Final Fantasy XV

[Shradow]

 

Out on the road with his closest friends, Prince Noctis hears unsettling news: his homeland has fallen to the empire, with his father, his fiancee, and he himself reported dead. Unsure of what to believe, he knows only one thing--he must make his way home and take back what is rightfully his.

 

The newest entry in the Final Fantasy series, and the first one I've actually played since VII, I'm several hours in so far and it's really awesome.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

I really enjoying watching playthroughs of it so far. It reminds me of Xenoblade Chronicles X, with the huge open world and running around and gathering materials and fighting monsters and whatnot. Except combat is actually fast-paced in Final Fantasy XV. And I'm enjoying Prompto taking photographs of seemingly impossible situations, like when he's fighting a huge giant bird, wielding a gun in one hand and snapping a pic of Noctis striking at him. Like...how does the man work his magic?

The lack of plot is a bit of a bummer, but hopefully down the line we can get some exposition for all of the other characters besides Noctis. I'm only a couple hours in myself, but hopefully the lack of plot won't be a killer anytime soon. The gameplay is definitely holding it's own.

 

The Monster Hunter-esque hunts are also amazing.

[Shradow]

From what I understand the Brotherhood anime and Kingslaive movie help a bit with the story, now that I've gotten past the big upset in the beginning I think I'm going to watch them.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Oh yeah, I forgot that there was an anime and then Kingsglaive.

 

Though, really, if you're going to have the plot rely on outside sources from your game, at least tie the couple scenarios that DO explain stuff in with the game. But SquareEnix said they didn't want the beginning of the game to overflow with cutscenes from Kingsglaive so I can kinda understand why they didn't do it.

[Shradow]

The big cutscene that kicked off the end of Chapter 1 was really abrupt and felt kinda out of place and lacking context, that's the main reason I want to go see at least the movie. Kingslaive apparently sets up the initial context of the plot and only overlaps in the beginning part.

 

I'm sort of reminded of the recent Ratchet & Clank, the one based off the movie. It's big cutscenes were also from the movie (I assume) and felt weird in terms of parts of the game's story.

 

EDIT: Saw Kingsglaive. Incredible movie. I'd say it's almost a prerequisite for the game, too. Or at least once you've finished Chapter 1.