Late, broke and occupied by a giant

Kotaku game day bookKotaku game day bookThe latest thoughts from a Kotaku employee about a game we play.

In my press to exit Final Fantasy XV Before it left Xbox Game Pass, I was hoping to make up for lost time. Do the mathI thought I had to do an average of five hours a day. But after the second day I only have a total of seven hours in my backup file. I’m back three hours.

I feeling like I’m making progress. I’m in chapter three of 14. I arrived in Lestallum and acquired four of the Royal Arms – powerful, HP-sucking weapons, each locked behind a standard dungeon. Still, I’m looking forward to the weekend when I can spend an average of more than three hours a day making real progress.

I’m still struggling to ignore side quests – this time the chocobos overthrew me. I could not ignore their bright yellow faces and happy “keh” pegs, nor could I worry about prompts incessant begging. So, against my better judgment, I took up the side quest that unlocks the big birds and asked me to track down and defeat a damn big giant.

I like the monster designs in FF15. The stylization of previous games and the limitations of the graphics engines always made the monsters look cartoonish and fake. FF15 It’s the first time that these malboros, giants and coeurls – oh my god! – how real animals from the real world look like. But the difficulty of the creatures seems oddly balanced in this game. With my level 15 group, a chance encounter with a level 34 creature was easier than the level 15 monster of the side quest. The behemoth wiped me off once and on my second attempt I used all of my remedies, which required a trip to the local pub / diner / drive-thru to replenish. Y’all, I’m constantly on the verge of broken-down slut status.

I never have enough money to sell what I hope are not materials to make ends meet. I just can’t understand how King Regis can give birth to his only son with only five gil and one “good luck”. Are you not one prince, Noctis, shouldn’t you have enough gil to stumble upon elixirs? Shutting this giant down brought me a 2km stroke of luck and made it clear to me, “Shit, I have to hunt more – and waste time – when I have enough money to keep going.” Fortunately, I trained Ignis in the Regroup Technique, which revives allies in danger and restores HP. It’s a nice alternative when my elixirs are running low.

Keep it on the DL, but I’m starting to suspect that Prompto has a slight crush on Gladio based on the excessive number of pictures he’s taken with the two-handed sword swing. What’s the name of the ship? Gladiompto? Promtio? With pleasure?

Prompto, please. Hold back your thirst.

I’ll be back with another update on Monday, hopefully somewhere closer to the 20 hour mark. If Jason Schreier’s old review is correct, I’m very close to the end of the main story. If I can make it to the end with the remaining time, I will amuse myself by going back into the world and exploring more. Seven more days.