IGN FF16 review is almost like a critique of FF14's own issues

[Rolder50]

I have to wonder what a review for FF16 would look like if it didn't have the Final Fantasy brand recognition. Seems like so long as it has Final Fantasy in the name, it just needs to be marginally competent to get a 9 or 10

[AwesomeJr44]

I have to wonder what a review for FF16 would look like if it didn't have the Final Fantasy brand recognition. Seems like so long as it has Final Fantasy in the name, it just needs to be marginally competent to get a 9 or 10

From what I've generally seen and heard, it'd probably be considered somewhere around a 6 or 7 out of 10. A fairly good game, but nowhere near a masterpiece.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Well. Physical sales of FF16 have apparently tanked in Japan. Says they dropped by 90% after the first week. Now we just need someone to confirm if Digital sales did something similar.

[Kazhar]

I have to wonder what a review for FF16 would look like if it didn't have the Final Fantasy brand recognition. Seems like so long as it has Final Fantasy in the name, it just needs to be marginally competent to get a 9 or 10

The name certainly worked in their favor for sales, but I'm not sure it had an impact on reviews.
It can work both ways. Players and critics could also be harsher on a product because its part of a franchise which invokes a certain quality standard.
Many argued back in the day that FFXII would have been an instant cult classic if it wasn't called FF.

[R041]

Doesnt matter in the end, as the min/maxers WILL create a meta "to be OPTIMAL you must use this and this and this and not that as you lose 0.00000001 dps" as well as the usual bring the class not the player.

Sorry but true. When you hear people spouting about issues with a miniscule difference in dps, thats what we will see. or the other usual gatekeeping "why do you "need " this gear it is for RAIDERS only..etc etc.

Min / maxers are spreadsheet addicts writ large.

I can't actually tell if you're for or against stats and varying equipment.. But what I will say is, when Mario Kart has more stat and equipment variation than both XIV and XVI combined.. We got a problem. lol

And regardless of meta, I'll still always pick Yoshi. My fun is my fun.

[Katt_Felista]

Hmmm, no, while fF14 expansions have a lot of cutscenes they aren't "as" prevalent and present as in FFF16 the BIG difference also in an mmo like FF14 is that it is AFTER the story and cutscenes that you get a consequential END GAME and a huge part of the game opens to you, while in FF16, when you finish the story, you don't have this huge library of content (raids, craft, expert dungeons, collectibles, mounts, pets, item chase, cosmetic chase, gold saucer, chocobo races, savage dungeons, deep dungeons, bozja, ultimates, fates, many many many ways into completionism).

And yet FF14 still has a lot of the final fantasy magic in it, despite pushing us toward killing gods and destroying aether, that is a Yoshi P vision i don't like and i wish the game doesn't completely fall into, i wouldn't like having a mmo stripped of viera, roethgars and catgirls / boys even if it ment a huge cataclysm leaving only them morphed into humans (you can see a few examples of this in some humans that have the stature and thickness of rothgars and roegadyn in FF16 that are a callout to these specific humanoids) FF16 feels like a humanized down world of what was FF14 a thousand of year after we got the world of eorzea rid of primals, the 12 previous gods and 12 current gods, Hydaelyn "when there is nothing left you can only count on yourself, believe in you" is a clear warning sign that the mmo story wants to stir to this direction of "human" are only what is going to be left roaming the world at some point. And i'm not fond of a final fantasy stripped out of it's fantasy, clearly this is what it would be.

I see Yoshi P's vision of Final Fantasy as something really sad stripping it from it's core juice and heart as more of a finance individual then a real creative type respecting FF's lore, mythology and creatures, i don't want FF to end up being just a medieval "without most of the fantasy" online.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Hmmm, no, while fF14 expansions have a lot of cutscenes they aren't "as" prevalent and present as in FFF16 the BIG difference also in an mmo like FF14 is that it is AFTER the story and cutscenes that you get a consequential END GAME and a huge part of the game opens to you, while in FF16, when you finish the story, you don't have this huge library of content (raids, craft, expert dungeons, collectibles, mounts, pets, item chase, cosmetic chase, gold saucer, chocobo races, savage dungeons, deep dungeons, bozja, ultimates, fates, many many many ways into completionism).

And yet FF14 still has a lot of the final fantasy magic in it, despite pushing us toward killing gods and destroying aether, that is a Yoshi P vision i don't like and i wish the game doesn't completely fall into, i wouldn't like having a mmo stripped of viera, roethgars and catgirls / boys even if it ment a huge cataclysm leaving only them morphed into humans (you can see a few examples of this in some humans that have the stature and thickness of rothgars and roegadyn in FF16 that are a callout to these specific humanoids) FF16 feels like a humanized down world of what was FF14 a thousand of year after we got the world of eorzea rid of primals, the 12 previous gods and 12 current gods, Hydaelyn "when there is nothing left you can only count on yourself, believe in you" is a clear warning sign that the mmo story wants to stir to this direction of "human" are only what is going to be left roaming the world at some point. And i'm not fond of a final fantasy stripped out of it's fantasy, clearly this is what it would be.

I see Yoshi P's vision of Final Fantasy as something really sad stripping it from it's core juice and heart as more of a finance individual then a real creative type respecting FF's lore, mythology and creatures, i don't want FF to end up being just a medieval "without most of the fantasy" online.

I fail to see that with that last point you made. Nowhere is there a complete "killing" of the fantasy elements. If you actually played the full game of FFXVI the further you go in the further it delves into the typical FF formula of ancient magic and gods trying to mess up your good Saturday.

[Kyrj]

I have to wonder what a review for FF16 would look like if it didn't have the Final Fantasy brand recognition. Seems like so long as it has Final Fantasy in the name, it just needs to be marginally competent to get a 9 or 10

This is actually the best way to look at games and movies. You find out that "bad" games are actually quite good and "good" games are actually quite horrible.

[R041]

I fail to see that with that last point you made. Nowhere is there a complete "killing" of the fantasy elements. If you actually played the full game of FFXVI the further you go in the further it delves into the typical FF formula of ancient magic and gods trying to mess up your good Saturday.

I thought I was going to play an engaging game, not just watch Kingsglaive 2.

[Ephremjlm]

Monsua - I don't think I could have said it any better myself.

On one hand, I have to acknowledge how great Yoshi P. is at managing, as along with money from FF11 Yoshi P. helped the company make a turn around, and i'm grateful for that. But I just don't see him as a creative visionary and if anything he hasn't really shown an ability to innovate or "better" gameplay in either FF14, or FF16. They just copy and then homogenize from there. And from what I have seen in his interviews via the FFXI 20th anniversary, and one of the FF16 press releases, he seems to have this idea that everything should be homogenized, easier, and that traditional RPG elements don't work.

These are sentiments I fully understand from a business and financial perspective, but its not something I want to hear from a leader of arguably the biggest creative team at one of my favorite gaming companies where their focus should be on trying to come out with the best product they possible can. And now with the success of Baldurs Gate 3, it seems like a lot of the excuses and arguments for things that we have been told aren't manageable or that aren't profitable are being shattered as myth, since a much smaller team has accomplished alchemizing gold.

That said, I have to 100% acknowledge that Yoshi P. has garnered his own (i think mostly non endemic) fan base, and they do generally outnumber the fans who are more likely endemic to games with RPG elements. My real worry is that because of that, I wonder what SE's action will be from here on forward. I mean I honestly consider myself a casual, as in I can play games considered "hardcore" (FF11) casually without spending 5 hours a day and don't always pick the hardest settings, but I like to actually try in games given I have the time. But this fan base seems to be that of "Ultra Casuals" who obviously don't hold the same gamer values so to speak, and actively shoot down any criticism that could be used to make the games better. If that's the case, it makes me so insanely hopeful for FF7R2. Yeah i'm not stoked that the best game SE has come out with in a while is a remake, but I REALLY appreciate the fact that the team is actively working on innovating the genre, something SE used to be known for, and pushing the boundaries of what an RPG can actually be combat wise, without relinquishing what made Final Fantasy's gameplay the gold standard for RPG's.

Anyways this is just a game/franchise, and I don't have any personal ill will toward Yoshi P., I just think that his creative visions is so far removed from my personal tastes which Final Fantasy as a brand used to perfectly nail. And admittedly it kinda hurts and it worries me for the future as he currently has a very high standing in the company.