Amid the excitement for Square Enix’s next-gen offerings, many fans have probably forgotten that August 05, 2025 marks the fifth anniversary ofFinal Fantasy 15’s release. This game was the talk of the town for many years, starting life asFinal Fantasy Versus 13and changing with its staff and story to become a part of the main series. There are still some relics of the game that almost was buried within it, butFinal Fantasy15only bears a passing resemblance toVersus 13. It was released in a rather controversial state too, given that there were a lot of rough patches and unfinished sections. Even its DLC ended up incomplete, thanks to further staff changes and Square Enix deciding it just wasn’t worth the trouble.
WithFinal Fantasy 16around the corner, it seems like Square Enix is trying to make good on what it intended to do withFinal Fantasy 15. Now, the trusted development team behindFinal Fantasy 14’s award-winningHeavenswardexpansionis making great public strides withFF16, likely learning from the missteps ofFF15.Final Fantasy 15made a lot of mistakes before, during, and after its release, but it also got several things right and was a major step in the action-oriented direction Square Enix has been moving in. A lot can be gleaned from the history ofFinal Fantasy 15, and it’s worth celebrating for both what it did well and what lessons it taught.
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The Charming Points of Final Fantasy 15
Starting with the positives, the main thing thatFinal Fantasy 15supporters point to in regards to the game’s strengths is its characters. The core cast of Noctis, Prompto, Gladiolus, and Ignis are very strong, and their journeys throughoutFF15’s world are all very compelling. It’s fun to watch these characters interact with each other, and because of the road trip nature of the story, they do somore than any otherFinal Fantasyparty. The main villain, Ardyn Izunia, is also fairly charismatic, and players who experienced his DLC have an especially good impression of him. Most of the cast is sadly underutilized due to the game’s format, but some recurring characters like Aranea Highwind and Iris still impress.
Final Fantasy 15was alsoFF’s first crack at an open world, and while it didn’t do it perfectly with a lot of space clogging up the countryside, it brought Square Enix’s graphical capabilities to the next level. The world and its realistically rendered inhabitants all have a fantastical bent to them, and every environment is unashamedly beautiful. This project gave valuable experience to Square Enix’s development staff, and Luminous Productions’ upcoming gameForspokenwill benefit greatly fromFinal Fantasy 15’s existence.
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Where Final Fantasy 15 Went Wrong
Unfortunately, only so much good was packed intoFF15. While the core cast is compelling and the story has some good emotional beats, a combination of the game’s general pacing and the weird content omissions left many players unsatisfied. There was an attempt to remedy this with updates and DLC, but even the alternate ending planned for the canceled DLC episodes would have still felt like a Band-Aid between several wounds.Final Fantasy 15’s development was deeply troubled, and it shows in many aspects of the game.
That problematic development caused some problems outside of the time it was available, as well. Even though this is the fifth anniversary of the game, one could be forgiven for thinking that it’s been around for a lot longer than five years.Final Fantasy Versus 13is still the poster child for Square Enix’s nasty tendency toannounce games before they are in full production.Kingdom Hearts 3andFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeboth fell prey to this as well, but they managed to get their acts together faster thanVersus 13did. At any rate,Final Fantasy 15, coming after the controversialFF13trilogy and the disastrous first launch ofFinal Fantasy 14hammers home the development issuesFinal Fantasyhas had for the past decade.FF15’s release was around the time where the franchise began to move away from those issues.
Lessons Final Fantasy 15 Can Teach to Other Square Enix Games
Fortunately, move away it has, and there are many lessons that modern Square Enix games have taken fromFinal Fantasy 15. First and foremost, it seems like an effort to solidify plans for flagship titles has begun at Square Enix, asFinal Fantasy 16was announced well into development.Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2and the nextKingdom Heartsproject will probably follow his example, getting a fair amount of work done and a plan for the rest solidified before they are revealed to the world. Hopefully, it will take a long time before Square Enix makes the same mistakes it did withVersus 13again.
Final Fantasy 15has also laid down a great groundwork forFinal Fantasy 16to build upon.FF15was a very experimental game for Square Enix, and trying different approaches to make action games appealing to an audience used to turn-based gameplay eventually resulted inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. The work done in those two games will inform how combat options are implemented inFinal Fantasy 16, perhaps resulting in a sort of fusion between the two games' mechanics.Final Fantasy 16will also benefit from the response to15’s world and story. The importance of a complete world has already been demonstrated byFF16leading with descriptions of its major nations, and the state of its world.Final Fantasy 16is set to be fleshed out in a way that15never was, althoughFinal Fantasy 15may still hold one advantage in the form of its charming main party. Hopefully,Final Fantasy 15walked soFF16can run, and series fans will be more than happy to see how far16can go.
Final Fantasy 15is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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