Poll: Are You Playing Final Fantasy 16?

Not interested in it myself but, for those who are, I hope it lives up to all of its hype (or somehow exceeds it)! Have fun, folks!

My favourite series and ive followed it through the lows as well as the highs. Im so excited for this! Started the game during my break today. I've decided to play through the prologue again and its just so good

No review of Aliens Dark Descent?

On my PS friends list, everybody seem to be on it. I love that hype.

Might do when they fix it. If they don’t I won’t be

I might give this a go?

I've only played one FF games before and.i think it was 7 and it had a big fish in it call Sin I think?

This latest installment does look really good. I might buy it after I finish Cyberpunk and TOTK.

I hear its not a buggy mess at launch which is rare these days 😂

I wish I was but my deluxe edition still hasn't arrived. Life is too cruel sometimes

As soon as Square Enid sends me my collector’s edition box, I’m all over it.

Not yet, but I will at either on this friday night or saturday night

Playing it and loving every moments so far.

45 years old. Never played a FF game. Is it one of those turn based things?

I'm playing it and really enjoying it so far!

@MagicMonkeyBoy No, it is an action RPG. They have a demo so you can try it out to see if you like the type of game it is.

No PS5, but even if I owned one, I'm not a fan of the direction this has gone in.

I may or may not try it at some point in the future, but only in a deep sale.

Waiting for my copy to arrive! Can't wait to pick up where the demo left off!

@Ashcrapper What is wrong with it?

My copy hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully be here when I get home from work tomorrow.

@Total_Weirdo that’s 10

☑️Canada post sent my copy to Thunder Bay.

I'll wait 2 years until it is on ps extra haha

Been playing it most of today love it so far was never much of a Final Fantasy fan until i played FF 7 remake.

Yup, having good fun with it so far.

Not Received it on release day which is disappointing. Unusual for game collection

I'm about to begin it very soon...like minutes away soon! Very excited! Enjoy it everyone! Brand new FF games don't come around very often!

Just got my PS5 yesterday, and today I had the chance to sit down, set it up, and then this game arrived in perfect time! Never played a final fantasy game beforehand, but I've just beaten the boss in the swamp and this game is already absolutely blowing me away. Can't wait to play more!

@Judal27 Same man, mine has an estimated arrival to reach here on sunday :[

I would love to be playing it, but I am at work, aaaand my copy doesn’t arrive in the mail until tomorrow.

nope, not at 70 squids i'm not, got 2 other games to play and i don't do day 1 anyways

You bet! Far from an FF fan but I’m having a blast. Where’s the difficulty though? Everything is a literal cakewalk (10+ hours in). That’s my main gripe right now.

Needed a option I should be playing it bloody royal mail haven't delivered it like the other item that should of arrived yesterday so both the game and the other item should of been delivered today and still not arrived I have issued a complaint with royal mail 😡

Not until it runs at 60fps for the majority of the time, so probably when we get PS5 Pro/PS6

Been playing all day. Battle system is good but there is little else to do, the world feels very empty. I have been quite bored at times. Hopefully it opens up soon, as I feel all I'm doing ATM is walking to markers on the map and watching cutscenes. Done a couple of sidequests and they were instantly forgettable drivel. There also seems to be nothing to do in the Hideaway other than a shop and a blacksmith?

I get paid tomorrow so I'm tempted to make a purchase just after 12am and get it downloading through the night.

I bet I fall asleep at about half eleven.

Much as I expected, This is a huge departure from the Final Fantasy tradition.

Almost all RPG elements are removed to the point where it feels more like a pure action game than even an action RPG.

This is a shame as it goes against the origins of the franchise.
Square used to make action games and that was because they played it safe. Hironobu Sakaguchi however wanted to make an RPG after seeing western RPG's and the success of Dragon Quest. However he was denied over and over again, until Square management finally gave in as a result of poor sales.
It was his dream project to make a Fantasy style RPG.

Final Fantasy took a lot of inspiration from D&D (Almost to the point where you could call it a ripoff)

It's a shame then that Square Enix forgot the identity of this beloved franchise.

It was not until Final Fantasy II where they introduced Chocobos, And Moogles were first introduced in Final Fantasy III.

There was not summons in the first game.
Sure you had a story about Crystals, I guess that's the only thing you have left from the original. But what about the gameplay?

And please don't get me wrong, I do recognise that Final Fantasy XVI is a good game, impressive even.

But it's not the game I will play when I get the urge to play a Final Fantasy game, it does not tickle that particular itch.

I had a feeling this was going to be the case, but yeah now I confirmed it for myself.

I truly hope Dragon Quest XII won't meet the same fate and also become an action game.

And it's not that I don't enjoy action games, but sometimes I feel like playing a good RPG game. Would be nice to know that there's still some big franchises delivering the goods.
And not be limited to lower budget titles only.

The one thing that JRPGs never seem to get right are the side quests. I always find them rather tedious. Even Yakuza 0 and Judgment, which are both stellar titles, are packed with needless filler. That's the one thing that's putting me off at this time. I'm going to wait for a substantial price drop.

Got the Collector's Edition delivered this morning and been playing through the day. Having a blast

@Mythologue the first side quest is delivering 3 dishes of stew to 3 customers in an inn. The next one is walking 50 steps to collect some wood and deliver it back to the quest giver. I really thought side quests had evolved past such basic filler. It's my biggest disappointment with the game so far, as well as the empty environments and general lack of fun factor.

@awaltzforvenus Oh you say that but to that I ask you this..
Do you only ever get far in Final Fantasy games?

They made a good game, great even.
But is it really a game befitting of the Final Fantasy title?

For me it's in instant "no". Sure there's Summons, crystals, chocobo's and moogles.

But the real Final Fantasy gameplay is not there, also the feel is not there.

If I imagined a darker take on Final Fantasy, then I imagine something similar to Majoras Mask compared to Ocarina of time. Darker but still full of charm.

This does not have that special Final Fantasy "spice".

Even Final Fantasy XIV (also a good game) was better at delivering that and it didn't really deliver the good for me either

Just waiting for Amazon to drop off my copy. Usually they arrive early, today not so much. I'm sad holding off from any spoilage.

@Mythologue Final Fantasy games used to do side quests right, they were often lengthy quest chains that starter in a humble way but often rewarded you with some of the best items and equipments in the game.

My copy doesn't arrive until next Tuesday (thanks again Amazon) but I'm definitely excited for it and I love Final Fantasy

At work right now and have to wait til 10pm to get outta here and play it

For sure! Start tomorrow.

Took Friday and Monday as personal days. So one hell of a FF game session. Had it planned for months.

Big fan of the single player series and been playing FF-XIV for years (Endwalker is brilliant)

I think I will wait for FF XIVXIIXVIVIXXVIVIVX

I am huge Final Fantasy fan it is my favourite series of all time. That said I didn't get a copy yet, I am traveling for work and PS5 is not a console you can put in a backpack. I hope everyone enjoys it, hope I will avoid the spoilers till I play it.

Im very invested in this game, having a good time. I've played all of these since the early releases as they released and enjoyed them all. This could be nothing but a final fantasy game for me, and it linage is obvious and welcome.

Never could get into FF. Tried with the demo for 7, but it didn’t interest me enough to want to see more.

I put every effort into loving DMC and just couldn't. I did love Tales from Arise and loved the FF remake and traditional FF. What do you think the chances are of me liking this game?

I'll get it, but not now. In fact, my brother is going to get it. I'll tell him to buy it physically and let me borrow it when he gets bored of it.

That's a benefit of physical gaming right there.

I would love to play FFXVI but there is Diablo 4 around... maybe next year.

Received an email this morning saying my payment had been declined because my card had expired..as I had to update the game is now coming either tomorrow or Saturday!Ah well it gave me time to finish the excellent Crisis Core at least!

@IndoorEnthusiast Beautiful city, I've been.

Sooooooo... Next up is the remake of Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest?

Wish there was an option: Bought but waiting for the weekend to play it.

Yes, I actually pre-ordered FF16 several months back and I've been having a lot of fun with it. I love the characters and the combat overall. Not to mention the solid English voices which is the best out of all the FF games that have voice acting imo.

Playing it and loving it. Gives me OG God of War vibes with the combat and spectacal. GoW 2018 and Ragnarok SHOULD have been this.

I will be playing it by the end of today hopefully. I have it downloaded & ready to go, just have to finish off the last few stages of Hi-Fi Rush.

I'm playing it and its great so far, lots more depth to characters than I thought!

Im playing it and loving it but the vibe I got was they could have called it the witchers fantasy 16 or final creed Valhalla it plays very similar to them

Uh nope
Demo was awful. Thought the real time combat would bring me over but it was such a boring mess still. Sure, better than turn based but still... Buuut I finally ordered Tears of the Kingdom, can't wait for that!

Yep, it's arriving today and looking forward to playing it inbetween watching Glastonbury coverage. One of my favourite weekends of the year just got even better!

I took the hard decision to put TotK on hold. Well I say hold. It's pretty much abandoned since FF16 is going to be at least a month and then there's a lot of PS5 games I've been saving, starting with Street Fighter and Jedi Survivor.

The original plan was to be playing TotK and wait for the first price drop on FF16, but what can I say? I've played 50 hours of TotK and it's already feeling repetitive and boring to me. All the sense of adventure and exploration is missing because I used it all up in BotW on a very similar map. It's a great game. It just doesn't have the hook because I already unhooked myself...!

Yes, played a bit last night. The performance mode is kinda broken. I'm hoping for a fix over the weekend as it's difficult to deal with.

@Aeula GoW 2018 and Ragnarok are absolutely stellar

Switched to 30 fps. Performance mode in its current state feels pointless. Hardly ever maintains 60 fps and battles look like an oil painting on a large TV screen due to aggressive dynamic resolution. Plus the excessive use of motion blur. Sucks, but it is what it is.

But for me to keep playing despite running at abysmal frame rate tells you how much I enjoy the game though!

Honestly people you've got more nostalgia and love for the past than my grandpa, I've played FF since day 1and I don't really miss the pixelated characters, MIDI music and scrolling text endlessly. I love the next gen sense with the graphics, haptics, etc. I'm a wee disappointed for the lack of 120Hz mode and the combat system. I love Forspoken combat system because it is punishing and push you to fight better, to kill someone is not enough, you must kill them like a professional and get stars instead E grades... but I'm loving it, there are some performance issues but I'm playing in quality mode, yes, exactly as Zelda, with "unplayable 30 fps" haha

Wish I could, my copy arrived today, but been having vertigo spells and headaches, and those tend to last a couple days, plus I have to look after my Pop while my Nan's in hospital getting hip surgery, and will have to help out my Nan when she gets out of hospital too.
So I probably won't get to play FF16 until late next week, or possibly even the week after that.

@JustPlainLoco glad to hear you're helping out. Priorities. I hope the headaches go away. I get migraines occasionally and it makes for a miserable waste of a day.

I'll get round to it at some point after i've played diablo 4 to death..at the moment i'm playing scrub the decking by hand so i can paint it this afternoon because of the hose pipe ban..in a country that does nothing but rain..

@JustPlainLoco ooof vertigo..i feel for you as thats not good..i usually get that for about a week but its not too bad tbh..i hope you feel better soon 👍

@Northern_munkey - Thanks for that, thankfully my vertigo is mostly just a minor inconvenience and a bit of an annoyance than anything, haven't had a vertigo spell since early February.

@sentiententity - Thanks, considering I know what it's like to have problems that can hinder your daily progress, I know what me Nan and Pop are going through, and they've always been there for me, so I gotta do what I can for them.
Migraines do indeed suck, especially when it messes with your vision like it does to me sometimes.

@MattBoothDev Hated both of them personally. Regret buying Ragnarok despite not liking 2018 that much. GoW just isn’t for me anymore.

Playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake as I'm too cheap.. I'll get 16 on sale hopefully.

@Total_Weirdo That would have been 10, but 10 was a good one, too!

@Aeula This is kinda what I was ferling a while back, that GoW has tried to go a more FF route, (mild rpg mechanics, multiple characters on a journey) while FF16 appears to be going full, single person action machine, like the old GoW games.

The series is not for me but glad to see if reviewing well and people enjoying! We can never have enough good games out there!

I'll wait for it to show up on ps plus. No matter how long, I'm a patient gamer.

While playing the game, I can very easily imagine how the same game would have worked with the old school top down 2D gameplay. Of course round based combat wouldn’t be as flashy, but would have worked.

This means to me this is indeed a Final Fantasy Game. The only thing lacking I feel is the exploration, and a bit more camaraderie. That’s one of the very few things FF15 did well with its bromance.

But overall I’m very happy and this might so far be my favorite game of this year.

@NarutosBiggestFan performance mode broken. FPS is all over the place.

Working my way through the demo. The combat actually seems rather fun, I would actually most likely play this some when down the line.

Been playing it this morning and started from the very beginning again. I've just got past where the demo ends and there's been a lot more f-bombs being dropped. Swearing doesn't bother me in the slightest but it's just so bizarre to hear it a lot in a Final Fantasy game.

I'm playing on graphics mode thanks to Rob's review recommendation and it does look a lot better than when I played the demo in performance mode. Great stuff so far.

@JustPlainLoco had vertigo for the first time a month or so ago, so can sympathise.

I had two days of constant nausea, vomiting, room spinning if I turned my head more than a few degrees. Unable to keep food or even much drink down without throwing it up shortly after.

Anyone who thinks it just means you feel a little dizzy (myself included until I had it) are way off. It was a vile experience.

Just finished the demo and I’m all in on buying.

@Gamer_Guy - Damn that sounds horrible, my vertigo has never gotten to the point of being as bad as you have had it. My vertigo gives me mostly minor dizzy spells, thankfully I've never had the room spin on me, my best friends gets that kind of vertigo though, but sometimes the dizziness makes me a little sick in the stomach, but due to a botched operation I had as a kid to get rid of my acid reflux, I'm physically incapable of vomiting, which sounds like a good thing, until you end up sick to your stomach and NEED to be sick. I remember back in 2020, I had two vertigo attacks, I was so lightheaded, I needed help just to walk, the tips of my fingers and toes went numb, and I was having a panic attack, first time I was administered into hospital for 4 days, and the second time which happened 2 months later, I was taken to the hospital, pumped me with some kind of medication (I was too out of it to remember what they gave me) and I was just sent home. NGL I had never been more scared in my life then I was enduring both vertigo attacks, I honestly thought I was about to kick the bucket.

Yes, and while I love the visuals, the story and the acting, the fights are SO button bashy my arm went sore after a while.

I can't be the only one, right?

I am playing it - but my PS5 seems to think i have only played 52 minutes. How can it be that broken? Like how hard can it be to fix that? The game doesn’t seem to have an in-game gameplay timer either does it… does anyone know if there is one?

@Ralizah If you liked FF7 Remake, you’ll like this one. It’s still very anime, over-the-top, and all the dudes look like underwear models but this time their hair isn’t blue and defying gravity.

I still don’t think Square know how to do great real-time combat but it might get more interesting later in the game.

@NotTelevision Controller layout options don't help and switching target is not intuitive to me. Couple of times gotten frustrated with camera, particularly in busy battles but still enjoying it overall
Some of the cutscenes and set pieces are the most bonkers I've witnessed for a while!

Yeeeesh, so glad I waited to hear some honest takes on the game. Definitely a wait for sale.

Love the first 9 games. The rest of the series has been mid for me, at best. A few hours into 16, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit, despite not really caring for the battle engine. Anyways, , I’m optimistic this could rise through the ranks!

FF is totally different now and doesn't even feel like the original series. It's just hack n slash. And this one is super generic and dull. I was so bored with the demo. It's basically a witcher 3 and games of thrones wannabee.

@NotTelevision Considering the elements I liked in FF7R (the fantastic party-based combat system that effectively balanced real-time and turn-based elements; the vivid science-fantasy setting; the wonderful banter and interparty character dynamics between the main cast; the gorgeous soundtrack) aren't really here, I have a hard time believing that.

Although I'll give it a W on the underwear models. Clive is certainly a snack.

@Relygon there's a harder new gameplus mode, but you have to complete the game once to unlock it, kind of a hastle for people who like a challenge and want to play it in hard difficulty from the get go as @ShogunRok pointed out on his review.

@LordBakemono Yes, I’m aware and it sucks big time. I don’t have the time nor will replay the game just to get a challenge. Give me the options from the get go…

If you don’t just button mash and actually dodge attacks you don’t even have to use potions. But you might as well since the game hands them to you like candy.

@paulbuck1996 there's not really difficult settings..it's action or story focused. Choose story focused and you can equip gear that helps. Like dodge prompts or even auto dodge.

Yes, already like it far better than the XIII trilogy and XV. My favorite FF games are the Crisis Core, the VII remake and XII. The last one has the best story but this one comes out of the gate really strong, the gameplay system will probably end up being my favorite, interested if once I get to the end I find the story to be as good as XII.

@Relygon yeah i totally get it, i don't like when the game makes it too easy for you, i want to be challenged, normally i'll start with regular hard mode and then got to the next difficulty level after my first run.

@Relygon i actually removed the evasion ring on the demo eikon challenge, it makes it way way easier to dodge incoming attacks

@Ralizah It’s a bit of a shame they aren’t iterating on the FF7 combat system here, as that was going somewhere interesting. This feels like Platinum Games-lite. Serviceable but doesn’t stand out.

@Panic_Attache Yeah that lock-on doesn’t work very well. I find it easier to just keep moving the camera with the right stick and play it like a Monster Hunter game.

I'm loving the game, but I would really appreciate the option to turn off the destination marker for the main quest. I'm not learning my way around because the GPS is always in my face.

Postal service is taking forever to ship it to me. Started Death Stranding while I wait. Wow the graphics and the crazy story!

@Ashcrapper I'm having no issues at all on my copy.

You’re either not playing performance mode or you have a magic copy that no one else has then

I’ve come around on the game a bit at least.

As an action game it is a 9 but as a RPG game it is a 6

So as an action RPG it averages out to maybe a 7.5 out of 10

They really dropped the ball on the RPG depth and even though it's final fantasy in theme, this game lost SOME of the final fantasy magic, in terms of colourful ragtag team of party members, mini games, exploration/discovery and unique classes that made FF special.

Still a great action game (aside from the heavy reliance on QTE sequences) in its own right but as a Final Fantasy action rpg game it's all (action) style no (rpg) substance.