Final Fantasy XV is finally available to the masses after a decade of teasing and delays. While it is not the game that was initially promised, Final Fantasy XV has retained many of the key elements that made Versus XIII, as it was originally titled, such a highly anticipated title. But while the game does a lot right, it also stumbles in several areas, particularly storytelling and overall polish.
The good news is that director Hajime Tabata has acknowledged some of the game's issues, and his team is working on updates like new story scenes and gameplay tweaks. The bad news is that Tabata hasn't given fans a time frame for when these patches will arrive. Final Fantasy XV had an excessively long development time that bordered on "development hell," and a shift in creative teams likely had an adverse effect on the game's direction and plot.
We have a few things we believe Final Fantasy XV needs to be a more enjoyable experience; check out the gallery for our wish list. We've taken care to avoid spoilers, but we do touch on how the plot is presented, as well as gameplay mechanics and the setting, so proceed with caution.
Give Us a Coherent Plot
Final Fantasy XV's plot is a jumbled mess. Without going into spoiler territory, characters and villains lack development, and the world's history is virtually inscrutable. Worse still, awkward gaps in the story mean crucial events occur off-screen, so the plot feels vague and thoughtless at times. Fortunately, this is one of the key issues the development team is addressing. They site Ravus, Noctis' soon to be brother-in-law and antagonist, as a key example. But the evil Empire deserves more love too, as does the main cast.
Ditch Stealth
As I mentioned in our Final Fantasy XV review, there is nothing more thoughtless and slapdash than forced stealth sections in a non-stealth game. Final Fantasy XV throws stealth at you on several occasions, which does little to enrich the gameplay. Instead, your abilities are utterly stifled whenever the game mandates stealth, so you are limited to warping and sneaking around enemies instead of rushing them down in melee action. Worse still, in most stealth missions you ultimately raise an alert for plot reasons, and have to fight your way out of the situation regardless. I appreciate that the dev team tries to vary the gameplay, but as it is implemented, the stealth is so rudimentary that it shouldn't exist. Just let us fight through these sections.
Shorten Chapter 13
Chapter 13 deserves its own section despite sharing stealth grievances from the last point. During this lengthy section of the game, you fight alone as Noctis, and are encouraged to sneak around enemies to get through the level. You have access to a ring that gives you unique spells to defend yourself with should you inevitably get caught. Unfortunately, this section drags on entirely too long, and is such a radical departure from the rest of the game that it feels like it was developed by an entirely different team. The jump scares feel forced, and any tension is destroyed thanks to Noctis's overpowered magic. If Square Enix gave Noctis access to a proper weapon earlier in the chapter, and didn't drag this section out so long, this might be more tolerable. Right now, it's a chore.
Fix the Camera
Final Fantasy XV uses a simple action-based combat system that lets you attack or evade enemies in real time. Weapon switching, aiming magic spells, and teleporting are all key elements to the gameplay. Sadly, the camera is very uncooperative. You can soft-target an enemy by holding R1, and hard-lock by clicking R3, but the camera often breaks your targeting for a variety of reasons. This is worsened when fighting in heavily foliaged areas, because these plants and landmarks often obscure your vision. Environmental transparency would go a long way towards improving the camera. A stronger lock on, and more withdrawn camera, would also make fighting smoother.
Add More Warping Points in Combat
Warping is an interesting combat mechanism that feels underused in most engagements. Noctis can throw his weapon ahead of him, or at specific blue reticles, to teleport out of harm's way and recover HP and MP. Some boss fights and set piece encounters make greater use of this ability, like the Imperial assault on your train late in the game. As Empire aircraft shoot down your train, you must warp from ship to ship to dispatch the soldiers and crash the vessels. It's a great section that I wish had continued for a longer period of time, and it highlights the combat's dynamism.
A Bigger World to Explore
Final Fantasy XV's story takes on a journey to thwart the Empire, but your open-world adventures are primarily restricted to the Lucian continent. The second half of the game railroads you through other regions, so you only get passing glimpses of them on your way to the Empire's capital. Having alternate regions to explore aside from Lucis would make the second half of the game much less restricted than it is in its current form. Failing that, an alternate version of Lucis set after the events of Chapter 13, complete with its own set of side quests to undertake, would be an excellent way to offer additional content out to players before the end of the game.
Fully Customizable In-Game Controls
Final Fantasy XV's controls are relatively easy to grasp, but there are some commands I wish I could map to alternate buttons. I would much rather have my evasion/block on one of the shoulder buttons, for example. But the only control scheme that allows this, control type C, also maps attack to one of the shoulder buttons, which I don't want. It also alters some of the other commands, such as the hard-lock on and arminger super attack. All of this fussing would be alleviated with the ability to customize the in-game control scheme. Sure, you can go into your PlayStation 4 or Xbox One system menu to change your controller keys, but I would much rather have the function available in-game and avoid reconfiguring the buttons altogether.
Give Us More Summons (and Make Summoning Faster)
Final Fantasy XV's astral summonses are essentially trump cards. You can only summon an astral when you or your party have low health, but when you do, they utterly destroy enemies. To summon, you need to hold L2 for about five seconds. Getting hit will reset the summoning, making the process more tedious than it needs to be. This summon time needs to be shortened. You get access to four astral summonses in Final Fantasy XV—Ramuh, Shiva, Titan, and Leviathan—who command lightning, ice, earth, and water, respectively. But there are six astrals you encounter, and the last two, who will remain nameless for spoiler reasons, cannot be acquired. Considering that XV has post-game content, having these astrals unlock when you beat the final boss would be a really nice end-game treat.
Add a Bestiary and Lore Codex
Final Fantasy XV would greatly benefit from a bestiary and a lore codex, similar to the ones in Final Fantasy XII and XIII. In Final Fantasy XII, the in-game catalog described each beast, the creatures' relationship with the environment, and offered flavor text based on item drops. Bosses, and especially Espers, benefited tremendously from the bestiary, which explained their relationship with other gods, as well as their own powers and vices. Final Fantasy XIII made heavy use of its encyclopedic codex to tell its convoluted story. Final Fantasy XV's lack of story exposition could have been rectified somewhat if it incorporated these elements to fill in the gaps.
Offer More Interesting Side Quests
Context makes quests interesting. You're technically doing the same thing most of the time, whether it's collecting materials or killing monsters, but insight on the quest giver's dilemma, and alternate means of tackling a quest, make the world feel more immersive and relatable. Final Fantasy XV has very few interesting side quests. The hunt for Dead Eye is solid, and rewards you with your chocobo. Gladiolus' silly Cup Noodle quest, which has you hunt for behemoth meat to serve as a ramen topping, is also great if only because it's so stupid. But these quests are very uncommon; most are weakly framed fetch quests with the occasional surprise pay off in the end.