Final Fantasy XVI

ForceStealer

Double Growth
The graphics are very good, and the combat looks nice, though I still can't really figure out how it's operating. But, pretty relentlessly dark. (The panoramic views of the capital cities looked nice, and brighter, at least.)

Also, a lot of dudes again. I think that's gonna bring some criticism.
 

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
....How can anyone look at that battle system and not be impressed? Goddamn, that's incredible.

The story looks very interesting, and I like how it focuses on the Dominants and their status as pawns for the empires they serve. What happens to them when they've served their purpose? Are they respected as people, or just used merely as tools and then discarded when done?

The setting is interesting, definitely makes me think of an interesting mix of Ivalice and Eos. The land being at the mercy of the crystals and the center of struggle between competing kingdoms is an interesting take to revisit but one I'm certainly not opposed to.

Since we're going for more maturity here, I'm glad they went all in. This looks to be an interesting story, and I hope they go all in with it. The gameplay looks phenomenal though, I really gotta hand it to them for pushing the limits like this. I love it.
 

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
....How can anyone look at that battle system and not be impressed? Goddamn, that's incredible.
Outside of visual presentation the combat is not showing anything mindblowingly new that hasn't been done by previous action games in the market before.
 

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
This level of chain combo combat fluidity certainly hasn't been done in Final Fantasy before, nor with such visual, artistic and well choreographed design. And certainly no traditional JRPG series either. Of course action RPGs aren't new, lol. That's obviously not the point. The fact S-E ventured into this and is doing it so well is incredible. Nevermind the Eikon combat too. Their last two major RPG series have been incredible combat systems that push the limit.
 

Wol

None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
AKA
Rosarian Shield
This one gave me Vagrant Story vibes, even the artwork at the end for reasons... Stoked to play and be immersed in this world.

In a lot of ways, XVI is also building up on the promises and features of Versus/XV, with a darker setting, extreme action, big kaiju summons, anti-hero mc, Umbra/the wolf, following the characters in different time periods, empires fighting over resources in a dying world, even Clive's father getting killed during the invasion just like Niflheim killing Regis and setting up the story.
 
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Ghost X

Moderator
I'm curious as to how the story will be weighted between the nations. Like the Rozarrian Empire was not featured much in FFXII. Story was more focused on menace of Vayne's Archadia, etc. The new trailers show a lot of characters, but I'm guessing some won't be that significant.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
The story and world look great. Not my usual type of game, as in I haven’t enjoyed one of these yet, so I’ll def be playing on easy-baby mode if there is one.
 
D

Deleted member 13557

Guest
Now this is that good shit.

Modernised old-school Final Fantasy settings with epic battles, a seemingly killer soundtrack and DMC5-esque gameplay. The story actually looks like it doesn’t suck!

Pretty much everything I’d personally like to see in a current day Final Fantasy.

*Forgot that there’s no parties. Even still, that doesn’t look like it’s going to matter at all.
 
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Nandemoyasan

Standing guard
AKA
Johnny
I think that this story solves a really big problem for Final Fantasy as a whole, just from what I've already seen so far.

Although FF6 and 7 began to tackle more, let's say "Non-Kid-Friendly" material (and this being one of the main reasons Squaresoft decided to jump off the SS Nintendo and defect to Sony), FF7 put them in a rough spot, artistically, because it sold literally all the monies.

All of a sudden, the entire world's eyes were on the Final Fantasy Series. It didn't just bring JRPGs to the mainstream; it brought video games as a whole into the mainstream. And (of course I'm just wildly speculating) to me it seems like Square panicked at that point.

You'll notice that Sorceress Edea's neckline is basically the horniest thing in a game about very attractive and realistically-proportioned teenagers. Doesn't that strike you as a little bit strange? Also, in a game where open warfare between armies of thousands of people is depicted realistically for the first time in a long running series, that is also itself a direct sequel to a game where stabbing/disembowelment with swords figures heavily into a plot where you are at one point tasked with following a trail of human blood, ...nobody bleeds. (Note: Except for Squall, right at the beginning, for one second...wowee zowie). The boss Gerogero (aka Fake President Deling) even had its color changed from red to blue (in the international versions) to prevent it appearing too gory.

SE (newly merged with Enix) seems to have decided that they didn't want to stir the bucket too much. They seem to have sanitized FF8 quite heavily, out of the fear that now that the whole world was playing Final Fantasy, they might offend the parents of their target market (teenage kids).

Furthermore, this thinking seems to have become crystallized (sorry) into FF's DNA with time. FF9 tries to be a little horny with its womanizing (supposedly) main character Zidane, but it never amounts to more than a few puerile jokes. So we end up with a series where a) nobody has sex, and b) nobody bleeds.

That seems super weird, when in fact, the youngest people who might have played Final Fantasy 1 in 1987 (I'm guessing maybe 8 year olds?) were now nearing 20 years old.

Those same people are now almost 40, and that's the youngest section of the demographic.

FF16 then, is basically SE finally breaking down and admitting that yeah, the biggest fans of FF are probably old enough to not care about a bit of violence or realistic sexual situations in their games. The trend-chasing is over, and SE are ready to cater to the erstwhile longtime fans of the series again. In addition, it turns FF's big weakness (its age as a series) into a strength; yeah, Final Fantasy is over 30 years old, and guess what? That's cool.
 
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D

Deleted member 13557

Guest
Sephiroth bleeds at the end of VII. The cherry on top following omnislash.

Series does need some edge after the slice of plain white bread that is FF XV
 
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Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
Kuja definitely bleeds.

74-PSOGL2_155.jpg

And let's not forget FF Type 0. Final Fantasy has not shied away from blood before.

FF-type-0-2.jpg



And I'm not sure XV is the example to use of FF not having any edge. It had it's share and then some. Altissa and the entire final battle is... Pretty dark, with Noctis having to literally kill himself to finish his duty. There was blood and death plenty.

I don't think Final Fantasy has an issue with being dark or not having blood so much as it has an issue with settling completely with adult themes and mature adult characters. It's primarily for teens but that doesn't mean it's not carrying edge or violence.
 

looneymoon

they/them
AKA
Rishi
I just want them to move away from FF7 asap tbh. I don't think this series has shown to handle sequels in the most satisfying way for me.

I mainly just miss the series feeling like an actual anthology, where one game feels like a complete experience :')
 
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Nandemoyasan

Standing guard
AKA
Johnny
I mean, it also sort of makes XVI a different take on the same concept as FF9. "This is a return to the classic sort of plots we used to do in the old FF games," but instead of going cute (cuz all 6 of them had chibi characters, which 9 already did), they went gritty and realistic.

And I mean I know that the series has its violent entries; I hadn't meant to say that the rest of the series after 7 is devoid of violence, it's just that it shied heavily away from the kind of "dismemberment, swords making butter out of people's bodies, lots and lots of blood" type stuff that FF7 went for, in following mainline installments. Xenogears was out around the time 8 was, and has some moments, but FF8 is comparatively tame, and FF9 is also a bit less violent than 8. FF10, I am not sure I saw anything especially violent during most of that story. FF11-15, I have never finished or never played.

I mean, FF7 was really violent, yknow

I say "I mean" too much...im rly tired
 
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Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Um, if you have ever contemplated suicide or have lost a loved one to suicide, the “adult” nature of FF9 is not represented by the “puerile” comments of the protagonist in the first 100 lines of dialogue. Finish the game and get back to me.

Sorry, nothing grinds my gears like the PS1 FFs being infantilized because they don’t have mocap or voice actors. ffs learn to read
 
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