10 Things Nobody Wants To Admit About Final Fantasy XV

8. Every Boss Battle Is A Mess

If there's one thing FF XV does incredibly well, it's the scale of the Astral beings you can summon. Arriving on a bed of rising orchestral music, their overpowered, 'one-and-done' cutscene-like nature is a nice callback to the halcyon days of FF VII through X.

What doesn't work, however, is when the game wants you to be in control during an encounter with one of these creatures. You'll get the first taste for how broken the combat feels against larger enemies during the Titan battle, as his sweeping arm movements repeatedly come out of nowhere, and you'll frantically attempt to deal damage as the overall lack of any satisfying connection makes the whole thing a slog.

Then there's Leviathan, the Hydraean, to which the game suddenly ushers in some truly terrible mid-air combat. It's all intended to make you feel all-powerful, the star of your very own Dragon Ball Z showdown. Remember how combat looks in the likes of Final Fantasy Advent Children's various battles?

It's that, but with none of the proficiency that something like Asura's Wrath or Dragon Ball's own Budokai series offers.

Instead, you'll spam the same attacks over and over as the camera alternates between being awkwardly bolted onto Noctis' movements, and losing sight of your opponent altogether. This same 'mode' returns when you finally face off against Ardyn, seeing Square Enix channel their inner Matrix Revolutions as the pair smash off buildings and chase each other through the city streets.

The problem is with the combat overall (which I'll get to), but fighting everything from Aranea to Arwyn to the Astrals is zero fun once you get past the visuals.