FINAL FANTASY XVI

I wish I could leave an inbetween positive and negative review because there are genuinely good points about this game, but heres my general thoughts; Final Fantasy XVI was an okay experience, the issue being the pacing and the lack of development of the other characters except from Clive. Was it horribly bad? No. There was moments however where I just sighed and wanted the game to end. The set pieces were amazing and the overall story wasn't terrible, but not a Final Fantasy I would ever go back to. The combat itself was meh, going for a more action style rather than having RPG elements, which is what Final Fantasy previously did. I'm not opposed to full on action, but it just didn't feel interesting when I couldn't control the other party members. Game was fine, but maybe play a different Final Fantasy first if you're jumping in for the first time.

[b] I've never played a game with boss fights this consistently EPIC, EVERY EIKON FIGHT IS CRAZY [/b] [h3] Pros: [/h3] I LOVE the combat. It's incredibly satisfying, and there's a huge variety of abilities that let you tailor your playstyle however you want. The voice acting is phenomenal, Clive and Cid are hot, and the Active Time Lore system is one of the best QOL features I've seen, it lets you catch up on story details at any point during gameplay without interrupting the experience. There's gays. The Rising Tide DLC is also excellent. [h3] In between: [/h3] Semi-Priming is really cool, but I wish it had more depth, You also unlock one of the coolest Eikons way too late in the game. Even on Final Fantasy mode, the game isn't particularly difficult. If you're going for 100% achievements, you'll need at least two playthroughs. I also genuinely enjoyed the side quests, which seems to be an unpopular opinion. The game has HOUR and HOURS of cutscenes but THEY ARE SO WELL DONE AND CINEMATIC. [h3] Cons: [/h3] Starting the DLCs can be surprisingly confusing if you don't know where to look. I wasn't a big fan of young Clive's voice acting, and while the world is gorgeous, it often feels hollow. The cutscenes are locked to 30 FPS, the default FOV is way too close to the camera, and I really wish Final Fantasy mode had been available from the start—if I want to suffer, that should be my prerogative. Thankfully, mods can fix most of those technical issues. Oh, and sadly, Clive's beach Tekken outfit isn't in the game. [i] Platinum'd after 98 hours [/i] some achievements can be very grindy, like unlocking all abilities but if you enjoy crazy combat then it will go by fast. [b] 8./10: [/b]

This was the most adult and gritty version of Final Fantasy yet. Loved every second of the dark and dim world and exploring all of the mysteries within it.

Unfortunately just a completely mediocre game. This could have been amazing, the world they tried to create was awesome. Medieval, dark, political, huge Eikon battles. It should have had it all, instead it just fumbles each one of these areas. The Medieval dark world is just all surface level, you never get to visit and explore anything larger than a small town. Sure you can see these massive cities from far away, but apparently Clive is a walking disaster because anytime you are in a city its a smoking ruin that only has one funneled path forward. The politics don't have any affect on the story outside of window dressing, they are all told through cutscenes, you never get to see anything in the game world, its just endless cutscenes of people talking. Eikon battles are so bad at some points the game takes complete control away from you for multiple sections of the fight, you only receive two abilities to use with your Eikon, just have fun smashing X and Y to now end. Also I hope you don't plan on being able to see anything because its just a cluster mess of color on screen. The fights just end up being boring slogs. This is all to say nothing of the boring action combat, the repetitive enemies, the boring items/crafting, the endless cutscenes filled with dialogue, the hand holding story telling method of explaining everything on a map, the world that allows for no exploration, and the lack of any real RPG elements. Its not a game, it just could have been so much better, and ends up just being boring.

the best part of this game was rolling credits so i didnt have to do another talk to 13 people in an area to go on a quest to kill 4 bugs quest the hype moments are cool the lows are very very low slogs the world is boring the story is eh 4/10 buy on sale if you really want to i guess

Game isnt bad but it's not particularly good either. Everything I've experienced has just been "ok" and frankly incredibly forgettable. Combat has just felt like worse DMC combat, story has been painfully predictable and characters are largely forgettable and bland.

The "60FPS' cutscenes are 'skippable' is an outstanding gameplay innovation but it's not in the HUD so rather useless. Utterly mess, it's not an xRPG, bad action game, bad story driven game, a mix of poor motion capture characters (repeated ad nauseum) mixed with bad animated ones, After finishing 007 First Light, I promised not no abandon this. The worst part is that this one is even longer.

ABSOLUTE CINEMA This is the first game in the Final Fantasy series I've played, and it is excellent. The story and soundtrack are outstanding. The medieval setting blended with magic works really well. For a newcomer to the series, the gameplay is accessible and fun; the slashing, combos, counters, and parries make for a very enjoyable experience. *I just wish there were more moments featuring Clive and Jill.