Small bits of the newest Edge issue's FFXV preview, where the author played 40 hours:
That director Hajime Tabata has managed to build any sense of cohesion within these stifling constraints is extraordinary.
[...]
Allow yourself to yield to the wild eccentricity and FFXV can offer that rarest of blockbuster experiences: originality.
[...]
The elevation of supporting characters is designed to appeal to fans but it's been done at the expense of a strong plot.
[...]
In many of it's fragments of ideas and mechanics, FFXV shines. But by its stentorian conclusion, it's difficult to shake a feeling of confusion.
[...]
Full of hope, ambition and no shortage of things to see and do... Like a folly extended by successive architects, it's a peculiar artefact that can't escape it's past.
Partial source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=223539203&postcount=58
!!! Second half spoilers !!!
UPDATE:
UPDATE2:
That director Hajime Tabata has managed to build any sense of cohesion within these stifling constraints is extraordinary.
[...]
Allow yourself to yield to the wild eccentricity and FFXV can offer that rarest of blockbuster experiences: originality.
[...]
The elevation of supporting characters is designed to appeal to fans but it's been done at the expense of a strong plot.
[...]
In many of it's fragments of ideas and mechanics, FFXV shines. But by its stentorian conclusion, it's difficult to shake a feeling of confusion.
[...]
Full of hope, ambition and no shortage of things to see and do... Like a folly extended by successive architects, it's a peculiar artefact that can't escape it's past.
Partial source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=223539203&postcount=58
!!! Second half spoilers !!!
"The creative pressures and arguments that have coloured Final Fantasy XV's development are most evident in the second half, where it almost switches geenre, away from the open world desidn of the The Witcher 3, which was an influence on the current team, to a much more traditional linear series of cutscenes and dungeons. Late in the game, a network of cramped corridors, stockrooms and baffling barracks feels like a hangover from another game entirely. Here, Noctis, working alone, must duck into doorways in order to hide from the stalking, haunted guards. The stealth is delivered in a horror style, complete with jump scares, a disembodied, Joker-like voiceover, and Resident Evil-style key-card puzzles."
To make clear the distinction between the two halves of the game, if you want to return to the open-world area you'll need to travel 'back in time' when at a save point. Once there, you can mop up any unresolved side-missions, until you're ready to return to the present. [...]
To make clear the distinction between the two halves of the game, if you want to return to the open-world area you'll need to travel 'back in time' when at a save point. Once there, you can mop up any unresolved side-missions, until you're ready to return to the present. [...]
UPDATE:
UPDATE2: