The demo is now available on PSN store, I completed it last night - it’s pretty long, but it converted me from someone who was umm’ing and ahh’ing about the prospect of getting it, to probably getting it on day 1 - unless the rest of the game turns out to be awful or something.
I think this summarises my thoughts
I’ll be very excited to play this eventually when I get my hands on a PS5, but for now I can only sit on the side-lines and sigh as everybody enjoys the demo I can’t even try!
Sorry @Jassassino 
I still haven´t installed my PS5, so kinda in the same boat.
Finally got the chance to play the demo and blown away by it. The main story prologue bit is good, I knew the story would be dark but I didn’t expect a few things like how mature some of the language is. Really like the beginning so far but the bonus challenge you can do after you finish that bit is so damn fun, the combat is everything I hoped we’d get from FF Versus XIII before it changed to XV and more. Been a long time since I’ve played something that has felt so fun and fluid, probably honestly KH2 is the last game I’ve played that felt so on point.
OST is just unbelievable so far too, I can see why Soken is rated so highly.
I’ve never played a Final Fantasy game, but I’m tempted to get this one at some point based purely on the fact the combat is done by Ryota Suzuki who is responsible for the combat in my favourite game of all time (Monster Hunter World). Problem is I’ve “bought enough” games recently so I’m going to have to gaslight the Mrs in to wanting it. She’s played at least one in the series before now as there’s my base.
Good luck with the misses.
I´m getting pretty hyped for it after the good response, even from people who never played a Final Fantasy game before.
So I´m definitely getting it, but gonna try the used market, or with discount from a local games shop.
Can´t and will not pay €75 on a new game…
I just hope it still feels like a Final Fantasy game, with all the talk about Dark Souls vibe.
Seems to me like they’re trying for a Game of Thrones vibe. Proper Medieval setting and very violent. I don’t think I’ve seen this much gore in a Final Fantasy game before. Lots of different factions and kingdoms and nations to wrap your head around.
Enjoying it so far.
Yeah they said in development that was their main inspiration many times.
So Square haven’t just sought to make this the most cinematic Final Fantasy game, they’ve sought to make this the most cinematic game period. And I’d go as far as to say they’ve succeeded. An absolute feast for the eyes this. Some will criticise it and say there’s not enough gameplay, but we’re all Metal Gear fans here, 45 minute long cutscenes and grandiose storytelling is nothing new to us.
Very sad Benedikta died as early as she did. Very strong character and an absolute babe too. She could’ve been a real fan favourite with a bit more time.
Finished it. Loved it. In another year where Zelda doesn’t sweep up, a genuine GOTY contender.
Very much expect Ben Starr to pick up an award for his performance as Clive.
I´ve been reading and carefully checking gameplay videos and I have to say, purely as a Final Fantasy and JRPG fan, I´m not too excited anymore to buy it.
You can change the topic title to Clive´s Fantasy.
You can attack a Bomb with fire and do the same amount of damage. In other Final Fantasy games it would absorb the fire and heal.
You level up and get stats automatically, you can´t choose.
Apart from the Eikons and the title there seems to be very little that makes this a Final Fantasy game.
Am I completely wrong and doesn´t it look like “just” a great action game?
I don´t want to send bad vibes and rant, but purely as a fan I´m kinda dissappointed at the moment.
From my POV the only things in this that are different to most FF games is that it’s pretty linear (and while I can understand some not liking it, I completely get the decision having seen how the story is structured and the risks taken with that in terms of changes in the world), and I guess you could talk about levelling but I don’t really agree about not picking stat changes being anti-FF. VII didn’t let you decide / change any of that from levelling up did it? VI and V as well. You do get to select abilities with points in this game and decide to upgrade them or not (some upgrades even change how these attacks look which surprised me, rather than just dealing more damage). FF has never had a unified system for abilites and levelling, some systems are really good and some are really bad but there are a lot of different ones. Not having a proper party that you can switch between isn’t anything massively new, XV was the same.
To me, things that make XVI a FF game:
I see stuff like this being said about every new FF title that comes out tbh. Not everyone will like every game which is fine, but there’s loads in this that makes it a recognisable FF game, much like FFVIIR or XV had.
Cheers for taking the time mate. Makes me feel a bit better.
I´ve been putting my feelers out, but also trying not to spoil… Not easy. Also have to admit I didn´t play a FF game between FFXII and FFVIIR.
In other FF games the Bomb doing this would simply mean you don’t select a fire spell. You pat yourself on the back for figuring it out, and it doesn’t affect much of your gameplan, because you get to choose one action per round-not doing one particular thing isn’t that big of a deal.
In FFXVI however, the bomb being healed by fire would mean that you couldn’t:
use your base magic attack
use your weapon when imbued with magic
use at least two of your character abilities
use your limit break
And these things on their own may sound like ‘oh well for a certain enemy, why not impose those handicaps!’ but it’s precisely because the game plays differently that that would be a bit of a naff design choice. FFXVI isn’t turn based, you aren’t making one decision of a thing to do every 10 seconds or so, you’re making constant decisions every second. Having your options dramatically narrowed when fighting a bomb will feel a lot more noticeable.
Making it so an entire fire eikon’s worth of abilities heals an enemy doesn’t work the same as ‘just don’t use the fire eikon, good job for noticing’ because the fire eikon will be part of several potential attack paths you may decide on. It would just be frustrating because without the fire eikon abilities, you will have gaps in how all of your stuff chains together. It would be like if the necessary middle moves of a combo in a fighting game just healed the enemy.
RPG decision making may not go into type effectiveness, stat choices, but instead it goes into stuff like:
what state is the enemy in? what eikonic abilities do I have available to me right now? how do they chain into each other? do I need to use a stat boosting item or can I get by? what eikonic abilities should I equip, improve, and assign to each eikon?
Really the eikons work as a real time job system imo, and it’s great. When playing the demo I kept feeling like ‘hmm something is missing from this combat?’ but as the game goes on it feels more and more full bodied.
The plot as well is classically Final Fantasy imo. And you can say ‘apart from the eikons and the title’ but really, that’s the same for several existing FF games. At the end of the day ‘Final Fantasy’ is moogles, chocobo, and a good time. And this has all of them.
For what it’s worth, XIII was my first FF game and I enjoyed it and it still has a special place in my heart, but I do see its issues as I’ve since gone back and played IV-X, as well as IV: The After Years, Crisis Core, XIII and XV, and I’m really enjoying XVI.
This would be your IGN review tagline.
Final Fantasy is one of those series that have evolved so much over time, it’s difficult to really pinpoint what makes it “Final Fantasy”.
I have no doubt that if social media was as prevalent in 1997 as it is today, people would be kicking off that Final Fantasy VII isn’t a “real” Final Fantasy because it was such a departure from Final Fantasy VI.
This is basically what I meant.
Final Fantasy has changed with almost every game for sure. Like you say @Bread, going from VI to VII was a big step.
I´m all for evolution and improvements, but there you still have a lot of the “OG” JRPG elements. Always some kind of turn based battle as well.
I was affraid FFXVI was lacking these elements in almost every way.
Finally finished it. Really liked it.
I did think some aspects of the story could have been done better, it was a shame that Benedikta and Cid died so early on as they were great characters, and it felt like Jill was her own, strong person for the whole way until a certain point where it seemed like she took a backseat and just wanted to live for Clive. But I really liked so many of the characters, I loved the story and world and way the plot progressed, and it’s one of the few games where the protagonist succeeding against the odds and against the villains (on the way to the overarching villain) feels like it makes sense. I do think combat became a little dull at one point, I think utilising the Eikon powers could perhaps have been done in a way that made things more difficult but I understand the reasoning behind it. OST is phenomenal, I have a copy of it that I said I wouldn’t open until I finish the game so I’m looking forward to enjoying it more.
Overall, yeah it’s a darn good FF game. Side quests and hunts did feel repetitive at times, yet they all felt grounded within the world of Valisthea so well and like they made a difference, especially the final ones (a few of which made me teary). I was planning on just getting myself ready to move onto Starfield immediately, but I’d honestly love to start up another game. I really, really loved the first few hours of the game, I thought the world-building was excellent.