Final Fantasy 15’s changes to the series' formula haven’t always been the most popular, but they paved the way for what came next. After almost a decade in development and several scrapped versions,Final Fantasy 15was first released in 2016 to mixed reviews that trended towards the favorable. Critics appreciated its characters, visuals, and simple-yet effective combat, all of which have aged brilliantly - playingFF15today, I still feel the same wonder I did eight years ago. But a great deal of criticism was directed towards its open world.
The first half (or maybe more like two-thirds) ofFF15takes place ina somewhat linear open world: players are given free rein to explore large areas, taking on quests as they please. You unlock new slices of it piecemeal - pivotal events see you breaking down literal roadblocks, opening the way to new regions. Later, the game becomes incredibly linear, and remains so through the rest of the main campaign andall ofFF15’s DLCs. The open world is nice while you have it, even if it has its flaws, but its influence on later games is clear.
FF15’s Open World Isn’t A Complete Success
Some Serious Flaws
FF15’s open world is one of the biggest and most beautiful ever portrayed in aFinal Fantasygame, but that’s precisely the problem. Between the major settlements,there’s little else but large stretches of open field. You’ll come across the occasional monster or stash of materials, but for the most part, you have little else to do but run from one quest destination to the next.
When you do return to one of the major settlements,you’ll find most of them are pretty barebones and unexciting. The grand majority of towns inFF15are effectively rest stops: you’re lucky to get a gas station, a motel, a convenience store, and a chain restaurant all at the one intersection. Only a couple of towns in the open world section (Lestallum and Galdin Quay) have real character that sets them apart from the rest.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Best Side Quest May Also Be Its Worst
One of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s side quests in Cosmo Canyon is simultaneously brilliant and also reveals its narrative’s greatest flaw.
Of course, there are sidequests to be taken on, butthey’re little more than repetitive fetch quests. They send you to the same locations repeatedly, with the same pretense every time: find this lost item, kill this enemy, and come all the way back to get a reward.
In some regards,FF15’s methods of traversal help you skip past the more boring parts of its world, but its main form of travel isn’t immune to monotony. You can drive the Regalia, Noctis' signature vehicle, from point A to point B - but the kicker is that you can’t actually control it yourself. You can either assign Ignis to drive it for you, or get behind the wheel yourself, but it steers along the road’s curves automatically. Your only input is the acceleration, braking, and navigation.
Still,FF15’s open world is undeniably gorgeous and ambitious. It’s a totally different kind of open world for aFinal Fantasygame, andit has some really excellent ideas - they just don’t coalesceas well as they should. Even so, criticism ofFF15’s open world seems to have directly inspired the mainlineFinal Fantasytitles that followed, and they’re much better forFF15’s missteps.
Final Fantasy Hasn’t Returned To A Full Open World
FF16 & The FF7 Remake Trilogy Take A Different Approach
In the years since,there hasn’t been another open worldFinal Fantasygame. Perhaps because ofFF15’s shortcomings, later games have been forced to take different approaches to mapping.Final Fantasy 16, for example, is split up into countless, relatively small, yet still open maps. They have multiple paths you can explore, and plenty of optional secrets, but are much more linear on the whole. This ensures that you’re not constantly retreading the same areas unless you want to, as each successive sidequest takes you to a different region than the last.
Of course,FF16has issues of its own: its sidequests aren’t quite so repetitive as15’s, but they areincredibly boring in terms of plot. Butit finds alternative ways to express its scope and scale:its brilliant strategic mapsand exhaustive lore codex convey a more complicated and diverse setting than a simple open world ever could. In that way,FF15’s open world failures may have actually had a positive impact on the rest of the franchise, forcing it to break new ground.
FF15 Struggling Might Have Helped Rebirth Succeed
FF7 Rebirth Is Bordering On Too Big
TheFF7 Remaketrilogy takes an entirely different approach: the first game is almost entirely linear, with the occasional opportunity to wander around its more open levels. ButFF7 Rebirthis a lot more open, if not truly open world. It works quite a bit likeFF16in terms of how you unlock the maps - successively throughout the story -but each map is significantly bigger, and filled with all sorts of open world-style side activitiesfor you to take on.
FF7 Rebirthseems to have learned all the most important lessonsfrom15’s missteps. Its maps are big, but they don’t feel prohibitively so, because they’re stuffed with so much to do and such obvious landmarks that you’re never wandering aimlessly for long. Its traversal methods (chocobo, buggy, Tiny Bronco, and the brand-new wheelie) are mostly fully controllable, and a lot of fun to ride around in. Sidequests are diverse and varied, and there are secrets around every corner.
After Reading What Nomura Thinks About Cloud Loving Tifa Or Aerith, I Totally Agree With Him
FF7 fans have argued over Cloud’s “canon” romantic partner for decades, but a little-known interview with Nomura actually solved the issue years ago.
Personally, I felt thatFF7 Rebirthwent too far in the opposite directionat times. Its sidequests are bordering on too expansive - there are so many mini-games involved, it’s absolutely staggering to try and complete everything in one go. Still, I did enjoy its exploration for the most part, andI have to wonder how it’d be different ifFF15’s open world had succeeded.
The popularity of open world games was already on the decline by the timeFF15came out. But ifFF15had a brilliant, innovative open world that pushed the concept further, it may have prolonged the trend, andFF7 Rebirthmay have attempted its own take on open worldFinal Fantasy.
Rebirthis bordering on bloated as-is; if it had pushed things any further, it almost certainly would’ve ballooned out of control, becoming too big for its own good. For that reason, I’m gladFinal Fantasy 15’s open world was as imperfect as it was - it has a ton of great ideas, but later games were easily able to identify and learn from its mistakes.
