Niche: Treat Your Geek Issue 15 is out now and includes our Final Fantasy special. You may have read our Final Fantasy XV review. After 10 years of development I had a lot to say about the game so here's a few extra thoughts that didn't make it into the review.
Remake
The Final Fantasy VII remake is still in development and I can see it picking up a lot of cues from FFXV, I'm imagining a playable version of FF7: Advent Children! I'd be ok with that, I'd expect more control over your party and can you imagine the work needed to create the entire world in one map? I'm not sure how this would fit with the episodic release schedule, but it would give Square Enix time to work on the much more open later stages of the game.
Photo Time
One standout feature of this new roadtrip sub-genre that FFXV has created: Prompto and his camera. He basically takes automatic screenshots for you and lets you review them each time you camp or rest. You can then save these to the album as a record of your journey; your first hunt, that girl you like, that time you accidentally set fire to a bunch of giraffe like creatures... He can take some memorable, beautiful and epic photo's but he's also a master of terrible photos we all take... although usually by accident (see the related blog post for examples!). It's important to save the best ones so you can flick back through them and remember your journey. You can also use the console's screenshot feature to save any other amusing shots but you can only save 150 ingame.
The Infamous Chapter 13
No story spoilers but this is the section that a few players are unhappy with, the game has become more linear, cut off from the open world, for the last few chapters and then hits you with a stealth section, swaps up the combat and replaces rolling hills with grey corridor- attempting and failing at survival horror in the process. You might find the story skips and jumps a little here but the details are there if you look for them, it might mean finding radios and newspapers hidden in the environment or it might mean watching the tie in movie and anime. Either way there are plans to patch in more story to this chapter. Oh and if you have enough ethers you can cut out some of the frustration of trying to stealth your way through and just destroy everything. The darker tone is important but it does drag out a little more than I'd have liked, the ending chapters make up for it with plenty of atmosphere, impressive graphics and some pulse racing battles so hang in there.
The Regalia
Honourable Mention
Final Fantasy playing to it's strengths, anti-hero dragoon by the name of Highwind. Aranea was my favourite supporting character.
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