Final Fantasy XVI Has Finally Grown Up - Glitched

Final Fantasy XVI isn't afraid to step out of the rainbow and sunshine box and deliver raunchy sex themes, intense violence, blood and gore.

[Alos88]

As fantastic as the demo is, I really hate the tone of articles like this. You don't have to dunk on the series' past to enjoy it's future.

[phoenixwing]

Most mainstream English reviewers hate turn based jrpgs. I like action and turn based.

[CS7]

I don’t think it is dunking on the series’ past. Its a addressing a real awkward phase for the series.

Because of the older graphics in FF1-10 “mature scenes” were always implied.

Take the sector 6 plate drop in FF7. On PS1 ofc it was assumed to be a desolate massacre. But as great as the PS4 remake is, the moment loses impact because it is afraid of showing the true aftermath of a brutal city wide attack.

It feels like the series was at conflict with itself - with its past. And 16 feels like permission or acknowledgment that part of the evolution of Final Fantasy needs to be showing its story moments without “holding back”.

Those who loved the series as kids are grown men/women in their 30s and 40s and the series has ignored this fact.

That demo was like a breath of fresh air and the series feels genuinely revitalized in a way that it didn’t for almost two decades.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I remember a radio reviewer saying the same thing about FF13 (FF13 is Final Fantasy for adults), and I cringed every time because they replayed that segment multiple times.

[Becuzisaid]

Demo definitely got me intrigued to play more, but I don't get all the gushing over the game.

My hot takes from playing the demo:

Pros - tremendous voice acting, interesting story, musical score classic yet modern and epic, night time and rainy graphics look great, mature tone, epic summons

Cons - not sold on the gameplay yet, day time graphics look soft and not impressive, terribly stiff animation of characters, dull environments (but will likely not be an issue in the full game)

I don't buy into hype much for any game any more, so these are just my honest thoughts after playing through almost the whole demo - I didn't finish the Eikon Challenge yet, but I watched the videos of others playing it a ways back so I know what's coming in it. I think FF7 Remake/Rebirth is the better looking, more impressive and more fun to play game, but I'm intrigued enough to eventually want to play it in the future, maybe after a good sale one day.

[LordoftheCritics]

I rushed to finish FF7 remake.

Its one of the few AAA rpg games that I could not tolerate.

Excessive walking, like illegal levels of walking
Boring expositional narrative that overstays its welcome
Terrible hub navigation
Worst fetch quests in recent memory
Side quests were busy work
Sephiroth was purely for marketing reasons only
Combat was bearable
Dated corridor style world navigation for every zone, separated by ladders

FF16 seems to have bettered everything.

[CrimsonWing69]

Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but there feels to be as much walking in the demo than there is in FF7 Remake.

How did you make it through the whole castle bit, the marsh bit, the uh… well now that I’m discussing it, how does FF7 Remake have more walking than this game?

Also, my god, FF7 Remake has what, 10 or 15 side quests and each one was different and led to a unique boss in some instances or getting to know characters that you wouldn’t have otherwise met. They were fine and none of them were anything to whine over. Also, completely optional.

As for the boring narrative, that’s almost absurd to me to hear. If anything FF7 Remakes narrative is the most intriguing from an FF game in a while. Which FF game did the narrative better?

Sephiroth as marketing reasons… what!? He sort of plays a massive role in the game and I think his inclusion was excellent. That final boss battle felt epic and I can’t imagine how they’ll outdo themselves.

The game isn’t a Remake, man. We already know who Sephiroth is. There’s no reason to keep him a secret until the very end.

As for the whole “corridor” argument, how is the level design different in FF16? As far as I can tell the entire demo was just as linear.

[LordoftheCritics]

@CrimsonwWing69

I don't know if we played the same game but a huge portion of the game was run to something and then quite immediately get forced to slow walk. This was in every single area. This is ok if its sparse, but in FF7 remake it was everywhere.

FF7 Remake narrative is so expositional and boring that even a child could watch Netflix on the side and still tell me the whole story. All the micro stories were predictable and as expositional as it could ever get. In fact its so dull that I forgot most of it.

Sephiroth played a tiny role in such a long drawn out game. If it's a remake, then remake the conflicts better as well. The whole end magic story was all rubbish.

Corridor? Well I don't know if you remember but the entire game is via corridors. From the opening alleys to sewers to corporate building hallways to underground railroad to bike chases to climbing the building sequence.
The one area that was minimal corridor was when they infiltrated the enemy base early on.
It's ALL corridors with a ladder and I mean literally almost everything is an alley/corridor structure.
Even the hubs.

Now add boring side chores where you are forced to search for things or people into that corridor and slow walk game. 10X the boredom.

Now linear does not mean corridor.

Understand that, then we can talk.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

The pacing in FF7R was terrible, really should not have tried to stretch those first >10 hours into a full game.

[CrimsonWing69]

"I don't know if we played the same game but a huge portion of the game was run to something and then quite immediately get forced to slow walk. This was in every single area. This is ok if its sparse, but in FF7 remake it was everywhere."

This is hyperbole. Yes, I understand the walking segments for exposition and mood. A lot of people want to go go go. But realistically if we broke down all "walking segments" in the entire game for Remake it's barely a percentage in the whole game.

FF16 demo even starts with walking before you learn to run. Who knows, maybe there's more of that in the game when story segments hit ala FF7 Remake.

"FF7 Remake narrative is so expositional and boring that even a child could watch Netflix on the side and still tell me the whole story. All the micro stories were predictable and as expositional as it could ever get. In fact its so dull that I forgot most of it."

Can you go into detail here? We had an entire breakdown with Easy Allies and Maxmilian Dood on the layers of FF7 Remake's narrative. It's not that "simplistic" or overly exposition heavy, in fact a lot of people are coming up with theories and what not because there's a lot of "wtf" moments.

"Sephiroth played a tiny role in such a long drawn out game. If it's a remake, then remake the conflicts better as well. The whole end magic story was all rubbish."

I disagree wholeheartedly and if anything the inclusion of Sephiroth more and the possibilities of manipulating the lifestream to the degree people are theorizing elevates him as a threat. You may not like that direction, but it's hardly "rubbish".

Ok, corridor design...

What is FF16 doing differently. Please tell me how Clive's Castle bit, the marsh pit bit, and the Benedikta bit wasn't just as linear as FF7 Remake's Wall Market or any other area you went to? Because instead of being in a sewer that's designed like a sewer environment or a facility that's designed like a facility suddenly it's better? There's plenty of areas in FF7 Remake that aren't "corridors", I definitely was experiencing corridors in the castle in FF16...

How's my understanding now? Can we talk?

Don't take it so personal, pal. Just having a friendly discussion here as fans.

[Levii_92]

Shh you can’t say anything negative about this demo here.

[Becuzisaid]

Clearly not lol!

[CrimsonWing69]

It's not that at all, but the points this guy made weren't radically different between the 2 games. I like FF16's demo and I like FF7 Remake. I don't feel the narrative is paced any differently, the beginning of FF7 Remake was just as bombastic and fast-paced as what we've seen in FF16.

The world isn't open-world at all. It's literally the same linear design structure as 7 had. I mean, how open was the Marsh area, amirite?

It's just having a discussion. I'm not saying 16 isn't without faults, i'm just saying I do not see some radical difference between this and FF7 according to the points being made by that poster.

Sure, combat feels different, but I feel FF7 Remake was much faster combat wise. I also like the ability to slow down time to pick actions if I want.

[Becuzisaid]

@crimson
His arguments are so lame. How do you not see how ff16 is just as linear if not more? And he's really angry about ladders too. Better than hard to open doors you have to hold R2 to open in my opinion.

I'm surprised at the complete lack of awareness in the gaming community. It's all just a huge hype train with no room for criticism or friendly discussion. I never said I didn't like the demo, just that I'm not buying all the hype of how this is the evolution final fantasy has needed. That's yet to be seen to me. My biggest complaint is the terrible animation of just about any action outside of combat. It's seriously ps2 quality pantomiming and stiff movements. That I'm very disappointed in. And I find it really weird that ff7 remake was not like that at all, so why here? I get different teams made it, but they're going for a short cinematic action game. The cutscenes can't be so poorly animated. Not a deal breaker, I'm interested in buying the game, but not day 1 for me.

[CrimsonWing69]

Oh shut the hell up. There have been plenty of “mature” FF games in the series. Just because it’s T rated doesn’t mean it didn’t tell “mature” stories.

FF12 was so kiddie, wasn’t it? Psshhhhh

Play FF Tactics, I think that has even more of a mature themed story.

[solideagle]

FF VI has depression/suicidal theme at one point. Just because it was pixelated didn't mean it was not "mature"

[CrimsonWing69]

Oh for sure! That's what I'm saying, there's been plenty of mature themes in a FF game before 16. Just because it's M rated doesn't mean it's "grown up". I feel like these "journalists" need to really stat doing research and not assume a JRPG is just "weeby" and tropey anime high school antics.

Just because there's motor-boating and the use of f*ck in the dialogue doesn't make something "mature".

[LordoftheCritics]

Fact.

Everything before it alluded to reality but was never relatively realistic.

Always in a protected bubble.

This popped the bubble.

[goldwyncq]

"There’s blood in my Final Fantasy… I never thought I would live to see this."

They clearly haven't played FFVII. You know, the game where you walked through bloody hallways in Shinra HQ after Sephiroth murdered everyone but your party.

[FernSilv]

Wow, what a graphic and design the game has! Looking forward to play it!

[Pepsi_Man3000]

Im not all too familiar with FF apart from a few games but dooesnt the apocalypse happen in the one with that Terra girl and the clown villain? Ive also heard tactics is pretty messed up as well. What about the plate dropping in 7? HEck even the less mature KH has its dark moments. Sora kills himself in the first game lol.

And whats up with people going on about these "sex scenes"? Im guessing the rest of the game has characters clapping cheeks but the scene with the blonde chick and titan was comical. It looked like a kid pretending their action figures were making out by rubbing them together

Point being FF has always had its "grown up" moments throught its games. 16 is just taking it a bit further I guess

[Tapani]

I always thought FFIV, V, VI, VII and FFXII were very grown up. FFXIV as well, and FFIX had a lot of dying and killing as well. And especially FFT, which is probably one of the roughest video game stories with very realistic scenes, including betrayal and blood, grotesque scenes as well.

FFXVI just got back to where the series was two decades ago before it went full Teen and Emo.