Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[RicaRuin]

My mind is zooming in on the fact that there are both a red-eyed Ifrit and a blue-eyed Ifrit. Significance? I think the latter might be Clive.

[Theodric]

I find the realism to be refreshing. There's no shortage of games with goofy, light hearted moments and a lack of stakes. The Witcher is a fairly gritty game and yet that sold like ice cream on a hot day. Same with Elden Ring.

[MikkoAkure]

I understand that one completely. A lot of games seemingly aiming for the same level of realism, and it can get tiring. The only reason why I'm letting this one slide is because it's the FF14 team doing it (you know how cinematic they are), and because if the writer is indeed the one behind Heavensward, then these graphics will meet his level of storytelling. I don't deny though that I'm hoping for a bit of goofiness between the serious stuff shown, like ending up in a Moogle village full of moogles that we need a child to act as a translator for (that can act as a bit of a minigame hub).

The writer is the guy responsible for ARR and 3.0. His credits from 3.1-4.0 are "Development Supervisor" and ever since then he's "Special Thanks". Before ARR, he was a battle/event/quest planner for the Ivalice games.

[Kolsykol]

I find the realism to be refreshing. There's no shortage of games with goofy, light hearted moments and a lack of stakes. The Witcher is a fairly gritty game and yet that sold like ice cream on a hot day. Same with Elden Ring.

They do sell for sure.
I mean it's the same reason why I was disappointed with the redesigns in Street Fighter 6.
Do they '' make sense '' for the story they're going with and look closer to what people irl wear etc?
Sure..

But there's just something really dull and bland about them to me.
One of my favorite things with fighting games are the crazy and super expressive character designs.
But Chun Li for example, her redesign could as well be a new Chinese martial artist in a totally different game.
There's just nothing about it that makes me think of Chun Li and it really doesn't have any aspects to it that stands out, not even the spiked bracelets.
It feels so restrained and bland by comparison.
I don't believe that anyone will remember it the way her OG costume is remembered, not because it's the OG but because it's just simply a more unique, fun and expressive design.

If we're talking about indie games then you do have a lot of that I guess, but when it comes to the big titles I think we're just losing more and more IP's to the '' realism and gritty '' thing.
The Witcher didn't really feel '' performatively realistic and gritty '' to me tho which is how I'd describe most of this, visually it was honestly quite bright which in the end of the day is closer to real life.
In '' realistic and gritty '' shows and games colors get desaturated, they're often unnaturally grey.
And there was a fair bit of comedy in the Witcher too.

I am just trying to think of games in recent memories that aren't indie which weren't like this, and all I can think of is sequels and reboots that used to be but aren't anymore.
But yeah I never said they don't sell well, I don't really believe that something selling well is a sign of something being good either tho.
The Marvel movies and Disney shows/ movies are incredibly popular but I think they're kinda garbage tbh lol.
I am sure we can think of a ton of examples of this in gaming too, the average person has a mild interest in games and tends to want something more familiar and vanilla I think.

[Vyrerus]

My mind is zooming in on the fact that there are both a red-eyed Ifrit and a blue-eyed Ifrit. Significance? I think the latter might be Clive.

They are likely both Clive. I think what happens is whoever the bad guy is sets off some sort of catalyst in Clive to turn him into Ifrit, and he'll accidentally kill Joshua sparking the time skip to his branded face and older self seeking revenge.

Edit for clarity: Red eyes Ifrit is Clive without control. Blue Eyes is Clive has learned control.

[MikkoAkure]

They are likely both Clive. I think what happens is whoever the bad guy is sets off some sort of catalyst in Clive to turn him into Ifrit, and he'll accidentally kill Joshua sparking the time skip to his branded face and older self seeking revenge.

Edit for clarity: Red eyes Ifrit is Clive without control. Blue Eyes is Clive has learned control.

The 2 Ifrits are shown fighting each other in a brief moment at the end of the trailer.

[Vyrerus]

The 2 Ifrits are shown fighting each other in a brief moment at the end of the trailer.

Wouldn't be the first time a psychological battle played out graphically. *Points towards Cloud vs. Sephiroth at the end of VII*

[FatalFatalis]

So about FFXVI, I liked most of what I've seen so far, this will probably be the third Final Fantasy I will play (if it ever comes out on PC).
I like the setting and the premise. With the Heavensward writer doing the story, I have high hopes for at least a decent story.
The gameplay seems ok, I've never played a Devil May Cry and it seems it's very similar to the gameplay of those games, which makes sense since the combat director is the same one. I like other action oriented combat games like Monster Hunter or the FromSoft titles, I think I will end up liking it but I don't know, only way to know is playing the game.
The Eikon combat seems cool visually but on the gameplay side it seems to be just cutscenes or QTE, I hope it's not the case and I can fully control Ifrit but it doesn't seem to be the case, not as hyped about this as the rest of the game.
The UI is a bit... mediocre? The health bars look like placeholder so I hope that's the case, and I hope I can turn off those damage numbers because my god they are intrusive. I really like the Eikon icons (heh).
If it ever comes out on PC I pray the optimization is good, tho even if it's good, I'm not sure my PC can withstand those Eikon battles in their full glory, maybe it is time to upgrade my PC.

[Fukuro]

I find the realism to be refreshing. There's no shortage of games with goofy, light hearted moments and a lack of stakes. The Witcher is a fairly gritty game and yet that sold like ice cream on a hot day. Same with Elden Ring.

Oh boy I can‘t wait! Rated M and looking dark and gritty. I‘m impressed with what was shown to us so far. Soken being the composer is a nice bonus too!

[Vyrerus]

Really want more character bios. I know they just gave us the Titan and Garuda dominants' bios, but man... I want the Shiva and Odin's dominants' bios!