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What I Know Going In
-The party has mostly male characters, with Noctis as protagonist.
-There’s an XV movie, anime, more. My friend Carrie gave me a spoiler-free guide of when to watch what, which I just posted separately.
-Like XIII, it has a mixed place in the hearts of FF fans. Some of my friends love it, while one refers to it derisively as “Traveling Boy Band Simulator.”
-As this is on a PS4, I may incorporate more video reactions, but only where I don’t feel it detracts from written stuff. For instances, long cutscenes or boss fights when things go too fast for me to write reactions anyway.
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Title Screen & Options
-The load screen shows a desert road. One dude drives a car, three others walk beside. A crystal city leans in the distance.
“A Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers.” Interesting mission statement there! I wonder what they’ll to do make it friendly to first time FF players.
-Title screen. A pretty piano plays, accompanied by a mournful violin. IT’S SO GOOD.
-The logo shows a woman sleeping while standing up. The sun or moon sits behind her. Her robe billows out. Is she a goddess or a mortal woman?
Bad Prediction Time: There’s a Sleeping Beauty curse and the main character is on a journey to wake her up. Like the opening quest of Final Fantasy I.
-While this beautiful melody plays, let’s check the options.
[Non-rhetorical question: Is normal difficulty reasonable for a first playthrough?]
-I’ll try active combat to start.
[Non-rhetorical question: if I turn name subtitles on, will it spoil character names before they introduce themselves?]
-The controller set-up hints at active combat similar to Lightning Returns.
-I’ll leave hints on for now. [Non-rhetorical question: do the game’s hints spoil puzzles and stuff, or is this talking more about basic gameplay tutorials and tips? I’d want the latter, not the former.]
-YAAAY! Unlike Lightning Returns, you can adjust difficulty later.
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New Game – Tutorial
-It asks if I want to do the tutorial before starting the game. Sure.
-Noctis hanging with a fox/carbuncle. It’s so CUTE!
-This is a dream world training room. Carbuncle’s my own personal Clippy.
[Non-rhetorical question: the text autoscrolls really fast. Is there an option to turn that off?]
-Just using the Combat Tutorials and ignoring the Lore Guide.
-Gladiolus is my training partner.
-JESUS, IS THIS THE BATTLE THEME? IT’S SO FRIGGING GOOD! Two for two on musical hits.
-Phase lets me evade attacks, leaving behind a cool after-image.
-Hitting an enemy from behind deals 50% more damage. And you can move faster than in LR.
-“Parrying” IS A THING YESSSSS! It refers here to the whole action of what you normally see as parry-riposte. Parry = block + counter, but only when enemy attacks indicate they’re parryable.
-Next tutorial is about warping and MP. Lightning can warp to the target or to specific points around the room. This (again) reminds me of Sekiro’s grapple points.
-If I use too much MP through warping or phasing, Noctis goes into “stasis,” limiting his abilities.
Gotta watch that. At least like I can recover MP at different cover points.
-What an active system! No way I can control multiple characters. Must be a gambit system.
-The battlefield looks way more important than any prior game. You can hide, dash, around, flank…
-Next up is resistances, which brings in a SUPER cool idea: resistance to weapon types! Not just magic.
-I get my first look at the character screen. Ascension, skills, “elemancy…”
Only one menu raises my hackles: “Timed Quests.” Booo hissss.
-Noctis can equip up to four weapons, and his friends can only equip two each.
-Spells time. You equip magic like a weapon.
This set-up feels VERY Dark Souls-y.
-You can aim spells…ooh, and there’s even friendly fire!
-Elemancy seems like a magic crafting system, but I don’t really understand it yet. That’s okay. With this tutorial, I just want these things on my radar.
-THE FIRE SPELL LEFT A PATCH ON THE GROUND! Love it.
-Last tutorial is about using party members. A blonde dude slides in.
-Teammates fight automatically, but join me with a “link-strike” when I parry/blindside
-I can command them to do techniques, and follow-up on those myself.
-The death mechanic is interesting too, even if I don’t quite get it. Losing enough HP puts me in “danger.” Allies can heal me or I can heal them, but when my MAX hp is gone I get game over.
-Yay! There are practice drills for later.
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Intro Cinematic
-I have some more time today, so let’s start the game proper.
[Later edit: I recorded my reaction to this opening cinematic, but the game sound was overpowering and much of my voice was inaudible. Will try to adjust that if I record anything going forward. I’m posting it here for any interested, but I honestly recommend skipping it. Apologies!]
-“The Tale of the Chosen King, Savior to the Star” – will that be Noctis? A literal chosen one story?
-We start as Noctis he looks different. Older, more grizzled. This must be an in media res thing, some fight we’ll come to later in the fire.
[Later edit: The other names were introduced during the fire fight, but I only caught them on rewatch:
Prompto Argentum
Ignis Scientia
Gladiolus Amicitia
No “Mike” or “Bob” with these characters. If I have to infer personalities from names, let’s take some guesses:
1) Argentum means silver, so maybe Prompto will be a sort of rival, annoyed at being second to Noctis.
2) Ignis may be the science guy? Or at least someone knowledgeable. About fire.
3) Gladiolus is a flower and amicitia refers to friendship, so perhaps he’ll be a sweet, loyal friend type.]
-Then, “Before the fall.” The kingdom’s fall?
-Noctis is a prince. That explains why the game I was the “Royal Edition.”
-His dad seems like a legit sweet and good guy.
-Noctis is heading to a royal… wedding? Engagement? ON his way to see his betrothed, anyway.
-His dad refers to him as “wayward,” and Noctis does sound annoyed at his dad, but moreso in a “daaaaad, leave me alone!” way than anything more hostile.
-He’s heading to “Altissia” to meet the betrothed. The name rang a bell when I first watched it, but it was a false bell. I was thinking of FFII’s Altair.
-Noctis is “Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum.” Again, drawing on my old Latin, Night Light Sky. Mix of dark and light.
-The betrothed is Lady Lunafreya of Tenebrae. Luna is moon, Freya is… well, the Norse goddess and BRILLIANT rat dragoon. Tenebrae is shadows. So a moon princess in a shadow empire… perhaps a political alliance with an enemy? Tenebrae and Lucis, shadow and light.
-Also, getting major FFXII vibes given the political marriage at the start. Hopefully this one turns out a weeeee bit better.
-Digging the hell out of the mix of high fantasy and modern elements.
-Lolol at the car breaking down midway through and NOBODY picking them up.
-IT BLEW MY FUCKING MIND WHEN “STAND BY ME” STARTED PLAYING. What a set-up!
[Later edit: Weird that the recording on PS4 doesn’t capture the song. Must be some copyright stuff.]
It sets a very specific tone. Both the song, and its connotations with the movie “Stand by Me.” One of my personal favorites, based on the just-as-great Stephen King novella, “The Body.”
Four friends setting on the road, on what ends up being a journey of growth, departure from innocence, and confrontation with mortality.
Drawing that parallel – which HAS to be intentional – sets a high bar. We’ll see if XV plays with the themes it certainly hints at here with this early imagery.
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Next time: Hammerhead Outpost.
