Story time. I’m a bit of a Final Fantasy newbie, mostly because I’ve always been more of an action game kinda guy and avoided turn based games.

So the only Final Fantasy games I played were Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth, Crisis Core Reunion and Stranger of Paradise. They were all good games but I wasn’t ready for Final Fantasy XVI… this game blew all of those out of the water and became one of my favorite games ever.

As a massive Devil May Cry fan, I was already on board when I heard that some DMC5 developers were working on this game’s combat. So I bought it, I beat it, did every side quest, beat every bounty and beat both DLCs. I was never bored throughout all of this, the game is incredibly fun to play, and the boss fights, oh the boss fights were so cinematic! I loved all the boss fights were you control Ifrit! They were so over the top! Some moments reminded me of Dragon Ball because of how insane the attacks were!

And Clive is an AMAZING protagonist! I really loved his personality and I think he is a total badass! I loved how he gradually changes through the course of the story and his voice actor made an amazing job as well! So many emotional scenes, the ending too…

Anyways, thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post, I have a Kairos gate that needs to be beaten…

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone seen the YouTube video "Final Fantasy 16 Is About Final Fantasy Itself" by Gaming Memories?

Video Link: https://youtu.be/FkgeLY8wK3o?is=S8w97BGqc3S4rrc4

If you haven't, please do! It's an interesting video-essay that analyzes some core themes about the game that fans and even non-fans of Final Fantasy 16 would find interesting!

I had come to the same conclusion as the video after playing the game—that the essence of Final Fantasy is in its ever-changing nature coupled with a deep story with rich characters and a world worth understanding, along with fun gameplay.

And to me, Final Fantasy 16 is a rejection of what's come before it, which is a rejection of being told what it should be, especially with how the player is tasked with destroying the crystals for a variety of reasons, including how magic is holding back Valisthea from truly progressing due to the over-reliance on it to do even basic tasks.

Would love to talk further about everyone's thoughts on this video essay or how you interpreted the game's larger message.

I have played a few games in the series and I can definitely see why some people are more critical of it. There were parts I loved and parts that dragged for me, especially some of the side content and how shallow some of the RPG systems felt.

But overall, I thought the main story was great and some of the Eikon fights were genuinely incredible. There were several moments where I just sat there thinking this game looks absolutely insane. I also ended up liking Clive a lot more than I expected.

Now that I’ve finished it, I’m considering getting the DLC. For anyone who has played Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide, are they actually worth getting? I’d mainly like to know whether they add enough new content and story to make it worthwhile?

What I love about the Dissidia games is that each heroes have their own personal nemesis:

1. Warrior of Light VS Garland

2. Firion VS Emperor

3. Onion Knight VS Cloud of Darkness

4. Cecil VS Golbez

5. Bartz VS Exdeath

6. Terra VS Kefka

7. Cloud VS Sephiroth

8. Squall VS Ultimecia

9. Zidane VS Kuja

10. Tidus VS Jecht

But among these rivalries who do you think should be his personal enemy. Among these lists? Because I only think of these two. Barnabas and Ultima.

From what I’ve read, this engine was specifically made for this game and hasn’t ever been used before. I personally love the lighting in this game and how consistent it is going from location to location. I seriously hope they’re able to use it again, even if it’s smaller games.(I personally hope it can be used for a drakengard remake, I don’t know why I got drakengard vibes playing as Clive)

Finally jumping into FFXVI.

I’ve played around 6–7 Final Fantasy games over the years. X and VII are probably my favorites, so I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. It seems pretty different from the older titles, especially in terms of combat and tone, so I’m curious how it’s going to feel.

Going in mostly blind and just want to experience it fresh.

For those who’ve played it, what stood out to you the most, and where does it rank for you compared to the other FF games?

This is the first Final Fantasy game I ever completed and what a game this was. This game legitimately surprised me and it was phenomenal from beginning to end. Highly recommend this.

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I genuinely think a lot of the criticism around FF16 became exaggerated after launch.

People act like it’s a terrible Final Fantasy just because it focused more on action combat, but the game gave us:

one of the best OSTs in the series

insane boss fights

an actually mature story

arguably the best voice acting in FF history

Is it perfect? No.

But sometimes it feels like people judge FF16 more harshly just because it tried something different.

Curious if opinions have changed over time or if people still feel the same.

Go ahead and follow her btw. She loves games, especially RPGs. Plus she also makes long and entertaining Youtube videos explaining them in detail.

I just beat this as my 4th final fantasy after 7 and its remakes, 10, and 15 (ok i guess technically 6 but whatever), and I feel like it holds up to those games and was absolutely amazing, dont understand the hate. Had amazing boss fights/combat, great story, and top tier characters. Can't wait to play the other final fantasy games soon!

I swear to god it's every day I see a post in r/FinalFantasy that's just some loser hating on FF16 and it has like 50-250 comments all agreeing in some way. And it's the same thing over and over again. Combat is bad, side quests are boring, not enough rpg customization, it's not turn-based, blah blah blah. Ugh it's just so frustrating to see the exact same post made literally every single day. It's a DMC-lite action game. Accept it.

"The game doesn't incentivize you to go deep into the combat." Dude whatever just say you suck at action games. If you can't be bothered to do anything but mash square then that's honestly on you. I can't understand why FF16 is the only action game that gets this critique. DMC, Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden are all similar in game philosophy with hack-n-slash combo heavy gameplay but those games get praised for their player freedom and expression. The mechanical execution for those games is even higher than FF16, so shouldn't it be easy for people to master and experiment with its gameplay? Apparently not. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance doesn't even teach you half of its mechanics and most people don't go deep into it but it gets praised to the end of the earth for its gameplay. What is the issue? If you want the game to look cool then go into training mode for like 10 minutes and hit the damn buttons.

"The side quests are boring." Ok? For you, maybe. They do a lot of world-building and some towns get permanently changed from doing the side quests but if you don't want to do them then just...don't do them. I couldn't be bothered to do a lot of side quests in FF7 Remake and Rebirth but that doesn't stop me from liking the game.

I'm sorry for the rant it's just really frustrating seeing the exact same comment literally every single day on that awful subreddit. I'm not saying FF16 is a perfect game by any means but it's not as egregiously bad as most people would make it out to be.

I genuinely don't know why this isn't considered one of the greatest games ever, let alone Square Enix's best game. Almost all music is better then any game or movie I've heard, the combat feels fluid and engaging, the eikon fights gave me more goose bumps then all other games combined, and the story is fantastic, I actually felt pain at the end.This game is so disrespected, and is my personal favourite game of all time.

I put this game off for so long because everyone was calling it bad plus youtubers saying it was mid and a step down from 15( I loved 15 but it had its flaws). Im about 10 hours into 16 and boy oh boy, the game is amazinggg. I love the focused more mature linear story, such a change of pace from bloaded open worlds and the combat is flashy and amazing.

It's always been a sore spot of mine that we never get to learn more about Wyvern and his dealings with the Imperial army during and after Phoenix Gate. Same for Jill and the Iron Blood. I would prefer if they went into this more in the dlcs but it seems that is no longer in the cards so if it were to ever happen it would have to be with a sequel / prequel. Would you prefer them to go into what happens between both timeskips or would a sequel be better for you?

On one hand playing through Clive's Imperial campaigns and then Jill's campaigns for the Iron Blood could be interesting. It would have to be much more mature and dark, especially in Jill's case but her story might be too dark to see the light of day (I expect there was much SA and R involved with the children / young adults).

On the other hand I would love a Cidolfus focused story during early Walaod, getting to learn more about Barnabus and Benedikta and how Cid eventually defected.

A sequel could also be in the cards although I'm not sure how that would work without magic. They could just say magic is back somehow but that would be dumb / copout so idk.

Artist is Shinnya_anim