Final Fantasy XV

 Xbox One
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 878 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 649 out of 878
  2. Mixed: 82 out of 878
  3. Negative: 147 out of 878
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  1. garland_spqr
    Dec 25, 2016
    6
    The game is well designed graphically. The world is large and stunning to look at. The massive scope really comes across nicely. Effects are well done and the monsters are really well designed, especially the bosses.
    The visuals are the main positive aspect of the game, although it is a little blurry and not crystal clear, especially in the distance. The music is beautiful, maybe a bit    The game is well designed graphically. The world is large and stunning to look at. The massive scope really comes across nicely. Effects are well done and the monsters are really well designed, especially the bosses.
    The visuals are the main positive aspect of the game, although it is a little blurry and not crystal clear, especially in the distance. The music is beautiful, maybe a bit repetitive if you stay in one spot for some time. The characters you meet are quite interesting, but you never really learn that much about them. The banter between the group members and the dialogue is pretty well done and funny.

    Sadly the game has some weaknesses, many little things especially that seem not to be very well fleshed out.
    The story is not great and progresses painfully slowly. It seems to be unintelligent and just fantasy elements randomly put together. And for even the slightest story progression you have to do a dungeon, or are somehow diverted to do chores first. The pacing is very odd.
    The story seems more like a short story that was put together very quickly, not like some epic journey like the older final fantasy titles. Story and quest direction are fairly poor.
    The sidequests seem to be the worst type of fetch quests without backstory. These type of quests would be unaceptable in mmos today, and even more unaceptable in a single player RPG.
    The car system is really weird, you cannot even drive properly and navigating through the menu to move your car around is just annoying. A simple quicktravel system would have been better. The professions are super weird and dont seem to be intriguing or useful for me.
    The magic system is boring, uninspiring and just again weird.
    There really does not seem to be an obvious reason to explore the huge and beautiful world.

    Overall it is a bizarre exotic game with a stunningly huge and beautiful world but many design weaknesses in the detail. If you like the older final fantasy games you will not necessarily like this one.    … Expand
  2. jcarl663
    Dec 19, 2016
    7
    I'm kind of ambivalent on this one. I want to give it a 6.5, but it doesn't deserve 6, so I gave it a 7. It looks pretty good and the combat can be kinda fun, but the story and music are fairly weak. The only song I remember in it is a licensed song. The story progression and plot are stilted and it doesn't really go anywhere. I found the characters charming, but they barely had any realI'm kind of ambivalent on this one. I want to give it a 6.5, but it doesn't deserve 6, so I gave it a 7. It looks pretty good and the combat can be kinda fun, but the story and music are fairly weak. The only song I remember in it is a licensed song. The story progression and plot are stilted and it doesn't really go anywhere. I found the characters charming, but they barely had any real development and what little they did came out of nowhere and had no sense of pacing. I found myself playing a lot of the game, something like 50 hours, and I walked away not feeling bad about spending the money, but this is not one of the games that people will be talking about in 20 years.… Expand
  3. rustybones16
    Nov 29, 2016
    7
    There's no real momentus introductory cinematic. The story arrives with a thud: your father tells you to 'Go get married!' And that's where the adventure begins. The first 3 hours are alright, roaming the dessert. However the real downer is the Xbox One graphics are super blurry! All the backgrounds look obviously blurry, kinda like that Call of Duty low-res blur. Also, the NPC's suck inThere's no real momentus introductory cinematic. The story arrives with a thud: your father tells you to 'Go get married!' And that's where the adventure begins. The first 3 hours are alright, roaming the dessert. However the real downer is the Xbox One graphics are super blurry! All the backgrounds look obviously blurry, kinda like that Call of Duty low-res blur. Also, the NPC's suck in the cities. I walked up to one, heard him say something, then walked to the next side and it was the exact same NPC saying the exact same thing. They didn't even bother to create different NPC's. Another bunch of NPC's were sitting at a dinner table, talking about how good the food is, but there was no food on the table, it was empty.

    This game could get better, but so far it bears all the signs of being stuck in development hell.    … Expand
  4. flier1285
    Dec 13, 2016
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I should preface with this that I have played A lot of the Final Fantasy Franchise, with six (3 when it came out on the Super nintendo in The Untied States ) With that being said, this game is a little above average.

    Characters - You only play as one Character, Noctis Lucis Caelum, prince when you start the game and the only character you control during the game. then you have your friends, Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia and Prompto Argentum. Each have there own personalities, and they are fun to hang with for the most part. These are your only fighters and the only people (save for two, latter in the game that join you for about an hour playtime each, if you don't hurry to the next objective.

    for this part, I loved the characters you did get to play with, but I wanted more guest NPCs, more developing of your friends stories and what happens when they do go off for a bit ( and usually come back beat up without saying a word of what happened )

    Then you have your love interest, who maybe has five minutes of screen time the whole game. I would have to say, worst love interest in the games I have played ( I haven't watched any of the movies, I feel I shouldn't have to and get a complete game ) She could have been a cool person, the player just doesn't get to know her in game.

    The Set - The set is big, and is pretty to look at and has a lot of side questing. If you want to spend hours finding hard monsters to fight, new things to explore, then you will like this game. The big sets are great to look and interact with. The summonings are epic, feels what a summoning should be, when you get a chance to summon something and the button actually works when prompted (had several time where I could and tried and held the trigger it would not work.

    The Story - I have read, and seen, a lot of reviews that says this story is great, I have to say average, at least to me who has played the other Final fantasy games, I seen all the plot points coming within the main plot kicking off. (I had actually turned to my brother, told him what I thought was going to happen, and was proven right. ) the antagonist helps you throughout the game, which in my opinion is just a bad story. The whole "Get powerful then challenge me as I help you to defeat me" is really a dumb thing for any person to do. That is what you go though, all the build up, all the working with everything ( and the fact you have to work with someone working for the people who take your city makes Noctis that bad that he goes with the self admitted Empire guy. There is dialogue options, but nothing to just tell this guy off and strom places with my friends on my own.

    Then, you don't get to interact with any old NPC on the world, you can stand in front of someone for hours and they won't say anything, move when it gets dark if you just stand there. So very little life in the places.

    Combat - Combat I found fun, if a little broken. You can switch weapons on the fly finding your special weapons, that take hit point, to use, fun to fine and take and find out what they can do. I played though as a light sword welder for most of the game. Magic is to much of a pain, anything I need to draw is pointless, then I have to try not to hit my own teammates if I want to use it.

    Traveling - the car... every other review that mentions it has the same thing about this car, to slow, no real talking, nothing going, taking to long, At least, at once you get to a parking spot, you can fast travel... for a small fee (while the fee is cheap, I'm paying for you to drive my car there quicker real life time, not in game time most of the time )

    Chocobos - fun, I love them, fun to ride them, fun to interact with them, they level up and love it.

    this is final fantasy, when do i get something that flies? the answer, in main game, never. You can play after you finish the story. Would have been better if we got that a lot earlier.

    Overall - This game I found fun, but missing on a lot of points The dialog tree doesn't really do anything (was thinking I could maybe get more Mass Effect style than I can talk, but what i say doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things ) I think, they should have pushed this back another year, and fleshed out the game even more.

    The game was hyped you can go to towns - yep, you get three, both pretty small for cities including the final fights in your home city (you walk about three blocks )

    It has missed on a lot, expectations should be lowered. This could have been so much better, so much missed,

    What could have improved the game -

    1. more dialog choices that matter to me let me talk to everyone!
    2. more character development of NPCs that I meet, let me know the woman I am supposed to marry, or romance other characters, let Noctis become my character if I am only going to play him.
    3. Let me not work with the people working against me.
    4. Faster car/travel
    5. game become linear with a rewind time, stop with time warps!    … Expand
  5. jeffbizloc
    Sep 20, 2017
    7
    Take Noctis and the bros through an adventure to reclaim the thrown. I've played a couple Final Fantasies before and came away feeling this was an ok adventure. I only had to grind once before the last chapter and did only a handful of side quests.

    Pros: - Cool visuals and areas - I liked the bros overall - The combat system worked but I didn't really need to do much to get through    Take Noctis and the bros through an adventure to reclaim the thrown. I've played a couple Final Fantasies before and came away feeling this was an ok adventure. I only had to grind once before the last chapter and did only a handful of side quests.

    Pros:
    - Cool visuals and areas
    - I liked the bros overall
    - The combat system worked but I didn't really need to do much to get through the game in thinking too hard about each battle
    - A couple cool bosses and creatures overall

    Cons:
    - The big bad though his background story was cool was sort of boring (I couldn't figure out why he helped the bros)
    - Like I said combat was cool in theory but I never felt good at it yet kept advancing fine
    - The awesome looking boat area I couldn't figure out how to get around for 10 mins was frustrating    … Expand
  6. DonMega
    Dec 1, 2016
    5
    No nostalgia from me as this is my first final fantasy. I can tell you that the landscapes although vast have outdated graphics, sometimes it looks like graphics from world of warcraft. However, the gameplay is fun, the characters are decent but the story lacks. A day before the release I watched the brotherhood: ffxv episodes due to recommendation but I still would like to know more aboutNo nostalgia from me as this is my first final fantasy. I can tell you that the landscapes although vast have outdated graphics, sometimes it looks like graphics from world of warcraft. However, the gameplay is fun, the characters are decent but the story lacks. A day before the release I watched the brotherhood: ffxv episodes due to recommendation but I still would like to know more about this world. The story thrusts you into the this game without telling you anything other than you are heading somewhere to get married.

    The combat is decent but what absolutely sucks is the camera and targeting system. The camera is finicky and always turned the wrong way, the targeting system is glitchy.
    Another thing happened, last year witcher 3 came out and you can really see they tried to take some ideas from that game and implement into this one with combat but again the camera is terrible and targeting system is worse than witcher and witcher was terrible with it's targeting so they one up'd it.

    The combat controls are also pretty bad, hold down a button and your character will block everything, hold down another button and your character with continuously attack. To switch out spells you have to go all the way back to the main menu and go through a series of 5 menus to change out spells. All in all, witcher made this game absolete.

    Overall it's an ok game, slightly boring because they don't give any background to the story at all and there really isn't much to do in the open world but kill npc's or fish.    … Expand
  7. HamishT
    Nov 29, 2016
    7
    On xbox the graphics really washed out. Up close the game is beautiful but at a small to great distance it is eye watering bad. This needs to be patched in a hurry.

    Magic seems useless and just added on. Im 2m from my 50inch tv and the font could do with being a size or two larger. Being able to customize your controller layout would also go a long way, your just given the use a b or c    On xbox the graphics really washed out. Up close the game is beautiful but at a small to great distance it is eye watering bad. This needs to be patched in a hurry.

    Magic seems useless and just added on. Im 2m from my 50inch tv and the font could do with being a size or two larger. Being able to customize your controller layout would also go a long way, your just given the use a b or c layout options. The side quests are not entertaining and feel like a chore. The only thing that saves them is the battle mechanics.

    The first 2 hours i really wished they had stayed with a turn based aystem. Part of me still does, but once you have the hang of the awful button layout and have mastered when to warp or when to team up with a buddy for a sweet combo its actually super fun.

    If the graphics, controller layout and font size get patch 8.5/10    … Expand
  8. Clessy
    Dec 14, 2016
    6
    I just don't get where everyones coming from. I've beat every numbered ff game sans 11, 12 and 14.
    FF15 isnt a bad game but man is it medicore. Its probably one of the most disopointing meh games in the series.
    First lets address the ps4 version. The ps4 version offers a crisper picture coming in at a locked 1080p. The game hits and stays at 30fps. There is sometimes a oddity in    I just don't get where everyones coming from. I've beat every numbered ff game sans 11, 12 and 14.
    FF15 isnt a bad game but man is it medicore. Its probably one of the most disopointing meh games in the series.

    First lets address the ps4 version.

    The ps4 version offers a crisper picture coming in at a locked 1080p. The game hits and stays at 30fps. There is sometimes a oddity in jerky animations but i'd say this is unnnoticable to most normal peoples eyes. The ps4 version has less issues with texture pop in than the xbox one version.

    The xbox version runs a 720p to 900p. When the games running at 900p things look pretty much as solid as the ps4 version however, its running in 720p the vast majority of the time and honestly the picture looks soft and blurry as hell. The xbox version suffers from textures pop in and not loading fast enough a lot. This happens when theres not enough free space on the HDD. It has to load so much data that if the ff15 data isnt on the outer quicker part of the HDD then it cant load fast enough to keep up with the textures.

    I've got 67 hours on the xbox one version and my friend has 200 hours on the ps4 version with everything complete. I myself on xbox only have 90% of the achivements and tons of pointless bland quest to do. He has literally every single quest, hunt, etc to include the bonus dugeons.

    It shys away from the strong story telling of previous games to have a paper thin, poorly wrote, awfully explained and pretty much flaws flat on its face with its lack of depth. You build absolutely no emotion connection with luna.

    Its a technical mess, glitches amass. Popin, textures loading awfully, the game having load times that make the neogeo cd look like lighting comparitly. Aimless pointless traveling thats early to mask loading issues. Games crashed on me 3 times my friends have all had it at least crash once. Im talking about just serious bugs everywhere. This isnt being repoarted from someone whos put 6 to 30 hours into the game.

    The battle system lacks any depth. Its mostly just hold b. The magic system is junk feels like a after thought. The skill tree is **** Things costing 333 and above will simply almost never get bought. You'll be max level and no where near the ap you need for anything. Most of the skills you will soon realize are useless and not thought out. Especially all the ones to enhance the ammount of AP you get. They cost so much that they negate anything wasted into them.

    The graphics are all over the place. Some times looking like a last gen game and not even a good one to the next minute blowing your mind.

    Hallow gameplay. Most of the game is the same damn quest over and over an over. If I wanted that i'd play a western rpg. I want my quest to have real uniqueness with a story to drive them. I've literally fixed the same guys car like 3 times. The hunts have no meaning except exp. This game is literally Fetchquest Fantasy 15.

    Dialog repeatition. They're trying to build up your emotional bond and people seem so captivated by this hallow experience. You're out of unique dialog or any building of bonds by around 7 hours into the game.

    If you dont want a story and you want questing and you dont even want a final fantasy or anything that resembles a final fantasy maybe you'll enjoy this. This is clearly the mind of western rpg or mmo mentality spilling into a single player game.

    To each his own but, the over whelming positivity and hype for this game is baffling. I've yet to meet a single person who likes the game in person and it seems to just be an online presence of this over hyping.    … Expand
  9. Origosis
    Nov 30, 2016
    6
    So I want to keep this simple. This game is a MUST buy. Get it. It is worth every penny.

    But for a score it has only earned a 6/10 in my book due to, in part, the near complete lack of a story. Or rather a story told so badly it feels like it is lacking a story. If the story was only about the 4 'brothers' and their journey then it would score damn near a perfect 10 for story telling    So I want to keep this simple. This game is a MUST buy. Get it. It is worth every penny.

    But for a score it has only earned a 6/10 in my book due to, in part, the near complete lack of a story. Or rather a story told so badly it feels like it is lacking a story.

    If the story was only about the 4 'brothers' and their journey then it would score damn near a perfect 10 for story telling about such a cool camaraderie.

    But it is 2 stories. And the 2nd Main story is a bunch of political **** and senseless-ness. That story falls flat on it's face. And to make it worse.. i was genuinely curious in the politics of this world, due to how they affect the 4 main characters.

    The other reason is the "MEH" battle system. It is OK. It is fun at times, frustrating at other times, mixed with a bunch of cool ideas and very stupid ideas. The actual attacks are easy and simple, But everything else especially the dodge mechanic is half assed. When it works it is fun, but most of the time these other systems fail to work in one way or another.

    Which leaves us with the 2nd best thing about FFXV. The open world system and the driving. Simply amazing. This is an open world done right.

    And it did something else right, that nearly no other game has ever done... It will be easy to come back to FFXV if you put it down for a few weeks or months.

    This game is fun as hell and on many levels one of the best Final Fantasy gameplay wise ever made.

    As for the battle system... Maybe they will patch in a classic battle system with the possible PC release.

    As for the story. There is no fixing that... which is too bad, cause it was the first time I was intrigued by the political mumbo jumbo in a JRPG.    … Expand
  10. closedsocket
    Dec 7, 2016
    7
    Much like the Star Wars reboot, Final Fantasy XV is more for people new to the franchise then it is for loyalists, and that's not a bad thing.

    Final Fantasy gets a lot of things right. The combat, although repetitive, requires more interaction than it did in previous games. Which makes even little battles feel more involved. A lot of people are complaining about "holding the B/O    Much like the Star Wars reboot, Final Fantasy XV is more for people new to the franchise then it is for loyalists, and that's not a bad thing.

    Final Fantasy gets a lot of things right. The combat, although repetitive, requires more interaction than it did in previous games. Which makes even little battles feel more involved. A lot of people are complaining about "holding the B/O button", but let's get serious, in previous entries you were just mashing A/X to confirm an attack during most battles. The boss fights are big and memorable - without feeling tedious. Combat is fun, it's repetitive, but fun.

    The main characters are life like, and you get a good feeling for their personality, unfortunately side characters are an afterthought. There is a lot of missed potential regarding the side character. The characters hint at their backstory, but never divulge it, and there are no side quests for more information.

    The world is open, but lacks personality. Only two towns are visit-able in the game, and one only for a short time. You never really feel immersed, or like you have the freedom to make your own choices.

    Instead the story is linear, but still very good - until the end. The ending feels like the developers somehow ran out of time. You'll see a part that makes very little sense towards the end, and it's never explained.

    There is a lot missing from this game, or is just an after thought, that fans have come to expect from Final Fantasy. Skill development is non essential, the skill board (ascension) does not develop the characters in any meaningful way. Summons are random, and magic is an afterthought. If you enjoy a good story, but with glaring holes, and want a linear experience, then this game is for you. And, it's good at what it is. If you are expecting a return to old, and comparing it to previous entries, then you will most likely be disappointed.

    Some technical specs. 35 hours to beat the game 50 hours to 100% the game. No guides involved.    … Expand
  11. Eilanzer
    Dec 1, 2016
    5
    Average at best, and i´m already forcing it and with a lil bit of nostalgia factor.
    The story is bland and one of the WORST FF plots ever made, if you think FF12 had a horrible story...Man you gonna hate this!
    The main cast are ok, nothing out of this world but with the restriction to only one character much of the game is lost. The action is ok...Divisive but it´s ok. It´s not that    Average at best, and i´m already forcing it and with a lil bit of nostalgia factor.
    The story is bland and one of the WORST FF plots ever made, if you think FF12 had a horrible story...Man you gonna hate this!
    The main cast are ok, nothing out of this world but with the restriction to only one character much of the game is lost.
    The action is ok...Divisive but it´s ok. It´s not that dumb how some people are saying but it´s not so bad like FF13. (i would like the old atb style but that´s me)
    the secondary cast are....are...nothing...already forgot them =/ (this compared to Final fantasy 6 or 7 are a joke, like the people who made this game never played a FF game before...just 13 =.="...Hell even 12 had more memorable side characters in the world that i can remember)
    If you like a "western" style rpg, with world adventure then maybe that´s the game made for you...If you like the old FF~Xenogears~Chrono style of story driven game....Then stay away from this game like the plague! Or just buy later cheaper or even rent first and try yourself...    … Expand
  12. Daelus
    Jan 9, 2017
    5
    In truth I would give this game a 5.5, but I couldn't round up as this game, on the whole, is not worth a 6.

    Bigger picture this is 2 completely separate games, with the first 1/2 being a semi-open world, with the traditional fetch quests and the 2nd half being a linear, brief, story-driven QTE-fest. The first part I enjoyed as an average adventure game (this game is only nominally    In truth I would give this game a 5.5, but I couldn't round up as this game, on the whole, is not worth a 6.

    Bigger picture this is 2 completely separate games, with the first 1/2 being a semi-open world, with the traditional fetch quests and the 2nd half being a linear, brief, story-driven QTE-fest.

    The first part I enjoyed as an average adventure game (this game is only nominally an RPG) and if you enjoy fetch quests (I do) and light exploration, this game wasn't bad. Combat can be fun, but is also very easy and can simply be holding down 1 button; you can approach it in different ways, but it is not necessary in any way.

    The cons about this part of the game is that, even though the footprint is pretty small, it takes time to traverse the map because the travel options take forever; one imagines this was done to give the game a bigger feel. Travelling by car, while faster than foot and marginally faster than chocobo, is not quick (hides loading screens)..
    The world itself is very bare, not dynamic in the least and there are few reasons to explore. The world is covered with invisible barriers that mean you can only leave the road/ path if there is another linear path to follow. If you do travel about on foot, you will undoubtedly continue to encounter the same 2 people that are either hurt or their car has broken down...same assets, same encounters, time and again.
    From a story perspective, it's a mess; there is no context for the characters introduced and no way to know what is going on in the few instances where story is introduced.
    As always with the Japanese devs, they have to have at least 1 NPC that is over-sexualized for same reason...the Cindy stuff is ridiculous, not quite to the extent that Quiet was butchered, but completely breaks any type of immersion with the game...I will never understand it...and I love scantily-clad women!!!

    The 2nd-half of the game, for me, was just a mess; and there is no way to see that the gamestyle is going to change so substantially. You go from doing fetch quests and travelling about to be forced down 1 linear path and from event to event. Combat is largely replaced, especially in boss fights, with QTE events. The story gets no clearer and they try to make you feel emotionally-vested in characters you have never even met, simply with a few historic cutscenes. The only positive thing I can say about the 2nd half of the game is that it is very brief and might only take you a few hours.    … Expand
  13. Davondo
    Jan 11, 2017
    6
    I can't help but feel disappointed after finishing this game. The story telling is pretty shameful to the point that you don't really know/care what is happening and the side missions are incredibly monotonous.

    On the plus side the combat feels fresh and graphically the game is solid. There is so much potential in this game which just adds to the disappointment.
  14. TheHonestJack
    Aug 7, 2020
    5
    FFXV is a spectacular mess of an RPG. The game's troubled development becomes glaringly obvious as you find things to both love dearly and other things to utterly despise.

    The braindead combat and horrendous magic system are bolstered by flashiness and a spectacular battle soundtrack. Your party members are fun and lovable, aside from the bland emo Noctis and Gladio the overly    FFXV is a spectacular mess of an RPG. The game's troubled development becomes glaringly obvious as you find things to both love dearly and other things to utterly despise.

    The braindead combat and horrendous magic system are bolstered by flashiness and a spectacular battle soundtrack.

    Your party members are fun and lovable, aside from the bland emo Noctis and Gladio the overly antagonistic jock.

    The game features plenty of side quests and treasure hunts in the open world to help you level up on the fly, even if 95% of them are the same boring fetch quests you'd find padding out a lazy MMO and the treasures are almost always just consumables you can buy for pennies.

    The game's world looks great, which is disheartening since the art style is so bland and features barely any fantasy elements.

    There are SPARKS of a masterpiece JRPG in this game, but these sparks are bogged down by the mediocre features likely scraped together from the game's troubled development.    … Expand
  15. Barnes1987
    Mar 6, 2017
    7
    This game looks amazing and with a massive world to explore, it's going to take up a lot of your free time. I just found the game to be rather boring and the story didn't reel me in like previous entries in the series. Not the worst FF game to come out but not the best either.
  16. blindmonkey
    Dec 16, 2016
    7
    If you are looking for an rpg pass on this game, as you will be severely disappointed. If you want just a fun time killing action game it is quite enjoyable to play. Now I will try to write the rest of this review with no spoilers

    Let's go over what this game does right first. The combat mechanics in this game are a ton of fun, and it gives you options to play different ways. You can    If you are looking for an rpg pass on this game, as you will be severely disappointed. If you want just a fun time killing action game it is quite enjoyable to play. Now I will try to write the rest of this review with no spoilers

    Let's go over what this game does right first. The combat mechanics in this game are a ton of fun, and it gives you options to play different ways. You can find a method that you enjoy that others may not. Even at the end of the game it does a good job of staying interesting.

    As for the cons. This game has practically no story or character development what so ever. They made an attempt with the movie and short anime, but even with that it is severely lacking. Maybe I was spoiled since I played the earlier final fantasy's, but it seems like ever since x they haven't been putting any effort at all into their story or characters.

    The side games that final fantasy became known for after 7 are basically non existent or horrible.

    The fact that the battle mechanics were pretty much the only bright spot and I was willing to give it a 7 shows how enjoyable the battle mechanics actually were. That being said this was the last chance I was willing to give square enix. I have played every final fantasy since 7 and even went back to play 1,2 and 6. There flat out disregard for story or character development since x has made me come to the decision that I will no longer be purchasing any more of their games.    … Expand
  17. Mikeb86
    Apr 9, 2017
    7
    A good rpg, but in my opinion not a good final fantasy game, story all over the place and even after completing it I have no desire to play through again, lost its way with the weird horror part towards the end that felt very out of place, biggest issues for me were the combat, way to easy and simplistic, the use of magic sucked big time and the worst was being unable to summon at will! IA good rpg, but in my opinion not a good final fantasy game, story all over the place and even after completing it I have no desire to play through again, lost its way with the weird horror part towards the end that felt very out of place, biggest issues for me were the combat, way to easy and simplistic, the use of magic sucked big time and the worst was being unable to summon at will! I did enjoy it just nowhere near as much as I hoped, much better than 13 though so it's heading in the right direction… Expand
  18. Digiclone
    Jul 19, 2020
    5
    story: a lot of important stuff happens off-screen and you only have access by watching the movie, the anime and playing the dlcs. the story still manages to convey emotion even with a hurried ending.

    gameplay: little variation in combat and strategy, you can switch weapons but just keep the same button pressed, the same thing to dodge, which means that enemies and bosses are just    story: a lot of important stuff happens off-screen and you only have access by watching the movie, the anime and playing the dlcs. the story still manages to convey emotion even with a hurried ending.

    gameplay: little variation in combat and strategy, you can switch weapons but just keep the same button pressed, the same thing to dodge, which means that enemies and bosses are just sponges of hp and damage.

    art: the game has a more realistic style but the scenarios don't stand out too much, the design of the characters is beautiful but the monsters are uninspired.

    music: the best part, probably the best soundtrack of the franchise.    … Expand
  19. RoninNinjaXL
    Sep 18, 2020
    5
    if it wasn't in development hell it woul've banged

    Story: 5
    Gameplay: 4
    ost: 7
    Characters: 9
  20. Art2020
    Mar 7, 2022
    6
    The combat is great and the open world is nice. The story is kinda bad and the americanisation of many things like characters and environments are really really annoying. The combat though is very addicting.
  21. JamMasterJayFan
    Jan 26, 2017
    7
    This game can only be described as a flawed masterpiece. The combat is phenomenal and exciting, with flashy combos and epic summons. You can link attacks with a member of your party to do massive damage, and you can tell a party member when to use their special attack. You can parry an enemy's attack which leads to some incredible animations. It all adds up to an exciting combat systemThis game can only be described as a flawed masterpiece. The combat is phenomenal and exciting, with flashy combos and epic summons. You can link attacks with a member of your party to do massive damage, and you can tell a party member when to use their special attack. You can parry an enemy's attack which leads to some incredible animations. It all adds up to an exciting combat system that is as fun as it is hectic. That is, when the camera can keep up at least.

    If you aren't fighting in a large, open area with no trees or shrubs in the way, the camera will easily keep up with the action and the fight will progress without a hitch. But, in smaller areas, the camera simply can't keep up, causing major issues.

    Dungeons are extremely repetitive and, honestly, are pretty awful. Every time I am forced to crawl through a dungeon I pray for it to end. Every two steps in a dungeon lead to a massive fight with daemons that's a pain to sit through, as the camera starts having an aneurysm and you're left to mash buttons, hoping that sooner or later the Cthulu-esque enemies will decide to drop dead already.

    The story is also presented in a shockingly stilted fashion. I honestly did not know what the hell was going on, and I frankly don't really care, because what was there wasn't that great to begin with. The characters in your party are loveable and fleshed out, and you'll grow attached to them by the end. There are some incredible main story missions. Sometimes you'll be fighting skyscraper-sized gods, other times you'll be fighting against an entire army while destroying a base. These are some amazing standout moments. It's too bad that the other standout moments traipsing through an overly-long dungeon fighting the camera as much as the boring daemon's.

    Most of the music you'll hear in the game is an absolute pain to listen to; it sounds like it was ripped from a royalty-free website. This is the music that you'll hear 90% of the time while you're talking to people in near-identical towns. The music that plays during battles is epic and well-made, which leaves a jarring divide in quality. The side missions are... well, they're easily the worst part of the game. I have never seen side missions as bad as these. I've said my piece about that.

    To top it all off, the environmental graphics on Xbox One are poor. The character models for main characters look great, but you'll be staring at a world that looks like it was made out of melting butter for the entire game. Luckily, the framerate is absolutely rock-solid on the Xbox One, whereas the PS4 looks much better but has framerate issues. Personally, I'd rather have a game that runs well.

    So, in conclusion, I've said a lot of bad things about this game. But I can't bring myself to give it anything less than a 7. The game is worth buying for its combat alone; it's addicting and amazing to look at. Even though the story is bad, the characters will win you over, and some main missions were frankly astounding to play through. I would recommend buying it, but you should know what you're getting into. If you were expecting a great story, look elsewhere.    … Expand
  22. Artimecion
    Dec 23, 2016
    6
    A mess, but a fun mess. Story wise, it suffers from similar issues to XIII; a badly paced narrative that has been edited down to the point of nonsense. Its also very short for a Final Fantasy game, approximately 30 hours long for the main story. That being said, the world is stunning and the camaraderie between the main characters is a joy. The game really excels when you arent attemptingA mess, but a fun mess. Story wise, it suffers from similar issues to XIII; a badly paced narrative that has been edited down to the point of nonsense. Its also very short for a Final Fantasy game, approximately 30 hours long for the main story. That being said, the world is stunning and the camaraderie between the main characters is a joy. The game really excels when you arent attempting to do the main quests, but falls flat when you do (although the 'bad guy' is really very good). The open world is truly a double edged sword- as lovely as it looks and as wonderfully as it is populated, you will be staring at a car for upwards of 8 minutes at a time, just to get from A to B, which is really no fun at all. That being said, they have done a good job at creating a believable living world, unlike the mess that was Cocoon.

    Overall, It feels like Square dropped the ball with this one again, its certainly not FFXIII terrible, but doesnt come close to FFVI or FFIX.    … Expand
  23. JacksonAkson
    Feb 21, 2017
    7
    I originally rated this game a 4, but after returning to it for a second play thru I feel I was overly harsh. The game is more enjoyable once a better understanding of techniques, ascension, traveling, combat, magic, non-obvious content and travel is obtained. It's not my favorite game, but it does provide many hours of entertainment. Below is my original, all be it harsh review:

    FF    I originally rated this game a 4, but after returning to it for a second play thru I feel I was overly harsh. The game is more enjoyable once a better understanding of techniques, ascension, traveling, combat, magic, non-obvious content and travel is obtained. It's not my favorite game, but it does provide many hours of entertainment. Below is my original, all be it harsh review:

    FF XV was my introduction into the Final Fantasy series. I would say I have a love / hate relationship with the game, but I really don't love anything about it. The world is pleasing to look at and I played for over 100 hours so I did get some entertainment out of it.

    I tend to love open world, role playing games. I would say this game is half that, and half a linear, incoherent separate story. I never grasped how the open world portion of the game related to the main story line. After completing the main story line, I researched it on the web to fill in some of the blanks only to find out I had completely failed to comprehend the story line ending. But with internet help I was able to unlock a time traveling dog and return to playing the open world game. Thanks for the help, someone.

    The car / travel system gets bashed ad nausea, as it should. The amount of time wasted via driving / fast (slow) traveling to a point to allow fast (slow) travel to a different point was borderline comical. The car drives at a game clock speed of 1 mph and only holds about a pint of fuel.

    Drive to location (wait). It's getting dark (whine). Fast travel to rest area (wait). Camp (wait). Fast travel to car (wait). Walk 1/4 mile to tomato. Pick up tomato. Fast travel to car (wait). Drive back to diner (wait). Run out of gas (wait longer). Give up tomato. A new recipe!

    The combat system didn't do it for me either. The camera is bad to say the least. If my character out-leveled my enemies it worked best just to hold the attack button while ignoring the TV. Most efforts I made to dodge / think / control the action resulted in me performing worse. When fighting enemies that out-leveled me, the game became a button masher (attack, dodge, take another potion). I did like the visual appearance of most of the animal enemies though.

    I didn't care for any of the main characters. The metro boy band look, shoes 9 sizes too large, trotting around like chimpanzees cutting in front of me, constant whining, standing around while I kill everything made me wish I could just go it alone. "its hot...its cold...i'm tired....i'm sticky and gross....camping again....can't you catch something bigger....talk about back seat fishing...whoo hoo, bath time!" Good god. I turned their voice volume off for a while, but then I could not hear anyone else who was so eloquently instructing me to fetch another tomato in Dukes of Hazard style southern drawl.

    I found the end game dungeons to be a monotonous, repetitive drag as well. How can you have the same stair case enter the same room 100 times in a single mission?

    Character leveling was sad. Fishing, cooking, photography and buying new boots? How does this fit with some apocalyptic story line going on in the background? I caught some world record fish though. My 300 pound grouper yielded one meal. The fishing would be greatly improved if there was some way to stifle the commentary. It becomes grating in a manner of seconds.

    I was dumbfounded by the ascension tree for most of the game. I searched if for hours trying to find a way to kill Prompto. I had completed the main story before I comprehended creating simple spells as well. Maybe I am just slow in my old age.

    Anyway those are my thoughts. Thanks to all the web support that helped me get through this game. I was stuck many times.    … Expand
  24. MrBPZ
    Dec 28, 2016
    7
    I feel like the biggest issues from reviews on this game are that people want to compare it to other Final Fantasy games, and rightfully so. However, I feel that it is important to look at it as its own game which I can do. I have not immersed myself in the Final Fantasy series, so this was all brand new to me. Final Fantasy XV is a good game, and there are definitely more positives thanI feel like the biggest issues from reviews on this game are that people want to compare it to other Final Fantasy games, and rightfully so. However, I feel that it is important to look at it as its own game which I can do. I have not immersed myself in the Final Fantasy series, so this was all brand new to me. Final Fantasy XV is a good game, and there are definitely more positives than negatives, but there are a few things holding it back from being a great game.

    FFXV's biggest strength is the four main characters that you'll be following through the campaign. All four characters are extremely likeable, but the game doesn't really do much to grow the characters. If you watched Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV before playing the game, you'll have a better understanding of the relationships between the characters. However, the game really misses out on some character development that could have been great. There is a severe lack of personal storylines outside of the main story. For example, I stayed at some random hotel, and it triggered a cutscene between Noctis and Prompto where he expressed his doubts as a member of your party. You have choices as to how you respond to this, but it makes for some amazing development. This didn't happen until I had been playing for 16 hours, and it was the only one I encountered. Big swing and a miss there.

    The second problem is the side quests in the game. They are pointless. It's essentially "go here and kill this monster" or "go here and press 'A.'" And quest givers also have multiple quests that stack on top of each other. Why not develop those NPCs when I'm working for them? I told myself that I was going to do all side quests because I wanted to extend the game as much as possible. Then I told myself I'd come back to them after the main story. Now that the story is over, I have no desire to return and complete the side quests.

    I want to end with a big positive. Buy this game. Play it for Noctis and his friends. Ultimately, I felt the story was very good, and the ending left me in tears. It's a fun ride when following the story, but the extra stuff feels more like copied and pasted padding. However, I enjoyed the time I had with it and would recommend it to others. So go pick it up and see if you enjoy Noctis and the gang as much as others do.

    P.S. Watch Brotherhood first    … Expand
  25. Dalray3s
    Jun 6, 2018
    7
    No es para gente con poco tiempo
    Si tienes un par de horas para jugar al dia, como mucho, es un juego que necesita su tiempo, y algo que me hizo dejarlo aparcado es el no poder guardar partida en los momentos que quisiera, no confundir dificultad o reto, no no dejar guardar cuando quieras.
    Puntos positivos: -Historia, 4 amigos en problemas que solo se tienen entre ellos -Banda    No es para gente con poco tiempo
    Si tienes un par de horas para jugar al dia, como mucho, es un juego que necesita su tiempo, y algo que me hizo dejarlo aparcado es el no poder guardar partida en los momentos que quisiera, no confundir dificultad o reto, no no dejar guardar cuando quieras.

    Puntos positivos:
    -Historia, 4 amigos en problemas que solo se tienen entre ellos
    -Banda sonora, música que te mete en la acción y es fiel con lo que muestra en pantalla

    Puntos negativos
    -Técnicamente tiene muchos problemas que no son propios de un juego con este nombre
    -Animaciones flojas en muchos momentos.    … Expand
  26. pmasterfunk
    Mar 19, 2021
    6
    FF15 is a game that clearly lacked direction during its time in development hell. The game is not without its charms, but - at least for my tastes - a whole lot of dev time was wasted on stuff that doesn't really add up to making FF15 a good game.

    I think FF15 does reasonably well with its story and characterization. I think it's fair to complain about the pacing - I'll get back to this    FF15 is a game that clearly lacked direction during its time in development hell. The game is not without its charms, but - at least for my tastes - a whole lot of dev time was wasted on stuff that doesn't really add up to making FF15 a good game.

    I think FF15 does reasonably well with its story and characterization. I think it's fair to complain about the pacing - I'll get back to this - but ultimately the overarching story isn't bad. It gets pretty wonky at the end, but hey, this is Final Fantasy and Tetsuya Nomura is involved, so it's expected. The bad guy has a lot of potential, but his potential is kinda ruined by his confusing motivations and stranger origins - which are not really explained in the main game. Time to read some fandom.wiki articles!

    The lack of direction is apparent when looking at secondary characters. Aranea, Loqi, Cor, Jared and Talcott, even Ravus and the emperor - whose name I can't remember - they probably all could have been cut or replaced with random mooks, and the story wouldn't really have been affected. Their existence is probably a result of having them involved in all the FF15 ancillary media. Gotta monetize that FF15 universe!

    The main characters however are surprisingly likable. Noctis thankfully looks much more emo than he acts, and if you ignore the ridiculous haircuts and outfits, the whole team is pretty fun. The story actually builds these characters up reasonably well - mind you I haven't played the DLC - and I felt attached to the 4 mains fairly quickly.

    I don't like all of the music, but there are definitely some great tracks in there.

    I find the visuals to be a mixed bag. I mean, some stuff looks incredibly realistic, but looking realistic and looking good are two different things to me. When the rain stops just as the sun is setting, the world is absolutely beautiful. Some of the architecture is amazing, the city of Altissia is really impressive. Most dungeons actually have really intricate designs, but it's usually so dark in there I couldn't see **** The world has some arresting vistas, but at the same time most of it seems bland and empty. The really impressive stuff isn't explorable, and what is accessible is kinda boring. It's like the opposite of Breath of the Wild, where your goals are always to get to those special places. Here, the impressive stuff is just eye-candy, you can never get in real close, and there aren't really any payoffs for finding interesting locales.

    I find the enemies overdesigned. I've beaten tons of monsters that I still wouldn't be able to recognize in a police lineup. Because they are "realistic", they're not particularly colorful and don't pop much on screen and are just hard to see. I also find the juxtaposition of 4 guys in extravagant Harajuku streetwear driving around in what looks like a fancy European luxury car against '50s style diners and old rusty cars driven people wearing khakis to be really jarring. Odd choices.

    These odd design choices permeate basically every part of the game, including the basic game content. The game is massive, no doubt. There are almost 200 sidequests, and  the gameplay hook is pretty enticing. The temptation to do "one more quest" is very strong, and I've binged on these seemingly endless quests in hopes of gaining obscene amounts of EXP. EXP aside, the quest payouts aren't particularly good, but having the capacity to later blow through main quest events is oddly alluring. So I guess that part worked out.

    But ultimately the vast majority of the game's content resides in sidequests. Out of the approximately 50 hours I spent on the game, maybe 10 of them were story related. After spending way too much time doing hunts and fetch quests, I figured I'd jump back into the story, and what happens? "Oh hey, Noct, how about we stop here for a sec?" "Yo Noct, wanna check out this waterfall?" "Help me with this garden, Noctis".

    I JUST SPENT 15 HOURS DOING SIDEQUESTS, I'M READY TO MOVE ON

    All this side content ultimately messes with the pacing of the story, which tries to be extremely urgent and serious. That is, until the game prevents you from doing sidequest completely.

    Why was so much energy devoted to so many pointless things instead of the main quest? Why are basic actions like getting into the car and talking to people and picking up items on the ground so clunky and frustrating and slow? Why is the camera always stuck behind trees or boulders during battles? Is this really the battle system the devs were aiming for? Is the game trying to be a open world game or a horror game with those dark underground levels? Did Squeenix try to make a game that is 100% sidequest as a weird market study?

    If you want a time sink, this game has you covered. If you want a well-paced, cohesive story, you may want to look elsewhere. The lack of direction and emphasis on aspects that I find unessential ruin the great potential the game may have had.    … Expand
  27. benjito
    Nov 10, 2021
    6
    La historia es bellísima, digna de cualquier anime o película. El juego y su sistema de combate, retador y en muchas ocasiones gratificante, prácticamente no hice grind y aun así con mi buena dosis de pociones logre acabar el juego..

    aqui el gran problema viene con su famoso "mundo abierto" que no tiene nada de nada.. aburridisimo caminar y caminar para solo ir venciendo cualquier    La historia es bellísima, digna de cualquier anime o película. El juego y su sistema de combate, retador y en muchas ocasiones gratificante, prácticamente no hice grind y aun así con mi buena dosis de pociones logre acabar el juego..

    aqui el gran problema viene con su famoso "mundo abierto" que no tiene nada de nada.. aburridisimo caminar y caminar para solo ir venciendo cualquier cucaracha que te encuentres. Por algo pusieron el carro seguramente.

    normalmente cualquier jrpg me motiva a hacer grind, pero este ha sido de las pocas excepciones, como dicen muchos.. increíble haber esperado 10 años para un juego que se nota tuve más de una dirección y en algún punto no supieron que hacer

    de hecho en cuanto el juego se vuelve totalmente lineal después de leviathan, da un brinco de calidad enorme, pero en mi opinión ya es demasiado tarde.    … Expand
  28. ProfAmateur
    May 21, 2020
    7
    Story is very good and the open world interessting to explore.
    negativ: the xbox one version so so bad programmed, it feels like yo play with 20 fps
  29. NxtDoc
    Apr 1, 2021
    6
    In the opening Final Fantasy XV claims that it is a Final Fantasy for both old fans and new ones. This is an odd statement. But once the combat starts you begin to know why it is said.

    Final Fantasy XV is a solid game. However, it has some glaring issues. The combat is clunky, and very chaotic. There is no strategy in the combat system, as with older FF games. It is inferior and    In the opening Final Fantasy XV claims that it is a Final Fantasy for both old fans and new ones. This is an odd statement. But once the combat starts you begin to know why it is said.

    Final Fantasy XV is a solid game. However, it has some glaring issues. The combat is clunky, and very chaotic. There is no strategy in the combat system, as with older FF games. It is inferior and takes away a very enjoyable element of FF of old. And the summoning is awful. You must meet a oddly specific set of scenarios for you to summon. Very lame, and bad idea.

    The Regalia is more of a nuisance than anything else. Driving is boring, and cumbersome. Noctis is a enjoyable character, and his supporting cast is decent enough, but forgettable.cast is decent. But fairly forgettable.

    All in all, FF XV is solid but it's poor Combat design, lame Summon system, side chores, long load times even on on blurry Xbox One, and shallow leveling system make it a poor entry In the iconic series.    … Expand
  30. Valkillmore
    May 31, 2021
    6
    Incredibly uninspired and boring ass narrative BUT the combat was fun and the driving was cool i guess.
  31. Major_PC_92
    May 19, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. good open world!!!!!! but they are a big default after The chapter 8 the storytelling is to quickly.… Expand
  32. Cerealisopu
    Aug 29, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The story is meagre. It is just there. Gameplay and combat is great. Locations are unique. The side quest system is really boring. It is like, "Hey Noctis, come do this thing for me, thanks for doing the thing for me!". Also car travel is quite boring, unless you complete the game and you get the flying car. The open world is fun to explore but after progressing in the story enough it gets locked from you. Certain aspects of the story makes no sense whatsoever. Like I am a royal prince but the king just decides to sent just 3 bodyguards after me and the car you get can't even get past ten miles per/hour. The game can be really fun at times especially during the scripted story sections( I mean gameplay not the actual writing) and also the monsters and lore of them is well designed. The graphics are still a little bad, not to be salty but forza horizon 2 came 2 years before this and that game was beautiful… Expand
  33. GPillonetto
    Dec 17, 2022
    7
    End of story seems pretty rushed. but overall has nice characters.
    Gameplay is repetitive and combat could be more engaging.
    Boss fights are also very weak.
    Open world is empty
    Graphics feel super dated

    Characters and soundtrack save this game!

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best Xbox One Game of 2016
12
#12 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2016
16
#16 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Vgames
    Mar 8, 2017
    80
    Final Fantasy XV is not the game Square Enix promised us. It’s not an open world game that everyone would enjoy, and even though it looks like they have done a great deal in making it more accessible to newcomers, it has more improving to do. If you are a die-hard Final Fantasy fan, you will have a great time thanks to a beautiful world, easy to learn and fun combat mechanics and a classic story about friendship and love.
    Read full review
  2. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Feb 4, 2017
    90
    Its flaws and fun come fro the same tangled history, but the latter easily wins the day. [Feb 2017, p.81]
  3. Windows Central
    Jan 3, 2017
    80
    FFXV mostly delivers. While it takes some getting used to, its combat is infectious and fun. Its artwork is utterly breathtaking, and some of its set pieces are awe-inspiring. Its characters are fun and memorable, and the plot is engaging enough to keep pushing you forward. FFXV trips over its own character lore on occasion, with key details either missing or poorly explained, but it's not enough to hinder the experience as a whole.
    Read full review
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