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Final Fantasy 16 is so dull

Green_Eyes

Member
Man I want to like this game but I just can't. I bought it first on ps5 and gave up after 10 hours. At first I thought well maybe I am just going through a weird period in my life and maybe I can't enjoy this type of game now. I'll wait to play it

And with the release of the game on pc I bought it again to enjoy it with a high framerate and better visuals but I am again struggling to find any fun or enjoyment. There are some moments where the game seems to be really exciting but then, all of a sudden, the next part becomes a boring mess with atrocious mmo generic sidequests. It doesn't help either the pacing of the cutscenes, the performances are so lifeless and slow, sometimes, I want to slap the characters and scream "Wake up motherfucker!". The gameplay is so basic, there is no exploration or anything, it justs feels like I am watching cutscene after cutscene with a combat that has no challenge or variety.

I love Final Fantasy in general but this game is just doesn't feel like it belongs to the franchise, it doesn't the magic from the older games. I feel like it doesn't have a soul

Well I am glad I let it out, I think I'll stop playing this and accept that is not for me. Please tell me I am not crazy papitos
It's actual garbage. I actually thought I was just being a jaded gamer, but then I booted up FFXII (Zodiac Age) for the second time (since it came out) and I got Rabanastre (when the game really starts); I realised just how bad FFXVI is. Seriously, the difference between FFXII (a PS2 game) and FFXVI (a PS5 game!) is staggering. Technology has gotten much better, yet imagination, creativity and believability have gone down just as much.
 
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Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Worst game in the series.
81r6G1HP7yL.jpg
 

Paulistano

Member
I'm not big on side stuff in general. I mostly played main story. I loved the boss fights.
That's ok, but the game has nothing, you don't have a big city to explore.. just some villages when you enter a big city and you think "finally" the city gets destroyed, when you get a chococo you cannot enter the city with it, you can't race, you can't use a elemental attack because the producer thinks it's a difficult concept to implement, the dog is there and adds nothing in the battle, the desert area has a really generic music and characters, the villain is really boring and the translation is very bad, 8 years in development... 8 years, I hope this team never touch FF again and stay in 14 and 16 forever.
 

Doom85

Gold Member
That's ok, but the game has nothing, you don't have a big city to explore.. just some villages when you enter a big city and you think "finally" the city gets destroyed, when you get a chococo you cannot enter the city with it, you can't race, you can't use a elemental attack because the producer thinks it's a difficult concept to implement, the dog is there and adds nothing in the battle, the desert area has a really generic music and characters, the villain is really boring and the translation is very bad, 8 years in development... 8 years, I hope this team never touch FF again and stay in 14 and 16 forever.

For real, the teasing the game did in terms of cities was awful.

(characters see a massive city in the distance with a massive crystal going through part of it, and are headed in its direction)

Me:

Happy Very Funny GIF by Disney Zootopia


Clive: Okay, gang, let’s head for some sewers instead!

Me:

bullshit bs GIF


(cutscene plays with Clive and Jill in this desert town, battle happens in an alley, so we can explore this town now, right?)

Me:

Happy Chris Pratt GIF


(game cuts to a completely different area and doesn’t return us to that town)

Me:

Oh Come On GIF
 
I liked it fine overall but it is a severe step down from the FF7R series.

The side quests are probably biggest problem in the game, to the degree that I reference them whenever I discuss bad side quest design. Getting a mission from a bartender where you walk 15 steps to deliver 3 drinks/food items to 3 different people then collect your reward is not good mission design.
 

Myths

Member
The franchise has never been known for having a “good” writing (true for virtually all video games). This is laughable otherwise. From this, you can likely deduce the tantrum is over the fact that it’s progressed more toward fast-paced action RPG elements than maintain ATB/turn-based. XIII didn’t make the cut for many due to its “Auto-battle” I bet (its linearity lesser). Any optional feature streamlining mundane gameplay (chiefly trash random battle encounters) is considered a negative. I would pin this back on devs for lack of stimulating and evolving combat, not just fault a quick option.

All else in place, I wouldn’t be surprised with how quickly a turn-based entry would be lauded despite being just as poorly written as any other.
 

Filben

Member
I was really hooked in the beginning by the storytelling. Still like it but stopped after 8 hours because of the gameplay, mostly the combat. It is dull, always the same input, endless bashing to chip away a little health of bosses/tougher enemies. No real tactics, no real challenge.
 
The franchise has never been known for having a “good” writing (true for virtually all video games). This is laughable otherwise. From this, you can likely deduce the tantrum is over the fact that it’s progressed more toward fast-paced action RPG elements than maintain ATB/turn-based. XIII didn’t make the cut for many due to its “Auto-battle” I bet (its linearity lesser). Any optional feature streamlining mundane gameplay (chiefly trash random battle encounters) is considered a negative. I would pin this back on devs for lack of stimulating and evolving combat, not just fault a quick option.

All else in place, I wouldn’t be surprised with how quickly a turn-based entry would be lauded despite being just as poorly written as any other.

Someone on the team was bold enough to write "the only fantasy here is yours, and we shall be its final witness," and I have to admit that they completely earned my respect because of it.
 
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Madjaba

Member
I’m sorry man, FF13 might be one of the worst written and badly acted video games of all time, including linear level design that was even more constrained than FF10.

As much as people praise it’s combat system and that single plains area, it’s not enough to save it from being a bad game.

I know nostalgia is starting to set in with the 360 generation since it’s almost 20 years old, but nostalgia isn’t even strong enough to save FF 13.
There's nothing related to nostalgia and I'm talking about the trilogy as a whole.

Have you played the whole trilogy ? If not, then how can you be so sure about your statement ?
Maybe FFXIII alone can't stand on its own 2 legs, but being a part of an actual trilogy, you can think about it differently.

Like Trails of Cold Steel 2 being really weak on its own but essential to the whole Trails plot.
 

GHG

Gold Member
There's nothing related to nostalgia and I'm talking about the trilogy as a whole.

Have you played the whole trilogy ? If not, then how can you be so sure about your statement ?
Maybe FFXIII alone can't stand on its own 2 legs, but being a part of an actual trilogy, you can think about it differently.

Like Trails of Cold Steel 2 being really weak on its own but essential to the whole Trails plot.

The games get progressively worse as the series goes on though.

Even if not by name, Lost Odyssey was the real Final Fantasy game of that generation and it's better than any final fantasy Square have done since XII (it's also better than X and X-2).
 
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Myths

Member
Someone on the team was bold enough to write "the only fantasy here is yours, and we shall be its final witness," and I have to admit that they completely earned my respect because of it.
But to their point, with older games before VA relying on dialogue boxes and reading, people did make up more fantasy in their head than did existed. Probably why they thought some of those older ones were better.

I’m an oddball though. I like II DoS, III PSP, and nothing tops V GBA for me.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
My favorite quest was:

“HELP ME my kids’ clothing is falling apart and I need some fabric to repair it!!! I ordered some fabric, but it still hasn’t arrived, probably because we live in a secret base in the middle of a poisonous lake in the middle of a deserted wasteland. Can you go over to this little shop stall halfway across the continent and find out what happened to my fabric order?”

Then you go to investigate and learn
It was BANDITS who stole the fabric shipment!!! So you fight the bandits and get that lady’s fabric back for her.

that was some really great lore and world building. You can really see the GoT influences.
 

JayK47

Member
You have my attention. It sounds like I need to play this game to see just how awful and amazing it is.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
This game is too serious business, you don't have neither a minigame nor a chocobo racing and where is the card game? You don't even have elemental magic in it.

8 years making a barebones game that is more like a dmc clone.
Worse .. only two attack buttons sword and magic. The bouncer had deeper gameplay 🤣
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The games get progressively worse as the series goes on though.

Even if not by name, Lost Odyssey was the real Final Fantasy game of that generation and it's better than any final fantasy Square have done since XII (it's also better than X and X-2).

Of all the X360 era games, that is the easy choice of #1 game that needs a modern re-release or remaster.
 
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March Climber

Gold Member
There's nothing related to nostalgia and I'm talking about the trilogy as a whole.

Have you played the whole trilogy ?
I have. Here's my entire review post on the matter:

If not, then how can you be so sure about your statement ?
I am sure because I have played them without nostalgia attached. I feel that it has been a very important factor in my exploration of games from the PS360 generation, because I have been critical of quite a few games where people have just accepted certain mediocrities because they were standard at the time or because they were younger and more wide-eyed about video games. And no, before you ask I'm not applying modern day logic to them. I am simply approaching them with zero bias.
Maybe FFXIII alone can't stand on its own 2 legs
And that was my point. This has nothing to do with the two sequels. This is about FFXIII alone as a video game. It is terrible.
but being a part of an actual trilogy, you can think about it differently.
It was the first entry though. The very first. That's the most important entry of any trilogy in a mainline series, in order to entice someone. Only an I.P. like FF could get away with this, and they did get away with it because the I.P. was arguably at the height of it's popularity right around the time FFXIII released.
Like Trails of Cold Steel 2 being really weak on its own but essential to the whole Trails plot.
That's a part 2 though and that leads to my point above. A part 2 is fine to have a weaker moment as long as part 3 or part 4 have a strong finish. Stumbling that hard out of the gate in part 1 is a terrible thing to do.
 

nikos

Member
Been a Final Fantasy fan since the 90s and this is as Final Fantasy as any other game in the series. It's anything but dull, especially once things really start to get going. Combat system is possibly the most fun in the series and the soundtrack is incredible.

I'm not as attached to the characters as I was in other games but I still haven't finished the game so that can change. The setting also wasn't my favorite at first but most areas turned out to be beautiful.

I've spent ~40 hours in the game on PC already (25 on PS5 before dropping it and waiting for PC) as someone who almost never finishes games these days.
 
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I couldn't bring myself to finish it. It turned into total parody probably 30 hours into my 50+ hours with the game. I remember sitting there and chuckling to myself like a madman at the near endless amount of cutscenes. Everything was just so drawn out. Between the cutscenes, the mindless A-B traversal, and the mindless combat, the game begin to feel like a fever dream.

If you loved the game, power to you, I think that's great. I always say that out of politeness in case West Texas CEO West Texas CEO is reading.
 

Stuart360

Member
Knowing this place, i'm surprised no one has started a thread yet talking about the fact that the game is sitting at 7k user reviews on Steam after being out for a couple of weeks.
I mean i know the game was on EPIC, and came later to Steam but still its a brand new mainline entry in freaking Final Fantasy!.

Final Fantasy just isnt what it was 15+ years ago, in mulitple ways.
I doubt it will ever get back to that 'event' status FF had with gamers whan a new FF game was releasing.
 

MangalaX

Neo Member
Yeahhh it had its ups and downs, many cool set pieces, adult game of thronish vibes, epic music, good writing in SOMEEEEE of the sidequest like they were pulled out of the witcher, other horrible fetch quests all over, the overall combat didnt require any strategy like the other FFs like elemental dmg etc, it was just about mastering the dodge counter and spaming all your abilities, so you could basically get away with that in the mayority of the fights, a lot of the same boring archetype mobs knights, and the Mid-bosses with heavy weapons, for some reason only the first 2 bosses or so had a finisher animation which no other boss had that wasnt a Eikon, and the party didnt have anything special about it, couldnt do combos, specials, double techniques...nothing only the dog with 3 abilities for the whole game....the dog even got a super sayan transformation which didnt do shit in game

That being said Rebirth I think they did everything I hoped for in 16 in terms of party, fun, equipment, materia, you cant go guns blazing to all the fights in the game, besides making one of my fav ff of all time even better than I remember it. TOTALLY RECOMMENDED!
 

aclar00

Member
I only made it through the game because i skipped 60% of the cutscene. Dull is damn near an understatement.
 

Rambone

Member
I've had it since the launch on PS, It didn't really grab me. I'll try and play it some more but after 5-10 hours of it I think I put it down and never came back.
 

Luc2010

Member
If this game didn’t suffer from terrible optimization on PC, I would love it because I enjoy the world and the combat system, which is one of the best I’ve experienced in a JRPG. However, I haven’t played many Final Fantasy games except for X, the VII remake, and XVIII, which I also loved for its combat.

After finishing XVI, I’m planning to play either IX or XII. What do you guys recommend?
Go for the gambit system on XII. Granted, I thought it was easy, but the world building is top notch. Though, the story skips ahead a few times, but it is still good.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I'm in minority in GAF but I personally enjoyed the game, I only wish you could choose FF difficulty from the get go.
 

linko9

Member
Honestly if you avoid all sidequests (or only do the ones the game marks as worth doing) it's a pretty quick pace for an RPG. But it is too drawn out for an action game, which is what the game really is. Condense the whole thing into just the main dungeons and a single trip through each overworld area, and it would have been a much better experience, though of course even less of an RPG than it already is.
 

Dthomp

Member
thanos-impossible.gif


…But FF13?

I always thought 13 was my least favorite FF, but then I remembered 15 was one of the worst piles of trash I've played in the last couple gens. I mean, I have big gripes with 16, but it's still leaps ahead of 15, and probably on par with certain 13 entrees
 

Mephisto40

Member
I know it's a bit of a cliche, but it does get better the more you play it, the boss battles in the last few acts are superb
 

Dazraell

Member
Yeah, devs really should have thought about trimming some of the bloat. The worst was second half of the game, especially underwhelming Waloed and when you started unlocking shit ton of side quests which required constantly coming back to the same locations and sometimes even revisiting same spots
 
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