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StarTopic Final Fantasy XVI |ST| Garuda, Bahamut... Come On Crystal Mama

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Darn it, I overslept this morning so I didn’t get a chance to start. Tonight then!
 
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it's time !!
 
I'm like 6 hours in, but it's more like 8 hours taking into account the demo as well.

So far, I'm enjoying this game a lot and it's probably going to be my GOTY 2023 candidate. The combat opens up A LOT at some point and it becomes more dynamic and stylish. I'm chaining combos like a madman and looking like a badass at the same time!

I also think the pre-order bonuses sort of break the game. 10% extra EXP is a lot and I feel like I'm over leveled a bit, so I think I'll unequip that accessory in particular.
 
Can I just say that the implementation of spint mechanic from DMC in FF16 was the worst idea?
 
Started tonight and barely reached Cid’s Hideaway for the first time so I’m still very early. I don’t have too much to say just yet, but I’m largely digging the game. The presentation is phenomenal, probably my favorite looking game on PS5 and the scale of the adventure ahead has me excited. The voice acting is excellent nearly across the board even if I could do with a smidge less swearing haha. The voice acting especially is really endearing me to the characters and getting me invested in this world and story. I’m intrigued by the combat, but I’m barely scratching the surface so I’ll save more thoughts there for later.

My big knock so far is this game is brutal! I imagined a grim prologue from the details they teased, but ouch, just some brutal stuff. I’m glad the worst of it is off screen, but wow. I think the presentation values being so high and my prior FF experience guiding my expectations makes it more noticeable since I do enjoy stuff like Gears of War or Attack On Titan. (Incidentally the swearing reminds me of Gears and the Eikon battles and carnage remind me of AOT lol)

I’m hoping the extended tutorial will be over soon since I’m eager to really dive into the game. I think I have a pretty free weekend ahead so I should get some good time in.
 
I've just reached the first open area and the game is...fine? I was hugely hyped but it's not meeting my expectations so far. Guessing it will pick up later though.

Also: this game is not an RPG. This is an action adventure game with some incredibly light RPG elements.
 
This game is freaking insane. Feels like I'm playing a character action game from 2 generations ahead. I can't wait to see how the combat is later on. 12 hours in and hooked!
 
PT Fan said:
I'm like 6 hours in, but it's more like 8 hours taking into account the demo as well.

So far, I'm enjoying this game a lot and it's probably going to be my GOTY 2023 candidate. The combat opens up A LOT at some point and it becomes more dynamic and stylish. I'm chaining combos like a madman and looking like a badass at the same time!

I also think the pre-order bonuses sort of break the game. 10% extra EXP is a lot and I feel like I'm over leveled a bit, so I think I'll unequip that accessory in particular.
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I didn't even realize there were pre-order bonuses. Just checked my email and sure enough, Amazon sent me a code. I'll redeem it, but I don't think I'll use any of the stuff based on what you've said.
 
PT Fan said:
I'm like 6 hours in, but it's more like 8 hours taking into account the demo as well.

So far, I'm enjoying this game a lot and it's probably going to be my GOTY 2023 candidate. The combat opens up A LOT at some point and it becomes more dynamic and stylish. I'm chaining combos like a madman and looking like a badass at the same time!

I also think the pre-order bonuses sort of break the game. 10% extra EXP is a lot and I feel like I'm over leveled a bit, so I think I'll unequip that accessory in particular.
Click to expand...

KilgoreWolfe said:
I didn't even realize there were pre-order bonuses. Just checked my email and sure enough, Amazon sent me a code. I'll redeem it, but I don't think I'll use any of the stuff based on what you've said.
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It might be worth equipping the EXP boost accessory when you do the bounties / side quest hunts against higher level enemies if you want.
 
Impressions after two hours -

Good lord is this game pretty. The lighting is off the charts. Character models continually impress. The in-game cutscenes are better than most CGI cutscenes. It’s ridiculous.

But as good as the visuals are, the music blows them out of the water. Every track I’ve heard so far is great. I can see myself playing the soundtrack, which is something I never do.

The combat has not disappointed. I’m not very far at all, barely past the tutorial and not even to the point where the demo ends, but I can see the depth this combat system will have and the possibilities are exciting. Movement is fast and fluid, dodges and counters are fun to pull off, and the special abilities are great. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the combat develops over the course of the game.

I’m not very far into the story so I can’t comment on it very much, other than to say the voice acting has been superb which helps to sell the setting.

As far criticisms, I have a couple. I had to turn off graphics mode because the motion blur was so bad. I heard performance mode wasn’t perfect, but I’ll take some frame drops as long as I’m able to see when the camera is moving. Another issue I’m having is the font size - the text is way too small in the menus. There’s an option to increase the subtitle font size, but not the menu font size. Hopefully that’s something that gets updated, because I’m having a pretty hard time reading the menus.

Overall I’m really liking the game so far. I can’t wait to actually spend a good bit of time with it!
 
I'm enjoying it, the presentation (graphics, music, voice acting, direction) is off the charts good and I like the story so far. The combat is fun, but I haven't unlocked much to do yet.

I have some issues with the rest of it. Wrestles control away from the player far too much, it seems like I only get to actually play 10 minutes at a time before watching more scenes -- even in the middle of boss fights it often switches to 'cinematic scenes' that just end with you pressing one easy QTE. The lack of an overworld makes it all seem a bit disconnected so far, like I'm having trouble finding a sense of 'place' between all these individual stages, and the very small / tight levels have offered very little incentive to explore. My inventory is so small half the potions I find are just automatically used up, and if I'm already at full health it's pointless.

I'm expecting it will open up quite a bit more as I play -- the visual presentation and story alone is enough to keep me interested, along with the exciting boss fights. This would've been an excellent God of War game, haha.
 
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I don't know how many hours I'm into the game by now, but I'm loving it so much.

The combat is simply flawless. It opened up even more at some point and now I'm basically juggling enemies in the air while I cycle between 3 different types of abilities to keep the flow of the combat going. Also, landing parries and perfect dodges give me a dopamine boost every single time.

The story? Oh boy, it keeps getting better and better. The CB3 team did a solid job in this regard.

My only problem with the game is the sidequests. Most of the ones I've done are the typical ones you encounter in MMORPGs, but I see where they're coming from.

I don't know how far everyone is, but is there something I should be doing with the gil I've amassed so far? I feel like I'm missing something here because the shops have had the same items for sale since forever.
 
This is not a game design marvel or anything but it feels fucking great. feelgood combat that I can’t wait to see open up even more peppered with extremely well done cutscenes, engaging story and awesome setpieces. Definitely plays to FF’s strengths as a series.

It has its flaws but they really focused on what they knew they had great and it’ll easily carry the game for me. It has me itching to play more, can’t go wrong with that.
 
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Enjoying the game, have some concerns about how long it's going to stay interesting but it's fun so far. Still weird to have them saying fuck in a Final Fantasy game though and I'm also not a fan of a lot of the British accents a lot of the characters have.
 
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PT Fan said:
I don't know how many hours I'm into the game by now, but I'm loving it so much.

The combat is simply flawless. It opened up even more at some point and now I'm basically juggling enemies in the air while I cycle between 3 different types of abilities to keep the flow of the combat going. Also, landing parries and perfect dodges give me a dopamine boost every single time.

The story? Oh boy, it keeps getting better and better. The CB3 team did a solid job in this regard.
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oh man, this sounds so freaking great. i’m so pumped to get to play more this weekend!
 
The first Eikon battle is so freaking by epic!

and the scene that follows is so freaking dark. It’s absolutely brutal. Shocking in its brutality. That was gut wrenching.

Jesus
 
I've actually seen a few complaints about the combat being repetitive, but like...did they only play for thirty minutes or something?? It just keeps getting better and better to me. I think most people have touched on the presentation already, but yeah: the aesthetics rock. And pretty much spectacle after spectacle with a lot of these cutscenes. As for characters, I like Clive a lot more than I thought I would. And Cid is just awesome, haha. Definitely having a great time so far!
 
space_dragon said:
I've actually seen a few complaints about the combat being repetitive, but like...did they only play for thirty minutes or something?? It just keeps getting better and better to me. I think most people have touched on the presentation already, but yeah: the aesthetics rock. And pretty much spectacle after spectacle with a lot of these cutscenes. As for characters, I like Clive a lot more than I thought I would. And Cid is just awesome, haha. Definitely having a great time so far!
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I just added the first new set of powers and switching between the two chaining them mid combo is a lot of fun
 
Yeah the combat is a bit repetitive for the first couple hours but once it starts expanding, it gets so much more fun.
 
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I cannot stand how far to the left Clive is from the camera's center. Really bothers my brain

Otherwise really really enjoying the game but I would love camera options!
 
*Not going to go further on spoilers than location names so if you see a spoil tag it's just a location, but I've tagged anyway!

Having a really great time with this! I've just made it to
Dhalmekia
. The sheer splendour of the visuals and the spectacle is really something to behold at times, it has that big time feel I always associated with Final Fantasy growing up, and the story has had me hooked from the start and just keeps getting more interesting. I like that where some games would drag out certain beats you can see coming, they've opted to just confront things quickly and there's been more beyond that every time. Gameplaywise I do think it's a bit of a slow burn for maybe the first 5 hours ish, the initial areas are quite linear with not super interesting level design and battles are quite simple affairs but since around
Rosaria
, the areas have really opened up both on first visit and returns, and are a bit more in line with what I had thought the game might be laid out area to area. Similarly battles have really opened up in pace and options with more ability types. I don't want to write too much specifics about any of these things in fear of spoiling anyone lol but I really really like what's going on here 10-15 hours or so into the game.

Speaking more broadly: what's funny is, having played a lot of FFXIV and loved that game, I can very easily look at that and said yeah okay I can see how this team could turn what they've done here into a traditional single player FF and they could probably have just did that. Instead they choose to just do something entirely different which is exciting, I could see as many people come to this game from a game like Bayonetta as much as from a previous game in the series and find something they can get in the rhythm of. They have done something unique here and that won't work for everyone but that's always been at the heart of FF, reinvigorating and reinventing itself entry to entry and that's cool.
 
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After ten hours my impressions are I'd rather watch an anime adaptation of the games story. The story has some interesting tid bits, but this has to be one of the dullest video games I played so far this year.
 
Ifrit is so cool in this game. The ending of the demo made me buy the it in the first place, but the second main appearance doesn't disappoint either. Instantly lovable character.

Very much enjoying this game by the way. It's Game of Thrones x The First Templar x Asura's Wrath with the visuals of Blades of Time. This is what God of War 2018 should have been like.
 
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So, my early impressions:

-Excellent presentation.
-Love characters designs.
-Like Clive as a main character.
-Liking the combat so far, expecting to get new moves on the future.

However…
-Don’t like that effect (blur I read is called?) that the game have. I can’t move fast the camera or that effect appears.
-Wasted potential in level design. A lot of simple corridors.
-Some missions are, I don’t know how to call it, worthless? Useless? Irrelevant?
-Too many cutscenes between battles that don’t add anything to the story or the pacing of the game.


Anyway, I like that the game is linear btw. Oh, and the not subtle GoT references.
 
The further I get the more I enjoy, but I can't help but feel disappointed. The eikon fights are just the least interesting things ever, the core combat while fun has gotten fairly repetitive with most battles playing out the same and most enemies just melting beneath the unstoppable force that is Clive. The game feels like it had an identity crisis where it can't decide if it wants to be a character action game or a slower paced big are rpg and does neither as well as the best in their genre. I find myself enjoying the latter more though it's clearly not the game's strong suit.
 
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Pavolink said:
So, my early impressions:

-Excellent presentation.
-Love characters designs.
-Like Clive as a main character.
-Liking the combat so far, expecting to get new moves on the future.

However…
-Don’t like that effect (blur I read is called?) that the game have. I can’t move fast the camera or that effect appears.
-Wasted potential in level design. A lot of simple corridors.
-Some missions are, I don’t know how to call it, worthless? Useless? Irrelevant?
-Too many cutscenes between battles that don’t add anything to the story or the pacing of the game.


Anyway, I like that the game is linear btw. Oh, and the not subtle GoT references.
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the motion blur is awful, I agree. switch from graphics mode to performance mode to get rid of it. performance mode isn’t perfect, you’ll notice some frame drops, but it’s worth it to get rid of the motion blur.
 
Red Monster said:
the motion blur is awful, I agree. switch from graphics mode to performance mode to get rid of it. performance mode isn’t perfect, you’ll notice some frame drops, but it’s worth it to get rid of the motion blur.
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Thanks. I’ll try with performance mode then.
 
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Red Monster said:
the motion blur is awful, I agree. switch from graphics mode to performance mode to get rid of it. performance mode isn’t perfect, you’ll notice some frame drops, but it’s worth it to get rid of the motion blur.
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I still see some of it on my big TV, and worse it destroys resolution during fights. They didn't build these animations with 60fps in mind either, characters look like they're floating.

Hopefully they're fast tracking the blur off patch. I love Blades of Time as much as anyone but when I first turn this game on I feel like I need glasses
 
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Red Monster said:
the motion blur is awful, I agree. switch from graphics mode to performance mode to get rid of it. performance mode isn’t perfect, you’ll notice some frame drops, but it’s worth it to get rid of the motion blur.
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Stable 30fps and vomit inducing motion blur

Or

No motion blur but vomit induing wildly fluctuating frame-rate

Either way you need a bucket

I don't find either actually vomit inducing, but it's annoying how there's a big but on both modes
 
BassForever said:
Stable 30fps and vomit inducing motion blur

Or

No motion blur but vomit induing wildly fluctuating frame-rate

Either way you need a bucket

I don't find either actually vomit inducing, but it's annoying how there's a big but on both modes
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i won’t lie and say i haven’t noticed frame drops in performance mode, but they haven’t been distracting for me. i guess i’m not as sensitive to frame rate as some people. perhaps that’s a blessing.

but yes absolutely, here’s to Square fixing the motion blur issue.

and also the font size issue because jfc
 
Red Monster said:
i won’t lie and say i haven’t noticed frame drops in performance mode, but they haven’t been distracting for me. i guess i’m not as sensitive to frame rate as some people. perhaps that’s a blessing.

but yes absolutely, here’s to Square fixing the motion blur issue.

and also the font size issue because jfc
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And/or getting the game stable 60fps at all times with only minimal frame rate drops (ie drops from like 60 to 55ish for a few seconds).
 
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So the text is unreadable on my 55" 1080p TV, and it's unreadable on my G Cloud. But using Remote Play on my laptop hooked up to a 27" 1440p monitor, the text is perfectly readable. That's weird. I guess I'll be playing this game at my desk, then!
 
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Finally had a chance today to play a good chunk of this game. I finished tonight after the
Benedikta boss battle. Love the spectacle so far. Even in the first ten minutes of going through the intro, I was getting that early vibes from the game telling me that "this is about to be an epic Final Fantasy game." I got that feeling the first time I played the earlier games like VI, VIII, IX, and X. I never had that with XV. So far the presentation has been nothing short of amazing. The voice acting and character designs are awesome. I'm still very disappointed in the lack of diversity to this point, and I doubt that will get any better as the game goes on given the articles that have been posted in the past.

Other thoughts:

  • Combat so far is a little too repetitive for my liking with mostly just mashing square. I'm not hating it yet, but I hope other combat features open up which I am guessing will be the case given how I just seemingly absorbed Benedikta's powers.
  • Why did they have to kill Joshua so fast? He was my favorite character!
  • Cid really looks like Nathan Drake, doesn't he?
  • I've probably missed some, but I'm hoping that more side-quests open up soon.
  • I read the tomes for about 30 minutes. There is plenty of deep lore in there.
  • I love how you can get a little lost in the castles and towns. I was tired of games where you literally walk in straight paths on rails. It is great to have the feel of freedom.
More tomorrow night, but so far this feels like a winner.
 
Yamanoi said:
i cant even get over these boss fights.....this is like asuras wrath but fun non stop

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Early boss

Benedikta

Was awesome. Can definitely sense some all timer fights coming in this game.

It’s got that Kingdom Hearts feel moreso than DMC even if it may look more DMC. That satisfying data Organization XIII battle feel of going against a lightning-quick opponent and slowly getting their patterns down
 
Phendrift said:
Early boss

Benedikta

Was awesome. Can definitely sense some all timer fights coming in this game.

It’s got that Kingdom Hearts feel moreso than DMC even if it may look more DMC. That satisfying data Organization XIII battle feel of going against a lightning-quick opponent and slowly getting their patterns down
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Wait till you reach the next battle like that.
 
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Something I really appreciate about this game is how your party members actually do damage consistently to other enemies and help you in battle.

Is this a sub tweet towards a different game this year? No, but I suppose it could be.
 
Didn’t get to play yesterday (too tired) so I’m falling behind here, but I did beat my first big boss after the prologue today and now I’m staring down the next Eikon battle. I really enjoyed the first big boss, but I’m glad I have a new power set to play with. Was curious how it worked (and now even more down the road), but it feels good and opens up the combat immensely. Cid’s been a great first party member and steals most scenes he is in. That big boss battle in particular had amazing music, so I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead. Amazing game so far, really excited to play more.
 
JorgenRaft said:
Something I really appreciate about this game is how your party members actually do damage consistently to other enemies and help you in battle.

Is this a sub tweet towards a different game this year? No, but I suppose it could be.
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I don't check twitter much about games because it is almost as bad as some gaming forums, but feel like the only people who keep arguing about which game is better are those who don't have access to multiple systems. Instead of bickering about TOTK or FF or whatever, I've been eating good with so many fantastic games this year. Can't wait to play more later today on Sunday.

Octopath 2 the best though don't @ me
 
Yamanoi said:
I don't check twitter much about games because it is almost as bad as some gaming forums, but feel like the only people who keep arguing about which game is better are those who don't have access to multiple systems. Instead of bickering about TOTK or FF or whatever, I've been eating good with so many fantastic games this year. Can't wait to play more later today on Sunday.

Octopath 2 the best though don't @ me
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Yeah, I have been overfed on games and series I love this year. Between this, Zelda, Resident Evil, Pikmin, Spider-man, etc, Geoff is gonna have to put a gun to my head to pick a GOTY. As far as the ones released, while they each have flaws, they've been fantastic in their own ways.
 
Experienced a very weird but ultimately harmless glitch last night. I was in the marshes in Roasaria, and I came across a minotaur. I got it down to about 3/4 health when all of the sudden there were two minotaurs with full health. I just focused on one and when he died the other one completely disappeared.

Or at least, I think that was a glitch. Unless the minotaur has some sort of shadow clone ability (which I doubt because I never saw it before or after that).
 
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Finally getting to start this. Installation started at 5AM Tuesday morning and took until now to finish. I hate my ISP so goddamn much it isn't even funny.

Loved the demo so I'm expecting to have a blast with this. Now if Square Enix could just ship my fucking collector's edition I'd be set.
 
Made great progress again today. Story ended today with Cid telling Clive that the world is dying and we need to save it.. A quick peak at a walkthrough tells me that I am nearly at the halfway point in the game in terms of missions completed, but considering what I witnessed in the story tonight, I'd say I'm at the turning point to the second main arc.

This game remains amazing.
 
I beat the second and third Eikon battles tonight. Second one gave me huge Asura’s Wrath vibes and the third one was absurdly hype with very fun combat and super bombastic presentation. More low key, but I enjoyed my first big open area between the two, the graphics are just as impressive as the more contained levels which is astounding. Had fun exploring and questing even if the quests were basic. To me at least, this feels like the first full next gen game on PS5. If I wasn’t fully before, I’m now very hooked.
 
Josh5890 said:
Anyone feel like attribution points are gained really slow, or is it just me?
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I thought this until I remembered you can instantly refund points and set them into the skills you actually use.

But I do wonder how much you'll have by the end of the game so that you can switch powers easier without having to reset points every time.

I do still have 3 abilities left, too.
 
Holy crap is this game dark. I just did the sidequest where
you have to find a "pet" for a little girl and Chloe turns out to be a branded who turned into a rock. The little girl thinks it is no big deal.
 
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