I had the pleasure of playing Witcher 3 after finishing FFXV. And what I felt completely lacking in FFXV (story wise) the Witcher 3 delivered seamlessly.

But I couldn't help but think throughout my Witcher 3 playthrough how many elements FFXV had copied from it. I'm not surprised that anyone would want to copy the great elements that made the Witcher 3 the game it is. But Square Enix failed to copy the most essential factor that made Witcher 3 great, the story.

Before anyone is confused about what I mean. Take a moment and compare both games. -You take on contracts from NPCs to kill monsters. (witcher 3 adds much more story and value to each contract, giving it way more meaning.) -Fast travel system is almost exactly the same (travel posts and parking spots) -Chocobo and Roach, even summoning my mount felt the same in both games. -FFXV switched to real time action just like Witcher 3. (The only thing that saved FFXV in my opinion was how good and fluid the combat system was) -Camping was almost like meditating, eating food to get buffs instead of taking potions and using oils. -It also felt like they wanted to copy the way dialogue choices were made, but they didn't quite get that right either.

I can't think of any more similarities right now, but you get the picture.

I feel like SE wanted to learn from CD Project Red, but failed where it really mattered. Characters in FFXV didn't have as much value and meaning as a simple contract giving NPC in the witcher 3 had.

Quests in FFXV diverged from collecting things to going and killing random things. Quests in the Witcher 3 ended up with you having to make a choice between killing a werewolf or his devious sister-in-law that murdered the werewolves wife. Seriously even a simple side quest in the witcher 3 had more meaning than all the quests in FFXV combined. That's why I went through my FFXV playthrough barely doing any sidequests, why would I waste my time riding a car to go get some gems for some reporter who's still stuck in the 70s. What meaning did that bring me?

(Witcher 3 spoiler) Even in the short time in the game where the Witcher was at Kaer Morhen with Lambert and Eskel, they got completely wasted, confessed their undying brotherly love to each other, then wore Yennifers clothes and drunk dialed an elven druid. Where were all of those campfire talks our boys should have had? (FFXV Spoiler) I couldn't have cared less when Iggi turned out to be blind. There was no Character development at all in the game, and what do they do to fix that? Release DLCs that still don't change a damn thing.

Anyways I appreciate SEs attempt to make a game that could compare to the Witcher, but they failed to make me feel any sort of investment towards anything or anyone in their game. Even the Chocobros. They also clearly tried to bring over a lot of elements from FFX, with Tidus, Yuna and the rest of the team essentially going on a 'Roadtrip' But they failed at creating meaningful moments with good cutscenes and dialogue. They needed way more cutscenes and dialogue... God I can't even begin to express how disappointed I am. Seeing how much potential this game had and seeing them throw it all away.... I can only hope for them to fix it so I can replay it next year. But with the way they promised to fix Ravus's development and chapter 13 a week ago, and seeing how it actually turned out taught me that I shouldn't raise my hopes that much.

God I had to take that off my chest. Jesus FF was my childhood, I feel like a part of me died while I was playing FFXV, I was always waiting for something awesome to happen, but nothing ever did.