For someone like myself who has waited for 10 years for a game that was originally going be released as a PlayStation 3 exclusive as a spin-off title called Final Fantasy Versus XIII back in 2006, this was one of the reasons why most people wanted to buy a next-gen console in the first place seeing how well detailed a Final Fantasy game would look like on a new console. After the announcements in 2006 there was very little information about the title and it wasn't until E3 2013 it would later be changed to Final Fantasy XV. And soon after that it was officially released in 2016 worldwide for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Story is set in the fictional world of Eos, where Prince Noctis is about to get married and who is the next heir to Lucian throne, but when Noctis and his friends go on a little road trip they hear the unsettling news about his homeland had been fallen by the empire along with his father and his fiancée, also hears news that Noctis is dead as well. Noctis doesn't know what to believe in anymore and only has one thing on his mind is to reclaim what was rightfully is his by taking back the throne. With the help of his friends Ignis, Gladiolus and Prompto go on adventure around Eos retrieving the weapons of the Lucii which are the ancient kings of Lucis in order to rescue the Crystal and reclaim his throne. If you've played past Final Fantasy games, you'll be very familiar with story-plots involving crystals and wars against other kingdoms.
I will admit that the graphics and visuals look really well done and detailed on a next-gen console especially with it being on the eighth generation platforms. From the environments to the structure of buildings everything looks clear and crystal from the ground above, you do also explore dungeons and realms as you travel including other location stops including towns, cafes, restaurants and even a Chocobo ranch. When you take a look at the setting as well from the deserts to the forests to the night setting you can easily get lost in the world of Final Fantasy XV if you travel by foot. However, when driving by car you don't really get full control of driving the car the Regalia if you wanted to get a quest done or where you need to head next for the story you'll be in the car but it drives on its own like a GPS and how far away is it in a number of minutes. You can refuel the Regalia if its low on gas or repair when damaged but also have the option to customise the Regalia.
When it comes to the gameplay mechanics and battle system I'm aware that Square Enix wanted to make a game that's fun for both fans of the franchise and also fun for newcomers and beginners. With it being an open-world action RPG it uses Active Cross Battle system when it comes to fighting off enemies and monsters you can easily tap or button mash the Circle button to attack enemies and also using the Triangle button to use the Warp system but uses some of your MP to either pull of magic attacks or reaching high places enemies can't reach. The Square button is used to dodge and block enemy attacks but you can quickly tap the circle button to parry or counterattack against enemies and also the X button to jump. You use the directional pad to get aid from your friends and when you are low on HP you can use items to restore your HP and for your party team as well including potions, phoenix downs and ethers. You can use magic elements including fire, blizzard and thunder as well, but you've also got the option to call out summons by pressing the L2 button to call them if your team is low on HP.
If you want to take a break from the main story you can complete side-quests from taking down a set of certain monsters, hunting down rare items or even taking photos of certain locations around Eos. Going back to the settings the more adventure out during the day time will set from morning to night time the darker it gets the stronger enemies will become and making it hard to defeat them. If you don't want to adventure out during the night time you can rest at Inns or look for a camp site nearby where you can restore HP and MP but also increases your EXP when it comes to leveling up Noctis and your team. Each of the characters like Prompto loves photography, Gladiolus is on survival the more you travel on foot the easier it is to survive in the wild and Ignis loves cooking more campsites you use you can increase your attacks, defenses and skills if you do more cooking and survival skills in the wild. Noctis skills is on fishing the more you fish the more exp you'll get, activities in the overworld earn the party Ability Points, AP is spent on the Ascension Grid the game's skill tree system. If you can remember the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X or the Scrabble board from Final Fantasy XII it feels a little similar to fans of the series. Each Ascension tree is sorted by type, being associated with magic, combat or passive abilities Spending AP opens up nexuses within the skill tree, which in turn grants access to further nexuses which require higher amounts of AP to unlock.
The only problems that may annoy a few people is that one of them is the camera control which be a little fiddly when you are in cramped areas in certain places but also texture layouts can easily be over placed or shallowed out when it comes to characters and environments but most of it will or have already been patched out on system updates for the game. I will say that the odd side-quests can be a little repetitive but as you set out to explore it’s easy to ignore the repetitive quests at times thanks to the layout designs when exploring on foot or travelling by car.
I can say I really do adore the soundtrack Yoko Shimomura really has done herself when it comes to video game music, for someone who has waited over 10 years for a game the soundtrack was worth the wait in the end there were times where I didn't want this moment or battle to end because the music fitted in so well. The voice acting is highly well done too for both English and Japanese through the entire game especially the English cast that had a good line-up of voice actors from the main heroes to the main villain in Final Fantasy XV.
It can take you at least 25 hours or less on completing the main story but the more hours you sink in for the side-quests on top of that including trying to get 100% as well can take you more than 60 hours at least. But if you are a fan of the series and waiting that long for game like I have you may notice the odd changes that have been added in and taken out of the game if you been following the game for that long since it was in development but overall the wait was worth it in the end but it still offers some good moments and addicting gameplay as well. If you are new to the series, I'd highly recommend you checking this game out if you can especially if you've just recently bought a next-gen console.