Final Fantasy 15 tips: 9 essential tricks you should know before starting

Take on Noctis' journey like the king you are armed with these vital tips.

PC players have had an even longer wait for Final Fantasy 15 than the console players - and they had to wait the better part of a decade as its seemingly rather intense and rocky development played out. A little over a year from the original release FF15 Royal Edition is here on consoles providing a more complete version of the game that includes DLC, while PC players can at last also get in on the action with the release of FF15 Windows Edition. The game is sprawling - there's quite a lot to do in the world of Eos.

Lots to do inevitably means there's going to be a number of questions, especially in an RPG of this scope. Thankfully we're here - and we crafted these tips back in 2016 after finishing the original version of the game. They're back, retooled and rewritten for PC players and console fence-sitters only just jumping in now. These are the things you really need to know.

So - before you jump in to your quest to reclaim the throne of Lucis and the city of Insomnia, here's some stuff you should keep in mind.

• Once you're done here be sure to check out our full FF15 Guide, which features even more in-depth tips and help.

Getting started: The Tutorial and that Television or Home Theater Setting

Before you can hit New Game on the main menu, FF15 will face you with a few choices right off the bat: First, Television or Home Theater? This setting is all about sound, and the naming of the question doesn't always make sense depending on your setup, especially if you're a PC-based player. Essentially, if your sound system is 2:1 then select Television - if it's a surround sound setup, pick the Home Theater setting instead.

When you hit New Game, FF15 offers you another choice: if you want to play its tutorial. This is optional for a reason - the game does a pretty good job of introducing you to its unique combat system all on its own. Honestly, we'd recommend you skip it. If you really want a full-blown primer, however, you can take the tutorial if you so wish.

The tutorial will make the flow of the game's opening a little less immediately impactful (rather than a tutorial level, it drops you into a plain tutorial room that teaches you basic skills before kicking into the main story), but go ahead and accept if you want peace of mind. Don't worry too much if you're inclined to skip - the game does a great job of explaining stuff as you go. If you get into the game and feel lost you can also access the tutorial at any time from the pause menu, so skip it at the top and only go to it if you feel that you need it.

Turn on the stamina bar in order to sprint infinitely

Second up is another pre-game tip - or something to do pretty much immediately once you gain control of Noctis and his crew in the world of FF15. That's a simple tip: enable the game's stamina bar in the options menu.

I realize more UI is never exactly a good thing but we have a very sane reason for suggesting this: With the stamina bar on, you can fairly easily sprint infinitely. All you need to do is hold down circle or click in the left stick to sprint - then wait and watch the bar.

When the Stamina bar is almost empty, release circle and tap it again or press in the left stick again. Noctis will flash green and the stamina bar will instantly top up again, right to the top. With this, you can sprint forever. Very handy - but you really need the stamina bar turned on to do it reliably, thus this tip.

Don't feel pressured by side quests - and say no to Prompto

As described over in our full review of FF15 proper, the game has plenty of side quests though their design varies from excellent down to pretty mediocre pretty wildly. As a result you might find yourself burning out from side quest content, but don't feel pressured by that.

The game throws a lot of warnings in your face along the lines of 'once you initiate this story mission, you can't go back' - and that's true. However, in the late game you'll be introduced to a mechanic that'll let you travel back to an easier, breezier time in your journey, and in this little bubble of time all of the game's side quests are available. So don't be afraid to leave things for later.

Speaking of: also don't be afraid to tell Prompto no when he requests you stop your car to hit a local beauty spot for a photo. If you say no it'll still be added to your quest log so you can hit up that spot later on.

Grab the AP-granting abilities early to speed up the upgrade process

Though Noctis and his buddies will grow stronger as they level up and gain experience, major character upgrades in FF15 are grabbed through the Ascension menu, a setup that's a little reminiscent of the sphere grid from Final Fantasy 10 and similar systems.

It'd be easy to focus your efforts here on the tabs of the menu that give Noctis and his friends all-new moves in combat, but don't sleep on the 'Exploration' wing of the Ascension menu. Here you'll find a number of really useful skills that will help you to gain AP faster. AP is what you spend on these skills, so grabbing these skills early on will increase your AP output across the whole game.

There are skills here that allow you to get AP for driving and riding Chocobos - something you'll be doing a lot - as well as for side activities such as fishing. If you fall in love with the fishing mini-game, for instance, grab this skill. It'll net you more AP to get the actual good stuff and pay itself off in no time.

Visit diners in order to get information on the surrounding area

FF15 actually introduces you to this concept early on in the game but it becomes an easy one to forget about later on as you get deeper into the experience, so let us reiterate: go into the game's restaurants and diners!

All of them. Yes - all of them! Even though it's easier to eat at camp and let Ignis handle all the cookery (especially since it grows his cooking skill stat), talking to the proprietor of each diner will give you information on the world.

These guys are basically a scan of the nearby open world. Chat to them and they'll fill in icons on your map - areas of interest, parking spots, treasures, occasionally even an optional dungeon. Even if you don't plan to eat, go pump 'em for information.

Use EXP modifiers wisely to level up fast

FF15 uses an interesting way of processing experience earned through questing and fighting - all experience gained must be 'banked' by sleeping. This can either be by making camp or by staying somewhere more swanky, such as a hotel.

Every type of accommodation in FF15's world has an experience bonus associated with it. The top accommodation in the world offers a three times experience bonus but also costs a whopping 30,000 gil per night.

Anyway, the crux of this tip is simple: Keep an eye on the EXP bonus offered by each area where you can stay. You can get a good 1.5x EXP bonus for just 300 gil in a few spots, which is pretty good. Always try to save up EXP and bank it all in a place that'll give you a nice bonus.

Also remember: food can also offer an EXP bonus. Certain meals will offer bonuses to the EXP at the point of earning rather than when banked. Cook!

Weapons are important, so be sure to use the right one

While almost everybody will no doubt pay attention to type strengths and weaknesses for things like magic, something it's very easy to overlook in-game is that enemies in FF15 also have weapon strengths and weaknesses.

Noctis' standard load-out includes a sword, polearm and greatsword, but he can equip a lot else besides - daggers, guns and more. Ignis has an ability that lets him analyse enemies, or you can use Wait Mode to scan enemies directly yourself. For bosses and the like, you want to make sure you're attacking with the enemy's weakness and if not adjust your equipment in the menu.

As well as scanning, keep an eye on the damage numbers - you want them to be a hue of red. If they are, you're doing good damage. If it's white, that's average - but if it's closer to blue then you need to switch weapon. Watch carefully and use the right kind of gear for each fight.

Don't sell items you're not certain of the use of

Okay, so, this aspect of FF15 is actually pretty annoying. The game is outright terrible at telling you what items are important.

What this means is that items drop off enemies or are found in dungeons and you have no idea that they're useful for something more than just selling. The item descriptions and the like just don't prepare you.

Imagine my frustration when I get to the mid-game and find out that I'd earlier picked up and then sold an item needed for a quest or weapon upgrade that I wanted! I could go and get one again, but it's just a frustration. So: be careful what you sell. With that in mind, hold on to the Rusted Bit for sure (these items are used to upgrade Noctis' signature sword, the Engine Blade), but also check all your other items before selling - they may be used in weapon upgrades, quests or recipes. Sell with care, and remember there's an easy way to earn gil by taking on hunts - they can be really lucrative.