Final Fantasy XV

Square Enix’s brave new world glitters like the Gold Saucer

- Bravelyjen

Hot from the ashes of Final Fantasy Versus XIII rises Final Fantasy XV, an innovative new breed of Japanese role-playing games. At least, that’s what my head is telling me. My heart? Well, it’s complicated. For newcomers, this will be love at first sight – it’s fast and furious and has that metaphorical new-car smell. For fans who crushed hard on the series during its PS1 years, it’s something of a bittersweet encounter.

Forget Episode Duscae and that fluffier-than a-plushie-Cloud Platinum Demo. Final Fantasy XV is something else. It’s spirited, it’s plucky, it’s youthful – and for a new addition to a series soon to hit its 30th anniversary (champagne corks at the ready!) those are brilliant qualities to uphold. Pitched as “A Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers,” this is an experience that aims to please. And please it will, for the most part.

Barring a flash-in-the-pan timeskip to a fiery unwinnable battle, Final Fantasy XV opens exactly where you might expect: out on the open road. Cue Noct, Prompto, Iggy and Gladio. “Not exactly a fairytale beginning, huh, Prince Noctis?” Gladio’s voice rumbles like distant thunder, and so it begins – four modern-day Warriors Of Light pushing their trusty steed, the Regalia, toward a faraway garage, Florence And The Machine’s cover of Stand By Me playing hauntingly at their backs. “Oh, I won’t be afraid. Just as long as you stand – stand by me.” Ah, Flo – girl always brings it.

THE PROMISED LAND