Відео

One of my bigger issues with FFXVI was linked to their desire to make it as Game of Thrones as possible…to the extent that the main character is a dark haired man with a wolf and a girlfriend with silver hair. Several other parallels exist beyond this. People get hung up on the “adult” aspects yet completely forget Cecil and Rosa getting it on the night he returns from Mysidia or Tifa and Cloud before they go to North Crater (and let’s not forget the whole of Wall Market.) The ending is just weird. At no point do any of the possible authors have the knowledge necessary to know all the private plot points. So if it’s a book…it’s fully a fantasy fiction and not an actual account. The Hobbit was written solely from Bilbos perspective. That’s why it works. If this is supposed to be Joshua’s recording of the events…how in blazes does he know about Odins and Garudas private couple time? Final fantasy hasn’t been formally turn based since FFX. My main issue with the combat is that enemies are damage sponges. You feel no different between level 30 and level 50. Enemies still require the same combo rotation to bring them down and boss battles feel excessively long. Yes…long boss battles aren’t new…but those required strategy and thought. Here it’s square, square, square, square, triangle…again and again and again until you get to unleash your best eikon attacks during stagger and see the hp bar drop about 20%. And then repeat. And I’m sorry…a boss battle…especially the FINAL boss battle, after seeing their life bar hit zero, should end with a QTE.

The M in Mistress stands for Mother 💋

As much as I love Joshua personally. I do find it off how much his survival changes the whole "Accept the truth" moment. As hype as that moment is, what does Clive learn from that at this point? What "truth" is he accepting now? It turns out it never really was Clive's fault. Just as the game was implying with Ultima's robed disguise. I just dont know what to think about that scene anymore, as I thought (while not knowing Joshua is still alive) it was a moment for clive to matrue and control himself, accept his brother is dead due to a mistake and use that to grow. But now, what is that scene supposed to mean to Clive?

(I just recently finished the game so I'm late to the conversation but still feel its an important case study.) There are two major issues with FF16. The story constantly undermines itself to ensure that very specific scenarios happen (deus ex machina and contrivances) which make the world building unbelievable. You can see this everywhere: Clive being the central protagonist that the story focuses on, being the future 'vessel' for Ultima results in Joshua needing to survive because the Phoenix can only be held by one person at one time (and would be reborn years later). They had to come up with a plot contrivance that the bestest goodest boy Torgal (who I love) is the only surviving magical wolf that can also turn into an Eikon because we need a reason to have Torgal be able to travel and hold his weight against other Eikons and Aether floods. We need to make sure that Clive can't be taken over by Ultima so we need Joshua alive to imprison one in his body which causes him unbelievable pain for over five years while consistently coughing up blood and, at the same time, still be able to fight Bahamut and combine with Clive's Ifrit so they can defeat the Eikon. It dismantles the suspension of disbelief because if any of these parts were to fail then there would be little preventing Ultima from taking over. Hell, the story would have ended immediately if Anabelle had Clive killed on spot (which is completely contradictory as she is supposed to be politically savy to the degree she was able to worm her way into the Emperor's bedchamber to become Empress). 2. We're only ever allowed to care about Clive because the story is from his perspective. Clive is an inoffensive, easy to relate to "good guy" (especially because the complexity and guilt with killing his own brother is completely nullified by the story). The story and it's pacing is attached to what Clive wants to do (he is the leader of the rebel faction after all). He isn't interested in politics so there will be no connection with politics, he isn't interested in history, which is why we have Vivian giving him breakdowns of the realm that don't really impact him. Clive wants one thing and one thing only, to destroy the Mother Crystals. There is no other motivation because it's straight and to the point and because the story tells us this is a good thing, we have to believe it is a good thing. In the end it has to be a good thing because Clive is a good guy who fights for justice (which conveniently avoiding his backstory of being a slave "assassin" for the Empire and the fact that he is a prince who was kind to his slaves). Because of these factors, the story itself cannot be nuanced or intriguing. There can be no real push back against Clive because that would create a dissonance with the type of player the writers are targeting (people who can empathize or see themselves as Clive). Unfortunately, the writers were in service to Clive and thus everything that happens has to be through him. They've gone even farther to strip the impact from the gameplay as well because it doesn't matter if the party make up changes, you're not supposed to get attached to them since you control Clive and only Clive. (Hell, the only time I really noticed my party was then I saved and it showed me the little icons of who was adventuring with me at that exact time.) There's no banter between members, there's no strategy about managing the cast, there is no sense or feeling of loss or change when a character goes missing or is bed ridden because they hardly to anything to the bosses and you barely see them because the programmers designed the game around having the characters be behind the camera for the majority of the over-world adventuring. As far as the main story goes, all other characters are an after-thought and only exist in service to Clive. As for the ending, I absolutely loathed it. The 9999 meme punch to end Ultima was WILDLY out of character and tonally inconsistent with the rest of the story. Clive's "death" on the beach being frustrating because it's only NOW that Clive suffers any repercussions of his actions silently, poetically...after defeating a God on his own. It's as if Clive is completely untouchable until the story is done with him (extreme headaches aside). I will give credit where credit is due, the voice acting was on point and I enjoyed the music and set pieces for the aesthetics and elevation of the "boss battles".

This is hands down the worst final fantasy game I have played the story is bad at everything backstory characters motivations story context making sense as to why they do what they do it feels like the characters don't live in that world and things happen just because the plot says so if anything you could say that ultima won in the end because everyone seams to be going along with his plan with mind control powers even the main character.

16 felt like I was playing a generic medieval throwback whose side quests were very repetitive. Somehow the plot felt very predictable, at least in regards to Joshua coming back, initially disguised as the hooded figure, but maybe that was just me because I’ve played a lot of Kingdom Hearts. It just overall felt like the only thing XVI had to bring to the table was repetitive side quests and them showing us that you can tell the plot in this one is serious, because they use the F bomb.

I was bored for 75% of this game. That's no good. I somehow liked FF15 more than 16 and that's shocking. For as bad as 15 was I can honestly say at least I want bored for a majority of it.

My story is the opposite of yours regarding the demo. I was relatively hyped when I gave it a try and was completely disappointed by the writing. The in medias res elements were unnecessary and just messed with the pace and jumped around too much (Why did we need to see that dry meeting with the bad guys?), the introduction to Clive and the surrounding characters was bland (I was legitimately annoyed at how lifeless that scene with Jill on the balcony was), and the fact that I had to pause the game and read data logs to understand what was going on just proved how weak the writing was, at least to me. I'm probably being the hater, but I don't understand what I was supposed to like about the game, what the draw was outside flashy combat (Wow the QTEs were lame. Asura's Wrath, this isn't) and tropes I've seen a million times before but done worse here. I won't pretend to have a full opinion on the game, that's why I'm here, but an intro is arguably the most important part of a story, and I believe FF16 makes a horrible first impression. TL;DR the demo made me lose all interest with it's bland writing. Flashy gameplay didn't satiate me Sorry for the long (and late) comment, but after hearing you're opinions, why do you think this game got such a pass? Your criticisms aren't a "super in-depth dive into missing and flawed subtexts", there out in the open, obvious flaws in writing on a narrative, world and character level. My cynicism says all the pretty lights and special effects makes people turn their brain off, but, why do you think the flaws are all overlooked and the game is beloved?

Chile, who is Bayonetta?

Q is so unbearable.

Great vid, thorough, on-point. Kept me entertained while cleaning my apartment. I played 80 hours of XVI thinking it might get good and it didn't. Puzzling how ppl can equate the boring cutscenes & endless filler dialogue with fun.

Its wasn't a bad game but after playing FF7R, NeiR, Devil May Cry the combat was lacking in the combo department. The side quests had good stories but it felt like i was walking from point A to point B and talking most the time. The basic combat felt like DMC2, the worst one, and without the Eikons it wouldve been boring. A fix for this would've been do what DMC did have the analog sicks play apart in your combos. The story was fine all in all but i feel like the game aspect took a back seat once the Eikon abilities where worked out and the Eikon fight were great the look at but they were so long because it didnt feel like i was doing much. The game is about suffering and yeah i feel like in my 100 plus hour play through i suffered to finish it.

Late to the party and yeah, I fully agree with your review. Would really love to hear your input on the 7 Remake games.

Damn dude, I finished this game on pc today. I couldn’t agree more. The one thing this game had going was the characters and it kills everyone at the end. What a bummer.

It's been a year my dude, and I heard in the video you play XIV. With the Dawntrail fiasco, I honestly have no hopes of CBU3 ever doing something to shift up the formula of design they follow and hope XVII is in better hands. After XVI PC re release bombed in sales (again) they should be worried, Romancing Saga 2 Remake had more active players and better reviews than XVI Steam version and it's not because one is turn based and the other not, Saga 2 Remake is just a very fun adventure to play through. VII Remake has its downs, especially in the story department, but it's a very fun game that actually added RPG elements. Hope there's still a chance to make the franchise get back on its feet.

I loved the DMC style combat, though. It's really fun and brings me back to the game, and the length of the game paired with its gameplay style did not bother me. I think you can be creative with the combat. Sure, not as much as DMC 4 and 5, but definitely more than Vanilla DMC3, 2 and 1. The enemy variety, or lack thereof is indeed excruciating. I also don't mind the overly serious tone of the game, I actually prefer that way. But that alone doesn't make a story good or deep, and XVI is a solid proof of that. By the way, I don't think Tidus and Yuna laughing in Luca is actually a "goofy" moment per say. The way I see it is quite the opposite. At that point in the game Yuna knows she will die, she knows she will lose everything she has, but those facts are not going to make her depressed. She rather face her fate with a smile on her face because she knows what she's doing for Spira is the ultimate gift and a sign of love for the people that she genuinely has. Aside from that, I agree with everything else you said.

A couple small gripes I have seen to be rarely discussed. 1. No minimap? Wow, apparently they said it was because people end up not looking at the actual area and focus on the map. What a stupid thing to do, why not just add it an an option so that people can turn it on or off if they want? BotW has this and it doesn't detract from the experience despite BotW having more stuff to do and find. It just becomes annoying, everytime I need to check it I have to open the menu, it does take a second, couldn't they also add a map with transparency that could appear and disappear with the toggle of a button? It's just annoying. 2.-Running. Wow, so, who decided it'd be fun to have to wait like 3 seconds for Clive to start running, why not just being able to toggle it with a button or L3 or someting? Animal instinct is useles AF, I've only used it like 10 times. If you ever stop you haaaaave to wait for the 3 seconds again to start running... and you can't even run in towns. I know you have the chocobo but you have to stop, whistle, then ride it, and if you find enemies you have to stop, get down and then fight, why no option to do a jumping attack or something? This just makes me not want to ride the chocobo at all unless I am travelling through an area with low level enemies. 3.-Why the hell does the quest marker dissappears when you're close to the objective? I see myself opening the map to check again, but game makes you go around and look inside that circle and it is just a waste of time to make you "look" for stuff in towns like this, not much but after the 20th sidequest it gets annoying, wow, what a challenge, walking behind a piece of geometry that's hiding an NPC! I'd get if some sidequests were like that but all of them do this, some end up being more bothersome than others.

did it kind of feel like the rest of the cast was gaslighting the situation in Q's favor? like by saying "i thought we were family" or "everybody say love" just kinda seemed like they made it seemed family can put hands on each other lmao

TLDR: I love the combat, everything else... not so much. 2 pt comments. 2nd half is in the replies. My perspective The only FF’s I’ve played are XIII and XV. I like them both. I like to look at things for what they want to be and how well they do it. So you won’t be hearing any stuff from me like “why not turn based” “Why no party?” and stuff of that sort. At most will compare it to the games I played in the series for similar things it did or if I preferred one thing over the other. XVI wants to be an action game, with usual FF elements such as story, characters, and being a visual and spectacle showcase etc. So, I will judge it on that merit and not what people may want it to be. This will be a bit of a ramble and kind of negative, maybe a bit bashy. There’s not much structure so it might go in circles. Combat The good. I love the combat. It feels good. I love chaining together the combo, magic and Ikon abilities. The best part for me and seems to be carrying the game for me. You don’t HAVE to engage with all the mechanics but when you do it a decent challenge and a lot of fun. I like the level/world design to play it. It reminds me a lot of Tomb Raider 2013. They say it’s open world but for the story mode they essentially push you through a linear path to get to the next area and all the camps lead to the next one. Same with XVI. There are some open areas connected to one another by a path or something. It keeps everything tight and concise. I don't mind the side quests. Only done a few, since I'm focused on doing the main story. There's only one storywise so far that stuck out to me. But I don't mind doing them since most of them are either fetch quests and since I enjoy the combat they're fun to get through. Characters Overall I found the cast pretty weak.The whole story revolves and focuses on Clive and where everyone kind of orbits around him. He’s… okay. He’s not super amazing but is serviceable for me. Not very entertaining to watch on screen. He’s not really the archetype I enjoy. I understand why he is the way he is, but I guess I’m not really on board for it or into it. Maybe because he’s a guy, I dunno. And he’s just strangely SUPER OP. Even with just the blessing of the Phoenix he can hold own Benedikta and Garuda clones. So, I feel very little stakes and investment. Any many other characters who don’t really do much like Benedikta, Kupka, Jill (besides being the main love interest). Are cool on paper. The only characters/arcs I’ve enjoyed are Dion and Annabella. They usually hint at something interesting like for Benedikta or Anabella but never go anywhere. I really liked Dion’s arc though, t’was very good. (No wonder he and Terrance have the most fics on AO3) Everyone just feels very shallow I guess. World and lore I’m not very interested in the world. It’s just a typical medieval, fantasy esq world. Different Kingdoms who each got their own Ikon. But we never get to understand or see much about them. They all look visually similar. Even for the time you get to spend in Altissia (XV) it looks very different and traversing it is very vertical and broken up by boat transport, compared to the main world of EOS which looks very American (Southern USA and Cuba). And on paper the world of XVI is not interesting either compared to Cocoon and Gran Pulse of XIII, which are complete opposites, with their own culture, their Fal’cie purposes and roles and beliefs of the other side) Some of it is even shown or told throughout the campaign. What is the difference between Dion’s Kingdom and Clive’s? I don’t know. What do they eat? What is their economy (they touch a little on it)? They all seem to be fighting with each other for the sake of it and power. You got the English Kingdon, the Middle Eastern one, the Norse one etc. They’re not interesting to me. This stuff isn’t necessary to tell the story, and it might be harsh on it, but it’s just a criticism for those who do care about this stuff more than I do or if you are engaging in fan content like fanfic and someone who likes to understand the reason of why stuff happens. But I usually care more about what is happening and on the characters. Active Time Lore This is a good idea in concept but not practicality and this goes for games in general and getting people to do homework. This can apply to other games and the mechanics of additional reading and data logs and lore. So a big complaint of XIII is that you need to read datalogs to understand everything (I personally didn’t read that stuff during my playthrough and got through and understood just fine). Games that have in game logs require people to stop the gameplay and read stuff. If it’s venn diagram “gameplay” and “logs” are two separate circles. It’s something games struggle in general. Unless the game is a slower walking sim type of game where the gameplay is reading e.g. Life Is Strange, there is no obstruction with taking your time and reading. But with open world action games where the main gameplay is action or traversal, you are going to struggle with getting players to stop what they are doing to read a document. It becomes an obstacle to the gameplay. I’ve seen a few people play the game now and I’ve rarely seen them stop to pull up the ATL, stop the action and read. The ATL is more of a prompt which acts as a heads up to say “hey, this is relevant, read this.” But reading it is another thing. Sound On the technical stand there are very clear moments where the music will abruptly cut to the next section of the song. There’s like no smooth transition. It just cuts. Like in the Phoenix fight at the end of the prologue when it changes phases. And I found that quite noticeable. The music. I’m not impressed. The songs just fade into the BG for me, no melodies or interesting parts to hum or become earworms and a lot of them are usually choir singing which act as the melody but is barely present. Compared to the other games I played there is no Stand Your Ground, APOCALYPSIS NOCTIS, Blinded by Light, Eidolons. No strong leitmotifs that play through the game that get stuck in your head like Lightning's theme. Seeing lots of people praise Soken for his work on XIV led me to believe it was going to be one of the best OST I will hear in my life but was just kind mid as a lack of a better word. If I were to give the music a score out of 10 it would be a 5 for average. The only track I remember is the main battle theme and Phoenix one. There’s probably more leitmotifs but these are the only ones I remember with my not very good music ears. Visuals I decided to play in graphics mode. I prefer consistency over fluctuation and 720p is blurry on my 65 inch 4k screen which I sit reeaaally close to. And I'm not an fps whore anyway. Turned the motion blur down. It felt smooth, no stuttering. During set pieces there's TOO MUCH visual noise on my screen that it's takes me out of the immersion. There's so much diarrhoea Christmas lights (totally not a term I stole). So many particle effects and falling debris that it's distracting at times. Like the end of the prologue fight. Clive v Ifrit. Titan. There's so much noise on the screen that it's distracting and difficult to actually see. It makes me do that thing when there’s something blocking your view and you try move your head to look around for a better angle as if there’s something blocking my TV. It's usually used for set pieces where there isn't much gameplay or stakes but is distracting and a bit immersion-breaking. I think the game screaming at me with visual noise going “OMG THIS IS EPIC SUPER COOL KAIJU EIKON FIGHT!!!!” is doing more harm than good for me. Plus I am not interested in the antagonism between Clive and Kupka. Clive killed Benedikta. So Kupka is pissed and hates Clive and destroys the place. It doesn’t show much of Kupka and Benedikta so I can’t feel the rage Kupka has. And pretty much rinse and repeat for each fight. I’ve played a little past the Ifrit+Phoenix v Bahamut fight and this is where the visual started affecting my enjoyment. Of course, I am not emotionally invested so I am looking at the screen like that meme of the girl Chloe with the look on the face, and stuff is just happening. BUT I CANNOT SEE THE SCREEN. There are so much diarrhoea Christmas lights that it’s affecting the gameplay. Like when they ask you to mash the attack button. The floor and particle effects block the gameplay. The flashing lights and effects were actually blinding and too bright I was actually closing my eyes and squinting. To me it's a bit toooooo much style over substance. Because I’m not invested in the Joshua and Dion fight it falls flat. It comes off as the 3rd wheel effect. Similar to when there's a couple on screen you are supposed to be rooting for and into, but if you are not invested in them you just feel very detached to them.

Man...after playing 16, (i have many gripes with it, but always gives benefit of the doubt), it made me want to appreciate 15 a lot LOT more, actual believable characters, fun exploration n looting means something, Eos feels alive and atleast i can atleast imagine myself living in there. Vanisthelia on the other hand.... 💀

Very well articulated takes. Thanks for sharing, kind sir!

I think what would have somewhat saved the story is if ultima revealed Joshua was actually dead the whole time and Josh what an illusion sent by ultima to manipulate Clive into do what ultima wanted because it seemed like the whole story all I was doing was exactly what ultima wanted

Thank you for this video, I feel like I am going insane. This game is absolutely horrible to me, I finished it just 2 days ago. This is without a doubt the 2nd worst Final Fantasy to me, there are little to no redeeming factors in it, yet everyone seems to love it for some reason. I just wonder: did we play different games?

Martha's Rest was well named, it put me to sleep every time I went there 😴

The zoom in at the end where Q mentioned Janes bodysuit uiiuu you see the angry look on Janes face. They are friends but this was not the day 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I don't really agree with Dion, the game manages to make his character really compelling despite his limited screen time. he's one of the best characters in the game with clive and cid for me.

They are just spreading one another. They are great friends.

Song name?

You voice sounds like David Hayter.

I came for the fight but I stay just to see Nymphia and Amanda.

people that never made a game or wrote a aingle line of code telling the people who just released the best spectacle action game with the best shader tech in the industry they are bad 😂

i just saw this video and appreciate/agree with a lot of the points you make. I'm curious what you think about Dawntrail lol

Q touching Plane & invading her privacy was wrong! So glad Nymphia had her back!

Plasma 👁️👄👁️ 🎤

That bob was bobbing 🔥🔥🔥

8:35 i'm not sure if you played the sidequests, but a lot of the sidequests have something witty within it, the main story is going to be dark with some light humor but not like the older games....though i did laugh out loud with slepnir's fight, XVI has a bunch of goofy moments

As a massive Final Fantasy fan, in so glad I spent my money, time, and brain calories not on the Final Fantasies with the triple-A development budgets and needing the most expensive consoles and PCs to run, but instead on the games that the original Final Fantasy creators and best talents left Square Enix so they could pour their heart and soul into making: Xenoblades 1, X, 2, 3, and The Last Story.

Always thought Q didn't had enough emotional intelligence and also she is extremely manipulative

Megami put down the fork girl dayam

exact same reaction from me. I looked at the homescreen, saw 60% and was like "no more. I don't want to do this anymore". So much of me playing it was like a chore, like an obligation. "This is FF. you HAVE to finish it." The game is devoid of choices, relationships, humor, (good) story. And the battles draaagggggeeed on. Go to a room, fight 5 guys, repeat x3, now throw in a miniboss with more HP, repeat this 2x, now the MAIN BOSS who's a total sponge, then a looooonnnngggg boring cutscene. Back to the hideout, after walking around talking to a bunch of boring NPCs (why couldn't this be a cutscene too, it's so padded), we're ready to do it again. And I thought, I can't do this anymore. UNINSTALL. I haven't felt this disappointed since 13.

Yk what i just realized they don’t do reunions no more 😭

My russian girl Plane Jane

Plane is just tries so hard. She's so manufactured.

Q thought she ate💀💀

OMLLL MEGAMI COSPLAYONG BAYONETTA IS EVERYTHING!, ALSO THE DRAWMA MAWMA!!

Living for amandas look

Did q pull her back rolls ?

Do you all not touch your friends 😂 you all are weird and need help.

Q is abusive

Ya’ll are crazy and overdramatic. Plane, it’s a not a cute look girl to get so easily offended and then go off. First off, regardless of your placement, Qi’s creativity beats yours 10-fold. Also, her mug is far more pristine. And lastly, the bitchy role only gets you so far, which is why you lost. Get over yourself, learn some kindness, and come back next year with some growth.