Title ^

I am really surprised by this. I did see the Unfinished a while back and it looked rad then, but damn this game is clicking for me on all fronts. And it kind of shouldn't, it's just that I know it is a Final Fantasy game and it looks like one but, man it's so different. It's like if Mario suddenly became a modern action game (except in this case with FF it seems like a good idea). I'm liking just about everything here. I could see running around and driving around getting a bit stale later though, but we'll see. For now, I actually enjoy the 4 minute drives while I eat some food and drink some water (in the real world) and just watch and listen to what's happening.

I think the gameplay is pretty fantastic. It seems like it should get sufficient depth later on and I really dig how the combat flows when you chain stuff together. This is their first real, realtime action game. And they pretty much nailed it. Is it a bit easy to get high scores though? I seem to get A+ every single time. Or is this a DMC4 thing where you can get up to SSS?

I'm one of the few that's actually awaited this game for the full 10+ years. I watched that E3 2006 Sony press conference live at GameSpot back then. It instantly became my most anticipated game (no interest in FF13 proper, lol), and it remained that for many years. It was only 2 years ago that my excitement for it waned as they came clean about the all the changes they'd made.

Well, I beat it today, and I liked it. I liked it a lot, actually. It's not the legendary game I was once hoping for, but it's damn good.

The combat's fine, but I still wish they'd kept the KH combat system. Can you really call this an action game? Sure, I guess. But it's not a hack 'n' slasher, which is what it was originally intended to be. That said, you can certainly make the combat a lot more involved depending on how you spec yourself.

Right from the get go I made the decision to only take skills that would expand Noctis' moveset, so I unlocked Airdance ASAP and moved on to the Blink tree afterwards. Sadly the game doesn't give you anywhere near enough AP to get everything I would've wanted.

And yeah, it's pretty easy to get A+ across the board. It used to be different in version 1.01 where you were graded on Stealth, Defense and Offense. I usually got D-ranks for the first two. It's a good change, as I don't like constantly being told I'm shit.

I'm really enjoying it quite a bit so far. More than I thought I would in fact. I haven't been in to a major numbered FF since 9 (not counting 14 ARR, which I put a ton of time in to but is a different beast). This one has definitely grabbed me and made me want to play it a lot more.

To me the story so far has really been about the interactions of Noctis and his friends. Everything going on around them is really just an excuse to explore the world together. They really are the story and their interactions, while cliche at times, are heart warming and fun. I finished a fight last night and Prompto started humming the classic FF battle victory music. Gladio quipped "Someone's having a good day". I was grinning from ear to ear. Just exploring the world as Noctis with his buddies in tow has been an amazing experience. I can't wait to get home from work and do more of it tonight.

Couldn't be enjoying it more. Most fun I have ever had with a FF game.

IT HAS FISHING !!

But yeah, the game is incredible. It's so dumb and cheesy but it has heart. Rather than team members being static, and only speaking in cutscenes, the banter between everyone is rather cool. Feels like you actually going on an adventure. I played most FF games, but I think this beats them. The game took risks, which I appreciate too.

I really hope it does well.

im about an hour in and I like it so far. i don't hate the characters and I'm enjoying the combat. the game has this weird feeling to it that I can't quite point out; like camping to level up, having your buddy make you food, the weird country accents with the NPC's. so I hope the rest of the game is good as a game, not just a FF game

Great Game (so far 3 hours in)

I like it so far, I'm only 3 hours in right now but I like what I have played.

I think it's incredible honestly, I'm 9 hours in and still in chapter 1. I love exploring so much, and there's so many great random and funny moments that just happen on your travels.

I've liked some Final Fantasy's in the past, but I do think this one might actually be the best. At the very least, it's the best at opening impressions. I was sold immediately during the car pushing scene with freaking Stand by Me playing into the title card.

I had sort of written the game off over the past few years. However, now with the positive buzz I'm intrigued. I am a huge fan of VII (it was the first RPG I played), loved X, and made it about 3/4 through XIII before I threw in the towel. I tried XII back when it came out and absolutely hated the battle system.

However, after watching some video from other sites, this battle system actually seems like it's easy to follow. I heard some places explain that is really is sort of like an action game at times with rpg elements. Is that true? Is the battle system easy for someone like me to get into, or is it something that can prevent you from progressing through the whole game?

Anybody who has the game who can fill me in would be great!

You guys are making it hard to wait for the completely unannounced PC version...

As someone who's played very few FF games and finished even fewer, I'm loving it. How quickly they let you out into the world is wonderful, I love the playful atmosphere and goofiness. Very impressed after picking it up basically on a whim.

Damn, was just loading up Steam for it :( I did just get a new 4k/HDR TV...Playstation Pro worth it? Hmmm...

So far so good. I'm only 2 hours in but I'm really enjoying it so far. The completely open world is really great to see after the corridors of XIII (I also enjoyed that game btw), and I feel like it's full of interesting and engaging quests and secrets to be discovered. Driving around in the car is a cool, modern way to make the journey as well, and I love just going for road trips with my bros.

The interactions between the characters so far has been surprisingly great as well. It really feels like people at Square played Persona and mixed the great character interactions from those games with the sprawling JRPG world of a Final Fantasy game. I'm a sucker for banter in combat, and this game has that in spades. I've seen a few one on one interactions between Noctis and his crew, which definitely give the impression that these characters are really good friends.

They do a lot to get you emotionally attached to the characters, with the most effective method being the photos of your crew you can see when you rest for the day. I found myself chuckling at a photo Prompto took of Noctis picking a tomato plant (an action I actually did in game) and really liked that they take shots of you in battle.

The one complaint I'd have so far is that the combat doesn't feel great to me. I frequently find myself not being able to dodge things I think I would be able to after playing Episode Duscae for hours, and my swings don't seem to carry the weight I think they should. Hopefully I'm just not used to it right now, but I can definitely see myself getting frustrated in the future if I don't get better.

Really loving the game though. So glad it actually turned out well.

It sets a really great first impression.

I like the feel of the combat even though I'm also kinda struggling to get a hand on the camera and also on tells for when I should be dodging effectively. So right now it feels like I overcompensate for every enemy action, that'll probably improve with time though.

The camera probably not but eh I've put up with worse.

I'm liking it a surprising amount. Almost enough to do a @zombiepie style blog about it. A lot of Final Fantasy games are weird, but this one is weird in a really specific way. From Stand By Me randomly popping up to your tents and stove having the fucking Coleman badge on them. It's a pretend world with a truly odd dash of super-specific real world stuff in it.

Major complaints right now are:

(a) the controls are taking some getting used to. I wish I could custom bind buttons. For whatever reason, I keep hitting square for attack and circle to dodge, and there's no way to just change that. None of the alt-control schemes really look good, either.

(b) The camera is seriously, atrociously bad, especially in tight spaces. This is the one thing I actually think they kind of need to patch.

(c) The combat is a bit . . . button-mashy, although a lot of that is me right now? I really, really (really) want an option to make lock on a toggle rather than having to hold down the button. I'm also finding that the auto-lock is not doing a great job, particularly when it comes to warping out of combat. If I'm looking at the warp prompt, it should warp me there, but instead I find myself doing a standard warp to nowhere more often than not.

only an hour in or so, but already I like the main cast 1000000% more then anyone in FF13. So that is nice.

I've also had 100000% more freedom to explore then I did in the entirety of FF13, so things are looking pretty good!

I actually have quite the opposite reaction of most in this thread... one hour in and the game has set an incredibly terrible impression on me. I am not going to write it off because I want to give it time, but yeah really not into anything I have seen yet.

Also maybe I am the only one but holy shit I cannot stand Cindys voice in the game. Good god.

I dunno, there's a lot I love about the game, but I feel as if I don't have a firm grasp on the combat so it results in me winning and not sure what I did or dying and not sure how I died so fast. I feel like I have to unlearn a lot of things from other action games. In something like Bayonetta, the enemies have really obvious tells and it gives you eons to dodge. The tells in XV seem a lot more subtle and there's a lot going on so a lot of the time I'm taking damage I never saw coming or couldn't properly avoid.

Also, I just feel weak. Both in terms of the damage I do and receive.

Hey, like listen, I'll be the first to say I'm probably missing something. I'm gonna stick with it because like I said, there' s a lot I'm really loving (world, graphics, music, characters, etc etc) but there are parts that haven't clicked with me yet and I'm still at the point where I'm willing to accept it's my fault.

Havent played but i watched some game play footage and it looks pretty damn good. Doesnt seem like all the characters are whining about how terrible their life is like 13, and they spend a good amount if time actually having fun themselves lol.

No money for it, but hopefully a pc version will release at some point and i have some dispensible income again. :-)

I am only 45 minutes in or so, so take it for what its worth, but I really like it. I always tend to like the SNES FF games the most and enjoyed the PS1 era ones as well, but XIII felt like a dick kick which made me feel super down on this initially. Glad I decided to go with it.

It looks amazing like that. I have the same setup and it's a very nice hold over til the PC version comes out, especially with the further Pro patch next month.

I've already beaten the game and it's my GOTY as I've said elsewhere (hurray for getting it early).

You do more damage from behind (Blindside Attacks), which also trigger Link Attacks. Warp strikes do more damage the further and/or higher you are from your target. Even though it's a fast paced system it's best to really try to take your time and don't just jump into the fray. Try out wait mode as well. There really is no downside to it. It just activates automatically when you stay still for a few moments so you can survey the battlefield better.

I really hope they announce a PC version.

So I a one of those people that immediately took a liking to this game after playing episode duscae. I have really enjoyed Kingsglaive and Brotherhood. With that being said I have spent two hours and I am still in hammerhead doing hunts and searching for everything.

Looking forward to having time off to really dig into this.

Really liking it a lot.

So far, I'm having a great time with this game. It's far from perfect, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The combat is fun, even with too many moments of chaos and a terrible camera. The characters are great, even if I don't think they really fit with the rest of the game aesthetically. Questing is fun, even if the quests are bland. The music is stellar. So far, I don't find the story compelling, but I think that has a lot to do with how it's told. Much of the emotion is lost when (spoiler?) so many revelations are made via cellphone conversations.

@lawgamer:Change the control scheme. Scheme B is far better, and binds attack to the square button.

Enjoying it, even though it does have some pretty obvious faults when it comes to presentation.

Like, I find it really annoying that the movement and combat animations look fluid and amazing, but the standard interactions with other NPCs are so lame. The conversations with people just look bad. Very stilted character animations, bad lip synching, and a lot of blank emotionless faces. I don't know, most of this game feels fresh and modern, but some aspects of it feel like an early generation 360 game.

Really strange game, but I´m enjoying it quite a bit. Glad I decided to watch the Brotherhood anime and Kingsglaive beforehand, so that I have more background knowledge of the characters and overall happenings of the story early on, as that stuff seems kind of more tell than show in the game itself at this point. Excited to see where this game goes.

@cigaro: Cindy is general is awful. Every time I hear her voice I can't help but roll my eyes.

I've played about four hours so far, really enjoying it.

It's quite a relaxing game in a weird way. Not really got anywhere in the story yet (only at chapter 2) but interested to see where it goes.

I still really dislike the magic system, which seems to be pretty much the same as the Platinum demo. It feels very cumbersome to have to aim a grenade anytime I want to do mage stuff. Seeing as I'm the only guy in my party that can do it, and magic being a pretty big deal in this universe, I keep wanting to give it a shot because the effects actually look really cool, but I just hate actually using it. Friendly fire also sucks. I found that if I wait long enough while aiming a shot Noctis will call out to the others to get out of the way. I thought that was a nice touch the first time, when it actually worked. Every other time after that they've stuck around close enough to get hit by my spell. Maybe going far into the elemancy tree makes this all worth it, I dunno. My initial impressions of magic are sour enough for me to give up on it.

Now aside from that, I am hooked. It's definitely one of those "just one more hunt, just one more quest, just one more fight" type of games. I find myself relishing every combat encounter because it all really does feel very fun and I haven't even unlocked the airstep stuff on Noctis' tree yet.

Also, you can drift on a Chocobo, so that's pretty cool.

@redyoshi: You can equip the magic grenades on your part members, though?

@lawgamer: From what I understand I think if you hold down the button to lock on and then click in R3 it'll hard lock on your target.

@gaff: Can you? I did try that but it seemed like I could only get their secondary weapons to show up. I must have overlooked something or selected the wrong gear slot then.

edit: Yeah, that's my fault. I just double checked and the spells totally showed up. I guess every time I tried before I had forgotten to actually craft a spell first before attempting to equip it on a party member. I'll give it a try and see how the AI party members use of magic spells works out for me.

@axersia: Wait, what? How did you finish it already? Didn't it just come out yesterday? How short is this game?

@mightyduck Yeah, it's pretty much an action game with RPG elements when you're inside the combat. Outside of that it's just a very modern JRPG. I think the combat is quite easy to learn, but it does seem to have some depth. I'm only 7 hours in so I don't know how crazy it gets, but I think you'll be fine. The game has a pretty comprehensive tutorial on the combat in there.

@oursin_360 You don't even know. After you've set up camp and eaten there, one of the dudes shows what pictures he has taken throughout that day. You can then view them all (usually 10-20) and choose which ones to save or even share. They are always pretty hilarious. Like the guys posing awkwardly in front of statues and what not.

Loving the game so far. Even if the characters seem like standard anime tropes, they all have their own personality and interests that are blended into the game smartly. Instead of just a cooking or photography minigame, you get the sense from the beginning that the characters are really into those things for their own personal reasons, and bookending a day with the guys setting up camp, eating a meal and sharing photos of your day works far better than it should on paper. You could easily write the characters off to start - watching Noct be a little shit to his Dad and everyone complaining - but they build on you quickly. Plus the tons of little nostalgia trips - setting the car on autodrive and setting up a classic soundtrack to play while the guys talk and look at scenery works surprisingly well.

I've so far mostly been wandering around the first area doing sidequests and camping. Still getting the hang of combat, which is action-focused but doesn't seem overly complex. Will be interested to see if it opens up a little more in terms of options.

Yo what!? Why wouldn't they tell you this from the get-go!? Or maybe I'm just an idiot and didn't see it, but I'll definitely be trying this out when I get home from work... 8 hours from now.

The tutorial does mention it in passing I'm pretty sure, but it's a bit easy to miss.

I've never actually played any Final Fantasy game before. Would this be a decent place to start?

Sure. It has nothing to do with previous games aside from some perennially-recurring elements (chocobos, etc), and it's completely accessible. It's not really going to tell you whether you might like other games in the series because it's so different, but that's pretty much been the case with every new installment since FF10.

@cloudymusic: Ok cool. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

In general... wow. It's been a long time coming. Couldn't pry myself away once I started yesterday.

• I'm very enamoured with it right now (4.5 hours in)
• I had a "moment" at the title screen. Just let it run on loop for 20 minutes maybe lol. It was too monumental. Rush of memories from the last 10 years. Rush of memories about Final Fantasy games. It was intense. Nearly wept!
• The music is AMAZING! Very original, but also infused with familiar themes.
• I'm playing with Japanese VO, I really like it
• All the little shots of your dudes hanging out are really awesome: at restaurants, inns, camping, etc.
• Obvious but lots of little references to other FFs. Saw some "Junon Engine Oil". Dope.
• Cindy... just don't show up when my GF's in the room.
• I wish there were some HUD options! Nitpicking but this would be nice for them to add later. Thank you Tabata :)
• I really love the slow pace of the game. The driving is very chill.
• God the team animations in this game are so awesome. Seriously the physical interactions are so well put together and their body language is so emotive. It's probably the best realization of "people working together physically" we've ever had in games. What started in Uncharted 2 (I think) with you walking with that camera guy continues in FFXV.
• That's all for now! I can't read your comments because I'm too afraid for accidental spoilers.
• Oh it looks very beautiful by the by.

@feralchemy: really? I have been playing for 23 hours and didn't know this. Thank you so much!

I haven't tried it yet myself but I think if you make the spell a heal cast it will heal your teammates and damage the enemies.

You don't have to aim them? Just equip the spell and press circle when targeting an enemy. It instantly goes off. Friendly fire is a thing, probably to mitigate spells being so strong. So you use it as a finisher more than anything else. You can probably also craft spells that do firedamage while at the same time giving fire immunity to your party late(r) in the game so friendly fire won't be a thing? I'm just assuming since FF always had immunity spells as well. You can also equip pretty much any party member with spells too.

I actually really like the magic system, because it requires you to craft spells. I've already seen some really cool synergies when crafting them. Giving one person damage dealing spells that also heal the party for instance. It's that complex system they introduced in FFX. I bet you can craft spells that deal damage, heal your party, inflict silence on all enemies, remove all negative status effects from your dudes, cast haste and then triple cast that. As one spell. I'm really digging it.

I quite like the characters. I need to get further into the story to get a full opinion, but it works as a way to get characters from place to place. I am not having many issues with the combat outside of having a ton of Imperials dropped on my head at any given moment.

@nux: I thought the heal only applied to the caster but if it would benefit my party members as well that's definitely something I'll look into.

@zevvion: I had no idea you didn't have to aim it, that's fantastic. I'll admit that thinking I could only use it as a grenade soured me on it so much that I didn't experiment with magic too much past trying to aim it at a clustered group of enemies.

Hearing this pretty much turned around the only real negative thing about the gameplay for me because I actually really enjoy messing around with the crafting aspect to the magic. Stuff like using monster drops to add poison or enervation to my magic is great, and even if I run out of that stuff, it just gives me another excuse to fight more monsters, which I don't mind at all. Wow, now I can't wait to mess around with magic some more.

@zevvion: I had it for a few extra days thanks to a store breaking street date. The campaign's really short though. I clocked in at 32 hours, and most of that was spent on optional stuff. If you set the game to easy mode and mainline it, I'm sure you could easily beat it in like 15 hours. Not at all unusual for an open world game. Of course, there's still tons more stuff to do. Peter Brown of GameSpot spent 60 hours before reviewing it, and he mentions in the review he still hasn't figured out what all the locked doors in de dungeons are all about. Neither have I.

@axersia: Probably some Dark Aeon variation? I haven't played the endgame in any game other than FFX, so that's my reference for that stuff. But I imagine there is a point of no return in the story, you don't go passed it and go get all the crazy weapons and accessories to trick out your dudes to be able to fight the insane endgame bosses. I already saw the 'Break 'X' Limit' skills in the Ascension menu, costing 999 AP. No doubt there is some type of endgame in here. That might be those locked doors.

@redyoshi Yeah, I really like how magic works. Except when I deplete one of uses, it doesn't get refilled by another spell in my inventory. I haven't tried going into the menu to see if I can do it manually, perhaps that's a possibility? I'm really looking forward to the crazy combinations you can make. I haven't quite figured out if Potency has any purpose though. If I have a fire spell with 1 Potency or if I have one with 50 Potency, it seems to do the same thing. Perhaps it does more raw damage, but it's kind of hard to tell/test. The only thing it definitely does is if you go over 100 Potency's it turns it to a different spell. But then why allow me to choose 1, 99 or anything in between that if I want a basic spell? Kind of weird.

I'm really enjoying it so far. Only two hours in, as I just started playing today, but the battle system is a ton of fun to interact with and just look at, even if it feels like I'm not in full control all the time. I've seen like no story stuff but the four car boys seem likable enough.

Also, the battle music is REALLY good. Somehow better than XIIIs.