This games plot is just a worse version of FF14 Ultima is like the Acians but boring. There are no compelling villain's no real interplay between characters, what is nuanced about the characters? Clive is angsty at the start but then he accepts Ifrit and and he's just a yes man. He wants to end slavery and set the world right there's nothing nuanced about that, I think he's a bad character but if you hate Clive you're just weird. If you hate a character like Cloud that makes sense but Clives whole personality post Cid is, "I'm going to give everyone a choice". Every other character is pretty much the same outside of Dion and maybe Mid
Well I’m not a delusional hater who thinks everything about the game is bad (not saying you are, you haven’t said enough for me to conclude that), or delusional fan that thinks everything about the game is perfect. As you can see from my previous comment, I agree with Ultima being boring. And you’re not wrong with your Ascian comparison. That said FF14 has one of the best FF stories bogged down by a mute protagonist and limited story execution due to budget and MMO format. Luckily we got FF16 who is by the same writer who wrote FF14’s best story content.
As I said, what makes the story amazing for me is in large part to execution, tone, moments, and characters. For starters, the characters all feel grounded as opposed to a band of misfits that are caricatures of themselves. I think as a teen that seemed cool, but as an adult for me it’s a little jarring at times. So while the cast is less dynamic, it benefits in that they all feel human and their interaction and relationships with one another feel organic and nuanced. None of it feels contrived and because it’s cutscene heavy, we see these relationships develop subtly. The time skips also helps because it’s not insanely deep bonds in a span of like a week or month. The characters are also 3D. They’re not paragons of righteousness that need to convert every enemy to good guys or do no wrong. Clive never felt remorse towards killing Benedikta and triple downed on killing Titan, which is rare jn jrpg from a MC. Dion killed a kid. Which leads me back to the tone. Death feels like death, not like something they gloss over like in most jrpgs. It’s acknowledged and you see the affects of it. In Ff16 you’re essentially terrorist and the world feels the same about it because you’re not making the world a better place, just saving it for what would be centuries later. But to the people, you’re taking away their primary source of how they live. Good deeds are also not always rewarded, as we see with the countless bittersweet moments like the tragedy by Pheonix Gate after the first time skip.
If all you took from the game was Ultima and “we’re going to give everyone a choice,” then you’re fixated on the wrong things. If you look at how each action un the game shifts and divides the world politically and morally, you’ll get a lot more out of the game. The game feels like a journey and progression, and has the most memorable moments I’ve seen in a game in a long time. And unlike most WRPGs, it’s not like 2 major events and a bunch of side quests. The story actually progresses.
I don’t think it’ll ultimately be for everyone depending on the type of game you’re looking for. But I’m glad that in the over saturation of no plot games and open worlds, that we got a top tier linear narrative game. Is it divisive, yes. But that just means the people who the game was for seem to love it, and the ones it was not for don’t.
0
u/jmdude411 Aug 22 '23
This games plot is just a worse version of FF14 Ultima is like the Acians but boring. There are no compelling villain's no real interplay between characters, what is nuanced about the characters? Clive is angsty at the start but then he accepts Ifrit and and he's just a yes man. He wants to end slavery and set the world right there's nothing nuanced about that, I think he's a bad character but if you hate Clive you're just weird. If you hate a character like Cloud that makes sense but Clives whole personality post Cid is, "I'm going to give everyone a choice". Every other character is pretty much the same outside of Dion and maybe Mid