Gametalk: Final Fantasy XV

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Enroute to wed his fiancée Luna on a road trip with his best friends, Prince Noctis is advised by news reports that his homeland has been invaded and taken over under the false pretense of a peace treaty – and that he, his loved one and his father King Regis, have been slain at the hands of the enemy.

To gather the strength needed to uncover the truth and reclaim his homeland, Noctis and his loyal companions must overcome a series of challenges in a spectacular open world - that is filled with larger-than-life creatures, amazing wonders, diverse cultures and treacherous foes. (source)

I'm a big Final Fantasy fan, I can't get enough of these games (currently playing World of Final Fantasy, by the way). I actually got both the movie and the game for Christmas, and I really recommend you watch the movie before playing FFXV, it's all a bit confusing at first, as Final Fantasy stories usually are, but, once you get the whole idea, it's a really great concept and you'll understand the game better. You'll also get to see characters who don't appear in the game.

I remember that wen I first saw the trailer (this wasn't even going to be Final Fantasy XV, but Versus XIII) I thought it looked pretty cool, definitely more... how should I say?... modern, than the previous Final Fantasy games for some reason. I don't know, there's always amazing technology in FF, but this one just seemed more twenty-first century to me, if you know what I mean (you probably don't).

The main characters are great. Before playing this, I thought: "Where the girls at?", I love playing as a girl, or having strong girls in my party, but this one only consists of guys. Of course, you get to see Lunafreya every now and then, and the hotness that is Cindy (Who even repairs cars in a bikini top? Not very Final Fantasy-like, I think, but she's pretty cool). Still, I loved my party, these guys are amazing and I ended up loving them to bits.

I was also very happy since this is the first Final Fantasy game I have that's available in Japanese, I love being able to listen to the original Japanese audio. Turns out that it didn't work too well here, you always find yourself running around with the guys in your party shouting things at you and you don't have the time to read the subtitles while you're fighting and running, so I had to change the audio back to English. Wasn't really bad though, turns out I'm pretty used to the English audio and it adds a little something to the game, maybe because I always play FF in English.

As in any other Final Fantasy game, there are a lot of quests and missions for you to take on, most of them optional, but if you're familiar with RPGs, you'll know there's a lot of leveling up to do and money to earn, so these missions come in pretty handy. There's this guy who'll ask for you to take some pictures (not always as easy as it sounds) and the pay is really good, so make sure you listen to him.

The battle system is amazing, they tend to change a lot in these games lately, and the warping ability Noctis has here is so very useful! It's a bit confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop using it.

Oh and that Cup Noodle publicity though! I found it really funny and original, to be honest. There's a point in the story when you can actually learn the recipe for Cup Noodles and Ignis will be able to cook them for you. And let's not forget about the Vivienne Westwood wedding dress.

But let's just appreciate Ignis for a second now. The guy does literally everything! He drives the car, cooks and plans strategies... What would we do without him? He's precious.

You also get to drive the car, and I was actually very eager to, but once I started I got tired of it pretty fast and let Ignis take back the wheel. It's just so comfortable to sit back, put on some nice music (I especially enjoyed the FFXIII soundtrack) and look at the scenery. Driving around in the Regalia was pretty fun, I felt such freedom being able to do that in the game. Whenever I didn't have the Regalia I just went all crazy and impatient (Why God, whyy?), but you also get to ride chocobos later in the game, hurray! I love chocobos.

Also, a little warning here: do not, I repeat, DO NOT by any circumstances go out at night when you're still starting out. It's ridiculous how fast you're going to get killed. A joke, really. You've been warned.

Even though the game is fifteen chapters long, it all starts to go pretty fast once you reach chapter eight o nine. Seriously, make sure you get everything done before then, as you won't have much time left after that. It was all just a whirlwind of emotions starting from there. My poor heart just kept breaking over and over again (and again and again). And the ending is really something to look forward to. Confusing at first, as usual, but then things start to fall back into place and it's all amazing and beautiful.

The final battles aren't really too bad (loved this Ifrit), just make sure you have a lot of items to heal yourself. And be prepared to get all the feels, you know how Square Enix likes to make things all emotional and get you feeling all nostalgic. Prompto's photos don't help either.

Now that I've finished, I can't wait to do all those missions I didn't get done before, since you're able to get back to them once you're done.


Do you also enjoy playing video games? Any Final Fantasy game you like?

Thank you for reading! ♥