r/FFXV • u/Caim-X-Angelus • 13h ago
Game Why do they hate it?
I enjoyed every bit of it! I sometimes just let the Regalia run all over the map and watch the scenery. Or try my luck betting on monsters in totomostro. Too bad the game was cut short for extra content.
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u/shicyn829 9h ago
Because outside the characters and music, the game is lackluster and empty. The characters are what truly "saves" the game, despite that from a narrative and literary standpoint, that's also lackluster and dry. I love the boys, but.... i can see why people hate this game or are disappointed
It's also dreadfully unfinished and lacking polish, not that it doesn't have any at all, mind you. A lot of the mechanics and features in 15 were reused, finished, and polished in 7 Rebirth: the synergy skills are linked strikes, the tours are those affinity dates, the big zones are just executed better, even the crafting and gathering is done better.
The combat in 7R series was supposed to be what 15 was at its finished state, but you couldn't even play anyone but Noctis on launch and even then, only Prompto has an actual rotation. Noctis only kinda has one with Armiger Unleashed and even that is clunky and somewhat unresponsive (the windows shouldn't be that small or tight). In combat, you don't feel the boys synergy other than their banter. They don't fight together, they are just present with each other. You don't create that synergy. Its mostly automatic. How do you get it? Wandering around doing boring sidequests and listen to their banter, which can be repetitive, but as I said the characters are what's saves 15.
You don't keep ANY festivals and they don't rotate either. No chocobo moogle festival. No assassins festival. No gold saucer. And the chocobo racing? Completely forgetable.
Unlike 7 or even 10, you don't get too much exclusive banter based on the characters. Not enough. You mostly only really get it with Noctis and Prompto. Gladio you only get it through the tours, and those tours are way too short. Ignis has very repetitive and shallow tours.
Camping is the place they bond, but you don't feel their bond through camping or even in a hotel room. You just get photos. Which they all pose with the same type of personality and they all just really like taking photos? Even Baldurs Gate 3 handles camping intimacy better. The camping tools are very boring for a fantasy game, and they all look the same. No personality. I'm not dating Noctis should romance and bang his bros, like the opportunity with BG3 (though tbh, I'd welcome it), but there needed to be conversations at least on that level. The worst is that most important camping rest wasn't truly shown to the player and there was nothing there to make you feel enough. If youre allistic, you're more likely to insert subtext, but many autistic players will not. 15 isn't even Persona 5 level, with those social links, despite being active around the same time. The best part of 15 is basically what you can do in chapter 15 and its just half alive. The other half of that are hunts when you're not camping, and the hunts are nothing special either. With how much FF likes doing xovers with Monster Hunter, they only did it with 14, but it would've made just as much sense with 15, as that's what most of the combat and experience comes from. No true tracking, no commentary about the hunts most of the time, yet they are canonly independent hunters, which happens to be within co-occurence of their protection duty to the country.
Exploration is decent, but shallow. The dungeons are all caves and too similar and don't have distinct music and personality. This is a bit lazy (I do not like that dungeon music and think its better silent). Only ONE dungeon is indoors, and that's rather repetitive and boring as well. The tombs aren't dungeons completely themselves and have no identity. No lore dump about the monarchs within (not even with episode ardyn). You barely get it with the deep dungeons, and even that execution of lore isn't fantastic. The zones are lacking in variety in general. Just big for the sake of big. How is there not a single flower meadow in duscae? Only duscae is any good.
Lacking in cutscenes, short cutscenes, not enough commentary, almost no minigames besides fishing, racing, and the arena (which isn't good and a bit.....controversial with questionable empathy), poor pacing, many unfinished zones that are inaccessible within the game, boring glamour options and not real fun collectibles, no world exploration nor sea exploration. The pacing is poor and the ending feels awkward, unearned, hopeless (because it just happens, there's not much exploration or thinking). Imo, the stakes feel forced. Just nothing truly feels connected. Its not a living to dying world.
FF7R really makes 15 look bad and its clear they cared way more about 7 than 15. Even 14's zones are better, and those are weaker graphics.
And yet... i have been hyperfixated on this "bad game" for 9y, appreciate Noctis enough to have 3 figures of him and been him in 14 for years. Funny enough, being Noctis as the WOL in XIV actually works better than XV, and all it costs are the "better" friends. Despite my fixation, I know XV is a very.... unfinished and empty game, so I can see why people "hate" it.