Final Fantasy XV is a great game as it is. It is sad to think about how good it could have been if it was a complete experience at launch, and also if they had not misled people for so many years through so many trailers, but what ultimately released is still a very solid, large scope experience that is undeniably great. The open world works really well and has a lot unique areas, I never felt as though it was super empty. The story is very solid; it's not as strong as the many all-time narratives of Final Fantasies past and has plenty of issues throughout but has a conclusion that absolutely does match up with the best of the franchise and RPGs in general. Despite being largely uncompleted, the game still offers over 100 hours of content at the absolute least, with plenty of optional endgame endeavors to take up. It's easy (albeit completely understandable) to get caught up in thinking what Final Fantasy XV could have been, and its true that the potential ceiling for this game was incredibly higher than what it reached, but as an experience in and of itself, it is a wonderful game that does feel like a complete experience regardless. There are plenty of moments, areas, and segments of this game that are extremely memorable to me, and I would go as far to say important, as this was one of the first large scale non-Nintendo games that I had ever played. While this is a more personal, contextual experience, I think that Final Fantasy XV did a great job at being what I had really hoped it could be as someone who had not delved into the franchise before at the time, and even blew me away at points. The game is extremely controversial, and plenty of criticism and deep analysis is well-deserved, but to me it is a very special game. While it could have been even more, the experience that it ended up being was well worth it.

8/10