When the game looks pretty, it really does look pretty. Some of the rendering choices are still pretty unfortunate, with bad ghosting at times, but it is pretty often that I look at some of the actual art on display here and just gawk at it.
FFXVI Spoiler
Also, this was a great scene. The game has a lot of scenes in it with fantastic writing, even in the side quests. All of the voice actors did a great job and I have yet to come across something that sounds awkward or just a voice that doesn't fit. Performances are spot on. Tons of memorable lines and a lot of intrigue.
There isn't much to dislike about FFXVI. I think my only two issues are the performance being less than stellar, and that the side quests are a bit oddly placed. It isn't that the content of them is poor, because you get a lot of interesting information about the world and characters and there are some that give you some pretty nice rewards. They are just pushed to you at kind of awkward times in the story. It would be much better if they were given to you during segments where there is some downtime, but you'll randomly get 3 side quest opportunities in the middle of a chase scene or something like that and of course my completionist brain has to do them immediately. It can ruin the pacing just a little bit. Nothing to be too mad about though.
I'm about 50 hours in now, getting close to the end I'm sure. I've been trying to do everything I can and have enjoyed doing that, unlike something like Tears of the Kingdom where I dreaded my next play session. So far the game is getting a 9/10 for me. It's very good, and definitely a breath of fresh air after taking a break to play the Silent Hill 2 remake.
@druid imo they've looked like this since ff7, minus ff9 whatever happened there. like if we're talking about "kpop bots" then tifa fits that bill perfectly.
my favorites are probably ff10's though, they look pretty unique and they fit the setting's aesthetic perfectly. my least favorite (other than ff9) is ff15's main cast.
for ff16 they made them fit the setting very well, which has a much more low-fantasy aesthetic to it, but still made them look really cool and distinct.
but overall the original point in that post still stands. instead of trying to push things as realistic as possible they still have a lot of style to them and that makes them simultaneously more appealing and less uncanny. when you compare it to all the other slop out there it's god tier and it's really good in of itself too.
i mean look at this guy, he's fucking awesome.
@beardalaxy is this skyrim
@tomie it kind of looks like that a little bit doesn't it hahaha.
it's ff16. skyrim does have moments like this too though, even in all of its 2011 glory.
@Jens_Rasmussen i've never played ff15. it didn't really appeal to me that much. general consensus seems to be that ff16 is a better game, but a lot of people think it strays too far away from an rpg to be considered "final fantasy." that's the main thing people point out, that and the side quests can seem like padding at points. i can see why people think that, but i have been enjoying them a lot. i think their placement is the only weird thing, they should be during moments of downtime but sometimes they're right in the middle of important story beats.
That started with XIII and became truly true with XV (assuming you don't even look at XIV).
>Poorly timed side quests
Do they expire if you advance the story? I am asking both in terms of completion and ability to pick them up to begin with. Or can you just pick them up and then do them later, when it is more appropriate?
Edit: sry, Jens, misread Roman numerals because I'm retarded, thought you said "this started with VIII"
Just . . . different
@TrevorGoodchild @Jens_Rasmussen @TornadoOfTerror thing about final fantasy is that pretty much every game is different, or at the very least final fantasy goes through kind of clumps of more similar games. everyone will kind of have a different idea of what final fantasy is and what their favorite one is because it's so diverse. there's definitely a reason why ff7 is so beloved, though, i'm sure. personally i've never really been able to get into it.
But for me, it remains undefeated
@TrevorGoodchild @Jens_Rasmussen @TornadoOfTerror if i would have played ff7 back when it came out, like if i were a ps1 kid instead of an n64 kid, i probably would have been absolutely obsessed with it. instead, i sort of just absorbed it via osmosis through the internet in my teens lol. through the culture, it does hold a good place in my heart still even though i'm not too fond of the game itself.
ff16 will be the first mainline final fantasy i actually complete. the other one is crystal chronicles: my life as a king lmao.
@Jens_Rasmussen @DEERBLOOD @TornadoOfTerror @TrevorGoodchild i know ff7 has an option to change it slightly, where the gauges fill up but the action pauses whenever one does so you have time to do stuff.
I might have made a mistake earlier though, as XII was the first non-mmo Final Fantasy that was properly action based rather than an ATB-JRPG.
@BasedLord @Jens_Rasmussen @TrevorGoodchild is he the same guy who got cloud to level 99 inside the mako reactor
@Jens_Rasmussen with the way the story works, there are these kind of chunks of time that a lot of stuff takes place in. so you'll need to get all of the side quests done for one of those chunks before moving on and once you do, they'll be gone. there's a good chance you can do it when the story settles down for a moment, though. it's just that, with the kind of player i am, when i see a side quest i want to do it immediately before doing the main quest stuff. a lot of the time, the side quests pop up at weird timings and i think that could be tightened up a bit to make it flow a little better.
for me though, that's a really minor thing. i'm willing to accept it's a video game still, and that even though the world is about to be blown up or whatever there's still video gamey side quests to be done to increase your bag size or whatever. to me, it's charming in a way... it feels like an older game in that regard. it helps that all of the side quests, although they usually boil down to "go here, kill that, collect this" all have good writing and expand on all the characters in interesting ways. there are a lot of quests that bleed into the next one in the series, and playing ff16 i've realized that's something that my own game absolutely lacks.
Like hot damn, look at these characters. I have said it before and I'll probably keep saying it, but I've always loved the art style of FF games. They aim for something realistic but still video-gamey and artistic, in such a way that draws me in far more than just going for the ultra-realistic graphics. That kind of thing is a fun novelty, to see just how tech can be pushed, but when one thing is off and you're going for that look, it ruins it all. When you've got a bit more style to it, there is a lot more freedom there.