Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[TheMightyMollusk]

Tried out the FFXVI demo. Thoughts in spoiler tag, starting with the TL;DR version......

.....Eh. Doesn't look like my kind of thing.

Graphics are nice enough. The art style is.....every medieval fantasy game on the market today. Aside from the chocobos, nothing really says Final Fantasy about it. The human faces are just realistic enough to start hitting the uncanny valley for me, and the sudden transitions between the pre-rendered cut scenes and the actual gameplay models are jarring. The eikons are impressive, but they're so detailed and busy that I had a hard time following what was going on sometimes. The puppy was cute, at least.

The story doesn't really draw me in either. Clive's pretty dull, the "evil empire betrays the peaceful neighbor kingdom" starting point isn't anything all that interesting, and about the only note about any of the characters that stuck out to me is that I swear the dragoon boss has Estinien's English voice actor. I know, it's less than two hours into a Final Fantasy game, I'm sure there'll be more to them later in the game, but nobody really had any particular charm or compelling points. Again, it just felt like every medieval fantasy on the market.

There isn't much to the combat in such a short demo, so I won't say much about it. Standard action-RPG early gameplay, reminded me of a Tales game. The fight between Phoenix and Ifrit Eikon of Fire felt like it could've been about a third of the length and had the same impact, if not more.

So, yeah, I'll wait for reviews, but as it stands now, I'm passing.

[Boblawblah]

Tried out the FFXVI demo. Thoughts in spoiler tag, starting with the TL;DR version......

.....Eh. Doesn't look like my kind of thing.

Graphics are nice enough. The art style is.....every medieval fantasy game on the market today. Aside from the chocobos, nothing really says Final Fantasy about it. The human faces are just realistic enough to start hitting the uncanny valley for me, and the sudden transitions between the pre-rendered cut scenes and the actual gameplay models are jarring. The eikons are impressive, but they're so detailed and busy that I had a hard time following what was going on sometimes. The puppy was cute, at least.

The story doesn't really draw me in either. Clive's pretty dull, the "evil empire betrays the peaceful neighbor kingdom" starting point isn't anything all that interesting, and about the only note about any of the characters that stuck out to me is that I swear the dragoon boss has Estinien's English voice actor. I know, it's less than two hours into a Final Fantasy game, I'm sure there'll be more to them later in the game, but nobody really had any particular charm or compelling points. Again, it just felt like every medieval fantasy on the market.

There isn't much to the combat in such a short demo, so I won't say much about it. Standard action-RPG early gameplay, reminded me of a Tales game. The fight between Phoenix and Ifrit Eikon of Fire felt like it could've been about a third of the length and had the same impact, if not more.

So, yeah, I'll wait for reviews, but as it stands now, I'm passing.

This is almost word for word, my EXACT thoughts as well.

- combat okay, on the easy side, but okay
- Clive was..there? Spent entirely too much time gazing longingly at literally anything/everything.
- even for a FF game, a bit too much press forward for two hours
- Eikon fights are cutscenes disguised as battles (go ahead and try to die in the Ifrit vs Pheonix fight, you'll start to see how scripted it is)
- a bit too 'YEA, WE SAID "F*CK" AND "CO*K", AND WE HAD THIS MOUSTACHE TWIRLING VILLAIN MURDER PEOPLE' edgy for my tastes.
- I'm not sure why people are comparing it at all to FFXIV, it felt NOTHING like it. I was hoping some of the story telling from FFXIV would come out, but I'm not seeing it so far.

[Fawkes]

This is almost word for word, my EXACT thoughts as well.

- combat okay, on the easy side, but okay
- Clive was..there? Spent entirely too much time gazing longingly at literally anything/everything.
- even for a FF game, a bit too much press forward for two hours
- Eikon fights are cutscenes disguised as battles (go ahead and try to die in the Ifrit vs Pheonix fight, you'll start to see how scripted it is)
- a bit too 'YEA, WE SAID "F*CK" AND "CO*K", AND WE HAD THIS MOUSTACHE TWIRLING VILLAIN MURDER PEOPLE' edgy for my tastes.
- I'm not sure why people are comparing it at all to FFXIV, it felt NOTHING like it. I was hoping some of the story telling from FFXIV would come out, but I'm not seeing it so far.

You can really feel the game of thrones influence, and I did not care for what I saw of game of thrones.

[Rannie]

This is almost word for word, my EXACT thoughts as well.

- combat okay, on the easy side, but okay
- Clive was..there? Spent entirely too much time gazing longingly at literally anything/everything.
- even for a FF game, a bit too much press forward for two hours
- Eikon fights are cutscenes disguised as battles (go ahead and try to die in the Ifrit vs Pheonix fight, you'll start to see how scripted it is)
- a bit too 'YEA, WE SAID "F*CK" AND "CO*K", AND WE HAD THIS MOUSTACHE TWIRLING VILLAIN MURDER PEOPLE' edgy for my tastes.
- I'm not sure why people are comparing it at all to FFXIV, it felt NOTHING like it. I was hoping some of the story telling from FFXIV would come out, but I'm not seeing it so far.

A bit of what I felt and Clive looked like the stand in for our PC in this game only with a bit more beard and a tattoo lol also reminded me of a male Lightning. The whole story gave me vibes of ffxiii combined with bits of ffxv and ffxi for some bits. A friend of mine said young clive looked like Vaan.

[Antharaes]

Only watched the trailer and was not impressed...at all. It didn't speak to me, not like XIV does. So no, I'll pass.

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

FF16 looks rad and a lot of big names in the gaming sector are loving it.

[Renalt]

I'm holding off on 16 strictly because of how bad 15 was. I will wait till the "Royal Edition" version of 16 is out...for $20.

Even then it'll be a maybe.

[TheMightyMollusk]

I never played XV. Dudebro road trip doesn't appeal to me.

[Renalt]

I never played XV. Dudebro road trip doesn't appeal to me.

It's too easy and I quit. The recipe dude breaks the game. He has a special move that heals everyone to full and it only requires 2 bars so you can use it several times in a single long fight. You can make magic that ups the XP gained so you can sit there and craft a damage spell that's aoe and gives lots of XP per kill. So you wait there till the empire drops drones on ya and you nuke them as soon as they land. Enjoy 5 levels per spell cast.

I can't ignore a game breaking mechanic if you wrap it in a bow and hand it to me. I'm going to use it.

[Deo14]

I've enjoyed FF15 and I'm not afraid to say it. Was it best game I've ever played? No. Was it clearly unfinished? Yes, what the hell was that power plant chapter. Combat was bland, story was not the best, and game overall was too easy. But I really liked open world and that neutral ending, where it's up to you to decide whether it was good or bad. Game had pretty high peaks (and unfortunately low lows). Overall, it was definitely one of the better games released. It even ran buttery smooth on my mid PC.

As for FF16, I've heard in some interview something about DMC5-like combat. But in demo, it looks like DMC5 combat for toddlers to be honest. I was expecting something more similar to this eye candy. Even official combat trailer which includes combat later in game does seem pretty simple, but with more flashy effects and spells. Setting doesn't seem something super crazy or innovative and it's not even open world. It just looks like a good game, nothing seems extraordinary. Eikon fights don't look like something new either, FF15 had similar god-like mode for Leviathan and final fight. If you watch that Leviathan video, it has spoilers from both sides, but there are no spoilers from the timestamp I linked all the way to the 13:34. Anyways, I sure am not going to buy PS5 just for FF16, so I'll have more than enough time to see how good it really is.