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Final Fantasy XVI Successfully Expanded the Series to New, Younger Players, Says Square Enix

Chukhopops

Member
Not every FF needs to be similar.
I liked how game of throney the game was but with ton of twists

if you don't use these rings (I only used dog ring) it is not an easy auto play game. You need to really get the parry going.
At least until the end. In this game, you get more powerful the further you get.
Not going on another rant about XVI but the story had a lot more Dragon Ball Z than Game of Thrones imo.

Also the game is piss easy even in « Action » difficulty.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Do you have a source on that?
No. Just my presumption.
Not going on another rant about XVI but the story had a lot more Dragon Ball Z than Game of Thrones imo.

Also the game is piss easy even in « Action » difficulty.
Exactly. That was the best dragon ball game lol.
I don’t think the game was piss easy without rings. Souls really ruined games difficulty. Now everything thats not stomping on my balls is considered too easy.
 

Chukhopops

Member
No. Just my presumption.

Exactly. That was the best dragon ball game lol.
I don’t think the game was piss easy without rings. Souls really ruined games difficulty. Now everything thats not stomping on my balls is considered too easy.
I’ll concede that the best scenes were the ones where the game completely accepts its « shonen » nature, like the Titan fight for example.

Then immediately after that you have a main quest where you take Jill to the market to buy garlic :messenger_pensive:.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I’ll concede that the best scenes were the ones where the game completely accepts its « shonen » nature, like the Titan fight for example.

Then immediately after that you have a main quest where you take Jill to the market to buy garlic :messenger_pensive:.
That’s true. Middle is a bit down in pacing
 
You would be surprised. The game demo itself made a ton of fans
I'm actually surprised people here are saying other wise...

Let's players and streamers playing it (The Demo) brought people to it, and the nieche character action fanbase (Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, etc) were eyeballing it since it was announced that it was going in a more character action direction.

Also, I might be wrong, but doesn't every Final Fantasy game bring new fans? They are all widely different games from each other (Besides the usual Final Fantasy stuff they all have in common, they all have different gimmicks, and different tones. Final Fantasy 10 is NOT FF 12, just like 12 is not 13 or 15).
 

unlurkified

Member
Playing through 16 now and it baffles me how they had DMC talent involved yet managed to make one of the most bland and braindead combat systems out there. Outside of the boss fights which are admittedly engaging, you could honestly fall asleep during combat it’s so mind-numbing.
 

Fbh

Member
No. Just my presumption.

Exactly. That was the best dragon ball game lol.
I don’t think the game was piss easy without rings. Souls really ruined games difficulty. Now everything thats not stomping on my balls is considered too easy.

Nah the game is piss easy.
It's not a souls thing, the game is easier than the vast majority of action adventure games on normal difficulty.

It's not just the combat either, almost every mechanic was simplified and streamlined to the extreme.
Like I'm playing Unicorn Overlord which isn't particularly hard either (even on the hardest mode) but at least there's some pretty complex and interesting mechanics in how you build your team and how you set up abilities and equipment.

In XVI everything is as basic as it gets: skill trees, character build, crafting, exploration, equipment and gear , etc
 

Myths

Member
I mean… the series has kind of been doing that since its proclivity to market fashionable characters indistinct from pop groups…?

That said, considering Clive’s in-game arc, just shows it may not always be what they think.
 

Ozzie666

Member
After playing FF7 remake, the side quests in FF16 are even more exposed and a joke. As much as I hated all the mini games, they had some nice payoffs and story. FF16 story was excellent for the start and the end, but the middle and pacing really killed it. Keep the combat and add multiple characters like FF7, switching between them. Add some sort of free travel. Keep the epic primal encounters and music. FF16 is almost a spin off as it stands.
 

IAmRei

Member
The Rising Tide DLC comes out in 3 days, so bring it on. :messenger_sunglasses:

It'll be interesting to see what the setting will be for 17 - modern/real world, dark fantasy, high fantasy, industrial, steampunk etc...

With 16 we kinda had a hunch it would be medievil again as the series hadn't gone there in a while.
I wish it so, i like FF better on high fantasy setting.
 

Kumomeme

Member
before they did mention they want to expand the audience to attract younger, newer generation of playerbase. when they said this, some people laugh and mocking them. especially extreme turn based purist. lot of people failed to understand that how important this is. in the end this is a bussiness, it is very important to keep growing new generation of younger audience or the franchise would fall into very niche market and this would affect future bussiness & development budget and scale. especially FF is a franchise that always developed with AAA production level.

i wont say it is success yet since we dont have any data to look at but so far we can say it is working.
 
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Perfo

Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
The game must be big enough considering even a second DLC manages to get that much views on YouTube… I know it’s not really a coherent meter of success but surely there’s still ongoing curiosity around it at least. I mean only on the ps channel the last trailer of Rising Tide is almost at 600.000 views which is really a lot even compared to Rebirth or XVI trailers. When the PC audience jumps in (Yoship fans are mostly there I figure) the game might have a considering boost in sales too!
 

kunonabi

Member
before they did mention they want to expand the audience to attract younger, newer generation of playerbase. when they said this, some people laugh and mocking them. especially extreme turn based purist. lot of people failed to understand that how important this is. in the end this is a bussiness, it is very important to keep growing new generation of younger audience or the franchise would fall into very niche market and this would affect future bussiness & development budget and scale. especially FF is a franchise that always developed with AAA production level.

i wont say it is success yet since we dont have any data to look at but so far we can say it is working.
To be honest we won't know if it was a success until FFXVII where we will see if the younger players actually stick around which is the important part. I bet it won't.
 

Kumomeme

Member
To be honest we won't know if it was a success until FFXVII where we will see if the younger players actually stick around which is the important part. I bet it won't.
depend on what kind of approach they did on FFXVII too. for example if it return back to turn based/less mature & dark while newer audience already has fixed understanding that FF is action-ish combat/mature dark story, it would reflect in different result.

we will see if they maintain same audience interest for next entry which is, no brainer IMO.
 
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DelireMan7

Member
Ho cool. Now than you gain a new audience, do a true Final Fantasy for XVII.

Combat system was nice at the beginning but boring on the long run. No real challenge and too many bullet sponge enemies.
Sidequests were abysmally boring.

Also, basically almost 0 RPG element... in a Final Fantasy game ?!

Story started really good but dragged for too long and got completely derailed in the middle.

Game is for sure pretty nice too look with flashy sequence and combats but it's not enough to make a game good in my opinion.

I hate to be a hater but XVI really disappointed me as a Final Fantasy. Might redo a run in the future now that I know what to expect (a rather simple action game instead of RPG, with a setting that I really like).
 

Fabieter

Member
depend on what kind of approach they did on FFXVII too. for example if it return back to turn based/less mature & dark while newer audience already has fixed understanding that FF is action-ish combat/mature dark story, it would reflect in different result.

we will see if they maintain same audience interest for next entry which is, no brainer IMO.

This is the whole problem with final fantasy. I like the always something else approach but most people need stability in their games or they will hate it.
 
This explains why all the loot scattered around the game is a measly 5 Gil or useless crafting materials: young people are accustomed to working for very little compensation.
 

near

Gold Member
Statements like this require more information to be meaningful. Where was the data pooled from? Was it just Japan? So of the <500k units sold in Japan, a lot of that sell-through is to new/younger FF gamers? Not sure if that would entirely be a good thing on its own. Broadening your market is good if you're also sustaining your core fanbase, but I suppose we need far more data to make any sort of rational judgement on this outlook.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
Simplistic ass combat artificially stretched to 100 hours was so insanely bad. I was utterly bored by the combat a dozen hours in, and in 16 that is the only way to engage with the world.

Rebirth has SUCH a better, deeper, combat system while still giving you dozens of other things to do. Superior game in every way.

Different strokes and all, glad you liked 16.

If the game took you more than 40 hours, you were doing something very wrong. Or were just very bad at an already easy game.
 
If the game took you more than 40 hours, you were doing something very wrong. Or were just very bad at an already easy game.
Fair to call out my hyperbole.

I didn't make it near 100 or even 40 hours. The 10 hours of padding I played to see the 45 minutes of story was enough and I didn't make it any further than that.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
If the game took you more than 40 hours, you were doing something very wrong. Or were just very bad at an already easy game.

Does attempting ALL the side quests and listening to every last spoken word of dialog count?

Cause holy hell, boy does that make the game insufferable after about 10 hours.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
Does attempting ALL the side quests and listening to every last spoken word of dialog count?

Cause holy hell, boy does that make the game insufferable after about 10 hours.

I 100% the game in around 60 hours. That is with one full playing listening and seeking everything and a second playthrough on the harder mode.

Personally, I loved the conversations and relationships as they build throughout the game. I love that it gets silly and over the top. It isn’t for everyone.

But the game doesn’t take more than that to complete it.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Does attempting ALL the side quests and listening to every last spoken word of dialog count?

Cause holy hell, boy does that make the game insufferable after about 10 hours.
some side quests were utter shit but it's optional. it's side quests.
Unlike other games, you absolutely don't have to do them to be at high enough level.
Some side quests were really good but it's impossible to say which will turn out good and which bad before starting.
game took my 50 hours about 75% total completion of everything
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I have 150 hrs clocked in FFVII which battles keep me on edge and the materia is interesting to chase, as well as trying out different weapon loadouts and gear.

FFXVI is the only FF I didn't finish yet, I just got bored about 75% into the story. I plan to eventually beat and perhaps try the DLC but I didn't really enjoy the gameplay loop, lack of customization and lack of any decent level design. Its a shame because I like the setting, characters, mature approach etc.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
some side quests were utter shit but it's optional. it's side quests.
Unlike other games, you absolutely don't have to do them to be at high enough level.
Some side quests were really good but it's impossible to say which will turn out good and which bad before starting.
game took my 50 hours about 75% total completion of everything

Yeah, I enjoyed some - and checking my total playtime it is at 45 hours according to the PS App including the first DLC. So not terrible. It definitely felt like more haha. But it's no secret that it's not my favorite FF game, which at least makes it easy enough for the fans to dismiss my opinions on it for the most part!
 

Rat Rage

Member
Well, they sacrificed the name Final Fantasy in order to cater to a 3rd person action audience. They could have kept Final Fantasy a JRPG and developed a new IP 3rd person action game alongside it, in order to sell to both groups, but they were stupid and didn't. It's like if MC Donalds suddenly changed their signature Big Mac burger into a steak, but still called it a Big Mac, in order to cater to steak-loving people, instead of keeping both the Big Mac and offering a steak on the menu at the same time.
 
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Kumomeme

Member
FFXVI sucked ass, no big surprise zoomers would love it.
The Office Boomer GIF by MOODMAN
 

Crayon

Member
They have two aaa ff's at once like this. One apparently skewing younger and the other older. It would be nice if this works out and they could keep doing that. Better than all future games being like 16, at least.
 
I don’t get all the love for XVI, it was an okay game, but nothing special and it disappointed me as a mainline FF game. I honestly found XV much better (until you leave with the boat and it became linear). It’s my least favorite FF game (7 and 9 being my favorites).

Since FFXVI appears to younger new players, perhaps I am just too old for it with my 42 years. Although I really love Rebirth and found the combat to be the ideal mixture between the old round based system and the new action focused combat.
 
It was a 7/10 imo. Good game, excellent FF world and lore. But it's not an RPG in the slightest, and I don't want more of these from SE. Should have been a spinoff and not a mainline entry. Rebirth is what I want the future of the franchise to be.
 
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