Final Fantasy XV. Some love it. Most hate it. And the game has only had two demos and a crappy E3 to show for its 10+ years of fans anticipating some form or another of what this is.
Well lolGN posted an article recently about a long-time FF fan and a first-time FF player's first impressions on the game. In the article, 9GN basically logs a discussion between the two. Some highlights:
Beware of spoilers in the actual article.
Getting to know the characters is, I think, what the game’s doing best right now. It has so many little tricks and nuances to get you to love them. Like, can we take a minute to point out how excellent Prompto’s photograph feature is? I think that’s what ties it together for me...
You can get snaps from fights, funny scenes of areas you’ve visited that day, they even come from specific Kodak moment side-missions. It’s a perfect way to make this feel like a trip for a Facebook-y generation. I don’t know which millennium these guys are from, but they sure feel like Millenials.
This already makes me happy. Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII both did nothing for me to connect with a large majority of the characters.
And the characters feeling like they are a part of our generation is a plus in my eyes, though I'd wager some longtime fans disagreeing.
Final Fantasy XV – and I’m going to put this on the record – has the most delicious looking food I’ve ever seen in a video game. There seems to be so many dishes that you can order from restaurants or Ignis, who doubles-up as cook while camping.
The pictures look great, but when it’s prepared you’re treated to this close-up where the dish exhales its scented steam into your face. It also serves a purpose, too: an open-faced breakfast sandwich increases attack by 30. I’ve gone on about the food too much – I’m now very conscious of that – but to finish, the model they’ve used for fried eggs belatedly vindicates the shift to next-gen.
We're finally to next gen, folks. Fried eggs have answered the long-standing question, "Are we there yet?"
And speaking of road trips, we are now to what will be an incredibly divisive part of the game. We all know you get a car in this game that will later turn into a flying car. Turns out, the character you are playing, Noctis, only drives at night when it's uber dangerous. Otherwise, caretaker Ignis drives during the day--and you don't get to skip this, folks; at least, not early in the game.
... During the day, Ignis is behind the wheel and drives you to the waypoints you choose. There’s nothing for you to do except sit back, enjoy the scenery, music (which is exclusively made up of soundtrack cuts from the Final Fantasy series, I'm told), or idly natter to your companions. When I realised that this was how driving worked, I wasn’t disappointed – that would be overstating it – but it was another great example of XV subverting my expectations.
Finally, we have combat. A lot of people have already expressed their grievances with the combat. What does sigh'GN think?
I’m not quite sold on how Square’s tried to implement an action-based combat system. I’ve always enjoyed Final Fantasy’s emphasis on strategy - once you’e fighting the top-tier stuff, you’re having to stage manage every move for every party member, ensuring you’re doing the right thing without falling prey to any nasty tricks. Here, it’s just a little… messy.
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Final Fantasy XV: A Fan and a First-Timer Play the First 4 Hours
So, how do you feel about the game? What are you thoughts on the "too-much-water"GN's impressions? Think the game will attract newcomers? Also, will you enjoy the casual car rides in your gaming?
And remember, we're now waiting a tad longer for this game: November 29, 2016.
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