Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition: kind of better..? (PS4)

A few years ago my wife treated me to Final Fantasy XV, giving it to me as an early Christmas present just a few days after it released because she knew I'd been so excited to play it.

The case proclaimed it was the 'day one' edition. What did that mean, I wondered? I'd not really come across a 'day one' edition of any games up to that point.

I didn't give it much thought and proceeded to sink a good 30 to 40 hours into it, mostly loving it. There were a few sections I didn't enjoy as much.

Those who have played it before probably know the parts I mean, and in case you haven't - I won't drop any spoilers.

But after finishing it somewhere between the end of December 2016 and early January 2017, I put Final Fantasy XV day one edition back on the shelf and there it has remained ever since.

A few months back I read about a number of improvements and additions which had been made to the game since its release.

I was aware of course that there had been DLC episodes for several of the key characters other than lead protagonist Noctis, but there had apparently been more content added to make the game feel more complete and well rounded.

Intrigued, I got myself a copy of the game's 'Royal Edition' and saved it for closer to Christmas.

I have now finished the main story once again in this newer edition, so how does it compare?

Purely from the memory of that first playthrough, there wasn't a great deal of difference as far as I could tell.

There were several small things available to me from the start as a part of the royal pack - skins for the Regalia (your car), outfits for the characters and some weapons - and it seemed there had been some sidequests added, in addition to at least three of the DLC episodes.

But as for fleshing out the core experience, it seemed mostly fine - as it had seemed mostly fine the first time around.

Apart from a seemingly shortened alternate path in the aforementioned less enjoyable part of the game, nothing stood out as being new or expanded upon.

Perhaps I had been misinformed by the article I read, or had expectations of an upgrade which had never really been offered - or these improvements were so well woven in I hadn't noticed them.

Either way, it was good to replay this adventure again. I forgot how much fun I'd had sprinting through the wilderness on my chocobo, or taking in the lovely scenery as we cruised through it in the Regalia.


Simple as the combat appears to be, stemming from a handful of simple button functions, I once again enjoyed the free flowing nature of it a lot.

And though points of interest are a little sparse in some areas, the world is gorgeous and a pleasure to discover.

Quests, for the most part, are good. This is especially true of most of the main story missions and some of the more meaty sidequests. There are however plenty of throwaway and forgettable ones scattered all over the place, but of course they are optional.

One minor gripe I remembered as I played through it again is why your crew can't handle taking potions themselves. Had I perhaps missed some option to enable them to take care of that themselves I wonder?

Overall though, while the handful of additional/DLC quests were nice, I feel I had about the same experience as when I first played it - a mainly good one.

Have you played Final Fantasy XV Day One and/or the Royal Edition? What did you think and did you see a big difference?