‘Final Fantasy XV’ Spoilers: Conan O’Brien Pans ‘FFXV’ While Elijah Wood Plays The Game On Clueless Gamer [Video]
The Final Fantasy XV release date is right around the corner, so the folks at Square Enix have been out promoting their newest creation. The gaming community has been treated to Final Fantasy XV trailers, music videos, and mini movies. Yesterday, the latest game in the series was featured on Clueless Gamer.
Clueless Gamer is a regular segment on the TBS late night talk show Conan, starring Conan O’Brien. Conan professes a dislike for video games. So what could be funnier than watching him attempting to play Final Fantasy XV and getting frustrated when he cannot figure it out?
The Clueless Gamer segment always features a guest star playing the game with, or sometimes for, Conan. This time it was Elijah Wood at the controls of the epic single-player adventure with Conan providing color commentary. As expected, O’Brien was not short on funny things to say about the game.
Warning: Video contains some adult language.
“What is this?” Conan exclaimed when the car they were driving broke down. “We were just sent on a magical journey, and we’re pushing a car? To Las Vegas?”
After running to the quest objective for a couple of minutes, O’Brien says, “This game should be called Wait For Your Death In Real Time.”
Although the segment is intended to be humorous, Conan gave a concise but negative review of the game.
“We have been playing now longer than I have played any game for Clueless Gamer. We’ve been playing for a really long time. This is the longest we’ve ever played a game, and we — I don’t even know — I don’t know what we achieved. I don’t know what we were trying to achieve. I have no sense of satisfaction. Yeah, leave it on this [the menu screen] because this sums up this game perfectly. A guy and a girl sitting on a bed in a motel chatting. Nothing happening.”
However, keep in mind that Final Fantasy XV is a narrative driven role-playing game. Final Fantasy games typically have tens of hours of dialog. At one point, Conan and Wood got confused because they decided to skip ahead in the game and missed some of the story and did not know what was happening. O’Brien is used to playing fast-paced titles, like Overwatch or Mario Kart 8, on the Clueless Gamer segment. Final Fantasy games usually take hours to get into and enjoy. Plus, Conan was trying to be funny.
Conan O'Brien & Elijah Wood Don't Know What To Make Of Final Fantasy XV https://t.co/TcQMsXr5g8 pic.twitter.com/oy1A2EiGiU
— Game Informer (@gameinformer) November 15, 2016
Digital Trends said, “The Final Fantasy series is one of the most obtuse, bizarre sets of video games to ever find mainstream success, and Conan’s attempt to play the latest installment goes about as badly as you’d expect. His disdain for the medium is largely what makes these videos so hilarious.”
Excluding the jokes and off-the-cuff reviewing, Team Coco gave us a five or six-minute preview of gameplay during the segment, which is always welcome for upcoming games. Official trailers for Final Fantasy XV have mostly been cinematic with bits of spliced-in gameplay. However, Polygon did post 45 minutes of spoiler-free gameplay last month, and GameSpot showed off the first hour of the game back in August as well.
In one of the more exciting parts of the Clueless Gamer segment, Conan and Elijah faced a giant worm-like creature. The enemy was massive in scale, and Woods quickly defeated it in a confusing ending to the fight that left them wondering what had happened. Aaron Bleyaert explained the purpose behind the battle.
“That [battle] was just to suss him out, and then when you actually battle him, it takes three real days. It takes 72 real-time hours to beat it — like in a row.”
While Bleyaert appeared to be portraying a Square Enix official, he is actually Conan O’Brien’s “web guy” and appears regularly on the Clueless Gamer segment. It leaves little doubt that the 72-hour boss battle comment was a joke poking fun at Final Fantasy bosses, which are well-known to be epic and take a long time to beat.
Other than Conan’s poor, yet hilarious, review of the game, Final Fantasy XV looks beautiful from what was shown. The in-game dialog sounded a bit clunky, but that is fairly standard for games originally written in Japanese and then localized to English. Final Fantasy games have such a vast and loyal following that the latest installment should sell well despite anything said or shown about it before its release.
Final Fantasy XV hits consoles on November 29, 2016.
[Featured Image by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images]
