Ever sinceForspokenwas announced asProject Athia, with the game being built on the Luminous Engine, it has had difficulty shaking comparisons withFinal Fantasy 15. Though many of the comparisons come from both games being built on the same engine, theDNA ofFinal Fantasy 15’s open worldis present all throughout these new realms of Athia.
Not all of these similarities are for the worse, as both of these games are exceptional examples of both open worlds and development happening under the Square Enix umbrella. All the same, fans ofFinal Fantasy 15will be delighted to see so many similarities inForspoken, across both the lore and the combat.
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The Luminous Engine Makes for Fast and Flashy Combat
The combat inForspokenandFinal Fantasy 15aren’t entirely distant from each other. WhileFrey Holland’s magicmight keep her at a distance more often than when Noctis swings his sword, both are able to zip around the battlefield fast enough to require slow motion at times. The two combat systems are also visually similar, with tons of particle effects clattering off in every direction every time an enemy or the player character is hit.
Deeper intoForspoken, players even gain access to multiple types of magic that they can switch through on the fly in order to best accommodate for the strengths and weaknesses of each enemy. This is similar to the four weapons that Noctis can switch between, giving him the ability to swap out to the right weapon for any given fight with the press of a button. The only real difference in combat between the two games is the way that Noctis using magic risks hurting his companions. Although, causing grief for her friends is nothing new forFrey’s Journey across Athia.
Open Worlds Filled with Small Encounters
Another surface level similaritybetweenForspokenandFinal Fantasy 15comes from the open worlds of Eos and Athia where players will explore throughout the experience. The similarities aren’t just in that these two worlds are giant, open fields marked with a series of side-quests and treasures, but the specific way that the design of these sandboxes go about offering up content to engage with. Across both worlds, the emphasis to explore is punctuated with minor battles against weak enemies that offer little in the way of challenge, and more often than not rewards players with basic items and trinkets.
In both cases, the open world isn’t exactly a giant landscape filled with a living culture of people, but instead a sandbox filled with nothing but treasure chests and enemies to fight. NeitherForspokennorFinal Fantasy 15are built likeSkyrimorAssassin’s Creed, where the player is tasked with exploring an interactable world of people, but instead they’re given a large, open area to stage fights and offer rewards. The result is a lot of space to play around in, with the sections that have a more direct focus on theForspokenchapter liststanding as the most unique.
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The Lore of Past Wars and Fallen Gods
Digging deeper than surface level, the worlds ofForspokenandFinal Fantasy 15also share a significant amount of the backstory that continues to work behind the scenes. Most importantly, this is related to howForspoken’s TantasandFinal Fantasy 15’s Six relate to each other as the guiding figures presiding over their respective worlds. While the overall lore of the Tantas themselves is still limited and being discovered by the player community, it is clear from even the early parts of the Archive that these magical women have existed and passed down their powers across generations for over three millennia.
Another similarity immerges in the long history of these worlds and thecorruptions that threaten Athia and Eos. Both appear to be caused by a man from an ancient past being spurned by one of these godly women, only to unleash an impossibly deadly curse upon the lands. InFinal Fantasy 15, this is related mostly to the Astral Ifrit setting the Starscourge on Eos after Shiva dedicates herself to the people rather than to him. InForspoken, it’s difficult to say if it was spurned love that provoked the former leader of the people of Rheddah, but he is the one who would eventually send the demon Susurrus to plague the people of Athia.
Mommy and Daddy Issues
The try-hard,cringey dialogue ofForspoken’s Frey Hollandhas been the most common thread as people have continued to discuss the game online. However, as easy as it is to pick out a handful of dialogue from the entire game, it should be noted that this same dark, brooding loner character earned much less criticism back whenFinal Fantasy 15first launched. Noctis is the mascot for edge-lord characters who have it out for the authority figures in their life.
In the case of Noctis' own brand of brooding, this comes from a complex mix of responsibility suddenly thrust on his shoulders, an upcoming arranged engagement to hischildhood sweetheart Lunafreya, and the death of his father. While all of these are major factors to his character, Noctis' father looms over his character arc throughoutFinal Fantasy 15thanks to the shadow the young prince stands within. This is to the point that most of Noctis' personal problems and the conflicts he runs into with his friends can be boiled down to his daddy issues.
As an orphan, Frey Holland spends most ofForspokendealing with similar issues, as she holds an animosity towards her parents for abandoning her in New York as a baby. Frey appears to hold the most blame against her mother, who she calls out multiple times for abandoning her more than twenty years ago. So, similar to the dark brooding of Noctis, a lot of the negatives of Frey’s character that players have noticed in theopening hours ofForspokencome down to deep insecurities rooted in her own mommy issues.
Forspokenis available now for PC and PS5.
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