Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition PS4 Review

Posted on: 2018-03-20

Our rating:

Final Fantasy XV is a beautiful experience and the Royal Edition is the version you should pick up if you missed the game when it first came out in 2016. It comes with all the released downloadable content so you are getting your money’s worth.


Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition PS4 Review

Over the years I have become more open to different genres with video games, compared to five years ago where I use to play exclusively first person shooters and Tolkien inspired RPGs. The one genre I use to despise was the J-RPG; however a couple of years ago a friend of mine showed me that these games have emotional stories, relatable characters and breath taking worlds to explore. To say that I was hooked from then on would be an understatement, I found a new love with J-RPGs especially the Final Fantasy series, and Square Enix was kind enough to send me the Royal Edition of Final Fantasy XV.

Gaming Review - Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition

Final Fantasy XV sees you take control of Prince Noctis and his entourage of boy band members, not really of course but their attire does scream mid to late 90’s boy bands. His father who is the King sends Noctis on a journey to meet with his future wife, which will secure peace in the kingdom so Noctis and his friends go on an epic road trip. Not all is well as when Noctis and his crew are on their journey his home city is under attack from the Empire killing the king and taking control of Crown City. I like the story because it knows when to be serious and when to laugh so you’re not frowning throughout game; you really grow to love the characters because you feel you’re on the journey with them.

If you’re a veteran of the Final Fantasy series the gameplay may have you split because it is no longer turn based like the older titles, nor does it go for the hybrid of real time and turn based combat from Final Fantasy XII and XIII. Final Fantasy XV goes for real time combat that resembles modern action games, now I know this may turn off older players of the series, but this doesn’t throw strategy out the window because running in like a headless chicken will get you killed. The combat can be a bit of mess sometimes, especially when you’re fighting a large concentration of enemies due to the amount of explosions and sparks on obscuring the field of view, but overall it is fun and satisfying.

You have companion abilities which can target weak points, which can cause major damage, but not all of the abilities are for offensive purposes some will reveal different traits to give you an edge in battle.

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition PS4 Review

You explore the open world in your car, which you don’t really have control of because it will automatically put back in the correct lane if you serve into the wrong one, but the driving is not a primary focus it’s just a vessel to get you to your next quest. You can hunt monsters to earn you more XP and Gil (money) throughout your adventure, each monster has a unique design and this is something that Final Fantasy has always got right for 30 plus years.

The game comes with all the released downloadable content and expansions which flesh out the narrative more compared to the initial release which had huge gaps in the story. Not only that it includes a brand new multiplayer mode where you can make a custom character which you can now encounter in the final stages of the game which is a nice touch.

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition PS4 Review

Visually the game looks absolutely stunning; the character models look believable with subtle animations with their facial expressions. The environments are what really stand out in this game as it is what you’re going to be looking at for the 40 plus hours playing the game, these range from rolling green hills to dry and baron deserts. 

The only issues I had was that the game could suffer in the performance department when it got busy in the combat sections, you have to bear in mind that I played this on a base PlayStation 4 and not the Pro. Also I found the running commentary from your party members extremely irritating as they would spout the same lines over and over again, which would make me want to slice my ears off with a  paper guillotine.

Final Fantasy XV is a beautiful experience and the Royal Edition is the version you should pick up if you missed the game when it first came out in 2016. It comes with all the released downloadable content so you are getting more than your money’s worth with the amount of content there is in this package.

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition PS4 Review



Article by:

Sam Coles - a.k.a. The Bristolian Gamer

Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.