Reviews

FFXV seems confused about what it wants to be. It starts as a somewhat directionless open-world game about roadtripping with your three best friends, but then confuses itself with a dead serious storyline about the murder of your father and king, the fall of your capital, and the occupation of your country by a foreign invader. The first 8 chapters of the game, which take roughly 15 hours to get through, follow this pattern; the story and the gameplay remain severely disconnected, with nobody seeming to care one way or another that the king is dead and they are at war. I suspect this is due to Square Enix wanting the game to remain open-world for as long as possible.

That's not to say FFXV has a horrible story. The story is fine, but presented in the most confusing way possible. The writers intended Kingsglaive (the FFXV film) to be watched prior to playing the game. It fleshes out the world and gives a lot of important background information on the city Insomnia and the world of Eos. The movie is absolutely mandatory to watch before playing if you want to understand the story, but it's pretty good. My only complaint is that it wasn't included with the game and that I had to watch it elsewhere.

Even with the movie, however, there's multiple spots in the game where the cast attains knowledge offscreen, or a plot point is explained to you via text on a loading screen, or everyone except the player understands why they have to visit dead kings' tombs and slay gods. A few extra lines of dialogue could have cleared up why you found yourself sidetracked from fighting the empire so often. There's also a tacked on dialogue system that destroys the pacing of some important encounters.

The game suffers because of its open world. Music starts and stops at odd places, dialogue lines are often cut short when you walk into a quest area, procedural lipsync looks awkward, the fullscreen "Quest Completed" UI flies across the screen at the most inapropriate times, and NPC's sometimes stand in the way of the camera.

Chapter 1-8 comprise of the open-world. The story doesn't have much of a focus, and you mostly stumble upon a couple gods and tombs while trying to figure out how to reach Altissa. During this section, they really should have forced you to acquire all of the Royal Arms for story reasons. Once you do reach Altissa, however, the game feels much more focused and polished. Chapter 13 features solo gameplay that heavily departs from the rest of the game. The game should have been hitting its stride at about this point, but instead it strips away your party and your abilities for a few hours. I disliked this, but the game more than makes up for it with its final chapter. It's flashy, challenging, and brings both the gameplay and story to a crescendo. At some point there is a timeskip to a wartorn world, but you're unable to explore it in any capacity which feels like a missed opportunity.

The cast is what carries this game. Gladio, Prompto, Ignis, and Noctis all have stellar voice actors and great chemistry. Banter while on the road, during and after battle, and in the downtime at camp helps give the game character. The animation and models of each character are also well done. These only get better from Chapter 8 onwards.

From a technical standpoint, the game looks great and runs surprisingly well on my dated hardware. 7.1 surround audio works and sounds greata. There were some lighting issues where things would be way too dark, especially in Prompto's photographs. He snaps these regularly during your travels for scrapbooking, and they are mostly procedural.

From a gameplay perspective, its flashy but ultimately unsatisfying. You get very little control over Noctis' actions, with only three buttons used for combat: "B" for attack, "X" for defend, and "Y" for Warp. If you don't worry too much about the lack of depth, you can still enjoy warping around and hitting link-attacks with your bros. Equipment, skills, and skill trees are even less satisfying, but Magic is the worst offender. You craft your spells by combining three elements (Lightning, Fire, Ice). I expected to be able to mix elements together to make new spells, but Thunder, Fire, and Blizzard are the only things you can make.

If gameplay footage and trailers seem appealing to you, you'll probably enjoy FFXV. It does an excellent job of capturing the "road trip with the boys" feeling as advertised. I'd recommend skipping most sidequests and focusing on the story. It helps keep the pacing of the story on track, and you'll never feel overpowered during story quests. Definitely watch Kingsglaive before playing, and don't expect super deep gameplay.

FFXV seems confused about what it wants to be. It starts as a somewhat directionless open-world game about roadtripping with your three best friends, but then confuses itself with a dead serious storyline about the murder of your father and king, the fall of your capital, and the occupation of your country by a foreign invader. The first 8 chapters of the game, which take roughly 15 hours to get through, follow this pattern; the story and the gameplay remain severely disconnected, with nobody seeming to care one way or another that the king is dead and they are at war. I suspect this is due to Square Enix wanting the game to remain open-world for as long as possible.

That's not to say FFXV has a horrible story. The story is fine, but presented in the most confusing way possible. The writers intended Kingsglaive (the FFXV film) to be watched prior to playing the game. It fleshes out the world and gives a lot of important background information on the city Insomnia and the world of Eos. The movie is absolutely mandatory to watch before playing if you want to understand the story, but it's pretty good. My only complaint is that it wasn't included with the game and that I had to watch it elsewhere.

Even with the movie, however, there's multiple spots in the game where the cast attains knowledge offscreen, or a plot point is explained to you via text on a loading screen, or everyone except the player understands why they have to visit dead kings' tombs and slay gods. A few extra lines of dialogue could have cleared up why you found yourself sidetracked from fighting the empire so often. There's also a tacked on dialogue system that destroys the pacing of some important encounters.

The game suffers because of its open world. Music starts and stops at odd places, dialogue lines are often cut short when you walk into a quest area, procedural lipsync looks awkward, the fullscreen "Quest Completed" UI flies across the screen at the most inapropriate times, and NPC's sometimes stand in the way of the camera.

Chapter 1-8 comprise of the open-world. The story doesn't have much of a focus, and you mostly stumble upon a couple gods and tombs while trying to figure out how to reach Altissa. During this section, they really should have forced you to acquire all of the Royal Arms for story reasons. Once you do reach Altissa, however, the game feels much more focused and polished. Chapter 13 features solo gameplay that heavily departs from the rest of the game. The game should have been hitting its stride at about this point, but instead it strips away your party and your abilities for a few hours. I disliked this, but the game more than makes up for it with its final chapter. It's flashy, challenging, and brings both the gameplay and story to a crescendo. At some point there is a timeskip to a wartorn world, but you're unable to explore it in any capacity which feels like a missed opportunity.

The cast is what carries this game. Gladio, Prompto, Ignis, and Noctis all have stellar voice actors and great chemistry. Banter while on the road, during and after battle, and in the downtime at camp helps give the game character. The animation and models of each character are also well done. These only get better from Chapter 8 onwards.

From a technical standpoint, the game looks great and runs surprisingly well on my dated hardware. 7.1 surround audio works and sounds greata. There were some lighting issues where things would be way too dark, especially in Prompto's photographs. He snaps these regularly during your travels for scrapbooking, and they are mostly procedural.

From a gameplay perspective, its flashy but ultimately unsatisfying. You get very little control over Noctis' actions, with only three buttons used for combat: "B" for attack, "X" for defend, and "Y" for Warp. If you don't worry too much about the lack of depth, you can still enjoy warping around and hitting link-attacks with your bros. Equipment, skills, and skill trees are even less satisfying, but Magic is the worst offender. You craft your spells by combining three elements (Lightning, Fire, Ice). I expected to be able to mix elements together to make new spells, but Thunder, Fire, and Blizzard are the only things you can make.

If gameplay footage and trailers seem appealing to you, you'll probably enjoy FFXV. It does an excellent job of capturing the "road trip with the boys" feeling as advertised. I'd recommend skipping most sidequests and focusing on the story. It helps keep the pacing of the story on track, and you'll never feel overpowered during story quests. Definitely watch Kingsglaive before playing, and don't expect super deep gameplay.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky" transports the player to damp, foggy swamps that differ greatly in atmosphere from the familiar dumps and industrial zones of the Zone. The swamps live their own life: stalkers fight for footholds, mutants emerge from the fog, and rare campfire lights fade into the damp haze. In addition to the main storyline, the player is constantly distracted by side quests, clearing camps, searching for artifacts, and helping factions.

Influence on the World and Faction Wars:
The main highlight of "Clear Sky" is the feeling that you're truly interfering with the balance of power in the Zone. Faction wars allow you not just to shoot up another base, but to purposefully advance "your own" across the map, capture key points, and shift the balance on locations. Player decisions—who to help, which quests to take, where to invest resources—affect who controls territories.

DirectX 10 and Lighting:
"Clear Sky" became a showcase of its era's technologies. Support for DirectX 10 and advanced dynamic lighting noticeably added cinematic quality to the game. Sun rays piercing through the treetops, wet asphalt after rain, thick fog over the swamps—all this makes the Zone not just dangerous, but mesmerizingly beautiful. Even locations familiar from the first part are perceived differently thanks to the new lighting.

Spin-off to the Original Plot:
A prequel that neatly fits into the story of "Shadow of Chernobyl." We witness events several months before the original, from a different perspective and with a new protagonist, while constantly catching references to already familiar characters and the impending catastrophe. Ultimately, the game doesn't try to rewrite the canon but rather complements it, filling in the gaps and providing context for events that were only mentioned in the first part.