Toward the end of last year, Final Fantasy XV released and I was greatly disappointed by the final product, so much so that I didn't even start playing it. Before I get into why I was disappointed, however, I want to talk about my background with this game, my initial expectations, and what we ended up receiving.
Firstly, I found out about Final Fantasy XV back in early 2007 back when it was announced as Final Fantasy Versus 13. Back before the release of the PS3 Final Fantasy XIII was going to get its own compilation trilogy not too dissimilar to the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. However, one thing that does make this one different from that is that every entry in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is set in the same universe, with a relatively similar cast of characters that have their own unique impacts on certain plots, for better or for worse, while the three games in the XIII Compilation would only be related in the title of 13.
Final Fantasy XIII was the first of the Trilogy released, the other two were announced shortly thereafter. The first, and more interesting of the two was Final Fantasy Versus 13, which became Final Fantasy XV, and the other was Final Fantasy Agito 13, released as Final Fantasy Type-0. Later on Versus and Agito were renamed and continued development as their own entities, and to take the place of theirs in the trilogy we got 13-2 and Lightning Returns.
Bearing in mind, none of what I've said so far has anything to do with my initial expectations and disappointment, this is simply background information to give you an idea of where I'm coming from.
My very first exposure to Versus 13 was in an AMV with Final Fantasy XIII and Versus footage playing over the Sick Puppies Song You're Going Down. Initially, I noticed the design of Noctis and thought it was really cool. However, my initial research lead me to believe he was either Lightning at a different period in the game or Cloud some time after Dirge of Cerberus where Sephiroth's influence had changed his appearance and might have been killing him.
After a bit more digging, however, I figured out that neither of these things were true and I started looking at the trailer as something to be excited about. Although it was a pre-rendered trailer and I understand that the gameplay had not been demonstrated yet, I found comments by the then-director Tetsuya Nomura that he wanted to create action in this game reminiscent of the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and that gave me some hope that this would turn out as one of my favorite action rpg's ever.
I followed the development closely for as long as I could until I finally got to play the Platinum Demo and my heart sank. It wasn't just that the demo was bad: there were certainly things I liked about it and I also understood that not everything about it was going to represent the final product. My problem with it was that, even if it wasn't entirely indicative of the final product, it was clear to me that no matter what changes were made to the final game from that point forward, the game we would get was ultimately not the game I was promised.
This isn't just me having misinterpreted pre-release information either. I did some digging and I found that during its development cycle, Final Fantasy XV went through four different combat systems by the time it settled on the current one. One of the combat systems is currently being used by Team Ninja's Dissidia - Final Fantasy, and one of them is being reworked into the combat system for the remake of Final Fantasy VII. While I'm not certain which of these I would've preferred, what I do know is that both of them are preferable to the combat system we got.
Now, for the sake of balance, I want to say that I honestly get why people love this game. The characters are endearing and, for as much as the writing in most Final Fantasy games rub me the wrong way, this one was pretty bearable all things considered. The visuals are also quite nice, with lots of attention to detail, easy to read interfaces, body language and animations that fit the characters, and a skybox that is far more detailed than it honestly should be, particularly at night.
However, these things are not what I play games for. Graphics are something that are only appreciated as long as it's clear the rest of the game didn't suffer to achieve them, and I only have to like playing as a character, even if I don't particularly enjoy their characterization.
Final Fantasy XV promised me a hype combat system, a combat system that is simply not there, both figuratively and literally. Figuratively in the sense that the combat system that is there, while functional, leaves a lot to be desired, and literally in the sense that combat systems that were prototyped for this game were removed to be placed in different games besides this one.
And I want to stress that, from the looks of it, despite having only played the Platinum Demo, the gameplay doesn't seem to have changed too much outside of additional party members and certain items that were not present for seemingly obvious reasons.
My first set of problems come with the control scheme. No, this has nothing to do with lack of rebindable inputs, although that addition might've helped a little bit. Firstly, the face buttons, Noctis has four mechanics on these, Attack on Circle, Warp Strike on Triangle, Block on Square, and Jump on X. Normally, this wouldn't be too bad. Although I do prefer having more than one attack button to form combos with, as long as the single button allows for some experimentation with other mechanics, I can deal.
My major issue with this is the nature of the attack button itself. Normally, an action game is bad if it amounts to Press X to win, as it were, but Final Fantasy XV is far worse than that. Noctis attacks by holding the circle button. You can mash it if you want but holding it will do the same thing. There are no offsets like pausing, or even multiple combos for that matter. Just hold the button and Noctis will perform a 3-hit combo ad infinitum until an enemy is killed.
The block button is also poorly implemented. As a button, the button will roll by pressing it, dodge while holding it, and counter by pressing it at the right moment. Again, this wouldn't be such a problem normally, except for how these mechanics are implemented. Firstly, the roll isn't even functional. While it does get you a fair distance, it doesn't offer any invincibility frames. And while holding it to dodge can be helpful sometimes, it prevents you from attacking, which pretty much leaves the QTE parry.
What this results in from a gameplay perspective is "Hold Circle to attack, press Square when the prompt comes up." This is, no exaggeration, the laziest, most shallow combat system I've ever dealt with. While there are many action games and Action RPGs that have flawed combat systems, those at least are either designed well within themselves to a limited extent, such as most Kingdom Hearts games, or the game is built around it pretty well, like Dark Souls.
In Kingdom Hearts 2, while it is true that most encounters can be beaten by grinding, there is depth there that can allow for mastery if you choose to see all the options that are there. Likewise, with Dark Souls, the combat is pretty basic but enemies and the world are well designed around it, by making mob enemies easy to kill, and by placing strong enemies in positions where they can be fought one-on-one.
For as much as I dislike The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's combat, even that still requires some rudimentary thought on the part of the player in order to get past certain obstacles. Some enemies have certain block and damage gimmicks you have to deal with and at least some of the game is well designed around it.
In Final Fantasy XV, however, the only thoughts you need are "Lock-On, Hold Circle, Press Square on Prompt, Use Items when necessary, Use a vantage point for some bonus damage if one is around." That is all.
Even weapon swapping is poorly handled. Like the rest of the mechanics, the weapon swapping isn't so bad on paper but is god awful in practice. The way the weapon swapping works is you have one weapon attached to each d-pad button and you press the one you want in order to equip and use it. The problem I had with this is how it interacts with the other mechanics. Since every weapon has a predetermined combo, swapping your weapons is the only way to affect your damage or how you play. It ultimately makes it a wasted mechanic since the best strategy is to just equip the one that has the best balance of attack speed and damage output and just keep that one equipped.
Those of you who read my Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden comparison may recognize that this method of weapon swapping is something of a rudimentary version of what I suggested be used as a replacement for Ninja Gaiden's current weapon swapper. However, the thing is that in Ninja Gaiden, you already have a large combo list, two attack buttons per weapon, and most weapons are distinct from each other in the first place.
In FFXV, however, there isn't much point in picking a favorite since the best one is quite literally the one with the highest numbers.
Magic works in a different way. Magic is sort of like throwing bombs in The Legend of Zelda, you put it into a weapon slot, equip it, and then throw the spell to use its effect. They have a cast limit, and you can't use it again once you exceed that, until you refill. This pretty much means spells are only useful in situations where you can gather a decent number of clustered enemies in a situation where they don't attack long enough to actually cast the spell.
So I think I've covered in great detail why I don't like the combat system but the question I have yet to answer is "If the combat system is this bad, why is it like this?" Well, my answer may not be accurate but it is worth considering.
Back in the earlier years of this game's development, the director and lead game designer for this game was Tetsuya Nomura. However, in 2014, two years before the game's release, he jumped ship to work on Kingdom Hearts 3 and the Final Fantasy VII remake. He was replaced by a man I only know as Tabata. Tabata, from what I gather, didn't have a lot of experience directing games but he was told that if this game was not successful, Final Fantasy will lose relevance and the company would go bankrupt. So we've got a disturbingly large amount of responsibility for a guy that may not have been fully prepared to deal with it.
I can only speculate but, if Tabata's revisions were the reason the combat system is in the state it's in now, it would go a long way in explaining why the combat system is such a downgrade not just from previous Square Enix works but also a downgrade from previous FFXV trailers.
That's my rambling. Have a wonderful day.
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