Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition

I've followed Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition on Steam for about a year, anxiously waiting for its release. Thanks to a (very) generous friend, I got to actually play it instead of just watching Twitch streamers play it like I usually would.

First things first: I am not, by any means, an expert in the Final Fantasy series. Even though I've wanted to own a Final Fantasy game for ages, this is the very first game that I've actually played. I'm not used to playing games using a controller, yet I found the mechanics of the game to be mostly effortless. No need to worry about spoilers: there will be none in this article.

My first contact with the series was by playing the Steam Demo, which I did avidly. I spent at least a good 5 minutes just taking in the quality of the graphics before I even started to move Noct around. Words really cannot describe the beauty of video games of today - gaming has surely come a long way since the iconic 8-bit arcade games. After I managed to pull myself together, I spent countless hours just exploring the map and randomly slaying any mobs that were misfortunate enough to have crossed my path while I was doing so. I eventually brought myself to start questing and did every single sidequest provided within the Demo.

And I enjoyed every little bit of it. The landscapes, the soundtrack, the party's comments about the heat, the little conversations between them (especially Ignis' pieces of advice), the car rides, the fact you can customize the Regalia and choose the soundtrack for each journey (or simply fast travel if you're tight on time), having to refill the car's tank with fuel, their clothes getting wet when it rains or dirty when you force them to gone several days without sleeping... it really is all about the little details sometimes. Fishing is the only thing I don't recall trying in the Demo. Out of the Demo and into the actual game, renting and riding a Chocobo was also pretty neat (you get to customize their colors and even take part in chocobo racing if you want). Also, having my three comrades following me around made the game feel richer and less lonely, even though I am currently focusing only on the singleplayer version.

Another thing I was really pleased with is the combat. A friend of mine said he tried the Demo and didn't like the combat, but I loved it. After playing turn-based games and MMO's with a simple combat system my whole life, it felt good to be able to experience a more fluid fighting system for once. Getting used to using spells properly, as well as remembering to command my three allies to use their abilities too, took a bit longer to grasp, but it was worth it. Also, I found the combat to be balanced - not too easy (I think it's the first time I've ever felt the need to actually use potions in a game) but not too hard either, just challenging enough.

Also, as a D&D fan, it felt good to see some familiar monsters come to life, and now I can look at them any time I want to by going to Settings > Archives > Bestiary and be amazed at the awesome 3D previews that you can rotate to enjoy from all angles (with Noct besides each of them, for size comparison). By going to the Archives you can also check your collection of Photos, Dishes, Fishes, Dossiers (profiles on characters you've met) and Datalog (gets completed from the books you read).

Once I reached Chapter 3 on the game, I realized I wished to do more than just play the game - I wish to know more about the characters, about the story. For this reason, I watched the Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV anime and the Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV movie. The movie is pretty much the extended version of Chapter 1's ending cutscenes, where you get to know the whole story behind the fall of Lucius as well as what happened to Lunafreya throughout those events. The anime (which is merely 5 episodes about 10 minutes long) gives you a bit more insight about the background story of the 4 characters you'll be playing within the game: Prince Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto. For those who like to read, there's also the Prologue novel.

I've been playing this game for so many hours each day that I've started to dream about it (mostly with Noctis' warping around during combat). This game is one of the best games I've played lately (and between Assassin's Creed, Skyrim, and The Witcher III, I've played some fairly decent ones). The Final Fantasy franchise has certainly earned another fan.

P.S.: If you came here looking for a more detailed description of the game, my apologies, but I did promise to keep it spoiler free. 😋

What about you? Did you play any of the Final Fantasy games? Are you a fan of the franchise? Let me know in the comments below.