When plowing through those first couple of hours with the game, I couldn’t get that segment out of my head, because that’s exactly how I felt. In the now infamous Conan O’Brien segment where he and Elijah Wood try out the game, my fellow redhead-after being forced through FFXV’s beginning segment-proclaims Square Enix’s latest release an “‘aggressive wasting of time.” The game’s early going is handled terribly, as it’s a hodge-podge of nearly unexplained story beats, mistimed ideas, obscure gameplay systems (that are only partially detailed if you play the included tutorial), and quests that are nowhere near those that should be given to someone just entering the game. In my first four or so hours with Final Fantasy XV, I was honestly ready to give up all hope for it. I think what cemented my dislike of this new era of the franchise was Final Fantasy XIII, which-at least for me-brought my love for the series to screeching halt. After Final Fantasy VII came along and popularized the “fantasy in a modern setting” idea, I’ve been less thrilled about further iterations done in that style versus the more traditional releases like Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy XII. Since then, I’ve played some amount of every major Final Fantasy chapter that’s seen release-but after 26 years of so many different casts and adventures, I just wasn’t looking forward to Final Fantasy XV. We wouldn’t get the next chapter of the series until Final Fantasy II-our localization of Japan’s Final Fantasy IV-on the Super Nintendo, but as much as I enjoyed it, it was nothing compared to the unbelievable splendor a far younger me found in Final Fantasy III (aka Final Fantasy VI). Along with Phantasy Star and Dragon Warrior (the West’s version of Dragon Quest), the original game was one of the first RPGs I ever played-because, well, those three games were some of the first examples of the genre to exist on consoles in America. I’ve had a connection to Final Fantasy for as long as there has been Final Fantasy.

29 November 2016 Mollie L Patterson Comments Off on Final Fantasy XV Review

Down on your luck ffxv