Last year after working almost every day during Christmas at my retail job I went on a holiday to the United States with my family. It was awesome and a much needed break from working and stressing out everyday. Final Fantasy XV is this in video game form. Its a holiday adventure with three of your best friends, both in the game and in a way a holiday from the regular games thrown at you at this time of the year. The gaming world just got a different type of shooter every week and its exciting and refreshing to play Final Fantasy because its nothing like those games. I have currently played 18 hours of it and I’m only halfway through the story because I keep finding new things to go and do. The game isn’t a chore to play but is in fact making you use your time wisely because of the endless things you can do. You don’t necessarily have to do them all but you want to do them anyway as you feel like you’re living in the game’s world. I’m not a huge fan of large games with an enormous number of side quests but there’s something about this game that doesn’t just make it enjoyable for the fans of Final Fantasy and large open world games but also makes it enjoyable for the casual gamer who will keep coming back again and again until the day when they finally finish the game.
I was never a huge fan of the Final Fantasy games, only turn based games I really play is Pokémon, however I’m a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. The promise of the gameplay being like Kingdom Hearts got me excited, probably because I miss those games dearly. The gameplay is great, when the camera isn’t being too annoying. The action is almost cinematic in a way because it is so fluid and fast paced. You’re always doing something in battle whether that be planning your attack or dodging bullets like Neo in The Matrix. The world is filled and looks incredible. The idea of camping, finding hotel rooms, finding ingredients, eating food, making magic spells, finding treasure and driving around is surprisingly enjoyable as you become used to living your now second life as Prince Noctis. You find the time in your regular day to put your real life aside to become him for a few hours and it is fantastic.
The story so far, six chapters in, is quite good and I want to know more about what happens but the rest of the game is too hard to ignore and do later because every icon on the map is so tempting to explore. After such a long wait for this game is it a relief that it is so enjoyable and it is because its such a large game that it will be a game that I don’t put down for awhile to come. A year on from my holiday I now enjoy finding time to have this small holiday as Noctis with his mates in a world that just keeps getting more exciting and captivating.
Expectation Level: Very High
Expectation Achieved
Score: 4.5/5 Game is definitely worth the wait it took to make and is enjoyable to all and not just the hardcore Final Fantasy fans.
As an added bonus heres some photos from my holiday as Prince Noctis (One of your companions, Prompto, Takes photos every day as the official photographer)