Square-Enix & Final Fantasy XVI have MAJOR issues?? A critical look
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- With Final Fantasy XVI's release, Square-Enix's stock has taken a massive plunge and drops 79% in value. Why is this happening? I take a look at Final Fantasy XVI first, analyzing why I think the game isn't selling quite as good as Square-Enix would like. I then take a look at their other games like Valkyrie Elysium, Chocobo GP, Babylon's Fall, Marvel's Avengers, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Forspoken, Triangle Strategy, The Diofield Chronicle, and others to see what's going on with these games. I also look at Final Fantasy XIV, if the MMORPG is stumbling, as well as their mobile titles and their upcoming NFT game as well as Foamstars. Is Dragon Quest XII going to be the game that saves this company?
X/Twitter: / neverchris
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The main issue I had with xvi is that it’s a HACK AND SLASH RPG not an ACTION RPG. Hack and Slash games are like fighting games. You string long combos, try to juggle you opponent and utilize meter efficiently. An action RPG is basically an action game with rpg elements, emphasizing on level progression and spectacle to a degree. The reason why I was turned off from XVI is basically because it was tedious. Hack and slash games have your normal grunts that get dispatched quickly and sub bosses that need a bit more strategy. When you add level progression on a normal enemy who is just a level or 2 above you makes the whole combat feel like a grind and a chore to play.
SE is just getting a bit delusional. They've believed SO HARD in the idea that they need to "move toward more action oriented games" they might have ruined the franchise with FFXI. Meanwhile strictly turn-based Baldur's Gate 3 released and became instant GOTY. I think they misjudged the market.
But it's not just a the battle system with FFXI. It's also a boring game. The combat is boring and there's a lot of pace-breaking and boring filler-quests. It's the first FF mainline game that I was too bored to finish.
15 was the better game I know not a lot of ppl liked the sausage party lol but I think it was pretty good
It wasn't because of the Anime boy group. It was because of the weirdly told story across different media and DLC, bad world building, the really dumb love story, an empty, boring world. But the music was great and I love the ending. Ardyn had much potential, I give it that.
I totally agree with you 👍
I couldn’t finish 15, the huge empty world that takes sooooooo long to travers and the story wasn’t motivating for me to push through. However I’m almost done 16 and I’m really enjoying it. Is it the best FF game I have ever played, no, but at least I’m enjoying it enough to want to finish it.
@@L0n3W0lfBl4ck did you ever play the dlc? It filled in a lot of holes not all but a few
My 2 cents: Final Fantasy 16 fails to create real buzz for several different reasons that go beyond just showing too many cutscenes. Hindsight is 20/20 but here are some problems I have with the game:
1. Lack of RPG elements: no deep progression system, no deep weapons/armor/accessories system, no deep rpg battle mechanics such as status ailments, buffs, elemental weaknesses, etc.
2. Lack of mini games
3. Everything is super serious, no light hearted/funny moments
4. Overuse of particles, it’s hard to tell what the heck is happening sometimes
5. No party system, I play FF to play as different characters with different strengths and weaknesses. I think FF7 remake did it fairly well, I wish 16 had expanded on that system rather than force you to play as only 1 character
6. Side quests are mostly a joke, no meaningful content outside of the main story
7. Where are the super bosses, hidden character, extra dungeons?
8. World seems bland, I wish there were more interesting and spectacular locations that make you go “woah”
9. I’ve heard people say Ben Starr did a great VO for Clive, I personally can’t stand it. He’s always talking under his breath and it drives me nuts. I don’t know who would ever talk like this in the real world unless they are forcing it and trying hard to sound cool…but in reality it comes off cringy. Vigo in LOTR did it pretty well as Aragorn but that’s because Vigo naturally talks like that, it doesn’t feel forced because it is genuine.
10. And maybe most of all, because this feels like Final Thrones. It doesn’t feel like they brought in the “soul” of Final Fantasy into this. It feels like they were all excited about GoT and wanted to make a GoTs game with Chocobos, Cid and Summons.
Extra: I read they were inspired by wrestling for some of the bigger battles. I don’t want to play a wrestling match in a FF game, I want FF to pave its own path in terms of what an epic battle between summons/Eikons should feel like. And QTEs are not the way to go either imo.
Modern Final Fantasy is cutscene heavy. It's been a movie game series for a while now.
I'm good with it, that's what I expect when I buy a Final Fantasy game. I dunno why people are upset about it, it's been cinematic for decades. Not like they advertised anything else.
I think the problem is heavy cinematic with bad gameplay is a toxic duo
Except "older" FF games with said similar features don't overstay their welcome and have actual gameplay depth.
@@suiken3149 I think every mainline FF game has significant depth to their combat. Event 16, 16's problem is that it lacks significant side content to force you to mix up your strategy. They've made the modern games too easy imo. Because they want you to get through the movie. It's always the secret bosses that force you to mix up your strategies.
Even as simply spamming debuffs in 13 to maximize damage output once they stagger.
Dont get me wrong I understand why people are upset, it's just I have 0 expectation that Square is going to go bac k to the roots of 4, 6 or 7. So cutscene heavy mainline titles dont surprise me anymore.
I'm okay with it, and I understand how legacy fans feel. I feel the same way about Zelda. But that change was much more recent relatively speaking (only been two games botw and totk). I cant stand those games, I want more games like WW or TP.
@@robertoavalos9755except the gameplay is some the greatest action ever…
@@gregeichler5237 hey if you enjoy good on you, but it doesn’t hold a candle to DmC3 and up or bayonetta, which is sad since they got one of the designer of DmC combat to work on theirs, I don’t understand how they messed it up.
U are correct . Their big budget game often infest with questionable design issue (linear hallway , uninteractive enviroment, dumb down gameplay , too flashy effect over substance...) and try too hard to be movie instead of game . Their smaller and more potential AA game while nail down the good design and fun are often under budget so they lack polish, lack marketing , bad released schedule .
For example, if game like SO 6 released this year instead of last year full of competitor , it will have more time to polish, flesh out content ( the dev said they only roughly archive 65 % of their vision due to budget in new year interview ) and take feedback from demo , better release window . This will give the series better grown
Wow, I cannot believe this channel still exists. I remember watching this guy's early reviews for JRPGs and No More Heroes like 16 years ago. I used to comment under a different channel but it has been so long I don't even remember who I was.
It's actually inspirational that your passion for gaming hasn't waned in all of these years and your reviews are still great.
I've never been a huge FF fan (I've only ever beat the original on GBA) but I have always had a lot of respect for the series as a whole. The game that really brought me into Square Enix's domain was Bravely Default however. That masterpiece which I got the true ending in was a landmark 3DS game for me and a true introduction into the "JRPG." I wanted to try the sequels but it's so hard nowadays to justify dropping everything I'm playing for JRPG. I tell myself in a perfect world where I didn't have to work so much I would play every JRPG I could but I wonder if I would really do that. All that being said, there is a eBay'ed copy of Dragon "Warrior" 7 en route to my house which I have delusions of playing to completion. 🙃
Good luck on Dragon Quest 7! I've yet to actually play that one although I've heard it's quite the long one.
The story gets really boring in the last third of the game. Kinda underwhelming for a story-focused game.
Back in ps1 days I would buy every game released from Square Soft and was very rarely disappointed. For the start of PS2 era that largely remained but that was the beginning of the end as far as I am concerned. FF just is not a system seller anymore and to regain that prestige they would need a hit on the scale of FFVII which they seem totally incapable of. FFX was the last huge FF game and that was over 20 years ago which is beyond the memory of a lot of gamers. The brand has faded from relevance.
Such a pity as some of the final fantasy games are among my favourite games of all time with one in particular being my favourite which I play at least once a year and am still amazed at how good it is.
I played the demo and was happy when I deleted it but 7 remake part 2 is definitely a game worth buying
Now how u know ff7r2 is gonna b worth it??personal preference dude
I wanted to love it, and there is a lot here to like but I got bored and set it aside for now. I made it to the first trip to the desert to the south before I set it aside. Basically no party control (almost no party at all, really), no big cities to explore, no minigames, no substance to the environments, and combat I found extremely easy and repetitive killed it for me. If you're going to lock a difficulty setting behind a second playthrough that might never happen, make sure at least one of the initial ones has some challenge to it, please.
“The game failed because the whole first hour is cutscenes, aside from an action scene at the start I’m watching a movie basically, this is my proof.” *completely ignores games like Uncharted 4 and how that game was a success even though it had a similar first hour and puts in stuff about how 15 has sold better than 16 even though 15 has been out for years at this point while 16 is only a few months old*
Sure bro
I disagree that Uncharted 4 disproved my point. First of all, if you're playing Uncharted 4, there's a good chance you're already on board and invested in these characters. You're also getting into the climbing style of stages about 13 minutes in which is half of what Uncharted games try to offer. I could see where you might argue that it's still on rails as I said a lot of FFXVI was but I would argue that the FFXVI was primarily just walking to the narrative while Uncharted puts more effort into making you feel like you're accomplishing something with its guided level design.
With FFXV, I tried to point out that the initial sales were higher than the initial sales of FFXVI. While I'm sure a PS5-only release impacted that, I was primarily trying to point out that it wasn't the sales bomb that some may think based on its reputation.
Final Fantasy XVI was a really weird experience for me. I think the game took me like 60 hours to beat but for some reason the game felt much MUCH longer.
Final Fantasy VII rebirth took me 90 hours to beat but it actually felt shorter to me than Final Fantasy XVI.
I think Square-Enix has a management problem, they had it since their mismanagement of Xenogears, and funily enough now they try to emulate Xenoblade Chronicles.
Yes, this is very true.
Modern square vs modern Falcom is like night and day
Falcom are clawing their way up from the dregs of obscurity in the west with unheard of foreign sales while every square release thats not ff14 does worse than the last
Kinda hilarious if you ask me
Falcom isn't exactly setting the world on fire. They are just consistent with solid games but nothing really ground breaking and they need to level-up their marketing and stop relying on third party publishers.
Surprisingly I found that SE putting all their eggs in DQ and FF is hurting them big time. And the whole fiasco with the NFTs really has put the company in the sour taste for me personally. I found that the HD-2D team are rocking it.
The remake of Live a Live and the OT trilogy (Including the mobile game) has kept me way more excited to see what the team does especially if we're getting the DQ3 remake.
Definitely agree on the HD-2D games!
Dragon Quest has always been marketed like trash in the US even before the merger(Dragon Warrior was a bad move lol), only time it's marketed well is when Nintendo takes the reigns after FFXVI I'm afraid of what DQXII will be like.
On a side note, I genuinely think if they made a fun ATB Final Fantasy game the word of mouth that they're actually doing that I think would have at least got them to FFXVI numbers and not being a PS5 exclusive would help too. I think if Rebirth and Dawntrail are trash fires it's gonna be kinda sketchy for SE.
Great to see you again.
Excellent commentary and analysis. Thanks.
Now that FF7R2 seems to have also been a dud (for good reason, IMO...I still haven't managed to force myself to finish the slog), S-E is in serious trouble. I feel like the only path forward for them is to stop spending 3-5 years building overblown games meant to capture the "general audience," and reduce the scale of their AAA productions to service specific audiences.
Final Fantasy is my favorite video game franchise, but FF16 and FF7R2 aren't what I wanted from either game. I hope FF7R3 won't be a bloated, unfocused monstrosity.
I think it has more to do with changing trends that the square enix titles themselves. Also the have tried to grow and update their gameplay loop to what people are enjoying today, and they doing a good job is just that other games are doing it a little better with a fresher and more interesting animation design.
The problem is them chasing trends
Focusing on a strong core is proven to net better numbers long term than following the new trend in gaming
Unless you have ubisoft money and can shit out a passable product in 2 to 3 years
@@V2ULTRAKill I think the latest Ubisoft release proves my point.
I loved 16 even despite all the flaws. The story to me was great. But let's just face it, the biggest and best resources are being put into 7 Rebirth, and rightfully so.
If Square Enix was smart, they'd give 6, 8 and 9 the same remake treatment as they did with 7 because each of them were also fantastic in their own right.
My hopes for a Chrono Trigger remake before my life time is over is now down the toilet.
They're trying to be an interactive movie maker not a game maker
The combat in ff16 is far more involved and reactive than any other ff game if you dont play in story mode
this is what confuses me about the direction ff is taking now, are these games for the fans or for people that never liked rpgs to begin with? cause ff15 and 16 were made to attract newcomers, newcomers being the people who just want action and nothing rpg related (turn based, etc..) but thats just dumb. people who play ff games enjoy rpgs, people who play dmc enjoy action, people who play cod enjoy shooters. you can't merge all 3 together and expect fans new and old to enjoy it, its not possible, like the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. I never understood why they felt the need to make ff into something its not, ff16 doesn't look anything like a ff game, its the most dmc lookalike game I have ever seen, nothing about this game screams "final fantasy". its like square wants completely change their fanbase all together.
I don't want a PS5. I also don't want devil may cry in my final fantasy. It's an action game, not a JRPG. They need to build their new market because it's not JRPG fans.
True!
I dont know. For me the combat felt tedious. Fights took way too long, theres barely any feeling of impact, and youre just mashing the same buttons over and over again. Story-wise, its gets pretty boring about half way through. I i know i may be in the minority, but to me, the last great final fantasy game was Final Fantasy X.
FFX really was fantastic.
FF16 tried and failed to copy other successful series. They tried to do Devil May Cry's combat. It was no where near as good. They tried to do The Witcher 3 side quests. I can only think of 2 side quests where you could actually make a "choice" and it didn't really affect the outcome. They tried to do Game of Thrones political intrigue. Without characters to care about it falls flat. I don't know what they were thinking with the character designs. Say what you will about FF13, but if you walk by pretty much any of the main characters in a crowd of NPCs they'll stand out. The main characters in this game don't.
They should adapt to the new trends and revive their old franchises... Vagrant Story with some minor* tweaks in the crafting system and actual graphics would be great!
If I wanted to see a movie, I would go to the theater. I agree with you and think Square Enix really dropped the ball on this one. I’ve heard other people say it’s good there’s just a lot of cut scenes.
Every game has cutscenes dude..or am I wrong??quit whining and just play the damn game
I think you are hitting the nail on the head! This may sound goofy, but I think the problem is Square Enix wants to be a successful business first and a game developer second. They care way more about what might make them money than the games themselves. This isn't just a Square problem but a big problem with tons of big gaming companies. You can always see when a company truly loves their game and wants to make it the best it can possibly be. I have not seen that from Square in a long time, you can always see the corporate hand that thinks it knows what's the best way to make money. For some games, it's lack of funding because they just want to pump out a bunch of games and hope their name brand will carry it. For others, it is bloat because they feel the game isn't long enough otherwise. Then the biggie that I have noticed since they became Square Enix, is following trends instead of just making something they love and want to make.
Totally agree!
I noticed that FFVII remake double pack on sale for PS. Too little too late, but gives hope for it going to XBOX. They will most definitely be doing the same for M$. Truth be told I think they really felt the sting of the exclusivity deal with Sony and I do believe they will not make the same mistake.
Time for Sony to scoop them.
A lot of people love this game but for me it’s a 6.5/10. It’s fun at times(mostly during the first half), pretty good story but I think the combat is lazy and there’s not much for strategy. I got bored with it and still haven’t finished it bc it’s feeling like a chore. The titan fights were cool but too scripted. I miss the deep story, the teams and the turn-based strategy like FF13, FF9 and FF7. I am enjoying the remake of FF7 but the combat kinda loses me.
You'd enjoy Dungeon Encounters, one of the most misunderstood hidden gems within modern Square Enix catalogs.
Star ocean 3 is still in my head because of my crush on lady Nel🤣
Even back then, there were games like Xenogears that were 80% dialog and 20% gameplay. But the story of Xenogears is so good that it will touch your soul and change your life, so it was acceptable. I can't say the same for FF16...
The ship for me getting a PS5 has sailed. So either a FF16 port is coming (witch i will play) or it wont. Its no fault of FF, but there great RPGs out there on PC and Switch.
Besides what really pisses me of is that they eff up classic remasters. Why does Secret of Mana 1 and 2 not have online multiplayer… i mean seriously an Emulator can do it, but somehow they missed one big selling point of those games… Besifes that i enjoyed 15 and 14 and Octopath and Brevely default 2, but there other rpgs and games and my times limited. So you either make it right or i am not gonna touch it (as in SoM remakes not having online multiplayer)
I didn't think of the Secret of Mana remake when doing this video but you're right, good point.
This review really pissed me off, have you ever played an FF before ? People who don't know shit about videogames should not be allowed to speak about them
Yeah, I've played most of them.
Bandai Namco >> Square Enix
I haven’t played a final fantasy since X. I have no desire to play their modern releases. I hope 16 fails. I hope the 7 remake fails. It will once new fans realize after years of waiting and paying for multiple games…they haven’t actually played ff7. They played some horrible reinterpretation of it. It is not the same game. The classics will always be there and I’ll stick with those.
I really enjoyed FF7R although it's best to view as a sequel and not an actual remake.
Maybe Square Enix is trying too hard to appeal to Western gamers by making what they THINK Western gamers are going to like. But they fail at it. In the same way that a Western developer trying to make a game to appeal specifically to Eastern gamers (I don't know of any). It's going to come off kind of cringe and bad because they don't really know Eastern gamers like that. Same with East going to the West.
Square Enix doesn't have an identity, it's just chasing trends. And the people who play Square Enix games want Square Enix games, not trends. They don't know what they're doing, who their audience is, and wasting time trying to get Western gamers (Sempi) to notice them. If what you make is amazing, Sempi will notice you. Stop trying so hard and just be yourself Square Enix.
I totally agree. Persona 3-5 were all hits and those didn't remotely pander to a western audience.
100% this guy never played Ultimaniac mode.
You just spent 3 minutes complaining about the prologue(which was almost universally lauded as the demo), and probably never even touched some of the best content any video game has to offer.
I think the biggest problem with Square Enix is that they focus too much on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts being their safest bets. Granted, they do sell like crazy when it comes to their mainline titles, but not investing more time and money on quality assurance and creative freedom is what's hurting most of their AA games if anything. I cannot tell you how much time I put into Triangle Strategy from last year as I went through that game four times to get all the endings which took up to about 80 hours in total. I really enjoyed that game, but I felt they could have done much more and much better in numerous ways. Live A Live was a blessing from the heavens because that remake reminded me of when Squaresoft truly reigned supreme as an RPG company.
However, there are several faults I feel is what's hurting most of their games. Particularly, management interference has been a severe issue with most of these games because I think they have been way too rough on the development teams in meeting their deadlines because game development takes a lot of time to try and perfect. Not to mention, they are out of touch with what people want and expect from a company like them, and the leadership of Yoichi Wada and Yosuke Matsuda has been extremely hit or miss in those regards. With Takeshi Kiryu at the helm as Square Enix's new president and CEO, I am worried that the direction they are going is only gonna hurt them even more. He is a guy who feels that certain IPs outside of their big three should get the AAA treatment as everything else is cannon fodder to his eyes. They are literally taking the Capcom route, and I do not like that as I feel it is an unsustainable strategy if they only focus on that mentality. AAA games do not save a video game company all the time as one to numerous flops could hurt them financially more than having a number of mid-sized games put out.
It's a weird and scary conundrum when a company who was once beloved just falls in this pit due to how the times are. I know Square Enix should deserve and do better than they are, but they need to make better decisions and nurture more creative minds than being stuck in their cage without trying to adapt to new ideals to do better.
I just deleted FF XVI yesterday after Titan s battle when the game asked me for the 100th time to speak with npcs here and there and eventually collect some ingredients talking with more npcs and after that i was supposed to start the following quest which was also supposed to talk with some npc -_-
How the fck is this possible, and yeah the titan battle self was a pain in the ass way too long snd way too easy all cinematics with press square or R1 in the between. Never felt i was wasting my time with a game like this before, and ppl claim it to be game of the year, NEVER!!!
This game is absolutely incredible. I’m sorry for you.
ff13 started the end, ff15 confirmed the end, ff16 brought the end
He's back
I don't think it's so much that FFXVI did poorly, it just didn't hit the numbers they really wanted to make up for the disaster that was Forspoken and Avengers. They lost a ton of money with those endeavors specifically.
Got scared you weren't gonna upload again😂. Hope you've been doing well.
They need to stop trying to change the formula altogether and instead go back to tweaking it a bit 12 was a big change but still felt like a jrpg the 7 remake still played pretty close to a jrpg 13 was total trash 15 was meh and 16 the setting looked good was super hyped then saw how it played there where no party members and no multiplayer huge step back again oh and stop messing up the damn summons I don't wanna only use them when you tell me it's ok if I wanna summon bahamut every battle I should be able to what's the problem here
Ur significant other might not know shit about video games but put her 2 cents in...evidently she doesnt realize that all games now have cutscenes..like u said..she does whatever she do and come back to a cutscene..she not there watching u play thru the game..it all boil down to personal preference...not what ur gf says
Sometimes I find the takes of non-internet people refreshing and interesting because they'll just blatantly get to the heart of a matter without any regard for the online masses would ever react. Final Fantasy is a highly regarded series that generally the internet likes and so to speak ill of it in any regard, at this point, is taboo. While the GF knows I've played all of the Final Fantasy games and that some are my favorite, it doesn't stop her from pointing out the obvious that I sure as heck am sitting through a lot more cutscenes than normal.
Not that I based my opinion on what she says but it's an interesting anecdote that the heavy amount of cutscenes stood out to even her.