I used to love Final Fantasy. I played 1-12(uh, not XI, though). I loved those games. Some were much better than others, but they all were worth the hours I put into them.
Final Fantasy XIII was a terrible game and is the only main FF I did not finish. I put 20+ hours into it, but quit since it was such a huge disappointment. All story, all confusing story, the game pretty much sets your level for you by limiting your grinding, and it felt like the most incomplete Final Fantasy experience I have ever seen. I was so disappointed. It was the only Final Fantasy game I would describe as bad. I even liked Final Fantasy 2(NES), an often overlooked one.
Is Final Fantasy XV better than the disastrous XIII? It’s about $18 online this week and I am trying to find one more game for the summer for me.
FYSA It’s included in the Windows/Xbox Game Pass which really is a great deal.
I never played XIII but in any case I tried to get into FFXV 3 or 4 different times because the game is pretty highly regarded but each time I struggled to last more than 8-9 hours. I’m not sure if it’s the game itself or the fact that it follows the worn out Japanese game design philosophy of holding the players hand for so long that it bores the interest out of me. Like so many Japanese games it feels like never gets out of tutorial mode. I also found the characters to be way too Hot Topic in how they dress and speak. It felt like I was playing Avenged Sevenfold the Game! T
I’ll admit I used to love JRPGs and spent ALOT of time on every FF up to and including X. But they lost me in the 00’s because the gameplay and story telling failed to evolve with the times.
Like I said though, the game is pretty popular and my opinion is certainly in the minority.
FF13 is one of my favourites. I liked the combat system and how it evolved from what they tried in FF12. Lightning was cool. That La’Cie plot stuff was nonsense, but I didn’t care about it.
GamePass is definitely the best option. You can try it and if it sucks you’re out $1 - $5. Plus, unlike the Steam version, they didn’t break the Windows Store version a year ago.
Personally, I’d go with Persona 4 Golden that just released.
I put the game in my cart at Green Man Gaming and instead of being $17.50, it dropped in my cart to $14.
If I had any doubt, that pushed me to go ahead and make the purchase. I am hopeful this game can at least somewhat pull me back to Final Fantasy. I would rank the ones I have played like this:
FFVI
FFIX
FFVIII
FFX
FFIV
FFVII
FF12
FFV
FFIII(nes, translated)
FF1
FF2(nes, translated)
I played FF13, but it is on my list of most disappointing games of all time. I quit after 20-25 hours or so.
I’m sure there is some wiggle room there, but that is what I feel right now.
Hey, I’m about 6 hours in(Chapter 3) and it’s OK. I both like and dislike things about it so far.
Likes:
Driving is fun and gorgeous
The radio is great. I have the old FF OST’s on there, which is neat
Great camaraderie of the main dudes
Neat fighting, at least to look at
Open world is a neat idea
Dislikes:
I’m bad at the fighting. Mostly warp attacking and swinging my sword. I sometimes use the other guys techniques, too
Not that intuitive at first. I had to look up how to use items in battle and how to use the game’s camera, which is a neat feature
Boring sidequests and hunts, at least so far
Leveling up is nice, but I’m not sure how much of the game relies on leveling up. AP seems more important.
A boring AP-grid. I’m picking things to level up, but not seeing a ton of impact from them.
Story is a snooze for the most part. Reminds me a bit of FF13, which was almost nonsensical if you didn’t read the “lore”. I have had a couple of cutaway scenes that I had no idea what they were talking about or who was talking. What happened to stories like FF4, FF6, FF7-10? Those were totally adequate.
I am focusing mainly on the main story-quests now. I hope I am strong enough to not die much.
I’ll agree that there’s a good chunk of lore/backstory that’s not laid out in the game itself and is only found in spinoff material - a recurring problem in recent FFs, alas. You can read FFWiki to fill in the holes, but I’d recommend against looking up too much too soon or you might get spoiled on some of the big reveals later on.
The main thing that makes the story work for me is the camaraderie between the four main characters and Noctis’ struggle to accept his destiny as King of Light. The story drags for a bit after the end of Act 2 (you’ll know it when it happens), but it comes together in a big way in the final chapter, and the ending is definitely worth the journey to get there.
I just realized that Hi-Potions restore ALL of your HP in this Final Fantasy. Is that not game-breaking? I can invest all my money into picking up as many of those as I can and use them in battle. Time pauses when I select an item and I can just replenish my health over and over.
For basic fights it can be, but you’ll find more complicated enemies further into the game, especially when status effects or special attacks come into play. (Mindflayers and necromancers, for example, are the worst.)