Final Fantasy XV: Day One Edition (Xbox One)

Final Fantasy XV is a breath of fresh air in the Final Fantasy series and more than exceeded my expectations for it.The protagonist, Noctis Lucis Caelum, is a headstrong and likeable character, whose role in the game is galvanised by the support of his three best friends who travel around with him.The graphics of this game are beautiful, and there were no major frame-rate drops. The monster design is one of the key strengths of the game, and it is interesting to see how the type of monster you are fighting depends on whether it is night or day.The world is vast, and beautiful, and your car, the Regalia, is an interesting twist to this game. Admittedly, it is perhaps an odd addition to a game series so focussed on a futuristic and magical setting, yet this is redeemed by the witty banter and friendship of Noctis and his friends, as they comment on in-game affairs and the local setting. Despite this, the trade-off for such a vast and incredible world are the rather annoying loading screens. How can it be a truly open-world experience when there is a loading screen when you get in the car, get out of the car, travel to a new region, or even travel to a location 200 ft from you, which often takes a couple of seconds?Fortunately, the story, tangible environment, and combat redeem the game. The story revolves around Noctis avenging his father, King Regis, death, by the Niflheim Empire by working with his friend and Princess Lunafreya, his betrothed, to defeat the Niflheim Empire and reclaim the crystal which is the life-source of his kingdom. The main quest is rather too linear, in that there are no sub-quests that branch off from the main quest line, and you can effectively beat the game without playing any secondary quests at all. Despite this, there is enough diversity within the game's environment to entertain any gamer. Whilst the majority of secondary quests are essentially find-and-retrieve missions, they are fun to complete, especially the Car Customisation quests, which allows you to improve the performance of your car, which, trust me, you will need!!! There are also the traditional hunting quests which are numerous and difficult enough to entertain any avid gamer.Perhaps the best aspect of the game, in my opinion, is the combat. The game developers, Square-Enix, replaced the traditional method of turn-based combat with a new, rather barbaric Hack-and-Slash format. This is so much fun and easier to manage, as it gives you complete control of the battlefield, meaning that you can easily dodge enemy attacks, and with the press of a button, attack with a wide-variety of weapons, such as great-swords, polearms, and longswords. It allows a much more dynamic fighting system without the limitations of a standard turn-based RPG.In summation, Final Fantasy XV is a welcome change of pace for the game series and is sure to peak anyone's interests, whether you are a seasoned gamer, or a new-comer to RPGs in general.

This is my first time playing a Final Fantasy game and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.The story is superb and once you get used to the controls the combat feels very natural and smooth.I have 3 gripes about the game. First that your car (the Regalia) is far too slow and unless you want to get caught out at night (inadvisable if you are below level 30) you need to use the car to travel just about everywhere. Second is that half of the main story is very linear and as soon as you complete act 8, you don't have any option to explore the open world until you complete the finale (act 14), this takes a good 8-10 hours to complete the linear portion, that being said the linear story portion is still very good (make sure you are at least 10 levels above target at the end of act 8 though, else you'll suffer for it later). The third gripe is that some of the side quests can be a little dry and repetitive.Groaning out of the way, the combat is smooth, the main story and some of the side quests are excellent, the graphics are very good, the voice acting and facial tracking is spot on and the characters are all very well done and feel human, even the minor characters.To address some common complaints:I haven't noticed a single instance of graphical trouble in over 40 hours of play on the Xbox One, the scenery does go by perhaps a tad quickly in the car, but I did not find that off putting. As for the loading screen, when you consider the size of the open world a 20-30 second loading screen really isn't a problem worth complaining about. The loading time is no worse than the larger maps of loading Dragon Age Inquisition or The Witcher 3 and these two are still it's main competition. Until consoles have 20+Gb processing power you will get big loading screens for open worlds (and by that time graphics will have probably improved further anyway).All in all it is a great game and I heartily recommend it.