Every final fantasy story doesn't have to be the same. They've made 16 main line games. They're allowed to do something different. I've been playing final fantasy since 7. 16 is definitely in the spirit of final fantasy.
Great video, love the new narrator. He brings a lot of passion to the narration, especially when talking about the music. There’s a particular way people talk about music that lets you know how knowledgeable they are. Would be great to see more of him
Almost always the goal is to protect the crystals, or restore their light, or gather them. The only other game I can think of that has the main good guy destroying crystals is Tactics Advance, and that very much makes sense thematically too, as he is literally trying to break and escape from the world of Final Fantasy. - M
Love this kind of deep dive! Final Fantasy has been such an important part of gaming and set so many storytelling standards in its genre. With so many games that have such rich narratives, it can be easy to miss the way themes and motifs have been played with over the decades. Makes me every curious to see what the next Final Fantasy is going to look like.
I think what they need is a new identity. They can’t make keep making drastic changes to the combat all the time. The story may have similar structures. But other jrpgs also has deep stories, while also having a stronger identity. I think if they retain the combat of 7 remake/rebirth while making adjustments for each game, they can cultivate a steady fanbase instead of constantly having one time fans that only gravitate to one game. It’s sad that even kingdom hearts has a more consistent identity than ff at this point. I do love 16. But it’s combat will definitely not be replicated, because it’s tied to the main character. The same can be said for 15, but I don’t like that game. I would play games like 7 remake, but I would be skeptical of newer games because if the combat isn’t good, it’s a hit or miss. If they want to modernize the combat, that’s fine. But there needs to be consistency while also tying the characters story abilities into the combat. I see your argument that story traditions have been consistent, but the ideas of fighting fate or finding identity have been in other jrpgs like xenoblade or persona, making ff no longer unique in that regard. There’s no longer anything unique about this series imo. I can be fan of specific games in the series, but I can’t be a fan of the series.
I just found the game so boring. Very linear game and it commits the cardinal sin of every but the main characters being stupid. Everyone else in the world lacks agency. They just do things the way they do them because thats how the world is. Games with deep world building are able to create a sense of the masses doing what they wish to do; not what the world tells them to do.
My criticism on FF16 is the lack of decent exploration, how linear it is and that you can’t play other characters or neither deepen their stories. The cool thing about FF is the party members that tends to be as interesting (or more) than the main character. I loved the art style, the dark tone, story and the combat (I played the demo) but that wasn’t enough for me to buy it. I watched all the cutscenes on TH-cam and I was pretty happy with it. I knew that if I had bought it I would get bored on playing Clive only and not having too much freedom on exploration.
I thought many of the other characters were really great and well-written. Jill had her own character arc which paralleled Clive's in a nice way (though perhaps a little underdeveloped). I loved Benedikta, Dion was great, Cid obviously just so charming. I personally never felt like these characters needed to be party members in order to be interesting or developed. But I do agree that it would be nice to have a larger party again for XVII. - M
Apart from some flaws at launch, ffxv wasn’t bad, and I believe the royal edition fixed most of it, and FFXVI was good, a little repetitive but good enough to be a worthy successor. People just like to complain over anything
The setting and characters were good, but the writing fell flat on its ass after midway to the story. The world is empty, the sidecontent boils down to "talk to person X" and "kill X number of enemies". The only gameplay in the game is to move and fight. Which on its own isn't a big problem, but the gameplay gets stale very quickly; you're constantly waiting for Eikon abilities to come off cooldown and then spamming them on a staggered enemy. There's only a basic combo and/or spamming lunge and magic burst inbetween. By the time I got Odin's abilities, I was so disinterested and uninvested in both the story and gameplay, and it felt like a chore and a slog to finish the game. The sidecontent is so bad. It's like the creators thought they could get away with the most bare bones mmo sidequests that don't add anything to the characters or the world. There's no more than four sidequests out of the dozens that I consider worth seeing. The setting had a lot of promise, but it got so obsessed with Bearers and everything to do with them, that all the tensions and political intrigue gets trampled over by it. And the introduciton of the akashicwhatsitsface aether zombies just felt so lazy and dumb. Honestly, I think the plot was at its best on the opening hours of the game, and began to lose its novelty by the time Drake's Head is destroyed. After defeating Bahamut, the story doesn't even know what to do with itself and just goes "lol, everything goes to shit and the already empty open world is now truly empty, and on top of that ugly, and with sleepy piano arrangements that make it really difficult to stay invested". Also, I absolutely hate it that you can't visit any of the major citystates. You only ever go to the actual interesting locations through 'dungeons' and cutscenes. Like, they kept promoting Oriflamme and Twinside on the trailers and artwork, but you never get to experience them. The characters had me hooked upon reveal, but got treated awfully. Benedikta was offed too early, Hugo was reduced to a pathetic simp, Jill was given barely any spotlight despite being present for most of the game and even had Clive steal her big moment... Barnabas was just "lol, he's mad and obsessed with the villain and apparently gets turned on by seeing the villain turn into his naked mom..." Like. What. And he's somehow older than he physically appears, because, uh, plot demands it? Dion was the most interesting and the one who wasn't completely ruined. In fact, it felt like all the characters, minor and major alike, got stomped down to elevate Clive. I get it, he's the poster boy, you're supposed to love him. But come on. There's so much lore and potential, but it's like the writers couldn't focus on the interesting things. Just because the player has access to a hundred powerpoint slides about the lore with a press of a button, doesn't mean the writers can be lazy about the presentation. Yes, I'm salty about this game, because I feel its trailers and promotional material promised more than it delivered. I'm just glad VII Rebirth made my PS5 purchase worth it.
Honestly these are all pretty valid criticisms! I don't disagree with a lot of it. I did enjoy the combat and found it engaging, though it takes a bit too long to unlock enough to make it interesting. I've never really understood the sidequest complaint, as if other games do any much different. There's definitely a number I remember fondly, and felt a decent amount of them added to the characters, worldbuilding and lore suitably. However there are way too many thrown at you in the back half! My issue was more with the main story pacing, which fell off a cliff after Titan. Felt like for every meaningful quest you had to do three pointless ones in between. I remember the Devs saying they wanted it to feel like a rollercoaster - but what rollercoaster stops in the middle of the ride for 5 hours after every loop-de-loop? If I'm totally honest, for me it was Rebirth that over-promised and then completely under-delivered! 🫠 - M
@@Nucanon_com Different strokes for different folks. :^) Sorry for the rant, I can't help myself. I just wanted to like XVI so badly, but even when I thought I had lowered my expectations to the dirt after the halfway point, it still managed to disappoint me by the end. I will admit XVI has possibly the strongest and most intriguing opening and its highs are super high, while its lows are the lowest of lows. And yeah, the pacing is the biggest issue, really.
I'll be honest i personally just won't play FF if it's not turn based in some way. I've always been drawn to gameplay first and anything else after. But regardless of my 1 opinion glad people still got passionate about it.
I felt opposite, I have never played turn-based games because they are like unimmersive slogs akin to playing a football manager rather than a truly game. However, after a while I gave up and started to endure them, since the other aspects of those games are generally awesome. JUst wishing I could get over my hate for turn-based, so I would be able to enjoy these games more.
Every final fantasy story doesn't have to be the same. They've made 16 main line games. They're allowed to do something different. I've been playing final fantasy since 7. 16 is definitely in the spirit of final fantasy.
Great video, love the new narrator. He brings a lot of passion to the narration, especially when talking about the music. There’s a particular way people talk about music that lets you know how knowledgeable they are. Would be great to see more of him
This is so incredibly kind of you to say, thank you! 😭 And yeah bit of a music fan, guilty as charged!
- Mathew
Except crystals have been broken in many other games. Also, this series CONSTANTLY remakes itself.
Almost always the goal is to protect the crystals, or restore their light, or gather them. The only other game I can think of that has the main good guy destroying crystals is Tactics Advance, and that very much makes sense thematically too, as he is literally trying to break and escape from the world of Final Fantasy.
- M
Great choice of music and diving into the Prelude theme 🙌definitely felt the nostalgia with that one.
Love this kind of deep dive! Final Fantasy has been such an important part of gaming and set so many storytelling standards in its genre. With so many games that have such rich narratives, it can be easy to miss the way themes and motifs have been played with over the decades. Makes me every curious to see what the next Final Fantasy is going to look like.
I think what they need is a new identity. They can’t make keep making drastic changes to the combat all the time. The story may have similar structures. But other jrpgs also has deep stories, while also having a stronger identity. I think if they retain the combat of 7 remake/rebirth while making adjustments for each game, they can cultivate a steady fanbase instead of constantly having one time fans that only gravitate to one game. It’s sad that even kingdom hearts has a more consistent identity than ff at this point.
I do love 16. But it’s combat will definitely not be replicated, because it’s tied to the main character. The same can be said for 15, but I don’t like that game. I would play games like 7 remake, but I would be skeptical of newer games because if the combat isn’t good, it’s a hit or miss. If they want to modernize the combat, that’s fine. But there needs to be consistency while also tying the characters story abilities into the combat.
I see your argument that story traditions have been consistent, but the ideas of fighting fate or finding identity have been in other jrpgs like xenoblade or persona, making ff no longer unique in that regard. There’s no longer anything unique about this series imo. I can be fan of specific games in the series, but I can’t be a fan of the series.
I just finished the VII remake on pc, the only final fantasy i've ever played before that was X. Which was way better than VII story/gameplay wise.
I just found the game so boring. Very linear game and it commits the cardinal sin of every but the main characters being stupid.
Everyone else in the world lacks agency. They just do things the way they do them because thats how the world is. Games with deep world building are able to create a sense of the masses doing what they wish to do; not what the world tells them to do.
1:20 they were god damn right.
My criticism on FF16 is the lack of decent exploration, how linear it is and that you can’t play other characters or neither deepen their stories. The cool thing about FF is the party members that tends to be as interesting (or more) than the main character. I loved the art style, the dark tone, story and the combat (I played the demo) but that wasn’t enough for me to buy it. I watched all the cutscenes on TH-cam and I was pretty happy with it. I knew that if I had bought it I would get bored on playing Clive only and not having too much freedom on exploration.
I thought many of the other characters were really great and well-written. Jill had her own character arc which paralleled Clive's in a nice way (though perhaps a little underdeveloped). I loved Benedikta, Dion was great, Cid obviously just so charming. I personally never felt like these characters needed to be party members in order to be interesting or developed. But I do agree that it would be nice to have a larger party again for XVII.
- M
Watched this with the lads. Class video
What a video! Loved it ❤
Apart from some flaws at launch, ffxv wasn’t bad, and I believe the royal edition fixed most of it, and FFXVI was good, a little repetitive but good enough to be a worthy successor. People just like to complain over anything
I understand what materia is now lol :D
Great video, FF16 took all the blame for its artistic vision. I hope we get to have more videos like this!
The setting and characters were good, but the writing fell flat on its ass after midway to the story. The world is empty, the sidecontent boils down to "talk to person X" and "kill X number of enemies". The only gameplay in the game is to move and fight. Which on its own isn't a big problem, but the gameplay gets stale very quickly; you're constantly waiting for Eikon abilities to come off cooldown and then spamming them on a staggered enemy. There's only a basic combo and/or spamming lunge and magic burst inbetween. By the time I got Odin's abilities, I was so disinterested and uninvested in both the story and gameplay, and it felt like a chore and a slog to finish the game. The sidecontent is so bad. It's like the creators thought they could get away with the most bare bones mmo sidequests that don't add anything to the characters or the world. There's no more than four sidequests out of the dozens that I consider worth seeing.
The setting had a lot of promise, but it got so obsessed with Bearers and everything to do with them, that all the tensions and political intrigue gets trampled over by it. And the introduciton of the akashicwhatsitsface aether zombies just felt so lazy and dumb. Honestly, I think the plot was at its best on the opening hours of the game, and began to lose its novelty by the time Drake's Head is destroyed. After defeating Bahamut, the story doesn't even know what to do with itself and just goes "lol, everything goes to shit and the already empty open world is now truly empty, and on top of that ugly, and with sleepy piano arrangements that make it really difficult to stay invested". Also, I absolutely hate it that you can't visit any of the major citystates. You only ever go to the actual interesting locations through 'dungeons' and cutscenes. Like, they kept promoting Oriflamme and Twinside on the trailers and artwork, but you never get to experience them.
The characters had me hooked upon reveal, but got treated awfully. Benedikta was offed too early, Hugo was reduced to a pathetic simp, Jill was given barely any spotlight despite being present for most of the game and even had Clive steal her big moment... Barnabas was just "lol, he's mad and obsessed with the villain and apparently gets turned on by seeing the villain turn into his naked mom..." Like. What. And he's somehow older than he physically appears, because, uh, plot demands it? Dion was the most interesting and the one who wasn't completely ruined. In fact, it felt like all the characters, minor and major alike, got stomped down to elevate Clive. I get it, he's the poster boy, you're supposed to love him. But come on.
There's so much lore and potential, but it's like the writers couldn't focus on the interesting things. Just because the player has access to a hundred powerpoint slides about the lore with a press of a button, doesn't mean the writers can be lazy about the presentation.
Yes, I'm salty about this game, because I feel its trailers and promotional material promised more than it delivered. I'm just glad VII Rebirth made my PS5 purchase worth it.
Honestly these are all pretty valid criticisms! I don't disagree with a lot of it. I did enjoy the combat and found it engaging, though it takes a bit too long to unlock enough to make it interesting.
I've never really understood the sidequest complaint, as if other games do any much different. There's definitely a number I remember fondly, and felt a decent amount of them added to the characters, worldbuilding and lore suitably. However there are way too many thrown at you in the back half!
My issue was more with the main story pacing, which fell off a cliff after Titan. Felt like for every meaningful quest you had to do three pointless ones in between. I remember the Devs saying they wanted it to feel like a rollercoaster - but what rollercoaster stops in the middle of the ride for 5 hours after every loop-de-loop?
If I'm totally honest, for me it was Rebirth that over-promised and then completely under-delivered! 🫠
- M
@@Nucanon_com Different strokes for different folks. :^) Sorry for the rant, I can't help myself. I just wanted to like XVI so badly, but even when I thought I had lowered my expectations to the dirt after the halfway point, it still managed to disappoint me by the end. I will admit XVI has possibly the strongest and most intriguing opening and its highs are super high, while its lows are the lowest of lows. And yeah, the pacing is the biggest issue, really.
Always a fan!
Instead of pissing off the old fanbase with a total change, why not make a new series?
You can really only justify a game of that size budget by attaching it to a known name.
- M
It would not draw as large of potential buyers.
I'll be honest i personally just won't play FF if it's not turn based in some way. I've always been drawn to gameplay first and anything else after.
But regardless of my 1 opinion glad people still got passionate about it.
I felt opposite, I have never played turn-based games because they are like unimmersive slogs akin to playing a football manager rather than a truly game. However, after a while I gave up and started to endure them, since the other aspects of those games are generally awesome. JUst wishing I could get over my hate for turn-based, so I would be able to enjoy these games more.
FF16 is their worst gameplay so far. it is so boring and dragged out. seriously awful
Wouldn't be an FF game if the third-quarter wasn't way too long and bloated. 😅
- M
@Nucanon_com the gameplay was horrible from start to mid of the game... I couldn't even finish it because it was so bad