The final review is here! Today we answer the two most important questions: Is it a good game? and is it a good Final Fantasy? Two very different questions that mike has a fresh perspective on being new to the franchise. Mike has a lot to say about some of the negative features of this game, just bear in mind they are very much secondary elements of the game, the story is what this game is ALL about. Next week we'll be doing a balls deep story breakdown so we can get into the nitty gritty of the game so make sure you're subscribed for that.
I really disagree with story being all FF is about. 2 of the 3 best FF games have the worst stories. FF5 and FF12. yall can decide what the 3rd best one is.
Some of the optional side quests were quite silly. The chefs rediscovering old horrible recipes Tasting History style were definitely one of the funnier moments for me.
You should try FFtype0, it's still the darkest FF, FF16 feels like a mellowed out version to cater to more mainstream audiences as a mainline game. Type0 was able to do things that normal FFs couldn't because it was a side game, e.g would you like to make decisions that would result in one or the other child dying? Children bleeding, dying, chocobos dying, summons killing people, people killing summons, brother dying, swearing revenge for brother etc., it did everything that FF16 is doing now and more.
To me the levity came from the message of hope, pressing against adversity and the bitter truth and community not really humor haha anime. I get it's kinda weird or corny thinking that but I get his point.
As someone who has played since ff1 came out, I found it a breath of fresh air. Also I think people don’t remember just how dark ff4 and ff6 were just because of the graphics. If they were made today they’d be rated M.
Fair opinion, especially on pacing. About the whimsical stuff, this game is way more in line with Ff12 and Tactics (same devs) that are also kinda miserable in a similar way. My biggest critique is the lack of classic monster variety, they could have put a lot of those in the hunt board like tornberry or catuars. Overall to me it's one of my favorite in the franchise because of the characters and their relationships Clive and Jill in particular. I never really ever had a favorite FF protagonist until Clive. As you say in the end, this game will be remembered mostly fondly because of the characters, spectacle (bahamut fight was just amazing) and story which that is to me the core strength of Final Fantasy as a franchise. It accomplished what the devs wanted imo, pour in new fans to the franchise so that they may go back to some of the old ones.
When the big amount of sidequests showed up at the end, I honestly just skipped them after seeing how many. Which is a shame since apparently they are pretty important. I did make a save so I can go back and do them without needing to reclear the game. This honestly felt very similar to endwalker for me in terms of weird pacing, which I also liked but had problems with
If you load up your cleared game file, it'll drop you back in the Hideaway before going to the final boss, so you can still clear everything in your first playthrough.
Lol honestly when I saw the amount of quests right before the end my brain automatically didn’t want to do them, I still did and they ended up been the best set of side quests (I still have issue with most of the side quests before the end and the pacing of them).
@@fatmatt589 Oh THANK YOU for letting me know. I was almost level 49 when I decided to just go ahead and clear, but I wanted to level cap. Time to go farming in Waloud.
I skipped the last batch since i wanted to see the ending before youtube thumbnails spoiled it for me I do plan on going back and finishing them before starting a new playthrough
I wasn't sure what to make of Lord Byron at first. And then we got to the bar scene in Dalimil Inn and I realized we were going full Indiana Jones, and all the tedium from the MSQ for the last hour melted away. That was lots of fun.
Byron was my favorite side character for sure. The time you and him were in the desert was a lot of fun despite all the bad shit happening. Really wish he was around more.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they experimented with removing the whimsy because so many people complained about the boy band world tour vibe in FF15.
And for me even with that I still feel XVI gets silly plenty of times, Playing Dragon Age Inquisition right after it was funny how Inquisition is overall a more light hearted world, but the interactions, the dialogues, the subject of converstions is very different from XVI which has a lot of power of friendship stuff in it. I much prefer the apporach of Inquisition than XVI and the vast majority of Jrpgs, however I still like XVI more than Inquisition since I feel the story is better.
As an FF fan of more than 25 years, I always appreciate a thoughtful review where all of the criticisms and praises make coherent sense, whether I agree with them or not. Because it shows that you actually give enough of a shit to really ask yourself the important questions. A couple of other folks I follow have been less sensical with their reasons for disliking the game as if they're fishing for excuses, and so seeing a fair and thoughtful review is definitely appreciated. Cheers!
The funniest thing the vast chunk of people saying "not my Final Fantasy" are people who only really played 1, mostly 7 or 15 lmao. And here we have Mike who is new to the franchise and has played more than the average alleged super fanboys of the franchise
Honestly it reminds me of the WoW team's original remarks regarding WoW Classic - to paraphrase, that you don't *really* want WoW classic, what you want is to go back to a time when you didn't have adult responsibilities. What the FF fanboys who say it's not a "real" Final Fantasy want is to be 13 on the SNES or PS1 again, living in another world and spending hours optimizing their parties and builds. The irony is that XVI nails the "drown yourself in another world" part better than any game since X, as far as I'm concerned. THAT has been the nostalgia field trip I was craving, and it delivered in spades.
@@Plasmacat1 I've played every numbered FF and beat almost all of them. Some of them multiple times. I am only too familiar with those arguments and, even as one of those supposed "super fanboys", I get so exhausted with that. Honestly, as long as a critique makes sense, I'll absolutely respect it. Just one prominent RUclipsr literally said FFXVI has a "Poke-Plot Problem", referencing how Pokemon games tend to be so obsessed with the concept of Pokemon, all the characters and the world at large revolve around Pokemon whether it makes sense or not. And I had to double take because, for all the valid criticisms of FFXVI, that is most certainly not one of them.
All the stuff Preach has said made the game a 4/10 for me. It's pretty awful, if I'm being honest. At least he actually went through all the stuff that's actually wrong with the game.
@@Omegateck16 Nah dont get sucked in the mindset of rabid FF fans gatekeeping/requiring new fans to try out other older games. SE designed it that way for each game to be standalone. Whether you liked an FF title or not, thats up to you and dont feel required to play other FF games just to be able to give your opinion. As for me, FF16 is my first and only FF unless they can provide an equal or better ff game and dont give a fk about fandoms
I love reviews like this because of the irony of them, because the person is saying buy the game, but spends three quarters of the review outlining everything they disliked. I'm not hating Preach, honestly I get the point of it, the point is to outline what they could do better hoping they will do better next time. But that's just it, there is no next go around. FF17 will not be a sequel to FF16, just as FF16 isn't a sequel to anything. FF games are standalone games, so the next one probably won't even be an ARPG, and will go in a completely different direction. I can guarantee you the next one won't be as story focused, because this was Yoshi-P's vision of FF. It's very much a case of I think we're trying to be critical so we can be "honest" about our feelings on the game, but if you're review is 75% negative, that leaves a negative impression, not a positive one no matter the conclusion or opening thoughts. If it was a positive experience, and therefore worth buying, where is all that positivity? That's my personal issue with the modern review format. I loved the game, 9.5/10, my only detraction was the stagger system not having a cooldown. You could literally make 75-90% of a fight stagger/takedown, and that just detracts massively from the spectacle of the fights. Better players could probably do 99% of the fight. Given the size limitations, IE: they were aiming for a 90GB download, I don't think they could have fit anymore into the game without detracting from the main focus. I would have liked to see more fleshing out of the secondary content, but given the limitations? There was no possibility of that.
On the topic of sidequests that feel like they should be part of the main story; a good ways into the game I started getting those, and I think the one that first hit me the hardest was when a random sidequest started _rearranging the map._ Just start this otherwise unmarked sidequest, and that settlement over there? The NPCs and quest hub and merchant? That's gone now. This _sidequest_ just removed that town from the game. _And it happens more than once,_ which seems insane to me.
I think they missed letting the subquests having an impact on some cutscene at the end. I was hoping for a "perfect ending" when you did all your quests and saved the settlements. They always talked about the war that was going on and always were showing akashic and orcs attacking cities, and I assumed I gathered those people in subquests, so the war (or at least one big fight somewhere) at the end will be in our favour. But as far as I can see, the ending does not change, no matter if you do or completely ignore the side quests (feel free to correct me if that is not the case). Meaning the only sidequest that actually provides you any benefit are the ones unlocking hunts and the blacksmith one.
@@FeelsGouda your interpretation of the ending can change depending if you do all side quests or not imo. They give a different context of what happened. It's obviously ambiguous but I feel they lean more to a certain train of thought.
@@Plasmacat1 The side quests are indeed very important. I haven't been this immersed in a world for a long time. If you skipped them then you really wouldn't have any clue as to how different you view certain characters and the relationships.
I would love to see preach play something like FFT or FF Type-0 after he finish with the mainline titles. Also when preach finally play FF13 I hope he play the whole trilogy to get the full picture of how the CBU1 dev team (the team that have done majority of modern FF) deal with criticism and demands of players.
As a player since Final Fantasy 1 on NES when it was released... 16 *felt* like a Final Fantasy game to me. Don't know how better to put it than that really. The criticism about the levity is fine, but overall it had that Final Fantasy feel to it for myself. Overall, I'd rate it in my top 5 Final Fantasy releases.
The lack of whimsical and fun moments was really a downer for me. Like theres a bar in the Hideaway, and you can buy everyone a round of drinks, but the screen just fades to black and some cheering but thats it. And I don't see why there couldn't be mini-games either, have some of the NPCs around the bar area play Triple Triad or w/e. Also the lack of some of the classic FF staple monsters as well. How could they make a giant massive desert area and not have a single Cactuar?
It is implied cactuar exist, as there is a food dish named after them, but i suppose they would have looked "out of place" in a setting as grimdark as that. I think it was a similar reason why they didnt put in minigames
Largely agree with your takes. Crafting/stats could have definitely been more than just pure linear progression of the same stats. I waited too long to engage with the hunt system, so didn't end up getting any of the materials I needed for the stronger items (Excalibur and Drakeslayer accessories) until I'd progressed so far in the story that the next tier of greens were available and better than them. The darkness of the story didn't bother me so much, but I definitely agree with the pacing. You hit the nail on the head about how back-loaded the side quests were at the end. It was truly unfortunate as I too felt like almost every side quest at the end was very good and quite a few I felt really should have been part of the main story (particularly all the main hub finales). Side tangent: there were SOME side quests that weren't completely dark, particularly the quest chains for each of the main hub NPCs. As those chains resolved, almost every one of them resolved on a "shit's gone down, but there's hope ahead" note. For the main story, we at least got SOME comic relief in the form of Byron.
I keep finding excellent little tidbits that resonate with me and hearken back to my experiences playing these games over the past thirty-plus years of my life. I get that everyone is going to have a different experience of the game, but the story - including the sidequests - have sold me on the core duty of an RPG: that I am Playing the Role of Clive as he goes on his journey. I used to be very prescriptive about What Is Final Fantasy, especially when 12 came out, but I've learned to see the series instead as a place where master craftsmen can (if they're not cowards) push the envelope of game storytelling in some way. Even the ones I don't like gave it a shot. As for some of the lack of enemy variety and crafting depth and so forth, I wonder how much of that was cut down in order to make it fit on a single disc, as the original release was intended to be two. But also, palette swaps and straightforward turn-in quests are as much a staple of classic FF as anything, so who knows.
Can defo agree with you about the dark story telling. At the end I wasn’t sure if I felt happy about finishing the game or depressed over how dark the side quests were
The more I think about this game the more dissapointed I get. I thought the story was good but not particularly amazing in my opinion. A lot of missed opportunities with the villain characters especially. Everything just played out very predictably. Also I really wanted some of that whimsy in the game too. This game took itself so seriously 99% of the time. It was painfully obvious how they really wanted to make something dark and Game of Thrones like to appeal to that audience. Also the combat felt great but at the same time was way too easy. It felt very much like a blockbuster in that sense that it was entertaining but not particularly deep or unique (not that a blockbuster can’t be those things but it felt kinda cookie-cutter to me).
This is an action game. Im confused why people think this is an RPG. Folks, FFXVI is not your traditional Final Fantasy game. I love this game, but I see why classic players confuse this with as an RPG game after all these decades.
it says RPG on the game box. Not to mention alot of the interviews and marketing claimed it was an RPG. Its extremely fair to see those things and then expect a fucking RPG. That can come in any form of combat. Kingdom Hearts is action based. It still has RPG mechanics and systems. why cant this? especially so when its literally written that it does on the fucking box. Why is this so hard to understand for you "ITs aN ACtioN GaME" buffoons?
My main fear from the trailers etc. was that there'd be a lack of all the goofy shit that I love from past FFs. Like, Wall Market in VII or the dwarf village in IX or... loporrits... or Gau. I do think XVI lacked that sort of thing, but even though it was so grim in the main, it didn't ruin it for me - Cid and Isabelle and Gav and Lu'bor and a few others just about charmed me enough to keep me from wanting to off myself. Great characters, just wished they'd lived in a less miserable world.
@@TheAssirra what does your statement have to do with mine? im sorry but the vast majority of players do not want Turn-Based Combat. It was fine in the older games but people like faster-paced action now. This game would have gotten nowhere near the amount of acclaim its gotten if it was stuck with a slow boring turn-based combat system
I personnally loved the story and its dark tone, but it will differ from other I reckon. And even after the objective issues this game has, it still became my favourite of the franchise. I loved every second of it nonetheless
Cant wait for you to start 12!!!!!! He is favorite, even tho a flawed one too, almost the opposite flaws and perks in comparison to 16, like the amount of secrets and hidden enemies and areas you may encounter
FF12 is the one FF that ages better over time, I also enjoyed the vanilla version all the way back. It had a great world design and exploration, the combat is the best auto combat ever made, straight up programing your entire party.
@@GuyWithAnAmazingHat I totally prefer the original version over the zodiac age I don't like not being able to unlock everything on every character but not having items locked behind opening the wrong box is good change in the new version
12 is infinitely better than 16. 16 feels like a watered down version of 12 tbh. I didnt hate 16 but it definitely was disappointing for me. The lack of enemy and area variety is what killed it for me the most.
@@cyanmage1 if you have 12 zodiac age on PC you can mod in the original license board. There is also a mod called struggle for freedom which rebalances the whole game to be more difficult.
The problem is that Final Fantasy used to be peak JRPG and carried the entire genre (especially outside Japan) so it's very disappointing that the series is now just a plain old action game series from now on. Game should have been a FF spinoff like Strangers to Paradise.
I loved the game and it was a great experience but pacing was my main issue for the whole game (close is the gear and crafting) so I am glad that got mentioned here, I didn’t mind the lack of silliness in general because it felt closer to FFXII, FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre and Vagrant Story style of game, I do miss some of the recurrent silly enemies though (like Cactuar and Tonberry, hopefully they get added with dlc or something). Anyway, is a great game with a lot of flaws.
Especially if they want to do a character action game, you need more enemies, enemies with different gimmicks and abilities. But the main gimmick here is always just the stagger bar. Since most abilities can be easily perfect dodged, you can feel it just halfway in. The bosses are at least mostly unique, but yeah there is a gap.
@@bigcoffee8341 this 100%, some enemies are super fun but they definitely needed to add more, when I was done with the game I felt like Mike, the feeling of seeing the same a enemies a couple of times (which is normal on this games but more enemy variety would have been better). Also for me the dificulty of the first play through was stupid easy, like too easy, but I am used to almost every modern hack and slash (Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising, Ninja Gaiden, every God of war and etc), but all this game has optional higher difficulty and some are very hard by default (for example devil may cry 3 non definite version was hard but fun and I played god of war ragnarok in “Give me god of war” difficulty), this was a walk in the park without the option of challenge on first play through (I can enjoy a good story while also having some problems on some encounters, that’s were the fun is for me).
I agree with you that every final fantasy tries to change things up however what makes FF16 different is that rather than making the changes something unique to final fantasy it feels like the changes are just take ideas from other games and incorporate it into final fantasy. From a gameplay perspective there wasnt a single thing i experienced where i could say "this is exclusive to this game", everything just felt very borrowed.
i find it weird how they didn't even bother implementing rpg elements which is a staple in all of their games, even those in the action heavy side like kingdom hearts.
I’ve only played FF7 remake and now I am halfway through FF16, and I am loving the game, and it is making me want to go play all of the other ones to see what I’ve been missing out on. I understand this game may not be everyone’s favorite, but it has piqued my interest as someone who has never played the old ones, and i hope it does the same for everyone else like me. (Only grew up with Nintendo/WOW so I missed out on all the playstation classics lol).
I was sitting with my finger on the pause button. Ready to quit put if I heard anything spoilery about the game. How relieved I am that 1 minute into a 30 minute video Preach tells me it's a non spoilery video. Thanks man. I love your content and am glad you dropped a video on your opinion of the game without ruining it for those of us waiting for PC release.
I would actually argue that FF13 had less levity than FF16. FF13 was like a group of people with a terminal disease, hunted by the authorities, desperately trying to find any hope and having those hopes constantly fall through. For all it's shininess, it was almost depressingly heavy at times. Then again, that was possibly one of the problems with FF13. However while it was generally received pretty negatively by people, I can't remember anyone accusing it of not being 'Final Fantasy'.
This is what I discussed with a friend, I think for a full real first AAA game from this studio, this is a first great try, not perfect at all but a very good game with flaws.
what i feel is very strange about this game is for a large part of the game the side quest suck, but for some really odd reason they chose to hide some really important stuff in the side quest in the last leg of the game. so to start the game kinda teaches you that the side quests suck which gives off the impression that they arent important only for them to be EXTREMELY important by the end of the game.
i used odin only for lvl 100 farm and AP farm. cuz it made the 2nd playthrough too easy. this game managed to make me that emotionally attached to the characters that i felt actually sad after i finished it. "No matter how terrible the night…dawn will always come"
I think it’s a masterpiece from top to bottom, the gameplay pacing and the story, the ending alone is worth your 70$. One of the best games I’ve ever played
I get the critiques about lack of fun and side-content and whimsy, but I personally appreciated a lot that they picked one tone and direction and swung hard into it. I have to imagine it was some reaction to the FF15 problem of the game getting so distracted and hacked apart and retooled in development hell, especially knowing that Yoshi-P runs a very tight production. That being said, I think I'd welcome some more silliness and levity in the next title, but I love that they're willing to keep redefining what FF games are.
I can see where he's coming with some of these details. For example, when compared to other popular MMOs, FFXIV lacks tremendous amounts of customization, options or diversity when it comes to things like the job system. It's all very bogged down and stream lined. It seems this "simplicity" mindset bled into FFXVI. Which is a bit of a shame. I thought for sure Yoshi-P would take this as an opportunity to try things that his team would never have been able to get away with in FFXIV.
From all interviews I seen of the guy, it seems he goes with the path of least resistance because by his own admitió he loves number crunching and really hardcore RPGs. Like he designs games so most people enjoy them not for the super hardcore folks like him. It's like Sakurai with Smash Bros, the guy is a fighting game player and felt so bad he bodied his casual friends in KOF he designed a simple fighting game lol.
@@Plasmacat1I mean on one game he is a director (XIV) and on the other a producer (XVI), I am sure he helped a lot on XVI but he is technically not the director. I do wish side quests and other things had less of a FFXIV feeling to them, they really went safe on that area (and for me it does not works great for an action game).
@@Siul_987producers have way more power in Japanese development than in the west. It's almost as a main creative fellow. The director mostly puts things to fit and don't derail
I disagree about FF14 job diversity. It's a job, do it right or pick something else. We don't need WoW classes when average players are already trash at their rotations.
General consensus I'm hearing is that I'll be fine waiting for PC and I don't have to hard burn my way through it. Planning to just casual my way though this entry and enjoy the ride. It's unfortunate he hasn't played FF15 because that's the comparison I really wanted to hear as it was the last one I played (and hated) and from the outside seems the most similar to in gameplay & tone.
In my opinion, its way high and above better than 15, no contest The game has solid writing all the way through, the story actually makes sense and isnt shards fixed with duct tape and the characters are compelling. For what they wanted to achieve, it is very well crafted and not a unfinished half baked mess like 15(which had a lot of potential, and you can see it when you put the pieces together)
@@dafire9634 I don't disagree, but I find most people that dislike 15 also dislike the action combat system. While this is an improvement in that type of gameplay specifically, if you don't jive with it, then you don't jive. Kinda like some people just don't like first person shooters. If I'm wrong though, and you just didn't like the story from 15, then maybe give this a shot.
@@aeriyah2769 the story from 15 is cool when you put it together as it should be told, thats where the potential is, but it is just told terribly in the game, and dont forget that the game shipped with half a story on release and the dlcs sometimes didnt improve it either The combat in 15 is like the netflix adaptation of 16, its not very good. While i find 16s combat very enjoyable instead
@@aeriyah2769 generally I didn't mind the combat of 15 but that story just turned into nails on a chalkboard for me. Couldn't get invested in the boys and when we finally get to the girl from the movie i did have some investment in... yeah, I was out.
I totally aggree in almost every point with you. Especially the side-quests were HORRIBLY paced. and while they absolutely contributed into building the world due to what they contained, they just become overwhelmingly much in amount... On top of that, you quickly realize, that progressing the main story often locks you out of doing the side-quests at least for a specific amount of progress in the main-story. This creates this weird feeling of "i MUST complete every side-quest available NOW, because i may not be able to get back to them for a while". For me personally, this resulted in me starting to "speedrun" the side-quests, almost SKIPPING the entire dialogue to get it done (i did not actually fully skip those ofc, but as i´m a very fast reader, i just read the subtitles and pressed forward every time, no matter if the actual voice-acting was finished or not). I understand that they are meant to build up the world, give background-stories, establish knowledge about the zones, people, kingdoms etc, but it is just WAY TOO MUCH!!! I also fully aggree on the crafting system. You are basically crafting a new weapon based on your progress, just to replace it rather sooner than later. That makes it completely pointless tbh. They could´ve just given me a new weapon after each chapter and wouldn´t have made ANY difference.
I was at the 97% completion portion of the game and I was so excited to finish the game and then BOOM a whole buttload of side quests appeared. No lie, I loved them especially since they were closing out the arcs of the various major and minor side characters, but damn, took me two and a half nights to finish them before i could get to the point of no return in the story haha
Feels a bit glaring that you didnt talk about in its own section the masterpiece eikon fights. A lot of cons about the game but not enough time on the best part about the game..? Not even listed as a pro, same for the massive soundtrack. This review feels incomplete and a bit too focused on the cons.
he talked about them in the first video in simple terms. He will break things down more in the spoiler video since the specific fights deserve their own treatment.
@@Diomenesx So 1 sentence? The thing with those battles is they are super story focused and such heavy spoilers. He already mentioned he did a 16 min boss fight AND showed titan fight in the previous video.
A few of your criticisms with the game I can definitely agree with especially the pacing. I think having 10-15 side quests thrown at you right before the final quest was a bit overkill and I pretty much spent a good 5-6 hours wrapping them up last Monday before I went and did the final quest. Wrapping up character stories was nice but I do think they could have done less and maybe integrate a few into the actual main story itself especially considering some of the main quests had you do menial tasks that could have been cut or done as a side quest instead.
Near the very end of FF14 (endwalker), a character tells you that the story is so good in part because it is "sprinkled with levity." Seems like that's what they missed out on here. They forgot to sprinkle in enough levity.
This quote was something that was in my head the entire time while Preach was finishing Ff16 on his stream Funny that Yoshi P didn't have that in mind but I'm sure it was done on purpose
I think YoshiP just wanted to support Maehiro's vision, as a producer he probably doesn't interfere much with the writing. I also hope next ff is written by Ishikawa because she looks like a more flexible writer than Maehiro. To me 16 is a good 8/10, but Shadowbringers is still better.
I used the OP, less fun ability to clear groups that weren’t that fun anyway. It’s not super strong against bosses, so that’s where I had my fun. Made sense to me.
For a (spoiler) example of how dark: . . . . . . I love how they made a well adjusted Crown Prince this time. Because the insane ones like Vayne and Zenos could’ve handled it.
For the most part, I totally agree with your assessment of this, especially on the lack of levity and whimsy in the story. That and the character interactions/relationships are the two things I love the most in the Final Fantasy series and I sorely felt the lack of them. Most of the time, I forgot my party members were even there until someone shot a giant pillar of fire at a dog. I 100% agree that this is an amazing game, and I think this was a sorely needed boost for the series after the poor receptions of 13 and 15 and the development hell of the latter. It's arguable even that this is the first "objectively good" single-player Final Fantasy game in 22 years since 10 (although I do love 12). Do I think it was great for Final Fantasy as a whole? Yes, especially in that it pushes the envelope for what Final Fantasy can be. Would I want another Final Fantasy game like it? Maybe not. Weirdly, FF15 and FF16 seem to have opposite problems with one having ridiculously strong party chemistry and banter and the other having a very strong story. Ngl, despite the hot mess of a story that was 15, I'm much more endeared to the *overall* cast in 15 than in 16.
I felt very much endeared to the characters in FF16, though in a less relatable fashion than 15's bros. 16 is just so unrelentingly serious. While 15 was a descent into depression (with bittersweet memories of happier times to reflect upon), 16 managed to start in depression and then get WORSE, and the ending kinda left me with a "that's it?!" reaction.
@@NabsterHax Agreed! Don't get me wrong, I love the cast in FF16 too, and I genuinely think they're some of the best written characters in the series period. Clive is probably in my top three protagonists and Jill is hands down the best female character in the series. And don't even get me started on my love for Dion. It's also extremely refreshing to have your allies be exceedingly competent instead of crying out for your help all the time. But there's just something about the 15 bros that was so charming in a way that made you instantly attached. If FF16 had the same amount of time spent on character moments and banter, it would undoubtedly be one of the top FF games for me.
it was obvious that they were tasked by the higher ups to fix the main criticsms of 15, mainly the presentation, the time skip and the "keep the experience inside a single game" 15 was heavily criticized on how its story was presented. presentation is one of, if not the strongest, side of 16. 15's content was spread accross different media, 16, they tried as hard as they could to keep it on a single game. but tbh, 16 could have benefited greatly from having its story separated into 2 games or even 3 games. the single player though. i would never believe that its a creative choice. its a choice made early on when the dmc guy was boarded. its the limitation of the combat style that they wanted. i wouldnt be surprised if its also a limitation engine tech wise. the story was wrapped around and built up from that premise. i am not saying that its a bad thing or anything. its just what it is. i am not saying 16 was bad, my overall impressions of 16 is more aligned with preach gaming's video and your comment.
@@NabsterHax i fully agree with your comment.. in that part, as messy 15's presentation was, it was still a more grounded story for me because of the reasons you mentioned. if anything though, i wanted noctis/luna's relationship explored like jill/clive's... and 16 cid is definitely one of the top cids
this was my first ever experience with a final fantasy game and honestly i loved it! their strategy of trying to get in people who've never touched a final fantasy game def worked on me lol
Can someone please tell me if this video has ANY spoilers at all? I’m in “doesn’t want to pay $800 to pay FFXVI gang” so I’m waiting for the PC release. I would love to watch this vid but only if there are literally zero spoilers.
Over the last 20 years I played most FFs and I am apparently the complete opposite of Mike. I don't like the Whimsical stuff, which is evident as my fave FFs are Tactics(#1) and 16(#2) and I like the bleakness of Type 0s ending. Edit: the Whimsical stuff Mike hangs FF on so much isn't exclusive to FF but rather a staple in most Japanese RPGs, be it the Tales of Series, star ocean, xenoblade etc. If he hadn't such an aversion of the Anime style and played those games he would have realized that 😂
I think you put a good description to the issues that I have seen in the game. Long time FF fan, and I got 4 hours into the game before ejecting the disc. Is it a good game? They should have called the game "Devil May Cry: The Final Fantasy". Why I stopped playing... 1) 4 hours of the following scenario: a) crawl under or through something in which you don't have control of once started. b) get to other side and user has control to walk forward for 10 seconds. c) go to a cut scene. d) come to stop in which you drop down into a fight area or push through a door into a fight area. e) fight group mob by pressing square and R1 repeatedly. f) Go back to (a) and repeat. 2) You hit on the gearing issue... I have wondered if you could beat the game without ever upgrading any gear. I can not state just how disappointed I was that gear fashioned from a boss fight mat got replaced 10 minutes later. 3) The real side quests that I encountered in the 4 hours were fetch quests. I do not consider the quests that were related to the progression of the game as being a side quest. They were still required to move the story forward thus are linear in play through. 4) I feel like them stating this was an RPG is false advertising. This was as much an RPG as minesweeper is an FPS. After the 4th chest I opened I never bothered opening them again unless I was short on potions. Forget the road not taken, because there are no forks in it to take. 5) Zero strategy required. You load out your character and set it and forget it. There are is no synergy in how you setup your one and only character. No elemental considerations. Zero incentive to fight anymore mobs then the bare minimum requires to clear a path in the one of two sad excuses for 'open areas' and I use that term lightly. If I was into character action games heavy with cut scenes I would say this was a good game. However to me this is just not a fun play style. After I put the CD back in its case I ordered FF XIII for the PS3, and Xenoblade 3 to get my fix of games that play with some actual challenge. I really hope this is a one off... I sadly think it will not be. And god forbid they go this route for the next installed of the FF VII remake.....
I think we needed someone like Cid a bit longer in the main crew. The banter helped lighten things up without the serious themes suffering. Also agree about the side quest finals that needed to be more spread out. Overall great game though.
Speaking of that "unresolved mystery" that you would go do at the end of the game, there are actually a couple places that I thought would be like that but just didn't pan out into anything. For example, the first time you go to a certain village, you can talk to an npc off at the edge who is looking out over the wilderness at this massive fallen tower. She goes on to say that nobody has stepped foot inside it in a thousand years, so of course I assumed it would be some late game place you can go. But that tower is just never mentioned again. I'm pretty sure I've even found the entrance to said tower, but there is just nothing. The door remains closed and you can't do anything with it.
It's in line with western games like Horizon and God Of War reboots imo. It's just kinda there. I got most of my rpg fix from the Eikon abilities though, it's fun to mix and match to find stagger number go up. When I hit almost 60k it was a rush.
@@Plasmacat1 which are also not rpgs, they are character action games. And it’s telling that the rpg-ish systems in those games are more important to the game than in ff16.
@@dannyboi7877that's my point RPG is a blanket term now. Number cru ching, etc is not popular. If you have most of the people saying they want more RPG mechanics out of a game and put them to play Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldurs Gate, they will uninstall in like 2 hours.
@@Plasmacat1 and like I said in the original post, the elements that are rpg-ish in this game (progression systems etc) are so shallow that the game would be functionally identical without them. They are just window dressing. Horizon and hod of war are more rpg than this. Ff16 is not an rpg.
@@dannyboi7877 horizon is mor eof am rpg? Bro thay crafting is awful and dumb, same with God of war. It's just tedium for the sake of it. You have so much mats in the end it's literally useless
Dude, I don't think SE wants FF categorized at all. It's an open platform. And I'm very excited that all new FF entries have a chance of being hack n slash or something derived from an older system or that sweet FF7R ATB. I love hack n slash and FF16 is top tier for alot of reasons. I'm actually interested in a shooter type, something where GUNBLADE is more front and center in the system, maybe an FF in a super future eikonic or elementals but it's planets instead of continents, collecting huge chunks aeter/materia in outer space to use on the aether cannon we built for our ship. Or an action game like this but FF5 remake with hella systems for all those jobs, but I'm about to start stranger of paradise so maybe that scratches the jobs itch.
The biggest thing that got to me was how long the side quests got and the environment was just dreary to be fighting in for the last half of the game. That really killed the vibe for me and I just started skipping stuff just to get out.
Just finished the platinum trophy for this game and I still have mixed feelings. Loved the story but I agree it felt like it lacked any form of rpg element.
The extreme lack of variety of any kind whether it be enemies, areas, combat, or gear really killed this game for me. I was loving it til about the halfway point when i noticed most of the bestiary was already full and most of the areas were bland and similar. I got the platinum trophy too and felt the gameplay as a whole was insultingly easy and shallow. You can really tell that the majority of the budget went to the scenes in the eikon fights. while they were cool to look at they werent very fun. They should have just been more consistent across the board and put as much care into the rest of the game as they did those cinematics.
@@Eversoul12 agreed bro, really had to force myself to play the Final Fantasy difficulty to finish the plat, felt like even more of a chore with higher health enemies just taking forever.
GG Mike, solid video :) Im playing NG+ Hard Mode at the moment and just doing MSQ this time around. What a DAMN fine story ❤ Looking forward to your FF12 & FF15 journeys 👌
My biggest gripe with the dark aspect of the story wasn't lack of levity, it's that they never once showed destroying the mothercrystals actually worked!! It didn't make the blight recede, it didn't make anything better so WHY on earth did they continue destroying more of them as if they knew Cid was 100% right when Cid himself said it was only a theory. It was such a major plothole that we're just supposed to accept on a meta level but the characters never mention or question. Brought me right out of the story. They're sacrificing all this and ruining everyone's lives by removing magic but there's no sense that that is more beneficial or helps anyone.
@@Plasmacat1 I know that, you know that. Clive learns that after the final boss tells him near the end of the game. But not WHILE he's doing it. There's no indication after destroying the first crystal during that 5 year gap that it did anything at all except make people's lives worse by reducing the amount of crystals in circulation. There's also no point in which Clive has to really face the consequences of his crusade, which is disappointing considering the first part of the game is about him coming to terms with his guilt over Phoenix Gate. Was there really no point in which he doubted? No point where he was like "wait, we're trying to make peoples' lives better but we've cause them only suffering so far instead. Is this really the best way?" I know that in the end he will continue his quest. From a meta perspective he must, because that is what the story is built on. But as a character in his own world he seems to march on as if this is the obvious course because he knows he's the main character and it will all work out right in the end. That's not good writing.
For me, who's been playing the games for like 20 years at this point, getting away from some of the jokier stuff and letting the atmosphere soak in was a breath of fresh air. It's way more in line tonally with something like FFT to me, and I think that game is a masterpiece. But your mileage may vary! My only real criticism is that the party system feels a little superfluous - which, when you're going for something in the same vein as Devil May Cry, yeah I get it. But I would say before moogles and chocobos and cactuar and summons and crystals, what comes to mind first for me when I think of FF is a party. But even that doesn't really diminish my actual enjoyment much because I also happen to love DMC.
I asked my buddy to describe the story and he just said "Pain: The Game" and he loved every second of it "everybidy suffers, all the time" is another thing he says and the fact that it's not a spoiler lets you know how dark it gets 😂😂😂
Very good review preach.Can’t wait for you to give ff15 royal edition a look .You will find flaws but overall I think you will enjoy what you play.I’m not no hardcore player but I find with ff games I always come away with an ff experience whatever that might be
I wonder if it would have worked better to not mark the side quests with the green markers. Also do away with the vendor who tells you where they are. It would have lead to more of a feeling of explain as you organically discover them. You also wouldn't have the feeling of them being a checklist of you just decide to move on at any point because there's no visual indicator saying "this isn't done".
Honestly that seems like an easy thing to add in with a later patch. Much like how they are planning on giving the option to disable motion blur, giving an option to toggle off the overworld quest markers would have been welcome. That way they could keep the vendor, but you could worry about finding the quests while exploring and only go to him when you weren't sure the well had run dry yet.
Also, the whole point of Clive being half a general and half an errand boy is that he feels he needs to check up on stuff and make sure everything is squared away, and in a dangerous world both lead to battle. It could have helped to make FF16 really feel like that Clive especially felt for the people given the story they told.
I definitely agree that the final side quests should have been mandatory but a lot of them are continuations from previous side quests...so then all side quests wouldn't even be necessary, they would just be part of the main game
omg that comment about the questplosion before the last mission, I did exactly the same. I felt so held back, because I wanted to know what happens next but these quests were so important to do.
As someone who's only played FF14 and 16, I absolutely loved 16 and it's one of my top favorite games of all time. While the story is pretty dark, I did feel like there were some light moments in between, but maybe I just like to suffer since Shadowbringers is my favorite expansion in FF14 XD While playing, I didn't really care about the gearing that much, so for me it didn't have a big impact. I do agree however that the bosses became repetitive at times and it could have done with a bit more variety. It would also have been nice to play as other characters at times, I would have enjoyed that. But I didn't miss it too much either.
As someone who's played all the ff titles and loves turn based. I have my gripes. Lack of customization is my biggest. I do see what Creative Business III is trying to do, and I quite enjoyed the dark theme and very linear game play (compared to the others). I think we a players need to stop comparing games with other games in order to enjoy a new take on something old.
Pretty much 100% agree with this ^^ I really loved the game for what it was, but I also missed the things you mentioned. Really hoping XVII goes harder on the RPG side of things, but I'll definitely be along for the ride whatever they choose to do
@@Mogel- Nah, they can even use the same combat for FFXVII just give more meaningful choices. I found Masamune after getting the best sword in the game and it was useless like half the crafting stuff in the game. Give the player the ability to imbue enchantments or something. FFXVI was awesome, the crafting and gear needs changing not to mention fetch quests being the same but besides that it was an amazing game. It wasn't dark enough for my taste but others seem to think it was too dark.
I have the same qualms about the other facets of the game that everyone else does, but I still have issues with the story I have not seen anyone mention yet. I know a lot of people love the story, including me... at least up to a certain point, but after that, it feels like the latter part of the game's narrative momentum starts to waiver. Up until that point though, this game's story was on track to at least compete with Shadowbringers. It starts to fall apart towards the end though. The game randomly decided to go down the route of incorporating clichéd one dimensional JRPG villains while dropping the ball on development of certain interesting plot points that ended up being relegated to half-assed side quests. They had a great opportunity to tie the struggles together from the past with present day in a neat way which was completely missed. Also, I'll be honest about the romance as it largely did not do it for me, I think it falls flat in numerous ways except for the subtext of fire-ice yin-yang which does act as a neat piece of foreshadowing but only if there was any chemistry there to begin with for us to care. Finally, the ending itself disappoints the most feeling like it squandered and rushed character arcs built up only to be unceremoniously knocked down. Saving grace of the ending however, is the post-credits scene, which I did enjoy as it reminded me a lot of what they did with FF 7. The map design is another issue. The world overview looked tiny, and didn't make much sense geographically and scale-wise. The continent of Ash itself was so barren, empty and lacking in scale; I know that it feeling dead is supposed to be part of the 'story' but it really does feel like a cop-out here. The entire continent was pretty much just one map with a bunch of fast travel locations. There was no intrigue there whatsoever that we have seen older FF 'dead-zones' handle a lot better (FF 6 and 7 as the exemplars). Unfortunate to say, but I felt sort of empty after finishing this game. I think it will still rank on the upper half of my FF list for the first half of the game's story alone.
I am a huge FF fan and i liked the story of 16 and loved most of the characters but after the epic fight against bahamut i just quit because i didnt want do hours of repeating the same combos over and over to get to the next eikon battle. And theres nothing worth collecting in the game like every chest in this game feels like a waste of time to open.
BTW no mention to the soundtrack? I found it amazing, it has so many letmotivs to almost every game of the franchise. The boss themes have their FF14 themes sprinkled in them too and the Hideaway tunes are a classic. I also liked each character had their own music la theme, something we hadn't had in a really long while.
Hmmm might be a hot take but the music here is just servicable imho. An epic moment has epic music, sad moments has sad ones, but there isn't a track that really hits home like Flow, or Answers.
@@DarkSlayer224 Honestly, he's not wrong. I feel that forcing the music to adhere to the classic choir-instrumental genre hurt and kneecapped Soken's best. Yoshi-P should've let Soken go wild, he's best when he goes wild not when he's restrained, i.e: Titan music in FF16 is the best music in the game. You could maybe argue the end credits song was great but it literally didn't play anywhere except the credits, which is... end credits.
@@DawnAfternoonsounds like you don't like choir/classical pieces. All the eikon themes are extremely iconic, Phoenix vs Ifrit and Titans (choir) theme are so good.
Stat and gear complexity went to the crapper every since XIII, the first Final Fantasy I disliked in almost every way-- and I had played them all up to that point. I wonder if it's just not commercially viable for them to just go back to making a game that's not for absolutely everyone in terms of mechanics.
I find the darker the game is the more its needs that light hearted moments in the game, or the player gets to desensitized to the dark nature of the game and its story and all the heart stopping or aching moments becomes mere 'meh'. That was one of the good things about the FF Franchise, they need to make sure they retain that in all its games IMO.
Finally finished last night so I could go back and watch this. The side quests got very grating, especially at the end when you had a quest for nearly everyone you met to wrap up as the world was ending. That said, the game was such a massive spectacle and the main story and some of the side content was so good I can overlook it. The crafting system though, wtf?
I did the exact same thing with the final batch of side quests of gathering them up like I'm playing wow. They definitely needed to spread those out more.
Yes it is.I was informed this game was short and yet i didnt have urged to play it daily.If it worsed maybe i was gonna repeat what i had been done to FF13-2,let it sit in the shelf for 2 years before play it again.😮💨😮💨. But that was me personally,if you all enjoyed the game,God Bless you for supporting the game the series.❤
...funny comparing all this to your thoughts on the same writers' Heavensward story, which was also very heavy with its strorytelling and had little "whimsy" to it, but you praised as one your favourite video game experiences ever.
Been playing FF since the 90s, NES, Gameboy, SNES, PS, GC et all. I think ive played just about every single one ever released, except for the new FF 1 "remake" from a year or two ago. This one sits in my top 5 all time because it completely broke the mold of what a Final Fantasy can be. Would I like every FF to be like this going forward...no, but it was such a shake up on what a FF could be that it sits up there in the echelon of the FF6 (Esper system),FF5(Job System),FF10(The Sphere Grid), FF7 (Story Telling i.e. CG "FMV" cutscenes and Graphical style) the type of mold breaking games that keeps the Fantasy alive. Stuff that followed just mirrored these games FF8 mirrored the Esper System in that you basically equipped Primals and got their powers, FF9 mirrored the Materia System (which basically mirrored Esper system) in the sense your Gear Options gave you specific abilities, FF12 mirrored the Job System in that you could build a character to be good at one thing, FF13 Mirrored the Sphere Grid system in the sense you kind of went down a set path until you unlocked everything. For me looking at the (mainline numbered) series as a whole, FF16 has changed so much about what we can expect from a Final Fantasy going forward, it easily sits among the GOATs, simply because they now have a new proven avenue of experience they can bake into future games at any time, alongside long storied elements such as Job and Gearing Systems, Esper and Marteria systems, Leveling and Growth systems...the only system SE never really touched was combat...and now they have in a very robust way. Good review Preach, but I think the conclusion was a bit dismissive of just how important a dynamic change like this is to the series, its sorely needed one as outside of 11,14 being online, and 15 being an open world mess....FF hasn't really changed much since FF10, at least not in a defining sense. (and Fwiw, FF6, FF5, FF10, FF16, FF7 would be my order of operations....if we were to include Online only Games, FF 11 would take top spot and bump FF7 off the list of series defining games, not specifically favorites, just the ones that shook the most things up gameplay wise in the series).
As someone whose first FF was 7. And then tapered off after 9 only to give up on 12 and 13. I thought it was a return to form. I enjoyed the lack of mud maxing with the crafting and equipment to be honest. Does that have higher stats? It does? Great that’s the one to use. And the eikons were such a tremendous draw for me. Only upset that the eikon of water never appeared in the game. And the lack of levity I enjoyed. To often the story got derailed with meaningless bs and I was glad they kept it to a minimum.
@@katarh yea that’s what I assumed too. Though they have stated no dlc was in the works and just as a general practice I hate that so much. You set up 8 eikons. We expect 8. It’s like checkovs gun. I went into the game blind and I made it all the way to the 4th mother crystal before I finally looked up where the hell were they only to see they weren’t in the game. Just makes the world feel unfinished which is a side of modern gaming I can’t stand. Like seeing ruby weapons tail but never being able to encounter them till the dlc comes out.
And this is why going in too blind can hurt you, lol. If you had at least watched Yoshi's interviews you would have known he had specifically said to not expect whimsy. He has ALWAYS stated XVI would be the darkest FF game yet. So that kinda on you m'guy. For everyone else who knew, we were aware and he delivered and honestly it was BETTER for it. A lot of ppl thought Yoshi was gonna pussy out and not make it so dark but the man had balls and put money to words. 10/10 best Final Fantasy bc of it.
Bro it's like so many ppl don't understand what ff is all about it's blowing my mind but confirming many ppl really don't play ff at all it's dark it's epic it's not a a grindy Farmville game I don't understand why it's being reviewed by most ppl lololol
My only gripe is that the quest UI and journal UI ruins the suspension of disbelief. They should get rid of it so it doesn't feel like going to marker, do thing. Its too MMO for me.
How tone comes across is pretty individual. Even besides being a historian I may be desentisized/hardened regarding dark subject matter (we are talking "oh I'll take some Timothy Snyder books about genocide along on vacation as light reading") I'm a big fan of Shinya Tsukamoto films (favorite Kurosawa film being Ran and favorite Herzog film being Aguirre), Evangelion, Berserk, Alan Moore comics, and so on which also really skews my gradient on what's dark. Regarding XVI, personally I rank it on par with X, but VII and XIV are still the best Final Fantasies. EDIT: Though in regards to the crafting system, I appreciate that it is at least a non-issue, it effectively becomes just an extra step to receiving Hunt Board rewards. To me a truly bad crafting system is one that becomes a millstone around the game. While it is not a crafting system, a mechanical example is one of the bad sides about VIII: The Draw/Junction system is just really bad and incentivizes a bad sort of playstyle (made worse by the way the level-scaling works) where you avoid experimentation and ultimately kit towards one endpoint of GF spreads to cover everything (and the overall busted balance in VIII means you will mostly just Aura spam with Squall, or if you are an absolute madlad with lightning fingers you use Aura spam with Zell).
I feel like they should have just not had gear in this game with how it works. You can probably just ignore most of the upgrades until you're so far behind you can't damage anything. Then you can just upgrade then and save any materials and gil you might have spent for the tiny stat increments. Alternatively could just have upgrading for only after one of the big set piece bosses so getting a new weapon was exciting.
The weirdest thing about stats was - there are actually 4 stats that affect how much hp etc you have: strengths, will, vitality and dex (I think?) Not once were those stats mentioned anywhere or were present on gear. They just...existed. You probably got them when leveling up (never bothered to check). It feels like they had more planned but scratched it halfway through. All the systems feel like that they were created by different teams (team 1 did crafting, team 2 did buying items etc.) and at the end they just threw them together, without making sure they actually make sense or are fun in unison. I also think they took too much "inspiration" from FF14 for this stuff.
Yeah idk even know why Charon sells equipment. You ALWAYS have the materials to build the plus weapons at blackthorne if youre playing the game at all. Gil is only useful for buying orchestrion rolls and a few accessories youll likely never use.
@@Eversoul12 And you can almost disregard the accessories, given they are completely useless or at least completely unfun. In an action game, I dont care much about 3 second Cooldown Reduction or 8% damage buff, in an MMORPG this obviously is a different story - hence my thought that they took too much "inspiration" from FF14.
Love the way preach puts things into words. There are bad games and that's easy to explain and then there games that I still love but still aren't scratching an itch and I don't know why. People are like "either you like the game or don't" well I DO but it doesn't mean I don't have problems with it.
The final review is here! Today we answer the two most important questions: Is it a good game? and is it a good Final Fantasy? Two very different questions that mike has a fresh perspective on being new to the franchise.
Mike has a lot to say about some of the negative features of this game, just bear in mind they are very much secondary elements of the game, the story is what this game is ALL about.
Next week we'll be doing a balls deep story breakdown so we can get into the nitty gritty of the game so make sure you're subscribed for that.
I really disagree with story being all FF is about. 2 of the 3 best FF games have the worst stories. FF5 and FF12. yall can decide what the 3rd best one is.
@@Eversoul12 5 and 12 are not the best FF games. They are only the ones you like the best. It is different lol
@@NotBer yea i was finna say “how can 5 and 12 be 2 of 3 of the best when 4 6 7 9 and 10 are better”.
I get what you mean about the levity but I found Mid, Byron and Gav filled that role pretty damn well.
It has mostly dry humor. I like the dad jokes Clive says on hunts.
Mid
a la XIV, the boss battles are so bombastic I found myself laughing in glee. that did it for me tbh.
Some of the optional side quests were quite silly. The chefs rediscovering old horrible recipes Tasting History style were definitely one of the funnier moments for me.
@@katarh it’s so bad it’s good 😂😂
I guess having played ff for so long I was ok not having the Whimsey. I was satisfied with it being grim dark because it was a complete change
You should try FFtype0, it's still the darkest FF, FF16 feels like a mellowed out version to cater to more mainstream audiences as a mainline game. Type0 was able to do things that normal FFs couldn't because it was a side game, e.g would you like to make decisions that would result in one or the other child dying?
Children bleeding, dying, chocobos dying, summons killing people, people killing summons, brother dying, swearing revenge for brother etc., it did everything that FF16 is doing now and more.
@@GuyWithAnAmazingHatStill love the Alexander cutscene in type-0
To me the levity came from the message of hope, pressing against adversity and the bitter truth and community not really humor haha anime. I get it's kinda weird or corny thinking that but I get his point.
As someone who has played since ff1 came out, I found it a breath of fresh air. Also I think people don’t remember just how dark ff4 and ff6 were just because of the graphics. If they were made today they’d be rated M.
@@KironX1 yeah this is a Wolrd of Ruin equivalent from 6
Fair opinion, especially on pacing. About the whimsical stuff, this game is way more in line with Ff12 and Tactics (same devs) that are also kinda miserable in a similar way. My biggest critique is the lack of classic monster variety, they could have put a lot of those in the hunt board like tornberry or catuars.
Overall to me it's one of my favorite in the franchise because of the characters and their relationships Clive and Jill in particular. I never really ever had a favorite FF protagonist until Clive. As you say in the end, this game will be remembered mostly fondly because of the characters, spectacle (bahamut fight was just amazing) and story which that is to me the core strength of Final Fantasy as a franchise. It accomplished what the devs wanted imo, pour in new fans to the franchise so that they may go back to some of the old ones.
For someone as new to the series as preach is, It amaze me how much he get it! Incredible review! Thanks!
When the big amount of sidequests showed up at the end, I honestly just skipped them after seeing how many. Which is a shame since apparently they are pretty important. I did make a save so I can go back and do them without needing to reclear the game.
This honestly felt very similar to endwalker for me in terms of weird pacing, which I also liked but had problems with
If you load up your cleared game file, it'll drop you back in the Hideaway before going to the final boss, so you can still clear everything in your first playthrough.
Lol honestly when I saw the amount of quests right before the end my brain automatically didn’t want to do them, I still did and they ended up been the best set of side quests (I still have issue with most of the side quests before the end and the pacing of them).
yea lot of them are wrapping stories of side characters
@@fatmatt589 Oh THANK YOU for letting me know. I was almost level 49 when I decided to just go ahead and clear, but I wanted to level cap. Time to go farming in Waloud.
I skipped the last batch since i wanted to see the ending before youtube thumbnails spoiled it for me I do plan on going back and finishing them before starting a new playthrough
All I gotta say is: thank god for Byron. He gave us much needed levity!
I wasn't sure what to make of Lord Byron at first. And then we got to the bar scene in Dalimil Inn and I realized we were going full Indiana Jones, and all the tedium from the MSQ for the last hour melted away. That was lots of fun.
thx bro
Byron and Gav are some of my favorites. I loved that bar scene with Byron also.
Byron was my favorite side character for sure. The time you and him were in the desert was a lot of fun despite all the bad shit happening. Really wish he was around more.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they experimented with removing the whimsy because so many people complained about the boy band world tour vibe in FF15.
If anything, FF15 wasn't whimsical enough.
FF15 just had the feeling of friends drifting away over time given the entire plot. It may be whimsical, but it is nostalgically whimsical.
And for me even with that I still feel XVI gets silly plenty of times, Playing Dragon Age Inquisition right after it was funny how Inquisition is overall a more light hearted world, but the interactions, the dialogues, the subject of converstions is very different from XVI which has a lot of power of friendship stuff in it.
I much prefer the apporach of Inquisition than XVI and the vast majority of Jrpgs, however I still like XVI more than Inquisition since I feel the story is better.
As an FF fan of more than 25 years, I always appreciate a thoughtful review where all of the criticisms and praises make coherent sense, whether I agree with them or not. Because it shows that you actually give enough of a shit to really ask yourself the important questions.
A couple of other folks I follow have been less sensical with their reasons for disliking the game as if they're fishing for excuses, and so seeing a fair and thoughtful review is definitely appreciated. Cheers!
The funniest thing the vast chunk of people saying "not my Final Fantasy" are people who only really played 1, mostly 7 or 15 lmao. And here we have Mike who is new to the franchise and has played more than the average alleged super fanboys of the franchise
Honestly it reminds me of the WoW team's original remarks regarding WoW Classic - to paraphrase, that you don't *really* want WoW classic, what you want is to go back to a time when you didn't have adult responsibilities.
What the FF fanboys who say it's not a "real" Final Fantasy want is to be 13 on the SNES or PS1 again, living in another world and spending hours optimizing their parties and builds.
The irony is that XVI nails the "drown yourself in another world" part better than any game since X, as far as I'm concerned. THAT has been the nostalgia field trip I was craving, and it delivered in spades.
@@Plasmacat1 I've played every numbered FF and beat almost all of them. Some of them multiple times.
I am only too familiar with those arguments and, even as one of those supposed "super fanboys", I get so exhausted with that.
Honestly, as long as a critique makes sense, I'll absolutely respect it. Just one prominent RUclipsr literally said FFXVI has a "Poke-Plot Problem", referencing how Pokemon games tend to be so obsessed with the concept of Pokemon, all the characters and the world at large revolve around Pokemon whether it makes sense or not. And I had to double take because, for all the valid criticisms of FFXVI, that is most certainly not one of them.
All the stuff Preach has said made the game a 4/10 for me. It's pretty awful, if I'm being honest. At least he actually went through all the stuff that's actually wrong with the game.
As a new FF player, this is only my 2nd ever FF game and it was an amazing experience! 9/10!
Wait how are you considered "New FF player" if this is your 2nd FF lol
@@Mirage4492Because the FF Diehards don’t consider you a real “fan” unless you’ve played at least 10 games in the franchise. Which is stupid
@@gideonhammer577 Yeah the same people who both seek validation and gatekeep the franchise
@@Mirage4492 i mean I would consider myself still new ff player..especially since I've only played recent ones
@@Omegateck16 Nah dont get sucked in the mindset of rabid FF fans gatekeeping/requiring new fans to try out other older games. SE designed it that way for each game to be standalone. Whether you liked an FF title or not, thats up to you and dont feel required to play other FF games just to be able to give your opinion. As for me, FF16 is my first and only FF unless they can provide an equal or better ff game and dont give a fk about fandoms
I love reviews like this because of the irony of them, because the person is saying buy the game, but spends three quarters of the review outlining everything they disliked. I'm not hating Preach, honestly I get the point of it, the point is to outline what they could do better hoping they will do better next time.
But that's just it, there is no next go around. FF17 will not be a sequel to FF16, just as FF16 isn't a sequel to anything. FF games are standalone games, so the next one probably won't even be an ARPG, and will go in a completely different direction. I can guarantee you the next one won't be as story focused, because this was Yoshi-P's vision of FF. It's very much a case of I think we're trying to be critical so we can be "honest" about our feelings on the game, but if you're review is 75% negative, that leaves a negative impression, not a positive one no matter the conclusion or opening thoughts. If it was a positive experience, and therefore worth buying, where is all that positivity? That's my personal issue with the modern review format.
I loved the game, 9.5/10, my only detraction was the stagger system not having a cooldown. You could literally make 75-90% of a fight stagger/takedown, and that just detracts massively from the spectacle of the fights. Better players could probably do 99% of the fight. Given the size limitations, IE: they were aiming for a 90GB download, I don't think they could have fit anymore into the game without detracting from the main focus. I would have liked to see more fleshing out of the secondary content, but given the limitations? There was no possibility of that.
What you were saying about trying to do side quests efficiently.
I did it entirely 1 at a time so i can focus on them.
On the topic of sidequests that feel like they should be part of the main story; a good ways into the game I started getting those, and I think the one that first hit me the hardest was when a random sidequest started _rearranging the map._ Just start this otherwise unmarked sidequest, and that settlement over there? The NPCs and quest hub and merchant? That's gone now. This _sidequest_ just removed that town from the game. _And it happens more than once,_ which seems insane to me.
Those side quests also opened up hunts that wouldn't otherwise be available.
I actually agree with this especially the ones at the ending of the game they are mainstory beats what should of been included
I think they missed letting the subquests having an impact on some cutscene at the end. I was hoping for a "perfect ending" when you did all your quests and saved the settlements. They always talked about the war that was going on and always were showing akashic and orcs attacking cities, and I assumed I gathered those people in subquests, so the war (or at least one big fight somewhere) at the end will be in our favour.
But as far as I can see, the ending does not change, no matter if you do or completely ignore the side quests (feel free to correct me if that is not the case). Meaning the only sidequest that actually provides you any benefit are the ones unlocking hunts and the blacksmith one.
@@FeelsGouda your interpretation of the ending can change depending if you do all side quests or not imo. They give a different context of what happened. It's obviously ambiguous but I feel they lean more to a certain train of thought.
@@Plasmacat1 The side quests are indeed very important. I haven't been this immersed in a world for a long time. If you skipped them then you really wouldn't have any clue as to how different you view certain characters and the relationships.
I would love to see preach play something like FFT or FF Type-0 after he finish with the mainline titles. Also when preach finally play FF13 I hope he play the whole trilogy to get the full picture of how the CBU1 dev team (the team that have done majority of modern FF) deal with criticism and demands of players.
As a player since Final Fantasy 1 on NES when it was released... 16 *felt* like a Final Fantasy game to me. Don't know how better to put it than that really. The criticism about the levity is fine, but overall it had that Final Fantasy feel to it for myself.
Overall, I'd rate it in my top 5 Final Fantasy releases.
The lack of whimsical and fun moments was really a downer for me. Like theres a bar in the Hideaway, and you can buy everyone a round of drinks, but the screen just fades to black and some cheering but thats it. And I don't see why there couldn't be mini-games either, have some of the NPCs around the bar area play Triple Triad or w/e.
Also the lack of some of the classic FF staple monsters as well. How could they make a giant massive desert area and not have a single Cactuar?
It is implied cactuar exist, as there is a food dish named after them, but i suppose they would have looked "out of place" in a setting as grimdark as that.
I think it was a similar reason why they didnt put in minigames
@@dafire9634not only that, they use Cactuar needles as viagra lmao. You can read a sign in that brothel in Dalmekia.
* mike uploads video*
Me waiting for the "In any way, shape or form" quote.
It happened.
Largely agree with your takes. Crafting/stats could have definitely been more than just pure linear progression of the same stats. I waited too long to engage with the hunt system, so didn't end up getting any of the materials I needed for the stronger items (Excalibur and Drakeslayer accessories) until I'd progressed so far in the story that the next tier of greens were available and better than them.
The darkness of the story didn't bother me so much, but I definitely agree with the pacing. You hit the nail on the head about how back-loaded the side quests were at the end. It was truly unfortunate as I too felt like almost every side quest at the end was very good and quite a few I felt really should have been part of the main story (particularly all the main hub finales).
Side tangent: there were SOME side quests that weren't completely dark, particularly the quest chains for each of the main hub NPCs. As those chains resolved, almost every one of them resolved on a "shit's gone down, but there's hope ahead" note.
For the main story, we at least got SOME comic relief in the form of Byron.
I keep finding excellent little tidbits that resonate with me and hearken back to my experiences playing these games over the past thirty-plus years of my life. I get that everyone is going to have a different experience of the game, but the story - including the sidequests - have sold me on the core duty of an RPG: that I am Playing the Role of Clive as he goes on his journey. I used to be very prescriptive about What Is Final Fantasy, especially when 12 came out, but I've learned to see the series instead as a place where master craftsmen can (if they're not cowards) push the envelope of game storytelling in some way. Even the ones I don't like gave it a shot.
As for some of the lack of enemy variety and crafting depth and so forth, I wonder how much of that was cut down in order to make it fit on a single disc, as the original release was intended to be two. But also, palette swaps and straightforward turn-in quests are as much a staple of classic FF as anything, so who knows.
Can defo agree with you about the dark story telling. At the end I wasn’t sure if I felt happy about finishing the game or depressed over how dark the side quests were
The more I think about this game the more dissapointed I get. I thought the story was good but not particularly amazing in my opinion. A lot of missed opportunities with the villain characters especially. Everything just played out very predictably. Also I really wanted some of that whimsy in the game too. This game took itself so seriously 99% of the time. It was painfully obvious how they really wanted to make something dark and Game of Thrones like to appeal to that audience. Also the combat felt great but at the same time was way too easy. It felt very much like a blockbuster in that sense that it was entertaining but not particularly deep or unique (not that a blockbuster can’t be those things but it felt kinda cookie-cutter to me).
This is an action game. Im confused why people think this is an RPG. Folks, FFXVI is not your traditional Final Fantasy game.
I love this game, but I see why classic players confuse this with as an RPG game after all these decades.
it says RPG on the game box. Not to mention alot of the interviews and marketing claimed it was an RPG. Its extremely fair to see those things and then expect a fucking RPG. That can come in any form of combat. Kingdom Hearts is action based. It still has RPG mechanics and systems. why cant this? especially so when its literally written that it does on the fucking box. Why is this so hard to understand for you "ITs aN ACtioN GaME" buffoons?
My main fear from the trailers etc. was that there'd be a lack of all the goofy shit that I love from past FFs. Like, Wall Market in VII or the dwarf village in IX or... loporrits... or Gau.
I do think XVI lacked that sort of thing, but even though it was so grim in the main, it didn't ruin it for me - Cid and Isabelle and Gav and Lu'bor and a few others just about charmed me enough to keep me from wanting to off myself. Great characters, just wished they'd lived in a less miserable world.
Aw, no love for Uncle Byron? He's fantastic!
They also still managed to cram in a Moogle :D
And Chocobos were the most lovable thing in 16.
I think people need to get over themselves and accept new things instead of LAMENTING "oh my god its not JUST LIKE the other games, im big sad now"
@@Sneedmeister It's almost like it's part of a series....
@@TheAssirra what does your statement have to do with mine? im sorry but the vast majority of players do not want Turn-Based Combat. It was fine in the older games but people like faster-paced action now.
This game would have gotten nowhere near the amount of acclaim its gotten if it was stuck with a slow boring turn-based combat system
I personnally loved the story and its dark tone, but it will differ from other I reckon. And even after the objective issues this game has, it still became my favourite of the franchise. I loved every second of it nonetheless
Cant wait for you to start 12!!!!!! He is favorite, even tho a flawed one too, almost the opposite flaws and perks in comparison to 16, like the amount of secrets and hidden enemies and areas you may encounter
FF12 is the one FF that ages better over time, I also enjoyed the vanilla version all the way back. It had a great world design and exploration, the combat is the best auto combat ever made, straight up programing your entire party.
@@GuyWithAnAmazingHat I totally prefer the original version over the zodiac age I don't like not being able to unlock everything on every character but not having items locked behind opening the wrong box is good change in the new version
@@cyanmage1 Yea I get what you mean, the freedom to just build any character anyway you want is nice
12 is infinitely better than 16. 16 feels like a watered down version of 12 tbh. I didnt hate 16 but it definitely was disappointing for me. The lack of enemy and area variety is what killed it for me the most.
@@cyanmage1 if you have 12 zodiac age on PC you can mod in the original license board. There is also a mod called struggle for freedom which rebalances the whole game to be more difficult.
The problem is that Final Fantasy used to be peak JRPG and carried the entire genre (especially outside Japan) so it's very disappointing that the series is now just a plain old action game series from now on. Game should have been a FF spinoff like Strangers to Paradise.
I loved the game and it was a great experience but pacing was my main issue for the whole game (close is the gear and crafting) so I am glad that got mentioned here, I didn’t mind the lack of silliness in general because it felt closer to FFXII, FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre and Vagrant Story style of game, I do miss some of the recurrent silly enemies though (like Cactuar and Tonberry, hopefully they get added with dlc or something). Anyway, is a great game with a lot of flaws.
Especially if they want to do a character action game, you need more enemies, enemies with different gimmicks and abilities. But the main gimmick here is always just the stagger bar. Since most abilities can be easily perfect dodged, you can feel it just halfway in. The bosses are at least mostly unique, but yeah there is a gap.
@@bigcoffee8341 this 100%, some enemies are super fun but they definitely needed to add more, when I was done with the game I felt like Mike, the feeling of seeing the same a enemies a couple of times (which is normal on this games but more enemy variety would have been better).
Also for me the dificulty of the first play through was stupid easy, like too easy, but I am used to almost every modern hack and slash (Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising, Ninja Gaiden, every God of war and etc), but all this game has optional higher difficulty and some are very hard by default (for example devil may cry 3 non definite version was hard but fun and I played god of war ragnarok in “Give me god of war” difficulty), this was a walk in the park without the option of challenge on first play through (I can enjoy a good story while also having some problems on some encounters, that’s were the fun is for me).
I agree with you that every final fantasy tries to change things up however what makes FF16 different is that rather than making the changes something unique to final fantasy it feels like the changes are just take ideas from other games and incorporate it into final fantasy. From a gameplay perspective there wasnt a single thing i experienced where i could say "this is exclusive to this game", everything just felt very borrowed.
i find it weird how they didn't even bother implementing rpg elements which is a staple in all of their games, even those in the action heavy side like kingdom hearts.
Evidence?
@@threestars2164 of?
I’ve only played FF7 remake and now I am halfway through FF16, and I am loving the game, and it is making me want to go play all of the other ones to see what I’ve been missing out on. I understand this game may not be everyone’s favorite, but it has piqued my interest as someone who has never played the old ones, and i hope it does the same for everyone else like me. (Only grew up with Nintendo/WOW so I missed out on all the playstation classics lol).
Try FF12 next, it's like a nice combination of FF16 and FF7 Remake
@@rifway22 appreciate the suggestion! Will definitely have to check it out
If you want to try the turn based games, 10 and 9 are definitely the best options
I was sitting with my finger on the pause button. Ready to quit put if I heard anything spoilery about the game. How relieved I am that 1 minute into a 30 minute video Preach tells me it's a non spoilery video.
Thanks man. I love your content and am glad you dropped a video on your opinion of the game without ruining it for those of us waiting for PC release.
I would actually argue that FF13 had less levity than FF16. FF13 was like a group of people with a terminal disease, hunted by the authorities, desperately trying to find any hope and having those hopes constantly fall through. For all it's shininess, it was almost depressingly heavy at times. Then again, that was possibly one of the problems with FF13. However while it was generally received pretty negatively by people, I can't remember anyone accusing it of not being 'Final Fantasy'.
As their debut full game, and many of them making an action game for the first time, this game is fucking excellent.
This is what I discussed with a friend, I think for a full real first AAA game from this studio, this is a first great try, not perfect at all but a very good game with flaws.
God of war is excellent. This is mid game with a good story.
@@k1r10n16 is better than God of War. 🤷♂️
@@GuitarJester89 gameplay wise, nope
Hardly, they had one of the greatest action games designers of all time in charge of the combat parts
I agree with your final point. I think this game will be remembered fondly despite the divisiveness around it currently.
I'm surprised Mike liked Ultima as much as he did. I liked his design, but his character to me was the worst part of XVI.
I played this when I was very sick. Helped me a lot. Loved it.
You're not alone in moving away from Odin because it's not as fun as using other kits. I did the same.
what i feel is very strange about this game is for a large part of the game the side quest suck, but for some really odd reason they chose to hide some really important stuff in the side quest in the last leg of the game. so to start the game kinda teaches you that the side quests suck which gives off the impression that they arent important only for them to be EXTREMELY important by the end of the game.
i used odin only for lvl 100 farm and AP farm. cuz it made the 2nd playthrough too easy.
this game managed to make me that emotionally attached to the characters that i felt actually sad after i finished it.
"No matter how terrible the night…dawn will always come"
I think it’s a masterpiece from top to bottom, the gameplay pacing and the story, the ending alone is worth your 70$.
One of the best games I’ve ever played
I get the critiques about lack of fun and side-content and whimsy, but I personally appreciated a lot that they picked one tone and direction and swung hard into it. I have to imagine it was some reaction to the FF15 problem of the game getting so distracted and hacked apart and retooled in development hell, especially knowing that Yoshi-P runs a very tight production. That being said, I think I'd welcome some more silliness and levity in the next title, but I love that they're willing to keep redefining what FF games are.
I can see where he's coming with some of these details. For example, when compared to other popular MMOs, FFXIV lacks tremendous amounts of customization, options or diversity when it comes to things like the job system. It's all very bogged down and stream lined. It seems this "simplicity" mindset bled into FFXVI. Which is a bit of a shame. I thought for sure Yoshi-P would take this as an opportunity to try things that his team would never have been able to get away with in FFXIV.
From all interviews I seen of the guy, it seems he goes with the path of least resistance because by his own admitió he loves number crunching and really hardcore RPGs. Like he designs games so most people enjoy them not for the super hardcore folks like him. It's like Sakurai with Smash Bros, the guy is a fighting game player and felt so bad he bodied his casual friends in KOF he designed a simple fighting game lol.
@@Plasmacat1I mean on one game he is a director (XIV) and on the other a producer (XVI), I am sure he helped a lot on XVI but he is technically not the director. I do wish side quests and other things had less of a FFXIV feeling to them, they really went safe on that area (and for me it does not works great for an action game).
@@Siul_987producers have way more power in Japanese development than in the west. It's almost as a main creative fellow. The director mostly puts things to fit and don't derail
@@Plasmacat1 got it, that’s good to know tbh, I stand corrected.
I disagree about FF14 job diversity. It's a job, do it right or pick something else. We don't need WoW classes when average players are already trash at their rotations.
wait.. he is complaining about summons? Can someone confirm? Did preach just spend 4 mins complaining about the defining aspect of the franchise?
General consensus I'm hearing is that I'll be fine waiting for PC and I don't have to hard burn my way through it. Planning to just casual my way though this entry and enjoy the ride. It's unfortunate he hasn't played FF15 because that's the comparison I really wanted to hear as it was the last one I played (and hated) and from the outside seems the most similar to in gameplay & tone.
If you disliked 15 (so did I), I might even wait for a sale when it's on PC...
In my opinion, its way high and above better than 15, no contest
The game has solid writing all the way through, the story actually makes sense and isnt shards fixed with duct tape and the characters are compelling.
For what they wanted to achieve, it is very well crafted and not a unfinished half baked mess like 15(which had a lot of potential, and you can see it when you put the pieces together)
@@dafire9634 I don't disagree, but I find most people that dislike 15 also dislike the action combat system. While this is an improvement in that type of gameplay specifically, if you don't jive with it, then you don't jive. Kinda like some people just don't like first person shooters.
If I'm wrong though, and you just didn't like the story from 15, then maybe give this a shot.
@@aeriyah2769 the story from 15 is cool when you put it together as it should be told, thats where the potential is, but it is just told terribly in the game, and dont forget that the game shipped with half a story on release and the dlcs sometimes didnt improve it either
The combat in 15 is like the netflix adaptation of 16, its not very good.
While i find 16s combat very enjoyable instead
@@aeriyah2769 generally I didn't mind the combat of 15 but that story just turned into nails on a chalkboard for me. Couldn't get invested in the boys and when we finally get to the girl from the movie i did have some investment in... yeah, I was out.
I totally aggree in almost every point with you. Especially the side-quests were HORRIBLY paced. and while they absolutely contributed into building the world due to what they contained, they just become overwhelmingly much in amount...
On top of that, you quickly realize, that progressing the main story often locks you out of doing the side-quests at least for a specific amount of progress in the main-story. This creates this weird feeling of "i MUST complete every side-quest available NOW, because i may not be able to get back to them for a while".
For me personally, this resulted in me starting to "speedrun" the side-quests, almost SKIPPING the entire dialogue to get it done (i did not actually fully skip those ofc, but as i´m a very fast reader, i just read the subtitles and pressed forward every time, no matter if the actual voice-acting was finished or not). I understand that they are meant to build up the world, give background-stories, establish knowledge about the zones, people, kingdoms etc, but it is just WAY TOO MUCH!!!
I also fully aggree on the crafting system. You are basically crafting a new weapon based on your progress, just to replace it rather sooner than later. That makes it completely pointless tbh. They could´ve just given me a new weapon after each chapter and wouldn´t have made ANY difference.
I was at the 97% completion portion of the game and I was so excited to finish the game and then BOOM a whole buttload of side quests appeared. No lie, I loved them especially since they were closing out the arcs of the various major and minor side characters, but damn, took me two and a half nights to finish them before i could get to the point of no return in the story haha
Feels a bit glaring that you didnt talk about in its own section the masterpiece eikon fights. A lot of cons about the game but not enough time on the best part about the game..? Not even listed as a pro, same for the massive soundtrack. This review feels incomplete and a bit too focused on the cons.
he talked about them in the first video in simple terms. He will break things down more in the spoiler video since the specific fights deserve their own treatment.
@@TheChunkeyNinja I mean for his "final non-spoiler review" I feel like it warrants to mention the biggest sell of the game ._.
@@Diomenesx How can he talk about the giant setpieces in the game in a non-spoilers video?
@@TheAssirra Literally by just mentioning that they are there, and they are awesome? What do you mean?
@@Diomenesx So 1 sentence? The thing with those battles is they are super story focused and such heavy spoilers. He already mentioned he did a 16 min boss fight AND showed titan fight in the previous video.
A few of your criticisms with the game I can definitely agree with especially the pacing. I think having 10-15 side quests thrown at you right before the final quest was a bit overkill and I pretty much spent a good 5-6 hours wrapping them up last Monday before I went and did the final quest. Wrapping up character stories was nice but I do think they could have done less and maybe integrate a few into the actual main story itself especially considering some of the main quests had you do menial tasks that could have been cut or done as a side quest instead.
Near the very end of FF14 (endwalker), a character tells you that the story is so good in part because it is "sprinkled with levity."
Seems like that's what they missed out on here. They forgot to sprinkle in enough levity.
This quote was something that was in my head the entire time while Preach was finishing Ff16 on his stream
Funny that Yoshi P didn't have that in mind but I'm sure it was done on purpose
I think YoshiP just wanted to support Maehiro's vision, as a producer he probably doesn't interfere much with the writing. I also hope next ff is written by Ishikawa because she looks like a more flexible writer than Maehiro. To me 16 is a good 8/10, but Shadowbringers is still better.
@@furanpyon But is the combat as good? I mean, besides Black Mage spamming the same one ability for 60 lvls.
Why is an unrelated mmo relevant here?
I used the OP, less fun ability to clear groups that weren’t that fun anyway. It’s not super strong against bosses, so that’s where I had my fun. Made sense to me.
For a (spoiler) example of how dark:
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I love how they made a well adjusted Crown Prince this time.
Because the insane ones like Vayne and Zenos could’ve handled it.
For the most part, I totally agree with your assessment of this, especially on the lack of levity and whimsy in the story. That and the character interactions/relationships are the two things I love the most in the Final Fantasy series and I sorely felt the lack of them. Most of the time, I forgot my party members were even there until someone shot a giant pillar of fire at a dog.
I 100% agree that this is an amazing game, and I think this was a sorely needed boost for the series after the poor receptions of 13 and 15 and the development hell of the latter. It's arguable even that this is the first "objectively good" single-player Final Fantasy game in 22 years since 10 (although I do love 12). Do I think it was great for Final Fantasy as a whole? Yes, especially in that it pushes the envelope for what Final Fantasy can be. Would I want another Final Fantasy game like it? Maybe not.
Weirdly, FF15 and FF16 seem to have opposite problems with one having ridiculously strong party chemistry and banter and the other having a very strong story. Ngl, despite the hot mess of a story that was 15, I'm much more endeared to the *overall* cast in 15 than in 16.
I felt very much endeared to the characters in FF16, though in a less relatable fashion than 15's bros. 16 is just so unrelentingly serious. While 15 was a descent into depression (with bittersweet memories of happier times to reflect upon), 16 managed to start in depression and then get WORSE, and the ending kinda left me with a "that's it?!" reaction.
@@NabsterHax Agreed! Don't get me wrong, I love the cast in FF16 too, and I genuinely think they're some of the best written characters in the series period. Clive is probably in my top three protagonists and Jill is hands down the best female character in the series. And don't even get me started on my love for Dion. It's also extremely refreshing to have your allies be exceedingly competent instead of crying out for your help all the time. But there's just something about the 15 bros that was so charming in a way that made you instantly attached. If FF16 had the same amount of time spent on character moments and banter, it would undoubtedly be one of the top FF games for me.
it was obvious that they were tasked by the higher ups to fix the main criticsms of 15, mainly the presentation, the time skip and the "keep the experience inside a single game"
15 was heavily criticized on how its story was presented.
presentation is one of, if not the strongest, side of 16.
15's content was spread accross different media,
16, they tried as hard as they could to keep it on a single game.
but tbh, 16 could have benefited greatly from having its story separated into 2 games or even 3 games.
the single player though. i would never believe that its a creative choice. its a choice made early on when the dmc guy was boarded. its the limitation of the combat style that they wanted. i wouldnt be surprised if its also a limitation engine tech wise. the story was wrapped around and built up from that premise. i am not saying that its a bad thing or anything. its just what it is.
i am not saying 16 was bad, my overall impressions of 16 is more aligned with preach gaming's video and your comment.
@@NabsterHax i fully agree with your comment.. in that part, as messy 15's presentation was, it was still a more grounded story for me because of the reasons you mentioned.
if anything though, i wanted noctis/luna's relationship explored like jill/clive's... and 16 cid is definitely one of the top cids
this was my first ever experience with a final fantasy game and honestly i loved it! their strategy of trying to get in people who've never touched a final fantasy game def worked on me lol
Can someone please tell me if this video has ANY spoilers at all? I’m in “doesn’t want to pay $800 to pay FFXVI gang” so I’m waiting for the PC release.
I would love to watch this vid but only if there are literally zero spoilers.
Over the last 20 years I played most FFs and I am apparently the complete opposite of Mike. I don't like the Whimsical stuff, which is evident as my fave FFs are Tactics(#1) and 16(#2) and I like the bleakness of Type 0s ending.
Edit: the Whimsical stuff Mike hangs FF on so much isn't exclusive to FF but rather a staple in most Japanese RPGs, be it the Tales of Series, star ocean, xenoblade etc.
If he hadn't such an aversion of the Anime style and played those games he would have realized that 😂
I think you put a good description to the issues that I have seen in the game. Long time FF fan, and I got 4 hours into the game before ejecting the disc. Is it a good game? They should have called the game "Devil May Cry: The Final Fantasy". Why I stopped playing...
1) 4 hours of the following scenario:
a) crawl under or through something in which you don't have control of once started.
b) get to other side and user has control to walk forward for 10 seconds.
c) go to a cut scene.
d) come to stop in which you drop down into a fight area or push through a door into a fight area.
e) fight group mob by pressing square and R1 repeatedly.
f) Go back to (a) and repeat.
2) You hit on the gearing issue... I have wondered if you could beat the game without ever upgrading any gear. I can not state just how disappointed I was that gear fashioned from a boss fight mat got replaced 10 minutes later.
3) The real side quests that I encountered in the 4 hours were fetch quests. I do not consider the quests that were related to the progression of the game as being a side quest. They were still required to move the story forward thus are linear in play through.
4) I feel like them stating this was an RPG is false advertising. This was as much an RPG as minesweeper is an FPS. After the 4th chest I opened I never bothered opening them again unless I was short on potions. Forget the road not taken, because there are no forks in it to take.
5) Zero strategy required. You load out your character and set it and forget it. There are is no synergy in how you setup your one and only character. No elemental considerations. Zero incentive to fight anymore mobs then the bare minimum requires to clear a path in the one of two sad excuses for 'open areas' and I use that term lightly.
If I was into character action games heavy with cut scenes I would say this was a good game. However to me this is just not a fun play style. After I put the CD back in its case I ordered FF XIII for the PS3, and Xenoblade 3 to get my fix of games that play with some actual challenge. I really hope this is a one off... I sadly think it will not be. And god forbid they go this route for the next installed of the FF VII remake.....
I think we needed someone like Cid a bit longer in the main crew. The banter helped lighten things up without the serious themes suffering. Also agree about the side quest finals that needed to be more spread out.
Overall great game though.
Hey. Can you do another update video about your hair transplant?
Speaking of that "unresolved mystery" that you would go do at the end of the game, there are actually a couple places that I thought would be like that but just didn't pan out into anything. For example, the first time you go to a certain village, you can talk to an npc off at the edge who is looking out over the wilderness at this massive fallen tower. She goes on to say that nobody has stepped foot inside it in a thousand years, so of course I assumed it would be some late game place you can go. But that tower is just never mentioned again. I'm pretty sure I've even found the entrance to said tower, but there is just nothing. The door remains closed and you can't do anything with it.
The one on The Dim? Yeah that's kinda odd
@@Plasmacat1 Maybe cut content?
If I remember correctly, that tower is unlocked in NG+ / Final Fantasy mode. The devs mentioned it during the live letter.
Finished the game n loved it... Need more possibly dlc?..Is the recent final fantasy origins game anything like this? Gonna jump on that if it is
13:25 Yeah, I did one by one. When I saw they are really important, if I tried to do all at once, I will get lost on the history
It’s really not an rpg. It has rpg window dressing. But it’s so shallow that the game would be functionally identical if those elements didn’t exist.
It's in line with western games like Horizon and God Of War reboots imo. It's just kinda there. I got most of my rpg fix from the Eikon abilities though, it's fun to mix and match to find stagger number go up. When I hit almost 60k it was a rush.
@@Plasmacat1 which are also not rpgs, they are character action games. And it’s telling that the rpg-ish systems in those games are more important to the game than in ff16.
@@dannyboi7877that's my point RPG is a blanket term now. Number cru ching, etc is not popular. If you have most of the people saying they want more RPG mechanics out of a game and put them to play Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldurs Gate, they will uninstall in like 2 hours.
@@Plasmacat1 and like I said in the original post, the elements that are rpg-ish in this game (progression systems etc) are so shallow that the game would be functionally identical without them. They are just window dressing. Horizon and hod of war are more rpg than this. Ff16 is not an rpg.
@@dannyboi7877 horizon is mor eof am rpg? Bro thay crafting is awful and dumb, same with God of war. It's just tedium for the sake of it. You have so much mats in the end it's literally useless
Dude, I don't think SE wants FF categorized at all. It's an open platform. And I'm very excited that all new FF entries have a chance of being hack n slash or something derived from an older system or that sweet FF7R ATB. I love hack n slash and FF16 is top tier for alot of reasons. I'm actually interested in a shooter type, something where GUNBLADE is more front and center in the system, maybe an FF in a super future eikonic or elementals but it's planets instead of continents, collecting huge chunks aeter/materia in outer space to use on the aether cannon we built for our ship. Or an action game like this but FF5 remake with hella systems for all those jobs, but I'm about to start stranger of paradise so maybe that scratches the jobs itch.
The biggest thing that got to me was how long the side quests got and the environment was just dreary to be fighting in for the last half of the game. That really killed the vibe for me and I just started skipping stuff just to get out.
Just finished the platinum trophy for this game and I still have mixed feelings. Loved the story but I agree it felt like it lacked any form of rpg element.
The extreme lack of variety of any kind whether it be enemies, areas, combat, or gear really killed this game for me. I was loving it til about the halfway point when i noticed most of the bestiary was already full and most of the areas were bland and similar. I got the platinum trophy too and felt the gameplay as a whole was insultingly easy and shallow. You can really tell that the majority of the budget went to the scenes in the eikon fights. while they were cool to look at they werent very fun. They should have just been more consistent across the board and put as much care into the rest of the game as they did those cinematics.
@@Eversoul12 agreed bro, really had to force myself to play the Final Fantasy difficulty to finish the plat, felt like even more of a chore with higher health enemies just taking forever.
GG Mike, solid video :)
Im playing NG+ Hard Mode at the moment and just doing MSQ this time around. What a DAMN fine story ❤
Looking forward to your FF12 & FF15 journeys 👌
Cant wait to see the story breakdown.
I hope they find a way to go back to they style of 9. Strange looking characters and races, cartoonish style, funny moments.
My biggest gripe with the dark aspect of the story wasn't lack of levity, it's that they never once showed destroying the mothercrystals actually worked!! It didn't make the blight recede, it didn't make anything better so WHY on earth did they continue destroying more of them as if they knew Cid was 100% right when Cid himself said it was only a theory. It was such a major plothole that we're just supposed to accept on a meta level but the characters never mention or question. Brought me right out of the story. They're sacrificing all this and ruining everyone's lives by removing magic but there's no sense that that is more beneficial or helps anyone.
They needed to destroy them all. As the final boss tells you they're basically what Cid said, aether vacuums for him.
@@Plasmacat1 I know that, you know that. Clive learns that after the final boss tells him near the end of the game. But not WHILE he's doing it. There's no indication after destroying the first crystal during that 5 year gap that it did anything at all except make people's lives worse by reducing the amount of crystals in circulation.
There's also no point in which Clive has to really face the consequences of his crusade, which is disappointing considering the first part of the game is about him coming to terms with his guilt over Phoenix Gate. Was there really no point in which he doubted? No point where he was like "wait, we're trying to make peoples' lives better but we've cause them only suffering so far instead. Is this really the best way?" I know that in the end he will continue his quest. From a meta perspective he must, because that is what the story is built on. But as a character in his own world he seems to march on as if this is the obvious course because he knows he's the main character and it will all work out right in the end. That's not good writing.
THANK YOU! That was driving me nuts. You could tell me that Clive and Co. were actually the antagonists and I would be down with it.
@@jamespadgett8660 now that would be really interesting!
For me, who's been playing the games for like 20 years at this point, getting away from some of the jokier stuff and letting the atmosphere soak in was a breath of fresh air. It's way more in line tonally with something like FFT to me, and I think that game is a masterpiece. But your mileage may vary!
My only real criticism is that the party system feels a little superfluous - which, when you're going for something in the same vein as Devil May Cry, yeah I get it. But I would say before moogles and chocobos and cactuar and summons and crystals, what comes to mind first for me when I think of FF is a party. But even that doesn't really diminish my actual enjoyment much because I also happen to love DMC.
yeah if they can somehow implement a party system with that sort of action combat they are onto an absolute winner I would of loved to play as Jill
I asked my buddy to describe the story and he just said
"Pain: The Game" and he loved every second of it "everybidy suffers, all the time" is another thing he says and the fact that it's not a spoiler lets you know how dark it gets 😂😂😂
Very good review preach.Can’t wait for you to give ff15 royal edition a look .You will find flaws but overall I think you will enjoy what you play.I’m not no hardcore player but I find with ff games I always come away with an ff experience whatever that might be
I wonder if it would have worked better to not mark the side quests with the green markers. Also do away with the vendor who tells you where they are. It would have lead to more of a feeling of explain as you organically discover them. You also wouldn't have the feeling of them being a checklist of you just decide to move on at any point because there's no visual indicator saying "this isn't done".
Honestly that seems like an easy thing to add in with a later patch. Much like how they are planning on giving the option to disable motion blur, giving an option to toggle off the overworld quest markers would have been welcome. That way they could keep the vendor, but you could worry about finding the quests while exploring and only go to him when you weren't sure the well had run dry yet.
yeah like FF12 did it in 2006 on the ps2.
Also, the whole point of Clive being half a general and half an errand boy is that he feels he needs to check up on stuff and make sure everything is squared away, and in a dangerous world both lead to battle. It could have helped to make FF16 really feel like that Clive especially felt for the people given the story they told.
I definitely agree that the final side quests should have been mandatory but a lot of them are continuations from previous side quests...so then all side quests wouldn't even be necessary, they would just be part of the main game
omg that comment about the questplosion before the last mission, I did exactly the same. I felt so held back, because I wanted to know what happens next but these quests were so important to do.
As someone who's only played FF14 and 16, I absolutely loved 16 and it's one of my top favorite games of all time. While the story is pretty dark, I did feel like there were some light moments in between, but maybe I just like to suffer since Shadowbringers is my favorite expansion in FF14 XD While playing, I didn't really care about the gearing that much, so for me it didn't have a big impact. I do agree however that the bosses became repetitive at times and it could have done with a bit more variety. It would also have been nice to play as other characters at times, I would have enjoyed that. But I didn't miss it too much either.
As someone who's played all the ff titles and loves turn based. I have my gripes. Lack of customization is my biggest. I do see what Creative Business III is trying to do, and I quite enjoyed the dark theme and very linear game play (compared to the others). I think we a players need to stop comparing games with other games in order to enjoy a new take on something old.
Pretty much 100% agree with this ^^ I really loved the game for what it was, but I also missed the things you mentioned. Really hoping XVII goes harder on the RPG side of things, but I'll definitely be along for the ride whatever they choose to do
Change is better don't care about the flaws
@@EncoreBesti Does it really have to be either/or?
@@Mogel- Nah, they can even use the same combat for FFXVII just give more meaningful choices. I found Masamune after getting the best sword in the game and it was useless like half the crafting stuff in the game. Give the player the ability to imbue enchantments or something.
FFXVI was awesome, the crafting and gear needs changing not to mention fetch quests being the same but besides that it was an amazing game.
It wasn't dark enough for my taste but others seem to think it was too dark.
I have the same qualms about the other facets of the game that everyone else does, but I still have issues with the story I have not seen anyone mention yet. I know a lot of people love the story, including me... at least up to a certain point, but after that, it feels like the latter part of the game's narrative momentum starts to waiver. Up until that point though, this game's story was on track to at least compete with Shadowbringers.
It starts to fall apart towards the end though. The game randomly decided to go down the route of incorporating clichéd one dimensional JRPG villains while dropping the ball on development of certain interesting plot points that ended up being relegated to half-assed side quests. They had a great opportunity to tie the struggles together from the past with present day in a neat way which was completely missed. Also, I'll be honest about the romance as it largely did not do it for me, I think it falls flat in numerous ways except for the subtext of fire-ice yin-yang which does act as a neat piece of foreshadowing but only if there was any chemistry there to begin with for us to care. Finally, the ending itself disappoints the most feeling like it squandered and rushed character arcs built up only to be unceremoniously knocked down. Saving grace of the ending however, is the post-credits scene, which I did enjoy as it reminded me a lot of what they did with FF 7.
The map design is another issue. The world overview looked tiny, and didn't make much sense geographically and scale-wise. The continent of Ash itself was so barren, empty and lacking in scale; I know that it feeling dead is supposed to be part of the 'story' but it really does feel like a cop-out here. The entire continent was pretty much just one map with a bunch of fast travel locations. There was no intrigue there whatsoever that we have seen older FF 'dead-zones' handle a lot better (FF 6 and 7 as the exemplars). Unfortunate to say, but I felt sort of empty after finishing this game. I think it will still rank on the upper half of my FF list for the first half of the game's story alone.
I had more fun with jedi survivor. Having a hard time finishing this one.. The pacing is killing me and the stupid side quests with no fucking sprint
I am a huge FF fan and i liked the story of 16 and loved most of the characters but after the epic fight against bahamut i just quit because i didnt want do hours of repeating the same combos over and over to get to the next eikon battle. And theres nothing worth collecting in the game like every chest in this game feels like a waste of time to open.
The title says it's a "great game" but it felt like the video was 80% criticisms.
Things can be enjoyable even if most of it is half assed. Things can be nuanced. Doesnt always have to be the extremes
BTW no mention to the soundtrack? I found it amazing, it has so many letmotivs to almost every game of the franchise. The boss themes have their FF14 themes sprinkled in them too and the Hideaway tunes are a classic. I also liked each character had their own music la theme, something we hadn't had in a really long while.
Hmmm might be a hot take but the music here is just servicable imho. An epic moment has epic music, sad moments has sad ones, but there isn't a track that really hits home like Flow, or Answers.
@@maligorLOL That's funny 😂
@@DarkSlayer224 Honestly, he's not wrong. I feel that forcing the music to adhere to the classic choir-instrumental genre hurt and kneecapped Soken's best. Yoshi-P should've let Soken go wild, he's best when he goes wild not when he's restrained, i.e: Titan music in FF16 is the best music in the game.
You could maybe argue the end credits song was great but it literally didn't play anywhere except the credits, which is... end credits.
@@maligoryeah. You are right. It's a scorching sun take. Soken absolutely nailed it.
@@DawnAfternoonsounds like you don't like choir/classical pieces. All the eikon themes are extremely iconic, Phoenix vs Ifrit and Titans (choir) theme are so good.
Stat and gear complexity went to the crapper every since XIII, the first Final Fantasy I disliked in almost every way-- and I had played them all up to that point.
I wonder if it's just not commercially viable for them to just go back to making a game that's not for absolutely everyone in terms of mechanics.
I find the darker the game is the more its needs that light hearted moments in the game, or the player gets to desensitized to the dark nature of the game and its story and all the heart stopping or aching moments becomes mere 'meh'. That was one of the good things about the FF Franchise, they need to make sure they retain that in all its games IMO.
This was the first FF game that I have completed which left me with a feeling of relief. Relief that it was finally over. I had no care left in me.
Finally finished last night so I could go back and watch this. The side quests got very grating, especially at the end when you had a quest for nearly everyone you met to wrap up as the world was ending.
That said, the game was such a massive spectacle and the main story and some of the side content was so good I can overlook it. The crafting system though, wtf?
Is it perfect? No. Do i agree when people give 9 and 9.5's, absolutely.
I loved this game.
The jrpg structure of FF16 is on the same level as some Ys series games (another action jrpg series) I can think of.
Ys has elemental weakness FF 16 isnt, Ys is more fit to be called Action RPG but FF 16 isnt, FF is more closer to 45 hours character action game
I did the exact same thing with the final batch of side quests of gathering them up like I'm playing wow. They definitely needed to spread those out more.
Yes it is.I was informed this game was short and yet i didnt have urged to play it daily.If it worsed maybe i was gonna repeat what i had been done to FF13-2,let it sit in the shelf for 2 years before play it again.😮💨😮💨.
But that was me personally,if you all enjoyed the game,God Bless you for supporting the game the series.❤
...funny comparing all this to your thoughts on the same writers' Heavensward story, which was also very heavy with its strorytelling and had little "whimsy" to it, but you praised as one your favourite video game experiences ever.
Lets goooo Mike! Making my day with these reviews!
Been playing FF since the 90s, NES, Gameboy, SNES, PS, GC et all. I think ive played just about every single one ever released, except for the new FF 1 "remake" from a year or two ago.
This one sits in my top 5 all time because it completely broke the mold of what a Final Fantasy can be. Would I like every FF to be like this going forward...no, but it was such a shake up on what a FF could be that it sits up there in the echelon of the FF6 (Esper system),FF5(Job System),FF10(The Sphere Grid), FF7 (Story Telling i.e. CG "FMV" cutscenes and Graphical style) the type of mold breaking games that keeps the Fantasy alive. Stuff that followed just mirrored these games FF8 mirrored the Esper System in that you basically equipped Primals and got their powers, FF9 mirrored the Materia System (which basically mirrored Esper system) in the sense your Gear Options gave you specific abilities, FF12 mirrored the Job System in that you could build a character to be good at one thing, FF13 Mirrored the Sphere Grid system in the sense you kind of went down a set path until you unlocked everything.
For me looking at the (mainline numbered) series as a whole, FF16 has changed so much about what we can expect from a Final Fantasy going forward, it easily sits among the GOATs, simply because they now have a new proven avenue of experience they can bake into future games at any time, alongside long storied elements such as Job and Gearing Systems, Esper and Marteria systems, Leveling and Growth systems...the only system SE never really touched was combat...and now they have in a very robust way.
Good review Preach, but I think the conclusion was a bit dismissive of just how important a dynamic change like this is to the series, its sorely needed one as outside of 11,14 being online, and 15 being an open world mess....FF hasn't really changed much since FF10, at least not in a defining sense.
(and Fwiw, FF6, FF5, FF10, FF16, FF7 would be my order of operations....if we were to include Online only Games, FF 11 would take top spot and bump FF7 off the list of series defining games, not specifically favorites, just the ones that shook the most things up gameplay wise in the series).
As someone whose first FF was 7. And then tapered off after 9 only to give up on 12 and 13. I thought it was a return to form. I enjoyed the lack of mud maxing with the crafting and equipment to be honest. Does that have higher stats? It does? Great that’s the one to use. And the eikons were such a tremendous draw for me. Only upset that the eikon of water never appeared in the game. And the lack of levity I enjoyed. To often the story got derailed with meaningless bs and I was glad they kept it to a minimum.
Speculation is that "Leviathan the Lost" is one of the potential DLC routes they're holding in a back pocket for later.
@@katarh yea that’s what I assumed too. Though they have stated no dlc was in the works and just as a general practice I hate that so much. You set up 8 eikons. We expect 8. It’s like checkovs gun. I went into the game blind and I made it all the way to the 4th mother crystal before I finally looked up where the hell were they only to see they weren’t in the game. Just makes the world feel unfinished which is a side of modern gaming I can’t stand. Like seeing ruby weapons tail but never being able to encounter them till the dlc comes out.
@@amiralijx5327 berry good point. Well that’s good to hear though does make think they left stuff out now lol
@@katarh Maybe the reason Clive failed as a durable vessel is because he was incomplete without Leviathan. I just thought of that just now.
And this is why going in too blind can hurt you, lol. If you had at least watched Yoshi's interviews you would have known he had specifically said to not expect whimsy. He has ALWAYS stated XVI would be the darkest FF game yet. So that kinda on you m'guy. For everyone else who knew, we were aware and he delivered and honestly it was BETTER for it. A lot of ppl thought Yoshi was gonna pussy out and not make it so dark but the man had balls and put money to words. 10/10 best Final Fantasy bc of it.
Bro it's like so many ppl don't understand what ff is all about it's blowing my mind but confirming many ppl really don't play ff at all it's dark it's epic it's not a a grindy Farmville game I don't understand why it's being reviewed by most ppl lololol
Just cause you say it doesn't have that doesn't mean people cannot be dissappointed it doesn't have it.
My only gripe is that the quest UI and journal UI ruins the suspension of disbelief. They should get rid of it so it doesn't feel like going to marker, do thing. Its too MMO for me.
How tone comes across is pretty individual. Even besides being a historian I may be desentisized/hardened regarding dark subject matter (we are talking "oh I'll take some Timothy Snyder books about genocide along on vacation as light reading") I'm a big fan of Shinya Tsukamoto films (favorite Kurosawa film being Ran and favorite Herzog film being Aguirre), Evangelion, Berserk, Alan Moore comics, and so on which also really skews my gradient on what's dark.
Regarding XVI, personally I rank it on par with X, but VII and XIV are still the best Final Fantasies.
EDIT: Though in regards to the crafting system, I appreciate that it is at least a non-issue, it effectively becomes just an extra step to receiving Hunt Board rewards. To me a truly bad crafting system is one that becomes a millstone around the game. While it is not a crafting system, a mechanical example is one of the bad sides about VIII: The Draw/Junction system is just really bad and incentivizes a bad sort of playstyle (made worse by the way the level-scaling works) where you avoid experimentation and ultimately kit towards one endpoint of GF spreads to cover everything (and the overall busted balance in VIII means you will mostly just Aura spam with Squall, or if you are an absolute madlad with lightning fingers you use Aura spam with Zell).
I feel like they should have just not had gear in this game with how it works. You can probably just ignore most of the upgrades until you're so far behind you can't damage anything. Then you can just upgrade then and save any materials and gil you might have spent for the tiny stat increments. Alternatively could just have upgrading for only after one of the big set piece bosses so getting a new weapon was exciting.
Salute for an honest take.
The weirdest thing about stats was - there are actually 4 stats that affect how much hp etc you have: strengths, will, vitality and dex (I think?)
Not once were those stats mentioned anywhere or were present on gear. They just...existed. You probably got them when leveling up (never bothered to check). It feels like they had more planned but scratched it halfway through.
All the systems feel like that they were created by different teams (team 1 did crafting, team 2 did buying items etc.) and at the end they just threw them together, without making sure they actually make sense or are fun in unison. I also think they took too much "inspiration" from FF14 for this stuff.
Yeah idk even know why Charon sells equipment. You ALWAYS have the materials to build the plus weapons at blackthorne if youre playing the game at all. Gil is only useful for buying orchestrion rolls and a few accessories youll likely never use.
@@Eversoul12 And you can almost disregard the accessories, given they are completely useless or at least completely unfun. In an action game, I dont care much about 3 second Cooldown Reduction or 8% damage buff, in an MMORPG this obviously is a different story - hence my thought that they took too much "inspiration" from FF14.
@@Eversoul12I only ever bought potions.
@@Eversoul12Gil gets used in ng+. The ult accessories are very expensive. Also have to get multiple accessories for the ng+ system.
Love the way preach puts things into words. There are bad games and that's easy to explain and then there games that I still love but still aren't scratching an itch and I don't know why. People are like "either you like the game or don't" well I DO but it doesn't mean I don't have problems with it.
this is what rational people do. Nuance is important in every aspect of life. Only sheep are white or black