satoshi-mochida:

Since until further notice, it seems Episode Ardyn will be the last of the add-ons for Final Fantasy XV, and Hajime Tabata left Square Enix, I’ll be making this post, now. May get ramble-y

I never closely followed the development of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, so the title and story changes when it changed hands didn’t really affect me that much. When more info on it after that started getting revealed, and I was doing what I usually do on here, that’s when I started getting more invested in it.

I played both demos(the Episode Duscae one from Final Fantasy Type-0 and Platinum Demos), and I liked the main four right away. They gave me a good idea about their characters, and I like the gameplay in both, and seeing a bit more story in them, (even parts that ended up getting changed, namely part of Episode Duscae’s epilogue), was nice, like the bit about Carbuncle protecting Noctis in his dreams. I’m a bit dissapointed that one of Ignis’ tours, where he and Noctis go stargazing and reminisce, isn’t in the main game.

Before it’s release, I watched Kingsglaive and Brotherhood. Right after watching Kingsglaive, I wanted to jump into the game right then, and the episodes of Brotherhood were some nice character backstory for the Chocobros. I also like that, in the main game, you can actually get the recipe for what Ignis was trying to make in his episode and Pyrna still has the bandana/scarf Prompto gave them.

I got the game first day, and kept at it until I finished it, which, since I didn’t rush and did most of the hunts/sidequests, took a few days. I was invested in their journey all the way.

And even though important plot points had been spoiled for me by some jerks, and one half-truth about the final boss, the emotional impact of them still worked for me. Even on my second full playthrough, which I had to start from scratch due to my PS4 accidently deleteing all of my game save data, I still teared up at certain parts, especially the ending. 

The add-ons all felt good to me, letting us see what happened when each party member seperated from the main party at some point. I do agree that it’d have been nice to have them integrated in the main story somehow(like getting the option to see the events of Episode Gladio after making camp when he retirns, since it starts with him recounting the events while they’re all sitting by a campfire). 

I know the game has it’s issues, but I still love the game, the characters, and the world, even if things could have been improved upon. I always feel good seeing the Chocobros, Luna, Aranea, and everyone else.  

The updates they made for the game, like character switching, the additions in the Royal Edition update and being able to take on more than one hunt at a time, were very welcome, like the extra events in Insomnia near the end of the game, adding a bit of an epilogue to the Comrades expansion’s story. Should some of these been there beforehand? Probably, but I’m aware of the delopment issues the game had up until release.

While the game may not have met it’s full potential, I have no regrets about buying it and supporting it.

Even two years after it’s release, there are still many who are fans of the game. I’m always seeing good art, cosplayers and so on of it. At ACen, there’ve been quite a few cosplayers the main four, Luna, Cindy and probably others I’ve missed, and I usually get their pictures(like a really good Luna cosplayer I saw this year). 

I’d love to cosplay Noctis myself, someday.

In closing, thank you Hajime Tabata, and everyone else who worked on making Final Fantasy XV what it is, and those still working on it. You may have stumbled a bit, but you walked tall. 

Good luck to you all in your future projects.