Support NeoGAF

[MagusMajul]

they said they didn't want to add people of color in this game for *historical accuracy* despite the game taking place in a fantasy universe. Well as a person of color I chose not to purchase this game because of it. Only color that matters is green.

 

[tamago84]

they were trying to ride the GoT wave which was a turn off

 

[captainpat]

There's no official source in the article so we don't know if it actually underperformed or did as well as Square thought it would.

 

[vkbest]

Maybe you are a moron when you have to go all the way back to ME2 for your comparison, a game with 96 metascore and universal acclaimed word of mouth. Pretty much the opposite case of FF16.

Then the problem is the game or the release time? Focus PCMR you are contradicting yourselves

 

[Astray]

Data like this one justifies decisions by game publishers to take exclusivity deals and/or delay PC releases, ala Rockstar games.

That's also the reason why so many PC ports are now botched. Resources go where the money comes from.

The way people act like a PC day 1 release is the only panacea for sales is honestly mind-boggling to me, there are a TON of AAA flops that release day 1 on PC (and on Xbox) for a ton of reasons, hell, Square itself had one of those in this gen (Forspoken).

If Square wants to make more money they have to manage budgets, stop chasing graphics, start listening to fans and stop letting their big rockstar leaders have their way in the company with no one to answer for. It's honestly that simple.

SE needs to take a look at themselves in the mirror. If Persona can be super successful as a turn based RPG then Final Fantasy can too. I’m not sure who asked for an action game but the series should go back to its roots. Keep Yoshi P on ff14 but away from ff17.

Dude Persona is successful because the budgets are controlled and the fanbase is largely united behind it, a successful Persona game sells maybe as as well as a FF one that disappoints Square.

The two franchises are honestly miles apart sales-wise, and that's with FF being mismanaged too.

There's no official source in the article so we don't know if it actually underperformed or did as well as Square thought it would.

SteamDB ownership estimates are somewhat in line with the 289k figure (230k~350k). They most certainly didn't sell millions of it.

 

[poppabk]

The way people act like a PC day 1 release is the only panacea for sales is honestly mind-boggling to me, there are a TON of AAA flops that release day 1 on PC (and on Xbox) for a ton of reasons, hell, Square itself had one of those in this gen (Forspoken).

It's not that they are the panacea for poor sales, but it is the best way to maximize PC sales.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I honestly don’t know how to reconcile the lackluster sales with the good review scores. Something just feels different about this Final Fantasy, and I don’t mean the battle system.

I’ve been a fan of the series since FF1 on the NES. The fanbase has always been very diverse and vocal. Everyone has their opinions on which are the good ones and which are the bad ones, and these people can passionately argue and speak at length all about the stuff they liked and disliked in every game.

XVI is the first time I’ve seen so much apathy. People just aren’t excited about Final Fantasy anymore and can’t be bothered to be emotionally invested in this game or the series as a whole.

I want to see people arguing and dunking on each other about their favorite party setups or favorite characters, how they’d rank this compared to the others, etc. Instead it’s like people weren’t even invested in it. They just played it until they finished or got bored with it, then moved on.

 

[captainpat]

SteamDB ownership estimates are somewhat in line with the 289k figure (230k~350k). They most certainly didn't sell millions of it.

I know but I'm questioning what square's sales targets for this port was. There wasn't a lot of marketing for this port so I'd imagine their sales goals are a lot less for it.

 

[Shodai]

At 44 I just cannot follow all these characters and effects flying all over the place. Half the time I can’t even tell if button mashing is all I need to do, which compounds the problem.

Souls games I am all over because I can read the combat.

Either go back to turned-based, make it an option, or adopt souls style play imo.

 

[Three]

Nope. Normies opinions can't be taken seriously. They love the likes of cod and fifa. Are they accepted as good games?

Did the "normies" get it right then?

I'm not the one saying sales are directly related to critical reception. That's Mayar.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I honestly don’t know how to reconcile the lackluster sales with the good review scores. Something just feels different about this Final Fantasy, and I don’t mean the battle system.

I’ve been a fan of the series since FF1 on the NES. The fanbase has always been very diverse and vocal. Everyone has their opinions on which are the good ones and which are the bad ones, and these people can passionately argue and speak at length all about the stuff they liked and disliked in every game.

XVI is the first time I’ve seen so much apathy. People just aren’t excited about Final Fantasy anymore and can’t be bothered to be emotionally invested in this game or the series as a whole.

I want to see people arguing and dunking on each other about their favorite party setups or favorite characters, how they’d rank this compared to the others, etc. Instead it’s like people weren’t even invested in it. They just played it until they finished or got bored with it, then moved on.

The franchise has run the gamut in terms of ways to play, and for a long time FF was THE RPG series. It basically removed its own identity by changing so much and so often with each game. I don't really see where they could go to remake the name to be what it once was. That ship has sailed.

 

[Puscifer]

A good game, but it is more like an action game like DMC, It lacks RPG element. This game is the one that they should labeled as Final Fantasy Versus, instead of numbered one. FF numbered must bring back it lighthearted approach and charm. Dark and for mature theme does not suit for FF series.

It's exactly why I'm scared for the new Dragon Quest, the stories are already mature and dark if they need but the overall tone is still "fun" if that makes sense. Plus the last update said the staff was having trouble adjusting for the "mature tone" so I have no idea what to make of it

 

[Calverz]

Played the demo on ps5 and then on pc. The game felt quite average. It didn't really play like a final fantasy game to me. But that's been an issue for me from 13 onwards.

Anyway it doesn't matter now. They are releasing games day one multiplatform. They learned their lesson the hard way.

 

[Astray]

It's not that they are the panacea for poor sales, but it is the best way to maximize PC sales.

And how much do PC sales max out at? This is actually a critical figure that you need to have an idea of before you reject a Sony or Gamepass check.

Take something like Refantazio, which by all accounts did great in sales for what it is, and it launched day 1 on PS4/5, Xbox Series and PC.. SteamDB estimates put the ownership numbers around 300k~500k, that's definitely higher than FF16, but are 200k more sales (let's say they sell at $70, so ~$14m in revenue before Valve takes its cut) worth turning down the Sony check and marketing for the game (the latter of which was massive and contributed to a healthy 5m copies sold)? That's possible, but I honestly doubt it.

The franchise has run the gamut in terms of ways to play, and for a long time FF was THE RPG series. It basically removed its own identity by changing so much and so often with each game. I don't really see where they could go to remake the name to be what it once was. That ship has sailed.

They need to grit their teeth, figure out what playstyle is most favored by the fanbase (use surveys like Sega and Capcom regularly do) and build their next 3 mainline FFs around it, whatever the sales may end up being. Other playstyles that are more "niche" can be served perfectly fine through spin-offs or even brand-new IPs like Sega is doing with Yakuza and SMT/Persona.

They also need to stop chasing graphics and start conditioning fans to expect 8/10 graphics instead of 20/10, that way they can release on Switch and target lesser PCs for perf.

Is there risk involved with the above? Yes, but it won't be worse than doing something because Kitase or Nomura or Yoshida or Sakaguchi like the idea and have no one to tell them no.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Anyone else feel like it's time for FF to pack it in? The series is kind of like Aaron Rodgers in that he should have retired, or stuck with the Packers instead of uprooting to NY with the backwards Jets. FF should have scrapped the XIII trilogy and instead ended the franchise with FFXIV, with that being XIII.

In order to sway people to buy a new mainline FF, SE will once again have to rely on a facade of hype and lies like it did with XVI, and with every new iteration the series falls to a new low. FF VII remakes are the exceptions in the modern era. It's just not worth it anymore. Just make new games.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

They need to grit their teeth, figure out what playstyle is most favored by the fanbase (use surveys like Sega and Capcom regularly do) and build their next 3 mainline FFs around it, whatever the sales may end up being. Other playstyles that are more "niche" can be served perfectly fine through spin-offs or even brand-new IPs like Sega is doing with Yakuza and SMT/Persona.

They also need to stop chasing graphics and start conditioning fans to expect 8/10 graphics instead of 20/10, that way they can release on Switch and target lesser PCs for perf.

Is there risk involved with the above? Yes, but it won't be worse than doing something because Kitase or Nomura or Yoshida or Sakaguchi like the idea and have no one to tell them no.

I like the idea of continuing spin offs, since the name is still recognizable, but like my post above, I think maybe it's time to stop the mainline numbers.

 

[Caffeine]

Series do run their course. This is me who has the entire series ultimanias and ff14's 3 encyclopedia erozeas, have played every game in the series and spinoffs and currently mid playthrough the xvi. I don't see them making it to final fantasy XX. Moving forward for the franchise we will get the final 7 remake game, a 9 half ass remake?, a tactics remaster?, a X remake?. No I dont think 8 will ever get remade
If it comes to numbered games I could see a 17th entry, an 18th entry, and a new mmo down the line but I think they will drop the roman numeral numbering. It kinda feels like square needs to start expanding into newer ip's or even propping up dormant ip's (xeno gears and chrono) as new experiences. Living off of only 1 ip is not going to end well for the company.

To answer Astray it seems about 2-3m for final fantasy on pc is a peak. there are outliers that just gained more but they have been on sales for over 15 years at really cheap prices. however that 2-3m is over multiple years also, refantasio is like launch window figures that are expected I guess.

 

[Astray]

I like the idea of continuing spin offs, since the name is still recognizable, but like my post above, I think maybe it's time to stop the mainline numbers.

The mainline series is what keeps the ship going forward, very hard to drop this level of brand equity completely.

There's no need to pack it up, even Sonic managed to get back from a truly horrible decade or so, they just need to go back for a bit in order to get forward.

Keep budgets manageable, unite your fans as much as possible and see where it goes, sales-wise.

Astray it seems about 2-3m for final fantasy on pc is a peak. there are outliers that just gained more but they have been on sales for over 15 years at really cheap prices. however that 2-3m is over multiple years also, refantasio is like launch window figures that are expected I guess.

I don't think that's an impossible figure, but Square needs to deliver a hell of an FF title to get these figures, that's honestly the hard part of this more than anything else.

 

[Arsic]

So speak for yourself. (though Dragons Dogma 2 is so fucking good (combat))
But ff16 as a whole package is great. If FF16 is a "MID" game, we have fucking problem here.
I've not played a game this high quality, this ambitious and grand in a long time. Stellar blade is better as a whole package but still not nearly as grand as ff16

I like ff16 a lot but ambitious? Come on man.

This game has major issues; many of which are not present in Rebirth.(Which has plenty of its own issues)

16 issues:
Auto pilot combat. It’s all flash. No substance. I died once in this entire game ever. It has no challenge.

Pacing. Usually the number one complaint of the game is the story pacing bogging down at various points.

Side quests are a joke. Awful side quests that make mmo side quests look compelling by comparison.

No reward to exploration. You’re never going to go off the beaten bath and get a cool secret boss, or a new armor or weapon.

Empty overworld. No reason to explore in general not just rewards.

No RPG elements/level progression. It’s beyond linear. Weapons are not missable in a straight fashion for upgrades along with accessories. There’s no mixing it up whatsoever aside from which eikon powers you want to use. And that’s limited.

—-

What it does well:

Looks great

Great voice acting

Great story

Combat is flashy

Epic boss moments and use of scale

I gave it an 8/10, but … ambitious? Please stop.

 

[Fbh]

I honestly don’t know how to reconcile the lackluster sales with the good review scores. Something just feels different about this Final Fantasy, and I don’t mean the battle system.

I’ve been a fan of the series since FF1 on the NES. The fanbase has always been very diverse and vocal. Everyone has their opinions on which are the good ones and which are the bad ones, and these people can passionately argue and speak at length all about the stuff they liked and disliked in every game.

XVI is the first time I’ve seen so much apathy. People just aren’t excited about Final Fantasy anymore and can’t be bothered to be emotionally invested in this game or the series as a whole.

I want to see people arguing and dunking on each other about their favorite party setups or favorite characters, how they’d rank this compared to the others, etc. Instead it’s like people weren’t even invested in it. They just played it until they finished or got bored with it, then moved on.

The initial sales weren't bad, which to me signals there's still interest in the franchise. 3 Million in a week only on PS5 isn't amazing but it's not terrible when you look at games like Dragons Dogma 2 selling 2.5 million in a month on 3 platforms (which capcom seemed pleased with) and even a well beloved game like Dark Souls 3 "only" did 3 million in a month launching on more platforms with a bigger install base.

The biggest problem with XVI seems to be that it had no legs, it sold well at first and then seemingly fell off a cliff. And that's probably in no small part due to the fact that the game simply isn't that good and word of mouth became quite mixed soon after launch.

The franchise has run the gamut in terms of ways to play, and for a long time FF was THE RPG series. It basically removed its own identity by changing so much and so often with each game. I don't really see where they could go to remake the name to be what it once was. That ship has sailed.

They can change the combat all they want for all I care but it would be nice if at least they tried to make an RPG again.
FF is basically a "JRPG" franchise in name alone now, the last entry that actually felt like one was probably XII.

Over the last decade it has morphed more into an action adventure franchise....just not a particularly good one.

 

[Synless]

I enjoyed the game quite a bit. That being said, it’s the one Final Fantasy game I don’t ever see myself playing through again.

 

[HogIsland]

This is the main issue, though let’s not forget how bland the FF series has become over time.

SE needs to overhaul the whole FF franchise since its not working anymore

the last ff i cared about was 12, but it seems like most people enjoy the 7 remakes

 

[Mayar]

For me, this game became a paradox, because I still didn't understand what they wanted to do with this game.

As a FF, this is a very bad and weak game, since the depth was sacrificed, a straight-up liniar game without any RPG elements, where practically everything from equipment to stats has no meaning. A completely dead and useless world, in which there is no point in running, since the reward for this is 0. Plus a relatively weak and uninteresting plot.

At the same time, the game tries to be in Devil May Cry, but this is an extremely meager and weak attemp. As was correctly noted, the difficulty of the game is absolutely zero. And please fire the person who came up with the idea that you can complete the game by wearing 3 rings and pressing one button...

You either make FF, or if you really wanted to make a DMС clone, make DMС to the end. In the end, you got a game in which part of FF is Bad and part of DMС is extremely mediocre.

But the main mistake in my opinion is that this is a numbered part of FF, if it were some kind of spinoff like Dirge of Cerberus, there would be much fewer questions. But as a numbered part of FF it is incredibly weak.

 

[Drake]

Anyone else feel like it's time for FF to pack it in? The series is kind of like Aaron Rodgers in that he should have retired, or stuck with the Packers instead of uprooting to NY with the backwards Jets. FF should have scrapped the XIII trilogy and instead ended the franchise with FFXIV, with that being XIII.

In order to sway people to buy a new mainline FF, SE will once again have to rely on a facade of hype and lies like it did with XVI, and with every new iteration the series falls to a new low. FF VII remakes are the exceptions in the modern era. It's just not worth it anymore. Just make new games.

IDK if they need to pack it in, but they need to sit down and have serious discussions on what the core game play needs to be going forward. They've moved too far away from being an RPG in an attempt to please everyone. When you try to do that you end up pleasing no one. Also, from FF X and onward they've tried to completely change the battle system with every iteration.

SMT/Persona (at least P3 and newer) is a good model to follow. The core game play is more or less the same in every iteration with slight tweaks for things like QoL improvements and improvements in combat. But you know what you are getting when you play one of those games.

Figure out what fans actually want from FF, nail that core game play down and slightly tweak things with each game. Also, I'm going on the assumption that game play and not story is the issue with the series. I will admit that the story in XV is a mess. Outside of the demo I haven't played XVI, so I can't comment on that. Although what I saw in the demo made it look somewhat interesting.

 

[dispensergoinup]

At 44 I just cannot follow all these characters and effects flying all over the place. Half the time I can’t even tell if button mashing is all I need to do, which compounds the problem.

Souls games I am all over because I can read the combat.

Either go back to turned-based, make it an option, or adopt souls style play imo.

As an old guy, I'm with you here.

I devoured Elden Ring but just couldn't get into 16 with all it's flashy everything.
Hearing the story is great and the characters are well written though.

But yes I would prefer something turn-based, like what Expedition 33 is doing.

Good graphics and art direction, just enough flash and slow enough for my old brain.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

One of FF issues has to be the story. FF 10 came out in what 2001? The story's have been high garbage with annoying as fuck characters. Seems they abandoned having love stories in their games too.

16 story was better than the last 20 years of garbage . But it's insane it's been over 20 years since FF X how bad the series has gotten.

 

[Dorago]

The game has been out for a year. It's generally considered underwhelming. There hasn't been much complaining or memeing about it, which means not many people played it.

 

[Rambone]

The game didn't click with me for some reason. Maybe it's the combat, maybe it's the story, maybe it's the lack of a open world, I'm not sure. Characters were fine though.

 

[squidilix]

But... PC bros tell me the game gonna sell more releasing on PC...

Xbros and Nkids is the last hope?

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

One of FF issues has to be the story. FF 10 came out in what 2001? The story's have been high garbage with annoying as fuck characters. Seems they abandoned having love stories in their games too.

16 story was better than the last 20 years of garbage . But it's insane it's been over 20 years since FF X how bad the series has gotten.

This.

It's sad really.

Final Fantasy used to be a premium series where each release was eagerly anticipated, delivering an unforgettable adventure.

Now, since 12, they've all been incoherent messes, with narratives that never hit the right beats.

If you asked me what 16 was about, I couldn't even tell you. Overzealous God tricking humanity, again, I dunno?

I did like the dragonball Z style summon battles, but even that lost steam. I wanted it to be over right around that ridiculous ocean scene.

 

[Mayar]

If you asked me what 16 was about, I couldn't even tell you.

Spoiler

The main character was beaten, the main character is going to take revenge, there is a bad guy in the world, he must be defeated or the end of the world will happen. After which, at the end of the credits, I will show you that after many years, everything you did in the game is now just a fairy tale that mom reads to little children... The end.

 

[Katatonic]

Yet SE stated that the PS5 release expanded the franchise to newer audiences.

 

[poppabk]

And how much do PC sales max out at? This is actually a critical figure that you need to have an idea of before you reject a Sony or Gamepass check.

Take something like Refantazio, which by all accounts did great in sales for what it is, and it launched day 1 on PS4/5, Xbox Series and PC.. SteamDB estimates put the ownership numbers around 300k~500k, that's definitely higher than FF16, but are 200k more sales (let's say they sell at $70, so ~$14m in revenue before Valve takes its cut) worth turning down the Sony check and marketing for the game (the latter of which was massive and contributed to a healthy 5m copies sold)? That's possible, but I honestly doubt it.

Refantazio sold 5 million on PS5? That sounds like crazy talk. Link?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

For me, this game became a paradox, because I still didn't understand what they wanted to do with this game.

As a FF, this is a very bad and weak game, since the depth was sacrificed, a straight-up liniar game without any RPG elements, where practically everything from equipment to stats has no meaning. A completely dead and useless world, in which there is no point in running, since the reward for this is 0. Plus a relatively weak and uninteresting plot.

At the same time, the game tries to be in Devil May Cry, but this is an extremely meager and weak attemp. As was correctly noted, the difficulty of the game is absolutely zero. And please fire the person who came up with the idea that you can complete the game by wearing 3 rings and pressing one button...

You either make FF, or if you really wanted to make a DMС clone, make DMС to the end. In the end, you got a game in which part of FF is Bad and part of DMС is extremely mediocre.

But the main mistake in my opinion is that this is a numbered part of FF, if it were some kind of spinoff like Dirge of Cerberus, there would be much fewer questions. But as a numbered part of FF it is incredibly weak.

I swear this game started as a DMC style spinoff game, then they decided to rework it into a full blown numbered FF game. There’s such a vast gulf in quality between the main story missions/bosses and everything else.

You can practically imagine their entire thought process along the way too.

“It’s an RPG, that means we need to make some open areas to run around and explore”

“We need to give the player a reason to explore, so let’s throw in a bunch of A Realm Reborn sidequests and shiny dots that give you trivial rewards like 3 Gil”

“Sidequests need to reward you somehow, so let’s implement a pointless crafting system and reward the player with crafting materials”

“we need to appeal to as wide an audience as possible so we better make it easy, let’s make most enemies just stand there like training dummies”

 

[Esppiral]

Don't try, I tried to explain to them that they buy games much cheaper than others, and still continue to complain about the prices. I just see how they run at the start of the game to buy it for $70 if they don't even want it for $50 =)

Who is them? I bought the game on release for my Ps5,

 

[Freeman76]

not surprised, a mainline ff game thats not even an rpg ffs, it was aimed at teens and the pc crowd is generally older they dont fall for that shit

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

not surprised, a mainline ff game thats not even an rpg ffs, it was aimed at teens and the pc crowd is generally older they dont fall for that shit

Aimed at teens?

:cringe @ this comment

Huge chunk of teens play live service crap on pc

 

[Vick]

Maybe it was but it's such a good game. I think it's better than 16.
I actually cried on the ending lol

I loved FFXV. Something's special about it.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Spoiler

The main character was beaten, the main character is going to take revenge, there is a bad guy in the world, he must be defeated or the end of the world will happen. After which, at the end of the credits, I will show you that after many years, everything you did in the game is now just a fairy tale that mom reads to little children... The end.

 

[Effigenius]

Honestly I’m always happy when exclusives dont sell well. Stop keeping your games off of systems. Release everywhere at the same time.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Honestly I’m always happy when exclusives dont sell well. Stop keeping your games off of systems. Release everywhere at the same time.

Yeah your avatar should be released everywhere

 

[ProtoByte]

Honestly I’m always happy when exclusives dont sell well. Stop keeping your games off of systems. Release everywhere at the same time.

FF16 would be even worse than it is now if it had.
And lol, do you apply that logic to Zelda? The only reason it sells like it does now is because of exclusivity.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Yeah your avatar should be released everywhere

Exclusives are the reason consoles exist, and without them they become generic and pointless.

 

[ProtoByte]

At the same time, the game tries to be in Devil May Cry, but this is an extremely meager and weak attemp. As was correctly noted, the difficulty of the game is absolutely zero. And please fire the person who came up with the idea that you can complete the game by wearing 3 rings and pressing one button...

Even if it was full on DMC, the sales would be around about where they are now with a lifetime cap of 6-7 million. That’s not what Square is after at this point.

But the main mistake in my opinion is that this is a numbered part of FF, if it were some kind of spinoff like Dirge of Cerberus, there would be much fewer questions. But as a numbered part of FF it is incredibly weak.

I remember thinking it was a spinoff before the title reveal back in 2020… turns out it was around that quality other than the production values.

 

[Effigenius]

Yeah your avatar should be released everywhere

Are you expecting me to disagree with you? Oh no please don’t let me play Zelda on my 4090! Not that!

Put all the Sony and Nintendo games on all systems right at launch! I’m here for it! Let us buy systems based on specs and cost not on gatekept libraries! It would be like if you could only play Sony 4K blue rays on a Sony Blueray player and had to buy an LG blueray player to watch Warner Brother blue rays. lol. No other fan base would put up with this nonsense! (You know, if anyone bought disks still, lol)

 

[Effigenius]

FF16 would be even worse than it is now if it had.
And lol, do you apply that logic to Zelda? The only reason it sells like it does now is because of exclusivity.

Obviously limiting the customer base means you sell more copies. It’s why all games sell the best on XBox. Can you imagine how much worse Astrobots sales would be if PC and Switch owners could buy it too!

 

[ProtoByte]

Obviously limiting the customer base means you sell more copies.

Unironically, yes. The customer base is limited by nature. You need to give off the impression that this thing is exclusive because it’s special. It’s a perception game.

It’s why all games sell the best on XBox.

Uh, what? Xbox is about as multiplatform as it gets, and they’re getting more so, and their game sales are in the toilet. Do you think the perception around Halo will get better when there’s a PlayStation logo above it?

 

[Lokaum D+]

they said they didn't want to add people of color in this game for *historical accuracy* despite the game taking place in a fantasy universe. Well as a person of color I chose not to purchase this game because of it. Only color that matters is green.

well as a person of color myself i bought a ps5 and a PC version and all DLCs, ppl should be free to choose whatever they wanna do with their games and not be forced to add diversity cause a minority % of ppl that has mental health problems ll not buy the game.

The game sold bad on PC cause optimization was trash and game was already one year old.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Spoiler

The main character was beaten, the main character is going to take revenge, there is a bad guy in the world, he must be defeated or the end of the world will happen. After which, at the end of the credits, I will show you that after many years, everything you did in the game is now just a fairy tale that mom reads to little children... The end.

FF in a nutshell

 

[Caffeine]

after coming off another play session of 16 I actually do think 15 was a better game. the combat was more fluid.
16's levels are literally all ff14 raids in style that end in a kaiju battle.
on top of u cant really fail if u purposely kill yourself at boss 50% hp u will restart with full potions at 50% boss hp lol. The game does not game over.