Final Fantasy XV loves retro games. The boys of Final Fantasy XV are always playing the retro-style smartphone game King’s Knight and there's also the mini-game Justice Monsters Five in XV. A King's Tale Final Fantasy XV is another nod to this, but adds story into the mix to make the side-scroller a little more than just a side experience. I had fun with the short side-scroller but as a fan of Square Enix’s usual ambitious and cinematic storytelling, A King’s Tale was fun for a free experience but isn't all that memorable in the long run.
A King’s Tale is part visual novel and part side-scroller. It begins with an adorable exchange between King Regis and a young Prince Noctis sharing a lovely father-son bedtime story moment. Noctis requests for his dad to tell him an epic bedtime story about Regis’ own travels and Regis obliges, with the story being told through the side-scrolling adventure (which I like to think is how the retro-game loving Noct imagines the story). The story told is a little old Final Fantasy with its crystal-chasing shenanigans and a little Final Fantasy XV, with an emphasis placed on the value of friendship.
Since it's shown and implied in Kingsglaive and in XV that Regis had his own hardships, the story is proof of the fact that he had a journey similar to Noctis’ one in Final Fantasy XV. He travels with a crew similar in personalities to Noctis’ group, with the exception of standout Cid being way grumpier than the four guys in XV could ever be, in a good way. It was cool to see Regis and his crew summon and fight well-known Final Fantasy foes together, but other than some nice father son moments and terrible dad jokes, it doesn't really add much to the Final Fantasy XV Universe like I was hoping it would. Other Final Fantasy XV side experiences such as Brotherhood and Kingsglaive were so substantial and I was a little bummed A King’s Tale didn’t follow this trend.
The gameplay in A King's Tale however was pretty fun. Side-strollers aren't something I play regularly, but the retro music and hordes of enemies to take on were challenging enough and I was often rewarded by a cool summon animation in the bigger battles. Seeing some of Final Fantasy XV's places in pixel art style was a nice touch and most of the familiar enemies all needed different combos or attack types which kept me on my toes.
One of my favourite and least favourite mechanics in A King’s Tale was the Armiger, a cool multiple weapon super attack that has the ability to attack 4 times if you use your teammates right. This created a good goal towards, as the Armiger breaks its charge if you get hit and to get maximum damage, you must have used all your teammates attacks at least once before using it. It created an interesting dilemma of sometimes prioritising hiding and running from the hordes of enemies until I could use of the teammates instead of defeating the ones before me and I couldn't help but feel a little mad when I was hit and had to start all over. While it might have been frustrating, I think it was frustrating in a fun arcade style way that made me want to keep challenging my way through until I could unleash my best attack and see Regis’ disco battle victory pose as a small victory.
As someone who isn't a huge side-scroller player, my time with A King’s Tale was fun enough. I enjoyed the challenge from the sheer hordes of enemies I faced and the quick peak into Regis’ past, even if it didn't really add much to the Final Fantasy XV universe. It's definitely no replacement for the core Final Fantasy XV game, but A King’s Tale is a fun and different experience for those with a little extra time.
Score: 7.4/10
Don't forget: Regis was hot stuff. You can download A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV for free on the Playstation Network Store or the Microsoft Store.
I love the idea of Final Fantasy XV’s timed quests, so naturally I wanted to do the first one as soon as possible. Maybe it's just me, but I was a little surprised when I saw that there was no actual way to accept the quest from the menu and I was left with a slight ‘What now?’ feeling. Turns out the timed quests aren't accepted through the menu, rather by going to them yourself. Considering I wasted 20 minutes of time trying to find the exact point where the quest would start, here is a small guide on how to activate these quests for those who had the same problem.
1. Open the menu and look at the Timed Quests menu
Pretty simple. Make sure you go to the Timed Quests menu, as they don't show up in regular Quests.
2. Find and mark the Timed Quest’s location yourself on the map
It's slightly annoying that there isn't the option to do this automatically, but I digress. When looking in the timed-quests menu, you'll see a blown up version of the map. The area you want to go to is shaded on the map. In this case, our quest is luckily near a landmark (Causcherry Plains in this case), so find that on the map, mark it and get ready to drive there.
3. Go there and confirm your location
Again, pretty simple. You can drive there by using your map point or find a parking spot nearby. Get there however you see fit (You can also listen to the new NieR tracks on the music player while you're at it)!
Once you're there, confirm your spot by comparing the timed-quest map to where you are on the map. Unfortunately you can’t see where you currently are on the timed-quest map, so you will need to jump in and out of there and the actual map to check. For the current Cactuar quest, I was a little off the middle of the big round thing my first time and and the quest wouldn't pop, so get it as perfect as you can.
4. Run into the area in front of you/nearby and the quest should become accepted
Simple in theory, but results may vary depending on how correct you got your map point (as I said, it took me a couple of times). This will vary quest by quest, but with the cactuar quest it meant running into the right part of the forest.
Side note: During a second attempt to do the cactaur quest, an enemy came to attack me while the quest was being accepted and it aborted itself. After I went back to the Regalia and back to the spot, it popped up properly, so you don't need to be too worried if this happens to you.
5. Complete the quest and enjoy!
After stumbling to find the quest, thankfully it was a lot of fun and I plan to do it a few more times to get my characters over level 99 because the current quest gives a sweet amount of experience. I hope Square Enix adds more of these quests soon - so far it looks like the next one is in March. I also would welcome a UI tweak to make starting them a little easier, but for now I'm just happy they're in the game and I have more reasons to play Final Fantasy XV. Happy questing!
What do you think of Final Fantasy XV's new timed-quests? What level are your characters at?
Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook, Youtube or Instagram and let's talk!
Final Fantasy XV is a gift that keeps on giving and is really doing its best to keep everyone playing, whether it's those who purchased it or those who bought the Season Pass holders like myself. This is a smart move considering the time between each of the upcoming character Episode DLCs and is a good way to stop the open world becoming stale and keep those still totally addicted like myself from becoming less addicted or worse, not playing at all. Normally I wouldn't write anything about an update to a game, but the 1.05 update added some really significant updates, such as timed quests and a higher level cap. On top of that, Season Pass holders also got the Booster Pack+ a day after the update so as a happy Final Fantasy XV fan, I wanted to give my thoughts on each new feature added to the game because some of them are pretty cool.
(Feel free to watch the video version!) Update 1.05
The new update to Final Fantasy XV adds some significant features and is available freely to anyone who owns the game. An exciting thing for those who own a PS4 Pro is probably the new Lite Mode that has a maximum of 60FPS and probably looks absolutely stunning. I don't own a PS4 Pro so I can't comment on this much, but it gives me a reason to be a little more jealous of everyone who does.
Also something I can't comment on much is the raised level cap as my characters are only just at level 80 as I write this (note: as I edit this, I've hit level 100 woo!), but I'm pretty excited for this. Usually levels are capped at level 99 in Final Fantasy games, but Final Fantasy XV players can enjoy getting up to level 120, which is a really cool change. I recently maxed out my character's skills and have missed having a goal to work towards, so it's nice to know I can enjoy seeing my EXP go up for awhile. Also I'm keen to have some totally OP characters for when I go verse a certain boss for a certain gold trophy and an curious to see if it will affect my enjoyment of XV. I do wonder if level cap increases will be a trend with future Final Fantasy XV updates, but even if it's a one-off, it's pretty damn cool.
The thing that had me most keen for the 1.05 update is the addition of Timed Quests. I've written about how I'm totally addicted to running around in Final Fantasy XV's world and Timed Quests are a great way to keep this interesting. The first one is pretty rewarding, with the current fun and challenging cactaur quest giving 10,000 EXP, 333 AP and 150,000 Gil upon first completion, plus cactaurs being 1000 EXP each anyway add up to a fantastic way to reach that new Level 120. This update is guaranteed to keep me checking back for those awesome rewards and I can't wait for more quests and hunts.
The last few updates are minor updates, but nonetheless help enrich the player experience in Final Fantasy XV. In case you were getting sick of hearing the Chocobo theme (is that possible?) while riding Chocobos, you can finally listen to the Audio Player while riding and if you wanted to listen to two tracks from NieR’s gorgeous soundtrack, you can do that now too. Prompto can also store 50 more photos (200 in total), which is nice since I haven't been able to save new photos for awhile. The new update also takes out the Moogle Chocobo Carnival, which I’d already used to help me get my Fishing Skill to full and done pretty much everything in. The Chocobo music player and photo capacity probably should've been in XV already and are kind of insignificant at this point, but I'll take them and enjoy them anyway. All of these additions make a pretty solid upgrade to the base experience of XV and have already given me more reasons to keep playing.
Booster Pack+
The exclusive to Season Pass holders Booster Pack+ is a small little pack of items to mostly make fishing a little easier. The lack of a ‘wow’ item in this pack is probably due to the delay of the Magitek Exosuit that is getting a redesign due to similarities to the Power Rangers’ suits and was supposed to offer invisibility and a boost in fishing skills for a limited time. But the items are a nice little token for those with the season pass regardless. The Dragon Drain Rod and Avior Reel will be helpful for those upping their fishing skill; I don't overly care for these since mine is at max and I only really fished for new recipes and trophies. What I am enjoying is the Ragnarok sword, which packs a punch in battle and mostly just looks cool when warping due to it spitting a bunch of pink electrical looking stuff everywhere. It isn't however stronger than the Blood Sword I was using, so I may retire it soon, making the Booster Pack+ of little use to me.
Being honest, the Booster Pack+ is a tad lacklustre and is absolutely not worth getting the Season Pass for. But it's an alright bonus for those like myself who have it already for the story episodes and if I ever decide to complete Noct’s fishing collection, I'm sure I'll be at least a little happy I have it.
The real standout of these two additions to Final Fantasy XV is the free 1.05 update, but both it and the Booster Pack+ add nice little touches to enhance the current Final Fantasy XV. I enjoyed driving to the latest timed-quest while listening to music from NieR, and will be eagerly waiting for future timed-quests. Final Fantasy XV has been lucky to be getting so much support so far and I hope the addition of timed-quests among the other additions is a nod towards Final Fantasy XV getting support between each of its story episodes.
What did you think of the Update and Booster Pack+? Are you still playing Final Fantasy XV? (I sure am...but I may need to take a break for NieR Automata :|)
Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook, Youtube or Instagram and let's talk!
“A Final Fantasy for Fans and First-Timers”. This is what Final Fantasy XV opens with every time I boot it up and it truly echoes throughout the experience. The wide open world and the easy to learn battle system are much like a western RPG, while the story, character relationships and skill trees are closer to what Final Fantasy players would be used to. I wouldn't say it's a perfect balance of the two, with XV switching back and forth between the two from time to time, but in the end it doesn't need to be. Final Fantasy XV excels as an open world RPG and the dynamic friendship between the four men on their royal journey satisfied the Final Fantasy fan in me and created an addictive environment for me to run around and quest in with new characters I love. It’s not the Final Fantasy fans are used to, but with an open mind you may find yourself completely addicted to the open world, questing playground of Final Fantasy XV just like I am.
Final Fantasy XV is set in the world of Eos, a large world divided into three different areas, with two of the areas, Lucis and Niflheim, being in conflict. The story begins with Noctis and his friends Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus on their way to Noctis’ wedding to the oracle from Niflheim Lunafreya, only for a lot of things to go horribly wrong along the way and Noctis’ road trip becoming a much more consequential one with his throne at stake and a lot of loss along the way. As with a lot of stories involving royalty in Final Fantasy, I found the story a little convoluted at times even with prior knowledge from Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV and Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV. The story can go from zero to eleven at times, with earlier chapters feeling quick and light in comparison to the more linear and emotive last through chapters which had me glued to my console wondering what would happen next. I didn’t mind though, as I found myself engaged much more by what was happening to Noctis and his friends and watching their dynamic grow and change became my focus in the story.
What makes the group so engaging is the story moments being heightened by the open world aspect of Final Fantasy XV. While there is a large and epic story to be completed, Final Fantasy XV allows it to be done at your own pace, with plenty of side quests, photo spots and areas to explore until you feel like getting back to the core story. This open world is the heart of Final Fantasy XV, with story moments given weight along the way by the group that always have a lot to say, and the frequent conversation being a great way to get to know the characters. Whether it’s Ignis discovering a new recipe, Prompto falling in love with every girl he meets or Gladiolus’ deep care for the group, each character had something to add to Noctis’ hard journey. I felt satisfied by Final Fantasy XV’s story in the end and a lot of it is due to how much I loved the four together and their genuine friendship.
While the complex story and character archetypes feel close to Final Fantasy XV’s roots as one of the most classic JRPG series of all time, battle is where it starts to move away from this. Combat is action-based, with no Active Time or Turn Based system like previous Final Fantasy games being featured in XV. Instead there are shortcuts and easy to hold down attack buttons making battle intuitive and simple. My usual strategy of exploiting elemental weaknesses changed to one of blocking in time and using the cool warp-attack on unsuspecting enemies. Final Fantasy XV’s combat can definitely have strategy applied to it, but there’s also the option of just choosing a weapon, holding down the attack button and as long as your party are at a good level and you dodge sometimes, you’ll probably win. Don’t get me wrong - XV’s combat is fun and rewarding and boss battles had their fair share of challenges thanks to status ailments and near one-hit kill attacks. But it’s a clear difference to Final Fantasy games of the past and may not satisfy fans of the more traditional Final Fantasy experience. For traditional Final Fantasy fans, skill trees, summons and special attacks are present in the battle system to tie in that JRPG layer, but it is certainly on a smaller scale than previous Final Fantasy games.
Even though Final Fantasy XV is another step away from the more traditional Final Fantasy-style game, the incredible journey I had both in the story and outside it doing quests made me not really care. Running around the world of Eos and making my own experience made me not worry about its faithfulness to the genre and as I write this, I’m still pretty addicted to the freedom I feel driving around the big world in the Regalia with four great characters. There were a few things to stifle my enjoyment occasionally, the main thing being the long load screens I faced whenever I fast traveled or loaded my save. I bought my PS4 at launch, so it's definitely not a PS4 Pro and this is the first game I’ve felt like my game should have been really going faster than it was.
A genuine issue with Final Fantasy XV is also that despite how open the world is, there are definitely some invisible walls I found myself faced a lot of occasions I decided to free run in the world like I’ve done in western RPGs such as Skyrim. Noctis can’t climb or jump down everything for some reason, so I sometimes felt frustration when I could visually see a faster path to where I wanted to go but it was impossible to access. But as I mentioned Final Fantasy XV’s cast have a lot of little conversations along the way and the pleasantness of these outweighed most frustrations I have and I learnt to either accept or play around most invisible walls that stood in my way in favour of continuing the fun journey.
Final Fantasy XV may not be the most traditional JRPG in the world, but thanks to the vast world, I came to like the blend of old and new in Final Fantasy XV. For me, Final Fantasy XV is everything I like about western open world games blended with the JRPG elements that make me feel at home. By the end of Noctis’ journey, I felt like I had truly gone on a journey with the group in many ways - I watched Noctis and the group stumble and grow stronger along the way and I explored a great new world. Most importantly, I didn’t hesitate to come back again after the credits rolled, something I haven’t felt the need to do in a main entry of Final Fantasy since Final Fantasy X. Final Fantasy XV’s journey is worth experiencing if you’re a Final Fantasy fan with an open mind or a fan of Western RPGs looking for something different. In my opinion, it was well worth the long wait for the great newest entry to the Final Fantasy series.
Score: 8.6/10
I'm so addicted to this open world that I literally have to force myself not to play sometimes. Not as 'JRPG' as other Final Fantasy games, but still incredibly fun.
MMO and Anime fans should get excited for Onigiri, a free-to-play Anime MMORPG coming to PC in July. If that didn't sound exciting enough, the game is also scheduled for release on PS4 (in both the West and Japan) and Xbox One (Japan only so far - an English release for Xbox One hasn't been announced). The game was originally released in Taiwan and is going to be a launch game for Japanese Next-Gen consoles.
Onigiri is set in a mythical version of Japan. One of the three ancient seals keeping away the destructive monster Kamigui is broken. A young women and the child of the Oni are brought together by fate and that's where the story begins! If you want to see more, watch the promo video below.
You can find out a lot more about the world of Onigiri at the game's official website. According to the website, you can download Onigiri on PC now to prepare for the service to begin July 1st.
Final Fantasy Type-0 has been announced for Western release in both Europe and North America, in the form of an HD Remaster of the original PSP game. No release date has been announced, but the game is currently in development and will be released on PS4 and Xbox One.
Type-0 revolves around a group of 12 students called Class Zero that are called upon when the Milities Empire begins to attack nations in the world of Orience. The game was also highly critically acclaimed in Japan. Final Fantasy Type-0 is part of the Fabula Novas Crystallis series that includes the Final Fantasy XIII series and Final Fantasy Agito, which was also announced for Western release at E3.
This announcement is particularly interesting when you take into account that a fan-translation was released just a few days ago. The fan translation requires you to buy the PSP game and then install a patch to play the game fully translated. It will be interesting to see who will wait for the official HD remake or who will impatiently download the fan translation (which by the way, took 18 months to translate).
I'll personally be buying the game - I have to show my monetary support to Square Enix for the fact that they are bringing this Westward because the fans asked for it. As much as I'd love to support the fan translation and people's hard work, I would feel wrong if I didn't encourage Square Enix to listen to their fans.
If I was to describe Child of Light in one word, it would be stunning. The story, music, visuals - everything about it is stunning. Destined to stand out in a world full of popular first person shooters and multi-million dollar game budgets, it's beautiful and smart yet simplistic design was born to stand out. With its engaging story, enjoyable combat system and striking visuals, Child of Light simply shines.
