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Final Fantasy XVI environments and exploration trailer released

While I will buy it day 1 as it’s Final Fantasy I can’t help but think the visuals look a bit… boring? It just looks plain as hell and not very colorful.
 
There are a lot of misunderstandings happening in this thread in regards to art style vs technical graphics.

Fbh Fbh I have to admit, looking at this from a general perspective, FF16 looks good. It looks fantastic actually. However, at the same time Punished Miku Punished Miku has a good point. Something about these environments feel restrained…very restrained by FF standards. From what we’re seeing in this footage, something unique about the FF brand is being lost by trying to make the game look so western, muted, and mature.

There’s something to be said about “the world being a character” and I could feel that with nearly every FF mainline game. I’d argue that FFX was the greatest example of that. Even if you could say some of the main cast had ridiculous hair, everything surrounding those characters was very interesting from a lore standpoint.

When playing FFX, I truly felt like I wanted to learn more about how that world worked and how cities functioned on their odd and otherworldly rules. And they would slowly introduce you to, and explain their strange traditions, customs, and technology, even explaining things like their travel systems. I looked at the environments with awe. I wanted to talk to every NPC to learn more and more and explore more areas because I was truly curious about it all. I could only imagine how much more interesting FFX could have been if it were open zone or open world, and yet even as a linear-ish game it still managed to have a world that kept me engaged and curious. You could easily tell that the creators of FFX wanted you to feel like you could almost be transported into the world yourself and that, as odd as a world it was, it could actually exist.

I don’t feel that with this FF16 footage. I’m sorry, I just don’t 🤷‍♂️. That’s okay though, because the narrative is the main attraction here and not the world. The set pieces look really cool and might end up being the best set pieces and cinematics of any FF game. But the world itself just looks…restrained.
 
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Kumomeme

Member
Have you played FFXV?
RYhOX58.jpg



Not a bad thing for me, I liked FFXV quite a bit though it had more potential.
have you played FF14? lot of the area actually similliar to those in the game.

Thanalan,

Black Shroud

Summerford Farms
 
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Have you played FFXV?
RYhOX58.jpg



Not a bad thing for me, I liked FFXV quite a bit though it had more potential.
FF XV had great potential I'll agree. But with the development fuckery they had and the switching of directors really fucked it. I really wanted Stella :/ story could have been so good too. They had to patch all that shit in. It was such a cluster fuck :/ PS3 was the worst era for Square Enix.

At least during the PS4 and PS5 we got FF 7 Remake which was astounding. Can't wait for FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth.

KH3 blew donkey dick though... hope KH4 doesn't suck.

P.S. There is also a NVIDIA database leak for FF9 Remake. KH4 got leaked same way before it became official.
 
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EDMIX

Member
However can feel there's a difference in XVI where the developers have regularly emphasised there will be 6 distinct kingdoms
They said a lot about FFXV too, we don't know how significant any of that is until we play it.
I think my criticism on XV for being undercooked is valid
Sure, but that literally could be with this game too. I don't see enough here to suggest one is wildly different then the other based on what we are talking about. Until I get more information about factual elements that will be actually in the game, it merely sounds like they are marketing FFXVI the best they can, saying "kingdoms" doesn't really mean it will be some massive significant thing, shit wasn't FFXV literally about warring kingdoms? lol So they will emphasize what they must to market the game. Some one can literally market FFXV the exact same way and its not like you get some wildly different game.


the car made travelling too quick and the map wasn't big enough to give the impression you have just trekked halfway across the world to reach a new kingdom.

I don't feel they needed any of that. It is about the quality of content and not merely the enormous size.

FFXVI can be bigger then FFXV and be a bad game, it can be smaller then FFXV and be a bad game lol I don't think the size of a map in this regard is going to change much as FFXV map size is just fine, you can make it slightly bigger, you can make it slightly smaller and I don't really think you change most fans minds regarding that title as I enjoyed to 70 hours I put into it.

Making it 2x bigger would change nothing on how I feel about that game. I care about the quality of what I'm playing and I feel they did a great job with land, air and sea traversal. FFXVI is in good hands and even if its smaller then FFXV, I'm sure many will love it regardless.

I just don't think that is as much as a selling point as many might think, shit I'm saying I don't care if its bigger or smaller and I have it pre-ordered with the collectors edition lol, but I digress.

Kumomeme Kumomeme lol Bones is correct btw. FFXVI seems more closer to FFXV then FFXIV. So the area might seem similar, but shit you can say that about many, many FF titles though lol The gameplay itself (the core thing that matters here) is very much in the ballpark of FFXV.
 
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GymWolf

Member
tslgpxfcubq41.jpg


In to this disgusting thing....why? "Oh it had better texture!"
WJeIaR6.png


I take good art direction over high tech graphics any fucking day.
Lol that's not caused by the improved fidelity, it's just bluepoint fucking the artdesign like they did with some other bosses.

I hope your argument is not that the vanilla model was somehow impossible to upgrade without changing the model because it would be a very stupid one...

This was just bluepoint being bluepoint, look at wanda face in the remake of colossus...
 
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Fredrik

Member
People are way too negative here, I think it looks great in this video. Looks a bit empty in the world showcase clips though.
Anyway, the exclusivity sucks donkey balls, I’ll be the only one playing this among my friends, could’ve had lots of nice talks like when we all played Elden Ring but platform war ruins it all again.
 
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SABRE220

Member
I'm going to get hate for this but there is some serious inconsistency in terms of visual fidelity from the promoted materials so far. The outdoor areas shown in this trailer are rather underwhelming compared to the last trailer even. It all looks really flat and basic almost like it's an expansion pack to the ff14 mmo world. The plains for example have very little detail and look like a repeating texture...the worst part is it all looks so sterile. The foliage and environment are completely static it's rather jarring....its a next-gen game and the foliage literally does not even sway.
 
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Pretty sure that change in art direction for DS was due to potential “black face” backlash

Not that it mattered, the game we got looks way better artistically than the original
 

Portugeezer

Member
Not sure about the visuals, hit and miss. But I'm hyped for the game, should run smoothly with all the months of polishing they've had.
 

Kumomeme

Member
Kumomeme Kumomeme lol Bones is correct btw. FFXVI seems more closer to FFXV then FFXIV. So the area might seem similar, but shit you can say that about many, many FF titles though lol The gameplay itself (the core thing that matters here) is very much in the ballpark of FFXV.
just because the grass somehow similliar? i wholeheartly disagree. the vibe is leaned more to other game. but hey, it is fine to has different opinion.
 
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GymWolf

Member
No you easily could but they didn’t and that was my big problem with them and why I don’t want them remake Bloodborne.
I think that bloodborne being more new and with better models already it will be harder to fuck up, but who knows...
 

CunningPlan

Neo Member
Not paid any attention to this one but to sum up, does it have any of the bullshittery of XV?

As in, do you need to watch other media to go with it? Is it a whole game? Is it more akin to VII, VIII, IX?

is it an actual Final Fantasy proper?
They’ve made a point of it being a complete package, implying they’ve learned the lessons of the past. Also mentioned somewhere that they will only think of extended media, for example DLC or a sequel if the game is well receive.
 

lyan

Member
I'm going to get hate for this but there is some serious inconsistency in terms of visual fidelity from the promoted materials so far. The outdoor areas shown in this trailer are rather underwhelming compared to the last trailer even. It all looks really flat and basic almost like it's an expansion pack to the ff14 mmo world. The plains for example have very little detail and look like a repeating texture...the worst part is it all looks so sterile. The foliage and environment are completely static it's rather jarring....its a next-gen game and the foliage literally does not even sway.
Am I seeing things because foliage looks like they're moving to me while I keep hearing people saying they are static lol?
If it's about the range of movement I think the perpetual swinging grasses in other games are the awkward case, you don't get constant strong winds like that, at least not in places I've been to.
 
This might be the easiest FF to skip.
I'll wait for reviews, but I have zero anticipation for this entry.(a first for me)

Octopath Traveler may be their best series now.
 
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Teslerum

Member
There are a lot of misunderstandings happening in this thread in regards to art style vs technical graphics.

Fbh Fbh I have to admit, looking at this from a general perspective, FF16 looks good. It looks fantastic actually. However, at the same time Punished Miku Punished Miku has a good point. Something about these environments feel restrained…very restrained by FF standards. From what we’re seeing in this footage, something unique about the FF brand is being lost by trying to make the game look so western, muted, and mature.

There’s something to be said about “the world being a character” and I could feel that with nearly every FF mainline game. I’d argue that FFX was the greatest example of that. Even if you could say some of the main cast had ridiculous hair, everything surrounding those characters was very interesting from a lore standpoint.

When playing FFX, I truly felt like I wanted to learn more about how that world worked and how cities functioned on their odd and otherworldly rules. And they would slowly introduce you to, and explain their strange traditions, customs, and technology, even explaining things like their travel systems. I looked at the environments with awe. I wanted to talk to every NPC to learn more and more and explore more areas because I was truly curious about it all. I could only imagine how much more interesting FFX could have been if it were open zone or open world, and yet even as a linear-ish game it still managed to have a world that kept me engaged and curious. You could easily tell that the creators of FFX wanted you to feel like you could almost be transported into the world yourself and that, as odd as a world it was, it could actually exist.

I don’t feel that with this FF16 footage. I’m sorry, I just don’t 🤷‍♂️. That’s okay though, because the narrative is the main attraction here and not the world. The set pieces look really cool and might end up being the best set pieces and cinematics of any FF game. But the world itself just looks…restrained.
Why are you comparing with X?

Minagawa had nothing to do with X. If you compare to past FF, you compare to Tactics, Vagrant Story, XII, because those are the games the team has actually worked on. He and his games have never been one for too otherworldly designs, more medival in overall style (Except for endgame areas). Different targets, different priorities. And he's been doing that for over 30 years. Ditto for his team, you wouldn't expect the ex-Ivalice/Matsuno team to suddenly develop FFX.

I only agree in the sense that color is too subdued. Otherwise, your expectations were misplaced in the first place.
 
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Kev Kev

Member
They claim "exploration" but I didn't see him exploring anything. No chests, no puzzles, no hidden areas, no items, no checking behind that thing, no ledge to jump up to and find an item, just one battle after another.

It's nice that they have open areas, but if it's just a vehicle for more combat then I think that's really disappointing. Square needs to practice some verticality in it's game design. Hide a chest up in that big structure. Have a ledge or ladder to climb that leads to an area that wasn't plainly visible. Put a simple puzzle here and there. Give the player a reason to investigate the beautiful game world you designed.

This is simple RPG stuff that they have been ignoring since FF9 and it's utterly baffling that they think players want a straight forward, combat only experience, with some cut scenes in between.
 

kingyala

Banned
I agree. Personally found FFXV visually more impressive. This isn't exactly the 9th gen only looker I was expecting from SE.
thats the problem, you can have more powerfull harware and more memory to play with but bad graphics designers and artists will still manage to make a bad or average looking game.. the environments are large and mostly empty here and they look flat on the day time... this looks similar to forspoken and not so different from recent assassins creed titles
 

Rykan

Member
Man, to think SquareSoft used to put so much effort in their art direction.
It always looked different from everything else in the market.

\
Outsourcing.

That's the word you're looking for. Outsourcing of art assets is the norm now, and that is exactly who so many games look alike and have similar art styles. Modern FF games literally have enemies from a "Monster Asset pack" completely unchanged.
 
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BootsLoader

Banned
It looks pretty but outdated at the same time. I hoped they will make some difference in comparison with FFXV but it looks like it’s the same.
bored bruce campbell GIF by Ash vs Evil Dead
 
Yep, looks great, I really don't need to see anything else. The game is in good hands and they are definitely holding back alot here as to not spoil too much.
I swear to god though, if they fucking kill the dog to force some heartbreaking emotional scene I will flip out and do a hard 180 on the game.
 
There's no such thing as an FF curse. There's just different audiences that look for different things in an FF game, and those that are super passionate about the incredibly wacky direction it has trended towards are the most vocal while the ones that lost interest just stopped engaging in discussions altogether.

I would argue, there's a huge segment of the FF audience that has become increasingly disinterested in the genre as it has moved towards a South Korean Boy Band or ResetERA Avatar style over the past two decades. Some fans of the series put up with it because they enjoy the mechanics of the series but cannot stand the direction otherwise.

FFXV was a massive disappoint. In development hell for over a decade, with a bunch of spiky haired bros running around an aesthetically inconsistent world with mechanics that did not feel strong at all and feeled like a tepid appeasment of those that wanted a bit more action. This same team brought us the immensely disappointing Forespoken.

What you consider "super generic", most would consider going back to a more aesthetically consistent and mature style reminscent of the series of FF6 and prior, although admittedly those games were forced into more basic art styles due to hardware limitations. Regardless, FFXVI is a massive step up when it comes to global appeal - getting rid of the waifu nonsense the series has meandered in for ages, and going for a more consistent, mature "Game of Thrones" type vibe for western audiences in addition to a maturation of the combat mechanics to be more actively engaging. I have a feeling this game will elevate Final Fantasy back into the limelight it deserves and will cause all of Square Enix to radically restructure towards this path going forward.
Lol you got me hard at Resetera avatar style 🤣. Well played
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
This trailer being complimented everywhere online but here.
Sometimes i fee like this place is impossible to be pleased. PS3-tier my ass lmao
Just a lot of agendas.

Kinda easy to spot when you just take a cursory glance of what they are actually saying.

That happens when you add people that don't want this game to be good + some ideological fans that shit on everything that is not what they want in a preconceived way. It's not representative of reality.
Doesnt help that its a PS exclusive either. There are literally people that would shamelessly want the game to fail on that alone.
 
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God some of those burning questions are super pathetic especially the dark one!!

Seriously some fans need to get a grip on reality.

I appreciate them answering but it's must suck for devs to please these super annoying Giga nerds
 
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