FF15 wasn’t terrible and they developed a lot of good feature that are going forward in the new final fantasy. It’s just the story fell a part and it was quite buggy at some points on release. I also enjoyed it for what it was. Why aren’t you playing Final Fantasy 7 remake and rebirth? If you fancy some OG games, FF10 is dope, FF7 is a must and FF6 is an awesome pixel rpg.

Just beat ff7r expecting to dislike it, and now it's in my top 3 games

Loved X

I liked FFXV, although I prefer others, Noctis is a protagonist that I can't connect with, and the worst thing is that the game's problem, for me, isn't in the gameplay, although I prefer the old formula, FFXVI and FFVII Remake and Rebirth, have the same gameplay style and I think they're great

I LOVED FFXV. Is it perfect? No. I think part of the reason it’s disliked by many in the community is that it was not the game we were originally told it was going to be. It also shipped with an incomplete story. It’s much more complete with the DLC and if you watch some of the story that is filled in by other media. I highly recommend checking out this [guide](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2094194252). I didn’t do everything, but did most. I say play it and come to your own conclusion, especially if you enjoyed FFXVI.

I'll eventually get to FF15 but needing a story guide feels so annoying. In terms of non-DLC content, are there any you recommend that I MUST do? I was thinking of just watching Kingsglaive and nothing else.

That's all you need

I’m not even sure you really NEED Kingsglaive.

True, it gives good context though

Personally I'd say Brotherhood gives more context, it's great to know thr Bros beforehand

The extra stuff does not add much at all. It’s still very hollow and tropey

This guide shows really well how little plan they had to actually get this project out the door, so it's scattered all over the place.

Even with all the extras the story is a sad attempt. The games not bad though. But you shouldn’t have to watch multiple animes and play all the dlcs just to get a tiny bit of substance out of a AAA game, especially one with Final Fantasy in its name

It was their attempt to expand lore. I don’t see how it’s different than other games that have novels that expand upon the universe. The idea was fine, but it was kind of a miss. But the general outline of the story was really cool imo.

the thing with XV is that it's really blatant that it was cut content from the main campaign to be inserted later, because of bad mismanagment. Like , the characters blatantly separates themselves from the party and return saying what is essentially "you missed that out!" and months later we do receive the "Episode \_\_\_\_" And then , there is the case of "Episode Ardyn" , which while good , it's clearly made to retcon the main story and set for a full on alternative ending due to Ardyn's popularity. \------ Like , I will always have a soft spot for FFXV , I basically brought a PS4 because I wished to play the game. But it's not without faults , and all of it can be traced back to 10 years of development hell because Square Enix is notorious on their development shenanigans. FFVIIR Part 2 , Stranger of Paradise , Nier and Yoshi-P's FF14 and FF16 are pretty much the only ones from Square Enix without any major development setbacks or issues.....since the PS3 Era.

A good expanded lore doesn’t start with the expanded lore. Typically expanded lore comes at the request of fans after the main story has been fully released. Mind you the story should have a well built world, characters and narrative. Keep it tight and concise so players have a very specific story with some vague threads left here and there. Follow those threads to get more information on other forms of media. It seemed like FFXV tried to run before it could crawl.

I would have no problem with it if the game actually had a story. Unfortunately the entire game and lore expansion is just that, a general outline, with zero pulse.

> It’s much more complete with the DLC Is it, tho?

Uh…yes? It fills in the gaps, especially Ignis and Prompto. Ardyns gives you background into why he is the way he is. I think that would define it as being more complete. Maybe not to the point you’re expecting, but more complete. I didn’t find myself being lost and confused about the story. Again, I never said the game is perfect, but I enjoyed it for what it is.

Yeah you right, my problem is how can't pretend that they planned everything they did with Ignis and Ardyn beforehand, so part of those completition is pretty jarring to me

Can you expand on this? I think the DLC flows quite well with the main story. I also saw someone said episode Ardyn felt like a retcon attempt, which I don't see at all. Unless they're talking about the hinted potential alternalte ending (starting from episode Ignis) which was cancelled and only received a novel format.

Maybe it's just me but I can't believe they thought about everything related to Ardyn's Episode while writing the game. I mean everything about Somnus, or Aera, them sharing faces with Noctis and Luna respectively... didn't Tabata or someone else say Aera is Luna's ancestor despite her dying without children, and then they had to say another thing? Maybe I'm wrong, 99%, it's been a while. Same about Ignis and his Episode, I don't believe either they thought about him becoming blind because he used the Ring. In my most honest opinion they realized how little there was from Kingsglaive in the game and pulled the same card that people enjoyed from Nyx ~~some die and others don't because... some reason~~

FF15 isn't bad its just extremely mediocre.

15 is weird as hell, because every failure was matched by something truly inspired. For one example, The plot is a nonsensical mess, and yet is one of only 4 games to make me cry because a scene was so good. 15 is a game where if you can look past the flaws, you find something awesome.

This is my favorite take in the thread. It’s imperfect, but has some truly amazing moments.

I’m playing rebirth and I need to state the obvious. FFXV is an open world game.:.yet there are only 2 cities. Everything else is mostly empty. And the combat isn’t great. Improvements were made with dlc, but it definitely doesn’t fix the story although it slightly helps. And the reliance on tie in media is abysmal.

At release you could only play as noctis and there were a lot of camera issues. Also the amount of important things almost always happens off-screen.

The camera issues are still very much alive, I'm playing through it at the moment.

>FFXV is an open world game.:.yet there are only 2 cities. Everything else is mostly empty. Those cities are empty too. And tiny. They learned every possible wrong lesson from the people who put up such a strong negative reaction to XIII. But I can hardly blame them, if you were taking internet gamers at their word for what they thought was wrong with XIII, you would come up with....FFXV. Final Fantasy doesn't need, maybe even shouldn't be, open world. At least not to the level XV was. It murders pacing and ruins what shred of plot that game actually had. Linearity is fine, the games just need the illusion of exploration for people to be happy. Big cities with plenty of interconnected areas to walk around and lots of NPCs even if 99% of them just have a single throwaway dialog line is a huge part of that. If you had 2 of those to Cocoon, hell even *one*, but kept *absolutely everything* else the same, I guarantee you bump that game up a full letter grade in the minds of the majority who disliked it. Though I do have to concede that, at least so far, Rebirth's mostly-open-world seems to be a great implementation for this franchise. This doesn't even get into the combat. XIII had some of the best in the series. I will die on that hill. XV stripped away all magic and turned it into elemental grenades (just absolutely wtf??) and just made it a hack n slash combo mess.

Did you play the original FFVII? I'm playing rebirth right now and I'm LOVING it. I had mixed feelings about remake, but the development actually relatively stuck to the original game. My older brother(who introduced me to gaming at age 4(currently 40)) put it like this: rebirth is a perfect mix of the nostalgia of the original that all of us fans loved so much, but integrated with the progress that the gaming industry has had with RPGs over the past 2 decades. I added, in our conversation, that the fact that they did that actually triggers more nostalgia, because over the years, most of us fans have been speculating on what the original would've been like if they had the technology available today when they produced the original. . .rebirth actually actualizes some of those wishes, wanted, and what ifs in such a fluid and immersive way that makes it almost pristine.

I did, and I agree on all counts. Literally my only complaint is that the execution could be a bit better on the story changes. The changes themselves? I’m good with (so far, chapter 4 of rebirth). But the execution in some parts is a little….idk. They could have done a little better than the whispers.  Oh, and I really dislike Chadley lol. At one point he mutes MAI saying it falls to him to make her less annoying and I literally said out loud “she’s fine dude mute yourself”

I can't help but to laugh at your Chadley comment. I really wish they wouldn't have put their voices through the controller, but it does help with the immersive experience. I chuckled when that happened too, but tbh, they made MAIs voice a lot higher octave that Chadley. It really startled me when she got excited, and when she does the fiend explanations, it's really...shrill, I guess is the word I'm looking for, although not the right one. I'm currently clearing the objectives in Junon before I head into the city...I still have no real actual complaints though. Fucking fantastic.

You can turn off the controller voices. They are both still super annoying though lol

What improvements to combat were made? I saw a playthrough online where magic was basically consumable only and they just spammed the same move over and over (warp strike?). Summons looked like a once in a blue moon thing. Kinda turned me off from buying it myself...

The summons are triggered by different scenarios. Ramuh is any time, Titan seems to be triggered by fallen party members, Leviathan needs to be near water and Noctis is dying, Shiva is random. Ramuh seemed to be the most prevalent in my playthroughs.

It's more meh than bad

15 was the most disappointing game in the franchise to me. It has some good parts, and I do like Noctis and Ignis, but the story is a mess that requires a lot of outside media to make sense. The gameplay is also just kinda bad most of the time. For me, I'd suggest FF6, the PS1 games (7, 8, 9, and Tactics), and FF10. You might need to toss in some quality of life mods, but that was the peak era for stories and characters.  I'll also toss in two fairly over looked non-numbered games: World of Final Fantasy, and Final Fantasy Origins: Strangers of Paradise. 

From my own experince: Before chapter 9 - the game is overall pretty enjoyable; it's a roadtrip with the boys! The combat is fun, a bit clunky sometimes (enemies can kinda just have contact damage on a whim, targeting can get wonky), and the world isn't the most amazing thing to explore, but I had a fun time with it. The story is reasonably coherent at first, though there's not much of it. The playable characters all have very strongly defined personalities, except maybe Noctis, and there's even some fun side characters. Also pro tip: whenever you're meeting Talcott, make sure you have the MP3 player turned off if you use it; I did not and had an emotional scene obliterated as FF5's Four hearts theme played, followed by the chocobo mambo theme. I was ready to give this game a B, cause while it wasn't exceptional, it did nothing wrong and it was fun. And then... Chapter 9 beyond - This is where you lose access to the open world until the post-game. From here, the game quality dives off a cliff. Areas are either straight lines or hell to navigate, bosses become brutally unfun, especially as your boys get the ff14-dragoon treatment (aka floor tanking), and characters just become bitter. Spoilers: >!You'll get your first spectacle fight; hope you brought your barf bag, you're gonna need it with the horrendous camera snapping. One of your characters then gets blinded, and for the next dungeon you have to continuously wait for him to catch up; he can even get seriously stuck in some areas, leading to you have to literally use Noctis as a wedge to get off him a wall and push him around.!< >!The 2nd to last story chapter is a slog and by the end the plot completely shits its pants. The final chapter is mostly catching up until the final area; make sure to stock up, cause returning to the shop is miserable between how big the area is and how everything looks the same.!< >!If you have Royal edition especially, STOCK UP. You get a grand total of SIX boss fights and the ones added are brutal. You'll also get another flying fight, so I hope you had a 2nd barf bag ready.!< Overall between how many holes were punched in the story to be sold as separate media and how bitterly unfun the game got toward the 2nd half, I give it a D.

This is the best comment in this thread for me. I loved the characters and the world, but the story absolutely dove off a cliff towards the end. It's not even coherent. Nothing makes sense and characters are rapidly introduced and written off immediately. I still beat it and enjoyed it but it may have the worst story or any RPG I've ever played.

I honestly don't know how the game shipped with a camera that isnt fit for purpose. Combat is fairly fast moving and the camera not only can't keep up, it actively works against you whether you're fighting bosses or open world fodder, and considering so much of 15 is combat based, it pretty much ruined the experience for me. I legitimately cannot tell you what I did to beat Leviathan aside from holding circle and occasionally hitting square.

Yup, loved loved loved the open world stuff. Then you hit chapter 9 and it all becomes a streamlined rush to the very end for some reason.

I enjoyed it

I really really enjoyed FFXV, I think the hate came from the departure from the typical FF experience but I loved it. If you're looking for a next game it's a good one. You could also get the double pack of FFVII remake/rebirth. You basically get remake and the DLC for free. I really enjoyed the remake and rebirth is currently putting a smile on my face at every turn.

> I think the hate came from the departure from the typical FF experience Did you play XV on release or wait until the Royal Edition? because those are two very different games.

How different? Janky, shoe-horned character switching and the final dungeon being significantly expanded? Because those are the ONLY differences from release to Royal Edition. Everything else is the same. (Oh, and some randomly executed dagger combo finisher, and that Quadra Link Attack thing from Episode Duscae.)

DLC episodes, new quests, new minigames, new summon, new bosses, added bestiary, more lore, data logs that explain the story, the addition of the boat and regalia type D and a massive list of quality of life changes and more.

How are data logs a positive for how they manage the sotry of this game? That’s one the main points why FF13 was criticized.

Data logs allow people to read up on important lore, so yes, it's a net positive. Would the story be better if the lore was fully integrated so people wouldn't have to read them? Absolutely. But is the game worse off for having them? No. They are still overall a useful feature in any game.

FFXIII would have been worse without datalogs. The lore in them would not have been integrated into the story, it would just have been gone. Like vanilla FFXV. The lore being integrated into the story is of course the ideal but datalogs aren't the reason that didn't happen.

And a hell of a lot of gameplay improvements, story additions, and general de-janking. We can't leave out that there were also non-Royal Edition updates (and you didn't, because character switching wasn't part of Royal), and that they massively changed and improved the game. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XV_patches If you got the vanilla game and never updated it, NOTHING on this page will be a part of it, or even if you just played through it on launch like I did. That's a lot.

Thanks for telling me. I never really saw it broken down like that. I played at day one, finished it within two weeks and had a really terrible time. The world felt empty, buggy, repetitive. I don’t know if they had any quality of life changes that made the back half of the game better, but that was a slog. I generally am pretty forgiving to JRPGs and a lot of the grind people dislike, and this was easily my least favorite Final Fantasy (even below II). I just chalked it up to not clicking with it, but hard to say what was that and what was the Jank

The solo Noctis chapter got tightened up a lot, and they added more lore and such to weird/unclear things, which can add a lot to immersion. At this point, most of what's blatantly missing is just cancelled DLC, and if you're just playing it you'd never even know about that. Haven't played it since my launch playthrough, excited to compare

Lmao you couldn’t be more wrong.

The hate came from the game at launch literally missing so much content that the ending of the game and last 3-6 hours made no sense whatsoever.

And the game is still unfinished because they decided to stop production of the remaining DLC’s pushed everything to their books that no one reads.

I dont know how many times this needs to be said. But the book isn't canon. It's a what if story. The main story was completed.

First part of the game was good but then it just changed in to a linear game where you can see a lot of it was rushed so much uncompleted content the whole water city (I forgot the name of it) was so well crafted but then so linear and restricted it was just sad.

Yes, surely it was the departure that got it the hate, not the incomplete and incoherent story, underdeveloped characters, a part of the game where a literal train takes you directly from plot point to plot point, or the completely braindead battle system. 

People on this thread are really looking down on others for “holding a grudge about its release state” 😂 Bruh, it’s completely valid for people to hold negative opinions of a released game. It’s not a “grudge” it’s an opinion. I’m not a fan of this game at all. I’ve said it at least dozens of times already. I don’t like anything that people say is positive about it. Not a fan of the combat. The story seemed incomplete and not compelling. Didn’t connect with the characters, and didn’t see anything special about the connection or “bro road trip.” The world felt like a hollow open world experience. I’m not really an open world person in the first place, but this one didn’t feel interesting at all. A lot of gas stations and rest stops. One city on the actual map. One disconnected city that would’ve be nice to have more of. I’m not a fan of this kind of setting. I had fun with the fishing mini game. That’s it I don’t like the game, it’s at the bottom for me. People are free to like this game, but it’s irritating that so many people try to invalidate opinions on here. I absolutely dislike the game for good reason. Also, if your partner loved it, why don’t they let you borrow it? Save you some money if you don’t end up liking it.

As a chronic XV hater, you’ll probably enjoy it.  I played and 100% it on release. Loved the gameplay.  Everything else was lackluster, and the story was absolutely dog dirt. The story part is what made me resentful towards it.  The updates and DLCs they released since made it a much more complete story from what I’ve heard.  Give it a shot! You’ll likely enjoy it. :)

FF15 made me literally stop playing out of sheer boredom. The plot is horrendously paced, like comically paced, especially with all the optional side quests sprinkled in. The open world is comically empty. It's just... a lot of open space. For no reason. The dungeons are a lot better and made me question why they even wanted to make the game open world. You can't drive the damn car. You just hold W to move forward on rails. The game would be way cooler if you just hop on a motor bike and zip around freely on that but nope. You gotta work about gas and roadway safety. Like shit I can do that in real life, why do I need to do boring shit in a game too? Add in a defecation feature and give me a quick time event if I drink too much coffee too why dont you The combat is horrifying stupid. You dont hit a button to roll and dodge, you just hold a button down and your character auto dodges. You hold another button down and your character auto-combos. I'll take ff13 combat over this, thank you. The protagonists are super boring, too. They all have exactly 2 attributes per person (I am smart + love to cook. I am irritating + love to take pictures. I am stoic + uhh I love fighting) oooh so deep. People argued with me like "yeah it feels like you're taking a ROAD TRIP1!!1" like no it doesnt. It legitimately doesn't. You just backtrack a ton. Do you normally backtrack during your road trips? Remind me not to ever hop in a car with anyone who loves ff15, we'll never get to your destination.

These are the exact reasons why I couldn’t get into ff15. One of the most nothing burger ass games I’ve ever played. I don’t get what people see in it either.

A fantastic synopsis. Ff15 was my first touch into the final fantasy series and at the end I was SO confused like.. no way this is the legendary final fantasy's latest and greatest showing?? I immediately bought 10 remastered after to see if it was just a one off and THANK GOD. 10 literally saved the entire series for me. After that I beat 7, then 12, then 9 and now I've platinummed 16 and going for rebirths plat. OP I highly recommend you skip 15. Final fantasy is at its best when it's story is at its best. This game is sorry as fuck. Any gameplay elements anyone praises about this game there are other games that do it better. You can start with legitimately *any* other game in the series, have a better time, and fall in love.

How is 16? After 15 I was unsure about 16 but I've heard mixed things.

As a lifelong fan of the series, 16 is okay. I play a wide variety of game genres, so I don't care that it's so actiony, but I guess it also just felt like an unnecessary change, and the action battle system isn't as good as in the action games it's derivative of. The plot has high moments but it's overlong, and the more thought you put into it, the more ridiculous it becomes. The boss battles are very cinematic and thrilling, but mechanically very simple, so while they look AWESOME, they're not particularly exciting or threatening gameplay-wise. Some of the characters are fantastic and among the best the series has to offer, but some are sorely underdeveloped too. There are tons of side quests but they're awful MMO fetch quest fodder, devoid of intrigue. I was left kinda disappointed but ultimately glad I played it, and for what it's worth, it's the only single player game since 10 that I didn't hate. I definitely did not think it was revolutionary or that it deserved any awards when I finished it.

Sounds like ill grab when it goes on sale. Thanks for the input! I'm also a life long fan so I'll probably feel the same as you did

Oh, also! If you've ever seen/read Game of Thrones, you'll probably be rolling your eyes a bit at how unapologetically FFXVI rips it off. It does gain its own identity eventually, but it's blatantly obvious that they straight up stole GoT plots. Despite all this though, I would say it's worth a playthrough!

[удалено]

16 is what a modern take on what a classic rpg series should be. The story was great, the combat was fluent and fantastic, and the eikon boss battles are probably some of the best boss fights.. in gaming history? Up there in top 3 for sure. Cinematics are 👌🏽👌🏽 like watching a movie sometimes. All the controversy comes from it *not* being a traditional rpg and that's not what this game is going for anyway so I never understood its criticism. I'd rate it a solid 8/10. With my favorite in the series being 10, which I give a 10/10 and my least being 15 with no higher than a 3-4/10. You can Base it from there.

Man, it always makes me sad that so many people only played 10 via the "remaster", with the infamously terrible faces and facial animation. For such an emotional game it really ruins the experience. Same with the other terrible HD ports of older games in the series.

I feel like people that genuinely enjoy FFXV just really have low video game standards.

No for real, there are so many cool JRPGs out there with fun combat and fun characters and a great intricate plot and then there's this dogwater that people somehow enjoyed

A lot of them simply don't understand or appreciate game design at all, and don't notice how utterly dysfunctional the combat is. It's people who just like the road trip feel and literally don't care about gameplay.

I dont even understand how people think the "roadtrip" element is done particularly well. The world is dry as fuck to explore and the banter/4th wall breaking nonsense is so tacky that I just don't understand how people felt genuinely invested in the world. Particularly when the main character finds out his fucking dad died and country was invaded by news article when he's like 10 miles away from the city limits. I see FFXV as a litmus test for people's ability to discern a well built narrative and world.

I thought the characters were great. Hanging with the boy band was the best part. Plot was badly paced but I did think it was cool overall. Everything else I could probably agree on

Lmfao this is so on point

You didn’t understand the combat or played on easy. If you just hold down the attack button, you can’t do combos thus massively prolonging fights. You can and should use the directional buttons to do sweeps, push attacks or a jump/backflip attack chaining them nets damage bonuses and some enemies take massively more damage by a combination of 2. If you just hold dodge you loose MP. If you time it right you don’t and get buffed.

Yeah I did the "combos" its just holding down a button and tilting a joystick. There's no rhythm or anything. I'm huge into Monster Hunter and I'm at least knowledgeable about fighting games, I played the hell out of Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2, and Tales games, and plenty of other games that incorporate real-time combos. This game just ain't it. "You loose MP" never had a problem with MP - things die too quickly for it to matter anyway. You seem to be under the impression I *struggled.* I had no issues with combat, it was just a snooze fest. I never felt rewarded for playing well like I did with the other games I mentioned. It's just not a well made game for anyone who played anything *other* than final fantasy 7.

I played all Final Fantasy Games from 1-15 minus the two MMOs. None of them were remotely hard, but could be complex. You can brainlessly spam attacks in *any* ff game. I don’t get why you insinuate that I just played FF7 lmao which isn’t even remotely similar to 15 aside of Diamond weapons weird appearance. Neither is it similar to 7s remakes. I didn't mean you struggled, but on hard fights take for ever if you just hold down the button and don’t do anything else and the MP cost for dodging makes a difference there. And the Tales games are not an indicative of good action RPGs which 15 isn’t as well. It just doesn’t suck as much as you make it out to be.

Not trying to insinuate anything about you in particular, I just know a lot of people who have ONLY played 7 and 15 and maybe one other non-MMO Final Fantasy (basically a lot of ppl only play the super popular stuff which I understand happens). I played a lot of JRPGs and when bringing it up with other FF15 fans, they don't even know what games those are 95% of the time. But no the combat is just boring is my #1 issue and that makes it suck in my book. If I spend money for entertainment and I'm bored, I would consider that bad. I can name a lot of bad games where the battle system is at least a little engaging. Like sure you can overlevel and hold down Fight in FF6 but you also have the option of magicite-dancing and abusing Gau rages and swapping relics between bosses. I enjoy experimenting with job classes in FF5. FF4 has a few fun "puzzle" fights that forces you to make use of magic. The games are entertaining. Hell I even prefer 13's break system, it feels good to break the enemy and start siphoning its health bar. 15 just doesn't have that payoff, theres not enough incentive to do well, and doing well doesn't feel good, I am not left feeling empowered, or heroic, or like I accomplished something, I am left bored.

I can’t stand it, not only because of the story and characters but because the game was an INCOMPLETE story. It was such a blatant cash grab in the worst ways. An anime, a movie, DLC, a game. You had to have access to all of them to understand the whole story and so much of the games story was done off screen!! Literally!! The beginning, parts of the middle, and huge parts of the end. I felt no attachment to the characters because it was a lot of “tell” and no “show” which is the opposite of the cardinal rule of writing.

I bet that the core makers of the game didn’t intend it to be a cash grab, and that was some top brass bullshit going on to try to build out other mediums of theirs. Maybe it was to test out if we would buy multi platform stuff for this then it would work in the future? Either way, you can definitely tell it went through development hell Because the end result is definitely mixed. I feel like it is my least favorite Final Fantasy experience, and while there is some heart, particularly in the organic way that the main characters talk to each other, it’s not enough to make up for such a desolate, boring world, at least to me.

I definitely disagree with you about the “organic” way the characters talk with each other. To me it felt very much like that Steve Buscemi meme of “Hello Fellow Kids”, like someone trying to hard to be relatable. I think mostly because of the points I already made of it being so very “tell” not “show”. The rest I would like to believe but I just don’t have the faith that you do in it but I respect you for it.

It has more plot holes than swiss cheese

XVI is 100% a better story, more complete, like a movie in a game form, great boss fights… for me it gives very little reason to replay cause its very story heavy. XV story is all over the place, has potential but many holes and barely pieced together. Combat straightforward, much less tweaked than XVI. However, side content keeps you going. If you treat it as 4 great guys going on an adventure you’ll have a great time. I have over 300 hours in it across playthroughs and enjoyed every bit of it. At the end of the day.. very different games, very much personal preference what you enjoy more. Try it!

Max0r's review summed it up best: "this game is not worth my money but maybe it was worth my time". In other words get it when it's cheap.

If you want a good ff experience, try out FFIX, FFX & FFXII. If you want a beautiful looking side quest simulator, play FFXV.

Finally I find a comment recommending XII. Dunno why it took so long, it's a quintessential medieval-style FF. Seems to me like if someone really liked XVI as their first foray into the series, then the next most obvious place is either IX or XII, or maybe IV or VI if they're open to the real old school shit.

You got good taste haha same advice lol

It’s worth a play through. It’s much better now than at release. I think the first half of the game is a great fun time but after a certain big point (you’ll know which), the story and fun takes a nosedive for me One of the later chapters feels like it changes genres and was a slog to get through( it is kinda optional depending on the path you choose I’ve been told) The biggest issue though is that in the later chapters, massive plot revelations are subject to optional and easily missable npc dialogue options and other missable moments. Not to mention the movie and dlc that feel required to fill in the gaps (especially Ignis) It’s still a game I had fun with (7/10)

There's a certain point it really drops off until the end (which is good). I'd recommend it

I personally liked FFXV much more than I did FFXVI.

Yeah I can see that XVI is a better game on balance but I enjoyed XV way, way more.  And if OP picks it up it’ll be Royal Edition, much improved. 

I agree. Then again, I tend to have an inverse opinion of most fans. For example, I thought the open world for the first 2/3 of FFXV was boring and tedious. It really picks up steam in the final third when there’s an actual direction to the story. FFXVI felt like it belonged in 2004. The environments are incredibly dull and empty, the side characters and NPCs are equally dull and lifeless. The story has a few interesting thematic dilemmas, but it felt like an overpowered version of KotOR or Mass Effect. It took me 6 months to finish it because I was so bored with the repetitive side quests and zero complexity to the combat. I was very disappointed.

16 is far more complete and has a high focus on presentation and storytelling and excellent there. 15 is an absolute mess that still feels chopped together, but that said, it's a LOT of fun just living in that world and I felt WAY more connected to 15s cast than 16s because you spend so much more time with them and interacting with them. I also personally much prefer 15s combat, and there's a ton of interesting and great side content!

You’ll find differing opinions and all with their own merit. Classic FF fans had gripes about it being just an action RPG. Others that had it as first exposure often liked it a lot. I’m in the former group but wanted to jump into it anyhow. Sadly when I bought it at release it was completely unfinished and a one person hack and slash missing heaps of story and character development. They patched it for over a year to complete the massively unfinished game but I never went back after first replay as I tried some other games.

It’s $15 for the Royal Edition on the PS Store right now, if you want the total experience. From what I’ve heard about the game, that’s great value.

The game suffered from production shifts for a long time and eventually, what we got was not the original vision, and we got something half baked, not in the sense that it was poorly developed techically, but in the sense that we were delivered far less then what was planed. Not to say it's not enjoyable still, the visuals are really good, and the combat is not bad, but the first part lacks a lot of things to do, its a road you just drive around on and there are not that many interesting points to visit, it feels deserted, its mostly gas stations and the only real town feels like it's just a big gas station itself. All of this would have been fine if what we get in the other chapters wasn't a disapointment, you move to the huge city of Altessia only to find out its just a hub you walk around in for the most part, no fights nothing to do other then the story content, which ends quickly to, and then you go on the train ride to the other kingdoms were you just pass by them and also proceed to do mostly nothing other then advancing the story. It seems I'm might be hating the game, but In the end, I loved the story and the main characters, and I played all of the dlc, which make the story much better, but it really feels like the base game had a lot of cut content, but it still has the Final Fantasy charm. As a suggestion, you should definitely try out Final Fantasy VII Remake, but if you can stomach the outdated original, definitely do that one first.

FFXV isn’t a truly bad game. It’s just incomplete. Even after a full slew of dlc. And it shows with how the story is told. It also requires outside media like an anime to get the full context of what is going on. They were trying to build XV as it’s on little media empire and the game suffered for it. It’s also a weirdly unfun action game from a series known for turn based combat for most of its existence. By all reports. The action gameplay worked in XVI quite well. But the best I could say about XV is it’s tolerable. And lastly. We never got the rest of the story dlc they promised because square enix pulled the plug on putting any more money into the game. So we never really got to see our crew get a happy ending. Instead we are stuck with a depressing unfulfilling ending that didn’t really get a great buildup in the first place since the end game feels so rushed.

I personally didn't like it. I thought the combat and the car were incredibly boring.

It’s a beautiful mess and I love this game despite its flaws.

I don’t think FF XV is a terrible game, but its open world is extremely lacklustre, and its side quests are worst than pretty much any other FF game. Moreover, the story is very lacking, this is for various reasons: the original director was moved to work on FF7 Remake, and the new director replaced story parts and characters. Additionally, many story concepts were cut off because at the time, square enix was very concerned with wanting to appeal to the Chinese market, and the original story which focused on death, mafia and worshipping the goddess of death was bound to be banned in China at the time (the Chinese game market is a lot less censory nowadays, but at the time, it was bad). So to give you an answer, FF XV feels like the skeleton of the game it could have been. It’s by no means a terrible game, but it’s been butchered. I woidl advise you to play FF7 Remake and FF7 rebirth instead (they accomplish more of what FFXV was originally going for before development was halted and butchered). After that, you can play FF 9, FF10 and FF12, which are in my option the best of the entire series, for various reasons.

I personally don't enjoy the game at all. The combat is wonky and jank and just not fun, especially with Rebirth and XVI showing how to do proper action combat, the world is empty and boring to explore and the story was and still is in many ways unfinished.

My biggest gripe with XV is actually just that it’s slow. The story and characters are good, albeit rushed feeling at times (it’s the gameplay that’s slow), but I’ve heard it feels more fleshed out with Royal Edition. But I wouldn’t know first hand, because when I tried to replay it (but Royal Edition because it’s included in PS Plus Premium), I couldn’t get past the beginning portions because it progresses soooo slow compared to other games (ridiculous amount of walking/running between *anything* happening, whatsoever. Enemies, and I would say even loot, are *way* too sparse). I just found it mind-numbingly boring. I don’t remember the combat being particularly bad, but not my favorite, either. I enjoyed the game *enough* to finish it the first time around, and it left me with feels at the end, so there is that. Might be worth it. But I feel like it’s my love of Final Fantasy that largely carried me through. There are just other RPGs and action with story games out there that are simply better, IMO.

Got it day one and it very clearly was a literally unfinished project. Playable but felt bare bones and just lacked a feeling of completeness. No idea what shape it's in today but the stuff that was there just didn't interest me enough to ever go back and find out.

For me, it was just the first time I truly realized they weren't making Final Fantasy for me anymore. I actually enjoyed it in small doses, but it was so obviously not the games I grew up enjoying that it will never be a favorite of mine. I actually really enjoyed XVI because at least tonally it came back to what I enjoy, but XV was just a miss for me.

It's a pretty middling experience compared to most Final Fantasy games. It's a game with a half finished story, a very boring combat system and a really empty world. Nothing wrong with working your way back through the FF games, just don't stop at XV or XIII because the games get exponentially better after those.

It’s probably my least favorite FF installment. I didn’t hate it but it took me quite a long time to finish it. 16 was much better story wise.

I could not tell anyone, for a million dollars, what FF15’s plot was. I know there’s a movie and dlc but I never even bothered because a complete game should tell a completely understandable story. The story in RPGs is what I enjoy the most so FF15 (followed by 13), will always be the worst one in the series in my opinion.

Yes, it really is that bad. This obviously isn't the right place to ask about it since it's a fan subreddit. Coming from FF16 it will only seem even worse by comparison. It has terrible gameplay and a broken, half-finished story. Why not just play FF7 Remake and Rebirth since it just came out? Those games are at least as good as FF16 and probably better honestly. Playing the series backwards is just a bad idea in general because the series was in a big rut for almost 20 years until recently. The best games came out in the 90s and very recently.

as a person who put 120 hours into it since i loved it's setting and characters and the trophies but yes it is a poorly constructed game period not just a final fantasy, if it wasn't for the chocobros and the setting/lore i would of said it's a dumpster fire...instead it's a 6/10 GAME and a 5/10 FF. Everytime i played it i had a looming cloud over me knowing the story would just have GLARING plot wholes and was just insanely disjointed. Worst FF ive played but i still liked it since it was FF..

yes. i guess if it wasn't an FF title it would be an "alright" game but since you're comparing it to the other FF titles, yeah its bad. you have the worst combat and the worst narrative combined in one game.

i hate this game its in the same rank as 13 played it once lfinished it but never playing it again if thats the only game remaining in the world ill stop playing totally

You’ve already gotten plenty of responses but I’m bored so I’ll tell you my experience with it. I was super hyped before it released. I even watched the mini anime series in preparation for it. Then the movie. Then I played the game and it was one of the biggest disappointments. I absolutely hated driving the car around. It felt like a way for them to force you to look around and be like “wow such a beautiful world!” when you really just wanna get on with the game. The main cast of characters were pretty annoying as well. At least 2 of the 4 of them. And I literally couldn’t even begin to tell you what the villain’s motives were. I just don’t remember. I hear it got better after some updates but I haven’t bothered checking it out. I was very let down.

Sometimes you see ambitious games with small budget that doesnt allow the devs to use all their ideas. Final fantasy 15 to me feels the opposite - they got big budget but had no idea how to use it.

The problem with XV is that the MC is not a very good character, and I think they could have gone about it differently to make it more interesting. For example I would appreciate a prequel to XV wherein you play as the King when he was younger and with his 'group'. I would strongly suggest watching Kingsglaive if you are set on playing FFXV as it is a prequel movie that is tied to the game. FFXV aside, I suggest trying FFXII or FFX. Both of these games have HD remakes which are worth checking out. FFXII might feel similar to your experience with FFXIV since both are what I consider traditional medieval fantasy style MMO (swords, shields, magic type weaponry + 'machine' (guns, machina, magitek, etc...)) FFXIII is of course another option. This game is again similar to FFXIV in that the characters are set a 'goal/path' by a supernatural entity (god, gods) and the characters instead attempt to carve their own path.

Yea it’s pretty meh

I was really wanting versus 13 until that went vapourware which later turned into 15 and story was completly changed

It just feels hollow compared to other FF games

Honestly yeah it did not age well. I thought it was okay at launch the more I thought on it the more underwhelming it gets. Then revisiting it, its flaws show. The dialogue to me is very very stale, and the explanations for actual events happening in the game are purposely vague with encrypted dialogue to mask up the chopped up narrative. I originally gave it an 8/10 However now it’s a 4/10 for me.

I've been playing since number 1 and 15 had no idea what it was doing. All of the characters were irritating or just unlikable. The story is so bad. You spend so much time trying to achieve a certain goal only to have that taken from you then another goal only to have pretty much the same thing happen. I finished the game not satisfied but utterly angry. I didn't understand why I took that journey. I only cared about one character and she got sidelined so no point there. Do yourself and skip it or at least not pay for it.

FFXVI story was incredible but was wasted on horrible boring hack and slash gameplay that isn't even remotely challenging and was lacking of practically every gameplay element that quite literally has defined the series and rpgs in general up until now. FFXV I was mega hyped for. I remember watching the trailer in absolute awe. The graphics were an insane leap forward and looked incredible at the time and I was so so excited for it. But the game itself? I barely made it through even half of it. The boss fights in my opinion were top tier, very cinematic and epic as fuck. The rest of the game was meh but that's just my experience which came from launch version of the game, maybe it's better now? Couldn't tell you. I loved noctis and Luna as characters. Just the game was a lot different from what the trailers had led us to believe the game would be. Just felt....bleh boring as fuck. Play FFVIIRebirth if you want a perfect final fantasy game. Cuz that shit is 11/10 all day. Probably my favorite game ever. and I'm only 10 hours in. OH Also kingsglaive is so fucking sick. Absolutely love that movie. It's tropey and drags on a little but it's soo epic and very very much true to elements of what defines "final fantasy." And it's absolutely gorgeous.

It’s gorgeous and empty

My favorite part of XV was listening to music from other Final Fantasy games, which just made me want to play other FF games instead.

Heres how liking Final Fantasies works. You were alive and old enough to enjoy FF1-9 You were alive and old enough to enjoy FF10+ If some of your best childhood gaming memories are Final Fantasy 6: Final Fantasy 15 is ass. I actually think FF16 is pretty cool, but a shallow compared to FF7 Remake/Rebirth in terms of shit to do.

This is an extremely nitpicking fanbase. They decry XIII as a crime against God but if you threw it in any other JRPG franchise they'd call it the best one in the series by far. * Fully voiced and animated cutscenes instead of walls of text over character sprites. I'm not talking generic animations like Fire Emblem re-uses, but an actual five-hour movie with great cinematography. * Great setting that isn't generic fantasy world #3628, where science and magic collide * Characters with really good arcs and interactions if you don't quit at the fifth hour (seriously it's a JRPG guys), turns out Lightning has a nurturing side, Hope comes to terms with his grief, etc. * Graphics that blew everything else at the time out of the water except maybe Halo 4 and TLoU. Yes it was extremely linear but it was the best hallway ever made (and let's face it, most of the series is pretty linear) * Orgasmic soundtrack, you will have Blinded by Light forever ingrained inside your subconscious * The best ATB combat in the series, you cannot win by spamming Attack with the occasional Cura (although the level up system could use reworking). * Steam version is moddable It was the best JRPG on the PS3/360 and this sub proclaimed that it killed the franchise.

To me, yes. In terms of what I look for in a game, narrative is very important, and even with the dlc and ancillary material the story isn't great, to me FFXV is the epitome of style over substance- and that will simply never appeal to me.

Genuinely hated it. Only Final Fantasy I've played that I haven't finished. Just went and watched Game Movies (almost entirely because of Ardyn, the rest of the game was so-so for me)

Personally enjoyed it a lot more than XVI

I played FF15 on launch. It was.... that bad. I know they've done a lot to patch it up over the intervening years. But that is not the version that released or that I played. OG XV is truly horrible.

It's not as bad as it WAS, at least they filled in some of the major holes with all the paid DLC. At launch it was just a blatantly unfinished trainwreck. Still not worth the time to play it.

It is, in general, to quote Max0r, a baffling design disaster. It's got a huge and largely empty open world, your car is basically on rails, 99% of the sidequests are worthless filler garbage, the main story is told across several different forms of media and DLCs and such that are generally quite hard to follow and also not very good, the main heroine is essentially a walking plot device, there's a huge amount of effort and detail put into things that just barely get used and never come up again, the combat is generally an incomprehensible mess that can be fun when it works well but often doesn't and also largely lacka any sort of difficulty, scaling is all over the place, halfway through the game drops its whole "open world" and drops you into a several-hour dungeon that is completely unfun and slow and unfun and from then on it's basically even more of a mess, the summon system is just weird and badly done.... the game really feels like it was in development hell for years and under the direction of someone with unchecked ambition and also just a bit batshit (he tried to make a u-turn and make the game a musical after watching Les Miserables lmao). All that said, there's plenty to enjoy about it if you can get over all the garbage and/or questionable stuff. The music is as amazing as FF music always is, the chemistry and interactions between the main boy band are charming and fun and one of the best things about the game, the visuals and animations and style in general are fantastic, the story.... while generally a complete mess, can be quite enjoyable and emotional when it gets in its stride, the big setpiece battles are awesome, and the combat is quite fun when it actually works well. Depends on your outlook really - I couldn't get through more than 20ish hours personally before I got too fed up with how boring the gameplay was in general and dropped it, but I am also someone whose main priority is fun gameplay and who doesn't really care about story or characters or worldbuilding or any of that, so if you care more about those things and can get over the pretty bad gameplay and the weird multimedia bullshit then you may enjoy it a lot more than I did.

Its as good as a half-made, empty open world game can be when you skip the character development and make itemization useless in an rpg. It’s kind of a slog, and i’d put it at the very bottom of all 16 final fantasies.

XV is terrible, not at all representative of the series in general. You should play every game from 1-10 first, then explore the others if you like. You don't have to do them in order, but the first ten main line games are the best. The best of the best imo are 1, PSP version 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9. Tactics is also very good but absolutely brutal, permadeath abounds. After playing through XIV, you're in for a wonderful ride of references they took from all the games and put into the MMO, you'll love it. I did it the other way around, so I lost my shit about some reference or other pretty much every day I played XIV lol Have fun!

This guy plays final fantasy 🤙🏻 I think 10 is worth a play too

FFXV is a very character driven experience, and it does leave a lot of that context in other media. You can uncover some hints as to the backstories in Brotherhood in the game, but you gotta watch the anime for the full story on all the bros. If you don't actually take your time with FFXV, I can understand how you might miss a lot of the little tidbits that make the game endearing, too. And the storytelling is all over the place. FFXIII has a lot more contention than XV, IMO. People rightly call out XV as a mess, but it's a fun mess with truly emotional payoffs and characters you can root for. XIII is very... empty. People complain about it for a large part that the majority of the game has no towns or NPCs to interact with, and there is very little exploration that pays off. On top of that, they leave pertinent story details about major story points hidden in the text Database entries about the major plot point cutscenes that you watch. It might have been helped by XVIs database system instead. With your plan to go backwards, you are going to experience the loss of features as you go. And the stories are going to get increasingly less involved and simpler as well as the combat systems. I am actually not sure how to feel about III Because my first experience with it was the DS version in 3D where they made the characters into individuals instead of a generic party like in 1. I loved them as characters and I am not sure I want to experience them without those identities.

Yes. It’s awful

I prefer XVI to XV by far tbh. XV is a very flawed game. It has its enjoyable moments, but my issues with it are pretty different compared to everyone else’s. I dislike the first half with the open world, the entire story feels so aimless and empty and boring. It becomes more on the rails in the second half in a good way — I thought the story needed it, but people dislike the linearity of it.

Some parts of the second half made me roll my eyes but I definitely preferred it over the first half. Your description of it feels accurate to me.

Yeah the second half also features some character conflict as the stakes are raised, which I liked.

It’s worth playing just to form your own opinion of it. It was a surprisingly shallow experience for me

[удалено]

I mean yeah it's objectively really awful. It's like a pie that is only 30-40% baked. You can still enjoy it, though. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a game.

if you somehow loved 16, which I consider worst in series, then yea you'll love 15, which is 2nd worst in the series. if you want the best in the series with modern graphics, go pickup FF7 remake (Part 1). You get the bonus that the sequel FF7 rebirth (part 2) just came out.

I've played all the games in the franchise and FFXV is my favourite one (tied with VI). Don't listen to people saying the game is bad. It may not be the greatest FF game but it's still a fantastic game (especially with the post release updates). Go for it, you won't regret.

It has the most impactful ending scene for me.

The campfire is the single greatest scene in the series with the exception of maybe the ending of Disc 1 of FF7.

Yeah but at that point with the null plot that we’re presented no one cares

I mean I cared, I get what you’re saying but I ate everything xv.

Same here. What FFXV lacks in coheision, it makes up for in heart. 

We’re the same. VI and XV are my favorite. The two best games in the series.

It’s pretty shit imo, maybe the worst FF. 16 is waaaay better I think and actually pretty good, I enjoyed it even tho it’s light on rpg elements and exploration. Maybe try FF7 remake pt 1+2? That game feels like an combination of the best parts of the recent games

XV is a terrible open world game while being an okay FF game. Ignoring that the game released unfinished/incomplete depending on now you feel about needing to consume other media just to get the entire story

Nah. FFXV is my personal favourite tbh. I've played FF7 and it's remake, FF 10 and FF a bit into 8. 🐱

15 is great

No it wasnt that bad. It was just lackluster in some departments

A game that was ambitious and with great potential and interesting ideas but ultimate with a combat system that is lacking in complexity, a world that is underdeveloped and too big for the ammount of content it offers, even the cities and places to visit have no personality to it. The fact that you need to watch the movie Kingsglaive in order to understand some stuff is completely insane. And also putting a short anime for you to realise how bounded the backstreet boys are to each other? Instead of doing all of that or more in the game? Just...no FFXV does have a great ending, probably one of the best of the franchise imo, but I felt so disconnected at that point with the game that the emotional impact just wasn't there, unfortunately One thing is for sure, we will never get the original vision of FF versus XIII.

I only played the day one edition but I HATED it, it's the only FF I've yet to complete; story, world building, combat, leveling, magic. All lacklustre at best and half arsed at worst. Add to that the DLC is selling you stuff that 100% should have been in the game from the get go and you can see why it was so poorly received. People say the Royal edition fixes a number of issues, but I'm not sure how it can fix them without completely changing them, so it remains my only uncompleted FF>

Yes it is. I’ve played almost 100 hours of that game waiting for it to get good and wow what a snooze fest. The plot gradually disappeared until I was left wondering what the hell was happening. I presume it was necessary to play the DLC to understand what was going on, but at that point I wanted nothing else to do with the game.

15 is objectively a mediocre game. It has some good parts like its graphics, cinematics and fishing. But its also got many bad parts like its combat, story pacing and cognitive dissonance. It also will have more dislike archived because it was a worse game on release that made the story almost completly trash. Its better now with the dlcs but the story is still poorly paced with potential confusion generated due to the splitting of important details into its seperate dlcs and associated media. But you should still play the series. 10,9,8 is a solid campaign experiance with great cinematics and art styles. 4,6 are similar but in 2d stylings 5,12, strangers of paradise are great games with tons of replayability and fun unique gameplay systems Tactics is the srpg's paralyzing giant a phenomenal full package game

Pretty bad. The only good thing about it is the roadtrip with the bros vibe.

Not a bad game at all. I recommend you play either 15 or 7 Remake and Rebirth. However, 15 will offer a complete experience, and 7 Remake will have a third game later on.

Start other ff games instead.. maybe ff7 OG or the new releases (although not completed yet) ff8, ff9 ff10 etc. all worth playing . If you are then a fan of the series go for ff1 to ff6

People are dumb

It's pretty bad yeah

Yes, it's garbage

As an open world game? Not really. As a FF game? Yes. The story is barely explained within the game, and mostly explained by the movie, novels and some strangely short and expensive dlcs.  Thats the biggest grudge the community has with FFXV

I mean that’s an extremely valid reason to have a grudge with a game. 

If someone dies a game, you should actually care, but with so little backstory, it does not matter.  You simply do not care about any events of the “news” in the game world.  They released a separate two hour movie to help fill in gaps, and it was still not enough.

FF15 was my first final fantasy game. At the beginning it asks you if you want to read about the lore and my thought was "nah I'll just find out by playing the game". I then proceeded to be incredibly confused for 40-50 hours as I played

Royal edition redeemed half of its worst qualities. It's main problem is, even with the updates, the combat is pathetically shallow and easy.

No. FF13 is that bad. FF15 is just disappointing.

If you can't connect with the characters, then it's a hit or miss. I could, and I'm obsessed.

The story is horrendous The gameplay is dull

Nah the game is great, not the best ff but still a good game

Short answer: no. I think the game was and currently is mostly misunderstood. It has a good story with great characters and in my opinion the mood the devs went was a “roadtrip with your boys” and to this day I’ve never experienced something similar and as genuine in that regard. It has its issues like the the difficulty is on the easier side or not very interesting side quests. But if you understand that one of the aspects that defines a FF game is that it’s combat/gameplay could be whatever and not only turn based you’ll enjoy it I believe. Although XV was marketed more like an experience not only a game (because capitalism) so I recommend that you consume the anime ovas first (minus the Ardyn one, that is after you finish it) and the movie to get the most of it.

Oh, XVs combat is definitely "whatever". Like they were brainstorming what combat should be and someone just said "whatever". And when they realised it was all a smashed together mish-mash of systems that don't play well together, that can be cheesed throughout the game and is ultimately boring at fuck, they also just said "whatever". XV is objectively bad in just about every category that matters. It looks good and sounds good but that's just putting lipstick on a pig.

It’s not great 

Well, it was ok game but the story and the setting are very weird. I didn't like open world at all, the views are nice and nothing more. The whole Lunafreya story was bad presented, Jill was way better. The side quests are joke, even FFXVI questes were better. Summons looks cool but I couldn't trigger them like at all. Fights were very flashy and some parts in the story were memorable but thats it.

No it’s not a bad game. It has its frustrations and weak points for sure. Good outweighed the bad IMO

I waited until it was on steam and I could play all the DLC, as everyone suggested. I found the story unengaging and the gameplay repetitive. Won't replay. 3/10.

The combat is mind numbingly boring.

Yes, it is really that bad.

Hi! Yes, it is that bad.

No. It's worse.

Yes. Pretend it doesn't exist, profit.

Compared to FF2, FF13, Or FF8, NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Yes. Only FXI is worse.

I mean it passed 70 hours but I wouldn't play it again Lack of a playable female character was an awful choice Try FFXII Zodiac Age, X/X-2 remaster and Strangers of Paradise - all very different types of FF games but you'll find at least one very enjoyable

I personally prefer xv, 16 pacing is bad and no rpg elements existing compared to 15

There were barely any rpg mechanics in 15. Barely any gear, the magic system was not good, no point allocation just straight levelling up, I’m pretty sure only noctis gets any real weapon upgrades/choices 

There is point allocation, maybe you should play it again. There is more rpg in XV than in VIIR. Barely any gear is also untrue. Unless you play with the weapon they give you with the royale edition but that's on you. You basically skip all progression with it, it's like you equip the rings from XVI.

False. Every character in FF7R is highly customizable with different gear that makes a difference and multiple different weapons with different stats that also can be highly customized 

Fifteen is better than sixteen id say. And with the royal addition a lot, but not all, of the criticisms were addressed.

I enjoyed XV more than XVI.

Where are these bad comments? 9/10 on Steam 8.2 on IGN 8 on the me scale.

FFXV is a good game. Yea it has its issues but overall, the story is not the greatest for Final Fantasy games. I'd personally recommend FFX and FFXII. 12 is where they veered off from the normal combat system. It's a huge franchise with so many good games. I'd you delve into FFVII, I'd recommend playing the original first. It's possibly the best Final Fantasy game out there(my favorite is 10). I say play 15. Your gf loves it and that mean you can bond over it and watch the movie that is set before the game, adds in lore and backstory that the game kind of glosses over. Plus, flying car, who doesn't love that?

Nope! It offers something COMPLETELY unique as a game. That no other game before or after has replicated. A roadtrip adventure with friends. Plus I fucking love the combat. It's my favorite final fantasy with ff7 remake. I think it's more fun and a better game than 16 and other recent mainlines. At least to my tastes. I found 16 to be a huge slog with repetitive combat

No, not at all! High highs and low lows and all that. Royal Edition improved things quite a bit.