Final Fantasy XV

FINAL FANTASY XV arrives on PC, and the imperfect RPG was worth the wait.

The wait for Final Fantasy XV on PC has been long, following lots of talk from Square Enix about optimization, mod support, and nicer-looking hair. If you’ve waited 15 months— on top of the almost decade-long wait after the original Versus XIII announcement—to play this road trip-themed action RPG, though, it looks fantastic, and arrives in a more complete form than it did on consoles.

While previous entries are betterknown for turn-based combat, or real-time with a complex strategic layer in the case of FFXII, this is a pure action RPG—and a pretty simple one at that. Your character, Noctis, rides around in a car with his three friends for most of the game. You can take on sidequests, hunt for specific creatures, and tackle dungeons that unlock new weapons. The second half of the game is more linear, which doesn’t play to the game’s strengths as much. FFXV is at its best when it’s focused on the idea of a road trip between four friends.

As well as including all of the updates from consoles, the Windows Edition arrives with all of the DLC released so far (the three charactercentric standalone episodes, plus the multiplayer update, Comrades) and many graphical upgrades. You also get a more embelished final chapter than the other platforms originally did, making what was a rushed closing chapter into a more satisfying (if still slightly incoherent) climax.

What FFXV is particularly good at is creating spectacle. Fights feel grand; enormous creatures and operatic music heighten the sense of drama. Summons return to the series in their most extraordinary form yet—powerful giants that’ll lay waste to pretty much any opponent. The graphical upgrades for PC only accentuate this, with improved detail and resolution options.

The world is gorgeous, and fun to explore. The four main characters do most of their traveling in the Regalia, their royal car. From the desert wastes of Hammerhead, to the bustling town of Lestallum, the boys drive across the map. Little animations and smaller interactions emphasise the feeling of camaraderie.

The Final Fantasy RPG experience has been streamlined, though. Completing main quests gives you more than enough experience to keep up with the story’s level expectations. The Ascension Grid, FFXV’s progression system, provides simple upgrades and little more. Grinding is a thing of the past thanks to these changes, but there’s little incentive to explore past the major story quests when your other options aren’t particularly interesting.

Conversation choices don’t offer much aside from a little flavor, the world is open but somewhat limited until you’ve finished the story, and there’s no real strategy in fights except stabbing enemies in their weak points. It’s not much of an RPG, really—not in the traditional sense.

Fighting fantasy

There are just a couple of attack commands. While you can swap weapons out mid-fight for faster or slower attacks, the complex strategies you could pull off with status effects and the strengths of different party members in previous Final Fantasy games just aren’t here. The game’s one attack button can, pretty much, be held down to constantly attack.

There is Wait Mode, which pauses time and acts as a way to assess a situation strategically, but it also breaks the flow of combat unnecessarily. The magic (referred to as Elemancy) is just as simple, but a lack of easy ways to replenish your magic resources means Elemancy isn’t a viable way to fight every battle.

But Final Fantasy XV has never looked better, and mod support suggests an exciting future ahead. It’s a shame that FFXV doesn’t recapture the depth of the series’ past entries, and games like The Witcher III and Divinity: Original Sin II really highlight the weaknesses in the sidequests here. This road trip,

The Final Fantasy RPG experience has been streamlined