I’ve watched quite a few reviews, but none have articulated so clearly and comprehensively the whole of FFXVI as your review has. Kudos on such a masterful video, it was a blast to view
For the past couple of years, my friend has told me over and over how FF XIV’s story telling was amongst the best he had ever experienced. I’ve never made the plunge into 14, but after finishing XVI (basically binging it), I think I get it. When I was younger, there were so many great games that I played through and upon finishing, felt like I gave a part of myself to it. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that way about a game but 16, despite its flaws, rekindled that. Gonna have to give 7 a play through, and might even have to give 14 a try. I’m excited to see where square goes next, 16 was an amazing entry point into the series for me. Great video! You’ve articulated many of my feelings about this game in a much more eloquent way than I could ever hope to.
I absolutely adored this game. It had some faults, and I'm not a long term FF fan so my opinion on elements of it such as the changes to combat aren't influenced by what came before, but even still; this was amazing and I adored playing through it.
I had very similar thoughts to you about the world itself, beautifully realised in scale and feeling, but made small by the fact that it just takes a screen fade to cross the continent. I really think it's a byproduct of having side quests and needing the hideaway as a central hub. When the game is linear and it's guiding you across the world sequentially it feels so much more impactful.
Good point, the need to come back to the central hub effectively made the world feel so much smaller. If we actually just traversed the world it would have helped the world feel so much larger. But then again you also gain positives by having a central hub, so you gain some and you lose some.
I could have done without the side quests ngl and my fave FF games are 10, 8, 7 and 12. The first third of 16 was excellent up until Cid’s demise. The game maybe compromised too much.
@@ocher8931 Then just don't do the side quests. Thats what I did and I loved my first playthrough. Dunno why people insist on doing things in games that they dont enjoy. To clarify Im not justifying the side quests quality, but there are MANY games where the side quests are just utter wastes of time. For instance Im playing Xenoblade Chronicles now and it is RIFE with mindless pointless sidequests. Still an incredible game.
29:45 I felt very similar about most early side quests and filler main quests between the Stage levels. The early side quests and some later quests felt very fetch quest/filler content. In addition the rewards for said quests were negligible. A few crafting resources you could gets tons of cheaply from a vendor or those chests you kick open everywhere. Same with the quests like you mentioned getting your pass back with Goets, or helping Mid build the ship and running around getting all of her parts or running around the hide out talking to everyone. However later in the game the side quests that have multiple parts mainly were much better. Even though many of them had negligible rewards (not all) they seriously added to the world building and appreciation of the world the game takes place in. It also build up the side characters and made you appreciate them more. Luckily there were some good rewards for some of those side quests, mainly the medicine potency and increase in potions were great rewards albeit their connected side quests were felt like filler… there were some better side quests like the Blacksmith Blues side quests chain that rewarded some of the best gear available throughout the game and also had a decent story moments and world building. Many of the late game side quests (especially the ones that are chained together) made me feel a lot closer to the large cast of characters making the ending farewell before Clive and crew set off to Origin feel a lot more potent. I feel as if I hadn’t done those quests that scene and my feelings towards the side characters in general would have been much less impactful. All in all like I said when I started…. I very much agree the downtime between main stage levels could have been executed much better. They weren’t terrible but was often boring and tedious. Regardless they still added to the world and characters a lot and all together made me appreciate the game world more. Lastly, despite the tedious parts, it in no way significantly impacted my appreciation of the game as a whole. The stages were so epic and impressive and always added so much to the story that i was happy to push through the side/filler content looking forward to the next epic battle just around the corner.
I loved this review. I loved that you had so much insight (especially for someone like me who only played 7-10 before this). I loved that you talk about how just remembering things makes you tear up, because honestly even a year out, and hearing 'Final Farwells' as music here got me choked up. And I love that you don't flinch from the issues the game has. So many people talk about this game as apologists like "I know the itemization is bad" or "I know you can't switch parties" or some other issue like they have to put forth an offering before they go on to expound on what they loved about it and what the game did so damn right. But you did it the right way. You just unapologetically gush your love for the game, and still go over the fair criticisms like "Yeah this didn't work but I don't care, this was still great". Might be the best review I saw on this game period.
Thank you so much! I love getting comments like this on these types of videos because they aren’t scripted at all. I sometimes feel like I’m just waffling and making no sense but reading this makes me realise I did manage to convey something. I’d love to revisit FF16, for a proper scripted video some time, I think it’d be nice to really delve in as deep as I can.
As someone who has never touched kingdom hearts (I assume that's what you're referencing) when you said that thing about "bahamut going to cast zetaflare like Donald godamn duck" it made me laugh uncontrollably
A note about the whole clive being ifrit thing. I think its important to realize that the prologue section where you play as young Clive is a flash back from a narrator that is completely unreliable. Clive is flashing back to what happened but hes in complete denial to the point where he's convinced himself that it had to be someone else that killed josh. But its just ambiguous enough that I can see people being unsure of exactly what happened. I wasn't at all fooled, but like you said, its a dramatic irony. Where the player is aware of info the characters are not. It makes the infernal eikon / infernal shadow fight that much better. The moment where Clive accepts the truth and the music just starts going, and when utters the words "You are not Ifrit. I am" sends chills down my spine. Its maybe the best thing ive seen in a video game ever. All of that is followed by Cid saying in order achieve redemption you have to accept what you are. Its so good.
Stranger of Paradise in my mind did the job system, party members and action combat well because it had Nioh esque combat, you could play as any job you want and each of your party members had 5 jobs you could choose from that you can unlock. There’s no open world towns and cities, there’s no individual shops, but there is dialogue, there are means to purchase and obtain gear outside of killing enemies and opening chests. I know it had all the memes about ‘Chaos’ but I have found it to be a genuinely good game, im on discord every day talking about this game, theorizing about it, it’s links to the various dissidia games and the other games in the series. The lore in the form of the fool’s missives and lufenian logs are so fascinating. A return to the world of Final Fantasy 1. It’s genuinely amazing, and it’s worth a play.
Interesting but if I'm honest I would never want a souls like combat system for a mainline FF game. I'd much rather something like this and DMC with a lot more speed.
@@kbg12ila and that’s what ff16 did. But obviously, for SOP you play as Garland, who is a big guy in armour with a huge sword. The fighting style isn’t going to be very acrobatic
Great review! ❤️ Found your channels because of your FF7 Remake playthrough. And I have watched all your FF stuff since... I'm so glad, you have found the FF franchise! ❤️
Just to let you know, that the modern final fantasy with an overworld, a lore book, job system, party member, etc. It exists! It’s called Bravely default on the 3ds. With was made by square enix for the fan of the older ff while main series keep evolving.
The biggest thing that confused me about the game was the Ifrit mystery. One of the trailers ends with Clive shouting “come to me, Ifrit,” as he’s consumed by flames. Then they showed gameplay as Ifrit, also in the trailers. But then all of a sudden it’s meant to be a big reveal? I guess it’s still a surprise if you didn’t watch those trailers, but surely you wouldn’t just reveal a plot twist in a trailer?
That's just Square unfortunately being really bad about concealing it's own spoilers. It's basically a rule amongst the fanbase now to just avoid all of the promo stuff near release because the final trailer for a Final Fantasy will almost always spoil the hell out of the story. The Ifrit twist is definitely an egregious spoiler even by normal Square Enix standards though. Idk why they would try to present it as a mystery when controlling Ifrit was one of the first and most central selling points they talked about in regards to the game.
The demo showed us how party members could work in the game! When you play as Joshua he has unique combat abilities similar to a White Mage. They could have easily done this with other characters - Jill as a Black Mage, Clive as a Warrior, Dion as a Dragoon, etc. Either have the ability to switch freely between members like FF7R or have story specific moments where you play as others, like as in the demo. For example, playing as Jill when she goes back to the island and confronts her abusers would make it more POV and make her story hit harder.
Appreciate it! I tend to know the ones that’ll do well, and Final Fantasy certainly isn’t something I have a big audience for, but I love this shit so much I can’t help myself but create stuff for it, big thanks again for the kind words!
I feel exactly I mean EXACTLY the same way with you about EVERYTHING you said. I finished it 2 days ago and I still have the ending music in the head nonstop. It has officially become one of my favorite games ever like TOP 5. I cant forget it, and Im sad because when i will replay it i wont feel the same. I'm in grief right now...
@@LazerzZ i hope so too,maybe in 5 years the director of the game will respond to the ending on twitter like the infamous "Mary was in the car all along" in sh2. I need closure😂
Lol in hindsight ig I shoulda realized Clive was Ifrit from the very beginning, but "the hooded man" definitely served to throw me off, just as he threw clive off. Though its interesting how clive mentions he "cast him blame on another to spare himself the guilt" which to me almost implied even Clive knew in a way that he was Ifrit, but never genuinely had that argument with himself because it was too painful to even fathom.
Yeah, I did notice that. I think it was pretty clear from that line that Clive knew all along, when he's talking to Cid about the dominants too he glances down at his hand, in a sort of way that indicates he holds that power too.
Great video man! pretty much couldn't disagree with a thing you said surrounding the story and character analysis. I utterly fell in love with this game. So crushed when it ended, but also loved how it ended.
Thank you for mentioning the scale of the world. I feel like the only one who did not like the scale in 16. If felt big and small at the same time. an Overworld in previous FF games is easy to understand because it is an abstraction. Like to me eastpool felt super close to martha's rest but I guess in game it is actually very far away up in the mountains. I feel like FFXVI graphics are too realistic to have the map interpreted abstractly like in previous games. (i could go on but I won't) With Jill i wanted more from her. I wanted more of an Iron blood arc. The Iron Blood I found very Interseting bc "they're more beasts than men". All that stuff with the black shields could have been replaced with Iron kingdom exploration. The small campaign we got on drakes breath I felt was not long enough to flesh out the Iron Blood or Jill. It would have benefited the game if we went to the Iron kingdom and saw the horrific ways they treated their beareres. We could quest to liberate them while exacting revenge on the high priests one by one. Jills arc just kind of came and went and I did not feel it. They could have cut the SQ's in half to expand on her story Still a great game tho
Nice video and really awesome thumbnail! I haven't been able to stop thinking about FFXVI since I completed it. Despite its flaws, it is such a powerful game on so many levels, from the Eikon fights to the story. The Clive/Joshua brotherhood story is so powerful and the actors involved really sell it across well. Liked and subbed :)
For me the FF7R was the sweet spot for modern FF. It impliments the party system perfectly and i got very attached to the whole cast because i actually got to build them up and have some agency over how they played. I didnt feel that attachment for characters such as Gav or Jill. Im not saying i disliked them but FF7R has me shed a tear. Take note i am not an OG FF fan so my opinion may not be as valid but but i find it strange that they seemingly went backwards from the FF7R set up. I know they were proud to have the same person who worked on the DMC combat work on FF16 but if i wanted to play DMC i would go and play DMC. I died once in FF16 and it was to the massive dragon which is on one of the hunt quests. I hope they take feedback from the community and find a balance for the sake of FF17
If you play the FF series from FFX on you’ll start to see a significant deviation in the turn-based play mechanics that would eventually culminate to what FFXVI is as a more action game experience. Especially FFXII, which was the first FF game that heavily deviated from the rest of the series in terms of combat and overall tone. X-2, XII, the XIII trilogy, and XV was just a weird time for FF in general.
I find it super funny that the person who voices the final boss of this game also voices the final boss of Xenoblade Chronecles 3. Not just that, but both of the location where you fight the bosses in are called Orgin.
The pacing of the main story quests is definitely my biggest gripe. I agree with the assessment that it's an MMO team's first single-player game. XIV players will understand - every level 83 trial type of story moment is followed up by a couple hours of loporrit quests. I do also wish the combat had more depth a la 7R, but that's a personal preference. It was still a ton of fun and satisfying when you nail any dodge/parry/block combos. I ate that up. Overall, it's a flawed and quality game. Loved the world, the story, the vibe, most of the characters, and most of the combat. The developers had a vision, and I think they realized that vision well with a complete product.
You would have this great epic story battles and revelations. Only then to have side quest or story beats that are light and pointless. Pacing is really bad in my opinion and is the reason i don't want to replay the game... Its a very flawed game but worth trying it.
Late to the party, but I loved your review. Love that you are a fellow Joshua stan. So glad that you enjoyed the game and made content about it. Agreed that I think the story of FF16 will stay with me forever and I'll only grow more fond of it over time. I love your interpretation of the ending! I think it thematically does make a lot of sense even though I believe something different, (almost like your interpretation more than mine!) excellent video. Hope to see some more of your vods released on ff16, would love to see you finish that journey! Thank you again, even a year later!
Thank you so much! I do plan to finish posting my reactions, the edits just take ages, especially because I recorded camera, gameplay, mic and game audio separate for better quality, but it makes it so tough to edit together 😂 I’ll get around to another one soon I’m sure
This game made me cry so much, so many feelings... I. Mean the characters, Dion!! Jesus... His story, broke me, he is so amazing, Joshua, Cid, Clive... All of them, just cry all the way around, and I too believe that Joshua survived and wrote those memories to honor his brother. ( man I am. Going to cry again...)
See I believe it what as Clive who wrote the book and honoured Joshuas name. There is a side quest before the end with Harpoccrates where Clive talks about putting down the sword and picking up the quill when he's done.
@@Hero_Of_Old yes I remember and it could have been the other way around, I mean, after Joshua came back, Harpocrates could have explained him the intention of the quill... So he could have written it to honor that... Interpretation s
@@elisodrakuliatrue although Jill saying Clive is the sun who always comes back to her, and when she stops crying when the sun rises and dawn comes, to me hints Clive is alive.
Joshua didn't live by the way. The Phoenix cant bring anybody back to life. Also the events of the fight between Clive and Ultima is only something Clive would know. Harpocrates also tells Clive he should write something after he lays down his sword and gives Clive his pen. Not to mention the entire cast from Joshua to Jill telling Clive to start saving himself and live for himself. It just goes against it if Clive sacrifices himself even after the whole game telling him not to. It even makes it thematic for Joshua to die for Clive and save his brother whos been giving everything for everyone else. Not to mention Clive narrates the beginning and end as if he's telling a story. Clive could've just used Joshuas name for thr book tk honor him like he did with Cid. The side quest with Jill where she compares Clive to the dawn in that he always comes back to her which is why she stopped crying when thr sun rose. Also the Moongazing theme song also describes a someone reuniting with their love who returns to them. Also lastly we don't even see him die, his hand turns to stone after summoning flame but stops and doesn't go futher because there's no magic. He had no wounds just a stone hand, that stops. Cid was far worse and he was fine as long as he didn't use magic and Clive cant because it doesn't exist anymore. Jill thinking Clive is dead because Metia disappearing is generally makes no sense imo, Metia was just symbolic to Clive returning and not actually connected to him, so there's no reason she should think he died beyond just her panicking because Metia was important to her. Idk it just seems like a alot more stuff point to Clive surviving instead of dying. Joshua its hard to tell because the wounds on his body were only heal and no sign of anything else, also the platform blew up with no sign of him washing up somewhere like Clive did.
I mentioned this theory and it could be true, but I like that’s it’s not concrete, I want it to remain ambiguous forever because I think it’s more meaningful that way.
Thing is, harpocrates also remarked that joshua has the skilled to be a great chronicler like himself and that this would be a good path for him as well. So there's also hints that joshua survived because of that just like how harpocrates giving the quill to clive might indicate that he might also had survived and taken up the pen afterwards. Furthermore, you can argue that Dion also might have survived since in one of the sidequest, he tells harpocrates to hold onto the flower until afterwards, after he's regained his redemption so that harpocrates can give it to him after fighting off ultima in origin. It doesn't make much narrative sense for a character with such blaring death flags like Dion to ask harpocrates to hold onto the flower till afterward if he's simply going to die anyways. You can interpret the ending as you wish bcuz ultimately, the story is about the sacrificed and struggles the main cast endures in order to foster the creation of the new world that they wish to live in. Where they all live or they all die doesn't really matter in the narrative scheme bcuz the story isn't about them struggling to live but struggling to create a world free from the fate foisted upon mankind by ultima. The story made it clear many times that there is no gurantees that the world they strive for is neccesarily going to be a better world or a world where they can all have their happy endings. The story is ultimately about the freedom of choice and not simply about fighting for a happy ending. Free will is never mentioned as guranteeing human happiness and that it was mankinds free will that started the wars and the oppression that cid and his crew were initially fighting against. To protect mankinds free will is to essentially protect the source of all the suffering that the main cast has faced. Thus, the fates of the three has no narrative bearing on the story as with free will, there is no gurantees that things will be better or worse. Likewise, the free will of the three gave no gurantees that they will survive or die.
@@etzioschmetzio2168 the facial mocap actually. The amount of detail on the face when gav was crying but trying to hold it together and speak, jills entire reaction from realizing and running out of the room to her at the railing with torgul, the part on the beach with clive, the whole ending worked so well especially if you played all the side missions.
It was amazing! I honestly want to start my ng+ play through but I always feel like giving it a bit of time gives time to reflect on it. And then when you come back to the game sometimes it hits even better than the first time.
You are so right about Jill, I felt she's both very lobsided in her personality, whilst also not appearing functional enough outside of romance and occasionally turning into Shiva. Not saying her fighting with you isn't convincing, though it did kind of feel like she was obligated to try and help when in reality you were doing most or all the damage lol. By contrast to other games, Shiva felt muted in this game, not just bc she barely took the field, but because of Jill - she almost seemed like she lacked the imagination or constitution to fight as her Dominant, and she never really developed to do so either really - also its really not helped by it not being obvious why she has it in the first place. Also some of the dialogue was just a little dull and awkward, compare it to Yuna and Tidus, or Aerith and Cloud, though romance is hard to quantify.
Lol its funny how you say Aerith and cloud. That really is some kind of love triangle because I also see people use Cloud and tifa. Besides that I saw some people saying that we should have saw clive relying on Jill more , because its mentioned a lot after the timeskip that Clive feels like crap for making her bare the burden of transforming .
I see what you mean about Jill. It would be helpful to play as some of the characters for certain parts even without there being a party system. Maybe that's how they could have reconciled the change, by having you play a few of the other characters' backstories and pivotal moments.
Immaculate video. As a side note, I agree about Jill, something I care to mention is that her trauma overall wasn't executed adequately imo, that said some of it is just established confident and pragmatism but she falls into normality as it were a little too quickly, that and why is her hair always so perfect, like how?? Also, this is a personal gripe but I despise how awkward they are from front to back - It scares me wondering if people remain like that, in their respective relationships forever lol (some is fine but I also don't know how much I care to witness this much). Also, the initial showing of their relationship was a little too liberal with affection, It just seemed almost unlikely I guess, as well as issuing predictability upon how it would develop. Also of course Clive is just a perfect specimen throughout his life.
54:34 that part of that track is really good and I could’ve seen it being used in a lot of scenes. But really this game was really good imo. Every big story moment, eikon battle, and piece of music felt so good. Couldn’t have concluded any better than you did at the end. Only thing I would change is have the victory fanfare after defeating ultima, I was so surprised when it didn’t play lol. Honestly what a spectacle to play through and the voice acting was amazing. Byron was the best and the whole thing was fun and the story was touching, making me feel for the characters, and I think a that’s a good chunk of what matters when looking at an FF game. If they make rebirth have an ending that makes me cry like this one, that will be my final fantasy 😂 you know what I’m talking about.
So I will say, the rerelease of 12 is very tied to the job system, and while I have MANY issues with 13, it did use job changing mid combat in an interesting way
@@LazerzZ admittedly I’m a staunch 12 defender, story is a little sub par, but it probably has the deepest gameplay in the series. You basically get to program each party member with up to 12 if/then statements. Plus, the hunts are my favorite side content in the series
The ending interpretation is one we can't solve all we can do is make assumptions. We can't actually know if the world that the family, at the end, are living in is the same world. After all Joshua Rosfield could just be an author in their world. It doesn't specify a year. It has no indication that Valisthea even exists. Also i think it's safe to assume Clive succumbs to his wounds his hand turns to stone on the beach. I also hesitate to think Clive resurrected Josh because Josh said the healing magic of the Phoenix can't bring dead back. We dont know that Ultimas power changes that. If Joshua did survive they did a horrible job with the ending.
The scale, narrative, character performance and cinematics of this game was something you could only dream of back in the day. Many take for granted what was achieved here. I suspect the Eikon fights will kind of ruin any other large scale battles for the foreseeable future.
Hey Lazerzz, wanted to take a moment to send my immense appreciation of this video. Loved the exploration of my own experience with FFXVI through your words (which rang very very close to home). I very much loved the game in a lot of ways, but found a bunch of aspects of the game that were just.. not where I wished they were. It was one hell of a playable spectacle, and as such is a masterpiece hands down.. I just ended up really disappointed with the lack of complexity of the battle system past the middle part of the game where I hit an "optimal rotation", which made me start skipping the rest of the side stuff because it was not engaging anymore.. and it actually made me very sad to skip on potential story beats but i couldn't force myself to do them all (like I usually would). I loved the comparison to FF7 and FF7R which I think is doing a lot of the "action" focused stuff a lot better, without losing as much of the RPG elements. Another thought on how to make it better relatively easily would include: including a vulnerabilities/resistance system which encourages you to change up the approach to different enemies. Would love to hear your thoughts on something like that, or any other easily implementable changes they could make to level this thing up. (Adding playable characters being relatively harder I would assume) Anyway, am also here to suggest, based on you mentioning you wonder what it would look like to make a classic RPG with modern tech and design principles.. do yourself a favor and check out Sea of Stars if you haven't already! I haven't played that much of those classics (FF before 7, Chrono Trigger, etc.) because I always found that it didn't engage me enough for whatever reason.. this one does an AMAZING job! Combat is interesting and dynamic, story is engaging.. not sure about the whole open world stuff at the point i'm at in the game.. but yeah I think you would enjoy it based on the opinions and thoughts you shared throughout the video.. I know I am and I thought I would share :) Have an awesome one, hope to see a full breakdown like this of that one (Sea of Stars) someday ;)
A Joshua DLC is needed! If nothing else to fill in a few of the plot holes as some of the plot writing is a stretch especially his return. 1. How did Joshua know that Ultima was behind the events at Phoenix Gate? 2. Why did Joshua stay away from Clive for so long despite numerous near encounters? Especially at Phoenix Gate. 3. Why was there no discussion about Clive 'killing' Joshua at the start? How did Joshua know Clive was Ifrit? Or did he just assume when he woke up after passing out during the Bahamut fight? 4. Numerous scenes with Gav and Joshua, but they never talk to each other directly. 5. The ending, Joshua's fate is very ambiguous 6. Further lore with the Undying potentially We've already played as him in-game already, so many of the mechanics are already there.
This just such a pity to not able to play as Cid,Jill and Joshua(adult)，The combat system decides this, I get it. I just hope we could get more of them.The world setting is amazing and so many characters get so many potentials.However, they choose to leave them incomplete and make them to become a tool to serve Clive's characterization.Hope we could get more characters DLCs like Joshua,Cid,Barnabas,Jill and Dion etc. Agree with your opinion on Jill，definitely can be more helpful and strong, She could be a lot more than just Clive's lover and do lot more stuff than simply being supportive to Clive.
There are certain game stories that stand out above the rest and will stay with you forever. The Last of Us, Red Dead 2 etc. Final Fantasy 16 is one of those. It was my first FF game and wow!
Which game would I recommend to someone who like FF16? Maybe the Witcher, Devil May Cry, God of War, but not a mainline Final Fantasy. This is not a JRPG.
You encompassed everything I felt about this game. It is one of the best final fantasy games ever. It resonated with me. It was beautiful. Powerful. It had meaning. Visually stunning. Sounded amazing. The acting was stellar. It is one of the best games I have played in a long time. I love this video ❤
Seeing how much the comments here and the general opinion of the game varies really helped me come to a definitive conclusion about it. The game is a mix of so many different ideas, some end up feeling tedious while others hit incredibly hard. I'm personally 50/50 on the game, but it's easy to understand why someone else's opinion would lean to either side. It really comes down to how much you're invested in the story the game is trying to tell, and how much that makes you look past the flaws it has. In a sense this is the most Final Fantasy thing ever. Even back when these games had a consistent formula, each game had different strengths and weaknesses which made them severely different experiences, and that made everyone have their own favorite. It's kinda cool to see that spirit is still alive in the series despite everything.
See I care more about a good narrative, interesting worldbuilding and great characters. FF16 has some of the best I've played in a game in a looong time. I can overlook some issues with gameplay.
I do actually think there is a great base here to add in more mechanical rpg elements that would be fantastic that you touch on. Like actual gear and job system. Personally, I would love the chance to have more playable characters too. Make having certain gear pieces actually matter as opposed to nothing but stat sticks and such. Though, who knows if they'll keep this system for 17. For all we know they could actually go back to doing turn based combat (prolly not, but you never know.) Besides that, I love this game and can for sure say Final Fantasy Mode makes the game harder in a very appreciative way. Like, you have to be on your A game because a single mistake will cost you dearly. More than that the Chronolith trials are also downright demonic on FF Mode.
the biggest problem with this game is that it has stuff you can find in the open world and in stages but its always something that just makes you sigh. it gives the sense they only added those pickups and findables out of obligation to being an RPG. They should make more wacky accessories that fundamentally change how u play like the berserker ring and channelers whisper does and then hide them in the world. (i.e. one that reduces fall gravity while air comboing, one that lets you charge magic to a 3rd level like firaga, one that increases your attuned eikon cap to 4, etc.) Also i don't think it wouldve killed the balancing to add weakness/resistance/status effects. after all there's 7 elements in the game and every enemy will only be weak (1.2x) or resistant (0.8x) to one of those and the rest will just take normal damage. and a poison status effect would make the potions feel less OP, as well as a paralysis one that you have to mash dodge to get rid of or something. also they could add a tonberry and cactuar all those little things would add up to a lot in terms of keeping the final fantasy identity. P.S. they should swap out the useless torgal heal and replace it with a cooldown based torgal ult. and also FF mode should be available at ng, and they should make an even harder difficulty for the ng+ content lock
Having myself finished FFXVI before FFXIII, I will be very interested to hear your feelings on it when you do go through it, as it does seem the series has largely become an Action RPG.
This game really could have done with more explorable towns. They have obviously build a lot of them cos you visit them in story quests as dungeons, but it would have been better, more enjoyable and more impactful if at another point in the story you could just visit and shop and do side quests etc. Then when it gets destroyed it feels much more devastating. I was so looking forward to walking through even just parts of Oriflamme, but no, all we got was some underground dungeon. The twins .. just walking some roofs at nighttime and nothing to do besides just killing enemies. It's that way with every major city. Which really disappointed me.
Beat this game last year and still have such mixed feelings towards this game. I have a hard time explaining my love and dislikes. Not sure there's been a game with such highs and such lows for me (Maybe Undertale). Things I dislike would be the lack of JRPG elements. Gear, character builds/jobs, roles, dungeons, control party. I don't hate the gameplay because it tried a different gameplay. FF series tends to do that. I do hope they go back to more JRPG elements for future games though. Saying that. I also had fun with the gameplay. The epic battles work because its action base. I do wish the different play styles unlocked earlier. You unlock near the end of the game. I was comfortable and use to certain style that I didn't try the last two. Side quest is some of the worst in the series. I did them all and maybe four or five was worth it. So many where pointless. I love having side quest tell stories or give more lore into the world. Story. I liked the story and was entertain. I kinda wish we got more stories within the character and world. Some things moved too fast. Pacing is all over the place and a major killer for me wanted to replay the game. You would have this big epic story beat then slow to a crawl and I mean a crawl. This is pure personal taste. I wish, would have loved if the home base was more base building. I love Suikoden Iand the home base mechanics. This is just some of my thoughts. Its all over the place because this game is hard for me to decide how much I liked the game. One major bad sign. I beat the game and I was good. Don't have much drive or see myself replaying the game again. I love FF4 through 10 and have replayed them more then two times. I should play it again to see how it holds up and maybe one day I will. When I replayed FF12 my opinions didn't change, but I did have a good time with the game and have more good memories. What I will say about FF16. I can see way people love this game but I can also see why people dislike it. Anyways. Great video. Found your thoughts and take insightful. I like hearing people different opinions.
I remember mentioning that I was excited to you on a livestream a few hours before the game came out…. It could have been better, my main issues were the shallowness in its world and gameplay, and ditching the more traditional gameplay style of other FF games
Absolute class act video. I love that you managed to acknowledge and address the identity of the classics and the change in direction with later titles while standing strong on your love of FFXVI. FFXVI isn't really a game for me, but neither was FFXIII or FFXV. I've long since graduated expecting a Sakaguchi era FF, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize a good game when I see one and FFXVI is certainly that. My only pet peeve in all of this has been the whole identity conversation and how those who enjoyed it feel the need to gaslight everyone into the position that FF never had an identity to begin with to defend their enjoyment of the game. That isn't necessary nor fair to the older titles. FFXVI could have been a pro soccer simulator and you'd still be at liberty to enjoy it. The game's quality isn't in any way predicated on how similar it is to earlier titles. It might not have been for me and it might be about as far from a classic FF as you could possibly get, but I'm still happy people enjoyed it and it turned out a quality title in its own right. Keep on doing what you do!
I’m so taken by this game that I couldn’t stop thinking about it even after achieving platinum. Such an amazing story, even though I wish there was more sidequest variety, I can’t deny how much they add to the world building and makes the whole experience more fulfilling. So many moments where I honestly got emotional. I’m just happy you had a similar experience! Be looking forward your next video playthroughs on the game!
This game is now my 2nd Favourite game of all time. The Characters, Gameplay, Narrative, Lore are all so masterful. Haven’t experienced a game this emotional with the amount of people in the hideaway you cared by the end. Absolutely Phenomenal and I’m so happy you really liked it even though we agree that it maybe shouldn’t go full action
I agree. Needed more gameplay mechanics in terms of traversal, party, and RPG elements. Not recruiting party members was sorely missed. I thought it wouldn't be an issue going into the game, but these characters were really good and not being able to kit them out and strategize with a party is something they should not do again in my opinion with the next FF. Obviously, Clive has so much going on though and the story of him taking everyone's powers wouldn't work great with a party. And so it seems that a metroidvania style traversal kit would have been a no brainer with each Eikon and really spruced up the level design and gameplay. Im playing it again on final fantasy mode and i find myself skipping most of the dialogue and cutscenes. It's not really gripping me at all on this playthrough. There is A LOT of running back n forth just talking and following markers. I don't think the game will age that well in this regard. You're just never gonna feel like starting a new playthrough in years to come unless they massivley update the game with new mechanics. Thats part of what makes people replay games like FF tactics or ff7 (you can use all different party members and focus on different types of builds to have a new experience). I think ff7R is the better modern title and series right now. I was hanging on every word of that game on multiple playthroughs and still can't wait to see what Rebirth has for us.
The eikon system is effectively the job system. If you think about it, what do jobs do, gameplay wise? They have access to a specific action ability; Dragoons have jump, paladin/knight has cover, summoners can summon, etc. With the eiko.ln system, each eikon is the job, phoenix gives you phoenix shift bahamut gives you mega flare, titan gives you block/counters, etc.
Honestly to me the game just feels like DMC/Bayonetta game but expanded with a JRPG storyline and world. I like the combat system, but I feel each eikon sort of feeling the same other than the eikon abilities makes it feel like the game might feel basic compared to Devil May Cry and even Kingdom Hearts. To me, I WOULDN'T personally want EVERY game to be like FF16. The game seems to be particularly focused on its own strong points of making a detailed medieval fantasy world with a strong focus on the theme of systematic racism. The quests seem to just be one and done and while it does have a strong theme going for those quests, maybe sometimes I want some more lively events? Yes even for this decaying land. I WANT GILGAMESH!
I put this game together off for until last week because after 13 I saw a trend where all protagonist are just human and i felt like they were bland. But after playing 16 for a week now I’m hooked .
To be fair, I bought 16 when it dropped sight unseen, and hadn't played the demo, so playing through, they do give you enough side stuff that there's like a 30% chance it's not Clive. Especially since they disassociate Clive from Ifrit - like, if Clive can't recognize he's Ifrit, maybe he's not? Then by throwing in the cloaked figure - I mean, the cloaked figure has to be someone, and everyone thinks he's a fire Eikon... maybe? Cause at this point I really DIDN'T want it to be him. What it did do is make the reveal so heavy, I was absolutely gutted when the truth was irrefutable. Like, if I hadn't avoided literally everything about the game and dove right in playing it straight through, I probably would have just decided it was him, but in the moment and with enough desperate threads to cling too, I really wanted it to not be him.
Im the complete oposite I hate this game because the flaws are too big and the go away from the good thinks make everything worse for me. I liked 15 because it was a experiment and should be spin off so im cool with that but why ff16 ? FIrst i hate action combat at final fantasy ,yes there exist turn based rpgs or atb system but I dont want some random game ! I want a final fantasy that doesnt go away from turn based ff12 was the perfect battle system. It felt so real and not so cinematic like 16 or 7r . I know ff was always cinematic but at the right spot and not the battle system. I remember ff9 where everything is pefect you see a thing at it was perfect know i hate a lot of what final fantasy become. Charakters that doesnt make sense to exist Garude/Benedikta. She could have been great but she is a flying pice of shit that just exist you could have made a lot of her but no! She died with no purpose. I didnt really likeed Jill she was a boring charakter and to often just the love interest and clive had the most of the time 2 moods crying like shit or fighting like there exist more. Yes some scenes showed more but still zidane from ff9 showed more. I know comparing something like this with a god thing like ff9 is stupid but ff16 wante to go back to the middle aged europe like ff9 did but all in all ff16 was the worst final fanatasy i ever played. Not a good final fnatsy but a good game. Sorry its my opinon
i'm petty sure that Clive made it it's in his name "C=see LIVE" 🤣 but seriously joking aside the open to interpretation ending what do you think ??? all we see that Clive hand start to turn to stone also the same with Jill after destroying the Iron kingdom mother crystal so both of them don't have much time left to live.. also the ending Jill crying all night then sunrise she stopped and smiled then black screen and Clive says : "tus our Journey end", remind me of Clive and Jill in the flower scene "no matter how dark the night dawn will come and that you will come for me Clive" and near the end "i will come back, i promise, i love you". here what i think : the game theme song is about Jill wish "Clive returning to her", also the book in the post credit by "joshua rosfield" at first you think that joshua made it but i can say it could be that Clive wrote it and used Joshua name to honour his memory there is a quest with Hippocrates where Clive say : "i may start writing after the sword".., also maybe Clive and Jill had a son and named him Joshua and he who wrote the book about his father... what bug me why make Clive confess to Jill with the promise to come back just for him to die and Jill all alone ??? i just hope FOR Clive and Jill happy ending DLC or at least they get to spend their last moments together.
Only thing I’ll say about this game is that it is indeed one of the few experiences that reminds me why I love this medium of entertainment and that regardless of any critical words I have for it, it still manages to heal much of the damage the cynicism in my heart has caused that was naturally built up by all the bad habits plaguing every corporate industry. This is the kind of genuine art, that sparks my burning passion and I loved that I got to play it
i love everything beside i feels like the story need little bit more justice and too many side story just too repetitive for me. i ended up getting sleep most of the time but i love the premise of XVI. its just love hate relationship for me.
This was my first real entry into the final fantasy world (I played a little bit of 15, but didn’t really get hooked) and I absolutely love FF16. This was my GOTY and one of my favorite games of all time. Played it at a very low point in my life and to fully detach myself from reality and lose myself in this world. After beating this game I was lead to FF7 Remake and learning the lore so much so I decided to buy Rebirth for myself and now I love the FF7 world just as much. FF16 will forever hold a place in my heart, amazing video man.
16 is totally a Final Fantasy game! To me, the story trumps all and keeps me invested in the characters and the world. I agree with you on the gameplay, specifically the fighting mechanics. That was one of the biggest drawbacks for me. It felt way too easy to just power thru everything. I hope they build on this more and create some type of strategy element to add when battling. Remakes model, for me, was better of the recent two and my current preferred gameplay style for FF. However that doesn’t mean they can’t take what they’ve built in 16 and try to integrate the strategy back in in future installments. They brought Suzuki in for this specific brand of combat to branch out to a wider audience, and he did what he does best! However, if he continues further, I hope that he’ll develop it further to integrate the strategy into his combat style in future installments. I also missed being able to control party members more then I thought I would. Being able to tell Cid or Jill who to attack and when to use their ult would have been better.
Final Fantasy Tactics, while not a mainline entry, was probably the last major FF with a robust job system. I personally loved the Zodiac concepts in that game on top of the political and religious intrigue. And you want to talk about endings? Tactics is a must play if you love Final Fantasy.
X-2 had pretty robust jobs as well, but I do agree Tactics did it best. While X-2 is much maligned for its tonal whiplash and sloppy story, the job system is incredible and is definitely its most redeeming factor. Worth playing for the job and combat gameplay alone
@@ftilxe no X-2 is probably the most recent mainline non mmorpg with jobs... and obscure jobs to obtain like Mascot.... War of the Lions did add more jobs but base Tactics had crazy shit like Calculator. Prime Lvl Jump on a ninja was just ridiculous.
What the hell!? FF 12 was based IN FFT world and even made by the same writer/director and (naturally) came out after. You could argue it wasn’t as strict a job system as tactics but the social age re-release was a good attempt at correcting that. I will agree, tactics is my absolute favourite job system. Period.
Ff16 might not please FF purists but you can't please everybody. Nevertheless it's an amazing game with a dark and philosophical narrative with fantastic boss fights. Sure there are clear pacing issues concerning sidequests (again can't please everybody) but overall I really enjoyed the game. Definitely a firm 9/10 for me. My only critiques are that gameplay does get a little repetitive due to sluggish storytelling and there are a few plot holes. Mainly, how exactly did Joshua survive? And where is Leviathan?
Heck yes, this game’s something else. A fantastic cinematic experience. In-depth is another way I’d describe it. Profound. Between the hours and hours of lore, the Library, and the State of the Realm, I can say they did a heck of a job regarding the lore and histories of Valisthea. And need we abound on the characters? Clive’s story is awesome. And that open-ended ending broke me. (I’m one of the opinion he actually survived the end.) ((Edit: Bit of a typo.))
Wow, I feel bad for those that had such a negative experience with this entry. As a longtime fan of the series I actually enjoyed everything except maybe the “whiplash” James mentioned about the pacing with regard to the side quests. A lot of the time I just wanted to get on with the story but I also didn’t want to miss the clearly “time-limited” side quests. However the content they provided made the world feel much more fleshed out and all the better for it as all the side quests culminated in the absolute best lead in to the ending. Then there’s the combat which was very satisfying, it doesn’t sound like some took the time to perfect the core mechanics like dodges and combos but I loved mixing up my move set a lot and being able to reset all abilities to literally reconfigure everything whenever I wanted was very encouraging for trying new things out. Unlocking new Eikons at at fairly regular interval in the narrative, kept things fresh enough that I felt always had opportunity to try new things out, and this always gave me a new favourite configuration over my last one. Sorry to those that didn’t enjoy it though. I understand opinions for disliking elements from this one (as with any individual entry even), but I am glad we get something new and different every time, that to me is what final fantasy is, it’s got some staple ingredients that define it as the dish it is, but there is always a new take on the recipe and how it’s all put together. And that’s always going to be better than something that is afraid to change, kinda like a certain antagonist in the latest final fantasy game… >_>
I am here to like the video and will return once I beat this glorious game. So far all it is almost exactly what I wanted out of this game, and with some pretty seemingly easy additions to combat it could have been perfect. I think you could def have a party system combat like in FF7R but I also just think if you gave all the enemies strengths/weaknesses where you had to consciously think about what abilities your using this could have been been excellent combat. Improving the crafting would also have been nice. Overall though, it’s one of my favourite gaming stories/settings in years with good combat.
This is my first game in the series, so I have no room to speak on it compared to the others. However, I adored this game. Yes, it has some glaring issues with pacing, side quest design, and limited RPG aspects. Despite all that, the fun combat, rich world, great cast of characters, phenomenal visuals and music, and unbelievable boss fights completely dwarf any issues I have with it. I can forgive the negative parts because the game is so damn earnest in what it's trying to do and say. It's not some cynical product responding to trends, but a genuine attempt to create something special, flaws and all. It's gonna stick with me for a long time.
Every Final Fantasy is it's own universe with it's own lore and character and world, so you don't have to worry about playing any others, each mainline entry is a perfectly good starting point
@@alexandernicholl5772 there's are Final Fantasy spin offs of some of the games, but they tell you which universe it is in. For example Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core is a prequel of Final Fantasy 7. or FFX has X-2.
Really love this game but tbh it has more in common with the last two god of war games than any Final Fantasy I played. Doesn't mean I won't live FF16 any less, it's just a thing I felt and noticed.
Unfortunately I felt like Jill’s character peaked at the drakes fang arc and that wasn’t even the middle of the game at that point. She never had her own stake in the plot aside from supporting Clive. I thought her relationship with Clive was very sweet and wholesome but she could have had a lot more done with her character, as she was always the 2nd-3rd most important character in the plot. Still sad that she and Clive aren’t shown being together at the end but then again Clive might be dead so that really sucks for Jill.
I disagree. She wanted what Clive wanted for the same reasons. It wasn’t Clive’s journey, it was her Joshua and Clive’s. Her motives were cids on top of having a never again mentality about her time in the iron kingdom
Great video james. However regarding the point of you knowing clive is ifrit from the beginning. I think its just supposed to throw people off that didnt follow the marketing very closly. Since you watched most of the trailers I think thats why you understood that hes ifrit because its literally shown in every trailer
It wasn’t that, I genuinely feel the scene heavily implies it’s Clive, otherwise the scene just lacks any meaning. Murdoch dies, but Clive doesn’t, the hooded guy was obviously a representation for something, that’s why Clive grabs his head. It just made it perfectly clear to me 🤷🏻♂️
The story really looks promising, the gameplay though... Yikes... Gameplay just doesn't feel like FF, which is sad. Kinda seems like the series lost its soul.
Hello! I liked your video overall, but I have A LOT of things I want to comeback on a lot of your statements/fellings about the game: - The class system and the party ARE in FF16, the class system being the Eikons you equip, that CLEARLY play differently from one another like job class would, and the party is there. there is VERY FEW times where you are alone. Torgal is almost 24/7 with you he IS a party member. Joshua, Jill, Byron, Gav... also when you save the game they are one the save file depending on where you are in the game, plus some of them rejoign you forever toward the end of the game. You do fight as a party. Can't control them yes, but that actually make sense and was the best choice. if you play other character they need to have their own hp, but we all saw in ANY A-RPG how the cpu does NOT pull their weight in the fight making you waste heals on them and stuff. Would have been counter productive with the fact that Clive is the one with the artillery, making him the one through whom you will experience the core gameplay and main subject of the game: the Eikons. Maining other character that don't have that Eikons system or tree abilities like Clive would make no sense and would make thing complicated for nothing. As long as you have the mythology of Final Fantasy AKA Chocobos, Mogs, Cid, Summon, Magic, ect... you're in a Final Fantasy game. Where were those complains in FF15 where you can only play Noctis? People still consider it like a Final Fantasy right? Why should it be different here? That game IS a Final Fantasy game IN EVERY ASPECT. It would have been an issue if FF16 was a sequel to FF15, but it's not it's is own game, so the gameplay being it's own is not a flaw, it's what it's suppose to be. - What you said about the gears and character building element being gone is CAP since it's ACTUALLY there like you said just before that statement. There is no "Ultimaly" cause even if you did success the game without crafting or gearing up, A LOT MORE, and I mean by that the MAJORITY of the people playing the game NEED THAT to succed. You being good at action game doesn't count here you represent a minority in that aspect. Without that, you do no damage, die earlier, make the game harder for yourself for no reason. It DOES help you to keep up with the monster leveling up. The game is accessible enought so that first time player who give some attention to those things can win, but that doesn't make the game easy to the point that gearing up is useless. Gearing up in that game is essential, even more in Final Fantasy mode. People need to stop finding excuse to have something "negative" to say about a media. If the shit is well done it's well done and it is what it is. -The Item shops are relevant since they do have what you need for your journey. Sure the weapons are weaker since you already forged a better one usually, but they got heals and buff that you don't want to go all the way to the hideout to get. and really that's all you need. Plus here ALL the shops update their ressources, meaning that you can go at any shops and get what Karrone have plus different fear and song for the hideout, when as in other Final Fantasy or rpg in general, they dont, meaning they become useless as you progress in the story. Shops in FF16 are MORE usefull than most other rpg you can think of. - FF7RE don't have a job system they have different character with different set of skills. FF16 does have a job system with the Eikons. Also, FF16 maybe not as complicated as FF7RE, it's just as enjoyable, and is as technical. You need to time you're skill with Titan to deal more damage, time your magic spelll to do magic bursts, use Torgal at the end of a skill of attack so that you can continue the combo like a magic burst, Do parries with Odin so that you make Issen counter to gain a large amount of meter, Charging magic during a combo or an animation so that you can unleash it right after then Phoenix shift on the foe to air combo it, ect... -As I said before, the gears here DO help you out. For example the item that allow you skills to deal more damage on the stagger meter are significant. Even those that make it so your skill comes back earlier or those that make them deal more damage, the gear that put you in Pre-Priming mode each time you make a perfect dodge, allowing you to save your pre-priming bars fresh. - Dungeon do give unique Items in FF16 like in the one where you fight Benedicta there is chest that give you the eikons gear. It's the same in ANY DUNGEON IN THE GAME. As I said again, searching excuse to have something to critic the game about when there is nothing to critic, plus those critics are false. -The game IS built like a Final Fantasy should be: It innove itself while staying true to most of it's roots, AKA ITS MYTHOLOGY. - As I said before, the game is NOT easy. It propose a good amount of challenge, who ever you might be aka a pro or a newbie. Proof is: If people do die in the game, then the game is hard enough. Which is the case. Most of the player dies at least one times or won in a situation where if they don't use a potion they might die due to monster/boss having different timing on their attack to threw you off, they all have different set of pattern that you need to understand (usually simple pattern so you can dodge them on the first instance of it). And irronically, people say that FF16 is easy but EVERY Final Fantasy are NOT THAT HARD. As long as you know how to play around your skills and characters, you STEAMROLL ANY mainline Final Fantasy game. Any Final Fantasy game have it's fair amount of challenge FF16 INCLUDED. It's not that the game is easy, it's that the game is not that hard and that is THE big difference to note. For the World view: -These is no Final Fantasy game that represent better the scale of the adventure like FF16. FF7 can't compare. The thing is the world building in FF16 is so good each time something happens in the history of Valisthea you can see it on the WHOLE region you are in. For example when you compare the Rosalith region before and after the Primogenesis, it's absolutely baffling. The music is ultra tense in every city of Valisthea you goes, EVERY citizen talk about what happening, how are they gonna survire that situation, you see wounded people on the ground due to the Akashic attacking, even the side quest( which are MOSTLY Great people be hating just to hate fr) you learn how the world evolve each time a historical event happen and you can see with you eyes how it changed when you go in a region. no need for world map to lose time walking on too it's better to immerse yourself directly in the region and see how deeply the world changed. FF16 story and handling of the world building is ultra immersive and represent perfectly the gravity of each situation you put peoples in when you destroy a mother-crystal. No FF can compare even FF14 which does a freacking good job at that. - Also you are right about the fact that you need to pass 3 hours making forced sidequest lol that's crazy. Now they do bring interesting thing to the light on how dark/hard the world of Valisthea is on a personnal/per-to-per level which kinda balance out the issue but it's something you need to be willing to pay attention to. That's not a flaw cause it's not everytime but it can be annoying fr XD
Character: - Jill is clearly not the weakest character in the game. The thing is that contrary to other main girl in FF, she is NOT central to the plot. She's somewhat in between protagonist (Like Clive and Joshua) and Support character (like Dion or Gav). The story is about Clive and his brother but the game present Jill sometimes as if the story is about Clive, Joshua AND her, even tho it's not the case. That's why people think she's been treated poorly in the game but when you see the whole picture, she absolutely incredible. She did what she had to do and her scenes are valid, EVEN THO sometime the plot DO be doing her dirty like when Kupka capture her just after the Coeurl fight in Rosaria the man just spawn behind her with a whole ass squad making NO SOUND like what was she suppose to do. Even Clive would NOT have been ready for that is he was in her place. Same with the journey to the Iron Kingdom she's Shiva but they have to fight in a Volcan versus a Lava Demon created by Ultima like what do you expect her to do LMFAO obvioulsly you won't play as her she can't win that fight she has to play the support role. Plus the game is about Clive AND Joshua so it make sense that only those 2 are playable in Eikon battle. But yeah Jill is an extraordinary character in her own right what she does in the game for Clive and how she imply herself to the cause is crazy. She's a strong character certified. - Joshua DIED at the end of the game. Clive did NOT bring him back to life. Joshua said in the game just after the first encounter with Barnabas at Kanvert that Phoenix CAN'T bring people back to life, just heal wounds. ALSO, WHAT sense does it make that Clive brings back his brother but don't even let him escape Origin he blew the thing away while Joshua is knock out JUST BEHIND HIM with barely any life in him that shit would have kill him on impact! Like make it make sense guys Clive is NOT THAT DUMB. Clive just healed the wounds to clean up his brother. Plus him reviving Joshua just after greifing his death would destroy the whole point of that scene where he recall his important memories with Joshua and the point about the importance of permanant death you talked about. To make the end perfect and have a impactfull meaning Joshua HAVE to die (and Clive too). Don't listen to fantasic theories based on the side quest or whatever the facts are in the game: Joshua died that night along with Clive and Dion and NEVER came back. For the book stuff at the end, Gav write it since he carries the will/wishes of the Cids, one being to write a book about their adventures (and he would know about it since Harpocrates was aware of that). Since Clive would have used Joshua's name as the author as a momento and also Harpocrates was impressed by Joshua's history knowledge, so seeing him as a futur historian Harpocrates could have advise Gav to use Joshua's name. Also Gav have EVERYTHING HE NEED to write the book since with Viviane they have ALL the infos they need on the historic moments of the game, including Clive's. Plus for the last mission they know that Clive, Joshua and Dion went there, beat Ultima and nobody came back home cause they died. It's all he need to know. What happenned exactly in there in not important he can make up whatever the hell he want about it. - The fact that Clive, Joshua and Dion died that night is what make that ending so tragic but beautifull and emotionnal with the song that fit perfectly. That what make the ending perfect because it's fit PERFECTLY with Jill's word: No matter how cruel the night is, the dawn will always come. As in whatever atrocities might happens, the next day have the potential to bring hope and hapinness. Which is litteraly demonstrated in the ending by the fact that the dawn litteraly come out reflecting their victory over Ultima and the realisation of their dream: A world where everyone can live as they want and as equal. And by that Clive give what Jill wanted, the possibility to journey outside Valisthea AND to contemplate the sight of the moon. Again, Clive and Joshua being dead is perfect and represent perfectly what they world they live in and what humanity is all about. So yeah, they all died that night. To be honest the game have objectively 0 flaws. That said a game having no flaws DOESN'T make it perfect cause perfection is PURELY SUBJECTIVE. Those who think that the game have flaws are people who confound personnal taste with ACTUAL flaws. Your personnal taste is what will decide if the game is perfect for YOU, actual flaws is something that actually is an hindrance to almost every player and that is RECURRENT and FF16 have nothing of the sort.
I was ready to accept an action game with a good story. Well, what I got was an action game that loves taking control away from you to show you cutscenes and a story that falls apart at the seams. Truly an agressively mediocre game with next to no value or worth. You are better spent individually consuming all that inspired this game than actually playing it.
You are way more forgiving of the story elements here than I would be. I think the story tries to do a lot and fails in many respects because of fundamental flaws in the writing. When it comes to characters, Jill may be the weakest, but she's not an exception. Almost everyone you meet throughout the game is little more than a one-note trope. When you compare some of the side-characters in this game to the party members in previous titles...man it's such a clear downgrade. Take Gav for example. Post time skip he becomes your sort of right hand man. He is a fun guy, sure, but are we really going to pretend he's anywhere near as fleshed out as Barret? or Wakka? We genuinely know nothing about the guy other than 'he does stuff for Cid.' We don't know what motivates him. We don't know anything about his past. Like so many things in this game he's written superficially--they make him charming and full of banter to endear him as quickly as possible, but he has very little substance underneath that initial coat of paint. What annoys me the most is that the game *constantly* tries to shortcut its way to unearned emotional moments by having dialogue that SEEMS like it should be a payoff, but which is never properly set up. You talk about the scene between Clive and his uncle--a very emotional emotional scene indeed!...well, until you realize that you have literally never seen any interaction between these two characters and that their little play-skit comes out of left field because the game never establishes that Clive is an aspiring thespian. The scene is carried ENTIRELY by the talent of the actors, but NOT by the writing. And the infuriating thing is that it would have been so easy to fix it--I mean, how hard would it have been to have shown us a scene at the start of the game where Clive and his uncle share some banter about their acting? Hell, the game is so fixated on copying GoT that it would have been simple to arrange a feast scene at the start of the game (before heading out to Phoenix Gate) where Clive and his uncle joke around and, you know, establish a meaningful bond? I mean that's what GoT did in Episode 1 with Jon Snow and Benjen Stark right? Or how about the scene where Clive first says goodbye to Gav and gets all emotional--telling him "I'd be lost without you." When I saw that scene I was genuinely baffled by Clive's sudden mood change--he spends the preceding few hours being a taciturn sourpuss, and then seems to warm up to Gav in a matter of literally 2 or 3 scenes. Seriously, go back and count the number of interactions Gav and Clive have before that point. They're minimal. They meet when you first arrive at Lostwing and Cid sends Gav off to do his scouting. Then they meet again when you leave the Caer after fighting Benedikta, at which point Gav offers to go track the dominant Clive is searching for. Great. The next time you see him is when you rescue him from imperial troops. And that's it. The very next time you interact, Clive gets weirdly intimate with Gav and tells him he'd be lost without him. Uh. What? You've met him a grand total of THREE times, and spoken for a grand total of like TWO minutes. Now you expect me to believe that the previously stoic Clive is ready to be BFFs? This scene would have been touching if the two characters had actually spent any time together, but the way it's written it just feels like the game is fast forwarding through relationships without earning it. And this happens all the time. It's lazy. And annoyingly, I can't help but wonder if it's something that would have been alleviated if the game hadn't done away with the party system. Because that at least would have made it feel like Clive spends a significant amount of time with some of these people. I dunno man. I love a lot of the things this game does, but I feel like for every cool thing it adds, it drops the ball on like two or three other areas.
You are of course completely entitled to your opinion. It just seems like not addressing FF versus 13 and XV, in both scope and combat creates gaps in understanding some of the artist intent. Versus 13 promised that sophistifuture that seem to have modern dark tone on the series, through a trailer a very very hyped trailer. The game was in development hell, making the hype more extreme when it turned into 15. FF XV is a game that does feel like a hack and slash, a monotonous one as well. The worst part is, an unfinished and uncompelling story drives ff15. I think it makes sense that 16 essentially resolved all of the issues 15 had, making the combat dynamic and the story emotionally cohesive. If FF7 Rebirth is going to build on 7R's gameplay, wouldn't 16 build on 15's gameplay? This is of course just my opinion, but if you want to define what is Final Fantasy, you dont have to play all the games, but missing the 4 previous ones would affect the facts.
The game doesn't feel like FF to me. If chocobo and moogles weren't in the game, i wouldn't even tell the difference. Its a great game. But just not final fantasy.
Really movie style cut scenes & polish, really consistant franchise^. So many good games coming out or being worked on right now…quite a purple patch for gaming maybe the best.. ever.. Grand theft Auto 6….(huge), Starfield, Spider-Man 2, Tsushima 2, Witcher 1 remake, Red dead 1 remake, Fable reboot, Mass Effect 4, WITCHER 4…, Uncharted 5, Tomb Raider, Mafia 4, Black Flag remake, Test Drive Unlimited 3, Elden Ring 2, Project 007 IOI 80%+ should be bangers …
I can’t really judge on the narrative of this game and wether it fits final fantasy because I’ve only played FF7R and this but being a new final fantasy fan I was expecting this game to be more RPG in terms of gameplay. Like even when I wasn’t a final fantasy fan I still recognised the series for being a JRPG and with that typically comes some form of progression of stats and collecting various items that may help you in certain scenarios. But this games progression is pretty much non existent. Sure as you play the story you unlock more eikon abilities but getting new gear, swords and healing items is all pretty useless. Swords and gear have barely any effect on your overall stats, levelling up doesn’t mean much of anything and the items available to you either up your health or up your damage, it’s all quite simplistic. I adore the Arcady combat, I love how the combats progression ties with the story, mixing multiple abilities to create combos and feeling so damn powerful but surely there’s a way to mix that so it still feels like the crafting you do, the swords you find, the items you collect have some effect and actually means something
Also I kind of didn’t mind the lack of a party system in this game but I think if they’re going for something like Clive commanding Torgal again rather than switching between multiple character I think more depth would be great. Give party members more abilities that the player can choose to equip to best suit their play style
I’ve watched quite a few reviews, but none have articulated so clearly and comprehensively the whole of FFXVI as your review has.
Kudos on such a masterful video, it was a blast to view
For the past couple of years, my friend has told me over and over how FF XIV’s story telling was amongst the best he had ever experienced. I’ve never made the plunge into 14, but after finishing XVI (basically binging it), I think I get it.
When I was younger, there were so many great games that I played through and upon finishing, felt like I gave a part of myself to it. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that way about a game but 16, despite its flaws, rekindled that.
Gonna have to give 7 a play through, and might even have to give 14 a try. I’m excited to see where square goes next, 16 was an amazing entry point into the series for me.
Great video! You’ve articulated many of my feelings about this game in a much more eloquent way than I could ever hope to.
I absolutely adored this game. It had some faults, and I'm not a long term FF fan so my opinion on elements of it such as the changes to combat aren't influenced by what came before, but even still; this was amazing and I adored playing through it.
I absolutely loved this game. Currently halfway through my NG+ playthrough. One of the most Epic games I’ve ever played. Set pieces were amazing.
I had very similar thoughts to you about the world itself, beautifully realised in scale and feeling, but made small by the fact that it just takes a screen fade to cross the continent. I really think it's a byproduct of having side quests and needing the hideaway as a central hub. When the game is linear and it's guiding you across the world sequentially it feels so much more impactful.
Good point, the need to come back to the central hub effectively made the world feel so much smaller. If we actually just traversed the world it would have helped the world feel so much larger. But then again you also gain positives by having a central hub, so you gain some and you lose some.
I could have done without the side quests ngl and my fave FF games are 10, 8, 7 and 12. The first third of 16 was excellent up until Cid’s demise. The game maybe compromised too much.
@@ocher8931 Then just don't do the side quests. Thats what I did and I loved my first playthrough. Dunno why people insist on doing things in games that they dont enjoy.
To clarify Im not justifying the side quests quality, but there are MANY games where the side quests are just utter wastes of time. For instance Im playing Xenoblade Chronicles now and it is RIFE with mindless pointless sidequests. Still an incredible game.
@@lockekappa500my point is the pacing fell off a cliff with them. I don’t think this game needed them. I think they were scared not to have them.
29:45 I felt very similar about most early side quests and filler main quests between the Stage levels.
The early side quests and some later quests felt very fetch quest/filler content. In addition the rewards for said quests were negligible. A few crafting resources you could gets tons of cheaply from a vendor or those chests you kick open everywhere. Same with the quests like you mentioned getting your pass back with Goets, or helping Mid build the ship and running around getting all of her parts or running around the hide out talking to everyone.
However later in the game the side quests that have multiple parts mainly were much better. Even though many of them had negligible rewards (not all) they seriously added to the world building and appreciation of the world the game takes place in. It also build up the side characters and made you appreciate them more.
Luckily there were some good rewards for some of those side quests, mainly the medicine potency and increase in potions were great rewards albeit their connected side quests were felt like filler… there were some better side quests like the Blacksmith Blues side quests chain that rewarded some of the best gear available throughout the game and also had a decent story moments and world building. Many of the late game side quests (especially the ones that are chained together) made me feel a lot closer to the large cast of characters making the ending farewell before Clive and crew set off to Origin feel a lot more potent. I feel as if I hadn’t done those quests that scene and my feelings towards the side characters in general would have been much less impactful.
All in all like I said when I started…. I very much agree the downtime between main stage levels could have been executed much better. They weren’t terrible but was often boring and tedious. Regardless they still added to the world and characters a lot and all together made me appreciate the game world more.
Lastly, despite the tedious parts, it in no way significantly impacted my appreciation of the game as a whole. The stages were so epic and impressive and always added so much to the story that i was happy to push through the side/filler content looking forward to the next epic battle just around the corner.
I loved this review. I loved that you had so much insight (especially for someone like me who only played 7-10 before this). I loved that you talk about how just remembering things makes you tear up, because honestly even a year out, and hearing 'Final Farwells' as music here got me choked up. And I love that you don't flinch from the issues the game has. So many people talk about this game as apologists like "I know the itemization is bad" or "I know you can't switch parties" or some other issue like they have to put forth an offering before they go on to expound on what they loved about it and what the game did so damn right. But you did it the right way. You just unapologetically gush your love for the game, and still go over the fair criticisms like "Yeah this didn't work but I don't care, this was still great".
Might be the best review I saw on this game period.
Thank you so much! I love getting comments like this on these types of videos because they aren’t scripted at all. I sometimes feel like I’m just waffling and making no sense but reading this makes me realise I did manage to convey something.
I’d love to revisit FF16, for a proper scripted video some time, I think it’d be nice to really delve in as deep as I can.
As someone who has never touched kingdom hearts (I assume that's what you're referencing) when you said that thing about "bahamut going to cast zetaflare like Donald godamn duck" it made me laugh uncontrollably
Definitely don’t think the players were meant to not know he was ifrit. Right there with you on that one haha
A note about the whole clive being ifrit thing. I think its important to realize that the prologue section where you play as young Clive is a flash back from a narrator that is completely unreliable.
Clive is flashing back to what happened but hes in complete denial to the point where he's convinced himself that it had to be someone else that killed josh. But its just ambiguous enough that I can see people being unsure of exactly what happened. I wasn't at all fooled, but like you said, its a dramatic irony. Where the player is aware of info the characters are not.
It makes the infernal eikon / infernal shadow fight that much better. The moment where Clive accepts the truth and the music just starts going, and when utters the words "You are not Ifrit. I am" sends chills down my spine. Its maybe the best thing ive seen in a video game ever.
All of that is followed by Cid saying in order achieve redemption you have to accept what you are. Its so good.
Stranger of Paradise in my mind did the job system, party members and action combat well because it had Nioh esque combat, you could play as any job you want and each of your party members had 5 jobs you could choose from that you can unlock.
There’s no open world towns and cities, there’s no individual shops, but there is dialogue, there are means to purchase and obtain gear outside of killing enemies and opening chests.
I know it had all the memes about ‘Chaos’ but I have found it to be a genuinely good game, im on discord every day talking about this game, theorizing about it, it’s links to the various dissidia games and the other games in the series. The lore in the form of the fool’s missives and lufenian logs are so fascinating. A return to the world of Final Fantasy 1. It’s genuinely amazing, and it’s worth a play.
One day I'll check it out, I've always meant to, just to see what it's got going for it.
Interesting but if I'm honest I would never want a souls like combat system for a mainline FF game. I'd much rather something like this and DMC with a lot more speed.
@@kbg12ila and that’s what ff16 did. But obviously, for SOP you play as Garland, who is a big guy in armour with a huge sword. The fighting style isn’t going to be very acrobatic
@@JB6GD684 dude wears a shirt and trousers for the majority of the game XD
@@christopherbravo1813 cloud wears a vest and squall wears a t shirt and fir jacket. Noctis literally has regular clothes. What’s your point?
Great review! ❤️ Found your channels because of your FF7 Remake playthrough. And I have watched all your FF stuff since... I'm so glad, you have found the FF franchise! ❤️
Just to let you know, that the modern final fantasy with an overworld, a lore book, job system, party member, etc. It exists! It’s called Bravely default on the 3ds. With was made by square enix for the fan of the older ff while main series keep evolving.
The biggest thing that confused me about the game was the Ifrit mystery. One of the trailers ends with Clive shouting “come to me, Ifrit,” as he’s consumed by flames. Then they showed gameplay as Ifrit, also in the trailers. But then all of a sudden it’s meant to be a big reveal? I guess it’s still a surprise if you didn’t watch those trailers, but surely you wouldn’t just reveal a plot twist in a trailer?
That's just Square unfortunately being really bad about concealing it's own spoilers. It's basically a rule amongst the fanbase now to just avoid all of the promo stuff near release because the final trailer for a Final Fantasy will almost always spoil the hell out of the story. The Ifrit twist is definitely an egregious spoiler even by normal Square Enix standards though. Idk why they would try to present it as a mystery when controlling Ifrit was one of the first and most central selling points they talked about in regards to the game.
The demo showed us how party members could work in the game! When you play as Joshua he has unique combat abilities similar to a White Mage. They could have easily done this with other characters - Jill as a Black Mage, Clive as a Warrior, Dion as a Dragoon, etc. Either have the ability to switch freely between members like FF7R or have story specific moments where you play as others, like as in the demo. For example, playing as Jill when she goes back to the island and confronts her abusers would make it more POV and make her story hit harder.
it's too bad that XVI isn't really an RPG
Great video mate, hope this does well for you. Often see your videos with low viewership but your content is top notch.
Appreciate it! I tend to know the ones that’ll do well, and Final Fantasy certainly isn’t something I have a big audience for, but I love this shit so much I can’t help myself but create stuff for it, big thanks again for the kind words!
I feel exactly I mean EXACTLY the same way with you about EVERYTHING you said. I finished it 2 days ago and I still have the ending music in the head nonstop. It has officially become one of my favorite games ever like TOP 5. I cant forget it, and Im sad because when i will replay it i wont feel the same. I'm in grief right now...
I feel like after a decent time away, revisiting this game will hit 10x harder, or that's my hope anyway.
@@LazerzZ i hope so too,maybe in 5 years the director of the game will respond to the ending on twitter like the infamous "Mary was in the car all along" in sh2. I need closure😂
Lol in hindsight ig I shoulda realized Clive was Ifrit from the very beginning, but "the hooded man" definitely served to throw me off, just as he threw clive off. Though its interesting how clive mentions he "cast him blame on another to spare himself the guilt" which to me almost implied even Clive knew in a way that he was Ifrit, but never genuinely had that argument with himself because it was too painful to even fathom.
Yeah, I did notice that. I think it was pretty clear from that line that Clive knew all along, when he's talking to Cid about the dominants too he glances down at his hand, in a sort of way that indicates he holds that power too.
Great video man! pretty much couldn't disagree with a thing you said surrounding the story and character analysis. I utterly fell in love with this game. So crushed when it ended, but also loved how it ended.
Thank you for mentioning the scale of the world. I feel like the only one who did not like the scale in 16. If felt big and small at the same time. an Overworld in previous FF games is easy to understand because it is an abstraction. Like to me eastpool felt super close to martha's rest but I guess in game it is actually very far away up in the mountains. I feel like FFXVI graphics are too realistic to have the map interpreted abstractly like in previous games. (i could go on but I won't)
With Jill i wanted more from her. I wanted more of an Iron blood arc. The Iron Blood I found very Interseting bc "they're more beasts than men". All that stuff with the black shields could have been replaced with Iron kingdom exploration. The small campaign we got on drakes breath I felt was not long enough to flesh out the Iron Blood or Jill. It would have benefited the game if we went to the Iron kingdom and saw the horrific ways they treated their beareres. We could quest to liberate them while exacting revenge on the high priests one by one. Jills arc just kind of came and went and I did not feel it. They could have cut the SQ's in half to expand on her story
Still a great game tho
Final Fantasy 16 for me is the most final of Final Fantasies.
Nice video and really awesome thumbnail!
I haven't been able to stop thinking about FFXVI since I completed it. Despite its flaws, it is such a powerful game on so many levels, from the Eikon fights to the story. The Clive/Joshua brotherhood story is so powerful and the actors involved really sell it across well.
Liked and subbed :)
🙏
For me the FF7R was the sweet spot for modern FF.
It impliments the party system perfectly and i got very attached to the whole cast because i actually got to build them up and have some agency over how they played.
I didnt feel that attachment for characters such as Gav or Jill. Im not saying i disliked them but FF7R has me shed a tear.
Take note i am not an OG FF fan so my opinion may not be as valid but but i find it strange that they seemingly went backwards from the FF7R set up. I know they were proud to have the same person who worked on the DMC combat work on FF16 but if i wanted to play DMC i would go and play DMC. I died once in FF16 and it was to the massive dragon which is on one of the hunt quests.
I hope they take feedback from the community and find a balance for the sake of FF17
If you play the FF series from FFX on you’ll start to see a significant deviation in the turn-based play mechanics that would eventually culminate to what FFXVI is as a more action game experience. Especially FFXII, which was the first FF game that heavily deviated from the rest of the series in terms of combat and overall tone. X-2, XII, the XIII trilogy, and XV was just a weird time for FF in general.
Absolutely breathtaking & genuinely if I had to sum it up in one word it would be: epic. The story is great too.
its so bad - like genuinely bad
I find it super funny that the person who voices the final boss of this game also voices the final boss of Xenoblade Chronecles 3. Not just that, but both of the location where you fight the bosses in are called Orgin.
The pacing of the main story quests is definitely my biggest gripe. I agree with the assessment that it's an MMO team's first single-player game. XIV players will understand - every level 83 trial type of story moment is followed up by a couple hours of loporrit quests.
I do also wish the combat had more depth a la 7R, but that's a personal preference. It was still a ton of fun and satisfying when you nail any dodge/parry/block combos. I ate that up.
Overall, it's a flawed and quality game. Loved the world, the story, the vibe, most of the characters, and most of the combat. The developers had a vision, and I think they realized that vision well with a complete product.
God be quiet you crybaby
You would have this great epic story battles and revelations. Only then to have side quest or story beats that are light and pointless. Pacing is really bad in my opinion and is the reason i don't want to replay the game...
Its a very flawed game but worth trying it.
Late to the party, but I loved your review. Love that you are a fellow Joshua stan. So glad that you enjoyed the game and made content about it. Agreed that I think the story of FF16 will stay with me forever and I'll only grow more fond of it over time. I love your interpretation of the ending! I think it thematically does make a lot of sense even though I believe something different, (almost like your interpretation more than mine!) excellent video. Hope to see some more of your vods released on ff16, would love to see you finish that journey! Thank you again, even a year later!
Thank you so much! I do plan to finish posting my reactions, the edits just take ages, especially because I recorded camera, gameplay, mic and game audio separate for better quality, but it makes it so tough to edit together 😂 I’ll get around to another one soon I’m sure
This game made me cry so much, so many feelings... I. Mean the characters, Dion!! Jesus... His story, broke me, he is so amazing, Joshua, Cid, Clive... All of them, just cry all the way around, and I too believe that Joshua survived and wrote those memories to honor his brother. ( man I am. Going to cry again...)
See I believe it what as Clive who wrote the book and honoured Joshuas name. There is a side quest before the end with Harpoccrates where Clive talks about putting down the sword and picking up the quill when he's done.
@@Hero_Of_Old yes I remember and it could have been the other way around, I mean, after Joshua came back, Harpocrates could have explained him the intention of the quill... So he could have written it to honor that... Interpretation s
@@elisodrakuliatrue although Jill saying Clive is the sun who always comes back to her, and when she stops crying when the sun rises and dawn comes, to me hints Clive is alive.
@@Hero_Of_Old pretty sure Clive was the red moon, I think the ending was clear, red moon gone, Jill cries, he dead.
@@thechugg4372then why smile when the sun rises? Why include the side quests where they mention the sun rising?
Soo glad to be done with Final Mediocrity 16.
Joshua didn't live by the way. The Phoenix cant bring anybody back to life. Also the events of the fight between Clive and Ultima is only something Clive would know. Harpocrates also tells Clive he should write something after he lays down his sword and gives Clive his pen. Not to mention the entire cast from Joshua to Jill telling Clive to start saving himself and live for himself. It just goes against it if Clive sacrifices himself even after the whole game telling him not to. It even makes it thematic for Joshua to die for Clive and save his brother whos been giving everything for everyone else. Not to mention Clive narrates the beginning and end as if he's telling a story. Clive could've just used Joshuas name for thr book tk honor him like he did with Cid.
The side quest with Jill where she compares Clive to the dawn in that he always comes back to her which is why she stopped crying when thr sun rose. Also the Moongazing theme song also describes a someone reuniting with their love who returns to them.
Also lastly we don't even see him die, his hand turns to stone after summoning flame but stops and doesn't go futher because there's no magic. He had no wounds just a stone hand, that stops. Cid was far worse and he was fine as long as he didn't use magic and Clive cant because it doesn't exist anymore. Jill thinking Clive is dead because Metia disappearing is generally makes no sense imo, Metia was just symbolic to Clive returning and not actually connected to him, so there's no reason she should think he died beyond just her panicking because Metia was important to her.
Idk it just seems like a alot more stuff point to Clive surviving instead of dying. Joshua its hard to tell because the wounds on his body were only heal and no sign of anything else, also the platform blew up with no sign of him washing up somewhere like Clive did.
I mentioned this theory and it could be true, but I like that’s it’s not concrete, I want it to remain ambiguous forever because I think it’s more meaningful that way.
@@LazerzZYeah I can understand, idk I just think Clive and Jill, even Joshua, after everything they went through deserve a happier ending.
Thing is, harpocrates also remarked that joshua has the skilled to be a great chronicler like himself and that this would be a good path for him as well. So there's also hints that joshua survived because of that just like how harpocrates giving the quill to clive might indicate that he might also had survived and taken up the pen afterwards. Furthermore, you can argue that Dion also might have survived since in one of the sidequest, he tells harpocrates to hold onto the flower until afterwards, after he's regained his redemption so that harpocrates can give it to him after fighting off ultima in origin. It doesn't make much narrative sense for a character with such blaring death flags like Dion to ask harpocrates to hold onto the flower till afterward if he's simply going to die anyways.
You can interpret the ending as you wish bcuz ultimately, the story is about the sacrificed and struggles the main cast endures in order to foster the creation of the new world that they wish to live in. Where they all live or they all die doesn't really matter in the narrative scheme bcuz the story isn't about them struggling to live but struggling to create a world free from the fate foisted upon mankind by ultima. The story made it clear many times that there is no gurantees that the world they strive for is neccesarily going to be a better world or a world where they can all have their happy endings. The story is ultimately about the freedom of choice and not simply about fighting for a happy ending. Free will is never mentioned as guranteeing human happiness and that it was mankinds free will that started the wars and the oppression that cid and his crew were initially fighting against. To protect mankinds free will is to essentially protect the source of all the suffering that the main cast has faced.
Thus, the fates of the three has no narrative bearing on the story as with free will, there is no gurantees that things will be better or worse. Likewise, the free will of the three gave no gurantees that they will survive or die.
Amazing game, that ending hit so hard
what about it hit hard?
@@etzioschmetzio2168 the facial mocap actually. The amount of detail on the face when gav was crying but trying to hold it together and speak, jills entire reaction from realizing and running out of the room to her at the railing with torgul, the part on the beach with clive, the whole ending worked so well especially if you played all the side missions.
It was amazing! I honestly want to start my ng+ play through but I always feel like giving it a bit of time gives time to reflect on it. And then when you come back to the game sometimes it hits even better than the first time.
Yeah and the beginning on NG+ has more impact knowing the story
I finished the game yesterday. I really need to take some time before beginning NG+, I need to proces the journey and ending I just experienced.
You are so right about Jill, I felt she's both very lobsided in her personality, whilst also not appearing functional enough outside of romance and occasionally turning into Shiva. Not saying her fighting with you isn't convincing, though it did kind of feel like she was obligated to try and help when in reality you were doing most or all the damage lol. By contrast to other games, Shiva felt muted in this game, not just bc she barely took the field, but because of Jill - she almost seemed like she lacked the imagination or constitution to fight as her Dominant, and she never really developed to do so either really - also its really not helped by it not being obvious why she has it in the first place. Also some of the dialogue was just a little dull and awkward, compare it to Yuna and Tidus, or Aerith and Cloud, though romance is hard to quantify.
Lol its funny how you say Aerith and cloud. That really is some kind of love triangle because I also see people use Cloud and tifa. Besides that I saw some people saying that we should have saw clive relying on Jill more , because its mentioned a lot after the timeskip that Clive feels like crap for making her bare the burden of transforming .
I see what you mean about Jill. It would be helpful to play as some of the characters for certain parts even without there being a party system. Maybe that's how they could have reconciled the change, by having you play a few of the other characters' backstories and pivotal moments.
Immaculate video. As a side note, I agree about Jill, something I care to mention is that her trauma overall wasn't executed adequately imo, that said some of it is just established confident and pragmatism but she falls into normality as it were a little too quickly, that and why is her hair always so perfect, like how?? Also, this is a personal gripe but I despise how awkward they are from front to back - It scares me wondering if people remain like that, in their respective relationships forever lol (some is fine but I also don't know how much I care to witness this much). Also, the initial showing of their relationship was a little too liberal with affection, It just seemed almost unlikely I guess, as well as issuing predictability upon how it would develop. Also of course Clive is just a perfect specimen throughout his life.
54:34 that part of that track is really good and I could’ve seen it being used in a lot of scenes. But really this game was really good imo. Every big story moment, eikon battle, and piece of music felt so good. Couldn’t have concluded any better than you did at the end. Only thing I would change is have the victory fanfare after defeating ultima, I was so surprised when it didn’t play lol. Honestly what a spectacle to play through and the voice acting was amazing. Byron was the best and the whole thing was fun and the story was touching, making me feel for the characters, and I think a that’s a good chunk of what matters when looking at an FF game. If they make rebirth have an ending that makes me cry like this one, that will be my final fantasy 😂 you know what I’m talking about.
So I will say, the rerelease of 12 is very tied to the job system, and while I have MANY issues with 13, it did use job changing mid combat in an interesting way
Okay that’s interesting to know, I wasn’t aware of that. I look forward to eventually seeing what those games are all about
@@LazerzZ admittedly I’m a staunch 12 defender, story is a little sub par, but it probably has the deepest gameplay in the series. You basically get to program each party member with up to 12 if/then statements. Plus, the hunts are my favorite side content in the series
The ending interpretation is one we can't solve all we can do is make assumptions.
We can't actually know if the world that the family, at the end, are living in is the same world. After all Joshua Rosfield could just be an author in their world. It doesn't specify a year. It has no indication that Valisthea even exists.
Also i think it's safe to assume Clive succumbs to his wounds his hand turns to stone on the beach. I also hesitate to think Clive resurrected Josh because Josh said the healing magic of the Phoenix can't bring dead back. We dont know that Ultimas power changes that. If Joshua did survive they did a horrible job with the ending.
The scale, narrative, character performance and cinematics of this game was something you could only dream of back in the day. Many take for granted what was achieved here. I suspect the Eikon fights will kind of ruin any other large scale battles for the foreseeable future.
Hey Lazerzz, wanted to take a moment to send my immense appreciation of this video. Loved the exploration of my own experience with FFXVI through your words (which rang very very close to home). I very much loved the game in a lot of ways, but found a bunch of aspects of the game that were just.. not where I wished they were. It was one hell of a playable spectacle, and as such is a masterpiece hands down.. I just ended up really disappointed with the lack of complexity of the battle system past the middle part of the game where I hit an "optimal rotation", which made me start skipping the rest of the side stuff because it was not engaging anymore.. and it actually made me very sad to skip on potential story beats but i couldn't force myself to do them all (like I usually would). I loved the comparison to FF7 and FF7R which I think is doing a lot of the "action" focused stuff a lot better, without losing as much of the RPG elements.
Another thought on how to make it better relatively easily would include: including a vulnerabilities/resistance system which encourages you to change up the approach to different enemies. Would love to hear your thoughts on something like that, or any other easily implementable changes they could make to level this thing up. (Adding playable characters being relatively harder I would assume)
Anyway, am also here to suggest, based on you mentioning you wonder what it would look like to make a classic RPG with modern tech and design principles.. do yourself a favor and check out Sea of Stars if you haven't already!
I haven't played that much of those classics (FF before 7, Chrono Trigger, etc.) because I always found that it didn't engage me enough for whatever reason.. this one does an AMAZING job! Combat is interesting and dynamic, story is engaging.. not sure about the whole open world stuff at the point i'm at in the game.. but yeah I think you would enjoy it based on the opinions and thoughts you shared throughout the video.. I know I am and I thought I would share :)
Have an awesome one, hope to see a full breakdown like this of that one (Sea of Stars) someday ;)
A Joshua DLC is needed! If nothing else to fill in a few of the plot holes as some of the plot writing is a stretch especially his return.
1. How did Joshua know that Ultima was behind the events at Phoenix Gate?
2. Why did Joshua stay away from Clive for so long despite numerous near encounters? Especially at Phoenix Gate.
3. Why was there no discussion about Clive 'killing' Joshua at the start? How did Joshua know Clive was Ifrit? Or did he just assume when he woke up after passing out during the Bahamut fight?
4. Numerous scenes with Gav and Joshua, but they never talk to each other directly.
5. The ending, Joshua's fate is very ambiguous
6. Further lore with the Undying potentially
We've already played as him in-game already, so many of the mechanics are already there.
This just such a pity to not able to play as Cid,Jill and Joshua(adult)，The combat system decides this, I get it. I just hope we could get more of them.The world setting is amazing and so many characters get so many potentials.However, they choose to leave them incomplete and make them to become a tool to serve Clive's characterization.Hope we could get more characters DLCs like Joshua,Cid,Barnabas,Jill and Dion etc. Agree with your opinion on Jill，definitely can be more helpful and strong, She could be a lot more than just Clive's lover and do lot more stuff than simply being supportive to Clive.
There are certain game stories that stand out above the rest and will stay with you forever. The Last of Us, Red Dead 2 etc. Final Fantasy 16 is one of those. It was my first FF game and wow!
i think youre the only person i agree with on the ending of this game
Great watch 🙏🏿
Which game would I recommend to someone who like FF16? Maybe the Witcher, Devil May Cry, God of War, but not a mainline Final Fantasy. This is not a JRPG.
You encompassed everything I felt about this game. It is one of the best final fantasy games ever. It resonated with me. It was beautiful. Powerful. It had meaning. Visually stunning. Sounded amazing. The acting was stellar. It is one of the best games I have played in a long time. I love this video ❤
Seeing how much the comments here and the general opinion of the game varies really helped me come to a definitive conclusion about it.
The game is a mix of so many different ideas, some end up feeling tedious while others hit incredibly hard. I'm personally 50/50 on the game, but it's easy to understand why someone else's opinion would lean to either side. It really comes down to how much you're invested in the story the game is trying to tell, and how much that makes you look past the flaws it has.
In a sense this is the most Final Fantasy thing ever. Even back when these games had a consistent formula, each game had different strengths and weaknesses which made them severely different experiences, and that made everyone have their own favorite. It's kinda cool to see that spirit is still alive in the series despite everything.
See I care more about a good narrative, interesting worldbuilding and great characters. FF16 has some of the best I've played in a game in a looong time. I can overlook some issues with gameplay.
I do actually think there is a great base here to add in more mechanical rpg elements that would be fantastic that you touch on. Like actual gear and job system. Personally, I would love the chance to have more playable characters too. Make having certain gear pieces actually matter as opposed to nothing but stat sticks and such.
Though, who knows if they'll keep this system for 17. For all we know they could actually go back to doing turn based combat (prolly not, but you never know.)
Besides that, I love this game and can for sure say Final Fantasy Mode makes the game harder in a very appreciative way. Like, you have to be on your A game because a single mistake will cost you dearly. More than that the Chronolith trials are also downright demonic on FF Mode.
Ultima is basicly a member of the Izu Race in Assassin's Creed.
the biggest problem with this game is that it has stuff you can find in the open world and in stages but its always something that just makes you sigh. it gives the sense they only added those pickups and findables out of obligation to being an RPG. They should make more wacky accessories that fundamentally change how u play like the berserker ring and channelers whisper does and then hide them in the world. (i.e. one that reduces fall gravity while air comboing, one that lets you charge magic to a 3rd level like firaga, one that increases your attuned eikon cap to 4, etc.)
Also i don't think it wouldve killed the balancing to add weakness/resistance/status effects. after all there's 7 elements in the game and every enemy will only be weak (1.2x) or resistant (0.8x) to one of those and the rest will just take normal damage. and a poison status effect would make the potions feel less OP, as well as a paralysis one that you have to mash dodge to get rid of or something. also they could add a tonberry and cactuar
all those little things would add up to a lot in terms of keeping the final fantasy identity.
P.S. they should swap out the useless torgal heal and replace it with a cooldown based torgal ult. and also FF mode should be available at ng, and they should make an even harder difficulty for the ng+ content lock
Having myself finished FFXVI before FFXIII, I will be very interested to hear your feelings on it when you do go through it, as it does seem the series has largely become an Action RPG.
I know this isn't related to the video,but genuinely what do you think about FFXV? kinda interested in playing it.
This game really could have done with more explorable towns. They have obviously build a lot of them cos you visit them in story quests as dungeons, but it would have been better, more enjoyable and more impactful if at another point in the story you could just visit and shop and do side quests etc. Then when it gets destroyed it feels much more devastating.
I was so looking forward to walking through even just parts of Oriflamme, but no, all we got was some underground dungeon. The twins .. just walking some roofs at nighttime and nothing to do besides just killing enemies. It's that way with every major city. Which really disappointed me.
Beat this game last year and still have such mixed feelings towards this game. I have a hard time explaining my love and dislikes. Not sure there's been a game with such highs and such lows for me (Maybe Undertale).
Things I dislike would be the lack of JRPG elements. Gear, character builds/jobs, roles, dungeons, control party. I don't hate the gameplay because it tried a different gameplay. FF series tends to do that. I do hope they go back to more JRPG elements for future games though.
Saying that. I also had fun with the gameplay. The epic battles work because its action base. I do wish the different play styles unlocked earlier. You unlock near the end of the game. I was comfortable and use to certain style that I didn't try the last two.
Side quest is some of the worst in the series. I did them all and maybe four or five was worth it. So many where pointless. I love having side quest tell stories or give more lore into the world.
Story. I liked the story and was entertain. I kinda wish we got more stories within the character and world. Some things moved too fast. Pacing is all over the place and a major killer for me wanted to replay the game. You would have this big epic story beat then slow to a crawl and I mean a crawl.
This is pure personal taste. I wish, would have loved if the home base was more base building. I love Suikoden Iand the home base mechanics.
This is just some of my thoughts. Its all over the place because this game is hard for me to decide how much I liked the game. One major bad sign. I beat the game and I was good. Don't have much drive or see myself replaying the game again. I love FF4 through 10 and have replayed them more then two times. I should play it again to see how it holds up and maybe one day I will. When I replayed FF12 my opinions didn't change, but I did have a good time with the game and have more good memories. What I will say about FF16. I can see way people love this game but I can also see why people dislike it.
Anyways. Great video. Found your thoughts and take insightful. I like hearing people different opinions.
I remember mentioning that I was excited to you on a livestream a few hours before the game came out…. It could have been better, my main issues were the shallowness in its world and gameplay, and ditching the more traditional gameplay style of other FF games
I would also like a mini game, the fishing game from 15 is very good, still the best fishing game ever,
Absolute class act video. I love that you managed to acknowledge and address the identity of the classics and the change in direction with later titles while standing strong on your love of FFXVI.
FFXVI isn't really a game for me, but neither was FFXIII or FFXV. I've long since graduated expecting a Sakaguchi era FF, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize a good game when I see one and FFXVI is certainly that. My only pet peeve in all of this has been the whole identity conversation and how those who enjoyed it feel the need to gaslight everyone into the position that FF never had an identity to begin with to defend their enjoyment of the game. That isn't necessary nor fair to the older titles.
FFXVI could have been a pro soccer simulator and you'd still be at liberty to enjoy it. The game's quality isn't in any way predicated on how similar it is to earlier titles.
It might not have been for me and it might be about as far from a classic FF as you could possibly get, but I'm still happy people enjoyed it and it turned out a quality title in its own right.
Keep on doing what you do!
I’m so taken by this game that I couldn’t stop thinking about it even after achieving platinum. Such an amazing story, even though I wish there was more sidequest variety, I can’t deny how much they add to the world building and makes the whole experience more fulfilling. So many moments where I honestly got emotional.
I’m just happy you had a similar experience! Be looking forward your next video playthroughs on the game!
27:44 I remember I dropped the game at this point in the story.
yeah it's rough
This game is now my 2nd Favourite game of all time. The Characters, Gameplay, Narrative, Lore are all so masterful. Haven’t experienced a game this emotional with the amount of people in the hideaway you cared by the end. Absolutely Phenomenal and I’m so happy you really liked it even though we agree that it maybe shouldn’t go full action
What are your top 5?
I agree. Needed more gameplay mechanics in terms of traversal, party, and RPG elements. Not recruiting party members was sorely missed. I thought it wouldn't be an issue going into the game, but these characters were really good and not being able to kit them out and strategize with a party is something they should not do again in my opinion with the next FF.
Obviously, Clive has so much going on though and the story of him taking everyone's powers wouldn't work great with a party. And so it seems that a metroidvania style traversal kit would have been a no brainer with each Eikon and really spruced up the level design and gameplay.
Im playing it again on final fantasy mode and i find myself skipping most of the dialogue and cutscenes. It's not really gripping me at all on this playthrough. There is A LOT of running back n forth just talking and following markers. I don't think the game will age that well in this regard. You're just never gonna feel like starting a new playthrough in years to come unless they massivley update the game with new mechanics. Thats part of what makes people replay games like FF tactics or ff7 (you can use all different party members and focus on different types of builds to have a new experience).
I think ff7R is the better modern title and series right now. I was hanging on every word of that game on multiple playthroughs and still can't wait to see what Rebirth has for us.
The eikon system is effectively the job system. If you think about it, what do jobs do, gameplay wise? They have access to a specific action ability; Dragoons have jump, paladin/knight has cover, summoners can summon, etc. With the eiko.ln system, each eikon is the job, phoenix gives you phoenix shift bahamut gives you mega flare, titan gives you block/counters, etc.
Honestly to me the game just feels like DMC/Bayonetta game but expanded with a JRPG storyline and world. I like the combat system, but I feel each eikon sort of feeling the same other than the eikon abilities makes it feel like the game might feel basic compared to Devil May Cry and even Kingdom Hearts.
To me, I WOULDN'T personally want EVERY game to be like FF16. The game seems to be particularly focused on its own strong points of making a detailed medieval fantasy world with a strong focus on the theme of systematic racism. The quests seem to just be one and done and while it does have a strong theme going for those quests, maybe sometimes I want some more lively events? Yes even for this decaying land. I WANT GILGAMESH!
I put this game together off for until last week because after 13 I saw a trend where all protagonist are just human and i felt like they were bland. But after playing 16 for a week now I’m hooked .
Have you beat it yet? It's my friggin favorite
To be fair, I bought 16 when it dropped sight unseen, and hadn't played the demo, so playing through, they do give you enough side stuff that there's like a 30% chance it's not Clive. Especially since they disassociate Clive from Ifrit - like, if Clive can't recognize he's Ifrit, maybe he's not? Then by throwing in the cloaked figure - I mean, the cloaked figure has to be someone, and everyone thinks he's a fire Eikon... maybe? Cause at this point I really DIDN'T want it to be him.
What it did do is make the reveal so heavy, I was absolutely gutted when the truth was irrefutable.
Like, if I hadn't avoided literally everything about the game and dove right in playing it straight through, I probably would have just decided it was him, but in the moment and with enough desperate threads to cling too, I really wanted it to not be him.
Im the complete oposite I hate this game because the flaws are too big and the go away from the good thinks make everything worse for me. I liked 15 because it was a experiment and should be spin off so im cool with that but why ff16 ? FIrst i hate action combat at final fantasy ,yes there exist turn based rpgs or atb system but I dont want some random game ! I want a final fantasy that doesnt go away from turn based ff12 was the perfect battle system. It felt so real and not so cinematic like 16 or 7r . I know ff was always cinematic but at the right spot and not the battle system. I remember ff9 where everything is pefect you see a thing at it was perfect know i hate a lot of what final fantasy become. Charakters that doesnt make sense to exist Garude/Benedikta. She could have been great but she is a flying pice of shit that just exist you could have made a lot of her but no! She died with no purpose. I didnt really likeed Jill she was a boring charakter and to often just the love interest and clive had the most of the time 2 moods crying like shit or fighting like there exist more. Yes some scenes showed more but still zidane from ff9 showed more. I know comparing something like this with a god thing like ff9 is stupid but ff16 wante to go back to the middle aged europe like ff9 did but all in all ff16 was the worst final fanatasy i ever played. Not a good final fnatsy but a good game. Sorry its my opinon
I’m not really in either of the camps you mentioned.
i'm petty sure that Clive made it it's in his name "C=see LIVE" 🤣
but seriously joking aside the open to interpretation ending what do you think ???
all we see that Clive hand start to turn to stone also the same with Jill after destroying the Iron kingdom mother crystal so both of them don't have much time left to live..
also the ending Jill crying all night then sunrise she stopped and smiled then black screen and Clive says : "tus our Journey end", remind me of Clive and Jill in the flower scene "no matter how dark the night dawn will come and that you will come for me Clive" and near the end "i will come back, i promise, i love you".
here what i think : the game theme song is about Jill wish "Clive returning to her", also the book in the post credit by "joshua rosfield" at first you think that joshua made it but i can say it could be that Clive wrote it and used Joshua name to honour his memory there is a quest with Hippocrates where Clive say : "i may start writing after the sword".., also maybe Clive and Jill had a son and named him Joshua and he who wrote the book about his father...
what bug me why make Clive confess to Jill with the promise to come back just for him to die and Jill all alone ???
i just hope FOR Clive and Jill happy ending DLC or at least they get to spend their last moments together.
Only thing I’ll say about this game is that it is indeed one of the few experiences that reminds me why I love this medium of entertainment and that regardless of any critical words I have for it, it still manages to heal much of the damage the cynicism in my heart has caused that was naturally built up by all the bad habits plaguing every corporate industry. This is the kind of genuine art, that sparks my burning passion and I loved that I got to play it
The music of FF always beautiful
i love everything beside i feels like the story need little bit more justice and too many side story just too repetitive for me.
i ended up getting sleep most of the time but i love the premise of XVI. its just love hate relationship for me.
This was my first real entry into the final fantasy world (I played a little bit of 15, but didn’t really get hooked) and I absolutely love FF16. This was my GOTY and one of my favorite games of all time. Played it at a very low point in my life and to fully detach myself from reality and lose myself in this world. After beating this game I was lead to FF7 Remake and learning the lore so much so I decided to buy Rebirth for myself and now I love the FF7 world just as much. FF16 will forever hold a place in my heart, amazing video man.
16 is totally a Final Fantasy game! To me, the story trumps all and keeps me invested in the characters and the world. I agree with you on the gameplay, specifically the fighting mechanics. That was one of the biggest drawbacks for me. It felt way too easy to just power thru everything. I hope they build on this more and create some type of strategy element to add when battling. Remakes model, for me, was better of the recent two and my current preferred gameplay style for FF. However that doesn’t mean they can’t take what they’ve built in 16 and try to integrate the strategy back in in future installments. They brought Suzuki in for this specific brand of combat to branch out to a wider audience, and he did what he does best! However, if he continues further, I hope that he’ll develop it further to integrate the strategy into his combat style in future installments.
I also missed being able to control party members more then I thought I would. Being able to tell Cid or Jill who to attack and when to use their ult would have been better.
Final Fantasy Tactics, while not a mainline entry, was probably the last major FF with a robust job system. I personally loved the Zodiac concepts in that game on top of the political and religious intrigue. And you want to talk about endings? Tactics is a must play if you love Final Fantasy.
X-2 had pretty robust jobs as well, but I do agree Tactics did it best. While X-2 is much maligned for its tonal whiplash and sloppy story, the job system is incredible and is definitely its most redeeming factor. Worth playing for the job and combat gameplay alone
@@ftilxe no X-2 is probably the most recent mainline non mmorpg with jobs... and obscure jobs to obtain like Mascot.... War of the Lions did add more jobs but base Tactics had crazy shit like Calculator. Prime Lvl Jump on a ninja was just ridiculous.
What the hell!?
FF 12 was based IN FFT world and even made by the same writer/director and (naturally) came out after.
You could argue it wasn’t as strict a job system as tactics but the social age re-release was a good attempt at correcting that.
I will agree, tactics is my absolute favourite job system. Period.
What a good ass video
Appreciate it!
Ff16 might not please FF purists but you can't please everybody. Nevertheless it's an amazing game with a dark and philosophical narrative with fantastic boss fights. Sure there are clear pacing issues concerning sidequests (again can't please everybody) but overall I really enjoyed the game. Definitely a firm 9/10 for me. My only critiques are that gameplay does get a little repetitive due to sluggish storytelling and there are a few plot holes. Mainly, how exactly did Joshua survive? And where is Leviathan?
Heck yes, this game’s something else.
A fantastic cinematic experience. In-depth is another way I’d describe it. Profound.
Between the hours and hours of lore, the Library, and the State of the Realm, I can say they did a heck of a job regarding the lore and histories of Valisthea.
And need we abound on the characters? Clive’s story is awesome. And that open-ended ending broke me.
(I’m one of the opinion he actually survived the end.)
((Edit: Bit of a typo.))
Wow, I feel bad for those that had such a negative experience with this entry.
As a longtime fan of the series I actually enjoyed everything except maybe the “whiplash” James mentioned about the pacing with regard to the side quests.
A lot of the time I just wanted to get on with the story but I also didn’t want to miss the clearly “time-limited” side quests.
However the content they provided made the world feel much more fleshed out and all the better for it as all the side quests culminated in the absolute best lead in to the ending.
Then there’s the combat which was very satisfying, it doesn’t sound like some took the time to perfect the core mechanics like dodges and combos but I loved mixing up my move set a lot and being able to reset all abilities to literally reconfigure everything whenever I wanted was very encouraging for trying new things out.
Unlocking new Eikons at at fairly regular interval in the narrative, kept things fresh enough that I felt always had opportunity to try new things out, and this always gave me a new favourite configuration over my last one.
Sorry to those that didn’t enjoy it though.
I understand opinions for disliking elements from this one (as with any individual entry even), but I am glad we get something new and different every time, that to me is what final fantasy is, it’s got some staple ingredients that define it as the dish it is, but there is always a new take on the recipe and how it’s all put together.
And that’s always going to be better than something that is afraid to change, kinda like a certain antagonist in the latest final fantasy game… >_>
I am here to like the video and will return once I beat this glorious game. So far all it is almost exactly what I wanted out of this game, and with some pretty seemingly easy additions to combat it could have been perfect. I think you could def have a party system combat like in FF7R but I also just think if you gave all the enemies strengths/weaknesses where you had to consciously think about what abilities your using this could have been been excellent combat. Improving the crafting would also have been nice. Overall though, it’s one of my favourite gaming stories/settings in years with good combat.
This is my first game in the series, so I have no room to speak on it compared to the others. However, I adored this game. Yes, it has some glaring issues with pacing, side quest design, and limited RPG aspects. Despite all that, the fun combat, rich world, great cast of characters, phenomenal visuals and music, and unbelievable boss fights completely dwarf any issues I have with it. I can forgive the negative parts because the game is so damn earnest in what it's trying to do and say. It's not some cynical product responding to trends, but a genuine attempt to create something special, flaws and all. It's gonna stick with me for a long time.
I have no clue with FF lore i atill haven't finished the 7 remake, do you need to play the others before playing this new one
Every Final Fantasy is it's own universe with it's own lore and character and world, so you don't have to worry about playing any others, each mainline entry is a perfectly good starting point
@@LazerzZah great thanks
@@alexandernicholl5772 there's are Final Fantasy spin offs of some of the games, but they tell you which universe it is in.
For example Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core is a prequel of Final Fantasy 7. or FFX has X-2.
I bored this game a lot I cannot agree in some or almoost in all points of the video. But nice video I guess with the music and all.
Really love this game but tbh it has more in common with the last two god of war games than any Final Fantasy I played. Doesn't mean I won't live FF16 any less, it's just a thing I felt and noticed.
Unfortunately I felt like Jill’s character peaked at the drakes fang arc and that wasn’t even the middle of the game at that point. She never had her own stake in the plot aside from supporting Clive. I thought her relationship with Clive was very sweet and wholesome but she could have had a lot more done with her character, as she was always the 2nd-3rd most important character in the plot. Still sad that she and Clive aren’t shown being together at the end but then again Clive might be dead so that really sucks for Jill.
I disagree. She wanted what Clive wanted for the same reasons. It wasn’t Clive’s journey, it was her Joshua and Clive’s. Her motives were cids on top of having a never again mentality about her time in the iron kingdom
I LOVE this game..Graphics, gameplay everything...
some fat gaming
Great video james. However regarding the point of you knowing clive is ifrit from the beginning. I think its just supposed to throw people off that didnt follow the marketing very closly. Since you watched most of the trailers I think thats why you understood that hes ifrit because its literally shown in every trailer
It wasn’t that, I genuinely feel the scene heavily implies it’s Clive, otherwise the scene just lacks any meaning. Murdoch dies, but Clive doesn’t, the hooded guy was obviously a representation for something, that’s why Clive grabs his head. It just made it perfectly clear to me 🤷🏻♂️
The story really looks promising, the gameplay though... Yikes... Gameplay just doesn't feel like FF, which is sad. Kinda seems like the series lost its soul.
Hello! I liked your video overall, but I have A LOT of things I want to comeback on a lot of your statements/fellings about the game:
- The class system and the party ARE in FF16, the class system being the Eikons you equip, that CLEARLY play differently from one another like job class would, and the party is there. there is VERY FEW times where you are alone. Torgal is almost 24/7 with you he IS a party member. Joshua, Jill, Byron, Gav... also when you save the game they are one the save file depending on where you are in the game, plus some of them rejoign you forever toward the end of the game. You do fight as a party. Can't control them yes, but that actually make sense and was the best choice. if you play other character they need to have their own hp, but we all saw in ANY A-RPG how the cpu does NOT pull their weight in the fight making you waste heals on them and stuff. Would have been counter productive with the fact that Clive is the one with the artillery, making him the one through whom you will experience the core gameplay and main subject of the game: the Eikons. Maining other character that don't have that Eikons system or tree abilities like Clive would make no sense and would make thing complicated for nothing. As long as you have the mythology of Final Fantasy AKA Chocobos, Mogs, Cid, Summon, Magic, ect... you're in a Final Fantasy game. Where were those complains in FF15 where you can only play Noctis? People still consider it like a Final Fantasy right? Why should it be different here?
That game IS a Final Fantasy game IN EVERY ASPECT. It would have been an issue if FF16 was a sequel to FF15, but it's not it's is own game, so the gameplay being it's own is not a flaw, it's what it's suppose to be.
- What you said about the gears and character building element being gone is CAP since it's ACTUALLY there like you said just before that statement. There is no "Ultimaly" cause even if you did success the game without crafting or gearing up, A LOT MORE, and I mean by that the MAJORITY of the people playing the game NEED THAT to succed. You being good at action game doesn't count here you represent a minority in that aspect. Without that, you do no damage, die earlier, make the game harder for yourself for no reason. It DOES help you to keep up with the monster leveling up. The game is accessible enought so that first time player who give some attention to those things can win, but that doesn't make the game easy to the point that gearing up is useless. Gearing up in that game is essential, even more in Final Fantasy mode. People need to stop finding excuse to have something "negative" to say about a media. If the shit is well done it's well done and it is what it is.
-The Item shops are relevant since they do have what you need for your journey. Sure the weapons are weaker since you already forged a better one usually, but they got heals and buff that you don't want to go all the way to the hideout to get. and really that's all you need. Plus here ALL the shops update their ressources, meaning that you can go at any shops and get what Karrone have plus different fear and song for the hideout, when as in other Final Fantasy or rpg in general, they dont, meaning they become useless as you progress in the story. Shops in FF16 are MORE usefull than most other rpg you can think of.
- FF7RE don't have a job system they have different character with different set of skills. FF16 does have a job system with the Eikons. Also, FF16 maybe not as complicated as FF7RE, it's just as enjoyable, and is as technical. You need to time you're skill with Titan to deal more damage, time your magic spelll to do magic bursts, use Torgal at the end of a skill of attack so that you can continue the combo like a magic burst, Do parries with Odin so that you make Issen counter to gain a large amount of meter, Charging magic during a combo or an animation so that you can unleash it right after then Phoenix shift on the foe to air combo it, ect...
-As I said before, the gears here DO help you out. For example the item that allow you skills to deal more damage on the stagger meter are significant. Even those that make it so your skill comes back earlier or those that make them deal more damage, the gear that put you in Pre-Priming mode each time you make a perfect dodge, allowing you to save your pre-priming bars fresh.
- Dungeon do give unique Items in FF16 like in the one where you fight Benedicta there is chest that give you the eikons gear. It's the same in ANY DUNGEON IN THE GAME. As I said again, searching excuse to have something to critic the game about when there is nothing to critic, plus those critics are false.
-The game IS built like a Final Fantasy should be: It innove itself while staying true to most of it's roots, AKA ITS MYTHOLOGY.
- As I said before, the game is NOT easy. It propose a good amount of challenge, who ever you might be aka a pro or a newbie. Proof is: If people do die in the game, then the game is hard enough. Which is the case. Most of the player dies at least one times or won in a situation where if they don't use a potion they might die due to monster/boss having different timing on their attack to threw you off, they all have different set of pattern that you need to understand (usually simple pattern so you can dodge them on the first instance of it). And irronically, people say that FF16 is easy but EVERY Final Fantasy are NOT THAT HARD. As long as you know how to play around your skills and characters, you STEAMROLL ANY mainline Final Fantasy game. Any Final Fantasy game have it's fair amount of challenge FF16 INCLUDED. It's not that the game is easy, it's that the game is not that hard and that is THE big difference to note.
For the World view:
-These is no Final Fantasy game that represent better the scale of the adventure like FF16. FF7 can't compare. The thing is the world building in FF16 is so good each time something happens in the history of Valisthea you can see it on the WHOLE region you are in. For example when you compare the Rosalith region before and after the Primogenesis, it's absolutely baffling. The music is ultra tense in every city of Valisthea you goes, EVERY citizen talk about what happening, how are they gonna survire that situation, you see wounded people on the ground due to the Akashic attacking, even the side quest( which are MOSTLY Great people be hating just to hate fr) you learn how the world evolve each time a historical event happen and you can see with you eyes how it changed when you go in a region. no need for world map to lose time walking on too it's better to immerse yourself directly in the region and see how deeply the world changed. FF16 story and handling of the world building is ultra immersive and represent perfectly the gravity of each situation you put peoples in when you destroy a mother-crystal. No FF can compare even FF14 which does a freacking good job at that.
- Also you are right about the fact that you need to pass 3 hours making forced sidequest lol that's crazy. Now they do bring interesting thing to the light on how dark/hard the world of Valisthea is on a personnal/per-to-per level which kinda balance out the issue but it's something you need to be willing to pay attention to. That's not a flaw cause it's not everytime but it can be annoying fr XD
Character:
- Jill is clearly not the weakest character in the game. The thing is that contrary to other main girl in FF, she is NOT central to the plot. She's somewhat in between protagonist (Like Clive and Joshua) and Support character (like Dion or Gav). The story is about Clive and his brother but the game present Jill sometimes as if the story is about Clive, Joshua AND her, even tho it's not the case. That's why people think she's been treated poorly in the game but when you see the whole picture, she absolutely incredible. She did what she had to do and her scenes are valid, EVEN THO sometime the plot DO be doing her dirty like when Kupka capture her just after the Coeurl fight in Rosaria the man just spawn behind her with a whole ass squad making NO SOUND like what was she suppose to do. Even Clive would NOT have been ready for that is he was in her place. Same with the journey to the Iron Kingdom she's Shiva but they have to fight in a Volcan versus a Lava Demon created by Ultima like what do you expect her to do LMFAO obvioulsly you won't play as her she can't win that fight she has to play the support role. Plus the game is about Clive AND Joshua so it make sense that only those 2 are playable in Eikon battle. But yeah Jill is an extraordinary character in her own right what she does in the game for Clive and how she imply herself to the cause is crazy. She's a strong character certified.
- Joshua DIED at the end of the game. Clive did NOT bring him back to life. Joshua said in the game just after the first encounter with Barnabas at Kanvert that Phoenix CAN'T bring people back to life, just heal wounds. ALSO, WHAT sense does it make that Clive brings back his brother but don't even let him escape Origin he blew the thing away while Joshua is knock out JUST BEHIND HIM with barely any life in him that shit would have kill him on impact! Like make it make sense guys Clive is NOT THAT DUMB.
Clive just healed the wounds to clean up his brother. Plus him reviving Joshua just after greifing his death would destroy the whole point of that scene where he recall his important memories with Joshua and the point about the importance of permanant death you talked about. To make the end perfect and have a impactfull meaning Joshua HAVE to die (and Clive too). Don't listen to fantasic theories based on the side quest or whatever the facts are in the game: Joshua died that night along with Clive and Dion and NEVER came back. For the book stuff at the end, Gav write it since he carries the will/wishes of the Cids, one being to write a book about their adventures (and he would know about it since Harpocrates was aware of that). Since Clive would have used Joshua's name as the author as a momento and also Harpocrates was impressed by Joshua's history knowledge, so seeing him as a futur historian Harpocrates could have advise Gav to use Joshua's name. Also Gav have EVERYTHING HE NEED to write the book since with Viviane they have ALL the infos they need on the historic moments of the game, including Clive's. Plus for the last mission they know that Clive, Joshua and Dion went there, beat Ultima and nobody came back home cause they died. It's all he need to know. What happenned exactly in there in not important he can make up whatever the hell he want about it.
- The fact that Clive, Joshua and Dion died that night is what make that ending so tragic but beautifull and emotionnal with the song that fit perfectly. That what make the ending perfect because it's fit PERFECTLY with Jill's word: No matter how cruel the night is, the dawn will always come. As in whatever atrocities might happens, the next day have the potential to bring hope and hapinness. Which is litteraly demonstrated in the ending by the fact that the dawn litteraly come out reflecting their victory over Ultima and the realisation of their dream: A world where everyone can live as they want and as equal. And by that Clive give what Jill wanted, the possibility to journey outside Valisthea AND to contemplate the sight of the moon. Again, Clive and Joshua being dead is perfect and represent perfectly what they world they live in and what humanity is all about. So yeah, they all died that night.
To be honest the game have objectively 0 flaws. That said a game having no flaws DOESN'T make it perfect cause perfection is PURELY SUBJECTIVE. Those who think that the game have flaws are people who confound personnal taste with ACTUAL flaws. Your personnal taste is what will decide if the game is perfect for YOU, actual flaws is something that actually is an hindrance to almost every player and that is RECURRENT and FF16 have nothing of the sort.
I was ready to accept an action game with a good story. Well, what I got was an action game that loves taking control away from you to show you cutscenes and a story that falls apart at the seams. Truly an agressively mediocre game with next to no value or worth.
You are better spent individually consuming all that inspired this game than actually playing it.
every game SE makes, it is to improve next generation games. such as KH4. although, SE is changing for the worst with their dei agenda
You are way more forgiving of the story elements here than I would be. I think the story tries to do a lot and fails in many respects because of fundamental flaws in the writing.
When it comes to characters, Jill may be the weakest, but she's not an exception. Almost everyone you meet throughout the game is little more than a one-note trope. When you compare some of the side-characters in this game to the party members in previous titles...man it's such a clear downgrade. Take Gav for example. Post time skip he becomes your sort of right hand man. He is a fun guy, sure, but are we really going to pretend he's anywhere near as fleshed out as Barret? or Wakka? We genuinely know nothing about the guy other than 'he does stuff for Cid.' We don't know what motivates him. We don't know anything about his past. Like so many things in this game he's written superficially--they make him charming and full of banter to endear him as quickly as possible, but he has very little substance underneath that initial coat of paint.
What annoys me the most is that the game *constantly* tries to shortcut its way to unearned emotional moments by having dialogue that SEEMS like it should be a payoff, but which is never properly set up. You talk about the scene between Clive and his uncle--a very emotional emotional scene indeed!...well, until you realize that you have literally never seen any interaction between these two characters and that their little play-skit comes out of left field because the game never establishes that Clive is an aspiring thespian. The scene is carried ENTIRELY by the talent of the actors, but NOT by the writing. And the infuriating thing is that it would have been so easy to fix it--I mean, how hard would it have been to have shown us a scene at the start of the game where Clive and his uncle share some banter about their acting? Hell, the game is so fixated on copying GoT that it would have been simple to arrange a feast scene at the start of the game (before heading out to Phoenix Gate) where Clive and his uncle joke around and, you know, establish a meaningful bond? I mean that's what GoT did in Episode 1 with Jon Snow and Benjen Stark right?
Or how about the scene where Clive first says goodbye to Gav and gets all emotional--telling him "I'd be lost without you." When I saw that scene I was genuinely baffled by Clive's sudden mood change--he spends the preceding few hours being a taciturn sourpuss, and then seems to warm up to Gav in a matter of literally 2 or 3 scenes. Seriously, go back and count the number of interactions Gav and Clive have before that point. They're minimal. They meet when you first arrive at Lostwing and Cid sends Gav off to do his scouting. Then they meet again when you leave the Caer after fighting Benedikta, at which point Gav offers to go track the dominant Clive is searching for. Great. The next time you see him is when you rescue him from imperial troops. And that's it. The very next time you interact, Clive gets weirdly intimate with Gav and tells him he'd be lost without him. Uh. What? You've met him a grand total of THREE times, and spoken for a grand total of like TWO minutes. Now you expect me to believe that the previously stoic Clive is ready to be BFFs? This scene would have been touching if the two characters had actually spent any time together, but the way it's written it just feels like the game is fast forwarding through relationships without earning it. And this happens all the time. It's lazy. And annoyingly, I can't help but wonder if it's something that would have been alleviated if the game hadn't done away with the party system. Because that at least would have made it feel like Clive spends a significant amount of time with some of these people.
I dunno man. I love a lot of the things this game does, but I feel like for every cool thing it adds, it drops the ball on like two or three other areas.
You are of course completely entitled to your opinion. It just seems like not addressing FF versus 13 and XV, in both scope and combat creates gaps in understanding some of the artist intent. Versus 13 promised that sophistifuture that seem to have modern dark tone on the series, through a trailer a very very hyped trailer. The game was in development hell, making the hype more extreme when it turned into 15. FF XV is a game that does feel like a hack and slash, a monotonous one as well. The worst part is, an unfinished and uncompelling story drives ff15. I think it makes sense that 16 essentially resolved all of the issues 15 had, making the combat dynamic and the story emotionally cohesive. If FF7 Rebirth is going to build on 7R's gameplay, wouldn't 16 build on 15's gameplay? This is of course just my opinion, but if you want to define what is Final Fantasy, you dont have to play all the games, but missing the 4 previous ones would affect the facts.
The game doesn't feel like FF to me. If chocobo and moogles weren't in the game, i wouldn't even tell the difference. Its a great game. But just not final fantasy.
So my plan was to start ng+ after I processed the ending. I finished the game about a week after it released and still haven't finished processing it.
Yeah it’s definitely something that sits with you, that’s for sure
Really movie style cut scenes & polish, really consistant franchise^. So many good games coming out or being worked on right now…quite a purple patch for gaming maybe the best.. ever..
Grand theft Auto 6….(huge), Starfield, Spider-Man 2, Tsushima 2, Witcher 1 remake, Red dead 1 remake, Fable reboot, Mass Effect 4, WITCHER 4…, Uncharted 5, Tomb Raider, Mafia 4, Black Flag remake, Test Drive Unlimited 3, Elden Ring 2, Project 007 IOI
80%+ should be bangers …
The story was yeeyee ass 😢
I can’t really judge on the narrative of this game and wether it fits final fantasy because I’ve only played FF7R and this but being a new final fantasy fan I was expecting this game to be more RPG in terms of gameplay.
Like even when I wasn’t a final fantasy fan I still recognised the series for being a JRPG and with that typically comes some form of progression of stats and collecting various items that may help you in certain scenarios. But this games progression is pretty much non existent. Sure as you play the story you unlock more eikon abilities but getting new gear, swords and healing items is all pretty useless.
Swords and gear have barely any effect on your overall stats, levelling up doesn’t mean much of anything and the items available to you either up your health or up your damage, it’s all quite simplistic.
I adore the Arcady combat, I love how the combats progression ties with the story, mixing multiple abilities to create combos and feeling so damn powerful but surely there’s a way to mix that so it still feels like the crafting you do, the swords you find, the items you collect have some effect and actually means something
Also I kind of didn’t mind the lack of a party system in this game but I think if they’re going for something like Clive commanding Torgal again rather than switching between multiple character I think more depth would be great. Give party members more abilities that the player can choose to equip to best suit their play style