Final Fantasy XV itself has been recognized as a failed project, alas, not the first for Square Enix. The company is at the forefront of the fan’s hopes. And its Japanese office and its offspring are doubly annoying in comparison to everything else.
What is Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD? It is unfortunate to admit that it is nothing more than an attempt by the creators to make money on a knowingly unsuccessful part of a super-popular franchise. But in this case the popularity of this project and fan loyalty will not save the result not just bad, but truly awful job. The creators of the game even went further than Hajime Tabata, who managed to just phenomenally twist the original concept of Tetsuya Nomura.
It seemed that there could be nothing worse than Tabata’s brainchild, but the creators of handheld version proved once again that there are no limits to degradation. And they began by abandoning the main feature of FF – the open world concept. The user has to be content with linear locations within which the action takes place ten game chapters.
The creators of the portable version of the game did not particularly change the main cannon of the plot. But they have abandoned additional quests, which has significantly watered down the action.
From the outset, the game is perplexing for a user familiar with the story twists and turns of the franchise. The developers crammed all the most interesting events of the game action into CGI-film, which is a very clumsily made anime-series.
As if Insomniac Games’ fall, father’s death, rebellion movement, tumultuous events in Niflheim are passing by the player. And the player in the meantime is forced to splurge on actions with incomprehensible motivation and meaning.
Many questions arise and to the heroes, who for some reason accept help from the obvious enemies and commit a huge number of illogical, and sometimes completely schizophrenic acts.
The development of the game locations and characters doesn’t just leave a lot to be desired, they’re awful. And worst of all, the characters in a game like Final Fantasy lack any expression of emotion. Watching lifeless faces throughout the gameplay is very depressing. And if you have ever played Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, it just becomes unimaginably dreary.
The characters’ weapons and combat mechanics also raise a lot of questions. The two-handed sword, for example, is completely useless, as its damage figures to the enemy are almost identical to those of the one-handed sword. But a character with a two-handed sword is slower, so there’s no point in using an advanced weapon. The magic ring is useless as well; it cannot be upgraded.
As for the mechanics of combat, some functions “hang” on the same button, which is not only inconvenient, but not to the point of annoyance when performing actions with time constraints.
There is absolutely no magic in the game. You can find magical charges in the locations, but their effectiveness is very questionable.
Special mention should be made of the game’s soundtrack. Again, not at all because it is a “ray of light in a dark realm”. I wish it were, but it isn’t. It is very annoying when the battle sounds and the main soundtrack merge during battles. We get the nerve-racking cacophony. But even more annoying is the disgusting translation of the game into Russian. If the user is even slightly “savvy” in English, it is easy to spot the translators’ numerous inaccuracies, and sometimes outright sabotage.
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD is not just another Square Enix failure. It is such a staggering failure that it is not an easy task to put anything like it next to it.