Final Fantasy 15 was, against all odds, good. Actually, it wasn’t just good, it was flat out great. It’s incredible that the game turned out as well as it does after a ten year long fractured development cycle, but here we are- Final Fantasy 15 stands as one of the best games of the year.
Apparently, Sony Worldwide Studios’ Shuhei Yoshida agrees. He named the game his Game of the Year, and justifying the pick, noted that the game had successfully managed to modernize the JRPG on the same standard as WRPGs.
“Final Fantasy 15 dropped the rules of the so-called JRPG, and I think it was successful in the bold attempt to redefine Final Fantasy on the same level with the current standard of RPG in the western industry with high action combat and open world,” Yoshida said to 4Gamer (translated by DualShockers).
“The attitude “FF=Challenger” isn’t just about technology. I thought it was wonderful to share the situation of development by communicating directly with the users, and to convey the feeling of the world and the characters in advance with a movie and animation.
“I think it’s a monumental achievement that will go down in the history of RPG, showing overseas game fan that the Japanese AAA gaming industry is also working hard.”
I do think that Final Fantasy 15 is one of the boldest, most prescient, mechanically progressive games that the Japanese games industry has turned out in a very long time. It certainly is my favorite game that was released on consoles this year, too- hopefully, it sets the stage for a return to prominence of Japanese games, with titles such as Persona 5 and Zelda lined up for next year.
