Final Fantasy 16

Caeden · Jul 9, 2023

Rajaah said:
Similar feelings here. Lots of lulls in an otherwise good story. Took me a while to realize that the Eikon specials are all on separate cooldowns. So I thought my Ifrit specials locked out Ramuh specials, etc, and basically just stayed in Ifrit stance all the time except to switch to Garuda for the mid-stagger yank-down.

Then I discovered the abilities are all on separate cooldowns and it made the boss fights a lot easier. Now they're basically just me switching around spamming whatever is off cooldown though.

So you’d say boss fights are now about taking turns with Eikon powers? I know I’ll take heat for this but I found FF9 to be way more a boring and forgetful story than this and I associate FF with spinning trope-filled but engaging yarns (with an occaisional leap of faith in the story) as much as I do turn based combat.

Caeden · Jul 9, 2023

Honestly, I think FF4 could be wholly remade like 16 and it would be cool as fuck to play through Cecil’s journey.

Zindan · Jul 9, 2023

Vuuxo said:
Been hesitant to get this because of the constant reviews, not necessarily all from here but many other sources, that the story is trash, combat is ass, you only need RB1 and Square for combat and entirely too many cut scenes.

I may wait for a good sale.

I would you've read stuff by people for who FF16 isn't -their- Final Fantasy, very salty ppl.

Chris · Jul 9, 2023

Caeden said:
So you’d say boss fights are now about taking turns with Eikon powers? I know I’ll take heat for this but I found FF9 to be way more a boring and forgetful story than this and I associate FF with spinning trope-filled but engaging yarns (with an occaisional leap of faith in the story) as much as I do turn based combat.

FF9 got me when you start exploring the lost continents.

The first one you get to via a lost tunnel and has Black Mage villiage, Dwarf village, Desert Palace and Summoners village with Lifa Tree.

Then the other two are empty but have a few Terra ruins which are really cool, especially the one with the talking faces.

It lost me when the Library and Observatory on the secret continents have low level NPCs from one of the cities... how the fuck did they get there?

Then Terra itself is stunning with the music, but they couldn't beat it and had a boring final dungeon/encounter. That's very similar to FF16 which blows it's load 75% in and can't beat the amazing thing they did.

Rajaah · Jul 9, 2023

Chris said:
FF9 got me when you start exploring the lost continents.

The first one you get to via a lost tunnel and has Black Mage villiage, Dwarf village, Desert Palace and Summoners village with Lifa Tree.

Then the other two are empty but have a few Terra ruins which are really cool, especially the one with the talking faces.

It lost me when the Library and Observatory on the secret continents have low level NPCs from one of the cities... how the fuck did they get there?

Then Terra itself is stunning with the music, but they couldn't beat it and had a boring final dungeon/encounter. That's very similar to FF16 which blows it's load 75% in and can't beat the amazing thing they did.

FF9 had some memorable locations. I liked Ipsen's Castle. Memoria wasn't bad as a final dungeon, it was intended to basically be an homage to Final Fantasy 1. I also perma-associate FFIX's soundtrack with Velious in EQ since I played them more or less side-by-side.

This track in particular (one of my favorites) I associate with Skyshrine, since I was sitting in a Skyshrine raid when I was on this part of the game.

I'm wondering what the amazing thing 75% into FF16 is, or if I'll know it when I see it. Home screen says I'm at 66% now. Is it the Titan fight? Cause I clearly have that coming up, they've been building towards it for a while.

Chris · Jul 9, 2023

Rajaah said:
FF9 had some memorable locations. I liked Ipsen's Castle. Memoria wasn't bad as a final dungeon, it was intended to basically be an homage to Final Fantasy 1. I also perma-associate FFIX's soundtrack with Velious in EQ since I played them more or less side-by-side.

This track in particular (one of my favorites) I associate with Skyshrine, since I was sitting in a Skyshrine raid when I was on this part of the game.

I'm wondering what the amazing thing 75% into FF16 is, or if I'll know it when I see it. Home screen says I'm at 66% now. Is it the Titan fight? Cause I clearly have that coming up, they've been building towards it for a while.

It's not the Titan fight, but you may think so as it's also amazing.

You will KNOW what I am talking about after you experience it and they just couldn't escalate past it for the last 25%, though the finale is fine.

It's funny because FF14 had the opposite situation where you beat the final boss at lv83 yet they managed to escalate the story for a satisfying finale - it was weirdly reminisent of that FF9 did but it worked this time.

Araysar · Jul 9, 2023

Chris said:
It's not the Titan fight, but you may think so as it's also amazing.

You will KNOW what I am talking about after you experience it and they just couldn't escalate past it for the last 25%, though the finale is fine.

It's funny because FF14 had the opposite situation where you beat the final boss at lv83 yet they managed to escalate the story for a satisfying finale - it was weirdly reminisent of that FF9 did but it worked this time.

you can just tell him

Chris , since he asked.

its the bakhmut fight.

Rajaah · Jul 9, 2023

Araysar said:
you can just tell him Chris , since he asked.

its the bakhmut fight.

Yeah I assumed it was probably Bakhmut if it wasn't Titan.

Dumb question:

Is the general guy (Bahamut) who was talking to the Emperor and Empress the same guy who appeared a couple hours later in the Earth domain and sicced the Undertaker boss on Clive? He also menaced Hugo a bit and I got the impression Hugo was afraid of him, which indicates that it was the same Bahamut guy

Edit: Nevermind, I was confusing Dion with Barnabas' henchman. The next scene settled it.

In other news, just defeated Titan:

This absolute photo finish (with about one HP left) would have meant a bit more if not for the fact that if I lost I would have come right back in the last phase with full heals. It's kind of impossible to lose under those circumstances. But either way I did the whole Titan fight in one life and it was a really tremendous fight.

Rajaah · Jul 10, 2023

After a giant play session, I have arrived. This game not having a day/night cycle like most modern games is actually a really good thing, it allows them to change the time based on the narrative. Like this night raid. And even things like the weather can be what the devs want for a specific area.

Things sure slowed down a lot after Titan. Main quest felt like a bunch of fetch side quests for a few hours.

Chris · Jul 10, 2023

Rajaah said:
View attachment 481840
After a giant play session, I have arrived. This game not having a day/night cycle like most modern games is actually a really good thing, it allows them to change the time based on the narrative. Like this night raid. And even things like the weather can be what the devs want for a specific area.

Things sure slowed down a lot after Titan. Main quest felt like a bunch of fetch side quests for a few hours.

Yep, that's the best part of the game enjoy!

Angerz · Jul 10, 2023

Rajaah said:
View attachment 481840
After a giant play session, I have arrived. This game not having a day/night cycle like most modern games is actually a really good thing, it allows them to change the time based on the narrative. Like this night raid. And even things like the weather can be what the devs want for a specific area.

Things sure slowed down a lot after Titan. Main quest felt like a bunch of fetch side quests for a few hours.

I took a screen shot in photo mode in this exact spot. The game has a lot of gorgeous shots and this one was one of the best.

Phazael · Jul 10, 2023

Caeden said:
Honestly, I think FF4 could be wholly remade like 16 and it would be cool as fuck to play through Cecil’s journey.

This is the worst thing I have ever seen posted on these boards.

Rajaah · Jul 10, 2023

I got past the big 75% part. Gonna make a bid to finish the game over the next couple of evenings.

Seems like the game kinda blew its wad, not sure what's left for the last 25%.

Ultima is really uninteresting as a villain and generally unappealing, one of the worse "REAL villain outta nowhere towards the end" examples in the series. Looks like at least I have an Odin fight to look forward to. Wondering what happened to Leviathan, maybe he'll be the boss of a DLC or something like that.

Chris · Jul 10, 2023

Rajaah said:
I got past the big 75% part. Gonna make a bid to finish the game over the next couple of evenings.

Seems like the game kinda blew its wad, not sure what's left for the last 25%.

Ultima is really uninteresting as a villain and generally unappealing, one of the worse "REAL villain outta nowhere towards the end" examples in the series. Looks like at least I have an Odin fight to look forward to. Wondering what happened to Leviathan, maybe he'll be the boss of a DLC or something like that.

I love the out of nowhere enemies, it's what Final Fantasy is all about for me.

They have to be set up right or be interesting though.

FF5/FF6/FF7 set up the true antagonist 1/3rd to 1/2 way through the game, allowing for lots of build.

This is what FF16 does 1/2 way in but it's like they think that Ultima has a deep and interesting motive when it just isn't. He may as well be a cackling villian like Exdeath, it's just disproportionate screentime for "blah blah blah I will test you Mythos, your consciousness makes you resist me".

Most of the others have a true antagonist appear right at the end and I think that would have worked better with what they had with Ultima - just make Dion and/or Barnabas more visible antagonists earlier on instead.

Also don't call him Ultima.

Rajaah · Jul 10, 2023

Chris said:
I love the out of nowhere enemies, it's what Final Fantasy is all about for me.

They have to be set up right or be interesting though.

FF5/FF6/FF7 set up the true antagonist 1/3rd to 1/2 way through the game, allowing for lots of build.

This is what FF16 does 1/2 way in but it's like they think that Ultima has a deep and interesting motive when it just isn't. He may as well be a cackling villian like Exdeath, it's just disproportionate screentime for "blah blah blah I will test you Mythos, your consciousness makes you resist me".

Most of the others have a true antagonist appear right at the end and I think that would have worked better with what they had with Ultima - just make Dion and/or Barnabas more visible antagonists earlier on instead.

Also don't call him Ultima.

Agreed pretty much. There are some great "villain outta nowhere"s out there and I also like the mechanic when it's done well.

Did some more this evening. Loooooot of wandering around lategame. This game feels very up and down on excitement level with long lulls between the spikes.

Rajaah · Jul 11, 2023

Just saw an ingame mention of "Leviathan the Lost". Wonder why he's lost? Did they just run out of dev time or was there a conscious decision to leave out the second-mightiest Eidolon?

Think we'll fight Leviathan in a DLC? Hell, think we'll get a DLC?

Kajiimagi · Jul 11, 2023

So that last patch, how much did it turn down the bloom / flashy shit? On a scale from playable to - oh shit 911 you had a seizure and had a brain tumor removed? Cuz , well .....

Vorph · Jul 11, 2023

Don't think the last patch did anything but add a motion blur setting and I guess performance mode runs somewhat less shitty now. No interest at all in turning off quality mode after getting used to it for 70+ hours, it looks and plays just fine with motion blur set to 1.

Rajaah · Jul 11, 2023

93%, 42hrs

The last big fight was pretty exhausting, looking forward to being done. I guess spoiler warning, game has been out for almost a month but yeah:

Main story really did end a while ago. Not sure if they're trying to do a White Walkers type thing here but I found the game MUCH more interesting when the bad guys were humans/imperials and not orcs/zombies like it is now.

Also they totally aped the Restless storyline from EQ's Velious remake expansions in the last few years. I mean the blue orcs/zombies look just like the fugly "Restless" foes from that game.

Talk about sputtering to a conclusion though.

Rajaah · Jul 12, 2023

Finished the game late last night. Great ending. The main campaign went on about ten hours too long though. Last "dungeon" was just drawn-out fight after drawn-out fight.

Someday maybe I'll do a 100% run for this, not now though. Got mixed feelings overall. They did a really good job with this and it's much more of a Final Fantasy than it initially seemed. Story was great and it was very playable. Just wish the last quarter was less lame, and there's a lot I'd change about it overall like letting you control other party members.

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