There are several ways to take an enemy up in the air, Torgal's burst attack, Jump and use deadly embrace, Wicked Wheel and charge/jump attack. Probably there'll be more as I'm only 60% in the game.
I’m starting to get into the meat of the game. My opinion on the pacing hasn’t changed, like my opinion on the combat has.
One thing that sucks is the lack of dual sense haptic feedback. It just seems to be standard rumble. It sucks that the first game most of us played on the PS5 is still the best (only?) to use the haptic rumble so well, with footsteps and what not. I had hoped this exclusive game would mean the devs would take the time for stuff like that. I did notice the use when climbing a ladder, but even then, it was like a left and right motion. Just everywhere. GoW:R had a great use of it in the boat.
Finished it yesterday. Brilliant ending. Game has one of the most heartfelt stories, some of the best music and most amazing boss fights you'll ever see.
Dragged down by lack of difficulty, repetitive mission design, and awful padding/pacing in places.
I'll give it an 8, but I genuinely think this could have been one of my GOATs. I think I'll come back to it in a year and play it on FF difficulty, maybe I'll enjoy it more a second time through.
This perfectly describes the game. Incredible to gutter to incredible to gutter...rinse and repeat.
The section I am doing rhat I hope is every single last side quest has onocked the game from an 8 out of 10 to a 7 for me...I'm hoping they stick the landing and it might bump it up a bit.
As a huge FF fan, this is a great game and probably my current GOTY. I'm currently level 31 in this game and want to share my "in-process" opinion on the things I feel isn't as "Final Fantasy" as it could have been, now that I've learned how to use the spoiler tags. Beware: long post ahead.
Progress: defeated Titan (a week ago...but too exhausting to continue the game)
CONS ONLY
1) Have to beat the game to open up level 100. I'm already level 31...don't want to imagine what happens when capped at 50.
2) Homebase: I'm not enjoying going back there after every mission. This doesn't feel "adventurous". I really hope the story moves forward continuously at some point, like in FFX where you go from place A>B>C>D>E, not A>B>A>C>A>D.
3) Party: due to the focus on combat, we don't have a traditional party. Right now it's just experiencing the story from a very depressed, monotone Clive and Jill. A party of 6+ characters experiencing the story is more fun. Sir Wade is a go-getter and is so far my favorite character.
4) Characters: with Benedikta and Cid dead, there is pretty much zero personality at my current story.
5) Locations: none too memorable to me so far, aside from the Orabelle Downs spot, with the grapevines and music. Lacking vibrant/iconic story-significant areas that are emphasized as important in the lore (e.g. feels important to be in). FF7: Shinra HQ, Nibelheim, City of the Ancients, etc. FFX: Besaid/Luca, Thunder Plains, Calm Lands, Zanakand Ruins, etc.
6) Other smaller points: at least one other outfit to choose from (don't like the default one at all), more EQ / crafting, more enemy variety per location (still TBD). The map is also extremely dark for some reason.
My view on many of these things might change once I complete the game. Currently, the reason I haven't beaten the game is because it's exhausting to push through Clive's depressing life, going from mission to base to mission to base, w/ errands in between.
HOPEFUL FOR: endgame dungeons, weapons, magic, abilities, monsters to make it feel more Final Fantasy.
All whining aside, it's still a 9.0+ game to me. I'm just unable to play for long periods due to the back-and-forth running and lack of "wonder" in the game world.
Any old school FF fans share any of these challenges? Curious to see how some view these points.
As a huge FF fan, this is a great game and probably my current GOTY. I'm currently level 31 in this game and want to share my "in-process" opinion on the things I feel isn't as "Final Fantasy" as it could have been, now that I've learned how to use the spoiler tags. Beware: long post ahead.
Progress: defeated Titan (a week ago...but too exhausting to continue the game)
CONS ONLY
1) Have to beat the game to open up level 100. I'm already level 31...don't want to imagine what happens when capped at 50.
2) Homebase: I'm not enjoying going back there after every mission. This doesn't feel "adventurous". I really hope the story moves forward continuously at some point, like in FFX where you go from place A>B>C>D>E, not A>B>A>C>A>D.
3) Party: due to the focus on combat, we don't have a traditional party. Right now it's just experiencing the story from a very depressed, monotone Clive and Jill. A party of 6+ characters experiencing the story is more fun. Sir Wade is a go-getter and is so far my favorite character.
4) Characters: with Benedikta and Cid dead, there is pretty much zero personality at my current story.
5) Locations: none too memorable to me so far, aside from the Orabelle Downs spot, with the grapevines and music. Lacking vibrant/iconic story-significant areas that are emphasized as important in the lore (e.g. feels important to be in). FF7: Shinra HQ, Nibelheim, City of the Ancients, etc. FFX: Besaid/Luca, Thunder Plains, Calm Lands, Zanakand Ruins, etc.
6) Other smaller points: at least one other outfit to choose from (don't like the default one at all), more EQ / crafting, more enemy variety per location (still TBD). The map is also extremely dark for some reason.
My view on many of these things might change once I complete the game. Currently, the reason I haven't beaten the game is because it's exhausting to push through Clive's depressing life, going from mission to base to mission to base, w/ errands in between.
HOPEFUL FOR: endgame dungeons, weapons, magic, abilities, monsters to make it feel more Final Fantasy.
All whining aside, it's still a 9.0+ game to me. I'm just unable to play for long periods due to the back-and-forth running and lack of "wonder" in the game world.
Any old school FF fans share any of these challenges? Curious to see how some view these points.
These are all problems I share yet it's nowhere near a 9 for me. going back to base each time makes the world feel so small. The game really nosedived after the halfway point especially.
I find reading the conversations more enjoyable. I like the voice acting in the main story paths, but I wish there was no voice acting when talking to NPCs when visiting towns or in side quests.
As a huge FF fan, this is a great game and probably my current GOTY. I'm currently level 31 in this game and want to share my "in-process" opinion on the things I feel isn't as "Final Fantasy" as it could have been, now that I've learned how to use the spoiler tags. Beware: long post ahead.
Progress: defeated Titan (a week ago...but too exhausting to continue the game)
CONS ONLY
1) Have to beat the game to open up level 100. I'm already level 31...don't want to imagine what happens when capped at 50.
2) Homebase: I'm not enjoying going back there after every mission. This doesn't feel "adventurous". I really hope the story moves forward continuously at some point, like in FFX where you go from place A>B>C>D>E, not A>B>A>C>A>D.
3) Party: due to the focus on combat, we don't have a traditional party. Right now it's just experiencing the story from a very depressed, monotone Clive and Jill. A party of 6+ characters experiencing the story is more fun. Sir Wade is a go-getter and is so far my favorite character.
4) Characters: with Benedikta and Cid dead, there is pretty much zero personality at my current story.
5) Locations: none too memorable to me so far, aside from the Orabelle Downs spot, with the grapevines and music. Lacking vibrant/iconic story-significant areas that are emphasized as important in the lore (e.g. feels important to be in). FF7: Shinra HQ, Nibelheim, City of the Ancients, etc. FFX: Besaid/Luca, Thunder Plains, Calm Lands, Zanakand Ruins, etc.
6) Other smaller points: at least one other outfit to choose from (don't like the default one at all), more EQ / crafting, more enemy variety per location (still TBD). The map is also extremely dark for some reason.
My view on many of these things might change once I complete the game. Currently, the reason I haven't beaten the game is because it's exhausting to push through Clive's depressing life, going from mission to base to mission to base, w/ errands in between.
HOPEFUL FOR: endgame dungeons, weapons, magic, abilities, monsters to make it feel more Final Fantasy.
All whining aside, it's still a 9.0+ game to me. I'm just unable to play for long periods due to the back-and-forth running and lack of "wonder" in the game world.
Any old school FF fans share any of these challenges? Curious to see how some view these points.
I just got to where you are at before I jumped on here. I'm level 34 though.
I agree with most of these points except for maybe the clothes. I like the fact that you can't switch out the clothing since I hate characters constantly looking different in cutscenes. It really bothers me in Hogwarts legacy when I have some outfit that covers my face but it is also my best equipment.
I'm always a little over half way through the game and I'd have to say that the game feels complete and yet not complete at the same time. Like maybe they didn't have the budget they wanted for the game they originally envisioned so they made do with what they had. I would have liked more side quests at homebase to help me feel more connected with it.
The game honestly just feels like your playing an offline ff14 with how the story/campaign is structured but with less monsters on the field and with a story they couldn't possibly hope to cover well in one game.
The game is definitely not a 9.0 for me. I'd go with maybe a 6.5 to 7. If not for the summon/eikon battles this game would be a complete meh for me.
Finished it yesterday. Brilliant ending. Game has one of the most heartfelt stories, some of the best music and most amazing boss fights you'll ever see.
Dragged down by lack of difficulty, repetitive mission design, and awful padding/pacing in places.
I'll give it an 8, but I genuinely think this could have been one of my GOATs. I think I'll come back to it in a year and play it on FF difficulty, maybe I'll enjoy it more a second time through.
That's my issue. It's a good game, but could've been great, and the reason it wasn't great was because of bad design choices made by CBU3. Things that easily could've been avoided. I really do think it's pacing/padding is it's biggest sin. Of all the drawbacks of the game, that's the one that would've significantly improved the overall experience if they had just tightened up and condensed it into a 15-20 hour story. I think about The Last of Us and how much that game managed to feel like a journey, while also having so much to say within a 15 hour story. 20 hours would've been more than enough for a Final Fantasy that clearly wants to be a Character Action game.
That's my issue. It's a good game, but could've been great, and the reason it wasn't great was because of bad design choices made by CBU3. Things that easily could've been avoided. I really do think it's pacing/padding is it's biggest sin. Of all the drawbacks of the game, that's the one that would've significantly improved the overall experience if they had just tightened up and condensed it into a 15-20 hour story. I think about The Last of Us and how much that game managed to feel like a journey, while also having so much to say within a 15 hour story. 20 hours would've been more than enough for a Final Fantasy that clearly wants to be a Character Action game.
FF7R had the same issue for me with that endgame quest to save Wedge and his cats. Is there some exec over at SE that believes we like the progress of these games to stop on a dime and distract with something pointless and unnecessary?
Not really enjoying it. The story is just way to dark for me unfortunately. Combat is ok but can involves a lot of button mashing. Back to TOCS 4 for me.
Finally finished it. I'll give it somewhere between 7 and 8. Cinematics and combat moments are obviously awesome but everything else, especially the parts between the main stuff is dog shit. Like one of the worst side quests ever made even for jrpg standards which are low. Nice music, graphics were pretty good but no way in hell this couldnt have run at 1440+ 60fps, so in that regards, piss poor optimization/performance.
I'm like nearing the end of the game (probably about 80% through) and still finding the combat really fun.
Like easily the best Action-RPG combat I've played.
The amount of options you have at any moment of combat is fantastic. And you always feel in control.
And it keeps evolving if you actually try learn the complexity of it.
There are several ways to take an enemy up in the air, Torgal's burst attack, Jump and use deadly embrace, Wicked Wheel and charge/jump attack. Probably there'll be more as I'm only 60% in the game.
Thanks for this, I didn't actually realise there was a universal launcher, that has opened up the combat quite and bit and i'm using a lot more aerial combat than ever before. Like I didn't realise that using the grab move while jumping causes you to increase your air height, and jumping off aerial enemies causes increased height too. And i've just started figuring out how to mix and match torgal into the combat and using him as combo finishers/starters. There's many little quirks to the combat engine.
Like I used to just use one eikon and only switch when I needed to deal stagger damage. But now I have a sweet loadout set where I've mixed and matched different eikon abilities.
I use the garuda for light enemies that I can do plenty of aerial combos with, and have fast charging abilities equipped. And titan for bosses and aggressive enemies and have counter abilities. equipped And the bahamut for when I want to dodge a lot and have ranged abilities equipped, and throughout any battle I just change between eikons to mix things up and feel extra stylish. I also equipped less powerful sword which allows me to do longer combos.
I get that some people are just gonna stick to just mashing one or two attacks, they could've added a style gauge ala DMC to promote a more fun playstyle.
but then people would complain about getting bad rankings, which is indeed a complaint I see some people put towards dmc.
Whatever they do people will find something to complain about, overall I think it's good the game doesn't force you down specific playstyles.
It just sorta lets you play as mindless or as complicated as you want.
And believe me, playing the game as a stylish character action game is way more fun.
Satisfying combat if you take the time to master switching attacks, some epic fucking boss fights, Great OST, great cast, great story.
Negatives being OST is limited, too much time at the hideout hub (running back and forth through that place almost killed me), end boss was a joke compared to the major boss previous to it, side quests sucked until the end, and enemy variety blew a fat one.
I'm like nearing the end of the game (probably about 80% through) and still finding the combat really fun.
Like easily the best Action-RPG combat I've played.
The amount of options you have at any moment of combat is fantastic. And you always feel in control.
And it keeps evolving if you actually try learn the complexity of it.
Thanks for this, I didn't actually realise there was a universal launcher, that has opened up the combat quite and bit and i'm using a lot more aerial combat than ever before. Like I didn't realise that using the grab move while jumping causes you to increase your air height, and jumping off aerial enemies causes increased height too. And i've just started figuring out how to mix and match torgal into the combat and using him as combo finishers/starters. There's many little quirks to the combat engine.
Like I used to just use one eikon and only switch when I needed to deal stagger damage. But now I have a sweet loadout set where I've mixed and matched different eikon abilities.
I use the garuda for light enemies that I can do plenty of aerial combos with, and have fast charging abilities equipped. And titan for bosses and aggressive enemies and have counter abilities. equipped And the bahamut for when I want to dodge a lot and have ranged abilities equipped, and throughout any battle I just change between eikons to mix things up and feel extra stylish. I also equipped less powerful sword which allows me to do longer combos.
I get that some people are just gonna stick to just mashing one or two attacks, they could've added a style gauge ala DMC to promote a more fun playstyle.
but then people would complain about getting bad rankings, which is indeed a complaint I see some people put towards dmc.
Whatever they do people will find something to complain about, overall I think it's good the game doesn't force you down specific playstyles.
It just sorta lets you play as mindless or as complicated as you want.
And believe me, playing the game as a stylish character action game is way more fun.
The combat is top notch for me, similar to DMC and many more. Like GOW. It's different and slick, you can say it's easy to learn but hard to master. You can play as stylishly as your playing ability allows you. I'm 65% in game and I'm still finding new ways to execute my enemies. I've probably done 7 to 8 hunts and all were aaaswsome, just like we played Valkyries/Berserkers in GOW back in 2018 and 2022. But they looked almost same with different outfits, here they are different beasts altogether like in the Witcher 3.
There is a points system in Mission replays, Arcade mode and Training mode at Arete stone which gives you ranks based on your performance. That's pretty neat and similar like DMC. I've been doing a lot of experiments in training mode but I'll be doing Arcade and Mission replays once I've finished the game and started my playthrough on Final Fantasy mode. Some people keep on complaining about the game being easy are the ones who just button mashes a single button in each battle and complain about 'naw, it's too easy'. They need to play it properly. A prime example was the tweet from SunhiLegend's gameplay. It's eye popping.
It's a perfect dodge, but I believe it's only the ability one (you can still use regular dodge but I thought that one wouldn't trigger it, you don't really want to use regular dodge anyways because you can drop frost orbs with the ability dodge as well). Anyways, the most important bit is that the timing is slightly different, the window for it to be considered a perfect dodge isn't as big, but it's relatively easy to pull off on a constant basis once you get the timing down, and it's insanely good.
It's a perfect dodge, but I believe it's only the ability one (you can still use regular dodge but I thought that one wouldn't trigger it, you don't really want to use regular dodge anyways because you can drop frost orbs with the ability dodge as well). Anyways, the most important bit is that the timing is slightly different, the window for it to be considered a perfect dodge isn't as big, but it's relatively easy to pull off on a constant basis once you get the timing down, and it's insanely good.
The window for Torgal Sic/Burst and for some of the Eikon abilities are quite narrow compared to dodge. I'm using Titan Eikonic ability and the Earthen Fury has a very narrow counter compared to Garuda's Rook's Gambit.. But when you pull them off it's really satisfying.
And finished, the last quarter of the game really steps it up, just fantastic fight after fight and the story, though predictable, was good in the end, a solid 8/10 for me, the only real downsides were that mid game slog that felt too much like an MMO
My problem is that you don’t need to master switching attacks. Just as everyone joked at the start, you can literally win every fight by simply using the default attack. Despite the game having some sort of combat “score”, it means nothing. There seems to be no elemental attacks, so switching to certain elements means nothing. The only variance seems to be damage/stagger, and even that means nothing. Regular enemies die from a stiff breeze and bosses have so much HP that attacks all feel the same.
My problem is that you don’t need to master switching attacks. Just as everyone joked at the start, you can literally win every fight by simply using the default attack. Despite the game having some sort of combat “score”, it means nothing. There seems to be no elemental attacks, so switching to certain elements means nothing. The only variance seems to be damage/stagger, and even that means nothing. Regular enemies die from a stiff breeze and bosses have so much HP that attacks all feel the same.
That's where you're wrong, it's not about elemental attacks but how you combat each battle, even in DMC you can literally go through each mission without even trying for a B rank. Pressing one button, it's more like how you fight in the game. There are plenty of examples that Final Fantasy 16 cannot be beaten with one attack and bosses have same attacks? try to go through them without a hit and with the same one attack as you said without playing the combat the way it should be.
This game literally have more variety of bosses than many games. Not to mention the quality standard.
Lead is Soken by SE. Other musicians who have helped should be on credits.
Here are some interesting insights:
-Soken and the sound team actually made more than 300 songs for the game, way above the initial request
-Soken designed the sound engine around 7 years ago to fit the plot of the game, but the music could not be implemented until the game was near completion, which a big chunk of the recording was done within the past year or two.
-Initially, Maehiro gave Soken and the team a list of about 140 songs he would like to match the various scenes in the game.
-Then Yoshi-P took over for a bit, and somehow after taking into consideration all the character, country, opening, ending, and scenarios from the game, they ended up recording over 200 different songs for the soundtrack
Well when the story is advancing is pretty cool. (All the part around the Dame were so awfully slow and uninteresting)
I just destroyed the second MotherCrystal.
A nice AAA spectacle but it will not erase the flaws of it. Combat is extremely fun at the beginning but very button mashy in the end. The lack of challenge kills it. Yes I can chained Eikon abilities into combos and do some flashy stuff but what's the point ? All standard enemies dies in few seconds. Bosses offers a bit much but I don't really feel reward by doing "cool" stuff. With the DMC inspiration they took, they could have added a "Style jauge" that offers better XP or loot if you performed well.
I unlock the hunts and this is a bit refreshing. They are fairly challenging making you really try to play better.
But overall I feel the combat lacks depth. No elemental weakness, no status effect, no buff/debuff, no magic... And with the action game way they went, they could have some "delay button press" or other features to add some depth on execution.
OST is pretty good but that Typhon fight soundtrack... The trippy techno music was sounding like a mediocre beat'em all soundtrack xD.
Lead is Soken by SE. Other musicians who have helped should be on credits.
Here are some interesting insights:
-Soken and the sound team actually made more than 300 songs for the game, way above the initial request
-Soken designed the sound engine around 7 years ago to fit the plot of the game, but the music could not be implemented until the game was near completion, which a big chunk of the recording was done within the past year or two.
-Initially, Maehiro gave Soken and the team a list of about 140 songs he would like to match the various scenes in the game.
-Then Yoshi-P took over for a bit, and somehow after taking into consideration all the character, country, opening, ending, and scenarios from the game, they ended up recording over 200 different songs for the soundtrack
Well when the story is advancing is pretty cool. (All the part around the Dame were so awfully slow and uninteresting)
I just destroyed the second MotherCrystal.
A nice AAA spectacle but it will not erase the flaws of it. Combat is extremely fun at the beginning but very button mashy in the end. The lack of challenge kills it. Yes I can chained Eikon abilities into combos and do some flashy stuff but what's the point ? All standard enemies dies in few seconds. Bosses offers a bit much but I don't really feel reward by doing "cool" stuff. With the DMC inspiration they took, they could have added a "Style jauge" that offers better XP or loot if you performed well.
I unlock the hunts and this is a bit refreshing. They are fairly challenging making you really try to play better.
But overall I feel the combat lacks depth. No elemental weakness, no status effect, no buff/debuff, no magic... And with the action game way they went, they could have some "delay button press" or other features to add some depth on execution.
OST is pretty good but that Typhon fight soundtrack... The trippy techno music was sounding like a mediocre beat'em all soundtrack xD.
Exactly. I wouldn't have minded better loot drops for better combat performance. Like in Arise, if you decide to chain fights and perform well you will max out the meter en get the best drops which made farming certain materials rather painless since I would usually get enough in 1 or 2 fights. You also get more XP I think. Its a good incentive to fight well and take risks with chaining fights.
It has arrived and it is glorious. Beautiful, compact package, 8 discs of god-tier music, liner notes from various team members in both English/Japanese and that magnificent Amano box art
It has arrived and it is glorious. Beautiful, compact package, 8 discs of god-tier music, liner notes from various team members in both English/Japanese and that magnificent Amano box art
After that mid game slog, the game seems to be finding its stride again as I approach the end. Some of these side quests are actually quite good! With real cutscenes too. Nice to see.
There padding after the 4th mother crystal wasn't so bad. Definitely less polish than the main stuff. But it's cool to see some enemies get a difficulty buff now.
That scene at sea with water being cut in half. I was blown away by how good the water looked. Literally just looked like CG.
I wonder how they did it. The effects on this game look real good in general. Fire, water, clouds, particles, etc.
Credits are rolling. Really flawed experience, but well worth beating it. Ending wrecked me. So much filler, odd design decisions and simplistic gameplay which i dont always mind. Great cast of characters, VA, story, unbelievable music and epic boss battles.
There padding after the 4th mother crystal wasn't so bad. Definitely less polish than the main stuff. But it's cool to see some enemies get a difficulty buff now.
That scene at sea with water being cut in half. I was blown away by how good the water looked. Literally just looked like CG.
I wonder how they did it. The effects on this game look real good in general. Fire, water, clouds, particles, etc.
The shit you're going through after the fight with Titan (which was terrible - the whole Eikon part of it) is one of the worst parts of the game, as well as everything else leading up to the Bahamut (not the actual story stuff which is amazing). It's SO BORING and there's like fetch quest after fetch quest after fetch quest after fetch quest after fetch quest with boring conversations, terrible world building and NPCs I could not care less about.
And then the actual story stuff begins with amazing character work, great acting, dialogues full of emotions etc. the mission itsef is great and everything around it and then a millionth time you ask a question - WHY IN THE FUCKIN' FUCK the whole game is not like this? And then again everything goes down to fetch quests and boring dialogues with NPC you don't like or care about...
I swear, I don't remember a game and C/J/RPG in which I skiped through dialogues at such a lightning fast speed... and that's all because literally all NPCs in this game are terrible, boring and not interesting in any way and so that leaves only Jill and the actual story characters - Dion alone is miles better than all NPCs in this game combined.
I really can't imagine ever wanting to replay this game - sucks to hear it caps you to level 50 as well. Oh well, not like the game has been too incredible for me personally.
Hell, there's not even a chocobo theme, so I'm not sure if it counts as a main game!
Definitely the least whimsical and replayable FF game I've played. And the least whimsical aspect plays in to the very bland cast - Torgal is basically the only character with any charisma.
There's no point in levels (skills, upgrades, crafting, currency etc.) what so ever in this game. Everything tied to gear and weapons. You can go to 100 in NG+ but what would do that to yourself?
There's like 7 Eikons in the game and you don't even need that much, hell, you don't even need more that the first 3 cuz they'll get you through literally anything in this game without even using your brain and just spamming skills.