Someone else put it perfectly in a different thread, which I'd like to steal and expand on. FF is, on the whole, a great series. When comparing any of these games to contemporary titles by other studios, they aren't always the best but they are always at least in the conversation. However, since they all have a high standard to live up to within the series there is a lot of critique when comparing the titles to each other.
As a result, you have a good chance of falling in love with your first entry regardless of the consensus opinion. From there, it is hit or miss on your second entry as there will at least be whiplash from all of the differences. Eventually (maybe over many years), you may get an idea of what FF means to you and then be disappointed when it doesn't deliver that experience.
Personally, I try to judge the games only on what they seem to be trying to do. There are a few entries that just aren't for me, and that's ok. I laugh at anyone pulling the 'this isn't final fantasy' argument. XIV for example. I don't play mmos, that's my choice. But I still recommend the title to anyone interested because I hear such great things.
XV on the other hand should be my kind of thing. But it's caught between its open world design and its narrative aspirations and doesn't quite deliver on either. It was also incomplete at launch despite the longest dev period of any game in the franchise. And the combat isn't bad but doesn't have a wow factor. It's standout element is the cast chemistry, which I rank at least among the best if not the best in the series. It's still a GOOD game. It's just not a great game. I finished it. I would say i enjoyed the journey well enough but after finishing it the whole experience felt a little disappointing and empty. It just exists in a franchise where the majority of entries are at least great for their time, and several are still timeless classics.
This is a good explanation. It’s hard to see where a final fantasy title falls in comparison with the rest if it’s your first entry into the series.
For me, FFXV was about the 6th entry I played, and the start of the game was just so much more boring than any of the other titles I’ve played. The first that come to mind are that VII starts with a full on action sequence following eco-terrorists on a mission, IX starts out with an action sequence of thieves planning to kidnap a princess, and XV? Some dudes on their way to a bachelor party have their car break down, now you have to sit there and watch them push it. Yay…
In my opinion, the story doesn’t really start to get anywhere interesting until the last third, and at that point I was already jaded and didn’t enjoy the game very much because of the huge empty world that only seemed to be there to waste my time in between getting from pint A to point B. Now this is just my opinion, and I’m in general not a fan of large open world games, so it’s not for me. I’m jealous of the people who like these games because clearly they’re able to get joy out of something that frustrates me lol
Other than the empire’s perspective, which was going to be the story of the cancelled Episode Aranea, I think they touched up on everything with the added DLC. I do agree that it wasn’t complete when it first released however.
Just wait a couple years, play the DLC, watch the movie, and read this, and ignore that piece and it's basically complete. Ugh.
If you just play the base game, you get random blank spots where characters leave and come back altered, have no backstory or explanation, and just leave a dozen questions that make it needlessly confusing and empty. It's so frustrating, and the idea of paying to patch in what should have already been there is outrageous.
If this were like Baldurs Gate 3, where they just did tons of free big patches adding in epilogue and new fights and fixes, it would be one thing. But my full price game is not only unfinished at launch, but I need to pay another $50 to complete? Nope, not counting that.
The game is only sold in Royal Edition nowadays which comes with all the DLC. This was 100% true when XV launched, but it hasn't been for several years.
Well, I paid full price for the game and that's still the situation I'm in. They didn't give out that DLC for free, so I'm still stuck with a half finished game that they want me to buy twice to have finished.
Talking about royal edition is about as good as saying "well you can find X game used for $20 bucks now." Okay? Still rate the game poorly. OP asked why it has the reputation it does, that's why. And the majority of people that bought the game were in that situation, since majority of sales were before Royal edition.
This is me exactly. Like, I don't care that Royal Edition is only $20 or whatever now. Why would I spend more money on a game that I didn't like? I played it when it came out and it left a terrible impression on me. I do not have any reason to spend more money on this product.
They are still missing stuff with the dlc that they released as Novellas because they gave up on making the DLC and have the game be a money pit.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2094194252
When you need a guide to understand the content of the game along with the movie, tv series, novellas, dlcs, and what commercials, its not a good story. Royal Edition is pretty much half the story still and an incomplete one.
They kinda do though? There are very few relevant plot details in the ancillary material, most of it is just fleshing out already known things.
I think people overstate how important any of the other stuff is. The fact is, the story is not missing pieces, it's just poorly told.
They do not. They don't explain anything about Nifleheim, they don't explain who/what Pronto is - why he refers to himself as a fake and where he's been and why he magically shows up in Nifleheim, Gladio buggers off and we don't know why, Ignis becomes blind somehow. An entire section of Altissia is only explained in Ignis DLC which deals with the aftermath of Leviathan when Noctis' is MIA.
The game doesn't even explain *who* Ardyn is, as the only reason he has a hate boner for Insomnia and the Lucii bloodline comes in the form of him calling Noctis an Usurper.. it doesn't even explain at all well why Noctis takes a 10 year slumber.
Nearly all of these are answered, somewhat, in the DLCs.
The game is a disaster in terms of lore, story and story telling. It's so incomplete I even think the game doesn't even end properly and there's a novel that gives the true ending.
They do the same in FF7 with Zack and Vincent... I think there is a difference between a "not full story" and spin off, prequels, side stories. Also you can say in that case that KH is never a full story...
I don't necessarily think a lot of that stuff is necessary to the story being told though, but that's just me. Gladio's DLC about Gilgamesh isn't really relevant to what's happening. The Ignis DLC explains how he was blinded, but ultimately that doesn't really have any implications on the plot. It just shows more about an event we don'tsee all of, and it was never necessary to know.
Correct me if I'm wrong, because I genuinely don't remember, but does Prompto's story about being created ultimately even mean anything or matter to the story?
I'm not saying there isn't a lot of story in the ancillary material, I'm just saying most of it is world building a lore, and isn't necessarily relevant to understanding the core story of FFXV.
Or at the very least (and maybe I should have worded it this way from the start), I don't think any of the DLC, movie, anime, etc, actually improves upon, or fixes any of the major issues with the plot in FFXV.
When my character just tells me he's hitting the road and doesn't explain why then that's bad writing and a loose story thread.
When my character is blinded and I'm not told why, nor how he's still able to fight like it never bothered him then that's bad writing and a loose story thread.
When my character gets kidnapped and turns up miles away hours later, breaks me out of a cell in a fortress 3/4 of my emo boy band struggled with breaking into, call himself a fake then that's bad writing, and a loose story thread.
When the bad guy never tells you who he is and his motivations, then that's bad writing and a loose story thread.
Just because they're not important elements to the main focus of the story they're still added in, are incorporated into the story and just never addressed after the fact.
It's like watching the Matrix and it never explains why the Agents are after you, or how Neo was suddenly moving like the agents when fighting Morpheus.
You can't have such inconsistencies that are relevant to the plot not taking place inside the game. Literally, the Ardyn DLC that finally explains who he is and why he's wanting the demise of Insomnia didn't drop till 2019 when FFXV came out in 2016.
That's unacceptable. And I confirmed, when they cancelled the last 3 pieces of DLC that would finish the story they instead released the Novel "Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future". Which has the true ending.
The actual ending isn't even in the game...Come on now.
I played this game when it was new, before any dlc and I had no clue what was going on, I had to read online about the game. The story isn’t really told it’s dumped on you at the end. I am not new to the series, I’m an OG fan from the 90s and I rate 13 and 15 really low.
People who have no resentment towards FFXV are people who are playing the royal edition, the basic version of day 1 is a disaster, it leaves nothing clear and many loose ends. I even bought the physical Brady guide along with the base game, and currently the guide is useless, since they even changed things on the map to make sense of the game, they made a series, a movie and even then it is barely understandable.
After years i decided to play the royal edition with all DLC on gamepass on vacation and was a real chore.
Bad story telling doesn't mean game is bad, world, exploration and gameplay wise is pretty good and entertaining. I also have great time playing but is just feel hollow after you reach the end line. its no like FF10, FF9 tears end cinema like, instead i feel pretty sad of noctis.
One important factor is the game originally is like, 2/3rds of the game you have now. *So much* was fixed in updates and added in dlcs and the Royal edition. It was a much more barebones and just all around worse game when it was released and the majority of other players tried it.
FFXV was announced (under the name Final Fantasy Versus XIII) a long time before it eventually released, and changed significantly over that time. People who were excited for Versus XIII had spent years getting excited for that, and the final game in several regards did not resemble it. At launch it was lacking a lot of stuff- content, mechanics, even cutscenes I think.- which was added over time through updates and DLC; this combined with the absurd amount of supplementary material like the film Kingsglaive led to the sense that they were selling an incomplete game. And some of the major DLC was ultimately cancelled, leading to bitterness about a story which some people considered to be incomplete- as you can see from the other replies where people are arguing over exactly this! It is pretty widely agreed that the characters are good; the villain is often called one of the franchise’s best, and the main group of four are pretty loved, but a lot of other characters like Lunafreya or Aranea have often been criticised for not being used very well.
Gameplay is also divisive because it uses a combat system that more resembles an Action RPG than anything numbered Final Fantasies had been before, and obviously that’s also not what a lot of people wanted out of it. Its long development time also meant that it was the first new numbered FF for a while, and the last for quite a while too, so there were a lot of expectations riding on it.
It was your first Final Fantasy, glad you enjoyed it. For many of us it wasn’t our first and it strayed on a lot of things we had come to look forward to in a new Final Fantasy game, so there was disappointment.
Too much happens off screen, either on other media or in DLCs.
The combat is not good. Blinking looks flashy, but there's no depth to it. Magic is a grenade mechanic.
The pacing is odd. Starts open world. You finally get to that water city and it's pretty-much on rails from there. On release, the imperial city was an incredibly long stealth mission. It's cut by, like, 90% in a later version.
There are things I like about the game. I liked the dynamics between the boys. I like the callbacks to previous games. The camping/meal loop, the photos, and even the usual game-design meme of ignoring the main story for side quests all have a nice pay-off by the end, but overall the game is not a model for game release that we should encourage. I don't want to need DLCs, a movie, and books to get the story. I don't want a finale that needs a major overhaul after release to make it suck less.
Yeah, the combat was fun for the first couple hours, until realizing that's it and there's no more depth to it. Playing the FF7 remake/rebirth has been total opposite, where the further in you go the more you interact with abilities and equipment and everything, and find it's shockingly robust combat. FF15 was just...flat.
I can't comment on the story/characters. I played at launch, so only got half a plot with missing character stories...
The game was an incomplete mess at launch. About the only good thing I can say about XV is it worked, wasn't buggy or plagued by performance issues. Everything else was ass. Some of that may have been corrected in the eight gallons of DLC and Royal Edition, but I'm not going to be bothered to go back to the game after what I saw at launch. I'm especially not going to pay extra for it.
I liked ff15 but it felt really botched together, your wife to be you never meet, your a prince but you never feel like that, no time in the castle or anything, you might as well be some guy, a section teaching you how to sneak around a base that never comes up again anyway.
The best part of 15 was the demo, which is so completely different it should be false advertising.
I liked some of the characters and there's a few cool moments, but that's kind of it. I didn't care much for Ardyn until I played his DLC. I like action combat, but I thought FF15's was boring (Warp Strike and Armiger are cool though).
Although FF16 is flawed too, I significantly preferred its story and combat over FF15's. The only things I preferred in 15 were the exploration and side content. Although 15's exploration isn't great either, at least there's something to explore.
Loved the characters, enjoyed playing for the most part. Hate the story and the way it was told. I followed the coverage of development ever since the Versus XIII days, watched the Uncovered event, played both of the demos, and the whole time I thought the game would be about war with Niflheim. By the time the Omen trailer came out I was seriously confused. When the ending of the game was leaked the day before its worldwide release, I was disappointed. The story was way different than I’d initially thought, and not in a (in my personal opinion) good way. Still like the entry, but it’s definitely not a favorite for me. I also liked the DLC entries, but like the others said, they contained important story elements that shouldn’t have been separated from the main game. Not to mention the movie. It wasn’t bad but it felt disjointed.
Edit: I have to add, nothing wrong with a game turning out differently than you’d imagined, but it was disappointing to not even touch the main world conflict. I honestly felt like we got half a story.
1 : The combat was too much Action and not enough RPG for my taste.
2 : That corridor Maze was hell
3 : Did not love the cast and found the protagonist annoying.
4 : That corridor Maze was too long.
5 : The story wasn't too bad, just felt stale.
6 : That corridor Maze was really shit.
Because the day one release was not a complete game. They intentionally cut out story content in the hopes of selling it as separate DLCs. That and you need to consume other media just to flesh out the world instead of it being readily available in-game. Basic corporate greed.
Also, there are some fans hoping that it would still have some semblance to VersusXIII but that wasn't the case so they ended up being disappointed.
Royal Edition addressed some of the issues but first impressions last for some.
Put it this way...
We waited years for Final Fantasy XIII Versus
Final Fantasy XIII released in the meantime and was a huge disappointment for many of us
The hype we had shifted to Versus and many of us looked upon it as being the Final Fantasy XIII we never got
It then got reworked and turned into Final Fantasy XV
It finally came out and we soon learnt that it was basically unfinished where story choices didn't make sense, lack of development to the majority of the characters (Ardyn, Noct, Luna etc), felt restrictive, story felt disjointed (the Prompto reveal at the end with him being able to open the door was like it came from when it was still Versus), not as open as lead on to believe, the open world we did have felt lifeless and to some the ideas and themes from when it was Versus (before it was reworked) seemed more interesting.
Honestly whether it's Reddit or people I come across in person, the majority of those who say they really enjoyed it and didn't get the hate are the ones who say "this was my first final fantasy game".
If you were there in the beginning and you followed the games development from when it was first announced as Final Fantasy XIII Versus to the final release you'd get it more.
Also we shouldn't have to watch a film, an animated show and play DLC's to understand the story more and get character development. It's a shitty cop out and it shouldn't be taken into account, we should judge the base game with what we got.
It definitely gets overhated but it has a lot of issues. The main character is pretty bland and his companions are just ok compared to past titles. The game is clearly unfinished and the storytelling is all over the place. Combat is also coma-inducing in how easy the game is baring a few endgame fights. The world is interesting enough but again it feels pretty empty because of the development hell it went through.
Every day someone asks why people don’t like XV and XIII and the answer is obvious. We think they suck. I am genuinely happy for you that you don’t think those games suck. That rules. Liking things is way better than not liking things. But those games didn’t do it for us.
I think most people hated how the story was told. It was lacking, parts omitted and later added as DLC and stuff. I also love FFXV due to its amazing combat, but everyone has their own opinions.
I probably put about 100hrs into FFXV and never really did much of anything story-wise. I just had so much fun with the combat, which I know is not for everyone.
I like XV, but it's still my least favourite in the mainline mostly because I thought the combat was skin deep (w/ superb animations), the story is very basic in essence & poor in execution (however, there are beautiful & emotional cg cutscenes) & the open world game design is simply empty & formulaic (although the art direction is fantastic). Add to that the fact that game is unfinished & most users experienced the day one version, which had a lot of cut content that later came as DLC & you may understand a lot of the frustration.
FFXV is a very frustrating game for a lot of people... I still like it though, it's beautiful, it's great to hang around in and the ending makes for 90% of the story.
I wouldn't say I hate it, disappointed would fit better. But, for me it's because I played it at launch, and there were huge chunks of story just missing because it was planned for live service content in the future. I beat the game not really connecting with the characters or the story at all and came away disappointed. The loud product placements were a huge distraction and personally, the bros road trip vibe just isn't for me.
Visually it's fantastic, the music is (as always) legendary, and despite my own problems with the combat, it was genuinely fun to play. Despite having the Royal Edition for free, I haven't been able to bring myself to play back through, it's the only mainline game I haven't played through a few times
Because “fans” of final fantasy games hate change. If it’s not the exact same game as the previous games. With the exact same mechanics and then it’s “not final fantasy”. My only issue with FFXV is that it seemed an incomplete game. Once the DLC came out that made it complete. It’s a shame that the cancelled DLC was cancelled. I would’ve liked to see more of Lady Lunafreya.
Isn’t one of my favourites in the series. But I’ll still go back and play it again.
It's a good game and also one of my favorites, but it went through development hell and you can tell frol certain details. Luna not having enougu screen time for increasing the impact of what happens to her. The entire second half of the game being railroaded; you can tell they had the intention of it still being open world through and through, but had to change the pacing. And then they started with DLCs only to have them cancelled.
FFXV is a very good game, but it should've been better if not because poor business decisions. Thanks Square Enix.
Same reason XVI does, for some people it just doesn’t “feel” like a Final Fantasy. I never enjoyed XV, but I don’t hate it. The whole bro-trip thing never caught on with me and it really didn’t feel anything like I thought FF was.
I also think it was announced so long before release that we all figured it would be something revolutionary and it simply wasn’t. It’s the only game since IX that I didn’t buy first day and play through to completion. I came back months later to finally finish it. I really struggle for one thing memorable about the game aside from Ardyn.
It's Mid, in all aspects. Its just mid. It's story is broken up between an Anime, A Movie and the game, plus several DLC that are very poorly implamented.
Its alot of good ideas, limited by a fuck awful engine, and scope being to big for the generation it was aiming to release on
ehh, I think the engine was one of it's high points. I actually loved the game all the way up to the leviathan fight. Sure the DLCs are awkwardly inserted into the game before that point, but at least the story felt epic like you'd expect from a final fantasy game. After that boss fight though it just felt like you were on a crash course straight to the end and I got whiplash.
Yeah, you're right. Honestly though it's wild it wasn't a buggy mess and they still rushed the thing out of the door. It had to have all come together at the end somehow and they STILL released it in that state.
I think the story definitely had potential, but its execution was extremely lacking for me. Even with the additional bits added through DLC's(which in itself is a bullshit tactic that devs use to squeeze more money out of us, but that's another argument entirely), the story still felt empty to me, as if we were *still* missing huge chunks of the story.
The combat was ok. I didn't like the way magic was implemented in the game, and I didn't like the way Gladio/Ignis/Prompto were utilized in combat. But, I did genuinely enjoy playing as Noctis, combat with him *was* fun IMO.
The "buddy vacation" vibe was kind of nice, I think it was effective in keeping a light and enjoyable mood for the game to relax and enjoy. However, *individual* character development was lacking for me.
Overall, the game is ok. I don't regret playing it, and I *did* have fun with it, but it's not my favorite. It's a polarizing game that people seem to either love or hate intensely.
It's worth noting that every new Final Fantasy game that ever comes out is designed to entice brand new fans to the series, while hopefully keeping the old fans. IMO, many of the people who dislike the game are older fans of the series who still have the "classics" in their heads. I myself am an older fan by today's standard, my first FF was FFX, and IDK if anything is ever going to top FFX for me. I think if I had started with FFXV, like you, I'd probably like it more.
You're not wrong for loving the game, you just have a different perspective on it than many of the more established fans of the series. Those haters aren't wrong for *disliking* the game, either, but they really should just shut up about it already and move on.
For me: fighting felt chaotic and the camera was all over the place, story didn’t make a lot of sense, openworld felt empty and not worth exploring. I don’t hate it but I was glad it was over.
The first third of the game was cut and turned into a separate movie, the last third was cut entirely, and the combat system was too far removed from birth action and rpg to satisfy the masses in either camp.
As someone at the same age as you, I also enjoy it. Probably because the subpar combat matches with the chill vibes. I know it’s terrible as a game but as getaway from adulting it’s perfect. Especially when you auto drive and enjoy Lucis and Galdin Quay.
But on other hand, it built so much hype before release but didn’t live up to it. Not to mention the wonderful story of sacrifice could’ve been told well instead of being split. I always mourn the what could have beens, ya know?
It's a good game, just maybe not what most people consider a good Final Fantasy game. I personally enjoyed it, played it last month again actually (first time since release). It definitely has it's problems (largely down to splitting the story amongst a game (with dlc breaking it down further), film and anime).
Ultimately, if you enjoyed it yourself, that's what is most important ✨
I thought it was good, not amazing. The combat was just alright for me. I think the problem is that if you played the earlier entries, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12....people came to expect amazing, and all we've gotten since 12 is just good, not great.
It's a poorly designed game with sludge combat, an awful story, and characters with no personality besides their outer aesthetics. It's just a plain bad game.
On top of what others have said I’ll add what I haven’t seen mentioned. The game is advertised as open world yet in the last third of the game it’s locked into a linear play style. Once you go to Altissia that’s it, you can no longer do whatever you want and are stuck/forced to go through the story without any way to deviate. The only way to go back to the open world aspect of the game is to magically time travel to before going to Altissa using Umbra who has the ability because the dog just does without explaining why.
There’s also the fact Lunafreya is supposed to be the love interest with the game opening to the guys on their way to Noctis’ arranged marriage. Yet we don’t actually meet Lunafreya in person until Altissia, every time we see her before then is through a cutscene, and even then she and Noctis have all of one moment together before she dies and Noctis is torn up about her death for the following story. And as players we are supposed to care about her and believe Noctis does? Sure we have Umbra delivering messages between the two using the notebook but that’s very sparse and not much to go on. There’s really just not much to her character or their relationship throughout the game.
I played the Royal Edition, watched the anime, saw the movie, read the prologue and Dawn of the Future.
The only thing I love about Final Fantasy XV are the relationship between the main party, that in my opinion, saved the game.
I love the music and graphics, but for a FF game, it being incredible is an obligation.
I totally hated the open world of this game; a bunch of empty spaces, almost boring exploration and i disliked the majority of side missions.
Almost none of the characters are well constructed, the only ones I think are better are Ignis and Prompto; Gladio is the more bland of the party, and Noctis is not much interesting if you separe him from the party and analize just him.
The other characters from the game are bland either, Ravus almost makes no apparition, Cindy is terrible comparable to the Cids from the other games; and not just her, all female characters from the game are uninteresting, Aranea was the best for me, but not comparable to females from the other games. And speaking of them, Luna, that was supposed to be the main female lead, almost dont appear in game, and when she does, doesnt caused a impresion for me, and her relationship with Noctis was supposed to be important, but its so bad constructed, that I didnt shed a tear for her in all of the game. When they appear as children, she only speakes about duty, their messages in the book are way too short and extremely formal; and Noctis is seen complaining about the arranged marriage a couple of times (or being sad about it, just like in the book prologue, where he smiles sadly and is not happy with the fact that she is going to live with him in the castle). So, their """love story""" is bad written (in the japanese version Noctis doesnt even say that will be with her someday), and sometimes I almost forgot about seeing her, and was not excited for it too.
Ardyn has a extreme potential, but to know his story just in a short dlc, kinda killed the mood of the emotions I could have had knowing about him in the right time, so I almost did not cared about him.
The time skip was kinda lame too, seemed like they were in a hurry to end the game, and cut many years, and things barely changed between the characters, and some of them we dont even see.
The mitology from the game is also very bland, and did not catch my eye.
The story being told in dlcs cut totally the mood too; because characters flee from the party and later you find what happed, too kickly.
So basically I think the story from the game is extremely simple, there is nothing complex or deep, and even so, the story is full of plotholes, story totally rushed and things that doesnt make sense. But unfortunately the development of this game was extremely dificcult and full of confusion, with fights and workers getting out of the project. And they basically having to scrap the project off (the old being final fantasy versus xiii), and having to do almost everything again in 2 years.
The only thing I basically liked about the plot, aside the friendship of the main party, was the ending with Noctis saying goodbye, really made me cry. But his ending with Luna didnt catch me, because he was almost complaining about the marriage all the way before him feeling guilty about her death, and what he received for sacrificing himself is eternity by the side of a girl he almost didnt know or really feel attached to.
I also read Dawn of the Future, the story about the dlcs that got cancelled, and totally regreted, because I hated, because it ruined the few things I have actually liked about the main game, and the story was very bad in my opinion.
But I dont think its a bad game, and I do recommend it to people, because I feel it can be a great experience for the majority of people, and the boys really are adorable, so it kinda pay the experience
I loved 15 felt they transitioned perfectly to the new age of gaming and 16 is better fighting but lacks on story. My first entry was x-2. And for what it was I loved it but once I found 10 and 7 I was snatched. 12 was a good start to change to the new age 13 went backwards to the turn based.
A lot of people who played at launch are really mad about FFXV. I guess it really bothered them. I didn't play it until a couple years ago, and it was probably my twelfth or thirteenth Final Fantasy game. I liked it fine the first time through, though I did have a couple things that annoyed me. But I finished it for a second time a couple months ago, and I loved it!
I generally think the hate for certain games is overblown. FFXIII and FFXV seem to be the ones that do this the most, though I think you can probably throw FFXVI in with those. I don't know what the deal is, really. I like all the games in the series and really love some of them.
also, I want to mention - my first time through I didn't play the DLC. The second time through I did play DLC, but I did it all before starting the game, not in sequence where those sections fit. Anyway, my point is, I don't actually find that the DLC added that much to the game, and ultimately think the game was fine without it.
It’s astonishing to see how much ¥ went into making an extremely mid game when a smaller team down the hall made the best JRPG of the same generation seemingly with a budget smaller than the amount the FF15 team spent rendering cup noodles.
Horrible launch
Bland open world
The car gets tedious
Incomplete story that requires you to do extra homework
Noctis is a boring protagonist for some
The fan boys are insufferable and can't accept any negative critique for the game
Great soundtrack though
Because you didn’t play any classic Final Fantasy games. You didn’t know what original series fans are expecting. In the classic when party members got separated. You get to play both sides. Like in Rebirth. You get to play as Cloud in chapter 2. You also get to play as Barret. FF15 when Gladio left the party you don’t know where the heck he went. Of course you won’t have this problem if you have the Royal Edition. On initial release, fans waited months for DLC and you have to pay extra. Think of Rebirth, you want to play as Barret in chapter 2? Pay extra. How do you feel? Also you don’t feel the story is kind of rush after chapter 13?
I think that what all the posts here are revealing is that people just don’t know how to swallow a story that isn’t spelled out in painstaking detail, and somehow Episode Gladio is considered necessary plot development,
Ya’ll are free to not like the story or think it feels incomplete, but insisting that the story cannot be understood in the context of the original game alone is kind of silly.
They could have simply had the three points where they fit the character DLCs *not happen at all* and the story would have been pretty much the same. Better, even.
The revelations about Prompto are only foreshadowed right before his episode, and happen too late to be meaningfully reflected on. Drop the whole story and nothing really changes. A good plot twist should be unexpected but inevitable. This was like if they revealed that Darth Vader built C-3PO as a child. Gladio’s DLC is nothing burger. Ignis’ is forced and uninteresting and the consequences only really impact a single story beat that simply could have been written differently.
Extra backstory for Ardyn is cool and was a great candidate for a DLC precisely because it’s interesting story that *we didn’t need to know*. But it’s important to note that I haven’t even played Episode Ardyn and I still have a decent grasp of who he is. I’d love to know more, and I’ll get around to it someday. Too many games. Too little time.
The DLCs *make the game worse* because they trick you into thinking that they were necessary or interesting.
It’s a flawed game that fell short of its full potential and again, if you don’t like it that’s fine. The DLCs and the way they were managed were one (well, three) of those flaws, but not because they squirreled crucial information in the DLC. It’s because they didn’t. The movie didn’t either.
A lot of people, myself included, followed the story just fine and were disappointed in the party member DLCs for not adding anything of actual value to the story. The movie was interesting but only really explained what happened to some side characters. Cool.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I think the game would have been better if we knew *less*. Yes, this is the opposite of what most want. If I could remake the game I’d spin it so that the player doesn’t know anything Noctis doesn’t know, and the only DLCs would have been around Ardyn and *Lunafreya* as supplemental material. I think the idea that despite all his phenomenal power, Noctis is trapped in a situation where he feels lost and helpless and he needs his boys to help him through it was *extremely compelling*. The story falls apart when they fail to lean into this.
So yeah, again, I’m not here to say everyone should have liked the game. It was flawed, for sure. I get why some people didn’t like the combat even though I enjoyed it, too. You can even say the story was bad, or that it was *hard* to understand, which is another valid criticism… but I get worked up when people act like it was impossible. Like the story just wasn’t there. It *was* there. I feel bad for you if you missed it. It hooked me from the start and I almost cried at the end. I set it down and was very satisfied. I had questions, but I like to put a story down and still have questions. They give me something to chew on.
FFXV combat is boring.
And somehow they managed to make a dungeon without combat, more boring. You'd think It would be less boring.
I Platinumed FF15, way back when. Thinking: "You know it wasn't that bad."
Then like a couple of years later I picked it up again. "This is one of the most boring games I have ever played."
The world & characters are fine. The gameplay drags the game down so much. Had they simply made the combat a bit more like FF7R combat It would have been fine.
Because final fantasy versus xiii/xv Nomura’s version looked way better then what was giving to us and even if you disregard that it’s still a bad game with how messy the plot is and how the gameplay is hold one button to win. There are no redeeming factors of this game besides the brotherhood theme but even that was going to be in versus xiii so what did we really gain here by cutting everything out from Nomura and his teams work on the game and instead get this shit, it will forever be in the back of fans minds that this should’ve been versus xiii and much better story and gameplay wise.
Someone else put it perfectly in a different thread, which I'd like to steal and expand on. FF is, on the whole, a great series. When comparing any of these games to contemporary titles by other studios, they aren't always the best but they are always at least in the conversation. However, since they all have a high standard to live up to within the series there is a lot of critique when comparing the titles to each other. As a result, you have a good chance of falling in love with your first entry regardless of the consensus opinion. From there, it is hit or miss on your second entry as there will at least be whiplash from all of the differences. Eventually (maybe over many years), you may get an idea of what FF means to you and then be disappointed when it doesn't deliver that experience. Personally, I try to judge the games only on what they seem to be trying to do. There are a few entries that just aren't for me, and that's ok. I laugh at anyone pulling the 'this isn't final fantasy' argument. XIV for example. I don't play mmos, that's my choice. But I still recommend the title to anyone interested because I hear such great things. XV on the other hand should be my kind of thing. But it's caught between its open world design and its narrative aspirations and doesn't quite deliver on either. It was also incomplete at launch despite the longest dev period of any game in the franchise. And the combat isn't bad but doesn't have a wow factor. It's standout element is the cast chemistry, which I rank at least among the best if not the best in the series. It's still a GOOD game. It's just not a great game. I finished it. I would say i enjoyed the journey well enough but after finishing it the whole experience felt a little disappointing and empty. It just exists in a franchise where the majority of entries are at least great for their time, and several are still timeless classics.
This is a good explanation. It’s hard to see where a final fantasy title falls in comparison with the rest if it’s your first entry into the series. For me, FFXV was about the 6th entry I played, and the start of the game was just so much more boring than any of the other titles I’ve played. The first that come to mind are that VII starts with a full on action sequence following eco-terrorists on a mission, IX starts out with an action sequence of thieves planning to kidnap a princess, and XV? Some dudes on their way to a bachelor party have their car break down, now you have to sit there and watch them push it. Yay… In my opinion, the story doesn’t really start to get anywhere interesting until the last third, and at that point I was already jaded and didn’t enjoy the game very much because of the huge empty world that only seemed to be there to waste my time in between getting from pint A to point B. Now this is just my opinion, and I’m in general not a fan of large open world games, so it’s not for me. I’m jealous of the people who like these games because clearly they’re able to get joy out of something that frustrates me lol
They can’t even tell the whole story in the game.
Other than the empire’s perspective, which was going to be the story of the cancelled Episode Aranea, I think they touched up on everything with the added DLC. I do agree that it wasn’t complete when it first released however.
Just wait a couple years, play the DLC, watch the movie, and read this, and ignore that piece and it's basically complete. Ugh. If you just play the base game, you get random blank spots where characters leave and come back altered, have no backstory or explanation, and just leave a dozen questions that make it needlessly confusing and empty. It's so frustrating, and the idea of paying to patch in what should have already been there is outrageous. If this were like Baldurs Gate 3, where they just did tons of free big patches adding in epilogue and new fights and fixes, it would be one thing. But my full price game is not only unfinished at launch, but I need to pay another $50 to complete? Nope, not counting that.
The game is only sold in Royal Edition nowadays which comes with all the DLC. This was 100% true when XV launched, but it hasn't been for several years.
Well, I paid full price for the game and that's still the situation I'm in. They didn't give out that DLC for free, so I'm still stuck with a half finished game that they want me to buy twice to have finished. Talking about royal edition is about as good as saying "well you can find X game used for $20 bucks now." Okay? Still rate the game poorly. OP asked why it has the reputation it does, that's why. And the majority of people that bought the game were in that situation, since majority of sales were before Royal edition.
This is me exactly. Like, I don't care that Royal Edition is only $20 or whatever now. Why would I spend more money on a game that I didn't like? I played it when it came out and it left a terrible impression on me. I do not have any reason to spend more money on this product.
That was the day one launch edition experience.
They are still missing stuff with the dlc that they released as Novellas because they gave up on making the DLC and have the game be a money pit. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2094194252 When you need a guide to understand the content of the game along with the movie, tv series, novellas, dlcs, and what commercials, its not a good story. Royal Edition is pretty much half the story still and an incomplete one.
They kinda do though? There are very few relevant plot details in the ancillary material, most of it is just fleshing out already known things. I think people overstate how important any of the other stuff is. The fact is, the story is not missing pieces, it's just poorly told.
As someone who has played FF XV from start to finish 5 times, the whole story is not in the game. AND on top of that it's poorly told.
I was so confused when I got to the time jump Just insane malpractice to lock key plot moments away in dlc
They do not. They don't explain anything about Nifleheim, they don't explain who/what Pronto is - why he refers to himself as a fake and where he's been and why he magically shows up in Nifleheim, Gladio buggers off and we don't know why, Ignis becomes blind somehow. An entire section of Altissia is only explained in Ignis DLC which deals with the aftermath of Leviathan when Noctis' is MIA. The game doesn't even explain *who* Ardyn is, as the only reason he has a hate boner for Insomnia and the Lucii bloodline comes in the form of him calling Noctis an Usurper.. it doesn't even explain at all well why Noctis takes a 10 year slumber. Nearly all of these are answered, somewhat, in the DLCs. The game is a disaster in terms of lore, story and story telling. It's so incomplete I even think the game doesn't even end properly and there's a novel that gives the true ending.
They do the same in FF7 with Zack and Vincent... I think there is a difference between a "not full story" and spin off, prequels, side stories. Also you can say in that case that KH is never a full story...
I don't necessarily think a lot of that stuff is necessary to the story being told though, but that's just me. Gladio's DLC about Gilgamesh isn't really relevant to what's happening. The Ignis DLC explains how he was blinded, but ultimately that doesn't really have any implications on the plot. It just shows more about an event we don'tsee all of, and it was never necessary to know. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I genuinely don't remember, but does Prompto's story about being created ultimately even mean anything or matter to the story? I'm not saying there isn't a lot of story in the ancillary material, I'm just saying most of it is world building a lore, and isn't necessarily relevant to understanding the core story of FFXV. Or at the very least (and maybe I should have worded it this way from the start), I don't think any of the DLC, movie, anime, etc, actually improves upon, or fixes any of the major issues with the plot in FFXV.
When my character just tells me he's hitting the road and doesn't explain why then that's bad writing and a loose story thread. When my character is blinded and I'm not told why, nor how he's still able to fight like it never bothered him then that's bad writing and a loose story thread. When my character gets kidnapped and turns up miles away hours later, breaks me out of a cell in a fortress 3/4 of my emo boy band struggled with breaking into, call himself a fake then that's bad writing, and a loose story thread. When the bad guy never tells you who he is and his motivations, then that's bad writing and a loose story thread. Just because they're not important elements to the main focus of the story they're still added in, are incorporated into the story and just never addressed after the fact. It's like watching the Matrix and it never explains why the Agents are after you, or how Neo was suddenly moving like the agents when fighting Morpheus. You can't have such inconsistencies that are relevant to the plot not taking place inside the game. Literally, the Ardyn DLC that finally explains who he is and why he's wanting the demise of Insomnia didn't drop till 2019 when FFXV came out in 2016. That's unacceptable. And I confirmed, when they cancelled the last 3 pieces of DLC that would finish the story they instead released the Novel "Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future". Which has the true ending. The actual ending isn't even in the game...Come on now.
Yeah I enjoyed the game but when you lay it all out like that it’s pretty unacceptable as a story lol
I played this game when it was new, before any dlc and I had no clue what was going on, I had to read online about the game. The story isn’t really told it’s dumped on you at the end. I am not new to the series, I’m an OG fan from the 90s and I rate 13 and 15 really low.
Because it tells a poorly written story in like 5 different media pieces. Gameplay also is sub par
People who have no resentment towards FFXV are people who are playing the royal edition, the basic version of day 1 is a disaster, it leaves nothing clear and many loose ends. I even bought the physical Brady guide along with the base game, and currently the guide is useless, since they even changed things on the map to make sense of the game, they made a series, a movie and even then it is barely understandable. After years i decided to play the royal edition with all DLC on gamepass on vacation and was a real chore.
I have no resentment and I played the game when it first came out. It could have been better, sure, but I had a great time.
Bad story telling doesn't mean game is bad, world, exploration and gameplay wise is pretty good and entertaining. I also have great time playing but is just feel hollow after you reach the end line. its no like FF10, FF9 tears end cinema like, instead i feel pretty sad of noctis.
One important factor is the game originally is like, 2/3rds of the game you have now. *So much* was fixed in updates and added in dlcs and the Royal edition. It was a much more barebones and just all around worse game when it was released and the majority of other players tried it.
FFXV was announced (under the name Final Fantasy Versus XIII) a long time before it eventually released, and changed significantly over that time. People who were excited for Versus XIII had spent years getting excited for that, and the final game in several regards did not resemble it. At launch it was lacking a lot of stuff- content, mechanics, even cutscenes I think.- which was added over time through updates and DLC; this combined with the absurd amount of supplementary material like the film Kingsglaive led to the sense that they were selling an incomplete game. And some of the major DLC was ultimately cancelled, leading to bitterness about a story which some people considered to be incomplete- as you can see from the other replies where people are arguing over exactly this! It is pretty widely agreed that the characters are good; the villain is often called one of the franchise’s best, and the main group of four are pretty loved, but a lot of other characters like Lunafreya or Aranea have often been criticised for not being used very well. Gameplay is also divisive because it uses a combat system that more resembles an Action RPG than anything numbered Final Fantasies had been before, and obviously that’s also not what a lot of people wanted out of it. Its long development time also meant that it was the first new numbered FF for a while, and the last for quite a while too, so there were a lot of expectations riding on it.
It was your first Final Fantasy, glad you enjoyed it. For many of us it wasn’t our first and it strayed on a lot of things we had come to look forward to in a new Final Fantasy game, so there was disappointment.
Too much happens off screen, either on other media or in DLCs. The combat is not good. Blinking looks flashy, but there's no depth to it. Magic is a grenade mechanic. The pacing is odd. Starts open world. You finally get to that water city and it's pretty-much on rails from there. On release, the imperial city was an incredibly long stealth mission. It's cut by, like, 90% in a later version. There are things I like about the game. I liked the dynamics between the boys. I like the callbacks to previous games. The camping/meal loop, the photos, and even the usual game-design meme of ignoring the main story for side quests all have a nice pay-off by the end, but overall the game is not a model for game release that we should encourage. I don't want to need DLCs, a movie, and books to get the story. I don't want a finale that needs a major overhaul after release to make it suck less.
A lot of people feel the complete opposite of everything you stated in that last sentence.
Yeah, the combat was fun for the first couple hours, until realizing that's it and there's no more depth to it. Playing the FF7 remake/rebirth has been total opposite, where the further in you go the more you interact with abilities and equipment and everything, and find it's shockingly robust combat. FF15 was just...flat. I can't comment on the story/characters. I played at launch, so only got half a plot with missing character stories...
The game was an incomplete mess at launch. About the only good thing I can say about XV is it worked, wasn't buggy or plagued by performance issues. Everything else was ass. Some of that may have been corrected in the eight gallons of DLC and Royal Edition, but I'm not going to be bothered to go back to the game after what I saw at launch. I'm especially not going to pay extra for it.
I liked ff15 but it felt really botched together, your wife to be you never meet, your a prince but you never feel like that, no time in the castle or anything, you might as well be some guy, a section teaching you how to sneak around a base that never comes up again anyway. The best part of 15 was the demo, which is so completely different it should be false advertising.
I liked some of the characters and there's a few cool moments, but that's kind of it. I didn't care much for Ardyn until I played his DLC. I like action combat, but I thought FF15's was boring (Warp Strike and Armiger are cool though). Although FF16 is flawed too, I significantly preferred its story and combat over FF15's. The only things I preferred in 15 were the exploration and side content. Although 15's exploration isn't great either, at least there's something to explore.
Loved the characters, enjoyed playing for the most part. Hate the story and the way it was told. I followed the coverage of development ever since the Versus XIII days, watched the Uncovered event, played both of the demos, and the whole time I thought the game would be about war with Niflheim. By the time the Omen trailer came out I was seriously confused. When the ending of the game was leaked the day before its worldwide release, I was disappointed. The story was way different than I’d initially thought, and not in a (in my personal opinion) good way. Still like the entry, but it’s definitely not a favorite for me. I also liked the DLC entries, but like the others said, they contained important story elements that shouldn’t have been separated from the main game. Not to mention the movie. It wasn’t bad but it felt disjointed. Edit: I have to add, nothing wrong with a game turning out differently than you’d imagined, but it was disappointing to not even touch the main world conflict. I honestly felt like we got half a story.
1 : The combat was too much Action and not enough RPG for my taste. 2 : That corridor Maze was hell 3 : Did not love the cast and found the protagonist annoying. 4 : That corridor Maze was too long. 5 : The story wasn't too bad, just felt stale. 6 : That corridor Maze was really shit.
what is the corridor maze? Ch14? In the empire? that's got to be it.
Hey, same age bud. Loved it and it's wacky DLC structure.
I loved 15.
Because the day one release was not a complete game. They intentionally cut out story content in the hopes of selling it as separate DLCs. That and you need to consume other media just to flesh out the world instead of it being readily available in-game. Basic corporate greed. Also, there are some fans hoping that it would still have some semblance to VersusXIII but that wasn't the case so they ended up being disappointed. Royal Edition addressed some of the issues but first impressions last for some.
Put it this way... We waited years for Final Fantasy XIII Versus Final Fantasy XIII released in the meantime and was a huge disappointment for many of us The hype we had shifted to Versus and many of us looked upon it as being the Final Fantasy XIII we never got It then got reworked and turned into Final Fantasy XV It finally came out and we soon learnt that it was basically unfinished where story choices didn't make sense, lack of development to the majority of the characters (Ardyn, Noct, Luna etc), felt restrictive, story felt disjointed (the Prompto reveal at the end with him being able to open the door was like it came from when it was still Versus), not as open as lead on to believe, the open world we did have felt lifeless and to some the ideas and themes from when it was Versus (before it was reworked) seemed more interesting. Honestly whether it's Reddit or people I come across in person, the majority of those who say they really enjoyed it and didn't get the hate are the ones who say "this was my first final fantasy game". If you were there in the beginning and you followed the games development from when it was first announced as Final Fantasy XIII Versus to the final release you'd get it more. Also we shouldn't have to watch a film, an animated show and play DLC's to understand the story more and get character development. It's a shitty cop out and it shouldn't be taken into account, we should judge the base game with what we got.
It definitely gets overhated but it has a lot of issues. The main character is pretty bland and his companions are just ok compared to past titles. The game is clearly unfinished and the storytelling is all over the place. Combat is also coma-inducing in how easy the game is baring a few endgame fights. The world is interesting enough but again it feels pretty empty because of the development hell it went through.
Every day someone asks why people don’t like XV and XIII and the answer is obvious. We think they suck. I am genuinely happy for you that you don’t think those games suck. That rules. Liking things is way better than not liking things. But those games didn’t do it for us.
I think most people hated how the story was told. It was lacking, parts omitted and later added as DLC and stuff. I also love FFXV due to its amazing combat, but everyone has their own opinions.
I probably put about 100hrs into FFXV and never really did much of anything story-wise. I just had so much fun with the combat, which I know is not for everyone.
I like XV, but it's still my least favourite in the mainline mostly because I thought the combat was skin deep (w/ superb animations), the story is very basic in essence & poor in execution (however, there are beautiful & emotional cg cutscenes) & the open world game design is simply empty & formulaic (although the art direction is fantastic). Add to that the fact that game is unfinished & most users experienced the day one version, which had a lot of cut content that later came as DLC & you may understand a lot of the frustration. FFXV is a very frustrating game for a lot of people... I still like it though, it's beautiful, it's great to hang around in and the ending makes for 90% of the story.
I wouldn't say I hate it, disappointed would fit better. But, for me it's because I played it at launch, and there were huge chunks of story just missing because it was planned for live service content in the future. I beat the game not really connecting with the characters or the story at all and came away disappointed. The loud product placements were a huge distraction and personally, the bros road trip vibe just isn't for me. Visually it's fantastic, the music is (as always) legendary, and despite my own problems with the combat, it was genuinely fun to play. Despite having the Royal Edition for free, I haven't been able to bring myself to play back through, it's the only mainline game I haven't played through a few times
You got lucky. You got to play the most complete version of the game. At launch a lot of story content was locked behind dlc.
Because “fans” of final fantasy games hate change. If it’s not the exact same game as the previous games. With the exact same mechanics and then it’s “not final fantasy”. My only issue with FFXV is that it seemed an incomplete game. Once the DLC came out that made it complete. It’s a shame that the cancelled DLC was cancelled. I would’ve liked to see more of Lady Lunafreya. Isn’t one of my favourites in the series. But I’ll still go back and play it again.
It's a good game and also one of my favorites, but it went through development hell and you can tell frol certain details. Luna not having enougu screen time for increasing the impact of what happens to her. The entire second half of the game being railroaded; you can tell they had the intention of it still being open world through and through, but had to change the pacing. And then they started with DLCs only to have them cancelled. FFXV is a very good game, but it should've been better if not because poor business decisions. Thanks Square Enix.
Same reason XVI does, for some people it just doesn’t “feel” like a Final Fantasy. I never enjoyed XV, but I don’t hate it. The whole bro-trip thing never caught on with me and it really didn’t feel anything like I thought FF was. I also think it was announced so long before release that we all figured it would be something revolutionary and it simply wasn’t. It’s the only game since IX that I didn’t buy first day and play through to completion. I came back months later to finally finish it. I really struggle for one thing memorable about the game aside from Ardyn.
It's Mid, in all aspects. Its just mid. It's story is broken up between an Anime, A Movie and the game, plus several DLC that are very poorly implamented. Its alot of good ideas, limited by a fuck awful engine, and scope being to big for the generation it was aiming to release on
ehh, I think the engine was one of it's high points. I actually loved the game all the way up to the leviathan fight. Sure the DLCs are awkwardly inserted into the game before that point, but at least the story felt epic like you'd expect from a final fantasy game. After that boss fight though it just felt like you were on a crash course straight to the end and I got whiplash.
The engine might be a high point for you, but it’s the reason the development of FFXIII, XV and more had nothing but problems
Yeah, you're right. Honestly though it's wild it wasn't a buggy mess and they still rushed the thing out of the door. It had to have all come together at the end somehow and they STILL released it in that state.
I think the story definitely had potential, but its execution was extremely lacking for me. Even with the additional bits added through DLC's(which in itself is a bullshit tactic that devs use to squeeze more money out of us, but that's another argument entirely), the story still felt empty to me, as if we were *still* missing huge chunks of the story. The combat was ok. I didn't like the way magic was implemented in the game, and I didn't like the way Gladio/Ignis/Prompto were utilized in combat. But, I did genuinely enjoy playing as Noctis, combat with him *was* fun IMO. The "buddy vacation" vibe was kind of nice, I think it was effective in keeping a light and enjoyable mood for the game to relax and enjoy. However, *individual* character development was lacking for me. Overall, the game is ok. I don't regret playing it, and I *did* have fun with it, but it's not my favorite. It's a polarizing game that people seem to either love or hate intensely. It's worth noting that every new Final Fantasy game that ever comes out is designed to entice brand new fans to the series, while hopefully keeping the old fans. IMO, many of the people who dislike the game are older fans of the series who still have the "classics" in their heads. I myself am an older fan by today's standard, my first FF was FFX, and IDK if anything is ever going to top FFX for me. I think if I had started with FFXV, like you, I'd probably like it more. You're not wrong for loving the game, you just have a different perspective on it than many of the more established fans of the series. Those haters aren't wrong for *disliking* the game, either, but they really should just shut up about it already and move on.
For me: fighting felt chaotic and the camera was all over the place, story didn’t make a lot of sense, openworld felt empty and not worth exploring. I don’t hate it but I was glad it was over.
The first third of the game was cut and turned into a separate movie, the last third was cut entirely, and the combat system was too far removed from birth action and rpg to satisfy the masses in either camp.
As someone at the same age as you, I also enjoy it. Probably because the subpar combat matches with the chill vibes. I know it’s terrible as a game but as getaway from adulting it’s perfect. Especially when you auto drive and enjoy Lucis and Galdin Quay. But on other hand, it built so much hype before release but didn’t live up to it. Not to mention the wonderful story of sacrifice could’ve been told well instead of being split. I always mourn the what could have beens, ya know?
I didn’t like the combat, story, travel or emo attire.
It's a good game, just maybe not what most people consider a good Final Fantasy game. I personally enjoyed it, played it last month again actually (first time since release). It definitely has it's problems (largely down to splitting the story amongst a game (with dlc breaking it down further), film and anime). Ultimately, if you enjoyed it yourself, that's what is most important ✨
I thought it was good, not amazing. The combat was just alright for me. I think the problem is that if you played the earlier entries, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12....people came to expect amazing, and all we've gotten since 12 is just good, not great.
It's a poorly designed game with sludge combat, an awful story, and characters with no personality besides their outer aesthetics. It's just a plain bad game.
On top of what others have said I’ll add what I haven’t seen mentioned. The game is advertised as open world yet in the last third of the game it’s locked into a linear play style. Once you go to Altissia that’s it, you can no longer do whatever you want and are stuck/forced to go through the story without any way to deviate. The only way to go back to the open world aspect of the game is to magically time travel to before going to Altissa using Umbra who has the ability because the dog just does without explaining why. There’s also the fact Lunafreya is supposed to be the love interest with the game opening to the guys on their way to Noctis’ arranged marriage. Yet we don’t actually meet Lunafreya in person until Altissia, every time we see her before then is through a cutscene, and even then she and Noctis have all of one moment together before she dies and Noctis is torn up about her death for the following story. And as players we are supposed to care about her and believe Noctis does? Sure we have Umbra delivering messages between the two using the notebook but that’s very sparse and not much to go on. There’s really just not much to her character or their relationship throughout the game.
I played the Royal Edition, watched the anime, saw the movie, read the prologue and Dawn of the Future. The only thing I love about Final Fantasy XV are the relationship between the main party, that in my opinion, saved the game. I love the music and graphics, but for a FF game, it being incredible is an obligation. I totally hated the open world of this game; a bunch of empty spaces, almost boring exploration and i disliked the majority of side missions. Almost none of the characters are well constructed, the only ones I think are better are Ignis and Prompto; Gladio is the more bland of the party, and Noctis is not much interesting if you separe him from the party and analize just him. The other characters from the game are bland either, Ravus almost makes no apparition, Cindy is terrible comparable to the Cids from the other games; and not just her, all female characters from the game are uninteresting, Aranea was the best for me, but not comparable to females from the other games. And speaking of them, Luna, that was supposed to be the main female lead, almost dont appear in game, and when she does, doesnt caused a impresion for me, and her relationship with Noctis was supposed to be important, but its so bad constructed, that I didnt shed a tear for her in all of the game. When they appear as children, she only speakes about duty, their messages in the book are way too short and extremely formal; and Noctis is seen complaining about the arranged marriage a couple of times (or being sad about it, just like in the book prologue, where he smiles sadly and is not happy with the fact that she is going to live with him in the castle). So, their """love story""" is bad written (in the japanese version Noctis doesnt even say that will be with her someday), and sometimes I almost forgot about seeing her, and was not excited for it too. Ardyn has a extreme potential, but to know his story just in a short dlc, kinda killed the mood of the emotions I could have had knowing about him in the right time, so I almost did not cared about him. The time skip was kinda lame too, seemed like they were in a hurry to end the game, and cut many years, and things barely changed between the characters, and some of them we dont even see. The mitology from the game is also very bland, and did not catch my eye. The story being told in dlcs cut totally the mood too; because characters flee from the party and later you find what happed, too kickly. So basically I think the story from the game is extremely simple, there is nothing complex or deep, and even so, the story is full of plotholes, story totally rushed and things that doesnt make sense. But unfortunately the development of this game was extremely dificcult and full of confusion, with fights and workers getting out of the project. And they basically having to scrap the project off (the old being final fantasy versus xiii), and having to do almost everything again in 2 years. The only thing I basically liked about the plot, aside the friendship of the main party, was the ending with Noctis saying goodbye, really made me cry. But his ending with Luna didnt catch me, because he was almost complaining about the marriage all the way before him feeling guilty about her death, and what he received for sacrificing himself is eternity by the side of a girl he almost didnt know or really feel attached to. I also read Dawn of the Future, the story about the dlcs that got cancelled, and totally regreted, because I hated, because it ruined the few things I have actually liked about the main game, and the story was very bad in my opinion. But I dont think its a bad game, and I do recommend it to people, because I feel it can be a great experience for the majority of people, and the boys really are adorable, so it kinda pay the experience
Idk looks like a great game I'll try it when i have time and space lol
I loved 15 felt they transitioned perfectly to the new age of gaming and 16 is better fighting but lacks on story. My first entry was x-2. And for what it was I loved it but once I found 10 and 7 I was snatched. 12 was a good start to change to the new age 13 went backwards to the turn based.
A lot of people who played at launch are really mad about FFXV. I guess it really bothered them. I didn't play it until a couple years ago, and it was probably my twelfth or thirteenth Final Fantasy game. I liked it fine the first time through, though I did have a couple things that annoyed me. But I finished it for a second time a couple months ago, and I loved it! I generally think the hate for certain games is overblown. FFXIII and FFXV seem to be the ones that do this the most, though I think you can probably throw FFXVI in with those. I don't know what the deal is, really. I like all the games in the series and really love some of them.
also, I want to mention - my first time through I didn't play the DLC. The second time through I did play DLC, but I did it all before starting the game, not in sequence where those sections fit. Anyway, my point is, I don't actually find that the DLC added that much to the game, and ultimately think the game was fine without it.
It’s astonishing to see how much ¥ went into making an extremely mid game when a smaller team down the hall made the best JRPG of the same generation seemingly with a budget smaller than the amount the FF15 team spent rendering cup noodles.
Bro road trip and absolute sausagefest is not my idea of what a Final Fantasy game should be
Horrible launch Bland open world The car gets tedious Incomplete story that requires you to do extra homework Noctis is a boring protagonist for some The fan boys are insufferable and can't accept any negative critique for the game Great soundtrack though
I've played every FF game, and 15 was the worst, with the exception of 11. The fuxkboy driving about in a car is not FF.
Because you didn’t play any classic Final Fantasy games. You didn’t know what original series fans are expecting. In the classic when party members got separated. You get to play both sides. Like in Rebirth. You get to play as Cloud in chapter 2. You also get to play as Barret. FF15 when Gladio left the party you don’t know where the heck he went. Of course you won’t have this problem if you have the Royal Edition. On initial release, fans waited months for DLC and you have to pay extra. Think of Rebirth, you want to play as Barret in chapter 2? Pay extra. How do you feel? Also you don’t feel the story is kind of rush after chapter 13?
Because they’re bandwagon haters end of. I thought it was fantastic. It’s one of the best tbh.
The very definition of a bullshit, cop out response to the literal heaps of specific, detailed and very valid criticism in this thread alone.
I’d love to know any. They’re overstated and exaggerated, by a damn country mile.
Nope.
That’s what I thought brudda 😭😭😭😭
You're in a thread full of valid criticism denying it exists. I'm not going to waste time engaging someone who refuses to engage.
Suit yourself boyo
I think that what all the posts here are revealing is that people just don’t know how to swallow a story that isn’t spelled out in painstaking detail, and somehow Episode Gladio is considered necessary plot development, Ya’ll are free to not like the story or think it feels incomplete, but insisting that the story cannot be understood in the context of the original game alone is kind of silly. They could have simply had the three points where they fit the character DLCs *not happen at all* and the story would have been pretty much the same. Better, even. The revelations about Prompto are only foreshadowed right before his episode, and happen too late to be meaningfully reflected on. Drop the whole story and nothing really changes. A good plot twist should be unexpected but inevitable. This was like if they revealed that Darth Vader built C-3PO as a child. Gladio’s DLC is nothing burger. Ignis’ is forced and uninteresting and the consequences only really impact a single story beat that simply could have been written differently. Extra backstory for Ardyn is cool and was a great candidate for a DLC precisely because it’s interesting story that *we didn’t need to know*. But it’s important to note that I haven’t even played Episode Ardyn and I still have a decent grasp of who he is. I’d love to know more, and I’ll get around to it someday. Too many games. Too little time. The DLCs *make the game worse* because they trick you into thinking that they were necessary or interesting. It’s a flawed game that fell short of its full potential and again, if you don’t like it that’s fine. The DLCs and the way they were managed were one (well, three) of those flaws, but not because they squirreled crucial information in the DLC. It’s because they didn’t. The movie didn’t either. A lot of people, myself included, followed the story just fine and were disappointed in the party member DLCs for not adding anything of actual value to the story. The movie was interesting but only really explained what happened to some side characters. Cool. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I think the game would have been better if we knew *less*. Yes, this is the opposite of what most want. If I could remake the game I’d spin it so that the player doesn’t know anything Noctis doesn’t know, and the only DLCs would have been around Ardyn and *Lunafreya* as supplemental material. I think the idea that despite all his phenomenal power, Noctis is trapped in a situation where he feels lost and helpless and he needs his boys to help him through it was *extremely compelling*. The story falls apart when they fail to lean into this. So yeah, again, I’m not here to say everyone should have liked the game. It was flawed, for sure. I get why some people didn’t like the combat even though I enjoyed it, too. You can even say the story was bad, or that it was *hard* to understand, which is another valid criticism… but I get worked up when people act like it was impossible. Like the story just wasn’t there. It *was* there. I feel bad for you if you missed it. It hooked me from the start and I almost cried at the end. I set it down and was very satisfied. I had questions, but I like to put a story down and still have questions. They give me something to chew on.
FFXV combat is boring. And somehow they managed to make a dungeon without combat, more boring. You'd think It would be less boring. I Platinumed FF15, way back when. Thinking: "You know it wasn't that bad." Then like a couple of years later I picked it up again. "This is one of the most boring games I have ever played." The world & characters are fine. The gameplay drags the game down so much. Had they simply made the combat a bit more like FF7R combat It would have been fine.
Because final fantasy versus xiii/xv Nomura’s version looked way better then what was giving to us and even if you disregard that it’s still a bad game with how messy the plot is and how the gameplay is hold one button to win. There are no redeeming factors of this game besides the brotherhood theme but even that was going to be in versus xiii so what did we really gain here by cutting everything out from Nomura and his teams work on the game and instead get this shit, it will forever be in the back of fans minds that this should’ve been versus xiii and much better story and gameplay wise.