What is Final Fantasy XV memorable for? A fabulous adventure. ​11 Surprising Facts About Final Fantasy XV

Hi all. The Gamebizclub team is in touch, and we continue to talk about the new part of Final Fantasy, the official release of which is scheduled for the end of September this year. The continuation of the epic saga, which has been in development since 2006, is already close, so we decided to get ahead a little and talk about the heroes of the game.

Characters in Final Fantasy XV play main role- they fight, cut through the sports car beautiful places, communicate and complete tasks. In, published a few days ago, we talked about the gameplay and plot of the game, and today we will introduce you to the key characters.

From this article you will learn:

Characters

• The main characters, five inseparable friends - Noctis, Ignis, Gladiolus, Prompto, Cor.
• Supporting characters - Lunafreya, Gentian, Regis, Idola and others.
• The unnamed characters that were shown in the trailer, however their actions and role in storyline have not yet been disclosed by the developers.

You can meet some of the characters by watching Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, released this year. There you will meet Prince Noctis and learn the backstory of the game. Now watch the trailer for this film.

Heir to the throne

The main character of the game, Noctis Lucis Caelum, is the prince of the kingdom of Lucis. His family, Tselum, owned and protected the only magical crystal that remained in the world. young man for a long time was next to him and acquired special power - he owns magic, several types of bladed weapons and the ability to teleport to them.

His character is strong, but at the same time not only calm, but rather cold. But despite this, great responsibility sometimes adds to his nervousness, which is why he acts harshly and emotionally.

Faithful assistant

A longtime friend of Noctis, Ignis Scientia is a loyal and devoted companion who accompanies the prince on his travels. Ignis is distinguished by his extreme seriousness and sometimes coldness of character, but despite these qualities, he is very loyal to the prince.

As a child, Ignis received a good education, which helped him easily get into public service and become an advisor to the king's heir. Preference for the Iaido fighting style allows the young man to easily deal with enemies in close combat. In battle, he throws knives and, if necessary, can take Noctis' place behind the wheel of a car. His name means "fire" and "knowledge".

Family Defender

Another faithful friend of Noctis, Gladiolus Amicius, is noticeably superior in strength to all his comrades. Unshakable and cold-blooded in battle, in relationships with friends he is very cheerful and sociable. His name comes from the name of the Roman sword – gladius, and his surname translates as “friendship, friendly.”

Speedy fighter

Prompto Argentum had been friends with the prince since school, having nothing to do with the royal family. He has a very carefree and cheerful, and sometimes too frivolous character, which does not prevent him from showing a willingness to help others.

Its peculiarity is the fight with the help of various firearms, as well as considerable speed, which became the reason for its name. Prompto means "sharp" or "quick".

Lion's Heart

One of the strongest fighters in the entire kingdom, Cor Leonis, treats his friends rather neutrally, perhaps even rudely, but his patriotism and love for his homeland makes him defend the entire company. Kor does this, although he does not fully support their goals.

Kora's age is 42 years old, and in Japan this number is considered unlucky, because, according to the inhabitants of the country, it is at this age that various accidents often occur. His name translates as “heart of a lion” - this characterizes Cor Leonis as a brave and strong character.

Prince's Bride

Noctis's childhood friend and future bride is Lunafreya Nox Fleurette. Initially, Stella Nox Fleurette, Noctis' enemy, was supposed to take her place. But later the developers changed their minds and replaced her with a princess, who now plays a more global and decisive role. The princess's name translates to sword because she uses a rapier in the game.

Supporting characters

There are other characters featured in Final Fantasy XV, and while we've labeled them as supporting characters, many of them play very important roles in the storyline. The developers promise that during the game you will meet each of them, or they will somehow affect the storyline.

For example, Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII is the 113th ruler of the Kingdom of Lucis and the father of Prince Noctis. His fate is not entirely clear, because during an attack by the troops of hostile Niflheim, the king was considered dead, and his real fate is still unknown. It is possible that in the process of searching for the crystal, Noctis will find his missing father.

Regis's antipode is the main anti-hero of the game and the emperor of Niflheim named Idola Eldercapt. He entered into an agreement with the kingdom of Lucis, the purpose of which is to steal the magic crystal. An important role in his retinue is played by Ardyn Izuniya, the chancellor of the empire, who, despite his aloofness from politics, expanded the production of Magitek troops. Ardyn plans that developing these troops will help strengthen the empire.

Less global, but important characters that you will definitely meet are Gentian and Aranea Highwind. Gentian is a special creature that serves the princess and heals other characters.

Her name comes from the name of the gentian flower, which is known to have medicinal properties. Aranea Highwind holds the post of captain of one of the corps of the empire's air force. She skillfully masters her craft, which is why she received such a high rank. Her confrontation with Noctis was shown in the first trailers of the game, but her name became known not so long ago.

In your search for adventure, you will periodically be helped by Cindy Aurum, the granddaughter of the famous Sid, who is present in almost all previous parts of Final Fantasy. She helps Noctis and his friends by working as a mechanic, such as fixing a car or a broken sword.

AND last Hero One worth mentioning is Etro, the goddess of death. Stella mentioned her shortly before signing a “peace” treaty with the Niflheim Empire in one of the trailers.

According to the heroine, there is a legend that tells about the goddess’s special ability to open the Invisible Gates. During this souls of the dead rise into the sky, outwardly looking like a ray of light. In addition, it is said that people who are near death at this moment acquire the powers of the Dead Kingdom. A little later it will become known that Stella herself, as well as Prince Noctis, see this light. This means that there was already a moment at which they could die.

During your travels, adventures and battles with monsters, you will meet other heroes who have not yet been announced by the developers. But it’s already clear how diverse the characters’ characters and behavior are, how they will interact and influence the gameplay.

Let's hope that the developers will present a successful project in the RPG genre. We remind you that the release date of Final Fantasy 15 is scheduled for the end of September. The game is expected to be released simultaneously for consoles (PS4, Xbox One) and PC.

In the next article we will talk about the Final Fantasy combat system - from it you will learn how to fight monsters, what Noctis can do and much more. Subscribe to our blog updates and follow the news. With this we say goodbye to you and wish you success. Bye everyone.

The Final Fantasy series definitely needs no introduction. Over the almost thirty years of its existence, many games have been released under this name, and there is hardly a person who liked all the numbered releases without exception. Not connected by a common plot, they are sometimes strikingly different from each other in setting, mood and even gameplay. And the situation with the fifteenth part is complex and ambiguous.

It began life as an action-oriented spinoff for the PlayStation 3 called Final Fantasy Versus XIII by Tetsuya Nomura. Despite promising trailers and public interest, development dragged on for many years, and few people believed that Versus would even be born. However, in 2013, it was announced that the project would be transformed into a full-fledged serialized part, a transition to the next generation of consoles and a change in the composition of the developers, including even Nomura himself, who was removed from the post of director by Hajime Tabata. It is unimaginable to imagine that the original concept of the game would remain untouched after such tricks, and it was not entirely clear what to expect from it.

The first thing we see after the launch of FF XV is a message stating that it is intended for both fans of the series and newcomers. Let's try to figure out how true this extremely bold statement is.

Paradoxically, you can hardly recognize and comprehend the plot from the game itself. It all starts with a scene from the very end, and whoever thought this was a good idea should have been fired immediately. A meaningless and merciless spoiler that adds nothing to the narrative, lasts only a couple of minutes and only causes bewilderment. You will receive virtually no information and subsequently just relax and accept the fact that you are assigned the role of Noctis, the prince of the kingdom of Lucis. As a punishment from your father, you, accompanied by three friends in a luxury car, go to your own wedding.

Actually, that's all. In fact, there are a lot of nuances, for example, a magical barrier that the king is forced to maintain at the cost of his vitality, the fact that the evil, despicable empire of Niflheim is committing atrocities in the world, the fact that Noctis’s bride is an oracle, and so on. However, the game does not consider it necessary to explain all this clearly. Of course, why do you need this, because Square Enix released about eight hundred trailers, showing almost the entire game and spoiling everything possible, from the subtleties of the plot to the basics of fishing. I sincerely hope you haven't watched them.

Answers to some of your questions can be found in full-length film Kingsglaive, which tells about the most important events in the capital, during which our heroes sleep peacefully in a motel, as well as in the mini-series Brotherhood, from which you can learn more about the relationship between four bosom friends than in the entire game. And this despite the fact that throughout the journey the inseparable comrades do nothing but chat with or without reason. In general, get used to it, absolutely all the most important and interesting events here happen behind the scenes, and some fateful incidents can only be learned from an inconspicuous newspaper headline or radio news broadcast. Story presentation is one of the main problems of FF XV, and we will return to this later.

The journey begins in the vast expanses of the kingdom. The car breaks down inappropriately, but Sidney, the lively granddaughter of the elderly mechanic Sid, an old friend of King Regis, comes to the rescue. Having adopted her grandfather's passion for mechanisms, she will happily fix the problems, and our heroes, meanwhile, will get used to hunting and exploring the area. Once the repairs are completed, it will be possible to travel on wheels, although only on the highway. However, you can slow down and explore any attraction that interests you at any time. If you decide to drive at night, it is better to immediately abandon this idea and spend the night in a roadside motel or even a tent under open air. Well, if you still dare to get behind the wheel in pitch darkness, iron giants will crawl out of the asphalt on your way every 100 meters, and fighting with them in the early stages is fatal.

It’s even more absurd that for some reason Noct automatically brakes and gets out of the car, as soon as he sees an Imperial airship in the sky, which has not even landed yet and is not interfering with the passage in any way. In any case, even if you can handle dangerous night enemies, don’t expect a comfortable trip.

Throughout the first half of the game, beautiful locations stretch before us, every corner of which can be explored if desired. The team constantly talks, commenting on the wonders they encounter or the events taking place.

The stern Gladio not only cuts his enemies in half with his sword, but also knows where to get useful items. Prim Ignis won't let his friends go hungry by cooking delicious dishes, which, in addition, will also improve performance after relaxing in nature. He is also always ready to take the wheel if the prince is too lazy to watch the road. The eccentric Prompto, although not very strong in battle, is ready to immortalize any moment he likes on camera, so that later he can show his comrades his best pictures. Well, His Highness is addicted to fishing and is ready to sit for hours on the shore of the lake with a fishing rod in his hands, brushing aside mosquitoes and malicious comments from yawning comrades.

Walking through forests and fields is tiring, so it’s worth renting a chocobo, on whose back it’s much more convenient to move off-road. The bird will happily come running as soon as it hears the sound of the whistle, and can even give its enemies a couple of kicks and help them escape from the battlefield with lightning speed.

It really does feel like an adventure trip with close friends and can be a lot of fun. Drive along the road, admiring the passing landscapes with the music of the FF II world map coming from the car speakers (after purchasing the disc, of course), gallop headlong across the plain on a chocobo, enjoy the crackling of a fire against the backdrop of the starry sky and laugh at the photos of adventures taken during the day - all this leaves warm and joyful memories.

The problem here is that the four heroes have known each other for a long time, but the player is not privy to the details of their acquaintance and must take their relationship for granted. You won’t find a single flashback, or a single quest that somehow reveals the characters’ characters or gives a more complete picture of them. Short scenes from the animated Brotherhood provide only minimal information, and why, one wonders, could not have been shown in the game itself? From everyday chatter you can pick up bits of information, and even that is very little. As a result, watching Noctis and his companions is certainly interesting, but it still feels like you've been invited to a party with your best friends where you don't know anyone. What is missing is the usual JRPG replenishment of the party with new heroes capable of diversifying the usual ensemble, because, in addition to the bosom four, there will be only three episodic guests who disappear criminally quickly.

Awareness of another problem will come later. As you complete tasks and travel from one tiny settlement to another, you will sooner or later realize that the quests are terribly monotonous, and the NPCs are boring and faceless. A sad hunter will send you a dozen times to look for identification marks of fallen comrades, a timid restaurant owner is always missing some ingredients, and an eccentric lady will force you, cursing everything in the world, to look for inconspicuous frogs. The vast majority of quests only require you to bring the required item, and even old Sid, instead of simply upgrading a weapon, offers a separate quest for each improvement, and also makes you wait for the results.

Hunting is even worse. Remember the interesting hunts from FF XII, where the Ultros flank appeared only if the team consisted entirely of girls, Gilgamesh met us on the big bridge, and the crazy chocobo Trickster rushed headlong across the snowy expanses, not allowing himself to be caught? So, nothing similar here and there is no trace of it. Not only is it impossible to take on more than one hunt at the same time (thank you, Mr. Tabata, that at least this does not apply to quests, as in Type-0), but also almost all the targets are the most common monsters. In a word, an open world It is impressive, however, that everything that is proposed to be done there is monotonous, faceless and quickly gets boring.

However, the same cannot be said about dungeons. They delight with their nonlinearity, and, most importantly, with unique dialogues between characters who comment on literally every turn and dead end. Along the way you will encounter traps, ambushes and other surprises, and the abundance of loot hidden in the corners ensures that you will not return to the surface empty-handed. The only frustrating thing is the monotony of the enemies within the dungeons - bludgeoning identical goblins in a mine for forty minutes is still tiresome.

The combat system deserves praise only for its impressive visualization. The animation of attacks is smooth, varied and spectacular, and the effects of magic are absolutely magnificent, but once you get used to all this beauty and understand a little about the systems and mechanics, you notice how primitive the battles here are. In the trailers for Versus XIII, it was clearly visible that Nomura was trying to make an action-RPG similar to Kingdom Hearts, and what Tabata’s team ended up with looked more like a mini-game “hold down one button and press the second when the shield icon appears on the screen” .

Noctis can equip any four types of weapons, while his companions are limited to only two - a primary and secondary weapon unique to each of them. By holding down the attack button, you can watch the prince perform all sorts of tricks and slash the enemy with a sword, poke them with a spear, or, at worst, empty the clip of a pistol at them. By pressing the defense button, we get conditional invulnerability, during which, at the cost of MP, any attacks are automatically ignored, but this is only in theory. Some attacks cannot be avoided, so you can't count on anything. If the enemy intends to crush you with a powerful blow, a shield icon will appear, but there is no need to wait, holding down the button is again enough, after which you can make a counterattack. Attacks from behind deal increased damage, and some enemy parts can sometimes be broken, but this doesn't do much good. That's basically it.

Oh yes, there is also magic. It is not cast for mana, but is used individually, like grenades. Having a certain number of special bottles that do not disappear when used, you can mix the essence of the three main elements - fire, ice and lightning - in any proportion, optionally adding some item. As a result, we get a conditionally custom spell, the identity and strength of which depends on the invested essence, and thanks to the additional effect of the item, it can, for example, poison or heal. Don’t forget that anyone who falls within the radius of the spell will receive damage, so don’t be surprised if, after a fight with wolves vulnerable to fire, your chocobo suddenly changes the color of its plumage to black, and an unfamiliar black man in dark glasses reports, that I came up with a new recipe.

Theoretically, you can learn useful combat abilities, but almost all of them are passive, with the exception of the so-called “perfect block”, which, with proper skill, allows you to avoid attacks without spending MP. It’s worth switching weapons depending on what a particular monster is vulnerable to, and to do this you don’t even have to scan it, just make a couple of hits and look at the color of the damage numbers. At the end of the game, you will fight in exactly the same way as at the beginning, except that you will learn a couple of combined attacks with allies (you can activate them at will at the cost of a certain share of the automatically accumulating scale), but this is not necessary. All the most useful things still come early, such as Ignis’ invaluable ability to call the entire team to one point, completely restoring health. Wait mode, available in the menu, introduces a rather controversial element into the gameplay. If you stop during a fight, the world will freeze, and you will be able to look around and assess the situation. A reasonable question arises: why couldn’t this function be attached to a separate button and not be tied to inaction? You still won’t be able to do anything smarter than scanning your adversaries for vulnerabilities, but inaction on any occasion will cause time to stop, regardless of your desire.

The saddest thing is that the partners are incredibly stupid. They do something useful only at your suggestion, either by engaging in particularly destructive attacks, or by performing special moves ordered by you. There are absolutely no behavior settings; it is impossible to give an order to concentrate on one target or run away from the battlefield. In any more or less difficult battle, they stubbornly rise to the occasion and die like flies, forcing you to spend healing and resurrection items on them, because without cannon fodder the boss will immediately switch to the prince and, most likely, execute him with some unblockable technique. But after a character is knocked out, his maximum health begins to rapidly melt away, and to restore it you have to either look for a place to stay for the night or spend elixirs that have lost their end-game status. At the same time, there are practically no good, honestly difficult battles in the game; they are either incredibly simple or frustrating due to circumstances that you cannot influence.

But let’s assume that the combat system doesn’t upset you, and you enjoy exploring the open world. Well, great, but I hasten to warn that progressing through the plot will only inevitably bring you closer to disappointment of gigantic proportions. Explore the accessible territories of Lucis while you can, because once you leave the kingdom, the open world disappears and the narrative finally turns into a collection of disjointed fragments. The most annoying thing is that while traveling to new places, you can open the map and see all those spaces that the heroes are not destined to get to.

In the stunningly beautiful Altissia, to which Square Enix dedicated entire trailers, you have access to a tiny spot with a store and a bar, and there is absolutely nothing to do there. Tenebrae only shows off a majestic panorama and immediately says goodbye to the heroes. The entire second half of the game is, without exaggeration, a vile and narrow corridor through which we can only walk, holding our heads in our hands and lamenting all that we have lost. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the most important and grandiose events will take place, which NPCs will only briefly mention to us.

Some episodes were clearly barely finished and included in the game simply because they were in the trailers, but they evoke completely different emotions. The culmination of hopelessness will be a huge corridor dungeon in the thirteenth chapter, several hours long, with stealth, without partners and equipment. It's strange that it doesn't have a time limit, isn't filled with water, and doesn't include an escort mission. After going through this segment, you seriously begin to doubt that you are still playing FF XV. The only thing we can say about the ending without spoilers is that Tabata again did everything his own way, because he so loves to squeeze tears out of players. The trouble is that he absolutely does not know how to do this, and pathetic attempts at drama from scratch look hardly more natural than in the worthless Type-0.

The only thing that remained untouched and painlessly overcame the ten-year development period was the divine soundtrack from Yoko Shimomura. The fighting melodies turned out to be especially cheerful, but the lyrical motifs during travel and relaxation in cities are also very atmospheric. The famous Somnus is as beautiful as ever, but the circumstances in which it sounds turn it into a requiem for dreams and hopes. Long trips will be helped by a radio tape recorder, for which you can buy additional packs of tunes from most license plates and even some spinoffs for a nominal fee. You can listen to all this on the run, just by purchasing a portable MP3 player.

There’s nothing particularly to criticize the Russian localization for, but there’s nothing to praise it either. The text is translated competently and mostly looks natural, but in some places there are phrases that are incorrectly translated due to a clear lack of context. There are also gags, like “Rich borscht with sour cream,” and here it all depends on your attitude to such liberties, but the word “MAILE,” which appears when the limbs of monsters are destroyed, still causes melancholy.

If you're still wondering whether Final Fantasy XV is worth your time, this might be the place for you. Today we will weigh the PROS and CONS, and also try to assess the level of quality of the game as a whole.

Telegraph

Tweet

Intro

Around March, the PC version of Final Fantasy XV finally reached the Steam service. However, I managed to write a review on it only now, because like any self-respecting RPG, FFXV has a certain depth, and starting to write a review of the game without really understanding it is somewhat stupid. Among other things, by now the hype around the game has died down somewhat and now you and I will sit down in a calm atmosphere, with a cup of hot tea or coffee (here, whoever you prefer) and figure out whether this game is worth the money, and why .

It just so happens that a certain layer of video games is not very popular among CIS players. The “console” roots, so to speak, played an important role in this. How many people, for example, remember the Battletech universe? How many people know about Road Rash? Or maybe EarthBound? Legend of Zelda? Most of those reading this article have no doubt heard of the above universes, but how many of the readers actually had the opportunity to ourselves play at least one game in the series, that is the question.

The heroine of our today's review suffers from a similar illness - being a very popular series of games all over the world, it nevertheless remains practically unknown in Russian-speaking circles. This illness did not spare the author of the article, however, since there is no plot connection between the different parts of Final Fantasy, entering the new universe, as well as understanding and studying it, is relatively easy.

Cinema and games

In general, in addition to a fairly large number of all its advantages, Final Fantasy has long been known for having full-fledged animated films using computer graphics, which in one way or another introduce viewers to the universes different parts series. In our case, the original film is called "Kingslave: Final Fantasy" and tells about the background of the events of the game, as well as the world of Eos as a whole.

If we touch on the plot briefly, avoiding spoilers, the picture turns out something like this:

For many years now, the kingdom of Lucis has been fighting for possession of the crystal with enormous power, with the empire of Niflheim. Despite the fact that the crystal belongs to the kingdom of Lucis, it is nevertheless on the verge of defeat. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the empire first learned to create combat robots - warriors without a soul, and soon even managed to subjugate powerful demons to their will. The crystal, in turn, has colossal magical power and with its help, King Regis Lucius Caelum XCIII fenced the capital of the kingdom, Insomnia, with a magical wall. True, only on one side. On the other side of the kingdom are fortified forts, where the defense is held by warblades - warriors who use powerful magic, and also rely on their outstanding physical skills in close combat.

On one of the least prosperous days for the kingdom, the empire, with the help of demons, they manage to almost completely destroy the protective fort, but instead of finishing off the survivors, the Niflheim warriors simply retreat. And a few days later, the consul of the empire arrives in Insomnia (let me remind you, the capital of the kingdom) and requests peace, naturally, on a number of conditions. One of these conditions is the transfer of territories belonging to the kingdom of Lucis to the control of the empire and the wedding of the young prince, Noctis Lucius Caelum, to Lunafreya Nox Fleura, a representative of the noble family of another, now captured kingdom, Tenebrae.

The film itself has several plot blunders, as well as a couple of moments that are not very easy to understand (the latter relates mainly to the battle scenes), but as an intro to the game it looks quite suitable. Moreover, it is made at a high graphic level - sometimes the viewer can catch himself thinking that he is watching a movie, and not an animated film.

Atmosphere

And we will begin the analysis of the game, perhaps, with its strongest, and at the same time somewhat ambiguous part.

Why ambiguous? It just so happens that Final Fantasy XV is an RPG from the Japanese. In fact, this means characters straight from anime, with very shocking hairstyles, battles in the style of “jump and hit the enemy while you are in the air” and a whole bunch of other details that anime is so loved for. I would not call this moment controversial, but in the CIS countries many people have a somewhat ambiguous attitude towards this genre. So if you can’t stand such things, then here is your first and very serious reason to think about it. In addition, especially sensitive individuals can catch a hint of some kind of homosexuality certain characters(although, I dare to assure you, there is not a single “blue” in the game).

Well, if you are calm about all of the above, then a huge, rich and superbly written world will open up to you, in which you want to believe and in which you want to live, despite all these strife and political squabbles.

Actually, we should start with the fact that the reader should not be deceived by the word “kingdom.” In fact, Eos is a rather advanced world, in which there is a place for firearms, cars, and high technology in principle, and which is close in level of development to our planet in the 20th century. Only in our world there is no magic, and at night demons do not crawl out of the ground, from which people are forced to protect themselves with a huge amount of light.

As in any self-respecting RPG, the world in Final Fantasy has its own history, which can be learned from books, stories from friends and other NPCs. There are even local resorts and attractions where our protagonist can find a crowd of interested tourists, or just vacationers.

During the game, our protégé will have to travel a lot. And since he is the crown prince of the kingdom, no one, naturally, will send him on a dangerous journey full of adventures. The player will be accompanied by three more friends, who are also loyal servants of the crown, ready to give their lives for the main character, if necessary. Naturally, each of the heroes has his own fighting skills, character, and even hobbies, so let’s take a closer look at the hero’s companions (and the hero himself):

• Noctis Lucius Caelum (or simply Noctis) is the crown prince of the kingdom. Almost all his life he was pampered, so at the beginning of the story he is a kind of representative of the golden youth, the sons of rich parents, who is not used to denying himself anything.
• Gladiolus amicitia- Noctis's childhood friend. For many years, his family has protected the king, so, as you might guess, he acts as a kind of bodyguard for the prince, as well as his mentor in the combat unit. Just loves it physical exercise, considers survival in the wild to be his main hobby. Armed with a heavy sword and shield, he is the “tank” of the party.
  
• Ignis Sientia- Another childhood friend of Noctis. Unusually serious, he nevertheless has a very subtle sense of humor (although, alas, he does not joke often). In the party, he is responsible for ensuring that everyone is fed and the prince has clean clothes. Actually, cooking for Ignis is not just another tedious task, but a full-fledged mania, since literally immediately after the next battle he may suddenly be inspired by a new recipe, which he may hasten to implement at the next stop at the camp (the main thing is not to poison anyone inadvertently, hehe). Ignis is armed with blades and a spear, making him something of a melee assassin.
• Prompto Argentum- a friend of our character since school days. Unlike previous heroes, he is, rather, a simple person who does not serve under the king. He appears before us as a simple, carefree and always cheerful guy. Again, unlike the rest of the party members, according to the plot, he does not bring much benefit. She loves taking pictures of everyone and everything. He carries a firearm, as you might guess, and is a warrior who deals damage from a distance.
  

And the heroes set off on their journey in the royal car - a Rolls Royce Regalia. This vehicle is a unique specimen, so it is easily comparable to any supercar. And like any supercar, the Regalia has a whole bunch of not-so-convenient parameters that our hero and his friends can improve by searching for parts and installing them in the workshop.

In general, since we are talking about the car, it should be noted that traveling on it feels somehow special, not like in ordinary arcade games or RPGs. The player just wants to drive and gape, looking around, and not concentrate his attention on the road. Fortunately, the developers have provided a special opportunity - to entrust the driving of the car to your friend and enjoy the view.

What can we say to summarize this chapter? Is the game atmospheric? Definitely yes. Colorful minor characters, friends of the main character, constantly making fun of each other, or a girl auto mechanic speaking with a slight “southern” accent, a bunch of unique places, a deep study of the universe. Apparently more than one talented screenwriter had a hand in the game - everything around is imbued with the atmosphere of some road movie.

Plot

Unfortunately, tell about the plot in in this case almost won’t work, because Final Fantasy XV is a game that puts a lot of emphasis on story, and talking about the plot in an article of this kind is like giving you a book and forcing you to read it from the end. But this does not mean that nothing will be said at all, no.

During the game, Noctis will travel around the world, stopping at various hotels and eateries, or setting up tents for the night, in search of the tombs of dead kings. Each such tomb contains a number of enemies and bosses, as well as special unique weapons. Such weapons are more powerful than conventional ones, but when using them, our alter ego’s precious health bar is wasted. The plot itself is presented with the help of well-staged dialogues and interestingly presented scenes. Sometimes Noctis has a choice of answers, although, alas, one cannot count on constant variety. Towards the end of the game, we will be completely protected from the open world and forced to follow the script strictly. And here the game delivers a very painful punch in the gut (however, not for the first time, because we haven’t touched on the gameplay part yet): why, one wonders, were some of the territories fenced off? Apparently, the developers did not have enough time and energy. They missed it. And this is actually very unpleasant, especially for an RPG game.

Subsequently, back in the era when Final Fantasy XV was only on consoles, the developers tried to correct the situation with four story DLCs. One of them even introduces multiplayer, which takes place in the so-called "dark" times. The other three allow you to play as each of Noctis's companions and learn their story in a slightly more vivid volume.

In addition to the last point, players were also promised four more fairly large-scale DLCs until 2019, so who knows, maybe new locations will be added there? In any case, we still have to live until that time.

Well, to sum up the plot - yes, there is one, and quite well made at that (after all, when did the Japanese ever have non-atmospheric games with a weak plot?). At certain points in some additional quests there will also be an opportunity to reveal a new side to the characters, which is good news.

Gameplay

Everything here is more or less traditional for the RPG genre: We run, kill opponents, gain levels, spend experience points on developing certain skills in our company.

The combat component deserves a separate discussion. First of all, it really looks a lot like anime. Noctis runs close to the ground, jumps a good meter (or even higher), can strike while hovering in the air, or parry directly at the enemy from a certain distance, while still in the same air. In total, the main character has 8 types of weapons, three types of magic and the same number of loyal allies in use.

Each enemy uses its own tactics and also requires an individual approach. So, for example, some enemies like to set up ambushes, waiting for the player in different places, others, on the contrary, do not bother anyone unless you start pestering them.

Naturally, each enemy has its own strengths and weaknesses: Some animals are very agile, and therefore can easily dodge the blow of a heavy sword, but are very susceptible to polearms. Some monsters are completely calm about fire magic, but cannot tolerate ice or light. Among other things, most enemies have different damage zones. For some people, missed blows to the head hurt more, while others don’t like being hit in the body. In theory, all this forces the player to experiment and look for new approaches even to already known opponents, but in practice, in most cases, the gameplay may well slide into the elementary “jamming” of the enemy.

Allies also play a fairly important role: The game provides a sort of battle scale. When receiving and dealing a certain amount of damage, this scale slowly but surely fills up. Then we can choose which ally to use, and together with him use a fairly powerful combo that deals additional damage to the enemy. As in any anime, sometimes in order to be more effective, friends need to stand next to each other and together concentrate the attack on one target (one of the teammates also has a separate skill for this). The skills themselves also grow with use and, accordingly, cause more damage over time.

And finally, magic. Actually, the magic itself is a kind of fireballs that we throw at the enemy, and which we can create from the elements. The prince can keep only a small part of these elements with him and accumulates them in special places, around the conditional camps. Also, magic can conditionally include teleportation, as well as Noctis’s special combo attacks using weapons. This task requires mana. In order to replenish mana and health, you just need to throw the sword into a special place, away from the battle and teleport to it. Thus, our hero will take a short break and replenish his strength.

As a result, even despite the rather detailed description, some readers may still have questions, so here’s what a “live” battle looks like (because, alas, it won’t be possible to convey it with screenshots).

Quests.Yes, as already said, there are really a lot of additional quests, but their elaboration... In a nutshell - some of them are simply terribly worked out. For example, a driver’s car broke down, he pulled it aside and is waiting for help. It seems that everything is logical. Only at night deadly demons wake up in the game world. On a local scale, one giant may be quite enough to roll a whole group of relatively well-prepared hunters alive into the asphalt, but for some reason the monsters avoid peaceful drivers. And the drivers are happy to get up and wait a year for help. What adds spice to this situation is the lack of adequate dialogue. You just meet the driver and he literally complains in one sentence that the car is broken. Well, it’s true, even in MMOs this approach hasn’t been used for a long time! And I’m not even talking about the logic itself - in one day you can meet up to three drivers, with a certain amount of luck. What is this, generally low quality cars? Total carelessness? Why do half of the drivers stand on the side of the road?
The other part of the quests is divided into “get to point X and kill everyone,” “find me such and such an ingredient,” and “get to point X, kill everyone and find ingredient Y.” Variety as it is!

As a result, we get a very strange situation when, on the one hand, we want to praise the quests, and on the other, we want to criticize them. Why? Yes, because there was not enough time and money! Because they didn’t do it enough! How much better everything could have been done, but, alas and ah...

In addition to quests, one more very unpleasant point should also be noted: the game really, really likes to throw “meat” at your party. Apparently, one of the developers thought that Noctis would be bored simply exploring the world, so when traveling on foot, you will be attacked by a number of enemies with enviable regularity. The difference between waves can be literally a couple of minutes. In the end, you end up not exploring the game world, but fighting for 24 hours. This is especially noticeable at night, when in one battle, in parallel with a giant demon, you will manage to defeat about three parties of simpler monsters and enemy soldiers who will appear literally under your nose.

What can we say in the end? Perhaps the gameplay is the weakest part of the game and is often made better by the atmosphere and the interesting way some moments are played out. It's not that this is too bad, or that the game turns players away due to the meager variability and stupid grind. No, playing Final Fantasy XV is quite interesting and fun, but just like with the previous points, the same ailment manifests itself - there was not enough time and energy. It could be much better!

In some justification for the developers, however, I would like to note this: In fact, Final Fantasy XV is a long-term construction project. During development, the game changed its concept, setting, and even combat several times. So, for example, it was initially assumed that the player would control the entire party at once, and, if desired, would be able to switch control from one character to another and make deadly combinations in this way. And with the transition to Prompto, the game had every chance of becoming a full-fledged third-person shooter.

However, concepts changed, people responsible for development changed, years passed, and as a result, some very outdated game mechanics remained in place precisely from those times, almost ten years ago, when having such features was not considered something kind of shameful or shameful .

Alas, it’s already 2018 (well, or 2016, if we take the original release date of the game on the console), and what was acceptable then is not always acceptable now. Perhaps I’m pressing too hard on the shortcomings, but if in most respects the game scores a solid eight, then the gameplay itself, in its “cleansed” form of dialogues and other crutches, scores about six to six and a half points, and that’s actually actually quite sad. However, let's not talk about sad things.

Graphics, animations and physics

What Square Enix really got right with was the graphics! Final Fantasy XV looks very beautiful and quite realistic even on the standard configuration, but for fans high resolutions We delivered a free patch with textures in HD resolution. Screenshots in 8K are still circulating on the Internet. And they look, I must say, quite decently. Also worth noting are the simply breathtaking panoramic views that our heroes encounter every now and then on their difficult journey. However, the Japanese are praised not only for their epic views. After all, Japanese games pay great attention to detail almost all the time! And FF XV is no exception. Even at a simple gas station, you can find a whole bunch of small details that add a kind of charm and uniqueness to the already wonderful atmosphere!

Animation probably deserves a separate paragraph. They are really made in an interesting way, with attention to detail. So, for example, when running fast, our protégé will jump over the fence himself. And there are many such examples. However, if you wish, you can make our protagonist walk like a disabled person in peaceful zones, and this somewhat spoils the picture.

Of the obvious disadvantages, perhaps only physics can be noted, which relates to graphics very indirectly. And I’m not talking about anime jumps, but specifically about the physical model of the game as a whole. So, for example, you have some possibility of getting stuck in the bushes, since their physical model is made in a very specific way, and Noctis can simply get caught on one leaf, which will not allow him passage. However, in fairness, it is worth noting that even the most curious player will rarely climb into such bushes.

Well, continuing the theme of physics, the player cannot control the car. All that is available to him is a car that drives strictly along the road, like on rails, like a tram, and if you want to turn around, Noctis will make a sharp and spectacular turn with a slight skid. And everything would be fine, only at slow speed it looks very clumsy and completely unrealistic.

With a certain number of upgrades, however, this drawback will go away (a flying car moving strictly above the roads would be a joke), but a small sediment, as they say, remains. In any case, these are all minor quibbles and visually the game leaves only pleasant impressions.

Music and sound

Another gem in the game is the music. Each location has its own theme, and upon entering the building the treatment changes, and now the same melody is played on completely different instruments. The melodies do not hurt the ears and, in principle, sound quite pleasant, especially for lovers of calm compositions on the piano. In general, Square Enix did not skimp on music, not only in terms of quality, but also in quantity. The developers have provided players with five hours of continuous soundtrack! Just think about this figure! It’s clear that no one will let you fall asleep to monotonous melodies.

Well, for lovers of facts, perhaps the name Yoko Shimomura will say something. She is considered the most famous female video game composer in the world, and already has over twenty years of experience under her belt. Among the most outstanding works are the music for such masterpieces as Street Fighter II, Kingdom Hearts, several games in the Super Mario line, and even a couple of tunes for Final Fantasy III.

The sound in general also does not lag behind in terms of quality. Above, I already gave an example of a girl auto mechanic speaking a South American accent (alas, I can’t say anything about Russian localization). And little things like that happen in every character. So, as already mentioned, the Japanese approach to detail is always on top!

The only somewhat weak point is the small number of unscripted dialogues between characters during travel, and the same poorly developed quests, where some NPCs can only speak one line of text. But this is more of a problem general plan working on quests rather than sound in particular.

Results

Well, that's all. We got acquainted with the advantages of the game, some controversial issues, as well as its disadvantages. What more can be said? Just to briefly summarize:
Before us is a very worthy representative of the RPG genre, well seasoned with anime elements. Very atmospheric, moderately linear and with a great sense of immersion. Unfortunately, it is worth noting that the company failed to fully realize the full potential of the game and some mechanics in it work with a loud creak.

So, according to the facts:

Graphic arts - 8.0

A great designed and looking game. High-resolution textures were delivered especially for the PC release.

Gameplay - 6.5

Unfortunately, the weakest part of the game. Somewhat outdated mechanics, lack of quality of development in a certain (relatively small) part of the quests. Basically, everything is played out at the expense of various kinds of crutches, but the gameplay in its “pure” form still leaves much to be desired. Yes, there are quite original ideas with the hobbies of the main characters, and there are a couple more very interesting ideas, but alas, these ideas are not enough.

Music and sound- 8.5

Great soundtrack, huge variety of compositions. Some tunes, of course, appear much more often than others, but the main impression is strictly positive.

Atmosphere - 8.5

The game is very atmospheric. A whole bunch of details and little things are superbly maintained. Here you are given for study and huge cities in hi-tech style, and small gas stations, and even abandoned structures that resemble some kind of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The idea of ​​a selfie, the idea of ​​setting up a camp for the night, the idea of ​​cooking food or spending the night in a hotel, spontaneous additional quests from party members, all this adds charm, comfort and uniqueness to the game.

Plot - 7.0

An interesting presentation, several interesting points, even the most discerning gamers will definitely find it. Revealing some characters through additional quests (however, nothing particularly new).

Overall rating - 7.5

Verdict:

A very good game that will not leave the average player indifferent, especially those not very familiar with Final Fantasy games. Yes, many argue that Final Fantasy X was much better, but back then the sun was brighter and the grass was greener.

Telegraph

Tweet

Did you like this article?

About the advantages and disadvantages of one of the largest jRPGs in history

Gambling addiction https://www.site/ https://www.site/

Direct text

concept Final Fantasy XV over the course of ten years, development was reworked many times: initially it was a project Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and it was created to contrast the thirteenth numbered part, but in the end the game received a full-fledged subtitle “XV”. Oh, there were times, but I was waiting for the game from the very first announcement.

Trailer "Versus XIII"

Final Fantasy XV is out now PlayStation 4 And Xbox One the year before last. Large-scale jRPG from Square Enix became for me the most beautiful and enchanting fairy tale about real male friendship. More recently, the game appeared on PC. IN Windows Edition improved graphics, added mods, Gordon Freeman's costume, first-person mode, all previously released DLC and the ability to move on water. And now, after a year and a half, personal computer users can touch the sensational and rather controversial “tag”. Therefore, I decided to remember what is good about Final Fantasy XV and what are its shortcomings.

Release trailer

Fairytale straightforward plot

The main character named Noctis is a prince whom his father sent with his friends to celebrate a royal wedding. But while the company is away, the enemy empire Niflheim captures the country of Lucis and a magic crystal that grants power to its owner. Noctis and his three loyal friends will have to avenge the death of the king and return the throne with the magic stone.

But first you need to gain strength and go through difficult tests.

In FFXV, sometimes you just want to walk and admire the beauty

The plot turned out to be too straightforward and stingy in detail. To find out the details, I had to watch a small anime series Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV and CGI film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. If you skip these works, the characters may remain just puppet dummies for you: in cartoons, the authors talk in detail about the conflict and the formation of the heroes. And this, in my opinion, is the main disadvantage of the FFXV universe. Modern technologies make it possible to present the plot of any game in a colorful way. So why use spin-off films and anime series in this way? The answer is simple: to make money more money, and not to make it easier for players to understand the plot.

Take the story of Prompto: why is the fair-haired youth so brave and strong-willed? His “chronicle” is revealed in one of the Brotherhood episodes. In his youth he was chubby and was very embarrassed about it. But thanks to the influence of a friend-prince, he overcame himself and began to eat exactly as much as his body needed. Result: Prompto became slimmer externally, and more strong-willed internally. But this can only be learned from the anime; the game does not even mention this event in passing. How can you care about a character who is not described to us?

Weapons can be changed right in the middle of battle

Additionally, this episode is a great example of a hero overcoming himself and his weaknesses to become stronger. Such moments help to endear the user to the character. So why present them separately from the game's plot?

Road Adventure

Final Fantasy XV is the biggest road movie game yet. Its plot is centered on four friends: the brave, but not yet mature enough Prince Noctis, the smart and strategically thinking Ignis, the two-meter good-natured Gladiolus and the young hipster photographer Prompto. The guys travel around the world in a stylish Regalia car, which, like the characters, can and should be upgraded.

The game also features ostrich-like chocobos, traditional for the series: they are much easier to ride off-road. Of course, this is pure fan service. I will never forget riding chocobos and their long leveling in Final Fantasy VII!

Epicly staged sequences with titans and huge magical creatures outshine all the minor shortcomings of the game

In the first half of the story, four comrades can endlessly complete a lot of monotonous quests, go through difficult dungeons and... level up.

There are a lot of side quests, they are all of the same type and boring, they cannot be compared with the quests in "The Witcher" or last "Zelda". FFXV's spin-offs don't tell the stories of those who deliver them, and that's depressing. The essence comes down to collecting vegetables and frogs, killing large and small monsters, boringly checking the equipment of the city power plant, etc.

Most likely, third-party quests were inserted into the game solely for the sake of grinding and... in order to allow us to walk longer around the incredibly beautiful world and ride in a luxurious car, the radio of which has a disc with music from all previous parts of the game series (some tracks must be purchased separately ).

The car can be upgraded in all respects: change the color of the interior, body and rims. The drive itself from point “A” to point “B” will begin to tire over time, but the game allows you to move along the paths already taken automatically. I highly recommend attaching wings to the car - the bird's eye view of the kingdom is mesmerizing.

The setting in Final Fantasy XV is impeccably stylish and combines the aesthetics of 50s America with modern futurism and the magic of anime fairy tales. The world is beautiful, but hostile; at night it is better to stay overnight in a hotel or camp. At night, particularly strong demons prowl the local expanses. It’s better not to encounter them in the first hours of the game - they’ll trample you in one or two minutes.

Unfortunately, there are almost no cities in the game world, but those that exist are beautiful

In the evening, when the guys are relaxing, their experience is converted into leveling up. Even while relaxing, you can refresh yourself with food skillfully prepared by Ignis - the artists depicted the dishes especially well. IN cultural code Among the Japanese, an important place is occupied by the love of food as an art; they love it when it is both beautiful and tasty. Remember the luxurious dishes from Monster Hunter: World? In Final Fantasy XV, food looks like more more appetizing.

The creators brilliantly implemented the communication between Noctis and his comrades: in addition to idle talk, they constantly remind you of everyday problems. Prompto, for example, often asks to stop at a diner and kill a worm, Ignis reminds him in the late afternoon that it is dangerous at night and it would be better to park for the night and fill up the tank. Little things like this are pleasant - through them you feel unity with your virtual friends, their care and devotion.

Unimaginably beautiful action often happens on the battlefield

Challenging two- and three-button battles

Friends are united by a joint journey and constant battles with enemies. The combat system is both good and bad. A kind of slasher with elements of simple tactics. In the main storyline, the player controls Noctis. The prince has a standard attack, the ability to parry blows, teleport and magic. Noctis' friends attack, heal, and replenish the prince's health on their own.

The team also has a special attack gauge, which fills up during the battle: the “charged” Ignis can throw knives spectacularly, the “reinforced” Prompto shoots from a revolver, and Gladiolus slashes enemies with a huge sword, causing a large amount of damage. The four are capable of using joint special attacks, and each of these boosts or combos can be improved. The combat is staged well, the action looks nice and, in places, very pretentious. Not every game benefits from this, but here the epic fights look really cool without slipping into farce.

In console versions, the game sometimes slows down in urban locations. There are no such problems in Windows Edition

But the combat system also has problems. Firstly, it is shamelessly simple both in appearance and in mastering; there is no scope for tactical thinking. In addition, any enemies try to kill the heroes only when the protagonists are within reach. If you leave the battlefield, the enemies will not pursue the guys, but will begin to mind their own business. It looks weird and a little annoying.

The goal of the Path is the process itself

The game has a crumpled second half of the story. At some point, Noctis leaves the open world and finds himself in endless corridors with enemies. The narrow labyrinth leads to the denouement, the finale of the FFXV story, and it is shamelessly boring and monotonous. It's like Square Enix finished the game in a hurry. Closer to the end, of course, there are story scenes, and in the recreation area I returned to the open world more than once to finish leveling up.

Riding a chocobo was implemented with a bang

After the finale, the desire to return to open spaces and simply live in the magical world of Final Fantasy XV awakens. Because it was there that I felt the emotional connection of friends and the charm of the kingdom of Lucis.

Besides the weird and wonderful world, FFXV is amazing musical accompaniment. Yoko Shimomura, the game's composer, came up with some truly memorable music. The battles are epic and give you goosebumps. theme song, while walking, the sounds of nature complement a perfectly constructed waltz... Final Fantasy XV can be criticized for many things, but its soundtrack is excellent in all respects.

The long-running cult Japanese fairy tale is contradictory: it has a strange combat system and a straightforward narrative, but a very cute world, memorable music and well-realized character interactions. The game contrasts with itself. The protracted development affected the quality of the product, but still, hand on heart, I advise everyone to play it.

The monsters and animals in FFXV are amazing

The PC version was voiced by professional Russian-speaking actors, whom Hajime Tabata personally selected. Moreover, this is the rare case when a huge jRPG received full Russian localization. And support for 4K and 8K resolution and NVIDIA technologies, coupled with HDR 10, made FFXV even more beautiful and technically advanced. Thanks to the HairWorks system, you can see every hair on the characters, and the physics of hairstyles has become much better. NVIDIA Flow significantly improves the simulation of fire, smoke and water, and NVIDIA VXAO makes all shadows in global illumination much more realistic. Passing by such beauty is a sin.

And I'll probably play Final Fantasy XV again.

How DLCs try to plug holes in the story.

Square Enix is ​​trying its best to make Final Fantasy XV its own franchise. Games, movies and animated series are designed to shed light on the past of the world, as well as to better reveal the characters who inhabit it. We will leave the question of how much the players need this at all. The main thing is that in the original Final Fantasy XV, both the characters and the lore were described in such subtle strokes that the company's desire to develop them seems like a hasty attempt to patch up holes in the narrative. At the same time, you still need to keep a serious face, saying that this is how everything was planned.

Final Fantasy XV itself received three story additions - one for each of the main character's companions. It would seem like a great chance to learn more about the brave Gladiolus, the cheerful Prompto and the calculating Ignis. Let's try to figure out whether it is possible to reveal a character in a couple of hours of an additional adventure, if this could not be done in 100 hours of the main plot.

Episode "Gladiolus"

This DLC takes place exactly after Gladiolus was defeated by Ravus and abandoned his friends. When he returned, they did not go into much detail about his absence: they shrugged their shoulders and accepted the strongman back. Well, never mind, here they will explain to us where the young king’s bodyguard went and what made him leave his comrades in difficult times.

Gladiolus's interests, as it turned out, are not at all altruistic - he is driven solely by self-doubt and the desire to prove to himself that he is not some kind of weakling, and that he was simply unlucky in the battle with Ravus. That is, the hero abandoned his friends not in order to help the common cause, but simply to improve his self-esteem. In the world of Final Fantasy XV, the best way to do this is to pass the test of Gilgamesh, the ancient swordmaster.

In accordance with all stamps similar stories, no one could pass this test before Gladiolus. However, there is a marshal of the royal guard, Cor Leonis, who was the only one who managed to return from the cave of trials alive. It was his main character DLC and takes it with you.

The idea is clear - through severe tests and dialogues with Kor Gladiolus gets to know himself, proves everything he wanted, and decides to lay down his life so that Noctis is not in danger. The premise is normal (though there’s not much more to be said about it), but it’s not clear why all this couldn’t be shown as part of the main plot of the game. Would it have hurt the already uneven pacing of the story? Or is Final Fantasy XV so action-packed that the reveal of Gladiolus' character simply had nowhere to fit? However, the same questions can be addressed to the rest of the DLC. The only difference is that in Episode Gladiolus the main character is a selfish person who abandoned his friends.

The test cave itself is a long corridor, according to the tradition of Fabula Nova Crystallis, strewn with all kinds of crystals

It is impossible to empathize with Gladiolus, no matter how much you want. He is a rotten character who puts his own ambitions and struggles with his inhibitions above the safety of his comrades and, most importantly, the king he swore to protect. The addition answers the question of where Gladiolus disappeared, but this is not at all the same Gladiolus who was ready to beat the crap out of the infantile and hysterical Noctis with his fists.

Here it is an aching and constantly self-doubting mountain of muscles. In the two to three hours it takes to complete the expansion, the character's image is completely destroyed. If Square Enix wanted to show that behind Gladiolus's stern exterior there is a simple man to whom nothing is alien, then they screwed up.

In fact, if you cut out all the cutscenes and dialogues, you can run through the expansion in less than half an hour

Moreover, through the prism of DLC it is impossible to look at the character's character in the old way. As for his events, what after, in the main game we see a confident, responsible and strong hero, who understands when to leave the sword in its sheath and not get into trouble. Thanks to Episode Gladiolus, we now know that all this is a mask, a fiction, and simply hypocrisy.

One could argue that Gladiolus wants to be a kind of beacon of hope for his comrades and not “burden” them with his problems in an already turbulent time. The only thing is that the entirety of Final Fantasy XV is positioned as a game about friendship, and in front of real friends there is no need to pretend to be someone else. True friends should accept you for who you are, with all your flaws and doubts. That is, either the DLC ruins the main idea of ​​the game, or I don’t understand anything about friendship.

The bosses are terribly boring, and in the chaos of special effects it is difficult to parry enemy attacks

Episode Gladiolus fixes one plot hole in the main game, but this expansion shouldn't exist at all. If Square Enix wanted to take Gladiolus out of the story so badly, it could have done it in a much more graceful way, rather than just sending him off on a stupid personal adventure that shatters the character's flimsy frame of personality.

Episode "Prompto"

The most useful DLC, which, however, does not make it good. Prompto Argentum is perhaps the only one of the heroes of Final Fantasy XV who received at least some kind of disclosure. That scanty dialogue on the roof of the diner is not much, but in the context of the entire main game it would be stupid to expect more. Prompto really needed to be told a little more than other characters, because he, unlike Gladiolus or Ignis, actually has a secret.

In Chapter 12 of Final Fantasy XV, the train carrying the main characters to Gralea is attacked by Ardyn. He once again plays with Noctis's mind, forcing him to push Prompto off the roof of the moving train. The guy disappears from the story for a while, and towards the end, he appears again and tells his friends that he is one of the clones of the army of the Niflheim Empire.

His comrades say that they don’t care where he comes from and call him to beat the villain. Thus, an important plot point that goes against what we saw in the anime Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV remains without due attention.

We were not told how Prompto found out about this, nor whose clone he was, nor how widespread this practice is in Niflheim. And this is not some small thing - this is an important part of the drama of one of the main characters. Even in the infantile plot mess of Final Fantasy VII, the problems and history of Red XIII were given more attention, and there were many more characters and events in that game. In addition, information about the empire's cloning program would make the world a little livelier and more interesting.

Prompto spends about half of the expansion in monotonous corridors

The expansion begins with Prompto trudges through a snowy field, suffering from the cold, like Gideon White from Advent Rising or Nathan Drake. According to the laws of the genre, the hero falls to the ground exhausted, and in the next scene he finds himself at a clone production plant. Here Prompto meets Ardyn, who really wants him to find out the truth about his origin, releases him from the cell and gives him a revolver.

The plot of the supplement is built around this very truth. Only Prompto recognizes her about 30 minutes after the start of the game, and then, for the remaining hour and a half, he just whines and suffers because of his origin. To the credit of the writers, it must be said that the hero’s reflection is shown at an unusually high level for Final Fantasy XV.

There is a trigger character who makes Prompto think that lamenting will lead to nothing, and personal tossing shown through hallucinations. But both stages of the hero’s acceptance of his nature are extremely drawn out. The add-on's timing is filled to capacity with paintings. physical suffering Prompto and useless gatherings around the fire to reveal it.

The second half takes place in snowy fields, where there is absolutely nothing to do except complete monotonous tasks and improve the snowmobile

But in the context of the main plot, all this overcoming one’s own doubts turns out to be nothing. At the end of the expansion, Prompto is determined, has accepted himself and goes to the rescue of his friends, but when he meets them, he again begins to whine and worry. Everything the hero has gone through suddenly becomes worthless.

But the main objective, which preceded Episode Prompto, was to create a bridge between the fact that Prompto is a clone and the second episode of Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, which tells how he met Noctis. They should have explained to us exactly how Prompto ended up in Lucis and why he lived without his parents. The “bridge” didn’t work out. We only learn that at the age of about one year he was kidnapped from the laboratory by nameless Lucian soldiers and given to be raised by some family. All.

The value of Episode Prompto, of course, is higher than that of the add-on about Gladiolus, but everything told in it could also be shown as part of the main plot. A story about friendship would benefit from having his comrades help Prompto deal with his problems. But most importantly, the DLC does not really answer the questions that arise after finishing Final Fantasy XV. It seems like the writers didn't even think it through.

During the DLC credits, I encountered a bug: some scenes were supposed to be shown on the right, but I had a cloudy Prompto hovering in the air against the background of text flying upwards

Episode Prompto is a real eye-catcher. It’s as if some kind of important events: One of the main antagonists appears animated film Kingsglave, Prompto and Aranea saving the world and all that jazz. But everything that happens does not add anything new either to the character’s image, or to the picture of the world, or to the main plot of the game. However, against the background of other DLCs that destroy the canons and characters of the heroes, this can be perceived as a good thing.

Episode "Ignis"

You can argue for as long as you like about how justified the existence of the previous two additions is, but a kind of base was prepared for their events in the main plot of Final Fantasy XV. Gladiolus went somewhere, Prompto fell from the train. Line up a separate story the pedant Ignis Scientius could only be centered around the episode in which he lost his sight.

His adventure is clean water filler The plot is sucked out of thin air, and the strained drama causes nothing but irritation. Here the situation is similar to Episode Gladiolus - a familiar character behaves in a manner unusual for him. The dissonance is not so critical, but it is striking. The main problem is that this DLC ruins the already fragile canon of Final Fantasy XV.

Almost the entire expansion of Ignis makes its way through the destroyed Altaissia to the altar on which Noctis's lifeless body lies. Along the way, he meets Ravus, who goes there, but in order to save his sister, Lunafreya. Heroes put aside their differences and go to the rescue of those they care about.

Nothing significant happens at all until the climax. Already at the altar, Ignis is overtaken by Ardyn. The Niflheim soldiers grab the protagonist, and the villain raises a dagger over the young king. In desperation, Ignis puts on the ring of the Lucii. And, no joke, this is one of the dumbest decisions that Final Fantasy XV characters make. And this says a lot.

Ignis was equipped with a grappling hook and allowed to run across the rooftops. At times the DLC reminds me of some Assassin's Creed

Ignis is the voice of reason for all four heroes. He is educated and prudent, not prone to rash decisions and always thinks several moves ahead. He knows full well what the ring of the Lucii can do to someone who does not have royal blood and whom the collective wisdom of the Lucian monarchs deems unworthy.

In addition, he saw before him the example of Ravus, who in his blind lust for power put on the ill-fated ring. In Kingsglave, it immediately deemed him unworthy and burned his hand. The ancient kings did not grant him any power or abilities. That is, they made us understand: by putting on a ring, you either gain power or become crippled. This is also stated in the official guidebook for Final Fantasy XV Ultimania.

Episode Ignis spits on canon. Here Ignis goes blind because the monarchs, predictably, considered him unworthy, but he also gains the strength to fight Ardyn. The game doesn’t even try to explain how and why this happened. Obviously, this is all due to the developers' desire to create drama through the character's voluntary self-sacrifice. The gesture turned out to be effective, although it was possible to raise this topic without destroying the canon.

However, the desire to create a strained drama fully manifests itself only in the alternative ending of the supplement. With the stunningly stupid ending of Final Fantasy Type-0, its director, Hajime Tabata, tried to squeeze a tear out of the player. But the cheap tragedy of Episode Ignis' alternate ending puts that scene to shame.

Destroyed Altaissia still looks beautiful

At the climax of the DLC, Ardyn invites the protagonist to join him, and if he agrees, the villain takes Ignis to Gralea. Why is it unclear? But here Ignis puts on the ring again and tells the ancient monarchs that he is ready to sacrifice his life for Noctis. Having received the power of kings, Ignis defeats Ardyn. Noctis, Prompto and Gladiolus suddenly appear in the building. Under sad music, they bend over their dying friend, mourn, and the young king, with the help of the Crystal, finally ascends to the throne.

This alternate ending is not just the ending of the DLC, but the ending of the entire Final Fantasy XV. The war is over, Ardyn never captured the Crystal, the world never went dark, and Noctis didn't sit in a cave for ten years. And all thanks to Ignis's sacrifice. From a cinematography point of view, this scene is staged well. But all this is in vain: all the tears and suffering are just a cheap way to evoke emotions in the player. After all, none of this happened. The alternative ending is not canon, so it's stupid to cry over it.

Episode Ignis is a hack. The shortest and most pointless of all DLCs. It seems like the writers were forced to write at least some kind of story about Ignis, because the rest of the characters got their own adventures. In this expansion we learned how Ignis became blind. But is it really that important? There was a battle going on all around and the character could simply get hit in the face by some piece of debris.

We didn't learn anything new about Ignis, as his devotion to Noctis was repeatedly stated in both the main game and Brotherhood. In my opinion, the only goal that the developers pursued was to show another tearful scene, even if it was sewn into the plot with white threads.

All three "personal" expansions designed to patch up the holes in Final Fantasy XV's story fail at the most fundamental level. Moreover, they ruin the already poorly written characters of the game's heroes. Their existence can only be justified by Square Enix's experiments in gameplay, because all DLCs are very different from each other both in level structure and combat system (Episode Prompto is generally a third-person shooter).

Even the free DLC in honor of the release of Assassin's Creed Origins had more interesting finds and character reveals

The developers are making a service game out of Final Fantasy XV and have already promised to support it with additions throughout 2018, to “finish” the plot and fill in the holes. But there was no faith in the success of the enterprise even before, at the announcement of all these alternative versions thirteenth chapter and DLC. And after the first attempts in this field, it seems that Square Enix is ​​simply trying to revive an obviously dead and frankly boring story. And it's obviously not worth it.