"On the next Arrested Development, Solius buys Final Fantasy XVI"
Gaming Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
- Thread starter esmufc07
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
I'm not used to hearing Eikons speak a human voice. Wish they make them sound differently when they talk during Eikons battle.
Agree with this assessment so far. I think it’s a good start for them in terms of next gen final fantasies and with a couple of tweaks they have a really solid way forward for the series.
The problem about FFXVIs gameplay is not the general lack of depth or player choice but that it takes quite a long time to get to that point. It is similar to FFXIV very conscious about easing players into it and asks a lot of patience of them.
The first 20 hours or so are pretty much completely carried by the story, characters and spectacle of it, but there comes a point where combat opens up a lot and you can pretty much craft your own prefered playstyle. This is where the only RPG elements of the game come into play, not in terms of stats or gear, but creating individual combat builds.
The first 20 hours or so are pretty much completely carried by the story, characters and spectacle of it, but there comes a point where combat opens up a lot and you can pretty much craft your own prefered playstyle. This is where the only RPG elements of the game come into play, not in terms of stats or gear, but creating individual combat builds.
Thats been becoming an increasingly annoying bugbear in gaming for me. Pretty much everything has rpg elements and progression these days and i wish they'd get the basic mechanics out early. Its part of what i liked about zelda recently, within the first couple of hours you have all the powers. I'm just kind of bored of 80 hour games that take 3 hours to unlock double jump and your still unlocking things 30 hours in. Just feels thoughtless and limiting to be in tutorial mode for dozens of hours.
I get that theres story reasons with this to only have one stance for whatever amount of time but the low level combat looks boring.
From what you have said there I would leave it for now. The game is very good but more akin to DMC than previous Final Fantasy's. The story is very good but the side quests at least in the first half of the game leave a little to be desired.
55-60% of the main story done (i think) and i continue to really enjoy the game even though it has a few issues here and there. And damn Annabella is such a b*tch. They definitely took Cersei lannister as an inspiration.
The story and characters really shine for me but the sidequests and combat is a bit mixed. Boss battles are intense, but you're just never in trouble with regular foes.
Dare i say the best offline FF since X?
Not as good as X for me though. X's linearity is implemented better and is just more varied in its world-building.
The story and characters really shine for me but the sidequests and combat is a bit mixed. Boss battles are intense, but you're just never in trouble with regular foes.
Dare i say the best offline FF since X?
Not as good as X for me though. X's linearity is implemented better and is just more varied in its world-building.Yeah it's really easy. I think XII is better so far in terms of the gameplay personally and stuff going on in the wider world but I'm enjoying the story of this game more.55-60% of the main story done (i think) and i continue to really enjoy the game even though it has a few issues here and there. And damn Annabella is such a b*tch. They definitely took Cersei lannister as an inspiration.
The story and characters really shine for me but the sidequests and combat is a bit mixed. Boss battles are intense, but you're just never in trouble with regular foes.
Dare i say the best offline FF since X?
Gloating activated
Probably worth mentioning that so far all in the side quests have taken about ten minutes in total. They are beyond basic but also incredibly quick. If that was the sole reason someone had for not playing the game I would say play it because it's such a small amount of play time
The side quests are annoying a lot of the time for the reason you mentioned about Clive running slow. If you know that a lot of your side quests are a run to this place and back then at least make sure the mobility of characters is a bit better.
Only managed to get a few hours in so far as I’ve been busy, but enjoying it so far. Does feel extremely linear though.
Sounds fantastic...
I'm fine with linear. Probably preferable over a redundant open world
GoW Ragnorak is the best recent example I've seen of being linear enough for the main story and quests itself whilst having these big, open areas to do meaningful side quests and encounters as well. There's a whole late game area in it that's completely optional and possibly one of my favourite game areas ever. Perfect balance of both.
This is very linear (so far anyway) and does not have any of those meaningful, packed areas and the side quests are shite.
As someone who doesn't play many new games, I probably won't really notice that the game is quite linear. I mean, ff7 still doesn't feel linear to me even though I know it is.
FF7 is way less linear than this and a lot of newer games.
Nothing wrong with linear games, but I hope it's not as linear as FFXIII at least. Ideally, Final Fantasy games need some degree of freedom and moments of peace and quiet instead of a constant forward push.
Horses for courses. Judging by the reception of their side quests its probably a good thing its linear
I'm not sure the linearity of XIII was the issue, it felt more a problem of pacing and issue with the story beats. Realistically it was riddled with dozens and dozens of issues that all exacerbated the others.
The problem with XIII was the characters/voice acting, fecking awful bellends.
Definitely not its only issue, but it was still too constrained and linear.
I've completely forgotten pretty much everything about it to be honest. I have a better memory of VI than it.
That's because FFVI is awesome and full of memorable characters, locations and theme songs, and FFXIII is... FFXIII.
VI is possibly the best FF game of them all and one of the best games ever.
FFXIII is a shambles, it's crap.
FFXIII is a shambles, it's crap.
Linearity is fine and sometimes even preferable as long as it's done well. FFX is an example of linearity done brilliantly: you have lore-building npc talks, a silly but fun mini game, towns to explore, places to buy stuff, and that's all before you go out and do the next part of the journey. It's a very well paced game. XIII's problem is it's a never ending loop of cutscene-battle-corridor with no variety, and if you don't like the characters or story it can feel really frustrating.
13 is the only FF I've never replayed. I play 6 like every other year.
It’s linear in the sense that there’s no open world but I feel like people are being dramatic. Maybe modern games have changed expectations. It’s no more linear than old school Final Fantasy games, and definitely far less so than a lot of them.
It opens up to the point where you can warp to areas to pick up side quests and monster hunts, with the story being the only thing that restrict that occasionally.
It opens up to the point where you can warp to areas to pick up side quests and monster hunts, with the story being the only thing that restrict that occasionally.
Linearity can be a good change up.
Almost just had my first game over in an eikon battle. Getting nasty button lag during them, anyone else?
Just reached the main quest - The Gathering Storm…
Story wise the game has a 10/10 for me up to this point. The first final fantasy in a while where I completely love the characters, voice actors and what they’re doing with the story.
The boss and Eikon battles visually are incredible and are also a 10/10 for me but the button lag and performance at times knocks it down to a 9/10.
I really enjoyed the music in the area you complete before this where Cid meets his end. Reminded me of the castle at the end of FF8. Aside from that I haven’t really noticed the soundtrack much enough to be impressed by it.
Combat is a weird one. I really enjoy it at times (especially during boss battles) but when you’re fighting other mobs it’s just a bit ‘meh’. Being so limited in what you can do is a bit of a shame when there is so much variety in other FF games. I hope in future instalments they open up what you can do again.
Side quests the same so far where they’re pretty naff. The only ones that were decent up until now are those related to the dame. Despite being crap quests I feel that what they added to the story and background to the bearers lore was nice.
I can see this being the point in the game where things change and open up a lot more though so looking forward to it.
The boss and Eikon battles visually are incredible and are also a 10/10 for me but the button lag and performance at times knocks it down to a 9/10.
I really enjoyed the music in the area you complete before this where Cid meets his end. Reminded me of the castle at the end of FF8. Aside from that I haven’t really noticed the soundtrack much enough to be impressed by it.
Combat is a weird one. I really enjoy it at times (especially during boss battles) but when you’re fighting other mobs it’s just a bit ‘meh’. Being so limited in what you can do is a bit of a shame when there is so much variety in other FF games. I hope in future instalments they open up what you can do again.
Side quests the same so far where they’re pretty naff. The only ones that were decent up until now are those related to the dame. Despite being crap quests I feel that what they added to the story and background to the bearers lore was nice.
I can see this being the point in the game where things change and open up a lot more though so looking forward to it.
Not happened to me... yet
Anyone else have an irrational dislike of Charon? She just annoys me.
Best FF since og 7 but weirdlydoesn't quite feel like an FF.
Story is great if a little messy in mixing classic FF with dark fantasy, but best FF story since 6.
Boss battles are top notch, combat is really fun once you get to a point where you can choose what goes with you and what to leave out.
That said trash mobs get repetitive after awhile and I guess that's ff tradition, but having brutes in filler battles that need to be staggered twice knocks it down a bit.
Combat like most the game takes too long to open up though.
Soundtrack is amazing.
There are some negatives, side quests are abysmal.
You build up such an amount of resources finding more and rewards are pointless.
Level design and navigation feels a little clunky at times.
Some of the VA sounds like it's delivered by novices reading lines written by a 12 year old.
As said above very slow to open up mechanically (too slow) and very linear for the first 10 or so hours.
The real standout for me is I like the entire main cast so far. Clive and Jill. There's no main character I feel is really poor. Every game post 7 has at least 2I can't stand.
Real return to form for FF despite some minor missteps. My goty so far, enjoying it way more than Zelda.
This gets a 9/10 which will probably hold as I'm closeish to the end.
Story is great if a little messy in mixing classic FF with dark fantasy, but best FF story since 6.
Boss battles are top notch, combat is really fun once you get to a point where you can choose what goes with you and what to leave out.
That said trash mobs get repetitive after awhile and I guess that's ff tradition, but having brutes in filler battles that need to be staggered twice knocks it down a bit.
Combat like most the game takes too long to open up though.
Soundtrack is amazing.
There are some negatives, side quests are abysmal.
You build up such an amount of resources finding more and rewards are pointless.
Level design and navigation feels a little clunky at times.
Some of the VA sounds like it's delivered by novices reading lines written by a 12 year old.
As said above very slow to open up mechanically (too slow) and very linear for the first 10 or so hours.
The real standout for me is I like the entire main cast so far. Clive and Jill. There's no main character I feel is really poor. Every game post 7 has at least 2I can't stand.
Real return to form for FF despite some minor missteps. My goty so far, enjoying it way more than Zelda.
This gets a 9/10 which will probably hold as I'm closeish to the end.
Caulk and bawl...
Surely that's intentional
Surely that's intentional
Just started playing it. As soon as I heard Cid's voice I knew who was voicing him. Not by name mind, but by face (...and by distinctive Yorkshire accent).
First S rank hunt I did was genuinely challenging. I wish the rest was too 
OK the Benedikta fight was pretty epic. Loving that soundtrack.
It's a bit linear, isn't it
It really is
. I just got through the first eikon vs eikon battle about eight hours in. The thing that's missing for me so far is the downtime exploring areas/cities in between the main story. So far it seems like I'm just lurching from one epic moment to the next and the pace of the whole thing is very different to FFVII and FFIX which for me are the gold standard of FF games. I do really like the story so far so it's not bothering me too much.The point where you unlock hunts the game opens up a lot more but it’s still fairly linear. It’s very good though and for a game that is, they’ve almost perfected it for me.