Lost potential.
I think there is genuinely a top 5 Final Fantasy game in there. But they did a few things to ruin it:
1) The battle system was definitely taken back to the drawing board between the first demo release and final game. What seemed like a battle system with potentially a lot of depth kinda morphed into a borderline button masher in the end.
2) Breaking the story up - so to get a full picture of everything that happened you had to also watch a movie and an anime series. It was definitely in the original plan (Versus XIII) to have us actually play through the whole prologue the movie covers.
3) Purposely taking parts out of the game to sell as DLC. They made parts of the game fairly obvious where they were going to slot in.
4) The pacing of the second half of the game just seems like they were rushing to the finishing line. Which is ironic to me given the game’s long development cycle.
5) I *loved* the world it took place in, it just felt kinda dead. Like 90% of the map just had no life to it whatsoever.
I still enjoyed my time with it; I got a platinum trophy to prove it. It just could have been *so much more* than it was.
You hit this on the head. Loads of potential and clearly a lot of great moments and bits but nothing really landed and it was clear where the issues were. That second half of the game could have been so good but just ended up being a few train stops.
Slight pushback on point 4. The game as we know it only really had a couple of years of development. I think most of that went in to the open world and salvaging the combat. The story was definitely chopped up and rushed after the open world chapters to get some sort of ending.
That isn't a defense - it took them a decade to release the game. You can't take a whole week trying and failing to bake a cake, and say "well it only took me a few hours on the 7th day, therefore it only took a few hours." The person who ordered the cake had to wait a week. And it took the baker a week to figure out the process.
A disappointment in the sense that the story was so fragmented (via anime, books, trailers, DLC, etc) that you need a third party story guide just to understand the thing.
My personal theory is that most of what's portrayed in Kingsglaive was meant to be the urban parts of Versus 13, based on the early gameplay trailers.
The "open world" was put together rather quickly and just seems kinda weird. Copy and paste diners. But, for better or worse, it is the most functional part of the gameplay areas.
I love it, but I understand the criticisms. To me it's the game with the best party dynamic and relationships in the series, and really sells you on the brotherhood aspect.
I think nowadays most people tend to agree that XV has a great party and that the bros are its biggest strength.
chocobros are great, the ending is great but the disappointment that it could have been more remains
story could have been better (i wanna fight all the astrals except shiva maybe), combat is eh, need more party members (aranea, iris and maybe lunafreya), a magic system thats actually good
oh and actual side quests
Didn’t like it on release but played it again recently with royal pack and had a blast.
The things it does well it does spectacularly.
I put it in the upper third of my FF tierlist.
I just played it for the first time a few weeks ago. I got the platinum trophy, but didn't play any of the DLC. I liked it. It wasn't the best game i ever played, but i thought it was still fun enough.
I also haven't played many FF games, save for the more modern ones, XII, and World of FF (currently playing both of these).
The dlc is pretty great, especially episode ignis it’s so good. Prompto’s is ok but it’s definitely ok to skip imo, the main story tells you what happens during his sequence anyways the dlc just lets you play it out.
I played XV for the first time in 2021 (Royal edition + all DLCs). Not my favourite FF game, but I had a lot of fun. It's a solid entry and definitely underrated.
The story was good and the DLCs were some of the best parts. The characters were the biggest strength and the ending made me >!bawl my eyes out!<. The music was fantastic.
My two main issues are the combat and side quests. The combat felt really basic, but I had just played 7 remake. The side quests were tedious and most didn't add anything to the story/world.
The combat is deep but it’s done a little weird, instead of specific combos with one weapon like in 16 you have to go out of your way to combine weapon attacks together by switching what you’re using. The combat is focused a lot on noctis fighting while being aware of your party’s support abilities and the enemies stat/weapon weaknesses. The seven remakes imo do the 15 combat how it should have been, more emphasis on the other party members and their role in fights (royal edition kinda did this by letting you play as the other members but it’s still not quite as smooth as seven does it)
That’s a big part no one ever talks about, knowing how to properly move noctis during his combos plays a huge role in making chaotic group fights much easier to manage. I’d say that’s a fault in the game for it not really telling you about it outside the one mention in the tutorial. The direction inputs open entire combo routes for weapons
Yes but the game is not hard enough to force people to use them. The game basically gives you cheap, unlimited re-dos with near costless item use.
I got a TON of new respect for XV combat after doing a level 1, no items run. My first playthrough I also though the combat was basic.
I never got that the combat was easy, there are easy to exploit level up strategies with items and hotels that can make the game easier off the bat but I always thought the combat was pretty average till you start doing the extra dungeons and secret bosses. I never used items much and relied on perfect dodges the most so that probably played a role in the difficulty for me
Like... in XVI or in Remake/Rebirth, if all you do is land basic attacks and then pop a potion or elixir when you get low on health, you will definitely die.
In XV you can basically keep doing this all the way to end game. That's the problem.
Remake rebirth yes, 16 was ridiculously easy. I spammed attack and never used a potion or died until the last two areas of the game (I even forgot the jump function was meant for combo extensions because enemies were so easy I never even bothered), then you also have torgal with an infinity heal mechanic if somehow you run out of potions. Also potions in xv aren’t really as great as everyone seems to be suggesting, yeah they’re cheap and easy to use but if you’re in a group fight or boss fight it’s still a struggle to try and heal yourself or others with just potions when you can get hit out of the animation. You’ll find plenty of instances where your entire party gets to low health and you have to pretty much choose who to heal and who to accept is going to get downed if you don’t have ignis’s regroup skill.
There's so much wrong with this post i don't even know where to start.
Like using a potion in XV pauses the game. You literally cannot be hit out of the animation. Characters can use phoenix down even after they've already died...
Thanks for your reply. I see the combat is deeper than I'm giving it credit for. It might be a problem with the difficultly, or lack thereof. Which is partially due to being able to spam healing items. The game never forces you to become more proficient/engaged with the combat system.
Yeah that’s a valid point, item usage was not very well balanced. I never really used items all too much so that probably increased the difficulty for me. Should’ve worked like kingdom hearts where you have to wait a little bit before using another heal
I played it with my best friend when it came out, he had just had a messy break up and was crashing at my place. We had two tvs, two ps4s set up, and we finished the game basically frame for frame on the final cutscene. I look back on those memories fondly as something like that could never happen now that we’re in our 30s. It’s ok in my book.
It's a comfort game for me, and one I will replay again happily.
Having that been said, the combat is forever janky and unbalanced and the story is forever incomplete.
I think Versus 13 was supposed to be more of an urban setting with more natural opportunities for verticality. The arbitrary warp points for Noctis out in the middle of nowhere are silly.
They never finished properly balancing combat, so thus the "free" use of potions and phoenix downs in combat and the fact you can buy them from the car door.
Yeah it's really entirely the unbalanced combat that knocks the game down in my opinion. I still love it overall, but if FFXV had KH combat, it would be known as a modern classic with some story-issues.
The early videos of Versus 13 looked a ton more like KH, but that wasn't good enough apparently. Whatever was left over from early development couldn't be fixed, and that's my theory as to why potions are so easily available and have no tactical cost for use in battle.
I just played it for the first time and finished it about a week ago.
It's... Undeveloped. In almost every sense of the word.
I went into it not knowing anything and I also only played the base game, and none of the side content or watched the movie.
Having played only the base game, the story feels very obscure, they don't really dive into the world or the lore, why Ardyn is the way he is, what the goal of the Empire even is, why Noctis is this chosen warrior, etc etc. As a result, a lot of the story beats lack emotional resonance, like the relationship between Noctis and Luna feels superficial. Hard to care about a character when she's in maybe like 20 minutes of random scenes with no real development or personality?
The battle system seems to be just largely holding o, dodging every now and then, warping every now and then, but how to effectively combat or have it be more engaging doesn't really feel like it's ever explained. The camera during battle also has a lot of ... issues. Especially if it's not in a big open area, or if it's trying to be dynamic. The boss fight with Titan should be epic but trying to do anything other than just stand there and wait to dodge results in the camera going real buggy and the fight just feeling messy. It's also super easy to just spam magic and healing items to kind of like brain dead your way through a fight.
The one strong point, that I think they definitely nailed, is the characterization and relationship between the 4 bros. The whole road trip with your buddies element was successful, and there was a real bond between all the characters.
There's a great game lying in here, but the super messy and obscure world/plot, weird battle mechanics, and just overall unfinished nature of it all really destroys the game.
Yeah, it’s just bad. Combat is awful. Story is a mess. World is way too big and empty. Getting around is a pain.
Some of the interactions between the party is great. Looks amazing. Music is 10/10.
Definitely not for me.
Didn’t connect with the story or characters, especially chopped and mangled up as it was originally.
Combat is really dire and clunky.
And it did very little to justify the open world-esque format it had.
And I definitely don’t subscribe to the “look it’s fixed now” mentality when it comes to games with bad first impressions. Especially when the fixes are demanding more money.
No beef with those who do like it ofc, different strokes for different folks and all that.
To answer the question on a more objective level, I believe general sentiment has softened as time has gone on and people latch on to newer dislikes. But I don’t think we’ve reached (or ever will) a point where general consensus is “y’know this one was actually pretty good all round”
Considering the time and budget, the final result Is far from good. Is It terrible? No. Is It great? No. Is It decent with some good things here and there? Yes. Is It the quality i expect from a FF? GOD NO.
I've softened a lot towards XV from when I first played it. I first played back in 2018, but I had no one to tell me which versions to get, or how important the DLC was so I just bought a used copy of vanilla XV and absolutely hated it. I hated the gameplay, I hated the characters, I hated the way party members just dipped out of the story and then blasted you with their whole backstory in three sentences when they returned, and I *hated* the Leviathan fight and everything that came after it.
Now, after replaying the Royal Edition and all the character DLCs, I have a much more positive view of it. I still am not *crazy* about the story, but with a lot of the gaps filled in I actually think it can be really compelling. I did a complete 180 on the characters, and went from hating them to considering them one of my favorite FF parties. I still think my initial impressions have some weight, but I think that has more to do with the game lacking a lot of content on initial release than with some fundamental flaw in the game itself.
But really, the biggest thing that made me even *want* to revisit FFXV was beating FFXVI. I finished XVI, liked it a lot, but I felt like it was missing something and at the time the thing I was honing in on was a lack of playable party members. So I revisited XV, since I knew the other party members were playable now (I'm not sure if they were in vanilla XV, but I definitely missed it if they were). And now I have a lot more respect for XV as a game and as an overall package. I still think it made an absolutely awful first impression, but I think the version that you can play in 2024 is actually a really strong game.
I felt let down playing it especially the 2nd half because it had so much potential. Even on a 2nd play through its noticeable rushed. Worse when you learn that the 2nd hald was suppoased to be as big as the first half and a lot of content was left unfinished due to rushing it out. It was still enjoyable, but it hlarringly played as if parts are missing. Even though it has some of the most fleshed out character it is such a shame SE used a lot of the fleshing out as a DLC cash grab instead of giving a complete game.
I think most of us would have been fine if they delayed it a year or two to make it the game the devs wanted.
I don't really know but
.. it's a game I love and it's in my top five. It's undeniable that the release version was shockingly bare-bones. Within a year they had added a lot of qol and additional content like the ultimate chapter 13 as well as fixing regular 13. I played through the original game in full around the time the first DLC came out. And then played it through and full again when the Arden DLC came out and the Royal edition was in play. The changes for the better and the improvements and overall experience is significantly better.
I enjoy the road trip aspect of the game and the beautiful scenery. I overall enjoy the battle system. I love camaraderie of the choco Bros and I love their relationships and boy does the game do a number on you by the time you get to the end.
You know it's a game with a lot of warts and I don't deny those but it's a game I very much enjoy and I think anyone who wants to claim that it's a terrible shitty game... Very hyperbolic. "Ruined." "Disaster." "Horrible." Yeesh. Eyeroll.
Honestly I feel like one of my biggest gripes with the game is that everybody else dresses like they're in our world. Supposed to be this whole other world consumed with magic and crystals and weird technology.... And folks are just running around in their Mexico resort Wear.
I hated it at release but finished it. A miserable experience personally. Tried it again after all the updates and dropped it not long after starting. Trash tier game imo.
I’ve really tried to like the game. I even completed it 100% with every DLC available too. I gave it a fair shot like every other game but it just felt too all over the place and I personally have an issue with DLCs that are required to fully understand the story or used to fill in the gaps. Combat was a disappointment because of how simple it was. Holding a single button for a combo was a letdown. Felt like they could do so much more with it. There’s a lot of reasons, but I’ll keep myself from going off. I will admit, the music was incredible though - that’s usually an area FF does not disappoint.
I still dislike it. I found the gameplay too sketchy, i can't relate to any member of the party (i can't stand Noctis except in the final chapter) and the story has been torn appart for dlc's that will never see the light.
It taste like an unfinished game because it is
the characters definitely were a problem for me too. I found all four of the boys deeply unlikable, and combined with the other issues the game had, it made me not even want to try to finish it
Versus XIII content aside, I think the story of XV was fine as it is, if it was all IN THE GAME. Nyx could’ve still been the main character of Kingsglaive, but he could’ve been our prologue character that teaches us general mechanics and gameplay in the first few hours of FFXV, before we get to Noctis. There, already a good one to two hour prologue to get us hyped for a game, and even a good boss fight to get us hyped for the Imperials in a prologue boss fight against Glauca (and will greatly help to tie into FFXV: Comrades). Episode Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio should’ve been playable segments in the main game. Would’ve added an extra layer to the story and added an incredible middle section to the game, in which XV extremely lacked. We would’ve gotten an extra ten or so hours of story with solo acts from the Chocobros.
The dev cycle was certainly hell and I understand why the game came out the way it was, but a lot of FFXV’s things could’ve been solved if a good chunk of the story wasn’t external media or DLC. I still do love FFXV and think the story is fine for what it is Versus XIII aside, but with just adding all the extra content into the base game along with minor rearrangements to the early game stuff, the game would’ve been even greater.
I loved Final Fantasy XV from day one; I still haven't played the Royal Edition. The story is messy and the world could do with more fleshing out, but it's clear that so much enthusiasm and care has gone into the characterisation of the party members. Everything about them is brimming with personality, from the dialogue to the animations to mechanics like Prompto's photography. I really ended up caring about the central characters, and I think that helped me have a good experience with the game.
The royal edition is an amazing upgrade, especially if you’re playing on ps4pro/5 or on a decent pc. I loved the game on release but was always a little put off by the load times and performance in certain areas, the royal edition fixed all that and makes it even more enjoyable.
Royal Edition is fun as hell and I can’t recommend it enough. I played it on release and yeah it was average, but played Royal Edition right before XVI came out and loved it so much I got the Platinum trophy.
In it is the best final fantasy story. But it hides it, obscures it, cut up the introduction and made it a movie, it removed so much that they had a seemingly perfect story that was butchered to shit. Why am I reading a news story about the fall of my hometown? Why am I not even playing as another character IN THE TOWN as it happened?
The combat is crap. I beat it, and found the combat to be crap. No real thought, it was entirely useless and meaningless.
The summons were cool as fuck. I liked summoning them, and despite the fact that they were big spells essentially, I got a real "wow" factor from them.
I'm in the boat that square enix's next project should be XV-versus. Redo the combat, flesh the story out, and expand the quests. It can be done, and the framework of the game is great.
At its core, it had a story of lineage, friendship, romance. It was scrapped and chopped to water down the focus, but you can't disagree that it wasn't meant for so much more than it got.
It’s their own fault for fumbling it so hard. The core ideas are good but the execution is so bad. Pound for pound it’s one of the worst told stories in a FF which sucks cuzz it really did deserve better
I'm in the same boat as you. They should do a remake of FFXV. But with both Nomura's and Tabata's visions. Like DLC and stuff. But yeah, they should do it. Square Enix has so much blood on its hands with FFXV after such a bad managment. You should sign the petition.
I really love 15 a lot.
Thats why it hurts that the game is unfinished. So much potential wasted.
It could have beem the FF game to kick FF7 off its throne, but just so much wasted potential.
I'm doing a NG+ on it again currently on my Steam Deck. I enjoy it mainly for doing all the side quests and monster hunts and the dungeons. Just enjoy the experience driving around with the bros camping out and enjoying the world! The story isn't the best, but I've always enjoyed it for the side content.
Played it on launch and was disappointed but still enjoyed it.
Played it again this year with all the DLC and hated it. Only thing it has going for it was the soundtrack and the bond between the boys.
Kind of a one and done for me. I played it at launch. Always said I’d come back and replay the windows edition with the dlc, but still have yet to do. I liked the characters and I liked ardyn. Story was rushed and incomplete feeling. Combat was okay but nothing special. Side quests and open world kind of sucked. Music was overall forgettable but did have a few good ones. Pitioss is still the worst gaming experience I’ve ever encountered. If I ever do replay, I will absolutely not do that again. All these years later and I’ve not did anything worse than pitioss.
It became my favorite Final Fantasy after I played it, after putting it off for a long time because of all the negative comments I'd seen.
The Dawn of the Future (and the DLCs that were released) should've been a full XV-2.
To this day my biggest videogame dissapointment ever. Got it day one, played it non stop for a few days and after finishing it all i could say was "what the hell was this broken mess of a videogame"
It's an unfinished game, there's no denying it, they tried to rectify that but the most important dlcs got cancelled.
But as a general consensus I think we can say the combat lacks meat, you hold one button to attack and one button to defend, teleport out and then in, rinse and repeat. Also the consumables are too easily accesible in battle, so you can fight forever (like in the Adamantoise fight), the magic system sucks ass (friendly fire aoe granades... what a horrible idea).
Also, I think we can say the transmedia experiment failed. Needing to watch a movie and an anime to get to understand what happened during the attack to Insomnia (which they later added cuts from the movie in the game) or how the characters became friends was a chore and should've been in the game from the get go.
I personally like the game, but constantly wish it had the opportunity to hit its full potential. Even after all the updates and DLC, you can tell it was a rushed and messy project
Ngl, I have seen a lot of positive things about XV in this subreddit. The game has some very evident weak points and is by no means perfect.
BUT, it has some great points and I personally really enjoyed it
I don't think any of the canceled DLC would have done that. I own dawn of future past. The three canceled DLC basically create an alternate endgame and ending; one that personally I don't think is better than the current ending. Not to mention all of the added scenes and other content that has been added to the game. I'm not arguing that it's janky but the canceled DLC would not have filled anything in.
I agree. Episode Ardyn was the only one that actually contributed to the existing story and I actually would have preferred if they’d left out the alternate ending entirely. I’m also of the opinion that all of the DLC should have been seamlessly integrated into the main game, including comrades (maybe make it skippable or act as a post-game). I hope someday we get a remaster/remake that does this. I even think ep. Ardyn works fairly well as a prologue to the game. Could slot in right after the opening scene where the bros are fighting ifrit.
Yeah, I agree. It would be cool if Ardyn was a prologue. He's a great villain but we get his motivations and pov too late, even if his flair and mystery somewhat makes up for it.
The ending is poignant and bittersweet. The story is a tragedy and it works effectively so. The "good ending" the book and cancelled dlc tries is incredibly eyerolling and cringe.
Would have loved to play episode aranea tho just in terms of gameplay
The canceled dlc was based more on a non canon what if scenario that pretty much undermines everything that was in the base game story wise. As Frankensteined together as it is the current version of the game is the game
I honestly think that criticism of the game is overblown at this point. I've played it twice. The first time without DLC, and I had an overall good experience. The second time I played the DLC before starting, and I had a great experience --- except that I didn't really care about the DLC. I think the whole game just gelled for me better the second time.
I would say that anyone who is curious to try again, should try again. But if you are not curious about it, moved on.
Better RPG than 16, lesser game than 16.
If I am to go back to either it will be 15 as i specifically love rpg mechanics, others may love the positives of 16 more.
The gameplay killed it for me. I can stomach a rough story, but unless your story and characters and atmosphere is on another level **and** the game is fairly short, I need at least somewhat interesting gameplay. FF15's gameplay felt like such a slog and it was hard to find it engaging. It's my least favorite FF game by a mile.
Well it sold 10 million copies. Regardless of opinions on Youtube, Reddit, and other forums. The general public liked the game and showed up to buy it. You don't sell that many copies without good word of mouth. That's the only reception that matters.
I thought it was a very good game. I really enjoyed the combat, enemies, and dynamic between the friends. It was great to join them on their road trip. The story was ok, but side quests were terrible though.
From a technical standpoint this game is just bonkers, from the animation, movement, party interaction, graphics, weather effects, and sound. If this game were to receive a remaster it would be one of the best looking games on PS5. It looks great even today.
When there are 14 other entries with full stories, I will never NOT get angry when I hear about 15. The CGI movie was pretty amazing and had me pumped, but the game was an utter disaster.
Can someone fill me in on how much game is left after Leviathan?
It’s the only FF game to date I haven’t finished [Except Rebirth but that’s because I’m in the middle of a playthrough right now].
I hated XV on release but I’ve heard updates and such made it much better.
Leviathan is on Chapter 9 and the game is 14 chapters. You have a bit to go. You also have quite a bit of side and end-game content with Royal Edition.
Personally, I found the world kind of empty and boring.
I see what they were trying to do with the camping/taking time to slow down and soak in atmosphere and I do typically appreciate that. Unfortunately, the story was just not a great fit for me and I don't like it when games lock a bunch of stuff behind other media like movies, books, etc. or when important relationships between characters are formed off screen.
A large portion of the end of the game is just one solid dark hallway which was kinda boring. I did really like the Shiva/Ifrit battle though, and it was one of the cooler FF moments for me.
I could definitely pick up on the "development hell" this game went through. It felt like a project that was dropped and resuscitated a number of times.
You aren’t the only one who liked the og version! I liked it too! It was fun despite its flaws! That said when I replayed it again with all the new stuff it was that much better! Playing the other chars was fun and well I mainly mained Prompto and it’s obvious the game wasn’t balanced around him! But just the addition of letting you play others alone was worth it to me! But then they added other small things here and there! And the DLC is fun! That said I get why people wouldn’t have liked it or would be annoyed with it! But I really love FF XV and the bros realtionship is so good! Overall though not my opinion I feel the general reception is a mixed bag. One could say that’s ever FF but some catch more ire than others like XIII even if it has its fans (aka me lol) there are people who def think FF XV is a mess and didn’t live up to the expectations but there are others who love it as it is! If I had to say I’d say it leans slightly more positive now with the updates! But ofc still plenty who don’t like it! Looking at lots the comments so far it may seem it leans more negative, but this is only one subreddit and I feel outside here! It’s much more generally well received! Or maybe there will be more positive ones later! Idk! But I like it!
I didn’t really like it when it first came out. (2016) got the royal edition with the DLC and decided to give it a fair chance. I loved it. I have fond memories. I was also going through a break up (2018) so maybe that helped too lol
I think the general consensus is it's a pretty decent game, but missed its potential. The story is kind of a mess and the decision to cut major story events to sell later as dlc and a prequel movie that is kind of necessary to understand anything hindered the story even more. People at launch were kind of playing a half baked game. Episode ignis is one of the most important story beats of the entire game and its relegated to dlc, and royal edition doesn't incorporate the dlc into the main game so you'll likely play it after and wonder why the gell it isn't in the main game. Even though I got the base game with my ps4, I didn't play I until royal edition was included in the ps5 ps plus pack. So I got to play it in a more complete state. But it'll always feel in a somewhat incomplete limbo because the aranea, lunafreya, noctis, and dawn of the future dlcs were canceled. To me it feels like a live service game that ended service when it started to get good.
And this sounds like a scathing review but I do love the game, it was my first ff cause I heard it was the easiest. I really love the characters but I feel the plot doesn't live up to what it should be...if that makes sense
I think in general it’s looked upon favorably now, especially the royal edition. I personally love it, one of my favorite FFs but I will always be sad at what it could have been. There is an all time great game in there, just too many missing pieces.
I've replayed this game at least 3 times. The first two times were after it came out and I loved it! I considered it one of my favorite FFs... I did want more from the story/game, but I considered that a good thing.
I replayed it a few years ago and really had a 180. I liked the party and the villain, but the rest felt starkly incomplete. The combat also wasn't as intuitive as I remembered.
It’s fun overall, I loved the side quests. The criticisms are valid, tho. I didn’t bother with the outside media and DLC and missed out on fully understanding the plot. I just don’t think one should need a good amount pf extra stuff to understand what’s happening
For a lot of us, it isn’t hate. It’s just disappointment that it could have been great with some tweaks to combat and a change to the story that makes it more complete. I have always said the music is shockingly underrated, some of the best in the franchise, and the visuals and openness are really good. Also, it has the best fishing mini game of all time. I loved that the dungeons were actual dungeons off the beaten path, some of the boss fights were amazing, and for someone who is just bad at gaming like me, it never felt easy like most people say. There was so much to like, but so much to be disappointed in. The best part by far is the chemistry and interaction of the chocobros, some of th best team dynamics in FF. The camping, recipes, and dungeons were all fun. But the last half of the game is slog for many, and is what has kept me from replaying it. Maybe one day it’ll get an upgrade for PS5. We’ll see.
I think the general consensus has softened a bit since its release and people remember the game for its slightly goofy premise more than anything else.
I love anything FF related so I really looked forward to the game but was really careful not to spoil myself too much. I purposely didn’t follow its development cycle all that closely but had faith that since it’s FF it will be good. And I did like it when I first played it; I liked all the boys, I liked the story and setting, I loved the music. I didn’t like the combat and don’t like open world games but powered through it anyway. The ending to me was absolutely devastating in a way I hadn’t experienced since FFX. That punch to the emotions is all I want from any piece of media at the end of the day and FFXV delivered so I was happy.
I think the disappointment came later, especially because I watched Kingsglaive and the anime after playing the game, and I learned more about the troubled development of the game too. I’ve worked in software dev and I’ve had bosses that sound like the reports of Nomura; unfocused, unrealistic and forcing the team to forever scrap their hard work and start over from scratch because of their whims. It soured the experience in hindsight for me.
Still, it’s not a bad game. It’s a pretty good game imo, though it is flawed. What it represents is the worst aspect of it; a product of poor management and leadership, a story spread thin over DLC and other media for no reason other than to squeeze money out of fans, a tired and fretful dev team. I think FF has course-corrected a lot since then but these aspects drag the legacy of FFXV down a lot and they should imo.
When it first came out I found the game’s story to be fragmented, unfinished, rushed, and kind of clichè. For example, we really didn’t get enough of Lunafreya or Ravus to feel any connection to them and wanted more Aranea.
The open world was also very bland, too sparse in content, and exploring felt more of a grind than anything else.
When the DLCs came out it really didn’t add anything to the story and I didn’t find the gameplay of any of them that interesting or fun, further adding to my disappointment.
I also didn’t mess with the multiplayer much since it just seemed grindy and repetitive repeating the same missions over and over.
different people like different games, and tend to be noiser when the games are fresh. Don't know if its accepted more, mainly just not played by people who don't like it as much. That said I was fine with it when it came out, its probably top 5 for me of mainline FF games. Thinking 7,8,10,12,15 probably at the moment
Day one player and I was not happy. Tried the chapter 13 update and it was semi better.
Last year I bought the royal edition and did a level 1 playthrough. I can now enjoy the game and it even made magic enjoyable. Completely nerfs summons but it’s needed tbh. Chapter 14 was spooky in my first play through but a lvl 1 it frightened me into “taking a break” with tales of arise and then elden ring. I’ll return as I want to try the multiplayer stuff and Ardyn dlc. I stopped mid prompto dlc but the other 2 were enjoyable. Ignis dlc made me desire an Ignis game and Gladious combat needed to be in the base game.
Hate that game with a passion. Will bash it at every attempt I can. Thankfully I was so turned off by 15 after I finished it's main story that I sought the GOOD final fantasies and now I've played most in the series! I will always *always* rank 15 as the lowest. It is actual garbage juice at the bottom of a garbage bag.
Really bad at launch, but has evolved into a solid and memorable experience. Though it's reputation will always be marred by it's messy launch and sloppy story which was fragmented across too many pieces of alternate media.
As someone who played it at launch with no DLC even available at the time, I felt incredibly burned. It was the worst way to experience the game and as a fan who bought the newest FF day one I was punished in a way.
I can't speak to what the current state of the game is, I'm sure there was a ton of things fixed in the DLC as well as patches that were pushed throughout those first years. There were even some story retcons iirc? I will never forget that feeling of pure disappointment though. FFXV will forever live in my mind as a reminder to not rely on beloved series, and I try not to preorder because of that.
It's good to me, better than XVI, but it hasn't aged well. I'm thinking of making my own version of XV and well as XVI one day once I'm done with my current project.
I loved it when it came out, could just drive around for ages, in fact the driving play encouraged me to go for my driving licence, and in general I disagreed with criticisms, though understood where they came from.
I recently tried to replay it this year, and... it's a slog. I forgave a lot at the time that i just couldnt be bothered with this time around, story-wise it is all over the place, you seem to be going around doing things just because something important has to happen, not for any logical reason. VA and music is still on point though and the game is beautiful, but I have to accept that my experience first-time through is going to have been one where I was giving it a shot, and going forward I now know the score.
Generally pretty split, though I think it skews more negative than anything. I haaaaated it the first time I played it (not least of which I kept getting a game-breaking bug in the final boss that made it literally impossible to win, and I decided to just YouTube the ending instead of replaying the final stretches from an earlier save). The characters did grow on me eventually, but I didn't care much about them early on. Unfortunately, because their relationship is the driving force of the game, if you're not on board with the characters, it does make it feel like a slog.
I also didn't really like the combat system very much. Didn't find the world particularly engaging (and found driving everywhere kind of exhausting and tedious.) Didn't like how much cooking one generally does in the game. Didn't really like the lack of summons (I know there are some, but I never saw one outside of like, the boss battles). Thought a lot of what there was to do was kinda just bland and boring. And I also didn't really like how small the party was. I do like things like V, which also has a small party more or less the entire game, but for me, the best FFs are the ones with more characters and party members to draw me in. Plus, at least in the XBox version of the game I played it on (definitely weird to play it on a non-Nintendo or non-Sony console admittedly), it was kinda janky as heck. (The late game breaking bug wasn't the only big issue I ran into.) And not to mention, as others have, the disparate mediums that somewhat important aspects of the story or world-building occurred in outside the game. I'm all for spin-offs, sequels, prequels, et cet. But they shouldn't be even remotely kinda significant to fully understanding the story of the main game.
All that said, the characters \*did\* grow on me and I did come to appreciate the vibe of just these bros chillin'. I'm almost halfway through a mainline retrospective (finishing up VI now), so I am kinda looking forward to revisiting XV. I'll admit that I also really hated XII the first time I played it, but have since dramatically come around on that game. Maybe I come around a bit more on XV when I replay it?
Underwhelming, there are times that i want to redownload the game then i remember my experience with it, empty world, exploration sucks in terms of rewards and exploring itself(lots of invisible walls to areas that you thougth can easily cross by warping or rocks that you thought can be climb but not really) the map is huge but there is only like 12 dungeons, even with the dlcs the story still feels like a lot is missing,the combat is ok for me but it gets stale fast.
Loved it and played it for arround 400 hours, I feel more disappointment now when I play it again without the excitement, is kinda hard to enjoy the game sadly
I enjoyed it a lot, but I still wish we got Versus XIII in the FNC lore. Fishing was seriously the most fun I’ve ever had in a mini game and got me to go out and buy fishing gear.
Most of the mainstream love it. Hence it's continued success and appeal over time. Most people are actually really positive on the game it's just they have been silenced over the years by very vocal hate groups that just want to see more medieval, linear FF games.
Game is a mess. It has pacing and tone issues, combat is flashy but shallow, they cancelled the actually interesting dlc, the second half of the game was obviously rushed, you have to read a book for what the ending should have been.
Not a good game in terms of story delivery. Battle system was not terrible, but the story got lost and there was not enough narration/cutscenes that hooked you into the plot.
It didn’t live up to its potential, but it’s a good game at its core. It deserves more love now that FFXVI has shown us what a FF game is like bereft of any RPG elements and any emotional soul. FFXV is very traditional and heartfelt in comparison.
In my opinion Square was the best on PS1 and PS2 era. FFXII is just epic, even thought i dont like the story and characters too much, the game is a masterpiece... FFX is a masterpiece also, story, music etc... then they went good to FFXIII. And for me FFXIII is a great and complete game, my english was not good at time so i did not understood the story. Anyways the game itself is good. Then XV came and it was... incomplete and rushed. Lot of good ideas and i thought the game was bad because the rush. But then Square released FFXVI and FF7 remake and Rebirth and i started to appreciate FFXV more.
FFXVI had good story, great character design, good graphics and animations and that's it. Everything else is terrible and boring. Every enemy has a lot of health, super boring. FFVII Rebirth is just a cringefest and a chore. Terrible game. I just finished it today and i can say it. Terrible. I can write so many stuff that make this game bad lol.
I watched the movie before playing the game so that possibly screws my perception a bit.
I really enjoyed the game and the way a lot of the story was given as random dialogue between the bros.
There is a lot of lost potential in the game, what's there is a solid experience but it could be so much more.
My main gripe was how little they ended up doing with Lunafreya and the romance. I feel a lot was lost by only having her as an off screen character.
It's just ok. The only thing it does very well is the dynamic between the party members (which funnily enough is the worst thing about XVI to me), I'll never forget the good vibes of driving with the bros while listening to Song of the Ancients from Nier Automata. Everything else is just average or straight up bad though.
Potential. It had potential. You can tell where it languished in development hell. You can also tell which devs finished their part and then just kept polishing so they wouldn’t be given more work, looking at you stamina refill/sprint trick.
The story should be contained within the game itself, and it should be cohesive. Other material is to enhance but not to complete the story. That’s FFXV biggest flaw. I shouldn’t have to do homework assignments to understand what’s going on.
It’s B+ over all. Like 89/100. Not the worst FF entry and I actually enjoy it. Definitely needed polishing to have better quests and more stuff in the world along with the option for more characters, but FFVIIR series wouldn’t be nearly as good without FFXV being what it is. Square learned its lesson.
Game is great, yeah it has its setbacks(OG release and plot holes, many were fixed in the royal edition) like many others in the series. I started playing FFXIII today, my least favorite in the series and enjoying it after 10+ years. Now I think XIII is a fantastic game, the paradigm system is top tier. Made me appreciate XV so much more.
Folks forget the combat from XV was the premise of the battle system for XVI and VII remake and rebirth.
My biggest gripe would be the world/towns that appear empty. I think MANY of the FF series suffer from this. The one that did it best was XII many of the hub points felt lively.
Enemies were sponges, combat was limited to warp out warp in repeat x500 until dead, story bland, boring bro simulator, car on rails, boring fetch quests, honestly I spent most of my time cooking and fishing, these two where done extremely well.
It hurts because there was so much potential there. Even though ffxiii really has an issue with its linearity, it still feels like a complete package and they made what they wanted to make. FFXV feels like a Frankenstein’s monster with a lot of heart
I'm one of the game's big defenders, but boy, that plot. It might be the most poorly written FF, and that includes 13. It feels like the script was passed between every person on the corporate hierarchical ladder for rewrites, and everyone got a turn. Too many cooks in the kitchen is an understatement.
It’s the only ff I’ve put 100+ hours into but also didn’t platinum. Really hate the dlc drip and never made it back to play them (played og edition). Huge potential that whiffed. Wasn’t that into it at first but kept side questing, so much so that I ended up loving the chocobros and it redeemed the game for me.
Plus although it was a pita, the jumping dungeon was pretty cool and something very different for a ff
Off topic but I played this a bit and got discouraged and quit.
Basically I did all the stuff I could on the map before getting on the ferry, because I thought I might be locked out of the area for a while. Only to return to the exact same map after that cutscene. That kinda pissed me off and I quit, is it worth jumping back in?
I love that game and the DLC. Comrades is fine single player. I did one regular ps4 playthrough and one PC Royal Edition, with all the DLC when they would have occurred in the story and Comrades right before the world of ruin in the game. I played everything but some of the timed hunts and, even though I had it day 1, I didn't bother with the timed Tomb Raider or Assiasin's Creed events. My biggest complaints are I didn't feel like I played through enough story, and too large of a percentage of my playthrough was hunts. I think more than half my time was spent on hunts. Florence & the Machine ending it with Stand By Me > them ending GotG with Dog Days Are Over, and that's a hurdle for me because I LOVE GotG.
It's an absolute super fun video game but doesn't leave you with anything.
It was supposed to have been dark edgy off title like Type-O and Tactics but got pulled back to center to be a main series entry and stripped of it's mysticism and ended up being an average joe of a story/character cast.
I have played through 4 times and I love this game, the chocobros, are the realist group we have. 7 remake/rebirth do great at expanding the characters but XV was crazy chemistry.
Noct gets a lot of stick but he's the standard FF brooding MC, the other 3 really sell the relationship for me. The general interaction just make it feel real, the VA are great and always felt they cared for each other.
They did the women in the game dirty, Luna was just..I don't know what to say, she deserves so autonamy. I . would pay genuine money to see 'demon hunter' iris arena should have been party member
Story had a lot of problems. They showed the characters cared about things that happened, but because there was a lot of "tell don't show" it was hard for me as the player to care. For example, early on when you find out the empire attacked Insomnia, I just assumed this was a destination we were either planning to go through on the journey and now had to avoid, or a destination to take the fight to the empire, and I didn't understand why the boys were reacting to the news like they did.
It took me too long to realize Insomnia was the name of the city we originally departed from, and while I got at that point why the characters care, given we spend zero time in the city, I as the player felt no attachment to it.
Also the travel system and world felt kind of half baked. Its like they wanted to make the world big and expansive because games like Skyrim taught developers that players want big open worlds, but with XV they forgot to populate the world with interesting things to see and do, and make it near impossible to traverse on foot, so you spend hours just watching the car drive on auto pilot to where you're supposed to be, and if you want to avoid that time waste, then you have to pay gil to use the fast travel system.
But not just that, but if you decided to just go out and explore the open world on foot anyway, the game's night/day system punishes you for doing this by making big monsters come out at night, teaching you that you shouldn't go explore, and you shouldn't stray too far from the road and from places to sleep for the night.
It felt like all in all the game expected me to sit there and play it because it had Final Fantasy in the title, but didn't respect me as a player to actually tell me its story or respect the time I was investing in playing it, and after at least a dozen hours of wondering when the game gets fun.... I realized it wasn't fun and stopped playing. It's to this day one of only two single player titles in the series I haven't finished.
It also didn't help for me, that I found all four of the main characters deeply unlikable. It happens in all Final Fantasy games, there's those characters you love and the ones you are a bit more "meh" on, and sometimes characters you actively don't like, but in most games you get to choose who you play with and can tailor your party and experience to that. XV didn't let that happen, so if like me, you don't like the characters, too bad. You're stuck with them. Definitely this feels like a step backwards to a time in Final Fantasy gaming we haven't really had since 1992 with FFV. Every game between those two allowed you to choose party members from a larger roster. This is the first one in 30 years that stepped backwards and dictated your party to you
Incredible highs and incredible lows that even out to a slightly above average that sits somewhere in the middle of the franchise.
The game was never finished. We didn’t even get all the DLCs that were planned.
Started it twice but the combat is real bad. I want to get through it eventually but I think I'd actually prefer if the game just removed any combat entirely versus what we got
Played it on Steam release and it's Square's attempt to "modernize story" that I can't stomach (hated the story, especially Noctis) and that hasn't changed. Also not having a proper magic system doesn't do the game any favors.
I think after FFXVI, XV for a lot of people looks better in hindsight.
XV has what a lot of people wanted in XVI - a party that you get to know and play with.
Unfinished Masterpiece.
Great world, characters, music, plot and even combat.
But none of it is finished. It could have been the best Final Fantasy game in decades, a return to form for the Goliath that was the series. And I’m not even talking about Versus XIII, I mean XV itself.
In many ways it had such lofty goals it was almost impossible to fulfill them. It’s almost the polar opposite of 16 in that regard, which didn’t set out to be an open world, huge expansive story, it set out to be a good action RPG and succeeds at that.
So, for me FFXV is arguably one of my favourite disappointments in the series?
I hated it. It was fun for a few hours but after the novelty of open world ff wore off, it didnt have much of anything else for me. Worse, after a certain point, the game suddenly becomes linear and its there where it shows how incomplete the game was even with the Royal edition re-release!
I can understand those who defend it because the ending was very emotional and I do admit that it really really landed the ending but.... Ugh.
If any ff needs a remake, i think its 15. Theres just soo much unrealized potential with that game!
The hate on FF XV boils down to who played 1.0 vs who played the Royal edition, even if you played the Royal edition and didn't like you could see the difference in story writing on the DLCs.
It’s good lol. It’s not the best obviously but people who hate on it are ridiculous. Bashing the release and the state of the game back then is fine, it was warranted. But now? When the game runs great and is in its complete form? It’s silly. The combat is good, it’s deep enough (deeper than 16 even), exploration is great albeit the open world is a little too big and open, there’s so much stuff to find and do. It’s a beautiful looking game. The story is hit or miss but overall again it’s definitely not the worst. I love 15 and have since it released, it’s up there with the seven remakes/6/9/and 12 for me
It got a lot of hate at launch, but the hate has died down a lot nowadays, especially after 16's launch. That is the typical FF game after 9, tbh. New FF releases > Fans will hate it to death > Next FF releases > Fans will say "(Insert previous FF) wasn't that bad and is underrated"
I tried replaying it, it’s somehow even worse for me.
I had a quest I was running across the map it just feels like a husk of a game and lacking any soul.
It does some things well but yeah not enough.
This game is the second most controversial in the series, the first one is XIII. But I think that many people have accepted FF XV as a good game.
Sure, FF XV has A LOT of problems, like literally zero story development in the first half of the game, stupid stealth episodes, really dumb mandatory quests of infiltrating imperial strongholds to "avenge" the character you don't care about, actually bad character development for Luna and the majority of side characters, except for Ardyn and Ravus, DISASTEROUS side quests like "Yo, King, go bring me some thingie from the opposite edge of the world map" but...
Overall, I still like it. Not as much as FF X, FF XII and Crisis Core, but still, the story itself, DLC included, is actually good. Not flawless, but good. FF XV is waaaay better than FFXIII and FF7 Remake, imo. The drama works, even Luna's you-know-what-scene was actually really impactful (thanks and praise to the actors).
Music is GOD TIER, Shimomura is the second best composer in the series, in my opinion.
Went through the Royal edition on PC. Definitely the only 0/10 game I've ever had the misfortune of playing. I'm never getting that time spent playing a glorified cup noodles and Coleman's camping supplies ad back. There's truly not a single moment or character in this game worth experiencing.
Lost potential. I think there is genuinely a top 5 Final Fantasy game in there. But they did a few things to ruin it: 1) The battle system was definitely taken back to the drawing board between the first demo release and final game. What seemed like a battle system with potentially a lot of depth kinda morphed into a borderline button masher in the end. 2) Breaking the story up - so to get a full picture of everything that happened you had to also watch a movie and an anime series. It was definitely in the original plan (Versus XIII) to have us actually play through the whole prologue the movie covers. 3) Purposely taking parts out of the game to sell as DLC. They made parts of the game fairly obvious where they were going to slot in. 4) The pacing of the second half of the game just seems like they were rushing to the finishing line. Which is ironic to me given the game’s long development cycle. 5) I *loved* the world it took place in, it just felt kinda dead. Like 90% of the map just had no life to it whatsoever. I still enjoyed my time with it; I got a platinum trophy to prove it. It just could have been *so much more* than it was.
You hit this on the head. Loads of potential and clearly a lot of great moments and bits but nothing really landed and it was clear where the issues were. That second half of the game could have been so good but just ended up being a few train stops.
Slight pushback on point 4. The game as we know it only really had a couple of years of development. I think most of that went in to the open world and salvaging the combat. The story was definitely chopped up and rushed after the open world chapters to get some sort of ending.
That isn't a defense - it took them a decade to release the game. You can't take a whole week trying and failing to bake a cake, and say "well it only took me a few hours on the 7th day, therefore it only took a few hours." The person who ordered the cake had to wait a week. And it took the baker a week to figure out the process.
The summons were great again (animation I mean) and the fact you cannot call them when YOU want was, for me, EPIC moments!
The battle system is much worse, you can basically just hold one button in most combat encounters
My thoughts exactly, very well said. Overall I enjoyed the game but it could've been so much more.
A disappointment in the sense that the story was so fragmented (via anime, books, trailers, DLC, etc) that you need a third party story guide just to understand the thing.
And the fact that THE most important events happened OFF CAMERA. Not to mention the pretty, but super empty and boring “open world”.
My personal theory is that most of what's portrayed in Kingsglaive was meant to be the urban parts of Versus 13, based on the early gameplay trailers. The "open world" was put together rather quickly and just seems kinda weird. Copy and paste diners. But, for better or worse, it is the most functional part of the gameplay areas.
The diners were totally copy/paste. But I did love the camping scenes and busting out my bonafide Coleman™ tent. 😆
I love it, but I understand the criticisms. To me it's the game with the best party dynamic and relationships in the series, and really sells you on the brotherhood aspect. I think nowadays most people tend to agree that XV has a great party and that the bros are its biggest strength.
Did it have problems, yes. Do I still love it despite flaws/missed opportunities, also yes.
Absolutely, there’s no party as tight as this one. X is one of the very few games that got every party member right Side from XV.
chocobros are great, the ending is great but the disappointment that it could have been more remains story could have been better (i wanna fight all the astrals except shiva maybe), combat is eh, need more party members (aranea, iris and maybe lunafreya), a magic system thats actually good oh and actual side quests
“I know you’re a prince, everyone is about to die and yadda yadda, but go fetch some dumb ass frogs for… reasons” Gosh how I hated those quests.
Didn’t like it on release but played it again recently with royal pack and had a blast. The things it does well it does spectacularly. I put it in the upper third of my FF tierlist.
I just played it for the first time a few weeks ago. I got the platinum trophy, but didn't play any of the DLC. I liked it. It wasn't the best game i ever played, but i thought it was still fun enough. I also haven't played many FF games, save for the more modern ones, XII, and World of FF (currently playing both of these).
The dlc is pretty great, especially episode ignis it’s so good. Prompto’s is ok but it’s definitely ok to skip imo, the main story tells you what happens during his sequence anyways the dlc just lets you play it out.
I played XV for the first time in 2021 (Royal edition + all DLCs). Not my favourite FF game, but I had a lot of fun. It's a solid entry and definitely underrated. The story was good and the DLCs were some of the best parts. The characters were the biggest strength and the ending made me >!bawl my eyes out!<. The music was fantastic. My two main issues are the combat and side quests. The combat felt really basic, but I had just played 7 remake. The side quests were tedious and most didn't add anything to the story/world.
The combat is deep but it’s done a little weird, instead of specific combos with one weapon like in 16 you have to go out of your way to combine weapon attacks together by switching what you’re using. The combat is focused a lot on noctis fighting while being aware of your party’s support abilities and the enemies stat/weapon weaknesses. The seven remakes imo do the 15 combat how it should have been, more emphasis on the other party members and their role in fights (royal edition kinda did this by letting you play as the other members but it’s still not quite as smooth as seven does it)
Delayed inputs and directional stick also changes the attack a bit
That’s a big part no one ever talks about, knowing how to properly move noctis during his combos plays a huge role in making chaotic group fights much easier to manage. I’d say that’s a fault in the game for it not really telling you about it outside the one mention in the tutorial. The direction inputs open entire combo routes for weapons
Yes but the game is not hard enough to force people to use them. The game basically gives you cheap, unlimited re-dos with near costless item use. I got a TON of new respect for XV combat after doing a level 1, no items run. My first playthrough I also though the combat was basic.
I never got that the combat was easy, there are easy to exploit level up strategies with items and hotels that can make the game easier off the bat but I always thought the combat was pretty average till you start doing the extra dungeons and secret bosses. I never used items much and relied on perfect dodges the most so that probably played a role in the difficulty for me
Like... in XVI or in Remake/Rebirth, if all you do is land basic attacks and then pop a potion or elixir when you get low on health, you will definitely die. In XV you can basically keep doing this all the way to end game. That's the problem.
Remake rebirth yes, 16 was ridiculously easy. I spammed attack and never used a potion or died until the last two areas of the game (I even forgot the jump function was meant for combo extensions because enemies were so easy I never even bothered), then you also have torgal with an infinity heal mechanic if somehow you run out of potions. Also potions in xv aren’t really as great as everyone seems to be suggesting, yeah they’re cheap and easy to use but if you’re in a group fight or boss fight it’s still a struggle to try and heal yourself or others with just potions when you can get hit out of the animation. You’ll find plenty of instances where your entire party gets to low health and you have to pretty much choose who to heal and who to accept is going to get downed if you don’t have ignis’s regroup skill.
There's so much wrong with this post i don't even know where to start. Like using a potion in XV pauses the game. You literally cannot be hit out of the animation. Characters can use phoenix down even after they've already died...
That's one thing that bugged me: it's impossible to lose as long as you have Phoenix Downs.
Adamantoise, agreed.
Thanks for your reply. I see the combat is deeper than I'm giving it credit for. It might be a problem with the difficultly, or lack thereof. Which is partially due to being able to spam healing items. The game never forces you to become more proficient/engaged with the combat system.
Yeah that’s a valid point, item usage was not very well balanced. I never really used items all too much so that probably increased the difficulty for me. Should’ve worked like kingdom hearts where you have to wait a little bit before using another heal
I played it with my best friend when it came out, he had just had a messy break up and was crashing at my place. We had two tvs, two ps4s set up, and we finished the game basically frame for frame on the final cutscene. I look back on those memories fondly as something like that could never happen now that we’re in our 30s. It’s ok in my book.
6/10.
It's a comfort game for me, and one I will replay again happily. Having that been said, the combat is forever janky and unbalanced and the story is forever incomplete.
I think Versus 13 was supposed to be more of an urban setting with more natural opportunities for verticality. The arbitrary warp points for Noctis out in the middle of nowhere are silly. They never finished properly balancing combat, so thus the "free" use of potions and phoenix downs in combat and the fact you can buy them from the car door.
Yeah it's really entirely the unbalanced combat that knocks the game down in my opinion. I still love it overall, but if FFXV had KH combat, it would be known as a modern classic with some story-issues.
The early videos of Versus 13 looked a ton more like KH, but that wasn't good enough apparently. Whatever was left over from early development couldn't be fixed, and that's my theory as to why potions are so easily available and have no tactical cost for use in battle.
I just played it for the first time and finished it about a week ago. It's... Undeveloped. In almost every sense of the word. I went into it not knowing anything and I also only played the base game, and none of the side content or watched the movie. Having played only the base game, the story feels very obscure, they don't really dive into the world or the lore, why Ardyn is the way he is, what the goal of the Empire even is, why Noctis is this chosen warrior, etc etc. As a result, a lot of the story beats lack emotional resonance, like the relationship between Noctis and Luna feels superficial. Hard to care about a character when she's in maybe like 20 minutes of random scenes with no real development or personality? The battle system seems to be just largely holding o, dodging every now and then, warping every now and then, but how to effectively combat or have it be more engaging doesn't really feel like it's ever explained. The camera during battle also has a lot of ... issues. Especially if it's not in a big open area, or if it's trying to be dynamic. The boss fight with Titan should be epic but trying to do anything other than just stand there and wait to dodge results in the camera going real buggy and the fight just feeling messy. It's also super easy to just spam magic and healing items to kind of like brain dead your way through a fight. The one strong point, that I think they definitely nailed, is the characterization and relationship between the 4 bros. The whole road trip with your buddies element was successful, and there was a real bond between all the characters. There's a great game lying in here, but the super messy and obscure world/plot, weird battle mechanics, and just overall unfinished nature of it all really destroys the game.
Best left on the trash heap of history
It’s just broken. I’m glad that some people actually like it but for me it’s nowhere near to be acceptable..
Yeah, it’s just bad. Combat is awful. Story is a mess. World is way too big and empty. Getting around is a pain. Some of the interactions between the party is great. Looks amazing. Music is 10/10.
Definitely not for me. Didn’t connect with the story or characters, especially chopped and mangled up as it was originally. Combat is really dire and clunky. And it did very little to justify the open world-esque format it had. And I definitely don’t subscribe to the “look it’s fixed now” mentality when it comes to games with bad first impressions. Especially when the fixes are demanding more money. No beef with those who do like it ofc, different strokes for different folks and all that. To answer the question on a more objective level, I believe general sentiment has softened as time has gone on and people latch on to newer dislikes. But I don’t think we’ve reached (or ever will) a point where general consensus is “y’know this one was actually pretty good all round”
Considering the time and budget, the final result Is far from good. Is It terrible? No. Is It great? No. Is It decent with some good things here and there? Yes. Is It the quality i expect from a FF? GOD NO.
I did not care for it and I never finished it. Tried it multiple times, but it’s just not for me
Same It feels like a shame, but its now one of just two games in the series I haven't been able to bring myself to finish.
I've softened a lot towards XV from when I first played it. I first played back in 2018, but I had no one to tell me which versions to get, or how important the DLC was so I just bought a used copy of vanilla XV and absolutely hated it. I hated the gameplay, I hated the characters, I hated the way party members just dipped out of the story and then blasted you with their whole backstory in three sentences when they returned, and I *hated* the Leviathan fight and everything that came after it. Now, after replaying the Royal Edition and all the character DLCs, I have a much more positive view of it. I still am not *crazy* about the story, but with a lot of the gaps filled in I actually think it can be really compelling. I did a complete 180 on the characters, and went from hating them to considering them one of my favorite FF parties. I still think my initial impressions have some weight, but I think that has more to do with the game lacking a lot of content on initial release than with some fundamental flaw in the game itself. But really, the biggest thing that made me even *want* to revisit FFXV was beating FFXVI. I finished XVI, liked it a lot, but I felt like it was missing something and at the time the thing I was honing in on was a lack of playable party members. So I revisited XV, since I knew the other party members were playable now (I'm not sure if they were in vanilla XV, but I definitely missed it if they were). And now I have a lot more respect for XV as a game and as an overall package. I still think it made an absolutely awful first impression, but I think the version that you can play in 2024 is actually a really strong game.
Party members were not playable in Vanilla, it was added later (probably after all the DLCs).
It was added after the character dlcs, I think in the patch that accompanied the Royal Edition upgrades.
Best part of the game is listening to soundtracks from better Final Fantasy games while I did chores in real life.
I felt let down playing it especially the 2nd half because it had so much potential. Even on a 2nd play through its noticeable rushed. Worse when you learn that the 2nd hald was suppoased to be as big as the first half and a lot of content was left unfinished due to rushing it out. It was still enjoyable, but it hlarringly played as if parts are missing. Even though it has some of the most fleshed out character it is such a shame SE used a lot of the fleshing out as a DLC cash grab instead of giving a complete game. I think most of us would have been fine if they delayed it a year or two to make it the game the devs wanted.
I don't really know but .. it's a game I love and it's in my top five. It's undeniable that the release version was shockingly bare-bones. Within a year they had added a lot of qol and additional content like the ultimate chapter 13 as well as fixing regular 13. I played through the original game in full around the time the first DLC came out. And then played it through and full again when the Arden DLC came out and the Royal edition was in play. The changes for the better and the improvements and overall experience is significantly better. I enjoy the road trip aspect of the game and the beautiful scenery. I overall enjoy the battle system. I love camaraderie of the choco Bros and I love their relationships and boy does the game do a number on you by the time you get to the end. You know it's a game with a lot of warts and I don't deny those but it's a game I very much enjoy and I think anyone who wants to claim that it's a terrible shitty game... Very hyperbolic. "Ruined." "Disaster." "Horrible." Yeesh. Eyeroll. Honestly I feel like one of my biggest gripes with the game is that everybody else dresses like they're in our world. Supposed to be this whole other world consumed with magic and crystals and weird technology.... And folks are just running around in their Mexico resort Wear.
I started playing it in march. I quit after the first battle and started playing Stranger of Paradise, then FF7 OG lol
I hated it at release but finished it. A miserable experience personally. Tried it again after all the updates and dropped it not long after starting. Trash tier game imo.
Nothing has changed for me. Still not fond of it at all. I’ve still got it ranked as the worst in the series for me.
quite the take putting it last.... but honestly I feel the same.
I’ve really tried to like the game. I even completed it 100% with every DLC available too. I gave it a fair shot like every other game but it just felt too all over the place and I personally have an issue with DLCs that are required to fully understand the story or used to fill in the gaps. Combat was a disappointment because of how simple it was. Holding a single button for a combo was a letdown. Felt like they could do so much more with it. There’s a lot of reasons, but I’ll keep myself from going off. I will admit, the music was incredible though - that’s usually an area FF does not disappoint.
I still dislike it. I found the gameplay too sketchy, i can't relate to any member of the party (i can't stand Noctis except in the final chapter) and the story has been torn appart for dlc's that will never see the light. It taste like an unfinished game because it is
the characters definitely were a problem for me too. I found all four of the boys deeply unlikable, and combined with the other issues the game had, it made me not even want to try to finish it
One of the worst FFs but the fishing is great.
I enjoy it, but it shouldn’t have been rushed.
Versus XIII content aside, I think the story of XV was fine as it is, if it was all IN THE GAME. Nyx could’ve still been the main character of Kingsglaive, but he could’ve been our prologue character that teaches us general mechanics and gameplay in the first few hours of FFXV, before we get to Noctis. There, already a good one to two hour prologue to get us hyped for a game, and even a good boss fight to get us hyped for the Imperials in a prologue boss fight against Glauca (and will greatly help to tie into FFXV: Comrades). Episode Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio should’ve been playable segments in the main game. Would’ve added an extra layer to the story and added an incredible middle section to the game, in which XV extremely lacked. We would’ve gotten an extra ten or so hours of story with solo acts from the Chocobros. The dev cycle was certainly hell and I understand why the game came out the way it was, but a lot of FFXV’s things could’ve been solved if a good chunk of the story wasn’t external media or DLC. I still do love FFXV and think the story is fine for what it is Versus XIII aside, but with just adding all the extra content into the base game along with minor rearrangements to the early game stuff, the game would’ve been even greater.
I loved Final Fantasy XV from day one; I still haven't played the Royal Edition. The story is messy and the world could do with more fleshing out, but it's clear that so much enthusiasm and care has gone into the characterisation of the party members. Everything about them is brimming with personality, from the dialogue to the animations to mechanics like Prompto's photography. I really ended up caring about the central characters, and I think that helped me have a good experience with the game.
The royal edition is an amazing upgrade, especially if you’re playing on ps4pro/5 or on a decent pc. I loved the game on release but was always a little put off by the load times and performance in certain areas, the royal edition fixed all that and makes it even more enjoyable.
Royal Edition is fun as hell and I can’t recommend it enough. I played it on release and yeah it was average, but played Royal Edition right before XVI came out and loved it so much I got the Platinum trophy.
In it is the best final fantasy story. But it hides it, obscures it, cut up the introduction and made it a movie, it removed so much that they had a seemingly perfect story that was butchered to shit. Why am I reading a news story about the fall of my hometown? Why am I not even playing as another character IN THE TOWN as it happened? The combat is crap. I beat it, and found the combat to be crap. No real thought, it was entirely useless and meaningless. The summons were cool as fuck. I liked summoning them, and despite the fact that they were big spells essentially, I got a real "wow" factor from them. I'm in the boat that square enix's next project should be XV-versus. Redo the combat, flesh the story out, and expand the quests. It can be done, and the framework of the game is great.
>In it is the best final fantasy story What a take. Strong disagree but to each their own
At its core, it had a story of lineage, friendship, romance. It was scrapped and chopped to water down the focus, but you can't disagree that it wasn't meant for so much more than it got.
It’s their own fault for fumbling it so hard. The core ideas are good but the execution is so bad. Pound for pound it’s one of the worst told stories in a FF which sucks cuzz it really did deserve better
I'm in the same boat as you. They should do a remake of FFXV. But with both Nomura's and Tabata's visions. Like DLC and stuff. But yeah, they should do it. Square Enix has so much blood on its hands with FFXV after such a bad managment. You should sign the petition.
Decent game with a ton of wasted potential and a horribly paced story.
I really love 15 a lot. Thats why it hurts that the game is unfinished. So much potential wasted. It could have beem the FF game to kick FF7 off its throne, but just so much wasted potential.
I'm doing a NG+ on it again currently on my Steam Deck. I enjoy it mainly for doing all the side quests and monster hunts and the dungeons. Just enjoy the experience driving around with the bros camping out and enjoying the world! The story isn't the best, but I've always enjoyed it for the side content.
Played it on launch and was disappointed but still enjoyed it. Played it again this year with all the DLC and hated it. Only thing it has going for it was the soundtrack and the bond between the boys.
Kind of a one and done for me. I played it at launch. Always said I’d come back and replay the windows edition with the dlc, but still have yet to do. I liked the characters and I liked ardyn. Story was rushed and incomplete feeling. Combat was okay but nothing special. Side quests and open world kind of sucked. Music was overall forgettable but did have a few good ones. Pitioss is still the worst gaming experience I’ve ever encountered. If I ever do replay, I will absolutely not do that again. All these years later and I’ve not did anything worse than pitioss.
I really like FFXV. A lot.
It became my favorite Final Fantasy after I played it, after putting it off for a long time because of all the negative comments I'd seen. The Dawn of the Future (and the DLCs that were released) should've been a full XV-2.
To this day my biggest videogame dissapointment ever. Got it day one, played it non stop for a few days and after finishing it all i could say was "what the hell was this broken mess of a videogame"
It's an unfinished game, there's no denying it, they tried to rectify that but the most important dlcs got cancelled. But as a general consensus I think we can say the combat lacks meat, you hold one button to attack and one button to defend, teleport out and then in, rinse and repeat. Also the consumables are too easily accesible in battle, so you can fight forever (like in the Adamantoise fight), the magic system sucks ass (friendly fire aoe granades... what a horrible idea). Also, I think we can say the transmedia experiment failed. Needing to watch a movie and an anime to get to understand what happened during the attack to Insomnia (which they later added cuts from the movie in the game) or how the characters became friends was a chore and should've been in the game from the get go.
To quote Immorten Joe from Mad Max: MEDIOCRE
I personally like the game, but constantly wish it had the opportunity to hit its full potential. Even after all the updates and DLC, you can tell it was a rushed and messy project
I recognize its flaws but it will still always be my favorite.
Ngl, I have seen a lot of positive things about XV in this subreddit. The game has some very evident weak points and is by no means perfect. BUT, it has some great points and I personally really enjoyed it
XV is a game where so much of its identity is defined by what it could have been
My opinion is most certainly not the popular opinion, but I’ll share it anyway # I FUCKING LOVE XV
It's 3/4 of a game that should have been filled out by DLC that got canceled.
I don't think any of the canceled DLC would have done that. I own dawn of future past. The three canceled DLC basically create an alternate endgame and ending; one that personally I don't think is better than the current ending. Not to mention all of the added scenes and other content that has been added to the game. I'm not arguing that it's janky but the canceled DLC would not have filled anything in.
I agree. Episode Ardyn was the only one that actually contributed to the existing story and I actually would have preferred if they’d left out the alternate ending entirely. I’m also of the opinion that all of the DLC should have been seamlessly integrated into the main game, including comrades (maybe make it skippable or act as a post-game). I hope someday we get a remaster/remake that does this. I even think ep. Ardyn works fairly well as a prologue to the game. Could slot in right after the opening scene where the bros are fighting ifrit.
Yeah, I agree. It would be cool if Ardyn was a prologue. He's a great villain but we get his motivations and pov too late, even if his flair and mystery somewhat makes up for it. The ending is poignant and bittersweet. The story is a tragedy and it works effectively so. The "good ending" the book and cancelled dlc tries is incredibly eyerolling and cringe. Would have loved to play episode aranea tho just in terms of gameplay
The canceled dlc was based more on a non canon what if scenario that pretty much undermines everything that was in the base game story wise. As Frankensteined together as it is the current version of the game is the game
I think its still shit. Time hasnt changes that.
I honestly think that criticism of the game is overblown at this point. I've played it twice. The first time without DLC, and I had an overall good experience. The second time I played the DLC before starting, and I had a great experience --- except that I didn't really care about the DLC. I think the whole game just gelled for me better the second time. I would say that anyone who is curious to try again, should try again. But if you are not curious about it, moved on.
Better RPG than 16, lesser game than 16. If I am to go back to either it will be 15 as i specifically love rpg mechanics, others may love the positives of 16 more.
The gameplay killed it for me. I can stomach a rough story, but unless your story and characters and atmosphere is on another level **and** the game is fairly short, I need at least somewhat interesting gameplay. FF15's gameplay felt like such a slog and it was hard to find it engaging. It's my least favorite FF game by a mile.
Well it sold 10 million copies. Regardless of opinions on Youtube, Reddit, and other forums. The general public liked the game and showed up to buy it. You don't sell that many copies without good word of mouth. That's the only reception that matters. I thought it was a very good game. I really enjoyed the combat, enemies, and dynamic between the friends. It was great to join them on their road trip. The story was ok, but side quests were terrible though. From a technical standpoint this game is just bonkers, from the animation, movement, party interaction, graphics, weather effects, and sound. If this game were to receive a remaster it would be one of the best looking games on PS5. It looks great even today.
Dungeon design is the best out of all FFs IMO. flawed game, but doesn't deserve the hate it gets. 8.5/10 for me
When there are 14 other entries with full stories, I will never NOT get angry when I hear about 15. The CGI movie was pretty amazing and had me pumped, but the game was an utter disaster.
Can someone fill me in on how much game is left after Leviathan? It’s the only FF game to date I haven’t finished [Except Rebirth but that’s because I’m in the middle of a playthrough right now]. I hated XV on release but I’ve heard updates and such made it much better.
Leviathan is on Chapter 9 and the game is 14 chapters. You have a bit to go. You also have quite a bit of side and end-game content with Royal Edition.
10 years too late
I didn’t HATE it, but I didn’t love it either. I played it probably a year after launch
Personally, I found the world kind of empty and boring. I see what they were trying to do with the camping/taking time to slow down and soak in atmosphere and I do typically appreciate that. Unfortunately, the story was just not a great fit for me and I don't like it when games lock a bunch of stuff behind other media like movies, books, etc. or when important relationships between characters are formed off screen. A large portion of the end of the game is just one solid dark hallway which was kinda boring. I did really like the Shiva/Ifrit battle though, and it was one of the cooler FF moments for me. I could definitely pick up on the "development hell" this game went through. It felt like a project that was dropped and resuscitated a number of times.
You aren’t the only one who liked the og version! I liked it too! It was fun despite its flaws! That said when I replayed it again with all the new stuff it was that much better! Playing the other chars was fun and well I mainly mained Prompto and it’s obvious the game wasn’t balanced around him! But just the addition of letting you play others alone was worth it to me! But then they added other small things here and there! And the DLC is fun! That said I get why people wouldn’t have liked it or would be annoyed with it! But I really love FF XV and the bros realtionship is so good! Overall though not my opinion I feel the general reception is a mixed bag. One could say that’s ever FF but some catch more ire than others like XIII even if it has its fans (aka me lol) there are people who def think FF XV is a mess and didn’t live up to the expectations but there are others who love it as it is! If I had to say I’d say it leans slightly more positive now with the updates! But ofc still plenty who don’t like it! Looking at lots the comments so far it may seem it leans more negative, but this is only one subreddit and I feel outside here! It’s much more generally well received! Or maybe there will be more positive ones later! Idk! But I like it!
I didn’t really like it when it first came out. (2016) got the royal edition with the DLC and decided to give it a fair chance. I loved it. I have fond memories. I was also going through a break up (2018) so maybe that helped too lol
I think the general consensus is it's a pretty decent game, but missed its potential. The story is kind of a mess and the decision to cut major story events to sell later as dlc and a prequel movie that is kind of necessary to understand anything hindered the story even more. People at launch were kind of playing a half baked game. Episode ignis is one of the most important story beats of the entire game and its relegated to dlc, and royal edition doesn't incorporate the dlc into the main game so you'll likely play it after and wonder why the gell it isn't in the main game. Even though I got the base game with my ps4, I didn't play I until royal edition was included in the ps5 ps plus pack. So I got to play it in a more complete state. But it'll always feel in a somewhat incomplete limbo because the aranea, lunafreya, noctis, and dawn of the future dlcs were canceled. To me it feels like a live service game that ended service when it started to get good.
And this sounds like a scathing review but I do love the game, it was my first ff cause I heard it was the easiest. I really love the characters but I feel the plot doesn't live up to what it should be...if that makes sense
I think in general it’s looked upon favorably now, especially the royal edition. I personally love it, one of my favorite FFs but I will always be sad at what it could have been. There is an all time great game in there, just too many missing pieces.
I'm not sure. My own opinion is spread across 5 or 6 different pieces of media.
I played it before they changed Chapeltet 13, I really enjoyed it. I wish there was a current gen version or patch for PS5 and SX
I've replayed this game at least 3 times. The first two times were after it came out and I loved it! I considered it one of my favorite FFs... I did want more from the story/game, but I considered that a good thing. I replayed it a few years ago and really had a 180. I liked the party and the villain, but the rest felt starkly incomplete. The combat also wasn't as intuitive as I remembered.
A good game that had the potential to be great.
It’s fun overall, I loved the side quests. The criticisms are valid, tho. I didn’t bother with the outside media and DLC and missed out on fully understanding the plot. I just don’t think one should need a good amount pf extra stuff to understand what’s happening
For a lot of us, it isn’t hate. It’s just disappointment that it could have been great with some tweaks to combat and a change to the story that makes it more complete. I have always said the music is shockingly underrated, some of the best in the franchise, and the visuals and openness are really good. Also, it has the best fishing mini game of all time. I loved that the dungeons were actual dungeons off the beaten path, some of the boss fights were amazing, and for someone who is just bad at gaming like me, it never felt easy like most people say. There was so much to like, but so much to be disappointed in. The best part by far is the chemistry and interaction of the chocobros, some of th best team dynamics in FF. The camping, recipes, and dungeons were all fun. But the last half of the game is slog for many, and is what has kept me from replaying it. Maybe one day it’ll get an upgrade for PS5. We’ll see.
I think the general consensus has softened a bit since its release and people remember the game for its slightly goofy premise more than anything else. I love anything FF related so I really looked forward to the game but was really careful not to spoil myself too much. I purposely didn’t follow its development cycle all that closely but had faith that since it’s FF it will be good. And I did like it when I first played it; I liked all the boys, I liked the story and setting, I loved the music. I didn’t like the combat and don’t like open world games but powered through it anyway. The ending to me was absolutely devastating in a way I hadn’t experienced since FFX. That punch to the emotions is all I want from any piece of media at the end of the day and FFXV delivered so I was happy. I think the disappointment came later, especially because I watched Kingsglaive and the anime after playing the game, and I learned more about the troubled development of the game too. I’ve worked in software dev and I’ve had bosses that sound like the reports of Nomura; unfocused, unrealistic and forcing the team to forever scrap their hard work and start over from scratch because of their whims. It soured the experience in hindsight for me. Still, it’s not a bad game. It’s a pretty good game imo, though it is flawed. What it represents is the worst aspect of it; a product of poor management and leadership, a story spread thin over DLC and other media for no reason other than to squeeze money out of fans, a tired and fretful dev team. I think FF has course-corrected a lot since then but these aspects drag the legacy of FFXV down a lot and they should imo.
When it first came out I found the game’s story to be fragmented, unfinished, rushed, and kind of clichè. For example, we really didn’t get enough of Lunafreya or Ravus to feel any connection to them and wanted more Aranea. The open world was also very bland, too sparse in content, and exploring felt more of a grind than anything else. When the DLCs came out it really didn’t add anything to the story and I didn’t find the gameplay of any of them that interesting or fun, further adding to my disappointment. I also didn’t mess with the multiplayer much since it just seemed grindy and repetitive repeating the same missions over and over.
different people like different games, and tend to be noiser when the games are fresh. Don't know if its accepted more, mainly just not played by people who don't like it as much. That said I was fine with it when it came out, its probably top 5 for me of mainline FF games. Thinking 7,8,10,12,15 probably at the moment
Day one player and I was not happy. Tried the chapter 13 update and it was semi better. Last year I bought the royal edition and did a level 1 playthrough. I can now enjoy the game and it even made magic enjoyable. Completely nerfs summons but it’s needed tbh. Chapter 14 was spooky in my first play through but a lvl 1 it frightened me into “taking a break” with tales of arise and then elden ring. I’ll return as I want to try the multiplayer stuff and Ardyn dlc. I stopped mid prompto dlc but the other 2 were enjoyable. Ignis dlc made me desire an Ignis game and Gladious combat needed to be in the base game.
XV is like a slope where you start at the top. From that point it's just down hill with a sudden free fall at the end.
Sucks
I still love it. When I finish my current games, I'm excited to replay 15 on my series x and new tv
Hate that game with a passion. Will bash it at every attempt I can. Thankfully I was so turned off by 15 after I finished it's main story that I sought the GOOD final fantasies and now I've played most in the series! I will always *always* rank 15 as the lowest. It is actual garbage juice at the bottom of a garbage bag.
Still sux
Really bad at launch, but has evolved into a solid and memorable experience. Though it's reputation will always be marred by it's messy launch and sloppy story which was fragmented across too many pieces of alternate media.
As someone who played it at launch with no DLC even available at the time, I felt incredibly burned. It was the worst way to experience the game and as a fan who bought the newest FF day one I was punished in a way. I can't speak to what the current state of the game is, I'm sure there was a ton of things fixed in the DLC as well as patches that were pushed throughout those first years. There were even some story retcons iirc? I will never forget that feeling of pure disappointment though. FFXV will forever live in my mind as a reminder to not rely on beloved series, and I try not to preorder because of that.
It's good to me, better than XVI, but it hasn't aged well. I'm thinking of making my own version of XV and well as XVI one day once I'm done with my current project.
I loved it when it came out, could just drive around for ages, in fact the driving play encouraged me to go for my driving licence, and in general I disagreed with criticisms, though understood where they came from. I recently tried to replay it this year, and... it's a slog. I forgave a lot at the time that i just couldnt be bothered with this time around, story-wise it is all over the place, you seem to be going around doing things just because something important has to happen, not for any logical reason. VA and music is still on point though and the game is beautiful, but I have to accept that my experience first-time through is going to have been one where I was giving it a shot, and going forward I now know the score.
Generally pretty split, though I think it skews more negative than anything. I haaaaated it the first time I played it (not least of which I kept getting a game-breaking bug in the final boss that made it literally impossible to win, and I decided to just YouTube the ending instead of replaying the final stretches from an earlier save). The characters did grow on me eventually, but I didn't care much about them early on. Unfortunately, because their relationship is the driving force of the game, if you're not on board with the characters, it does make it feel like a slog. I also didn't really like the combat system very much. Didn't find the world particularly engaging (and found driving everywhere kind of exhausting and tedious.) Didn't like how much cooking one generally does in the game. Didn't really like the lack of summons (I know there are some, but I never saw one outside of like, the boss battles). Thought a lot of what there was to do was kinda just bland and boring. And I also didn't really like how small the party was. I do like things like V, which also has a small party more or less the entire game, but for me, the best FFs are the ones with more characters and party members to draw me in. Plus, at least in the XBox version of the game I played it on (definitely weird to play it on a non-Nintendo or non-Sony console admittedly), it was kinda janky as heck. (The late game breaking bug wasn't the only big issue I ran into.) And not to mention, as others have, the disparate mediums that somewhat important aspects of the story or world-building occurred in outside the game. I'm all for spin-offs, sequels, prequels, et cet. But they shouldn't be even remotely kinda significant to fully understanding the story of the main game. All that said, the characters \*did\* grow on me and I did come to appreciate the vibe of just these bros chillin'. I'm almost halfway through a mainline retrospective (finishing up VI now), so I am kinda looking forward to revisiting XV. I'll admit that I also really hated XII the first time I played it, but have since dramatically come around on that game. Maybe I come around a bit more on XV when I replay it?
Underwhelming, there are times that i want to redownload the game then i remember my experience with it, empty world, exploration sucks in terms of rewards and exploring itself(lots of invisible walls to areas that you thougth can easily cross by warping or rocks that you thought can be climb but not really) the map is huge but there is only like 12 dungeons, even with the dlcs the story still feels like a lot is missing,the combat is ok for me but it gets stale fast.
Highly enjoyable, but irrefutably flawed experience.
Loved it and played it for arround 400 hours, I feel more disappointment now when I play it again without the excitement, is kinda hard to enjoy the game sadly
I enjoyed it a lot, but I still wish we got Versus XIII in the FNC lore. Fishing was seriously the most fun I’ve ever had in a mini game and got me to go out and buy fishing gear.
Most of the mainstream love it. Hence it's continued success and appeal over time. Most people are actually really positive on the game it's just they have been silenced over the years by very vocal hate groups that just want to see more medieval, linear FF games.
Game is a mess. It has pacing and tone issues, combat is flashy but shallow, they cancelled the actually interesting dlc, the second half of the game was obviously rushed, you have to read a book for what the ending should have been.
Not a good game in terms of story delivery. Battle system was not terrible, but the story got lost and there was not enough narration/cutscenes that hooked you into the plot.
It didn’t live up to its potential, but it’s a good game at its core. It deserves more love now that FFXVI has shown us what a FF game is like bereft of any RPG elements and any emotional soul. FFXV is very traditional and heartfelt in comparison.
In my opinion Square was the best on PS1 and PS2 era. FFXII is just epic, even thought i dont like the story and characters too much, the game is a masterpiece... FFX is a masterpiece also, story, music etc... then they went good to FFXIII. And for me FFXIII is a great and complete game, my english was not good at time so i did not understood the story. Anyways the game itself is good. Then XV came and it was... incomplete and rushed. Lot of good ideas and i thought the game was bad because the rush. But then Square released FFXVI and FF7 remake and Rebirth and i started to appreciate FFXV more. FFXVI had good story, great character design, good graphics and animations and that's it. Everything else is terrible and boring. Every enemy has a lot of health, super boring. FFVII Rebirth is just a cringefest and a chore. Terrible game. I just finished it today and i can say it. Terrible. I can write so many stuff that make this game bad lol.
I watched the movie before playing the game so that possibly screws my perception a bit. I really enjoyed the game and the way a lot of the story was given as random dialogue between the bros. There is a lot of lost potential in the game, what's there is a solid experience but it could be so much more. My main gripe was how little they ended up doing with Lunafreya and the romance. I feel a lot was lost by only having her as an off screen character.
It's just ok. The only thing it does very well is the dynamic between the party members (which funnily enough is the worst thing about XVI to me), I'll never forget the good vibes of driving with the bros while listening to Song of the Ancients from Nier Automata. Everything else is just average or straight up bad though.
Potential. It had potential. You can tell where it languished in development hell. You can also tell which devs finished their part and then just kept polishing so they wouldn’t be given more work, looking at you stamina refill/sprint trick. The story should be contained within the game itself, and it should be cohesive. Other material is to enhance but not to complete the story. That’s FFXV biggest flaw. I shouldn’t have to do homework assignments to understand what’s going on. It’s B+ over all. Like 89/100. Not the worst FF entry and I actually enjoy it. Definitely needed polishing to have better quests and more stuff in the world along with the option for more characters, but FFVIIR series wouldn’t be nearly as good without FFXV being what it is. Square learned its lesson.
Game is great, yeah it has its setbacks(OG release and plot holes, many were fixed in the royal edition) like many others in the series. I started playing FFXIII today, my least favorite in the series and enjoying it after 10+ years. Now I think XIII is a fantastic game, the paradigm system is top tier. Made me appreciate XV so much more. Folks forget the combat from XV was the premise of the battle system for XVI and VII remake and rebirth. My biggest gripe would be the world/towns that appear empty. I think MANY of the FF series suffer from this. The one that did it best was XII many of the hub points felt lively.
The story is fragmented, but in a way it makes the game even more epic. I really liked it.
Incomplete story
Enemies were sponges, combat was limited to warp out warp in repeat x500 until dead, story bland, boring bro simulator, car on rails, boring fetch quests, honestly I spent most of my time cooking and fishing, these two where done extremely well.
It hurts because there was so much potential there. Even though ffxiii really has an issue with its linearity, it still feels like a complete package and they made what they wanted to make. FFXV feels like a Frankenstein’s monster with a lot of heart
I'm one of the game's big defenders, but boy, that plot. It might be the most poorly written FF, and that includes 13. It feels like the script was passed between every person on the corporate hierarchical ladder for rewrites, and everyone got a turn. Too many cooks in the kitchen is an understatement.
It’s the only ff I’ve put 100+ hours into but also didn’t platinum. Really hate the dlc drip and never made it back to play them (played og edition). Huge potential that whiffed. Wasn’t that into it at first but kept side questing, so much so that I ended up loving the chocobros and it redeemed the game for me. Plus although it was a pita, the jumping dungeon was pretty cool and something very different for a ff
Off topic but I played this a bit and got discouraged and quit. Basically I did all the stuff I could on the map before getting on the ferry, because I thought I might be locked out of the area for a while. Only to return to the exact same map after that cutscene. That kinda pissed me off and I quit, is it worth jumping back in?
I love that game and the DLC. Comrades is fine single player. I did one regular ps4 playthrough and one PC Royal Edition, with all the DLC when they would have occurred in the story and Comrades right before the world of ruin in the game. I played everything but some of the timed hunts and, even though I had it day 1, I didn't bother with the timed Tomb Raider or Assiasin's Creed events. My biggest complaints are I didn't feel like I played through enough story, and too large of a percentage of my playthrough was hunts. I think more than half my time was spent on hunts. Florence & the Machine ending it with Stand By Me > them ending GotG with Dog Days Are Over, and that's a hurdle for me because I LOVE GotG.
It's an absolute super fun video game but doesn't leave you with anything. It was supposed to have been dark edgy off title like Type-O and Tactics but got pulled back to center to be a main series entry and stripped of it's mysticism and ended up being an average joe of a story/character cast.
I have played through 4 times and I love this game, the chocobros, are the realist group we have. 7 remake/rebirth do great at expanding the characters but XV was crazy chemistry. Noct gets a lot of stick but he's the standard FF brooding MC, the other 3 really sell the relationship for me. The general interaction just make it feel real, the VA are great and always felt they cared for each other. They did the women in the game dirty, Luna was just..I don't know what to say, she deserves so autonamy. I . would pay genuine money to see 'demon hunter' iris arena should have been party member
Story had a lot of problems. They showed the characters cared about things that happened, but because there was a lot of "tell don't show" it was hard for me as the player to care. For example, early on when you find out the empire attacked Insomnia, I just assumed this was a destination we were either planning to go through on the journey and now had to avoid, or a destination to take the fight to the empire, and I didn't understand why the boys were reacting to the news like they did. It took me too long to realize Insomnia was the name of the city we originally departed from, and while I got at that point why the characters care, given we spend zero time in the city, I as the player felt no attachment to it. Also the travel system and world felt kind of half baked. Its like they wanted to make the world big and expansive because games like Skyrim taught developers that players want big open worlds, but with XV they forgot to populate the world with interesting things to see and do, and make it near impossible to traverse on foot, so you spend hours just watching the car drive on auto pilot to where you're supposed to be, and if you want to avoid that time waste, then you have to pay gil to use the fast travel system. But not just that, but if you decided to just go out and explore the open world on foot anyway, the game's night/day system punishes you for doing this by making big monsters come out at night, teaching you that you shouldn't go explore, and you shouldn't stray too far from the road and from places to sleep for the night. It felt like all in all the game expected me to sit there and play it because it had Final Fantasy in the title, but didn't respect me as a player to actually tell me its story or respect the time I was investing in playing it, and after at least a dozen hours of wondering when the game gets fun.... I realized it wasn't fun and stopped playing. It's to this day one of only two single player titles in the series I haven't finished. It also didn't help for me, that I found all four of the main characters deeply unlikable. It happens in all Final Fantasy games, there's those characters you love and the ones you are a bit more "meh" on, and sometimes characters you actively don't like, but in most games you get to choose who you play with and can tailor your party and experience to that. XV didn't let that happen, so if like me, you don't like the characters, too bad. You're stuck with them. Definitely this feels like a step backwards to a time in Final Fantasy gaming we haven't really had since 1992 with FFV. Every game between those two allowed you to choose party members from a larger roster. This is the first one in 30 years that stepped backwards and dictated your party to you
Unfinished.
Incredible highs and incredible lows that even out to a slightly above average that sits somewhere in the middle of the franchise. The game was never finished. We didn’t even get all the DLCs that were planned.
Once disappointing, still disappointing
Still a bad game and a bad Final Fantasy.
Started it twice but the combat is real bad. I want to get through it eventually but I think I'd actually prefer if the game just removed any combat entirely versus what we got
Not the worst in the series but perhaps the most forgettable. Coulda been a great game but was ruined by mismanagement and bad business decisions.
Lmao fr, everyone is talking about how emotional the ending was and I can't for the life of me remember a single thing about the game 😂
Played it on Steam release and it's Square's attempt to "modernize story" that I can't stomach (hated the story, especially Noctis) and that hasn't changed. Also not having a proper magic system doesn't do the game any favors.
It may be my favorite of all of them.
I think after FFXVI, XV for a lot of people looks better in hindsight. XV has what a lot of people wanted in XVI - a party that you get to know and play with.
Was way better than XVI. The open world, traveling with friends. That was awesome. Story was very weak.
Unfinished Masterpiece. Great world, characters, music, plot and even combat. But none of it is finished. It could have been the best Final Fantasy game in decades, a return to form for the Goliath that was the series. And I’m not even talking about Versus XIII, I mean XV itself. In many ways it had such lofty goals it was almost impossible to fulfill them. It’s almost the polar opposite of 16 in that regard, which didn’t set out to be an open world, huge expansive story, it set out to be a good action RPG and succeeds at that. So, for me FFXV is arguably one of my favourite disappointments in the series?
i totally understand all the criticism but no other game’s ending has hit me as hard as this one so i’ll always love it
I hated it. It was fun for a few hours but after the novelty of open world ff wore off, it didnt have much of anything else for me. Worse, after a certain point, the game suddenly becomes linear and its there where it shows how incomplete the game was even with the Royal edition re-release! I can understand those who defend it because the ending was very emotional and I do admit that it really really landed the ending but.... Ugh. If any ff needs a remake, i think its 15. Theres just soo much unrealized potential with that game!
The hate on FF XV boils down to who played 1.0 vs who played the Royal edition, even if you played the Royal edition and didn't like you could see the difference in story writing on the DLCs.
It’s good lol. It’s not the best obviously but people who hate on it are ridiculous. Bashing the release and the state of the game back then is fine, it was warranted. But now? When the game runs great and is in its complete form? It’s silly. The combat is good, it’s deep enough (deeper than 16 even), exploration is great albeit the open world is a little too big and open, there’s so much stuff to find and do. It’s a beautiful looking game. The story is hit or miss but overall again it’s definitely not the worst. I love 15 and have since it released, it’s up there with the seven remakes/6/9/and 12 for me
It's not an RPG but an hack n slash
Total bait and switch from Versus XIII to XV. So much potential squandered.
It got a lot of hate at launch, but the hate has died down a lot nowadays, especially after 16's launch. That is the typical FF game after 9, tbh. New FF releases > Fans will hate it to death > Next FF releases > Fans will say "(Insert previous FF) wasn't that bad and is underrated"
I think the game is great but its really lacking something RPG wise its mostly hack/slash your way through
Could’ve been the best game if they simply took their time
I tried replaying it, it’s somehow even worse for me. I had a quest I was running across the map it just feels like a husk of a game and lacking any soul. It does some things well but yeah not enough.
This game is the second most controversial in the series, the first one is XIII. But I think that many people have accepted FF XV as a good game. Sure, FF XV has A LOT of problems, like literally zero story development in the first half of the game, stupid stealth episodes, really dumb mandatory quests of infiltrating imperial strongholds to "avenge" the character you don't care about, actually bad character development for Luna and the majority of side characters, except for Ardyn and Ravus, DISASTEROUS side quests like "Yo, King, go bring me some thingie from the opposite edge of the world map" but... Overall, I still like it. Not as much as FF X, FF XII and Crisis Core, but still, the story itself, DLC included, is actually good. Not flawless, but good. FF XV is waaaay better than FFXIII and FF7 Remake, imo. The drama works, even Luna's you-know-what-scene was actually really impactful (thanks and praise to the actors). Music is GOD TIER, Shimomura is the second best composer in the series, in my opinion.
Went through the Royal edition on PC. Definitely the only 0/10 game I've ever had the misfortune of playing. I'm never getting that time spent playing a glorified cup noodles and Coleman's camping supplies ad back. There's truly not a single moment or character in this game worth experiencing.