Spoilers ahead: That character death was one of the most well done and emotionally impactful character deaths I’ve ever experienced in a video game. The treatment Joel should have got
I think one of the things that ff16 did extremely well was show a great love story that had a lot of maturity and was handled with the delicate care the characters needed. To date, it’s definetely in my top 3 love stories of all the games and showed much more emotional depth than almost every other one in the series. I do wish they fleshed Jill out more but speaking just purely about the love story, it’s top tier.
Flawed as it is, there is still a lot to love and celebrate about FF16. I would like to see where they can take this style of Final Fantasy game because Creative Studio 3 are passionate about what they do. XVI and Rebirth really restored my faith in Square Enix as developers.
Imho every FF is flawed in one way or another but to me personally speaking. Compared to other FF games past 12, 16s flaws are extremely minor by comparison. Hell I'll even say at worst it's sidequests for example are average for the individual quests but it's quest chains are really good imho. I don't personally think that 16s flaws are as big as people make them out to be.
@@phuklyyve8941 calling DMC combat awful is certainly a confusing take. You can say that you don't understand the appeal of the combat system but calling what is widely considered the best combat system in gaming awful is just......weird?
@@bearcavepro8832 lol i must not understand because if i did understand it id like it? its tedious, button bashing. Dont care that you like DMC. It cant hold a candel to the depth off the ff7 remakes, and if it were so good this game wouldnt be largely critised for it? Just because you like something doesnt make it objectively good, why take this personally? "largely considered the best combat in gaming" Fucking stop lying haha, find me the article or reddit post or whatver that says this lol
That's one of the most reliable videos I've ever seen on Final Fantasy XVI. In 40 minutes you were able to fully summarise and explain what this game truly is. I've already shared your video and given a big like. Like you said, a Final Fantasy isn't tied only to the gameplay. But also to the story, the themes, the characters, the soundtrack and, of course, the CIDs. Thank you again for your video, and happy 1st anniversary to Final Fantasy XVI, my 2023 GOTY ❤
What a great video! Thank you. You captured my feelings on the game almost entirely. I didn't mind the weaker pacing and side quests as I was appreciating how strong the game was when it was telling it's main story. I loved the more mature themes when compared to more campy Final Fantasy characters and stories from other games. The music is probably the thing that elevated this game to my favourite Final Fantasy and one of my favourite games ever. All the best games have incredible music, for me it's a defining feature to draw me into the emotion of the story. The score on show is absolutely beautiful. I don't think there is a weak piece of music in the lot. Greatest music of any video game. I've also often found the turn based combat of older Final Fantasys the weakest part for me. It's the part that makes it difficult for me to go back to anything before XII. Probably why XII was my favourite Final Fantasy when it came out for it's more action focused battle system. I just love this game and hope more and more people can come to appreciate how great of a game it is.
This video you made truly was beautiful. I can see why it took longer to make than expected, it's very well crafted, with lots of your great points, arguments and personal feelings being put out in it, as well as having great edits, in a very inspirational way (approve of your soundtrack samples). Like you, I share the same sentinments of FF16, while far from perfect, and good god, is any game truly perfect (maybe some that are near to perfection or some that the highest highs outweigh any potential lowest lows), it's still a game I would confidently have in my top 3 or top 4 favourite FF games, alongside FFX, FFVI and FFIX. It's an experience I'll never forget.
@@madkaiser4887 Thank you, that means a lot! And yeah, it’s far from perfect, but of course, no game is truly, undeniably perfect. Regardless, this a game that has become very special to me. I understand it isn’t a game for everyone, but that’s also a given with an anthology series such as Final Fantasy. At the end of the day I have my experiences, and I will always cherish them.
I'm not even a Final Fantasy fan but I was addicted to this absolute kino. Here's hoping for a PC port cause the PS5 visuals definitely dropped quite a bit in many aspects.
So glad to see such a nuanced take on the game. People seem to feel the need to jump to extremes when it's alright to like a game despite it's flaws or dislike a game while acknowledging what others might like about it. Personally, I absolutely adore Final fantasy 16. Clive is an incredible protagonist. The world of ff16 tests him at every step of the way. He experiences so much tragedy and see's humanity at it's absolute worst. He breaks down, he cries, he feels unsure of himself. He is all of the things that make us human wrapped up in one package, our weakness and our strength. The characters all reflect that too. I know the quests can be tedious but honestly? The reward was worth it imo. You learn so much about these characters and it fleshes them out a lot. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have grown to really appreciate and love characters like Goetz and Charon. Final fantasy 16 is just one of those games you gotta experience at least once.
@@mysticalakatsuki4818 Yeah, it’s as you say most people lean so far on one side that they refuse to acknowledge how others feel. I love the game, but I can definitely understand why it is not for everyone. Yet despite its problems m, it still perfectly embodies what I look for in a Final Fantasy, in its story, themes, characters, and bringing a fresh take to the series once more. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but that can be said with literally any game in the series.
You’re right that people jump to extremes but you just kinda did that as well. To me this game is weird because for everything it does exceptionally well it does something very poorly. Clive is an incredible protagonist but he has probably the weakest antagonist in all of FF. The soundtrack has some of the best themes but a lot of it is repetitive and forgettable. The supporting characters are very strong but it has the worst party system of all final fantasy games. The budget for the cinematics seems huge but it seems incredibly cheap when you’re fighting the same old enemies in the same old zones I so much. The main story is intriguing and gripping up until Barnabas, yet the optional content is the worst in the series. It has the hottest opening quarter in modern RPGs and one of the slowest most slogfest third quarters in all of gaming. It’s like you give it a point then you have to take it away, over and over. Perhaps it just needed more time in the oven.
@@jaybee4288 That's totally fair. I get what people don't like about it. Just because I can overlook the flaws and find the enjoyable parts doesn't mean I think everyone else has to too. Jumping to extremes would be unwilling to accept any critiques about it. I gush because I really like the game, not because I think it's perfect.
What bothered me the most is Joshua's role in the later game. Where was he this whole time? Why didn't he contact Clive for all this time? Why does Clive never ask him this stuff. They keep insisting that he is sick and dying but he goes ALL out multiple times with no consequences. By the end I was convinced that Joshua was Ultima posing as Joshua, or that he created a fake, because Joshua obviously died. But it turns out to be some unexplained miracle, like they took a U turn mid production and decided to revive him but didn't bother explaining why. It just cheapens Clive's resolve and the meaning of his back story. I mean he live in excruciating pain for what he did for such a long time, and that is what made his character, but oops! Turns out his pain was pointless and Joshua was just chilling and learning history, even though we know Joshua knew that Clive was alive. I screamed at the screen "ASK HIM WHERE HE'S BEEN ALL THIS TIME", but Clive just seems happy enough he is there, no questions asked....
The reason he was avoiding Clive, and his reason for being away in general was to keep Ultima away from Clive and by extension keep Ultima in check. It was also explained how he survived and what he was doing all that time when you visit Tabor to meet up with Jote. Joshua explains that he was saved by the undying, a secret group that serves under Rosaria that only a few higher powers know of. In that time Joshua learned about Ultima and his plan for Valisthea and the Eikons. The way I see it, he only separates himself from Clive because he thinks that he can handle that burden himself which is in line with his character. The way I interpret Clive not asking Joshua where he has been is that he already knew that Joshua was also in search of Ultima after the events at Drakeshead. And later in the story at Tabor, they fully explain what Joshua was up to. I think ultimately when they meet up, Clive was just relieved to see his brother again, and wanted to focus on how to stop Ultima rather than catching up on the past, since the game naturally gets there anyway when you learn about the undying.
@@MoreLimitless_ Thanks for the detailed explanation! Something about the circumstances makes me have a hard time taking some of the explanations given by the game seriously. Like Joshua being saved by some new group no one knew about feels a bit cheap after we saw Ifrit rip him apart limb from limb. Joshua being frail in the first place just makes this pretty unbelievable to me. It feels that reviving Joshua was a decision made much later in production and these feel like convenient excuses to have it make sense. I'm not sure if Ultima thought that Clive was dead but surely he was aware that he is Ifrit. Whether Joshua letting his brother live with the guilt of murdering his brother is worth it to keep Ultima away from him seems like a very avoidable dilemma by the writers. I admit the Phoenix+Ifrit combo to defeat Bahamut was reaaaally badass but in some ways I feel the game's narrative could have been stronger without Joshua ever making a return, however bitter that may seem. But you know, this is just a one mans' opinion and I appreciate you giving me the explanations.
This game is the reason I have a ps5, to this day it is still peak ff to me, only time I got so invested on a ff was ff12 my first game on the ps2 and then the mythical trailer of versus, I still watch yearly.
16 is definitely better praised than was 15 15 had so much riding on it that it fell flat to most fans I was one of those I love all the work and improvement that were made to 15 and I like 15 now as a game But the long wait from the first trailer up until its release The hype of it living up to Versus 13 The development hell it went to The massive PR push and advertising and multiple source of media that was given to 15 just for a solid game was what led to its downfall 16 felt like a natural release It came out 3 years after it’s first trailer The development was smooth It was advertised well and it was a solid game but it was overhyped
I think the quest system and loot were not fleshed out perfectly but honestly as far as action games go it’s among my favorites of all time. The Eikon fights were exhilarating and glorious and the combat was so much fun. I’ve played this game 3 times and I am already on a 4th to try to get the platinum. This game feels criminally underrated.
It was a solid game. The boss fights,story,music, and main character were great. But the gameplay could’ve been a little more deeper like dmc, no real magic spells and once you get 3 icon powers and level up it did get too easy
Final Fantasy 11 was my absolute LIFE for a while. That game held me for so long and will forever be one of the most special games of my entire life... the memories that game made will never be forgotten....
This is a really great video man! I think you really captured a lot of what I think is both loved and criticized about this game in a really good way that allows for discussion and open ended thoughts. Superb work.
Beautifully put together! FF16 did have its flaws, but I still get chills thinking about its peak moments, characters, and breathtaking soundtrack. Definitely in the upper echelon of FF titles for me. +1 subscriber 👍
Thank you! Yeah, this game quickly became one of my favorites in the series. Everything from it's gameplay, story and characters is everything I look for in a game. I love the emotional maturity of the characters, especially Clive and I think he's an incredible protagonist that represents FF well and shares many similarities to classic FF titles. Some of the moments in this game have some of my favorite moments in gaming ever, and for that FF16 will always be top 5 in the series.
CBU3 and Yoshida are goated. I wonder if helming one of the biggest DLCs for XIV while also developing this in tandem ultimately caused XVI not to reach its full potential. Still this game is just so solid.
Garuda was my favorite boss fight. Great build up, stages of fighting Benedikta and her harpies, the music, and all around tone. It set the rest of the game up so well too.
Yup. The Garuda fight was like a domino effect and just like the demo it sets the tone of the world and the characters in it so well. Benediktas character is a perfect example of how cruel Valisthea could be, and her character describes FFXVI very well.
This is an excellent video about the flawed masterpiece that is FFXVI! This game is in my Top 5 Final Fantasy games and I can’t wait to see what CS3 is cooking next!
@@darthacez Hell yeah, I appreciate it! Even with its flaws it’s easily in my top 5 FF games as well. And I’ve always been a fan of CS3's style of game so I’ll definitely be on the look out for their next title, for sure!
I enjoyed ff16 but my only issue was the skills had cooldowns. I can understand the ultimate attacks but everything else shouldn’t have had it and if it did at least have them between 5-10 seconds. Majority of the fights i was spamming ki blasts and charging my sword
@@Pappa958 I feel like that’s how I see most people play, but personally speaking, once you explore the combat more and understand how the abilities weave into base combat, the combo potential gets crazy in this game. There are so many ways to play this game, but most people simply choose to cooldown dump without really weaving combos into the mix. Most people see the abilities as something separate to the base combat, but they don’t take the time to learn how to use them during combos. If the game put the arcade mode scoring into the base game I think that would have helped give players more incentive to really dive deeper into the combo potential of the game because it really is great once you get into it.
I absolutely love this game. Sure fetch quests are chores, however the back story the NPC gives you why it benefits them is vital to the world building.
I’m a PC guy, but I almost bought a PS5 for this game. I used to skip school to play FF6! I love these games. I’ve preordered the complete edition which comes out in 8 days. I can’t wait! Your video has helped me get excited for this game, especially after I’ve heard so much negative about it! Great vidi bud!✌️
@@toecutter9372 Most of the negativity around it has to do with the fact that it isn’t traditional FF gameplay as usual with the fandom. But there are genuine criticisms of the game that I did go over in the video as well. Overall though, I think FF16 is a great FF game that really captures the spirit of the classic SNES games while providing fresh gameplay for the series.
@@MoreLimitless_ dude, I’m so excited for the 17th. I’ve been waiting to play this game for like a year and a half. Your video made me finally commit to pulling the trigger.
I got about halfway through my "Final Fantasy" difficulty playthrough on ps5. I'm excited to play this on pc. Hopefully they have ultra wide-screen support because this game with a 32:9 aspect ratio would be amazing.
Excellently made video! I loved 16 but I do get the common complaints, but like you also stated, the Eikon fights took up the brunt of the budget you can see this by the time you hit the last Eikon fight that it’s the most underwhelming imo. Thanks for the video and brining this fantastic story back into my mind. The story was phenomenal imo. Loved the darker tones and they hit hard. I gave it a 9/10 and stick by it lol.
I played it a few months ago and I liked it, the only mistake I made was to play it after finishing FF7 Rebirth because the gameplay it's much more simple...
This review literally made me go and buy FF. Thank you for this masterpiece of a review. Of course I skipped any spoilers which I appreciate you putting them in the time stamps. I cannot wait to play
I'm glad the video was able help you out so much, that's awesome to hear. FFXVI is a game I think everyone should experience at least once, it contains some of the best moments I have ever had playing a video game. Despite it's own set of flaws, the areas where it does shine, REALLY shine. I hope you enjoy the game!
Imma be real, I feel like Jill was the most compelling and well written character next to Clive. Imo she has more development than people give her credit for, and she still has direction and an arc that goes somewhere following through right to the end of the game, it's just relatively subtle and told through little moments/dialogues rather than another big setpiece like the Iron Kingdom. I keyed into so much more during my second playthrough, her writing is actually really good and she's much more of a three dimensional character than even Joshua. Unfortunately she suffers the most from the writing issues in the third act, and there are some big issues with her execution ofc. I think if she had just that little bit more she would have landed better overall. Show her curse, emphasize it and her need to start taking care of herself by having her fight Titan with Clive instead of what happened at Rosalith, dig a little deeper into her relationship with Shiva, etc.
@@foob420 That is exactly how I feel about her character. She’s a good and well written character that intertwines with Clive nicely, however, she lacks direction going into the latter half of the game. Instead they choose to focus more on only Clive and Joshua and Jill was just not given enough material, but she still has her moments as well.
I am sorry but I feel abject apathy towards her. She is just so uterly uninteresting to watch, she is a paper character, the writer im sure tried and had a clear goal but imo it just wasnt well realized.
The game is a solid 8/10 for me. I agree with critics that the lack of RPG elements, and the side quest structure definitely holds it back. For example, it doesn’t really make sense how my Phoenix abilities can kill Bombs, when in most games Bombs absorbs and get stronger with fire based attacks. Not to mention the combat can get really shallow in many general mob battles. For an action game, it’s definitely not the best. But the Eikon battles and its story are definitely its high points.
@@OmarO_721 Well I’ll say this, like I said in the video the combat is made to encourage creativity to the player. Having elemental weaknesses and MP sort of defeats that purpose of being able to use anything you want to combo with as it is built like a CA game, not a strategy RPG. In that sense, at least for me, I absolutely love the combat. The problem it runs into as explained in video is the lack of interesting mechanics, enemy variety or difficulty within them that hold it back, not the fundamental gameplay itself which I believe is very well made. But the other negatives I just mentioned don’t require the player to bring the most out of the combat like other CA games do because they don’t have those problems. I still enjoyed the combat a lot myself but those negatives definitely hold it back from being great.
Huge text incoming. I don't expect anyone to read, but hey.. I had the time and I like to wrinte, so here it goes: I have a lot of problems with XVI when it comes to gameplay and level/world design. The game has a good story and while the true villain and "big mystery" is cool and works, it's also somewhat of a trope in stories where fantasy/scifi mix. The characters are great, the cutscenes and boss fights are superb. I'll start with the combat. You're right that the combat system itself is mostly fine, what brings everything down is the systems around it. Not only generic enemies are too weak to incentivize skillfull play and combos, the ability system heavily inventivizes the incessant spam to destroy encounters in seconds. Then, when "elite enemies" and bosses show up they committ a huge sin in the "character action" genre, which is to create artificial difficulty by removing mechanics from the combat system. For example, most of the Elite enemies and bosses can't be juggled and have super armor, powering through your moves and punishing you for trying combos (which also incentivizes just using your openings to use Abilities instead of moves), that alone instantly kills 70% of the depth of the system. Hence why ability spam and parrying are the best strategies against bosses... because they're also pretty much the only strategy. The combat system itself is okay but even though it was made by Ryota Suzuki, it became pretty clear that just one man doesn't make and entire game. While the game has all the core systems (cancelable animations, i-frames, parries, juggles, etc), it lacks deeply in character moveset. Clive having just one melee weapon moveset and one ranged weapon moveset really throws a wrench on the system. One might argue that the Eikons are the "weapons", but they trully aren't, they're "unlockable abilities". Now the worst part of the game, the level and world design. I won't hold back the words here, it's just miserable. XVI feels like a PS3 game, and no I'm not talking about graphics, of course. I'm talking about the fact that the absurd amount of invisible walls in the open world areas and lack of exploration is very baffling. It sounds cruel to say this about a Final Fantasy game but this is the "most open, linear game" in the market. Clive can't jump over anything, even the smallest ledges, the itemization of the game is so bad that the rewards of exploring 99% of the time isn't worth it. And what is heartbreaking is that the biggest argument against XVI, is 7 Rebirth, which is the precise opposite of this. You can jump almost everything, there are usually means of traversal that makes you cross bodies of water or climb hills. That makes me feel, not angry at XVI, but almost sad about it. Almost as if it was set up to fail with all of it's budget allocated to 7 Rebirth. Which leads me to the dungeon level design, this one is inexcusable. Square Enix is a good 14 years behind when it comes to dungeon level design. I'm not kidding nor exaggerating, it's comparable to PS2/PS3 games. Every dungeon is made up of corridors that lead to elevators that leads to another corridor that leads to simple 2 way path, with one usually leading to a dead end making you go back and just take the other path. It's terrible, it's Tartatarus (Persona 3) levels of simplistic, it just looks a billion times better. Note that this isn't just an issue with XVI, pretty much every FF game is still stuck in the FFX/FFXII level design. They are completely out of touch in this aspect. Conclusion: I would say that XVI is a game that tries to appeal to everybody and ends being for no one. I'm not saying "No one likes XVI", but I am saying that when you think about playing XVI again, there are usually much better games depending on which specific aspect you want to experience. If you want the combat, you can play Devil May Cry, if you want the exploration you can play Rebirth. The only "unique" aspects of the game is the story (you simply can't replace story.. you either like it or you don't) and the boss fights. The game has little to no RPG elements, it's combat system although good, can't compete with action games made by Capcom, Platinum or Team Ninja, the world is not that fun to explore and most side quests aren't interesting. The result is a game that would've been a lot better if it had 50% or even 60% of it completely cut from the final product. I say this because this is a 50 hour long "Devil May Cry" game, except there's a reason games like Devil May Cry are usually short (like 10 hours long) and very replayable. To me personally, XVI would be better if it was structured like a DMC game, meaning "cutscene at the start of a mission, walking around a bit killing enemies, boss fight, cutscene, end of mission". Straight to the point. Which is interesting because that's EXACTLY what the demo was, like... that castle/tower section that leads to the Garuda fight was (by coincidence or not) a perfect slice of what a "Final Fantasy May Cry" could've been. Instead those sections are like 20% of the game with most of the game being just fetch quests, and filler content between major story moments (you know what I'm talking about) that you desperately wanted to skip to get to the next big set piece moment. I would say 40% of XVI is a 8.5/10 character action game but the other 60% is the most bland and boring 5/10 action RPG I've played. There is a great game underneath all the rubble and as funny as it may sound, a Director's CUT with most of the game completely removed would end up being a better product. Actually, the "time attack" mode that unlocks after you beat the game is pretty fun for this exact reason.
You can tell that FF16 was rushed and that the developers were lazy with the game. They only focused on Clive, somewhat the cutscenes, and the boss fights. Everything else was boring. It's fine for a game to have flaws but FF16 has way too many flaws that are unjustified imo. Here's some of the issues that I have with the game (most of this is a copy/paste but is very long too lmao): The pacing of the game was so off. The 13 year time skip is completely understandable but to this day I still don't understand the 5 year time skip. I also thought it was ridiculous that none of the characters personalities or even appearances except for Clive's even changed after the 5 year time skip. There's also no explanation as to why Joshua stays away from Clive for those additional 5 years. Literally none of the other characters again except for Clive even get to shine on their own and we don't learn much about their stories or why they are the way they are. It's like they all only exist for Clive's development and I find that so insulting to the characters and a complete waste of them. Out of all of them though, I'd say Jill was without a doubt the character that was done the dirtiest and I'm sure everyone knows why. Unfortunately, the only character that we see all of the other characters bond with is Clive and they get no other meaningful connections with anyone else The side quests except for the endgame quests were repetitive, boring, and unrewarding. All of them were either just fetch/kill quests. Even main story stuff is repetitive. You go destroy a crystal/stop an antagonist, come back to base, do crappy side quests and repeat that throughout the whole game. The loot you find in the game is not that great The gameplay was way too easy (I didn't die a single time in my playthrough) and the design of it is lazy because it didn't have much enemy variety, no enemy weaknesses/strengths. The other characters in your party are completely useless and hardly do any damage in battle and what's even more ridiculous about the gameplay and is probably the stupidest thing that I've ever seen in an FF game is that the characters in your party are immortal and can never be incapacitated in battle. What the actual fuck is that? It makes no logical sense for any party member whether they're playable in the game or not to have eternal fucking health. Whoever designed the gameplay for FF16, you deserve to be fired for that reason alone, I don't care. The game has an unnecessary ambiguous ending, but the game still gives off an obvious hint that Clive dies from the curse. I don't really see a point in ambiguous endings unless the story is going to have more somehow, and if Clive is dead then I think that throws part of his character development out of the window. Part of Clive's character arc is about him living and there's even multiple characters in the game especially Joshua, Jill and even Cid scolding him to save himself. What was the point in all of that only to have him die in the end? The developers could've done a lot better than this. Such a wasted potential, and I think it's hilarious that the developers pretend that they don't know why the game didn't sell to their expectations. You know, I think if they had just given what the fans wanted for the DLCs, it's possible that that alone could've saved the game. They admitted that they knew what the fans wanted before the DLC even came to be but they didn't care what people wanted, and look what happened lmao. Hardly anyone even played it, and I'm glad because that's also what they get for lying about what the DLCs were going to be about.
@@phoenixblossom2167 Yea.. honestly, it’s baffling that Square Enix is making meetings to figure out why FF hasn’t been selling well lately. And it never crosses their mind the fact that they’ve been going against fan feedback for more than a decade. Nobody liked 13, they went and made 2 sequels. Not only people didn’t like the direction 15 went, the game itself was incomplete at release. And now this is the FF16 we got. Remake and Rebirth are good games but the FF brand is in shambles at this point. Nobody has any faith in it.
@@Ocean5ix The fans are what make them, so it's not wise imo if they don't take valid criticism from the fans into consideration. They obviously look at feedback including the negative and we know they see it because they admitted to it, but again they don't care. And like you said, it's not even crossing their mind that the problem is that they don't care. They don't have anyone to blame but themselves...
@@Ocean5ixBeing compared to a ps2/3 game is great in my book. I prefer the linearity of the world and simple dungeon design since I just want to fight enemies. It's much better than the open world slop we have today. And I do agree it'd be much better if it was structured like a DMC game cause the fetch quests are boring. I have to disagree with you regarding what you said about just playing DMC if you want the combat, though. I tend to view 16 as a much more chill version of DMC. It may not have as much depth compared to it but there's still some pretty cool spectacles you can pull off without having to do crazy inputs whereas if I want something more technical with more skill involved I'll just play DMC. It just depends on my mood.
@@Merk1387 Oh for sure, can't argue against preference. It's just that for a game that marketed itself as at least "semi open world" with the devs mentioning God of War 2018 and Ragnarok as inspirations, the game was very disappointing. I also agree that a lot of times, comparisons with PS2 games are great. A good example is the Yakuza franchise, which still has that PS2 feel/jank to it that makes us remember the PS2 days. That said, I think when it comes to dungeon level design there's no way to justify how simplistic it is in 16. It feels like Square never learned how to make 3D dungeons in these games because it's not just the PS2, the PS3 13 games also had this problem, the 7 Remake also has this problem. Their dungeons not just lack in level design, they also lack artistic design to hide how linear they are. I can agree with your combat argument. It's easier to look cool in 16 than it is in DMC5.
Upon my first impression, this game felt like Attack on Titan and Game of Thrones had a child with a FF theme and I was all for it. This has easily been one of my favorite main FF games ever, the characters, the story, the fact that time does elapse with everything happening…just beautiful.
The Funny part is that FF 16 really is the most LOYAL one to the really classic era of final fantasy, if you could make final fantasy 1 and 2 in current realistic graphics those games would totally look like FF16, and i´m talking about everything, the protagonists, the villains, the towns, the world, the weapons, etc., the "medieval" look of FF started with FF 1 and 2, also they gave a big important to swords in those first 2 games, the excalibur and the blood sword, they kept the importance of the sword in "Seiken Densetsu" their first final fantasy action rpg for the gameboy., final fantasy 4, tactics, 11 and 14 kept the serious medieval look, 9 was more in line with 3 and 5, with that cartooney medieval look, i still miss the turn based because i like to think in strategies, and i´m not a fan of action rpgs but FF16 was really a very throw back to the roots of the franchise for sure,
Agreed. I feel like most don't actually realize how much 16 pay homage to classic FF in some of it's narrative. Perhaps the most classic feeling game we've had for years, and you can tell a lot of the blood from the first 5 FF entries, and even Tactics are woven into the feel of the world, how the story presents itself at times.
I wish it also took some elements from IV like temporary playable characters akin to Yang or Tellah, Dion and Cidolfus were way too cool to simply be... Kingdom Hearts' assist characters.
My main gripe with the game design wise is the lack of meaningful side content, which is weird coming from me as I normally b-line things as im a story enjoyer before anything else. But with the extended downtime between major arcs in the game feeling like the bad kind of side content, the lack of any dungeons, puzzles, or meaningful extensions of combat really make b-lining 16 the only enjoyable way to play. I get the the side quests mainly aim to give more lore and perspective but given that I played every side quest but found only like 5 out of the 76 be enjoyable, it kinda makes the other 71 pointless. Not to mention that non-super abilities don’t scale well into higher difficulties. I hated how easy the game was so when I went into Final Fantasy mode, it was disappointing that the combo abilities didnt feel good at all and the only setup that stays viable is lightning rod, will o wykes, and filling the rest of your slots with supers (which i find boring and i think we should have been limited to 1 super at any given time). Story wise my enjoyment took a dip after the second time skip, everything felt too on the nose and it lost a lot of its urgency along with expecting us as the audience to care for all of the filler side characters while sidelining the main cast. I like Jill anytime she’s actually on screen, but since thats like 15% of the game she just feels like an after thought. I don’t mind that she can’t fight all the time because she’s ill, but not that that means she doesn’t get anything to do at all. Which is my last major thing, as much as im all for each numbered entry being its own thing and not being pigeon-hold to specific mechanics, there being no real party gameplay wise destroys the final fantasy of it all. Even in vanilla 15 you still interacted with the rest of the boys and actively fought with you but you can barely even see your teammates in 16 much less feel any impact from them at all. As much as i disagreed with the, “this isnt final fantasy” discourse, there being a lack of a party really made it feel generic and, “not final fantasy” for me. That being said, I remember enjoying 16 from minute 1 to 2nd time skip like it was the greatest thing ever and I still love the game to bits for it. But the last half is where my patience wore thin both gameplay and story wise.
i wanted to spend so much time in its world but there was damn near nothing else to do outside combat. Even the usual lame minigames like darts would have done it for me. How about some basebuilding mechanics for the hideout. What a missed opp. So pissed because this could have been the most iconic ff game since X
@@jaybee4288exactly. They were epic no doubt, but I found some of them dragged on for too long. A world as depressing as this is bound to have some fun places like Wall Market in FF7. In fact, we come across a place that probably would be like it, but they don't let you go in and engage with it.
It feels like they made a really fun, bombastic, badass 15-20 hour long action story game then realized that it’s a Final Fantasy game so they had to stretch it to 50 hours and put hours and hours of “”open world RPG”” gameplay in between the major story beats. It just leads to a wildly inconsistent experience
I also am at a complete loss at how the game is 50 hours long yet I felt like I still barely knew anything about the world of Valisthea. If you asked me what happened in between hours and hours of downtime in between the occasional huge badass story beats I legitimately couldn’t tell you. All these cool cutscenes and a bible of lore about the different empires but it feels like the game doesn’t actually let you engage with any of it. Do you even go into any of the big cities in this game? All I remember is empty fields and sparse villages that blur together
It cleanse my soul everytime I watch someone speaking good things about a Final Fantasy game while also acknowledging where it is lacking without treating it like a total failure (I love FF13 and 15 so you must get where I am coming from lol) - 16 is far from being my favorite of the franchise but I had an absolute blast playing it and what I felt during the Bahamut fight I probably will never feel again in my life
@@cynthiadiniz419 I believe every Final Fantasy has its many strengths and weaknesses. Being able to recognize this, I think, is not only fair to the game but the developers. No FF is truly perfect, they have flaws, and I think now more than ever the fanbase is so quick to hate and point out negatives about the game and totally disregarding what the game does right. When people get so caught up in the flaws of a game without acknowledging it’s strengths, I think that does a huge disservice to developers, the game, and I don’t believe anything should be totally one sided when you’re doing an analysis or review of said game. FF16 has become one of my favorites personally, but I don’t just talk about why I love it. As a fan of 16 who’s played it numerous times, I will be the first one to come to terms that it is not a perfect game by any means, and I think recognizing those flaws and coming to terms with that has only emphasized why the strengths of FF16 are so special to me personally.
@@MoreLimitless_ Yesss that’s so true, loved your analysis! No Final Fantasy is like the other, you’re entitled to like more the latest, the first you played, the remake, the original or whichever resonates more with you without disregarding the rest, and honestly being this unique in each new entry is the greatest strength of the franchise to me, and I’ll always be thrilled to see the next number
While I did like it, I felt that not having a party of characters made it feel sort of lonely if that makes any sense? I mean you had Torgal with you most of the game and some guests join temporary, but I just like having control over a party, decide their moves, stats etc. Of cause the game had spectacle in spades as well with it's Eikon fights, Titan, Bahamut and the final boss spring to mind.
I'm still not a big fan of the ending, the main villain, how some characters were handled, the lack of rewarding exploration and rpg mechanics, the MMO style fetch quests that added very little beside stopping the pacing to a halt, Clive's standard sword moveset being so limited, Ifrits moveset being *even* more limited, and the use of a mechanic as unengaging as cooldowns in a fast paced hack n slash game. Most people say i dislike the combat because it is an action game, but rather its the opposite, i dislike it because it's not action *enough* . No amounts of skilled play will get the cooldowns back any faster, getting rewarded for waiting just isn't very exciting, the moveset being limited to only 6 abilities at a time doesn't help either. But i agree with you that that combo potential is still very large, i myself did have the most fun styling on enemies and swapping between builds despite my gripes with the limitations. And i can admit it is a well made game that succeeded at a lot of things it tried to do, even if i wasn't particularly a fan of them. I liked most of the characters and the boss fights were some of the most hype thing ever, some real Asura's Wrath energy there. I’d say better than XIII and XV as in its a complete game , but the complete game itself it’s aggressively middle of the road both as an action game and an rpg. Making you pay $25 DLC for a $70 game also rubbed me off the wrong way, just because it is normalized in modern gaming didn't make it any better, especially since it added such little content compared to some of the other games from Square Enix themselves, i expected them to be better than this. My first two playtrough were the most fun, unlocking more abilities and experimenting with all kinds of different combos, its only on the third playtrough i started noticing all the flaws. Despite all that i do believe this is a very high quality game that a lot of people would enjoy.
YES. Thank you! In terms of combat and gameplay complexity it feels like a demo or proof of concept of a Devil May Cry game that got stretched out to 50 hours. The sense of progression is horrible, you learn pretty much everything is to combat in the first two hours besides adding in 2 different color eikon attacks every 5 hours. The game is so easy that you aren’t even encouraged to actually learn and engage in the combos. I had to go out of my way to force myself to learn some because I was so bored of the same exact “dodge, dodge, square triangle square triangle square triangle” loop over and over again that I had learned in the demo. Even then by the time you get some stuff going the enemies are usually dead anyways. A *real* action game like DMC5 has 5 times the gameplay depth while jam-packing it into a game that’s 5 times shorter. Thats what makes it fun. As opposed to this game where you spend 30 minutes walking around an empty valley to find 4 random soldiers to pull maybe 2 combos off before it’s over.
I liked this game, quite a bit. But it’s not like FF4-10 that I remember really fondly. I’ve forgotten most of it. I remember it being too easy and became a bit of slog to keep going in the end stages and just kinda wanting it to end and the DLC didn’t come out until long after I was finished with it. But I remember it having a really hot start and some great cinematic bosses. One of the hottest starts in gaming but I felt like it falls off a quarter of the way through personally.
I recently finished 16 yesterday, DLC included. Definitely a fantastic journey with a great story and incredible voice acting. Biggest complaint? Not necessarily the side quests per say, but more so the side quest distribution. All side quests after the sky became cloudy just drained me, i know its my own problem wanting to 100% the game but thats probably my main critique. I will never 100% this game ever again. I would also say the gameplay variety was near nonexistent with the exception of the eikon abilities of course. Mixing and matching different abilities was a massive highlight for me. I just wish there was more to do in the game than just back and forth side quests as well as combat. Playing 7 Rebirth before this certainly affected my opinion with that in all fairness lol
@@caseyp3879 They are extremely Final Fantasy in the way they are made as villains. It all calls back to how villains were usually portrayed in games like FF4 or 5 . But to me, I think Ultima is a much more interesting Final villain than the games he was inspired from. It is understandable that people don’t like what they cannot understand, but once you actually dig deeper into the themes of the story and how he represents those concepts, it really gives me an appreciation for Ultima as a villain to Clive and he hideaway.
Ultima is a ripoff of Zanza from Xenoblade without anything to make him unique. Barnabas and Clive talking past one another with the same talking points over and over before their boss fight is one of the worst cutscenes I’ve seen in the last few years. They are both awful characters.
People will appreciate this game more in the years to come. Plus an imminent PC port means it’s going to get a new audience who’ve never played this game. Hopefully it gets the recognition it deserves. Not since FFX have I played a game that left a lasting impression. Bar the generic side quests - this game is top tier.
@@cloudstrife421 Oh, I have no doubt it’ll find even more of a fanbase once it hits PC, as I know a lot of friends myself who’ve been waiting for it on there. If the PC port is well optimized, i could see it getting a big second wind just as FFXV got when it released to PC. I know I’ll be getting it again myself just for the eventual mods to release lol.
I miss being able to talk to random NPCs and exploring cities like in X and XII. Everything feels just dead or zombified. The combat is great at the beginning but by the end you are just spamming the same abilities. It's both a good and bad game.
I disagree with the combat. Sure, you can spam abilities but this is a stylish character action game that wants to to experiment. Practicing combos and getting creative, playing at a high level is where the combat shines. You can certainly just ability dump through the game, but really, where is the fun in that. It is why I say the combat is a reflection of the player pretty much like any action game. You get what you put into the combat and if you spam and ability dump then that's simply a choice in a number of other different ways you can get creative and play at a higher level. This is speaking from someone who's been practicing with the combat since release.
Yeah this video pretty much sums up my feelings on ff16 😂 it's an amazing game with one of the best stories I've ever experienced. And every criticism I have comes from a part of me that wanted the game to be better and fill more of its potential than it did. I was gonna make a video about this but it looks like I don't have to anymore 😂 love this vid though 👍 definitely subscribing
Great video. I’m so down to replay this on a high end PC but I need need NEED a mod that disables the purple sky that stays permanently for the entire endgame. I just want to appreciate these areas without that filter.
@@MoreLimitless_ definitely because if you are doing a completionist run you spend more time with the purple filter present than without and it’s not close because of all the endgame quests and hunts
I was very luke warm on the game initally - wasnt until late game when you have all the moves that it really hooked me. I think 30'ish + hours is a bit too long to spread out the full skill loadout - theres a reason most hack n slash's are usually about 5 - 10 hours.
@@jessopjessopjessop860 I can see that criticism to an extent, but if you practice combos early on, I think that mitigates the feeling of a lack of abilities in the first half.
I liked 16 as my first FF game, but it has some real problems: - the stagger system sucks. Period. The coolest thing in DMC, like in any other hack and slash, is that your hits have weight and can immobilize the enemy if comboed accordingly. You have no bar over their head, that randomly fills and give you free hits. - some of the bigger enemies / bosses in this game have inflated life points. It gets repetitive quick trying to go for the stagger, only to finish the fight. - even though the general flow of the combat is great, you have just one true sword combo and no other combat options other than spamming the special abilities. No upgrades (you have some basic ones and only ONE real upgrade for every special ability) and no other usable weapons really limits the variation - the last fight with Barnabas is really underwhelming. I honestly expected something bigger and better than even the fight with the Earth and the Light Eikons. Odin was definitely underutilized - side quests suck. They could be removed from the game and nothing would be lost
39:33 this is exactly why I love final fantasy, i can have different experiences each time i play, i never understood why ff fans are so pressed when a new main line title is different from the last. I thought that was the whole point
@@AdrianG23228 It’s been evidently clear for 20+ years. There are just a very loud minority that say FF isn’t FF because it changes combat systems and that to me is just plain wrong not only for what the series represents, but when there are so many other game franchises that do the same thing and have no problem with their fanbase. The FF fanbase is the equivalent to Star wars in video games.
I'm honestly playing this game right now, and it's good it got buried under so many good releases such as Baldur's Gate 3, it just doesn't make it a bad game. Even though it is more an action game than an RPG, it's a very very epic action game.
I completely agree. It has flaws of its own, and the lack RPG elements is very noticeable, but I don’t believe that diminishes all the positives of the game imo.
I’m personally fine with it being an action game, i even embrace it, but to me it’s not action-y enough to be a good action game and not rpg-y enough to be a good rpg. The combat feels like they took a DMC proof of concept or demo and stretched it over the skeleton of a barebones open world rpg to the point of it tearing apart sometimes.
@@neoandroid8586 I would love to! The only problem is how long these type of videos take, and I’d probably like to replay them again so it’s fresh in my mind. Otherwise, it’s definitely a type of video I would love to do again.
Better than XV but to me it’s weaker than other modern FF games as well as other character action games. Not a bad game, just too ambitious for its own good.
A year later my feelings are: I really enjoyed it. But it didn’t 100% feel like final fantasy. However, I felt that the more the game progrsssed and opened up, the more ff it felt. But it was a bit too late.
Why cant we get a game that plays like the old FF games like FF 6,7 or 10 but looks like 16. Missing too many rpg elements but overall still a great game.
It definitely is missing a lot of RPG elements, but I honestly still love the combat itself as an action game fan, especially playing at a high level. That said, it would be nice to get a traditional style FF again. But I believe the beauty in this series is that each game gives us a fresh new experience while retaining common FF themes in any sense.
I played a year later, too. I feel like the game was better playing thru again. Ending was still meh but I had a LOT more fun experimenting with Eikon combinations n stuff
Seeing Jill and Clive is really refreshing because it's two adults trying to navigate the world together as a team. As a husband I feel it in my everyday life. It's not like other FF couples with their own trauma and drama. These two are pretty much levelheaded to each other saying, "we can talk about it"
@@tsukuneboy Yeah, I really appreciate how much more real and mature their relationship feels as opposed to the more teen drama romance we tend to see in the series. Not that they are necessarily bad, but as you said, it’s pretty refreshing to see FF tackle a relationship of levelheaded adults trying their best to always understand one another.
@@MoreLimitless_ this is my beef with FF teen couples. Dude, many of the misunderstandings here can be solved if they want to be open and really discuss it while trying to work it together
I don’t own a PlayStation and I don’t think my computer can handle it so I’m waiting to see what happens with Xbox… but I really like the voice acting in this game that would be the reason I would start playing it
I need to go back and finish this game, I started it and it was very meh to me, it was very tough for me to get sucked into it. I think i stopped right after the Garuda or the icon after that
FF16 is very incredibly polished, though I think it's major fault is that it overwhelmingly too easy. Almost every encounter can be cleared before you even really get your combo going, and the ones that can't are cleared after an unsatisfyingly short number of rotations of your combos. It feels awful to have such a good feeling system constantly end so soon, much more awful than if the system simply sucked. I think combat should be much more of a back-and-fourth rather than one-sided; the power fantasy must be earned. I think the high number of parry options was also a mistake, since it almost always gives you the ability to completely ignore any and all enemy mechanics for free. I think tightly timed counters are better (Think Heatwave, not that it is particularly tight) though I think the real solution would have been to give the player much better movement options. On top of that, performance sucks, even in combat. At best you have awful frame pacing, and at worst the game's frametimes are in the hundreds. The encounter design leaves me wondering what sort of player the game was designed around, it is practically insulting. It makes me wonder if the QA testers missing fingers, or perhaps I just leaped over their expected skill floor. I do appreciate that the side quests are all voiced, but I think it is really unfortunate that if you decide to actually do the side quests, the game feels much more sluggish. It always assumes that your party only consists of Clive, so the side quests can pretty much never have character moments, or develop the cast. The main scenario is usually too focused on spectacle to do this too, so it leaves most of the characters feeling pretty shallow, where disappointingly most of their character development is in overworld text.
I think most of this game's major problems come from it being made by MMO devs. In many ways, playing XVI felt just like playing a new XIV expansion. I love XIV, so I felt right home and wasn't bothered, but from an objective standpoint, I recognize that their approach was not great for a single-player action game. Personally, I still rank it as my fourth favorite FF, though.
The design choices definitely hinder the game as a result of their experiences from FFXIV. Using their experiences from FFXIV which is highly successful, I'm not surprised that they decided to take inspiration from it. That said, CS3 has always been transparent about their mistakes and improving on them so even though they made a handful of them with FFXVI, I'm sure their next single player title will be miles better on a game design standpoint at least. This game even with it's glaring flaws, I'd personally still rank it my top 3 FF games of all time.
I was afraid to finish watching the video the minute you said FF16 is not perfect. From personal expeience, that usually leads to a 40+ minute rant shitting on the game. Before I continue, tell me that is not the case.
@@Awesmic1 No I do not just shit on the game like other people tend to do. I think like with any Final Fantasy game there are great strengths and weaknesses, and that is what I highlight in the video. Regardless of it’s shot comings, I am a massive fan of the game, it’s become one of my favorites in the series personally.
I think the flaws in Final Fantasy XVI also have to do with the flaws of this generation as a whole. The fact the game was developed in direct opposition to what Final Fantasy XV was in terms of lore and gameplay, having a huge world but with barely anything to do other than hunts and side quests in it. The graphics also took center in development over the gameplay as it felt like there was too little to experiment with. Although it was fun to play, it’s story was amazing, the themes of Final Fantasy are all there, as an action RPG it felt like more than a few things were missing. Be it minigames, extended abilities, or replay value, it also felt like it needed more content. I hope the next game is turn based, maybe not completely pixelated graphically but a return to X’s turn based system with more than 3 characters usable at a time would be nice.
It's been a year already!? I wanted to play it. But, with work, school, and family, I didn't get around to it. I had to prioritize my time towards FF7 Rebirth.
@@tmwk__Yeah, I can hardly believe it. When you do get the chance, definitely try out the demo first to see how you like it as it is a very different experience from something like the remake trilogy or past FF games, but I highly recommend it!
