I think most of us were wary in the leadup to FFXVI dropping. Personally, the stated influences (such as Game of Thrones and God of War 2017) didn’t seem like they’d make a great Final Fantasy game. I like GoT just fine, but it was literally a commentary on the heroic tropes that my favorite FF games embrace. And I just straight up don’t like God of War 2017 and TLOU and all the other games of that ilk, with their prestige walking tours and great looking-yet-poor feeling controls.
I’d even gotten a taste at what FF feels like when mixed with that, in FF7R, which I didn’t like for exactly those reasons. It flipped back and forth between big budget prestige and the worst kind of MMO sidequests, not even talking about how the combat felt like even basic enemies were tough as stone.
What I don’t get then, is why I like FFXVI, when it really feels so similar to 7R in so many ways, from the action combat to the MMO sidequests to the big prestige moments. I guess one thing that’s different is there’s less of the tech demo-ey “walk slowly behind a character while they exposit about the place you’re in so you get to know it better”. Honestly there’s none of that, which is great cuz that annoys me beyond belief. Also the combat’s got way more to it here, with more abilites and powers and a UI for selecting them that isn’t terrible. The sidequests are still mostly MMO fetch quests, but they’re given a fair bit of context in the writing and the way they link together from chapter to chapter.
None of this feels like enough to explain why I love this game so much though, while really not enjoying what might as well be it’s brother. Maybe it’s the lighting? There’s a wonderful almost painted soft quality to the way light scatters on skin here. It could be the fact that it’s not taking 10 hours of story and stretching them over 50 hours……………… actually that’s probably a big part. And what’s here is great stuff too! Sure it’s not exactly breaking new ground, either for FF or for medieval fantasy stories in general, but there’s a genuine sense of anarchy (of the organized striking against the powers that be variant) both to the characters and the way the world is built, tying obvious evils like slavery and war to more nebulous ones, like climate change.
In practice, the GoT influence ends after about 10 hours, and what replaces it is a nice semi-grounded fantasy story (which I think is where FFXII comparisons have been coming from, along with the way the world map is structured) with stakes that rise and rise until you’re basically 12 again, watching the gurren lagann movie in your mom’s house, letting talk about humanity’s innate will and imperfection comfort you and light a fire in your heart. I still don’t love the 2023 AAA-isms (quest markers and sidling through two very close together cliffs should both be made illegal), but they only just mar a game with a real genuine beating heart. Makes me wanna pick up FFXIV again too, to see if the expansions in that are this good too.
I’d even gotten a taste at what FF feels like when mixed with that, in FF7R, which I didn’t like for exactly those reasons. It flipped back and forth between big budget prestige and the worst kind of MMO sidequests, not even talking about how the combat felt like even basic enemies were tough as stone.
What I don’t get then, is why I like FFXVI, when it really feels so similar to 7R in so many ways, from the action combat to the MMO sidequests to the big prestige moments. I guess one thing that’s different is there’s less of the tech demo-ey “walk slowly behind a character while they exposit about the place you’re in so you get to know it better”. Honestly there’s none of that, which is great cuz that annoys me beyond belief. Also the combat’s got way more to it here, with more abilites and powers and a UI for selecting them that isn’t terrible. The sidequests are still mostly MMO fetch quests, but they’re given a fair bit of context in the writing and the way they link together from chapter to chapter.
None of this feels like enough to explain why I love this game so much though, while really not enjoying what might as well be it’s brother. Maybe it’s the lighting? There’s a wonderful almost painted soft quality to the way light scatters on skin here. It could be the fact that it’s not taking 10 hours of story and stretching them over 50 hours……………… actually that’s probably a big part. And what’s here is great stuff too! Sure it’s not exactly breaking new ground, either for FF or for medieval fantasy stories in general, but there’s a genuine sense of anarchy (of the organized striking against the powers that be variant) both to the characters and the way the world is built, tying obvious evils like slavery and war to more nebulous ones, like climate change.
In practice, the GoT influence ends after about 10 hours, and what replaces it is a nice semi-grounded fantasy story (which I think is where FFXII comparisons have been coming from, along with the way the world map is structured) with stakes that rise and rise until you’re basically 12 again, watching the gurren lagann movie in your mom’s house, letting talk about humanity’s innate will and imperfection comfort you and light a fire in your heart. I still don’t love the 2023 AAA-isms (quest markers and sidling through two very close together cliffs should both be made illegal), but they only just mar a game with a real genuine beating heart. Makes me wanna pick up FFXIV again too, to see if the expansions in that are this good too.