Current Events > Final Fantasy 16's story is fantastic!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Im surprised its not talked about more.

Best story in a single-player FF since 10 imo.

It's talked about quite a bit on the PS5 board. I really don't see it on CE but honestly I don't see much game talk at all here considering the site we are on. Sure I see some, but not much.

yeah I really like game of thrones and attack on titan too

they actually made a coherent story this time?

It's really good until like the last couple hours. Then I started to hate it.

Yeah, it starts well then it goes full jrpg at the end. A bit silly when its begging to be taken so seriously at first. But it still has amazing moments.

Clive's mom should have been the main villain instead of the king that nobody cares about.

That's my only major complaint from the story.

Well, that and the fact that you never get an airship.

it was good until about halfway, when it was like, "oh yea, I'm a Final Fantasy, lol"

I've been hearing a lot of negative takes on the game. So is the concensus that the story is the only good part about this game? I'm just waiting until it comes to PC eventually.

Prestoff posted...

I've been hearing a lot of negative takes on the game. So is the concensus that the story is the only good part about this game? I'm just waiting until it comes to PC eventually.

It's the definition of a 7/10 game. When it's a high moment and everything's slamming, it's really fucking good. The big kaiju monster fights are fantastic. If we're grading the game solely on that, it'd be 10/10.

The issue is that the low points are just such. A fucking. Drag. Non-boss enemies are just filler, they may as well all be textureless models for how much they do differently from one another. Side-quests really let you know that the people who worked on this game have MMO experience. And virtually every new area follows the same pattern: you gotta go to this town to get to this other town but oh no the road is locked because X so we'll have to help out the locals with this problem so we can get through.

^ I agree with all of that, but with that said, I think I like the cast of characters, and some of the villains were done pretty well.

Prestoff posted...

I've been hearing a lot of negative takes on the game. So is the concensus that the story is the only good part about this game? I'm just waiting until it comes to PC eventually.

Story is great, combat is serviceable, but I really started to dread the boss fights partway through. I know that they wanted those to be big spectacles, but they went overboard with the last few. One took me over 30 minutes to beat. It wasn't because it was hard, it was just QTE's and cutscenes galore and multiple health bars. It went from "wow this is cool" to "omg another health bar!?"

I was also admittedly disappointed, because when SE hired the guy who did the combat for DMC 5 and Dragon's Dogma, I was expecting the combat to be a lot more varied than it turned out. Maybe they'll finally get the action right in 17, but now I don't know.

boxoto posted...

^ I agree with all of that, but with that said, I think I like the cast of characters, and some of the villains were done pretty well.

Oh, yes, I have few complaints about the story as a whole and the characters are top notch. It's just the gameplay that's an issue.

Like I forgot to mention that it's got this pseudo-open world vibe, but there's literally no reason for it to have it. Weapons and armor are strict linear upgrades that you mostly just purchase from your home base's blacksmith. The most you'll find by exploring are materials for a crafting system that's utterly useless because they're only used to craft the linear weapon and armor upgrades. I had hundreds of every single material by the end of the game.

Yeah, I agree with everyone's takes on the game.

The story was good, but the reason I hated the last act or so was just because almost everyone besides Clive ended up sidelined, even Jill and Torgal, and they started killing off the main boy trio back-to-back for no real reason. Like they thought that they needed deaths for people to find it "mature," or something. Leaving out Leviathan felt like a massive intentional plot hole to make Clive end up dying. And it felt like there was just no closure on anyone else that we spent the entire game getting to know. The entire thing just made me go, "No way that's it..."

But yeah, the combat is fun, but it takes a while to get there. I know people complained about the "no elemental weaknesses" thing and other missing staple RPG elements, but I never found it a big deal. And it makes sense since you're only doing fire-type damage for a good chunk of the early game, so having elemental weaknesses wouldn't have felt required.

The maps were nice, and it's the prettiest any FF game has ever looked I'd say (until the ugly pink sky ruined the lighting completely), the voice acting was great, scene direction was great, and the boss fights were mostly fantastic. But those other parts make sure it's just a solid 7/10.

What's unfortunate is that by the end of the game the sidequests are some of the best parts of the world but they're just so mundane in the first half. If you do all of them, though, 16 is easily the most dynamic, lived-in world in the mainline franchise. Towns and cities have their own goals and struggles which evolve with the world state, you actually get to know your blacksmith, shopkeep, etc and hear about their own history. In no other Final Fantasy (outside of the MMOs) do side characters and old locations get so much care and attention and by the end it really makes you appreciate everyone who has helped up until that point.