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Final Fantasy XVI is a Good Game

I enjoyed the story a lot, more so than God of War.

What annoyed me, however, was the intent to make it open world. So much repetition and waste.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Game is at its best when its cinematic and linear. It falls apart once you have to do busywork.

I'd be a good game if half of it was cut, making it a 20hr story driven action game. And some challenge and different weapon sets/builds wouldn't hurt.
 
Also Jill was a perfect female lead done right. No whining, strong, smart (but not a smartass), empathetic, caring.

Japs keep winning.
Her character arc and convictions and are extremely poor and one note. She had a goal for revenge that was told, never shown, never experienced. She's a door mat. I mean if you wanna blow her back out and have a submissive waifu who holds you down... Yeah, I guess?
 

Alex11

Member
The sidequests were insultingly bad. I did them all but skipped all dialogue and cutscenes if it didn’t involve someone important at The Hideaway.
Most are, yeah, the fetch ones are a plague to the industry, but surprisingly I did find some that the little the story they had was quite interesting.
Also Jill was a perfect female lead done right. No whining, strong, smart (but not a smartass), empathetic, caring.

Japs keep winning.
I like her too, you know, not all need to be cocky, bitchy or an emotional mess to have a purpose, in fact I like most characters, I guess people have an issue with them being a bit too serious, as to those that are usually in FF games.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Final Fantasy XVI is boring, uninspired and dull. Its not a good game by any means
what the actual fuck. It's dragon ball z in medieval got setting.
The action is through the roof, graphics are amazing, music is breath taking.
Sure, there is some downtime in the middle of it. maybe a bit too long. But I feel you are exaggerating
 
what the actual fuck. It's dragon ball z in medieval got setting.
The action is through the roof, graphics are amazing, music is breath taking.
Sure, there is some downtime in the middle of it. maybe a bit too long. But I feel you are exaggerating
But at the same time, RPG mechanics and elements were stripped down to nothing, the plot shifts gears completely some portion of the game and fizzles out into nonsense.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
But at the same time, RPG mechanics and elements were stripped down to nothing, the plot shifts gears completely some portion of the game and fizzles out into nonsense.
I don't care much about that.
All I care for if it's a good game that's fun and engaging.
And yes. If course it fizzles out into nonsense at the end... like every single FF game. Seriously... don't even think about playing rebirth if you think ff16 is nonsense :p
 

Doom85

Member
Both XV and XVI forced my hand in dropping them roughly halfway through, but I’ll give XV this, it didn’t seemed to be ashamed of being part of a RPG series. XVI’s RPG elements, the ones that are even there, are so barebones that it’s honestly insulting to fans of this RPG series. It’s the fucking Paper Mario: Sticker Star of the Final Fantasy series.

Cid (and we all know what happens there) and the music are the only noteworthy things in XVI. Everything else is so lackluster. Jill? Barely any character agency. Gameplay? Almost every Platinum Games and Devil May Cry and such are better than this weak attempt at a character action game. Party system? Pretty much non-existent, and the game looked for any flimsy excuse to have Clive alone anyway. Exploration? Oh yes, a few Gil and crafting materials you have already have a massive overload of that you don’t need, yaaaaaaaay. Villains? Underdeveloped. Also, I love seeing several awesome-looking locales in the distance or in a cutscene and then the game telling me to go fuck myself if I actually wanted to go there myself. Worldbuilding? Shit, and no I’m not going to a part of the base to read a book that explains everything, none of the other FFs had this issue. For fucks sake, even the map doesn’t properly label countries and such.

Also, Clive’s personal character story is so questionably similar to Velvet’s personal character story in Tales of Berseria, including having several plot twists be near identical, but Velvet’s character story and twists were handled FAR better, in fact those plot twists in XVI were so incompetently handled I assumed there was going to be another twist to justify it, but no, the XVI writers were just that shit at their job.

Give me this revenge-obsessed lead over the poor man’s substitute any day of the week.

tales of berseria GIF by Funimation
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
That end fight was fucking NUTS though 🤣

Dragon Ball indeed. And then some. We’re gonna have big laser blast wars in the cosmos…between two people 😆😃 It becomes damn near a bullet hell at one point.

I loved it. I think right now in terms of pure spectacle, particularly with bosses, the game is unmatched.
 
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what the actual fuck. It's dragon ball z in medieval got setting.
The action is through the roof, graphics are amazing, music is breath taking.
Sure, there is some downtime in the middle of it. maybe a bit too long. But I feel you are exaggerating

I dropped the game after 10hrs as I found it absolutely boring. Maybe first 3-4 hours were interesting, then it became just bland sauce and this is coming from somebody that loved and has a plat trophy in FF15. Also only good graphics are at the beginning, after you get to mid part it is jarring how they can go from looking amazing to PS3 level textures. Game is all over the place. I wouldnt call it bad but a very forgettable FF.
 
I don't care much about that.
All I care for if it's a good game that's fun and engaging.
And yes. If course it fizzles out into nonsense at the end... like every single FF game. Seriously... don't even think about playing rebirth if you think ff16 is nonsense :p
Not saying you can't like it, but stripping out aspects that make it Final Fantasy seems very questionable to me and absolutely affected my enjoyment.
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
Also Dion, one of the best, most badass gay characters in gaming. I’m surprised I haven’t see any blue hair game journo articles about him. Probably because he was normal. His sexuality wasn’t his identity. It was meaningless aside from knowing that he was in a relationship with Terence.

Dude was excellent.
 
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KillaJamm

Member
Liked the boss battles, but everything else was meh, and never seen worse side quests in a game, they were terrible. I usually strive to see everything a game has to offer but I just couldn't force myself through the final lot. Sold it once the main quest was finished just couldn't imagine playing it again.
 

TheUsual

Gold Member
I'm right at the point of no return. All side quests done, all hunts done, and all items for the Wall of Memory collected. (less the one you get for completing all Chronilith trials...I tried one and wasn't my cup of tea

My thoughts to this point is the game is greater than the sum of it's parts. I've been having a fantastic overall experience. Something about it feels like I'm playing a final fantasy game from the SNES era (crystals, God's, the medieval style world). Still more thoughts to come. Expect to beat this weekend.
 
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TheUsual

Gold Member
So I finished it last night.
I stick with my last post that the game is greater than the sum of its parts.
It was a grand adventure that kept pulling me in.
The game does have issues where the loot system was lacking and a lot of the sidequests were the basic "go to x, kill z, return to quest giver", but I enjoyed it all.

Combat system was fine to me. I get why people did not like it : it plays like an action game. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't really elemental weaknesses and strengths with enemies. But I had fun with the systems that did let me overlook that. I can totally see people not overlooking this as well.

Ambiguous ending but I'm confident that Clive didn't die on the beach and only his hand turned to stone after all the magic had finally left. He penned the book in the epilogue with Joshua's name in honor of him (also Clive hinted he would write down his adventures when you finish a specific sidequest with Harpocrates)
Jill crying at the end but then smiling when the sun started rising to me was a reference from her final side quest where she talks about how Clive always returns to her just like the dawn always comes. That is what I see in that end scene.
 
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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
So I finished it last night.
I stick with my last post that the game is greater than the sum of its parts.
It was a grand adventure that kept pulling me in.
The does have issues where the loot system was lacking and a lot of the sidequests were the basic "go to x, kill z, return to quest giver", but I enjoyed it all.

Combat system was fine to me. I get why people did not like it : it plays like an action game. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't really elemental weaknesses and strengths with enemies. But I had fun with the systems that did let me overlook that. I can totally see people not overlooking this as well.

Ambiguous ending but I'm confident that Clive didn't die on the beach and only his hand turned to stone after all the magic had finally left. He penned the book in the epilogue with Joshua's name in honor of him (also Clive hinted he would write down his adventures when you finish a specific sidequest with Harpocrates)
Jill crying at the end but then smiling when the sun started rising to me was a reference from her final side quest where she talks about how Clive always returns to her just like the dawn always comes. That is what I see in that end scene.
You played both dlc? I am thinking if I want to do that.
I loved the base game on release. Felt so grandeur and fantasy. Like you describe feeling of playing super nes rpg as a kid including imagination.
Where is the pro patch you assholes
 

TheUsual

Gold Member
You played both dlc? I am thinking if I want to do that.
I loved the base game on release. Felt so grandeur and fantasy. Like you describe feeling of playing super nes rpg as a kid including imagination.
Where is the pro patch you assholes
I didn't touch the DLC and don't plan on it.

Rising Tides I understand is solid while Echoes of The Fallen is seen as more of a mixed bag. I'll just read about the plots of each as I understand they don't impact the base game's story.
 

Madflavor

Member
what the actual fuck. It's dragon ball z in medieval got setting.
The action is through the roof, graphics are amazing, music is breath taking.
Sure, there is some downtime in the middle of it. maybe a bit too long. But I feel you are exaggerating

That downtime is what sinks the game though. No I’m not advocating for constant nonstop spectacle and action. But even downtime should be fun. And the downtime in FFXVI is very bad. The side quests are terrible, there’s WAY too much talking, there’s nothing to explore and discover in the world, the crafting system is very barebones, and there are no minigames. What makes it worse is the downtime usually lasts 3-5 hours, and much of it is required to progress the story.

8 hours of this game is incredible. There are 10/10 moments. But between those 10/10 moments are extremely boring sections that drag on and on. By comparison FFX had lots of downtime and slow sections compared to the big set pieces. But at no point does FFX waste its time. Every moment is either enriching the characters you’re traveling with, or expanding the world and its lore. And it does it in far less time than XVI. All those moments have those characters in new and interesting locations, meeting new people, and teaching you more about Spira. FFXVI takes the opposite approach where instead of “less is more”, they go with “more is more.” And unfortunately the writing isn’t good enough to justify the excessive dialogue. Its downtime moments are all the same. It’s just Clive statically standing in front of an NPC while the camera keeps switching between the same two angles of the characters, as they talk on and on and on.
 
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DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
That downtime is what sinks the game though. No I’m not advocating for constant nonstop spectacle and action. But even downtime should be fun. And the downtime in FFXVI is very bad. The side quests are terrible, there’s WAY too much talking, there’s nothing to explore and discover in the world, the crafting system is very barebones, and there are no minigames. What makes it worse is the downtime usually lasts 3-5 hours, and much of it is required to progress the story.

8 hours of this game is incredible. There are 10/10 moments. But between those 10/10 moments are extremely boring sections that drag on and on. By comparison FFX had lots of downtime and slow sections compared to the big set pieces. But at no point does FFX waste its time. Every moment is either enriching the characters you’re traveling with, or expanding the world and its lore. And it does it in far less time than XVI. All those moments have those characters in new and interesting locations, meeting new people, and teaching you more about Spira. FFXVI takes the opposite approach where instead of “less is more”, they go with “more is more.” And unfortunately the writing isn’t good enough to justify the excessive dialogue. Its downtime moments are all the same. It’s just Clive statically standing in front of an NPC while the camera keeps switching between the same two angles of the characters, as they talk on and on and on.
lol yeah “some downtime” is an understatement. More like “80% of this 60 hour game is boring trash but the other 20% is good”
 

Griffon

Member
The game could've been good. But the quest/designer team clearly didn't know how to actually make it a good RPG. Among other issues, the pacing is atrocious and completely ruins everything else.
 
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Oberstein

Member
It's fascinating how divided this FF is. The ratings (IGN, Gamespot) were quick to give it a 9/10.

On the one hand, they praise the game's desire to “not waste too much time” with a bloated open-world, and on the other, they hate it for not being FF enough in its mechanics.

Without having played it, I also have the impression that the lore isn't very well developed, which is precisely a crucial point of the previous episodes. Now I can't judge it yet, but I'll have to sooner or later.
 
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