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

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After 56 hours, I rolled credits in Final Fantasy XVI tonight and the ending was as spectacular as I hoped. There had been a weak stretch from the end of the Bahamut fight to the point of no return as Ultima stinks, but the final side quests and the final sequence with its big emotional moments and awesome action delivered.

I think I need a few days to sit on it for where it all fits exactly in the grand scheme of things, but for the more immediate review, despite some messy and weak elements (Bearers and the ultimate villain), overall I had a great time playing Final Fantasy XVI. The combat is awesome, I really liked Clive and the characters who joined with him, the graphics and music are spectacular, and the big Asura’s Wrath set pieces 100% delivered. Outside of the Chronolith Trials and Final Fantasy mode (both of which I’m not feeling), I did everything available and I’m walking away very satisfied overall.
 
xghost777 said:
After 56 hours, I rolled credits in Final Fantasy XVI tonight and the ending was as spectacular as I hoped. There had been a weak stretch from the end of the Bahamut fight to the point of no return as Ultima stinks, but the final side quests and the final sequence with its big emotional moments and awesome action delivered.

I think I need a few days to sit on it for where it all fits exactly in the grand scheme of things, but for the more immediate review, despite some messy and weak elements (Bearers and the ultimate villain), overall I had a great time playing Final Fantasy XVI. The combat is awesome, I really liked Clive and the characters who joined with him, the graphics and music are spectacular, and the big Asura’s Wrath set pieces 100% delivered. Outside of the Chronolith Trials and Final Fantasy mode (both of which I’m not feeling), I did everything available and I’m walking away very satisfied overall.
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Glad to hear that it mostly stays awesome throughout the whole game! I’m looking forward to finishing it sometime in the next several years going by my current pace.

You keep comparing it to Asura’s Wrath and that makes me think I need to check that game out.
 
Red Monster said:
Glad to hear that it mostly stays awesome throughout the whole game! I’m looking forward to finishing it sometime in the next several years going by my current pace.

You keep comparing it to Asura’s Wrath and that makes me think I need to check that game out.
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You should 100% check out Asura’s Wrath if you can. It’s one of the most over the top action games ever made. Not mechanically deep, but just wildly entertaining. It’s currently on sale for $4 on Xbox.
 
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Wow! The entire sequence before you acquire your third set of Eikon powers is nuts!

poor Cid. You were my favorite character 😓
 
Red Monster said:
Wow! The entire sequence before you acquire your third set of Eikon powers is nuts!

poor Cid. You were my favorite character 😓
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You'll meet some more cool characters yet but yeah Cid was my favourite too. I'm around 65% of the way through the game so who knows if any will reach his levels for me but I doubt it lol.
 
I started this game loving it, like absolutely adoring it, and now, at 40 hours in, it is barely holding on to a 7. It is not a well designed game on the whole. The highs are amazing, and I think are what add a halo or glow to the whole rest of it, but honestly 90% of the game is poor, and even things that appear to be strengths near the beginning end up becoming weaker points towards the end, while the issues that I was more willing to overlook near the start have become increasingly difficult to ignore.

My understanding is I have another "act" or two (or however we want to label it) left so maybe it turns it around and pulls itself back up to a better tier overall for me, but right now the more I have played it the less I have liked it (to the point where it's made me reassess FF7R and given me newfound respect for it), so I am not too optimistic in that happening.
 
Ramuh’s circle button action is kinda bad, huh. It makes me want to cycle off Ramuh as fast as possible to keep from accidentally using it.
 
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I grabbed Star Ocean 6 on Prime Day deal and it’s taken my attention from this because, once you’re past all the fancy graphics and lavish effects and voice acting, it’s actually just a more fun game.
 
touchfuzzy said:
I grabbed Star Ocean 6 on Prime Day deal and it’s taken my attention from this because, once you’re past all the fancy graphics and lavish effects and voice acting, it’s actually just a more fun game.
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now I haven’t played Star Ocean 6 so i can’t speak to that comparison, but I can say that, for me, this game is a ton of fun. It’s got the most engaging moment-to-moment combat system I can remember playing. I can’t wait to get into the next fight because of how much fun it is.
 
My copy of the ultimate edition of the soundtrack arrived today! And hoo boy is it gorgeous. Just absolutely beautiful art all over the thing.

So happy to have this fantastic OST in my collection now.
 
xghost777 said:
Heck yeah! Snagging this on itunes right away. Thanks Yamanoi!
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I've been listening to it since a few hours now. Ascension on loop.

2009_01_starz.0.jpg
 
Soundtrack is crazy good. Not my favorite in the series, but it’s staggering how big it is and how much of it is quality.

We’re spoiled getting this and Xeno 3 OST dropped within 2 weeks of eachother
 
Phendrift said:
Soundtrack is crazy good. Not my favorite in the series, but it’s staggering how big it is and how much of it is quality.

We’re spoiled getting this and Xeno 3 OST dropped within 2 weeks of eachother
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Do you know when Xenoblade 3's soundtrack hits digital platforms like itunes or if it is coming at all? Was really nice Xenoblade 2 and Torna's eventually made it to itunes.

Edit I googled it. I thought the physical was out already sorry. I guess that's next month so hopefully it hits itunes on August 2nd.
 
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xghost777 said:
Do you know when Xenoblade 3's soundtrack hits digital platforms like itunes or if it is coming at all? Was really nice Xenoblade 2 and Torna's eventually made it to itunes.

Edit I googled it. I thought the physical was out already sorry. I guess that's next month so hopefully it hits itunes on August 2nd.
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Yeah, I think it’s dropping the same day as the physical OST
 
I literally just started this game, but quick first impressions are: It’s very pretty, the voice acting and character animation is excellent, and Clive, Jill, Joshua, and their father are all pretty likeable right off the bat.

I have yet to actually fight anything other than the tutorial battle so can’t really comment there yet. Oh, and the “camera moves with Clive” option was really throwing me off, it feels SO much better disabled.
 
SammyJ9 said:
I literally just started this game, but quick first impressions are: It’s very pretty, the voice acting and character animation is excellent, and Clive, Jill, Joshua, and their father are all pretty likeable right off the bat.

I have yet to actually fight anything other than the tutorial battle so can’t really comment there yet. Oh, and the “camera moves with Clive” option was really throwing me off, it feels SO much better disabled.
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Graphics mode, motion blur to like, 2, and turn off the camera moves with you option. You’ll be golden.

I can’t believe there are people who played through the entire game with the camera following you like that. It’s so disorienting.

Anyway, enjoy the game!
 
Red Monster said:
Graphics mode, motion blur to like, 2, and turn off the camera moves with you option. You’ll be golden.

I can’t believe there are people who played through the entire game with the camera following you like that. It’s so disorienting.

Anyway, enjoy the game!
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Somehow I was genuinely not bothered by it, or the motion blur. I turned it off and turned the motion blur down when the patch hit, but I wasn't having an issue with those things before that. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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Got to the area just after the Hideaway now, and I’m liking the game so far. Combat is enjoyable, feels similar to FF7Remake actually but I’m liking it more than that at least so far. And CID’s VA is the same as Lorath in Diablo 4, right? Dude nailing some roles this year.

Annoyances:

- The game gives you like 6 different control schemes, but doesn’t let you just custom remap? I really feel like dodge should be able to be on L1, and that’s not an option

- Why is there no minimap, or really ANY map at all?! This is driving me up the wall. There’s a perfectly good map of the hideaway, couldn’t we just have one of those everywhere we go?

- Why can’t I access the main menu on the world map?
 
SammyJ9 said:
Got to the area just after the Hideaway now, and I’m liking the game so far. Combat is enjoyable, feels similar to FF7Remake actually but I’m liking it more than that at least so far. And CID’s VA is the same as Lorath in Diablo 4, right? Dude nailing some roles this year.

Annoyances:

- The game gives you like 6 different control schemes, but doesn’t let you just custom remap? I really feel like dodge should be able to be on L1, and that’s not an option

- Why is there no minimap, or really ANY map at all?! This is driving me up the wall. There’s a perfectly good map of the hideaway, couldn’t we just have one of those everywhere we go?

- Why can’t I access the main menu on the world map?
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Not being able to button map or have more swap possibilities is annoying. I’m playing Reverie right now and at least at the start I really wanted to swap the triggers for the sprint button and you just can’t which is so annoying lol.

I forget what button it is, but outside of the linear action levels which you are mostly in now there’s definitely a map button. Last thing is less of an issue when you are in the hideaway / larger areas too since the map is accessed from your menu.
 
xghost777 said:
Not being able to button map or have more swap possibilities is annoying. I’m playing Reverie right now and at least at the start I really wanted to swap the triggers for the sprint button and you just can’t which is so annoying lol.

I forget what button it is, but outside of the linear action levels which you are mostly in now there’s definitely a map button. Last thing is less of an issue when you are in the hideaway / larger areas too since the map is accessed from your menu.
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That might be it, I don’t think I’ve actually been to an area that’s not a linear action level yet. So it’s not super necessary, I’m just someone who always likes having a map.

I will say the load times are fantastic, so hopping into the hideaway to check the menu takes like three seconds anyway. It just feels like an oddity more than anything.
 
If dev times weren't so long these days (possibly 7 years until FFXVII) I wouldn't mind too much XVI's shortcomings.

I loved the game but it made me long for more and to see where the series it's going but we ain't finding out until next generation of consoles.
 
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I began the quest for the second mothercrystal this morning. I can’t wait to see what happens, given how wild the first mothercrystal quest was.
 
I just finished the section with Garuda last night, and while the reveal of Ifrit wasn’t exactly surprising it was still a great scene and raises a lot of questions. The cutscenes, animations, and just spectacle of this game is next-level. It just remains to be seen if the gameplay lives up to it by the end.

One kind of odd thing: So far there have actually been almost too many boss fights for me? I’d really like to get a longer, more drawn-out exploration and dungeon-y type section of the game that’s less focused on combat. So far it feels like there’s a boss fight like every 10 minutes, and while they’re often pretty fun I’m already starting to get a bit fatigued with the pacing and relentless nature of the gameplay/story.

Regarding Benedikta:
I remember seeing a lot of talk about her character on Twitter and other places, but after seeing it (unless she’s somehow not dead and there’s more to it?) I’m not really seeing what all the fuss was about. She was set up to be an antagonist for the early game, and given enough hints of character and backstory to make her interesting, and I thought she played that role pretty well. Unless a lot of the complaints were that she was killed too soon and that she could have developed more and been a larger player later on, maybe? Which: fair, and maybe there are some related problems that become more apparent further into the game that I don’t know about yet, but she seemed like just a quick antagonist to have in the story early on and it played fine to me.

I will admit though that she’s the type of character I often find extremely annoying, so I wasn’t very attached to her or anything.
 
The second mothercrystal was a bit of a let down compared to the absolute insanity the first one was.

I know part of the issue is my own slow pace thanks to my lack of time to play, but things don't happen very quickly in this game. Major story beats don't come around very often, and when they do, it feels like the game is constantly holding back, giving you breadcrumbs. I don't want breadcrumbs anymore, I want the bread! This metaphor is strained. But still!
 
Red Monster said:
The second mothercrystal was a bit of a let down compared to the absolute insanity the first one was.

I know part of the issue is my own slow pace thanks to my lack of time to play, but things don't happen very quickly in this game. Major story beats don't come around very often, and when they do, it feels like the game is constantly holding back, giving you breadcrumbs. I don't want breadcrumbs anymore, I want the bread! This metaphor is strained. But still!
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I forgot about the second crystal entirely lol. The lava area is kind of neat though I guess. Thankfully there is better stuff ahead Red.
 
xghost777 said:
I forgot about the second crystal entirely lol. The lava area is kind of neat though I guess. Thankfully there is better stuff ahead Red.
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Good to know!

We didn’t even get to see Ifrit this time! If the giant fire demon doesn’t come to play then what are we even doin here
 
Red Monster said:
The second mothercrystal was a bit of a let down compared to the absolute insanity the first one was.

I know part of the issue is my own slow pace thanks to my lack of time to play, but things don't happen very quickly in this game. Major story beats don't come around very often, and when they do, it feels like the game is constantly holding back, giving you breadcrumbs. I don't want breadcrumbs anymore, I want the bread! This metaphor is strained. But still!
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It shocked me when I read this because I thought you were talking about the NEXT crystal, which seems like a unanimous highlight. That's how forgettable that 2nd crystal is lol, I legit forgot. The rest are much better than that one. The Jill character stuff was cool, though.
 
The fight against Kupka in Rosalith was fantastic, and it didn't even involve any kaijus tearing shit up. It was just a good old-fashioned beat down of a fight. I loved it.

and the bit at the end where Clive cuts off Kupka's hands? Brutal. But then Clive does his metroid thing and steals Titan's powers from Kupka! Does that mean we don't get to actually fight Titan? Surely not. There's no way they wouldn't give us a proper Ifrit vs Titan fight, right?

Anyway, I've now got another Eikon to play with, which means I can maybe make some changes to my loadout. As much as I love Garuda's whip thing for taking down baddies at half stagger, I might switch her out for Titan for a bit. See how that feels.
 
SammyJ9 said:
I just finished the section with Garuda last night, and while the reveal of Ifrit wasn’t exactly surprising it was still a great scene and raises a lot of questions. The cutscenes, animations, and just spectacle of this game is next-level. It just remains to be seen if the gameplay lives up to it by the end.

One kind of odd thing: So far there have actually been almost too many boss fights for me? I’d really like to get a longer, more drawn-out exploration and dungeon-y type section of the game that’s less focused on combat. So far it feels like there’s a boss fight like every 10 minutes, and while they’re often pretty fun I’m already starting to get a bit fatigued with the pacing and relentless nature of the gameplay/story.

Regarding Benedikta:
I remember seeing a lot of talk about her character on Twitter and other places, but after seeing it (unless she’s somehow not dead and there’s more to it?) I’m not really seeing what all the fuss was about. She was set up to be an antagonist for the early game, and given enough hints of character and backstory to make her interesting, and I thought she played that role pretty well. Unless a lot of the complaints were that she was killed too soon and that she could have developed more and been a larger player later on, maybe? Which: fair, and maybe there are some related problems that become more apparent further into the game that I don’t know about yet, but she seemed like just a quick antagonist to have in the story early on and it played fine to me.

I will admit though that she’s the type of character I often find extremely annoying, so I wasn’t very attached to her or anything.
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She was played up a LOT in marketing so people were surprised she bit the dust that fast.

It was disappointing to me too because in lore, she has deep personal connections to Cid, Hugo and Barnabas that just… never really get to be explored at all because she dies so quickly. Almost no other character is as connected to different factions as she is.

Also the problematic tropey sexual assault backstory for women rears it’s head with her as well.

That’s the main disappointments I believe
 
Red Monster said:
The second mothercrystal was a bit of a let down compared to the absolute insanity the first one was.

I know part of the issue is my own slow pace thanks to my lack of time to play, but things don't happen very quickly in this game. Major story beats don't come around very often, and when they do, it feels like the game is constantly holding back, giving you breadcrumbs. I don't want breadcrumbs anymore, I want the bread! This metaphor is strained. But still!
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Don't worry. You're gonna eat the whole loaf soon enough! Then when you get hungry again, you'll have it all toasted with your choice of spreads.
 
Wait... the location of the Earth Mothercrystal/Dominant is named Dazbog?

Sweet, I'd love to grab a latte!

Dazbog_0.jpg


(I realize this is probably mostly a Colorado thing, but Dazbog Coffee stores are pretty common around here so it's going to be really hard not to think of this)
 
Just finished the first Mothercrystal section, and that certainly was a lot! Some really good stuff in there, and more firmly cements in my mind that this game is at its best when it goes high fantasy and really kicks things into gear, and much less so when there’s downtime and sidequests and it tries to be more grounded. I can already tell that I’m going to love the magic/lore/‘ancient forgotten secrets’ fantasy parts of the plot a hell of a lot more than the political side of things.
 
My progress is so agonizingly slow - I think I was able to play for three hours over the past week. I’ve been making a point to do every side quest that I come across, but I’m afraid that at this rate, I won’t finish the game for months. I might start skipping the smaller side quests in an effort to speed the game along. I’m not going for the platinum anyway.

Will I be missing anything major by skipping the side quests? The “important” side quests have an exclamation mark, right?
 
Red Monster said:
My progress is so agonizingly slow - I think I was able to play for three hours over the past week. I’ve been making a point to do every side quest that I come across, but I’m afraid that at this rate, I won’t finish the game for months. I might start skipping the smaller side quests in an effort to speed the game along. I’m not going for the platinum anyway.

Will I be missing anything major by skipping the side quests? The “important” side quests have an exclamation mark, right?
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Yeah just do the exclamation mark ones. Side quests are MMO side quests-tier, it's not worth it, even if every once in a while they'll say something interesting about the world, but they're too boring and time consuming.

Also almost at the end of the game, there's a few side quests given by members of your party, and they're pretty good, especially the Jill one. You DON'T WANT to miss that one especially.

If by then (basically right before the final quest) you don't have that quest, just check on the internet how to unlock it if.
 
It's the side quests with the plus symbols that give you more substantial rewards. The exclamation point side quests are usually just ways of getting some extra xp and cash.
 
JorgenRaft said:
It's the side quests with the plus symbols that give you more substantial rewards. The exclamation point side quests are usually just ways of getting some extra xp and cash.
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that’s a helpful distinction, thanks for the tip
 
Yeah I’ve done every sidequest so far, and you tend to get them in bunches of 2-3 at once, but I think literally all of them only take like a couple minutes each. They’re very short and simple, just very minor character details so far. But I have heard like a lot of people in here have mentioned that they stick a lot of great character stuff in sidequests nearer the end of the game.
 
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The side quests are kind of like chain quests and get better as they go. I did them as they unlocked and felt satisfied clearing out the final ones for the main quest givers.
 
Red Monster said:
the third crystal is so good oh my god

that was one of the best boss fights i’ve ever seen
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You’re really making me want to get back to this game, I’m currently on the way to the second crystal but I won’t be able to play for a few days. But I like being on vacation, too 😄.

This reminds me that I have a few theories/general thoughts I’ve been kicking around from the perspective of someone who’s just recently done the first crystal (please no spoilers for after that):

Typhon is usually roughly an air-element, right? In FF history? So is he like a “dark” air element Eikon opposite Garuda sort of like how Ifrit is a “dark” fire element Eikon opposite Phoenix? I’m wondering if all of the crystals in the world are actually sealing away dark element versions of the Eikons, and since IIRC one or two crystals no longer exist maybe that’s how Clive got Ifrit in the first place: it’s one of the alternate Eikons that was unsealed before the start of the game.

Along those same lines, I’m getting the impression that destroying the crystals may be a seriously bad idea even if it’s for good reasons. They seem to be sealing something away (Ultima? Etc.?) and exist for a purpose so that blowing them all up might not be great.

I’m also super curious about all the Fallen ruins. I love me a good lost civilization who was mysteriously more technologically advantaged than people are now, so I’m hoping that pays off in a good way.
 
Welp, a month has passed since I beat the game and, looking back, I can say that was really good game (around 7-8 out of 10). Yes, the gameplay loop became repetitive near the last third of the game, but I really liked the characters, story, worldbuilding and music, so I can let it slip.
 
space_dragon said:
Dat boss fight tho...
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Maybe an unpopular opinion but that didn’t help much. The fight itself was too long, too repetitive, and all spectacle with no real substance. On top of some bizarre music choices that didn’t really fit, and I’m definitely still pretty iffy on the soundtrack and the game as a whole.

But hey, that section’s done, so maybe things will improve! I am still wanting to know what happens next and figure a lot of things out, but I don’t know, there’s a lot I’m really not feeling. So far for me the game peaked at the first crystal raid.
 
SammyJ9 said:
This section of the game focusing on Kupka is losing me a bit. His entire personality is AAAAA I’M ANGRY AND I LOVED BENEDIKTA AAAAAAAA and it’s just incredibly tiresome
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SammyJ9 said:
Maybe an unpopular opinion but that didn’t help much. The fight itself was too long, too repetitive, and all spectacle with no real substance.
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Admittedly, I've only watched someone do a playthrough, so I've got no strong opinion on the mechanical side of things, but at least I've got an idea about the plot / story, characters, etc. And the whole Kupka 'arc' seemed super exhausting and monotonous overall, same for the way too long boss fight. I needed to take a break in the midst of it because it was complete sensory overload and got me super tired (and that was only from watching; I imagine I'd have been even more fatigued playing it myself). I just wanted it to stop at some point. Kupka himself not being interesting as a character didn't help either. So yeah, completely with you on the tiresome part and such. People praise the spectacle in this part of the game, and if you've enjoyed the particular execution here ... happy for you, honestly; but I'm not convinced there's much else to it.
 
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