Very fast too Fantasy XV: Chocobros vs. The volcano

Stop Regalia, I want to leave. On my search for finish Final Fantasy XV before this Friday, when it disappears from the Xbox Game Pass and my S Series, I got to the point of the game I feared. It is the moment when history takes a 180-degree turn from a joyful journey to a dark, almost unrecognizable treatise on war and sacrifice. Oh my Shiva, I hate this.

A lot happened over the weekend to get me to this point – the boys waged a small guerrilla war, climbed a volcano twice, ate our way across the continent, got our ass kicked by a beautiful dragon, and made almost 90,000 gil taking pictures.

In doing all this, I accumulated an incredible 19 hours of playtime, reaching a total of 26 hours. Of those 19 hours, I estimate that only five of them were spent on history events. I just couldn’t rush this game and now – as I face the prospect of being taken straight to the depressing end – I’m So I’m glad I didn’t. I’m sure my reticence in just telling the story came from the fact that I was finding, doing and seeing very of things I lost during my first move.

For example: I had no idea that you could have small side missions with the boys. After finishing a hunt in the Galdin Quay area, I rested at a nearby camp. In the morning, Gladio pulled me aside and asked if I would run with him in the morning. Naturally he said yes and the next day he and I went for a run on the beach. Noctis grunted and grunted all the time because he’s not a morning person, but at the end of the race he said something like “You know, it’s really cool at this time”, and the camera panned to capture that (and I can’t emphasize it enough) pretty wide image of the entire beach soaked by sunrise while Gladio said “If that’s all you get out of it, it’s enough for me.” Cue my heart melting. It’s like the game is saying to me, “Yes, Ash, you just wasted another five minutes doing something unrelated to your ultimate goal, but hey, you did see an otherwise invisible scene from your favorite spot. So, if that’s all you get out of it, then it was worth it. “

I spent all Saturday finding the camps that allowed me to see those vignettes and learned some interesting ones Final fantasy lore for my problems. On one of the Prompto’s adventures, he asked me to help him take a picture of a catoblepa. Now the catoblepas it’s a bull-like monster of Greek origin that appears in many games, not just in Final fantasy series, and for a long time I thought it was pronounced “kah-toe-BLEE-pis.” I happen to be wrong – it’s pronounced “kah-TOE-ble-pas” (which rhymes with how Strongbad says “fhqwhgads. ”) [Hums] “Let’s go catoblepas, I said, let’s go catoblepas.”

Special cry to the reader that, in response to my money problems, suggested he look for Vyv in Lestallum. I completed all the missions he had, and the resulting money left me with bandages up to my eyes. This is also why I ended up climbing a volcano twice – once to take a picture of it and twice because, as soon as I got off the volcano, I received a notification of other search. As I was already there, I decided to go back up the mountain, burning the rubber of my shoes (and the health of the chocobros health bars) to find one of the hidden Royal Arms. I didn’t do much with the Royal Arms on my first move, disregarded for its HP drain properties, but finding one hidden by chance made me obsessed with finding the rest. I already got another optional Royal Arm which, when combined with the ones I got in the main mission, put me in eight out of 13. I still don’t use them much, as my Ragnarok is still doing shit easily.

My mission to finish FF15 before time ran out it meant that I finally needed to go back to history, bringing my good times to a bitter end. I hit the part that I will not spoil that I will call the Sad Moment. There have been many Final fantasy Sad moments that really didn’t seem sad to me, and moments that shouldn’t be sad, but are totally devastating. I didn’t feel anything about FF7it’s the big surprise (if you know, you know). But I cried like a newborn child when, in Final Fantasy XIII, Sazh Katzroy’s son, Dahj, was restored and Sazh – the playful common man who happens to be one of the best characters in all Final fantasy canon – falls on his knees, hugs his son and cries. I wanted to feel something for FF15‘s Sad Moment and I think so, but more for the dubbing and visuals of the scene than for any attachment I had to the characters involved.

What made me sadder was that after that moment, the game fundamentally changed. No more fun rides in the car (except for a deus ex canine-ica that will allow me to travel back in time until before the point of no return). The game is all sad now, which sucks.

I have to say, I love the way FF15 emphasizes how different things are now, changing the way you’re used to playing. That food that boosts the stats you’re used to eating? That’s gone – replaced by Cup Noodles or, if you haven’t bought one like me, a cold can of fishy food. When you set up camp, instead of everyone sitting around a fire, the game makes a point of showing Gladio getting up and leaving in disgust to sit alone. Even the photos have changed. Instead of being fun selfies or spontaneous photos of smiling boys, all that Prompto captures with his camera are pictures of everyone’s neck and Noctis hanging his in mourning.

I’m in Chapter 11 of 15 now. Where I used to agonize over whether I would finish in time, I feel very good about my chances. So good that I will potentially sabotage myself with some new goals. I intend to find all Royal Weapons, including the one hidden in the optional Costlemark mega-dungeon tower. (I also have a mission for Dino, the jeweler from New Jersey, that I’m trying to complete.) Most importantly, I’ll complete all character episodes.

I’m sure that dedicating myself to all the work that distracts me from the main search is a way to avoid the inevitable. I don’t want this game to end, especially since I am cursed with the awareness that its ending is so different and extremely unsatisfactory from the start. What if Final Fantasy XV it was just a collection of disparate adventures united by a story about the bonds of friendship that would become the best of all time. But it is not, and were it not for the blessed ability to return to the past and continue to wander, I would consider giving up now. Since I didn’t finish the game when it came out, and my memory of the ending is so blurred, I hope there is something I missed and that redeems the story. Maybe the character episodes – which I haven’t tried yet – help with that too. Whatever the case, I’m on the home stretch with five days left. See you tomorrow.