As I’ve covered other Square Enix games, I realized that I had yet to cover any of the Final Fantasy games. This is a problem that I’m tackling now, with a bit of a controversial one. This game, while beautiful and rather ambitious, has a major flaw within it. And no, it is not within any of the characters or designs of the monsters/summons of the game. So, let’s dive in already, because the more I talk about the thing that makes this game fall short, the less I wanna talk about it.
Final Fantasy 15 sports a rather colorful cast of characters, even if their appearances say the exact opposite. but the main party consists of N0ctis Lucis Caelum, the prince of a kingdom soon destroyed after he sets out with his Kingsguard. He is the Chosen Light, and the main character of the game. Then there’s his best friend, Prompto. He is the photographer and sharpshooter of the party, taking photos and wisecracks with the party, yet shooting with a pistol and whatever mechanic weapons you give him. There’s Ignis, another member of the Kingsguard who has served Noctis every step of his life since meeting him at a young age. He comes sporting daggers and a spear, and is the tactician of the group. Last but not least, maybe even the largest, Gladiolus. Gladio is the shield of the party, and his never stop working mentality plays a part in his gameplay as a party member, often being the first to pick you up before anybody else. These four travel throughout the lands to find Noctis’ Royal arms, and help him fulfill his destiny as the one to dispel the approaching calamity known as the Eternal Twilight. Collecting the Royal Arms is optional however, yet it will also net you an amazing reward for gathering all 13 weapons of Noctis’ ancestors.
Final Fantasy 15’s gameplay is something that is both amazing and frustrating at the same time. Each face button has its own function, as well as each bumper. However, this simplicity also takes away from the game in a pretty important way, that being the possibility of variable combos for a while, before you unlock a skill that allows you to switch weapons between Noctis’ unique ability to perform a warp-strike. The problem with that however, is that it makes you stop whatever you are doing to switch weapons and get back to fighting. Of course, your teammates are there to pick up the slack whenever you are not fighting, but they can be defeated too. Then, remember that reward I talked about? If you either purchased the Royal Edition or bought the game on Windows/Xbox, then you found all 13 Royal Arms, you go to a certain spot during the day, and grab something that specifically unlocks after you collect the Arms, the Founder King’s Sigil, then your Armiger will change into Armiger Unleashed. This allows for way faster combat, the use of actual button combos to change the results of attacks, and special skills all exclusive to you. Unlike regular Armiger however, Noctis is vulnerable to damage, and will not have access to Armiger Chain, a skill where Noctis unleashes his Armiger f0r a group attack with his party. Also, the entire party stays out of the way whenever Noctis enters Armiger Unleashed, as they know fully well that Noctis has everything covered.
All in all, Final Fantasy 15 is a beautiful, ambitious game, but when rushed at the finish line, the game fell short. Then again, the game has had plenty of updates. Maybe the flaws will be fixed when I go back to it. I’m not sure. All I know is that this game is a beautiful tragedy.
