Marcus Stray

I don’t recall ever expressing any strong negative opinions about Final Fantasy XV, but I have to admit that I didn’t hold it in very high regard.

Final Fantasy XV was one of the first games I bought when I built my first gaming PC. It was a modest rig but it ran the game, and I was very pleased with this because I have been a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise for most of my life. The game wasn’t new at the time, so I’m going to say this was around 2018.

It’s hard to explain exactly why the game didn’t click with me in hindsight because this was so long ago, but I do remember having a similar experience with Final Fantasy XIII. After some consideration, I believe that this is due to the nature of Final Fantasy as a series.

Admittedly, off the back of playing the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy I had become somewhat besotted with Claire “Lightning” Farron. She is tall, strong, beautiful, and highly skilled in combat. In the beginning of the game she comes off as ruthless and even cold, but with a little time it is revealed that she cares as much as she is hurting.

This reminds me, in a way, of my own mother. Like most children I had very little idea how badly my parents were struggling to make ends meet. I hardly saw my father due to the shift work he was doing; either he would be gone in the evenings when I got home from school, or he would be resting after a morning shift.

As a child one looks to their parents for everything. Both of my parents were working 2 jobs eventually, and in the back of my mind I felt like they loved their work more than they loved me. I didn’t realize at the time that I and my siblings were their labor of love.

This might seem like a strange reflection to have when speaking of video games but I think most anyone who has finished a video game they loved can relate; it doesn’t necessarily leave a bad taste behind, but I normally like taking a break after an intense story.

Final Fantasy may owe some of its success to the model of keeping each iteration self contained. It sucks that we eventually have to say goodbye to great characters, but we get to meet new ones that are just as cool when we are ready.

The other important thing about Final Fantasy is that it has always, at least as long as I have been a fan, positioned itself at the bleeding edge of game design. The raddest heroes, the baddest villains, the crispest graphics, the most intricate character and monster designs, the over-the-top boss battles, the epic soundtracks.

The original Final Fantasy was, as far as I recall, a last desperate shot from a struggling Squaresoft. According to the legends, the company would have shut its doors had the game not succeeded, hence the “Final” in Final Fantasy. It was a desperate struggle, not unlike that of the heroes in the game.

Square Enix has been making these games for nearly 40 years now. It is a publicly traded company worth billions of dollars. I’ve had my doubts before, but this company is deeply invested in creating experiences that its audience will love. Final Fantasy XV of all games has proved that to me all over again after I gave it a fighting chance. Honestly, I was and still am a little hung up on Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels. That was a wild ride, but it was also difficult to get into.

I remember why; it starts out very linear, and I didn’t like that the whole battle shift thing had returned after having the seamless transition between exploration and combat in FFXII. The world seemed very interesting, but I still longed for Ivalice in my heart when I started FFXIII.

I know FFXIII was relegated to the backlog for a little while, but once I gave it some time I was hooked. The very same thing happened with FFXV, it appears.

I’ve barely spoken about FFXV up until this point. I thought it was an OK game, there were some things I liked about it after playing it for several hours. I cannot say why I didn’t pick it up again.

The developers have already moved on and developed, among others, an entirely new entry into the Final Fantasy franchise, Final Fantasy XVI. The year 2025 will mark 9 years since FFXV launched, I have totally slept on this game for all these years. Maybe I wasn’t ready for it.