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

[TheDecay]

They still do.

Like??????

Forspoken??

[Atelier-Bagur]

They still do. And back then, they still made a mix of amazing 10/10 games and decidedly "meh" ones for me. I loved Chrono Trigger. I felt Chrono Cross was decidedly mediocre. Expecting "solid" games is what mature, reasonable, rational people do, and then we get pleasantly surprised when a game goes beyond "solid" and becomes a "masterpiece." But expecting nothing but masterpieces is an immature take that only sets one up for disappointment.

Oh my goodness, you have no idea how in love Im with this statement. Yeah pretty much couldnt have explained it any better. Expecting games to still be consistently good is by surprise STILL GOOD. If youre constantly seeking for masterpieces then Im sorry but thats the wrong kind of mindset to have with the industry. Youll never be left satisfied or happy this way.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Like??????

Forspoken??

Try Octopath Traveler 1 and 2, Dragon Quest XI, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Harvestella, Triangle Strategy (still such a stupid name but), Bravely Default II and yes we should include FFXIV as well.

These are some titles that came around within the last 5 or so years. If youre going to bullshit with handpicking the most recent bombs like Forspoken, then dont come with this lack of perspective argument.

[Shinkuno]

Try Octopath Traveler 1 and 2, Dragon Quest XI, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Harvestella, Triangle Strategy (still such a stupid name but), Bravely Default II and yes we should include FFXIV as well.

These are some titles that came around within the last 5 or so years. If youre going to bullshit with handpicking the most recent bombs like Forspoken, then dont come with this lack of perspective argument.

Star Ocean, the one sitting at mixed reviews? lol

[Rufalus]

Alas, video games used to be about more than just cutscenes and button mashing.

Love you, caffe. I just want to give you some respect for having standards and bothering to engage, despite this place being a hive of dismissive spammers who aren't very receptive to actual opinions. I've been enjoying your posts for a while.

It's a design failure if a game has to prompt you to mash buttons. It's an adventure on rails. You're quite right, the power of PS5 is not being used here to advance game design at all. Judging the gameplay alone it's even a generation behind Zelda on Switch. Those games use tech to increase player expression. FF XVI still has invisible walls and icons to lead you to the correct path, indicate the things you're supposed to hop across or squeeze through.

I know it's a story game. It's still not a movie, and shouldn't be judged like one. The interactive parts will always be the most important thing in a videogame. People are dazzled by the cinematic spectacle and ready to hand it GOTY awards. I will praise FF XVI for having good music and cutscenes, but those elements alone don't make a great game. They only compliment gameplay.

What’s most likely is that people will leave behind the Final Fantasy franchise and seek out games with actual gameplay and depth.

It's hard. Quality RPGs have been hit by a near extinction event. There's been a huge gap since Sakaguchi left Square 20 years ago. I had some optimism when Yoshida was confirmed producer on FF XVI. It's his first single player FF. He is a huge fan of the old ones. All of the key staff prefer the older games. Unfortunately they still made something that does not resemble the series roots. They made what they thought the world wants, a game for people who don't like RPGs, again.

Hopefully when Yoshi-P resigns from the company, we can get an actual Final Fantasy MMO and single-player counterpart that doesn’t follow the hallway brainrot formula.

I've tried to be as respectful as I can over the years. Sometimes I reel back my criticism a bit because I can see the passion they put into their work. Yoshida is a good guy and he works hard. But it's clear now after both XIV and XVI that he is not the guy to promote gameplay complexity, player freedom. When they reveal a XIV expansion they frame the story, that's it. Upgrades to game systems don't happen. New approaches to the core gameplay loop don't happen.

Somebody told you it's not that serious. No. Videogames are the greatest art form of the modern world. That's why we care. Good design should be protected, preserved, taught and improved. Instead we've seen a regression in many genres. It takes them 4x longer to complete projects that aren't nearly as good as old shit. They want to cast the widest net, aim for the lowest common denominator.

[Ivtrix]

Holy shit it’s like clockwork 1 combat job and all crafter/gatherers maxed

[MonsutaMan]

Haters of XVI want it to do poorly, because they want this era of FF era to end.......I want the latter, but could careless of the former. I am just over this FF identity crisis era.

I mean no disrespect to Yoshi as a human being or person, but I am not a fan of him as a producer.....I am sorry......

XIV's combat is decent & keeps me around due to the work Matsui did, but I feel XIV can be MUCH better than it currently is, or has been....

DISCLIAMER: This is not an attack on him as a human being, because it is just a damn game.......

[R041]

I've been waiting, and hype for XVI since we knew it was a thing - I'm unfortunately not enjoying it as a game.

It's been a pretty cool movie, but the balance for everything is whack. It doesn't feel engaging or good to me. It's clear a lot of the new design philosophies with XIV the past few expansions are just a CBU:III trademark at this point. Lack of diversity, lack of itemization, gearing, exploration, difficulty. All of it - Both games suffer tremendously for nearly the exact same reasons.

It's wild to me that, even given the opportunity to not be held down by their MMO gimmicky standards, they're still strapped to them and don't know how to balance a single-player game. I thought it was just an MMO thing, but it's actually a CBU:III thing.

5+ damage every new upgraded weapon? Costs 1.5k? I have 100k? Orchestrion Rolls 20k? +5hp when I have 1500hp? Fangs and 2gil as drops everywhere? MSQ gives 100x rewards of any exploration? Combat is a 1 minute blip in the sea of Cutscenes?

I see a big monster in the distance, and a gold shiny behind it? I should just grab the shiny and run.. Oh, it's 1 hide. Okay, maybe the monster has something? Kill it, takes 5 minutes of button spam, my hand hurts now.. 10xp 5gil. WHAT IS GOING ON.

This game seriously needs a re-balance. Who's in charge of this whack balance for XIV and XVI. It's not fun, it's just cinematic. XVI actively teaches you to avoid anything not MSQ, just like XIV.

I'm only playing it for the MSQ now, and if 'Final Fantasy Mode' just means more hp, then I don't think my lil carpal tunnel wrists can take it. I wanted challenge, not spam.

Also a huge DMC fan, so this should have resonated with me the hardest, but it just isn't a good DMC or a good Final Fantasy. It's weirdly weak versions of both in terms of gameplay. :/
But again, I think the core value is definitely there, it just needs adjustments.

And no I'm not using the ez baby rings, with how easy the game is already - You put on those rings and you may as well just give the controller to your dog or something. lol


5/10 game
9/10 movie

[VelKallor]

because it is just a damn game.......

..a fact more than a few have forgotten.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Ok so I still dont feel like I'm as far into the game but have gone far enough to where the main core conflict of the game is starting to show and my word does this game really, reeeeally drive home how much I hate the pure ugliness of humanity.

I'm slowly starting to warm up into the idea how the game grabs you into its world and wants you to experience the narrative rather than it just being a "fun" rpg. Which honestly is CBUIII's strength with their games where they basically focus on immersing you into the world on story heavy narrative hooks.

While I get that people expected more freedom in the gameplay although I would also argue that previous linear FF games such as FFX did what FFXVI did in its gameplay pacing, I'm not minding the lack of rpgs elements. I feel they definitely paced the gameplay and narrative well since once you're hooked, you're hooked for the whole thing and you dont want it to stop. And the combat sprinkled into it works very well now that it slowly starts to open up once you get more abilities and options.

Yeah so far I'm reeeeally enjoying the game. I can understand the gripes like R041 feel about it but I also personally think people need to be more open to what the game is trying to do, because once you let go of those personal biases (for the record, this kind of style of game ISNT SOMETHING I WOULD PERSONALLY ENJOY) you can fully start to appreciate the experience its offering.