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Final Fantasy XVI is “quite action-oriented,” but includes story-focused mode

Lethal01

Member
It's easy to see who plays/played 14 and not, I love seeing people not on board with this game or this it'll be bad, you really have no idea how competent this team is.

I've played it, I loved nothing about it outside the story so them being attached to it is not a positive to me.
Not a negative to me either since this is a totally different genre than their last game.

Right now the visuals, world and characters just look flat and the battle system looks like a downgrade from FF7R. I love how Final fantasy changes in every installment but if the game just ends up being DMC with different moves; I think they would have lost their way.
 
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I've played it, I loved nothing about it outside the story so them being attached to it is not a positive to me.
Not a negative to me either since this is a totally different genre than their last game.

Right now the visuals, world and characters just look flat and the battle system looks like a downgrade from FF7R. I love how Final fantasy changes in every installment but if the game just ends up being DMC with different moves; I think they would have lost their way.
How much have you played? It is a MMO after all, I can see why some people wouldn't enjoy it. I started XIV in Fall of 2020 and I have almost 400 hours in it, and I'm not getting turned away from the game any time soon. The raids are really good.
 
Except for FFXIV which was garbage at the start from before it was Reborn, the latest mainline games since the XIII trilogy have been pretty shit and that was released for more than 10 years ago.

Lol I can't imagine liking FFXV for example but shitting on XC2. Oh you clown.
FFXII is an amazing game.

I like XIII's battle system. The story had interesting ideas and some sloppy writing, but not too much for RPG standards. The weird Italian neo-classical look of Cocoon and the fal'cie was cool. Also the game looks and sounds amazing. I did'nt care for the XIII sequels.

XIV may have been garbage at the start, but it's been about a decade now from that and all the expansions have been stellar. Including Heavnsward which has one of the best jrpg "parties" in a long time. The same people behind that are behind XVI.

VIIR has an amazing battle system. Great writing for its likable characters. Is an incredible-looking game art wise and and tech wise. There are the filler side-quests which are so easy to do that it doesn't bother me, but otherwise, the game is a good fleshed-out adaptation of VII and feels satisfying on it's own(until maybe the ending). Also just incredible boss battles.

On the other hand, XB2 is an ugly ass game. I don't even know what the art direction is, I dare you to describe it since it seems to be a whiplash of whatever goes. The character designs are boring generic anime. I hate the cast and found none of the memorable. Anyone who says Cloud has no personality is wrong, the dude is a wanabe goofy asshole which is far more interesting the generic "I gotta do my best" anime lead that Rex is. Prya and Mythra are really just lame waifu bait and the game has one of the most pandery endings I've played. I don't hate anime, I love anime, but I don't watch garbage like Maken Ki which this Xenoblade edges closer too. I hated the slow battle system. The progression system was tied to the terrible and random blade system. Which also impacts the dumb ai and battle system. The world was boring and uninteresting compared to XB1's super cool mech god thing. It's everything I hate about modern Japanese games in one.

So it's pretty easy if you try.
 
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Principal

Member
FFXII is an amazing game.

I like XIII's battle system. The story had interesting ideas and some sloppy writing, but not too much for RPG standards. The weird Italian neo-classical look of Cocoon and the fal'cie was cool. Also the game looks and sounds amazing. I did'nt care for the XIII sequels.

XIV may have been garbage at the start, but it's been about a decade now from that and all the expansions have been stellar. Including Heavnsward which has one of the best jrpg "parties" in a long time. The same people behind that are behind XVI.

VIIR has an amazing battle system. Great writing for its likable characters. Is an incredible-looking game art wise and and tech wise. There are the filler side-quests which are so easy to do that it doesn't bother me, but otherwise, the game is a good fleshed-out adaptation of VII and feels satisfying on it's own(until maybe the ending). Also just incredible boss battles.

On the other hand, XB2 is an ugly ass game. I don't even know what the art direction is, I dare you to describe it since it seems to be a whiplash of whatever goes. The character designs are boring generic anime. I hate the cast and found none of the memorable. Anyone who says Cloud has no personality is wrong, the dude is a wanabe goofy asshole which is far more interesting the generic "I gotta do my best" anime lead that Rex is. Prya and Mythra are really just lame waifu bait and the game has one of the most pandery endings I've played. I don't hate anime, I love anime, but I don't watch garbage like Maken Ki which this Xenoblade edges closer too. I hated the slow battle system. The progression system was tied to the terrible and random blade system. Which also impacts the dumb ai and battle system. The world was boring and uninteresting compared to XB1's super cool mech god thing. It's everything I hate about modern Japanese games in one.

So it's pretty easy if you try.
Honestly Squall has way more personality than this version of Cloud lol and that is comparing disc 1 to disc 1 :p (Og Cloud had a better personality IMO)
 
I can see that, but I haven’t played original VII or VIII in a while.

But I liked this Cloud perfectly fine. I don’t think he was lacking any character. His growth from uninterested mercenary to reliable ally with Barret was good since that’s both their arch for this story arch. His interactions with Areith where she pretty much played on his wannabe tough guy act were fun and well done.

I think Cloud has plenty of character work and it was pretty good for a genre that I feel like I’ve played plenty of bland dudes recently.
 

Principal

Member
I can see that, but I haven’t played original VII or VIII in a while.

But I liked this Cloud perfectly fine. I don’t think he was lacking any character. His growth from uninterested mercenary to reliable ally with Barret was good since that’s both their arch for this story arch. His interactions with Areith where she pretty much played on his wannabe tough guy act were fun and well done.

I think Cloud has plenty of character work and it was pretty good for a genre that I feel like I’ve played plenty of bland dudes recently.
So... "Anyone who says Cloud has no personality is wrong, the dude is a wanabe goofy asshole which is far more interesting." Doesn't vibe with me then lol because OG Cloud > all Clouds that come after. I seriously have a hard time understanding why anyone would even attempt to talk to this version of Cloud...

As an OG FF fan (Turn Based) I can see why people are having issues, I seriously don't like the lack of forethought required for each battle. In OG FF the first round was always super exciting because each random encounter could go anyway, but this one is weak tbh because I can't seem to die on Normal mode and that's wack, there is a severe lack of challenge in this remake. In OG FF if you didn't plan ahead I promise you death comes super easy, shit, I remember having to scan enemies and bosses just to know how much health it got left, what it's weakness was and read about what to be careful for because if you did the wrong move then it could mean party wipe.
 
I don’t think any of that’s true.

Since Remake’s battle system is built around the break system it requires plenty of planing. For most of the boss battles and plenty of regular mobs you need to have the the proper elements and load out to break them and use your atb correctly. Knowing weakness is a big chunk of the battle system.

I think it’s pointless to argue what’s harder and whatnot at this point, but I really don’t remember FFVII being hard at all.

And Eh no where was I making a quality judgement on which Cloud was better. I was talking about Cloud in general.
 

Principal

Member
I don’t think any of that’s true.

Since Remake’s battle system is built around the break system it requires plenty of planing. For most of the boss battles and plenty of regular mobs you need to have the the proper elements and load out to break them and use your atb correctly. Knowing weakness is a big chunk of the battle system.

I think it’s pointless to argue what’s harder and whatnot at this point, but I really don’t remember FFVII being hard at all.

And Eh no where was I making a quality judgement on which Cloud was better. I was talking about Cloud in general.
Oh sorry then, but yeah no, I've never played a game where death is an extreme rarity, like again, never even seen the game over screen in this one and that to me is boring, where's the excitement? where's the challenge? Then they add easy mode as well lol.
 
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Oh sorry then, but yeah no, I've never played a game where death is an extreme rarity, like again, never even seen the game over screen in this one and that to me is boring, where's the excitement? where's the challenge? Then they add easy mode as well lol.
Original VII is an extremely easy RPG, you really don't have to do much to get through the story. You know there's a hard mode right???
 

Principal

Member
Original VII is an extremely easy RPG, you really don't have to do much to get through the story. You know there's a hard mode right???
Again, no game should lock a mode that actually presents any type of challenge after you beat the game on normal, that's my issue and again, I have died more times in FF7 og (Sometimes accident, sometimes not thinking ahead whatsoever, like that first snake after disc one omg! I was not prepared for that the first time around xD) than Remake, again remake on the "normal" difficulty which the devs thinks should be enough of a challenge is a literal joke and makes the epicness feel fake that's my issue, that and Cloud cutting buildings is a stupid trope they added that makes the other characters seem extremely weak in comparison...

But again, like someone else mentioned, FF should look at Yakuza 7 and try to implement some more Turn base gameplay because this half action gameplay is eeeeh... Too easy imo.
 
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Mister Wolf

Member
Again, no game should lock a mode that actually presents any type of challenge after you beat the game on normal, that's my issue and again, I have died more times in FF7 og (Sometimes accident, sometimes not thinking ahead whatsoever, like that first snake after disc one omg! I was not prepared for that the first time around xD) than Remake, again remake on the "normal" difficulty which the devs thinks should be enough of a challenge is a literal joke and makes the epicness feel fake that's my issue, that and Cloud cutting buildings is a stupid trope they added that makes the other characters seem extremely weak in comparison...

But again, like someone else mentioned, FF should look at Yakuza 7 and try to implement some more Turn base gameplay because this half action gameplay is eeeeh... Too easy imo.

True story.
 

Ixion

Member
Again, no game should lock a mode that actually presents any type of challenge after you beat the game on normal, that's my issue and again, I have died more times in FF7 og (Sometimes accident, sometimes not thinking ahead whatsoever, like that first snake after disc one omg! I was not prepared for that the first time around xD) than Remake, again remake on the "normal" difficulty which the devs thinks should be enough of a challenge is a literal joke and makes the epicness feel fake that's my issue, that and Cloud cutting buildings is a stupid trope they added that makes the other characters seem extremely weak in comparison...

But again, like someone else mentioned, FF should look at Yakuza 7 and try to implement some more Turn base gameplay because this half action gameplay is eeeeh... Too easy imo.

Eh, I like to think I'm pretty decent at video games and I died a moderate number of times on my first playthrough. Off the top of my head, I had trouble with Hell House and some of the ending bosses, which is something I've seen from a lot of other players. I thought the difficulty was fine and certainly not much different than some of the other popular FF games like 7 and X, the two most popular entries and also two of the easier entries (barring a few select bosses and of course the optional bosses). FF12 is also pretty damn easy as long as you set up decent gambits.

And to say that 7R doesn't require any preparation is inaccurate since there's a big emphasis on your materia loadouts. Maybe it was easy for you because you spent a good amount of time on your materia preparation?
 

Principal

Member
Eh, I like to think I'm pretty decent at video games and I died a moderate number of times on my first playthrough. Off the top of my head, I had trouble with Hell House and some of the ending bosses, which is something I've seen from a lot of other players. I thought the difficulty was fine and certainly not much different than some of the other popular FF games like 7 and X, the two most popular entries and also two of the easier entries (barring a few select bosses and of course the optional bosses). FF12 is also pretty damn easy as long as you set up decent gambits.

And to say that 7R doesn't require any preparation is inaccurate since there's a big emphasis on your materia loadouts. Maybe it was easy for you because you spent a good amount of time on your materia preparation?
Lol no, I gave the cast the most logical set up needed, the 4 basic elements and then most of it was easy game. Honestly I dig your response though because you seem rather genuine but yeah, no, FF with action combat is vibing weird to me, there seems to be a severe lack of thought laid out for the combat scenarios save for bosses. (I loved the Turks fight, like the game seems designed around those encounters tbh)
 

Lethal01

Member
I seriously have a hard time understanding why anyone would even attempt to talk to this version of Cloud...

Because he's a generally nice dude when he's not dealing with a bunch of literal terrorists that keep trying to rope him into their insane cause despite and make him restate nonstop that he's not their friend just cause they pay him.

He's pretty witty and pretty much helps everyone he runs into... he's literally in town for one day and becomes known as the cool, strong new member of the neighborhood watch that has been doing nothing but helping the community.


In OG FF if you didn't plan ahead I promise you death comes super easy, shit, I remember having to scan enemies and bosses just to know how much health it got left, what it's weakness was and read about what to be careful for because if you did the wrong move then it could mean party wipe.

I do think the game was too easy but I assume every game is too easy in general and simply make sure I don't use the boring upgrades(things that just boost my health and attack) until I actually need feel challenged so I didn't find it too bad. I also always avoid using items.

With that said I found the original to be easier and I played it the same way. I may have died once or twice but that was it.

There is nothing about the action/turnbased combat that is inherently easy though, there is absolutely no need to copy some generic turn based system. The devs didn't balance it to make it a challenge. Hard should have been unlocked from the start. There is nothing about the issues that require the system to be thrown away,.
 
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Principal

Member
Just because it has 'Games Journalist Mode' doesn't mean you have to play it that way people, calm your tits.
No but it indicates that they believe the base game might be too troublesome or hard, which seems odd because most of their games a cake walk (with some fore planning off)
Because he's a generally nice dude when he's not dealing with a bunch of literal terrorists that keep trying to rope him into their insane cause despite and make him restate nonstop that he's not their friend just cause they pay him.

He's pretty witty and pretty much helps everyone he runs into... he's literally in town for one day and becomes known as the cool, strong new member of the neighborhood watch that has been doing nothing but helping the community.




I do think the game was too easy but I assume every game is too easy in general and simply make sure I don't use the boring upgrades(things that just boost my health and attack) until I actually need feel challenged so I didn't find it too bad. I also always avoid using items.

With that said I found the original to be easier and I played it the same way. I may have died once or twice but that was it.

There is nothing about the action/turnbased combat that is inherently easy though, there is absolutely no need to copy some generic turn based system. The devs didn't balance it to make it a challenge. Hard should have been unlocked from the start. There is nothing about the issues that require the system to be thrown away,.
I half agree with you, it's just a shame that they threw away the part where you control everyone at once, so you can move as a true unite. I know you technically can by focusing on stacking their attacks but it's not the same you know? I all for change and stuff but there's too much changes. Imagine a remake of MGS being a 2d scroller basically, but you stealth around and do everything. It could be amazing game but it detracts from the OG. (I know the OG still exists but yeah)
 

YukiOnna

Member
I gotta admit, I’m starting to miss the old turn-based FF combat. Im starting to wonder if they’ll ever come back to that.
Don't think so as SE has to compete with other large-scale titles which includes Western RPG's. Seems they have mid-sized titles like Bravely Default, the Octopath series (dunno if Triangle is turn-based), etc. for that specific genre. Even PS3 era was them moving away from turn-based more or less for mainline.
 

Lethal01

Member
I half agree with you, it's just a shame that they threw away the part where you control everyone at once,

If you are talking about XVI then I can't comment on that, but VIIR definitely made me feel more like I'm controlling a complete unit than ever. Being able to move any character at any time is key to that. I was swapping from character to character every couple seconds.

Anyway I agree there is such a things as too much change but VIIR felt like the oposite of that to me for me it showed they knew exactly what made the gameplay good since the old days and proved that it can be done in a totally realtime system flawlessly.

Like I said the only issue I have isn't to do with the system itself but rather the fact that the enemies should have higher stats.
 
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If they went for something like the latest God of War I would prefer it over the MMO like combat system (which I hate and never went very far in a game that has it... so yes, I replay FF VIIre on classic mode).
 

Ixion

Member
No but it indicates that they believe the base game might be too troublesome or hard, which seems odd because most of their games a cake walk (with some fore planning off)

Well, Yoshida did say that he wants FF16 to appeal to the people who grew up with the series, which looks to be why they're going for the first M-rated main installment ever, and could also mean the combat is going to be demanding. So FF16 could be the opposite of FF7R, where the main difficulty is pretty hard (and available from the get-go obviously), while an easy mode exists for the plebs.

I gotta admit, I’m starting to miss the old turn-based FF combat. Im starting to wonder if they’ll ever come back to that.

There is that World of Final Fantasy game that came out a few years ago, which is all about celebrating the entire series and it has the old-school turn-based combat. It has a demo on the PS Store if you want to check it out, but I couldn't get into it since it goes all-in with the cute/chibi style, even if it is kind of funny.

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Lethal01

Member
If they went for something like the latest God of War I would prefer it over the MMO like combat system (which I hate and never went very far in a game that has it... so yes, I replay FF VIIre on classic mode).

MMO combat is the worst, VIIR is nothing like it.

If XIV could ditch the mmo combat and play like VIIR it would be the best mmo of all time
 
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YukiOnna

Member
If they went for something like the latest God of War I would prefer it over the MMO like combat system (which I hate and never went very far in a game that has it... so yes, I replay FF VIIre on classic mode).
VIIR Combat wasn't anything like MMO. If anything, it was closer to the Dissidia games with a bit more restrictions.
 
Why does every game getting more action oriented these days. It's like Resident Evil again, where they go more and more in the action direction until they finally realize what the fans want.

That being said, I am open to new systems. For example as a turn based fan I was at first very disappointed that Final Fantasy VII remake got a more action focused system, but they won me over. I think it is the perfect bland of turn based and real time. Sure I would still prefer a pure turn based system, but realistically that won't happen anymore to appear more to the younger audience.
However, judging by the trailer for Final Fantasy XVI the combat system looks nothing like Final Fantasy, so I am worried, but try to trust them and have faith.
 

EDMIX

Member
I'm with you on that, extremely excited for 16. I'm hoping that they combine, FF7R with this but make it more options for melee attacks. Maybe infusing elements into attacks, while also having the ability to cast spells. Exciting times.

Agreed. I never had an issue with FFXV, FF7R combat, now FFXV story is another issue lol

The combat though I enjoyed and didn't really have an issue with tbh. I like what they are doing with FFXVI and hope we see more during the State Of Play coming up.
 
Agreed. I never had an issue with FFXV, FF7R combat, now FFXV story is another issue lol

The combat though I enjoyed and didn't really have an issue with tbh. I like what they are doing with FFXVI and hope we see more during the State Of Play coming up.

The story definitely was a mess but the ending for XV, hit me emotionally a little bit for some reason, I didn't watch any of the side stuff release for it though. Maybe spending so much time with the party, which I thought was pretty good interaction wise, maybe not so much gameplay so.

I'm hoping to see something more about it but I'm doubtful, maybe another teaser?

I'm betting something FF will be there, either PS5 port for VIIR, VIIR2 or another trailer for XVI.
 
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