Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV is a 2016 action role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. It is the fifteenth installment in the main Final Fantasy series and a former entry in the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy sub-series.

Final Fantasy XV takes place on the world of Eos; aside from Insomnia, the capital of Lucis, all the world is dominated by the empire of Niflheim, who seek control of the magical Crystal protected by the Lucian royal family. On the eve of peace negotiations, Niflheim attacks the capital and steals the Crystal. The protagonist, Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the Lucian throne, goes on a quest to rescue the Crystal and defeat Niflheim. He later learns his full role as the "True King", destined to use the Crystal's powers to save Eos from eternal darkness.

Good Qualities

 * 1) The game offers incredibly beautiful and breath-taking graphics, thanks to Square Enix's own Luminous Engine.
 * 2) * With Luminous Engine, real-time scenes in XV have five million polygons per frame, with character models made up of about 100,000 polygons each.
 * 3) * The data capacity for textures is also much greater than before. While seventh-generation games used 50 to 100 MB of texture data for a scene, Final Fantasy XV can use about sixteen times this amount on the PlayStation 4.
 * 4) In addition to that, it also offers an astounding soundtrack composed by Yoko Shimomura, who composed the soundtracks of many previous Final Fantasy games. Examples include:
 * 5) * Stand Your Ground, a suspenseful, epic and awesome battle theme.
 * 6) * Omnis Lacrima, an outstanding boss battle theme that is even more superior than Stand Your Ground.
 * 7) * Somnus, the somber, beautiful main theme of the game.
 * 8) Innovative battle system that makes combat even more challenging than in previous games.
 * 9) * Players can destroy parts of some foes' bodies, temporarily debilitating them.
 * 10) * Combat begins as soon as Noctis and friends are approached by an enemy, attack an enemy, or get too close to it. A red "encounter gauge" appears at the top of the screen when one is near a hostile unit; players usually have the option to flee at any time.
 * 11) * The game has a total of 109 melee weapons. Noctis can equip all weapons and some types are exclusive to him, whereas party members can equip two types of weapons as primary and secondary arms, as well as Elemancy magic.
 * 12) The game fixes and improves upon many of the mistakes made on the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.
 * 13) Many memorable and likeable characters. For example:
 * 14) * The main cast:
 * 15) ** Prince Noctis, a.k.a. Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV.
 * 16) ** His bodyguard, Gladiolus Amicitia.
 * 17) ** His advisor, Ignis Scientia.
 * 18) ** Prompto Argentum, his best friend from high school.
 * 19) * Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, a noble and dutiful woman. Both Lunafreya and Noctis are childhood friends.
 * 20) * Cor Leonis, a loyal Lucian royal guard and a skilled swordsman.
 * 21) A vast open world which is by far the biggest and best looking seen on a Final Fantasy game.
 * 22) Several fun, epic and amazing boss battles.
 * 23) Engrossing and decent lore.
 * 24) Satisfyingly great and emotional ending.
 * 25) Ardyn Izunia, the game's main antagonist, is considered to be one of the best villains in the series and his English and Japanese voice actors did an incredible job for him, especially the former.
 * 26) Solid voice acting, especially the voice actors for Noctis and Ignis.
 * 27) Many cheesy lighthearted moments that are done right.
 * 28) The first half of the game is open-world and enables players to take on a variety of side-quests, explore, and play mini-games.
 * 29) Lots of unlockables and secrets.
 * 30) A lot of post-game content can be unlocked once the game is finished.
 * 31) Despite being played in chapters, many areas can be revisited for recreation.
 * 32) The game's huge world can explored with the party's car, the Regalia. Chocobos can also be used to navigate as well.
 * 33) A huge plethora of classic and new Final Fantasy monsters.
 * 34) The game supports the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One's social media functions allowing players to share screenshots and video clips.
 * 35) The game features a New Game plus similar to Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy Type-0.
 * 36) The game's DLCs are great.
 * 37) The game somehow got free content and some events such as the Assassin's Festival, a nice treat for Assassin's Creed fans (which is a promotion of Assassin's Creed Origins).

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game went through a troubling development cycle similar to Final Fantasy XIII: Originally a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series called Final Fantasy Versus XIII and helmed by Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura and intended to be exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and supposedly the first entry in a trilogy - due to a combination of mismanagement in Square Enix under then-CEO Yoichi Wada, a terrible game engine that was difficult for programmers to work with, as well as Nomura and his team being constantly pulled to work on other games, Versus XIII ultimately ended up being cancelled and reworked into Final Fantasy XV. Many gameplay and story elements that were shown in trailers that made gamers excited for such as Noctis and Stella fighting against each other. instantaneous switching between playable characters (which was patched back into the game on Dec. 2017 but not exactly instant switching), interesting gameplay features like Prompto hitting weak spots on enemies, and the main party being in Insomnia when Niflheim attacked, were cut out due to hardware limitations, time constraints, story rewrites and problems with the new Luminous Engine.
 * 2) Horribly unbalanced gameplay. There is hardly any challenge due to the player being allowed to spam many items at once without any restrictions.
 * 3) The game was slightly rushed out by Square Enix for a 2016 release, which caused the game to launch in a buggy state. It also caused some parts of the game to be cut (more on that in BQ #4, #5 & #6).
 * 4) The game is played via chapters, which made the game linear, and was also met with a mixed reaction from gamers and fans alike.
 * 5) The story is almost non-existent for the first half of the game. It's also filled with major plot holes with little to no explanation given such as Gladiolus leaving the party in Chapter 6 and coming back in Chapter 8 with scars from his recent battle against the Blademaster, Ignis's blindness from his attainment in Altissia after Chapter 9 making him blind, Prompto's background as a MT Soldier in Chapter 13 in spite of the game not providing even a single hint at his origins, and Ardyn's backstory on how he became immortal. The DLC Episodes that were released afterwards explain these holes but gamers have to pay money to see it.
 * 6) *While the DLC Episodes have been well-received, Gladiolus's Episode is often considered by many to be the weakest out of all them, due to the titular character having barely any development to his character and the fact the episode focused more on Cor's backstory than Gladio's.
 * 7) Due to the game's creative director leaving the development team, Square Enix cancelled three-fourths of the Dawn of the Future DLC episodes which would've centered around Aranea, Lunafreya, and Noctis and likely tie up loose ends in the game's mishmash story. Reception to this has been overwhelmingly negative as many fans were looking forward to playing the episodes, especially Lunafreya's. Even worse, the cancellation completely came out of nowhere and even stunned developers as development was actually going smoothly and majority of the voice lines for the episodes had been recorded. The cancelled DLC storylines for the episodes were repurposed into a novel however.
 * 8) Choppy framerate on the original models of the PS4 and Xbox One, and even in the PS4 Pro in 4K and Lite mode. This is fixed on the Xbox One X (which has a solid framerate at all resolutions) and the PC version. Even better, the PS5 and Xbox Series X are able to maintain a solid 60fps in performance mode on both consoles.
 * 9) * Despite providing superior graphics, official mod support, and supporting framerate up to 120fps, the PC Version requires very demanding specs to run the game on a smooth framerate.
 * 10) Altissia and Niflheim have areas (i.e. Cartanica, Ravettrice, Tenebrae, etc.) that were obviously meant to be explorable by the player. Leaks about the game's troubling development confirmed they were meant to be explorable but due to the aformentioned deadline Square Enix impose on the game, the developers were forced to cut them out.
 * 11) The infamous Chapter 13, one of the most controversial levels in the Final Fantasy series (thankfully in March 2017, the level was mostly addressed).
 * 12) Pointless dialogue choices except in the end of the Episode Ignis DLC.

Critical reception
Final Fantasy XV received generally positive reviews, though its review scores were lower than usual for main series entries. The game was praised for the portrayal of the friendship between the main characters, expansive open world, with criticism directed to its storytelling and to the second half of the story that felt flawed.

Many critics praised the open world and the gameplay. IGN posited the game is "constantly and thoroughly beautiful", and never compromises in "scale or detail", while Polygon felt that the "world of Lucis is so interesting, so detailed and begging to be explored" that excuses to travel were "welcomed".

The development team is aware of the feedback of the game feeling unfinished, and this has been said to be the biggest issue for them. Though there was not enough time to include everything the developers had wanted to, and though they would have preferred to put these things in the main story, the team plans to keep including the parts that have been left out via updates and DLCs.

Accolades
PlayStation Blog awarded Final Fantasy XV for Best PS4 Game, Best Use of Pro, Best Soundtrack, and Best Visuals.

Final Fantasy XV won Game of the Year from GameFAQs, Best RPG and Best Soundtrack from IGN, and Best Cast from Game Informer.

At the 2017 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, the game won "Game, Franchise Role Playing" and "Song, Original or Adapted", while being nominated for "Art Direction, Fantasy", "Camera Direction In A Game Engine" and "Performance In A Drama, Supporting" (for Amy Shiels as Lunafreya).

Trivia

 * Verum Rex is based off Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Tetsuya Nomura stated that there is a connection between Noctis and Sora.

Quotes
"Take heed. Never bow out of what you begin. So long as you carry the blood royal, so long as you carry my name... carry your head high."

- Regis Lucis Caelum to Noctis

"My hair does not look like a chocobo butt."

- Prompto Argentum

"If you know of any who are bedridden, or unable to come to me... Pray, send word, and I...shall go to them. I follow my calling. I will not halt my steps for anything else."

- Lunafreya Nox Fleuret

"Luna: Do you remember the flowers of Tenebrae? It seemed so long ago. You'll find that they await you still, blooming from hill to vale. Noctis: Will you be there? [Luna pauses, before slowly shaking her head] Luna: Would that I could join you. But this moment...will have to be enough. Noctis: It's not right. All I... All I wanted...was to save you. Luna: When the world falls down around you, and hope is lost...when you find yourself alone, amid a lightless place, look to the distance. Know that I am there, and that I watch over you always. Farewell, dear Noctis. [Noctis, crying, is heard saying a choked up "I can't... I can't..." while he struggles in vain to reach her as she fades away]"

- Noctis and Lunafreya's last moments

"Gladiolus: The hell is wrong with you? Noctis: What? Gladiolus: We're not stopping in Tenebrae. You need to grow up and get over it. Noctis: I am over it, I’m here, aren’t I!? Gladiolus: [grabs Noctis' collar] Maybe when you’re not too busy moping, you can look around and give a sh** about someone worse off than you. Noctis: Let go of me. Gladiolus: How’s that ring fit ya? You’d rather carry it around than wear it? She gave her life so you could do your duty, not so you could sit around feeling sorry for yourself. Noctis: You don’t think I know that?! Gladiolus: You don’t! Ignis took one for you too, and for what?! Ignis: Enough, Gladio! Gladiolus: You think you’re a king, but you’re a coward. Noctis: SHUT UP! Prompto: Don’t do this—! [gets pushed aside] Noctis: [shoves Gladio away] I GET IT, ALRIGHT?! I GET IT! Gladiolus: Then get a grip! Pull your head outta your ass already!"

- Noctis and Gladiolus trash-talk to each other

"Off my chair, Jester. The King sits there."

- Noctis ordering Ardyn to get off his chair, because the King sits there

"I've come up with a new recipeh!"

- Ignis, every time

Videos
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