Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV: First Impressions

It feels weird to say it, but FFXV came out over three years ago.

I have played the first 13 FF games. FFXII was definitely the high point for me and the 13th game marked the point where I began to feel ambivalent about the franchise. I liked the faster-paced battle system, but found the empty world bleak and the story confusing. I remember beating that game and having no actual idea what had happened. I tried to play FFXIII-2 but gave up within the first 20 minutes. The story made no sense, I had no idea what was happening, and I could not summon the interest to work through it. My love of Final Fantasy had evidently run its course.

Well, now FFXV is on Game Pass, so I knew I had to at least give it a shot.

I have played a lot of these games, so I can accept certain franchise staples. Bit-of-a-tit male protagonists, for instance. Hair. Crystals. Impossible fashion. But I am also a much less forgiving gamer than I was 10 years ago. When Cindy was introduced my first thought was, Do you want me to play your game or not? P, who was sitting next to me, expressed surprise at her design. I was also surprised, I knew FFXV was a sausage party but I wasn’t expecting a character design like Cindy’s right out of the gate. This contributed to my early impression that was I was playing Final Fantasy Entourage, and putting those three words together is just wearying beyond measure, but I decided to play a bit more before I called it.

There are some pretty interesting companion AI behaviors, both idling and in motion. I like the car, and how it essentially slows down fast travel and sets a leisurly, unhurried pace for the game. I’m not big on open world at this stage in my life as a gamer but I accept the atmosphere, the car, it all just works. I like the fluidity of the battle system but I’m not big on the QT-style mechanics. Noctis’ hair drives me absolutely insane. I can accept the boy band style, but his shagginess just makes me want to brush his hair out of his eyes.

I know from reviews that they got some complaints about the third act of the story and actually rewrote it, and that the latter part of the game, after the open-world cruising and camping and fishing and bro-ing, is a mess plot-wise and is difficult to follow. I also know you can reasonably beat the game in 25 hours, so I’m not necessarily signing on for a 60-hours of incomprehensibility.

I’m not really sure how to parse Cindy Aurum in the Year of our Lord 2020. Evidently the design was criticized in 2015 and the developers were surprised (?) by the criticism and declined to make any changes. Quotes from that conversation, as published by EuroGamer, suggest some disconnect between the character’s presentation and what the devs thought they were presenting, but it also reads a bit like sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and going LALALALALALALAA.

I’m still on the fence on this one. I think I will probably enjoy most of the first part of the game but will get really annoyed by everything after that. If I’m going to play a big game I would like to have a full, start to finish game experience. XBox time is kinda special, I have to clear my schedule, make sure my tornado child is accounted for, and so on. We’ll see.