Final Fantasy 15 Pocket Edition HD Review-in-progress Part 2

In Part 1 of my review-in-progress of Final Fantasy 15 Pocket Edition HD, I talked about the game’s story. In part 2, I want to focus on the game’s battle system and exploration. How much does the battle system feel like a traditional FF experience? What about the exploration?

Final Fantasy 15 Pocket Edition doesn’t have a turn-based battle system. I really wish it did. The battle system in FF15 isn’t horrible, in fact I’ve been enjoying for the most part, but its not as good as the franchise’s previous systems.

In FF15 Pocket, you play as Noctics, while your friends are controlled by the game’s A.I. When its battle time, you press Y to swing your sword at enemies. There are three weapons that you can use during battle and you switch between them whenever you want, which is a cool feature and adds somes strategy to the battles.

Occasionally you’ll be able to issue special orders to your friends too. As you go through the game, you’ll also get some limited use magic and special abilities that need to be powered up. The battle system is really good when you can use your special powers, but a bit repetitive when all you can do is press Y to attack and find yourself focused on one weapon too much.

There are also some quicktime events and warping powers during battle. I know most people hate quicktime events but I like them when they are done right and FF15 Pocket does a great job with them. I also love the warp powers that Noctics has! Its especially fun when you can warp/stealth attack multiple enemies and avoid a full battle.

The battle system, overall, can be really fun, though I still wish it had been a turn-based system. It just would’ve felt more like a Final Fantasy game.

Meanwhile, I absolutely love the exploration in this game. Every area I’ve been to has interesting NPCs and secret items to find. The sidequests in this game do repeat a lot (cactuar quest in every area), but I generally like them for what they are. The treasure map quests can be fun and frustrating sometimes.

Some of the areas in Final Fantasy 15 Pocket Edition are small, while others are a lot bigger. The towns in this game are especially nice to visit. If you ever get lost in a town, dungeon or outside area, a map is available via the menu and if you look at your feet, there’s an arrow that points to where you should go next.

Between the battle system and the exploration in this game, Final Fantasy 15 has a lot of things to do and see. The exploration in this game is pure Final Fantasy and full of references to FF mainstays like Chocobos, moogles and more. There is a lot of fan service in this game. I love it. The battle system isn’t exactly Final Fantasy but its just interesting enough not to be boring. And there are some twists on the battle system at times that I’m not talking about because of spoilers!

Final Fantasy 15 Pocket Edition HD isn’t a perfect game. It has its faults but I like the game alot anyway. Its so great to have a Final Fantasy game on the Switch and thankfully this game is a lot of fun.

Later this week: Part 3 of my review-in-progress. Odds and Ends. Load times, framerates, some glitches, and why I love the graphics.