Final Fantasy

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

So far it's mostly been a tutorial with some cinematics... but they're good. The tone is definitely darker than anything FF has done before, even if I'm really still at the point where I'm learning how to play. The combat feels great though. I think this is a great idea... let you go through the tutorial and intro-story stuff as a demo, and then let you pick up from there when it releases a week later.

I actually think that's brilliant. It lets me really just pace out the tutorial / story stuff, what's I guess five hours, at the speed I want, without going "can we please get to the actual game already?" which is something that always nags on me when I'm starting a long RPG. So far I'm really enjoying everything about it.

Totally agree with the way they introduced the demo. Just played the first hour, and everything is already exceeding my expectations. The visuals are amazing, and I got instantly giddy when you're running on the rocks, and see Shiva fighting in the background, with the Final Fantasy music queuing in, during that battle scene. The game has this feeling of dread, that throws you into the investment with these characters, and it is verrry regal, which is a good thing.

What I find the most alluring, are the dominants, and putting the summons up front, and center. The way they tie into the story, along with affecting the entire world of Valisthea, instantly make the stakes high. There is also this light, hue over the graphics that give it this cinematic look, and I am liking how that is turning out, so far. Also, the pixel art sprites for the party members, in the menu is a great little touch.

[Wretchedest]

Demo waaaay exceeded my expectations. The gameplay was incredible, the plot was unexpectedly coherent and character driven, perhaps aided by the pause button plot wiki, but I liked that feature.

I will say the final fantasy team desperately has to do something about their depictions of women, which has been an *increasing* problem for almost a decade now. A pretty big blemish on a positive experience.

[Kodiak33]

Jinsai are you getting any commonalities with FF14? I know you love that game.

It seems Platinum Games also helped with developing 16, which is awesome.

[Wretchedest]

Jinsai are you getting any commonalities with FF14? I know you love that game.

It seems Platinum Games also helped with developing 16, which is awesome.

I can't speak for Jinsai, but I've played quite a bit of ff14 and have to say it's very, very different.

[Kodiak33]

Started this last night and man, this is a really polished experience. Very impressive so far, but I haven't got into the actual gameplay yet. I do love the tone.

[Jinsai]

FF14 is a really different game, but I'm not deep enough in 16 to really feel out how it works. One of the things about FF14 is that it's this immense experience. You can play it for like 4 hours straight and just spend time micromanaging and tabbing in and out of battles. The pacing here is a completely different thing, especially since 14 is about as "open world" as it gets, and this is very much the opposite, at least so far. And that's not a bad thing.

But I will say there's promising storytelling similarities.

[Jon]

Final Fantasy XVI is its own game, but informed by every release before it. Rather than taking the "fan service" and "open world" route that most MMOs succumb to, this is another Final Fantasy "cinematic-like" experience, through and through.

Any "open world" feels more akin to X-2 than it does to, say, XIV.

[Jinsai]

I'm glad it's not "open world." At least not from the start. I like linearity. If it breaks up and becomes bigger as it goes along, that's good too.

A lot of people criticized XIII for being "too linear," but if you actually played it for about 30 hours, the game blew up and became kind of open world towards the conclusion w/ Pulse. I thought that was cool.

But this title is, from the start, doing it all right.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Creative Business Unit has been pretty vocal about FFXVI not being an open-world game. Naoki Yoshida explains it here, as to why they chose not to take that direction, and I am all for it. Open world has grown stale for me, as of recent.

[Kodiak33]

Finished this last night, I LOVED it. I'm going to wait awhile due to Zelda and D4 though.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Final Fantasy XVI was supposed to be 2 discs, but they figured out how to put it on just one, six months before release. Cool, little tidbit.

There will be a pre-release update, at 300MB, released on June 20th. Optimization performance, and text files. Nice that it is such a small patch.

[Jinsai]

this game is fucking incredible.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

this game is fucking incredible.

I haven't had any time to dive into it, yet. Working a tad extra this week so I have some substantial time to get a feel for it again, and spend some time in the world. What is your favorite aspect about it, so far?

[leftshoe18]

I started playing Final Fantasy 15 and these first couple of hours have been very slow. I'm hoping it picks up a bit soon.

[Wretchedest]

It has its moments, but even outside of the now typical sexism for the franchise it's *just so dumb.* It's such a dumbly written game. It's awkwardly paced, it's nonsensical, and the way it's written and directed undermine would could be some interesting or beats and concepts. It's game of thrones, but each house has their mascot as a huge ass summon, it's a cool concept, but I can't escape the nagging feeling that for the last 10 years final fantasy has been written by 7th graders.

One thing it does bring from FFXIV is menial, frustrating quest structures that involve more busy work than there usually is in a single player game.

[Jinsai]

I'm a decent way in and I'm starting to fear that the story is dissolving into incoherent bullshit...

[Kodiak33]

I'm a decent way in and I'm starting to fear that the story is dissolving into incoherent bullshit...

Any updates? lol

Bought a copy from eBay, looking forward to playing it.

[Jinsai]

Any updates? lol

Bought a copy from eBay, looking forward to playing it.

I'm pretty sure I'm near the end of the game. I've been kinda bed-ridden lately, so it's been something for me to just zone out and play, and I love it. It gets really addictive in a subversive way. I'm not a fan of the quick time events, but those giant Eikon fights are badass. I'd also say it's a little disappointing regarding upgrading equipment/crafting. It just seems overly simplistic, almost unnecessary in some ways. You really rarely change up your weapon, and to craft it you generally find that you already have all the stuff you need if you've been doing side missions and hunt marks. It gets a little hard for me to separate it from how huge FF14 is by comparison, but you have to remember it's a completely different thing.

I've come around to liking the plot, but it requires a little bit of an investment that can be kind of tedious. Put simply, you'll be better off in general if you just look at a map online and see how the world is divided up. Otherwise, you're going to spend yourself watching some cutscenes and having NO fucking idea what they're talking about. In my opinion, the political intrigue "Game of Thrones" angle isn't executed properly. It's convoluted, and largely it's actually ancillary to the larger plot points which are clearly set up and generally more compelling... but you're going to want to be able to follow along, because these cutscenes are constant and frequently VERY long. Apparently there's over 11 hours of cut scenes.

All faults aside, it's my game of the year so far.

EDIT: Actually, if anyone wants it, I could put together a cliff's notes thing... something I wished I had when I started.
This might help...

There's two main continents; The eastern continent of Ash, and the western Storm, separated by the sea. When people talk about "The Twins" they're talking about these two continents. In addition, further west is a cluster of islands called The Iron Kingdom. There's only one kingdom in the eastern Ash continent, and it's called Waloed. In the Storm continent there's Sanbreque in the north, Dahlmekian Republic in the south (when people talk about Republicans or The Republic, they're talking about this), and Rosaria in the west, which is where Clive is from (and when people talk about The Duchy, they're talking about this place).

This gets unnecessarily more complicated, but just knowing that basic layout really helps. It also helps to know basically what each region is all about. This page helps. https://frontiernav.net/explore/fina...9658%2175_9375

[Kodiak33]

I'm pretty sure I'm near the end of the game. I've been kinda bed-ridden lately, so it's been something for me to just zone out and play, and I love it. It gets really addictive in a subversive way. I'm not a fan of the quick time events, but those giant Eikon fights are badass. I'd also say it's a little disappointing regarding upgrading equipment/crafting. It just seems overly simplistic, almost unnecessary in some ways. You really rarely change up your weapon, and to craft it you generally find that you already have all the stuff you need if you've been doing side missions and hunt marks. It gets a little hard for me to separate it from how huge FF14 is by comparison, but you have to remember it's a completely different thing.

I've come around to liking the plot, but it requires a little bit of an investment that can be kind of tedious. Put simply, you'll be better off in general if you just look at a map online and see how the world is divided up. Otherwise, you're going to spend yourself watching some cutscenes and having NO fucking idea what they're talking about. In my opinion, the political intrigue "Game of Thrones" angle isn't executed properly. It's convoluted, and largely it's actually ancillary to the larger plot points which are clearly set up and generally more compelling... but you're going to want to be able to follow along, because these cutscenes are constant and frequently VERY long. Apparently there's over 11 hours of cut scenes.

All faults aside, it's my game of the year so far.

EDIT: Actually, if anyone wants it, I could put together a cliff's notes thing... something I wished I had when I started.
This might help...

There's two main continents; The eastern continent of Ash, and the western Storm, separated by the sea. When people talk about "The Twins" they're talking about these two continents. In addition, further west is a cluster of islands called The Iron Kingdom. There's only one kingdom in the eastern Ash continent, and it's called Waloed. In the Storm continent there's Sanbreque in the north, Dahlmekian Republic in the south (when people talk about Republicans or The Republic, they're talking about this), and Rosaria in the west, which is where Clive is from (and when people talk about The Duchy, they're talking about this place).

This gets unnecessarily more complicated, but just knowing that basic layout really helps. It also helps to know basically what each region is all about. This page helps. https://frontiernav.net/explore/fina...9658%2175_9375

Thank you for the time to write this up, hope you feel better soon.

One thing I did like from the demo was the Active Time Lore (maybe wrong name) that let you see in real time references to where you are etc.

[Jinsai]

yeah, the active time lore thing comes in handy, but it falls short sometimes, when you're thinking things like "ok, wait, who the hell is this person again?" and the only info it has to give you is background on the city you're in. Still, better than nothing.

Another thing to keep in mind when you're starting off is that you need to take the training wheels off. The game comes in super easy mode, to placate the people who didn't want an action game. So there's these rings that it auto-equips that auto dodge every attack for you, do combos for you, and all that. Unless you want the game to play itself, you should take those off. I've seen all these people online complaining that the game is too easy, and that they didn't die once playing through it.

Uh, yeah sure. I've beaten all the Dark Souls games, and there's parts in this that rival some tough Dark Souls bosses... as long as you're not wearing these rings that ensure the boss will never hit you... smh

EDIT: There's one thing I either must have missed or just hasn't been explained, but where did the mothercrystals come from?

EDIT EDIT: when people talk about "Royalists" they're referring to the royalty of Waloed, presumably appointees and troops of Spoiler: Barnabas/Odin
Also, when people are talking about "The Empire," They're talking about Sanbreque

[Jinsai]

ok, well I just finished it. Personally, I loved it, and I'm looking forward to a speed playthrough on new game +, but there's some things that I felt were lacking.

Spoiler: The combat doesn't truly evolve. Yes, you get new Eikon abilities, but the central core combo system (which is relatively simple) doesn't really develop in any meaningful way.

The cheat rings really do make the game too easy... and I'll admit, I leaned on the one that slows down time so you can last-second dodge for the final boss, who is even then somewhat difficult. People online are calling the game too easy... it is actually really goddamn hard if you don't use those rings... but they don't give you any incentive to not "cheat," so you probably will at some point, and it's... I dunno, it's too much.

On the "too much" note, there's too much use of the word "fuck." It's like they were excited to be able to get away with it in a Final Fantasy game, so the characters are constantly saying "fuck!" Like, you get hit hard in a battle and your life goes into the red; "fuuuuuuck!" It's even laughable when it's employed in some cut scenes. We get it, it's rated M.

I see a lot of people complaining about the linearity, and yeah, it might be a little too linear, but it just makes the overall feel more arcade-like, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on what you want, but I could have used a little more exploration and at least some more branching pathways.

Enemy variety is seriously disappointing. It feels like every enemy is a scorpion or a plant or a zombie. One of the things I love about the Final Fantasy series is the huge bestiary of enemies with different designs. That's not really happening here.

I mentioned this before, but the crafting almost seems unnecessary. I think it's a good thing to have, and they could have developed it more, but as it is right now, it is more like "well, you've reached this point in the story, go upgrade your gear with the stuff you've picked up along the way." There's no adventuring for rare items really, and there's all sorts of ways they could have expanded the game with a deeper crafting system. On that note, the RPG progression system is laughable. You basically unlock all the abilities in the beginning (why even bother making us do this), then you spend all your points basically improving your Eikon abilities in simplistic ways that have no options.

The story is actually pretty damn good, but it's set up in a confusing way. They overcomplicate some things, and don't explain some aspects enough. I'm playing through the intro segment again right now, and it's amazing how different it is when you know what the hell is going on... which is something you figure out over the course of the game. If the game started with a dramatic scrolling text explanation... like the beginning of the movie Blade Runner; explaining what Replicants are, etc. If this game had started with some text explaining what a dominant is, and the nature of the conflict between Dhalmekia and the Iron Islands, what a mothercrystal is, and what a branded/bearer is, everything would have been much easier to piece together from the start.

There's some storyline hits that I felt didn't reach a satisfying conclusion, but I can't really go into those without spoiling things. I'll just say that they develop characters and then just kind of abandon their purpose in the story. I guess that's how life works in a way, but not a structured narrative. You invest yourself in characters, they have to serve a purpose.

Then there's the cutscenes. This is something FF14 is guilty of too, so I guess Yoshi P really gets into telling stories this way... but if you thought the Metal Gear games were long winded, get ready for next level dramatic chattiness. Simple points that could be conveyed quickly are dragged out unnecessarily. There's over 11 hours of cutscenes in this game. That's a bit much. I personally prefer a story told through a narrative that intrudes into the gameplay, with occasional short cinemas. It may work in a game like FF14, but that's because you play that game for over a thousand hours. My completionist playthrough of this was about 50 to 60 hours or so.

But there's a lot to love here. The characters are fleshed out in detail and feel authentic. The central villains especially are unique to each other and are fascinating in their own respects. The combat may be simple but it's satisfying, and the difficulty does ramp steadily up into a good challenge by the end game. It feels like a good length for a JRPG, and by the time you finish it you feel like you've gone through something epic and satisfying, and again, while I might have problems with how the narrative is set up and executed, the world building is fantastic and the story is the best main entry since FF7.

[Kodiak33]

Jinsai, what was your hour count?

[Jinsai]

Jinsai, what was your hour count?

I'll have no idea because I've let the system idle... so it says I've been playing for 110 hours, but if I had to guess I'd say it took me about 65 hours to do everything.
Still, that goddamn "Here Be Rosfields" trophy can fuuuuuuuuck off. I'm pretty sure it's glitched for some people. I have scoured every inch of the map and I see nothing that I haven't been to.

[Kodiak33]

I'll have no idea because I've let the system idle... so it says I've been playing for 110 hours, but if I had to guess I'd say it took me about 65 hours to do everything.
Still, that goddamn "Here Be Rosfields" trophy can fuuuuuuuuck off. I'm pretty sure it's glitched for some people. I have scoured every inch of the map and I see nothing that I haven't been to.

lol

Did you do a ton of sidequests? It sounds like you did. I mostly just go through the story and do sidequests if they're interesting or have good items.

[Jinsai]

lol

Did you do a ton of sidequests? It sounds like you did. I mostly just go through the story and do sidequests if they're interesting or have good items.

I did all the side quests. If you want to only do the important ones, they’re the ones with a “+” symbol. Those unlock power ups etc

[Kodiak33]

I did all the side quests. If you want to only do the important ones, they’re the ones with a “+” symbol. Those unlock power ups etc

Thank you! Using that to work with...

This game has some amazing highs and some lows (but nothing TOO low). The hand-holding is getting on my nerves for sure.

[Kodiak33]

Beat FF16, great story, fun, lots of missed opportunities. That's my review

[Jinsai]

Beat FF16, great story, fun, lots of missed opportunities. That's my review

Yeah, there's a lot of things I feel could have obviously been better, but I enjoyed it and I thought it did a sufficient job of living up to expectations. Just the RPG aspects were really sorely missing and the combat was... it was ok

[Kodiak33]

Yeah, there's a lot of things I feel could have obviously been better, but I enjoyed it and I thought it did a sufficient job of living up to expectations. Just the RPG aspects were really sorely missing and the combat was... it was ok

Adding more equipment options, party switching, pacing issues, combat versatility would've helped so much. I also really enjoyed it, but I don't see myself playing through it again.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

It's beautiful.