Final Fantasy XV Reviews: 10 Early Reactions You Need To Know

Nov 28, 2016 November 28th, 2016

1. The Open-World Is The Biggest Positive... With Annoying Limitations

"We can go through rocky mountains, marshes and swamps, caves, dungeons, mystical locations, forests and much more, just by going on a journey around the region of Lucis. The diversity that is available here is outstanding and deserves full praise." - GearNuke

"From all the games I played, it's only The Witcher 3 that seems to have a bigger world [...] In one moment you think the world is like reality and in the next one you see some weird monsters flying around or ruins that spread across the map. Unlike many other open world games, this one is alive and has some mysteries for you to discover. Of course, you could rush the story and end the game, but then you are missing about 50% of the fun things the world has to offer." - MIjdax, Reddit

"Invisible walls are literally EVERYWHERE. One time I couldn't jump over a simple cactus to reach my car, so I had to walk all the way around all these cactus and palm trees, resulting in 90 seconds of making me furious." - Saphiro187, GameFAQs

Another big consistent positive for Final Fantasy as a series is world design, and forgoing FF XIV's MMO-style structure, XV is the first time we've seen Square deliver on a proper open-world. Doing so has allowed the team to flesh out tons of secret areas, dungeons and fantastical structures along the way, juxtaposed against the mundane, modern townships that otherwise pepper the environment.

This contrasting approach gives FF XV its biggest sense of identity amongst a sea of quality RPGs this decade, and aside from the occasionally annoying invisible wall getting in the way, is all the better for it.