Hello fellow peers, this is a review on a recent game that I’ve been playing for a very long time, which goes by the title of Final Fantasy XV.

This game is the fifteenth main title title in the renown Final Fantasy series, and the third installment of the Final Fantasy subseries Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy, set on the continent of Lucis, home to the game’s protagonists: Noctis, the prince of Lucis venturing forth to the city of Altissia to go through with his arranged marriage; Gladioulus, the big tough guy of the group in charge of ensuring the groups’ powerful foundation in combat; Ignis, the intelligent, soft-spoken “babysitter” of the group tasked with giving advise to the team as well as making sure they all don’t starve to death; and Prompto, the optimistic boy-wonder with a very itchy trigger finger, both when taking out foes and memorable photos alike. After the Niflheim Empire overtakes his home of the Lucian capital city and murders his father, subsequently making Noct king. The adventure takes place all across the world map and the vast land that is Lucis, either by riding giant flightless, sprinting birds named Chocobos or cruising down the highway in the group’s deluxe (sexy) sports car, the Regalia.

Since this is a video game, of course there is gameplay, and most Square Enix games are experts in the field of making playing a game fun. Typically, Final Fantasy games are based around thieir trademark turn-based monster battle gameplay, usually featuring a fraction of the main party against a few monsters through random encounters. This Final Fantasy, however, is based around an open-world free battle style that is more affiliated with its predecessor Final Fantasy Type-0, as well as Square Enix‘s other big-hit series, Kingdom Hearts. In this game, as you fight a set amount of monsters, Noctis can switch weapons at will while fighting with his allies in real time, not only that but making elemental spells to use as consumables that deal huge amounts of damage to enemies. The battles can devolve into chaos at some points however, though its not something too severe to the point where it drops too many frames. Most battles are fought against moderately tough enemies which can be easily defeated at a high enough level, or if Noctis just so happens to own one of the many treasure weapons scattered in Royal Tombs across Lucis, owned by his predecessors, the past kings of Lucis.

OR you could get colossal bosses that can wipe out you and your pals with one breath. You and the other guys are easily dwarfed by enemies like that, seemingly impossible to defeat. Now keep in mind that the screenshot below is a picture of the monster at a distance. I’ve confronted this behemoth before and it wiped me out by merely laying its head on the ground fast enough. This thing was so dangerous in fact that the mission objective that revolved around this monster was “Get away.” Remember, this is the beast at a distance.

Thankfully, you have a chance of assistance when engaged in seriously tough battles. Another trademark of the Final Fantasy franchise is the ability to call upon powerful forces of nature in order to aid the party in battle, as a form of divine intervention. Summons in this game, like many other core entries of this series call upon deities inspired by actual religious figures in order to assist the hero and deal hilariously devastating amounts of damage like Shiva, Ifrit, and Bahamut. In FFXV in particular, part of the main storyline revolves around the boys venturing to different sites in order to request the power of these deities when the time comes that they need it, ranging from the colossal Titan which launches a giant chunk of the earth itself, to the wily Leviathan which sends your opponents into the atmosphere through a tyhoon, and even the frosty Shiva, which gives the enemy monsters a nasty case of hypothermia, as seen below.

Story wise, this game is a bit lackluster, or dare I say incomplete. The story presented by the game alone is done pretty well, though the backstories, motivations, and actions of most characters presented in the game are either left out completely or glossed over. Thankfully this is remedied by the CGI OVA Kingsglaive made by Square Enix and the short anime series Brotherhood directed by A-1 Pictures (a studio that I personally have a bone to pick with, but that’s neither here nor there). Unfortunately, these two animated features are almost required to have seen in order to fully grasp the story of this game, though it is worth the time. Even with the incomplete plot in-game, you feel each character and how they bounce off of each other, especially the four main protagonists. They crack jokes, argue, play games, fight together, grieve together, and at some points thinking as one. You truly feel like the anime’s title Brotherhood wasn’t chosen lightly.

All in all, Final Fantasy XV is a very enjoyable experience. The story is comprehendable, the gameplay is very solid (despite the fact that it can be very chaotic at times), and the graphics look gorgeous. So much so that the beginning of the game is dedicated to Noct, Gladio, and Prompto pushing the Regalia while taking in the beautiful mountain range surrounding them in the middle of the desert flatlands. This game is a truly stellar one that I highly recommend, because if it wasn’t then I wouldn’t have invested 70+ hours into it and counting.