Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@colonelkilgore I wouldn't exactly gauge what people think about FF16 based on this thread alone. In fact, most people think it's a fantastic game. For starters, the reviews: https://opencritic.com/game/14516/final-fantasy-xvi

Second, other Push Square members: https://www.pushsquare.com/features/poll-what-review-score-wo...

It's a great game no matter if you're a Final Fantasy fan or not. If you're an FF fan, you'll love how much Final Fantasy the story is. Crystals, summons, magic, it's all here. And if you're not an FF fan, you'll love just how epic the story is. The first 10 hours is an absolute joy ride. Then it opens up for more side content, which gets better the more you play, while still offering more epic story moments. So I definitely think you should be hyped for this game. If you like intense action, epic boss fights, exceptional orchestral music and an engaging story, then you'll like this game.

I haven't talked much about the game lately but that's because I'm close to wrapping it up after nearly 70 hours of playtime and I want to save my thoughts for after I'm done with the game. I am curious though to see how attainable the Platinum trophy is. Currently, I have 34/50 trophies. I'll probably won't bother if there's a trophy for beating the game on NG+ (even though I've heard it's supposedly really good) or if you have to complete some of the side content that I'm not interested in.

@Jimmer-jammer welcome back mate, missed you around here ☺️

@LtSarge so I wouldn’t call myself a massive Final Fantasy stan… but I really liked FFVII Remake and FFXV. I’m always happy to have my expectations checked though… it’s never a bad thing as far as I’m concerned. If it’s as good as I was hoping, I’ll probably enjoy it all the more for the lowered expectations, while if I do find the game disappointing… at least I was warned 😉

@Ralizah Yes, I’m sure I have a lot of those same Sony epics on the shelf, and many third party ones as well. I’m looking at Horizon Forbidden West with the same apprehension as I am FF16. And I’ve yet to polish off Jedi Survivor. I also still lack the Ragnarok notch in my belt.

Playing a couple AA/indie games lately in Tacoma, Tchia, and Stray, I’ve really gleaned some satisfaction from gaming that I didn’t realize I was missing. The thought of another 80 hr marathon just gives me heartburn.

@Pizzamorg If and when I decide to jump headfirst into the FF16 pool, I’ll try to ignore the side activities, as it sounds like they are an avoidable problem with the game. But I suffer from the same obsessive tendencies as you in these games with lists of side content. The urge to do it all and clear the map or the quest log is what has ruined many a game for me, like Witcher 3 and Yakuza 0, for example. I’m sure if I just mainline the story I’d get a lot of enjoyment out of some of these games, but it’s really hard to make myself do it.

Like @LtSarge said, I wouldn't use this thread to get that good of an idea on the game. It is strangely pretty negative outside of a handful of us who are genuinely loving the game. Obviously I'm not criticizing people as not everybody is going to love it no matter what, but the game is definitely better than the impression given here by some. It is what it is though, and it's not like it takes away from our enjoyment.

I will say one thing for sure though. There are other RPGs that have FAR worse side quests than this does. Yes, some are overly basic and repetitive. Yes, some other games like Horizon Forbidden West do it better, but there are some genuinely really good side quests here too, and games like Xenoblade Chronicles 1 & 2 have way worse and way more repetitive ones.

@Th3solution Looking at Horizon Forbidden West with apprehension? You're dead to me. Logging on to delete you off of my friends... wait, never mind.

Playing the game yesterday made me realize two things which sour the experience for me. When I play rpgs I look everywhere for treasure. There is none in this game. If I acutally find a chest there is a very slim chance it's something interesting let alone useful. But even after 50 hours with the game I still get my hopes up and get let down, and those moments start to pile on even though I now try to tell myself that this is not that kind of game.

The other thing is the barebone customization. With no extra party members I was expecting a fleshed out tech tree. Sure there are some skills to choose from but you can only equip few of them at the same time. I wish they would have been more fleshed out and given us decisions to tailor skills to be either this or that, like in diablo 3. Maybe tie in stat boost nodes etc. Oh, and also make elemental attacks matter. Maybe throw in status effects somewhere? The weapon system in FF7R was really good at making none of the weapons obsolete. I really wished they would have been as creative here.

But seeing the love this game gets made me realize there are numerous reasons why we all like gaming. I do enjoy the stories they tell but appearantly it is not the main reason I enjoy these games. I want to level up, I want to find loot and I want exciting and interactive places to visit. There are numerous great locations in this game but they feel so empty and the world so small. I have trouble caring for the fate of the world when there are none in it. At times I get the silly idea that they chose to create a story where everything is abandoned so that they didn't have to put money and effort into filling it with life (because they probably needed money elsewhere, I'm not saying it is a cheap game).

For my money, Final Fantasy XVI is the best Final Fantasy since IX. Finished it last night, did all the sidequests and hunts, loved it.

Yeah, it is funny, some of my favourite games are very story heavy and very gameplay light, so it isn't like I dislike these things inherently. I just don't think FF16's story or characters are so strong they override all this game lacks, clearly for a lot of people though this story and set of characters are enough. Good for them, I guess. I do recommend to those people watching more shounen anime if you like this, as this is basically a 101 paint by numbers shounen battle anime in a Game of Thrones skin.

As you go along, side content does offer you more insights into this world and also offers some insights into characters that otherwise just sorta side around at your hideout and don't do anything, so if you value this stuff then I would feel bad if I was the one that made you decide to skip the side content. However, I don't really care about all this stuff, but my gamer OCD compels me to press X to sand through tears of boredom.

@Th3solution "Playing a couple AA/indie games lately in Tacoma, Tchia, and Stray, I’ve really gleaned some satisfaction from gaming that I didn’t realize I was missing. The thought of another 80 hr marathon just gives me heartburn."

Nail on the head. I look at yet another AAA 40-100 hour action game and the necessary commitment puts me off. I started Ghostwire Tokyo (not the best example admittedly) got 2 hours in and can't be bothered with the other 40. It looks great, plays well, but it's all so boring and wishy-washy.

I was saying the other day how I miss when games were like 15 hours or less, just linear and tight telling a great story and steering us through a series of set pieces. Had FF16 focused on like six Eikon battles, gave each one a unique mechanical gimmick, threaded each battle with a smaller mission either side and the necessary cutscenes, I think I would have enjoyed this game so much more and all the shortcomings would have been far less obvious. Like I said above, removing the hubs and the MMO side quests wouldn't be a magic fix all wand, but they would significantly improve the game nonetheless by removing them.

@johncalmc What did you think about the hunts? They're easily my favourite side activities in this game since you get to go all out with your abilities on stronger foes. Not to mention you get great rewards that are necessary for upgrading certain weapons, such as Ragnarok and Gotterdammerung.

Speaking of which, I got Gotterdammerung yesterday. From what I understand, this is a reoccurring weapon in the Final Fantasy games. I've played FF 1-7 and this is the first time I've acquired this weapon lol. I don't really like going for the side stuff in the older FF games since they aren't that enjoyable to play.

@LtSarge Great. Liked them a lot. The combat is really good against bosses - much less so against the rank and file, but then that's true or most Final Fantasy games and JRPGs generally. The flow of the battles, building up the stagger, timing the dodges etc. All really good.

I also like that there's not an overwhelming number of hunts, or a super hunt where you need to grind to 99 or any other time wasting rubbish. I think FFXVI is good for that. You're not spending a dozen hours looking for a specific nut and then hoping you breed the right colour chocobo or spending 100 hours maxing out the sphere grid so you're strong enough to beat the super boss. I know people have a problem with the sidequests but I actually think the optional stuff here is well judged.

@johncalmc I agree. I only wish that they made a separate type of side quest for the ones where you bond with the characters. I haven't noticed it until now but there are more or less "character quests" in FF16 but they are disguised as regular side quests. I think differentiating between them would've made people more interested in checking out the optional content.

Love the music in Lostwing. Got that old JRPG vibe.

Well that's a wrap on FF16 after 70 hours of playtime. I'll probably write down my thoughts in a separate post during the weekend. But in short, this is the best FF game I've played, it's my GOTY and it's one of the best games I've ever played in general. Absolutely phenomenal experience. This is why I love video games.

I beat FF16. Spoiler free info dump.

The ending’s pretty good. Bit of a disappointment all round though. Combat never completely felt that interesting outside of the brilliant boss fights. The story was a bit of a mess but that’s par for the course for FF games. The ‘darker’ tone kinda lets up for a bit and it does lean into the goofy stuff which was fun. I’m 99% sure it doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, I’d bet there wasn’t a single woman in the writer’s room. Clive was a fantastic protagonist but he definitely gets a million times more development than anybody else and the overarching story suffers as a result. The baddie didn’t do it for me, I’d probably put them alongside Vayne from XII in terms of ‘missed opportunity’ with some interesting stuff but not enough. The sidequests were a bizarre mix of great little character based ones and then the most mundane sh*t you’ll ever play. It absolutely needs a filter between character quests and filler. The structure being ‘wide linear’ areas did feel a bit XIII. It’s just an odd odd game, that has next-gen stylings layered over a game that felt a bit dated? Obviously this is all my own opinion but I’d probably call it a 7. Probably an 8 if I take into account that I played it for free, I might feel differently if I’d paid that much for it 😂

@nessisonett I read that first sentence wrong and thought it was Fifa 16. I was thinking what can you spoil in a fifa game? And what is this doing in the Final Fantasy thread? Then I realised I should probably go back to bed! 😂

Finished writing my review of FF16 but I decided to post it in the reviews thread in order to avoid posting a wall of text here. In case people are interested in reading my thoughts, here's a link: https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/user...

@JohnnyShoulder Would be pretty impressive to beat a FIFA game 😂

@LtSarge It was an interesting read! Coming from FF1-7 I can see how this kinda seems like a good evolution of the core elements of what makes a Final Fantasy game. My favorite era of the series is 7-10 (+12) and FF16 does not really evolve off of them the in quite the same way, in my opinion. Even though I wasn't a fan of this one it was nice to get a more in-depth view from someone who thoroughly enjoyed the game, so thank you!

@LtSarge I enjoyed your review and it was nice to read such a positive appraisal to counter-balance the disappointment I’ve read elsewhere. I’m hoping that my experience will be similar to yours… and given your reference to God of War 2018 and Nier Automata (two of my personal all-timers), there’s a decent chance that I will.