This is a game I played in 2019-2020 on the PS4 (the full version, including all of the DLCs). I recently bought it again on Steam to replay because it was on sale. While it is a flawed game (the battle mechanics don't always make a lot of sense, and it went through years of development hell which does sometimes show), it will always be in my top 3 games of all time.

FFXV is a game for folks who enjoy observing and taking in the scenery when you play new games. It's a game for folks who enjoy building an emotional connection with the characters. The story is as tragic as it is heartfelt, perhaps particularly so for those of us with a disability or chronic illness. (I have a housebound friend who enjoys it because it gives them something close to the experience of driving, running, and hiking with friends again.)

FFXV is inherently a deeply sad story, and even at its happy moments there is a subtle undercurrent of doom and little things that foreshadow the inevitability of Noctis' death. FFXV is the sort of game that affirms the age-old idea that it is not the goal that matters, or what happens at the end - stories, and indeed life itself, are about savouring and making the most of the journeying process, whether it's going on quests, trying optional dungeons, or idling the time away to fish (the fishing mini-game is incredibly fun).

It makes a lot of sense in hindsight that I enjoyed this game so much at the height of the COVID pandemic, when it was impossible to meet up with friends, or even to go outside. In a world of lockdowns and no social interactions, the game gave me exactly what I needed, in the form of the idle banter between the four protagonists, and the feeling as if I am on a road trip with them.

Once you have finished the main quests, it becomes a slow, social kind of game, where you can come back to at your leisure to go on a road trip with the chocobros again and journey to your heart's content. There is plenty of post-game content to keep you busy for a while, and daily hunts that you can do.

Camus said that in a world of chaos, we must imagine Sisyphus happy, and I think FFXV makes a great point of doing that. By laughing in the face of the Astrals - who perhaps cruelly and in their godlike way do not seem to care much about the lives and struggles of mere mortals, even Noctis Lucis Caelum himself, despite probably having the power to snap their fingers and remove suffering from the world - and enjoying fishing, road-tripping, cooking, and taking photographs, the boys flip off Bahamut and make meaning out of their lives. Because while they may know what ultimately awaits them, they can sure enjoy themselves.

This is a game I played in 2019-2020 on the PS4 (the full version, including all of the DLCs). I recently bought it again on Steam to replay because it was on sale. While it is a flawed game (the battle mechanics don't always make a lot of sense, and it went through years of development hell which does sometimes show), it will always be in my top 3 games of all time. FFXV is a game for folks who enjoy observing and taking in the scenery when you play new games. It's a game for folks who enjoy building an emotional connection with the characters. The story is as tragic as it is heartfelt, perhaps particularly so for those of us with a disability or chronic illness. (I have a housebound friend who enjoys it because it gives them something close to the experience of driving, running, and hiking with friends again.) FFXV is inherently a deeply sad story, and even at its happy moments there is a subtle undercurrent of doom and little things that foreshadow the inevitability of [spoiler]Noctis' death[/spoiler]. FFXV is the sort of game that affirms the age-old idea that it is not the goal that matters, or what happens at the end - stories, and indeed life itself, are about savouring and making the most of the journeying process, whether it's going on quests, trying optional dungeons, or idling the time away to fish (the fishing mini-game is incredibly fun). It makes a lot of sense in hindsight that I enjoyed this game so much at the height of the COVID pandemic, when it was impossible to meet up with friends, or even to go outside. In a world of lockdowns and no social interactions, the game gave me exactly what I needed, in the form of the idle banter between the four protagonists, and the feeling as if I am on a road trip with them. Once you have finished the main quests, it becomes a slow, social kind of game, where you can come back to at your leisure to go on a road trip with the chocobros again and journey to your heart's content. There is plenty of post-game content to keep you busy for a while, and daily hunts that you can do. Camus said that in a world of chaos, we must imagine Sisyphus happy, and I think FFXV makes a great point of doing that. By laughing in the face of the Astrals - who perhaps cruelly and in their godlike way do not seem to care much about the lives and struggles of mere mortals, even Noctis Lucis Caelum himself, despite probably having the power to snap their fingers and remove suffering from the world - and enjoying fishing, road-tripping, cooking, and taking photographs, the boys flip off Bahamut and make meaning out of their lives. Because while they may know what ultimately awaits them, they can sure enjoy themselves.