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[TGO]

From their review:

"It’s also weird and uncomfortable (given how the game’s cast is solely white European, despite many of the villages clearly being based on African and Middle Eastern architecture) how much of the early plot revolves around slavery, and Clive’s incredibly slow realisation that maybe it might be a bad idea."

They do realise before and even after the 17th century that the Middle East and Africa were capturing white Europeans, slaughtering the men and kidnapping, raping & stripping the women of their clothes and then selling them as sex slaves.
Would that have been more comfortable for them?
You can't keep bringing up Slavery like it was only done to one group of people.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

From their review:

"It’s also weird and uncomfortable (given how the game’s cast is solely white European, despite many of the villages clearly being based on African and Middle Eastern architecture) how much of the early plot revolves around slavery, and Clive’s incredibly slow realisation that maybe it might be a bad idea."

this is bullshit.

 

[SaniOYOYOY]

6/10 or 7/10 for me so far. Too easy and shallow mechanically as an action game, RPG elements are a joke, generic self-serious writing and very dull characters (with one exception), overlong tedious repetitive conversational cutscenes where morose characters talk about how serious they are to pad the runtime. Some of the worst side quests of the past 30 years. Nice graphics and soundtrack, cool boss fights, bad everything else.

what did you compare this with?
as a nioh2 player (all the way to dream of nioh), this feels just the right for a mainstream FF

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Now that the game has been out a few days, how are people liking it? As a game? As a final fantasy RPG? Is the game a system seller?

...I saw a tweet from a reviewer that i think makes good reviews (didn't saw it tho).

As I have mentioned before, this franchise holds great significance to me....and it has disappointed me several times before.

I was not interested or hyped about it unless scored 90+ on MC and the buzz was "the best FF since Square Soft" and stuff like that.

....i saw like an hour of the game....holy fucking shit....what a disappointment!!

Wait, did they review it without playing it?....like, just an hour?

A rated review?

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Liking the story, combat, and world so far, but the lack of RPG mechanics (including stuff like itemization) makes the world seem a bit empty and pointless. Why even have these big zones if there's no point in fighting any monsters and there's no loot? Also, there is a ton of mandatory filler between major story beats. The entire slog through Rosaria was extremely slow and a total waste of time. I hope that sort of thing doesn't repeat

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Some people here seem to really like it, but as someone who likes both RPGs and action games, this is not doing it for me in either direction. I'm also generally a fan of political intrigue, historical drama epic fantasy, ASOIAF/GoT, etc., yet the execution here is very dull. This isn't like a Matsuno game where a narrative is being supported by complex worldbuilding. You might get that impression from the prologue/demo, which emphasizes the GoT influence and shows off a lot of political machination, but the rest of the game paints with broad, juvenile strokes: empires bad, freedom good, punch big magical things, bad things happen to the smallfolk and we raise our arms in the air in despair and swear justice, over and over again. Sure, lots of FF games could be described as juvenile, but they tend to have fun characters and plotting so crazy it's charming. XVI insists on dispensing with that in favor of beating you over the head with how bad slavery is and showing you smallfolk being murdered over and over again so that we can have yet another scene of the protagonists reacting melodramatically. One empire invaded another. Okay. There's very little setting any of the states apart since the worldbuilding hasn't been developed enough.

YMMV! But I expect the honeymoon period will wear off quickly for a lot of folks enamored with the graphics and overall presentation.

Yeah, this is the impression I'm getting. The narrative and worldbuilding here is significantly better than XIII/XV, but it's significantly worse than a Matsuno game or something like The Witcher. It's probably more akin to what you'd get in an above average Sony first party game - maybe on a level with the recent God of War games.

That said, I'm not very far in so things might improve.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

my post is not trolling
this is the tweet:

enough with the trolling? .

there is one element of game design that is just awful....waypoints. The reliance on this graphic element defeats the purpose of exploration and is counterproductive. The eyesight is drawn to this element due to its design contrast. you stop looking, observing your surrounding in search of clues, secrets; developing cognitive/intimate understanding of the space. (especially when the fidelity of the assets is high).....you are not exploring the world...you are just following a graphic icon.

other issue is this trend of making checklists:

one step remove for the game to play itself. especially outrageous when you level design/ options for interactivity is already very limited...where is the sense of wonder and actually demanding attention from the player?

another issues is a compound one:

these constant pop-up windows; immersion breaking which denote the lack of ambition in game design....add the unnecessary narrative-breaking side quest:
"The protagonist has an urgency to do something.....wait, let me do some random shit that doesn't make sense or is not important whatsoever"


Final Fantasy always felt at the vanguard of videogame storytelling . it felt way more ambitious for the hardware it was made for. it accomplished the sense of wonder and exploration of an inhabited world....despite being quite linear, they manage to "hide it" thanks to brilliant design... something that FF16 doesn't have and Square Enix has not been able to replicate. I believe this game is going to keep gaining criticisms the more time it passes.

 

[Little Chicken]

This game just feels like button mashing between cutscenes. Deserves lower scores than what it got, "best FF ever!" was just fanboys relieved that it wasn't complete shit.

 

[Little Chicken]

The environments and OST are great though. Everything else feels like it was developed by a separate team in a separate country with a separate language. Lip sync and NPCs look weirdly bad and out of place.

 

[rofif]

I never particularly liked skill up. He does that on occasion where he totally destroys the game. And the way he talk with his tone of voice is really begrudging lol

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I never particularly liked skill up. He does that on occasion where he totally destroys the game. And the way he talk with his tone of voice is really begrudging lol

Today's reminder

If you're looking for an unbiased source about this game, that dude ain't it

 

[GymWolf]

Lol what moron.

 

[Twinblade]

So people are pissed and review bombing because of lack of diversity. Man fuck them asshole Karen's.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Trying to find that 'and there it is' GIF, meh...I'll find it later.

 

[Twinblade]

This game just feels like button mashing between cutscenes. Deserves lower scores than what it got, "best FF ever!" was just fanboys relieved that it wasn't complete shit.

Which is why FF needs to go back to turn based combat.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

For those wanting true challenge, cruise your way through with your hit square to win vibes then:

 

[rofif]

Today's reminder

If you're looking for an unbiased source about this game, that dude ain't it

Simlar from luke stephens. He already started complaining about ff16 and barely played it or not played it at all. But he is a known xbox and gp shill

 

[Whitecrow]

Talk all the shit you want about the other stuff in Destiny like MTX, sunsetting and other BS..., but from the challenge aspect, the hidden secrets/collectibles, variety of different & loot incentives, multiple different builds & subclasses, there's a shit ton of good there.


Fact still remains that FFXVI is extremely linear...as linear as XIII. I really wish they added an open world akin to XV. The story would NOT suffer due to a more open world. XV suffered from poor story telling due to poor leadership, shit engines, unorganized development, immature tone/writing, Square Enix's greed to milk DLC's and other issues.

Dude this game is nowhere near xiii. Not in a million years.

Going from a to b is not "as linear as xiii".

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Holy shit, there goes my dream of 90 on OC out the gate, some backwater git just gave the game a 4/10

 

[drganon]

Holy shit, there goes my dream of 90 on OC out the gate, some backwater git just gave the game a 4/10

Wtf is gamecrater?

 

[Kamina]

Trying to find that 'and there it is' GIF, meh...I'll find it later.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Just by fighting Liquid Flame i cant tell that is a LOT of ppl using the evasion ring, that fight took me 30 minutes to "master" his phase 2, if this game didnt have potion replenishment on death ( like elden ring ) a lot of ppl would be crying a lot more, this game on hard ll be a real challange

 

[Kamina]

I never particularly liked skill up. He does that on occasion where he totally destroys the game. And the way he talk with his tone of voice is really begrudging lol

He is biased by Tifa’s boobs

 

[tmlDan]

I never particularly liked skill up. He does that on occasion where he totally destroys the game. And the way he talk with his tone of voice is really begrudging lol

That's insane, i generally like SkillUp but he seems to dramatically hate for clicks. Isn't his Redfall video have the most views on his channel over the last year?

I love the side quests cause they build out the world, even if im just picking something up and getting it to them it give you an idea of how people live in the world of FF16

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Just by fighting Liquid Flame i cant tell that is a LOT of ppl using the evasion ring, that fight took me 30 minutes to "master" his phase 2, if this game didnt have potion replenishment on death ( like elden ring ) a lot of ppl would be crying a lot more, this game on hard ll be a real challange

I straight up think 90% of the "it's just mash to win" crowd don't own the game and are just going off their experience with the demo or what they've seen on Youtube/Streamers.

That and are using the "mash square to do all the things" ring.

 

[Sleepwalker]

That's insane, i generally like SkillUp but he seems to dramatically hate for clicks. Isn't his Redfall video have the most views on his channel over the last year?

I love the side quests cause they build out the world, even if im just picking something up and getting it to them it give you an idea of how people live in the world of FF16

He's mostly a great reviewer, just sometimes you'll get whiplash from his videos as he really likes to be contrarian with some of his takes.

It's crazy to me that he didn't give a 16 a bigger chance and demanded things of it that he didnt demand from 7R or even 15 (for which he made a 1hr long video defending).

Particularly it just stems from the fact that he didnt like the story here and as such he isnt willing to forgive aspects he deems shortcomings, thats what it comes down to as these games live and die by their story.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Fact still remains that FFXVI is extremely linear...as linear as XIII. I really wish they added an open world akin to XV. The story would NOT suffer due to a more open world.

Even if the game is open areas and not open world calling extremely linear like XIII is pure bullshit and the scale alone make this world feels bigger then XV open world.

Spoiler

*u can walk from that high point all the way to the city gates at the far back in the screenshot.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Today's reminder

If you're looking for an unbiased source about this game, that dude ain't it

Seeing that he liked Bayonetta 3 it stands to reason he was being sarcastic/trolly there.

Or he's changed his opinion on character action games over the years.

 

[drganon]

His lost judgment review was pretty bad as well.

 

[Sleepwalker]

The open world in XV isnt really that open but I really didnt play that game much, the quests are a bunch of shit too (go to desert and find car wax). Don't you just leave the open world behind and go into a linear part of the game for the second half of the game? I never got there but I remember hearing about it?

 

[Dr. Claus]

I never particularly liked skill up. He does that on occasion where he totally destroys the game. And the way he talk with his tone of voice is really begrudging lol

Exactly. I am all for reviewers having rpeference and if they don't like the game, oh well. Everyone's tastes are different.

However, as a review - he is horribly hypocritical and rarely consistent. FFXVI is linear (except it isn't) and that is a bad thing. FFVII Remake is Linear and that is an awesome thing? FFXVI's endgame is just NG+ and that is not good. FFVII Remake's endgame is just NG+ and that is good.

If you are going to review something, as part of your job, you should be consistent or at least note why things have changed from one game to the next. He fails to do this which is why many of us think his review is poorly done.

 

[Madflavor]

Today's reminder

If you're looking for an unbiased source about this game, that dude ain't it

This to me is more important to note, than that VII:R vs. XVI comparison video. If he wants RPG mechanics in his FF games, AND he's not a fan of character action games, then XVI was going to be a very tough sell on him from the get go. He's entitled to his opinion of course, but at this point I see this the same way as a Food Critic who hates Italian Food giving a review of an Italian Restaurant.

 

[tomato shrub]

there is one element of game design that is just awful....waypoints. The reliance on this graphic element defeats the purpose of exploration and is counterproductive. The eyesight is drawn to this element due to its design contrast. you stop looking, observing your surrounding in search of clues, secrets; developing cognitive/intimate understanding of the space. (especially when the fidelity of the assets is high).....you are not exploring the world...you are just following a graphic icon.

other issue is this trend of making checklists:

one step remove for the game to play itself. especially outrageous when you level design/ options for interactivity is already very limited...where is the sense of wonder and actually demanding attention from the player?

another issues is a compound one:

these constant pop-up windows; immersion breaking which denote the lack of ambition in game design....add the unnecessary narrative-breaking side quest:
"The protagonist has an urgency to do something.....wait, let me do some random shit that doesn't make sense or is not important whatsoever"


Final Fantasy always felt at the vanguard of videogame storytelling . it felt way more ambitious for the hardware it was made for. it accomplished the sense of wonder and exploration of an inhabited world....despite being quite linear, they manage to "hide it" thanks to brilliant design... something that FF16 doesn't have and Square Enix has not been able to replicate. I believe this game is going to keep gaining criticisms the more time it passes.

very much agreed...

 

[Dynasty8]

Disagree with the tweet video comparing SkillUp's FF7 and 16 review. Fact is that Midgar in the original FF7 was completely linear. I am partially okay with Remake being linear, but not Rebirth.

FF7 opens up after Midgar. If Rebirth is as linear as Remake, I'd be very disappointed. I know they already mentioned this:

But I'm calling bullshit. I really hope I am wrong...and I would be very surprised and happy if the world outside Midgar is "wide, multifaceted with a high degree of freedom", but if that means similar in scope of FF16's explorable areas, I'd be disappointed. Because I don't consider 16 to be wide or have a high degree of freedom...at all.

Argue all you want, but the world in 16 feels small in the grand scope of things. It's pretty clear the main focus was on the story..and I'll give them that, story so far has been great IMO. However, the level design for both 7R and 16 continues to be something Square (or at least the Final Fantasy team) struggles with.

It always feels like a straight hallway with no real exploration. Take the first real "dungeon" in the game. Caer Norvent I believe it's called where you fight the first major boss. It's just a straight path to the boss with easy enemies that pose no threat. Really wish they would expand on the level design and made something on the same scope as Stormveil Castle from Elden Ring. Not saying FF needs to be ER, but there's an obvious difference when it comes to good level design and poor level design.

 

[FoxMcChief]

.
and i will argue and defend that the FFs for PSX (My FFs) feel more ambitious

I think the last truly good Final Fantasy was Lost Odyssey.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Disagree with the tweet video comparing SkillUp's FF7 and 16 review. Fact is that Midgar in the original FF7 was completely linear. I am partially okay with Remake being linear, but not Rebirth.

FF7 opens up after Midgar. If Rebirth is as linear as Remake, I'd be very disappointed. I know they already mentioned this:

But I'm calling bullshit. I really hope I am wrong...and I would be very surprised and happy if the world outside Midgar is "wide, multifaceted with a high degree of freedom", but if that means similar in scope of FF16's explorable areas, I'd be disappointed. Because I don't consider 16 to be wide or have a high degree of freedom...at all.

Argue all you want, but the world in 16 feels small in the grand scope of things. It's pretty clear the main focus was on the story..and I'll give them that, story so far has been great IMO. However, the level design for both 7R and 16 continues to be something Square (or at least the Final Fantasy team) struggles with.

It always feels like a straight hallway with no real exploration. Take the first real "dungeon" in the game. Caer Norvent I believe it's called where you fight the first major boss. It's just a straight path to the boss with easy enemies that pose no threat. Really wish they would expand on the level design and made something on the same scope as Stormveil Castle from Elden Ring. Not saying FF needs to be ER, but there's an obvious difference when it comes to good level design and poor level design.

You can disagree with the tweet video all you want - but it absolutely proves the hypocrisy and lack of consistency with SkillUp.

Also the devs have already stated the areas in FF7Rebirth will be similarly designed to FFXVI, but slightly smaller.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Today's reminder

If you're looking for an unbiased source about this game, that dude ain't it

Ouch.

Not a good look for his channel, and I usually like some of his takes

But this is a big miss

 

[Porticus]

You can disagree with the tweet video all you want - but it absolutely proves the hypocrisy and lack of consistency with SkillUp.

Also the devs have already stated the areas in FF7Rebirth will be similarly designed to FFXVI, but slightly smaller.

Receipt

 

[Fuz]

Disagree with the tweet video comparing SkillUp's FF7 and 16 review. Fact is that Midgar in the original FF7 was completely linear. I am partially okay with Remake being linear, but not Rebirth.

FF7 opens up after Midgar. If Rebirth is as linear as Remake, I'd be very disappointed. I know they already mentioned this:

Yeah, this is the most generic answer in the history of generic answers.

Doesn't mean jackshit.

 

[Solidus_T]

Despite the SkillUp reviewer being a dumbass, there is something to be said for the waypoints in this game. It is, in my opinion, the worst mistake in the design of FFXVI. It's just so ironic too, because they have these beautiful graphics, only to draw our eyes away from them and towards these markers on the screen. I really wished the UI would disappear until you get close to enemies and that the quest guidance was not on the screen. At most, just put a little icon on top of the NPC's head so we can wander around.

 

[rofif]

I think the last truly good Final Fantasy was Lost Odyssey.

That one is in my backlog for over 15 years. Sitting there on the shelf. 3 discs of jrpg jank. One day…

 

[rofif]

Despite the SkillUp reviewer being a dumbass, there is something to be said for the waypoints in this game. It is, in my opinion, the worst mistake in the design of FFXVI. It's just so ironic too, because they have these beautiful graphics, only to draw our eyes away from them and towards these markers on the screen. I really wished the UI would disappear until you get close to enemies and that the quest guidance was not on the screen. At most, just put a little icon on top of the NPC's head so we can wander around.

Yeah. At least there is no minimap

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Today's reminder

5 years later, it's remembered as a classic and people can't wait for the recently announced remaster

FFXVI will likely age as well as FFXII did, another very divisive entry in the franchise when it was released with an unusual combat system

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

even 15 (for which he made a 1hr long video defending).

Anyone making a 1 hour long video defending the worst Final Fantasy in history probably has bad takes on this series. Does he actually consider XV a great FF game?

 

[Dr. Claus]

Anyone making a 1 hour long video defending the worst Final Fantasy in history probably has bad takes on this series. Does he actually consider XV a great FF game?

FFXV has its issues, but worst? No, that still goes to XIII, followed by II.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

FFXV has its issues, but worst? No, that still goes to XIII, followed by II.

Pretty close to the bottom. I'd rank XIII higher, but it's also at the bottom of my list.

 

[xellos2099alpha]

FFXV has its issues, but worst? No, that still goes to XIII, followed by II.

It is definitly one of the worst to me. I care not for the so call bros and road trip feel. I do not care for another of the characters in XV tbh... someone is suddenly missing.... someoen suyddenly get new scar and somnoene is suddenly blind.

 

[Fuz]

I think the last truly good Final Fantasy was Lost Odyssey.

Spoiler

I can't with those characters.

 

[Myths]

I heard they weren’t introducing or planning for any DLC into the game. Their focus wasn’t really on field/level design but to keep cinema at the forefront; however, the side quests aren’t anything to write home about either. With such a rich and mysterious world, If they should develop a sequel, suggestions would be (cross-posting here):

• Float to avoid traps and move across ravaged bridges and terrain
• Vanish for stealth and preemptive. The magicians (astrologers etc.) wouldn't be susceptible to this and would use Dispel to remove the status effect from the player.
• Ice/Fire for to modify the footing of the level or to reduce area effects of some levels (Freezing/Heat).
• Thunder to power mysterious relics and mechanisms which control various platforms
• Haste for faster movement or Slow to manipulate object/subject movement if Time is a part of the puzzle.

Some of these things present in older FFs, just in different form. It’s what I did find myself valuing for the time taken to explore the level/field. In doing the above, we’d be granted more extraction out of what they’ve carefully crafted and realized in 3D. And Valisthea is damn riveting take on the classic FF of “mythical crystals nestled in and about the lands.” It deconstructs the premise of the Crystals from FFV, borrows so much from its bestiary and abilities (and the game itself didn’t have much going for it with regard to story).

From the above too, their side quests would then invite a bit more intricacy to their structure than the underlying fetching or passing present. You don’t ever get too concerned about the affairs of the those laced between the main scenario, less than but a handful were actually done well.

For the battle system, stripped to barebones it is essentially a lightweight on-demand job system limited only to several abilities. More passive abilities would make this even more obvious, and I certainly can appreciate the narrative focus on Eikons such that these “Jobs” are in fact fed to us as Eikons (Summons) instead. There’s more they could do with this system, if they willed it.

It’s a top 3 FF for me, displacing the likes of VI. Clive, best character yet for me in the series.

 

[Komatsu]

No because then the game would have occurred in Ivalice and most of the stuff that happens in this game wouldn't be possible in that established world.

You do understand Matsuno wrote the scenario or served as planner for six whole games that were not set in Ivalice, surely?