Final Fantasy 16 (PS5)

[Shareefruck]

The criticism of MMO-style fetch quests, which is present in even some of the good reviews, does confirm some of my reservations, though. Sounds like there might be enough good to make up for that, hopefully.

 

[JimmyApples]

Apparently in Performance mode, combat dips to 720p at times

 

[aleshemsky83]

Apparently in Performance mode, combat dips to 720p at times

This is why I’m only gonna play in 30 fps mode. I need 4K.

 

[Shareefruck]

Definitely have some reservations about the post-demo stuff.

 

[JaegerDice]

Skill Up sums up my thoughts better than me:




10 hours in, this feels like a mid-level DMC-clone wrapped in Game of Thrones fan fiction and a sky-high production budget. I was hoping for better. Ill keep playing, but impressions thus far arent great.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Skill Up sums up my thoughts better than me:




10 hours in, this feels like a mid-level DMC-clone wrapped in Game of Thrones fan fiction and a sky-high production budget. I was hoping for better. Ill keep playing, but impressions thus far arent great.

All he does is compare it to the FF series so it’s hard to take his review too serious. He should be reviewing the game in itself not comparing it to previous FF games.

I’m only 7 hours in and loving it. But to be fair I grew VERY tired of open world games and lose interest fast as i got older, i love that it’s more linear again.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I’m not making any lasting judgments on the story until the credits roll. But I don’t see how people can continue to say it’s “Game of Thrones fan fiction.” I understand Yoshida himself cited AsoiaF as a general atmospheric inspiration, but FF16 is clearly much more influenced by kaiju and Japanese storytelling conventions.

It’s very much a Final Fantasy in all its extravagance and weirdness. I’m used to Yoshida’s style of games so none of the lack of exploration or hallway dungeon stuff has bothered me. It’s just not a focus in his games and I didn’t expect it to be.

I am enjoying the more grounded historicity of the world and politics and characters. It reminds me of the Ivalice games. And the music is top notch.

Overall, it hasn’t exceeded nor failed to meet my expectations yet. But again, I have 4.5k hours in FF14. I know how Yoshida organizes his games.

Also, big LOL at Skill Up for shitting on the combat system while praising every square inch of Nier Automata. I love Nier but all of the criticisms you can level at 16’s combat can be pointed at NA’s.

 

[Shareefruck]

If anything, I'm disappointed that it seems to get less and less Final Fantasy Tactics as it goes.

So far, it's messy and there are things that I find meandering and underwhelming about its moment to moment storytelling techniques, but certain central moments keep making me go "maybe I'm being too hard on it".

One thing that I hate about it so far is how it keeps using that "Oh no, we're surrounded and about to die!" *gets conveniently saved at the last second by some surprise gory kill from another party/new power* trope. It keeps happening, almost the exact same way, over and over. Feels like such clumsy story progression to me.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I’m not making any lasting judgments on the story until the credits roll. But I don’t see how people can continue to say it’s “Game of Thrones fan fiction.” I understand Yoshida himself cited AsoiaF as a general atmospheric inspiration, but FF16 is clearly much more influenced by kaiju and Japanese storytelling conventions.

It’s very much a Final Fantasy in all its extravagance and weirdness. I’m used to Yoshida’s style of games so none of the lack of exploration or hallway dungeon stuff has bothered me. It’s just not a focus in his games and I didn’t expect it to be.

I am enjoying the more grounded historicity of the world and politics and characters. It reminds me of the Ivalice games. And the music is top notch.

Overall, it hasn’t exceeded nor failed to meet my expectations yet. But again, I have 4.5k hours in FF14. I know how Yoshida organizes his games.

Also, big LOL at Skill Up for shitting on the combat system while praising every square inch of Nier Automata. I love Nier but all of the criticisms you can level at 16’s combat can be pointed at NA’s.

Yea i’m actually disappointed it’s not more like Game or Thrones, so i’m not sure how people are comparing it so heavily. From the demo I thought it would be but since then, eh.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

If anything, I'm disappointed that it seems to get less and less Final Fantasy Tactics (which is essentially the GOT vibe) as it goes.

So far, it's messy and there are things that I find meandering and underwhelming about its moment to moment storytelling techniques, but certain central moments keep making me go "maybe I'm being too hard on it".

One thing that I hate about it so far is how it keeps using that "Oh no, we're surrounded and about to die!" *gets saved at the last second by some surprise gory kill from another party/new power* trope. It keeps happening, almost the exact same way, over and over. Feels like such clumsy story progression to me.

I know you asked another poster how the writing shapes up to 14’s, and I can say with confidence that the writing in 14 is superior (at least so far).

It’s also important to point out that Yoshida is not a writer/director like Matsuno was. The universally praised stories in 14’s Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions were written by Ishikawa, who is probably the best traditionalist writer in gaming today, IMO. She is a truly gifted writer, and came to prominence writing side content for Heavensward (famously, the Dark Knight job questline).

To my understanding, the world and story of 16 was written by Takai, who received quite a bit of acclaim for his work on Heavensward’s main story but criticism for his work on Last Remnant and SaGa.

Koji Fox is the localization expert and crafts a lot of the individual dialogue. He has done a fantastic job in FF14 and seems to be at the top of his game here in 16.

It’s best to think of Yoshida like Sakaguchi. He is a fantastic project manager and cares a lot about his games. He has a real brilliance for spotting talent among his staff and elevating those people to positions of importance. His discovery of Ishikawa and subsequent promotion of her to writing the main story of Shadowbringers is the main reason 14 is so popular today.

Edit: about where are you in the story, Sharee? Curious. I just got through the first big Eikon fight, and the story seems to be picking up here rather than losing steam. Immediate post-demo stuff was a bit meh to me, too.

 

[Shareefruck]

I know you asked another poster how the writing shapes up to 14’s, and I can say with confidence that the writing in 14 is superior (at least so far).

It’s also important to point out that Yoshida is not a writer/director like Matsuno was. The universally praised stories in 14’s Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions were written by Ishikawa, who is probably the best traditionalist writer in gaming today, IMO. She is a truly gifted writer, and came to prominence writing side content for Heavensward (famously, the Dark Knight job questline).

To my understanding, the world and story of 16 was written by Takai, who received quite a bit of acclaim for his work on Heavensward’s main story but criticism for his work on Last Remnant and SaGa.

Koji Fox is the localization expert and crafts a lot of the individual dialogue. He has done a fantastic job in FF14 and seems to be at the top of his game here in 16.

It’s best to think of Yoshida like Sakaguchi. He is a fantastic project manager and cares a lot about his games. He has a real brilliance for spotting talent among his staff and elevating those people to positions of importance. His discovery of Ishikawa and subsequent promotion of her to writing the main story of Shadowbringers is the main reason 14 is so popular today.

Edit: about where are you in the story, Sharee? Curious. I just got through the first big Eikon fight, and the story seems to be picking up here rather than losing steam. Immediate post-demo stuff was a bit meh to me, too.

That's interesting.

I'm about where Clive returns to Rosaria. At the big Hugo scene.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

That's interesting.

I'm about where Clive returns to Rosaria. At the big Hugo scene.

Okay so you’re ahead of me.

A lot of my friends are all sharing similar concerns. Some overuse of tropes, and quite a few scenes feel a little truncated.

Definitely interested in where this all goes, though. And I am enjoying the combat, music, and overall spectacle, the latter two being core to what I consider “Final Fantasy.”

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Okay so you’re ahead of me.

A lot of my friends are all sharing similar concerns. Some overuse of tropes, and quite a few scenes feel a little truncated.

Definitely interested in where this all goes, though. And I am enjoying the combat, music, and overall spectacle, the latter two being core to what I consider “Final Fantasy.”

Yes i have to say, music is easily 10/10!

 

[Jovavic]

Maybe I'm not very good yet but the boss fight about five hours in the caer took all my healing items and it really was the one who got the last blow in won cuz I would've lost if I got hit again lol. Great game overall thus far.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Lifes been busy so I'm behind you guys but I really like it so far. Feels like Nier Automata with the cutscene focus and excess of a Xenoblade game. Somehow still very much feels Final Fantasy despite being quite different from every other mainline single player entry.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Lifes been busy so I'm behind you guys but I really like it so far. Feels like Nier Automata with the cutscene focus and excess of a Xenoblade game. Somehow still very much feels Final Fantasy despite being quite different from every other mainline single player entry.

This is a surprisingly good way to sum up my thoughts so far, too. It takes bits and pieces of a lot of different single player ARPGs over the years.

I don’t understand the “it’s too much like GoT” criticisms. I don’t see anything GoT or western in the emphasis on these titanic Eikon fights and their effect on the world. It’s very kaiju and weird and classic FF, IMO.

I think the criticisms about some of the truncated scene to scene storytelling are valid. I also think the exploration and itemization criticisms are valid. But Yoshida’s games have never focused on exploration and itemization. These are weak areas in FF14, too.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Fantastic so far, so f***ing epic.

Too bad the exploration fps is crap. That's the real negative that might get fixed at some point.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Fantastic so far, so f***ing epic.

Too bad the exploration fps is crap. That's the real negative that might get fixed at some point.

I just switched to graphics mode instead of performance. I believe graphics is locked to 30fps but it’s very stable. No issues at all.

Performance mode is terrible and last I heard they’re trying to fix it.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

I just switched to graphics mode instead of performance. I believe graphics is locked to 30fps but it’s very stable. No issues at all.

Performance mode is terrible and last I heard they’re trying to fix it.

For me 30 fps is trash, it would just kill the excellent combat.

Rather take the smooth combat and live with the unlocked exploration fps than choose choppy everything.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

For me 30 fps is trash, it would just kill the excellent combat.

Rather take the smooth combat and live with the unlocked exploration fps than choose choppy everything.

Hmm. I found graphics mode much less juttery and enjoyable. And I’m used to gaming at 175hz.

At the end of the day it’s a personal call for sure!

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Hmm. I found graphics mode much less juttery and enjoyable. And I’m used to gaming at 175hz.

At the end of the day it’s a personal call for sure!

Yeah it's more stable. However, I don't want 30 fps gaming it just feels wrong and always takes me out of the experience.

Great game though. Really into the story and the combat kicks ass. So many fantastic moments.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Yeah it's more stable. However, I don't want 30 fps gaming it just feels wrong and always takes me out of the experience.

Great game though. Really into the story and the combat kicks ass. So many fantastic moments.

Agreed. I experienced a bit of a lull immediately post-demo because I was struggling with the combat. But everything has clicked since then. The most fun I’ve had with a mainline FF since 12. The combat is immensely satisfying when you utilize all the tools the game gives you.

 

[Gardner McKay]

So the general feedback is that this game is fairly linear? If so, I may get it sooner than later. Don't have a ton of time these days so the more linear the better.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

So the general feedback is that this game is fairly linear? If so, I may get it sooner than later. Don't have a ton of time these days so the more linear the better.

Definitely more on the linear side but not like everything is just a long hallway. There are open areas (some bigger than others) but there isnt any exploring all over the place like in 15 which i hated. I just dont have time for open world games anymore.

 

[RandV]

I think the criticisms about some of the truncated scene to scene storytelling are valid. I also think the exploration and itemization criticisms are valid. But Yoshida’s games have never focused on exploration and itemization. These are weak areas in FF14, too.

Definately a big weak area for me when I played FF14. I'm curious for 16 though, while I don't expect my Final Fantasy to be an 'exploration' game how does it compare to FF XII? I feel like that hit the right spot for a more modern approach to a JRPG.