Final Fantasy Video Game • Page 46

I don't think ardyn is cliche at all given what I now know about him

 

I didn't mind Ardyn, to truly 100% seems like a lot of work.

The story is definitely forced into the backseat over a million quests

 

Man I'm like super broke at the beginning of this game

 

I still need to come back to this thing at some point..

still in chapter 2. Might just wait till my backlog is a little less full.

 

I'm near the end now, will likely finish tonight and have lots of thoughts

 

Can't wait to hear them.

 

Yeah for sure. It's not like I will want to go back and play the entire game again when they finally get all of the content in there. Or maybe I will some day. I just don't know. It was fine the first time through but without compelling story it doesn't bring me back again I don't think.

 

I loved Ardyn, and reading and watching more videos explaining his videos really made me appreciate him. It's just such a bummer that it wasn't actually fleshed out in the game. I remember seeing some leak that ended up being pretty spot on before this came out, and one of the notes was they had to put the game out this year, and they weren't allowed to spend any more time on it to delay it again.

This game could've used at least one more year to finish it up, expand on the story, and really flesh everything out. I hope the DLC solves some of those problems.

 

I agree but god I'm glad I didn't have to wait that extra year

 

Just finished the game. Gonna write out some thoughts when I'm less tired haha. Work was crazy today.

 

Still taking my time with this. Doing a ton of side quests. Just did the Royal arm ice-dungeon, and was a ton of fun. I'm definitely over leveled for the story now.

 

Okay gonna try and spell out thoughts (quote this post if you have a response since next post will have spoiler tags and quoting removes spoiler tags)

 

This is far from a review and far from my entire thoughts but:

The game declares itself as "A Final Fantasy for fans and first timers" and I see both why and why not. Typically a Final Fantasy has a very different combat system, but it seems that this game was designed to draw in those afraid of grindfests, who get intimidated seeing that Final Fantasy VIII is 4 discs long and don't want to put in the time, while also offering enough sidequests to entertain those used to a typical Final Fantasy. The combat itself seemed to take a similar route, allowing a simple musou style combat if desired but also offering lots of versatility in how you approach it, along with extreme flexibility in maneuverability making it simple to perform, hard to master. Some of the sidequests are tedious (okay...a lot of them), but I found myself having fun for a majority of the game.

The story was EXCELLENT if willing to dig deep into it, and presented TERRIBLY. It was executed in punches with no build-up behind the punches, which causes moments that could have been grand to fall short, such as the revelation of Prompto being an MT (which ended up having no basic impact to the story other than getting through one door) and Lunafreya's entire existence in the game. The story's biggest flaw seems to revolve around one thing - its desire to be Noctis-centric and not allowing the other characters to have a backstory with even close to as much depth as Noctis's main story. Many characters, especially Lunafreya, had little depth other than what role they were to play for Noctis, and this was disappointing.

However, when digging enough to learn about the story, it does become a wonderful story and Ardyn is a top tier villain. I'd go far enough to call him a top 3 Final Fantasy villain. While Chapter 13 is heavily criticized, it does a wonderful job at portraying how strong and sadistic Ardyn really is. His role of, not killing, but setting up and torturing Noctis is brilliantly executed and there are few characters I enjoyed as much as him in the game. The scene of Prompto shooting Ardyn may be my favorite scene in the game, despite how predictable it was.

If I had to pick an MVP of this game, it's definitely Yoko Shimomura. The score is phenomenal throughout the game and she deserves lots of praise for taking over Uematsu's baby and performing so well. Somnus is a perfect song and the feeling of rushing through Insomnia as Somnus plays made me emotional.

This is the hardest part about determining thoughts on the game: knowing it was 10 years in the making. Lots of parts of the game are good but not "10 years good". At the same time, lots of points of the game gain that additional emotional impact from knowing you've waited so long. The scene I mentioned above with the group storming Insomnia brought back so many memories of seeing Noctis sit on that throne as "Somnus" played back when the first trailer came out and that contrast in itself was beautiful, comparing Noctis standing calmly as Imperials rushed in back in 2006 to Ardyn doing the same as Noctis arrives.

It's hard to be unbiased about the game, given the heavy anticipation and my love for Final Fantasy, but overall I enjoyed it a lot while not considering it a top tier Final Fantasy game. I'd put it right above VIII, below VI, IX, X, and Tactics. I'll definitely play it again and go much more in depth with my playthrough.

 

Yeah going thru Insomnia while Somnus was playing, I definitely got emotional. And I agree, excellent story but presented terribly. It felt too Noctis centric, as much as I appreciate him (the burden is all on him, but the other characters were presented only in their relationship to him). The Prompto reveal, for example, was not explored enough. There were a lot of subtle hints re: Ardyn and I couldn't understand them until watching those videos lol. But yes, understanding him, he's quite fascinating.

 

Gonna keep typing thoughts as I feel the need and spoiler if necessary:

I think Chapter 13 gets criticized for two reasons:

1. The story itself doesn't go long enough and in depth enough so Ch. 13 feels like it drags in comparison since we're so used to going pretty quickly through each chapter as far as the story goes. If we got a longer, more in-depth plot, I think a lot of hate for this portion of the game would disappear.

2. The weapon is too easy to use and yet too tedious to use. It would've been nice to actually feel helpless in the crawl, or to at least have this all-powerful weapon able to be used more efficiently, but the charge-and-blast style works so terribly and yet STILL doesn't make you feel like you're at a disadvantage.

I did enjoy Ch. 13 though.

 

Chapter 13 was an excellent idea, they just executed it very poorly.

 

Nice thoughts! I'm sad I finished the game but am not dying to go back to finish the extra stuff because the story didn't engage me well enough.

 

Also top 5 songs in the game: (not counting the FF theme)
1. Somnus
2. APOCALYPSIS NOCTIS
3. NOCTIS
4. Veiled In Black (Arrangement)
5. Valse di Fantastica

HM: ARDYN II

I'll probably change that around a lot but that's how I feel right now

 

SE really kills me with their presentation. Both Kingdom Hearts and this game have so much lore that should be in the main series, but you are clueless if you don't go into the supplemental material. It's great that you guys are willing to go into all of it, but the casual gamer just doesn't care.

 

In all honesty, this is part of why I never finished Kingdom Hearts II. I get exactly what you mean, and understand the criticism (and contribute to it) a lot. Luckily it doesn't phase me, but I can see why it'd phase others.

 

For sure. I don't want to have to watch anime to know about the characters in the game I'm playing.

 

Working on the third vault. There is one enemy in here that is really difficult.

 

After the story, there's a cool couple of side quests with this one weapon forger in Lestallum. You go through some massive boss fights and he gives you legendary weapons in return. I've only done the first one but it's a good time!

How To Get All 5 Legendary Weapons In Final Fantasy XV

 

I've done the first two. First one I found easy, second was tough; lots of curatives needed. Third one the mission level scared me off so I haven't tried yet.

I've taken a few days off after playing it basically every day since getting it. Might jump in and try to do Costlemark tonight. I think I'm in like the mid 60s so hopefully it's manageable

 

Finished the first four vaults. Sitting at level 94. For some reason the hunt to get the helixhorn isn't available which is bumming me out.