Geek Review: Final Fantasy XV | Geek Culture

Final Fantasy XV had no chance of not being an incredibly hyped game. While it hits a lot of nostalgia buttons for legacy fans and has a very fun combat system and some fun mini-games, it has mostly forgettable characters and a cookie-cutter story. And all the fetch quests in the world. The game was never going to live up the hype, but it’s too bad it couldn’t even get anywhere near close.

[DragonKnight]

"has a very fun combat system."

No it doesn't. Any combat system that takes you out of the equation by allowing for auto-battle is not a fun system.

Sure, you can't win by just holding circle, but the fact that you can "just hold circle" to attack is a problem. Plus either purchasing a skill with AP or using Wait mode (which is tedious enough to even activate) just to learn enemy weaknesses is inefficient.

Then there's the weapon swap mechanic which is poorly done. Why must I have only 4 available slots but a gaggle of possible weapon types? Why can't I equip multiple weapons per slot and cycle through them using multiple presses of whichever D-Pad button? Why must I also equip magic like I do weapons? Why are spells subject to friendly fire? Why are spells consumables when there is MP in the game? Why does Chrono Trigger, a 16 bit SNES game, do combo attacks better than this game? Why are enemies unbalanced such that a group of 3 level 5 enemies can absolutely trounce your party of 4 level 7 characters? I mean I can go on about how poorly done the combat is. It's better than FFXIII, but that's not saying much.

"The three main female characters, Lunafreya, Iris (Gladiolus’ sister), and Cindy (the ridiculously oversexed mechanic), function more as narrative devices than actual characters. And it’s very disheartening that the incredibly problematic Cindy is the most prominent of the three, along with her short shorts, her short jacket, and her underwear."

Leave your feminist fashion advice for the appropriate venues. You're not Cindy, you'll never be Cindy, nor is Cindy even alive, so what she wears is of literally no impact on your life nor of any importance.

[luckytrouble]

I would like to imagine you actually played the game based on your rather apt description of the somewhat broken leveling mechanic in FFXV (at level 20, I just had one hell of a fight against a group of level 11 enemies), though it's understandable that growth is mostly facilitated through AP skills.

That said, you have a strange misunderstanding of MP and magic in FFXV. The lore of the game states that magical abilities are possessed exclusively by royalty and may be loaned by a King possessing the power of the Ring of the Luci due to the immense power it grants the wielder. Noctis is the only one with actual MP and magic ability due to his heritage, but he doesn't have enough power to loan it, which is why your party is otherwise a magic lacking physical fighting force. Noctis only uses MP for his true magic ability of teleporting, while he uses his magic ability to bottle magic for him and his team to use on the fly. It's my understanding magic is facilitated through other items later in the game, but it remains that magic plays a very different role in this world than in previous Final Fantasy titles in form and function. Also, why does it damage enemies and friends alike? You just tossed a bomb of fire, ice, or lightning affecting a large area. It's a realistic function that friendly fire is a thing and it adds strategy so that you can't just point blank magic bomb a group of enemies without repercussions.

I may as well add that anywhere past the first couple of hours, you'll be in pain if you think you can just roll into battle and hold the circle button. Fighting does require some level of strategy which is why you can't just arrow through a billion weapons on the fly and are limited inherently by Noctis' conjuring ability. Sometimes you need to warp out to gain some perspective and spend a second or two considering your next point of attack, and you should enter hunts and important battles understanding the terrain and after properly surveying the enemy before the battle actually starts to make sure your equipment is optimum. In the end though, you'll have a definitively best piece of gear to use for important battles, and the elemental drain gear should be saved for more standard encounters.

[DragonKnight]

"That said, you have a strange misunderstanding of MP and magic in FFXV."

I don't have any misunderstanding at all. From a game mechanic perspective, taking in all of the previous FF games in the main series, precisely 3 games had magic as "consumables" but still implemented much better than FFXV. The idea that magic does not consume MP, which stands for Magic Points makes zero gameplay sense. The fact that you can also only have a finite amount of magic spell uses, with no way to replenish those uses if you favour potency or unless you want to pause the game, go into a few menus, craft the spell, and re-equip, also makes zero gameplay sense. Bad writing is not an excuse for bad gameplay.

"Also, why does it damage enemies and friends alike? You just tossed a bomb of fire, ice, or lightning affecting a large area. It's a realistic function that friendly fire is a thing and it adds strategy so that you can't just point blank magic bomb a group of enemies without repercussions."

For one, it's called Final Fantasy, not Final Realism. For another, the manner in which combat works almost always has your allies grouped together around enemies, so magic use is disinsentivized with the friendly fire system. The cons outweigh the pros, and another inefficiency is meant to address this, that being that the party can be reduced to 0 HP and as along as Noctis isn't, it doesn't matter. Throw away characters are not a good thing but I digress. Friendly fire is a ridiculous mechanic. I mean, why bother using magic if you can just use an elemental weapon instead and completely bypass worrying about harming your unnecessary party?

"I may as well add that anywhere past the first couple of hours, you'll be in pain if you think you can just roll into battle and hold the circle button."

Already addressed this.

'Fighting does require some level of strategy which is why you can't just arrow through a billion weapons on the fly and are limited inherently by Noctis' conjuring ability."

I'm sorry but menu shifting is not a strategy. Mapping multiple weapons to the arrow keys will not eliminate strategy, it'll just streamline the combat so that you aren't wasting time switching out weapons every battle. What's that? You came across an enemy weak to Javelin's but it's not in your current loadout. Hang on, I know I'm supposed to be fighting but... *presses touchpad to open menu, scrolls to "Gear" and selects, selects weapon that enemy is strong against, switches it out to Javelin, exits out of multiple menus to return to fighting* ok I'm ready now. Yay I won, now I have to hope the next enemy I come across isn't weak to the weapon I just swapped or else I'll need to play the real game.... menu shifting.

"Sometimes you need to warp out to gain some perspective and spend a second or two considering your next point of attack, and you should enter hunts and important battles understanding the terrain and after properly surveying the enemy before the battle actually starts to make sure your equipment is optimum."

Yeah... no. You don't really have to do any of that. And you can't know an enemies weakness until you scan it, which requires being within combat range so... yeah.

[DeadlyOreo]

Haha. This guy says you can just hold circle through a battle. You're either severely over levelled, or you're grinding level 5 enemies.

Anyway, the combat on this game is so fun, I was surprised at how well they have done it.

[Elda]

Loving the combat system including the game so far!

[DragonKnight]

"Haha. This guy says you can just hold circle through a battle. You're either severely over levelled, or you're grinding level 5 enemies."

Is there a literacy problem on this site? Ahem..

"Sure, you can't win by just holding circle, but the fact that you can "just hold circle" to attack is a problem"

It's literally the first sentence of the first paragraph I wrote. And holding circle is how you fight, the game tells you that's how you fight. Again, literacy problems.

"Anyway, the combat on this game is so fun, I was surprised at how well they have done it."

Your standards are ridiculously low.