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[Astray]

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

Someone mentioned ff16 did, not sure where they got it though.

 

[xenosys]

Del.

 

[Effigenius]

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.


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?

Well I don’t think they will suddenly sell less copies.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

First FF game I ever beat. I gotta get to the dlc and the rest of rebirth.

 

[FunkMiller]

Managed about eight hours of mindless button bashing and linear exploration before knocking this shit on the head.

 

[Gordon Fearman]

Maybe it'd have sold better if in its 7 years of development they managed to write dialogue better than this.

Because for all the talk that FFXVI was too Game of Thrones, the one thing it didn't seem to copy was actual writing quality.

 

[CityHunter1981]

For me the weakest of all Final Fantasy games. I finished it, but never really felt like I play a main FF game. Everything just felt like average jrpg quality. Dungeon design was poor, the characters uninteresting and the story was boring without any real surprises.

Perhaps it’s an age thing and the game was clearly targeting younger audiences. But at least I really loved Rebirth.

 

[LostFlock]

I wonder why then they decided to go for mature than a teen rating? For the most part a mature rating would usually have lower sales and yeah I know games like COD are exceptions but did they think the Final Fantasy name would have been an exception then? If they wanted stupid sales why not go with teen then for that possible wider audience? Whatever I guess

 

[jm89]

Moral of the story mainline single player final fantasy series is being kept successful by playstation not just through sales, but also the upfront checks SE got for the exclusivity.

Considering how bad it flopped on pc, you have to wonder how it actually comes to Xbox. Gamepass deal? Upfront porting costs?

 

[fallingdove]

Put up buying shit games? Nah.

FFXVI is far from shit. lol. I do believe that what keeps SE from greatness is the continued miss interpretation of what makes a great game. Hint: It has nothing to do with delaying a release on PC or skipping Xbox.

I think 16 (and VIIR-2) are starting to move things in the right direction. But spectacle is much less important than good writing/stories, systems, party control/progression, adventure and discovery. Core stuff that made the first 10 games what they were.

 

[ProtoByte]

Well I don’t think they will suddenly sell less copies.

In Microsoft's case it's practically a guarantee to be less. Between Gamepass cutting into sales on both PC and Xbox, there's no chance that PS users make up the difference. It wasn't an Xbox exclusive initially, but this has already happened with Blops 6.

Here's the thing, even if it's the exact same number of copies spread to 3rd party platforms, Microsoft comes away with less money due to the 30% storefront tax.

 

[yogaflame]

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" isn't the most so I have no idea what to make of it

Not everygame needs to have dark and mature theme. FF and DQ are not for those type of themes.

 

[Chechack]

Not surprised

Game was good up until a certain stone giant fight

After that for some reason u can see the drop in quality and cant help feel theyre rushing to finish off the game

 

[AFBT88]

You want my money? Stop treating us like second class citizens. Release your games day one in a polished state, then we can talk. Otherwise you won't get my money. Not even gonna buy your games at discount. Day one release or f off.

 

[Chukhopops]

For me the weakest of all Final Fantasy games. I finished it, but never really felt like I play a main FF game. Everything just felt like average jrpg quality. Dungeon design was poor, the characters uninteresting and the story was boring without any real surprises.

Perhaps it’s an age thing and the game was clearly targeting younger audiences. But at least I really loved Rebirth.

Yeah everything felt like a step in the wrong direction: non-existent level design, braindead gameplay, almost zero RPG elements, useless party members.

A costly mistake but I’m glad it flopped and it makes me optimistic for the future. Rebirth isn’t perfect but it’s a gigantic improvement already compared to XVI.

Just outsource the character action genre to KT when you make Stranger of Paradise 2.

 

[Alexios]

Good, do better Square. Do something with the scale and detail of Shenmue to advance JRPGs further like that game attempted all the way back in 1999, just with the usual sci-fi or fantasy or sci-fantasy settings of FF games instead (and a different take on a party based combat system of course).

 

[ClosBSAS]

So this article from some shitty website I've never head of references some no-name twitter user who claims the game only sold 289K... and it's obvious all the did to come to that conclusion was find the average of the two estimations on Steamdb...............

227.6K + 351.9K = 579.5K / 2 = 289.7K

LMAO get this bum out of here. SquareEnix hasn't said shit about how this game has performed on PC.. Though it's obvious they're going to be disappointed... just like we know they are with the PS5 version. Keep skipping PC day 1 and PC will skip your game.. it's that simple. At least it sounds like SquareEnix has learned their lesson and will be doing more PC day 1 releases in the future.. though I bet they fumble the ball again with FF7 Stillbirth (aka part 3) *shrug*

it peaked at around 33k i believe or even less...rule of thumb to steam numbers is ccu x 8....gives you close to sales numbers....so its not that far fetched honestly. id say its about right. 200 to 300k tops.

 

[Gaiff]

FFXVI is far from shit. lol. I do believe that what keeps SE from greatness is the continued miss interpretation of what makes a great game. Hint: It has nothing to do with delaying a release on PC or skipping Xbox.

I think 16 (and VIIR-2) are starting to move things in the right direction. But spectacle is much less important than good writing/stories, systems, party control/progression, adventure and discovery. Core stuff that made the first 10 games what they were.

Played 4 hours and thought it sucked. Pretty game that has nothing else going for it. Combat was simplistic, enemies were spongy, level design was 0, roleplaying mechanics were basic, and exploration didn’t exist. I thought it was a bad and boring game.

Awesome music and set pieces though.

 

[Fbh]

I think 16 (and VIIR-2) are starting to move things in the right direction. But spectacle is much less important than good writing/stories, systems, party control/progression, adventure and discovery. Core stuff that made the first 10 games what they were.

I don't know how 16 is moving things in the right direction when it focused entirely on spectacle and pushed most of the elements you describe to the side: Like systems, party control/progression, adventure and discovery.
As an action game it's ok, has some good spectacle and setpiece moments with flashy looking combat. But it lacks deeper combat with more complex combos, more weapon variety and not being forced to play on easy mode.
As an RPG it's just abysmal. The systems are as basic as it gets, there is no interesting progression, no real party, no classes, no interesting loot or crafting, no economy, non existent dungeon design, no discovery or exploration and some of the worst sidequests in modern gaming.

A heavy story focus is about the only think that sort of reminds you this is supposed to be an RPG

 

[daninthemix]

We don't need the scraps from Sony's table. We're busy getting on with our lives.

 

[JayK47]

I have it wishlisted. I do plan to play it eventually. I didn't grab FF15 until years later and on sale. Once I can get all content for around $20, I may bite.

 

[MagusMajul]

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.

they probably shouldn't have said the quiet part out loud and let the game stand on its own. you made your choice and i made mine.

 

[Salz01]

It needed more waifus

..and a pro patch.

 

[poppabk]

Moral of the story mainline single player final fantasy series is being kept successful by playstation not just through sales, but also the upfront checks SE got for the exclusivity.

Considering how bad it flopped on pc, you have to wonder how it actually comes to Xbox. Gamepass deal? Upfront porting costs?

It's not succesful though.

 

[fallingdove]

I don't know how 16 is moving things in the right direction when it focused entirely on spectacle and pushed most of the elements you describe to the side: Like systems, party control/progression, adventure and discovery.
As an action game it's ok, has some good spectacle and setpiece moments with flashy looking combat. But it lacks deeper combat with more complex combos, more weapon variety and not being forced to play on easy mode.
As an RPG it's just abysmal. The systems are as basic as it gets, there is no interesting progression, no real party, no classes, no interesting loot or crafting, no economy, non existent dungeon design, no discovery or exploration and some of the worst sidequests in modern gaming.

A heavy story focus is about the only think that sort of reminds you this is supposed to be an RPG

The characters were written in a much more believable way, the character and world design were excellent, they got rid of mini-game distractions, and realized that their stories needed to grow up a bit.

The issues you highlighted are very valid (though worst side quests in modern gaming is an exaggeration; the side quests were shit but no worse than any JRPG released in the last 5 years), but I feel these challenges are more easily resolved than the hardcoded game design that Nomura and others have perpetuated within the company.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Trying to make FF into Dragon Age or Baldurs Gate is a mistake.

We're seeing massive success from Atlus games it's time to make FF weeb again.

 

[jm89]

It's not succesful though.

It was though, it was in line with squares expectation.

 

[XXL]

It's not succesful though.

It's more successful than you.

 

[Gamerfan81]

Never understood why 3rd party devs don't release their games on multiple platforms to maximize revenue. This would have sold well if they did.

 

[poppabk]

It's more successful than you.

Square Enix said that FF 16 underperformed, but my wife told me that I "performed adequately". So there.

 

[XXL]

Square Enix said that FF 16 underperformed, but my wife told me that I "performed adequately". So there.

 

[pulicat]

Never understood why 3rd party devs don't release their games on multiple platforms to maximize revenue. This would have sold well if they did.

SE already did with their new management after a couple of brain-dead decisions by their game directors.

Recent bad decisions by Square Enix
FFXVI and Rebirth - not releasing it day one on Steam and no XBOX version
Visions of mana - no Switch version developed despite huge success of trials of mana on Switch.
Forspoken - woke garbage was greenlighted and costed them over $100m.

 

[Moochi]

If somebody told me that Hogwart's Legacy would have a better combat system and more robust RPG choices than FF16, i'd never have believed. 16 has the better music and story though. The side quests and monster hunts are just kinda excuses to go back to the old zones, but the "open world" aspects really aren't a draw. They should have doubled down and settled for a linear action game like the new God of War. You'd lose most of the lore, but what was there would be meaningful and immediate. ACTIVE TIME LORE is cool and so is the relationship map...but it feels like a substitute for story ambitions that exceeded the scope of the game.

 

[@gkTH]

Considering the sales... I do think the platform is not a problem, but the game itself.
Blaming exclusivity with Sony is pointless.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Wouldn't be surprised. By the time the PC port everyone knew what they were getting and nobody wants to pay full price for a year late PC port of a disappointing game that's been on deep discount for many months.

 

[Ozriel]

Like Concord, Horizon Lego, Horizon ZD remaster, and Until Dawn?

I think it's time to admit that the audience on PC and audience on consoles simply dont have the same taste. Plenty of third party games launch on PC day one and we know they max out at 10-15%.

Concord and Until Dawn flopped on all platforms. I don’t expect Horizon Lego to have done well anywhere.

Disingenuous to sneak in Horizon ZD Remake…the complete edition sold well on PC for a very late port. Nobody cared about the remake anywhere.

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.

It’s the opposite. Data like this shows how much you’re likely to lose when you release late on PC, with little fanfare.

Square Enix can only look to rival publishers like Capcom that are enthusiastically putting their games on PC day one and reporting great success.

 

[HogIsland]

I've never played this game and don't have an opinion. But just for reference, FF16 has a strong 86% MC, including 9/10 from Gamespot and IGN. Maybe GAF is a bit of an echo chamber on its alleged badness.

 

[Perfo]

I've never played this game and don't have an opinion. But just for reference, FF16 has a strong 86% MC, including 9/10 from Gamespot and IGN. Maybe GAF is a bit of an echo chamber on its alleged badness.

It’s also a rare case where it did bring new players to the series which other past entries all failed to do so. It’s a solid game with finally good writing compared to everything CBU1 did since FF13, solid BS, awesome graphics and OST of the year. Yes they could’ve done with more RPG in it like more skills, customisation, a barebones party mechanics and all… but could be a base to develop these stuff further with the next entry which I hope is still under CBU3 at least we get the chance to see a concept expanding instead of the usual reset everything and go!

 

[Seomel]

full priced games released years later sell catalog numbers, not launch numbers. those aren't bad catalog numbers.

it wasnt full priced

 

[Seomel]

I've never played this game and don't have an opinion. But just for reference, FF16 has a strong 86% MC, including 9/10 from Gamespot and IGN. Maybe GAF is a bit of an echo chamber on its alleged badness.

yep, thats normal. I loved ff16 though as always felt few things could have been different/better of course

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Yep. Didn’t SquareEnix was claim the reason for their failure was because of PlayStation exclusivity?

 

[Hrk69]

I've never played this game and don't have an opinion. But just for reference, FF16 has a strong 86% MC, including 9/10 from Gamespot and IGN. Maybe GAF is a bit of an echo chamber on its alleged badness.

Anyone who’s play games knows: Final Fantasy XVI doesn't live up to expectations

It's the same with football, anyone who truly understands the game will agree that Messi is the GOAT

 

[Roxkis_ii]

Maybe it'd have sold better if in its 7 years of development they managed to write dialogue better than this.

Because for all the talk that FFXVI was too Game of Thrones, the one thing it didn't seem to copy was actual writing quality.

What's wrong with the writing in that clip??

Seeing that made me hype for that fight all over again!

 

[semiconscious]

Maybe it'd have sold better if in its 7 years of development they managed to write dialogue better than this.

Because for all the talk that FFXVI was too Game of Thrones, the one thing it didn't seem to copy was actual writing quality.

god almighty, pathetic doesn't do this justice. who sucked the imagination/inspiration out of square-enix?...

 

[pulicat]

Yep. Didn’t SquareEnix was claim the reason for their failure was because of PlayStation exclusivity?

Staggered release was the primary reason because many gamers would rather wait for discount after waiting for more than a year as the game hype was down and many new games occupied their interest instead of jumping to play a late port.

We have many examples for Japanese game such as Tales of Arise, Metaphor, Persona 3R, Dragon Quest 3R, Yakuza IW, and etc, that enjoyed great sales numbers on steam.

 

[Katatonic]

Maybe it'd have sold better if in its 7 years of development they managed to write dialogue better than this.

Because for all the talk that FFXVI was too Game of Thrones, the one thing it didn't seem to copy was actual writing quality.

I thought that part was awesome in context with the story up to that point.

 

[Moochi]

The problem with that scene is its an overly elaborate yet generalized motivation speech. RPG devs have been doing it for years because by being non-specific, they can make changes to the scenario without needing to redo the entire scene. It's an outdated and unnecessary way of doing things these days when translations can happen near instantaneously and voice over work can be turned in remotely.

It's bad dialog because it's generic and doesn't actually develop either character. Its also bad because it goes on for so long without saying anything of not previously established. It would be a better scene if they just hurled clever WWE insults at each other and the plot needle would move forward by the exact same amount.

 

[Madflavor]

Maybe it'd have sold better if in its 7 years of development they managed to write dialogue better than this.

Because for all the talk that FFXVI was too Game of Thrones, the one thing it didn't seem to copy was actual writing quality.

Can you explain exactly what's wrong with the dialogue in that scene? Genuinely curious.

 

[Haint]

I would have bought the Ultimate Edition as a day 1 PC release, but now I haven't bought the game at all, so thats -$100 for Square. Game is 1.5 years old, it's now wildly over priced for its age on the platform, and the hype is long gone. The same goes for Rebirth, so that's a confirmed -$200 loss.

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

Can you explain exactly what's wrong with the dialogue in that scene? Genuinely curious.

Indeed.

You want bad dialogue? Go play God Of War Ragnarok.

It's written like a CW drama.