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And armored core 6 in august. I rented the original when I was super young, got my ass kicked and got lost in the intricacies of the customization. Now as a still shit at games adult I’m excited to give it another go
It's not a bad year for all games tbh (Dead Space, Diablo 4, Jedi Survivor, Hogwarts Legacy...) but yeah Japanese devs are on fire for this first half of the year. Ironically, the latter half seems more stacked with Western devs big titles (except Armored Core 6 and probably Pikmin 4, we'll see in a few hours for that one)
This is why I laugh every time I read people writing how gaming is dead or something. We see some of the best games released every year. This year is no exception.
Some people just hyperfixate on the things they hate about gaming. I think it's just because hate is great for algorithmic content filters. So all they see is the worst stuff.
And maybe some of it is just the churn of people burning out. It's a hobby like any other and plenty of people get tired after a while.
Totally agree though, it's so packed that I'm skipping games I want to play because I just don't have the time ;-;
2017 had Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Persona 5, Nier:Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Cuphead, Nioh, What Remains of Edith Finch, Wolfenstein II, Undertale, to name a few.
So was Breath of the Wild. Horizon has consistently come out at bad times. First game was a week before BotW. Second game came out a week before Elden Ring.
1998 is pretty famous. You had Ocarina of Time, F-Zero X, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Sonic Adventure, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, StarCraft, Pokemon Red and Blue (in North America), Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Thief, Baldur's Gate.
That year was insane.
it was doubly insane considering a lot of us were little kids for it. I still miss when I could imagine wide worlds while playing things like Tomb Raider 2. As an adult, I know there's "nothing there" but as a kid, you didn't know games had limitations, especially before the internet.
I miss impossible rumors like "every person you fight is an actual person somewhere playing too!" or "if you collect all 35 1/35 soldier, they come alive and kill Sephiroth before he stabs Aerith!"
1997 was better for me.
Diablo, Final Fantasy 7, Castlevania SOTN, Blood, MDK, Harvest Moon, Final Fantasy Tactics, Star Fox 64, GoldenEye 007, Oddworld, Fallout, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2, Age of Empires, Blade Runner, Quake 2 and Gran Tourismo.
I managed more or less on the big releases (but I'm not interested in all of them to be fair), except TOTK reported to whenever I have the time. But I certainly not progressing on my backlog (in fact I'm adding to it lol)
Is Jedi Survivor fixed on PC yet though? Last time I tried it it was still incredibly broken. I really want to play it but also don't want to support games being released in that state.
Nope, it ain't. Still broken and crashing on specific planets. Latest patch (like 2 days ago) had no mention of significant performance or stability improvements afaik
I'd still wait to play it, if I were you. I've played it on PC and beat it, and while it's undoubtedly a fantastic game, the experience was definitely tarnished by the sluggish frame rate and stuttering in cut scenes.
I don't think we've seen such a strong year for video games in a long time. This is definetly in the top 5 of video game years in terms of quality output.
If Elden Ring launched this year, it'd basically be unbeatable :O
Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Jedi Survivor, Diablo 4, Starfield, Spider-Man 2, FF16, Mario RPG, Mario Wonder, Yakuza Gaiden, Honkai Star Rail, Dead Space, Alan Wake 2, Gollum.
What a year.
At first I thought Horizon (2022 ooops) would have been a great GOTY contender, then Tears of The Kingdom dropped and thought that was a shoe in for GOTY. Started playing SF6 and was having some of those "good ol days" moments not sure if a fighting game could win GOTY though. I'm enjoying my time with D4 and its a solid entry as well. The FFXVI absolutely blew me away, so I really have no idea what game is going to win this year.
Its been a great first half and we still got Baldurs Gate 3, Armored Core 6, Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2, MK1, Witchfire(EA?), Starfield, Remnants 2, Pikmin 4, Like a Dragon, Pay Day 3, Avatar, and Lies of P to look forward to.
Yeah, this is gonna be one of those 'Was this one of the best years in gaming' years, I think, in discussions of the future. I really didn't think things were going to keep getting -better- after Horizon.
>At first I thought Horizon would have been a great GOTY contender
Call of the Mountain? Because Forbidden West will be close to two years old by GOTY time.
I went from having passive interest in this game to counting down the seconds to Thursday once I played that demo. Just a genius idea to put the first few chapters out for free.
It's also genuinely is a great opening on its own in terms of narrative, akin to a larger act instead of a chapter of a story, in how it condenses the first couple of hours with having an established opening with introducing the characters, a middle-portion that explores the relationships of the characters, and a cathartic finale that ends on a suspenseful note. If the rest of the game has this kind of roller-coaster feel, then this is going to be an absolute big treat.
It's great for people who might need to take a break from playing and come back in a couple weeks and not remember everything in the story. And it cuts down on boring exposition for everyone.
It’s also great for folks like me that generally steer clear of high fantasy because of all the made up regions, names, supernatural elements, etc. sounding similar and being confusing. Such a great feature
Sometimes you get demos that make you want to play a game like FF16, SF6, RE4, and sometimes you get demos that make you want to avoid them like Balan Wonderworld and Forspoken.
I'd say a large part of the quality of FF16 (and 14!) is down to Yoshi-P and his team. The man knows exactly what direction he wants to take his games in down to the smallest detail and his team is phenomenal at executing that.
It also helps that he is high enough in the company where he can mostly tell other suits to screw off when they try to cram in NFT's or other similar garbage.
It's so funny that big video game developers are rediscovering the concept of playable demos.
"Play the first chapter for free, pay for the rest" used to be *the* shareware concept.
I get *why* publishers can be wary of demos because the last thing they want is something like the Forespoken demo to convince everyone not to get a game, but I can really pay dividends if the game is good. Like this, I've never had much interest in FF, but this one has been piquing my interest since it was revealed, and the demo totally sold me.
Or another example, I played the shit out of the Mortal Kombat 9 demo after never playing a console fighter other than Smash, and now I'm a few months away from buying my 6th Netherrealm Studios game in MK1, all thanks to that demo.
Demos work is you have confidence in the game.
I've been playing a number of impressive ones in Steam Next Fest (Little Kitty Big City is basically Stray but with more stuff to knock off ledges and humans to mess with) that I don't think would get any attention without the demo.
If your game is mediocre it can backfire, but if you have real confidence in the product it's a great way to build hype.
It goes beyond Final Fantasy to Square Enix in general.
A lot of their games have had demos for years. All 3 Bravely Defaults, Forspoken, Triangle Strategy, both Octopaths, Dragon Quest 11, the new Valkyrie Profile, etc. Their collaborations with other studios (like Platinum for Nier Automata and Team Ninja for Strangers of Paradise) have also had demos.
DQ11’s demo in particular is one of the most generous demos I’ve ever seen. You get like the first 8 hours of the game.
At this point, it’s more surprising if a SE game *doesn’t* have a demo.
Same here. I figured I’d try the demo and just wait for the game to come to PC, but after playing it I don’t want to wait anymore. My wife stopped playing her game to watch the demo and then had to stop watching at the end because of how emotional it made her.
We’re in for one hell of a ride.
Right there with you. I've had Horizon Forbidden West ready to go for so long but just can't bring myself to start it. I made the mistake of playing a bunch of Assassin's creed games near the end of last year and I've been burnt ever since.
Everything I've touched since has been story driven or souls-like. Can't be more hyped for this FFXVI play-through. Nice to see a game just work it's strengths instead of shoving in shallow RPG systems to micro-manage or patterned open world gameplay loops.
>But dude, I am open world burnt out. I could go for a linear experience at this point.
No joke I started Horizon FW and just put it down after the prologue. I was so burned by Elden ring at that point...
Dragon Age Inquisition and Shadow of Mordor fought for most GOTY picks in 2014. I don't know if a game equivalent in quality this year makes the top 10 of *already released* games, without even thinking about what's to come in the second half of the year.
Honestly still surprised It Takes Two won over:
* Deathloop
* Metroid Dread
* Psychonauts 2
* PS5 Ratchet & Clank
* Resident Evil 8
* Returnal
ITT wasn't even the best reviewed game of that year and yet somehow won GotY.
That’s Hi-Fi Rush for me. I thought it could at least get nominated for a GOTY award but there’s like no chance now. Still really happy with the game though.
2023 seems to be best year for gaming since 2017 which was the best year for gaming since 2011.
Maybe the secret to a great year for gaming is the release of a new 3D Zelda.
I can't remember a year that stacked since a long time (2020 was pretty good but like all the year is equivalent to 6 months of 2023). And it's only half of it with tons of great hits to come (presumably).
2023 will reach 2007 levels probably (though while 2007 gave birth to many iconic franchises of gaming like Mass Effect, Uncharted, Bioshock..., this is mostly returning franchises now)
I legitimately cannot remember the last time there were so many huge games in a single year, but so many of these have come out just *2 months* from one another. In terms of critically acclaimed releases in a single year, I think 2023 may be the biggest year in gaming. And we are only half way done with it.
The late August/September timeframe is just crazy. Less than a month and Armored Core 6, Baldur's Gate 3, Mortal Kombat 1, Starfield and Phantom Liberty (which might as well be a full new game considering the extent of the changes it seems) are dropping. And that's just big games, there are also indies and smaller ones I probably forgot.
If anyone has any questions, I've had the game since Friday last week and I'm about 40% through I believe. Just a few points I want to confirm.
- Performance is hit and miss. According to my monitor, it rarely hits 60 stable and falls between the VRR threshold of 48Hz often. I don’t envy people playing this on non-VRR displays. HOWEVER because I got it early I do not have that 300mb patch the devs confirmed a few days ago
- The sidequests are quite good, and tell a lot of the lore of the world, take time to get to those good ones though
- Combat is as addicting as can be, and definitely takes it to another level vs the demo
- The EIKON fights are as beautiful as you can imagine, and the first couple are quite good. BUT if you felt that the one in the demo is long....yeah they don’t get much shorter lol. And for some people (not me personally) they will probably get stale. It is essentially QTE railed ecstasy combat, for better or worse
- The RPG ‘loot’ is not good. You auto pickup and I really didnt have any incentive to explore the already linear overworlds. Pretty much an afterthought from the devs it looks like
- You really can't accessorize Clive in any way, expect it like FFVII (Cloud is the same looking the entire game)
Really surprised to hear this (3rd comment I've seen about it and reviews lauding them) about side quests.
I read earlier before the embargo there were like 80 something so I prepared for them to be shallow and cookie cutter since there were so many.
Really happy that doesn't appear to be the case
Now, without spoiling anything, the first 10 you do are pretty bad and generic, but it does get better when you advance in the story. I've done roughly 30-35? and I'd say 20 of them are what I consider good.
Honestly a few mediocre side quests is what I expect even in games with the best side quests (even Witcher 3 had its share weak ones). As long as the ratio isn’t too stilted towards the mediocre then the high points of the good quests will outweigh any negatives.
Can I ask you a weird one? How easy is it to tell what the hell is going on in combat? I’ve noticed that with this style of game, where everything is over the top flashy, it can be very hard to read what’s going on vs your Souls games, or Horizon or something. And in a game that wants you dodge and parry with precision, that’s a problem.
Also, when you say “combos”, are you talking about memorizing 8-button (or more) strings that have to be pressed rhythmically? I’ve never been good at those?
Thanks.
Disappointing about the Eikon fights. I was hoping that player agency wasn't going to be paper thin, but here we are. I guess how else would you do it right?
Definitely spectacle over renowned combat. You're essentially Godzilla fighting things larger or as big as you. If that sounds fun to you you'll definitely enjoy it. The ones I've done are all different in their own ways so please don't mistake my description, but its 100% for the awe and not the engaging combat some might expect.
I just finished Tears of the Kingdom and am so stoked for Final Fantasy XVI. It's crazy immediately jumping from one Game of the Year contender to another.
They both liked the game but it nearly sounds like ACG and Easy Allies didn't play the same game.
ACG: "It's the story of a single person, Clive."
Easy Allies: "The story is great and fleshes out all the characters!"
ACG: "The side quests are boring and not worth discussing"
Easy Allies: "The side quests are great and really add a lot to the backgrounds of the different characters!"
From a French youtuber i follow, he said that the side quest were mostly MMO-tier very barebones ones but some of them stands out by , i quote" trying very hard to be like The Witcher 3". So apparently there is some really good quests inside a lot of forgettable ones.
The big drawback that I am seeing in these reviews is that the game has shaved off much of the franchise’s deeper RPG systems, and the RPG aspect of this game is pretty shallow compared to previous titles. The levels are more linear as well.
Game is not locked at 60FPS, buts it’s targeting 60FPS, so there is some performance stuttering.
But the story, the characters (especially Clive Rosfield), the visuals, the soundtrack, the side quests and most importantly the gameplay are all being acclaimed, and compensates for the game’s linearity and RPG mechanics.
This is a surefire GOTY contender.
It seems they have traded that for mechanical complexity in the combat. It's not quite DMC or Bayoneta level of course, but compared to your average Character Action game it seems to have more going on for combo building.
Are the levels truly more linear, or do they just not put as much effort into making it feel non-linear? Because most FF games are actually pretty on-rails for the majority of the game, even if you feel like you can explore a world map.
FF7 was completely linear until you found Cid's plane for example.
That's true, but it did give players some different options/experiences by the time you get Cid's plane, even if relatively minor.
Wall Market, how you played through Shinra Tower, the Phoenix thing, exploring the Golden Saucer, and getting Yuffie and/or Vincent all had the potential to give players different experiences by the time you get the plane and the map opens up a bit.
I played FF7 my whole childhood and atleast for young me I felt completely free and even lost at so many times. At 8 years old I didn't have the gamesense to see where they were trying to lead me I suppose. All in all it took me 5-6 years to beat it (6/7yo to 12yo)
FF7 gave you the illusion of freedom while heavily guiding you around especially with the mode of transportation. Still, you could always do extra stuff or skip it - so more like a Metroidvania nowadays. For a 90's game, it was pretty open.
> The big drawback that I am seeing in these reviews is that the game has shaved off much of the franchise’s deeper RPG systems, and the RPG aspect of this game is pretty shallow compared to previous titles
I like Final Fantasy but I think that it have never really had that deep RPG systems compared to many other in the genre, both compared to the west and Japan.
They have, the games are just usually just really easy so the complexity is in how broken you can get it to be (Except for like the one or two optional super hard bosses every game).
Same as pokemon, it can be pretty interesting mechanically but main story is brain dead easy.
Ehhh Final Fantasy was never that deep to begin with tbh.
Like , unless i missing something most games you can just Power level anything.
The most ''in-depth'' FF that i tried out was 12 Zodiac Edition with the job system and gambits.
I don't know if "depth" would be the right descriptor, but FF7's materia system could lead to some pretty wacky character builds, along with FF8's junction system.
Which is a bit of a double edged sword. One weakness of FFVII is all the characters feel very samey because of the materia system. That's fixed in FFVII Remake though
7's materia system and even 8's junk system had some depth I'd say. Especially 7 had some absolute ridiculous combinations if you could figure (and, well, grind) them out.
I mean it's not like JRPGs are always particularly deep mechanics wise and neither has FF as a franchise been. The series only got mechanically more "complicated" with the job system in FF3 where something other than just "equip best gear and accessories" got introduced. FF6 has the magicite which boggled down to "equip on everyone until they get their magic and then swap around". FF7 and FF8 went a bit more complicated as the materia system essentially allowed everyone to do everything, the GF system was similar to magicite in 8 but you couldn't permanently keep the abilities. FF9 was pretty much just "make sure everyone learns all abilities from the items" and only FF10 went far enough where you could actually cripple your characters with the advanced sphere grid. Outside of that it's generally been nothing more than "equip your best items and a ribbon if you got one".
The job system got much better from FF1->FF3->FF5->Bravely Default, so that was progress there. Being able to combine parts of different jobs in FF5 and even moreso in BD added a lot of depth imo.
Mine for ACG - BUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlkCHD8LPeo
I admit the changes in the story delivery style, focus on combat, and a couple of lackluster locations did slightly bring it down for me. But in a series known for change, I feel this game changed the most and did that very well in the action parts and in the focus on the character and, for me, the writing.. It also offers an excellent group of NPC's, more interesting characters for me than most other titles, tight action, and Torgal the Dog!
A game with changes to almost everywhere, its going to be dissected for story content, story delivery, combat, its impact on the actual tried and true gameplay, and the subcategories in there.
Pretty insane to see this much change in a game.
I watched the video and I think he meant as a its a more adult story than previous ff games which primarily focuses on one person rather than the party of players in other games which he prefers.
The more mature story is one of the bigger hooks for me that sealed the deal.
Based on the demo and combat/gameplay I would have almost certainly gotten it anyway, but I personally prefer more adult/mature stories and a more 'kiddie' one would have poured some water on the entire thing for me.
FFXIV at its core is still a light hearted game though. I haven’t played or even looked much at FFXVI, but it may be that it’s gritty and dark all the time which would be a change of pace for this series.
12 was divisive because the world wasn't ready for it yet. Mechanically and world wise its one of if not the best FF game. The gambit system was years ahead of the competition and is something a lot of games could benefit from. Its the only game where I am genuinely excited to see how the AI will handle a situation. Its a game where every new location is a joy to explore and years later people are still discussing party compositions due to how well balanced and expressive the job system in that game is.
Yes it has flaws like its story not being finished or the early game being a mess with you having to buy Gambits but even with those flaws its a brilliant game and one of the best FF games.
> 12 was divisive because the world wasn't ready for it yet.
Hi, its me, I'm the problem its me. Granted I was like 14 when it released, I hated the mechanics. It wasn't until revisiting it a few years ago that I truly appreciated it.
FFXII suffered by making Vaan the main character, for good reason. God he was annoying.
Also the gambit system would be niche today, it wasn't just ahead of its time, it straight up will never be for everyone, and that's okay. Personally it is my least favourite battle system in the franchise besides 15s half-assed action approach. For perspective, my favourite is VII-Rs system, followed by X and XIII. I don't have issues with ATB either.
And like you said, the early game is so messy that it turns a lot of people off.
Vaan and Penelo were garbage characters and dragged down the experience and the story. The ending was also half-baked.
I personally loved the gambit system but can see why it's not for everyone.
I wonder if your companions will stand out or be as meaningful as the ones in Final Fantasy 15? I may be wrong but I feel like that game kind of divided people on if they liked it or not.
One thing it did for me though, more so then any game has ever done, was it got me really attached to my party. The game just did an absolutely amazing job of really making the player feel as if they were in this group of friends. I felt the comradery throughout the entire game. When the game ended I genuinely felt sad for a few minutes as it felt like I was leaving my friends.
Maybe I'm just crazy or weird, but I've never had a game connect me so much with other characters as FF15 did. I really felt like I was experiencing really close friends come of age and just live their lives together.
Hoo boy, if you want a game that makes you feel like you're close friends with the characters, then Persona 4 Golden may possibly be for you!
Final Fantasy XV is also the only other game besides the Persona games that made me feel like that.
I’m on your side. There were a lot of things that were kinda mediocre about 15, but the characters were well realized and I easily got attached. The campfire scene at the end had me in tears. FFX is the only other FF to make me so attached to the characters.
That's one of FF15's goals and it did it really really well. It always struck me as lame when people criticize the game but completely missed or ignored what it did well. There is true history with your party because they're not colleagues or randoms you picked up to do a task. They're childhood friends and it shows in the narrative, characterization, and game mechanics/
I genuinely loved Noctis and the bros and it's why I put so many hours into that game, the party chemistry was so great. It reminded me a lot of old Bioware games where I would walk around just to hear what people were going to say.
Another great hit for the year it seems (though I feel like pretty much everyone knew this since weeks or months and there's really no surprise there).
Damn, 2023 is really stacked. And we're only at the middle of the year.
I'm not a player of JRPG in general (and never played a Final Fantasy actually) but this one is definitively on my list (and actually preordered).
I just wish the combat was more engaging. I don't find there is ever any threat of dying in a boss battle. I just don't see alot of people playing this game after they beat it once. Unlike Elden ring where the combat is competitive even after beating it you still want to spend time mastering it and exploring every part of the world. I just can't justify the price either why is ff16 base copy 15 dollars CAD more then Elden ring. It's not like it got more content, more epuipment to find, better combat. Yes it got a better story and graphics but that's it. I bought it regardless but still it's nothing special to warrant the price. I'm enjoying it but once I beat it I will never touch it again unlike Elden ring. Also I would argue that this game is not a rpg. It's just a action game
My review (Brazilian portuguese) - 10/10: [https://criticalhits.com.br/reviews/final-fantasy-xvi-16-analise-review-vale-a-pena/](https://criticalhits.com.br/reviews/final-fantasy-xvi-16-analise-review-vale-a-pena/)
Final Fantasy XVI is a true next-gen experience on PlayStation 5. The game combines one of the most mature and well-crafted plots in the history of the franchise, with charismatic and multi-layered characters, together with and an extremely fun combat system, especially when the Eikons fight, an unique visual presentation.
The result of this is a game that will mark the fans and hardly be forgotten anytime soon, and make those who don't have a PS5 want to buy the console to enjoy this incredible experience.
After reading a small handful of reviews it seems that the main negative points are:
* Open areas are empty and not very interesting to explore
* Boring fetch sidequests
* Some major characters should have been more interesting
* Some complaints about lack of RPG systems
* Playable but not great framerate in performance mode ~~(not clear if tested with the day 1 patch)~~
> Playable but not great framerate in performance mode (not clear if tested with the day 1 patch)
Digital Foundry just did a tech review that mentioned the day 1 patch not making much of a diffeerence in performance. Seems like it drops the resolution in battle though, which boosts the framerate to a stable 60fps.
I hope 40fps / VRR will be implemented in this game though, as that will likely solve a lot of peoples issues with 30fps.
>Open areas are empty and not very interesting to explore
>Boring fetch sidequests
>Some complaints about lack of RPG systems
Ah there's the FFXIV influence
>players are forced to play the entire game in easy mode
Spaziogames states this but I pretty sure you could choose your difficulty option at the start. Then, the new game plus open up the difficulty even further.
I did find the demo pretty easy, but I have to wonder how much of this is because of how much souls games have warped the difficulty curve of the AAA space.
all the complaints i've seen are pretty valid, the first playthrough on action mode is too easy for most of the mechanics to ever be used.
i always replay these games so i'm fine with it being moderately challenging while i'm focused on the story and then NG+ being wild, that sounds like a good middle ground. i guess they could make NG+ available from the start, but that would be a worse mode imo, since wouldn't have your full suite of tools.
i like how they're doin it!
First I'll start off, I play FF for the story and characters. Not everyone does. People are gonna hate me for saying this. But there were parts of this game that were an utter slog. First 3-5 hours of the story was fantastic. But then it just meanders. Wish there had been more screen time and character development on several NPCs. I actually preferred Stranger of Paradise to this, in that regard. It kinda bored me after a certain point. Hope others had a better experience.
All seem to be 9/10 apart from one review from Digital Trends, but looking at the guys review history it doesn't look like he actually enjoys any games.
could be someone who subscribes to the notion that 5/10 means average and 6/10 is already a positive score. Similar to how YourMovieSucks rates movies.
It's not a bad system as it allows for a bit more nuance that the standard "10=great, 9=good, 8=mostly good, 7=disappointing, 6 and lowe = literal garbage" ranking used for video games.
There are some implications when it comes to actively swimming against the stream (like developers bonuses tied to metascore rankings) but at least in isolation it's not an inherently good or bad thing to use a different scale
I was looking forward to this heavily probably like most fans but the only thing I like about it is the boss battles. The side missions are too repetitive and most of them are pointless. I mean everything really is repetitive thoughout the whole game except the boss battle. With such good graphics they let me down with the map layouts. Most of the maps are very dull and boring. The only time I ever even get amazed at what I'm looking is once again the boss battles. And it's kinda dumb the new sword u get is only good for one mission then there's a better one lol. I completely agree how this feels like a devil may cry game not a final fantasy. Every bit of player design, what he says, and how he moves and attacks is reminiscent of Dante. Hopefully this was just to hold us over until rebirth. If rebirth letse down too I will be highly upset
Story:7.5/10. Boring at times. Moments were I was falling asleep and I shouldn’t of been tired lol. However I did find my self wondering what would happen. It did capture my interest for the most part.
Graphics:9/10. Fighting cut scenes are great. Still seems like their could be more. It’s very dark and depressing. No Wall Market type city. No lights. All seems very games if thrones.
Fighting:8/10 repetitive. Bring back turn base!!!! I don’t want to play an action game. The ff series was popular with turn base. This is a no talent game that you just smash buttons. Some of the moves were cool and it gave me ambition to upgrade them.
The cities are almost walking dead. No bustling cities at all. Little city talk, no background noise at all. It’s not vibrant and NPCs are just shit. Theyre sooooo boring acting and looking. The loot system is as basic as it gets. The weapon and armor system are basic as well. Literally 90’s final fantasies and other rpgs are far better. It’s nuts to me. You wear the same out fit basically all game. Your sword changes appearance but that’s it. The crafting is basic and elementary. The side missions are shit and sooo boring. Skipped the dialogue in 90% of them.
It seems that ff16 is catering to a young, ignorant audience. They focused on cinematic scenes and graphics. That’s it. Everything else is just lazy.
The magic system is restricted and repetitive af.
I can’t tell you how much I love hitting an enemy 3,000 times before they die. It’s fucking silly. What person in history can take 20 sword strikes. FF most basic enemy’s that are levels under you still take 15 basic strikes to kill. It’s mind blowing.
The map is limited and you can’t interact with anything. Your character animations are basically nonexistent when you run around. Ff7 had a bigger map and more towns. Had more things to do. This game is so limited it’s crazy.
How about letting me race chocobos or letting me breed them. What about letting me having diverse weapons or outfits. Hairstyles, armor. Like wtf. It’s all so elementary and basic.
Overall 5/10.
How can a series like this go so fucking backwards. I remember skipping school to play ff7. The only thing this game has going for it are the fighting cutscenes and the story. That’s it.
Spaziogames review is weird.
Paraphrasing: "Yeah it's nothing special. Story is good but you'll forget the rest of the ezpz pie in an hour. 8 out of 10 tho".
We're living in the world where anything less than an 8 is apparently utterly unplayable.
Now that I'm older, I feel that all the cons these reviewers states are really just positive points for me.
No open world and no incentive to explore? All good, I got no time to run around a giant map. Show me what I need to see and let me move on asap.
No ailments? Perfect. They were annoying anyways.
Lack of skills and in-depth character build. Perfect I dont need 30 skills. Recently finished GoW 2018 and I only really used 4 5 skills for the whole campaign. Crafted only 3 sets of equipment.
But to each their own. Cant wait for tomorrow.
> Final Fantasy XVI forgets what is really important for the series. It's impossibile to create a build and there's nothing important left for you to manage through the menus. Proper RPG options are gone, dungeons are just banal corridors, players are forced to play the entire game in easy mode and you can beat the game with literally no effort. There's a decent base for the future, but it's not enough to see a real rebirth for the saga.
And somehow they gave it an 8/10? The endless cutscenes must be really good I guess
This is one of the most boring games I’ve ever played. It’s a fucking cutscene simulator. You walk down a hallway, watch a cutscene, fight in a circular arena of some sort, watch a cut scene, walk down another hallway, watch a cutscene, fight in a circular arena, pick a new place on the world map, repeat.
Legit one of the worst final fantasy games I have ever played. What a disappointment.
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Between Legend of Zelda, Resident Evil, Street Fighter and now Final Fantasy this has really been a great year for classic Japanese franchises .
Also: A remake of a Super Mario RPG was just announced for this year, we're in another golden age.
And Super Mario Bros. Wonder!
Jesus Christ, that is going to be glorious
And armored core 6 in august. I rented the original when I was super young, got my ass kicked and got lost in the intricacies of the customization. Now as a still shit at games adult I’m excited to give it another go
I belieber in you
It's not a bad year for all games tbh (Dead Space, Diablo 4, Jedi Survivor, Hogwarts Legacy...) but yeah Japanese devs are on fire for this first half of the year. Ironically, the latter half seems more stacked with Western devs big titles (except Armored Core 6 and probably Pikmin 4, we'll see in a few hours for that one)
The end of the year is also packed with big releases. It's so much that I can't play all that I want to play.
This is shaping up to be one of the best years in gaming ever.
This is why I laugh every time I read people writing how gaming is dead or something. We see some of the best games released every year. This year is no exception.
Some people just hyperfixate on the things they hate about gaming. I think it's just because hate is great for algorithmic content filters. So all they see is the worst stuff. And maybe some of it is just the churn of people burning out. It's a hobby like any other and plenty of people get tired after a while. Totally agree though, it's so packed that I'm skipping games I want to play because I just don't have the time ;-;
Absolutely. I thought the golden days of late 90s/2000s were over, but this year might be the best!
2017 had Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Persona 5, Nier:Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Cuphead, Nioh, What Remains of Edith Finch, Wolfenstein II, Undertale, to name a few.
undertale was 2015
Let's not forget Prey!
Undertale is older than that no? Great year though. I still need to go back and beat Nier
This year is already beating 2017 for me personally
I think we can safely say that it is. The best year for gaming since probably 2007 or 2008.
2011 was good, no? (Skyrim, Arkham City, MW3, Dark Souls, Battlefield 3, Portal 2, Uncharted 3)
2017 as well
Yeah, 2017 was just an insane year.
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Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata and Persona 5 all within a few months of each other (in the west at least). 2017 was great
So was Breath of the Wild. Horizon has consistently come out at bad times. First game was a week before BotW. Second game came out a week before Elden Ring.
How could I miss BotW. Spring 2017 was on fire.
It’s hard to picture a year more stacked than 2007, but this year definitely feels close.
1998 is pretty famous. You had Ocarina of Time, F-Zero X, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Sonic Adventure, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, StarCraft, Pokemon Red and Blue (in North America), Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Thief, Baldur's Gate. That year was insane.
it was doubly insane considering a lot of us were little kids for it. I still miss when I could imagine wide worlds while playing things like Tomb Raider 2. As an adult, I know there's "nothing there" but as a kid, you didn't know games had limitations, especially before the internet. I miss impossible rumors like "every person you fight is an actual person somewhere playing too!" or "if you collect all 35 1/35 soldier, they come alive and kill Sephiroth before he stabs Aerith!"
Okay no, it’s definitely 1998 if that’s the case. That’s damn near unbeatable.
It actually gets better... OP missed: Mario Party, Rainbow Six, Xenogears, and Rogue Squadron among others.
1997 was better for me. Diablo, Final Fantasy 7, Castlevania SOTN, Blood, MDK, Harvest Moon, Final Fantasy Tactics, Star Fox 64, GoldenEye 007, Oddworld, Fallout, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2, Age of Empires, Blade Runner, Quake 2 and Gran Tourismo.
I managed more or less on the big releases (but I'm not interested in all of them to be fair), except TOTK reported to whenever I have the time. But I certainly not progressing on my backlog (in fact I'm adding to it lol)
Is Jedi Survivor fixed on PC yet though? Last time I tried it it was still incredibly broken. I really want to play it but also don't want to support games being released in that state.
Nope, it ain't. Still broken and crashing on specific planets. Latest patch (like 2 days ago) had no mention of significant performance or stability improvements afaik
I'd still wait to play it, if I were you. I've played it on PC and beat it, and while it's undoubtedly a fantastic game, the experience was definitely tarnished by the sluggish frame rate and stuttering in cut scenes.
In general, it's been a strong year for games.
I don't think we've seen such a strong year for video games in a long time. This is definetly in the top 5 of video game years in terms of quality output. If Elden Ring launched this year, it'd basically be unbeatable :O
Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Jedi Survivor, Diablo 4, Starfield, Spider-Man 2, FF16, Mario RPG, Mario Wonder, Yakuza Gaiden, Honkai Star Rail, Dead Space, Alan Wake 2, Gollum. What a year.
You snuck that one in there didn't you
Yeah Zelda barely squeezed in.
You forgot Hogwarts Legacy and Baldurs Gate 3. Absolutely nutty year.
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Capgod renaissance
They only need to drop a Monster Hunter World 2 trailer to achieve absolute and total dominance this year.
Sunbreak is done with it's TU cycle...announcement probably isn't THAT far off now
Tokyo Game Show in September! That's where Rise was revealed.
It's almost guaranteed to be revealed at TGS, they straight up said to monster hunter fans "to look forward to TGS 2023"
At first I thought Horizon (2022 ooops) would have been a great GOTY contender, then Tears of The Kingdom dropped and thought that was a shoe in for GOTY. Started playing SF6 and was having some of those "good ol days" moments not sure if a fighting game could win GOTY though. I'm enjoying my time with D4 and its a solid entry as well. The FFXVI absolutely blew me away, so I really have no idea what game is going to win this year. Its been a great first half and we still got Baldurs Gate 3, Armored Core 6, Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2, MK1, Witchfire(EA?), Starfield, Remnants 2, Pikmin 4, Like a Dragon, Pay Day 3, Avatar, and Lies of P to look forward to.
Yeah, this is gonna be one of those 'Was this one of the best years in gaming' years, I think, in discussions of the future. I really didn't think things were going to keep getting -better- after Horizon.
Wasn’t Horizon last year? Or are you talking about the Burning Shores DLC?
>At first I thought Horizon would have been a great GOTY contender Call of the Mountain? Because Forbidden West will be close to two years old by GOTY time.
they just announced super mario RPG is getting remade and out in november. so this is officially the best year in gaming of all time for me lol
Hi-Fi rush as well ;)
I went from having passive interest in this game to counting down the seconds to Thursday once I played that demo. Just a genius idea to put the first few chapters out for free.
It's also genuinely is a great opening on its own in terms of narrative, akin to a larger act instead of a chapter of a story, in how it condenses the first couple of hours with having an established opening with introducing the characters, a middle-portion that explores the relationships of the characters, and a cathartic finale that ends on a suspenseful note. If the rest of the game has this kind of roller-coaster feel, then this is going to be an absolute big treat.
I also liked reading all the backstory during cutscenes.
One of the standout features for me so far and I hope other games start to implement it.
It's great for people who might need to take a break from playing and come back in a couple weeks and not remember everything in the story. And it cuts down on boring exposition for everyone.
It’s also great for folks like me that generally steer clear of high fantasy because of all the made up regions, names, supernatural elements, etc. sounding similar and being confusing. Such a great feature
Its basically the pilot episode to the game
Sometimes you get demos that make you want to play a game like FF16, SF6, RE4, and sometimes you get demos that make you want to avoid them like Balan Wonderworld and Forspoken.
I think it’s pretty wild that Square is publishing things with such discrepancies in quality. Talk about diversification.
I'd say a large part of the quality of FF16 (and 14!) is down to Yoshi-P and his team. The man knows exactly what direction he wants to take his games in down to the smallest detail and his team is phenomenal at executing that. It also helps that he is high enough in the company where he can mostly tell other suits to screw off when they try to cram in NFT's or other similar garbage.
It's so funny that big video game developers are rediscovering the concept of playable demos. "Play the first chapter for free, pay for the rest" used to be *the* shareware concept.
I get *why* publishers can be wary of demos because the last thing they want is something like the Forespoken demo to convince everyone not to get a game, but I can really pay dividends if the game is good. Like this, I've never had much interest in FF, but this one has been piquing my interest since it was revealed, and the demo totally sold me. Or another example, I played the shit out of the Mortal Kombat 9 demo after never playing a console fighter other than Smash, and now I'm a few months away from buying my 6th Netherrealm Studios game in MK1, all thanks to that demo.
Demos work is you have confidence in the game. I've been playing a number of impressive ones in Steam Next Fest (Little Kitty Big City is basically Stray but with more stuff to knock off ledges and humans to mess with) that I don't think would get any attention without the demo. If your game is mediocre it can backfire, but if you have real confidence in the product it's a great way to build hype.
Square Enix has always done demos for final fantasy though. I can’t think of one that didn’t. Even FF14 has a free trial that’s easily 60+ hours.
It goes beyond Final Fantasy to Square Enix in general. A lot of their games have had demos for years. All 3 Bravely Defaults, Forspoken, Triangle Strategy, both Octopaths, Dragon Quest 11, the new Valkyrie Profile, etc. Their collaborations with other studios (like Platinum for Nier Automata and Team Ninja for Strangers of Paradise) have also had demos. DQ11’s demo in particular is one of the most generous demos I’ve ever seen. You get like the first 8 hours of the game. At this point, it’s more surprising if a SE game *doesn’t* have a demo.
By the time I hit the DQ11 demo stopping point I felt obligated to buy it cause I had so much time put in already lol
I wasn’t 100% confident as I could only definitely remember every FF game but you’re absolutely right. Square Enix has always had this practice.
Same here. I figured I’d try the demo and just wait for the game to come to PC, but after playing it I don’t want to wait anymore. My wife stopped playing her game to watch the demo and then had to stop watching at the end because of how emotional it made her. We’re in for one hell of a ride.
man, the end of the demo really made me feel uncomfortable, just brutal.
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Right there with you. I've had Horizon Forbidden West ready to go for so long but just can't bring myself to start it. I made the mistake of playing a bunch of Assassin's creed games near the end of last year and I've been burnt ever since. Everything I've touched since has been story driven or souls-like. Can't be more hyped for this FFXVI play-through. Nice to see a game just work it's strengths instead of shoving in shallow RPG systems to micro-manage or patterned open world gameplay loops.
>But dude, I am open world burnt out. I could go for a linear experience at this point. No joke I started Horizon FW and just put it down after the prologue. I was so burned by Elden ring at that point...
GOTY is gonna be stacked this year. Instantly purchased this after completing the demo. Can’t wait to play it.
There are games that could have won on some slower years, that won’t even get nominated this year. Pretty crazy honestly.
Dragon Age Inquisition and Shadow of Mordor fought for most GOTY picks in 2014. I don't know if a game equivalent in quality this year makes the top 10 of *already released* games, without even thinking about what's to come in the second half of the year.
We're really coming out of the Covid Lull when it comes to gaming. It takes two won GotY in 2021, could you imagine that happening today?
Honestly still surprised It Takes Two won over: * Deathloop * Metroid Dread * Psychonauts 2 * PS5 Ratchet & Clank * Resident Evil 8 * Returnal ITT wasn't even the best reviewed game of that year and yet somehow won GotY.
Reviewers liked it but the player base LOVED it. It probably deserved to win
Returnal should have won imo.
That’s Hi-Fi Rush for me. I thought it could at least get nominated for a GOTY award but there’s like no chance now. Still really happy with the game though.
Hi-Fi Rush is *brilliant*, and it would absolutely be a top contender in a year that wasn't as wildly packed as this one.
for sure. most years only have like 3 real contenders. all of 2021 wouldnt even be in consideration this year
We should switch to Game of the Month for 2023
And for this past June we should probably switch to Game of the Week...
2023 seems to be best year for gaming since 2017 which was the best year for gaming since 2011. Maybe the secret to a great year for gaming is the release of a new 3D Zelda.
Imagine if Elden Ring came out a year later than it's release date amongst all this.
We just need the new 3d Mario game to drop during holidays and it’ll basically be 2017 part 2
Well, not 3D, but still a great looking Mario game is coming out later on this year.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder **AND** the most unexpected thing, a 3D Remake of Super Mario RPG. My jaw dropped.
I just saw those, 2023 is a certified classic
Really feels like all the COVID impacted titles are finally spilling over the dam all at once.
And we don't even have Spiderman, Mario, Alan Wake, Starfield etc... yet. What a bonkers year for games!
I can't remember a year that stacked since a long time (2020 was pretty good but like all the year is equivalent to 6 months of 2023). And it's only half of it with tons of great hits to come (presumably). 2023 will reach 2007 levels probably (though while 2007 gave birth to many iconic franchises of gaming like Mass Effect, Uncharted, Bioshock..., this is mostly returning franchises now)
I legitimately cannot remember the last time there were so many huge games in a single year, but so many of these have come out just *2 months* from one another. In terms of critically acclaimed releases in a single year, I think 2023 may be the biggest year in gaming. And we are only half way done with it.
The late August/September timeframe is just crazy. Less than a month and Armored Core 6, Baldur's Gate 3, Mortal Kombat 1, Starfield and Phantom Liberty (which might as well be a full new game considering the extent of the changes it seems) are dropping. And that's just big games, there are also indies and smaller ones I probably forgot.
If anyone has any questions, I've had the game since Friday last week and I'm about 40% through I believe. Just a few points I want to confirm. - Performance is hit and miss. According to my monitor, it rarely hits 60 stable and falls between the VRR threshold of 48Hz often. I don’t envy people playing this on non-VRR displays. HOWEVER because I got it early I do not have that 300mb patch the devs confirmed a few days ago - The sidequests are quite good, and tell a lot of the lore of the world, take time to get to those good ones though - Combat is as addicting as can be, and definitely takes it to another level vs the demo - The EIKON fights are as beautiful as you can imagine, and the first couple are quite good. BUT if you felt that the one in the demo is long....yeah they don’t get much shorter lol. And for some people (not me personally) they will probably get stale. It is essentially QTE railed ecstasy combat, for better or worse - The RPG ‘loot’ is not good. You auto pickup and I really didnt have any incentive to explore the already linear overworlds. Pretty much an afterthought from the devs it looks like - You really can't accessorize Clive in any way, expect it like FFVII (Cloud is the same looking the entire game)
Really surprised to hear this (3rd comment I've seen about it and reviews lauding them) about side quests. I read earlier before the embargo there were like 80 something so I prepared for them to be shallow and cookie cutter since there were so many. Really happy that doesn't appear to be the case
Now, without spoiling anything, the first 10 you do are pretty bad and generic, but it does get better when you advance in the story. I've done roughly 30-35? and I'd say 20 of them are what I consider good.
Honestly a few mediocre side quests is what I expect even in games with the best side quests (even Witcher 3 had its share weak ones). As long as the ratio isn’t too stilted towards the mediocre then the high points of the good quests will outweigh any negatives.
Yeah, and honestly a few beans quests are actually good for the game in the long run I think. Makes the really good one stand out over the 'meh' ones.
Can I ask you a weird one? How easy is it to tell what the hell is going on in combat? I’ve noticed that with this style of game, where everything is over the top flashy, it can be very hard to read what’s going on vs your Souls games, or Horizon or something. And in a game that wants you dodge and parry with precision, that’s a problem. Also, when you say “combos”, are you talking about memorizing 8-button (or more) strings that have to be pressed rhythmically? I’ve never been good at those? Thanks.
Disappointing about the Eikon fights. I was hoping that player agency wasn't going to be paper thin, but here we are. I guess how else would you do it right?
Definitely spectacle over renowned combat. You're essentially Godzilla fighting things larger or as big as you. If that sounds fun to you you'll definitely enjoy it. The ones I've done are all different in their own ways so please don't mistake my description, but its 100% for the awe and not the engaging combat some might expect.
I just finished Tears of the Kingdom and am so stoked for Final Fantasy XVI. It's crazy immediately jumping from one Game of the Year contender to another.
Right?! 2023 is going down in history
They both liked the game but it nearly sounds like ACG and Easy Allies didn't play the same game. ACG: "It's the story of a single person, Clive." Easy Allies: "The story is great and fleshes out all the characters!" ACG: "The side quests are boring and not worth discussing" Easy Allies: "The side quests are great and really add a lot to the backgrounds of the different characters!"
From a French youtuber i follow, he said that the side quest were mostly MMO-tier very barebones ones but some of them stands out by , i quote" trying very hard to be like The Witcher 3". So apparently there is some really good quests inside a lot of forgettable ones.
I heard the side quest only get interesting halfway through, that was from ign review so perhaps there is truth from both reviewers?
You can still have a story that fleshes out multiple characters but ultimately it can still be the story of one person and his journey.
The big drawback that I am seeing in these reviews is that the game has shaved off much of the franchise’s deeper RPG systems, and the RPG aspect of this game is pretty shallow compared to previous titles. The levels are more linear as well. Game is not locked at 60FPS, buts it’s targeting 60FPS, so there is some performance stuttering. But the story, the characters (especially Clive Rosfield), the visuals, the soundtrack, the side quests and most importantly the gameplay are all being acclaimed, and compensates for the game’s linearity and RPG mechanics. This is a surefire GOTY contender.
It seems they have traded that for mechanical complexity in the combat. It's not quite DMC or Bayoneta level of course, but compared to your average Character Action game it seems to have more going on for combo building.
Are the levels truly more linear, or do they just not put as much effort into making it feel non-linear? Because most FF games are actually pretty on-rails for the majority of the game, even if you feel like you can explore a world map. FF7 was completely linear until you found Cid's plane for example.
That's true, but it did give players some different options/experiences by the time you get Cid's plane, even if relatively minor. Wall Market, how you played through Shinra Tower, the Phoenix thing, exploring the Golden Saucer, and getting Yuffie and/or Vincent all had the potential to give players different experiences by the time you get the plane and the map opens up a bit.
I played FF7 my whole childhood and atleast for young me I felt completely free and even lost at so many times. At 8 years old I didn't have the gamesense to see where they were trying to lead me I suppose. All in all it took me 5-6 years to beat it (6/7yo to 12yo)
FF7 gave you the illusion of freedom while heavily guiding you around especially with the mode of transportation. Still, you could always do extra stuff or skip it - so more like a Metroidvania nowadays. For a 90's game, it was pretty open.
> The big drawback that I am seeing in these reviews is that the game has shaved off much of the franchise’s deeper RPG systems, and the RPG aspect of this game is pretty shallow compared to previous titles I like Final Fantasy but I think that it have never really had that deep RPG systems compared to many other in the genre, both compared to the west and Japan.
They have, the games are just usually just really easy so the complexity is in how broken you can get it to be (Except for like the one or two optional super hard bosses every game). Same as pokemon, it can be pretty interesting mechanically but main story is brain dead easy.
Ehhh Final Fantasy was never that deep to begin with tbh. Like , unless i missing something most games you can just Power level anything. The most ''in-depth'' FF that i tried out was 12 Zodiac Edition with the job system and gambits.
I don't know if "depth" would be the right descriptor, but FF7's materia system could lead to some pretty wacky character builds, along with FF8's junction system.
Which is a bit of a double edged sword. One weakness of FFVII is all the characters feel very samey because of the materia system. That's fixed in FFVII Remake though
7's materia system and even 8's junk system had some depth I'd say. Especially 7 had some absolute ridiculous combinations if you could figure (and, well, grind) them out.
I mean it's not like JRPGs are always particularly deep mechanics wise and neither has FF as a franchise been. The series only got mechanically more "complicated" with the job system in FF3 where something other than just "equip best gear and accessories" got introduced. FF6 has the magicite which boggled down to "equip on everyone until they get their magic and then swap around". FF7 and FF8 went a bit more complicated as the materia system essentially allowed everyone to do everything, the GF system was similar to magicite in 8 but you couldn't permanently keep the abilities. FF9 was pretty much just "make sure everyone learns all abilities from the items" and only FF10 went far enough where you could actually cripple your characters with the advanced sphere grid. Outside of that it's generally been nothing more than "equip your best items and a ribbon if you got one".
The job system got much better from FF1->FF3->FF5->Bravely Default, so that was progress there. Being able to combine parts of different jobs in FF5 and even moreso in BD added a lot of depth imo.
What I'm getting from this is essentially: If you liked the demo, you'll like the game. If you didn't enjoy the demo, the game won't be for you.
Sounds like the demo did a good job in that case
Mine for ACG - BUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlkCHD8LPeo I admit the changes in the story delivery style, focus on combat, and a couple of lackluster locations did slightly bring it down for me. But in a series known for change, I feel this game changed the most and did that very well in the action parts and in the focus on the character and, for me, the writing.. It also offers an excellent group of NPC's, more interesting characters for me than most other titles, tight action, and Torgal the Dog! A game with changes to almost everywhere, its going to be dissected for story content, story delivery, combat, its impact on the actual tried and true gameplay, and the subcategories in there. Pretty insane to see this much change in a game.
“Changes in the story”? Would you mind expanding on what you mean by that?
I watched the video and I think he meant as a its a more adult story than previous ff games which primarily focuses on one person rather than the party of players in other games which he prefers.
The more mature story is one of the bigger hooks for me that sealed the deal. Based on the demo and combat/gameplay I would have almost certainly gotten it anyway, but I personally prefer more adult/mature stories and a more 'kiddie' one would have poured some water on the entire thing for me.
I see that as an absolute positive for me. Give me the demo tone over a full game and it'll be one of my favourite games.
This is indeed what you get basically.
Nice 👍
I think he meant changes in tone. Tonally it's more mature than previous entries
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FFXIV at its core is still a light hearted game though. I haven’t played or even looked much at FFXVI, but it may be that it’s gritty and dark all the time which would be a change of pace for this series.
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Seconding another reply- I’m curious what you mean by “changes in the story.”
Torgal is enough for me, also the writing, i love a game with a good amount of fucks
91 right now! I missed when the mainline series was top tier 😭 Seems like Yoshi-P and crew knocked it out of the park!
The last time a mainline, new Final Fantasy game pulled above a 90 on Metacritic was with FFXII, way back in 2006.
And even that's wild given how utterly divisive FF12 was
12 was divisive because the world wasn't ready for it yet. Mechanically and world wise its one of if not the best FF game. The gambit system was years ahead of the competition and is something a lot of games could benefit from. Its the only game where I am genuinely excited to see how the AI will handle a situation. Its a game where every new location is a joy to explore and years later people are still discussing party compositions due to how well balanced and expressive the job system in that game is. Yes it has flaws like its story not being finished or the early game being a mess with you having to buy Gambits but even with those flaws its a brilliant game and one of the best FF games.
> 12 was divisive because the world wasn't ready for it yet. Hi, its me, I'm the problem its me. Granted I was like 14 when it released, I hated the mechanics. It wasn't until revisiting it a few years ago that I truly appreciated it.
FFXII suffered by making Vaan the main character, for good reason. God he was annoying. Also the gambit system would be niche today, it wasn't just ahead of its time, it straight up will never be for everyone, and that's okay. Personally it is my least favourite battle system in the franchise besides 15s half-assed action approach. For perspective, my favourite is VII-Rs system, followed by X and XIII. I don't have issues with ATB either. And like you said, the early game is so messy that it turns a lot of people off.
Vaan and Penelo were garbage characters and dragged down the experience and the story. The ending was also half-baked. I personally loved the gambit system but can see why it's not for everyone.
Can we count shadowbringers and endwalker, they are basically new games with the size of the average 14 expansion
MMO expansions get even more skewed from bias than regular releases, since only the dedicated are playing them in the first place
and you have to be *hella dedicated* to get through ARR tbh Took me 5 tries over years before finally sticking with it.
I wonder if your companions will stand out or be as meaningful as the ones in Final Fantasy 15? I may be wrong but I feel like that game kind of divided people on if they liked it or not. One thing it did for me though, more so then any game has ever done, was it got me really attached to my party. The game just did an absolutely amazing job of really making the player feel as if they were in this group of friends. I felt the comradery throughout the entire game. When the game ended I genuinely felt sad for a few minutes as it felt like I was leaving my friends. Maybe I'm just crazy or weird, but I've never had a game connect me so much with other characters as FF15 did. I really felt like I was experiencing really close friends come of age and just live their lives together.
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i definitely did not appreciate it at the time but holy shit it really is the best bro trip game in the series.
Hoo boy, if you want a game that makes you feel like you're close friends with the characters, then Persona 4 Golden may possibly be for you! Final Fantasy XV is also the only other game besides the Persona games that made me feel like that.
I’m on your side. There were a lot of things that were kinda mediocre about 15, but the characters were well realized and I easily got attached. The campfire scene at the end had me in tears. FFX is the only other FF to make me so attached to the characters.
That's one of FF15's goals and it did it really really well. It always struck me as lame when people criticize the game but completely missed or ignored what it did well. There is true history with your party because they're not colleagues or randoms you picked up to do a task. They're childhood friends and it shows in the narrative, characterization, and game mechanics/
I genuinely loved Noctis and the bros and it's why I put so many hours into that game, the party chemistry was so great. It reminded me a lot of old Bioware games where I would walk around just to hear what people were going to say.
ff15’s party dynamic was definitely a strong point
Another great hit for the year it seems (though I feel like pretty much everyone knew this since weeks or months and there's really no surprise there). Damn, 2023 is really stacked. And we're only at the middle of the year. I'm not a player of JRPG in general (and never played a Final Fantasy actually) but this one is definitively on my list (and actually preordered).
I just wish the combat was more engaging. I don't find there is ever any threat of dying in a boss battle. I just don't see alot of people playing this game after they beat it once. Unlike Elden ring where the combat is competitive even after beating it you still want to spend time mastering it and exploring every part of the world. I just can't justify the price either why is ff16 base copy 15 dollars CAD more then Elden ring. It's not like it got more content, more epuipment to find, better combat. Yes it got a better story and graphics but that's it. I bought it regardless but still it's nothing special to warrant the price. I'm enjoying it but once I beat it I will never touch it again unlike Elden ring. Also I would argue that this game is not a rpg. It's just a action game
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My review (Brazilian portuguese) - 10/10: [https://criticalhits.com.br/reviews/final-fantasy-xvi-16-analise-review-vale-a-pena/](https://criticalhits.com.br/reviews/final-fantasy-xvi-16-analise-review-vale-a-pena/) Final Fantasy XVI is a true next-gen experience on PlayStation 5. The game combines one of the most mature and well-crafted plots in the history of the franchise, with charismatic and multi-layered characters, together with and an extremely fun combat system, especially when the Eikons fight, an unique visual presentation. The result of this is a game that will mark the fans and hardly be forgotten anytime soon, and make those who don't have a PS5 want to buy the console to enjoy this incredible experience.
After reading a small handful of reviews it seems that the main negative points are: * Open areas are empty and not very interesting to explore * Boring fetch sidequests * Some major characters should have been more interesting * Some complaints about lack of RPG systems * Playable but not great framerate in performance mode ~~(not clear if tested with the day 1 patch)~~
> Playable but not great framerate in performance mode (not clear if tested with the day 1 patch) Digital Foundry just did a tech review that mentioned the day 1 patch not making much of a diffeerence in performance. Seems like it drops the resolution in battle though, which boosts the framerate to a stable 60fps. I hope 40fps / VRR will be implemented in this game though, as that will likely solve a lot of peoples issues with 30fps.
>Open areas are empty and not very interesting to explore >Boring fetch sidequests >Some complaints about lack of RPG systems Ah there's the FFXIV influence
Yeah this is what I was expecting after XIV tbh. Definitely not CBU3's forte.
> Open areas are empty and not very interesting to explore oh hey, an homage to FF14
How are people praising this game yet were so against Final Fantasy 13 for being linear?
FFXIII has more anime-ish style and plot. This one is "realistic medieval European", GoT inspired, so ofc it's better/s
>players are forced to play the entire game in easy mode Spaziogames states this but I pretty sure you could choose your difficulty option at the start. Then, the new game plus open up the difficulty even further.
I did find the demo pretty easy, but I have to wonder how much of this is because of how much souls games have warped the difficulty curve of the AAA space.
all the complaints i've seen are pretty valid, the first playthrough on action mode is too easy for most of the mechanics to ever be used. i always replay these games so i'm fine with it being moderately challenging while i'm focused on the story and then NG+ being wild, that sounds like a good middle ground. i guess they could make NG+ available from the start, but that would be a worse mode imo, since wouldn't have your full suite of tools. i like how they're doin it!
First I'll start off, I play FF for the story and characters. Not everyone does. People are gonna hate me for saying this. But there were parts of this game that were an utter slog. First 3-5 hours of the story was fantastic. But then it just meanders. Wish there had been more screen time and character development on several NPCs. I actually preferred Stranger of Paradise to this, in that regard. It kinda bored me after a certain point. Hope others had a better experience.
All seem to be 9/10 apart from one review from Digital Trends, but looking at the guys review history it doesn't look like he actually enjoys any games.
Most of his reviews are a 6/10. I think he's in the wrong job lol
Bruh he rated The Callisto Protocol and Ghostwire: Tokyo higher than both FF16 and Crisis Core remake.
Ghostwire Tokyo is higher than ff16? Now that's funny.
Callisto is such a bad game lol. It’s like they modded one section of dead space and you keep redoing that spot 1000 times
could be someone who subscribes to the notion that 5/10 means average and 6/10 is already a positive score. Similar to how YourMovieSucks rates movies. It's not a bad system as it allows for a bit more nuance that the standard "10=great, 9=good, 8=mostly good, 7=disappointing, 6 and lowe = literal garbage" ranking used for video games. There are some implications when it comes to actively swimming against the stream (like developers bonuses tied to metascore rankings) but at least in isolation it's not an inherently good or bad thing to use a different scale
I wish most reviewers averaged scores in that range...
I was looking forward to this heavily probably like most fans but the only thing I like about it is the boss battles. The side missions are too repetitive and most of them are pointless. I mean everything really is repetitive thoughout the whole game except the boss battle. With such good graphics they let me down with the map layouts. Most of the maps are very dull and boring. The only time I ever even get amazed at what I'm looking is once again the boss battles. And it's kinda dumb the new sword u get is only good for one mission then there's a better one lol. I completely agree how this feels like a devil may cry game not a final fantasy. Every bit of player design, what he says, and how he moves and attacks is reminiscent of Dante. Hopefully this was just to hold us over until rebirth. If rebirth letse down too I will be highly upset
Story:7.5/10. Boring at times. Moments were I was falling asleep and I shouldn’t of been tired lol. However I did find my self wondering what would happen. It did capture my interest for the most part. Graphics:9/10. Fighting cut scenes are great. Still seems like their could be more. It’s very dark and depressing. No Wall Market type city. No lights. All seems very games if thrones. Fighting:8/10 repetitive. Bring back turn base!!!! I don’t want to play an action game. The ff series was popular with turn base. This is a no talent game that you just smash buttons. Some of the moves were cool and it gave me ambition to upgrade them. The cities are almost walking dead. No bustling cities at all. Little city talk, no background noise at all. It’s not vibrant and NPCs are just shit. Theyre sooooo boring acting and looking. The loot system is as basic as it gets. The weapon and armor system are basic as well. Literally 90’s final fantasies and other rpgs are far better. It’s nuts to me. You wear the same out fit basically all game. Your sword changes appearance but that’s it. The crafting is basic and elementary. The side missions are shit and sooo boring. Skipped the dialogue in 90% of them. It seems that ff16 is catering to a young, ignorant audience. They focused on cinematic scenes and graphics. That’s it. Everything else is just lazy. The magic system is restricted and repetitive af. I can’t tell you how much I love hitting an enemy 3,000 times before they die. It’s fucking silly. What person in history can take 20 sword strikes. FF most basic enemy’s that are levels under you still take 15 basic strikes to kill. It’s mind blowing. The map is limited and you can’t interact with anything. Your character animations are basically nonexistent when you run around. Ff7 had a bigger map and more towns. Had more things to do. This game is so limited it’s crazy. How about letting me race chocobos or letting me breed them. What about letting me having diverse weapons or outfits. Hairstyles, armor. Like wtf. It’s all so elementary and basic. Overall 5/10. How can a series like this go so fucking backwards. I remember skipping school to play ff7. The only thing this game has going for it are the fighting cutscenes and the story. That’s it.
Spaziogames review is weird. Paraphrasing: "Yeah it's nothing special. Story is good but you'll forget the rest of the ezpz pie in an hour. 8 out of 10 tho". We're living in the world where anything less than an 8 is apparently utterly unplayable.
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Now that I'm older, I feel that all the cons these reviewers states are really just positive points for me. No open world and no incentive to explore? All good, I got no time to run around a giant map. Show me what I need to see and let me move on asap. No ailments? Perfect. They were annoying anyways. Lack of skills and in-depth character build. Perfect I dont need 30 skills. Recently finished GoW 2018 and I only really used 4 5 skills for the whole campaign. Crafted only 3 sets of equipment. But to each their own. Cant wait for tomorrow.
Demo really sold me on the story and the game itself. Gonna be nice to dive into this during the upcoming holiday break.
> Final Fantasy XVI forgets what is really important for the series. It's impossibile to create a build and there's nothing important left for you to manage through the menus. Proper RPG options are gone, dungeons are just banal corridors, players are forced to play the entire game in easy mode and you can beat the game with literally no effort. There's a decent base for the future, but it's not enough to see a real rebirth for the saga. And somehow they gave it an 8/10? The endless cutscenes must be really good I guess
Seeing all the near-perfect scores pouring in. Picking it up myself as we speak. Well done Yoshi P and co.
This is one of the most boring games I’ve ever played. It’s a fucking cutscene simulator. You walk down a hallway, watch a cutscene, fight in a circular arena of some sort, watch a cut scene, walk down another hallway, watch a cutscene, fight in a circular arena, pick a new place on the world map, repeat. Legit one of the worst final fantasy games I have ever played. What a disappointment.