So...Final Fantasy 15.

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Eh, maybe it's just the fact that WRPGs have supplanted JRPGs in popularity and production these years, but I'm burned-out as hell on the whole "Tolkien-style, swords and sorcery" fantasy RPGs. Dragon's age, The Witcher, Elder Scrolls, all excellent games, but with such by-the-numbers settings.

JRPGs' settings and styles may not always work, but at least they vary and experiment.

Implying things like Fallout, Deus Ex, and Mass Effect don't exist.

 

[Ishigami]

This game was an absolute mess. I suspect this is the result of being developmental hell for so long. At one point they scrapped the game and started over, and at another they switched directors. Apparently they cut the entire opening section of the game, which I assume would have explained a few things. As it stands, you have to watch the film and the tv show in order to understand what's happening.

Which is the main issue. FF15 has absolutely no exposition. I didn't think it was possible for Square to get worse at writing, but they pulled it off. As goofy as some of their games have been in the past, at least they told you what was going on. At least they did the absolute minimum amount of work necessary to tell a story. FF13 and FF15 can't even do that. I was hours in, and I still have no idea what's happening. I don't care about his dad, who I met once, I don't care about his fiancee, who I haven't met at all, and I certainly don't care for Noctis.

My little sister wanted this game, though, so I let her have it.

I guess so.
The sad thing is that sometimes there is a glimmer of an actually good game in this mess. I finished it yesterday and the end is actually pretty decent all things considered.
"It gets better later on" is not a good selling point of course, especially if "later on" is only the last hour of the entire game! (Not to mention the two hours before that are a gameplay slog!)
For a game with such a huge budget and being the flagship title of a company as big as SE it's just not good enough.
Final Fantasy for me has been a mess for quite some time. They try too hard to implement some nonsensical plot twist by turning their stories into stupid. For example: FFX. I think FFX has the best combat system of all FFs I played thus far. But its let down by its narrative because of Tidus. FFX is Yunas story. Tidus is just there to have this stupid plot twist. If they developed the story in a more conservative way, it would have turned out better overall despite being less exceptional. FFX could have been great with a more regular story (e.g. no Tidus, no Zanarkand time/dimension traveling BS, Sin just a regular monster born of some Human fault e.g. greed or revenge etc.) approach. Instead it is considered more of a turd.
They should focus more on telling their stories in an engaging and cohesive way and less on making the story as outlandish and convoluted as possible.

 

[CritialGaming]

So I'm about 40 hours into the game. And I have to say I absolutely love it.

But the thing is, it isn't exactly a "good" game you know? If you break it into pieces almost every aspect of the game is janky shit. Bad side quests, pointless car travel system thing, shallow story, fucked camera, the canned NPC animations ugh, jump/interact being the same button for fucks sake....And yet there is a charm and magic to it that somehow make everything fit together wonderfully.

The charm of the main characters acting and working together is fantastic. Especially later in the game when you unlock more teamwork skills. The characters bounce off of each other both in and out of combat in a way that has never been done in the series before. I never thought I would love FF characters again after the Triple threat of Lightning games, but I genuinely love these guys. I honestly feel like the 5th member of the group while I play, and I think that is why I've done every side quest so far (Chapter 8 and already have to 80 side quest achievement), and can overlook the jank of the story.

The cup of Noodles thing was a little in your face. But admittedly it is a one very short quest. I'm surprised none of you have mentioned all the Coleman camping gear that is way more present than Noodles, lol.

Objectively, is FF15 a good game? Not really no. But undeniably there is a magic here that is overwhelmingly greater than the sum of it's parts. For a game that sat in development so long, FF15 could have ended up being a far worse disasterpiece of a game than it turned out to be. It is far and away better than any of the 13 games. Hell I might dare say this would fall into my top 5 FF games of all time. All because of how much fun simply hanging out with my bros is. That is a testament to the main character design.

 

[balladbird]

Implying things like Fallout, Deus Ex, and Mass Effect don't exist.

All excellent games, but calling them "WRPGS" is a bit of a stretch. More 3rd/1st person shooters with a few RPG elements thrown in. I'd be willing to concede fallout, but then 4 streamlined the RPG elements even more.