Board 8 > Final Fantasy XVI

(+) Yeah! (+)

Did I mention how cool it is that the first time controlling Ifrit is a genre-standard giant monster battle minigame, but then the next time you have better control over it and it becomes like a scaled-up version of Clive's gameplay?

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Lightning abilities are why I still have the ability exp accessory equipped, because I sure to want some of those abilities but I sure don't want to have Ramuh actually equipped.

I have the the gil, exp, and ability point boost accessories equipped

I'm gonna be stronk and rich aw yeah

I got rid of money+ because it doesn't seem all that important. Doubled up on both EXP accessories.

Berserker Ring is the only accessory I keep on at all times, it seems too good to not use.

My goal is to finish the story by the 4th of July. Without spoilering much just did the Slepnir boss fight and was pleased by the ensuing cutscenes that Clive has actually met more than his match in Odin's dominant and he got put down pretty easily. Excited to see now where it goes from here

Not sure if I'll do final fantasy mode right away but for my own purposes it would make more sense for me to wait until the next week to do that

Menji posted...

This is great, thx for the strat.

Pop fireballs first, then ignition into lightning rod. Add a levinbolt at the end for even more sparkly fun!

I just kind of do whatever until they stagger, mostly Raging Fist or Upheavel, but then once they stagger I go Rising Flames --> Windup --> Judgment Bolt --> Gigaflare then just attack normally and maybe get a 2nd Rising Flames off before stagger ends and that's usually good for 100k-150k damage

Once I get Shiva abilities I assume I'll be using Diamond Dust for stagger

After getting the fifth Eikon and getting Giga Flare I broke my previous stagger damage by like 20000 lol.

I really don't understand why you would ever use Wings of Light. Just floating around for like 30 seconds unable to do anything while it charges, am I missing something here?

It charges really quick if you dodge attacks.

I don't use it but yeah.

I can see the use when you know a boss has a big attack you can't do anything but dodge during, but I still didn't bother with it much.

Impulse, however, is a great quick fire quick recharge skill.

Also I do not understand why the recharge time is so fast on Gigaflare. This shit hits like a truck with infinite range! Why would you not go with this as you big ult??

On the aesthetics, no city in XVI so far has had that wow factor FFXV/FFVII remake had.

For XVII whenever that comes out if it's just taking the best bits of XVI and the VII Remake games that'd be perfect.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I really don't understand why you would ever use Wings of Light. Just floating around for like 30 seconds unable to do anything while it charges, am I missing something here?

As mentioned it charges super fast if you're dodging attacks. I usually pop it on bosses when they have like 1/4 left on their stagger bar. It'll still be going when they drop and then I drop a Lightning Rod right before they do and I go Gouge > Giga Flare > Windup > Bolt/Dust or both if I have enough time.

It also makes mobs a joke and you can spam taunt to force them to attack and charge it for you.

voltch posted...

On the aesthetics, no city in XVI so far has had that wow factor FFXV/FFVII remake had.

A lot of these XVI towns seems like repurposed FFXIV towns to me

Really enjoying this game so far. Still pretty early, but this is the best a Final Fantasy has felt for me (not including remake or FF4DS) since FFX.

I do have issues but they are not harming my experience in a meaningful way.

It's definitely going to end up high on the list.

Ashethan posted...

Really enjoying this game so far. Still pretty early, but this is the best a Final Fantasy has felt for me (not including remake or FF4DS) since FFX.

I think this is general consensus, and I think after everyone is finished there will be heated arguments about XVI vs everything X and prior

Okay so got sixth eikon and damn Diamond Dust is the best thing yet.

First explicitly gay FF characters aw yeah

I dunno, I think you're reading too much into the guys kissing each other.

That was farther than most couples have been shown getting at this point.

It was enough to get the game banned in Saudi Arabia

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

It was enough to get the game banned in Saudi Arabia

Pretty sure showing a woman thinking is enough to get the game banned in Saudi Arabia.

It occurs to me that none of the terrible ultra-rich people in Saudi Arabia would actually have trouble getting whatever games they want.

Finished XVI yesterday. The game never seems to falter; just a solid story and decently crazy "movie game" from moment one. It is the best game since X with ease. While the relentless dourness is at play, it is stylistic and makes sense for what they are going for. The villain doesn't shock, nor do any of the characters. It's just a solid FF game, which doesn't really suffer in any area too badly. It's been a while since I haven't had to say, "Yeah, but something's kinda off here" with a FF game.

Won't say it's a top level FF game (my rankings of it stay top half, over 8 and 1). However, if someone said it was a Top 5 FF game for them, I wouldn't complain either. Top 3? Eh...wouldn't go that far though.

Am i wrong for thinking the eikon battles are a bit of a chore? I just did one that took like half an hour and holy shit im so bored/exhausted

TomNook7 posted...

Am i wrong for thinking the eikon battles are a bit of a chore? I just did one that took like half an hour and holy shit im so bored/exhausted

I feel so too yeah, in particular the one against Titan which might just be the half hour one you were talking about. The next one while long was my favorite one so far, it felt more varied and thus less of a chore.

Definitely don't agree with that, but to each their own. The Titan fight people seem to complain about was exceptional, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Definitely don't agree with that, but to each their own. The Titan fight people seem to complain about was exceptional, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I think having it have less HP would solve my problems completely, it was could but too long, you get basically the same super cool animations several times, which makes them a bit less fantastic.

Also just beat Titan and did feel it dragged on a bit towards the end. Still epic tho

okay I'm glad I did all the chronolith trials along the way because finishing them all gets you thing to display in Clive's room and you need all of those for a trophy

Chronolith trials are a bit of a joke if you put them off until the end. Just need to make sure to read the bonuses because if you ignore the power specific ones entirely time can be an issue.

Yee, I also didn't realize you can change accessories between each stage if you want. I thought they gave you fixed gear. So there I was with a high cleric accessory which is completely useless in there.

I read in the tomes about the original creation of mothercrystals. Had you been told this during the game at any point?

Oh they definitely didn't. Multiple instances of self spoilers in the tomes. That one in particular I think is an "unlocked" entry that they don't expect you to go back to the hideout to get "early", but it may be even sooner than that.

I mean by the time they do that it's not the craziest idea but still.

Even worse is when they talk about Ultima via the Ultima's Thralls entry after returning to Phoenix Gate.

I had just gotten Shiva, but it might have been available earlier. But there are multiple of such instances? So they are oversights? Or things that don't matter enough?

So I was fighting Titan and I thought, wow OK, this is a pretty epic fight, I see why people liked this!... Then phase two happened... that was crazy

I am assuming this must be the final Sidequest push for the game, because I've been doing all of them and my entire fucking map is green.

Okay wow new favorite combo

Impulse -> (use lunge) fireballs -> ignition -> detonate impulse -> gigaflare

Just got the 50k damage trophy after that one

I think I am getting close to finishing all the sidequests, and I think my final take on them is that it's worth doing all the + ones and one at the hideaway obviously, but besides that you should do all the ones giving to you by area leaders. If it's someone in a town who isn't important and it's not a + quest, just skip.

Some of the town leader ones may seem just as dull as the generic ones at first, but as I'm seeing the end of the game long chains back to back here there's some real, full cutscene content.

OK that's too blatant an FFXIV reference even for this game. Lategame spoilers.

You really just gonna pan up to the sky and show a fucking red dot coming in next to the moon and nobody says shit all about it??

I mean that's been there the entire game from the beginning

I've been waiting for them to say something but they haven't so it might just be a reference

Also gotta do all those sidequests for renown to unlock the last orchestrion roll if I want that platinum

I cleared today. Overall excellent.

Just one story complaint. Anabella's resolution was not as satisfying as it should have been.

And only one thing bothers me about combat. Once you have a lot of eikonic abilities, the optimal stagger windows are not about being stylish and doing cool combos. Instead, you're just doing an FF14 rotation for max dps lol. And that's how you solve every boss. At least if the finisher is Zantetsuken, it's really really cool.

I agree with the combat thing. I've just been blasting through everything with some combination of moves that lower will gauge a lot and do loads of dps. Zantetsuken feels like easily the best thing there is, but it's not the most fun to use due to charging. Dancing Steel is definitely excellent to run with it.

What I used in the end:

Garuda with Heatwave and Will o the Wykes
Shiva with Diamond Dust and Gigaflare
Odin with Dancing Steel and Lightning Rod

How it went: Wykes and Lightning Rod to shred stagger gauge. Heatwave to counter projecticles. Permafrost with Cold Snap to then get a guaranteed Dancing Steel in to build Zantetsuken.

Stagger window: Diamond Dust > Gigaflare > Zantetsuken > Lightning Rod + Dancing Steel > Second Zantetsuken

important to realize that stagger multiplier does not increase with number of hits. It actually depends on the move's will damage. And it's why Diamond Dust is godly.

Seems like a good boss setup. I keep the initial two phoenix abilities around most of the time because they charge fast for common enemies. They also lover will pretty fast, Scarlet Cyclone in particular for how fast it charges.

Dunzo. Not getting into specific spoilers but tagging it all nonetheless.

What a fucking experience. You can absolutely tell this was the Heavensward team top to bottom.

There was a lull between Titan and Bahamut, where there were numerous sidequests that werent actually any good, but other than that I loved the whole ride.

I guess it would be easier to talk about the few things I didnt like?

I got used to no minimap, but it should have still had one. The entire crafting system is a wash, shouldnt have been here. The money economy is nonexistent, it almost feels like the entire games Gil system is based on saving up to purchase orchestration scrolls??

But yeah, last that, loved the sorry and especially the cast. Jill was kind of bland, really weird that lot of the prominent sidequest characters were more fleshed out more than her. Cast on the whole nailed it, though.

Ive seen a lot of prominent western journalists bemoan how the story after the Bahamut fight becomes a nonsensical tragedy that comes out of nowhere. My only response to them is that they shouldn't tweet during cutscenes and then get pissed that the game didnt stay a Got clone after the first couple hours. It legitimately seems like some people wanted this game to stay grounded and not be a fantasy game. Morons.

From what I have played enough to judge in the main series (will die on the hill of T being a main series game)

14>6>T>16>5>9>10>7>8>13>12>13-2>15

Now if they can get the Shadowbringers/Endwalker team on FF17, we can gun for that #1 spot.