Final Fantasy XV

As a kid, there were two different tiers of getting in trouble with my parents. The first one was when I would royally piss them off causing them to get good and angry and yell at me, possibly ending with a punishment or grounding. Typical shit. 

Then there was the other tier of getting into trouble. The silent kind. The kind that only comes with the line, "I'm just disappointed." And while there's no direct punishment or yelling involved, that comment would cut so much deeper than any screaming could. 

That is what I give onto this game. The "I'm not mad... I'm just disappointed" criticism.

In whole, this game isn't bad, but it's certainly not good. However, I think there were so many opportunities for this game to do some really amazing shit, that could have elevated to not just a good game. Not just a great game. But an amazing game! A game you could look back years from now and still remember it as an iconic part of your video gaming history.

Basically, what I imagine this game set out to be was freeing adventure in this truly immersive map that you could explore at your leisure in your own car, GTA-style. But what I actually experienced was this rigid journey that tested my patience again and again as I was forced to watch the gang auto-drive across the entire map and back again. I think I spent almost as much time sitting on my couch aimlessly staring at my characters driving around the country as I did actually PLAYING the game. At times, the game even incentivizes you to not play it. Like... WTF?!

That frustration aside, I don't even know where to begin in addressing all the different areas this game "disappointed" me. 

The gaming mechanics offered this really cool "warping" feature in battle. Yet the camera always seemed to find that one tree or rock to lock behind, making the battle fucking useless. I made it a point to really level up my characters just so I didn't need to actually use much strategy as I hack-n-slashed my way to victory.

Then there's that epic battle with Leviathan. What a clusterfuck that was. Just zipping around a typhoon of nonsense, not really capable of being injured by anything because Noctis is in Super Saiyan mode, but at the same time having no real sense that my actions could/did anything profound in the battle. In essence, I feel like I won the day just because I hit the X button enough times. 

Then there's also the story. Let's forget for a moment that in order to really understand anything that's going on, you'll need to watch both the movie and short vignettes to build an appreciation for this world. But the story ends on such a dramatic event. You give yourself over to this crystal bullshit to become the chosen one -- a hero to save the world from darkness -- which apparently has a gestation period of around 10 years. After that time you wake to find your world in ruins. It's essentially the apocalypse. Yet, when you meet the townsfolk, and everyone surprisingly cool with it. 

Ok...?

That aside, you meet up with your old gang -- a group that is essentially a rip-off of the ninja turtles. The game obsessively focuses around these characters for good reason... they are the heart of this story. But after meeting back up with them in what's suppose to be this triumphant reunion, and I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

Then I went on with them to battle the final boss, and they all look to one another in acknowledgement that this was the end to their grand, epic journey... I, once again, felt nothing. 

This game did an incredible job at making a moment I should have been tearing up over feel like a fucking chore. It bored me. It frustrated me. And, at its worse, it disappointed me.

Why the disappointment? Because these are easy problems to not only see, but to fix. And for a game that's rumored to have taken the better part of a decade to make, it's inexcusable. 

So, yeah... this game is a complete and utter disappointment.

While I've only played a small portion of the Final Fantasy games out there, this easily ranks at the bottom of my list.

Anyone curious here's my current standings:
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XV

(Currently working my way through IX and XII as well -- both seem to be contenders for the top spot).

And if others are to say that there are other games in this franchise that should be considered worse, then I need to seriously question whether my time with these games is over from here on out.