Overview

Final Fantasy XV is an open world, action, jrpg game that released on Steam, March 6, 2018. The game was developed and published by Square Enix.

Graphics

Final Fantasy XV was developed on an game engine made by Square Enix themselves called the Luminous Engine. Surprisingly this engine was used in two Square Enix games, FFXV, and Forspoken. Despite being used since 2012. Other content using the engine were tech demos to present the graphical enhancements from this engine compared to the previous one, Crystal Tools. The game does offers a generous selection of graphical settings and you can set a preset that sets the settings for you if you don't feel like selecting them yourself. The settings you can select are TRAM which is an odd texture the controls how much space is allocated for texture streaming. Model LOD, Geomapping, Lighting, Shadows, Ambient Occlusion, and Anti Aliasing. You also have some Nvidia exclusive settings such as Hairworks, VXAO, TurfEffects, and ShadowLibs.

The game can run on decent pcs. The minimum requirements are an Intel Core i5-2500/AMD FX-6100, Nvidia GeForce GTX 760/GTX 1050/AMD Radeon R9 280, and 8GB RAM. I would also like to add that running this game off an SSD is a must to alleviate the long loading times. The minimum requirements allow you to run the game at 720p 30fps.

Final Fantasy XV is a very impressive looking game. The world is highly detailed, and full of life with fantastic looking creatures and enemies that roam the wilds, which makes long drives quite enjoyable. You have several scenic places scattered around the map for some great photo shoots. Every settlement is unique in design with a wide variety of shops, and npcs across each of them.

Sound

It ain't a Final Fantasy game without amazing soundtracks. Lets start with overall ambience, and background sounds. Mostly during the day time when exploring the vast world you get a pretty calming melody from time to time. For the most part the game can be generally silent if absolutely nothing is going on. During the night or within dungeons/ruins you get eerie or melancholy tune. Gives off a sense of uneasiness.

Now we must take about the OSTs. Final Fantasy XV soundtrack is absolutely stunning. A soundtrack for pretty much every ocassion usch as regular battle, boss battles, and minigames. I especially love the soundtracks that plays during the various battles you encounter. Its make every fight worth while giving you a sense of urgency. When fighting creatures that appear during the night or in dungeons (these creatures are called Daemons), the soundtracks gives you a sense of fear. Overall the soundtracks in this game were well done.

The soundtracks were composed by Yoko Shimomura.

Addictiveness

I recently decided to come back an play the game again. This time to complete the DLCs for the game. I have only beaten this game once already, but I did replay most of it. What happened was that during my first playthrough I was severely under leveled for the final part of the game. I decided to start a fresh new save and actually completely the extraordinary amount of quest to gain levels and actually have a fair chance to finally beat the games final boss. So my second playthrough was when I beat the game. Totally about 69 hours of playtime.

Given how vast the world is in Final Fantasy XV, most people who replay the game usually do it to tackle the many side quest this game offers. Its the classic case of beating the main story first, then realizing how much of the side stories and quest you missed out on. Happens to me, going back an doing side stuff was well worth my time. The EXP and items you gain can really help you. Doing the DLCs can actually help you in the main story as well. Like I stated before I mostly came back and going through the DLC episodes because I never gave them a chance.

Story

Final Fantasy XV's story was not as good as I was expecting. Between everything else they did well such as world building, and having a great premise, the story felt pretty rushed. I found the lore and the story itself to be good, but ultimately it was poorly executed. It was pretty underwhelming when I finally beat the game. You do get more story content in the form of DLC episodes.

Spoilers!

You assume control of the protagonist, Noctis. He is the crowned prince of Lucis. You have to travel to Altissia to wed your childhood friend Lady Lunafreya as a peace treaty with Niflheim. While traveling you're accompanied by your friends, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Prompto. But tragedy strikes as your car (the Regalia) breaks down, and you and your party are forced to push to the nearest service station. While there you meet Clindy, the mechanic thats work there, and her grandfather Cid. After getting the Regalia fixed and ready to drive again you and your party make your to the port town of Galdin Quay to take a ferry from there to Altissia. Upon arriving they meet a mysterious man who tells them that the ferry is not running, and makes an old comment regarding the ceasefire between Lucis, and Niflheim. He then walks away as you ask for his name, but he doesn't give them one. The night has passed as the party waits for another ferry. This is where tragedy truly strikes as Noctis finds the empire has attacked Insomnia, his home, and his father was killed together with Lucis crystal being stolen. With no other options, Noctis seeks out a member of the crowngaurd, Cor Leonis. He tasks Noctis to retrieve the weapons of this ancestors. This is only way for him to reclaim the throne. This will be no easy task, and you, and your party set out to retrieve the weapons.

Depth

Final Fantasy XV offers a pretty good amount of content. Its a vast open-world game after all. The world is full of side quest, mingames, and a lot to explore. Especially with the many dungeons, and ruins scattered across the map. Exploring the many dungeons can not only yield a generous amount of EXP but can reward you with some good loot that can help you through the main story. You have the ability to drive seemingly everywhere on the map, you also have the option to ride chocobos as well. Just be careful as the Regalia can be damaged if not careful. You can fast travel to places you have already visited. Some of the minigames stated before consist of fishing, chocobo racing, and a pinball game called Justice Monsters Five.

The combat is pretty good. The game uses a battle system called Active X Battle which makes the combat seamless and takes place in real time. You have a large varity of enemies you can encounter throughout the game. From small ferocious beast looking to cause trouble to large colossal giants testing your true might. Its best to level up, upgrade your weapons, and learn as many techniques as possible to give yourself and your party a fighting chance. If you ever need to rest and heal up after a long day, you can set up camps, lodge, or eat at restaurants. Camping, or lodging at hotels and other facilities will allow you to not only heal, but allow you to level up with the EXP you've accumulated throughout the day. Restaurants can heal you, and provide buffs that can help in battle.

Difficulty

The game only offers two difficulty modes, Easy, and Normal. It might seem underwhelming at first, but this game is far more difficult than what the settings give off. With a leveling system, leveling up your party is a must. Try you're best to upgrade their weapons, and unlock techniques. The true difficulty comes in the boss fights. The main story boss fights can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you're not close to their level. This is even more true when you factor in bosses from side quest. Sometimes you don't know how strong a boss from some random dungeon is going to be. You can get caught off guard and face a game over if you're not prepared. Sometimes you can be overwhelmed by a hoard of regular enemies if not careful. I have died a bunch of times due to bosses being way harder than I thought, and in some cases being under leveled. The main story starts to become challenging towards the end.

I have struggled with the combat when I first started playing this game. The combat can be a bit simple with only one button to press to attack. I had a hard time with dodging and maneuvering which plays a big role in the combat. Trying to block many enemy attacks can be hard to pull off. It often ends with you getting hit with a devastating attack if you miss a block. Blocking enemy attacks just before they land can give you a very short time to parry and deal good damage.

Overall

I'm gonna be honest, Final Fantasy XV was the first final fantasy i've ever really played. Playing this game allowed to get interested into playing the rest of the games in the franchise. I've enjoy the time I put in the game, and recently decided to come back play the game. More specifically the DLC content, which most of them came free with the release of the Steam version. While the story has much to be desired, other aspects of the game were done well enough.

I don't know much about the game it's like, the Final Fantasy game that was forgotten about, or at least I forgot about.

Also, a Final Fantasy game HAS to have a good music.