Final Fantasy 16 Fans Divided as Squeeze Gap Discourse Begins Anew

This is the dumbest thing to be mad about in all of video game discourse, and that’s really saying something.

Lol i saw this last night. People need to find actual things to be worried about.

But for the sake of discourse i suppose, this could easily be a design choice as much as anything. The speed in which clive squeezes through the gap suggests the developers wanted to focus the attention on what is on screen, or push the player forwards rather than disguise loading.

The real thing people should focus on is the fact that Square is now starting to show more vibrant environments. Music sounds great too.

I honestly have no idea why people have such a problem with squeeze gaps? Yes they're obviously a disguised loading screen, but they're still better than pulling you out of the game to watch a blank loading screen. Overall it really doesn't seem like something worth being upset about

Could be to lower textures of whatever you cant see behind the gap which alot of games use to improve performance

All I see is a doggo and all I hear is wonderful piano tones instantly recognizable to be from a FF title.

I cannot wait.

If this is what people are complaining about now they need to go outside.

I did think FF7R had a few too many of instances like this at times. Generally speaking though as long as it doesn't feel constant I don't mind. I think people might need to let go of the hope this isn't going to be around this generation. SSDs are very fast but not fast enough to completely kill off loading sequences.

Look on the bright side. Clive moves very quickly through it!

Squeeze gap politics are the worst kind of politics

Gamers really have nothing to do.... this is hilarious.

Some developers have said that things like this and waist-high ledges in games you can't jump in are intentional design choices, designed to push the players in a specific direction. Not always to hide a loading screen.

@KaijuKaiser I can agree with this. Every time they post an article about the ActiBlizz buyout on here, the people that act the most offended are not the regulars.

The squeeze gaps got pretty annoying in FFVII Remake.

If they're sparingly used and all as snappy as this appeared to be, it won't be a big deal, but I'd love to eventually see AAA video game level design evolve past a reliance on these sort of obnoxious sequences.

I demand a refund for the SSD in my console. I will keep the rest.

It's a dumb thing to be mad about. That being said, these are 100% loading in the next area bottlenecks. Devs and others using justifications like pacing is ridiculous, especially when you consider the titles they are referencing and the fact that the gaps are always gating another area. It's also not hard to see how they can be tedious when they are used as often as they were in tomb raider and GOW.

It's certainly a better alternative to pop in, loading screens, and invisible walls.

This is a pretty stupid thing to complain about imo.

@GorosBat
Unfortunately that may very well involve squeezing through a hallway and exiting a door. Too much.

Its more of a mild irritation than a big deal for me. I have to admit it's not something I am a big fan of, I find them a little annoying. But it wouldn't stop me playing and enjoying the game and I am still looking forward to it.

Go touch some glass people get upset about most dumbest thing ever.

So no next gen games can't have tight crawl spaces? That's basically what these people are hinting at. It just some pathetic twitter trolls trying find anything to poke at final fantasy 16 mainly because it's a playstation exclusive.

I mean you click the link and the first post is by someone called Xbox better starfield bigger, that just says its all really. Just jealous trolls.

Don't really see a problem here to be honest. Guess some people always find something to be angry about.

First world problems eh! jeeez. Everybody has to complain about something at some point lol... what a joke.

@themightyant Agree to all of that. Can be used for narrative, pacing and creative reasons.

@GorosBat Outside is overrated

Are squeeze gaps sizist?

Pre-order canceled. I can’t tolerate these development choices.

And I mean naming the protagonist “Clive”

😜

Square Enix doesn't know how to optimize its games on modern consoles and this is definitely to hide load screens. Funny how I can travel any place on the PS5 in Ghost of Tsushima with the press of a button on the map screen, but Square Enix games are still using squeeze gaps to hide load screens. Then again, the FF series has been a joke since FF9.

The music is soo good 😃

Also ff7 is the best final fantasy.

They have gotten pretty overdone, so hopefully they won’t be common.
Anyone else remember when they were still “cinematic” lol?

@GorosBat I tried, but I couldn’t fit through the gap.

Kinda surprised how many of y'all happily defend a game forcing the player to listlessly hold forward while avatar slowly and limply trudges through a narrow crack devoid of visual stimuli.

It's not like a game is utterly ruined by it's inclusion, but it's truly a horrible design choice. Don't care if it hides loading (the are better, more engaging ways to do that), don't care if it's to propel the player forward (all level design is meant to do that, and there are a million more interesting dialogues than, "see that crack? Go to it.), and I don't care if it's used for a big reveal (a door that takes a fraction of the time to do the same is sufficient). It's all around a terrible design element, and it should never be praised.

I’m used to squeeze gaps in games, including them in the tweet was the real error, but the big story is the inclusion of the wolf Link from BotW in the game. 🐺

Well, let me say this is a very specific thing to be mad about and I find it kind of hilarious! There could be a million of artistic, pacing or gameplay reasons for gaps in games…elevatorgate when?

The gap in this video took 6 seconds to pass through. People are really upset about pausing for 6 seconds?

I can't see what's the problem. People just want to complain nowadays. By the way, the music in this part and the dog (animations, design and combat) are amazing.

Once your on the other side does it really matter?

I mean what more can be said? These people will find something else to nitpick in the next bit of info or gameplay. You don't have to like it because it quite literally takes a few seconds but to actively dislike it? Lol

What I got from this snippet is that this game already has soundtrack of the year. Just by showing a bit of a forest theme, battle theme, boss theme and 4 trailer songs. I so can't wait to listen to the full OST

The only game it really heavily bothers me in is GoW2018....when I think of that game the only thing I think of is gap squeezing, I don't remember anything else, just non-stop gap squeezing.

TR2013 did it, FFXV abused it heavily, Jedi Fallen Order did it poorly, but GoW18 is the one that really irritates me.

It's funny, games before the PS4 era didn't seem to need to do this.... Sure they had locked doors an the like to prevent unintended progression which still makes more sense than a forced 30 second gap squeeze. We all have to take the long way around because a path is blocked in real life.....how often do we squeeze our bodies through precarious gaps, as slowly as possible?

My first thought was “What’s a squeeze gap?”, my second thought was “Slow news day”, but it was worth it for the comments on this thread

I can't help but feel i got baited, but no to VIII being good at anything. Blasphemy i say! Such a bad game.

It's just people blowing smoke. There's nothing in it to be upset about

@NEStalgia Yep they just needed a minute or or longer to load probably longer I'll take the few seconds over that any day. The best thing I could say about it that maybe they can make a few different ways of doing it. But then again why are people complaining about these stupid small things anyway.

As always people are outraged about nothing this hopefully won't reach the same stupidity as with the Spider-Man Puddlegate.

I never really thought about this until I recently started playing Jedi Fallen Order on PS5. I assumed that they were to hide loading times and didn't really bother me until I recently got to the Taron Malicos boss battle. So far I have probably tried to beat him 2-3 dozen times on Jedi Master difficulty. I feel that I am slowly figuring out the patterns, timings, and techniques, but have to admit that having to go through a squeeze gap to get back to him every time is annoying. They probably could have put the Meditation/Save point on the other side of the gap, but didn't for some reason.

On this current generation of consoles I always just figure they include gaps out of habit. Just one of those left over things that stick around for a while.

Loading or not, squeeze gap are the most wasted seconds in game.

I like them, solely because it provide a closer look at the character model, often with some pretty, moody lighting.

while others point out you can clearly see through the gap

That doesn't mean that its not hiding a loading screen. Most of these gaps don't hide the section immediately in front of the player, they hide the next section.

While I prefer these over loading screens, they have been too heavily abused in more recent games (like the God of War games) and its just disappointing to see them on a current generation title.