CrustyBritches
Gold Member
I loved the game. Every game has strengths and weaknesses. I decided early on to skip most of the side quests and focus on the ‘+’ missions and the hunts. Still clocked 55hrs, which is good for me.
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Minsc
Gold Member
Minigames: F--------
Variety of characters to control/create your party with: F------
Variety in weapon types: F-------
Rewards for exploration: F-------
Secret places to explore in towns/dungeons: F------
Variety of dungeons: F-------
Variety of classes / fun leveling system: F-------
Exciting upgrades to purchase from new towns: F-------
Man I feel like I could go on for ages.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I just recently got RE. Going to try and go through it someday.
Hestar69
Member
Yeah very dissapointing. ooh I found a chest whats in it a new weapon!? nope! 14 things of bat nuts or some other shit....great..........
this is the first FF game where I rushed through just to beat and I enjoted all FF games even FF 13 1/2/3
Dynasty8
Member
Sadly, I agree.
I've lost complete confidence in Square Enix. FFXVI was the final nail in the coffin.
They are so out of touch on so many aspects. FFXV was an unorganized mess, KH3 was a complete mess, Forsaken is hot garbage, Valkyrie Elysium, Diofield Chronicles and Star Ocean Divine Force are mediocre and generic as hell. Let's also not forget about the other "masterpiece" bangers: Babylon's Fall and Balan Wonderworld.
Even the games I somewhat enjoyed had major things that completely ruined it for me... Octopath Traveler 2 unfortunately lacks a basic difficulty option making the base game an absolute cake walk (same as XVI). FFVII Remake's story went full Nomura Kingdom Hearts and at this point it's a laughable storyline compared to the original.
I miss the golden age where they (SquareSOFT) would release banger after banger. I would buy every game they released and it usually ranged from great to amazing. You can easily see the passion within their games, a true vision. The shit today is just so bad and honestly feels dumbed down and stinks of the modern AAA tropes. I'm just done man.
Zephyranthes
Member
While I really liked FFXVI overall, I do agree on this point, and it reminds me a lot of Tales of Vesperia....the first half of that game's story is excellent and presented some interesting takes on political corruption, class warfare, and criminal justice. It becomes way less interesting when the story eventually pivots away from those subjects to focus on the more magical/fantastical elements of the setting.
peish
Member
agreed with ff7r, anyone expecting a better story resolution is going to get nomurma'd,
ffr2 going to have even more talking heads posing in kewl stances , talking cryptic plot drips
It took me less than 2 weeks to finish FF7R, its been over 40 days since this game came out and I think im only around half way through. Its not a bad game I just don't find it that engaging. I feel like every time there's a cool boss or moment in the story there's some silly stuff or a boring gameplay segment right after that makes me want to put it down and play something else.
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jimmypython
Member
With only the last dungeon to go, this is my current take:
Hands down best single player FF game since FF12
below are some areas I hope the CBU3 will be given a chance to refine for their next single player game:
1. Only one playable character, which gives a repetitive gameplay. I am ok with an action system, but something like FF7R or FF12 gambit system where you can switch party members to control would be ideal - so that you have different type of play styles: caster, melee, tank, healer etc
2. No dungeon mechanic diversity. Every dungeon is a FF14 4-player instance dungeon. This works in a multiplayer setting where coordination for solving mechanics is hard. But for a single player game, these dungeons are very boring to play despite the pretty visuals
3. No optional dungeon. Even FF14 has optional dungeons
Hands down best single player FF game since FF12
below are some areas I hope the CBU3 will be given a chance to refine for their next single player game:
1. Only one playable character, which gives a repetitive gameplay. I am ok with an action system, but something like FF7R or FF12 gambit system where you can switch party members to control would be ideal - so that you have different type of play styles: caster, melee, tank, healer etc
2. No dungeon mechanic diversity. Every dungeon is a FF14 4-player instance dungeon. This works in a multiplayer setting where coordination for solving mechanics is hard. But for a single player game, these dungeons are very boring to play despite the pretty visuals
3. No optional dungeon. Even FF14 has optional dungeons
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009EspadaSageJay
Member
yea I guess thats why discussion around the game is dead most people must fall in either the D or B category:
yea I thought that the game was going to take a very interesting turn after the demo I think what killed that for me was right after that section you skip 13 years to the present and thats it no explanation unless you pause the game no short training montage nothing . After that I already had huge reservations about how the rest of the story would play out if the game was going to take that huge of a turn between the 1st and 2nd part they should of scrapped alot of the 1st part and expanded way more on the 2nd half since the 1st retrospective doesn't matter. yea DQ11 from the jump had me interested but so far almost every jrpg outside of FF16 has at least grabbed me from 5-10 hour mark. I also didnt like the art style even when they 1st showed it off I wasnt interested in its weird meshed up of wrpg and jrpg look and then not sticking to one of them the main people you surrounds yourself with looks jrpg like but everyone else looks like a NPC out of a WRPG. The HDR is very hit or miss the particle effects and lighting when its good is when you see that o yea this game has hdr but outside of that its terrible looks even worst when to get to the last third of the game and the sky is permament purple. I dont like how its muted in very pastel colors I dont know why they did it like that especially since in japan they advertised this game with bravio tvs I would not use this game for a HDR showcase especially compared to spider man or ghost.
Yea this game feels barebones I felt that way by the 30 hour mark I thought that there was a way longer moveset for clive since yoshi P said he didnt want to spoil much I was very dissapointed to say the least. Yea the non animated npcs sections are ripped straight from ff14 why there in this game is weird and its even weirder since this is a ps5 only game. FF7R was way more enjoyable for me as well I dont mind the gameplay in ff16 its just really half baked I could forgive alot of this game short comings if they went all out with the gameplay and combat.
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peish
Member
where is the best platform to contact yoshi P, we want to tell him how disappointing the gameplay design of ff16 is.
he needs to assign more efforts and thoughts to the gameplay. gamers were concerned about procedural generated planets in starfield, can look at ff16 what it means to put no thinking behind level designs and mechanics
he needs to assign more efforts and thoughts to the gameplay. gamers were concerned about procedural generated planets in starfield, can look at ff16 what it means to put no thinking behind level designs and mechanics
009EspadaSageJay
Member
I guess the ff fourms/MOG station pre pair to get time or out banned because they don't like people critiquing yoshi or his games.
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Kumomeme
Member
r
perhaps later there will be survey available for the rest of the world. before they did with FFVII Remake through their FF portal app if i remember correctly.
other than that the devs is reading comment online. in one of recent documentary at japanese tv show Yoshi-P read people comment online regarding this game. however we dont know which site he or the rest of the devs team frequently go. reddit might be one of obvious place. for example r/finalfantasy and r/ffxvi. however there is risk that comment there gonna get sink of the bottom of the thread. the devs also aware of popular streamers which is im not sure if they read all comment there. meanwhile for this place, not sure if they put it in their attention.
recently there is survey online available for japanese players
perhaps later there will be survey available for the rest of the world. before they did with FFVII Remake through their FF portal app if i remember correctly.
other than that the devs is reading comment online. in one of recent documentary at japanese tv show Yoshi-P read people comment online regarding this game. however we dont know which site he or the rest of the devs team frequently go. reddit might be one of obvious place. for example r/finalfantasy and r/ffxvi. however there is risk that comment there gonna get sink of the bottom of the thread. the devs also aware of popular streamers which is im not sure if they read all comment there. meanwhile for this place, not sure if they put it in their attention.
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Heaven Angel
Member
It's pretty much useless to talk or even enter into the conversation where people are desperately putting their bad views about the game which is certainly none and putting it in a bad spot. Their worthless failed attempts have not even dented the game's success.
SkylineRKR
Member
I boot up forspoken just for kicks, and FFXVI is in dire need of a 40fps mode. That game feels twice as smooth. Its baffling FFXVI doesn't have it, tbh.
FunkMiller
Banned
So I eventually picked this up on eBay for £35, and am about 10 hours in.
As a cinematic, narratively driven spectacle it's awesome.
As a Final Fantasy game it's absolutely fucking terrible
As a cinematic, narratively driven spectacle it's awesome.
As a Final Fantasy game it's absolutely fucking terrible
Fbh
Member
Just started the game the other, so far I'm really enjoying it.
My only issue so far is that it does seem really easy. It seems so extremely worried about ensuring it's super accessible that they sort of forgot about the other side of the gaming audience that does want a bit of a challenge. Did they miss Elden Ring being one of the best selling games last year?
With that in mind I have a question. Early in the game it's implied that the rewards you get after big battles (the ones that actually have a results screen) are based on your performance. How does that translate? Do you get more xp? money? special items?.
I'm asking because I'm thinking of doing the same I do with the Yakuza games: Not using healing items (or limited the number I'm allowed to use). But I don't want to miss out on rewards if I actually die from time to time.
My only issue so far is that it does seem really easy. It seems so extremely worried about ensuring it's super accessible that they sort of forgot about the other side of the gaming audience that does want a bit of a challenge. Did they miss Elden Ring being one of the best selling games last year?
With that in mind I have a question. Early in the game it's implied that the rewards you get after big battles (the ones that actually have a results screen) are based on your performance. How does that translate? Do you get more xp? money? special items?.
I'm asking because I'm thinking of doing the same I do with the Yakuza games: Not using healing items (or limited the number I'm allowed to use). But I don't want to miss out on rewards if I actually die from time to time.
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I think I'm about 40% of the way through the game? I understand the complaints people have, but it seems like the people that were most disappointed are those that carried some very specific expectations into the experience.
The last good FF (aside from FF7R) was 12. It has been 17 years...
I expected very little from this game (even despite rave reviews), and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Yes, the RPG elements are not very deep -- but I wasn't expecting very deep RPG elements.
Yes, the side quests are pretty bad -- but I wasn't expecting Witcher 3 level side quests.
Yes the in-game economy is useless -- but I wasn't expecting a robust and meaningful economy. (Actually, on that note, I think a lot of JRPGs including XC3 have really dropped the ball on the economy... and I honestly didn't care all that much).
Bottom line is that I'm actually quite enjoying this. So far, this is easily the best FF since 12, and I would say it's a lot better than 12 in many respects (at least, those that I care about).
The last good FF (aside from FF7R) was 12. It has been 17 years...
I expected very little from this game (even despite rave reviews), and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Yes, the RPG elements are not very deep -- but I wasn't expecting very deep RPG elements.
Yes, the side quests are pretty bad -- but I wasn't expecting Witcher 3 level side quests.
Yes the in-game economy is useless -- but I wasn't expecting a robust and meaningful economy. (Actually, on that note, I think a lot of JRPGs including XC3 have really dropped the ball on the economy... and I honestly didn't care all that much).
Bottom line is that I'm actually quite enjoying this. So far, this is easily the best FF since 12, and I would say it's a lot better than 12 in many respects (at least, those that I care about).
- Combat is very fun (a bit too easy, but that's not a huge deal for me)
- Main boss battles are best in the series, by far
- The world and lore are incredibly fascinating, intricate, and deep. I go to Tomes and Whats-her-face in between every main story quest and read up all the new entries.
- The main characters are actually likeable and have dimension to them
- The writing and dialogue are several tiers above standard JRPG shit
- The world drips atmosphere, thoughtfulness, and meaning.
- The story is fascinating so far, and I can't wait to see where it goes
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Far as I could tell your performance has no impact on the rewards. I don’t remember the game saying it does TBH. If there is a ranking system then it’s completely hidden from the player.
Anyway pretty much all I ever got from battles was crafting materials that I already have hundreds of. The exception is a few bosses/hunts which give you some unique item you need to craft the next weapon, and I am 99% sure those are guaranteed.
Minsc
Gold Member
Half my enjoyment with FF games is the exploration and in this game it doesn't even exist. There's no rewards to find (that actually are worthwhile), no dungeons to explore, no secrets in towns to uncover.
I'm glad you're enjoying it, but imagine someone who finds the world and lore boring as well as well as the characters. All that's left is the combat, which is SUPER repetitive. Like almost offensive. I've read comparisons to DMC and though I've never played those, people say the DMC games are incredibly more deep with more systems to utilize and on top of that 4x shorter. The amount of padding is this game is unreal.
FunkMiller
Banned
I knew before I bought it that this game was essentially Devil May Cry with chocobos, so my disappointment levels have been kept in check.
It's a linear, straight forward action game, with a pretty decent story. Nothing more. Nothing less.
It sure as shit ain't a Final Fantasy game, whatever it says on the box.
I'm enjoying it, because the story is compelling enough to keep going, and the spectacle of the big battles is more than worth it.
But fuck, it ain't FF. At all.
Allegedly you can get some bonus items like accessories, according to IGN, but IGN doesn't have any real information on this:
How To Get the Best Battle Rewards - Spoils - Final Fantasy XVI Guide - IGN
The battle rewards or ‘spoils’ that you get in FF16 are based on performance. In this Final Fantasy 16 guide, we will teach you everything you
The game is really vague about the rewards and even the performance metrics. The game mentions that you're graded on boss battle performance early on. If you're being graded like in DMC, why isn't there a...grade?
Poking around various forums, it seems like there's a bonus item like an accessory in your spoils section for beating certain bosses without getting hit or by doing very well.
Another poorly thought out and largely pointless system.
Battle Rewards Screen - Final Fantasy XVI
For Final Fantasy XVI on the PlayStation 5, a GameFAQs message board topic titled "Battle Rewards Screen".
gamefaqs.gamespot.com
peish
Member
my issue is that the next 60% of the game plays out exactly the same. the game world feels too small and not enough creative thoughts put into the mechanics.
another glaring issues after playing bg3, the loot are logically placed in bg3, but loot in ff16 is so random, makes no sense littered around and does little to affect you. just weak/lazy design that even miyamoto will not allow.
ff16 story and plotting also end up rather flat, like gameplay, the story always end up with Clive punching his way past
GeeseGoose
Member
Finally finished it after ~60 hours, near 100% except the Eikon trials.
Reflecting back, my thoughts:
Overall if I were to give it a score I think it’s a solid 7
Reflecting back, my thoughts:
- Mid is the worst character in recent memory of games that I played. Vivian and Goetz take joint second.
- Why does everyone in the hideaway seem to embody the “gruff anti-social” trope? “It better be all there” well thanks Charon, it is, since I spent the past many years saving your arses.
- Pacing is terrible and amazing at the same time. When it reaches for the stars it is so so good, but you know it will follow up with the worst fetch quests disguised as “main quests” to grind it to a halt, looking at you engine quests in particular.
- Eikon battles had me in awe, but after a certain point they became more half assed QTE rather than meaningful gameplay.
- Side quests… some great stories but generally basic and worthless gameplay.
- Combat……… it’s okay. At times it was so good (Eikons, one stagger cycling a hunt mark). Not a fan of action games, didn’t have too much trouble. Only died on the level 50 dragon hunt. Didn’t use assist rings except Torgal’s as that’s just needless micromanagement. Once I found my niche I ploughed through the hunts.
- Stagger system turns combat into a slog especially with non boss elite enemies.
- The RPG-lite elements were worthless. Half of your stats were not affected, gear system was a bit lacklustre and the loot system was bare bones. I could have really dug an action RPG with deep non-combat mechanics
- The camera and particle effects were the hardest boss. Get the camera by a wall and have fun. Oh, and whoever designed spells to block the screen should be banished, yes Aerial Blast I mean you among others.
Overall if I were to give it a score I think it’s a solid 7
Unknown Soldier
Member
DelireMan7
Member
Still making progress on it. Enjoying my time with it. Still some issue.
Just did the Titan battle. The crazy transformation was cool and quite epic HOWEVER what's this music again ?! 90 % of the OST is really good and pure Final Fantasy but sometimes they decided to go with a a generic action game OST or DMCish (nothing against DMC music but don't like it in my Final Fantasy game). It completely killed the immersion and epicness of the moment. Also the successive phases of the whole Titan fight made it too long and was bored toward the end (because again Eikons battle are cool to watch but on gameplay level is quite empty).
Still enjoying the story and world. I liked hunts at first but they start to look more like bullet sponge enemy. Just long not so interesting battle overall. It's probably due to the combat system : awesome for short fights but very repetitive on long fights.
Just did the Titan battle. The crazy transformation was cool and quite epic HOWEVER what's this music again ?! 90 % of the OST is really good and pure Final Fantasy but sometimes they decided to go with a a generic action game OST or DMCish (nothing against DMC music but don't like it in my Final Fantasy game). It completely killed the immersion and epicness of the moment. Also the successive phases of the whole Titan fight made it too long and was bored toward the end (because again Eikons battle are cool to watch but on gameplay level is quite empty).
Still enjoying the story and world. I liked hunts at first but they start to look more like bullet sponge enemy. Just long not so interesting battle overall. It's probably due to the combat system : awesome for short fights but very repetitive on long fights.
TexMex
Member
About 20 hours in, tapping out.
This is the most mediocre, boring shit. D tier FF. Can’t believe this game seemingly gets a pass on so many issues from so many. Can’t really think of many positive things to say about aside from the excellent music and most of the voice acting. Cid in particular is great.
This is the most mediocre, boring shit. D tier FF. Can’t believe this game seemingly gets a pass on so many issues from so many. Can’t really think of many positive things to say about aside from the excellent music and most of the voice acting. Cid in particular is great.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Are the sidequests worth a damn at all?
I'm about to enter oriflamme or whatever. And it's giving me a "you can't turn back!" warning.
I have barely done any and it feels like I'm not missing much?
I'm flush with gold for some reason. I barely buy anything at the shops. I'm not excited by the exp gains at all. Game is extremely easy.
So am I missing cool shit? Or am I good to just crit path this game? Ideally I want to be done before baulders gate.
I'm about to enter oriflamme or whatever. And it's giving me a "you can't turn back!" warning.
I have barely done any and it feels like I'm not missing much?
I'm flush with gold for some reason. I barely buy anything at the shops. I'm not excited by the exp gains at all. Game is extremely easy.
So am I missing cool shit? Or am I good to just crit path this game? Ideally I want to be done before baulders gate.
TexMex
Member
Can you deliver this bowl of soup?
Can you go here and kill 4 wasps?
Can you deliver these apples and run back?
Oh shoot I dropped a letter in a bush can you go get it?
Mikey Jr.
Member
Ouch. Thought so. The one quest I took was some dude asking for bread and soup lol.
What about the rewards? Am I missing anything there?
Sleepwalker
Member
Mr.ODST
Member
The sidequests are really bad, im a huge FF fan but still undecided what to think about it
SkylineRKR
Member
I actually shelved this for SF6 world tour mode, lol. Its a great fun throwback to Final Fight, and you can customize your char and fighting style. Fun minigames too, like Hadou Pizza. It actually felt like more of an RPG than FFXVI, your gear and level absolutely matter.
Those story dungeons are in their own bubble and inaccessible otherwise. The message doesn't mean much. You have to complete an easy and linear dungeon that might take about an hour if you fight everything and then you're back and you can do everything again anyway. And the dungeons itself contain no worthwhile loot or secrets whatsoever. Just rush them when you enter. Its not like any sidequest at that point hands out something meaningful.
The hunts are terrible. They are boss type enemies that require you to mash them until they stagger and then mash some more. There is nothing in these fights that require you to change your approach. They are generally a waste of time. For some you get a piece of material you need for crafting but chances are that weapon is quickly outclassed anyway.
Its true that normal mobs are more fun to fight, because you can launch them for example. And they don't last which in this case is a god send.
Those story dungeons are in their own bubble and inaccessible otherwise. The message doesn't mean much. You have to complete an easy and linear dungeon that might take about an hour if you fight everything and then you're back and you can do everything again anyway. And the dungeons itself contain no worthwhile loot or secrets whatsoever. Just rush them when you enter. Its not like any sidequest at that point hands out something meaningful.
The hunts are terrible. They are boss type enemies that require you to mash them until they stagger and then mash some more. There is nothing in these fights that require you to change your approach. They are generally a waste of time. For some you get a piece of material you need for crafting but chances are that weapon is quickly outclassed anyway.
Its true that normal mobs are more fun to fight, because you can launch them for example. And they don't last which in this case is a god send.
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Minsc
Gold Member
The more sidequests you do the more you can end up hating the game!
The only ones that have decent rewards will have a green + icon instead of the ! icon. But really, do EVERY last sidequest and listen to every last word of spoken dialog in them. See what you think then.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Seems like later in the game they tried to spruce up the side quests by tacking some more interesting lore + character arcs onto them. But the actually stuff you do in them is still boring as hell + they reward you with useless crafting materials that you already have 1000s of and have nothing to craft with them.
Raven117
Member
This. Its like they started writing this awesome Game of Thrones narrative with complex and interesting characters and midway through...someone told them to stop and switch back to that whole JRPG Fate crap again.
Thematically, there were too many "themes" and none felt fully baked. (Which is funny, because FFXIV..the themes are few and wonderfully executed in each expansion).
I've enjoyed my time with it. (Even the side missions at the end). The combat was fun. I liked the zones (Though, damn, I now want a Clive(itcher) open world game). The story, in the end, was serviceable, but not excellent.
I feel like something must have happened in development...Even the characters which started out deeply flawed and complex (Jill, Dion, even Clive), ended up retreating into standard stereotypes and one notes. Like the B-team took over half way through.
I'm left with "damn this could have been so much better" tasting all the more bitter because the pieces were there.
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SkylineRKR
Member
Comparing whatever FFXVI has shat out in terms of combat mechanics is an insult to DMC. If you happen to have Plus (Extra), you can try out V Special. In DMC you can do endless combinations with your loadout by switching weapons mid combo. And the basic combo system is superior too because you have different combos on your sword. You can press attack in succession, but you can also delay a hit somewhere which makes a different kind of move or combo finisher come out. Especially with Vergil the game is insane, the things you can do are amazing as fuck. If you play varied, don't get hit the style meter goes up and your speed actually improves as well as the music. You get into the zone so to speak. It feels satisfying.
This is ofcourse very tough to do, but its possible. And the game only takes like 12-15 hours to beat, without stupid fetch quests inbetween.
Fbh
Member
A bit late to this but beat it yesterday.
It's a mixed bag of a game.
I really enjoyed my time with it and ultimately it's still my favourite mainline FF since at least X. But at the same time it's flawed in many ways and if I had to give an impartial review this is like a 7
Some quick final thoughts:
Story:
+ It's not perfect but I really enjoyed the story and characters, not just the plot itself but the actual writing and dialogue was some of the best in the franchise . I think the process they did of translating the scrip first and doing all the motion capture in English really pays off. While the writing isn't perfect, it's a step up from the awkward anime dialogue in most modern JRPG's.
+ Clive was great, I've seen some people complain that he has no personality but I disagree. Dude is very stoic but that doesn't mean he has no personality.
- I was a bit disappointed that the more political and human focus of the first half gets side-lined for another "save the world from the evil god" plot we've done 100 times before. Though I guess this being FF I should have seen it coming
- The one character I think they could have done better was Joshua. His plot felt weirdly underdeveloped, during the first half it seems like he is on this big parallel quest but then it basically just turns out he was "investigating" and doesn't know a whole lot more than Clive, also he stayed away from Clive "just because" and the whole trapping Ultima in his chest bit never had much story relevance. I also think the game could have used some more scenes of him and Clive catching up and talking about the years they spent apart
Combat:
+ Despite the lack of challenge the combat was pretty fun, the bosses in particular had fun attack patterns and the combat itself is a decent mix of visual spectacle and flashy attacks while still feeling that you are in control.
+ Also the spectacle of the boss battles was awesome, I missed this sort of over the top epic fights that you don't see too often anymore (outside maybe of Platinum games). BUT
- The game is waaaaaay too easy, I really don't understand why there isn't hard mode from the beginning. Early on I decided to not use potions during combat to increase the challenge a bit, and even with that the game was extremely easy, I died maybe 3 times during the main story and some 5-6 additional times fighting the S tier hunting board targets.
Music:
+Great, nothing to complain here. I also liked how it used the main FF theme in some moments
RPG mechanics:
- I feel like this is where it falters the most.
- There's almost no incentive to explore as there's generally nothing to find. You never run into a cool optional dungeon, or an interesting sidequest and there's not even any useful items or loot to find as you mostly just get money which is useless, or crafting materials that you already have in the hundreds with nothing to use them on.
-The dungeons are just a linear walk from one combat arena to the next, again with almost nothing to find.
- The gear progression is waaay too basic. All the crafting is just a linear progression of new swords and defensive items which are better than the previous ones in every way. 90% of the accessories just make a specific ability slightly stronger or faster to recharge.
- You constantly get money from quests but there's nothing to buy aside from a few accessories and music for the home base. I finished the game with over 500.000 in gold
- For two third of the game the sidequests are terrible, the lowest effort "go here and get this and/or kill these basic enemies" I've seen in a while. Towards the end they actually get exponentially better, though even then I wish there was more to it (new locations, bosses, cool rewards, etc). Was expecting more from them, specially since The Last Remnant (same director) had some really good ones that actually took you to entirely optional cities or gave you powerful new abilities (some strong summons)
Visuals:
+ The main A tier cutscenes look fantastic with great textures, materials, lighting and animations
- The rest of the game looks nice, but I don't think the visuals here are worth the poor performance and low base resolution. Locations are rather small, there's no interesting physics or dense crowds (in fact we are still doing this thing where an "army" attacks and it's like 20 dudes) or giant monsters roaming about. The big fights look cool but nothing really beyond what we got in games like God of War 3 (just with newer graphics, better lighting, etc). This really felt like a game that could have been made on a Ps3 (with much simpler graphics of course).
It's a mixed bag of a game.
I really enjoyed my time with it and ultimately it's still my favourite mainline FF since at least X. But at the same time it's flawed in many ways and if I had to give an impartial review this is like a 7
Some quick final thoughts:
Story:
+ It's not perfect but I really enjoyed the story and characters, not just the plot itself but the actual writing and dialogue was some of the best in the franchise . I think the process they did of translating the scrip first and doing all the motion capture in English really pays off. While the writing isn't perfect, it's a step up from the awkward anime dialogue in most modern JRPG's.
+ Clive was great, I've seen some people complain that he has no personality but I disagree. Dude is very stoic but that doesn't mean he has no personality.
- I was a bit disappointed that the more political and human focus of the first half gets side-lined for another "save the world from the evil god" plot we've done 100 times before. Though I guess this being FF I should have seen it coming
- The one character I think they could have done better was Joshua. His plot felt weirdly underdeveloped, during the first half it seems like he is on this big parallel quest but then it basically just turns out he was "investigating" and doesn't know a whole lot more than Clive, also he stayed away from Clive "just because" and the whole trapping Ultima in his chest bit never had much story relevance. I also think the game could have used some more scenes of him and Clive catching up and talking about the years they spent apart
Combat:
+ Despite the lack of challenge the combat was pretty fun, the bosses in particular had fun attack patterns and the combat itself is a decent mix of visual spectacle and flashy attacks while still feeling that you are in control.
+ Also the spectacle of the boss battles was awesome, I missed this sort of over the top epic fights that you don't see too often anymore (outside maybe of Platinum games). BUT
- The game is waaaaaay too easy, I really don't understand why there isn't hard mode from the beginning. Early on I decided to not use potions during combat to increase the challenge a bit, and even with that the game was extremely easy, I died maybe 3 times during the main story and some 5-6 additional times fighting the S tier hunting board targets.
Music:
+Great, nothing to complain here. I also liked how it used the main FF theme in some moments
RPG mechanics:
- I feel like this is where it falters the most.
- There's almost no incentive to explore as there's generally nothing to find. You never run into a cool optional dungeon, or an interesting sidequest and there's not even any useful items or loot to find as you mostly just get money which is useless, or crafting materials that you already have in the hundreds with nothing to use them on.
-The dungeons are just a linear walk from one combat arena to the next, again with almost nothing to find.
- The gear progression is waaay too basic. All the crafting is just a linear progression of new swords and defensive items which are better than the previous ones in every way. 90% of the accessories just make a specific ability slightly stronger or faster to recharge.
- You constantly get money from quests but there's nothing to buy aside from a few accessories and music for the home base. I finished the game with over 500.000 in gold
- For two third of the game the sidequests are terrible, the lowest effort "go here and get this and/or kill these basic enemies" I've seen in a while. Towards the end they actually get exponentially better, though even then I wish there was more to it (new locations, bosses, cool rewards, etc). Was expecting more from them, specially since The Last Remnant (same director) had some really good ones that actually took you to entirely optional cities or gave you powerful new abilities (some strong summons)
Visuals:
+ The main A tier cutscenes look fantastic with great textures, materials, lighting and animations
- The rest of the game looks nice, but I don't think the visuals here are worth the poor performance and low base resolution. Locations are rather small, there's no interesting physics or dense crowds (in fact we are still doing this thing where an "army" attacks and it's like 20 dudes) or giant monsters roaming about. The big fights look cool but nothing really beyond what we got in games like God of War 3 (just with newer graphics, better lighting, etc). This really felt like a game that could have been made on a Ps3 (with much simpler graphics of course).
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Minsc
Gold Member
That's a pretty fair write up, I put MUCH more weight in to the missing systems, so my score would be lower (to me it feels like there's no depth in the game at all). You are also missing party member control, there's very little banter, Jill is barely even a blip on the radar (which is missing as well, no radar) in most missions, literally she doesn't say a peep for 90% of the time she's alongside you.
No mini-games really, no puzzles to solve, the people feel like mannequins in almost all dialogs, poor camera work especially compared to FFVIIR which felt a lot more dynamic - frequently you'd pan to camera angles behind fans, etc.
A lot of youtube reviews I'm seeing now are starting to comment about how depressing and joyless the story/game world is. It's missing the whimsical elements the other games a long running staple of FF series. Like the world of Valesthia or however you spell it is just not a fun world to escape too, it's full of depressing people, slavery, and everything that occurs is generally super serious too.
No mini-games really, no puzzles to solve, the people feel like mannequins in almost all dialogs, poor camera work especially compared to FFVIIR which felt a lot more dynamic - frequently you'd pan to camera angles behind fans, etc.
A lot of youtube reviews I'm seeing now are starting to comment about how depressing and joyless the story/game world is. It's missing the whimsical elements the other games a long running staple of FF series. Like the world of Valesthia or however you spell it is just not a fun world to escape too, it's full of depressing people, slavery, and everything that occurs is generally super serious too.
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Fbh
Member
Fair enough.
Though personally I did like the depressing and serious tone. It actually felt refreshing not having constant jokes and quips, not to mention breaking away from the colorful anime art style most other JRPG's use these days. It's not a tone I want to stick around for every FF, but if I liked it here and I hope we get more games like this every now and then.
As for the rest. IMO the main issue with Square is that even 15+ years later they still seem to struggle to make HD games. I don't know if it's issues with management, internal systems, engines, budget or simply skill, but it's like they are simply unable to make more than 20-25 hours of quality content, but they still want to make big RPGs so they have to fill them with what feels like low quality, low effort filler. They have some of the most inconsistent quality in the industry not between their games but WITHIN them, where most games have a somewhat consistent quality most Square games feel like a mix of amazing 9/10 content with terrible 3/10 content.
IMO FFXVI could have been easily turned into an amazing 9/10 experience if they simply made it a 20-25 hours action adventure game instead of a 40+ hours RPG.
ByWatterson
Member
FFXVI when the Starfield reviews drop:
Coherenthy
Member
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Coherenthy
Member
2 installments of DLCs according to Yoshi-P.
PC version officially in deveplopment too.
PC version officially in deveplopment too.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
The dungeons and optional areas were a huge miss. I googled the hunts because I thought there would be something interesting like a super boss or Omega. I was disappointed to see what they had. I finished it and uninstalled it. It’s one of my least favorite mainline games. I had more fun with XVI than XIII, but that’s about it. There was some mystery to the extra bosses and places to go in the old games. This one was like one big MMO town with MMO tags on their heads.
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