Support NeoGAF

[sigmaZ]

The issue isn't the content imho, its the delivery. Bits of interaction that would in a text-based game be just a series of dialogue panels that people click through are instead spoken at a natural pace... which takes a whole lot longer.

Next time people bitch about not every bit of dialogue in a game being voiced, bear this in mind!

Definitely. I think general principles of design should be adopted for these kinds of things. Like if characters are standing around chit-chatting it shouldn't go on forever without cinematics or changing things up. Also the speed of delivery should be taken into account. In 16 the biggest problem is how so many characters sound like they are reading monologues for basic conversation. It's so refreshing to revisit an older game like X and see how concise the speech is in comparison.

 

[sigmaZ]

Finally finished it. I started completely skipping all sidequests bar the "plus" ones halfway through because it's been a decade since I've last seen quest design this bad. "Oh you've just killed a demigod? No one cares! Now go pick me some flowers, cunt!". Same goes for the nonexistent character and gear builds or the combat system that's 99% just cycling through the eikon abilities and hitting dodge at the right time ...
And god this game was a drag in the end with dialog and cutscenes written by someone who really wanted to put the audience to sleep or make them die from cringe....
If it wasn't for the pretty spectacular Eikon fights and some of the fantastic setpieces I'd have dropped this otherwise thoroughly mediocre game at the ten hour mark or so.
I absolutely don't understand how this game which seems to be stuck somewhere in the 90s design wise could score so high....

Though I'm sure many really enjoyed it a lot of it is fanboyism, hype, and lore hounds.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I check a few times a day, and I just saw that the game got an update. Are there any patch notes? I’m hoping it takes care of my audio issue.

 

[adamsapple]

I check a few times a day, and I just saw that the game got an update. Are there any patch notes? I’m hoping it takes care of my audio issue.

The main thing in the new patch is a motion blur strength slider and a few new alternate control schemes.

edit: here are the official patch notes, no bug fixes (besides one for the menu) and no performance improvements.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Motion blur option is a huge plus. Glad my waiting has also given me this plus. Maybe the update still fixed the issue. I’ll try tonight!

 

[Lokaum D+]

Side quests never ends...

Is this purgatory?

Edit: graphics mode at 2 motion blur feels great, gave a little go at performance and feels a little better.

 

[KrazyKrelian]

Aww yeah, motion blur off. 1000% improvement for me.

 

[Sub_Level]

Side quests never ends...

Is this purgatory?

Why do you guys keep doin them if you dont like them? Its ok to not do everything in a videogame lol. I didn’t complete all the catacombs or beat all the bosses in Elden Ring and still came away feeling very satisfied. Its great.

 

[adamsapple]

Why do you guys keep doin them if you dont like them? Its ok to not do everything in a videogame lol. I didn’t complete all the catacombs or beat all the bosses in Elden Ring and still came away feeling very satisfied. Its great.

it's all about that exp, every bit helps

 

[Lokaum D+]

Why do you guys keep doin them if you dont like them? Its ok to not do everything in a videogame lol. I didn’t complete all the catacombs or beat all the bosses in Elden Ring and still came away feeling very satisfied. Its great.

Cause i have a problem and dont like to see marks on my map and y blame me ? I paid for this game, you should blame devs for mediocre content in a AAA game.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

Aww yeah, motion blur off. 1000% improvement for me.

I tried off couldn't do it. Shit made me feel motion sick.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Wonder what the new control options are.

Would be hard to switch at this point

 

[ChiefDada]

Ironically, disabling or lowering the motion blur should improve performance mode to some degree.

Edit: I am adjusting it to 3. Looks great.

 

[saintjules]

Ironically, disabling or lowering the motion blur should improve performance mode to some degree.

Edit: I am adjusting it to 3. Looks great.

Does it?

 

[ChiefDada]

Does it?

Motion blur is a post processing effect, so it consumes gpu resources. Afaik it's usually negligible but since FF16 initial implementation was so intense, I wonder if that holds true here.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

Ironically, disabling or lowering the motion blur should improve performance mode to some degree.

Edit: I am adjusting it to 3. Looks great.

I just played through the Great wood in arcade mode. Graphics mode set to 2 and Framerate mode I turn it all the way off. It helps the IQ like you wouldn't believe in both modes, but it makes the lower res in Framerate mode much more apparent.

Great wood Graphics mode blur set to 2 even in the cutscenes the weird ghosting around the hair seems to be removed. There was a scene with Dion later in the game where it was really bad I'm going to check that out in a bit.

Edited, the lower res sticks out so much more without the motion blur and you can see the huge loss in detail much more clearly.

 

[Sub_Level]

There’s a whole 4th region that opened up in the third act…Geez this game is almost as big as FFXII. The devs made mistakes with this game, but not going open world was 100% the right choice. Its already big enough to service the gameplay & scope of the story.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Not playing again unil they put an option to remove the pink filter, time to replay FFIX

Now give me a medieval fantasy with jobs like 9 for FF17

 

[FoxMcChief]

I’m loving the no motion blur, but sadly the loud high pitch noise is still there. Thankfully I’m in no rush. Maybe with the next patch.

 

[Thief1987]

That late part of the game is definitely written by AI, yeah? It's like they asked ChatGPT to write the cringiest soap opera it could and then put the first result in the game. I'm barely enduring it, tbh.

 

[EviLore]

That late part of the game is definitely written by AI, yeah? It's like they asked ChatGPT to write the cringiest soap opera it could and then put the first result in the game. I'm barely enduring it, tbh.

Bathed in the dull light of the setting sun, Clive and Jill, mounted on their chocobos, entered the ravaged village. Buildings smoldered, the air heavy with the scent of despair. Clive, imbued with the power of Ifrit, cut a striking figure. Jill, although characteristically bland, exuded a quiet strength. Their grim expressions mirrored the state of the village around them.

"Innocent lives, taken before their time," Clive's voice boomed through the desolate village, filled with determination and the weight of their quest. "We are here for justice, for retribution."

Jill's face remained as stolid as always, her response expected, "For justice and vengeance. We will make this right."

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the ruins. An elderly woman, Mara. She paused, her expression mirroring the despair of the land around her. Yet, as soon as her eyes landed on Clive and Jill, her demeanor switched instantaneously.

"Ah! Adventurers!" she exclaimed, sounding oddly upbeat. "I've been waiting. There are groceries to be delivered, you know. You can start by helping me."

Without further explanation, Mara pointed them to a small storehouse, still somewhat intact. Clive and Jill spent the next moments in silence, loading their chocobos with unidentifiable parcels.

"Why are we doing this again?" Jill asked monotonously, extending a bundle towards Clive. He took it from her, his hand moving in an animation-like gesture, repeating it over and over again, a strange sight in the somber atmosphere.

"We do this for justice," he replied mechanically, echoing their shared motto.

"And vengeance," she added, almost as an afterthought.

Mara led them from house to house, her actions as perfunctory as those of a game character. At each stop, Clive repeated the delivery animation, his hand extending towards the villagers, the bundles somehow disappearing into the rubble and ruin.

As the sun began to set, casting long shadows over the silent village, Clive climbed back onto his chocobo, his expression unchanging. Jill followed suit, her voice a droning echo of their commitment.

"For justice," she intoned.

"And vengeance," he finished, before they set off once again, ready for the next errand, the next vow, the next village.

 

[rofif]

Motion blur is excellent so I am keeping it die 30fps mode.
But nice they added option to disable camera follow. Very nice

 

[DeVeAn]

I guess it wasn’t the motion blur that bothered me because even at 0 the judder when turning the camera is still brutal. It’s especially when moving the cursor over the map. Hurts my head unless I don’t really focus or move it really slow.

 

[ChiefDada]

I’m loving the no motion blur, but sadly the loud high pitch noise is still there. Thankfully I’m in no rush. Maybe with the next patch.

This you?

 

[March Climber]

Maybe the next patch will be the 60fps performance fix.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Motion blur is excellent so I am keeping it die 30fps mode.
But nice they added option to disable camera follow. Very nice

Motion blur at 2 looks great

Disable camera follow is a tremendous QOL improvement lol

 

[FoxMcChief]

This you?

When I use headphones with this game, yeah.

 

[GymWolf]

Gigaflare is badass and pretty fun. Its on a fairly quick cooldown for its damage as well, and you can reduce it even more with a trinket.

If I had to guess tho, the rest of his kit is just kinda meh. His circle attack takes wayyyy too long to charge to be useful IMO, despite looking pretty fuckin cool. By the times its charged to an effective level I could have already killed everything twice over.

I still use him sometimes just for Gigaflare. His staggering attack with the little orbs honestly isnt bad.

Might be worth it to just take Gigaflare to mastery level and slot it with another Eikon

I recently discovered that you can charge his O attack with precision evading by a lot.

Still kinda meh because it's kinda of a passive not fun playstyle.

 

[GymWolf]

What’s the best dps build at the moment?

I was under the impression that gigaflare was quite decent but I don’t see anyone else use it

I have ramuh, bahamut and titan.

Titan counters and skills melt stagger bars, when they are staggered i place a lighting rod on the ground, then ramuh finisher, bahamut finisher, a bahamut skill, then both titan skills trying to hit both the enemy and the lighting rod skill, if you do all that it's around 800000-100000+ damage depends if you are in fire form or not.

I can probably optimize the damage even more.

 

[GymWolf]

Shiva ability is soooo good....

His O is cool (literally) but i despise all her skills, they do very few damage or they are just boring.

But sure, his O is good, maybe even a bit too OP

 

[Danjin44]

His O is cool (literally) but i despise all her skills, they do very few damage or they are just boring.

But sure, his O is good, maybe even a bit too OP

Are you kidding me!? Her Diamond Dust does crazy amount of stagger damage, especially if you upgrade it.

 

[GymWolf]

Are you kidding me!? Her Diamond Dust does crazy amount of stagger damage, especially if you upgrade it.

I didn't tried her finisher, just the other skills, but i have titan skills to melt stagger bar, if diamond dust doesn't do actual big damage for me it's kinda useless, like the finishers from phoenix and garuda and titan, i only use finishers if they have high damage like ramuh or bahamut.

I guess it's a matter of playstyle.

 

[DenchDeckard]

One thing I can't get over in this game is the pure generic conversation animation. I don't wanna hear anyone insult a Bethesda game after this.

I've never seen such wooden talking animations with a reach into an imaginary ass pocket to pull out an item then Clive move his hand off screen to accept said item.

I can't believe this game is encroaching on 60 hours I thought and hoped it would be 30 as I'm already bored senseless by the combat.

Everytime I play this game, after about an hour I just think...is this what square thinks westerners want now. Easy ass combat with tons of boring cutscenes with the odd amazing grandiose section.

There's some of this game I love but it's typically padded with boring shite like so many other AAA games.

What a mixed bag.

 

[GymWolf]

One thing I can't get over in this game is the pure generic conversation animation. I don't wanna hear anyone insult a Bethesda game after this.

I've never seen such wooden talking animations with a reach into an imaginary ass pocket to pull out an item then Clive move his hand off screen to accept said item.

I can't believe this game is encroaching on 60 hours I thought and hoped it would be 30 as I'm already bored senseless by the combat.

Everytime I play this game, after about an hour I just think...is this what square thinks westerners want now. Easy ass combat with tons of boring cutscenes with the odd amazing grandiose section.

There's some of this game I love but it's typically padded with boring shite like so many other AAA games.

What a mixed bag.

You need money to do that.

Horizon was recently criticized for the high budget, but looks at the digital acting during simple discussions in that game, they are the gold standard that is probably gonna remain unbeaten until horizon 3 or gta6.

Having people actually acting like people and not robots make even bad writing more easy to digest.

 

[Doctor Hades]

I have been playing FF16 in Graphics (Quality/Resolution) mode at 30 fps and have been absolutely fine with that... surprisingly... with my only real grievance being the horrible ghosting artefact around Clive when I stand and rotating the camera. If turning down the Motion Blur lower or off helps fix this but still allows the game to run smoothly then I will be very happy with that.

 

[Zheph]

I have been playing FF16 in Graphics (Quality/Resolution) mode at 30 fps and have been absolutely fine with that... surprisingly... with my only real grievance being the horrible ghosting artefact around Clive when I stand and rotating the camera. If turning down the Motion Blur lower or off helps fix this but still allows the game to run smoothly then I will be very happy with that.

Yes, put it to 2 for best result

 

[Danjin44]

I'm already bored senseless by the combat.

I already finished the game after 75 hours and I’m immediately started NG+ and I’m still discovering new things with combat system.….the combat system is fantastic!!

 

[CrustyBritches]

Motion blur settings. Nice. This might make me switch over to Graphics mode on the big screen. I'll stick with Performance mode for streaming to the Steam Deck. It looks really good on the smaller screen and the mostly 60fps combat helps with input latency.

 

[fallingdove]

One thing I can't get over in this game is the pure generic conversation animation. I don't wanna hear anyone insult a Bethesda game after this.

I've never seen such wooden talking animations with a reach into an imaginary ass pocket to pull out an item then Clive move his hand off screen to accept said item.

I can't believe this game is encroaching on 60 hours I thought and hoped it would be 30 as I'm already bored senseless by the combat.

Everytime I play this game, after about an hour I just think...is this what square thinks westerners want now. Easy ass combat with tons of boring cutscenes with the odd amazing grandiose section.

There's some of this game I love but it's typically padded with boring shite like so many other AAA games.

What a mixed bag.

Either you aren’t actually playing the game or your fanboy blinders are allowing you to excuse the basic combat and storytelling in your beloved Bethesda and Zelda games.

The combat in FFXVI is miles deeper than anything featured in those games.

 

[hyperbertha]

Though I'm sure many really enjoyed it a lot of it is fanboyism, hype, and lore hounds.

It's a honeymoon phase and some justifying their purchase to themselves. I think this will turn out kinda like Ragnarok. 9/10 during release window, but now all I hear about that game is negatives.

 

[rofif]

I’m loving the no motion blur, but sadly the loud high pitch noise is still there. Thankfully I’m in no rush. Maybe with the next patch.

Just get old. Old people don't hear these frequencies. Maybe explains why I dont hear it

 

[hyperbertha]

Either you aren’t actually playing the game or your fanboy blinders are allowing you to excuse the basic combat and storytelling in your beloved Bethesda and Zelda games.

The combat in FFXVI is miles deeper than anything featured in those games.

Depth and this combat system don't belong in the same paragraph. Even gow is deeper than this. This is purely brainless.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

It's a honeymoon phase and some justifying their purchase to themselves. I think this will turn out kinda like Ragnarok. 9/10 during release window, but now all I hear about that game is negatives.

All you hear about it now is negativity, guess that means in the future all we will hear is people talking about how great the game is and not all the rhetoric around it.

Depth and this combat system don't belong in the same paragraph. Even gow is deeper than this. This is purely brainless.

I have beaten both this is just false. Completely and utterly.

 

[hyperbertha]

All you hear about it now is negativity, guess that means in the future all we will hear is people talking about how great the game is and not all the rhetoric around it.

I have beaten both this is just false. Completely and utterly.

Gow on it's hardest difficulty kept me on my toes most every single fight. It never felt button mashy. More options. In this, minus a couple boss fights I didn't even have to make an effort. Difficulty itself is a big part of depth. Ff has some eikon moves, but they are all mostly interchangeable.

 

[hyperbertha]

Doesn't sound like you enjoyed any part of the game. Which is unfortunate, but not everyone had that experience thankfully!

I liked the first 40 percent or so of the story. It teased a mature storyline where actions have consequences and characters will be believable. None of that happened. Villains were jokes, and all characters were underdeveloped.
I suspect the upper management looked at the story, and forced them to significantly dial it back for the second half to appeal to casuals, turning it into some mediocre shonen plot.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

Gow on it's hardest difficulty kept me on my toes most every single fight. It never felt button mashy. More options. In this, minus a couple boss fights I didn't even have to make an effort. Difficulty itself is a big part of depth. Ff has some eikon moves, but they are all mostly interchangeable.

I said it earlier in this very same thread. Just sounds like a bad gamer exposing themselves to me. They have given you the tools to go fucking crazy in this game. It is not their fault that you lack the skill or vision to use them. None of the moves not even the primarily dps focused abilities are just interchangeable. Several have different utility purposes and set up things that you just couldn't do otherwise. If you think they are that's a lack of skill on your part problem. Not a game design issue.

 

[hyperbertha]

I said it earlier in this very same thread. Just sounds like a bad gamer exposing themselves to me. They have given you the tools to go fucking crazy in this game. It is not their fault that you lack the skill or vision to use them. None of the moves not even the primarily dps focused abilities are just interchangeable. Several have different utility purposes and set up things that you just couldn't do otherwise. If you think they are that's a lack of skill on your part problem. Not a game design issue.

Skill? Why do I need to use skill when the game is piss easy? I think you don't understand how game design works. chaining combos for the sake of it isn't fun. Beating challenging enemies is fun. And when I need to chain difficult combos to beat them, it gets rewarding. I can just spam moves in this game and win easily, maybe slightly slower than the optimal combo, but no difference really. I can just keep button mashing and win easily too, albeit taking longer. No need to spend further effort, and I'm the kind of gamer that loves souls games and dmc3. Skill and this game doesn't belong in the same sentence. You sound like a highly casual gamer tbh.

 

[Zuzu]

Motion blur is nicely improved with the latest patch. Looks quite nice playing at motion blur set to 3 on my C1 OLED (in quality mode). One of the best 30fps games I’ve seen on my OLED now.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

Skill? Why do I need to use skill when the game is piss easy? I think you don't understand how game design works. chaining combos for the sake of it isn't fun. Beating challenging enemies is fun. And when I need to chain difficult combos to beat them, it gets rewarding. I can just spam moves in this game and win easily, maybe slightly slower than the optimal combo, but no difference really. I can just keep button mashing and win easily too, albeit taking longer. No need to spend further effort, and I'm the kind of gamer that loves souls games and dmc3. Skill and this game doesn't belong in the same sentence. You sound like a highly casual gamer tbh.

Says the guy who comes into a thread telling everyone that he presses one button to win to the person that has combos in excess of 300k in this game and has beaten three Ultimaniac mode challenges without being touched. Sure sure. Let's see I have beaten Every souls game, demons, elden and bloodborne as well as acquiring several relic weapons in XI. Tell me again how casual I am. SMH people just be saying shit.

Edit: why does everyone bring up Souls games like they are super hard? Outside of Sekiro giving me fits every single souls game ever has been piss easy. Every boss, every encounter. Malenia was annoyingly cheap, not hard and you can check my trophies I beat every boss in every souls game without co-op cheating or summons in Elden ring. Sick of people overhyping the difficulty of those games. Demons Souls and Bloodborne can be run through without being touched by any competent patient gamer. Orphan will probably hit you in ToH but that's about it.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

I'm not that far, but so far my preliminary series ranking is:

14 > 7 > 12 > 6 > 9 > 8 > 5 > 4 > 16 > 10 > 13 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 15

There is a lot of polish here, more than most games in the series. It's well constructed for what it is. I just am not sure I like what was made from a preferential standpoint.

The game wears its two biggest influences, Game of Thrones and Dragon Quest V, on its sleave to the point where its distracting. Especially in terms of Game of Thrones Way too much edgy writing, in terms of swearing and implied sex scenes. It's like they learned the worst lessons from GoT. It feels try hard. I didn't like this sort of tone and atmosphere in GoT and I don't like it here.

Despite that, there are some interesting ideas at play. The characters, setting and politics are cool. Cid is especially a highlight so far. Clive isn't bad. Decently likeable and cool design. I'm definitely interested in seeing where they go with it.

The game play... I don't like it. It's definitely not an RPG, which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess (I do wish that it was), but it's not a particularly good Action Game either. It feels like a PS2 action game, and not in a good way. Especially the use of Quick Time Events. Hopefully as an experiment, this is an evolutionary dead end for the franchise.

In terms of music and graphics, hard to argue against the quality there. Scenery looks stunning. Character models are hit or miss. Main characters look good and have great designs. Random townsfolk suck. I dont think I've heard any songs yet that will become franchise favorites, bit it does the job of setting atmosphere well. Love the swamp theme and dragoon fight theme. Soken is reliable. I know he's capable of producing some true bangers, so let's see what happens.

Is the game Final Fantasy? I'd say yes. "Final Fantasy" is going to mean different things to different people, but other than the battle system, it has a ton of different elements that make of the franchise. I don't think we'd be having thos conversation if the battle system hadn't been what it is. I'd argue it's more FF than something like 7, 8, 12 or 13 for example.