PS5 Final Fantasy XVI

[Nag]

Think I'm closing in on the endgame now (I'm on "Back to their origins")... and I've just been hit with a boatload of side quests so I'm trying to clear those and the remaining Hunts before hitting the final mission.

 

I think I've just kind've accepted this game for what is now which is basically the hot blonde that looks amazing but as soon as she opens her mouth you'll just switch off... as soon as the chat starts up (especially for side missions) I'll just tune out, it just isn't interesting. I'm still enjoying the fighting even though the last couple of Eikon battles didn't really do it for me... I'd say Titan has been my favourite so far... and the Ring of Timely Evasion makes this game such a cake walk which is great for me as I don't play Final Fantasy for difficulty.

 

Should see the credits by the end of the week I'd think.

[Nag]

Done and dusted over the weekend... I enjoyed it for what it was in the end which in my mind was more a character driven action game more than a RPG, I could've just as easily been played God of War or Devil May Cry.

 

I'll stand by what's been said about the cast not being particularly great and there wasn't one side mission that could be classed as interesting but the combat just about does enough to carry it through the run time.

 

It's a doable Platinum too, I only have the ones for fully upgrading all Eikon abilities and finishing Final Fantasy mode to unlock but I'm going to need a decent break before going through the game again even with skipping cutscenes.

[DisturbedSwan]

I started this in earnest the weekend before last, put in roughly about 15 hours so far and am currently on my way to the Capital of Sanbreque with Cid & co. 

 

Safe to say my impressions from the first 3-4 hours included with the demo from June have carried on into the actual game and I'm very much enjoying it. Similar to the demo, it looks absolutely amazing, a real graphical showpiece (albeit some of the textures in the distance can look a little muddy) and I'm absolutely loving every second of the combat, especially as I've now got a second Eikonic ability (Wind) which means I can switch them together to better chain combos, at times I have to remind myself I'm not playing DMC5 lol.

 

The RPG side of the equation is a bit lacking so far though, I feel like I haven't really had the chance to properly explore anywhere yet, it's a bit odd when the game is like 'your next mission is in Lostwing' and instead of putting a marker down and being like 'well, go get to it then' followed by all the usual RPG shenanigans of getting lost on a path on the way to a cool town teeming with life. It just enables you to fast travel straight there, and I'm a bit like, 'hang on a minute, why am I here already?!' kinda thing. The towns themselves have been pretty lifeless too with hardly any cool collectibles, trinkets or other bits and pieces of the like to collect, with only a handful of NPCs, with even less you can actually talk to, there are narrative reasons for this but RPG towns/cities are one of my favourite places to wander around in, and here that aspect has been distinctly lacking.

 

The longer the game has gone on the more it has opened up a bit, instead of being teleported to an area you'll go along a path fighting enemies, then into a big field kind of area which will lead on into your destination. I think my favourite of these has been in Rosaria, the mini open world here has been the largest so far and has felt the most 'final fantasy' if that makes sense, I got utterly lost here and explored every inch of it, before being funnelled on to the next locale. There is a proper dungeon in this area too which I really enjoyed, I hope there's more of them as the game goes on too, with some that aren't tied to the main plotline.

 

In terms of story, not a whole lot has happened really, the cliff hanger at the end of the Prologue (demo) has been solved but there are still questions to be answered. I am finding all the bickering, wars and grudges between the different countries of Vallisthea and their different distinctive rulers all fascinating too. Similarly to what I said in my early impressions, the overarching theme of humans sapping energy from the world for their own selfish reasons is an intriguing one. It still feels very much in 'act 1' so to speak, in that things are still being set up, characters introduced etc. and I've only recently got one of my main Eikonic abilities (the devil trigger one) so it feels like things will get much spicier as the game goes on. The huge Eikonic battles and some of the boss fights so far have been absolutely bonkers in all the best ways, just incredible spectacles.

 

So yeah, very much enjoying it so far, maybe a little more than I thought I would be as it seems since release folks have been a little down on it maybe (on here also) but yeah, it's an absolutely superb game so far and I can't wait to play more, found myself having to tear myself away from it to make way for BG3 on Saturday night which I didn't expect.

 

Pics:

 

Spoiler

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

A long overdue post really, been meaning to post this probably for the last three weeks and haven’t done.

 

Now 35 hours into this and still think it’s fantastic, pacing is super strange as others on here and those in the community have said really. Going from one huge fuck off amazing Eikon battle to mooching around the Hideaway and then doing fetch quests to randomly build a ship as part of the main questline is just jarring and strange. 
 

Still very much enjoying it though, the game does seem really front loaded on action, the first 10 hours were a rollercoaster of crazy fights, pretty linear paths and smaller open world areas and since then the game has mellowed and there hasn’t really been another big fight between the beginning and the one in Dhalmekia. The open worlds have got much bigger too, the recent desert open world I've been exploring is bloody huge, it kind of surprised me that there is open worlds that big in this game, but still somehow not really dauntingly big if that makes sense, they're a good size.

 

Its won the three-way battle I was having with this, BG3 and Starfield anyway. This is by far and away the most engaging of the three (still need to put more time into the other too though admittedly) and definitely a GOTY contender if it keeps up the trajectory it’s on but there’s still probably a long way to go yet.

 

Many pics:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Finished this last week, took me almost 80 hours I think.

 

Really enjoyed it overall, loved the characters (especially Clive, Gav and Mid but Byron was a character too) and the camaraderie of the 'cursebreakers' throughout the game. Really refreshing to have an FF with primarily English voices compared to the usual high pitched Americans they tend to put in JRPGs.

Everything seemed super inspired by Game of Thrones, which is no bad thing but it did lack a little bit of that Final Fantasy-ness about it at times, the only thing really was the Chocobo, a few of the side quests and enemy designs really, even the victory battle theme was made more gruff. Not really a bad thing per se but definitely lacked a bit of joy (maybe?) at times, I don't quite no what I'm trying to say, but that quirky FF-ness I suppose.

 

Some absolutely incredible boss fights, Titan was a personal favourite, just a ridiculous spectacle. There was lots of downtime and non-bombastic moments in between but I never really felt they were an issue pacing-wise until the last third of the game maybe at times.

 

For all the hoo-ha made of the dreadful side quests, I enjoyed quite a lot of them. Maybe not the activity themselves but I'd say a good amount had a decent story behind them, they were all fully voiced as well which was surprising. I did every single one of them and didn't feel like I wasted my time, the quantity did ramp up towards the end which was mildly annoying but not to a significant degree.

 

I did all the hunts as well and they were pretty fun, I think I was a little over-levelled so most of them were a cake walk (even the S ranks) but yeah I had a lot of fun doing them all. The combat in general in this game is its shining star really, just absolutely fantastic and never got boring or repetitious for my entire 80 hour play time.

 

So yeah, a bloody good game overall. Having only finished 3 FF's, this is probably my least favourite behind X and XV but only by a small degree if that makes sense. Highly recommended.

[one-armed dwarf]

People give this game's combat a hard rap, but I think a lot of it is people just look for the most straightforward options. It's not very deep, but I think you can have fun with it if you're motivated to do so. It very much subscribes to the DMC style of building combos rather than Bayonetta and I think that trips up a lot of people cause you have to figure out the sequences and synergies yourself rather than it being handed to you. Albeit again, it's not nearly as deep as either of these games.

 

My favorite thing is the DMC parry, which gets a reaction from Cid in the first proper boss fight

 

 

I sort of feel I'm too hard on this game, as the bits where it gets out of its way and turns into a lite-DMC game are actually pretty great. But I still think MMO quest design is a fairly terrible marriage. MMO boss fight design? That works much better

[DisturbedSwan]

Yeah, it's definitely not as deep as something like DMC but I can see why they didn't go that deep, you can definitely switch Eikons and combo into stuff though which is always satisfying when you pull it off. I do wish it had a combo gauge in a way but again I can see why they restricted that to the replay mode at the monolith type things. 

 

As soon as I unlocked the Titan eikon it immediately reminded me of that ability from DMCV (Virgil's?), it's cool that Cid comments on it in that fight, such a great character.

[one-armed dwarf]

Of course somebody has already beaten the boss fight at the end of the DLC without taking any damage. I consider this vid a pretty excellent demonstration on how much of a style fiend Clive can be in the right hands, and the hopeless task of designing a boss fight that can actually keep up with the best players in a game like this

 

Spoiler

Some nice FFXIV fan service here, a remix of Omega's theme and Azys La theme. Somebody should get this pour soul a capture card or something cause the PS5 capture bitrate here is really struggling

 

 

 

Honestly looking forward to getting back into the game when both DLCs comes out, but I'll wait for the PC version at this point. So it can run fights like this more smoothly lol