2515: Life in Eos

Still plugging away at Final Fantasy XV, and still having a lot of fun. I'm now up to Chapter 8, as I eventually ran into a roadblock in Chapter 3 where part of the map where several sidequests concluded was locked off and thus I had to progress further to be able to continue. Along the way I enjoyed some spectacular story sequences, but now I'm back on the sidequest train for the moment.

I've been very much enjoying the whole experience of Final Fantasy XV so far. While the sheer amount of sidequests and other distractions around the game world absolutely kill the pacing of the main story if you don't have the self-discipline to focus on that first and do all the other shit later, all that side content is enjoyable to do. As I noted in my first impressions a few days ago, the whole game feels like an inversion of the usual Final Fantasy formula, in which a wide variety of things are open to you from almost the very outset of the game, and you're simply able to immediately go and do whatever appeals to you the most.

Like Xenoblade Chronicles X, an open-world RPG that had a rather similar structure, I've been enjoying how much all the side content makes the world feel like a fleshed-out, lived-in place. Through numerous sidequests — and the conversations your party members have during these quests — you learn quite a bit about the world that you might not discover if you just focused on the main story. The town of Lestallum, for example, is one with a pretty strong gender divide that has come about naturally over time; the women (who are "built", according to Gladio, who one can infer from his enthusiasm is all about the thicc girls) work the industrial jobs such as maintaining the power plant in the city, while the men run the market stalls, restaurants and shops. You might not notice this immediately if you just pay it the flying visit you do in the main scenario quests, but Holly's series of sidequests explores this side of things a bit further.

I've enjoyed the dungeons, too. I think I've cleared them all now — with the exception of the high-level deeper levels that open up once you've completed the main story — and they've been pleasingly different from one another. Particular highlights included the Crestholme Channels, a labyrinth of sewers beneath the outskirts of the Crown City, and Costlemark Tower, a complex dungeon with a shifting layout that you have to carefully navigate your way through in order to reach the boss at the end.

(As a side note, Costlemark Tower presently has a bug in it where sometimes if you've done things in the "wrong" order, beating the boss will not trigger the final cutscene and award you with the weapon you're supposed to get for clearing the dungeon. If this happens, exit and re-enter the dungeon, work your way back to the boss room and trigger a somewhat glitchy cutscene. You then have to fight the boss again, though the bug means that you can't target it unless you're able to trigger a Summon spell. You can, however, fling magic at it; Blizzard spells are particularly effective, so stock up on those before going in for an easy victory.)

I think I'm just about coming to the limit of sidequests that are left to do before I'll be obliged to continue on with the main story. At about 57 hours deep in the game so far, I've already very much had my money's worth, but I'm keen to see how the story continues and concludes — and also very excited to explore what sounds like a considerable amount of post-game content.