Is it worth buying?

[Arnold Braunschweiger]

I'm looking for honest opinions.

The last FF I played was FF 13 and I absolutely hated it (too linear, confusing plot, annoying characters, horrible and boring combat). In fact, the only Final Fantasy that I truly enjoyed was Final Fantasy 9.

This game looks cool on screenshots and gameplay videos but that's a far cry from actually playing it. I just wonder if the story and characters are fun and compelling and whether or not the combat is good. A good spectacle would also be nice, ofc.

[ehs03y3ol]

You have a demo on Steam so you can test it... The combat is kinda meh. But the plot is pretty awesome.

[Arnold Braunschweiger]

True, but the demo won't tell me if the story is worth the hassle, hence the question. I can stomach a mediocre gameplay if the story and characters are good enough to hook me in. Since this is an open world game then having a visually interesting world that you can reasonably interact with would also be a big plus.

[MechBFP]

I’m playing it right now, and it is okayish. Definitely only on a 50% or 75% off sale though.

Probably half my play time is waiting for loading screens because of the ridiculous amount of fast travelling required.

Honestly you are MUCH better off buying any of the Tales games (Tales of Symphonia is my favourite) as they are much more fun, with much more difficult/complex combat, way less loading screens, better story.

EDIT: I only bought this because I figured I would give it a try after not playing any FF since 9 (which I didn’t really like either but I played it just last year so perhaps it didn’t age well).

[Arnold Braunschweiger]

Thanks, but I have a really low tolerance for kooky-looking jRPGs. The only reason I'm interested in this game is because it doesn't look as faggy as your typical jRPG weebfest.

[MechBFP]

Well good luck with that, lol.

[Seifer Leonheart]

Originally posted by Mitch, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sonovabitch:

Thanks, but I have a really low tolerance for kooky-looking jRPGs. The only reason I'm interested in this game is because it doesn't look as faggy as your typical jRPG weebfest.

Well, then definitely steer clear from this one,lol. It's a jRPG for sure. If you think other "jRPGs are "faggy", I'm fairly sure playing the whole boy band here won't be your thing.

The story is ok (kinda rushed towards the end, DLCs "fix" a part of that), combat can get old, since it takes more than 50h if you go for hunts and sidequests (took me a bit over 80h, all sides, almost all hunts).

I don't find the characters annoying, but bear in mind that you are playing the super best friends forever boy band,lol. I find a bit cringey at times, but all in all I had fun.

And, regarding the plot, a small spoiler (nothing specific, just my opinion regarding the tone of the game)

While pretty much the whole game is a happy-fest, even amidst some tragedies, the endgame takes a really dark (as in sad) tone. I was surprised, but ultimately, I've liked it

[Vega]

Similarly, I was thinking of refunding this game so I can put the 25 dollars I spent on it towards retainers in FFXIV, as I have over 130 hours in that but I don't think I'm eligible for it. Purchase date July 7th, just about over 14 days.

MIght be a waste to refund it, thinking about it though.. I do like the characters and the plot so far, combat's alright. it's just a sloppy game to run (at least for my build). It takes a while to start up, load times are long and it locks up if I alt-tab. Maybe that SpecialK tool will help? I hope so.

[Arnold Braunschweiger]

Originally posted by Seifer Leonheart:

Originally posted by Mitch, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sonovabitch:

Thanks, but I have a really low tolerance for kooky-looking jRPGs. The only reason I'm interested in this game is because it doesn't look as faggy as your typical jRPG weebfest.

Well, then definitely steer clear from this one,lol. It's a jRPG for sure. If you think other "jRPGs are "faggy", I'm fairly sure playing the whole boy band here won't be your thing.

The story is ok (kinda rushed towards the end, DLCs "fix" a part of that), combat can get old, since it takes more than 50h if you go for hunts and sidequests (took me a bit over 80h, all sides, almost all hunts).

I don't find the characters annoying, but bear in mind that you are playing the super best friends forever boy band,lol. I find a bit cringey at times, but all in all I had fun.

And, regarding the plot, a small spoiler (nothing specific, just my opinion regarding the tone of the game)

While pretty much the whole game is a happy-fest, even amidst some tragedies, the endgame takes a really dark (as in sad) tone. I was surprised, but ultimately, I've liked it

Well, maybe I should explain that by "faggy" I didn't mean it in like a prejudiced way or something. I'm just not a big fan of the generic jRPG artstyle with typical genre tropes and sense of humor. You know, cartoony artstyle, spiky-haired emo characters that dress in hot topic, "kooky" underaged and uncomfortably sexualised girls, etc. etc. I can't stomach this sh!t.

Btw. I already bought the game and while it does seem to retain the stupid haircuts, everything else looks very naturalistic and the game benefits a lot from that, IMO. Plus I actually dig the whole dude bro attitude of the main characters. Four best friends on an epic journey through the desert with nothing but leather jackets on their backs and a cool car to blaze the trail? ♥♥♥♥, man - sign me up!

I'm currently at chapter 2 and I look forward to sinking my teeth into this game. Thanks for the replies.

[Aetherius]

Originally posted by Vega:

Similarly, I was thinking of refunding this game so I can put the 25 dollars I spent on it towards retainers in FFXIV, as I have over 130 hours in that but I don't think I'm eligible for it. Purchase date July 7th, just about over 14 days.

MIght be a waste to refund it, thinking about it though.. I do like the characters and the plot so far, combat's alright. it's just a sloppy game to run (at least for my build). It takes a while to start up, load times are long and it locks up if I alt-tab. Maybe that SpecialK tool will help? I hope so.

SpecialK doesn't work for 75% of people and it doesn't install properly. The optimization and performance issues are due to either Denuvo or Steamworks, so you're better off refunding and purchasing on another digital store.

[ehs03y3ol]

^ Special K was made originally just only to fix to input switching bug, he never intended to fix the full game. He made a few tweaks here and there, meanwhile he was learning for the game, like enabling a antidebug so memory keep unencripted and faster binary load, an add a threat priority wich maywork for i5 4 cores users.

But he couldn't finish the project. For my rig gives worse performance couse CPU is more busy with her plugins load. He got into more profitable other projects than loosing time in a broken game.

Ah, No more Denuvo barking please! This game problems is couse Steam API implementation and has nothing to do with Denuvo...

[Vega]

Originally posted by Aetherius:

SpecialK doesn't work for 75% of people and it doesn't install properly. The optimization and performance issues are due to either Denuvo or Steamworks, so you're better off refunding and purchasing on another digital store.

Originally posted by ehs03y3ol:

^ Special K was made originally just only to fix to input switching bug, he never intended to fix the full game. He made a few tweaks here and there. *snip*

*snip*

Thanks for the replies but due to Square Enix pretty much ruining the Steam version, I refunded it and will spend the (pending 24.99) towards FFXIV. Simply too much money to re-buy.

[MechBFP]

Originally posted by Mitch, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sonovabitch:

Well, maybe I should explain that by "faggy" I didn't mean it in like a prejudiced way or something. I'm just not a big fan of the generic jRPG artstyle with typical genre tropes and sense of humor. You know, cartoony artstyle, spiky-haired emo characters that dress in hot topic, "kooky" underaged and uncomfortably sexualised girls, etc. etc. I can't stomach this sh!t.

Tales of Symphonia has none of that. Unless you think anime is cartoony, in which case you are wrong, but so be it.

[ET3RNAL☃]

Is the game worth it?

Yes and No

If you are an average gamer with low-medium expectations e.g. New to the final fantasy genre (like me) then u probably do just fine.
Pros:
- Story heavy (one of the good parts actually despite the complications),
- Amazing visuals (u will need a high end pc),
- Action driven combat (since u didn't like boring combat. If i remember correctly ffxv 12 was turn based. So FFXV took a different turn),
- Open World
- Amazing ost
- Mostly fun characters (some corny lines, but voices are pretty good in both eng and ♥♥♥). :/ would've liked it more if they fleshed out more of Ardyn's character

However...

If you are coming into this game with high expectations (including long term Final Fantasy Fans) - You may be disappointed
Despite the pros - there are lot of cons that drain the quality of this game
- Lack of lore and convoluted storyline - Some may hate the story based on the narrative itself, but I didn't mind. The problem is how they handled it. I feel like this game is a representation of all the things that are wrong with AAA titles today. Half complete the game and finish it by releasing DLCs in the following months/years. But I don't blame them fully, since this game was in development for over 10 years. It was cancelled once at one point too.
- Too many fetch quests Travelling is a chore sometimes
- Beautiful, vast and open world...but empty. Feels like the world has no soul. Enemies do appear, but usually pose no challenge (most of the time).There are also treasures u can find, but they're usually ♥♥♥♥
- Action driven combat: however the system is pretty linear, and is easy to grasp. After some time it'll get tedious to do all the micromanagement (you'll have to micromanage ur comrades [the 3 other guys u fight with - Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignus] + combat may get boring.
- Travelling: Probably the worst travelling system I've ever experienced. The vehicle (dubbed 'Regalia') that you drive is automated, and is on rails from start to finish. So unless u fast travel (only works if you've been to the destination once) you'll have to wait sometimes 10 minutes to go where u want to go. Recently they added another version where you can drive offroad, but R.I.P to all those early players who had to wait :(

I recommend buying it on sale.
Not really worth tbh with the current game. It's not the amount of content that's the issue: its the story and technical elements within that's the issue.
- I'd say watch youtube reviews and written reviews[/b] from different people.
1. Before you buy
2. Long review
Despite the overwhelming popularity, the key issues that I mentioned may sway people away from FFXV. If you do manage to get the game, before playing comment again and I'll send u a list of how to play the game chronologically because the story is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥; divided between main game, dlcs, anime short, movie and novel (last is not really needed, but just in case). I recommend playing it chronologically for the full experience.

Edit: Personally I enjoyed the game, and didn't care for the flaws. But this is for the people who really do mind the little things
Now that i think about it, I should post this as a review :/

[Arnold Braunschweiger]

Originally posted by MechBFP:

Originally posted by Mitch, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sonovabitch:

Well, maybe I should explain that by "faggy" I didn't mean it in like a prejudiced way or something. I'm just not a big fan of the generic jRPG artstyle with typical genre tropes and sense of humor. You know, cartoony artstyle, spiky-haired emo characters that dress in hot topic, "kooky" underaged and uncomfortably sexualised girls, etc. etc. I can't stomach this sh!t.

Tales of Symphonia has none of that. Unless you think anime is cartoony, in which case you are wrong, but so be it.

I only gave a few examples why I despise the jRPG visual style but super deformed characters with giant eyes would surely be on that list. Plus I have to question your judgement when you say that there are no spiky-haired, androgynous characters with poor taste in clothing in this game and then I find a screenshot like this one:
https://gameusagi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/tales+of+symphonia+screen07.jpg

I also resent the fact that you use the word "cartoon" in a derogatory term, like it's somehow beneath anime.

Originally posted by ET3RNAL☃:

Is the game worth it?

Yes and No

If you are an average gamer with low-medium expectations e.g. New to the final fantasy genre (like me) then u probably do just fine.
Pros:
- Story heavy (one of the good parts actually despite the complications),
- Amazing visuals (u will need a high end pc),
- Action driven combat (since u didn't like boring combat. If i remember correctly ffxv 12 was turn based. So FFXV took a different turn),
- Open World
- Amazing ost
- Mostly fun characters (some corny lines, but voices are pretty good in both eng and ♥♥♥). :/ would've liked it more if they fleshed out more of Ardyn's character

However...

If you are coming into this game with high expectations (including long term Final Fantasy Fans) - You may be disappointed
Despite the pros - there are lot of cons that drain the quality of this game
- Lack of lore and convoluted storyline - Some may hate the story based on the narrative itself, but I didn't mind. The problem is how they handled it. I feel like this game is a representation of all the things that are wrong with AAA titles today. Half complete the game and finish it by releasing DLCs in the following months/years. But I don't blame them fully, since this game was in development for over 10 years. It was cancelled once at one point too.
- Too many fetch quests Travelling is a chore sometimes
- Beautiful, vast and open world...but empty. Feels like the world has no soul. Enemies do appear, but usually pose no challenge (most of the time).There are also treasures u can find, but they're usually ♥♥♥♥
- Action driven combat: however the system is pretty linear, and is easy to grasp. After some time it'll get tedious to do all the micromanagement (you'll have to micromanage ur comrades [the 3 other guys u fight with - Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignus] + combat may get boring.
- Travelling: Probably the worst travelling system I've ever experienced. The vehicle (dubbed 'Regalia') that you drive is automated, and is on rails from start to finish. So unless u fast travel (only works if you've been to the destination once) you'll have to wait sometimes 10 minutes to go where u want to go. Recently they added another version where you can drive offroad, but R.I.P to all those early players who had to wait :(

I recommend buying it on sale.
Not really worth tbh with the current game. It's not the amount of content that's the issue: its the story and technical elements within that's the issue.
- I'd say watch youtube reviews and written reviews[/b] from different people.
1. Before you buy
2. Long review
Despite the overwhelming popularity, the key issues that I mentioned may sway people away from FFXV. If you do manage to get the game, before playing comment again and I'll send u a list of how to play the game chronologically because the story is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥; divided between main game, dlcs, anime short, movie and novel (last is not really needed, but just in case). I recommend playing it chronologically for the full experience.

Edit: Personally I enjoyed the game, and didn't care for the flaws. But this is for the people who really do mind the little things
Now that i think about it, I should post this as a review :/

You definitely should post it as a review. :) Thanks for such a detailed reply, I almost feel bad that I got the game already, lol. I've heard about the problems with the ending and that the storyline was completed only in the DLCs, which is total ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. But then again, if I end up disliking the game by the end of the main campaign, I just won't buy the DLC . We'll see.

Also, I believe I mentioned FF 13 in the OP, not FF 12. Final Fantasy 12 was actually pretty good, I was surprised that it was so overlooked and barely anyone ever brings it up when talking about the series.

[qwertyuiop]

combat isn't really that bad. It just that it's more simple in the perspective of a casual player. Game won't give you a proper tutorial on each weapon which means you have to learn it all by yourself.

What i meant on this statement is that your typical sword warping and hitting isn't the only thing included in this game. You can check youtube ff xv combat tutorials to learn on how other mechanics work.

IMO Gladiolus and Prompto's combat are the only one's that does really suck in terms of in depth combat. Gladiolus is just a hard hitting truck with little to no variety of combo's, although he can do 9999 damage on his so called " skill arts ". Prompto's just basically your 3rd person generic shooter game. The remaining two is very enjoyable especially Ignis, you can basically change dagger elements flawlessly ( although this wasn't taught at the game ) without pauses and just possibly attack infinitely.