Final Fantasy XVI
- Thread starter Lex
- Start date
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
i started the demo intending to stop at some point in the middle, but i just kept going until i got to the end. good stuff.
i am still not extremely fond of the way it's implementing support features via accessories. would rather those be abilities you learn/have at the start and can disable, options you can turn on or off from the menu or difficulty settings, or even if it must be an accessory just one with multiple toggles for auto dodge/attack/potion/etc. so you can't losing access to most of your accessory slots if you use more than one. i kept on auto-dodge and slowdown while going though it in story focused mode, might try it out in the other mode later.
i don't know if it's part of the 'western fantasy drama' feel they seem to be going for (idk if that's the intention, i've not kept up), but i was a little disappointed that playing with the japanese audio it doesn't seem to have lip sync on the characters. in the past this wasn't a massive concern, but the higher fidelity it gets the more noticeable it is. by the end i'd managed look past it but idk. it's a japanese game in a series not known for prioritising english voices (like dmc or resident evil), i expect japanese lip sync at least. even kingdom hearts did that.
other minor nitpicks:
- when testing if cutscenes would pause at the first part of the game, i was pleased to see the 'active time lore' thing. that's a nice touch, but i would like to see that available in the menu as well with all the previous versions of the cards. i kept pausing cutscenes to see if it brought up anything new, which messes with the flow of the story. i'd like be able to look at them afterwards
- would also like a bestiary included just for fun.
- i am not super fond of having a cursor in the menus controlled by the analog stick, i would rather it just stuck to selecting items normally rather than roaming around the screen
- i hope there's a bit more variety in locations than stone castles and medieval villages. everything looks nice but i would like some more fanciful locales as well
- also i found the camera spin/speed a bit disorientating when you're first walking around the castle grounds, and it was only set to 2 by default and lower than that is too slow. maybe that was playing it in graphics mode, will try performance mode from the start next time
despite all those little complaints, i do have hopes for the full game. the phoenix gate section was pretty great. got some latter series 'evangelion' vibes at times. i think a lot of it was in the earlier trailers but i had forgotten most of that by now so it was pretty shocking when i got to it lol. it did make me want to keep going when it ended. knew i couldn't trust anabella from the start, and i was right. also i like the noises the goblins make, and they managed to avoid the 'hook-nosed anti-semitic caricature' goblins by just not giving them any nose at all. well done, some cool goblins.
i haven't tried the action part of the demo yet, but i am planning on it.
edit; also, while i was expecting blood a la 'ff type 0' i was not expecting throats being slashed onscreen. but most of all, at the start with benedicta(?) and the kupo guy and they're making out in a corridor and he has her against a wall and has his face in her chest and she's making all these moans. i was scandalised. we've come a long way from ffx's 'the world's most pure kiss', folks.
i don't know if it's part of the 'western fantasy drama' feel they seem to be going for (idk if that's the intention, i've not kept up), but i was a little disappointed that playing with the japanese audio it doesn't seem to have lip sync on the characters. in the past this wasn't a massive concern, but the higher fidelity it gets the more noticeable it is. by the end i'd managed look past it but idk. it's a japanese game in a series not known for prioritising english voices (like dmc or resident evil), i expect japanese lip sync at least. even kingdom hearts did that.
other minor nitpicks:
- when testing if cutscenes would pause at the first part of the game, i was pleased to see the 'active time lore' thing. that's a nice touch, but i would like to see that available in the menu as well with all the previous versions of the cards. i kept pausing cutscenes to see if it brought up anything new, which messes with the flow of the story. i'd like be able to look at them afterwards
- would also like a bestiary included just for fun.
- i am not super fond of having a cursor in the menus controlled by the analog stick, i would rather it just stuck to selecting items normally rather than roaming around the screen
- i hope there's a bit more variety in locations than stone castles and medieval villages. everything looks nice but i would like some more fanciful locales as well
- also i found the camera spin/speed a bit disorientating when you're first walking around the castle grounds, and it was only set to 2 by default and lower than that is too slow. maybe that was playing it in graphics mode, will try performance mode from the start next time
despite all those little complaints, i do have hopes for the full game. the phoenix gate section was pretty great. got some latter series 'evangelion' vibes at times. i think a lot of it was in the earlier trailers but i had forgotten most of that by now so it was pretty shocking when i got to it lol. it did make me want to keep going when it ended. knew i couldn't trust anabella from the start, and i was right. also i like the noises the goblins make, and they managed to avoid the 'hook-nosed anti-semitic caricature' goblins by just not giving them any nose at all. well done, some cool goblins.
i haven't tried the action part of the demo yet, but i am planning on it.
edit; also, while i was expecting blood a la 'ff type 0' i was not expecting throats being slashed onscreen. but most of all, at the start with benedicta(?) and the kupo guy and they're making out in a corridor and he has her against a wall and has his face in her chest and she's making all these moans. i was scandalised. we've come a long way from ffx's 'the world's most pure kiss', folks.
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lithiumkatana17
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Lith
So, I never had any intentions of going into this game purposefully blind, but that's how it's been for the past few years. I've seen... maybe two of the earliest trailers, and just never made it a point to watch more. I'm all over spoilers as much as the next person, but for the longest time I've felt kinda 'meh' about XVI. That didn't mean I wasn't gonna play it on Day 1, but I didn't even bother shelling out for the collector's edition like I usually do with most FF titles.
That being said, with the demo coming out, I decided to download and play it, and hoooooly crap am I glad I did. I won't go into great detail about what enjoyed (which was pretty much everything), but now I am SUPER hyped. And while I don't want to project, I can easily see this becoming one of my top favorite FF titles.
EDIT:
Also I preordered the collector's edition.
That being said, with the demo coming out, I decided to download and play it, and hoooooly crap am I glad I did. I won't go into great detail about what enjoyed (which was pretty much everything), but now I am SUPER hyped. And while I don't want to project, I can easily see this becoming one of my top favorite FF titles.
EDIT:
Also I preordered the collector's edition.
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Wol
None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
- AKA
- Rosarian Shield
crazy how many ppl that were lukewarm about XVI completely changed opinion after playing it.
First time I realized how important playing is to get a feel of a game is in Dragon's Dogma, which I though looked generic in both plot and aesthetic. Then I tried it and today is on my top 10.
First time I realized how important playing is to get a feel of a game is in Dragon's Dogma, which I though looked generic in both plot and aesthetic. Then I tried it and today is on my top 10.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
I think you if use the d-pad it moves around like you'd expect. But I agree I'd rather they didn't bother with the mouse control option at all.
Leafonthebreeze
Any/All
- AKA
- Leaf
That's good to know, I also wasn't a fan of the cursor. I also had the same issues with the motion blur that Strangelove mentions, made me feel slightly dizzy.
EDIT: That said, it was pretty fun, the story has me very intrigued...
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
i did discover the dpad control, but every single time i opened the menu (and i mean every time without fail) i would end up moving the cursor first because my thumb was already on the analogue stick before i remembered to use the other
given that it's not much faster to use the cursor than just pressing the dpad, i don't know what the point of it is. there's times playing ffxiv on a console where i've thought a mouse would be really useful, but everything in ffxvi seems perfectly accessible with the regular controls rather than the sluggish cursor. maybe one of the options i overlooked lets you speed it up, but i'd rather just turn it off tbh.
given that it's not much faster to use the cursor than just pressing the dpad, i don't know what the point of it is. there's times playing ffxiv on a console where i've thought a mouse would be really useful, but everything in ffxvi seems perfectly accessible with the regular controls rather than the sluggish cursor. maybe one of the options i overlooked lets you speed it up, but i'd rather just turn it off tbh.
MoLe_BlAdE
Lv. 25 Adventurer
I cannot believe I've got to wait another week to play the full thing.
Damn that shit is gooooooooood!
Damn that shit is gooooooooood!
Lex
Administrator
I had an incredible time with the demo and can't wait to spend a shitload of time playing this.
More and more games have been doing the "stick is a mouse in the menu" thing, IIRC Cyberpunk and a bunch of other recent action games have done this and I'm also not sure what the appeal is. But at least the D-Pad works so standard menu cycling is still there.
Regarding the voices Hito, they did specifically make the English VA a priority this time round. Koji Fox mentioned in an interview that they knew they wanted to nail the English VA and avoid the usual translation pitfalls. The script was written in Japanese, then translated to English, then some dialogue was adjusted to sound better in English and re-translated back to Japanese. It's the first time they've done something like this and going by the demo it seems to be successful (so far).
I am shocked to hear the mouth movement doesn't match the Japanese at all, it might be that it'll be better in the main game and they just bunged the English movements into the demo to save space. They've been on record saying a huge portion of the JP playerbase is using the English VA more and more which is one of the reasons they decided to prioritise it this time. This is the same team that consider the XIV English VA "canon" after all.
Watching this now, I'm enjoying seeing folks reactions to the demo:
More and more games have been doing the "stick is a mouse in the menu" thing, IIRC Cyberpunk and a bunch of other recent action games have done this and I'm also not sure what the appeal is. But at least the D-Pad works so standard menu cycling is still there.
Regarding the voices Hito, they did specifically make the English VA a priority this time round. Koji Fox mentioned in an interview that they knew they wanted to nail the English VA and avoid the usual translation pitfalls. The script was written in Japanese, then translated to English, then some dialogue was adjusted to sound better in English and re-translated back to Japanese. It's the first time they've done something like this and going by the demo it seems to be successful (so far).
I am shocked to hear the mouth movement doesn't match the Japanese at all, it might be that it'll be better in the main game and they just bunged the English movements into the demo to save space. They've been on record saying a huge portion of the JP playerbase is using the English VA more and more which is one of the reasons they decided to prioritise it this time. This is the same team that consider the XIV English VA "canon" after all.
Watching this now, I'm enjoying seeing folks reactions to the demo:
cold_spirit
he/him
- AKA
- Alex T
The tutorial for Active Time Lore states that all the entries will be available later in the story. Perhaps once the Hideaway is unlocked.
Also, the current ATL entries can be brought up outside of cutscenes as well. I usually check afterwards.
Oh yeah, I loved the demo.
Mayo Master
Pro Adventurer
Pretty much the same as everyone here: I was initially thinking of waiting for reviews before deciding to get the game, but playing the demo was very convincing and now I got it pre-ordered. This is really good stuff, looking forward to the full game.
As a side-note, I find it strangely relieving to see that 'letting people play a demo' still seems a very effective marketing strategy. I remember deciding a lot of game purchases from 'trying a demo' in the early years of the PS3, but for some reason supplying a game demo went out of style. I'm glad they did it for this game.
As a side-note, I find it strangely relieving to see that 'letting people play a demo' still seems a very effective marketing strategy. I remember deciding a lot of game purchases from 'trying a demo' in the early years of the PS3, but for some reason supplying a game demo went out of style. I'm glad they did it for this game.
Misterbadguy
Phantom Lord
- AKA
- METEODRIVE
There's quite a bit of positive word of mouth spreading around purely as a result of the demo, at least from what I've seen. I know personally of two people who were on the fence about the game that immediately pre-ordered after playing it, and one of them is usually a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to traditional FF gameplay.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
I definitely enjoyed the demo, I'm not quite as hyped as everyone else seems to be, but I had fun. The graphics look great, the light playing off the sword on your back while walking around looks nice (was nice in VIIR too, I don't know what's so satisfying about that, haha).
It's difficult to put my finger one exactly what feels odd about it. There is the fact that it's playing the European medieval angle so straight. But Tactics is pretty damn medieval in its atmosphere as well. I think it really first hit me in when you can walk around the little castle town. It just felt so much like the Witcher or something, like I was playing a different game, haha. I guess it's just that unusualness. It feels so Western. Not that this is inherently negative, I'm not some sort of truther gatekeeping how something needs to be in order to be "Final Fantasy," but it still just feels...strange.
Maybe a good example is
But again I don't think something NEEDS to be outlandish to feel like FF, but it's as unusual as it was to see FFXV characters wearing extremely modern clothing. I have a hard time imagining something like an airship appearing in this world. But I assume there will be. I enjoyed the small fantasy touches, I liked the water being poured out of crystals, and the use of magic for mundane things like trimming the castle gardens 
The extremely on-the-nose Game of Thrones references/similarities really fought to pull me out of it, I hope those diminish after the initial setup.
One thing I will be a stickler about is that the lack of a playable party is an unavoidable demerit for this game as an FF, but so it goes. The combat itself is good, I enjoyed that it feels more deliberate still than Devil May Cry. There may come a time later where you're stringing together triple-S combos, but for the duration of the demo I felt I was methodically choosing which move or small set of moves I wanted to make at each point in the fight. I haven't done the more advanced fight mode, and that one feels more spoilery than just playing the opening, so I'm not really planning on it. I was pleasantly surprised that we got to
I'm surprised there hasn't been more of an irrational outcry about how we just chose icons from the world map to go to each new area instead of traveling to them. I'm assuming the zones will be naturally connected in the full game, but still, this feels like the sort of thing that twitter would freak out about before it has all the information. Same with the Active Time Lore, it's neat, and I thought it was helpful if not great for pacing. But it is surprising to see its near-universal praise when it is basically the Datalog but accessible mid-cutscene
The music is unsurprisingly great. That rendition of the Prelude that plays over that army battle is especially good, also the peaceful one on the world map. The victory fanfare might be a touch over the top, honestly
But the song in the 'dungeon' was good, felt very XIV.
It was certainly a compelling start to the story, in fact I'm struggling to imagine how the stakes get elevated from here
But yeah, color me intrigued.
Thanks for reading my stream-of-consciousness
It's difficult to put my finger one exactly what feels odd about it. There is the fact that it's playing the European medieval angle so straight. But Tactics is pretty damn medieval in its atmosphere as well. I think it really first hit me in when you can walk around the little castle town. It just felt so much like the Witcher or something, like I was playing a different game, haha. I guess it's just that unusualness. It feels so Western. Not that this is inherently negative, I'm not some sort of truther gatekeeping how something needs to be in order to be "Final Fantasy," but it still just feels...strange.
Maybe a good example is
the dragoon. Which is of course an extremely Final Fantasy moment, but his armor was still pretty tame, standard armor.
The extremely on-the-nose Game of Thrones references/similarities really fought to pull me out of it, I hope those diminish after the initial setup.One thing I will be a stickler about is that the lack of a playable party is an unavoidable demerit for this game as an FF, but so it goes. The combat itself is good, I enjoyed that it feels more deliberate still than Devil May Cry. There may come a time later where you're stringing together triple-S combos, but for the duration of the demo I felt I was methodically choosing which move or small set of moves I wanted to make at each point in the fight. I haven't done the more advanced fight mode, and that one feels more spoilery than just playing the opening, so I'm not really planning on it. I was pleasantly surprised that we got to
control Joshua for a bit, and it didn't feel like you were a helpless gimmick. Indeed I liked how much more oomph his fire spells had, which made sense.
I'm surprised there hasn't been more of an irrational outcry about how we just chose icons from the world map to go to each new area instead of traveling to them. I'm assuming the zones will be naturally connected in the full game, but still, this feels like the sort of thing that twitter would freak out about before it has all the information. Same with the Active Time Lore, it's neat, and I thought it was helpful if not great for pacing. But it is surprising to see its near-universal praise when it is basically the Datalog but accessible mid-cutscene
The music is unsurprisingly great. That rendition of the Prelude that plays over that army battle is especially good, also the peaceful one on the world map. The victory fanfare might be a touch over the top, honestly
But the song in the 'dungeon' was good, felt very XIV.It was certainly a compelling start to the story, in fact I'm struggling to imagine how the stakes get elevated from here
How dumb are these assassins though? When they start freaking out that Joshua's berserk button has been pressed, I was saying at the screen "Well what the hell did you THINK was going to happen, violently murdering his father in front of him? Why didn't you kill him first?"
The Ifrit/Phoenix fight was spectacular for sure, although Ifrit apparently continuing to be completely unfazed by any attack, no matter how strong, started to make it feel a little tedious. It didn't feel like he just managed to get the upper hand in the end...he just felt like he was cheating, lol.
The Ifrit/Phoenix fight was spectacular for sure, although Ifrit apparently continuing to be completely unfazed by any attack, no matter how strong, started to make it feel a little tedious. It didn't feel like he just managed to get the upper hand in the end...he just felt like he was cheating, lol.
Thanks for reading my stream-of-consciousness
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
this is what i get for not reading the tutorials fully
Erotic Materia
[CONFUSED SCREAMING]
Big fan of Clive's 4 inch standing jump hahaha
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Most realistic jump in video games y/y?
I knew I forgot something in my essay
I knew I forgot something in my essay
MoLe_BlAdE
Lv. 25 Adventurer
Literally the most pointless feature I've found so far. Makes sense during combat, but while you're traversing around, it's just plain stupid.
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
i saw an item behind some crates in the castle and though “oh that must be what the jump is for, to reach these areas”
and then i tried jumping and no, it absolutely wasn’t to reach those areas
and then i tried jumping and no, it absolutely wasn’t to reach those areas
Lulcielid
Eyes of the Lord
- AKA
- Lulcy
Combat gripes:
ForceStealer
Double Growth
He might be reading a bit too much out of a demo consisting of the first 2 hours of the game, but he'll get no argument from me that VIIR has the superior battle system.
When something did stagger I wasn't totally sure of what I should do after using my Phoenix cooldown, but figured that would be something I'd figure out after playing more (seemed like a toss-up between the flaming sword charge-up attack vs just attacking).
When something did stagger I wasn't totally sure of what I should do after using my Phoenix cooldown, but figured that would be something I'd figure out after playing more (seemed like a toss-up between the flaming sword charge-up attack vs just attacking).
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Erotic Materia
[CONFUSED SCREAMING]
I 100% agree. I just finished the demo last night, and after it finished, I felt a strong sense of "meh". I just didn't feel particularly drawn in.
Honestly, the combat was soooo same-y after the first couple fights. The fight against the
Morbol
ph14basicbitch
shinra merch buyer
- AKA
- koda
I like Torgal.
For the combat stuff, I think there really needs to be custom button mapping... People have already gotten release copies and stated there is no custom button mapping in the full game either. I draw on comparison to FFXIV, because that's the game that team has been developing for 800 years, but FFXIV does allow you to remap all of your buttons to whatever stupid combo you want, and I expected it in this game too.
Also, while I enjoyed combat for the most part, I agree with the Twitter dude regarding stagger / will.
Everything else was just kinda there or as expected cause I had watched the trailers. I appreciated the little details more. People using magic in this world for stuff like refilling cups, or Joshua using a Phoenix fireball as a torch, are fun touches. Torgal running into Clive so hard that he collides and flips over on his back? Cute. Like Strange, I liked the subversion of the traditional goblin design as well.
For the story overall, my primary hope is that, you know, there's that line in the trailer and also in the demo where Clive declares that he will fucking kill someone. And I very sincerely hope the story follows up on this statement and takes the direction of "revenge is fucking awesome, actually". It's a fictional story, none of these people are real, we do not need moralizing.
For the combat stuff, I think there really needs to be custom button mapping... People have already gotten release copies and stated there is no custom button mapping in the full game either. I draw on comparison to FFXIV, because that's the game that team has been developing for 800 years, but FFXIV does allow you to remap all of your buttons to whatever stupid combo you want, and I expected it in this game too.
Also, while I enjoyed combat for the most part, I agree with the Twitter dude regarding stagger / will.
Everything else was just kinda there or as expected cause I had watched the trailers. I appreciated the little details more. People using magic in this world for stuff like refilling cups, or Joshua using a Phoenix fireball as a torch, are fun touches. Torgal running into Clive so hard that he collides and flips over on his back? Cute. Like Strange, I liked the subversion of the traditional goblin design as well.
For the story overall, my primary hope is that, you know, there's that line in the trailer and also in the demo where Clive declares that he will fucking kill someone. And I very sincerely hope the story follows up on this statement and takes the direction of "revenge is fucking awesome, actually". It's a fictional story, none of these people are real, we do not need moralizing.