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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!
« on: July 21, 2023, 03:58:45 am »
20. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
I beat Final Fantasy XVI this week after 63+ hours... the best way I can summarise the experience is a brilliant Final Fantasy Story stuck within a poorly made game!
The games structure is horrible for an RPG (Certainly for 2023). Rather than navigate through areas after a scenario ends you are given a Map Menu to where you have to select the next area - even if there is only 1 areas to go to... The problem with this structure is that it condenses the traversal element to an RPG & diminishes the sense of adventure! It's more like experiencing a condensely edited movie. Where in previous FF games it's experiencing the parties journey which gives us the time to engage with them.
Second point is the combat. It is terribly basic. I found once I unlocked Lunge & a Monsters Ability to topple an enemy over when their Stagger Bar is half-way I could beat all encounters without thinking. There was a normal enemy pattern & a Boss patern, that was it. Sadly the game doesn't incorporate elements into the Battle System, so there really is no depth at all.
Sidequests... Geez! The game is full of the most monotonous side material you can think of. Most are just generic fetch quests for random NPC's you don't care for - A couple worked for world building and presenting slavery in the world but the lack of budget and variety left this to feel like chores - Got burnt out after 3 hours of sidequests one evening. The game has Monster Hunts but they're boring too as they're ALL re-skins of enemies you've already seen appear 4-5 times in the game - Really, you'll encounter a Boss in the Story Route & it will appear again & again in the story routes for the game.
So... what's to like? The story is VERY compelling! The world and it's peril is very well realised. I don't typically like Medieval Fantasy settings but the story was well presented - even if heavily inspired by Game of Thrones. Clive is a decent FF protagonist & like all good FF games carries a well crafted character-focused story on his back. You feel for his past and later I was engrossed and keen to support him on his quest. The other characters aren't quite as interesting but they make for a good posy and assist the journey. I won't go into spoilers but it is very well paced (Unless you go through all the sidequests...) and engrossing for start to finish.
Soundtrack is also a highlight! Much more memorable than the last games and genuinely exhilarating.
So... while I found every second of the actually story a delight, I simply did not enjoy playing the actual game... which is an odd polarizing experience to feel. Usually I am more for having a good story within a game but the gameplay is so unremarkable & side content so tedious that i really brings the overall experience down. If playing I would avoid most side content - You can tell the important ones as they have a + icon on the map, beyond that right at the end of the game there are a few character focused ones which are decent but i regret wasting so much time on games poor side content. Sadly for me this sits on t he lower end of the FF Series Ranking for me.
I beat Final Fantasy XVI this week after 63+ hours... the best way I can summarise the experience is a brilliant Final Fantasy Story stuck within a poorly made game!
The games structure is horrible for an RPG (Certainly for 2023). Rather than navigate through areas after a scenario ends you are given a Map Menu to where you have to select the next area - even if there is only 1 areas to go to... The problem with this structure is that it condenses the traversal element to an RPG & diminishes the sense of adventure! It's more like experiencing a condensely edited movie. Where in previous FF games it's experiencing the parties journey which gives us the time to engage with them.
Second point is the combat. It is terribly basic. I found once I unlocked Lunge & a Monsters Ability to topple an enemy over when their Stagger Bar is half-way I could beat all encounters without thinking. There was a normal enemy pattern & a Boss patern, that was it. Sadly the game doesn't incorporate elements into the Battle System, so there really is no depth at all.
Sidequests... Geez! The game is full of the most monotonous side material you can think of. Most are just generic fetch quests for random NPC's you don't care for - A couple worked for world building and presenting slavery in the world but the lack of budget and variety left this to feel like chores - Got burnt out after 3 hours of sidequests one evening. The game has Monster Hunts but they're boring too as they're ALL re-skins of enemies you've already seen appear 4-5 times in the game - Really, you'll encounter a Boss in the Story Route & it will appear again & again in the story routes for the game.
So... what's to like? The story is VERY compelling! The world and it's peril is very well realised. I don't typically like Medieval Fantasy settings but the story was well presented - even if heavily inspired by Game of Thrones. Clive is a decent FF protagonist & like all good FF games carries a well crafted character-focused story on his back. You feel for his past and later I was engrossed and keen to support him on his quest. The other characters aren't quite as interesting but they make for a good posy and assist the journey. I won't go into spoilers but it is very well paced (Unless you go through all the sidequests...) and engrossing for start to finish.
Soundtrack is also a highlight! Much more memorable than the last games and genuinely exhilarating.
So... while I found every second of the actually story a delight, I simply did not enjoy playing the actual game... which is an odd polarizing experience to feel. Usually I am more for having a good story within a game but the gameplay is so unremarkable & side content so tedious that i really brings the overall experience down. If playing I would avoid most side content - You can tell the important ones as they have a + icon on the map, beyond that right at the end of the game there are a few character focused ones which are decent but i regret wasting so much time on games poor side content. Sadly for me this sits on t he lower end of the FF Series Ranking for me.
