I'm liking the game a ton so far.
The characters may look like an emo boy band, but they definitely don't act like it. The casual banter between them makes it feel more like a road trip with your best friends, which is really what the game is, a giant road trip that just happens to coincide with the take over of your nation.
Once you get a hang of it, combat feels fluid. Although it looks like you're mashing the attack button, you're actually just holding it, and that sounds basic, but it really helps with when you're hopping around enemies, swapping weapons on the fly and calling on your teammates for support. But it's not like you can just wail at enemies, especially the bigger ones. Unless you pull off a big attack that knocks them down, they're still going to be moving around attacking you, meaning you'll have to learn their attack patterns and dodge/guard. Regarding guarding/dodging, you can either hold the guard button, or press it before an attack connects. Holding it drains MP, whereas tapping it right before it lands doesn't (and with one ability, actually rewards you more MP). There's also quick-time parries, some are easy and give you a ton of time, others you gotta be quick. It could just be because I'm already in a bad position, but I find the quick ones, if missed, put you in a bad spot.
The music is great, the world feels very alive and real, and the real world brands (there's literally a Nissin Cup Noodle truck outside one town) don't feel intrusive. I head-canon that the world of XV is some sort of alternate world where a lot of real-world events took place but also a ton of their own events. It's the only way I can reason Beats by Dr. Dre, American Express, and Audi R8s (they're only in the movies) existing in the world, not that it's a bad thing, I think it's really cool.
Haven't played it yet, been focused on that FFXV grind. However I did watch gameplay of it, it looks cool. Not sure how I feel about the bounce pad though, but I'll probs just need to actually play it to get a real feel of it.
