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So, I can't honestly say at this point that I am a final fantasy fan, as the last decent one I played was FFX, a decade ago, which was fun in its own right, even though the story and characters made zero sense.

I was excited for FF13 when it came out, and I think bought it brand new, and it was TERRIBLE. I think I barely made it to the open-world area where it was supposed to start getting good. Story was completely incomprehensible, characters were boring, setting was 'walk down this hallway until you find a boss', and combat was complicated and clunky.

So, now there's a new FF game. And while it is getting decent reviews, I've gotta say that the whole 'boy band' motif of the main characters coupled with the curiously present day setting is a bit offputting.

The combat looks pretty fun, actually. That was honestly one of the biggest letdowns of FF13, as the combat just wasn't any fun. This one looks like it could be.

So, anyone tried it? Would you recommend it? How does it stack up to FF13 in terms of story, characters, and combat? Because I think I've been burned on like the last 3 jrpgs I bought, and I'm reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally suspicious of this one.

Talked to a buddy about it, plan on redboxing it tonight myself.

Said the story and characters were cliche, but the open world and the combat really shine. Traveling is the biggest bore from what I've heard.

Also, if you're looking for a great classic JRPG that borders on the line of obsession in terms of flattery for Chrono Trigger, check out I Am Setsuna. Put about 20-30 hours into that game myself, and had a blast.

You know, I think I heard about I am setsuna somewhere, maybe I'll check it out.

Yeah, I heard there's a ton of desert bus-esque traveling, which I can't say I'm super keen on.

Maybe I'll check FF15 out in 6 months or so.

I like it so far. It plays the modern setting pretty straight, which is not something they've done much. I think the closest I've played is 8 but the tone is a lot less mopey than that one. Fans of the tried and true turn based systems or even the just the mmo-esque combat of something like 12 won't instantly like the combat. It feels like an action-lite game you've got the running, button spam and flow of a more dedicated title but without the complicated combos or tight timings. I'm not far enough in to judge the story, but so far the cast is if a bit "safe" endearing in their own way. Nothing surprising but well executed enough.

I'm certainly liking it vastly more than FF13 though that isn't saying much. In terms of where it stands with me in comparsion to other FF games. I'm not liking it as much as 14 or 12, but I'm liking it more than I did 3, 5 or 10. If things keep going as they are it'll wind up ranking right in the middle of the pack. Somewhere above 3 and 5, but below 6.

For what it's worth my personal ranks for the series probably go something like:

Tier 1: Tactics, 9, 12, 14 "Great"
Tier 2: 6, 4, 1, 7 "Good"
Tier 3: 3,5,8,10 "OK"
Tier 4: 2, 13 "Bad"

It's like a tier 2.5-ish i think.

Just Redboxed it and I'm pretty impressed, think I'm going to buy it.

Pros:
-Combat feels fun, but very wild and swingy. Think Witcher combat, but instead of pressing buttons, you just hold the attack down and alrernate other buttons to change weapons, cast spells, dodge, etc.
-Good visuals, great music. You can even listen to old Final Fantasy tracks
-Open world feels fun and fleshed out, plus it has tons of endgame content

Cons:
-Good amounts of traveling that can be pretty slow
-Overly dramatic characters, story is pretty cliche
-A lot of pop up hints, but I've been told these go away after awhile
-Not sure how I feel about a lot of the little things, I.E. limited spells (you collect energy and fuse it to make a stock number of spells, i.e. 5x Fire), paying for car repairs, refueling your car, sleeping at night to avoid the really dangerous enemies, doing miscellaneous jobs. It's fun, but seems like those could detract from the overall adventure aspect.

I think it's a solid game, but if you like the classic FF turn based battles I'd skip it.

Wanted to chime back on. Put about 4 hours into FFXV and it's a ton of fun, but definitely very actiony and open world. Some of the design choices are eh, but it's a solid game

I've got about 10 hours in it now. I'm still on the fence. The main character just screamed "entitled douche brat" to me in the first 5 minutes of the game, and it's left me hard to want to care about him at all.

The MMO like aspect of the game has me real hesitant to advance the story, and I'm finding that I'm way beyond necessary level when I do need to advance it.

 djones520 wrote:
I've got about 10 hours in it now. I'm still on the fence. The main character just screamed "entitled douche brat" to me in the first 5 minutes of the game, and it's left me hard to want to care about him at all.

The MMO like aspect of the game has me real hesitant to advance the story, and I'm finding that I'm way beyond necessary level when I do need to advance it.

Yeah, the characters are rather meh, but the action makes up for it. That and the subtle hints at personality (the camera snapshots while camping are neat)

It was good, incredibly polished and one of the more interesting experiences I've had.

But I have lots of other problems with it.

 Asherian Command wrote:
It was good, incredibly polished and one of the more interesting experiences I've had.

But I have lots of other problems with it.

Like......?