Now it’s been a while since the release of Final Fantasy XV back in 2016. Even at 2018, talk about the game hasn’t exactly died down yet. Whether it’s a new update, the PC Version, The Royal Edition, there’s a lot about Final Fantasy XV that keeps people mentioning its name. What people don’t talk about often, however, is the shadow of XV, Versus XIII, what the game was originally supposed to be.
Playing through Final Fantasy XV gave me this obsession of contemplating heavily what the game could’ve been had it headed down the direction Nomura was originally taking it before Tabata took over and changed the script.
Keep note, there will be spoilers. If you haven’t played Final Fantasy XV, I suggest you do so first.
Story
While we don’t know much about what Final Fantasy Versus XIII’s story had to offer us, what we can gather from the clues, however, is that the story was meant to be rather dark. The atmosphere had a depressing theme to it and the story did feel as though it was heading towards a Romeo and Juliet story between Noctis and Stella.
In contrast, Final Fantasy XV was more lighter. Instead of human enemies, the majority of the Empire’s rankings were replaced with detached machines that were cold and unfeeling. Although, you can get the sense that the story is meant to be dark (especially in the later parts of the game) the theme is generally vibrant and adventurous.
What I Think: I personally prefer to have seen the story unfold from Versus XIII’s side. It felt so much darker and interesting. The game felt like it had this really awesome plot riddled with politics and motivations. Let’s be honest, Final Fantasy XV’s story was a mess. You could tell that it wanted to tell more but just didn’t or failed to.
It’s almost like the developers gave up on XV and rushed things in the middle towards the end. Much of the game’s background can only be found by watching two other separate entries: Kingsglaive and Brotherhood. Even then, the plot felt so nonsensical that you can’t really get a good sense of what you’re even fighting for. Take for example Noctis’ mission to take back his kingdom, Insomnia. The game fails to give us a reason to care because we’re never really attached to the place. How can we? We’ve never been there because the game doesn’t let us. From Versus XIII’s trailer, we’re shown Noctis fighting through an invading force while coolly walking down the stairs of his palace. This never happens in the game itself. Without a connection to the very thing we’re supposed to be fighting for, it’s almost impossible to care. If I haven’t watched Kingsglaive, I wouldn’t even have a good idea of what Insomnia might have looked like before heading there.
Our return to Insomnia after 10 years was clearly supposed to be an emotional moment for a king ready to take back his throne. I never got that feeling because Square Enix just failed to build it up properly.
Right now, it’s impossible to tell whether or not Versus XIII’s story would’ve been better. But I certainly would’ve preferred that story to have been told instead of the one we got.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy XV’s gameplay has its pros and cons. It works and can feel fluid, but not all the time. Your greatest enemy when playing the game is the camera itself. If you’re in a small tight corridor or surrounded by bushes, it can almost be impossible to know what’s going on. The combat system works well enough to give you steady control over your party’s actions.
Final Fantasy Versus XIII’s gameplay was more similar to Kingdom Hearts. So much so that the HUD was even borrowed from the game. Many could even call it a darker more realistic version of Kingdom Hearts.
What I Think: I’m not sure about everybody’s experiences but I’m quite comfortable with the Kingdom Hearts gameplay that was shown on the trailers. Versus XIII felt more polished and controllable. Not that the gameplay in XV was bad, it was just sloppy at times and something about the animation just didn’t feel right. If you’ve played Kingdom Hearts 2, you know what I’m talking about.
Versus XIII had so much more interaction with it. You see Noctis double jump to a mounted gun from an armored vehicle and even control some sort of robot at his own leisure. XV does allow you to use a mounted turret but it just feels like a hollow edition to the game than an actual fun option to try out. Enemies also seem to be so much more responsive to fight against in Versus XIII as you see Noctis smash ones face into a car window and even jump above one using his shoulders. Though enemies can be interacted with in XV, it always felt like a quick time event left up to chance than following up on actual good combos as you don’t really have control on when these chances for QTE actually happen. Although I have seen some pretty cool ones.