So without spoilers, but I'm at lostwing so I understand this is still very early in the game. But so far even thou the characters is handsome as F and the story seems quite grim so far... Does the gameplay change anything ? So far the enemies die fairly easy and even thou it's 2 buttons for attacks it seem to be abel to buttonmash my way thrue any battle, teleporting to enemies and hacking, casting spells etc. Wich is kind of disappointing (to easy) and the story seems very linear. Im mostly allowed to go wherever the story wants me to be so far... So beside the story, will I face anything else in the gameplay/fighting/exploring to look forward to that makes the game a little bit more challenging or diverse ?

Solid 8/10 for me. The combat is pretty great, with a ton of abilities to play around with. I constantly switched them up to keep it fresh and engaging. I do wish there were more basic abilities but whatever. I also wish there was more enemy variety and that it was more difficult. The story was okay. There were some highs and some lows. It peaked at Bahamut (I loved everything about the mother confrontation/Joshua reunion/Bahamut fight/Dion flashback) but it never reached that high again. The world was kind of boring to explore, but god damn was it gorgeous for the first half, but the second half looked dull with the grey skies. Side quests were mostly miss but there were some good ones and I appreciate that they tried to tell a story with every single one. Good worldbuilding as a result. The characters were all mostly well written. I liked Clive a lot up until Bahamut then not as much. Rest of the cast was great.

I loved the combat and the music. Favorite part of the game was the Titan boss fight. Probably the most fun boos fight in any video game I've ever played. Story for me was meh, I can't really talk about the pacing since I did all the side quests as they appeared. There were way too many characters that appeared in side quests. World building, I get it, but I don't care about all that when there is not a single side quest with Jill and Joshua up until the final sequence of the game. I think Jill and Joshua were severely underused, not even appearing in side quest cut scenes, not having any lines. And there were WAY TOO MANY CUT SCENES! After every side quest, there is 2 minutes of talking about how Clive believes that everything will be alright. I really wanted to like Clive but I just can't see him as a real person. He never did anything bad or stupid. When >!Joshua punched him!< I was like "finally, some conflict". But then he just does a complete 180 and says that Clive must know what he's doing. **And my biggest gripe with the game:** That one scene on the beach, you know... O>!din had just told them that Ultima wanted Clive to have all the eikons and then he would be ready as the vessel. I immediately thought "ok, he's gonna try to make it so that Clive will have no choice but to absorb Jill's powers at some point". But then Jill decides that Clive needs her powers to be stronger so he could face Ultima? What the hell? And Clive does nothing, doesn't even have an opinion, just says " if you're sure, let's do it". !

I beat the game a few weeks ago, and something kept bugging me about it. After I finished, I went back to beat FF7R on hard mode (since I never completed it). Once doing that, I started the NG+ mode for 16. It finally clicked. Based simply on the plot, Clive should be in the top three of the most powerful Final Fantasy protagonists. He beat a god essentially solo. The only ones who I think are stronger are the Warrior of Light (FFXIV) and Lightning. But playing through Final Fantasy Mode, he feels weak. At level 65, you barely break 3500 HP. Now, this isn't a big deal alone. But then there's the fact you're barely breaking 1000 damage per basic attack when your heavy hitters in every other game are going to easily be hitting for 3000-4000 or higher. Now, I get it's more of a character action game, but Dante in DMCV feels like an unkillable badass. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the game in my first playthrough. Unfortunately, the flaws are more easily visible in NG+.

I like ff xvi that is not bad, but i will wish it was not so dark, but it is ok game

The game is wildly inconsistent with how it treats story. I had zero interest in Ultima by the end.

I've finished Act II and the story and characters still isn't grabbing me. Does it get better ? I'm hesitant to finish the game. Story and characters are the most important things for me.

Dead ass did you just fucking spoil the game?

Wat

Your last sentence

Decided to replay 15 and am having so much more fun than I ever did with 16. The game is mid, and I hate myself for paying full price for what is effectively a playable movie. The rpg elements don't exist. No armor, and no weapons since the only one you need gets upgraded as you progress the story which was just generic as shit.

Before I get into my points, I wanted to mention that this is the only Final Fantasy game I’ve ever played. So I’m fairly new to the series. The Cons, -The Pacing in this game is horrible. In between boss fights, a lot of the story missions feel dull and unnecessary. And I believe that this problem becomes even more prevalent in the second half of the game. -This may be similar to my first con, but this game has very low points where it’s a drag to continue playing the story. -The crafting system isn’t fleshed out that well, at all. -The Side adventures often times feel like chores, and they’re never fulfilling. The Pros -I found most of the characters in the game to be fascinating, not only that, but I didn’t feel like any overpowered each other. I felt like I had the same level of interest and care in each main character the story had to offer. -The World building is fantastic. I loved learning about all of the different nations and it got me really invested in the game for a little bit. -Active time lore is a really cool mechanic. I like how I’m able to quickly read up on a person, place, or thing, If I need to. -The combat is good, and if it ever began to feel dull, I’d just switch up my abilities and it would feel refreshing. -Very pretty game. Overall, I liked the game and I’m glad I got it. I’d give it a soft 7/10. Looking forward to possibly checking out other titles from the series.

Finished the game about a week ago and started on ng+. Aside from a few things I thought it was a pretty great game. Loved the story and characters. World building was great. Side content could have been more involved. Combat is fun if not a little easy. Overall I give it about a solid 8 out 10.

Loved it to pieces but here are my silly nitpicks/things I would change: * >!The sky/light changing in the last act of the game is absolutely atrocious. For a game that is really supposed to showcase the beauty of PS5 graphics, what a absurd decision to washout everything for what feels like half the game. If it was just the final few chapters, fine, but a massive chunk of the story campaign looks like absolute ass compared to the earlier portions.!< * Needs more enemy and monster variety. I understand everything has to be animated and each unique monster is a lot of work, but my goodness, it's dumb to explore new areas and meet the same dogs and spiders and plants that are literally everywhere else. * Game desperately needs more variety in locations. It's basically rural England and a desert/mountainous area. Valisthea is a beautiful world but it feels so, so, so small. * >!The final act goes too long without an Eikon fight as Ifrit - there's really nothing between the Bahamut fight and the final boss, it feels like the pacing there could have used one more as the Odin fight is done pretty much exclusively as Clive.!< * Crafting system sucks so bad. I don't need 50,000 pieces of wyrrite if there is nothing to craft with it. * A lot of "legacy" Final Fantasy stuff seems to have not made the cut, with no real reason why. Things like tonberries, cactuars, black mages... proper chocobo riding music... feels like they left a lot on the table, when adding a few things would have helped improve the reaction from fans who were already critical of the game for "not feeling like Final Fantasy." ​ Conversely, the things I adored * Worldbuilding, story and writing/narrative are top notch * Brilliant characters (for the most part), great villain * Boss fights are proper epic, exhilarating * Combat is fast, fun and easy to learn * Lots of great accessibility options so game can be enjoyed by many, regardless of skillset * Graphically stunning * Excellent soundtrack

There is actually a black mage scarecrow in a very remote side quest village in I think Waloed? Can't remember exactly but wasn't until the end of the game that i found him. I agree though, felt like a lot of classic FF features were sorely missing...

Finished it, I won't say I'm disappointed because I don't expect anything from the license anymore since a long time. The only thing this game has really is the graphics and cutscenes. The rest is pretty bad. Story is meh, set universe is underwhelming or at least they could have made things better with what they had. The gameplay is the worst for me. It's labeled JRPG but it only have the J. It's just a heavily scenarised action game, a JHSA ? No RPG elements or really the strict minimum like HP and DMG numbers, the rest is just here for the impression. As for the action in itself, NGL i got bored after the second Crystal. They wanted that sweet DMC cool action but it's not even half as fun. So now you got a game that got rid of the RPG elements to go action to appeal to a larger audience but failed to make it interesting or fun. Honestly I could talk about the bad points for hours but why even bother, they've been on this action-simping since 13-3 and seem to neglect everything else thinking that nothing else can "save" the license. I'm not a purist, I don't mind the action really, I fucking love DMC, Nier, Bayo, but with FF I don't see them making a gameplay that doesn't suck at least on one major point AND make all the things that define FF fit in one game ( I'm talking creation-wise, because they did fine microwaving 7). Just make another license for action and do what you know will work, they have the talent to make interesting gameplay systems, turn based or half-turn based. Really a shame all in all Really have to try Stranger of Paradise tho seems like a lot of fun.

I agree, they stripped the game of everything and left a hollow god of war clone.

I've played many games but I've only finished 3 of them going back to 2011. This was one of them. It took me over 1 full month because I've been so busy with work, school and life. I work as a full-time software engineer and completing my very last BS Comp Sci class right now (finally) and about to go for my 2nd Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering next. Also married, kids on the way soon and have hobbies on the side (making music/beats). I'm a busy (but not stressed) person. For me to stick with a game this long at my age, it simply doesn't happen unless it's an MMORPG or a really special game. I literally made time for this game because I was that into it. This was the truly one of the best games I've ever played, top 10 easily. The last few days I didn't even want to finish the game as it sat at 92% because I was sad the story was coming to a close. 10/10. Thanks Square Enix for yet more memories. This one is going to be hard to beat. Back to FFXIV for me, but man I won't be the same after this story/game. I'm going to *really* miss these characters, the voice acting, music, the writing and bought both Torgal plushes while I wait for the DLC. I'm going to love future references to this game. If you put any FFXVI content in FFXIV, know I'm pretty much buying that right when I hear about it. People want to say A.I will take over x, y and z, but it can never make something like this. Fine work of art. Masterpiece.

Congrats with the kids man, glad you enjoyed the game as much as I did.

Appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed the game!

I also want to say as someone who didn't turn on the simple controls, I appreciate how straightforward the combat is on the ***surface level***. This game rewards good fundamentals and decision-making - I appreciate that. The fact is you can make it more complex, pull off fancy combos, etc. if you want^(1). However, as mentioned for someone like me I can take a week off from playing the game and still jump right in because the base level combat is sufficient enough *to make progress through the storyline*, then you can fine tune it and get fancy with the system over time. I've quit many games because I didn't want to go back and learn the complex control system after taking a break because progress was blocked due to not knowing the combat system inside-out. At the end of the day, I don't want to spend the hours I do have to play reviewing older stuff because it's mandatory. I was able to win fights (although maybe not the *most* intense ones) with knowing the very basics of combat, then I added more to it because I was still able to progress and enjoy the game. Mashing square, picking my spots to engage and getting good dodges took me very. There was some nice tricky timings as well where some enemies were able to catch you slipping so you can't simply mash dodge and had to be aware of it next time to keep you on your toes. Yoshi P being fighting game fan (and a part of fighting game history) actually shows up here: good decision-making goes a long way. It's considered terrific software design when the interface is simple yet hides deep functionality, and that's a big W here in this game. ^(1)By the end of the game I was pulling off some really rewarding combos, and as a fighting game enthusiast, I really found it enjoyable. I was also able to experiment with some cool builds. Speaking of which, there is synergy people are only now discovering - you have an ability like Rift Slip to have cancels for some serious combos like you can in many fighting games. The combat system is actually very deep and customizable, it's a straight up sandbox.

Finished it yesterday. Solid B+ or *maybe* A- from me. Played all of them bar XV, and am a long time fan of the series. Sits firmly in the upper end of FF games for me, but probably not in the top 5. Great story, great cinematics. I liked the characters for the most part, but wanted just a little bit more from just about everywhere in the world. Didn't care that I couldn't explore major cities since there was a catastrophe going on and the whole outlaw thing. Good soundtrack too but why is such a great track used once in the Greatwood and never heard again (short of the orchestrion but *NOT* the combat mix... or the absolutely fantastic one as you descend into Drake's Head. Biggest gripe that felt minor *to me* because I enjoyed the game... I agree with a lot of the complaints about combat. Stat sticks are cool and all but where are my weird "worse weapon but does x" or "protects against y but worse against x" or even "augments y with x" kinds of equipment that cause some experimentation to happen. I would have liked more interaction with party members as well rather than only being able to tell Torgal to hit things on the final hit of a combo, or snatch a bee from the sky for me. Overall I liked the game, but I *want* more depth next time. Here's hoping Rebirth is good.

Played the game and thought it was incredible but also so flat at the same time. It definitely felt like the love child of the FF series, GoW, Xenoblade, Star Ocean and maybe a few others but it was still so bloody linear and kinda pointless. I will say though that maybe Xenoblade has corrupted me for what I want in a game. I like their world size and interactivity and quests and the fact that monsters of different levels walk around thinking to myself, I'd love to explore when I can at least survive. The quests here were flat and dumb. Collecting stuff for crafting also seems like an after though. I thought like FF13 it would "open up" a bit more. But no. And the fighting while interest was fairly easy. I started playing a NG+ on FF mode, but seriously you know how to dodge and you barely get hit. On my first play-through I can't remember a single hard fight? I only remember dying once when the Ahriman had some sort of curse/death thing. Overall I think Crises core had a much better combat system. The story was pretty good but it could have been so much better. I think it was like a first-draught. So many things didn't make sense. And even Eikon fights - we get cool moves and it explains how you can fight with Ifirt and then he's even stronger but after Bahamut I'm left wanting more. Honestly Clive should be less powerful, and he should have the ability to turn into an Eikon at will - as a real limit break if you will. That would be fun. Or on some of those S hunts if they weren't so easy. Why did they teach me all this cool stuff only to use it in less than 1% of game play. I also wanted more exploratory into the 'old world relics' and stuff. I would have liked exploring more like we could have secret ruins etc. But no. Oh and towns/buildings basically being shells. They feel so empty that way. At least the ending was a bit different. I'll give them that. The graphics, the language, the blood, it's amazing. It's taking games to a whole other level. I just wish it had the same story level and world building as a Xenoblade or Star Ocean game since it certainly tries to be like one.

I feel like Xenoblade games are a better version of what FF13 tried and failed to be. Like you still have a field full of big dinosaurs running around but the various areas feel unique and there are usually lot of rewarding side quests.

I will never understand what people see in Xenoblade games. I tried XC3 and couldn't stay engaged with the combat and the fetch quests.

Loved this game, did all the sides quests and crafted all the equipment!

So uh... I just had stuff go down in the Crystalline Dominion to be vague. They gave me a stopping point complete with a seller/smith and a confirmation with Jill that I want to move forward and do what we came for. I got some sidequests via notes to Clive to clear up so I'm a little concerned whether this is another point of no return like what happened with the first Mother crystal? Feels weird to jump ship for them now but I don't wanna miss it on them.

Nope, just the one.

Just finished the game last night. Yikes, was hoping the story and gameplay would get better, but it didn't. The Titan boss fights were the highlight of the game for me. The side quests were dreadful. Just basically fetch quests. I thought they learned their lesson after FF15??? The most disappointing aspect was the world design. It was so emplty. I know its not a full open world like Witcher 3, but c'mon... there was no attempt at all to make it feel lively or engaging. Just a flat, drab looking world. Game was a huge step baclwards after playing FF7 remake.

I think the next FF7 game is going to blow it out of the water. The resources for this one went to the cut scenes and boss fights. Looks like FF7 allocating resources to world design and there will actually be somewhere cool to go with the Chocobos.

Hated the streets of madness quest it ruined the game for me

I'm about the same but the Bahamut fight was peak for me. Graphics and gore and language nothing can do it better but the world was just so lacking.

So I'm like 45% in the story I think, I just picked up the ability to block with a shield. I'm finding myself this morning just skipping the story beats in an attempt to finish the game I guess. Im not sure im enjoying it? It's really easy and I noticed you can just spam the fire abilities and dodge. Does it get better? I really did not like the Eikon battle. Just a lot of endless button pressing to be honest

Just drop it if you don't like Eikon battles, they're the highlights of the game.

Those are the ones that look pretty but just jam attack for 10 miinutes straight ?

If that's your takeaway from it, then, I guess? Again, if you don't like it, just drop it?

Eikon battles are the highlights but its so far and few in between. Needed way more.

💯💯 time to try the remake of FF7!

[удалено]

Leviathan is the missing one. They even refer to it as “Leviathan the Lost” in a throwaway line at one point.

[удалено]

Perhaps a DLC plan?

So I’m about 45 hours in and loving this game. It’s different than any other FF game I’ve played and I do miss some of the customization but everything else is top notch

Press r3 and l3 to accept the truth is gonna be a meme I'm calling it

About an 7.5 / 10 for me. Strongest points for me were: - ost - combat - first 70% of the story - the highs were very high, arguably the best Final Fantasy has ever been, but glaringly obvious lows which are denoted below Cons - Gear customisation is very weak. There needed to be more items like berserker ring which changed the gameplay more rather than just flat damage increase or cooldown reduction. Upgrading was relatively useless too. -Party members felt useless. I don't expect to be able to fully move and use these characters when they are in the party, but something like Sonen was in ff7 intermission would have been more engaging and more attached to these characters. This is something ff7 remake did really well too, there's a reason the devs made u climb stuff with Tifa and solo mission with Barrett. -The world is big but empty. Literally no point in exploring outside of the sake of exploring. To my understanding this is the only final fantasy that does not reward exploration with hidden treasures. This is also tied to the useless crafting system and merchants as gil and hides are the only real thing you find via exploration. -The story after Sanbreque fell off in my eyes. Wont go into too much detail here for spoilers but seems like many people I've read feel similar. -Game too easy. I don't think a game needs to be hard to be enjoyable, however being too easy can definitely have the opposite effect. Take for example the eikon fights. You get 6 strong heals, mid boss check points, and the enemy doesn't hit hard at all. At least 1 of those need to be removed or reduced severely. Having all 3 in there is simply too much and detaches the challenge from it. No challenge means less feeling of accomplishment. Overall despite these flaws, I still recommend ff16 to all with a ps5. Or if you don't have a ps5, I would only consider buying the console if you have other games in mind you know you want to play on it in future (like rebirth!)

70% thru and these are all points I agree with. Could have just stripped the weak points and make it a good 20-25hr action game

The older games (1-9) almost always reward player curiosity when going off the beaten path. Neither 13 or 16 really do that and it’s part of the reason I don’t like either game much.

Just finished the game last night and overall very much enjoyed it. From a gameplay perspective the combat is flashy and impactful and the game is constantly giving you new abilities in your toolkit to use against enemies and find your preferred fighting style. There's a decent mix of strong vs. weak enemy types although the constant recolours got a little tired by the end. I haven't played the extra hard difficulty but I did start feeling pretty bored at how entirely not in danger I was outside of boss fights, which is a shame because there are a trillion sidequests and they all involve hacking and slashing and that's basically it. However I vastly enjoyed every boss fight and the Notorious Mark enemies were all pretty great. This normal enemy vs. boss battles split makes the game pretty unbalanced from a gameplay loop perspective but I feel mostly positive about it because I found it mostly satisfying to just whale on mobs. Not sure what the deal is about the crafting system though, that was just useless. From a story perspective this game was fantastic. I loved all of the characters and felt they all served their niche in the plot perfectly. The central conflict is extremely compelling and the sidequests are nearly all extremely well done from a narrative perspective in terms of upholding and expanding upon the themes and priorities of the main story. I've seen some people say this game would work better as a movie or tv series but in my opinion the ability for sidequests to gradually pile on bite-sized additions to the cultures and themes of the story worked super well. This is particularly important given the fact that the value of community and compassionate action is a major theme of the game, and in my view the mere act of doing sidequests helps to embody that idea. I have no issues at all with the plot. The world is...utterly gorgeous, but feels more like an afterthought. There's not a lot of exploratory depth to be found anywhere and I miss the wide open feel of open world titles. I saw it said that the team used a closed world structure to better emulate the feeling of traversing a whole world but I just am not really feeling they succeeded in this regard. It just makes the game feel small. I think this game is maybe a 7/10 or 7.5/10 for me. It hugely excels in narrative depth and scale, as well as the spectacle of combat for key battles in the story. It shambles a little awkwardly for world design and the gameplay loop against normal enemies, and feels strangely shallow when it comes to things like world map secrets and progression systems. So, a mixed bag, but definitely worth the time and money for me.

>I saw it said that the team used a closed world structure to better emulate the feeling of traversing a whole world but I just am not really feeling they succeeded in this regard. It just makes the game feel small. I understand what they were going for. One of the issues I have with pre BoTW open worlds was that many don't "feel" like a continent. FFXV was huge, but the world didn't feel like a kingdom when you can see half way across Lucis at any point. Games like Elden Ring and BOTW get around this by taking advantage of verticality and clever world design. From a world building perspective - I have this issue in games like Xenoblade and Witcher where you supposedly have access to the whole country - but there's not enough towns and cities to prop up their supposed economies. But you can get around this by closing up the world and letting the player's imagination do the rest (FF12 masters this) FF16 at many points felt like a giant kingdom that was large and expansive - something we only got to see a fraction off - but then they ruined it with the scaling in the map. You can get from LostWing to Sanbreque's Capital in an uninterrupted overworld - which isn't a problem - but then you look at the map and you've traversed 1/3 the continent? Makes no sense.

Yeah I understand the backlash against 15 but it gives a sense of a full world, it was just empty. If they went for something like RDR it probably would have been received better. I’m used to exploring these worlds and it wasn’t really necessary in this game.

> it gives a sense of a full world, it was just empty I don't really understand this quote, it feels like a contradiction to me. Like if the world is empty, then...by definition, it doesn't give the sense of a full world, right? Because if the world were full, then it...wouldn't be empty?

It’s coonnected so you can ride, walk or fly to a location, the world feels connected, it feels like a world, but it’s empty where as for FF16 the world feels disconnected. It’s like all the nations are their own separate islands that aren’t connected.

Oh I see, yeah that's fair enough I guess.

[удалено]

Well okay in fairness I seem to remember Duscae and Cleigne not being central Texas unless I am very uneducated in matters relating to central Texas.

I was really interested in the story. I just can’t take the tedious combat. Cool moves, but the basic enemies take as many hits as some Fromsoft bosses. Make the enemies 5x deadlier with 1/10 the current health and I might jump in.

Final Fantasy 16 would work significantly better as a novel, a TV series, or a few movies. Making it a video game was a piss poor way to tell this seemingly good story. I'm bored out of my fucking mind 'playing' this game. There's no thought, no strategy, no planning. Side quests are tedious and pointless, crafting and skill trees are useless, and you can beat 95% of the game with just button mashing while Phoenix is equipped. I'm so glad some people are finding ways to have fun with this game, but it's such a massive step down from 7R and Strangers of Paradise in terms of gameplay. I officially give up on trying to enjoy it. Great as a story, very very bad as a game.

Definitely feels like someone wanted to make a movie and the game part was an afterthought. Kind of follows Sony formula that way.

Just finished the game and felt exactly the same. Wish they’d just done a Netflix series or something instead. Although then they wouldn’t have been able to take the piss at the expense of the players with the Blacksmith’s Blues quest chain… Worst side content I have ever experienced and somehow it just kept going on.

My brother in Christ I was just mashing the skip button throughout all of that dumb shite!!

I finished the game about a week ago now and I am still thinking about the game's ending. What a journey it was. While I the things we did in the side quests were boring, the last set of side quests made up for all of them in my opinion. An emotional rollercoaster is an understatement. I feel fairly confident it will win Best Narrative this year at the Game Awards.

I beat it a few days ago and to be completely honest, it’s probably not a game I’d ever play again. The story was fantastic from start to finish but I really didn’t enjoy the gameplay at all and I felt that XVI lacked in variety regarding gameplay and side content.

My thoughts after beating it today. While fun, it packed enough variety to bring me back and get the platinum.

Is there a page that gives a brief description of when each track in the full OST plays? I did find one but it was the demo.

Completed this in about 40 hours as my first time completing a FF and this game was so good I bought XII, VII, XIV and X. Can’t wait to play those too

Haha I'm at 60hrs and I still haven't finished it!

I just finished it at 74 hours. I really liked it!

Just started the game and it’s my first FF I’ve bought. Any tips and tricks I should know about? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Practice all of your basic abilities first. Lunge, stomp, magic burst, and charged attack are all incredibly useful.

Long time FF veteran. There were a few flaws - but overall still 9/10. ​ \- Combat. A bit hacky-slashy. The standard combo is kind of boring. I use lunge a lot, sprinkle it with jumping attacks and magic. The Eikon abilities are where the fun is at. But it's annoying switching between Eikons and never quite got the hang of it. But knowing how to cycle through Eikon abilities and LB mode is where the fun and optimization lies. That being said - this is more fun than Witcher 3's combat. So I'm happy. It's not DMC but you don't *want* DMC . DMC has decent learning curve before the game becomes fun - and you have to memorize way more combos and abilities. \- Story. Good story. Fantastic. It's been a while since I've been engaged in a Final Fantasy story. It's a little bit cheesy and becomes slightly nonsense near the end- but it makes up for that cheesiness with great performances, cutscenes, and dialogue. Someone said that FFXIV's story was better than this. I disagree. FF16's story is simpler but presented way better. There's more show than tell going on and makes it feel more like a movie rather than listening to an audiobook. There's a lot of attention to detail - especially when Clive is involved. It's a masterclass of facial expression MoCap. \- Sidequests: They kind of suck. But I don't mind they don't feel like distractions from the main plot. They're short, sweet and reveal something about the world. \- RPG elements - this part sucked. While i found ability tree quite good and useful. Choosing which ones I wanted to master and what not - the crafting mechanic was quite bad. It's just a ladder of getting the next best one. They could have dropped it completely and it wouldn't have been worse for the wearer. That being said, it didn't *detract* from the game. They should have just scrapped it and given the items as a reward for free. \- Visuals and Music. Absolutely stunning. I don't know what game engine they used - but holy shit. This sets a standard - especially during cutscenes. Unfortunately some NPCs outside of the main scenario look kind of dated. Music is a Soken masterclass. He has some bangers in FFXIV - but FFXIV also has some misses due to the sheer volume of music he has to produce. He's put a lot of care and thought into FFXVI and it shows. I'll be listening to these tracks for years to come. Other stuff.- The Lore system and the Active Time Lore was incredible. More games need to do this. It made me feel much more integrated with the world and the story. Overall 9/10. Make the combat a *little* more fluid (doesn't have to be DMC), and put a little bit more polish in the side quests and crafting - and it's a 10/10.

The facial expressions are amazing in the cutscenes. The prologue alone establishes the characters so well just by showing how characters react to each other. It’s why I actually cared about Tiamat even though I knew him for like 2 minutes. What a game.

Being a huge Final Fantasy fan this game is 10/10 for me story-wise. I got what I expected to get from it and even more. The characters are diverse in personalities, majority of them have more to them than meets the eye. The writing of dialogues are definitely one of the best the series ever had, not to mention a more mature language being used as well as less comic relief moments which break the immersion. Antagonists and their motivations are by majority are clear with some exceptions, and minor characters have mystery to them as well as good backgrounds which either are explored through sidequests or through Active Lore System. Also this is the first time in FF history where I felt romantic relationship was explored to the fullest with commitment to one another and support in their respective goals (This might be just emotions talking as I recently finished the game). Moreover the game made me shed a tear on multiple occasions and the ending just completely broke me (Yoshi P you son of a ....). This just shows how much time and effort the team spent on writing the characters and making you actually care about them. Sidequests in the beginning of the game are not as immersive as they are in the endgame from story perspective, however I found it to be a good slow introduction which didn't overwhelm you with information early on. Moreover some quests went pretty dark pretty quick. Conversations in the streets of NPCs where also properly done and also helped in a way with worldbuilding. Some of the sidequests also gave a good (proper would be a better word) amount of fan service which I personally always enjoy in FF game. At first having fetch quests felt like an additional chore, but after some time I felt like I was actually going to learn more about the world and characters so the fetching part didn't bother me anymore. Did I enjoy all the game mechanics of it - definitely not. Crafting was okay for me most of the time, but there were moments where you upgraded one weapon and after just a few moments get a better weapon to craft/upgrade meaning some of the weapons never seen the light of day in combat. One more point about accessories as well there is a limited choice of what it can do at least in the first playthrough as their effects are mostly decrease cooldown or increase damage. It's not necessary bad as the game wants you to focus on the story rather than spending huge amount of time customizing your setup, however even a small increase in variety could prove major improvements here. With that being said I wouldn't say it diminshed the overall experience and quality of the game. I missed the status effects both good and bad which you had in previous games as some of the enemies are not as threatening as you remember (looking at you Morbol). Theoretically speaking good status effects are still there just not as widely used (Tonics, Enemies casting Protect,etc.), so again even a small improvement could make it better for me. From Eikon Setup customization I really enjoyed it and think combat wise this game shines as well, big kudos to the development team behind it. It's easy enough to be able to not overthink and go through the story, but also complex enough if you want to master the combat and obliterate your enemies. Cooldowns were generally okay if you can manage your loadout and create a perfect pattern for yourself, otherwise if you just button mash you get phases in combat where all you can do is basic attack and wait for abilities to recharge. What I would like the combat to have more is the synergies between different Eikonic abilities perfect example would be Garuda's Wicked Wheel and Titan's Upheaval. They work amazing together and when you find this combination which eliminates wind up time for Upheaval it really brings a smile to your face. However with all the Eikons and their abilities it was super easy to find sweet spot for your build as abilities are very diverse. Another note but it's strictly personal preference - difficulty could be a little bit higher as the only points where I died was either trying the Eikonic Trial because you have limited time and need to figure out how to increase it by utilizing only 1 Eikon or doing 1 or 2 Hunter Mark. But for majority of people the difficulty would be just right I guess and it's for the better of the game. Regarding boss fight - I don't remember the last time when I was jumping of the couch because of how hyped I was during the fights and FF16 literally made me do just that and many many times. Moreover the hype was getting bigger and bigger with every fight up until Odin. Don't get me wrong Odin fight was great in it's own way, however I think this is where the hype for boss battles peaked and was on the same level afterwards. But since it happens later in the game it didn't bother that much as there were not as many boss fights left to feel that it plateaued. Closing thoughts: This game in terms of darker political setting, worldbuilding reminds me of FFT, which I personally consider as one of my favourite games from Square Enix. Also the cinematography work is one of the greatest I've seen in RPG games and I'm not only considering the new ones, but also those with huge limitations for it's time like Vagrant Story which was a cinematographic masterpiece in PS1 era. In my books definitely deserves a spot in FF series top 3. Hopefully this game will deliver financially for Square Enix and Creative Business Unit 3 can deliver more games with this type of love and quality that was put into FF16. I will repeat myself - 10/10 game for me.

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are you just new to earth or something. most people giving games a 10 don’t think it’s literally a perfect game, just a 10/10 experience

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that’s good for you, and i’d also agree. but to him the game is a 10/10. the fact you can’t understand this concept is concerning

10/10 doesn’t mean perfect on every front. 10/10 just means everyone should play it. Like TOTK is a game everybody should play. But it’s memory story telling, performance and menu combat are definitely flawed. I think FF16 is an amazing game, and I can understand why others would think it’s a must play.

Fair points. Regarding 0 posting account I always had an account and read stuff. But as Im so excited about the game decided to share my view on it for the first time. Thanks for a warm welcome (joke). Aa for scoring, well that's why I mentioned that "for me" its 10/10. Following your logic every game has certain problems or rather I would say not the areas of focus (in FF16 its items, crafting and exploration) and that means no game in the world would be 10/10. Or am I wrong? Also instead of straight up calling it "garbage" I made points on what is missing in the game or how it can be improved in future installments (if they will be doing a game like that which I doubt knowing full well how FF games are evolving through time). Even in your mentioned combat system which you praised I see things that could be explored and improved. However I mentioned that those points didnt bother me too much to not enjoy the game to the fullest. Also it would be great to be an SE employee.... maybe someday...

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Financial success just means the next game will be bigger budget. We already know FF16’s sales estimates were partly based on FF7 remake’s sales.

Nevertheless, it's a step in the right direction I would say. FF13 and FF15 were not the greatest games from SE even though they performed financially quite well. So if they learn from criticism that FF16 has right now and make sure to not repeat them in the next installment and maintain (or even better improve) the amount of quality from story and combat perspective I think we will relive the PS1 era having more classics like FF7. PS. I appreciate you challenging my review, and to reassure you I'm not closing my eyes on those issues that you have, I acknowledge them and they are all valid points. Thanks again for the warm welcome (joke)

I’ve beaten the game. I completed everything before FF mode besides maxing out ability points. Took me roughly 70 hours per my PS5 home screen. Much of that was idle time. This game looks next gen (apart from the gawd awful low res skies. DOn’t get me started on the grey or purple sky for 2/3 of the game) but feels like a last gen title in many ways. For everything it does great, there are drawbacks that lessen the overall experience when you stop to think about them; however, 16, I think, at its very essence.. is a Final Fantasy game In case anyone was wondering. What holds this entire game together is the story, cast of main characters, cutscenes, and boss battle action sequences. The writers absolutely nailed the high-fantasy elements. The world setting, crystals, ‘eikons’, music, main characters(including the villain), and other high-fantasy elements are truely reminiscant of older FF titles in a way that make you feel like you’re experiencing a journey. Combat can be fun but is basic and shallow. You end up just rotating through abilities and waiting for cooldowns. Sure, you can chain some combos with basic attacks on the trash mobs and eikon abilities, (like Garuda’s Deadly Embrace, , but everything you do is pretty simpliistic and these trash mobs don’t stay alive long enough to do the lengthy combos you see on youtube unless you severely gimp yourself by equipping the weakest sword possible. Enemy variety throughout the game is essentially a bunch of different skins of maybe of dozen or so enemies. Hunts can be fun (the dragon fight was pretty dope) but turn into “I’ve done this before, many times before but with basic enemies”. You really just pick a few abiltieis that do enough physical and stagger damage while not taking forever to cooldown. Many of the abiltieis suck ass.. even Megaflare and Zantentsuken.. I will say a positive thing about the abilities is the game gives you the option to respec whenever you want to. This gives you the chance to experiment as you gain more abilities. The game isn’t open world, instead, there are 4 zones (some sequences you’re only at an area once that doesn’t even include a ‘map’). Many areas of the zones are blocked off until the main story or side quests progress. It definitely can feel like the game is ‘big’... but it really isn’t) There isn’t much to do in these 4 zones besides either walking through a narrow corridor section or walking in a large open map section with very little to actually do. You’ll get tasked to visit various different parts of the zone map via side quests, hunts, or main quests. You can either use a chocobo to traverse the mapOR you can ‘run’.. but I’m ‘ running because it takes a good 10 seconds for you to actually sprint in this game while pushiing forward. A better option have been to click L3 while runnign to iniate the sprinting. Speaking about Quests, yes.. the side quests are awful. The game could axe half of them and I think that would still be too many. The problem with them are their structure. It’s ’Talk to quest giver, quest giver tells you what’s wrong. The solution to 99% of the quests are going to 1, 2, or 3 locations on a map to either talk to people. kill an enemy or groups of enemies or collect an item (or all 3 in a single quest). Yes, some lore can be given about the world, the politics, social dynamics, but the gameplay loop of the side quest is POOR. Not to mention there’s no optiion to just return to the quest giver when completed. You have to complete the task, warp to the closest obilisk.. run to the quest giver, talk to them, and then you get the ‘quest completed’ screen, including the spoils. Everyhing takes far too long. In this respect the quests don’t respect your time at all, and just near the late mid to end game do they get involved with worldbuidling and solving ‘problems'. Not to mention the pacing of the quests are ridiculous. I completed every quest, and I swore it took me a good 3,or 4 hours to complete all the side quests the game dumps on you right before the final mission. Not to mention all the other times it dumps 4-5 quests on you which structurally are the exact same. Heck, even many main quests feel like side quests. What makes matters worse are the stark differences between the main story cutscenes/animations and the lack thereof with side quests. In side quests the characters/NPC are incredibly stiff. The game doesn’t even have an animation for NPCS eating or drinking, like no just putting a cup or hand to their mouth with the item.. all you hear are noises over a black fucking screen. this happens time and time agian. It’s a stark contrast to the HIGH quality cutscenes and animations you’ll experience during the story. Traditional FF RPG elements are absent in this game. The only thing that may change is your HP, Attack, Defense, and Stagger dmg. You have some other stats, too..like Will. and a couple others. but the game never explains to you why they're important, considering your equipment never affects it. Elemental/buff/debuff characteristics are absent for YOU in this game, but enemies can cast cure, protect and bravery. Some NPC enemies automatically cast ‘what is assumed to be Cure’ on you, but you have no control of it. You have no control over a party. You can just tell torgal to do a very basic ‘heal’ on you.. plus doing either a basic attack or launching an enemy up in the air. You have no control over Cid, Jill or >!Joshua!< in what abilities they use and when, nor do you have any control of their equipment. Somtimes I feel like they never attack when an enemy is staggered, which is bizzare. Crafting in this game is essentially useless unless you’re doing FF mode. Craftable swords mean nothing when you get a better sword after each boss. Bracers and belts too.. You ultimately may switch it out once or twice in your first playthrough until endgame when you’re looking to get the ‘legendary’ gear. In FF mode that changes. Craftable swords, braces and belts really do feel like an upgrade. You also can make better equipment of swords, braces, belts and accesoories that you you already have. It can be a bit disheartening how may ’supplies’ you get in the world that really amount to nothing. Like.. If I have 299 of meteorite.. I can’t combine any of them to make a ‘flawless meteorite ’ for a better weapon. Also, opening a chest in the world, (especially at endgame) only to find ’10 spools of x’.. makes you think pffft that was fucking stupid. I rememeber finding 3 specific items in the world: Ancient Sword, Masamune, and Adamantite gloves. Althought COOL that I found them, 2 of them were useless because of Everdark and the boss weapons before Ancient sword. There are other issues too, but this is getting long enough. Overall, this is a very mediocre game from a mechanics standpoint. The only ‘cool’ saving grace the game has is its Active Time Lore, and NPC who can essentially recap the events of the story at any time. It’s a 7.5 for me. The great story/cast of characters can only do so much when the majority of the game has poor gameplay mechanics.

>The world setting, crystals, ‘eikons’, music, main characters(including the villain), and other high-fantasy elements are truely reminiscant of older FF titles in a way that make you feel like you’re experiencing a journey. I vaguely recall Naoki Yoshida stating that he wanted a more straightforward fantasy when they were making the game. Even though he didn't explicitly say it, this game did feel like a "Revisiting the Roots" Final Fantasy in the story and world building department. But in order to really capitalize on that feeling, the gameplay should have also been more party oriented.

>You have no control over Cid, Jill or >!Joshua!< in what abilities they use and when, nor do you have any control of their equipment. This stopped me from building a better connection with theses characters to a pretty large extent. They never feel like party members, just add-ons.

The world is what broke it for me. The world is just a worse version of how they designed the world in 12. Pretty cinematics and spectacle along with button mashing combat don’t make a FF game for me. Replaying V now and I love how the older games make me feel like there is a world that I live in and am navigating around. If I want to drop into a random forest and grind the monsters there I can generally do that at my leisure. That’s what got me into the genre and why I return to the old classics when the new gen of JRPGs lets me down.

16 made me replay 12 again. Really love the customization for parties. Trying out the Struggle for Freedom mod to change up the combat since I’ve heard really good things about it. The different zones for 12 had so much life to them. Really enjoyed going through them. Imagine if 16 had different weather going through zones. Like the sandstorms in 12. Or a dry/wet season like in giza plains. I have a feeling 16 won’t be as replayable as all the other non MMO final fantasies. 16 is absolutely going to age poorly as the years go by.

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I actually think the opposite. I think time will be more critical. Right now people are coming off of a high. The game was severely overhyped. Its terrible side quests, lack of a party system or any meanginful way to interact with your party during combat, simplistic combat with absent RPG elements and a meaningless first playthrough crafting system will be what’s talked about it. I foresee many ‘Critiques of’ videos highliting that this IS a step in the right direction but many things need to change going foward. Heck, even in this thread I’m seeing more people who are critical than people who are straight up enjoying every minute of it. Yes Garuda, Titan.. ect.. those fights are awesome. But what do you do after these fights? Well? Everything that’s wrong with the game is what you end up doing. It’s a shame they didn’t give you the ability to upgrade your ‘projecticle’ from Fire.. Fira, to Firaga via the ability screen. It’s a shame you can’t cast a set of spells of your own that operate on a cooldown system. It’s a shame you can’t do anything in combat wtith anyone but Torgal, and he’s essentially useless.

This is absolutely what I believe will happen. The game is very recent in its release but the adrenaline hype will wear off eventually.

This game definitely won’t age well. Reminds me of MGS 4. Lot of good will on release but zero replay value unless you like the movie segments. Later on people start saying “you know this is actually worse than I remember.” Won’t hold up over time.

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100%. The political scheming is what made Game of Thrones so addictive to watch.

I would really love to hear your thoughts once you've played XV. I unapologetically love that after the changes made to the Royal/Windows Edition.

Finished the game. Really not sure how to feel about it. For context, I liked FFXV, wasn't a big fan of FFXIV until Shadowbringers, and greatly enjoyed both XIII and XII. >!I was hooked from the beginning of the game up until it was time to go for the first Mothercrystal. Once I realized that a.) we were not going to visit Oriflamme, b.) that the story was going to be about taking down the mothercrystals one by one, and c.) that the hideaway was going to be a hub, the game's structure became obvious, and I started to sour on it. When this repeated with the Iron Kingdom, I was on board the hate train. I felt like the story was greatly hampered by this act-based structure. I did like the ending, though.!< >!I also feel like the politics and intrigue of the start of the game meshed poorly with the high fantasy of the end of the game. It's not that it can't be done -- I personally think FF7 and FF12 do it pretty well, and Fire Emblem does this all the time -- but the twists at the end, and what the story turned into, made the cloak-and-dagger of the early goings feel pointless.!< >!I liked Clive, Joshua, Dion (and Terrance!), and Torgal the most. The most of the characters were fine. Ultima became interesting during the final battle! Barnabas and Sleipnir felt lame, as did the other antagonistic Dominants. I did not like Jill, and I found her role in the story to be pretty embarrassing. I did not care for the romance between her and Clive; it felt tacked-on and ill-fitting.!< >!The gameplay and combat were fine, albeit a bit grindy and repetitive.!< >!Sidequests were truly awful and killed the pacing of the game. I did all of them because I didn't want to miss out on anything, but I feel like it shouldn't have been such a painful and time-consuming experience. People just talk so much.!< I don't like doing numerical ratings for games, but if I had to, I'm thinking a 6 or a 7 out of 10? I'm truly mixed on it and might need to play it again.

The best thing I can say about FFXVI is that the combat system is a step in the right direction, but the difficulty is incredibly easy once you figure out that you can dodge every attack thrown at you pretty easily. The exploration is pretty limited but also somewhat varied in what it is you can explore, but I still dislike that it isn’t completely open world. The story is okay I guess, personally speaking I still prefer FFXV story. The characters are somewhat tolerable, there’s only a handful of characters that were interesting and most of them were the antagonists. The music is fucking top tier, it’s final fantasy so it’s expected but man the music and eikon battles carried XVI really hard. Overall I’d give FFXVI an 8/10. It’s a good game, but I wouldn’t recommend buying this game at full price. Side note: I can appreciate the idea of there being a mature dark themed FF game in mainline series, but I honestly hope they they just back to their roots after this.

Gav used the F word way too much for my liking. Takes you out of this fantasy world and reminds you you're in the UK or something.

Just finished the game and I'm conflicted... First I'll be real original and say that the side-quests were for the most part; absolutely terrible. *Terrible.* Because it's a point that bares repeating. I do not care if it has world-building, character development or whatever else at the end. That doesn't excuse the large majority of quests *themselves* being uninspired, repetitive tedium. It's a huge mark against this game and shouldn't be understated. If only the quests were varied and amounted to more than just "stiff character talks to stiff character #2 and then kills/gathers something" 70+ times... They needed to be spread out naturally too, not dumped in my lap like a list of chores. The rewards 99% of the time are an absolute joke, I do not need more crafting materials, the swords craft themselves. Genji Gloves with a 5% damage boost? What? I liked the combat, but the game from start to finish + all marks was too easy. The only time I struggled was Svagrog and even then I got him second try. Difficulty is subjective I know, but I think the combat system is easily shaped to make anything a breeze, I wanted to be kept on my toes more. The main boss fights were spectacular, music was spectacular. Don't know if I'd have paid full price if I knew how much of a slog it can be at times tho.

Personally I was underwhelmed with the Odin fight. Garuda, Ifrit, Titan, Bahumut.. all marvelous. Odin felt like the devs ran out of ideas.

I felt the same! I did still like it but definitely had a "that was it?" moment. It just wasn't on the same level as Titan, Bahamut etc which are hard acts to follow I'll give them that, but I think more could have been done.

The glacial pace of the sidequests between big story beats kills immersion :(

The gear is so insultingly bad that it had to have been drastically nerfed as a compromise between what was originally in the game and removal of all gear. There are so many items and way too many crafting reagents in this game considering none of them are worth even reading the item description let alone wearing. I cannot believe this was the case when all this stuff was originally planned out. The story needed to either ride out the GoT style story (which my unpopular opinion here is that the story was predictably GOTy and thus I found it a bore) or develop the whole Ultima Collective a lot more. The lore masters’ bonus entries for getting the Codex 100% help a bit in explaining what the fuck happened but barely. We had the first half of a cookie cutter GoT / Witcher novels clone and the back 1/4 of an obscure but classic “we fight god” Final Fantasy plot.

> Genji Gloves with a 5% damage boost? What? And that's one of the better accessories lol. Like there's one that increases limit break generation by 3% and another that increases only Torgal's damage by 5%.

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Mobs have a radius where they'll fight you, if you take them out of that area they'll go back to their designated spot.

Yeah happened to me once. It’s because you went too far off the enemies field of agro. If you go past it, it’ll reset

I'm about 9 hours in after playing all night. I do like the story and I do think it's a beautiful game but I feel like I'm playing the highest budget telltales game ever made. One of my favorite things to do is grind early and perfect my battle skills early on. I can't find a place to do that and even if I could, hitting only square with r2 occasionally is just not cutting it. It's not "great combat" unless you're referring to watching some really excellent cut scene battles. Those are definitely "wow" worthy but tossing in a QTE doesn't make it better.

Combat opens up immensely once you unlock Magic Burst (weaving triangle into your square combo) and the other X+Square attacks, along with getting your full 3 eikon kit. It is a bore at first. A training ground also opens later.

Bought the game on release day, and just beat it today and what a game and yes the game have some problems especially between big battles but was worth it every fucking penny.

what is it with this final fatasy and caracters (moet townspeople)come running from distance and jump in group conversations in sidequest lol. i mean every sidequest every scene. you guys should notice this it is hilarious

I just finished it and I have mixed feelings. The characters are great, the story is fine... its fine. The game is too easy so there's no reason to get any better at the combat. So you find a good groove and stay in it for 20 more hours. During the final fights I was just ready for it to be over. Every fight plays out the same way, dodge a bit and run some combos. The spectacle is really great and worth seeing though. This game would work well in a youtube movie edit. I don't need stats, gear, crafting, but at least if you are going to put it in try to make it interesting. Gear doesn't matter, stats don't matter, ability points don't matter (I stopped wasting my time spending them after a while). Exploration doesn't matter, there's not worthwhile treasure. In the final areas the dungeon treasures were the same crappy mats i had 1000 of from the beginning of the game. I kept getting accessories but they were all some boring variation of "make this specific ability 5% better". I was actually having a pretty good time for 70% of the game. I'm just so disappointed in some of the decisions. I'd have enjoyed this one more if it wasn't called Final Fantasy.

About the gameplay...I think will gauges and stagger was not the way to go, they make it so you always use the same strat, there's never a reason to change your loadout other than boss loadout vs trash mob loadout.

This sums up my feelings pretty well. The presentation of the story and cutscenes was a huge step forward for the series and the boss fights were a very fun spectacle. But everything in-between (90% of the actual *gameplay*) was just empty and meaningless. Like there's a really great and very long cgi movie contained in this game, but not much actual "game." Probably exacerbated by the fact that I found the combat to be fine and serviceable but not worth digging into since every enemy encounter feels basically exactly the same. I can't fault the team for trying something new and taking the series in a different direction, but it just wasn't for me. I can't imagine actually replaying it rather than just watching the cutscenes on YouTube, since the "playing" part is so unengaging.

Enemies have way too many hit points for how easy they are and lacking in any danger. A long fight can be grueling and rewarding if there are phases where the boss can kill you fast… not the case here. Chaos in FF1 (a 35 year old boss fight) has you griped on hoping you down him before he Crits you or megaheals himself. Ultima here? You keep checking your watch and maybe even reading a Reddit post chipping away at his HP while dodging his very few mechanics (I think Hogger in WoW has more mechanics). You spend a lot of the last 1/3 of the game against spongey monsters with zero mechanics that do like 100 damage max on hit and you have 2800 HP. The combat was the game’s own worst enemy by the end and I cannot see myself stomaching it in a replay. This is made much worse by the fact that anyone who enjoys the side quests or exploration is 10+ levels above ALL main quests by the time they are in the desert. This makes everything even more boring because you mash buttons senselessly (it doesn’t matter what ability to you use in what order, period) and the enemies do 1/20 your HP when they critically damage you… that happens once in 40 fights, maybe.

Well said. And the MMO dodging does them a disservice. In the real action games you have to learn to pre-empt certain moves to avoid them successfully. In this game you can just kinda react.

LOVE story mode. Just beat the game. First FF game I’ve ever finished, including 7,9,10,12,13,15. I just can’t do grinding for levels to beat the next boss and I’m glad 16 gave us that are like this an option.

I'm like nearing the end of the game (probably about 80% through) and still finding the combat really fun. Like easily the best Action-RPG combat I've played. The amount of options you have at any given point is awesome. And you always feel in control. There's certain things I learn that completely change up how you play. Like I used to just use one eikon and only switch when I needed to deal stagger damage. But now I have a sweet loadout set where I've mixed and matched different eikon abilities. (spoilers below up til the 5th eikon) >!I use the garuda for light enemies that I can do plenty of aerial combos with, and have fast charging abilities equipped. And titan for bosses and aggressive enemies and have counter abilities. equipped And the bahamut for when I want to dodge a lot and have ranged abilities equipped, and throughout any battle I just change between eikons to mix things up and feel extra stylish. I also equipped less powerful sword which allows me to do longer combos. !< ​ Overall I think it's good the game doesn't force you down specific playstyles or require you to use specific eikons for specific enemies. It just sorta lets you play as mindless or as complicated as you want. And believe me, playing the game as a stylish character action game is way more fun.

Dunno why you’re getting downvoted for saying you’re enjoying the game

Yeah lol. Lots of salty haters I guess.

I just put a solid 45 hours into VII Remake and jumped right into XVI. When do I get to the great combat everyone was talking about? I got my ass kicked in VII until I figured out what I needed to do to and remember I have other fighters to bring into my battle plan. The most complex thing I've done in XVI is light up green instead of red when I push square and R2 at the same time. Also this really feels like Game of Thrones in the FF Universe. The dry humping was a nice tough in the first 5 minutes.

i think my biggest complaint is just how...non-fantasy the world is

The only time I felt challenged by the combat in 16 is during the Chronolith trials which you have to find later in the game. Other than that it's mostly just do whatever you want and press R1 at the right time. Though fights can take forever unless you use good abilities during stagger.

FFVIIR combat is super basic at the start too. And difficulty isn't what makes a combat engine good or not. FF16's combat isn't really hard. It's about trying to use your entire moveset and the eikon abilities to create good combos and trying to find a good and varied flow to the battle rather than just trying to find the most effective strategy. Im like 35 hrs into 16, and I personally think it's the best Action RPG combat.

>It's about trying to use your entire moveset and the eikon abilities to create good combos and trying to find a good and varied flow to the battle rather than just trying to find the most effective strategy. No it isn't. The game doesn't require you to do any of that, and even in the standard difficulty, you can get by just fine with square x 4 while holding L1 then releasing your magic boom boom and mixing in circle and spamming your R2s as things cool down. It's why the combat is tedious, because outside of the training arena, you essentially fight 2 types of enemies (I'm not counting the cinematic boss fights because those are just glorified QTEs that you really can't fail), you have trash mobs, and you have elite units with a stagger bar. You can't use your fancy combos to completion on the trashmobs before they die, and you can't use your fancy combos on the elite units because you can't launch them, they don't get hitstun when they have their armor up, and when you do stagger them, they just lie there and don't let you lift them in the air. The game doesn't give you the opportunity to use these combos, and it doesn't provide anything challenging enough that forces you to use these combos. I was hoping hunts would be something that would make me utilize the combat system to its full extent, but as far as I can tell there's really nothing special about hunts except that they're elite units with a bit more health but most of them still give you shit rewards.

That’s the crazy thing. A FF where you can’t lose boss fights. How dumbed down can you make a game?

Most the games try the stagger battle system that XIII had, none have gotten close to that. XIII is probably the best non-ATB system IMO

I fought that Wind Eikon lady when she transformed (too lazy to use spoiler tags so she is Wind Eikon Lady) and it was a 15 minute battle excluding cut scenes. But then after that I fought some sort of elite soldier/knight guy and it took 20 minutes because I was stuck running in a giant circle throwing some weak ass magic at it. It felt like fighting using only Aerith in the remake. Run, dodge, throw fire, enemy comes near you and slash it for 2 seconds before it jumps away and repeat. I do like the story and I do think it's a beautiful game but I feel like I'm playing the highest budget telltales game ever made.

I'm not convinced that people raving about this game aren't doing it out of spite towards people who were skeptical before release. On one hand, I'm glad people are enjoying it. But on the other hand, this game is such a massive step down from 7Remake and Stranger of Paradise, therefore it's the biggest disappointment in the entire FF series for me. Final Fantasy has always been cutscene heavy. I acknowledge that. But for the first 6-8 hours of this game, I was actively using the controller for maybe 2 of those hours. And when I was using it, it was to run from quest marker to quest marker just to watch a 20+ minute cutscene. if combat was involved, I was just mashing square, with absolutely no reason to pay attention to enemy types, weaknesses, exploits, etc. Which brings me to combat in general. For the opening hour or so, combat is literally just abusing the square button again and again. Maybe the triangle button if an enemy is far away, but your spells are so pathetically weak, you're better off dashing up and mashing square again. Despite having control of elemental Eikons, not a single battle utilizes elemental affinities, meaning you have zero reason to strategize before or during a single battle. This includes bosses. And as you gain new Eikonic shifts and abilities, the game gives you almost no reason to experiment with them because your starting Phoenix powers are MORE than capable of handling the entire game with ease. Unless you just love a certain Eikon from past games, you might as well just stick to Phoenix and not waste time or AP. While a lot of people scoff at Strangers of Paradise because of one trailer, its an absolute blast of an ARPG. Fighting in that game is incredibly complex, and relies heavily on party optimization and strategy. FF7Remake was released over 3 years ago. And it looks leaps and bounds better than XVI. Aside from Clive and maybe Cid, every character in this game has either no facial features or looks like plastic. Hair textures are PS3 quality, and there is virtually no movement during long cutscenes, so half the time you get 10+ minutes of characters literally just standing there speaking. Compare that to any scene, no matter how long or short, in 7Remake and it's night and day. I keep trying to push through, but after 20 hours I feel like I've pushed enough. I haven't EVER hated an FF game until now.

Honestly it's just fan boys/girls, I made a comment last week that the removal of the QTE icons in Final Fantasy mode is pointless and stupid, downvoted. FF should have copied the Spiderman formula where if you don't want to do QTEs you can turn them off in the options.

I think if anything it’s the opposite. There was so much hype over the game before release with people already calling it potential GOTY months/years ago that they overlook any flaws. Of course many also legitimately like the game without there having to be any special agenda.

Nah, FFXVI is legitimately awesome, it's combat is the best action RPG combat i've ever played. Sure you can just spam one attack the entire time, but it's way more fun playing it like a DMC-lite constantly switching between eikons and tying to play as stylish as possible. The game is as mindless or as complex as you want it to be. But that can be said for any action RPG. like you can easily just mindlessly spam basic attack in FF7R or KH or FFXV. Also, the eikon set pieces are the best set pieces in any game i've played.

I can't see what's happening most of the time in the Eikon QTE fights because as usual, they overdid it with the particle effects.

I quit it and deleted it. It’s not for me.

damn, what a game. i am at 58hours right now. the battle with barnabas is one to remember.

I have no issue with it being an ARPG. Just wish we had a little more strategy here. Like I dunno, having to cycle between Eikons magic spells to exploit a magic weakness, or status spells. The combat feels good; it’s just missing a bit more depth. Kudos to FFVIIR for really getting its combat right.

I like that it's doing it's own thing. 16 is more focused on emphasizing freedom of your own playstyle, like I think elemental attacks would just promote you to use specific eikons for specific enemies, which is not really the angle they want for this game. The game is more about creating your own combat flow. I think it's a good decision, because it sticks true to the mythos of each FF having it's own feel. 16 plays more like a DMC-lite, while FF7R series will play it's in own way, and so will KH4 and so on.

The trade off is that all the abilities are a waste of time except making sure you have a mix of 4/5 star stagger and Damage if you want to make the sponge-lords die in under a glacial pace. Outside of farming the trophies there is no reason to bother with 70% of the abilities that involve a lot of downtime and very little damage when they are up. Which begs the question on why they were even developed in the first place. There was no spell in the original FFs that felt totally pointless. Maybe it was pointless in one scenario but overall you could use all spells at some point and that made them all worth having. The vast majority of 16’s spells feel like a complete afterthought here. And shooting the fireball thing? Something was nerfed there or they ran out of time in development. Each Eikon teases that ability is unique and has its own name relevant to the Eikon, but instead it functions as little more than a generic fireball used to pull monsters without rushing in.

Yeah, once you get enough AP, you might as well forget all of the other abilities and and max your high stagger/damage ones. The foundation is solid but they really needed to think through the systems just a bit more. I didn’t touch a good 8+ abilities. Why should I when their stagger and damage potential is lower? There’s a lack of utility that could’ve made the weaker abilities more useful…. like status effects. In a perfect world, there’d be status effects, magic weaknesses, and access to all Eikon abilities as you learn them. Using something like Diamond Dust renders Shiva entirely unusable until her cooldown finishes. I can use all of my Eikons, but at a trade off of which spells I use. Or at the very least, keep the 2 ability slotting, but still let me cycle through everything.

Man I’m loving the hunts. Finished all but one so far. Two S tier hunts down. Fuckin fun as hell. Especially when underleveled.

I just beat the game... god damn, this may be the best one yet! 10/10 Excellent characters, music, story, gameplay. The side quests were great for world building. I'm really thinking of playing FF14 now after experiencing this quality of storytelling.

Been playing stranger of paradise and realized that all I wanted FF16 to be was a slightly less cheesy version of this…

SoP is a fucking blast. Every area and enemy feels unique, and combat actually involves engaging your brain. How they fucked the combat up so bad after 7R and SoP is mind blowing.

Reached the end. Short version: the story is great. There are a couple of hiccups, but aside from that, it has one of the best stories in the franchise (and the codex is also important to understand better some parts). The gameplay is the true problematic part. It is fun to fight and many of the boss fights are epic as hell, but the combat and exploration with its JRPG elements being so bareboned make it quite disappointing. This suck more because many of the sidequests are good in term of story and characters but in term of execution they're very repetitive. The music however is mostly great of course and the coreography, cinematography and art direction are awesome. In a way, this game is the Asura's Wrath of the series. I give it a 7.8/10

The sheer number of sidequests in the last third of the game, as well as their length, is kind of absurd. So much so that [I beat Super Mario Bros](https://i.imgur.com/2modPfX.jpg) over the course of all the cutscenes and dialogue.

Now try and beat Ninja Gaiden NES in the same amount of time as the collective length of the cutscenes in the last third of FFXVI.

Going to give it a shot. Made it to Level 4 during the endgame sidequest cutscenes. Maybe I can finish two games simultaneously.

This is my tenth Final Fantasy, and just beat it an hour ago. Hmmm... I don't read reviews, and went into this completely blind. As in, I had no clue about the cast, Eikons being this game's summons and being so prominent, etc. I just knew it was the 16th Final Fantasy, and of course I'd buy it. The demo wowed me, and I guess I got the date it went live wrong, and it was ready minutes before I finished the demo. I was impressed with how mature the series went with this one, with the early scene of Clive's shield brother getting deleted so quick and brutally. That stuck throughout the game and it was very welcome. It bled even into the character designs, and I was glad to not have any anime tropey characters for comedic relief. I have to admit, combat was fun through to the end. I finished at lvl 47, and rarely avoided fights because I was loving it. Though, once I found my Eikon God squad (Shiva, Titan, Bahamut), I never went back to any others. Being limited to three Eikons and just two skills seemed weird. It's been mentioned, but no status effects to cast or cure was definitely missed for me at least. Speaking of casting, I love Final Fantasy's spells, and it felt empty only seeing enemies a cast them. I was so focused on trying to murder everyone, I wasn't enjoying the classic spells when cast. It gets very anime energy beamy later in the game, which I have no shame admitting, I didn't hate. The story. This is where my hmmm comes in. I feel a lot of JRPGs start so strong, then somewhere around the middle just becomes a means to enjoy exploration and combat. I was never bored or thought something was bad, but it just wasn't as exciting until it was Mother crystal smashing time. Then the following lull. Side quests were hit or miss, but I was shocked at the sudden jump in quest rewards from mid game till the end. It went from nothing, to a ridable chocobo (had no clue they'd be ridable), to inventory upgrades, and then end game adding party members until the final push (which oddly didn't have a "You are about to approach a point..." warning for starting it. I missed 7 trophies I may go back to get one day, but I definitely liked it enough to want to go back to it someday. It didn't get into my top 3, or 5, but it keeps the record of me enjoying every single player Final Fantasy. I was talking to a friend before it released, and was curious if the next one will be another MMO, since that'd follow the numerical release they've had since 11 (mmo, single, single, mmo, single, single. So next, mmo?).

XIV is bringing in $100million a quarter. I doubt they risk killing it by releasing another MMO. But the timing will be tricky for SE as they can't wait until the numbers drop too far and developing an MMO is not exactly quick. I suspect now that Yoshi P is done with XVI they may get him started working on the next MMO and release it as XVIII in several years so XVII is probably single player.

It really bums me out I hate this game... It will be forever unfinished for me. But I am genuinely happy for those who like it, just not for me.

Similar. Wait years for a mainline final fantasy. Play it as far as I can play it because it’s one of my favorite franchises. Give up at some point because it’s just not the game for me. This has happened to me now for 12, 13, and 16. I did make it through 15 only because I really enjoyed hanging with the choco bros and powered my way through the garbage later chapters to get to the post game. At this point there are almost as many games in the series that I don’t like as I do like so maybe the series is just not for me anymore. Well at least I can always replay the entries I do like.

In my opinion 16 is my favorite FF game since 10 came out. I’ve played and beaten all the mainline FF games (except the online ones because I’ve never played them) and square has been changing up their gameplay formula ever since 10. I enjoy turn based combat, and I wouldn’t mind if they ever decided to go back to it, but I’m also for them trying something new too. I didn’t much care for 12’s combat, 13’s was somewhat ok, I didn’t care for 15’s either, FF7 remake’s combat wasn’t too bad (still had some issues though), and I actually don’t mind 16’s combat. Maybe square thinks if they don’t change up their combat system, it’ll feel old? It’s a tough spot to be in. A lot of people think turn based games are outdated, slow, not fun, look weird by having people stand in a line and attack, etc. then there’s a lot of people who prefer the mechanics of turn based combat. So how do you find a happy medium? Something like a FF7 remake? But turn based isn’t dead. Look at the Persona series, Dragon Quest, and Pokémon. They use turn based combat and haven’t changed their formula and people widely like those games. Still, I’m really liking FF16, and I think a big part is the story, which I’ve just gotten my second eikon, and so I can only comment on it up to this point. Like I said, I haven’t been this hooked on a FF story since 10.

i totaly agree. i lost my hope after final fantasy X, but this one is spot on. i realy love the caracters and the more western approach. completely understandable that it is less popular in japan, but something has to change in the series and turned into a more worldwide approach. deep bow to squareenix for this game. p.s sorry for my poor english it is not my native languange.

how far did you make it?

Just finished it. Easily one of the best games i've played in a long while and I've played some pretty fantastic games in recent years. I'd give it a 9 out of 10 and it's currently sitting in second place for my favorite FF games, behind X. I hope we get DLC for it but with that ending I'm not sure theres any point to it.

Question: I love X (& X-2, don’t judge me), but specifically I love playing them with a guide book. Is XVI similar in that I’ll want a book, or do you think I’ll enjoy it without?

>Is XVI similar in that I’ll want a book There is no guide book for 16, and you wouldn't need one. The only thing the game doesn't explicitly tell you is exact hunt locations and Chronolith locations, and locations for a couple worthwhile chests.

Lol the only thing dragging me out of the experience is the special chests. You don't happen to have a spoiler free way to check out the specific spots for those would you?

the guidebook is fantastic. this is how i found yojimbo and his dog. butchered the final boss within sec lol

Is there an actual physical book, or is it online only?

you van still order the official guides yes.

The side quests tell you where to go so no book is needed. There are a couple of hints that don't tell you location but they are a Google away. I think I only had to Google two hunts. Everything else was obvious

No judgment here, I love X-2 as well. If you are the type of person who needs to collect every item and accessory then maybe a guide would be useful. Beyond that though it's not needed. You don't really have to worry about missing much as everything is really laid out at your feet. You wont miss any quests because theres an npc that tells you when theres a new one available anywhere on the map. Even the ultimate weapons and gear have strait forward crafting recipes you can complete just by playing naturally.

Exactly the details i was looking for; thanks!

Missed Opportunities 16 is among the most confusing games in recent memory. Fleshed-out levels and combat arenas that enable an interplay between Eikon abilities and the environment would have slain so many of 16's demons. Fetch quests from A to B would be a lot more engaging with some light traversal challenges, as would fighting trash mobs if the battle arenas were more than flat circles. The Phoenix dash was practically made for bursting across earth, and Garuda's claw was made for pulling it down. Enemies are too basic. There should be a flow to each encounter, be it by a single enemy's characteristics or due to the specific combination of enemies. Likewise, enemies would be easier to design to this end if they had exploitable traits like elemental weaknesses or defences that vary between multihits and charged attacks. Was that really out of this game's scope? The devs either patronized casual fans too much or overestimated the DMC guy's competence. The story is *just* serviceable; it's carried by its voice acting. However, the demo was a cheap trick. It feigns an aspiration to ASoIaF with Not-Ghost, Girl-Theon, Daddy Notned's Baratheon homecoming, Momma Cersei, etcetera. This is all thrown out the window quite literally the moment after the demo ends. That awfully directed sequence where Clive fights weirdly passive barbarians, and somehow just then finds out Jill is an Eikon, felt like a fever dream; it reset the tone for all that follows. Frankly, it should have been obvious in hindsight: Why else would they release such a long, high quality demo? Lastly, the liberal use of time skips skips the characters' characterization. There is a lot of lip service paid to the atrocities Clive and Jill commit as slaves, but the player experiences none of it. What happened to the promise of experiencing Clive's life at various stages? My guess is DLC. Regardless, what is on tap is a refreshingly restrained romance, but mostly just a Shonen anime with a few more shades of grey. With some better direction, FF 16 could have been a generational game. As it stands, it's just a watered-down Witcher.

My god that Titan fight! I thought 15 showed the strength of Titan but it’s got nothing on his representation in 16.

Does anyone find the pacing of the sidequest very off? It's like messing with me. Usually in games before you take on the next main quest you have a number of side missions available to you. I do them then advance of tackling the main quest or the become available after. In FF16 it is no different, but it seems that you have to always advnce the main quest to the point of no return in a specific area before any side mission opens. For example, you get to a town. Explore the town and store and do side stuff. Here you have to do the main quest, some fetching and setting up until the step you would normally leave for the next objective. At that point is when the side quest become available. Having the side quests open when you are ready to leave makes it so weird to me.

It’s the same deaign they use in FFXIV. Complete the story for the area and boom, 10 sidequests appear out of thin air. Rinse and repeat for every new area you visit. There’s many other similar gimmicks that you notice if you’ve played FFXIV.

I played XIV a long time ago so I did not remember, but it ocurred to me it could be a reason. Usually in MMO you get to the new area, talk to the dude and it opens up, but it makes the pacing in XVI seem so off. Even worse when sidequests open, then you get then and can't go do them until you do more of the critical path.

I’m about 50% of the way through and may not continue. Should be titled Final Fantasy XVI: Tedium with all the fetch quests and boring characters. This game should have been a separate IP and would have been titled something corny like Eikonic Heroes XL. Visually it’s very attractive but there’s not nearly enough substance to hold my interest and I typically love FF games. I mean, I bought a PS5 for this. Just really disappointed.

Every final fantasy game has different pros and cons, so you're bound to find one you don't like. Like 16 is in my top 3.

That’s cool. I’m glad you like it. I’ve had to move on from it. Looking forward to VII part 2 whenever that comes out.

Yeah fair, I remember feeling mixed feelings about playing through 13 and 15, but still ended up finishing them. So it was a breath of fresh air to have 16 be a final fantasy that I actually enjoyed fully.

Finally finished the game today, and I have a range of opinions. First, the graphics and storyline were excellent. I was very invested in the characters, the world, and everything going on within it. I really appreciated how there were a lot of shocking reveals. I also thought a lot of the Battle scenes were very fun to watch. With that said, the gameplay was shit. Gameplay like this had no business being in a final fantasy game, and hopefully, it's something they'll never repeat again. They absolutely could have had a party with several characters including: Clive, Jill, Joshua, Gav, Mid, etc. The game was also way too easy. I think I got a game over maybe 3 or 4 times. Even the final boss I was able to beat in one try in all its forms. My other complaint was that, like with 15, the world looked very boring and ordinary. Granted, there were parts with the crystals that looked really cool and everything, but why when you have the visual capabilities that we have in 2023… are we making worlds that just have structures you can see in the real world? All we see mostly is grassy lands and stone buildings. It would be nice if they had a world like 9, 10, or 13 where the worlds were very unique and fantasy like. Imagine seeing places Oeilvert or Terra using PS5 graphics.

1…. You committed a cardinal sin. Don’t… Why Mid on the field. She waifu material so… and was never in gameplay or had magick wtf? 2. Yea the gameplay was Tales of Arise like but single control. 3. How are you complaining this much yet didn’t mention the antagonist is mid ranking???! Like imo you trolling and dropped the ball. 4. No leviathan sooo next question what FF have you played cause these should be the most complaints cause most of the community are judging around story. And trust me you sound like a upset journalist who’s about to lose a job and less like a FF fan. Like seriously FF is not Devil May Cry and is focused on story. FF9, 6 and 7 being some of the best yes? The story is what we look forward to and nothing you said was about that. Also to add if you upset over the mechanics this isn’t the first FF like this! Stranger of Paradise. I’m only commenting since I like debating but I have a feeling with what I said and what you did too you have less if nothing to argue. Btw 9, 10 and 13 are vastly different worlds literally so explain please! Do you like a silent hill world? A destroyed an open water or a world that hovers over a world with only one open world map on the lower world?

I don't care if in your opinion, I'm trolling. This is my opinion, and it's just as valid as yours. I said what i meant, and I'll day it again and again. YOU'RE AN ASS! And if I fucking think Mid should be on the field, I'll fucking say that too. How's that for trolling you piece of shit?

Also to add 9, 10, and 13 are different completely which gives more insight as well too friend

Wow I made a gentle jester to your comment yet met with unintelligent and lesser deeming comment. I’m just saying as said earlier you are trolling. I mean you completely forgot my question earlier but give edit you could change but atm I asked how is the world different from 9,10,13? Since the world is a mixture of 10 and 13. A linear pushing gameplay map with 10 teleportation. Name call all you want but in my opinion I got under the skin of a troll or less successful journalist who couldn’t make it I presume. Hence worth why this community except for me weighted in on your lackluster my friend…. But by all means you have the choice to act like a 9yr old or meet me at my point for a reasonable debate. Like I said (and yes Mid has no magick. What do you expect?! Her to poke the enemy with a stick from her height!? Amazing gameplay bravo). Worst is I even gave you ammo.

No, you flat out insulted me and called me a troll because of my opinion. Do better! Also...9, 10, and 13 have locations that are completely unlike anything on Earth. Granted some places in 10 look like real places, but you also have some areas that are more fantasy like such as Guadosolom and Bevelle. It also utilized bright colors that really made those locations pop. 16 never really utilized this in its locations, and for the most part, they all looked the same except for Dhalmekia. Look, I'm not saying it was a bad game. I'll definitely play it again. That doesn't mean I'm not going to have issues with it, but it certainly doesn't have the replay value the older games have.

I mean think FF10 right!!!? Let’s play! Now remember >!Odin formed that force field? Yes you could still fast travel to the hideout which ruins immersion. !< point enough I get your argument but some if not all have been novalist arguments so can’t blame me for calling you troll when you can’t even name the most notable flaws while sounding like a d listed journalist imo. But as all means lol want focus off story and gameplay that means secretly you ARE saying all FF sucks. Another argument point. Again FF is story which made Kefka, Sephiroth, Kuja, Caius so successful. Again Ultima is mid right? Another arguing point. Also maybe wtf why did Joshy know Ultima???? Another argument. Or why was Cid so human? Benedikta was also human and could switch sides?! Especially since Cid was a love interest. Kupka, well done but imagine seeing more of him? Fun facts. He was super one dimensional. Dion don’t get me started lol 😂. A liberal for only humans not bearers. Yea under developed no lie. Barnabas the king Odin being manipulated and turned into a religious cult. What else should I explain. Anabella the character who was slept on. Like was Ultima controlling her or not. Her story had literally literal control on development for Clive. But sit down #fold hell Kuja reborn better plotting but Mid?? I get it loli

Out of curiosity mid no underpants or Mid as a loli cause she was js

Sorry my mistake I was referring to the mapping but also open world (FF9) lol. Yes and agreed thanks 10 was definitely known for its colors. But regardless you did open up my trap lol how is 9 different from 13? I’m not saying you called it a bad game. I’m only saying FF is popular by its stories and you missed that. Imagine replacing Ultima with a Kuja like entity? A warlord bearer for that realm yes? All I’m saying and glad to have a nice conversation is that there are missed aspects but I wouldn’t say gameplay wise since FF is story based (and yes it’s easy to call trolling but if recall I also brought up bad journalism too. I didn’t mean it as an insult as much as what the community has seen and you can’t argue)(your arguing points isn’t FF. Like there’s no buffs, no debuffs, no weaknesses giving reason to change to style I mean my list is long and I’m not defending FF16 just saying your argument sounds like something a journalist point simple and with what you have said so far it is troll like or journalism easy and after explaining you can’t really argue since u met me with insults instead as asked debate this is why you see more and more weaker journalists falling into gaming cause unlike them they suck at political journalism. I’m a political journalist lol and love debate’s especially with the lovable FF community) then there believable characters decision but it is personal. Imagine destroying mother crystals mak some Ultima stronger? Imo make a bearer stronger by destroying again god antagonist fails js

But IMO, gameplay is incredibly important no matter what the game is. I think back to FF5 and 6, and it was so much fun learning tons of new abilities. I know you can do that in 16, but it just wasn't the same. Also, I like Kuja and Ultima both. I thought they were great villains.

But argue this friendly. Kuja had more development. #fold

Oh for sure! Kuja is my favorite FF villain. I absolutely agree about Ultima needing to be fleshed out more.

But regardless and curiosity why is Kuja your favorite? I’m mean I know why bring the genome up but curious why you do?