Final Fantasy XV: Review in Progress Part 1

If you don't know Final Fantasy games, let me tell you that they can be very long affairs. Many hours of one's life can be spent playing these games as there is a lot to explore. Even if you just play through the story, you're still looking at 20/30+ hours. So, this makes reviewing such a game a grueling task. So my goal for this review is to break up my review into several parts and jot down my thoughts as I've been playing it.

The game has been out for a number of months now, but I am just now getting around to playing it. I do have issues with commitment, and this game requires an immense one. Now that I have cleared my queue of shorter games, I am ready to dive in! So what follows is my account of the game as I go. I figure it'll also be a really great way to have something to reference for myself. How will my feeling change about the story as I play? What will be my theories as to what is happening? Let's find out!

The First Two Hours: The Bro Down.

The game starts with a tiny text prologue about some war with a military nation and how a peace treaty is being signed. From what I gathered, the peace treaty is contingent on the main character's marriage to some oracle from this military nation. Okay, the setup seems simple enough. The game actually starts with the main character and three of his bodyguards (Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolous) on the road to meet his betrothed. The car breaks down and the four are tasked with doing some errands to pay for repairs.

Image courtesy of Square-Enix

What follows is an adventure in killing some things, going on some fetch quests, fishing, feeding a hungry cat I found, and driving around listening to the radio. From what it seems the game is giving the player some time to get to know these characters. Ignis is a responsible and parental figure who seems to want to take care of the whole group. Prompto is the brash, youthful one that always looking to find the fun in any situation. Gladiolous (I know I'm butchering the spelling...) is the tough guy who seems to be more of a brotherly type to Noctis. Noctis is the main character, and so far manages to embody every broody Final Fantasy hero known to man. He also embodies that fabulous hair that every main FF character seems to have so that's good.

One would argue that this is a somewhat slow start. It definitely isn't the raid on the Mako factory that kicked off Final Fantasy VII. In a way though, the beginning does a great job of telling you about these characters. It might have been a little better with some sort of inciting incident to get the ball rolling other than a road trip.


That being said, the inciting incident does come about an hour and a half in and the game really picks up after that. Without giving away any spoilers, the characters are thrust now on a journey they had not anticipated, full of giant monsters and evil empires and...more fishing, camping, cooking, and general bromantic entanglements. Really, once the plot got underway, the game is still taking a leisurely pace to get you anywhere. At least, now, there is a direction.

Despite these criticisms, I liked my first two hours with Final Fantasy XV. It has been enough to hold my interest. The success of this game for me will entirely be in its ability to keep my interest. My history is not great with open world games. A great deal of time, those games are highly dependent on "stuff" to do. Not particularly interesting "stuff", but busy-work that fluffs the playtime of the game. I'm not looking for fluff; I am looking for an engaging story that will keep me wanting more and see me through the end of the game! Very few open world games hold my interest. So far, this game has not been too enamored of side quests and chores, so I am happy. I still have to do the occasional monster hunt for money so I can buy supplies, but that has been manageable.

Image courtesy of Square-Enix

I look forward to giving you all my take on the next two hours. Stay tuned as I try to find out what happened back in the city of Insomnia (snicker) and what quest these characters will embark on to take back their country from the Evil Empire.

This review is for information and entertainment only. The author is in no way affiliated with Square-Enix or any of its affiliates. All images used in this article are the sole property of Square-Enix. All rights reserved.