-=NON SPOILER REVIEW STARTS HERE=-

1. GAMEPLAY
well this isn't the first non-turn-based final fantasy game, but this time the transition between roaming and fighting had been done right, it's smooth as some might expect, the battle itself while simplified into one button combo and occasional dodge/block and technique for some people might be considered quite less challenging, but I'm fine as it is, the battle pov is such a clusterfu*k if there are more than 5 enemies or if the enemy is as tall as 2 story building

for gameplay it's 7/10

2. GRAPHIC AND PERFORMANCE
this is coming from someone with 1080ti and 7700k and 240hz monitor (it's TN panel ofc so an IPS would be so much better), so take it with a grain of salt, this is hands down the best visual experience of gaming I've ever had (and I played quite a number of graphic demanding games in my 5 years of pc gaming experience), if you have the power for the best setting it's absolutely worth the money for the visual experience, I never played the ps4 version before (because a friend of mine in 2016 said that this will be coming on pc so I waited) but I play a few ported games and this is ported like no others, probably the best pc port out there

graphic wise it's 10/10

3. THE OPEN WORLD
not much to say or complain, it's pretty polished beautiful open world with a lot of content in it, monsters, collectibles, recipee to cook and fishing (one of the best part of the game), with the help of your car and chocobos, you can pretty much go almost anywhere.

it's 9/10

4.ADDITIONAL NOTES
go watch kingsglaive and brotherhood ffxv before playing so you get the context of what's going on, pretty good movie

-=NON SPOILER REVIEW ENDS HERE=-

-=SPOILER REVIEW STARTS HERE=-

OK NOW FOR SOME SPOILER BOYES!!, CLOSE THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED OR READ IT AT YOUR OWN RISK

1. GAMEPLAY
to be able to access the real open world you have to either stay at chapter 2(or 1 or 3? I didn't quite recall) to chapter 8, because after chapter 9, the world becomes linear until you finish the story then you can access the open world again and there's this chapter where you wander as Noctis for like an hour maybe more in a maze like building fighting one thing at a time with nothing but a crappy sword and almost useless ring (that's the only part I don't like about the game)

2. THE STORY
it's not as complicated as other final fantasy games, it's pretty straightforward and simple compared to the others. you go to your wedding, but the wedding got canceled while your homecity got ravaged, then you try to collect as much power as you can to take it back.., but the most important aspect that makes the story so good is characters, you feel so connected with Noctis and his friends that they feel almost like real person you would care about, they talk, acts and give you sidequest that develops and give some foundation and background to their friendshipand character development, seriously you cant get that kind of friend, not in this world and not in this lifetime, it's a game about friendship in my view..

3. SOUNDTRACK
I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cried when they play that song on the credits, god ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dammit
-=SPOILER REVIEW ENDS HERE=-

overall score 9.5/10

-=NON SPOILER REVIEW STARTS HERE=- 1. GAMEPLAY well this isn't the first non-turn-based final fantasy game, but this time the transition between roaming and fighting had been done right, it's smooth as some might expect, the battle itself while simplified into one button combo and occasional dodge/block and technique for some people might be considered quite less challenging, but I'm fine as it is, the battle pov is such a clusterfu*k if there are more than 5 enemies or if the enemy is as tall as 2 story building for gameplay it's 7/10 2. GRAPHIC AND PERFORMANCE this is coming from someone with 1080ti and 7700k and 240hz monitor (it's TN panel ofc so an IPS would be so much better), so take it with a grain of salt, this is hands down the best visual experience of gaming I've ever had (and I played quite a number of graphic demanding games in my 5 years of pc gaming experience), if you have the power for the best setting it's absolutely worth the money for the visual experience, I never played the ps4 version before (because a friend of mine in 2016 said that this will be coming on pc so I waited) but I play a few ported games and this is ported like no others, probably the best pc port out there graphic wise it's 10/10 3. THE OPEN WORLD not much to say or complain, it's pretty polished beautiful open world with a lot of content in it, monsters, collectibles, recipee to cook and fishing (one of the best part of the game), with the help of your car and chocobos, you can pretty much go almost anywhere. it's 9/10 4.ADDITIONAL NOTES go watch kingsglaive and brotherhood ffxv before playing so you get the context of what's going on, pretty good movie -=NON SPOILER REVIEW ENDS HERE=- -=SPOILER REVIEW STARTS HERE=- [spoiler] OK NOW FOR SOME SPOILER BOYES!!, CLOSE THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED OR READ IT AT YOUR OWN RISK 1. GAMEPLAY to be able to access the real open world you have to either stay at chapter 2(or 1 or 3? I didn't quite recall) to chapter 8, because after chapter 9, the world becomes linear until you finish the story then you can access the open world again and there's this chapter where you wander as Noctis for like an hour maybe more in a maze like building fighting one thing at a time with nothing but a crappy sword and almost useless ring (that's the only part I don't like about the game) 2. THE STORY it's not as complicated as other final fantasy games, it's pretty straightforward and simple compared to the others. you go to your wedding, but the wedding got canceled while your homecity got ravaged, then you try to collect as much power as you can to take it back.., but the most important aspect that makes the story so good is characters, you feel so connected with Noctis and his friends that they feel almost like real person you would care about, they talk, acts and give you sidequest that develops and give some foundation and background to their friendshipand character development, seriously you cant get that kind of friend, not in this world and not in this lifetime, it's a game about friendship in my view.. 3. SOUNDTRACK I fucking cried when they play that song on the credits, god fucking dammit [/spoiler] -=SPOILER REVIEW ENDS HERE=- overall score 9.5/10