Final Fantasy XV (PlayStation 4) Review

The story of Final Fantasy XV is basically just a road trip between four friends. A young prince named Noctis heads out with his three pals and guardians to meet with and marry his betrothed in a move that will unite long warring kingdoms, bringing peace and prosperity to the land. Of course, things can never be quite that simple. The peace treaty is a sham, Noctis' father is killed, his home occupied and his journey instead becomes quite a different one: a quest to become king, save his people and overthrow an evil empire.

Right from the opening, it's clear this is something very different to anything that has come before in the legendary franchise. Florence + The Machine's cover of the classic "Stand by Me" beats out of the sleek and stylish Regalia. "It's a big old world," grumbles Gladiolus—and the audience has no idea just how true that is. Final Fantasy XV is set in a huge and sprawling open world that is an absolute joy to experience. The landscape is vast, varied and beautiful, there are beachfront paradises to lounge at, ancient ruins to explore, and miles upon miles of forests filled with monsters.

It's not just monsters littering the landscape, either, as there is a veritable smorgasbord of side-quests and curiosities to keep the player off the main storyline for untold hours. There are tons of bounty hunts for various familiar Final Fantasy fauna to slaughter, fishing mini-games, collectibles all around, and plenty more—certainly one of the best is tracking down the royal tombs, which hold the ancestral weaponry of Noctis' lineage, each with a small dungeon or unique mini-boss guardian to keep out the riff-raff.

Strangely, as the game progresses, this huge open world is cast aside and replaced with a handful of chapters that are littered with dull linear dungeons. It's a terrible move and thankfully one that Square Enix has already addressed, promising a patch in the future to improve one particularly negative chapter. It's quite disappointing considering FFXV had been in development for a decade. This is the sort of thing that should have been ironed out early on in the recreation.

Another aspect that suffers from disappointing elements is the combat. At its core, the combat system is horrendously simple and can lead to some quite boring encounters (well, boring to play, certainly not boring to watch), taking on huge groups of enemies while only using two buttons. Holding Circle unleashes a torrent of attacks, striking and spinning through stylishly choreographed dynamic combos. Holding Square blocks just about any attack the enemy can dish out, and following up with a tap of Circle after a block can deliver a stunning counter.

The combat improves somewhat as the game progresses and extra abilities for both Noct and his team are unlocked. Party members can unlock abilities to use on command, along with others they'll use as they see fit, while Noct can switch up his game by adding more equipped weapons and numerous abilities of his own. The prince can equip up to four weapons or spells and freely switch between them in combat. The weapons types and styles can add a little depth to battles, as can learning different types of parries and warp attacks.

Magic and summons add another layer to the combat, but one that is horribly flawed. Magic is made using the Elemency system, and allows Noctis to draw fire, ice and lightning energy from the gather points near camps and use that energy with items to craft consumable spells. It's like a poor man's version of Final Fantasy VIII's draw system. It goes further downhill, too, as the spells are fairly limited to the fire/blizzard/thunder trees, along with adding some modifiers to the spells, like granting experience, adding poison effects, and so on, and the spells are on a linked cooldown, making for very limited use. It does succeed in making magic feel destructive, at least, as it deals massive damage in an area to friend and foe alike (exploding allies and listening to their cries is quite a guilty pleasure).

Summoning is even worse. The spectacularly huge Astrals have a list of specific conditions that must be met before the ability to actually summon them even appears; for example, being near death while having allies incapacitated and being near water… Even then, it's rare for the option to be revealed, but when it does, the reward is very impressive.

To make the best of the combat you need to change up the actions of the team, understand and utilise party attacks, switch between weapons, and command special attacks from the team at opportune moments. Not to mention taking the landscape into account, and landing hits from the flank or from blindsiding enemies that can deal huge damage bonuses, as well as opening up team-up attacks between party members.

Square Enix invested in building a number of supporting materials narrative-wise. The Kingsglaive movie and the Brotherhood anime are certainly worth watching to help explain some of the background of what's going on. There is also a surprising amount of detail hidden within the world for those willing to look for them; they aren't delivered through overt exposition, but instead in listening to the conversations of NPCs and reading the documents found scattered here and there in the world.

The party is another example where Square Enix is trying something new. It really is just those four members for the majority of the game, and while some extra characters pop in to join up briefly here and there, they don't hang around. Before the game was released, this felt like quite a negative; playing with party builds and seeing how the characters work together was a core part of previous games. That being said, it ends up feeling like the right choice, as the group feels like it really grows into a family. The friendship and brotherhood between them feels genuine, all helped by the little natural moments in the story to grow and foster those relationships.

At night when they rest at a camp or an inn, instead of a black screen and some music, the group shares a meal and is seen laughing and playing cards, then thumbing through Prompto's photos from the day. When travelling, the team's level of banter is so realistic and well written that anyone with close groups of friends will immediately be able to relate to it. Noctis and Luna may be the romance the adventure was advertised with, but this bromance is the heart of the story.

One of the reasons this brotherhood feels so genuine is the characters themselves. Each of the party members are unique and memorable characters that work so well together and play off each other fantastically. The voice actors do a great job, too, delivering some truly enjoyable performances. The main party isn't the only star in this ensemble, either; everyone loves a villain, and Ardyn continues in that long line of slimy Final Fantasy antagonists that players love to hate. Then there's Iris, the quintessential "little sister" character that everybody will hope Noct ends up with.

When it comes to series mainstays and nostalgic moments, long-term fans have been catered for in spades, with many an Easter egg to keep them smiling. Prompto sings acapella versions of the classic chocobo and victory themes, soundtracks of past games can be purchased for the CD player in the Regalia, the plains are littered with signature enemies from Final Fantasy history, and, of course, characters like Biggs and Wedge pay a visit, too.