Jeez, where do you start with this one? What could have quite easily been a catastrophe, Final Fantasy XV has made into our top five games of 2016. For many of us, there's a distinct feeling of relief when we stop to think about Noctis' road trip. We're weirdly thankful that everything turned out well, and more importantly, we're over the moon that Final Fantasy seems to be getting back on track after years of struggle.
Having said all that, we don't want to make out like Final Fantasy XV's success is solely due to our low expectations; this is an open world action role-playing game that stands strong as a memorable journey. Sure, it has its flaws – mostly in the storytelling department – but its willingness to carve its own path through a now crowded genre should be applauded. For what it's worth, we reckon that Final Fantasy XV is one of the most unique big budget titles that we've played in years – and that's quite an achievement for a game that clearly takes inspiration from so many different places.
"Final Fantasy XV is one of the most unique big budget titles that we've played in years"
An endearing cast of primary characters help take the title's road trip framing to the next level. Where the plot stumbles, Noctis, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto usually pick up the slack through an abundance of smaller, more heartfelt interactions with one another. There's a sense of camaraderie here that Final Fantasy hasn't unearthed since the classics, and that's really the linchpin of the game's overall tone. Whether you're taking a long, cosy drive towards your next destination or you're traipsing through a forest as the sun goes down, you never feel like you're alone as Noctis; your buddies have always got your back.
There's much to be said for the all-new combat system, as well. Like most of the release, it could have been a mess – early demos didn't exactly inspire confidence – but we ended up with a fast and fluid set of mechanics that work well together. While it does take a little time to wrap your head around the ins-and-outs of it, once the system does click, it offers up a satisfying rhythm. Plus, warping around the battlefield at lightning speeds is almost a game within itself.
It took ten years for Final Fantasy XV to make it from announcement to release, and at times, that disjointed development cycle shows in some of the game's most misguided moments. But for all of its flaws, there's a heart and soul to this fifteenth instalment that the series hasn't embraced in what feels like an age. Genuine hope for the future of Final Fantasy has replaced our very cautious optimism – and that's what Final Fantasy XV absolutely had to accomplish.
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Is Final Fantasy XV one of your favourite games of 2016? Did you enjoy your road trip across Lucis? Summon your swords and warp into the comments section below.
Comments 18
@NintendoFan4Lyf Wow, that's a great Christmas haul. Hope you enjoy all three of those, man.
I played through the tutorials last night and I'm a little worried about the camera. It seems to not be able to keep up when you do multiple warps consecutively. Maybe since it was in such an enclosed arena that was the problem, but I definitely had a hard time getting oriented to it. The combat itself felt good though, so hopefully I'll be able to find a middle ground.
Dying to play this, but will not start it until I finish Xenoblade X! I must!
This is not just my game of the year but my favourite game on PS4, I won't spoil the ending for those who haven't finished but I loved it and this is one of the very few games that made me care about the entire group. I wish they showed more of the story as when it gets going towards the end I was heavily invested and I seem to be one of the few who actually enjoyed chapter 13. Even something as small as camping is used to great effect to bond the characters and I never tired of the banter between them. I suspect it's story telling issues are as much a reaction to XIII as much as anything else and whilst the last quarter it does become linear it's actually the best part of the game for me (also every Final Fantasy game I've played becomes linear when needed). The combat system is much better than the initial demo and actually really fun and this is from someone who believes turn based combat is the best and the open world is the best of this generation with plenty to explore either in the car or by chocobo.
Even now after completion I still seem to spend most of my time with the game cruising round listening to the soundtrack completing hunts, my only complaint is Prompto not been able to save enough pictures (which by the way is the best thing to happen to games since the share button). Finally if you can play this in HDR as it is arguably the best implementation on the console and is at times quite stunning. This has only made me more excited for the upcoming FFVII remake and where the series goes in general.
Loved it, just too much wrong with it to be GOTY material. Maybe after the patches adding story content and the new story DLC, but it needs to be judged on its merits.
Good return to form though, really looking forward to seeing what they do with FF16 and its given me confidence that the FF7 remake will be good.
Bah, I cannot understand how such a repetive game has been rated so highly. I am not trying to troll anyone here, but after playing some stellar RPG's in the last year the lack of any decent story and terribly repetitive side quests really stands out in ff15
Every gamer owes it to themselves to play this!
Inbetweeners the game, Except in a better car. I loved my 70 hours completing the game, time well spent I say. Loads of great elements and hooray moments make for a fantastic experience - although the missing story bits are dead weird. Its still fun, the story is great (what's there anyway) and the Summon gods are really menacing. Top game. Now we have to wait until 2026 for final fantasy 16!
@Steel76 and they be all like "who the hells Steel76 dawg?!"
@Lovespuds
Doesn't the world, the group, camping, fishing, cooking, fighting, levelling, abilities, the architecture and the epic fights hold any value? I cant disagree that taken on their own the sidequesting and story are really poor at times but are serviceable for the game as a whole. The over arching story is phenomenal, its just hinted at in the game though which should have been addressed. But for me those 2 components dont necessarily detract from all of the positives.
@themcnoisy while the world was quite interesting in appearance it was very boring in my opinion. I walked all over in the hopes of finding cool locations or side stories as you might expect in an open world rpg but outside of already active sidequests there was absolutely nothing of interest to find.
The characters were okay but their specialties you mention were for the most part pointless. The only one with any gameplay was Noctis' s fishing with all the others being an automatic activity carried out by the AI.
But as stated earlier, the biggest shortcoming in my opinion is the quest mechanics. The main story is passable but the sidequests are excrutiatingly repetetive. It is unfair to me that a game like Mafia 3 gets hammered for being repetetive and then this game gets a free pass.
Can you honestly say that after being sent to a random location to take a photo by that completely shallow npc didnt getting annoying after the 10th or 15th time?
The battle system is quite weak too and the camera isnt too clever either.
I am glad you liked it buddy, perhaps its just me as plenty of others like it too, but for me, this is getting a pretty generous pass on ussues that other games are slated for.
@NintendoFan4Lyf
Turn on wait mode. It's the only way to play. Not only does it give you a breather during hectic combat, it makes the game more strategy oriented. In fact there's an entire nexus tree in the ascension grid just for wait mode skills.
@Lovespuds
Side quests, yes those aren't the best.
Camera, yes it has some issues.
But the combat? That's the best part. So good in fact it makes up for everything else. What truly elevates the game despite it's flaws though, is that it's got heart and soul. It's more than just the sum of its parts.
@JaxonH I agree 100%. For all its flaws, the game has soul. Which is the most important part of a game for me. I love when it feels like the developers actually gave a bleep about their game. I'm only on chapter 3, and I already love every one of the main cast.
@themcnoisy you say the overarching story is phenomenal. What should i do to be able to really understand the story when i play it?
Favourite ps4 game so far. It's not perfect by any means but it has got a big soul and does everything I want a jrpg to do...I am about to pass 100 hours of playtime and there's still a lot to do.
Final Fantasy XV is an interesting game, I think. I really enjoyed my time with it, but it's got some glaring issues which become increasingly apparent the more you play it. You can tell that it's a project that was in turmoil for some time.
Personally, I'd like to see them have another crack at it. They've got most of the mechanics and systems in place now, they just need to build a bit more quest variety on top. Throw in a good story and the blueprints are in place for a truly exceptional game.
I still really valued my time with Final Fantasy XV, though — it's a top-notch title and deserves to be on this list.
This was the most disappointing game of 2016 for me. My playthrough was riddled with small glitches and the story is not good.
Combat mechanics were my favorite part, but they ruined magic.
@NintendoFan4Lyf Surely Sony's Nintendo is Sony? Naughty Dog are a studio within Sony. You could say the equivalent of Naughty Dog within Nintendo is Nintendo EAD Tokyo. They're the guys that made Mario Galaxy, for example. Nintendo is an overarching company that owns or deals with other studios. The guys that make Fire Emblem are not the same guys that make Mario yet they're both owned by Nintendo. Then you have stuff like Pokemon that isn't made by Nintendo at all. It's just published by them. That's the equivalent of something like Bloodborne or Demon's Souls.
@NintendoFan4Lyf Well that's what I'm getting at: Pokemon is a third-party game, not even second-party. It's made by Game Freak and they're not owned by Nintendo at all. That's equivalent to Demon's Souls and yet people talk of DS as a From Software game while talking of Pokemon as a pure Nintendo game. It's actually surprising how many "Nintendo games" are made by totally separate companies, in the vein of how many classic PS1 games like Ace Combat or MGS were made by separate companies.
Naughty Dog are part of Sony, they're a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment. They're as much a part of Sony as Nintendo EAD (makers of most Mario and Zelda games) are part of Nintendo, it's just that I guess Nintendo EAD have a less creative name. They could call ND "Sony EAD", maybe. Fire Emblem isn't made by Nintendo, Super Smash Bros isn't made by Nintendo... They're not even companies owned by Nintendo. There are some that are at least owned by Nintendo. The creators of Xenoblade Chronicles had all their stocks bought by Nintendo in 2007.
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