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FINAL FANTASY XVI |OT| Ifrit Bleeds We Can Kill It

Are you playing in Quality or Performance mode?

  • Quality

    Votes: 274 59.8%
  • Performance

    Votes: 184 40.2%

  • Total voters
    458

NahaNago

Member
From a grandiose perspective, it's the most impressive finale I've ever experienced in a game. The music, the timeless quotables, pure theatrics. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Unfortunately, it did nothing for me. I honestly don't even remember the music but it definitely had pure theatrics. I can see where they were going but they failed in execution. I really would have liked an impressive cg fest ending but at least that water looked really nice. FFX had better emotional impact. The last battle did remind me of ff7 and ff9. I would call this the B team Final Fantasy. It's simply a solid complete game.



I do like the ending the more I ponder over it as I write this post. I'll write my overall thoughts on this game after I've thought about it for a day.
 
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Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
This game's cutscenes are probably the worst part about it.
james-franco-wait-what.gif

This game has one of the best pre-rendered cut-scenes I've ever seen, let alone set pieces, character work, dialogue etc. Are you talking about low budget NPC conversations maybe during side quest and open world stuff? I have to mention though, that during last 10-ish % of the game and past the last Eikon battle, they've stopped using great facial animations and lip sync in pre-rendered cut-scenes and NPC coverstations - I guess they run out of budget.
 
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Madflavor

Member
james-franco-wait-what.gif

This game has one of the best pre-rendered cut-scenes I've ever seen, let alone set pieces, character work, dialogue etc. Are you talking about low budget NPC conversations maybe during side quest and open world stuff? I have to mention though, that during last 10-ish % of the game and past the last Eikon battle, they've stopped using great facial animations and lip sync in pre-rendered cut-scenes and NPC coverstations - I guess they run out of budget.

I concur with this. The static looking dialogue moments where Clive and an NPC stand like statues in front of each other and exchange long winded dialogue are awful. But when the game kicks in with dynamic cutscenes with cinematic camerawork, and proper body and facial animations, it's absolutely fantastic. Maybe it was a budget thing, I don't know exactly what went on with the development of the game, but FFXVI constantly switches gears back and forth between a 10/10 game and a 5/10.

The Prologue of FFXVI's cutscenes and dialogue use the more cinematic approach to cutscenes and dialogue for it's entirety. So in a way I kinda feel gaslit by that Prologue Demo, thinking the game's story was going to be like that. I understand some corners need to be cut in order for a game's budget to not balloon out of control, but those more stilted and boring cutscene and dialogue moments are far too frequent in FFXVI. It's a shame because when I first played the demo, I was so convinced that FFXVI was going to be something really special. Now because of it, people are going to have trust issues with games even if the demo was good. In the future you're going to see "Yeah the demo was fun, but don't forget about what happened with FFXVI."
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
but FFXVI constantly switches gears back and forth between a 10/10 game and a 5/10.
Exactly.
The Prologue of FFXVI's cutscenes and dialogue use the more cinematic approach to cutscenes and dialogue for it's entirety. So in a way I kinda feel gaslit by that Prologue Demo, thinking the game's story was going to be like that. I understand some corners need to be cut in order for a game's budget to not balloon out of control, but those more stilted and boring cutscene and dialogue moments are far too frequent in FFXVI.
It's 40-50 hours longer than it should've been. And keep in mind, those 61 hours I've played is including skipping 95% of dialogues and conversations in open world and during side quests, so if you'll actually going to sit through all this shit and bore yourself to death... the playtime can easily reach 80 hours by the end of the game - there's A LOT of side quest in the game.

Thank fuck for the skip button, it's much better than to skip each dialogue manually, not to metniton low budget cut-scenes.
 
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Barakov

Member
james-franco-wait-what.gif

This game has one of the best pre-rendered cut-scenes I've ever seen, let alone set pieces, character work, dialogue etc. Are you talking about low budget NPC conversations maybe during side quest and open world stuff? I have to mention though, that during last 10-ish % of the game and past the last Eikon battle, they've stopped using great facial animations and lip sync in pre-rendered cut-scenes and NPC coverstations - I guess they run out of budget.
I'm talking mainly about the npc conversations and yeah, the open world stuff. It just came off as really jarring to me.
 
Seriously though, some people just have too much time on their hands..
Like people who waste 60 hours on this slog of a game?



I kid.

Something funny… I started playing Dragon Warrior VII (PS1) recently, and it actually reminds me of this game! I spend so much time walking from NPC to NPC with no real decision-making or exploration. When you do finally enter a “dungeon”, it’s linear with mindless battles and no good loot. Treasures scattered around the world consist of “5 gold” or “herb”. Enix was 22 years too early for the shower of 10/10 awards I guess.
 

NahaNago

Member
I've decided to start playing the Xenoblade series instead of buying this. Time will tell if that was a good decision or not.
oooh, I need to jump on that as well. I really regret not beating xenoblade chronicles x before I got rid of my wii u. I'll just add the xenoblade trilogy to my wishlist backlog to finish this year.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
oooh, I need to jump on that as well. I really regret not beating xenoblade chronicles x before I got rid of my wii u. I'll just add the xenoblade trilogy to my wishlist backlog to finish this year.

The first game consistently pops up in the lists of best JRPGs of all time, and given that FF16 doesn't really seem to be much of an RPG by all accounts, I figured it might be a better bet to try Xenoblade.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Like people who waste 60 hours on this slog of a game?



I kid.

Something funny… I started playing Dragon Warrior VII (PS1) recently, and it actually reminds me of this game! I spend so much time walking from NPC to NPC with no real decision-making or exploration. When you do finally enter a “dungeon”, it’s linear with mindless battles and no good loot. Treasures scattered around the world consist of “5 gold” or “herb”. Enix was 22 years too early for the shower of 10/10 awards I guess.
Yeah but the technology has advanced so much. Now instead of reading NPC dialog from a text box, you get a closeup cross-shot view of them standing there like an animatronic puppet while they slowly speak their lines.
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
The last sidequests before you go to Origin are really good. If only the remaining 80% had the exact same writing...

Is there any trophy related with sidequests and wall of memories completion? I have one missing piece in the wall of memories (the last one) but no sidequests to do.
 
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Sleepwalker

Member
The last sidequests before you go to Origin are really good. If only the remaining 80% had the exact same writing...

Is there any trophy related with sidequests and wall of memories completion? I have one missing piece in the wall of memories (the last one) but no sidequests to do.
You get that by completing all the trials that are out in the wild, not through a sidequest. Also yes there is a trophy for collecting all the memories.
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
Finished the game...and I'm not crying, you're crying.

I really like when a game has the balls to kill the main protagonist, and in this case the three characters that went dead on against Ultima.

While I do think this game is not my 2023 GOTY, it has without a doubt my favourite character of 2023. Clive is such an amazing character, so well written, that it's a shame we won't see more of him. That ending of him, alone at the beach, slowly turning into stone, crushes you. Same goes for Joshua.

The game has some fantastic visuals, narrative moments and gameplay, but not without it's flaws. In an attempt to make the game more western, they kind of stripped away some of that Final Fantasy identity and made the initial playtrough too damn easy. Wish we had way more control over our party and specially gear customization. Feels way too flat.

I'm of the opinion that the final fantasy mode should have been available from the start.

Plus, the pacing of the game, and quite a decent chunk of its sidequests are not the best. I was hoping for a much more needed variety that the game was not able to deliver in that regard.

I'm curious to learn and see more about Final Fantasy mode, but I'm not ready to start another run right away after 110h on the first one.

I say this because like FFVII R, I have a feeling FFXVI is at its best and truly shows its potential in it's hardest mode.
 
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Like people who waste 60 hours on this slog of a game?



I kid.

Something funny… I started playing Dragon Warrior VII (PS1) recently, and it actually reminds me of this game! I spend so much time walking from NPC to NPC with no real decision-making or exploration. When you do finally enter a “dungeon”, it’s linear with mindless battles and no good loot. Treasures scattered around the world consist of “5 gold” or “herb”. Enix was 22 years too early for the shower of 10/10 awards I guess.

So if you think it's a slog then everyone should feel the same? Do you speak for every member here. If you can't understand the game, Dev's won't be able to do it for you.

I guess you're projecting this game very differently, is this a looter game? You want a story focused game to automatically become a loot focused game somehow, is the purpose to go to dungeons and getting loots in each boxes you find, if you find that amusing then you should play any random multiplayer game which basically have the same type of gameplay structure you're searching for.

This is a story focused game, you're there for a reason, you're killing those enemies and moving forward for a reason. Not there for silly loot and then rinse and repeat like you do in hundreds of multiplayer looter games :D
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
One question regarding the ending:

Joshua is alive isn't he? While the explosion makes us think he died, The Final Fantasy book was written by him, hinting at him being pretty much alive.

Or Clive embraces his brothers name as pen name, just has he did with Cid, and writes the book Harpocrates suggested him to write in his sidequest. Damn, now that I realize ending is quite opening. We instantly assume the worse but if you did all the sidequests you get pointed into a different direction.

Just because Clive's hand turns to stone doesn't mean he died. Hell, there was a moment were original Cid shown his hand and it was also in stone stage. And he was still alive and kicking.
 
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Madflavor

Member
One question regarding the ending:

Joshua is alive isn't he? While the explosion makes us think he died, The Final Fantasy book was written by him, hinting at him being pretty much alive.

Or Clive embraces his brothers name as pen name, just has he did with Cid, and writes the book Harpocrates suggested him to write in his sidequest. Damn, now that I realize ending is quite opening. We instantly assume the worse but if you did all the sidequests you get pointed into a different direction.

Just because Clive's hand turns to stone doesn't mean he died. Hell, there was a moment were original Cid shown his hand and it was also in stone stage. And he was still alive and kicking.

(Repost)

All signs line up and point to Clive surviving and returning to Jill. He took on Joshua's name and wrote "Final Fantasy"
  • It's not the first time Clive took on another person's name.
  • Harpocrates gives Clive a quill, asking him to put down the sword and take up the pen once he defeats Ultima.
  • "The only Fantasy here is yours. And we shall be it's Final witness!" Nobody except Clive and Ultima were there to witness that line. The name of the book is "Final Fantasy."
  • Clive is the narrator of the story. He narrates the beginning and the ending of the game. "And thus did our Journey end." The Platinum trophy is called "The Chronicler" with the subtext "And thus did our Journey end."
  • Clive is right handed. His left hand turned to stone.
  • Metia doesn't fade because Clive "dies". It fades because Clive destroyed all magic in the world. This also explains why Jill can't sense him anymore and assumes he's dead.
  • There's a scene where Jill explains how when the dawn breaks, she knows he'll return to her.
  • Part of Clive's character arc is learning how to save himself. This is directly called out multiple times by other characters, including Jill.
  • The End Credits song spells out Clive returning to Jill.
I was searching for something,

Moongazing,
Frightened of the storm
When you appeared to me.
I was so glad
It was you.

I have no doubt
This flame will never go out,
Just like nothing
Ever happened.

The song literally plays right after Jill's smiles at the sunset and fades to credits.

Symbolism has always been an important part of Final Fantasy's storytelling throughout it's history. All of this is deliberate. Clive Alive.
 
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DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
So if you think it's a slog then everyone should feel the same? Do you speak for every member here. If you can't understand the game, Dev's won't be able to do it for you.

I guess you're projecting this game very differently, is this a looter game? You want a story focused game to automatically become a loot focused game somehow, is the purpose to go to dungeons and getting loots in each boxes you find, if you find that amusing then you should play any random multiplayer game which basically have the same type of gameplay structure you're searching for.

This is a story focused game, you're there for a reason, you're killing those enemies and moving forward for a reason. Not there for silly loot and then rinse and repeat like you do in hundreds of multiplayer looter games :D
The problem is not that FF XVI needs to be a loot-focused game. The problem is that FF XVI is filled with loot that is completely fucking worthless. Nearly every single quest, hunt, treasure chest, and “shiny blue dot” rewards you with a tiny amount of Gil (which there’s nothing to spend it on anyway) or some crafting materials (which you probably have thousands of already and there’s nothing to craft with them).

You come across as one of those fanboys who’s so hell bent on defending a game that you just straw man every criticism of it and put words in people’s mouths.
 
The problem is not that FF XVI needs to be a loot-focused game. The problem is that FF XVI is filled with loot that is completely fucking worthless. Nearly every single quest, hunt, treasure chest, and “shiny blue dot” rewards you with a tiny amount of Gil (which there’s nothing to spend it on anyway) or some crafting materials (which you probably have thousands of already and there’s nothing to craft with them).

You come across as one of those fanboys who’s so hell bent on defending a game that you just straw man every criticism of it and put words in people’s mouths.

So proving a point is defending nowadays, huh!
'completely worthless' is an overstatement, seems you're one of them who exaggerate the shit out of something.
The RPG element in this game is bare minimum and everybody knows about it and even reviewers stated, it's not a 200 hr RPG where you have to grind for the loot to get the item. It's an straightforward action adventure game with few side missions and hunts which are optional. The game eventually gives you the gears you need, the focus is on other elements of the game and does not put us to farm for the GIL to buy an item.

Few folks like you conflate a personal preference not being met in a game as a fundamental design flaw and that's how a fun gaming discussion turn into a discourse cesspool.
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
(Repost)

All signs line up and point to Clive surviving and returning to Jill. He took on Joshua's name and wrote "Final Fantasy"
  • It's not the first time Clive took on another person's name.
  • Harpocrates gives Clive a quill, asking him to put down the sword and take up the pen once he defeats Ultima.
  • "The only Fantasy here is yours. And we shall be it's Final witness!" Nobody except Clive and Ultima were there to witness that line. The name of the book is "Final Fantasy."
  • Clive is the narrator of the story. He narrates the beginning and the ending of the game. "And thus did our Journey end." The Platinum trophy is called "The Chronicler" with the subtext "And thus did our Journey end."
  • Clive is right handed. His left hand turned to stone.
  • Metia doesn't fade because Clive "dies". It fades because Clive destroyed all magic in the world. This also explains why Jill can't sense him anymore and assumes he's dead.
  • There's a scene where Jill explains how when the dawn breaks, she knows he'll return to her.
  • Part of Clive's character arc is learning how to save himself. This is directly called out multiple times by other characters, including Jill.
  • The End Credits song spells out Clive returning to Jill.
I was searching for something,

Moongazing,
Frightened of the storm
When you appeared to me.
I was so glad
It was you.

I have no doubt
This flame will never go out,
Just like nothing
Ever happened.

The song literally plays right after Jill's smiles at the sunset and fades to credits.

Symbolism has always been an important part of Final Fantasy's storytelling throughout it's history. All of this is deliberate. Clive Alive.

What about Leviathan?

He is mentioned, seen in the eikon mural but never shows up. Even Joshua calls him Leviathan the Lost. Possible DLC material?
 

NahaNago

Member
The last sidequests before you go to Origin are really good. If only the remaining 80% had the exact same writing...

Is there any trophy related with sidequests and wall of memories completion? I have one missing piece in the wall of memories (the last one) but no sidequests to do.
Well you beat me by one cause I had the same issue with the wall of memories.
The first game consistently pops up in the lists of best JRPGs of all time, and given that FF16 doesn't really seem to be much of an RPG by all accounts, I figured it might be a better bet to try Xenoblade.
I'm not surprised it pops up in the list of best JRPGs of all time from what little I've played of it and agreed that FF16 is barely an rpg. If they had treated FF16 as more of a devil may cry game instead, I think it would have been an even better game.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
So proving a point is defending nowadays, huh!
'completely worthless' is an overstatement, seems you're one of them who exaggerate the shit out of something.
The RPG element in this game is bare minimum and everybody knows about it and even reviewers stated, it's not a 200 hr RPG where you have to grind for the loot to get the item. It's an straightforward action adventure game with few side missions and hunts which are optional. The game eventually gives you the gears you need, the focus is on other elements of the game and does not put us to farm for the GIL to buy an item.

Few folks like you conflate a personal preference not being met in a game as a fundamental design flaw and that's how a fun gaming discussion turn into a discourse cesspool.
Where did anybody say they wanted this game to be a 200 hour game where you grind for loot?

Either your reading comprehension is atrocious, or you’re too sensitive and emotionally invested in this game to have an honest discussion about it.

People like you are the worst part of this community. Welcome to the ignore list.
 
Few folks like you conflate a personal preference not being met in a game as a fundamental design flaw and that's how a fun gaming discussion turn into a discourse cesspool.
Homie, awarding the player thousands of crafting materials that literally have no use is a fundamental design flaw. It’s as though they completely forgot to add crafting recipes to the game.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Lol there are a couple scenes where there’s like a council of officials discussing something, and they try to make it sound like a cacophony of hushed voices reacting to stuff. But you can hear that it’s just people making mumbling noises and it sounds so ridiculous.
 

Zuzu

Member
HoWOX52.jpg


I finished it a few hrs ago. Did all the hunts and all the side quests (at least I think I did - there were no more green quest markers left). Pretty sure I got the top equipment as well.

I give it 7/10. Similar to a lot of people here I found the game to be significantly flawed but with a lot of excellent moments as well. The side quests were the biggest problem. Most of them were very boring. I had to resort to listening to Youtube videos during some of them to get through the tedium. But some of the side quests in the last third or so of the game are genuinely good and provide quality emotion and depth to the story and characters.

The combat system was a lot of fun but too easy and the enemies didn’t force me to creatively and strategically use all my abilities much.

The main story went in a direction after about the half way point that I personally didn’t prefer. I wanted a strong interpersonal character drama like the first half of the game rather than where it went. And it wasn’t paced well. It would build up momentum and then suddenly lose it all which deflated and harmed the experience of the story. One of the big emotional story moments towards the end didn’t resonate with me because I didn’t think they developed enough of a bond between some of the characters.

I liked the central romance - it was realistic and normal and a slow burner romance which was nice.

Creature designs and world design were amazing. Spectacular production values and cinematic storytelling. Awesome music and the graphics in the main cutscenes were insane some times. The chain links on the armour and graphical quality of the leather rendering was next level.

And has any game had so many particle effects on screen at once! The poor PS5 lol.

I think FF7 Remake is a step above this game. It’s combat and gameplay is better.
 
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I only have 4ish trophies left and I've been thinking about possibly getting a platinum.

Question for anyone who knows: Which arcade level has to quickest level-to-boss time? It's for the 'You're not the boss of me' trophy.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Sadly I agree too, as much as I shit on FFVII R, I am in the camp that believes its combat was fucking perfect. FFVII R's materia system is still very solid after all those years and contrary to the original which was way too easy, its actually required to link materias here. Because FFVII R is surely tougher than the OG FFVII and FFXVI. Take the hell house for example, that battle was legit hard.

I have yet to continue FFXVI, i am at the half way point. Its a good game, my sole gripe is with the mindless combat and spongy bosses that require button bashing mostly.

What this game is missing, is an incentive to mix it up. DMC does this, not only to keep the style meter going, but also to kill enemies more efficiently. FFXVI both misses a style meter and weaknesses. It feels strange that you can use fire on Bombs and it does the same damage as other elements. To add insult to injury your sword gets ice imbued for a cutscene after a fire boss. Like, had done it before and give an attack bonus.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
In most aspects I agree with you. In story and characters, ugh, I truly hate what FF7 Remake did to the original story. Its like fanfiction. Clive is a very likable protagonist, Jill is a cutie, Gav is a bro, Cid is based, etc

I think it's just one of those things they can't win. If they left it the same with no liberty, the game would probably only be one part, and lots of people would complain regardless, because there's a lot of stuff in FFVII that's poorly explained or completely glossed over or just archaic. I really enjoyed how they took liberties and mixed old and new and really gave a lot more background on Biggs/Wedge/Jessie, and also expanded and redid almost every aspect.

I replayed FFVII within a year of FFVII R releasing on PC @ 60 fps with mods so it was practically a 100% true remake of the original anyway, and I really enjoyed that playthrough, but I am also really glad FFVII:R is its own thing and had lots of expanded lore and surprises.

Regardless, like you said, most aspects of FFVIIR imo are miles better than this game. There's actually a whole equipment system with pro/cons and you have hundreds of combinations of materia to mix around, and there's an actual party you can control, with traditional FF elements everything, even if they did really change the type of combat, there's so many systems and layers to it all. Where this is so much more basic in almost every regard to the gameplay.

Even if you want to argue they're both pretty linear - which is true, FFXVI doesn't have anything like the "dungeons" in FFVIIR even so. Like when you're shutting down the power on top of the plate, it's a very big and actually sorta-complex area with many different platforms to move to connect you to different paths and you can actually get lost - which is something I felt missing from XVI, everything in that game is super linear, makes FFVIIR look almost open world lol.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
I think it's just one of those things they can't win. If they left it the same with no liberty, the game would probably only be one part, and lots of people would complain regardless, because there's a lot of stuff in FFVII that's poorly explained or completely glossed over or just archaic. I really enjoyed how they took liberties and mixed old and new and really gave a lot more background on Biggs/Wedge/Jessie, and also expanded and redid almost every aspect.

I replayed FFVII within a year of FFVII R releasing on PC @ 60 fps with mods so it was practically a 100% true remake of the original anyway, and I really enjoyed that playthrough, but I am also really glad FFVII:R is its own thing and had lots of expanded lore and surprises.

Regardless, like you said, most aspects of FFVIIR imo are miles better than this game. There's actually a whole equipment system with pro/cons and you have hundreds of combinations of materia to mix around, and there's an actual party you can control, with traditional FF elements everything, even if they did really change the type of combat, there's so many systems and layers to it all. Where this is so much more basic in almost every regard to the gameplay.

Even if you want to argue they're both pretty linear - which is true, FFXVI doesn't have anything like the "dungeons" in FFVIIR even so. Like when you're shutting down the power on top of the plate, it's a very big and actually sorta-complex area with many different platforms to move to connect you to different paths and you can actually get lost - which is something I felt missing from XVI, everything in that game is super linear, makes FFVIIR look almost open world lol.

FFXVI has more open fields and you can travel everywhere, this is good on paper but there is bar some Marks nothing to do. There are no secrets. The dungeons of FFXVI are terrible, they are all the same, just battle room after battle room with walking inbetween. There is no slight detours for finding a key or power on some device.

FFVII R design is questionable too, but you can find some secret and very helpful materias and items if you look a bit harder. And sidequests, which are only apparent in a few free roaming stages, actually hand out some good rewards.
 

peish

Member
If you know, you know.
AKG41vk.jpg

jote is still hawt too. at least no manly lady pandering to woke culture imperialism

just faat watched a ff12 replay, still best
of 3d FF even with a huge quality drop in the last third without matsuno overseer, very rushed ending and broly vayne :messenger_grinning_sweat:

 

SkylineRKR

Member
I briefly played FFXII this weekend, its absolutely the best.

And FFXVI looks like it in terms of level and world map design, ofcourse the medieval setting too. The areas are about the same, its semi open fields to traverse. But if i am correct FFXII was actually connected, like how you transition from Balfonheim to Cerobi. FFXVI takes you back to the world map each time you exit an area.

The story kind of takes the same nosedive by being political but then falling into cookie cutter anime. And in both games you are on the sidelines of the war, the skirmishes ensue as you are elsewhere.

FFXII is more challenging, has more cities, an active party, job builds etc. FFXVI won't beat this game for me.
 
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