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[TheDarkPhantom]

Just reached the

Spoiler

desert

area, this game is the gift that keeps on giving. Also, veggies in the tavern =

 

[FoxMcChief]

It's just bad sound mix. I had to set the effects settings to 5 because it was so annoying.

Yeah, others on Reddit made that suggestion as well, as Square is unlikely to patch this any time soon.

 

[Perfo]

Hope no one is bothered if I keep posting awesome locales shots from this game!

Spoiler

 

[FoxMcChief]

Hope no one is bothered if I keep posting awesome locales shots from this game!

Maybe put them in spoiler tags? In case some don’t want to see areas they haven’t been to yet.

 

[Mr. Steve]

Hope no one is bothered if I keep posting awesome locales shots from this game!

Please start using spoiler tags.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Hope no one is bothered if I keep posting awesome locales shots from this game!

I'm past that part but I consider screenshots super spoilery, people need to be more considerate in this thread or go ahead and create the spoiler thread where everything can be discussed and shown openly. I've taken a bunch of shots myself but haven't shared any yet.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Incredible how polished this game is. Have not encountered a single bug through out my whole play through.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Incredible how polished this game is. Have not encountered a single bug through out my whole play through.

Wish I could say the same.

But there was definitely some love put into this game.

 

[GymWolf]

Just 100% the game (pre-NG+, but that’s for later) and here are my thoughts:

Positives

• Combat both looks and plays really well (despite the framerate being a constant hinder, see below)
  
  
• Beautiful art direction with most of the vistas and scenery being completely jaw droppingly good
  
  
• Music is exceptionally good as well as being very memorable
  
  
• The mature themes that are set in the world is a very welcome addition to the franchise. Blood, nudity and curse words are one thing; but showing the player people who’ve been tortured and child labor as well as many other mature themes is a step in the right direction
  
  
• The hunts are a thrill to do, although it doesn’t quite hit the mark as well as XII did for a few reasons, one being the sense of threat not being present in equal caliber
  
  
• Some (although very few in comparison to the abundance of quests) side quests are very well written
  
  
• Set pieces are, bar none, moments that truly define the Final Fantasy games
  
  
• Cid is one of my favorite Cids in all of FF
  
  
• Dialogue of the MSQ is incredible

Negatives

• The game drops a ridiculous amount of upgrade materials… but there is almost nothing that require even 1/10th of the materials?
  
  
• Upgrading in general feel like an afterthought. Never did I actually find myself in a situation where I would go: ”wow, can’t wait to go to the blacksmith and see what this leads to!”.
  
  
• Items in general feel extremely lackluster and uninspired. I can prove and summarize this whole thing by saying that Genji Gloves; an iconic accessory throughout the franchise for its multiple different purposes in the different games; simply makes Clive ”5% stronger”. Boring!
  
  
• Jill is yet another case of people hyping up a Final Fantasy character (often female) to almost obsessive levels and then reality remains; she is one of the games most under-developed character and is there primarily to make Clive feel good about himself at times
  
  
• The player feeling disconnected from the world as you, at occasions, have to go out to the world map when entering new zones. In FFXII, for example, almost every zone is interconnected with each other
  
  
• The majority of the side quests are 2004 MMO quality. The structure of these quests are almost always identical to each other - and the low quality script for these quests doesn’t help the matter at cause
  
  
• There’s this trend that Square-Enix have been hopping on lately. This trend is present in almost all of their releases as of late. In the process of you discovering the world, you’ll end up meeting many different characters. In FFXVI (and many other releases), you’ll end up finding 3 ”important” NPCs. These ”important” NPCs are in reality just boring NPCs but Square has decided that these 3 in particular are ”special” so the game forces you to engage with them over and over again - for different reasons each time, but the quests are almost always identical. The static low-budget in-game cutscenes along with the horrid lip sync and terrible writing make these moments the most painful in the entire game
  
  
• Restricted to the use of 3 (!) Eikons and only 6 primary abilities. I found myself maxing out the potential of the 4-5 sets of combos I could implement - because the game forced me to be locked to 3 Eikons
  
  
• Far and beyond the worst technical performing game I’ve ever played on the Playstation 5. This one’s mind-boggling to me. Even a week after playing, I still couldn’t get used to the drops in framerate. This negative specificially and single-handedly subtracts an entire point of my total rating
  
  
• Locking on to the enemy and/or switching targets in-battle is by far the hardest challenge in the game. It is absurd how an AAA Final Fantasy in 2023 can’t even get locking on to enemies right - especially coming from Stranger of Paradise that does locking on and switching really well
  
  
• Way too many MSQ cutscenes were using the in-game engine (static animations and bad lip-sync). There are scenarios in the game that could’ve really used motion capture and just higher budget cutscenes in general, but were instead gutted to uninteresting robot-like scenarios
  
  
• The sense of urgency in the main quest is often lacking because of how often you have to go back to the camp
  
  
• There is no sense of distance in the world. The time it should take for a character to travel between the continents should be noticeable in-game, but we see NPCs travel between massive parts of the world in mere minutes. The results of this is that the world feels smaller than it actually is
  
  
• It pains me to say this but although the music is incredible in many ways; there aren’t enough of them. The amount of times the same music is repeated during cutscenes is to an absurd level. I also don’t agree with most of the music that were being used during the side quests. Some of these songs should’ve remained exclusive to the MSQ but instead are plastered all over random side quests like Barry who’s sad that his apples are stolen by random bandits. I would’ve also loved to have every region of the game have its own battle-theme
  
  
• The lack of enemy variety. I guess it’s on par with games like XV and XIII… but I can’t stop thinking about how there weren’t even that many COLOUR variations
  
  
• Also, where in the flying fucks are cactuars and tonberries? For this alone I would subtract 50 points… there was absolutely no reason to not have these iconic enemies in the game. I don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t fit your games ”thematics”, cactuars could’ve 100% been a hunt in the desert and a master tonberry should’ve been hiding in… well, you know exactly where if you’ve come far enough into the game
  
  
• Locking hard difficulty to NG+. I used zero accessories throughout the entire game and barely used any potions. This is by far the easiest Final Fantasy (on par with XV) to date and it’s not even a contest
  
  
• No real end game. No real grind. No super boss. Come. The. Fuck. On.

Nitpicks

• Logo drop (both the very early one and post-intro-one) isn’t as good as the many incredible logo drops of previous Final Fantasy games
  
  
• Having to play the game and then restart the game to see the Final Fantasy menu + logo is not a direction I like
  
  
• Not being able to charge your sword without Clive attacking the air once.
  
  
• No real status ailments and lack of elemental weaknesses. The game tells you, upon retrieving a new Eikon, that your spells’ element changes… but there’s basically no difference in damage if you i.e. use fire on Bomb, etc.

The thing about the music being repeated and used in some strange moments is true

Like when

Spoiler

cid die, during some of his final speech they use the kinda relaxed theme they used in the scene in the brothel that is arguably the scene with more humor in the whole game

and i was like, really?

You can charge the blade without hitting the air, you just have to press the button while another animation is in play, from your post you seems way more experienced with action games than me so pressing a button in background while pressing something else should be easy.
Like if you use it right after phoenix shift or a simple evade in the direction of an enemy you are not gonna see the animation but is enough time to charge it when you actually reach the enemy.

 

[decisions]

How am I only 51% through the main quest. I feel very comfortable saying this is the best game I have ever played in my life. I have never played a game that feels like it excels in so many different areas with no real weakness.

Takes me back to when I played some of my favorite JRPGs like FFX, ToV, or P4G for the first time. But nowadays those would feel dated of course.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Wish I could say the same.

But there was definitely some love put into this game.

Maybe you should go play another game? Every post from you is just complaining about some petty shit.

 

[Yoshichan]

You can charge the blade without hitting the air, you just have to press the button while another animation is in play, from your post you seems way more experienced with action games than me so pressing a button in background while pressing something else should be easy.
Like if you use it right after phoenix shift or a simple evade in the direction of an enemy you are not gonna see the animation but is enough time to charge it when you actually reach the enemy.

Oh yeah, I know about this for sure! But I'm such a "role player" in game, I want to light up my weapon OUTSIDE of battle while just running around like a bad ass. Hence why it's in my nitpick! In-battle, I charge that shit while cancelling other np, I don't role-play in battles. For example when opening doors and Clive is locked in the "door opening animation", I hold down both my weapon and magic just so I could get a bad ass entrance.

Yeah, I'm a fucking nerd.

 

[Madflavor]

 

[FoxMcChief]

Maybe you should go play another game? Every post from you is just complaining about some petty shit.

Maybe don’t be so sensitive? I just agreed that a lot of love was put into the game. Technical shit happens in games you know. It’s ok to talk about them. I’m really enjoying the game, despite its audio issues. Like another poster here suggested that hears it too, I might turn the SFX down way low.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Maybe don’t be so sensitive? I just agreed that a lot of love was put into the game. Technical shit happens in games you know. It’s ok to talk about them. I’m really enjoying the game, despite its audio issues. Like another poster here suggested that hears it too, I might turn the SFX down way low.

You seem to be really sensitive about minor issues in this game, yet Cyberpunk 2077 is perfect in your eyes.

 

[Calling 911 Melts Beams]

this yakuza game is weird when do i get to kamarancho or whatever its called

 

[FoxMcChief]

You seem to be really sensitive about minor issues in this game, yet Cyberpunk 2077 is perfect in your eyes.

That game I didn’t run into any issues. Kind of like you haven’t with FF16. Go figure. I know I’m in the minority to experience this audio issue. But my bringing it up is still valid, whether you like it or not.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

That game I didn’t run into any issues. Kind of like you haven’t with FF16. Go figure.

Sure buddy.
Anyhow, what Eikon abilities have you unlocked? Are you enjoying the combat?

 

[FoxMcChief]

Sure buddy.
Anyhow, what Eikon abilities have you unlocked? Are you enjoying the combat?

I’ve unlocked the second eikon, and am now really enjoying the combat. I like scorpion spearing enemies and unleashing hell. My initial impressions have changed.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

I’ve unlocked the second eikon, and am now really enjoying the combat. I like scorpion spearing enemies and unleashing hell. My initial impressions have changed.

I would recommend saving up ability points to buy the tornado attack. Not only is it a massive area effect that launches smaller enemies into the air (as they scream, it's hilarious), it's also very visually pleasing.

EDIT: also it tracks enemies. And for larger ones it's a great way to get their stagger meter down.

 

[Shifty1897]

I fought a boss named

Spoiler

Republican War Panther

Last night, which is my new nickname for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I would recommend saving up ability points to buy the tornado attack. Not only is it a massive area effect that launches smaller enemies into the air (as they scream, it's hilarious), it's also very visually pleasing.

EDIT: also it tracks enemies. And for larger ones it's a great way to get their stagger meter down.

I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip.

I can’t be the only one that says, “Get over here!” When grabbing enemies with the second eikon ability, am I?!

 

[Slothbeing1209]

The thing about the music being repeated and used in some strange moments is true

Like when

Spoiler

cid die, during some of his final speech they use the kinda relaxed theme they used in the scene in the brothel that is arguably the scene with more humor in the whole game

and i was like, really?

You can charge the blade without hitting the air, you just have to press the button while another animation is in play, from your post you seems way more experienced with action games than me so pressing a button in background while pressing something else should be easy.
Like if you use it right after phoenix shift or a simple evade in the direction of an enemy you are not gonna see the animation but is enough time to charge it when you actually reach the enemy.

Spoiler

The music seems to be Cid’s leitmotif since it plays whenever he has a big moment or turns into Ramuh.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

The thing about the music being repeated and used in some strange moments is true

Like when

Spoiler

cid die, during some of his final speech they use the kinda relaxed theme they used in the scene in the brothel that is arguably the scene with more humor in the whole game

and i was like, really?

You can charge the blade without hitting the air, you just have to press the button while another animation is in play, from your post you seems way more experienced with action games than me so pressing a button in background while pressing something else should be easy.
Like if you use it right after phoenix shift or a simple evade in the direction of an enemy you are not gonna see the animation but is enough time to charge it when you actually reach the enemy.

That's the secret to actually landing Odin combos also. Gotta learn to charge Zantetsuken while pulling the dark arm. Shiva into Odin can set up some nasty ass air juggles. Zantetsuken level 3 and up can combo them anywhere on the screen. I like doing the old trailer combo, Ice age, rift slip, cold snap, and Zantetsuken. Just feels good man.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Is there any point to replay areas using arcade mode or stage replay ?

I guess arcade is kind of cool. Because it sets certain level etc.. but is there a point ? I did one and got an S but figured I would stop might hamper my desire to play a new game + and I want to try hard mode.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

Is there any point to replay areas using arcade mode or stage replay ?

I guess arcade is kind of cool. Because it sets certain level etc.. but is there a point ? I did one and got an S but figured I would stop might hamper my desire to play a new game + and I want to try hard mode.

Yes, all of the exp and Gil you get carry over along with items you may have missed. You can also do them to complete trophies. I am back at the Garuda fight in NG+. I found another gripe with the game this one might be the biggest for me. Crafting is MUCH more important in NG+ than it is in the regular mode. Seems like a huge oversight. In NG+

Spoiler

you can upgrade all of the elemental weapons and accessories to produce double their effect. There are also new items that you can craft.

Clive might be the best protag ever in a FF game.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I feel like I’m swimming in crafting materials with absolutely nothing to craft/upgrade.

 

[saintjules]

I might have to be done until a patch. The noise is unbearable and takes me out of the game completely. This sucks because the game is really fucking good.

No high pitch noises when Jill is on camera. Then when she’s behind you, it’s loud and clear.

I'm sorry - I'm failing to hear this high pitch. At what time in the video are you talking about?

 

[FoxMcChief]

I'm sorry - I'm failing to hear this high pitch. At what time in the video are you talking about?

It happens in the first 4 seconds, then stops until about 36 second mark. People on Reddit say that it’s at a frequency that not everyone can hear. Like I said previously, my wife doesn’t hear it, but my 14 and 4 year old daughters do.

 

[EviLore]

It happens in the first 4 seconds, then stops until about 36 second mark. People on Reddit say that it’s at a frequency that not everyone can hear. Like I said previously, my wife doesn’t hear it, but my 14 and 4 year old daughters do.

I hear it.

 

[saintjules]

It happens in the first 4 seconds, then stops until about 36 second mark. People on Reddit say that it’s at a frequency that not everyone can hear. Like I said previously, my wife doesn’t hear it, but my 14 and 4 year old daughters do.

What I am hearing are birds chirping at those time stamps. If it is indeed a high pitch artifact, then the pitch is going beyond 15khz, which people wouldn't normally hear. Could be heavily introduced in certain headphone devices.

I am not sure if this is going to warrant a fix, unless it's widely reported.

 

[GymWolf]

Spoiler

The music seems to be Cid’s leitmotif since it plays whenever he has a big moment or turns into Ramuh.

I thought about that but it was really not the moment to play that theme anyway, it felt out of place in such a scene.

 

[Ulysses 31]

It happens in the first 4 seconds, then stops until about 36 second mark. People on Reddit say that it’s at a frequency that not everyone can hear. Like I said previously, my wife doesn’t hear it, but my 14 and 4 year old daughters do.

Yeah, would drive me crazy.

 

[GymWolf]

That's the secret to actually landing Odin combos also. Gotta learn to charge Zantetsuken while pulling the dark arm. Shiva into Odin can set up some nasty ass air juggles. Zantetsuken level 3 and up can combo them anywhere on the screen. I like doing the old trailer combo, Ice age, rift slip, cold snap, and Zantetsuken. Just feels good man.

I only have 3 eikons for now so i have no idea about what you are talking about

Btw

 

[FoxMcChief]

I hear it.

Thanks. It’s weird how sometimes we (people) need confirmation of stuff. I went to Reddit because I thought something might actually be wrong with me, because my wife didn’t hear it. Then finding others having the same issues was a serious relief.

 

[FoxMcChief]

What I am hearing are birds chirping at those time stamps. If it is indeed a high pitch artifact, then the pitch is going beyond 15khz, which people wouldn't normally hear. Could be heavily introduced in certain headphone devices.

I am not sure if this is going to warrant a fix, unless it's widely reported.

There are birds chirping as well. It’s a separate noise from the typical bird chirping. But it’s ok. Not everyone is getting the bug, or if they are, don’t know they are.

 

[saintjules]

There are birds chirping as well. It’s a separate noise from the typical bird chirping. But it’s ok. Not everyone is getting the bug, or if they are, don’t know they are.

It could be a selective bug for sure, but in that recording I should have been able to hear it. Since I can't I guess I'm one of those that can't hear the frequency signal.

 

[FoxMcChief]

It could be a selective bug for sure, but in that recording I should have been able to hear it. Since I can't I guess I'm one of those that can't hear the frequency signal.

Yeah, at the 41 second mark, where I have Clive start walking, it can be heard with each footstep.

But I’ll try to drop my talk about it.

 

[Valonquar]

Are we doing screenshots now? Here's a few of the ones I pulled from my PS5 via the PS phone app

Spoiler

 

[Zheph]

Yeah, at the 41 second mark, where I have Clive start walking, it can be heard with each footstep.

But I’ll try to drop my talk about it.

Have you played a bit with audio settings to see if you can down it somehow? Probably tried already I guess, surely that kind of noise has a specific name and can be reported to SE

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Yes, all of the exp and Gil you get carry over along with items you may have missed. You can also do them to complete trophies. I am back at the Garuda fight in NG+. I found another gripe with the game this one might be the biggest for me. Crafting is MUCH more important in NG+ than it is in the regular mode. Seems like a huge oversight. In NG+

Spoiler

you can upgrade all of the elemental weapons and accessories to produce double their effect. There are also new items that you can craft.

Clive might be the best protag ever in a FF game.

I feel like I have too much exp already. Everything I am encountering in the story can be as much as 6-7 levels below me it seems like.

But I'll keep it in mind for NG+.

 

[Zheph]

Are we doing screenshots now? Here's a few of the ones I pulled from my PS5 via the PS phone app

We do man but with spoilers?

 

[Dynasty8]

Just 100% the game (pre-NG+, but that’s for later) and here are my thoughts:

Positives

• Combat both looks and plays really well (despite the framerate being a constant hinder, see below)
  
  
• Beautiful art direction with most of the vistas and scenery being completely jaw droppingly good
  
  
• Music is exceptionally good as well as being very memorable
  
  
• The mature themes that are set in the world is a very welcome addition to the franchise. Blood, nudity and curse words are one thing; but showing the player people who’ve been tortured and child labor as well as many other mature themes is a step in the right direction
  
  
• The hunts are a thrill to do, although it doesn’t quite hit the mark as well as XII did for a few reasons, one being the sense of threat not being present in equal caliber
  
  
• Some (although very few in comparison to the abundance of quests) side quests are very well written
  
  
• Set pieces are, bar none, moments that truly define the Final Fantasy games
  
  
• Cid is one of my favorite Cids in all of FF
  
  
• Dialogue of the MSQ is incredible

Negatives

• The game drops a ridiculous amount of upgrade materials… but there is almost nothing that require even 1/10th of the materials?
  
  
• Upgrading in general feel like an afterthought. Never did I actually find myself in a situation where I would go: ”wow, can’t wait to go to the blacksmith and see what this leads to!”.
  
  
• Items in general feel extremely lackluster and uninspired. I can prove and summarize this whole thing by saying that Genji Gloves; an iconic accessory throughout the franchise for its multiple different purposes in the different games; simply makes Clive ”5% stronger”. Boring!
  
  
• Jill is yet another case of people hyping up a Final Fantasy character (often female) to almost obsessive levels and then reality remains; she is one of the games most under-developed character and is there primarily to make Clive feel good about himself at times
  
  
• The player feeling disconnected from the world as you, at occasions, have to go out to the world map when entering new zones. In FFXII, for example, almost every zone is interconnected with each other
  
  
• The majority of the side quests are 2004 MMO quality. The structure of these quests are almost always identical to each other - and the low quality script for these quests doesn’t help the matter at cause
  
  
• There’s this trend that Square-Enix have been hopping on lately. This trend is present in almost all of their releases as of late. In the process of you discovering the world, you’ll end up meeting many different characters. In FFXVI (and many other releases), you’ll end up finding 3 ”important” NPCs. These ”important” NPCs are in reality just boring NPCs but Square has decided that these 3 in particular are ”special” so the game forces you to engage with them over and over again - for different reasons each time, but the quests are almost always identical. The static low-budget in-game cutscenes along with the horrid lip sync and terrible writing make these moments the most painful in the entire game
  
  
• Restricted to the use of 3 (!) Eikons and only 6 primary abilities. I found myself maxing out the potential of the 4-5 sets of combos I could implement - because the game forced me to be locked to 3 Eikons
  
  
• Far and beyond the worst technical performing game I’ve ever played on the Playstation 5. This one’s mind-boggling to me. Even a week after playing, I still couldn’t get used to the drops in framerate. This negative specificially and single-handedly subtracts an entire point of my total rating
  
  
• Locking on to the enemy and/or switching targets in-battle is by far the hardest challenge in the game. It is absurd how an AAA Final Fantasy in 2023 can’t even get locking on to enemies right - especially coming from Stranger of Paradise that does locking on and switching really well
  
  
• Way too many MSQ cutscenes were using the in-game engine (static animations and bad lip-sync). There are scenarios in the game that could’ve really used motion capture and just higher budget cutscenes in general, but were instead gutted to uninteresting robot-like scenarios
  
  
• The sense of urgency in the main quest is often lacking because of how often you have to go back to the camp
  
  
• There is no sense of distance in the world. The time it should take for a character to travel between the continents should be noticeable in-game, but we see NPCs travel between massive parts of the world in mere minutes. The results of this is that the world feels smaller than it actually is
  
  
• It pains me to say this but although the music is incredible in many ways; there aren’t enough of them. The amount of times the same music is repeated during cutscenes is to an absurd level. I also don’t agree with most of the music that were being used during the side quests. Some of these songs should’ve remained exclusive to the MSQ but instead are plastered all over random side quests like Barry who’s sad that his apples are stolen by random bandits. I would’ve also loved to have every region of the game have its own battle-theme
  
  
• The lack of enemy variety. I guess it’s on par with games like XV and XIII… but I can’t stop thinking about how there weren’t even that many COLOUR variations
  
  
• Also, where in the flying fucks are cactuars and tonberries? For this alone I would subtract 50 points… there was absolutely no reason to not have these iconic enemies in the game. I don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t fit your games ”thematics”, cactuars could’ve 100% been a hunt in the desert and a master tonberry should’ve been hiding in… well, you know exactly where if you’ve come far enough into the game
  
  
• Locking hard difficulty to NG+. I used zero accessories throughout the entire game and barely used any potions. This is by far the easiest Final Fantasy (on par with XV) to date and it’s not even a contest
  
  
• No real end game. No real grind. No super boss. Come. The. Fuck. On.

Nitpicks

• Logo drop (both the very early one and post-intro-one) isn’t as good as the many incredible logo drops of previous Final Fantasy games
  
  
• Having to play the game and then restart the game to see the Final Fantasy menu + logo is not a direction I like
  
  
• Not being able to charge your sword without Clive attacking the air once.
  
  
• No real status ailments and lack of elemental weaknesses. The game tells you, upon retrieving a new Eikon, that your spells’ element changes… but there’s basically no difference in damage if you i.e. use fire on Bomb, etc.

Agree with pretty much all of this. Game has very high highs and very low lows.

Something you brought up in your dislikes is also something I haven't seen mentioned much and wish was changed:

• The player feeling disconnected from the world as you, at occasions, have to go out to the world map when entering new zones. In FFXII, for example, almost every zone is interconnected with each other

Such an underrated thing here. I love when games are connected in a seamless way (weather it be Elden Ring or Witcher) or interconnected like FFXII. For example, the very beginning of the game has you going into the Stillwind Marches (demo portion of the game) to fight the goblin/morbol. In FFXII, you would have to leave town, explore the large desert and make your way into the different location. For XVI, it just shows up on the "world map" as a level selector. It really would have been cool to leave the gate in Rosalith, explore some of the lands of Rosaria like FFXII did and find your way into Stillwind. This is some of the exploration aspects that are missing in XVI that I wish was more present.

Imagine leaving Midgar in FF7 for the first time and NOT seeing that awesome world map (that was a holy shit moment for me in 1997), but instead only having the option to select and teleport to the town of Kalm. Just doesn't have the same impact.

 

[GymWolf]

Use the spoiler for the pics, not everyone want to have a big fight spoiled.

 

[EviLore]

Just 100% the game (pre-NG+, but that’s for later) and here are my thoughts:

Positives

• Combat both looks and plays really well (despite the framerate being a constant hinder, see below)
  
  
• Beautiful art direction with most of the vistas and scenery being completely jaw droppingly good
  
  
• Music is exceptionally good as well as being very memorable
  
  
• The mature themes that are set in the world is a very welcome addition to the franchise. Blood, nudity and curse words are one thing; but showing the player people who’ve been tortured and child labor as well as many other mature themes is a step in the right direction
  
  
• The hunts are a thrill to do, although it doesn’t quite hit the mark as well as XII did for a few reasons, one being the sense of threat not being present in equal caliber
  
  
• Some (although very few in comparison to the abundance of quests) side quests are very well written
  
  
• Set pieces are, bar none, moments that truly define the Final Fantasy games
  
  
• Cid is one of my favorite Cids in all of FF
  
  
• Dialogue of the MSQ is incredible

Negatives

• The game drops a ridiculous amount of upgrade materials… but there is almost nothing that require even 1/10th of the materials?
  
  
• Upgrading in general feel like an afterthought. Never did I actually find myself in a situation where I would go: ”wow, can’t wait to go to the blacksmith and see what this leads to!”.
  
  
• Items in general feel extremely lackluster and uninspired. I can prove and summarize this whole thing by saying that Genji Gloves; an iconic accessory throughout the franchise for its multiple different purposes in the different games; simply makes Clive ”5% stronger”. Boring!
  
  
• Jill is yet another case of people hyping up a Final Fantasy character (often female) to almost obsessive levels and then reality remains; she is one of the games most under-developed character and is there primarily to make Clive feel good about himself at times
  
  
• The player feeling disconnected from the world as you, at occasions, have to go out to the world map when entering new zones. In FFXII, for example, almost every zone is interconnected with each other
  
  
• The majority of the side quests are 2004 MMO quality. The structure of these quests are almost always identical to each other - and the low quality script for these quests doesn’t help the matter at cause
  
  
• There’s this trend that Square-Enix have been hopping on lately. This trend is present in almost all of their releases as of late. In the process of you discovering the world, you’ll end up meeting many different characters. In FFXVI (and many other releases), you’ll end up finding 3 ”important” NPCs. These ”important” NPCs are in reality just boring NPCs but Square has decided that these 3 in particular are ”special” so the game forces you to engage with them over and over again - for different reasons each time, but the quests are almost always identical. The static low-budget in-game cutscenes along with the horrid lip sync and terrible writing make these moments the most painful in the entire game
  
  
• Restricted to the use of 3 (!) Eikons and only 6 primary abilities. I found myself maxing out the potential of the 4-5 sets of combos I could implement - because the game forced me to be locked to 3 Eikons
  
  
• Far and beyond the worst technical performing game I’ve ever played on the Playstation 5. This one’s mind-boggling to me. Even a week after playing, I still couldn’t get used to the drops in framerate. This negative specificially and single-handedly subtracts an entire point of my total rating
  
  
• Locking on to the enemy and/or switching targets in-battle is by far the hardest challenge in the game. It is absurd how an AAA Final Fantasy in 2023 can’t even get locking on to enemies right - especially coming from Stranger of Paradise that does locking on and switching really well
  
  
• Way too many MSQ cutscenes were using the in-game engine (static animations and bad lip-sync). There are scenarios in the game that could’ve really used motion capture and just higher budget cutscenes in general, but were instead gutted to uninteresting robot-like scenarios
  
  
• The sense of urgency in the main quest is often lacking because of how often you have to go back to the camp
  
  
• There is no sense of distance in the world. The time it should take for a character to travel between the continents should be noticeable in-game, but we see NPCs travel between massive parts of the world in mere minutes. The results of this is that the world feels smaller than it actually is
  
  
• It pains me to say this but although the music is incredible in many ways; there aren’t enough of them. The amount of times the same music is repeated during cutscenes is to an absurd level. I also don’t agree with most of the music that were being used during the side quests. Some of these songs should’ve remained exclusive to the MSQ but instead are plastered all over random side quests like Barry who’s sad that his apples are stolen by random bandits. I would’ve also loved to have every region of the game have its own battle-theme
  
  
• The lack of enemy variety. I guess it’s on par with games like XV and XIII… but I can’t stop thinking about how there weren’t even that many COLOUR variations
  
  
• Also, where in the flying fucks are cactuars and tonberries? For this alone I would subtract 50 points… there was absolutely no reason to not have these iconic enemies in the game. I don’t give a fuck if it doesn’t fit your games ”thematics”, cactuars could’ve 100% been a hunt in the desert and a master tonberry should’ve been hiding in… well, you know exactly where if you’ve come far enough into the game
  
  
• Locking hard difficulty to NG+. I used zero accessories throughout the entire game and barely used any potions. This is by far the easiest Final Fantasy (on par with XV) to date and it’s not even a contest
  
  
• No real end game. No real grind. No super boss. Come. The. Fuck. On.

Nitpicks

• Logo drop (both the very early one and post-intro-one) isn’t as good as the many incredible logo drops of previous Final Fantasy games
  
  
• Having to play the game and then restart the game to see the Final Fantasy menu + logo is not a direction I like
  
  
• Not being able to charge your sword without Clive attacking the air once.
  
  
• No real status ailments and lack of elemental weaknesses. The game tells you, upon retrieving a new Eikon, that your spells’ element changes… but there’s basically no difference in damage if you i.e. use fire on Bomb, etc.

Good writeup and agreed on most points. The hunts in FFXII are much better. For one, they're much harder, and also they give you significant rewards. Going after optional challenges in FFXII always felt worthwhile since you were dealing with limited resources, always had more spots on the license board to unlock and spells and equipment to buy, which all made a big difference in outcomes for your party. Major design failure in FXVI to ignore resource scarcity entirely and include these half-baked systems that could've been reworked into something meaningful without that much effort.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Agree with pretty much all of this. Game has very high highs and very low lows.

Something you brought up in your dislikes is also something I haven't seen mentioned much and wish was changed:

• The player feeling disconnected from the world as you, at occasions, have to go out to the world map when entering new zones. In FFXII, for example, almost every zone is interconnected with each other

Such an underrated thing here. I love when games are connected in a seamless way (weather it be Elden Ring or Witcher) or interconnected like FFXII. For example, the very beginning of the game has you going into the Stillwind Marches (demo portion of the game) to fight the goblin/morbol. In FFXII, you would have to leave town, explore the large desert and make your way into the different location. For XVI, it just shows up on the "world map" as a level selector. It really would have been cool to leave the gate in Rosalith, explore some of the lands of Rosaria like FFXII did and find your way into Stillwind. This is some of the exploration aspects that are missing in XVI that I wish was more present.

Imagine leaving Midgar in FF7 for the first time and NOT seeing that awesome world map (that was a holy shit moment for me in 1997), but instead only having the option to select and teleport to the town of Kalm. Just doesn't have the same impact.

I felt pretty strongly about this in the early part of the game but as it proceeded I kind of felt better about it. I was surprised just how many places did actually connect even if they are just smaller regions in a bigger area. Suffice to say they did a better job of it than I first expected but I still agree a little further would have gone a long way towards making it feel more whole.

 

[Barrico82]

The story structure and the story telling is so bad, you feel like a guest in the story not the protagonist!

It is like game of thrones but centered around Jon Snow and he hears about all the great political stuff and what the dragons are doing in the east.

They had a great potential and then they wasted on the big cristals!

 

[FoxMcChief]

Clive’s mother, does something ever come from that? I feel like she was just brushed aside with one sentence, despite being behind so much destruction. If not, that feels like a real waste of potential. Im still early on though.

 

[Myths]

This track right here is what I was looking for:


There are still a few more variations of it about Sanbreque, but ughh.... so good. You can hear how they blended a bit of VI in it, particularly "Edgar and Sabin" Theme/Coin Song around 1:55 and after. I daresay "Searching for Friends" from FFVI after listening more intimately.
Of course, the thematic serene vocals in there too!

Benedikta's Theme is one of my favorite compositions of all time, up there with Noel's theme. "Our Terms" is such a chill song to relax to in the Hideaway.

 

[EviLore]

This track right here is what I was looking for:


There are still a few more variations of it about Sanbreque, but ughh.... so good. You can hear how they blended a bit of VI in it, particularly "Edgar and Sabin" Theme/Coin Song around 1:55 and after. Of course, the thematic serene vocals in there too!

Benedikta's Theme is one of my favorite compositions of all time, up there with Noel's theme. "Our Terms" is such a chill song to relax to in the Hideaway.

Top tier soundtrack all around.