The reviews are in!

[Fynn]

As of now, with 25 reviews overall, Final Fantasy XV stands at a very solid score of 86!

http://www.metacritic.com/game/plays...critic-reviews

I wonder how much the user reviews will differ when the embargo on those is finally lifted tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm fairly confident that XV is, at the very least, a good game, and I can;t wait to play it!

[Necronopticous]

Having played it in its entirety, I can confirm that it is, indeed, a game.

[Sephiroth]

Having played it in its entirety, I can confirm that it is, indeed, a game.

Are you really done with it or is this Ramen post 2.0?

[Necronopticous]

Yeah, Lamonda & I finished it over the weekend. It's a complete disaster. If you are on the fence, I would highly recommend waiting until you start seeing reviews from regular players rather than going completely on these large publication reviews.

[Sephiroth]

Except I have it since Friday and finished it already and I love it. And regular players are the last thing I want to read from.

By the way, this game has Yoda Tonberrys in one mission.

[Formalhaut]

I've a feeling this will have a good critical reception and a mixed player reception. Though it depends really. Technical things like bugs and crashes will probably be ironed out within the next month (you hope).

I read the Kotaku review. From what it seems? Good. Flawed, but worthwhile. I'll probably pick it up for Christmas for Mr. Carny and go from there.

[Fynn]

Of course the fan reception is going to be incredibly polarizing. Expectations have been built up to an impossible level over all those years.

Not to mention that, you have to admit - we are a terrible fanbase. No one can agree on anything, with people always divided on what they want down the middle I'm actually more confident that professional reviewers are better at approaching the game with any kind of chill.

That said, not sure how the story will turn out (though I believe that it'll be good), but I'm already 100% sold on the world, characters and battle system. Even if everything else goes to hell, there is no way in hell this won't be better than the XIII fiasco, as I can tell you that was the most tedious experience I've ever had, even if you don't count the garbage story and terrible characters.

Oh, and the music is phenomenal, that can't be argued, I think.

[Big D]

Of course the fan reception is going to be incredibly polarizing. Expectations have been built up to an impossible level over all those years.

Not to mention that, you have to admit - we are a terrible fanbase. No one can agree on anything, with people always divided on what they want down the middle I'm actually more confident that professional reviewers are better at approaching the game with any kind of chill.

Exactly. 'Real FF Fans' had already decided this game "literally raped my childhood!!!" the moment it was announced that it wouldn't be a 16-bit 2D title, or when it was suggested that Cid might be a woman this time.

A lot of these initial reviews sound promising - TIME, for instance, have highlighted a number of things that sound almost like they're designed for my idiosynchratic tastes and preferences.

I'll give it another couple of days before making a firm decision though.

[Marshall Banana]

I got what I expected out of the game: some laughs. However, it turned out much worse than I imagined it would be. I expected it would just be a simplistic, boring game, but it was instead a Frankenstein game that just got worse and worse at the end.

I noticed some reviews sugar-coated some things, so here's my basic list of my impressions:

• The game is buggy and unoptimized. Slow load times and glitchy, frustrating interactions (like simply trying to press x to check something can be a chore, because you're not standing in the right place or completely still). Still, makes for some amusing times.
• Your party members are constantly getting themselves killed in battle, because you have no control over them. Dragon Quest IV for the Famicom had a more advanced system than this (if it's the one I'm thinking of in which you have mostly-independent party members for the first time)...
• Equipment and magic feel completely inconsequential. We blasted through the game willy nilly without much consideration of those things. Maybe we had two game overs?
• Simple menu and dialogue convenience features are missing (like skipping cutscenes, selling all items or instantly choosing to sell all of one item in a shop). That is unless they patched those things and I didn't notice.
• Pay attention to optional actions like listening to radio or reading papers scattered on the ground, because that's how the game transmits important plot points to you. It does not show most of them to you. Also, I recommend watching the movie to have a better understanding.
• There is only one character I felt like I understood and was relatable.
• The amount of product placement...my God. Most hilarious thing ever.
• Nothing makes the world feel smaller than the fact that there are like 3 NPC models duplicated EVERYWHERE. It's hilarious. Once, I saw a car with two of the same NPC in it.
• I think the realism of the game is responsible for how ridiculous it feels at times.
• It's very derivative of previous installments as well as Kingdom Hearts. There are both good and bad results from this.

Can't really get into issues with the game's weird story logic without spoilers.

[Fynn]

[*]Pay attention to optional actions like listening to radio or reading papers scattered on the ground, because that's how the game transmits important plot points to you. It does not show most of them to you.

Honestly, this is the type of storytelling that I'm looking forward to. Sounds actually organic, nicely contrasting with XIII punching you in the oesophagus with 2-hour cutscenes of people screaming "FEELINGS!"

[Fynn]

Haha! Oh my God! The user reviews are in and they're all either a 10 or a 1!

See, this is what I mean. If you're a fan, you're either insanely hopeful or frustrated, and you have been for years. The game couldn't be anything other than completely polarizing.

[Sephiroth]

I had no problem with anything than narrative pacing and how much story is told, which is not too much. The rest I liked a lot. Even the story, even with the mentioned problems.

[Fox]

Oh, and the music is phenomenal, that can't be argued, I think.

You say that, but I did see one review that stated: "There wasn't a single piece of memorable music in the entire game".

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Let's be honest, FF has been a pretty polarizing franchise since VIII. And I tell you what - that game more than any other set a precedent for dodgy storytelling in Final Fantasy. Who remembers that bit in Trabia Garden guys? Remember that twist? And junctioning and magic were an imbalanced mess. Even everyone's beloved VII is really stupid in a lot of its plot details. The question is, does the whole thing come together to be great despite the problems? Each game will succeed in that for different people. So I don't really care about other opinions on this one, it's a very personal thing. All my friends hate XII, but I love it. Not quite as much as VII-X, but still a lot.

On another note WHERE IS THE POSTMAN COME ON

[Fynn]

Totally. I am currently replaying VII, as I am doing a marathon, but good God, that game's plot is really stupid. Don't get me wrong - I still really like FFVII, but it has all the story trappings everyone seems to hate about JRPGs nowadays, and yet VII's story is given this reverance for some reason?

And yeah, agreed on XII. It's easily one of my favorites, but it was also the first truly polarizing entry. I know a lot of people hated XII, but I don't think we'd seen this big of a divide in the fanbase before that.

You can even see this on the forum. Aside from the fact that forums as a format are dying, I remember there being dozens of posts per day about XII when it was coming out, with lots of clashing opinions from people. Of course, that was coming in after X, a very popular entry. At this point, it seems that the combined flops of the XIII saga, XIV's first release, and XV's troubled development have really made our fanbase scatter, and that's just sad.

[charliepanayi]

I don't know, I'd argue every main FF game has been very polarising (or at least has had its fair share of people who flat out dislike it) since FFVIII. Hell, FFVIII is still probably the most Marmite of the series. Of course things can change over time, FFIX is possibly one of the most loved games now, but I think when it came out that certainly was not the case.