Final Fantasy XV: The Kotaku Review

Kotaku: "I don’t know how Final Fantasy XV will be remembered when held up to the rest of the Final Fantasy pantheon. But I do know that it’s got everything I want from a Final Fantasy game."

[loverlink]

Probably the best review of the bunch. No numbers or score, just an editors take on his favorite franchise that he is highly critical of.

[syne49]

Yeah seriously, this was a very well written review from a site that I usually don't take anything seriously from. Thus guy did a great job.

[Gazondaily]

Wow. People loving up Kotaku's content on N4G. Damn. Never thought I'd see the day

Excited to play this myself.

[Summons75]

It was okay but for them trashing the story when they were the ones constantly starting false rumors about the games cancellation with no sources makes me feel they wanted to trash this game but honestly couldn't.

[Hozi]

name one game with a better storyline/plot/setting.

[rocketpanda]

So what? The game is out and they played it and review it. Rumors and trash articles have nothing to do with the final review.

Reviews are opinions from the experience the reviewer. Stop feeling offended for negatives highlighted in someone else's experience.

[atke car]

Hozi how about Witcher 3??

[darthv72]

wow... shows how much I pay attention to FF games. I totally did not make the connection that this game was initially in development as FF Versus XIII. I have to be honest that I really have not played any of the games since X. I have a feeling that will change with this release. It looks to good to pass up.

[kraenk12]

Watch the Dark Pixel videos on the matter on YouTube. They are brilliantly made and very informative.

[kevnb]

Ya, many reviews really just don't say much about the game at all.

[Irishguy95]

This was an amzing review...Despite the flaws, you get into the magic...that is what FF has always been to me. The flaws...are always negated by the splendid-ness of it all. Almost. The devil is in the details. i'm looking forward to both the first half of the game and the second half. I want to explore the world. I want to see how it ends. I want to do these dungeons...

[DarXyde]

I've always respected their means of reviewing where they give the conditions of their passthrough of new games (hours, difficulty, etc.).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: reviewers need to collectively adopt Kotaku's review style.

[kraenk12]

Eurogamer does it as well.

[rocketpanda]

The numbers approach is by far the best way to check reviews. With scores people just look at the number without reading into why it got said score.

[silkrevolver]

Really great review - nearly made me tear up a bit.

[joethetimelord]

This could be the best thing Kotaku has ever produced. Great review.

[SirBradders]

Wow.

[Princess_Pilfer]

Ugh. Everything you wanted in a Final Fantasy, and yet it has a poorly told story and is carried by the combat system. That's, you know, the EXACT opposite of what FF has always tried to (and mostly succeeded to) deliver.

Thanks but no thanks, if I want combat to carry the experience I'll just go play Dragon's Dogma again.

[gamer7804]

agreed, lack of memorable characters and story and the magic (or lacktherof) system keeps me longing for a whole different universe next time around. I hope they don't do sequels to this.

[fromchildren]

I want a ffversus13 revival with the original director and writer on board.

[alstruck]

@fromchildren That's very unlikely. Nomura is all about KH now, and it seems to me that it is always been like that. I also suspect he handles FF7 remake as a supervising role..

[MoveTheGlow]

Mostly yes...? FF has had quite a few titles at this point, and some were remarkable for reasons that had nothing to do with a story. I mean, if you think back to something like FF5, that game was all about leveling up and acquiring jobs. Hardly anyone cared that the dude's name was Butz and the story was just meh. People continue to love FF12, despite the wonderful story jumping off a cliff about 2/3 of the way through and throwing you into the endgame without much fanfare. FFX2 might include some abominations in the form of music videos and cringey dialogue, but the sidequests and the super-active battle system were still nice.

To me, the reviews are panning out like this is the new game from the guy who made Crisis Core. In CC, you had a story, and the story's ending was pretty neat, but in the middle of the game you were way more concerned with beating side missions and leveling up materia. The story wasn't the meat of the game, but the game was awesome - for its time.

Now, the kind of menu-based side mission structure and very repetitive combat from Crisis Core wouldn't fly. I think they tried to fix those issues here with a large open world and a variety of weapons for one person, so I'm pretty excited. Kinda bummed about what I've heard regarding summons, but still excited.

[Lennoxb63]

People like you are the problem with gaming today. You review games as if they're movies saying, "I don't like the dialogue," or "I don't like this character," etc. The first thing that is supposed to be reviewed is whether the game is fun or not. Everything else is secondary.

If the game isn't fun it's not going to matter whether the dialogue or characters are excellent. It still ends up being a bad game with a great story.

[Princess_Pilfer]

Yes, your standard for what makes a game good or bad is the objective reality and I'm just or poor pleb who's wrong about everything.

Or I actually like Turn based/ATB combat and so long as the combat is tolerable I find the story more important for some games because games can take far, far, far more time developing said story properly than movies ever could due to being 10x to 30x as long, not to mention the story telling tricks they can use that other formats straight up can't.

[kevnb]

That's not true at all, the game play always drives the games and the story/characters are meant to enhance it. Pretty much every successful story heavy video game is driven by the game play, except stuff like the tell tale games that play like a choose your own adventure tv show.

[Princess_Pilfer]

Read above sarcastic response.

Also you're wrong. The Combat of games like 10-2 and Grandia 2/3 quite simply shame most of FF despite using the same or very similar systems. Why are these games less popular? Because the stories suck.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

You do know kotaku aren't the be all end all of opinions. I've read plenty of other reviews that loved the story and characters,said it has the best villain in a long time,the four main characters are awesome and you grow attached to them etc.

[Lukejrl]

Kotaku said the same thing you said. They did list faults or annoying dialogue. But the villain and character attachment was highlighted

[jjb1981]

There has to be sooooo many secrets uncovered from this game that many reviewers are missing out on....

[Irishguy95]

such as? can you manage without spoiling? hawhaw

[joethetimelord]

There are also the 1.01 and 1.02 patches that most of these reviewers didn't get a chance to play due to early release copies. Both updates have new cutscenes (most of it footage from Kingsglaive I believe) that are meant to add some clarity to the story.

[Elda]

Good review.

[Number-Nine]

can i get a crisis core ps4 version? thx

[ClayRules2012]

Well written review, buddy =)

Having said that, I really just want to drive the car/fly it, and take in the beautiful scenery, along with the music.

[jholden3249]

Wow, that's one of the best reviews I've ever read.

[Star51]

Impeccable. Son nostalgic of ff days of old. Im bursting-cant wait til tomorrow

[UCForce]

Now that's a review right there, Kotaku !

[ChronoSloth]

Best review I've seen for FFXV. From an JRPG fan who knows what makes this genre work, who doesn't skim over the negatives, and then details each part of the experience. Can't wait for the game to release.

[sdcard4gb]

It is a good Final Fantasy game. It is a good Final Fantasy game. It is a good Final Fantasy game. It is a Final Fantasy game...
Oh, sorry there, trying to convince myself to look past the change in combat.

[mixelon]

Haha this is amazing. Only months ago some users here were campaigning to have any and all Kotaku content blacklisted.

2016 seems to be the year we fell into some bizarro alternate dimension.

Anyway, yes this is a damn good review. I think I'll pass on it until I have enough time and energy to soak it up properly, I hate rushing games like this. :/

[titans9999]

this game is total garbage.....such a disappointment

[Irishguy95]

You've been saying that for months now. I imagine you still haven't played it.

[UCForce]

You want this game to fail and force people to go back. That's not how gonna work.

[Bolts]

Boys Band road trip saves the world.

[kraenk12]

So you should like it as you like boy bands?!

[chadwarden]

A game with a crap story and crap characters yet is loved more by fans than FF13 which got criticized for having a crap story and crap characters. Seems legit

[jokerisalive]

Picking up my copy for the PS4 PRO today...