Verdict on Final Fantasy XVI?

[BannedForBeingSane]

FFXVI can't really be called a "Final Fantasy" game in anything but name. You generally have one party member at a time (in addition to the MC), can't equip your party member, and equipment for the MC is so limited and uninspired that you get the sense they rather would have entirely done away with that too. The combat system is Costco store brand God of War tier (the new ****** GOW, not the old ones) and copies it right down to clicking both thumbsticks to "rage." Sometime sort of fun, sometimes tedious, has some fights with good spectacle.

The story is decent enough and has good production values, but is underdeveloped in the same way FFXV was. Modern audiences are pandered to by the addition of "two dudes kissing," and it was particularly tiresome here because as soon as I saw them, I instantly thought "they better not make those two possible ******* kiss," and sure enough, 10-20 hours later they do. The side quests are not the best in terms of gameplay, but they were usually better than the typical MMO fetch/kill quest in terms of story/character development and I found them worth doing.

In some ways it seems like a rushed and low-budget affair. The most important city in the game, that you spend quite a while getting to and looks impressive in cutscenes and is a focal point in the plot, is not explorable and is ultimately reduced to some cutscenes and an underground dungeon. The final "dungeon" before you fight the big bad is literally a walking simulator consisting entirely of a short hallway. This left a very bad taste in my mouth and isn't what one expects from a FF game, especially since the plot was set up for you to explore an epic mega-dungeon.

I enjoyed the game for what it was, but I also find the design inexplicable. FF7 Remake supplied the perfect template to "modernize" old-school FF gameplay (if such modernization needed to be done), while still keeping enough to be recognizable as a FF game and overall being pretty fun. If FFXVI had stuck to that formula, it could have been really, really good, but they just didn't know when to quit "modernizing."

Man I was really hoping FFXVI would be an improvement after playing FFXV which was the most tedious and boring Final Fantasy I ever played.

I really want to like FFXV, but I just can't. The game just feels empty to me. The majority of side-quests are just time sinks and the gameplay isn't anything to crow about. I just don't feel engrossed with the battle system and the main party are uninteresting to me. Three out of four characters are stoic and expressionless, aside from the fourth who is basically the team's jester (and I use the term loosely). Female characters are all NPCs you meet once a while so there' s no real flirting to keep a spark or two going. The whole thing's just ... ******* boring. It's not a bad game - it's just boring.

FF7 Remake was MUCH better, IMO. I love the battle system, the character interactions have a lot more heart and meaning into them, and honestly I can't wait for Rebirth to hit Steam. Yeah, I get that people have their complaints, and I could do with no multiverse ********, but thankfully the characters are written well-enough for my tastes to enjoy their adventures. I can't remember the last time I shed a tear with video game characters, but Remake did it.

So for me, they're doing SOMETHING right.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Female characters are all NPCs you meet once a while so there' s no real flirting to keep a spark or two going.

He's getting married. The game is about escorting the protagonist to his wedding. Why would you want him flirting with other girls? Do you want the protagonist to be hateable?

[rusty_shackleford]

flirting with women is gross

[BannedForBeingSane]

He's getting married. The game is about escorting the protagonist to his wedding. Why would you want him flirting with other girls? Do you want the protagonist to be hateable?

"I don't like this game's landscape setting because it has no sea."

"The game takes place in a freakin' desert! What did you expect?!"

"I expected a game which has sea, in order for me to like it."

[Yankee Zulu]

NHK made a documentary on history of FF games.

Legendary Games Chronicle: Final Fantasy
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/3025132/

[Nooneatall]

FF xvi is a typical Sony movie game. You get a couple minutes of gameplay and then several minutes of movie. Now, final fantasy in general has always been movie games to some extent. The difference in many of them is there was a lot of gameplay to balance the movie part. Sometimes they balanced it poorly (ffxiii) sometimes they got it perfect (ff xii). But in this case there's just not enough game here. I've only played for an hour and maybe it opens up but it feels more like a generic dark action movie game rather than a final fantasy game.
They should have let you have party members and select traditional final fantasy classes (the action combat and classes worked in stranger of paradise)
Its for sure not even close to being an RPG.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

FF xvi is a typical Sony movie game. You get a couple minutes of gameplay and then several minutes of movie. Now, final fantasy in general has always been movie games to some extent. The difference in many of them is there was a lot of gameplay to balance the movie part. Sometimes they balanced it poorly (ffxiii) sometimes they got it perfect (ff xii). But in this case there's just not enough game here. I've only played for an hour and maybe it opens up but it feels more like a generic dark action movie game rather than a final fantasy game.
They should have let you have party members and select traditional final fantasy classes (the action combat and classes worked in stranger of paradise)
Its for sure not even close to being an RPG.

Square Enix obsessive need to appeal to the widest audience will be the death of them.I know they been going down this road all the way back with FF7 but it’s coming the point of diminishing returns.

[ArcaneLurker]

FF xvi is a typical Sony movie game. You get a couple minutes of gameplay and then several minutes of movie. Now, final fantasy in general has always been movie games to some extent. The difference in many of them is there was a lot of gameplay to balance the movie part. Sometimes they balanced it poorly (ffxiii) sometimes they got it perfect (ff xii). But in this case there's just not enough game here. I've only played for an hour and maybe it opens up but it feels more like a generic dark action movie game rather than a final fantasy game.
They should have let you have party members and select traditional final fantasy classes (the action combat and classes worked in stranger of paradise)
Its for sure not even close to being an RPG.

As far as the movie goes, is it any good? Or is it too generic? Are there annoying themes or sentiments? Any DEI ****?

[Nooneatall]

FF xvi is a typical Sony movie game. You get a couple minutes of gameplay and then several minutes of movie. Now, final fantasy in general has always been movie games to some extent. The difference in many of them is there was a lot of gameplay to balance the movie part. Sometimes they balanced it poorly (ffxiii) sometimes they got it perfect (ff xii). But in this case there's just not enough game here. I've only played for an hour and maybe it opens up but it feels more like a generic dark action movie game rather than a final fantasy game.
They should have let you have party members and select traditional final fantasy classes (the action combat and classes worked in stranger of paradise)
Its for sure not even close to being an RPG.

As far as the movie goes, is it any good? Or is it too generic? Are there annoying themes or sentiments? Any DEI ****?

Its boring to me so far. It's game of thrones **** and takes itself very seriously. Everyone is white but it beats you bloody with the "slavery and bigotry bad" stick. So far, you join an underground railroad type thing.
My biggest gripe aide from everything I said is that this is very much high fantasy but the game world is trying to be grounded and low fantasy.

[ArcaneLurker]

FF xvi is a typical Sony movie game. You get a couple minutes of gameplay and then several minutes of movie. Now, final fantasy in general has always been movie games to some extent. The difference in many of them is there was a lot of gameplay to balance the movie part. Sometimes they balanced it poorly (ffxiii) sometimes they got it perfect (ff xii). But in this case there's just not enough game here. I've only played for an hour and maybe it opens up but it feels more like a generic dark action movie game rather than a final fantasy game.
They should have let you have party members and select traditional final fantasy classes (the action combat and classes worked in stranger of paradise)
Its for sure not even close to being an RPG.

As far as the movie goes, is it any good? Or is it too generic? Are there annoying themes or sentiments? Any DEI ****?

Its boring to me so far. It's game of thrones **** and takes itself very seriously. Everyone is white but it beats you bloody with the "slavery and bigotry bad" stick. So far, you join an underground railroad type thing.
My biggest gripe aide from everything I said is that this is very much high fantasy but the game world is trying to be grounded and low fantasy.

Yeah, that's often the problem with media that doesn't have 'inclusivity' and 'diversity'. It depicts the society as a hell rife with suffering, rather than high-trust, and tries to preach how much better this world & trajectory is, and you play as the "good"™ White people that betray the others. Often Japanese use the underclass proxy of beastmen or other humanoid species, instead of depicting ******* which tbf, I think they're actually better than *******. I hope the new Crimson Desert thing isn't going to be like that too.

Yeah, it can be hard to take it seriously when there's a lot of things that are whimsical in nature. Game of Thrones keeps the magical/ supernatural elements mysterious, whereas it's a norm in FF, but they don't approach the worldbuilding with that in mind. Just kinda mash things that people like together.

[Vergil]

Why do people pretend to like final fantasy? Is this covid related?

[ArcaneLurker]

Why do people pretend to like final fantasy? Is this covid related?

Really makes you think. I wonder what it could be.

[rusty_shackleford]

got repetitive pretty quick tbh