Nov 29, 2016
    4
    don't believe the trailers or demos - they're quite literally an ad campaign.

    10 years in development and we get a game with - ps3-tier graphics - a story worse than FF13 (which was a mess) - an "open world" filled with invisible walls and emptiness - every map aside form the overworld is just a straight line - probably the worst characters in all of FF-series - no real difficulty    don't believe the trailers or demos - they're quite literally an ad campaign.

    10 years in development and we get a game with
    - ps3-tier graphics
    - a story worse than FF13 (which was a mess)
    - an "open world" filled with invisible walls and emptiness
    - every map aside form the overworld is just a straight line
    - probably the worst characters in all of FF-series
    - no real difficulty levels - they're all just as easy
    - the only towns in the game can't even be called towns - there's like 2 streets filled with nothing to "explore"

    the only redeemable feature of this game is the combat - and even that gets boring before you beat the main story, which is only ~20 hours if you take your time.    … Expand
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. cubia59
    Dec 2, 2016
    4
    + Main characters relationship
    + Huge world
    + Monsters + Music + Aranea - Lack of background for some characters such as Luna, Ravus, Cor, Ardyn etc - World is huge but feels empty at times - Magic System is boring, you spend more time crafting it than using it - Story is quite a mess and is a bit too short (Tabata promised 40-50 hours without doing side quests and we get like    + Main characters relationship
    + Huge world
    + Monsters
    + Music
    + Aranea

    - Lack of background for some characters such as Luna, Ravus, Cor, Ardyn etc
    - World is huge but feels empty at times
    - Magic System is boring, you spend more time crafting it than using it
    - Story is quite a mess and is a bit too short (Tabata promised 40-50 hours without doing side quests and we get like half of that)
    - Cannot explore some areas that were worth it (train part killed it all)

    FFXV is not a "bad" game, but it's definitely far from being a very good game. Nomura should have kept his original vision : 3 Versus games. Too bad this is never going to happen.    … Expand
  11. MidAirMan
    Dec 5, 2016
    4
    Having played final fantasy games all my life I had high expectations for the game. Ten years in the making and what they put out seems uninspired and poorly executed. The game works and that might be the best thing I can say about it, but let me break down the game.

    Let's start with the bad: MMO style questing. I'm not sure why this is even in an Final Fantasy, but it has no place    Having played final fantasy games all my life I had high expectations for the game. Ten years in the making and what they put out seems uninspired and poorly executed. The game works and that might be the best thing I can say about it, but let me break down the game.

    Let's start with the bad:

    MMO style questing. I'm not sure why this is even in an Final Fantasy, but it has no place in a single player RPG. It stretches the game out artificially.

    Combat: The combat is easy, but lacks depth. Holding square for automatic dodging seems like a cop out in terms of making the combat fun. The enemies run around in combat and sometimes you have to chase them trying to get the killing blow. Its not innovative or fun after awhile, it becomes more of a task.

    The open world design: I understand open world designs are popular with certain games, but I do not think Final Fantasy benefited from it. There is so much open world that there seems to be no purpose other than to hide things or make travelling take time. If the world were condensed it could look better and combat would probably be better due to added time to improve it during development.. They likely spent so much time to make this world and then littered it with monsters to slay. Random encounters in the old games could become annoying, but running around forever in a lifeless open world is definitely worse.

    Progression: The ascension chart doesn't give you the depth or flexibility other final fantasies like 10 did. In 10 you could really build a character up the way you want. Here in 15 its pretty limited.

    Characters: The game opens with Noctis being a child as his father sends him away. Having seen Kings Glaive and what happens to his father and the capital it made it more bothersome that the main character would be such a child under such serious conditions of war and an arranged marriage to restore peace. Add on that he is travelling with his 3 best friends who all look like teenagers who exclusively buy their clothes at hot topic and I'm not going to care too much about them. Everyone wants to write about how the story is about these 4, but that's trying to pick one positive out of the game and the story and it really should be about the kingdom and over coming evil. When the story is so bad that we try to make the relationships between the characters the reason to call it good its an even bigger failure. Also you don't really see much character growth from them.

    There are not great characters that I want to see more of or admire. Go and look at FF4 or FF6. For SNES sprites those characters had more depth than the ones in FF15. Even FF10 had much better characters.

    Side Games: Ever since FF6 and FF7 side games/activities have played a big part in Final Fantasy games. Here they seem like an after thought. The arcade games are terrible, time consuming, and not rewarding enough. Chocobo racing is okay, but not great.

    That's it for the bad or I will never get to the good.

    First good thing is that combat is easy. Anyone can beat this game.

    For those who feel RPGs are too confusing this game makes everything very easy. Magic is kind of pointless and Summons make it even easier. Plus you can hide mid combat by hanging at certain points to heal.

    The food looks really good and the boosts are nice. Actually the boosts are almost too nice that in some cases it seems like they lowered the players stats to put more focus on the cooking. Seems like they are still coping MMOs a bit still.

    The auto pilot on the car is nice.

    It runs relatively well, but I do seem the frame rate drop quite a bit.

    that's all I have for good.

    Honestly this is not the game fans expected or deserved. I feel like true final fantasy fans will have to live in the past because square isn't capable of making good games anymore. When I was growing up they were the top in the industry. Their games were massive and played really well. Square used to be on the cutting edge of graphics and here in FF15 the hair on the characters looks chunky.

    I know a lot of people wanted this game to be great, so did I. The fact is that it isn't a great game. I don't care what critics say or release day reviewers. The game is not a 10, 9, 8 or 7. I could accept someone giving it a 6, but anything above that is a lie.

    Now I know I'm no authority on this, but check videos on youtube and really look at the game. Don't just listen to the media campaign. We know companies pay for reviews and part of me wonders how many of these user reviews are actually people square paid to give the game a ten. I know that sounds a lot like a conspiracy theory, but square spent too much on this game not to take steps to guarantee its success. We have all seen the power of marketing.

    I recommend waiting for the game to drop in price. Its not as good as people are saying. There are far better games made in far less time. Please don't be fooled.    … Expand
  12. kenjihmark
    Dec 4, 2016
    4
    Very attentive to detail for Art, but lacking the gameplay quality that most RPG's have to offer. Traveling elements of gameplay is dull and no fun; due to traveling taking so long. As a previous FF fan, this just isn't my cup of tea. Game breaker bugs can also harm the player's experience. And I can see this being a hard game to wrap your head around especially for casual gamers. MissionsVery attentive to detail for Art, but lacking the gameplay quality that most RPG's have to offer. Traveling elements of gameplay is dull and no fun; due to traveling taking so long. As a previous FF fan, this just isn't my cup of tea. Game breaker bugs can also harm the player's experience. And I can see this being a hard game to wrap your head around especially for casual gamers. Missions may feel repetitive, and levels aren't as interactive and engaging.… Expand
  13. AquaRainfall
    Dec 4, 2016
    4
    TLTR: This game is a biiiiiiiiiiiig empty but pretty cardboard box.

    I will start by saying that I have played all Final Fantasy titles since the 4th, and this one is one of the biggest letdown of the century (placed right by Star Ocean : Integrity and Faithlessness). For sure the graphics are pretty good as well as the soundtrack, but to call this game a Final Fantasy, I am not so sure.    TLTR: This game is a biiiiiiiiiiiig empty but pretty cardboard box.

    I will start by saying that I have played all Final Fantasy titles since the 4th, and this one is one of the biggest letdown of the century (placed right by Star Ocean : Integrity and Faithlessness). For sure the graphics are pretty good as well as the soundtrack, but to call this game a Final Fantasy, I am not so sure.

    -To begin, it has about 10h of main story, that is half-explained, the rest are all Fetch-And-Retrieve side quests, coupled with never-ending loading times. I mean, if I wanted to play Assassin's Creed/Infamous/Skyrim, that is what I would've played. I will repeat it again, the biggest disappointment is the main story, in his length, weird timeline and lack of depth.
    -Secondly, the hype building. I mean, you cannot hype a game for some years, cancel it, then bring it back as this half finished product. And can we say all those trailers we got over the last years aren't representing the product delivered ?
    -Finally, the interactions between characters. Yeah Gladio is rough but caring, Prompto is hyper and punny, Ignis is the smart-type, however that is the only depth they all have. No character evolution, no revelation, nothing.

    In summary, if this game was from another serie, I wouldd maaaaybe give it like 7/10, but as a standalone Final Fantasy, it deserves a 4/10. I was expecting Squeenix to save themselves with this title, after the whole FFXIII-2-3 flop, but they only went deeper. Take this from a real FF fan, not a open-world-empty-game fan.    … Expand
  14. drwho13
    Dec 9, 2016
    4
    I haven't written a review online in ages but seeing the scores hover around 80-85 is blowing my mind.

    I'm trying to think of a Final Fantasy that I've played that's worse than this one. I'm hard pressed to think of one. The combat system is pretty good. It's fun at least. Other than that the story is at best nonsensical and at worst completely terrible. It's not an awful game    I haven't written a review online in ages but seeing the scores hover around 80-85 is blowing my mind.

    I'm trying to think of a Final Fantasy that I've played that's worse than this one. I'm hard pressed to think of one.

    The combat system is pretty good. It's fun at least.

    Other than that the story is at best nonsensical and at worst completely terrible.

    It's not an awful game because it tugs on the nostalgia strings enough but it's certainly one of the worst in the series.    … Expand
  15. vereonos
    Dec 14, 2016
    4
    FFXV is a disjointed hodgepodge — an endless cycle of mundane quests and hobbies slapped onto a sprawling world that gets increasingly claustrophobic as you reach its unsatisfying conclusion. If you enjoy a good plot and solid character development, look elsewhere. The characters are paper thin.

    This game is like a disappointing hookup with someone you've been lusting after for 10    FFXV is a disjointed hodgepodge — an endless cycle of mundane quests and hobbies slapped onto a sprawling world that gets increasingly claustrophobic as you reach its unsatisfying conclusion. If you enjoy a good plot and solid character development, look elsewhere. The characters are paper thin.

    This game is like a disappointing hookup with someone you've been lusting after for 10 years. You build them up to be enticing and attractive, creating all these grandiose expectations — but when you get to know them, they're a vapid, boring **** who just wants to fish, cook, and dabble in photography while the world crumbles around you.

    If you enjoy past FF games, avoid this. I cannot recommend this to you in good faith.    … Expand
  16. StageLXdk
    Dec 19, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love Final Fantasy! I've always loved Final Fantasy! I enjoy the quirky nature of the narrative which drives the protagonists, if it's to save the world, the girl, the crystal or whatever needs saving in their respective games. I love to hate the weird dialouge, the annoying voice of the ever-present high pitched upbeat female party member. The 'you'll-only-get-it-if-you're-from-Japan' jokes that aren't funny but they are because they're not. Make sense? Even the sounds in the menu, the blips and plings that carry through all the FF games. Yes, FFXIII wasn't what we hoped for gameplay wise, but in terms of its characters and narrative it was very much a FF game. So why is it, that FFXV doesn't feel like FF at all?!
    Well, the story is an absolute mess, barely coherent and extremely poorly executed. That any respective writer would attach his/her name to this is beyond me! The true story is actually the story behind the game and it shows! Re-write after re-write does nothing good to any narrative. And to top it off, if you haven't seen the companion pieces Kingsglaive or Brotherhood you'll miss out on huge chunks of it as well. Oh, and if you really want to know everything, you had better be ready to dish out some more money as the DLCs will focus on your companions during the main plot, basically filling in the gaps that made you go "huh?" during the main game. Why does Gladio leave the party all of a sudden? Why does he come back in disguise? Hope you've saved up some dough if you want to find out. A quick calculation: 60$ for the main game, 25$ for the Season Pass and 5$ to rent Kingsglaive (Brotherhood is free on Youtube) so that's 90$ for a game! I'm sorry, but that's just not OK! How would you feel if you saw a movie with several key scenes removed, and the studio then said, "if you want to see those scenes to even get a sense of the plot, you have to pay extra"? The best example of the anti-FF vibe this game gives is all the stuff you can do AFTER the story is done. Yes, after the plot is (somewhat) resolved, the game opens up and even introduces new gameplay mechanics (eg the flying car) and lets you explore new dungeons previously unreachable. Now, there is nothing wrong with expanding a game, quite the contrary, but doing it after the narrative has ended begs the question: why? Why would I want to continue playing when it's all said and done? What's the carrot to keep me interested? FFXV is not Destiny or The Division, it does not need an "endgame" to keep players playing. Are we going to see seasons, co-op play and the like? I doubt it! They could (and should) have made it an original IP since it has nothing to do with the FF brand, save for a few callbacks like chocobos and the like. The developers have said that they intend to patch the game, giving a better pace, fleshing out story moments and the like. So thanks Square Enix for letting us pay to be your beta testers! Maybe in a year or so, the game will be more in line with what the developers intended, but right now it's just an action-rpg and FF should be so much more. So to sum it up, a terrible, amateurish story wrapped in a descent JRPG which calls itself Final Fantasy, but has nothing in common with it's predecessors. Skip this one.    … Expand
  17. Liitle_My
    Dec 19, 2016
    4
    И что мы имеем в итоге? Фантазию без фантазии!
    Графика - это конечно замечательно, FPS - это чудесно, геймплей - это основа основ, комбо всякие разные, оружия, и камера, про камеру, конечно, не забудем.
    А где сюжет? Или нынче сюжет играм не обязателен? Нет, разумеется, мы в седьмую часть играли только ради черного чокобо и алмазного оружия. А в восьмую, что бы на бюст Шивы лишний раз    И что мы имеем в итоге? Фантазию без фантазии!
    Графика - это конечно замечательно, FPS - это чудесно, геймплей - это основа основ, комбо всякие разные, оружия, и камера, про камеру, конечно, не забудем.
    А где сюжет? Или нынче сюжет играм не обязателен? Нет, разумеется, мы в седьмую часть играли только ради черного чокобо и алмазного оружия. А в восьмую, что бы на бюст Шивы лишний раз полюбоваться, ну или широкую грудь Ифрита, кому, что ближе.
    Знаете, я люблю яблоки, особенно некоторые сорта яблок, но когда я беру яблоко, а полвина из него гнилая, я не могу сказать, что это хорошее яблоко. Оно вообще-то плохое, даже если вторая его часть вполне себе ничего, все равно, яблоко от этого лучше не становиться.    … Expand
  18. 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
  19. seraphsfist
    Dec 22, 2016
    4
    As a long term fan (over 20yr) of the Final Fantasy series I found this game to be a disappointment overall. While nowhere near as bad as XIII, it is not the franchise redeeming title I had hoped for.

    Gameplay: I was initially really looking forward to the open world action combat, and at the start of the game I still was, but as the hours passed and the combat remained the same    As a long term fan (over 20yr) of the Final Fantasy series I found this game to be a disappointment overall. While nowhere near as bad as XIII, it is not the franchise redeeming title I had hoped for.

    Gameplay:

    I was initially really looking forward to the open world action combat, and at the start of the game I still was, but as the hours passed and the combat remained the same stagnant affair of warping around/block/parry while potion spamming to keep idiot party members alive (they will die to almost everything unless overlevelled), it became clear that things will get no better.

    Bosses have absolutely no difference in tactics than normal fights, they have more HP and hit a little harder, that is it. Magic is almost completely useless and boring. You only get 3 flavour of spells, Fire, Ice and Lightning, and using them almost always damages your own party members.

    Quests are almost all fetch quests in mmo style, there are only about 20 or so quest givers in the whole world, most have a quest chain where they want you do to the exact same task but in a different location or a harder target each time (e.g. find red frogs here, next quest - find yellow frogs here).

    You can undertake hunts to enemies which are more powerful than usual, and while this is a fun diversion you can only pick up one hunt quest at a time, the vast majority of your time spent hunting is the long drive to and from the quest givers, if you could pick them all up at once it would only take you an hour or two to complete them all.

    Story:

    The story is definitely a strong point in the first half of the game, but the pacing is completely broken, and by the final half you just want it to end because you realise the developers have rushed the last part and it's no longer any fun.

    Character:

    This is a much hyped aspect of the game, with people claiming character development is a strong point. Within the game itself there is BARELY any character development amongst your characters. If you count 4 men making reactive superficial smart ass wisecracks at eachother for hours as development then so be it, but compared to FFX's journey which managed to flesh out 7 characters, FFXV just falls completely flat. They are about as compelling as Vaan from FFXII. The game does a good job at point of soliciting an emotional reaction from the player, but this is due to the situations you are witnessing, you could replace the characters involved with almost any generic puppet and the scenes would still have the same impact.

    Despite all of the above, I did have fun with this game (albeit just under 85 hours to do everything without a guide, very short for full completion of a FF game).    … Expand
  20. SaintRosette
    Dec 22, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros:
    The game's beautiful. I particularly loved the opening scene when the characters arrived in Altissia. Overall, I also liked the design of the world for much this same reason.
    The music's also pretty good; though, I prefer the non-Western/Southern sounding pieces (i.e. Somnus as opposed to the music that plays at the outposts). That's mostly a matter of preference than anything else, though.
    Combat can be fun.
    While there are very few of them, the tours were a nice addition to the game.
    I like side quests, so I worked on pretty much most of them before leaving to Altissia, and subsequently finished those before hitting the point of needing to use Umbra to do anything at all in either Altissia or Lucis.
    Realistic food with boosts!
    Experience bonus at inns.

    Cons:
    The side characters are pretty much flat, but I was at least happy with being able to interact with Iris and Aranea, even if they were for short periods of time. Cor, on the other hand, seems randomly thrown in. You see him at the beginning of the game for a short period of time and see him one last time before setting off for Altissia. That's literally it for him.
    Lunafreya is supposed to be extremely important (and to an extent, she is), but it doesn't actually FEEL that way. You learn about her through very brief and few cut scenes until eventually Noctis gets to finally see her. But he never actually gets to interact with her, and as the player, we don't get to actually know her. Also, I've seen that her character section in the guide book claims she's much better than Stella, and Luna's supposed to be independent and strong by comparison. Stella was apparently going to be a damsel-in-distress? But, if anyone saw Kingsglaive, Luna doesn't come across this way at all. If anything, she's extremely troublesome and IS a damsel-in-distress in the sense that 1. she needed to be saved from the Empire in the first place by the Kingsglaive and 2. her irrational and stupid behavior got Nyx into more dangerous situations than would have happened had she just stopped trying to wander off on her own. She reasons every time with Nyx by saying she's not afraid of death, which just makes her come across as suicidal instead of actually caring one way or the other about fulfilling her destiny as Oracle. Had Nyx not been with her, there's a good chance Luna would have died, wouldn't have gotten the Ring of the Lucii, and Noct wouldn't have been able to acquire the ring himself later in the game.
    It's also worth noting that Luna reasons with Noct's dad that she can't join Noctis' group because this would put him in even more danger as a result of the Empire looking for her. She acknowledges she's a danger to Noct, but, for someone who's supposed to come across as selfless and dutiful, she doesn't seem to be concerned about this in regards to her role in Altissia. Noct and his friends are the ones who have to make sure that 1. there's minimal casualties/harm done to the civilians as a result of the Empire stepping in and 2. that Leviathan causes minimal damage to the surrounding area as well. At no point did Luna consider the people and their homes? Or, if she did, there was nothing to show as much.
    In short, Luna had the potential to be a great character, but the little we've seen of her shows otherwise. And her character, for this reason, also seems contradictive/unbelievable.
    Then there are the characters from the Empire itself... We see very little of their Emperor (once in Kingsglaive and one or two times in the beginning of the game). Aside from showing some officers in a cut scene that includes Aranea and Ravus, we never see or hear from the other officers ever again. Aranea's decent somewhat since you do get to interact with her here and there. Ravus...doesn't make a lot of sense. Kingsglaive contradicts what is later shown of the character in the game. He also comes across as an antagonist in the beginning, but the game never follows through with this one scene that shows it. Instead, towards the end of the game, he's dead as a result of Ardyn.
    A lot of important elements end up taking place off screen.
    In comparison to other Final Fantasy titles, the story is extremely short. I only have 100+ hours on the game as a result of side quests and other things on the side. The story itself is probably only between 20-30 hours long, if that.
    I also really wanted to explore Tenebrae, but only Lucis is actually explorable. That was disappointing to me.
    Also, there's a bit about Prompto being an MT in chapter 13, but this just seemed randomly thrown in. Neither Brotherhood nor the rest of the game even hints at as much.
    In terms of combat, the camera can be pretty atrocious. The magic system also is terrible, and I usually refrained from even using it at all. Summons are also random, and I usually only ever get Ramuh.
    Prompto's photography can seriously suck at times.

    Overall, it's good-ish, but it's not the Final Fantasy it should be.    … Expand
  21. SUD2001
    Dec 23, 2016
    4
    This game is ok I guess. The story doesn't make much sense, characters are boring af and the combat is good to an extent. After a while it gets boring though it's not like dishonored 2 where you can kill people multiple ways you just button mash until the monster or whatever you're fighting is dead. And the final boss like really come on. Graphics and the scope of the world are niceThis game is ok I guess. The story doesn't make much sense, characters are boring af and the combat is good to an extent. After a while it gets boring though it's not like dishonored 2 where you can kill people multiple ways you just button mash until the monster or whatever you're fighting is dead. And the final boss like really come on. Graphics and the scope of the world are nice though and there's a lot of side quests you can do even though some of them are pointless. If you're the type of person who can only buy around 3 games a year and needs a game to play until another one comes out then I'd recommend this. But if you want a good game worth your money I'd pass on this.… Expand
  22. thekindsirpoopo
    Dec 24, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gameplay - 3/10
    At its current state it is still filled with bugs and no where near as polished as it should be. Fighting is as simple as holding down attack and dodging buttons. It's cooler to watch than control. Tactics for other characters is weak and boring. I don't know how many times I tried to pick up an item, open a door or hop on a chocobo and I jumped 10 times before actually accessing the desired task. You constantly tip toe in dungeons and towns forcing you to sprint and kill your stamina. Just let me run dammit! Summons? Cool but random. Just let me summon them like previous games.

    Graphics - 9/10
    No doubt this game is beautiful. There were many moments I had to stare at the scenery before I could carry on. Entering Altissia blew my load. As pretty as the game is, it still lacks the character of previous games. Promto is photographer of the year!

    Music - 7/10
    Yoko Shimomura's contribution to the Final Fantasy series fits well. Main battle themes are awesome and the boss battles give you a real epic feel. If you like Kindom Hearts soundtracks, you'll like this one. One thing I hated was the town music. Other than Hammerhead, I found all town tracks to be SO ANNOYING! The redneck themes in Lucis had me muting the game while I was in towns.

    Story - 2/10
    Hands down the worst and more boring FF story to date. The original concept from Final Fantasy Versus XIII had me excited. I really wanted to feel like this was a modern Final Fantasy with a touch of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet mixed with the whole "Fantasy based on reality" theme. The relationship with Notic and King Regis is nowhere to be found. So many interesting characters not given a chance to shine such as Lunafreya, Ravus, Iedolas Aldercapt, heck even Arden didn't make as big of an impact. Kingsglaive gives you the background leading up to the game but the game does a poor job of connecting them. The whole Lucis area had me cringing with redneck NPC's and towns. The second half of the game transitions from open world to a much more linear approach but gives you much more story and less redneck BS. Character relationship between the group is ok but I honestly didn't know if Prompto was gonna build up the courage to ask to suck my dick. Either you're gay or not, just stop bugging me with your BS! As a prince/king, Noctis is alright but nowhere near as cool as Cloud or Lightning. I really wanted to see Tetsuya Nomura's version of him.

    Cutscenes - 4/10
    Previous FF games made cutscenes feel like a reward for kicking some serious ass. For the first half of the game, cutscenes feel no different than those from a free MMORPG. The second half is better with actual pre-rendered cutscenes. I will say the scene where Lunafreya gives Notis the ring is one of the most beautiful FF cutscenes I've seen in a while.

    Voice Acting - 1/10
    Complete **** Everyone in Lucis is a redneck except for one douchebag who has a New York Italian accent. Dude even says cliche **** like "bada bing bada boom" and "fa-get-about-it". I kept pretending Ignis was Balthier from FFXII.

    TL;DR
    Beautiful game with mostly good soundtrack killed by lacking story, no polish and an even further push away from the true Final Fantasy feel. Name it something else and it might be seen as a decent game.    … Expand
  23. petertosh
    Dec 27, 2016
    4
    I give this game a 4 just for the effort of the graphics soundtrack please story the worst ever its a crime to give this game the title of game of the year its a game i played and i never want to see it again the logo its the only trademark of the final series
  24. WagyuMeatloaf
    Dec 30, 2016
    4
    I've put 40 hours into the game so I haven't seen everything but more than enough for an educated opinion. My feelings for FFXV are so strong that I actually signed up just to review it. I don't think it's a good Final Fantasy and it's also not a good open world RPG. I got my hopes up after reading good publication reviews but wound up disappointed that it continues to drift further fromI've put 40 hours into the game so I haven't seen everything but more than enough for an educated opinion. My feelings for FFXV are so strong that I actually signed up just to review it. I don't think it's a good Final Fantasy and it's also not a good open world RPG. I got my hopes up after reading good publication reviews but wound up disappointed that it continues to drift further from what I enjoyed from its 90s entries. X was really the last one I enjoyed and I guess this is their version of a modern Western RPG but, even then, it's not as nearly good as their peers. There's some good aspects but, ultimately, too much is shallow and half-baked. I work in the non-gaming software industry and it's very obvious that the product suffered greatly from its multiple reboots and changing of hands. FFXV is not a keeper for me and I'm definitely selling this one back.

    + Graphics are among the best on PS4
    + Open world in the first half of the game is fun to discover, works well enough, and gave me hope for a good game
    + Leveling grid is good. At any point, you can save up points to buy big perks or spend them on lots of smaller ones.

    - Closed world in the second half of the game is where it completely falls apart. There are a couple of sections where all you do is walk through a train and pick up items. After that, the game weaves mechanics into the storyline to physically slow you down. I just wound up being annoyed and frustrated from literally stumbling around corridors for hours. Chapter 13 is so egregiously bad that it took me a week to beat it because I could only stand it for 20 minutes a day.
    - Side quests: A precious few are ok but too many are simply people asking you to go fetch this at a random location, go search a field for that, or go take a picture of something. Why you do this to me? It's not fun. Please have real storylines for side missions.
    - Sometimes you have to ride 5 minutes in the car until you unlock the fast travel point. I just fired up Youtube on my computer to pass the time.
    - Combat: I guess button mashing fighting is the RPG norm now but most fights are mindlessly holding down R2 and circle to spam attacks. Use Protect for a weaker member? Nope. Shell or Wall for defensive buffs? Nope. Link attacks are a good concept but bad camera angles and controls makes it and everything else about combat super clunky and it's not worth the struggle. Status effects are an afterthought. Warping is the best new wrinkle but not enough to make up for everything else. It's all just so shallow and I'm probably the exception but I'd much rather have the complexity afforded by the old menu battle system.
    - Magic: Not necessary and extremely shallow. You'd barely even know it's there.
    - Summons: I heard they exist but I have no idea how to use it.
    - Items: The usual restorative items are essential (potions, elixirs, and phoenix downs) but
    - Story: Rushed and underdeveloped and I actually kind of dislike the main character.
    - Controls: X is the non-combat interaction button to pick up an item, get in the car, mount a Chocobo, etc. It's also the jump button which is a huge problem because it often doesn't realize you want to interact with the environment and so you irritatingly wind up randomly jumping around like an idiot.
    - Party: You can't control the other members and the roles are poorly differentiated so they're all generic to me. They're all melee characters except one gets guns and has much lower health. One guy can take photos and another can give boosts through cooking.
    - I think sometimes the lips were not completely in sync with the dialog. Minor nitpicking but it's a little jarring when I notice it.    … Expand
  25. Sprill
    Jan 23, 2017
    4
    Overall this game is a disappointment. After excitingly waiting for this game for over a decade I was ready to love it. I watched all of it's trailers over the years upon release and got more and more hyped after each. I had a few things that I worried about but I didn't think the game would have been this bad. I was wrong though.

    the game when you first load in is beautiful...    Overall this game is a disappointment. After excitingly waiting for this game for over a decade I was ready to love it. I watched all of it's trailers over the years upon release and got more and more hyped after each. I had a few things that I worried about but I didn't think the game would have been this bad. I was wrong though.

    the game when you first load in is beautiful... beautifully empty. It's full of vast planes with nothing in them besides rocks and a handful of different creatures. Dungeons are good but also lack monster variety and missed a lot of potential to use warp strikes in them. Characters start off great but nothing really builds from the beginning plot points that should be emotional aren't and ones that shouldn't be are badly forced into trying to be. The game has obvious plot points that were ripped from the game due to time restraints and therefore ruins any story that it could have had.

    the combat system was really fun when I first started playing it but after about 50 hours into it I realized i wasn't really doing anything when i fought besides holding down the square button and doing the super easy parries. Boss battles had no strategy and bigger ones like the summon battles were insultingly bad... I'd rather not have them in the game at all.

    I know they're apparently supposed to be patching a lot of the problems I have with the game but that is too little to late for me. I don't find it acceptable to release something not finished and missing core elements just to add it to the game months after release... I've already beat the game and spent over 250 hours trying to find things to love that weren't there. I'm not going to play it again no matter how good it might be in a year from now.    … Expand
  26. Archangl508
    Jan 24, 2017
    4
    I wanted to like this game, but I struggled with whether I should give it a 5 or even rank it lower. I've been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy games since the first one on the NES, but the quality in recent installments has gone down dramatically from the heyday of the series, especially gameplay/story. So, let's get into some more details:

    Graphics - 9/10 : It goes without saying    I wanted to like this game, but I struggled with whether I should give it a 5 or even rank it lower. I've been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy games since the first one on the NES, but the quality in recent installments has gone down dramatically from the heyday of the series, especially gameplay/story. So, let's get into some more details:

    Graphics - 9/10 :

    It goes without saying that an A-list title should really have pretty amazing graphics and I think Final Fantasy delivers on that. The cutscene graphics are great. The overall character/enemy design is great and the graphics of the action scenes look really fluid. The world looks beautiful and well designed graphically. There really aren't any complaints that you could make about the graphics.

    Open world - 6/10 :

    Decent open world environment. Two main factors contribute to the reduced score here. First, the open world is very empty. You can run (or drive) a LONG way without actually contacting any enemies. Thankfully the game doesn't really require grinding or this would be an even bigger detractor. Second, there isn't a huge difference in environments. You eventually end up in some caves (like the ice cave) or swamps, but in general the vast majority of the open world area is very similar and consistent geographically and design wise. It's beautiful, but just isn't very exciting.

    Character development/story - 2/10:

    It's hard to believe that the same company that put out amazing stories like Final Fantasy 2, 3 (SNES versions), 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 can't manage to put together a decent story with decent characters. Even Final Fantasy 13, which had a difficult to understand story, was light years ahead of this game in regards to character development and overall story arc. I know many people have noted the "boy band" quality of the 4 main characters and it is true, although I think boy bands actually have better characterization. You never really learn much about those 4 characters apart from the main character. They are all just kind of there, with the main character having slightly more characterization. You don't really care about their pasts or their motivations. They are just bland. If you expand out to other characters, you learn even less. There are characters that should be important to the main story that you only see in fleeting moments then never see again. The lack of diversity among the characters is also pretty clear, spending most of the game with 4 guys, never really spending much time with anyone else. Would have been wonderful to have a non-human character or even just a female character that you got to play as or be a part of your team for at least a little while. Overall, it felt like a major lost opportunity in the game.

    The story is pretty unintelligible and confusing. Perhaps if I had watched the Kingsglaive movie it would have made more sense, but I don't think that you should have to watch a prequel movie to be able to enjoy the story of the game. I never played a single Witcher game, but easily followed along with Witcher 3's story and characters, clearly being able to understand and figure out relationships and feelings between the different characters, really caring what happened to them. I just didn't care about any of these characters, even when the big "shock" moments occurred. They just didn't seem to feel like they needed to make an exciting or interesting story.

    Gameplay/Combat - 4/10 :

    Hope you like driving a car on an empty road (or just having it autodrive for you) for long periods of time. I don't think I ever played a game that contained so much waiting to go from place to place. Perhaps if there was more to do along the way it would be more exciting. The main quests are pretty straightforward and move reasonably quickly, especially once you get out of the open world. The side quests are pretty much MMO like. You goto point A, collect item B, and return to questgiver - rinse and repeat - over and over. Not much story for the sidequests either, especially compared to a game like Witcher 3..

    Combat, like the story, just didn't seem to matter. It's basically pressing or holding 1-2 buttons over and over again. Magic is mostly useless because you'll hurt your own teammates whom you can't really get out of the way as you have little to no control over them. For a game that wants to be an "action" RPG, it just never felt like you had to do much. Contrast that with Witcher 3 where you had multiple options and ways to play. The leveling/advancement system really never seemed to matter much and many of the options required far too many AP to be worthwhile.

    Overall, a disappointing game, failing to live up to any of the Final Fantasy games that went before it. If you're a fan, maybe you might find it worth playing. I won't say I hated the game, I just wish they had called it something other than Final Fantasy, because this wasn't a Final Fantasy game.    … Expand
  27. joannako
    Feb 14, 2017
    4
    I was so disappointed to be disappointed by this game. I've loved FF series since FFX and was so looking forward to a new full FF game. I really tried liking this game but I couldn't.

    First off, don't really like the reality based theme with the route 66 and all. Where are the beautiful fantasy worlds that you get to immerse yourself in like you often times do when playing the FF games?    I was so disappointed to be disappointed by this game. I've loved FF series since FFX and was so looking forward to a new full FF game. I really tried liking this game but I couldn't.

    First off, don't really like the reality based theme with the route 66 and all. Where are the beautiful fantasy worlds that you get to immerse yourself in like you often times do when playing the FF games? There's just one huge "hey y'all" area with hours of walking around, driving a car with real-time minutes going by and even the chocobos don't really help. You're just bored, utterly bored.

    But hey, how about the side quests? Those are always fun in a FF game right? Wrong. Go to the science lady, pick up some frogs. Go to her again, pick up frogs. And again and again. If you get tired doing that, go to the dog tag guy and pick up some dog tags. Over and over and over again. Yeah but there are hunts aren't there like in all FF games? Yes, but you can only pick up ONE at a time, so good luck going picking up hunts individually from all around the hey y'all-world. Well, you can always take the car to pick up hunts, it only takes maybe 8 real life minutes or so. Or you could go do the fishing side quests and sit there an hour and thinking nothing is happening and I'm hating this game. Fishing, what a nice side quest. Not.

    Leveling up. Oh I love it, it is so addicting!! Well, not in this game. Actually, there really isn't any fun in leveling up. Ascension grid? Yeah it's there. That's about it.

    Acquiring new weapons and spells, that's also fun in FF games. This games gives you the option of, oh about 3-5 weapons from which to choose from per character in the entire game. You're welcome. Actually you're lucky there isn't so many choices, comparing your old weapon to the new is difficult, since the screen is really poorly constructed. Spells, nah, don't bother, they're consumables and will very likely hurt you too if not kill you in combat.

    The storyline in short is uninteresting. The only time I got excited was the zombie-apocalypse like warehouse, only to find out that this is about it, the story is about to come to an end. I thought I was maybe half-way or not even that. And then Noctis gets a moustache. I mean wtf? At that point I stopped believing in this game and quit playing.

    The graphics are nice at least. But there's no addiction to this game and when there's no addiction, it probably isn't a very good game. I mean why else would you play a game, any game? Because it's addictive and you want to keep on playing on and on because it's so fun and addictive. If you're like that, then there's nothing for you in this game.    … Expand
  28. Taitaloscriba
    Feb 19, 2018
    4
    Da amante di Final Fantasy devo dire che il 15 mi ha deluso tantissimo. Ho giocato tutti i final fantasy escluso i 2 online(11 e 14), e se dopo il 10 hanno quasi rovinato la saga, col 15 hanno dato il colpo di grazia . Open world e combattimenti real time non sono da final fantasy. Storia piena di lacune, evocazioni in quasi 70 ore ne ho viste solo 3(sono automatiche). Non si sente laDa amante di Final Fantasy devo dire che il 15 mi ha deluso tantissimo. Ho giocato tutti i final fantasy escluso i 2 online(11 e 14), e se dopo il 10 hanno quasi rovinato la saga, col 15 hanno dato il colpo di grazia . Open world e combattimenti real time non sono da final fantasy. Storia piena di lacune, evocazioni in quasi 70 ore ne ho viste solo 3(sono automatiche). Non si sente la necessità di rafforzare abilità o armi, avrò potenziato una decina di abilità in tutto, solo per curiosità. Lo scontro finale è guidato e non da nessuna soddisfazione. Grafica bella ma chissene.....La macchina risulta totalmente inutile. Praticamente hanno fatto un GTA coi chocobo XD.… Expand
  29. mrlee97
    Apr 3, 2017
    4
    This game is completely unfinished. I don't think I've played a game from square enix as half baked as this. This is honestly the worse final fantasy entry in the entire series. It's an abomination that this is a main installment. SO much potential wasted.
  30. jpacor
    Feb 12, 2018
    4
    As a huge fan of Final Fantasy and action-RPGs, FFXV is a HUGE disappointment.

    The combat is dull, uninteresting and repetitive. Most (if not all) fights can be one by smashing the attack button, magic is useless and not even necessary. Summons are also unnecessarily difficult. The open world is huge, but mostly empty, lacking in meaningful side quests, stories or characters. Also,    As a huge fan of Final Fantasy and action-RPGs, FFXV is a HUGE disappointment.

    The combat is dull, uninteresting and repetitive. Most (if not all) fights can be one by smashing the attack button, magic is useless and not even necessary. Summons are also unnecessarily difficult. The open world is huge, but mostly empty, lacking in meaningful side quests, stories or characters. Also, traveling is really boring and can it can take a very long time to drive from point a to point b, where if you travel at night and hit a monster on the road, you are forced to stop and fight the monster. Awful and disruptive.

    Worst of all with FFXV is the story. Awful, terrible, abysmal. Several plot points are left out, it's hard to know what's fully going on if you don't watch a movie (what?!), and the twists are all lame. This is easily the worst plot of any FF game.

    I give this game a 4 because the post game content is excellent (somehow I finished this game... not really sure how). You gain the ability to travel in a much faster and easier manner, and there are plenty of legendary weapons, dungeons, and large bosses that are actually really fun. I thought this game was a complete disaster until this part of the game.

    But even then, good post game content can't save a terrible game. The repetitive, boring contact lacking in RPG elements and horrendous story make this game my most disappointing of 2017. Not worth playing by anyone, even the most hardcore FF or action-RPG fans.    … 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

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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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