Sorry to it's (few) fans but as a sequel, if you count this as a mainline Final Fantasy, it's one of the worst FF games I've played (finished it just because it's FF).

The battle system is way off and after a while you may get tired of the characters, who just get more annoying than in FFX. By making it less serious and lowering the stakes in the story, they ended up diluting the game, combat and narrative too much to the point that I just wanted it to be over so I could move on to a better game.

I've finished most FF games and FF15 has probably the best character development. The story is great and mostly thanks to the characters, it has a touch of realism. FF15 does start slow, on the first drive somewhere before you unlock fast travel, you have to sit through 2-7 min drives, but just play some Spotify on your console and listen to these guys interacting and it feels like a roadtrip should.

Just like in FF12, sidequests are just hunts with no story which make them uninteresting but I still found myself doing as many as I could. Fishing and cooking mini games are fun and the photography mechanic is brilliant, making it heartfelt and it serves a purpose later on.

Some players don't like the oversimplified combat and that it plays itself, but tbh FF12 while more strategic and less action, once gambits were set you didn't have to press any buttons. FF15 requires way more intervention.

My recommendation: give it a chance after the first few hours.. the story and characters are great and you'll rank FF15 above many of other mainline FF games, like I do. Trust me: when you finish it, you'll miss these guys.