The new Nomura?

[jameseoakes]

Apologies for my ignorance.... but "belts"? Not familiar with this reference.

Nomura has a reputation of using an obscene amount of belts on his designs (see Lulu from 10 for an example)

[Carin-Eri]

It's an old meme - Tetsuya Nomura likes to design characters with lots of belts (along with black leather and zippers), sometimes excessively so (Lulu from FFX springs to mind, but also Squall from FFVIII), suggesting Nomura has a thing for them. Yoshi though removed equippable belts from FFXIV back when EW lauched, so... it's a little injoke to an old meme.

Nomura has a reputation of using an obscene amount of belts on his designs (see Lulu from 10 for an example)

I just Googled this Lulu character... and I can see what you mean now! In fact it looks as if her 'skirt' isn't one - it's a collection of belts!

[Kazhar]

Huh, my understanding was by all accounts FFXVI was being considered an overwhellming success, and that any concerns about sales targets was simply because of PS5 availability issues still lingering and nothing to do with the quality of the game itself.

Also, Yoshi is not the new Nomura, he scrapped belts.

Sales in Japan are so far the worst of the entire mainline series (most of which weren't multiplatform entries), and it was beaten by Pikmin 4 in a single week.
Square Enix claimed the sales were strong after one week, but it barely sold any copy since. It seems the game hasn't convinced anyone who didn't already buy it day one.

[Koros]

FFXVI was being considered an overwhellming success

It's not even 90 on Metacritic.

Banri Oda

Good one, I actually laughed. Thanks for the funny post.

It seems the game hasn't convinced anyone who didn't already bought it day one.

And it's the direct opposite of BG3. People played FF16 and mention all the issues: its simplicity, linearity, lack of RPG elements, atrocious action gameplay, complete void of difficulty, tedious filler quests, etc. Meanwhile BG3 keeps attracting more and more players. Funny because I literally hear more talk about BG3 than FF16 ever got in-game.

The only reason it's even above 80 is because of Soken's music, the stunning primal fights, the great early game story with a complex political narrative (that they basically wasted after Titan) and CBU3 fanboyism.

[CNitsah]

Sales in Japan are so far the worst of the entire mainline series (most of which weren't multiplatform entries), and it was beaten by Pikmin 4 in a single week.
Square Enix claimed the sales were strong after one week, but it barely sold any copy since. It seems the game hasn't convinced anyone who didn't already bought it day one.

From what I got, despite the being a deception in japan, the worldwide number are on par with FFXV (adjusted to to the pool of consoles) .

The only reason it's even above 80 is because of Soken's music, the stunning primal fights, the great early game story with a complex political narrative (that they basically wasted after Titan) and CBU3 fanboyism.

I think they even failed at CBU3 fanboyism. Outside of Japan, FFXIV is mainly played on PC. Making it a PS5 exclusives cut a good part of those fanboys. Most people won't pay 600$/€ for ONE game. The FFXIV playerbase was the most easy sales they could make, and they prefered to take the money for exclusivity. With the lukewarm reception the game got, I'm not sure those people will buy to the game in a year when it release on pc (pretty sure the 18 month plan is linked to that PC release). Reception was good enough, but as some said, it's not acclaimed like TotK or BG3 are. The FFXVI hype is already dead, and it feels like it's gonna be remembered as an "honorable mention", more that a game one of THE games of this year.

[VictorSpoils]

Sales in Japan are so far the worst of the entire mainline series (most of which weren't multiplatform entries), and it was beaten by Pikmin 4 in a single week.
Square Enix claimed the sales were strong after one week, but it barely sold any copy since. It seems the game hasn't convinced anyone who didn't already buy it day one.

XVI is not multiplatform, and the PS5 is the worst-selling PlayStation console in Japan, even disregarding the 2+ year period where seemingly no one could buy one. Comparing it to a Nintendo game in a country that only buys Nintendo consoles now is amusing.

[Reap00]

Huh, my understanding was by all accounts FFXVI was being considered an overwhellming success, and that any concerns about sales targets was simply because of PS5 availability issues still lingering and nothing to do with the quality of the game itself.

Also, Yoshi is not the new Nomura, he scrapped belts.

SE has actually made a statement based on the fact they are very happy with the sales of XVI as a result of all the negative garbage spread to try to prove the opposite. That is all you will find on these forums. They are not here to provide constructive criticism. They are here to complain incessantly about nothing. I am glad they gave them a place to shout into the void. Keep all of them here in one place. Easy to avoid when I feel like it or come troll/bash if I want as well.

[WeissTuna]

SE has actually made a statement based on the fact they are very happy with the sales of XVI as a result of all the negative garbage spread to try to prove the opposite.

[Catwho]

That "story" was based on a tweet by a JP reporter that has a vendetta against Square Enix.

The official statement was that while XVI had a satisfactory sales base, it didn't meet the higher end of the sales that SE had projected as a possible..... again, because of the lower PS5 install base.

The reporter took a grain of truth and built a whole new lie around it. Neat.

[purgatori]

Nomura almost made something great in VS (and I'd put XV itself WAY ahead of XVI). He has some inspired ideas. I'm not sure the same could be said for Yoshi P: he seems like a genuinely nice guy, but there's more perspiration than inspiration in his work.