Final Fantasy 16’s New Trailer: The Good, Bad, the Ugly

The Final Fantasy 16 trailer came out last week and it was… interesting, to say the least. This is the first main entry into the series since the boy band days of Final Fantasy 15. With the little bit of information that we have to go on, we have some good, bad, and downright ugly things to consider when looking at the trailer.

[Jiub]

I am so ready...for a 2023 release date

[Sunny_D]

It might be sooner than that according to Jason Schreier.

[Tech5]

seems interesting but it also doesn't look that much different from FF15 honestly.
visually speaking. http://i.picpar.com/0EXe.pn...
skin shaders, hair lighting and self shadows are looking a bit dull.

[abstractel]

Looks cross-gen to me. This is my biggest frustration with both MS and Sony. These machines (minus the Series S which is another frustration) can do so many things we haven't seen yet. FX haven't been upgraded at all except a bit of resolution and density.

Capcom had real-time fire simulation running on the PS4. They never shipped a game with it, but considering they had a game running on the PS4 with the simulation running at the same time, the PS5 and XBSX should be able to run these but because of cross-gen it's not economically viable at this point. These kinds of simulation can change gameplay. That's why we won't see them on multi-platform next-gen only games (because of XBSS) or cross-gen games.

I am still looking forward to next-gen, but my excitement has been toned down considerably. Thanks MS (and to some extent Sony, at least for the first year).

[zawepa]

trailer says it was on a pc but they haven't yet listed the actual requirements needed in order to run it.
visually and system requirement wise it could be placed as a cross gen title or a .5 upgrade in specs. only one way to know for sure would be to wait for it's specs.

[roadkillers]

Lol. FFXIII was announced before the PS3 and released several years later. FFXV was announced as FF vs XIII and took at least 7 years to release. FFVII: Remake was shown off as a tech demo pre-PS3 and didnt launch until last year. I wont even with KH3. I get the joke, kudos

[Eamon]

The devil is in the detail. The team behind this are the FF14 team, and the producer is a guy called Naoki Yoshida who managed to resurrect the colossal disaster of FF14 1.0 and create A Real Reborn: FF14 in record time with a quality beyond expecations.

It's clear that out of all the senior creatives at S-E, Yoshida is a man who knows how to make good games and how to time-manage. All the expansions that came out for FF14 kept on raising the bar. The last expansion - Shadowbringers - is an MMO expansion with a story so good it can be compared to a numbered single player FF game.

The fact that this is the reveal trailer for FF16 and yet we saw so much in-game footage and gameplay is definitely out of the ordinary. Nearly every FF game gets announced with a CG trailer for at least a year before some sort of in-game footage is shown.

[jznrpg]

Different team different game . We will see but I do have faith in the producer this time around .

[yifemib461]

I get paid over $90 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Heres what I've been doing,

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[GreatSako2020]

All we saw in that event are 2021 games.
Also the trailer shows alot from the game. It looks like it's too far in development

[BrettAwesome]

What did you expect? To see a bunch of games that ALL release within a month, just so they could "release in 2020"? 😂

[GreatSako2020]

@BrettAwesome
Did you understand my comment?

[gamer7804]

Terrible article honestly... many aren’t a fan of the combat or the medieval setting... time will tell but we need to see more

[Sunny_D]

This is going back to very first Final Fantasies actually before all the technology.

[RememberThe357]

I had so much fun with FF1/2 on gameboy advance back in the day. I was surprised to kinda get in my feels when I noticed the setting. Looking forward to seeing more next year.

[RightFootGames]

Correction: xbox and the shill media don't like it because it's timed exclusive with Sony.

[gamer7804]

You are free to like it, but I play on all the consoles, just some people I know weren’t a fan of those things either. I’m sure there are those that might like it and that’s fine I just disagree.

[jznrpg]

I’m a fan of the combat and medieval . I’m happy they went back to medieval the sci fi stories were all over the place imo .

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

If it follows a combat system similar to FF15 this game will be a hard pass for me. 15 was too casual, too action RPG, and looked too much like a lame boy band group rather than a group of warriors fighting evil.

[gamer7804]

Exactly. I had no connection to the characters and I didn’t like the battle system in 15

[Father__Merrin]

I thought combat in ff15 was atrocious special moves were also rubbish. Fingers crossed this fixes them altho it was shown on pc I bet the overall graphics are going to be excellent

[execution17]

Well they got the guy who did the dmc5 combat so the combat should be good

[gamer7804]

Might be a good action combat maybe but that’s not what I want from a FF game.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

Exactly. Turn based strategic combat based on fire, earth, wind, and water just like the classics.

[Sunny_D]

I'm excited for the setting alone and just by the blood I saw in the trailer, you know this is going to be a much darker Final Fantasy than previous entries.

[Jiub]

I was so surprised to see it splash on the kids face, man.

[SullysCigar]

Lol yeah, that was a bit unexpected.

Keeping an open mind with this one, as it looks like somewhat of a departure for the franchise.

[jznrpg]

@Sully the blood and combat may be different than other FF but the medieval setting is a staple of the early FF games and I’m glad they went back to it really .

[Elda]

Possibly a M rating.

[Eamon]

Yeh, the last FF game I remember with blood in it was FF Type-0. FFvs13 was supposed to have blood but was sanitized once it became FF15.

I reckon it has all to do with budgeting. When a FF games takes too long to make, no way will S-E risk it being rated it Mature lest they lose sales.

[jznrpg]

Yeah . I loved what was shown . I don’t care if some don’t like it really , it’s day 1 for me

[phoenixwing]

I have to agree on it being day 1 was nice to see something more old-school and less cyberpunk

[Kaedro]

Please change this title to "Fantasy 16’s New Trailer: The Good, The Amazing, The Beautiful"

[andy85]

I'm always excited about a new Final Fantasy as it's my favourite series and I think the story will be headed in a good direction. I know graphics don't make a game but did anyone else feel underwhelmed by them? FF is known for being at the forefront of graphics but yet a new entry on a brand new console looks worse than FFXV graphically. The character models seemed frankly quite poor.

[Miraak82]

It has a distinct art direction that I knew was FF when I saw it , I feel good when I see this because I see them trying to make a good game instead of a fancy tech demo . Just take what they’ve learned the past 10 or so years and just focus on making a good game this time around. 13-15 were nice looking but weren’t good games that took forever to release . From what we saw from combat the animations looked really good , I don’t need to see a characters pores to be impressed

[andy85]

Don't get me wrong I like the art direction, it just doesn't look like a next gen title. And with the precedent of FF you'd expect it to

[phoenixwing]

The fact they're not focusing on graphics as much is what has me excited to be honest. I'd rather have good gameplay and story with okay graphics instead of gameplay or story taking a backseat to a pretty but unfulfilling game.

[Dwarrior]

Not excited. No characters had that whimsical FF feel. Nothing screamed "FF!" to me. If it weren't for the chocobos and marlboro, I could have assumed this was some other jrpg brand.

Looked like an expansion for 14, tbh. And that's not a great thing to me. Think what you want, but when I saw the trailers for 13, or 12, I found them stunning. This? Not so much. :/

[-Gespenst-]

I was expecting XVI to be a much bigger leap visually. This really does look like an expansion for XIV, and by god the facial animations are atrocious. XV and VIIR look better than this game. I'm a lifelong FF fan so I'm not going to write off this game just yet, but I really wasn't hyped by the trailer. I didn't like the voice work I heard, or the dialogue. The character designs seem really uninspired and unmemorable, and the environments shown so far seem pretty bland and also unmemorable, not to mention more than a little bit generic. It does seem like SE are following the money a bit - like they're trying to appeal to fans of Dark Souls, The Witcher, and Game of Thrones, but we have enough of that kind of thing, and if people want it, they should just play those games / watch those shows. I don't really like that FF is being infected with it, but I guess it doesn't help that I really do not like medieval high fantasy stuff at all.

Hopefully it starts looking more like a Final Fantasy game as they reveal more about it, and not less. Seems like it could go either way though. Still, I guess there's always VII Remake part 2 to look forward to, and there's also that Project Athia game, which looks more like what I was expecting XVI to look like. Shame the guy writing the latter is a hack though. As far as I'm concerned, it looks like VIIR2 is the only major SE project currently in development that is almost guaranteed to be excellent.

[iQuasar]

If I were to break down the initial showing, For this 16th offering of the franchise I would say:

In order of trailer showings.
N00:05: campfire looks like crap.
P00:23 Shiva's dominant. "okay so its like people control the actions of the eikons."
N00:23 Oh god another boy band but this time its Band of Brothers
N00:30 Okay the "our kind" comment either tells me their are slave soldiers or 2nd class citizens pressed into service
P00:46 Shiva here shows me FFxiv graphics on pc but maxed out and updated. Not revolutionary but at least an upgrade.
N00:57 God that dog looks bad, and so does the boy.
N01:15 Joshua's shield. So non noble charity case gets handed the job of bodyguard to an heir. Where have I seen that story before.
P01:19 Combat looks like it is trying to channel DMC with its mid-action blending of magic and physical attacks. Could be good. Holding judgement.
P01:30 Damn that malboro looks good. Also it should be that size and hopefully scary as hell to fight.
N01:45 Story shows me that rural townships are being left to the dregs and there is some mysterious 'blight' that only the 'mother crystal' can cure. Mmm, FF7 geo stigma anyone?
P01:54 Oh god let that be a dragoon and an accessible job/class in game.
P02:00~02:20 Combat looks good when introducing other elements such as phoenix wing. titan fist. and shiva ice
N02:24 Ok so Joshua, the arch-duke's son, is a dominant and are now people whom house the eikons. So we have Attack on Titan, or Naruto as a story trope here.
N02:34 Nope. Definitely Naruto, lol.
P02:54 Legacy of the crystals. Probably something to do with people being born with the soul of an eikon in them. (my guess)
P02:57 Okay instead of Bahamut v. Phoenix (FFxiv cinematic) we get Ifrit v. Phoenix. At least Yoshi P is consistant.
P03:15 Possibly a Kefka like world altering tag line by one of the main characters.
P03:20 Oh, Joshua lost that fight. Ifrit is tearing him a new one.
N03:30 Typical main character driven by revenge, either lost a wife or parents/family.

Negative 9 / Positive 10
52% hyped
-Combat could be Good
-Story is going to be recycled and tropey outside the main world changing events
-Setting looks like a comfortable return to comfort levels.
-Graphics are a contemporary step up from FFxiv on PC (maxed) level. Not gonna fault that. Love that game. Although some scenes need polish badly.

Just my personal Good / Bad ratio

[-Gespenst-]

Does the Malboro look that good? I think the XV ones look better, and it's (what I am assuming is) bad breath attack looks kind of poorly animated.

Regarding "mysterious blight" that can only be cured by the "mother crystal": Em, hello? Final Fantasy XV anyone? Starscourge? The light of the Crystal?

[bangoskank]

I have a feeling development will go a lot more smoothly for this iteration as 1) Nomura is not involved 2) SE isn't restarting development to make the game for Xbox 3) visually it looks like a port of FFXIV.

[-Gespenst-]

Nomura makes great games. KH3 and the VII Remake are SE's best games in years.

[bangoskank]

Yes, but whenever he is involved in a game's development it seems to be delayed several years. It's an obvious pattern by now.

[BrainSyphoned]

Ifrit’s shoddy roar animation and whatever that fake blood looking graphic was when he was ripping away was jarring. Happy about everything else.

[DafunkyRebel]

Considering that Naomi Yoshida who saved FF14 and turned it into the most successful FF game ever, I have full confidence in FFXVI being not only a great FF game but also a GOTY contender. Mark my words

[Dark-soul]

You cant mix Japanese magic with british shit.... final fantasy looses its charm, imagine if some epic anime like spirited away or weathering with you would be made with british faces or located in europe, it would be disaster

[Aussiesummer]

Honestly an underwhelming trailer, graphically bland, lip syncing was terrible.
didn't look next gen at all.

[StalinSupremacy]

so, essentially its game of thrones but with a bunch of asian ladyboys