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Excellence Meets Imperfection: Final Fantasy 16 Review
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2023
- Despite it's varied & deep flaws, Final Fantasy XVI manages to be one of the best Final Fantasy games in the past 20 years.
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#ff16 #finalfantasyxvi #finalfantasy16
For the combat, I would have preffered Clive learn new melee combos on top of Eikonic abilities to spice it up.
That would have been rly good. I also think that the Ultimates for each Eikon are pretty boring and should be reworked
I kept leaving pauses in my square combo out of habit expecting new combos to play out XD
Might be controversial but I was hoping the eikons each had their own combo sets and fighting styles
Like make titan give you slower heavier tanks that stun and send foes flying
Or Garuda makes a beast at aerial combos having a 5 hit combo or something
Or ramuh let’s you do magic chain attacks
I would’ve preferred each eikon having its own melee combos…. Like with titan you can punch…. They did it with Odin and his sword… but Clive already uses a sword 😭
@@OfficialDjTalksickthis is exactly what I wished the game was…
I really adore this game, but one major letdown for me was that no city is explorable except for when it's a dungeon and gets destroyed. I really wished I could explore Oriflamme and many of the other places you see in cutscenes. Visit some shops, do side quests etc. Actually get a connection with a city before it gets destroyed.
Yeah indeed, man even FF14 has cities in each expansion.. And this world has some of the coolest cities one could want.. why not explore them 😂
Hopefully we get to do that in DLC but I agree 100% that’s my only gripe tbh
Same sentiment. I really wanted to explore Oriflamme and Twinside (Crystalline Dominion, hopefully in the DLC or XVI-2? But maybe we’re headed to the Outer Continents next.
@@neobluemage Still baffled me they didn't do that. The game feels a bit lacking because of it. Its still an amazing game. But it didn't each that Witcher 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2 levels of scope because of that. But yeah one can hope..
cries in lost wing
the delivering food side quest at the beginning has a purpose Clive is a stranger he doesn't know anything about Cid or his goals. but delivering food to bearers lets him get to know what their life is like and what a place like Cid's hideaway means to them.
Having to search some wood to a carpenter litterally on the room few step away however, now that was the early dumb sidequest that have me very worried.
These should have been mini games. Would have accomplished the same story beat but more engaging for the player. Have Clive cook the food and chop the wood.
I think my biggest issue with the game is the pacing. Things really slow down after every Eikon battle, which while I do think was necessary, it takes just a little too long for things to pick back up again. People say Final Fantasy 7 Remake had pacing issues and I disagreed as I feel remake just has really bad level design that get reused, making the slow parts really feel SLOW, when in actuality, most of those parts can be blasted through in like 15-20 minutes. 16 's slow parts feel much more drawn out. Other than that, there are very few issues I have with the game that can't be fixed with a few patches. When compared to the recent entries, 16 came out pretty quickly, hopefully 17 will be here soon. Much love brother!
Main story itself feels kinda good paced, its the side quests which slows it down unnecessary when we have to go and pick some apples and other dumb stuff.
@@jannemakela8107I loved most of the side quests, because there's really really good stuff there. But... The biggest example for me was the HUGE amount of amazing side quests all right before the final dungeon. It's like a massive press on the breaks to an otherwise good run.
I was annoyed with some pacing things before, but had managed to not focus on it too much. However, all that went to hell after i defeated Titan and then was immediately sent to gather fuckin star dust right after. The game gets in its own way a lot by building up the set pieces so much only to have things like this happen afterwards. The whole time with the dust I was in disbelief that of all the people in the hideaway, including the companion you were allowed to bring, could’ve done that because Clive has special skills and it was just so inefficient to have him be the one to do that. It seems stupid but it killed my suspension of disbelief and it made me feel like the devs disrespected my time or something. Send the people who can’t kill gods to gather dirt, Mid.
The structure of the story progression even of the sidequest is similar to FF14
It seems u didnt play ff14, for me as personal review its the best structure build up for me
@@DE123456123456 I have 1000+ hours in 14 and I feel every expansion had parts that felt real slow, even with Shadowbringers. Specifically the part in Ahm Areng right before Malika's Well was a really slowdown in an otherwise brilliantly paced story. Another real let down in 16 is how a lot of the locations were just FF14 dungeons instead of explorable zones. I understand it would be impractical to make places like Oriflamme and the Crystaline Dominion into fully explorable cities but IDK. I remember back in 2020 when they dropped the FF16 website and seeing that art for the Crystaline Dominion and thinking to myself 'wow I'm actually going to get to explore that.' It made me a little sad that it was a 30 min dungeon with very little exploration. I know I'm kind of doomposting, but I really do love FF16, they best single player FF in over a decade imo.
Nice review!
Really hoping Ben Starr gets some award nominations/wins his way for his voice performance as Clive Rosfield. And as you say the bar is set pretty high because of such performance.
Is the game perfect? Nah.
But god damn did it make me ugly cry when I finally beat it. I felt connected to the characters and world on level that I feel is rarely seen in video games.
I haven't seen one stream who at least didn't tear up at the ending. I watched someone else play the ending and I teared up again :D.
Agreed 100%
I felt way more connected to Clive and company than I have with a FF cast in over 20 years. I just wanted to see Clive and Jill live happily ever after. Even in the beginning, I really liked teen Clive and kid Joshua and I was sad when the story played out the way I was pretty sure it would since I saw that first trailer.
no it was perfect.
This! I loved some of the characters so much, to see the ending of their story just gave me so many feelings. Even if the ending was positive. The writing of characters was really good.
The fact that CBU3 is the first division in Square Enix to make a totally functional and good game engine is incredible.
To be fair, the engine they used is the Luminous Engine. Heavily modified, but still the Luminous Engine nonetheless. But I'm not sure if Square will continue to use it (in games other than FF14) or if they will move to UE for everything from now on.
@@fattiger6957 You mean crystal tools? Only luminous studio used the luminous engine.
>totally funcitonal and good game engine
This shit chugs in performance mode though.
@fattiger6957 it's a different engine for FF16
@@Kingdom85014 uses the base of Luminous but is heavily modified
I think they made an update to the potion thing. At least for me, if you die in a free roaming area you no longer get your potions restocked.
doesn't apply to most story fights and never to the long dungeon sections that are part of arcade mode, but you've never had potions restocked during free-roam parts.
The only time you'd ever need them though is for S-rank marks.
@@deedoubs They were restocked during free roam before as you could get endless free potions to sell to make tons of money. Now that exploit is gone. I never used it for that myself. I just wanted to restock my potions before the next part of the drake's fang quest and it didn't restock.
Same for me, the restock thing stopped for me after the update or during my ng+ FF mode
The problem for me is that is really hard to die…
@@TeoS69why are you obsessed with dying? Seek help my friend
FFVII remake still has a superior combat system, blends turn based and action almost perfectly. I don't understand why enemy weakness werent added to combat, if I change my eikon to Ramuh or Shiva why doesn't my elemental attack with my sword become lighting and ice, instead it stays fire regardless of what eikon is selected, this would have added more strategy to combat. There was also a bit too much copy and pasting in the enemy variety, no cactuars, no tonberrys... Just alot of colour change enemies
Very good points.
If ff7 have some kind of turn base I'm not buying it. I don't have the patience for that
Agreed for sure! I actually expected the sword to be imbued with the corresponding eikon element. I just wish they’d had weakness and resistances, status effects etc. it felt so wrong to be attacking a bomb with fire magic lol that’s years of conditioning out the window! Haha
@@mhiggs8001
This is true. Not sure why they let that simple aspect go. It seems it would be easy to implement.
Ff16 was still a great game imo. I enjoy both turn based and action games. Im looking forward to BG3.
The problem is that not everyone wants to play something turn based. I never play them, aside from maybe chess.
If FFXVI had a sort of 'materia' system (some kind of collectible and selectable mcguffin that tangibly affected gameplay beyond simply skill power/cooldown) and it hid those mcguffins behind exploration chests and sidequests, the game would have been perfect.
It almost feels like SE was trying to prove a point about story and put doubts to rest. The game was completely laid out for the player to get dragged into a story. The journey of characters and their development was outstanding. The story itself was very good with decent surprises. While it didn't have the mind-blowing twists that some of the titles before it had, the connection to the world and the characters was firmly established. I didn't miss a single side quest. I can't say this is my favorite FF, but it's up there now, and I'm very happy with what I bought lol. I got the great journey I wanted with context, and the exact ending I wanted from a story with a guy goes on an epic grand adventure across the countryside wielding awesome powers. A beautiful journey but it cannot end well.
Me too. I need dlc dose.
I've really enjoyed my time with FFXVI. Engaging story with a lot of heart and an entertaining, if sometimes repetitive, combat system.
They're hard to pin down, but I think my main issues with the game come down to two things. One, the lack of good rewards --- not only from sidequests, but stuff that you can make and buy. I feel like crafting system was pretty barebones, and only a handful of sidequests gave me any useful upgrades. I would have liked a bit more depth there.
The other thing for me is the simple fact that the plot is so heavily structured around Clive being this chosen one character. I don't mind having a single main protagonist, but I think the fact that he HAS to be the center of everything because he's basically the most important character in the universe takes away from other characters I would have liked to spend more time with and learn more about. Dion is really the only major character in the game who seems to exist on his own wavelength. Everyone else has to serve Clive in some way, and it doesn't always feel authentic to me. Supporting characters get sidelined left and right, even when the reason is contrived or in some cases, non-existent. I also have some issues with the villains, but I won't go into that here, since I could write an essay about it, lol.
The game is still enjoyable though, and I consider it a worthy entry in the FF series. I think for such an ambitious game, it goes far and packs a pretty big emotional punch at times.
The only thing I didn't like was the dungeon design in this game and also how there were no optional dungeons. Even tho the story in FF15 was lacking, the dungeons were designed very good
I am slightly mind boggled by anyone describing XV's dungeons as "very good". One of them (or maybe like three of them?) is a series of cavernous dark tunnels with cockatrices in its chambers. Some had interesting ambiance and created a sense of wonder, sure, but so did the fishing. The worst dungeons in XV are incredibly abysmal meaningless grinds.
If XVI's optional dungeons were to be an iteration on XV's, we should be happy they wasted zero resources on them. Fishing would have priority over that.
@@kimlee6643better than a game with zero dungeons and the same 8 enemies reskinned the entire runtime. 15 was ass, but 16 is the shit inside that ass
@@Eversoul12 I dunno what to say to that, actually. Though when distinct people state that XVI would've been a better 20h action game than a 45h "RPG", you know something's up.
@kimlee6643 I agree that I would've like to see more side content like fishing or chocobo racing. But concerning dungeons, what I meant was that I didn't like how they were nothing more than long hallways. It's not surprising that they were designed that way since the team that made FF16 also made FF14 and the dungeons in that game are also just long hallways. I just liked how in FF15 that there were alternating paths that made it feel like a proper dungeon.
Haven’t obsessed over a game as much since GOW PS4/Ragnarok. It recaptured my slumbering passion for the franchise and while i do have critiques they are genuinely good spirited constructive aspects that can be easily fixed and expanded on as it is right now rather than a complete overhaul from the ground up with rewriting and what if’s. The best way I can articulate my feelings is that It’s everything we wanted and needed….we just need MORE 🤤
Finally someone that acknowledges the flaws, and at the end of the day acknowledges that it doesn't fu&king matter, the game is still an all timer. Absolutely in love with all aspects of this beautiful masterpiece.
I haven’t been able to find the right words to describe my experience with this game. Somehow, you’ve managed to describe it perfectly. Thank you.
I read the title and immediatley liked it. Yep. Excellence meets Imperfection.
Lol imagine calling this turd excellence!! Hahahahahaha smh for you fanboys
I've still not seen anyone mention the oversight not allowing wade and Joshua to interact later on >
In concern with Gil, i think the only reason to spend it is to collect Orcastration Rolls, if you care about that. Otherwise, I also think the dark themes and setting of the game makes the light hearted moments shine brighter.
Yeah, not much to spend money on in this game. Especially since the best gear is almost always gotten through crafting. Pretty much all I spent gil on was music and potions.
I didn’t even buy the orchestral things, I don’t do that in XIV either. I ended my game with around 250k. I ended up buying things just to justify having Gil at all. Item economy, or lack there of, was a massive let down for me in this game.
A game is the result of its development team, so I'm glad this game had CBU3 at the helm, because I know they don't have the ego to avoid constructive criticism. For a team that had near 0 experience making a single-player title, the end result was plenty comendable. And the best part is that whatever they do next is 100% garanteed to be of a higher level.
Very fair review touching the flaws and praise alike. It's nice to see something that's not hyperbole. A lot of the problems this game has are the same as the FF14 ones funny enough. I hope this translates to feedback used on both but who knows? FF always seems to course correct massively when it comes to fan reaction.
The game is fantastic. Hope 17 is released by the end of the generation.
Would be nice, but I doubt it. If this gen is about as long as usual, PS6 will come out around 2027. I can't imagine Square being able to make a FF game in 4 years, even if they use Yoshi-P's super efficient team again.
@@fattiger6957 They would have had to already start on it. I wouldn't be surprised if XVII is in pre-production, considering they started pre-production for XVI before the release of XV. My only thing is who at Square do they have to make it right now? Division 1 is tied up with 7R, Division 2 just got cannibalized because Luminous just imploded, and Division 3 just released XVI and are always working on XIV. What team would be making it?
17 in at least 5 years.
@@KH-nk8ry bout the time it takes for someone to finish Middle School and High School
I think we won't get 17 for a long while, 9 Remake, 7Rebirth and X remake should be the Focus now with some remasters and maybe Drakengard/Nier alongside them
I finished this game on Sunday morning. Its now Tuesday afternoon and I feel like im finally over that ending. What a game!
I've been waiting for your review, and I think it's very good. For me, the many flaws in the game tipped the scales even further away from excellence than they did for you, but I do appreciate the effort put into this game. It was clearly made with so much passion. It's just a shame they game play systems couldn't quite match the caliber of the presentation. Great work as always, friend.
It was worth the wait, great review, I’m with you on everything. Haven’t noticed the potions “respawn” because I never died. This game was really easy 🙈.
But at the end of the day, great story, great characters played by amazing actors, perfect music and incredible visuals put this game on my top tier list.
This is a great game plagued by flaws. Hope the DLCs can address these issues and the missing Eikon.
I agree with you here NSP, one of the largest oversights from the developers for the difficulty of the combat is that the player does not feel no penalty at all for not being able to take down the bosses. Now granted I know were not in the days of the classic NES that completly destroyed the player for getting a game over, halfed your gil, loss of level progression, made you have to walk miles of terrain to get back to the point you left off because of only one warp point, etc.... but still this is probably the easist hand holding experience I have ever seen when it comes to boss encounters in Final Fantasy.
Excellent review my guy, im hoping we get a spoiler heavy review on your thoughts about 16s ending and what the DLCs might be about in the future.
Agree 100% on the length and pacing. I think they were terrified of what people would say if they released a Final Fantasy game that was only 25 hours long, but honestly, I think a 'no filler' cut of this game where it's just banger after banger in terms of story beat/set piece would be one of my favourite games of all time. (That, and if hard mode was available from the beginning.)
Yep it's definitely was to support the price of the game. Took me 70 hours to beat it and I was taking my time, they could've easily taken 20-30 off and honestly would've made the game feel significantly better to play. I mean FF7 Remake tooke me 30-40 hours and was perfect imo
I don't agree with that actually, one of the reason I didn't like the second half is because how rushed it felt. If you wanna make a game 25hrs long, focus on 1-2 realms, not 6 realms with so many characters.
I think a great idea would be mixing the excellent character and story work found in FF16 with the combat in the FF7 trilogy. As for the sidequests, something new would be nice since both 16 and Remake lacked in that department.
Let's hope this game will be starting point for more solid pipelines for FF titles. 14 and 15 were total chaos production-wise so Naoki Garland did fine job to bring some order back to it.
adored this game, even the slower paced sections, which I know objectively aren't great - but I always enter this zen-like state just soaking in the world while doing the this and that's (though I'd agree some can go on for just a bit too long, even for my overly patient ass). Music and boss fights are phenomenal, story and characters are also great - with Clive instantly in the running for favorite FF protag.
World exploration is really the only major complaint I have, and don't get me wrong, it came as a great relief to open the map and not see a hundred icons with useless trinkets to collect or copy/paste enemy forts to check off but just a little extra spice would of gone a long way - maybe an optional cave or two in each region to dive into and a chocobo mini-game like a race in each region or treasure hunting. Wouldn't want a ton mind, just a few extra things to chase in the in-betweens.
Imagine a monster arena (ff10) in the dim at that ancient door that no one can open. That woulda been a cool spot to figure out with a hidden key somewhere in the game.
Been disliking the Game of Thrones comparisons myself. It’s way better to call it Berserk meets Asura’s Wrath.
I think people just associate dark, grim fantasy with GoT nowadays due to its popularity.
It's hard not to compare FFXVI to Game of thrones when Yoshi P asked his team to watch the show in order to draw inspiration.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing. The original Final Fantasy was heavily inspired by Dungeons and Dragons and popular Western CRPGs at the time.
I feel much the same. FFXVI sacrifices deep, meaningful gameplay systems and exploration in favor of an incredible story and characters. It's at the same time an incredible achievement for FF and fundamentally flawed, almost to its core in some ways. While some of the main story events, like you said, are some of the most epic sequences ever seen in gaming, a lot of the in between is such a slog.
Not being able to visit Valisthea's central cities before their inevitable demise was such a big let down for me, as well as the general lack of exploration. The 4 open static zones were not enough to make Valisthea feel very immersive. I felt like an outsider looking in from a limited vantage point. As a result, I found it difficult to really be invested in Valisthea because I didn't feel emotionally connected to the world.
I was, however, emotionally connected to the characters, very much so. That would be where the game excelled for me. Probably features my two favorite FF characters of all time now, actually.
It's hard not to like the combat, especially the Eikon battles- particulaly THAT fight that starts off the last quarter of the game. Mind blown there lol. But yea like you said, way too easy on the first playthrough, and I'm kinda disappointed we didn't have all the traditional FF spells to cast like Firaga, Blizzaga etc. Just generic magic projectiles.
All in all though, FFXVI is probably still one of the greatest FFs for me somehow despite its many flaws as the good far outweighs the bad. I will say though, that I don't want CBU3 to continue with this design philosophy. Next time I want more than one playable character, a more traditional party system, a larger world to explore with interactive CITIES (not just a few towns), a meaningful gear progression system (crafting was bad here like you said), superbosses, secrets, optional areas/dungeons etc. Basically more GAME to balance with the epic story, combat and characters.
Oh yeah I 100% agree. It’s definitely one of my favourite FFs for sure, but if I were to describe it, they basically did a gow 2018 with final fantasy. They took the risk taking out a lot of the meaningful gameplay elements that the older GOW games had for a more spectacle approach that honestly works really well (along with an amazing story, probably top 2 ff story for me).
In a sense they made it alot more palatable and friendly for newcomers to the series (alot more than ff15) but also sticking to its roots in other aspects
I believe in future games they won’t stay with this design philosophy though. This game I would say is the game used to get mainstream eyes back on FF, and in the next game they can truly put more traditional FF / RPG elements in
I'm really glad you pointed out how low the lows are in this game because it felt like a lot of glowing early reviews really glossed over them. Final Fantasy will probably always be my favorite series. Even though I also loved FFXVI, the large amount of really dull content soured the overall experience for me.
Definitely not perfect and If CBUIII has another go I'm very confident they'll do even better. Nonetheless my experience with the game was great and despite the low lows of this game, the highs were extremely high and their were times in the game where I couldn't believe what I was playing and for that alone I rate it very high just off of these many high moments, voice acting, gameplay and the music were all top tier. Quest and level design is where I feel this game suffers the most but all in all a great experience.
Im not. FF14 has been steadily on a decline since shadowbringers in terms of developing content. Its turned into nothing but copy/pasting and reskinning. Even the music is getting egregiously recycled now. FF16 suffers the same issue. It has the most egregious examples reskinning of enemies and lazy or dated game design philosophies ive seen in a long while. CBU3 really needs to knock 7.0 out of the park to gain alot of faith back. alot of the feedback on the latest patch has people saying if they just do the same thing but less of it again then endwalker will be their last expansion. Im right there with them to be honest.
Yeah the gil issue, I never thought about gil and just purchased what I needed. It raises the question of the purpose of the economy system. And player perception is important. If the average player won't have to think about the currency then go for an unlock system instead, or something else. It's really annoying and so many games mess this up.
I like when you have to choose and prioritize. And even in games where it's easy to earn or farm more currency it at least feels like a reward for your work. Even if it makes the game easier it's usually fun because you made that happen and get to feel more powerful.
Nothing in FF16 was a reward, the game just gave it to you.
A stand-out for me is the area design. Absolutely incredible landscapes and architecture. There's also something rather unique to FF that started with XV, the way huge landscapes scale and are implemented really makes it feel immersive and visually impressive.
I hear a lot of people talking about “dull” moments. I am just curious about what this even means. I don’t think I’ve played a single game that could keep the highs that this game has. Could it just be a function of the highs being so high that normal or average content just feels worse?
For the combat I think what would've really helped is having different basic movesets for each Eikon. For 6 out of the 7 Eikon's when your cooldowns are used, you're still doing the same basic 4-hit combo until they're back up. Only Odin changes it up. I also don't think you should've been able to mix and match eikonic abilities onto different Eikons. I personally think they should've implemented elemental weaknesses as well. I don't think it should've been more damage if hitting a weakness, but instead do more stagger bar damage. So there is a benefit to going for weakness, but you wont feel as punished if you don't. Also I think each Eikon's "ultimate" skill should've just been the limit break with that Eikon set, and "Ifrit Trigger" should've just been on Ifrit.
This is a great review, I have been following your content for a while and this is what I was expecting from your opinion about the game, fair and objective review all around, great job!
my critique for the combat: if people wanna play the best FF hardcore action rpg game, play Stranger of Paradise instead.
The combat its weird because it does get repetitive when cleaning off random mobs but when it clicks while figthing a boss and you are dodging and pulling combos off it feels really really good
Action games usually add more types of weapons to give it a bit more variety they tried that with the eikons here but most dont have very interesting abilities
I'm at about 90% of it, and I think it's a great game, although some of the criticisms I have would be that the "party" aspect feels almost non-existent. Running around with Clive feels lonely, because the other characters hardly talk between each other outside of main story cutscenes (I would even forget Jill was accompanying me through most of the game), they're completely silent in all sidequests, and when they talk, their interactions are almost always directed to Clive, and not with the others in your party (I really wanted more interactions between JillxCid, JillxGav, TorgalxAnyone and other more spoilery ones), making things feel less like a group of friends and more a "main charater with bots". Something I always felt was part of the FF identity, was this feeling of being part of a group, and this one is very weak in this sense.
Honestly, if the Final Fantasy mode added a Will bar for Clive (working similar to Sekiro) and/or force a mandatory healing animation like Souls game, it would've been so much harder.
To make the combat "fair", they may need to tone down the effects or at least add a colorful ennemy silhouette when there is a lot of effect. You can't see jack sh*t when a boss or mini-boss is inside a Tornado 💀.
For the Eikon fights (at least for the first playthrough) I don't think it had to be difficult because if it was and people were dying, I think it would made a disservice to the spectacle. Like having that awesome high RollerCoaster momentum just to be get a few game overs stopping the fight would kill the momentum. Those scene are more like a playable Advent Children like movie that you don't want to pause to immerse yourself completly imo. But yeah, other boss fights would be better if they were more difficult.
As you said, I also think the game might have been better is it was shorter and if they cut the "lows".
The demo really hooked me up and one of the reasons if because it legit felt like a movie, I was really immersed. But as soon we got in the Hideaway and I saw the C tier NPC sidequest dialogue and animations, it break the immersion. I think thats why games like GoW and TLOU don't have that much NPC standing face to face chat. Horizon Forbidden West was a big upgrade in this regard compared to Horizon Zero Dawn.
Anyways, still GOTY for me 🔥 FF7 Rebirth summons might be underwelming after experiencing those Eikons fights. 😅
The Chloe Quest and How Otto Joined Cid was my favorite Side quest.
Storywise I get liking the Chloe quest, but mechanically it's one of the weakest sidequests in the game. It's literally 'talk to NPC, talk to NPC, find corpse'.
The most flawed masterpiece I've ever played. I love this game, very excited to see what CBU3 does going forward.
That's exactly what I have been calling it: A flawed masterpiece. It does all the difficult parts right, and the low points can be fixed with updates.
@@austinhudson5349 Thats why I will wait untill they fix some things that for me are ruining the exprience before I will play it
@@piotrrodzen772 I wouldn't say anything "ruins" the experience. Game just isn't perfect. At least it is complete and pretty good for being able to be played right out the box.
@@austinhudson5349 I think it depends on the way you like to play. I for example can't play games that are not challenging for me, it just won't work so I need the hard difficulty but I want it straight away on start of the game. I could just play it for story but it would be half assed playthrough when I just do main story. So it's not enough for me to play at this moment.
Another thing is frame rates. I could play it like this but I rather wait for it to be fixed.
Such a good review - thank you. And great to hear someone else loving the VA talent. It's so, so good. Even the ancillary characters are crafted with love.
Very well put. This is without a doubt my favorite FF since 9, but there was definite room for improvement. You hit most of those on the head, although I will admit, I found myself reading ahead and skipping dialogue toward the end in some of those late-game Dalmekian quests specifically. CBU3 writes great dialogue, but damn, sometimes NPCs just keep rambling long after the point's been made clear.
In terms of the story and visuals, yes. but with the gameplay systems absolutly not lol. There is some serous refining that needs to be done on this game. I hope the company can listen to people's feedback about this and if were lucky, alot of these things may be addressed in future dlc's and patches.
I will forver miss party based gameplay and the RPG elements. And the colourful and sometimes goofy characters and worlds. Just replaying FFVIII again and man i love the PS1 era games.
16 is really cool, but I really hope 17 takes more inspiration from 7 remake. Imagine that game’s combat system with new mechanics, a new cast (all playable) and a new story. Yes please
Great review NSP! I think one of the things I love about this game as a creative in the entertainment industry is seeing how things are placed that gives some environmental storytelling. The amount of merchant stall designs in this game is staggering and really shows me what the team values the most in their games. Which to me, are the people in this world. It also ties into why there are just SO many side characters in this game that I love. I even like the lady back in the hideaway that always has eyes for a different guy each time you talk with her. lol . I can't wait to see how DLC and future games improves from what they've learned from this game. Sure there are flaws, but for me, I just loved the memories I have with the game.
The only thing i want that is missing is sprint button and FULL CHOCOBO THEME SONG while riding.
Story: My expectations were really high after playing the demo portion of the game. It had a great medieval fantasy vibe, similar to Game of Thrones, with hints of political intrigue and nations warring over limited resources. Sadly, much of that was thrown in the bin due to the game's focus on Ultima. I personally find interhuman conflict and political intrigue much more engrossing than a black & white conflict with a godly being who's completely detached from the realm of humans.
Dialog: The script for the dialog was amazingly natural and you can really tell that the script was created in English. In fact, I watched some parts of the demo in Japanese and was shocked to see how bad the Japanese dialog was by comparison - it was so much more dry. That said, as the game progresses, I found the script lacking but that's mainly to do with the plot. Most of Ultima's lines are so utterly devoid of substance.
Sidequests: I actually dreaded having to do sidequests after advancing the main plot. It felt like a chore to me most of the time. Yes, it did flesh out the other characters in the world - it's just that I still didn't really care about them. I also dislike the home base system that also in games like Fire Emblem. Running around the place to read all the dialog is such a lengthy chore and I often found myself spending 1 day on doing the chore and spending the next day actually advancing the plot. I just want to enjoy the cake but I don't know what I'm missing if I don't do the sidequest.
Difficulty: I don't play action games so I actually died quite a bit in the beginning of the game (dodge timings seem completely random to me). Took me like 10 tries to beat the first S rank bounty. But once I started using Will O The Wykes, I noticed the game difficulty drop by a lot since it absorbed so much damage. But watching Max play through the game and stomp everything on his first playthrough made me realize both how bad I am at the game and how easy the game is for them.
Overall, I still enjoyed the game a lot. I just think it would be better if the sidequests felt less like chores and if the story stuck to interhuman conflict.
So glad to see I'm not alone regarding Ultima. They felt like a throwback to those early day villains of Final Fantasy, who were only there for the sake of being the big bad with next to nothing going for them. There's no excuse to have someone this bland as the villain in today's Final Fantasy. It's especially sad, since there were many great human candidates for the role along the way.
finally someone mentioning that it reminds you of Game of Thrones in the first half
This was pretty much the perfect review of this game
Thank you 🥹
@@TheNightSkyPrinceconcur with this compliment. However, there was a point that you made that I felt was a little inaccurate, which was when you mentioned "the bosses are typically outside of the dungeons in their own instances", but this is usually (and painfully) not the case. It's immediately noticeable if you try to go for the Medals of Valor in Arcade Mode (bragging rights rewards for not taking damage during the final bosses of each dungeon) _after_ beating the game, because there is no quick way to access those bosses without manually saving right outside of their boss rooms, which you can only do in the actual story mode. I had to start FF mode in order to efficiently grind those out.
Just beat it yesterday! Literally!! And OMG!! ONE OF THE BEST FF GAMES EVER!!! ONE OF THE BEST GAMES OF THIS YEAR!!
I really loved this game. My main gripe though was that a large amount of the side quests just felt like filler to me. Yeah there was some that were pretty integral to the story but when you are on your 4th quest of seeing what's wrong with Blackthorne it just got a bit like groundhog day. Also I found the game probably a bit too easy. Don't wanna take too much away from the game though, I still enjoyed it.
Yeah, a lot of the side quests were filler, but some of them were actually really well written. Like that one where you harvest the apples in the 2nd hideaway. I felt a surprising amount of emotions over a side quest dedicated to a dead character I had only spent a few minutes with previously.
I think it really doesn't help that the side quests are really formulaic. Almost all quests are either kill x enemies or deliver items / messages. Even the already formulaic quest prototypes like escorting, eavesdropping, solving puzzle, etc. are entirely missing. And I don't remember any quest NPC actually leaving their post and becoming your temporary follower outside of cutscenes. It feels like the side contents are put together with a very restrictive toolset.
Incredible review brother! I 100% agree with you! I also like music in FF14 more than here & 14's story remains unrivaled by any game, specifically Shadowbringers & Endwalker. But 16 was pretty great still. I also agree about VA in it being the new standard for future FF games. And you're 100% right about characters like Benedikta being killed too fast. Barnabas too didn't get enoguh screen time but seemed to have so much potential. They didn't have the time to get fully realized characters arcs.
Whats better about the music in 14?
I love both 14 and 16
Pro tip NSP. You actually never need to only tap square to do non cooldowns attacks. Even without aerial moved your optimal ground combo is actually lunge (then hold down Square) into a magic follow up (then hold down triangle) then you release Square for the charged melee then release triangle for the charged magic attack. All these need to be unlocked and upgraded but it's a great thing to have for off cooldowns
Works as Ifrit too
Things I think this game really missed:
1) Mini-games! No fishing? No card game or board game? Those things are also quintessential to the RPG experience.
2) Elemental weaknesses, it doesn’t really matter which Eikonic ability you use against whatever enemy because they’re all equally as effective. Would have been cool and challenging to have to optimize Eikons based on elemental strengths and weaknesses of enemies and in certain environments.
Otherwise, a superb game and is def top 3 FFs for me.
Yoshi-P had actually addressed the lack of minigames. The dev team was pretty much laser focused on the core game that they didn't want to divert any development time and effort away from it. It is noticeable, but I feel like minigames could be patched in (or added with DLC) later.
When i saw morbol didnt inflict status in the demo with the breath attack, i had a bad feeling about the depth of status effects and magic levels.
@@fattiger6957too late I wanted all that experience in my first playthrough
A good game with just a thin hair of rpg
Great analogies! Bottom line is that it’s totally worth the $70 and time to have a good after taste to appreciate the producers
Preorxered, never regret. It kicks your nuts hard sometime, maybe yoi neednpause before ballbusting continues. Definately back on track for me, first amazing numbered ff game since ff12 for me. But i loved ff7r a lot too.
Square Enix (Japanese) has published a survey to add content to the game (FF16)!
I wholeheartedly agree about the side quests, and it's actually not as big of a hot take as you think. I noticed quite a few people mention that they really appreciated the world building and character arcs housed within them, despite their sloppy design. I feel like the Trails and Xenoblade fans would feel right at home here.
While I did enjoy this game for what it was; calling it a Final Fantasy game is a bit of a stretch (IMO). I missed the party dynamics found in other games and while it was nice having helpers they rarely turned the tide of battle. The combat system might be a decent fit for this game but I hope it doesn't ever come back. I was disappointed by the lack of buff/debuffs and other strategic elements. As for the whole just die for a free refill thing, what kind of gamer just gives up in a fight to get freebies? That was the best part of being low on health with no potions as it drove you to play properly/skillfully to defeat the challenge ahead of you (this strategy doesn't really work in Final Fantasy mode as potions don't refill though checkpoints still apply).
I'm a retired FF11 player that dabbled a bit in FF14 (before and after ReBorn) and while I loved the characters and story in 14 the gameplay was trash as was the gameplay loop. I was a bit nervous that CBU3 was making 16 and while the game is great in its own right it's highly flawed. I feel the game was basically like a convoluted pro-wrestling match constantly funneling you from one big spot to another without much time to rest. Another thing that I found frustrating was that the talking segments just went on if you heard/read them or not with no way back if you missed something and I did... a lot.
Overall, despite what I've said here I did enjoy the game more than it frustrated me but ultimately it feels a bit more like a polished FF15, especially in its combat.
I hate how basic slash attack mean nothing. End game normal enemies take like 100 slash to kill 1 of them.
I’m glad square Enix has managed to bounce back after the Ls of games like forespoken, ballan wonderworld and marvels avengers. Final fantasy XVI is a masterpiece and I do hope creative business unit 3 comes back for a new entry in the series.
For the music when the FF14 Madness Soken shined through first was the Titan Lost fight. That was just Soken LB 😀
They need to do a traditional JRPG again. With party turnbased combat.
Persona 5 proved turn based isnt dead and can be exciting, idk why these newer FF guys complain about turn based being boring
@@SILVERONIN Because they see other western action/rpgs selling like gang busters and want a slice of pie. Elder Scrolls, AC Valhalla/Origins, Souls, Elden Ring, GTA. Issue is while making big interesting open worlds with deep rpg systems and great story is hard to do. The ones who get it mostly right are the ones selling big. Outside of Souls/Elden and GTA, I don't play those games for spectacular combat or linear gameplay.
Only thing i really disagree on is the side quests i felt them to be extremely boring and the fact they all have a cutscene both starting and ending them really made them annoying to play with a few exceptions
I finished it last night - it took me three months because between the game’s major set pieces, it REALLY feels like filler most of the time, and I was never that excited to sit down and keep going. But having completed it, I appreciate it very much, it had some VERY high highs and I can’t deny how beautiful and cinematic it was; the final fights were everything I could have hoped for, too. This and Tears of the Kingdom made some pretty powerful experiences in 2023.
I had a friend ask me to share my thoughts on the game since he knows I'm a FF fan and was playing the game. I told him. As FF fan. I shouldn't like this game but I do.
I just beat the game a few days ago and still gather my thoughts and feelings on the game. There are highs and lows and it will change from person to person. For me. To keep it short. I wish the game had more depth, RPG are so light, I wish we could've built our home base and recruit people, just like Suikoden II. More depth in exploring, crafting, quest, and more. Pacing off, side quest are pretty bad, they do get a little better near the end because they enhance side characters.
The highs for me where the boss battles. I loved them. I liked many of the characters and a few grow on me as you continue and do side quest. I liked Jill, Gav, Cid, Clive, Mid, Baryon, Benedikta, Joshua, Dion, Otto and martha grow on me through side quest, wish his voice actor wasn't so blend or maybe its the writing, which could be said about many of the characters. I really loved the music. I enjoyed the main story. I enjoyed Ultima as a villain. I like the thames in the game. I'm biased here but I love the medieval settings. Like already said. I wish it was more fun exploring. I wish we got to understand Anabella more because she had a lot promise.
Like I said. My thoughts are all over the place since I just beat it. I can understand people both hating or loving this game. For me. I enjoyed it way more then FF15 or FF13. Overall I enjoy the game but it does have faults.
I would love for the setting of Final Fantasy 17 to be in a post apocalyptic world.
On the last 40 minutes or so of his July 21st stream, Maxdood goes into his thoughts about the game, and I find that his thoughts kinda mirrors my own. The pacing worsens furiously when Clive hits his 30s, the level design sucks and the crafting/items are disappointing.
The game should have been a good 30 hours less. I think I wouldn't feel as disapointed if the demo wasn't so good. That demo was so bad at representing the game, it's almost criminal. This definitely won't be GOTY. Hell, it shouldn't even be nominated.
FF16 makes me appreciate FF7R more. CBU3 has potential, but they're not quite ready yet to replace CBU1. It's a shame CBU3 wasn't around at the same time as Yasumi Matsuno, I think this would have been a match made in heaven.
I was briefly excited when the berserker ring hit the scene and made me start to think accessories might start to change up combat more significantly in the late game, but it's really the only item of its kind and it's more or less redundant on account of shiva and bahamut both being better uses of enemy attacks.
All the accessories that just give minor powerups to eikon abilities are boring af.
to be fair, there is a much heavier emphesis on cinimatic set pieces and story telling in the early arcs of the story, right up to even clive's 20's were still pretty great. The Rosarian arc in paticular was later but it was also felt with alot of drama and emotion but yeah when it goes into that 5 year time skip and he's aged into his 30's. The story is basically reduced to "Clive the errand man" which really was a major deconstruction for the way the game was set up visually. I am almost certain Resonant arc will have some things to say about this for sure.
Great review, I really liked the game as well but there are a bunch of issues with the game and you hit the nail on the head with the negatives and critiques. I hope they learn from these mistakes for possible dlc or future games.
I think you made the game easy for you by training the demo beforehand. I don't have previous Devil May Cry experience and didn't do side content in this game and at the end of the game I had a hard time!
Just to give another view to the conversation
I loved the story of the side quests, just not the actual activity you have to do during them. Great game in the end though, I would buy story DLC for this.
I agree with your review.
Personally, I think if they removed the lows of the main quest and put those resources into meaningful gearing and crafting, mini games, getting rid of invisible walls, then it would have worked better for me.
I loved it BUT, many functions were useless or boring. Crafting for miniscule advantages, treasure boxes are a joke (yay more crafting items for uslessl crafting) items for the most part suck, %5 less cooldown crap. Money is useless, vendors have boring useless items. Unless you wanna buy insanely over priced background music really? Skill trees are just boring percentage increases,There's more I don't remember BUT it looks and runs beautiful! Fights are EPIC story is INSANE. haha so yeah
I loved the part where I crafted the ultima weapon and got maybe 5% more damage out of it.
They overcorrected on story and setting and realized as modern FF since X that if you want an impactful story you need to sacrifice openness. Its on the right track and Rebirth is going to run with it. My main qualms were 1st playthrough difficulty, fetch quests left a lot to be desired and the Dungeons were done way too quickly with little interaction with the environment. Slight qualms weapons/equipment should have had slots for crystals or imbued to give you Eikonic feat buffs. The accessories and crafting should have allowed to merge you're favorites with materials from monsters across Valisthea. This game felt like the story urgency of FFX with world elements from 12 and a new take on combat. Wish side quests were not so easy and required more interaction with environment like Witcher 3 where you just stumble on folks in need out in the world. The battle system was good and the story was fantastic and the Eikon fights were fantastic. World, Setting, Music were great. I disagree with side quests the main hubs North reach, Lost Wing, Dhalamek, Rosaria/Marthas rest were actually main quests and the fetch this or fight that got too formulaic. Id give it 4.3/5.0 even with the flaws the sum like FF7 remake are greater than its parts. Now last nit pick Drakes Breath was too quick we should have had to go to the Island nation meet Jills friend obtain a special key that unlocked drakes breath allowing us to get a scope of Jills sorrow. They could have added at least an hour or three by doing that and making Jills revenge feel earned it kinda rung hollow because we didn't know much about the islanders or the religion and its practices that Jill was forced to participate. Outside that maybe one more mission with Cid for a few hours as after Jill woke up and joined the party it back seated Cid and it would have had more emotional heft if Clive and Jill had slightly more time to marinate with Cid before the dagger. Also a few more dtory quests in Waloud would have been awesome, such a big area on par in size to Storm, Ash felt wasted. A more involved story saving the last few Walouders whom were not okay with becoming Ackhasic would have been awesome. Ash had so much potential to show Clive the opposite mindset to his with a lot of Waloud wanting to sacrifice themselves to Ultima. They could have really had Clive questioning if taking their will away from their own desires much like Ultimas Ultimate plan. I was happy with what we received but the second playthrough shown me how Drakes Breath and Ash were kinda sped through when we needed more context.
Glad to see someone who loves darker stories as well, one of the reasons I was able to finish this game and love it, unlike Every single other FF I tried, Except VI, that one shamefully is too old for me, but the story is GREAT.
Great review, tho I prefer my FF games to be long. I do agree that this world needed more life to it. Times I was at Martha's Rest, with nowhere to rest. Why do I have to quick travel to the Hideaway? No Inns??? Usually go 1 place for everything. The quick travel and instant call to Ambrosia no matter where you're at. I really love this game, but it makes me appreciate the things FFXV have, that XVI lacks. Story and music and graphics and characters are fire, but Man all these new FF games are backed up with limitations that make us imagine a real Final Fantasy game for these days. I could rant forever but I love the direction. FFXVII is next.
Pacing and lack of difficulty are the game's most glaring flaws, but even then I am still enjoying it a lot.
Thank you for this insight full video review!!
I feel like we undervalue “soul” in modern game reviews. You know that extra something? The “heart”? Idk how to describe it, but it’s more then the stories, characters, charm and all that. But it’s that’s extra special umph that’s gonna make this a huge nostalgia trip to reexperience a decade from now. This might be subjective, but for me FFXVI has that “it” factor, I’m not a professional critic, I’m not a reviewer, man I just loved this game and enjoyed it so much. Could they have done more? Probably if I started thinking about it, but I don’t need more, I really appreciate the game I got, I can tell the staff loved their project, it doesn’t feel like a money grab, the game feels genuine and I love it. Very glad I got to play it.
My biggest issues with this game is that
1. The combat is way too easy, I played without all the auto assist items and i did all side quests and hunt fights and I ended up over leveled for most of this game.
2.) Most of the the side quest in this game are terrible, this is mostly in reference to the side quest before the last 3rd of the game. Clive runs around as a delivery boy, detective,peacekeeper and just some general muscle for many of the early side quests. It's quite bland when you go from slaying god to playing detective/political peacekeeper. That being said the + side quests are mostly very fun and engaging, they develop many of the side characters that aid clive on his journey.
3.) The games presentation when you're not dealing eikon fights, or prerecorded cutscenes is just very stiff and poor some times. As you mentioned in the review a lot of the ingame scenes from the quest you do just have stiff models and changing camera angles which is jarring sometimes. Also I would have like for FF16 to have smooth transitions from cutscenes to in game models/scenes and vice versa like god of war ps4 and god of war raganarok did. God of wars cinematic presentation was so buttery smooth going from cutscene back to being in control of kratos, everything was planned and curated with easy transitions in mind in god of war and in FF16 you just cut from one scene to the next or from gameplay to a different scene, it makes the cinematic presentation choppy for FF16 sometimes.
4. The story was way too basic, there wasn't many curve balls. This is probably one of the most basic final fanatsy stories in a long time. Theres nothing wrong with being straightforward, I just thought it could've used more time to cook and explore other avenues. Also many characters don't get to really get developed because they get killed off so fast, it just feels like a lot of the cast is wasted.
That being said I LOVE FF 16 and this was my second most anticipated game of the year. It's not a perfect game by any means but it is amazing. 8.5/10
Doesnt surprise me that 16 had the most character deaths. The writer still holds the record for killing big characters in 14 too. And I'm not talking just villains. I'm talking heros, commoners, and villains. Three of the biggest character deaths of heros happened in this, including one still regularly used to grief the community.
I have finished the game on the first week and absolutely loved this game. However, I can’t stop thinking why this game has some obvious flaws that is easily fixable when they said the games was almost complete 1 year before release. At the end of the day, I blame the director for this oversight. Directors are responsible for the overall vision of the game and the fact that some obvious flaws are overlooked, I hold the director responsible.
The problem with combat is that for its depth, there is a very definite ceiling. The simplified inputs, lack of variation and combinations of simple attacks, as well as the cooldowns make it so the combat can only be taken so far. I wasn't expecting difficult gameplay, games like Devil May Cry are not very difficult, rather the difficulty comes from challenging yourself to master them mechanically. The combat is fun as hell and it feels great to play, but there comes a point where you just feel like there isn't any more to master. All f the ingredients are there, just a bit of tweaking to the formula would be required to make this an excellent action combat system.
The ending was pretty terrible, not in outcome...but in lack of content shown. Why should we care about the pregnant NPC we met 5 hours before beating the game? I'd rather have seen how the reconstruction of the world was going with the 20 NPCs I spent 50 hours working to build a new world with. I also hate how open it was, they didn't want to commit to a conclusion to allow themselves room for DLC and sequels...when they said this game was intended to be a 1 and done experience out of the box. Most of my other complaints are QoL...the eikon cycling is clunky, should have been 3 buttons one for each eikon, 5 second sprint delay is lame, no hunt list in your menu, only in the hideout, no loadouts, weak gear RPG elements etc.
I don't need a game to be perfect to enjoy it. I played the game that i felt closest to perfection with xenogears. I just want fun memorable experiences. And ffxvi does that in spades. Haven't yet beaten it, but my god is it fantastic. It is beautiful as fuck. I do not find this battle system to be easy but not hard either. Its challenging enough. I only died a handful of times. But i also don't try to use potions, i don't use abilities unless they are the bigger monsters and up. I use torgal for healing as well as limit breaks. Also Yoshi-p did mention they did not want this to be anything like a soulsborn game. They do not find enjoyment from repeated deaths that those games do. And i agree with that. I do not enjoy soulsborn games. Theyre cheap. Its not hard just cheap.
And there is a point to exploring. theres about 3 weapons you get from exploring, about 5 armor pieces, and at east 10 accessories. Plus there are music scrolls in a couple of them. Not to mention the chronoliphs or however its spelled is only found by exploring. The game only gives you just 1. You need to find the rest. And only after you found them all can you do them. So you do need to explore. And yes you also need to explore to get the hunts. This is all exploration. So plenty of exploring to be had.
Those days are long gone lol man. I blame it on technology really. Now a days its immpossible to achieve the kind of depth and volume of gameplay content and story telling that the PS1 was capable of or i guess that sort of conventional design, even though it was on 32bit hardware and didn't look as life like as modern games do. But there lies the problem, its feasible a garguant task to recreate something on that scale on the PS5 so certain modern games that use photo realistic visuals Have to find ways of translating an epic story like FF tactics into a sizable game that has enough content to provide dense enough of a story and even then I don't think developers have been able to master that yet. Which is why ALOT of companies still use more traditional designs like persona 5 or tales of or octopath traveler, etc. As technology grows, it really shackles and limites our visual expression in a game when combining both naratives and world scale.
To me, it's a 7.5/10
Not bad, but not great either.
Story was the one thing I expected to be amazed by but saddly, it's not as good as I wanted it to be. I have too many unanswered questions. Cid was an amazing character tho, Loved everything about him. Kill saddly became the usual FFCheerleader once her one chapter was finished. I wanted more from Dion... also the ending, while it will work for many, didn't for me.
Gameplay was not deep enough, it's a bit too simple and it's too easy to fall into a pattern that works and repeat until victory.
Again, not a bad game, but not one I fell in love with. Better than XIII and XV for sure, but I enjoyed Xiii-2 more,
Where is 16 better voice recorded then FF7R?
The range (90% of 16's dialogs are depressed) in FF7R is much wider, much more Humor between main characters, but also side characters (Burgerls, Johnny, Madam M, The Don).
Thinks like the battle arena, the fight against the Hell House with TV level ready commentary. You have also the sad scenes (Deads, Elmira), but here 16 can compare.
You have scenes that are just there for the voice actors and the interactian like leaving the church. And you have the crazy characters like Roche.
No, I would say 16 it's the second best FF game, but yes this two should be the gold standard.
Yes the world looks great, but everything! you see is fake, low point of the game - so damn cheap - at the beginning on the wine hills I just can run THROUGH fences! That is 90's style!
And you said it correctly NO EXPLORATION!, not ONE secret location that you can find. FF7R2 will blow that shitty boring pipe level design out of the water!
The fight system was very fun! No second boring and it looks amazing.
That's it. To easy, if you mastered it, everytime the same, spawn your Icons, wait for cooldown, repeat. No buffs, no poison, sleep or confused. And then THE joke, have a game with elemental Icons in focus of the story and have no elemental part in the fight, what a embarrassing joke, I can attack a firebomb with fire and it don't heals him, or he is not even immun, disgrace for the FF series!
The icon fights are indeed the most spectacular thing in FF history and I can't wait how Square solves the Weapon issue in FF7R2/3
There is NO complexity/depth to leveling up or the weapon system. The highest complexity is that you have to find materials for some weapons, wow!
FF7(R) materia system and the combinations of it, the weapon abilities, skills. MUCH MUCH better and much more complex!
But I liked the world map style and the pixel figures and also the lore system, that was DAMN GOOD!
Side quests the best??? You have to be kidding me. That was the low point of AAA games ever! The devs live in a world without Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk.
How often do I collect flowers? How often deliver food?
But the worst part of the game, the padding (Never cry about a second sewer visit again!) in this boring world, how often did I enter Martha’s Rest for quests and side quests, over 20 times?
And "Search item or Person X", you devs know why it's called SEARCH, right? If Marker points EXACTLY to the place on the bottom where the item is, IT'S NOT AN SEARCH!
Also no quest lines. You are obvious MMO destroyed, just spawn at point X in time 10 side quests that are all the same at the user, why all at the same time? Don't bother, you enjoy our padding levels to increase your game time with filler content.
At one point I skipped all side quest dialogs, except on the characters I like.
The main story is awesome! I don't have any critical to say, the game lives by his main story!
Except that I had THE FEELING, they stole from FF7, Ether -> Life stream, Human Stone -> Geostigma, Alien like antagonist -> Jenova, even the place in time (Don't remember the name) feld a lot like the edge of creation (Universe background)
For me it's a 6.5/7 out of 10. (And that just because of the main story, I have no desire to play the game again just for harder fights)
The credit song…. Wished it was in english vocal 😪
I dont believe they make a mistake or forgot… I believe they intentionally made the game without what we expected to be there
Just finished the game,
It was alright, combat and set pieces are epic.
Often feeling like an anime arc.
Only downside to that is after each arc the game winds down to fetch quests, long pieces of dialog and these sections could be a few hours at a time.
This wouldn't be so bad if the exploring was better or of the side quests werent also fetch quests.
But the set pieces really do make up for it when you get there and there are multiple peak moments within the game.
I also really enjoyed the characters.
This game holds my favorite version of cid, i really enjoyed clive and jills relationship.
Clive is really the most interesting MC weve had since cloud.
I enjoyed the part joshua played in the story and it had some memorable minor characters
Gav really felt like a really old reliable feiend throughout most of the story.
I give it a 7/10 with a recommendation to try it out because there is a very good chance you might enjoy the story more then i do.
But what really brings the experience down is how cinematic the game is,the set pieces are great but even during the downtime there are alot of long winded cutscenes that are mostly dialog and might not add much to the overall story.
I simply got to use to putting the controller down or checking my phone.
But depending on how much you enjoy the story, the characters and if you happen to really like cinematic games
This has a good chance at being your favorite entry to the franchise.
Because the overall story told is indeed epic.
I loved a lot about the game, from the potential of the combat system and the world design, to the music and the late-game sidequests. With that said, however, I feel like the third act somewhat lost me a bit near the end, if only because I felt like a certain party member was shafted multiple times in the story to make room for other characters. Granted, I enjoyed the cycling party, so to speak, but to have a character sit around doing nothing and then being cast aside before the endgame was really disappointing to me. Still, the final boss was a big highlight, and I do want to go through the game on New Game+ to get a better understanding of the combat and hopefully find some challenge that the first playthrough forewent.
For the battle system I really feel you have to step up your combo game, you are only utilizing the basics.
You are pushing your eiconic abilities out at once, then mashing square until the cooldown is rdy again, instead of doing the basic combo + eiconic ability + circle for leaping upwards + basic combo again + eiconic ability + fire sword etc. There are endless possibilities to manage your cooldowns more efficiantly. Also I never see you do any Air Combos or utilizing Torgal.
I also feel the difficulty of NG+ should have been standard, but seeing how much problems people have with the combo system in normal mode I‘m not so sure anymore.
Aside from that good review!
I had no idea about the death mechanics. I agree it was too easy because basically never got hurt and I didn’t die.
This game has so many unique things about it, such a good level of quality throughout. It's the cracks inbetween that make it a great game and not a masterpiece. But one can only imagine how this game could look if it got the FF15 DLC treatment. Likewise I think the uniqueness of this game from the Eikon fights, the grounded worldbuilding and so forth. Those all make for a compelling addition to ones game collection. A game that stands out inbetween the others you love. Instead of blending in for the sake of fitting a certain mold.
I feel the flaws in this game were more significant in my experience and I feel less enthused about it then you do, but I'm giving your review a thumbs up because it feels like a genuine opinion on how you view the game.
Personally what disappoints me most about this game is that there needed to be more screen time for all the characters especially Jill and Joshua IMO, and more dialogue between them in game.
Too many characters feel like they don't get their due development and that could've really helped pull off the ending and some of more emotional scenes for me. I teared up at one huge moments near the very end of the game but I felt that was more due to the world class acting rather than that character having been sufficiently developed in the game.
TL;DR Good honest review IMO even though I disagree.
The game is a lot more challenging on FF mode. The first playthrough is surprisingly easy but I think that was done with the intention of being more accessible to more people.
If a player wants more of a challenge they can just play it again on FF mode and again on Ultimalius mode which is insanely hard.
The challenge is there just not necessarily on your first playthrough.