Final Fantasy XVI
- Thread starter Lex
- Start date
Makoeyes987
Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
- AKA
- Smooth Criminal
The game deserves all its praise and more.
I can't wait for more to come, whatever it is!
....Holy shit at that similarity with Shadow I never even thought of. ROTFLMAO, that's so funny.
And yeah, I totally caught that reference to FFXIV's Red Chocobos with Dread Comet. That hunt actually was a pain in the ass too
I can't wait for more to come, whatever it is!
....Holy shit at that similarity with Shadow I never even thought of. ROTFLMAO, that's so funny.
And yeah, I totally caught that reference to FFXIV's Red Chocobos with Dread Comet. That hunt actually was a pain in the ass too
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
I'm around 92% in
Ohh, that FF1 main theme arrangement when Joshua looks at the mural.
Also, finally acknowledgement of Leviathan...however as a "lost one"
Wonder what the story for that is, maybe it'll be in the lore thing. Guess we can rule out a late surprise appearance this far into the game then.
Barnabas fight, whew. That one was quite long. I actually failed the Zantetsuken DPS check. Just as well, because it lets you restart with restocked potions and shit and I was really running low lmao
If I hadn't died to that, I would've likely died from being unable to heal eventually.
Also, finally acknowledgement of Leviathan...however as a "lost one"
Wonder what the story for that is, maybe it'll be in the lore thing. Guess we can rule out a late surprise appearance this far into the game then.
Barnabas fight, whew. That one was quite long. I actually failed the Zantetsuken DPS check. Just as well, because it lets you restart with restocked potions and shit and I was really running low lmao
If I hadn't died to that, I would've likely died from being unable to heal eventually.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
I'm genuinely kinda baffled at some of these game design choices.
First off, while I like the battle system, the game is like... weirdly easy. I'm playing the regular/action mode, and have had the assist rings unequipped since the prologue. I am assuming hard mode is balanced for NG+ with all the gear unlocks and such. Well, even if that's the case, they really need to reconsider their approach to balancing.
It doesn't help that all the side missions are designed the way they are. They're all fetch quests. They are well written for what they are trying to achieve, but there isn't a sense of challenge to them either because you're essentially just checking boxes off a list. There is never a puzzle or something that really requires any brain work to get through them.
So, the boss fights pop off with their sense of scale and spectacle, but they too are not a challenge at all. The only game over/continue screen I had (up until the 70% mark) was when I was fucking around on the field trying to see how the parry worked.
Where I'm at now I have unlocked S rank hunts, which seem promising. I find the guy, and he's tough, and actually challenging! I'm so happy that I now have to now lean forwaed on the couch while playing this. I die, which is fine because I expected to...
And the game spawns me back at a far away checkpoint thing instead of outside the boss arena.
Now, this wouldn't be an issue if it was some sorta Souls-esque thing where part of the challenge is crossing the level to get to the boss. The path is just a long way you have to run across to get there.
I feel like the game is now actively discouraging me for wanting to do this challenging bit now? and I'm pretty sure I can do it if I practised a few times, but game is telling me no. I am now just going back onto the main path because I'm like, fuck it... I'll just come back when I can just kick his ass like I have every other boss so far, since that's what the game seems to want me to do. Which is the exact opposite of what I want to do but the set up is making it really annoying.
This may seem like an insane nitpick I'm just frustrated at the lack of accomplishment I'm getting here from the difficulty.
First off, while I like the battle system, the game is like... weirdly easy. I'm playing the regular/action mode, and have had the assist rings unequipped since the prologue. I am assuming hard mode is balanced for NG+ with all the gear unlocks and such. Well, even if that's the case, they really need to reconsider their approach to balancing.
It doesn't help that all the side missions are designed the way they are. They're all fetch quests. They are well written for what they are trying to achieve, but there isn't a sense of challenge to them either because you're essentially just checking boxes off a list. There is never a puzzle or something that really requires any brain work to get through them.
So, the boss fights pop off with their sense of scale and spectacle, but they too are not a challenge at all. The only game over/continue screen I had (up until the 70% mark) was when I was fucking around on the field trying to see how the parry worked.
Where I'm at now I have unlocked S rank hunts, which seem promising. I find the guy, and he's tough, and actually challenging! I'm so happy that I now have to now lean forwaed on the couch while playing this. I die, which is fine because I expected to...
And the game spawns me back at a far away checkpoint thing instead of outside the boss arena.
Now, this wouldn't be an issue if it was some sorta Souls-esque thing where part of the challenge is crossing the level to get to the boss. The path is just a long way you have to run across to get there.
I feel like the game is now actively discouraging me for wanting to do this challenging bit now? and I'm pretty sure I can do it if I practised a few times, but game is telling me no. I am now just going back onto the main path because I'm like, fuck it... I'll just come back when I can just kick his ass like I have every other boss so far, since that's what the game seems to want me to do. Which is the exact opposite of what I want to do but the set up is making it really annoying.
This may seem like an insane nitpick I'm just frustrated at the lack of accomplishment I'm getting here from the difficulty.
Wol
None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
- AKA
- Rosarian Shield
That's my major issue with the game. And adding to that, they even fully restock curatives if you die (whoever asked you!?). It's insulting lol.
Not wanting to overwhelm new players because this is the first true action FF doesn't make sense, FF has been slighty going action since Lightning Returns and nothing justifies not having Hard Mode available from the start if that's really an issue.
Edit: and there are already optional acessories available to help those players...
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Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
has someone made a 'dilf' joke before
dominant i'd like to fuck
i'm talking about cid
i finally played the big pivotal story section with the warning message before starting the mission and ngl
i feel like i tend to stick to a set pattern of moves in combat, but i don't know if i can put that down to the game or myself. i tend to find some moves i'm comfortable with and not branch out too much, that's how i've played devil may cry 5 as well
dominant i'd like to fuck
i'm talking about cid
i finally played the big pivotal story section with the warning message before starting the mission and ngl
i'm hoping there aren't any more big status quo changes like this with big jumps in time. let this be the default from now on so i don't have to get used to any more major adjustments
also when you destroy the mother crystal core and that portal appears and those creepy hands pop out i was like, oh what's going on here. and then this big sunken eyed, greasy looking emo with curtains appears. i thought i was looking at my teenage self again
also getting some ivalice vibes sometimes. the world name reminds me of that, there's an altema showing up, typhon kind of reminds me of the last boss of ffxii, they're doing that thing where they recite spells like in fft or vagrant story, some costumes like gav(? gab? gabu?) give me fft flashbacks, and i think the duke's kidnapped son in vagrant story was also called joshua?
i am mere steps away from replaying vagrant story now because of this
also when you destroy the mother crystal core and that portal appears and those creepy hands pop out i was like, oh what's going on here. and then this big sunken eyed, greasy looking emo with curtains appears. i thought i was looking at my teenage self again
also getting some ivalice vibes sometimes. the world name reminds me of that, there's an altema showing up, typhon kind of reminds me of the last boss of ffxii, they're doing that thing where they recite spells like in fft or vagrant story, some costumes like gav(? gab? gabu?) give me fft flashbacks, and i think the duke's kidnapped son in vagrant story was also called joshua?
i am mere steps away from replaying vagrant story now because of this
i feel like i tend to stick to a set pattern of moves in combat, but i don't know if i can put that down to the game or myself. i tend to find some moves i'm comfortable with and not branch out too much, that's how i've played devil may cry 5 as well
Wol
None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
- AKA
- Rosarian Shield
Here's my final thoughts about XVI
------------------
LMFAO
Story 9
+ Great, well-written and relatable characters, even NPCs receive special treatment. I found that the ending segment elevated the plot even higher.
+ Presentation and voice-acting are top-notch.
+ Attention to detail with solid world-building and lore through major cutscenes and sidequests.
- Pacing has issues during the "down" parts. I can see how someone would lose interest if they still aren't invested in the game, mostly because the gameplay offers little outside combat to entertain.
What would I have liked to see more/changed:
- Party banter was so non-existant that sometimes I forgot I had someone accompanying me.
- Loved Benedikta everytime she appeared on screen, but I feel the game didn't give me enough material to fully sympathize with her internal struggles, which is a shame.
- Hugo's motivation and development were dissapointing, expected much more from him. He appeared much more controlled and intimidating on the first scenes.
- Jill had plenty of opportunities to shine given the amount of screentime but, save for a few moments (which really moved me), she didn't.
Gameplay 8
+ FF's most polished action battle system, super engaging and offers a good amount of build variety.
+ Bosses and hunts can be very agressive with well-designed movesets.
+ The setpieces are one of the best in the industry.
+ On the exploration front: Decently-sized areas, plenty of outposts and towns with many NPCs to discover.
- The potential of the combat and spectacle is diminished by how easy it is.
- Battles become simplistic with a fairly straighforward flow.
- Low replay value. No mini-games or much optional content outside sidequests.
- Sidequests are very archaic in design.
How I would fix them:
- Make Hard Mode available from the start or amp the difficulty on Normal.
- Needed more mechanics to spice things up, such as (but not necessarily): buffs/debuffs, breaking enemy parts, Aetherfloods slowly draining HP, dual combos with guest characters and Torgal, different stagger conditions based on enemy-type, weapons having special attributes, and so on.
- Quests with branching paths and multiple dialogue choices could have gone a long way to engage the player.
- Add minigames to diversify activities. A card game is played in Valisthea, so no reason to not have one. Torgal sniffing around to dig items on the ground. Anything.
Music and Sound 10
+ Absolutely incredible and one of my favorite from the series. Some dungeon tracks sounded a bit generic but the vast majority is high-quality, which is to be expected given the composer behind it. The otherwordly and ethereal tracks were stellar. Rich sound effects.
- They had the audacity to not include the Awakening trailer theme. Bastards.
My Final score: 9
FFXVI got close to be fantastic but a few shortcomings prevented that.
+ Great, well-written and relatable characters, even NPCs receive special treatment. I found that the ending segment elevated the plot even higher.
+ Presentation and voice-acting are top-notch.
+ Attention to detail with solid world-building and lore through major cutscenes and sidequests.
- Pacing has issues during the "down" parts. I can see how someone would lose interest if they still aren't invested in the game, mostly because the gameplay offers little outside combat to entertain.
What would I have liked to see more/changed:
- Party banter was so non-existant that sometimes I forgot I had someone accompanying me.
- Loved Benedikta everytime she appeared on screen, but I feel the game didn't give me enough material to fully sympathize with her internal struggles, which is a shame.
- Hugo's motivation and development were dissapointing, expected much more from him. He appeared much more controlled and intimidating on the first scenes.
- Jill had plenty of opportunities to shine given the amount of screentime but, save for a few moments (which really moved me), she didn't.
Gameplay 8
+ FF's most polished action battle system, super engaging and offers a good amount of build variety.
+ Bosses and hunts can be very agressive with well-designed movesets.
+ The setpieces are one of the best in the industry.
+ On the exploration front: Decently-sized areas, plenty of outposts and towns with many NPCs to discover.
- The potential of the combat and spectacle is diminished by how easy it is.
- Battles become simplistic with a fairly straighforward flow.
- Low replay value. No mini-games or much optional content outside sidequests.
- Sidequests are very archaic in design.
How I would fix them:
- Make Hard Mode available from the start or amp the difficulty on Normal.
- Needed more mechanics to spice things up, such as (but not necessarily): buffs/debuffs, breaking enemy parts, Aetherfloods slowly draining HP, dual combos with guest characters and Torgal, different stagger conditions based on enemy-type, weapons having special attributes, and so on.
- Quests with branching paths and multiple dialogue choices could have gone a long way to engage the player.
- Add minigames to diversify activities. A card game is played in Valisthea, so no reason to not have one. Torgal sniffing around to dig items on the ground. Anything.
Music and Sound 10
+ Absolutely incredible and one of my favorite from the series. Some dungeon tracks sounded a bit generic but the vast majority is high-quality, which is to be expected given the composer behind it. The otherwordly and ethereal tracks were stellar. Rich sound effects.
- They had the audacity to not include the Awakening trailer theme. Bastards.
My Final score: 9
FFXVI got close to be fantastic but a few shortcomings prevented that.
DLC and update wishes? Many of them.
There are some misteries and obvious DLC hooks: Leviathan the Lost, the Shimmering Isle, the gate at Dim (supposedly leading to a Fallen tower?) and the crystallized wave you see at Royal Meadows. No Lore entry mentions the last two, as far as I know.
Additional story centered on Cid and Benedikta's past
Playable characters
Option to choose party members
A mini-game.
More Hunts superbosses
Eikon Arena mode for the Arete Stone
Best cutscenes / segments
The entire Phoenix Gate prologue
Oriflamme Drake's Head
Bahamut setpiece and Dion's descent into madness after killing his father
First duel between Clive and Barnabas in Kanver
Through the Maelstrom
Clive x Jill romantic scenes
Ending (Origin, Final Battle, Ending cutscene)
Favorite OSTs
Away
Into The Mire - Stillwind
The Lion and the Hare
My Lady
Sixteen Bells
Gathering Clouds
Control - Garuda's Theme
Sever
The Riddle - Odin's Theme
Bahamut's Theme
Find the Flame
The Hideaway and variations
Sorrow's Faded Form
Where the Heart Is
To Sail Forbidden Seas
Histoire - The Holy Empire of Sanbreque and variations (post-darkened sky arr.)
Lovely, Deep and Dark
Reflections (Drake's Head)
Typhoon Phase 1 and 3
In the Light of the Mothercrystal
Titan Phase 2 and 3
Bow - Interdimensional Rift
Ultimalius Theme
My Star
Favorite characters (no particular order)
Clive
Benedikta
Dion
Barnabas
Cid
What XVI excels compared to other FF entries
Best Cid
Best Odin
Best setpieces
Best NPC development
Best Lore Presentation
Most polished Action battle system
How should FF proceed to achieve universal greatness?
Constantly changing teams and reinventing the wheel each entry doesn't lead to a consistent output. Stick to a formula and perfect it, leave bigger changes for new gen's first entries. FFXVI is a great and solid foundation to build upon.
There are some misteries and obvious DLC hooks: Leviathan the Lost, the Shimmering Isle, the gate at Dim (supposedly leading to a Fallen tower?) and the crystallized wave you see at Royal Meadows. No Lore entry mentions the last two, as far as I know.
Additional story centered on Cid and Benedikta's past
Playable characters
Option to choose party members
A mini-game.
More Hunts superbosses
Eikon Arena mode for the Arete Stone
Best cutscenes / segments
The entire Phoenix Gate prologue
Oriflamme Drake's Head
Bahamut setpiece and Dion's descent into madness after killing his father
First duel between Clive and Barnabas in Kanver
Through the Maelstrom
Clive x Jill romantic scenes
Ending (Origin, Final Battle, Ending cutscene)
Favorite OSTs
Away
Into The Mire - Stillwind
The Lion and the Hare
My Lady
Sixteen Bells
Gathering Clouds
Control - Garuda's Theme
Sever
The Riddle - Odin's Theme
Bahamut's Theme
Find the Flame
The Hideaway and variations
Sorrow's Faded Form
Where the Heart Is
To Sail Forbidden Seas
Histoire - The Holy Empire of Sanbreque and variations (post-darkened sky arr.)
Lovely, Deep and Dark
Reflections (Drake's Head)
Typhoon Phase 1 and 3
In the Light of the Mothercrystal
Titan Phase 2 and 3
Bow - Interdimensional Rift
Ultimalius Theme
My Star
Favorite characters (no particular order)
Clive
Benedikta
Dion
Barnabas
Cid
What XVI excels compared to other FF entries
Best Cid
Best Odin
Best setpieces
Best NPC development
Best Lore Presentation
Most polished Action battle system
How should FF proceed to achieve universal greatness?
Constantly changing teams and reinventing the wheel each entry doesn't lead to a consistent output. Stick to a formula and perfect it, leave bigger changes for new gen's first entries. FFXVI is a great and solid foundation to build upon.
------------------
i'm hoping there aren't any more big status quo changes like this with big jumps in time. let this be the default from now on so i don't have to get used to any more major adjustments
also when you destroy the mother crystal core and that portal appears and those creepy hands pop out i was like, oh what's going on here. and then this big sunken eyed, greasy looking emo with curtains appears. i thought i was looking at my teenage self again
also getting some ivalice vibes sometimes. the world name reminds me of that, there's an altema showing up, typhon kind of reminds me of the last boss of ffxii, they're doing that thing where they recite spells like in fft or vagrant story, some costumes like gav(? gab? gabu?) give me fft flashbacks, and i think the duke's kidnapped son in vagrant story was also called joshua?
i am mere steps away from replaying vagrant story now because of this
also when you destroy the mother crystal core and that portal appears and those creepy hands pop out i was like, oh what's going on here. and then this big sunken eyed, greasy looking emo with curtains appears. i thought i was looking at my teenage self again
also getting some ivalice vibes sometimes. the world name reminds me of that, there's an altema showing up, typhon kind of reminds me of the last boss of ffxii, they're doing that thing where they recite spells like in fft or vagrant story, some costumes like gav(? gab? gabu?) give me fft flashbacks, and i think the duke's kidnapped son in vagrant story was also called joshua?
i am mere steps away from replaying vagrant story now because of this
LMFAO
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ForceStealer
Double Growth
Jimmy XH
Pro Adventurer
Much the same thoughts as you @Wol having finished this evening. I’ve tried to be brief…
FFXVI will firmly sit in the higher end of the FF games I have played. It hits some of the highest gaming highs I’ve ever experienced, and really pushes the benchmark of what video games can be. No it isn’t perfect, but it is a huge triumph nonetheless.
I can’t wait to have another go and explore what more there is to offer.
It’s great. It’s terrific. But it’s not perfect. 9 is about right for me.
That said, I have not completed it 100% by any stretch. Thus a second run for me is inevitable now that I know a bit more about what I’m doing.
Story is fantastic. An engaging world with relatable characters from top to bottom. Engrossing and emotive. I really want to dig into more of what the world and lore offers and certainly have a thirst for DLC, backstory and whatever else can be thrown at me.
Voice acting a country mile ahead of anything Final Fantasy have ever offered. Writing top-notch and brilliantly delivered by more or less all characters.
Clive is superb. No other word for it. Cid and Gav are great companions and provide some happy comic relief without it being too corny. Benedikta had a huge amount of potential in my view, a shame she had to go so early after her meltdown. Ultima is a chilling villain. Dion under-utilised also but is great when he is used. I do like Jill you know. Her story was very good, but not great, however there’s just something about her I really enjoyed (not that scene!!!). Hugo something of a non-entity in his arc…
I did love the numerous nods to previous FF titles and the series.
Gameplay largely excellent. Battle system does become a bit samey and you can find a strategy that works most if not all of the time. I did not find the game easy, but it wasn’t hard either. At no point did I think I had to go and grind to be stronger and it did offer a little too much help if you wanted to just get through the story. I get it, and I had more than my fair share of game overs, but it is not difficult by any stretch.
That said, there is so much I haven’t discovered yet, nor was I utilising Clive as best as I could have been, so this enhances replayability for me. I thought the other characters in battle could’ve done more to add to the theatre. They’re just there, not contributing much in battle from what I could see.
Eikon battles I thought were unbelievable. They were epic set pieces with so many things going on. A feast for the eyes and ears. All different, too. The fight against Titan stood out for me, I could not believe that I was playing a video game throughout it. Just incredible.
I appreciated some of the downtime early on after a frantic start but the game really does take its foot off the gas at times. The sidequests I did I found were largely repetitive and unimaginative. Fetch this, fight that. Though there was some good world building elements if you were willing to find them. I have plenty more to complete but I can’t see myself enjoying them as much as I did the story elements.
Music is stellar. So many standout tracks. Having just played it, the start of the ultima battle theme is just haunting my head. But there are so many other memorable, standout tracks throughout. I don’t think I’m doing it justice in such a brief summary.
That said, I have not completed it 100% by any stretch. Thus a second run for me is inevitable now that I know a bit more about what I’m doing.
Story is fantastic. An engaging world with relatable characters from top to bottom. Engrossing and emotive. I really want to dig into more of what the world and lore offers and certainly have a thirst for DLC, backstory and whatever else can be thrown at me.
Voice acting a country mile ahead of anything Final Fantasy have ever offered. Writing top-notch and brilliantly delivered by more or less all characters.
Clive is superb. No other word for it. Cid and Gav are great companions and provide some happy comic relief without it being too corny. Benedikta had a huge amount of potential in my view, a shame she had to go so early after her meltdown. Ultima is a chilling villain. Dion under-utilised also but is great when he is used. I do like Jill you know. Her story was very good, but not great, however there’s just something about her I really enjoyed (not that scene!!!). Hugo something of a non-entity in his arc…
I did love the numerous nods to previous FF titles and the series.
Gameplay largely excellent. Battle system does become a bit samey and you can find a strategy that works most if not all of the time. I did not find the game easy, but it wasn’t hard either. At no point did I think I had to go and grind to be stronger and it did offer a little too much help if you wanted to just get through the story. I get it, and I had more than my fair share of game overs, but it is not difficult by any stretch.
That said, there is so much I haven’t discovered yet, nor was I utilising Clive as best as I could have been, so this enhances replayability for me. I thought the other characters in battle could’ve done more to add to the theatre. They’re just there, not contributing much in battle from what I could see.
Eikon battles I thought were unbelievable. They were epic set pieces with so many things going on. A feast for the eyes and ears. All different, too. The fight against Titan stood out for me, I could not believe that I was playing a video game throughout it. Just incredible.
I appreciated some of the downtime early on after a frantic start but the game really does take its foot off the gas at times. The sidequests I did I found were largely repetitive and unimaginative. Fetch this, fight that. Though there was some good world building elements if you were willing to find them. I have plenty more to complete but I can’t see myself enjoying them as much as I did the story elements.
Music is stellar. So many standout tracks. Having just played it, the start of the ultima battle theme is just haunting my head. But there are so many other memorable, standout tracks throughout. I don’t think I’m doing it justice in such a brief summary.
FFXVI will firmly sit in the higher end of the FF games I have played. It hits some of the highest gaming highs I’ve ever experienced, and really pushes the benchmark of what video games can be. No it isn’t perfect, but it is a huge triumph nonetheless.
I can’t wait to have another go and explore what more there is to offer.
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Lulcielid
Eyes of the Lord
- AKA
- Lulcy
Game was the second most downloaded game of June 2023 in the US/EU.
blog.playstation.com
PlayStation Store: June 2023’s top downloads
The most played games this month were all red hot.
blog.playstation.com
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
I'm practically right before the final mission but I think I'm gonna draw out the end and do all side quests and hunts before that. Some of the side quests towards the end here even have mocapped cutscenes and a bit of budget, huh.
I ran into an S rank hunt in the woods. Svarog or whatever? Kicked my butt but I got it down to 50%. Next time...
I ran into an S rank hunt in the woods. Svarog or whatever? Kicked my butt but I got it down to 50%. Next time...
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
i have gotten up to the i think 7th story trophy? something about a bitter enemy, idk how to calculate it but i feel like i'm just past half way through the game.
i somehow managed to get an item for beating a boss without taking damage, i think? is there some benefit to having these or is it just a collectable that doesn't really do anything?
getting to the devil titan fight and somehow
the robot voice effect souken used in the brute justice bgm from ff14 returned
the whole thing reminded me of something from a platinum games title with how over the top it was. it was like a bayonetta boss battle
i like how they have given the 'bad guy' eikons (garuda and titan) a kind of freaky appearance. i've seen odin and bahamut in cutscenes but not enough to know if i can add them to my creepy list
i complained about lack of lip sync for the japanese audio, but i think there might be some for the non-mocap scenes? it doesn't seem fine-tuned or polished so i am wondering if it's some kind of automated process to match the audio.
i like that a lot of the side quests are either adding story/worldbuilding or unlocking new things. even if the basis of the quests boils down to 'go here and collect this/kill this monster' it still adds to the overall whole in some way
also saw two guys kiss in a final fantasy game. makes up for forcing me to listen to all those sex noises before
the robot voice effect souken used in the brute justice bgm from ff14 returned
the whole thing reminded me of something from a platinum games title with how over the top it was. it was like a bayonetta boss battle
i like how they have given the 'bad guy' eikons (garuda and titan) a kind of freaky appearance. i've seen odin and bahamut in cutscenes but not enough to know if i can add them to my creepy list
i complained about lack of lip sync for the japanese audio, but i think there might be some for the non-mocap scenes? it doesn't seem fine-tuned or polished so i am wondering if it's some kind of automated process to match the audio.
i like that a lot of the side quests are either adding story/worldbuilding or unlocking new things. even if the basis of the quests boils down to 'go here and collect this/kill this monster' it still adds to the overall whole in some way
also saw two guys kiss in a final fantasy game. makes up for forcing me to listen to all those sex noises before
i somehow managed to get an item for beating a boss without taking damage, i think? is there some benefit to having these or is it just a collectable that doesn't really do anything?
ForceStealer
Double Growth
I'm also before the point of no return and I'm disappointed that
the Ultima fight didn't at least get rid of the Final Days skies. I'm sick of this lighting and thought it might at least go back to normal for the endgame/postgame stuff...
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
Still have not done the final mission.
Been slightly annoyed that all the endgame stuff in the world is Clive solo with no party members but I just did a quest that unlocked Joshua to join me. Wonder if there's one more? Jill? Though she doesn't have powers anymore I guess? But then again, who else would you give me, Gav? =P
Didn't have high hopes with the sidequests when they started out with the usual errands for randos but they do a decent job in getting you acquainted with side characters and the world and gradually get better. The endgame sidequests all wrap up a bunch of stuff and have added production value with fully mocapped scenes here and there and that's neat.
I think games like Horizon FW and God of War Ragnarök still did it better with fewer sidequests but higher production values but this is still leagues beyond FFXV and catching frogs or collecting dog tags with nary a payoff in sight.
Also, I've been wondering...people have mentioned cactuars but I have yet to spot one. And it seems the bestiary is all filled out? Surely they didn't skip over Cactuars and Tonberrys...
Oh, I've been doing some of these Chronoliths too. Titan, Bahamut and Phoenix so far. Love me Titan moves so that was the easiest for me. Phoenix on the other hand, I almost ran out of time.
I have yet to kill an S rank hunt...maybe I should give Svarog another attempt.
Using Zantetsuken lvl. 5 feels so overpowered but oh so good.
Been slightly annoyed that all the endgame stuff in the world is Clive solo with no party members but I just did a quest that unlocked Joshua to join me. Wonder if there's one more? Jill? Though she doesn't have powers anymore I guess? But then again, who else would you give me, Gav? =P
Didn't have high hopes with the sidequests when they started out with the usual errands for randos but they do a decent job in getting you acquainted with side characters and the world and gradually get better. The endgame sidequests all wrap up a bunch of stuff and have added production value with fully mocapped scenes here and there and that's neat.
I think games like Horizon FW and God of War Ragnarök still did it better with fewer sidequests but higher production values but this is still leagues beyond FFXV and catching frogs or collecting dog tags with nary a payoff in sight.
Also, I've been wondering...people have mentioned cactuars but I have yet to spot one. And it seems the bestiary is all filled out? Surely they didn't skip over Cactuars and Tonberrys...
Oh, I've been doing some of these Chronoliths too. Titan, Bahamut and Phoenix so far. Love me Titan moves so that was the easiest for me. Phoenix on the other hand, I almost ran out of time.
I have yet to kill an S rank hunt...maybe I should give Svarog another attempt.
Using Zantetsuken lvl. 5 feels so overpowered but oh so good.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Oh, I've been doing some of these Chronoliths too. Titan, Bahamut and Phoenix so far. Love me Titan moves so that was the easiest for me. Phoenix on the other hand, I almost ran out of time.
I only found and tried the Shiva one. I thought I did quite well, and then ran out of time on the final fight when he had the tiniest sliver of health left. 
If I had been able to retry that fight I would have done so, but when I had to restart from the beginning I just continued on.
If I had been able to retry that fight I would have done so, but when I had to restart from the beginning I just continued on.
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
one of the biggest impacts of playing this game is that i now want a big dog to walk around with me
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
Did the quest that unlocked Jill for the party. Seems like she's still using ice magic even without Shiva at least.
Ran into the Behemoth King in Waloed. First S rank kill, babyyy
Looks like all the sidequests are done now? Got all the donations, all entries for Harpocrates and created the Gotterdammerung. Clive's chamber is still missing an item though. Wonder if it's for completing all hunts?
Found Odin's Chronolith. Did terribly though, ran outta time in stage 3, whoops.
The ones I found so far (Odin, Phoenix, Titan, Bahamut) all correspond to the countries of their respective Dominants. Makes me wonder where I find Shiva, Garuda and Ramuh then.
Not sure if I'll do the hunts and Chronolith first or just finish the story. I'm kind of itching to just finish the game so I can browse the internet without fear of spoilers again and consume all the spoiler podcasts etc
Ran into the Behemoth King in Waloed. First S rank kill, babyyy
Looks like all the sidequests are done now? Got all the donations, all entries for Harpocrates and created the Gotterdammerung. Clive's chamber is still missing an item though. Wonder if it's for completing all hunts?
Found Odin's Chronolith. Did terribly though, ran outta time in stage 3, whoops.
The ones I found so far (Odin, Phoenix, Titan, Bahamut) all correspond to the countries of their respective Dominants. Makes me wonder where I find Shiva, Garuda and Ramuh then.
Not sure if I'll do the hunts and Chronolith first or just finish the story. I'm kind of itching to just finish the game so I can browse the internet without fear of spoilers again and consume all the spoiler podcasts etc
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
Well I just finished it.
I'm very satisfied with this Final Fantasy. With FFXIV expansions, VII Remake and the Crisis Core remaster, I feel like I've been eating good again as an FF fan. VII Rebirth is practically guaranteed to be a blast to play. I'm being fed.
And especially having replayed FFXV just earlier this year it's apparent how much more complete and deliberate this game was. Like, there was an actual, engaging story that kept me wanting to continue versus XV's fetch questy "go here and collect a weapon, now go here collect a summon, now go here and get your car back" meandering for 70% of the game before it remembers it needs to tell an actual story and just fast-forwards through a few setpieces.
This game has been cooking.
Same with the combat system. XV often felt like I couldn't tell when an enemy was about to do something. Here, everything is readable and telegraphed. I can react accordingly and when I get knocked on my ass it feels like my fault every time instead of like "idk wtf is happening in this fight"
Idk, this game kinda ruled
Biggest negative to me is actually...the technical stuff. Graphics and performance. Like, the game doesn't look bad whatsoever. But despite being a PS5 exclusive, it's behind some cross-gen games that look better and perform at 60fps. GoW, Horizon, even Square's own FFVII Remake.
Wonder if it's because once again they kinda cobbled together their own tech/engine for this game. Would it have been easier to optimize if they used Unreal?
I'm not a dev, so who knows.
Actually, one story thing did bug me:
I'm very satisfied with this Final Fantasy. With FFXIV expansions, VII Remake and the Crisis Core remaster, I feel like I've been eating good again as an FF fan. VII Rebirth is practically guaranteed to be a blast to play. I'm being fed.
And especially having replayed FFXV just earlier this year it's apparent how much more complete and deliberate this game was. Like, there was an actual, engaging story that kept me wanting to continue versus XV's fetch questy "go here and collect a weapon, now go here collect a summon, now go here and get your car back" meandering for 70% of the game before it remembers it needs to tell an actual story and just fast-forwards through a few setpieces.
This game has been cooking.
Same with the combat system. XV often felt like I couldn't tell when an enemy was about to do something. Here, everything is readable and telegraphed. I can react accordingly and when I get knocked on my ass it feels like my fault every time instead of like "idk wtf is happening in this fight"
Idk, this game kinda ruled
Biggest negative to me is actually...the technical stuff. Graphics and performance. Like, the game doesn't look bad whatsoever. But despite being a PS5 exclusive, it's behind some cross-gen games that look better and perform at 60fps. GoW, Horizon, even Square's own FFVII Remake.
Wonder if it's because once again they kinda cobbled together their own tech/engine for this game. Would it have been easier to optimize if they used Unreal?
I'm not a dev, so who knows.
Actually, one story thing did bug me:
Clive being reunited with Torgal just after meeting Jill. A bit of an asspull but also feels weirdly unimpactful?
Clive's just like "oh yeah that's my dog from way back when btw" and Cid's just like "oh alright, he's yours then" despite Cid having spent more time with Torgal at this point than Clive did. You'd think he'd be more attached. Idk, just felt like they couldn't find an organic way to bring Torgal back and just went whatever, he's here too, enjoy your doggo
Clive's just like "oh yeah that's my dog from way back when btw" and Cid's just like "oh alright, he's yours then" despite Cid having spent more time with Torgal at this point than Clive did. You'd think he'd be more attached. Idk, just felt like they couldn't find an organic way to bring Torgal back and just went whatever, he's here too, enjoy your doggo
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
Wol
None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
- AKA
- Rosarian Shield
That's great news and as stated by Ampere Analysis:
So sales are fine within the current market, but it didn't attract many new players either.
Still unsure about how those legs going to be since the game has low replay value outside a New Game on a higher difficulty (which in turn doesn't reward the player with anything new). Once you're done with the story, then it's done.
We'll see how the PC version, DLCs and updates will fare.
So sales are fine within the current market, but it didn't attract many new players either.
Still unsure about how those legs going to be since the game has low replay value outside a New Game on a higher difficulty (which in turn doesn't reward the player with anything new). Once you're done with the story, then it's done.
We'll see how the PC version, DLCs and updates will fare.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
The best sidequest in all of FFXVI isn't a sidequest: One Man's Treasure
(Spoilers if you haven't gotten to The Great Southern Gate outside of the Ravenwit Walls in Waloed).
There are also some other cool elements that are obviously cut out completely and unused (spoilers for returning to Eastpool):
The Fallen Ruins in The Blight
Additionally there's The Undying & the Gigantic Frozen Wave in Sanbreque that's got a couple tiny fragments still in-game (EndGame Sidequest Spoilers)
Also, if you want to know why the game clearly has this weirdly ultra-dark undertone to it: Like the item descriptions for Bloodied Hides being soaked in urine & chocobo brains), it's not all that it's taking from Game of Thrones, although there are some clear nods to it. (Spoilers for the whole game, and a bit of design and thematic history tl;dr from me as usual).
After essentially completing the game (I just have to do the final main mission now), I'd say that what you're looking at in FFXVI is a difficult thing to unpack, but it involves being specific with the terms to approach what deserves praise.
There is extremely great world design all over the game, which is almost constantly being utterly undercut by atrocious game design. This is not to say anything about the mechanics of the combat system, which has satisfying gameplay (assuming you're into that type of ARPG) but the RPG elements aren't at all designed to work with that. This means that even with the Final Fantasy Mode for NG+, it's really shallow in having any genuine merit for replayability – especially if you're not into the combat. The cinematic presentation leverages the extremely immaculate world design to mostly cover up just how much of the storyline gets utterly gutted about halfway through.
What I did to finally make the combat feel enjoyable to play was using the Ring of Timely Focus, but balancing that by never using any items and only healing if there happens to be a potion on the ground that overfills my inventory. It feels like I can get an experience of the depth of the combat in a way that isn't just overly frustrating, and carries a more of a fun pace. (Note that I've also never used the ARPG shortcut controls for FFVIIR as I find that way less satisfying).
Also, since I'd already gone through the story via other means, I've also been completing every boss fight in the game without ever taking damage once, since the initial playthrough will be the easiest way to do that and that makes the fights feel like an accomplishment at least.
Essentially I really do love all of the work that they put into making FFXVI a lot, but I simultaneously dislike essentially everything about the package of the game that the narrative delivery takes place in (but the rest of that's for the other thread when I have time to collect my notes).
X
(Spoilers if you haven't gotten to The Great Southern Gate outside of the Ravenwit Walls in Waloed).
I'm not sure where you first run into this NPC, but he's as memorable as he is long-winded. He's about the only NPC who's got more than two lines of dialogue for a direct interaction and vastly exceeds that. He's always excitedly spilling his plans to you about some new scheme about how he's gonna "mint gil" by setting up some guaranteed-to-be-lucrative plan based on something he's just passed by, like the hotsprings bath house when he's outside of the south gate of Dalimil. As you encounter him, he'll tell you various things about his life like that his parents were also travelling merchants and that he's from Dravozt, and sort of keep pace trying to stay where there are good opportunities to make it big.
You can find him again at least once travelling along with the other refugees towards Boklad after Titan is defeated, although I'm not sure if there's anywhere else that you're able to encounter him directly. (This is the point in the game where it's obvious that there's a LOT of the game is sort of necessarily cobbled together based on what's ready and everything with the mainline & sidequests are sort of a bare-bones mess of disorganized scraps around what's functional). Since none of the big sequences of Kanver or the new Imperial Capital of the Crystaline Dominion involve areas with a traversable world map, I'm not sure how many times total you come across him with a new plan.
When you travel to Ash, things have gone absolutely nuts. As you make your way to the walls, if you explore the area around the Great Southern Gate, you'll run into something that never occurs outside of active sidequests. There's a tiny shining mark on the ground that you can interact with by holding X. Doing so grants you an item called "treasure map" with the following description:
"To all who would seek to mint gil, follow ye the path to Kretov."
At the note of a familiar phrase, as you look around, you'll see that the item was lying next to the bloodied body of the Dhalmekian traveller and the corpse of his Chocobo is nearby. Whatever happened, our travelling merchant friend managed to escape the disasters in Kanver & the Crystaline Dominion and make it all the way to Waloed before he got attacked and murdered by Akashic.
If you start from The Gilded Path, and travel along the left side, you'll run into a little alcove where there are Goblins hanging out, At the top of a little ledge there's a tiny encampment. I'd gone there before and saw a treasure chest covered with a blanket. With the map, and upon returning you're able to open it to receive "One Man's Treasure" which is an item that can be sold for 100,000 gil. If you go back to Waloed, the bodies of the friendly merchant and his chocobo are gone and all that's left behind are the blood stains, as I assume that the quest would have involved burying the man like most of the side quests do, but it just wasn't implemented.
Given that this quest involved an NPC I got intrigued by solely by the world design, there were no big signposts leading me by the nose each step of the way to preemptively foreshadow what I was going to stumble across, and the narrative was all left to contextual interpretation based on whether or not you'd actually taken the time to interact with everything around you... running across this in the hollow emptiness of Waloed, and not even being able to have a means of acknowledging it made it hit me harder than anything else in the game.
There are plenty of times that I've done things like follow wandering lizards in the sand who run directly to crystals and look at how the team went above and beyond with how to design a lot of phenomenal RPG elements in the game where the game design absolutely eviscerates them into bland & generic experiences that all blur together, but this is the one that stands out and I can't get out of my mind. Like, I want to do another playthrough JUST to see where and how many times I'm able to run across him throughout the game.
You can find him again at least once travelling along with the other refugees towards Boklad after Titan is defeated, although I'm not sure if there's anywhere else that you're able to encounter him directly. (This is the point in the game where it's obvious that there's a LOT of the game is sort of necessarily cobbled together based on what's ready and everything with the mainline & sidequests are sort of a bare-bones mess of disorganized scraps around what's functional). Since none of the big sequences of Kanver or the new Imperial Capital of the Crystaline Dominion involve areas with a traversable world map, I'm not sure how many times total you come across him with a new plan.
When you travel to Ash, things have gone absolutely nuts. As you make your way to the walls, if you explore the area around the Great Southern Gate, you'll run into something that never occurs outside of active sidequests. There's a tiny shining mark on the ground that you can interact with by holding X. Doing so grants you an item called "treasure map" with the following description:
"To all who would seek to mint gil, follow ye the path to Kretov."
At the note of a familiar phrase, as you look around, you'll see that the item was lying next to the bloodied body of the Dhalmekian traveller and the corpse of his Chocobo is nearby. Whatever happened, our travelling merchant friend managed to escape the disasters in Kanver & the Crystaline Dominion and make it all the way to Waloed before he got attacked and murdered by Akashic.
If you start from The Gilded Path, and travel along the left side, you'll run into a little alcove where there are Goblins hanging out, At the top of a little ledge there's a tiny encampment. I'd gone there before and saw a treasure chest covered with a blanket. With the map, and upon returning you're able to open it to receive "One Man's Treasure" which is an item that can be sold for 100,000 gil. If you go back to Waloed, the bodies of the friendly merchant and his chocobo are gone and all that's left behind are the blood stains, as I assume that the quest would have involved burying the man like most of the side quests do, but it just wasn't implemented.
Given that this quest involved an NPC I got intrigued by solely by the world design, there were no big signposts leading me by the nose each step of the way to preemptively foreshadow what I was going to stumble across, and the narrative was all left to contextual interpretation based on whether or not you'd actually taken the time to interact with everything around you... running across this in the hollow emptiness of Waloed, and not even being able to have a means of acknowledging it made it hit me harder than anything else in the game.
There are plenty of times that I've done things like follow wandering lizards in the sand who run directly to crystals and look at how the team went above and beyond with how to design a lot of phenomenal RPG elements in the game where the game design absolutely eviscerates them into bland & generic experiences that all blur together, but this is the one that stands out and I can't get out of my mind. Like, I want to do another playthrough JUST to see where and how many times I'm able to run across him throughout the game.
There are also some other cool elements that are obviously cut out completely and unused (spoilers for returning to Eastpool):
The Fallen Ruins in The Blight
When you wander up to Phoenix Gate, there's a doorway to the Fallen Ruins along the Blighted path. This is where Clive learns that he can just activate those doors with his own power. Yet that side-path and door remain completely unused, and the townsperson mentions the big spire that's been there for thousands of years in Eastside. With the later sidequest in Waloed with Mikkelburg, and when some of the things in Tomes' collection all just drop in about this indirectly, it's pretty clear that those were meant to be some sort of story detail earlier on in the game.
Additionally there's The Undying & the Gigantic Frozen Wave in Sanbreque that's got a couple tiny fragments still in-game (EndGame Sidequest Spoilers)
While the Undying are introduced they're not really implemented in a way that the game makes use of, but the elements are still present. There's a man in the Boklad marketplace who's one of them investigating the truth about Dzemekys, and the Bard in Northreach is also one of them who's the only other NPC who will comment on the frozen wave aside from two NPCs outside the city walls if you go talk to them before going to the Veil for the first time. He'll mention something about forbidden magic, which both seem to point to the Executors as another secret society and clandestine organization that are present in a single sidequest at the end of the game, but it's clear that there were planned elements around them as well baked into very early parts of the game all involving the point in time of what happened in the past.
The amount of dialogue that exists that's unique for NPCs and constantly changing as well as all of the Unrecorded dialogue options for incomplete sidequests in the game is just utterly ridiculous, and it makes me wish desperately to see what FFXVI could have looked like if it had another couple years to actually finish making the game rather than sort of rushing into finalizing what was there as best as possible, and hamstringing the second half of the game's story into the bare-bones Ultima-centric rush to the end.
Also, the fact that there's an endgame sidequest involving Shiva's dominant from the north, Jill that takes place at a field of Snow Lilies directly overlooking the point of this frozen wave makes it pretty clear that there was more planned to build up to that moment.
The amount of dialogue that exists that's unique for NPCs and constantly changing as well as all of the Unrecorded dialogue options for incomplete sidequests in the game is just utterly ridiculous, and it makes me wish desperately to see what FFXVI could have looked like if it had another couple years to actually finish making the game rather than sort of rushing into finalizing what was there as best as possible, and hamstringing the second half of the game's story into the bare-bones Ultima-centric rush to the end.
Also, the fact that there's an endgame sidequest involving Shiva's dominant from the north, Jill that takes place at a field of Snow Lilies directly overlooking the point of this frozen wave makes it pretty clear that there was more planned to build up to that moment.
Also, if you want to know why the game clearly has this weirdly ultra-dark undertone to it: Like the item descriptions for Bloodied Hides being soaked in urine & chocobo brains), it's not all that it's taking from Game of Thrones, although there are some clear nods to it. (Spoilers for the whole game, and a bit of design and thematic history tl;dr from me as usual).
The fact that our main antagonist is an emotionally traumatized kid who saw his entire family burned to death, and became a murderous outlaw with fire powers who's elevated into being a necessarily polarizing figure and ends up bringing about the change to a stagnant society built in the fallen ruins of a previous civilization that's living off of exploiting the magical powers of gifted individuals... then there's a manga that you should read – only assuming that you're ok with extremely graphic material: Fire Punch.
It's by the creator of Chainsaw Man, FFXVI follows those beats a LOT and while they're still graphic, they're extremely toned down. There's a lot from that manga that's also heavily influential in how Elden Ring visually & thematically portrays a certain type of existential trauma at the oppression of a world, but in the case of Elden Ring it's a lot more difficult to discern where that path of justice truly exists. Like with the other Souls games, it layers that primarily with other themes on trauma from BERSERK, whereas FFXVI is drawing on another path to look at it, especially as it's a lot more overt in its storytelling with the type of more narrative-centric RPG it is.
It's clear that FFXVI was working on layering in those pieces of nuance and complexity by borrowing ideas like how One Piece has erased parts of history for the earlier technological civilization to control the truth, but BARELY any of those still survive into FFXVI and ALL of them are unfortunately relegated into total obscurity although they were clearly meant to be the main themes for both Vivian's storyline with the Executors as well as Mid's struggle over whether or not to bring that technology back with her Mythril Engines (similar to the Oxygen Destroyer in the original Godzilla). Those were meant to tie in with King Barnabas' mother and the Children of Dzemekys along with the Circle of Malius looking at the juxtaposition of how an apocalyptic saviour religion and a death cult are functionally the same thing (with strong emphasis on Christianity).
That's important since the primary narrative of the game takes after the common Eastern juxtaposition between Indra & Asura for its main Antagonist & Protagonist since either can contextually be a villain or a saviour depending on which side of the story you're focused on being representative of justice in overcoming the suffering that's currently taking place, even if it takes multiple generations to get to that point, and knowing the truth of history and how mutable the context of events can be in shaping something into a future paradise or a functional hellscape are deeply important to that, which Fire Punch really hammers in on over and over and over in exceptionally uncomfortable ways. Those are all really important to key aspects of Japanese adaptations of Western Fantasy that involve more complex themes.
It's why I really love the world design and things in FFXVI, but man... there's NO WAY this game was ready to be released, but they managed to strap a solid combat system into it and send it out with what they had, but you can REALLY feel it later on into the game. Having read Fire Punch is why there's a lot about what Clive has to go through and the questions he's faced with as he runs into various kingdoms and pockets of civilization in Valasthea that had me rather excited, and it's definitely a little rough seeing just how many of those critical elements are essentially barely past the drawing room phase and implemented haphazardly in a massively disorganized rush at the end.
But hey – at least a lot of those fractured bits & pieces are still in the game at all to check out even if you have to go out of your way and ignore what the game is trying to make you do to find them and see more of the big picture for how things seem to have been meant to play out, and what justified a darker and more brutal approach to how they wanted to portray fighting. That's especially apparent in how we see even Self-Priming literally shooting energy through their bodies and transforming their skin with Cid, Benedikta, & Clive, but those elements sharply drop off after Titan when the game gets into the sort of rush to the end.
It's those things that make it easier to spot how it's not just the game design but the story that's barely half-done in the final product. The game's "Main Quest" really clings tightly to Clive's story as Ifrit's Dominant & Mythos, but Clive's role as "Cid" is just as important when he takes up that title and becomes the figurehead that everyone is looking to for salvation – which is one of the most critically important elements of the story, and why it leads to a seemingly happy normal world in the end. Those things all fall into the mess of half-finished sidequests.
It's by the creator of Chainsaw Man, FFXVI follows those beats a LOT and while they're still graphic, they're extremely toned down. There's a lot from that manga that's also heavily influential in how Elden Ring visually & thematically portrays a certain type of existential trauma at the oppression of a world, but in the case of Elden Ring it's a lot more difficult to discern where that path of justice truly exists. Like with the other Souls games, it layers that primarily with other themes on trauma from BERSERK, whereas FFXVI is drawing on another path to look at it, especially as it's a lot more overt in its storytelling with the type of more narrative-centric RPG it is.
It's clear that FFXVI was working on layering in those pieces of nuance and complexity by borrowing ideas like how One Piece has erased parts of history for the earlier technological civilization to control the truth, but BARELY any of those still survive into FFXVI and ALL of them are unfortunately relegated into total obscurity although they were clearly meant to be the main themes for both Vivian's storyline with the Executors as well as Mid's struggle over whether or not to bring that technology back with her Mythril Engines (similar to the Oxygen Destroyer in the original Godzilla). Those were meant to tie in with King Barnabas' mother and the Children of Dzemekys along with the Circle of Malius looking at the juxtaposition of how an apocalyptic saviour religion and a death cult are functionally the same thing (with strong emphasis on Christianity).
That's important since the primary narrative of the game takes after the common Eastern juxtaposition between Indra & Asura for its main Antagonist & Protagonist since either can contextually be a villain or a saviour depending on which side of the story you're focused on being representative of justice in overcoming the suffering that's currently taking place, even if it takes multiple generations to get to that point, and knowing the truth of history and how mutable the context of events can be in shaping something into a future paradise or a functional hellscape are deeply important to that, which Fire Punch really hammers in on over and over and over in exceptionally uncomfortable ways. Those are all really important to key aspects of Japanese adaptations of Western Fantasy that involve more complex themes.
It's why I really love the world design and things in FFXVI, but man... there's NO WAY this game was ready to be released, but they managed to strap a solid combat system into it and send it out with what they had, but you can REALLY feel it later on into the game. Having read Fire Punch is why there's a lot about what Clive has to go through and the questions he's faced with as he runs into various kingdoms and pockets of civilization in Valasthea that had me rather excited, and it's definitely a little rough seeing just how many of those critical elements are essentially barely past the drawing room phase and implemented haphazardly in a massively disorganized rush at the end.
But hey – at least a lot of those fractured bits & pieces are still in the game at all to check out even if you have to go out of your way and ignore what the game is trying to make you do to find them and see more of the big picture for how things seem to have been meant to play out, and what justified a darker and more brutal approach to how they wanted to portray fighting. That's especially apparent in how we see even Self-Priming literally shooting energy through their bodies and transforming their skin with Cid, Benedikta, & Clive, but those elements sharply drop off after Titan when the game gets into the sort of rush to the end.
It's those things that make it easier to spot how it's not just the game design but the story that's barely half-done in the final product. The game's "Main Quest" really clings tightly to Clive's story as Ifrit's Dominant & Mythos, but Clive's role as "Cid" is just as important when he takes up that title and becomes the figurehead that everyone is looking to for salvation – which is one of the most critically important elements of the story, and why it leads to a seemingly happy normal world in the end. Those things all fall into the mess of half-finished sidequests.
After essentially completing the game (I just have to do the final main mission now), I'd say that what you're looking at in FFXVI is a difficult thing to unpack, but it involves being specific with the terms to approach what deserves praise.
There is extremely great world design all over the game, which is almost constantly being utterly undercut by atrocious game design. This is not to say anything about the mechanics of the combat system, which has satisfying gameplay (assuming you're into that type of ARPG) but the RPG elements aren't at all designed to work with that. This means that even with the Final Fantasy Mode for NG+, it's really shallow in having any genuine merit for replayability – especially if you're not into the combat. The cinematic presentation leverages the extremely immaculate world design to mostly cover up just how much of the storyline gets utterly gutted about halfway through.
What I did to finally make the combat feel enjoyable to play was using the Ring of Timely Focus, but balancing that by never using any items and only healing if there happens to be a potion on the ground that overfills my inventory. It feels like I can get an experience of the depth of the combat in a way that isn't just overly frustrating, and carries a more of a fun pace. (Note that I've also never used the ARPG shortcut controls for FFVIIR as I find that way less satisfying).
Also, since I'd already gone through the story via other means, I've also been completing every boss fight in the game without ever taking damage once, since the initial playthrough will be the easiest way to do that and that makes the fights feel like an accomplishment at least.
Essentially I really do love all of the work that they put into making FFXVI a lot, but I simultaneously dislike essentially everything about the package of the game that the narrative delivery takes place in (but the rest of that's for the other thread when I have time to collect my notes).
X
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
SOOOOUUUUKEEEEEEENN
before i even played ff14 i'd heard accusations of him plagiarising tracks. i think the boss/notorious hunt theme might be one of my favourite ff battle themes, pls don't have stolen that one
i just got what seems like the penultimate ability set? it says i've completed all the rosaria area mob hunts, i'm getting a lot of two-parter side quests, i think i'm about to go to a new area. so that's where i am if that's any indication lol
i laughed out loud when the battle result text said 'clive bested' after the barnabas fight, idk why but that was funny to me. i narrowly failed to stop the attack so maybe there's different versions if you succeed?
i am curious what they call odin's attacks in english. because the japanese version uses the same 'zantetsu-ken' (and 'zantetsu-sen') which i remember keeping the japanese names in previous english games. do they keep that here as well
also also, if they did a james cameron's avaar-style pseudo-sex scene with clive absorbing shiva's powers, does that mean clive also kind of had sex with cid too.
also again, seeing a lot of ass in this game. surprisingly ass-heavy game.
altema's plan, this spell he casts to turn everyone and everything akashic where they keep talking about removing individuality and stuff about making people into one. getting some major human instrumentality project vibes here. like, this is sounding like the magical third impact
also just occurred to me right now, altema (ultima? i refuse to look up any english spellings yet) having four arms looks like eva unit 13 having four arms. it's all falling into place
also, the white ruins in the lake near clive's new hideout remember me of i think an image from end of eva? where there's some white statues and building ruins in a lake?
also just occurred to me right now, altema (ultima? i refuse to look up any english spellings yet) having four arms looks like eva unit 13 having four arms. it's all falling into place
also, the white ruins in the lake near clive's new hideout remember me of i think an image from end of eva? where there's some white statues and building ruins in a lake?
i am curious what they call odin's attacks in english. because the japanese version uses the same 'zantetsu-ken' (and 'zantetsu-sen') which i remember keeping the japanese names in previous english games. do they keep that here as well
also also, if they did a james cameron's avaar-style pseudo-sex scene with clive absorbing shiva's powers, does that mean clive also kind of had sex with cid too.
also again, seeing a lot of ass in this game. surprisingly ass-heavy game.
i am now looking at how much a lute costs. i am thinking about abandoning everything and live action roleplaying my ff14 bard, just me and the large dog i will get. just sitting around and singing about the stuff i see happening around me at the big tesco.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
When you say you're refusing to look up English spellings, does that mean you don't actually want the answers?
it is Ultima, yes, and Odin's move is Zantetsuken (which my phone now autocompletes for me 
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