Story-wise, this was one of my favorite Final Fantasies. But it was way too easy to beat, and there wasn’t a point in experimenting with different builds.

I still haven’t played 16 or Rebirth, I’m excited for both just don’t have the hardware.

That being said, if the games are as good as people say, I’m happy to hear Square is still doing the thing they’ve always done with the franchise.

Try shit out. I always love playing an FF game where they put their hearts and minds into making something different.

If you’re a VII player, a X player or a XII, the point of FF as it matures is that it pushes the envelope. Sometimes right, sometimes wrong. That’s the fun and excitement of the next FF

The same way FF15 was originally Versus13 then got upgraded to mainline to try to make back more money than a side game would’ve made, I feel like FF16 was originally a 14 expansion that they upgraded to mainline game cuz it wouldn’t have made the money as an MMO expansion that they’d already sunk into its development.

16 REVIEW IS FINALLY HEEEEEEERE :DDDDDDDDD
Active time spoiling is genius man, i feel heard, this video is amazing and was so worth the wait

Active time lore is a great feature and should be implemented in all story heavy games. I think the yakuza series would greatly profit from it as i always struggles to keep up with the names and allineces and clans in the series

11 and the 13 trilogy were also on 360.

I greatly disagree on that editors note. Horizons story is far better than 16s, by leaps and bounds.

For me is the lack of a party during combat is what I dont like , and a couple of bad main missions (the passport part was lame as heck) is what brings this game a bit down. If they had Torgal I can still process why not let you have more party members’ I wished I could use Jill powers , or Uncle Byron. Although personally I wish they went back to ATB or at the very least use FFVII R style… I dont really like the lets be honest Devel May Crytification.

That battle theme taking the…EUREKA ANEMOS theme of all things to remix always was neat

I loved it, loved the characters, loved the story, loved to know more, agree it could be more challenging in normal but enjoyed it as a cinematic masterpiece

To be real, the biggest turn off for me was not enough twinks. It’s that shallow. I know a lot of bi’s claim FF16 as “their game,” but not me. 😂😅 There’s a certain aesthetic that I came to Final Fantasy for, FF16 wasn’t it. FF16 is very dark medieval fantasy, nothing against it but not my thing. I loved FF14, because all the costumes in that game looked real, I can see the details placed into them and how someone can slap on that outfit. I grew up with modern Final Fantasy, FF10 onwards, I like the emphasis on pretty boys and fashionable looks that character designs had from then onwards. FF15 is my favorite entry, and inspirational to me.

Then add up the mid leveling system and combat system, I had no reason to stay invested in 16. I could have forgiven the flaws with the combat, but nothing else was catching my attention. I played it once, I can’t see myself doing another playthrough. It’s going to sit on my shelf, I’m glad to own it but I’m really hoping that they don’t make another Final Fantasy like FF16.

I’m actually playing it right now, I have not played a lot of Final Fantasy game, I watched my dad play 6, watched my brother played 8, and I’ve played 7 remake and 15, with 15 being one of my favorite experiences of all time. I am loving this as a DMC player as well lol, but aside from the SSStylish combat, the story, the characters, music, world building, it’s just so good, I will go back to this review once I’m 100% done with it. I liked the intro to your video though sub 😀

Spoiler to FF16

During my whole playthrough (and even before launch) the game reminded me a lot of Tales of Berseria, also an action RPG with a revenge story featuring a protagonist who goes through a lot of shit, lost her younger brother because of a relative, and is hated by the population except those following her, heck both Velvet (the protag) & Clive looks pretty similar.
Obviously there are differences both in game design & story between both games, Tales of Berseria is more linear world design wise, it’s much less of a lonely experience since you got party members, the combat is a bit experimental from your typical action RPG, and it’s visually completely different.
And while at the end of the day I do enjoy FF16 and think there are areas where it’s better, I still think Berseria is a better game as well as a better execution of what 16 tried to do.
Berseria’s story knows what it wants to tell, it’s a philosophical fight between emotion & reason all the way through the end, it’s a story of a group of missfits who are far from perfect, but bonds together in front of a world who is destroying itself. 16’s narrative is rather lost in what it wants to tell in comparison, it starts off as a story of revenge & slavery but those aspects are either dropped or looses in importance respectively, the cast doesn’t get to shine as much as they should and the final boss doesn’t have a lot of connection with the themes of the game. Even other games that features a similar final boss trope like Xenoblade still have said final boss tied with the themes of the story.
The cast in Berseria is varied and not very typical from your average RPG, they interact between each others a lot thanks to the skits that can be activated while exploring, they will talk about what’s going on in the story, be fun to watch, it really sold you on how much each of them are part of a group, and they each are important, not everything turns around Velvet. For 16 I already mentioned the issues of how the cast isn’t as used as they should, and yeah Jill being done the way she was really pales in comparison to Berseria’s fantastic females characters.
The vilains is the area where Berseria cleans FF16 the most imo, just the main vilains in both games makes the comparison unfair because Berseria’s main vilain is much better, Artorious is given lots of depth and is the other main player in the conflict between emotion & reason, his « why is it that birds fly ? » is the important question that the game ask and lingers thourough the whole game and is only given a true answer at the end. He’s both an internal & external conflict for Velvet whereas 16’s main vilain is only an external conflict to Clive, he’s not that interesting of a vilain, he feels more like a concept than an actual character. Clive’s mom should have been the main vilain honestly, sure it wouldn’t help the comparison with Berseria but at least she’s an internal & external conflict to Clive.
I know Tales of Berseria isn’t a perfect game and I know FF16 surpass it in some areas, but I really think it succeed in the areas that matters the most compared to FF16, story, themes, characters, side quests, the stuff that sticks with players the most and what made this series beloved by many in the first place.
FF16 isn’t a bad game nor a bad RPG or even a bad Final Fantasy, I just think what it tries to do was done much better by other games that have significantly less budget & time behind them. Mainline Final Fantasy games nowadays takes a long time to be made, 16 alone took like 7 years from conceptualization to release, that’s a long time, those games have extra pressure to be the best ever because of how long they take to make, so when they do finally release and you realize that other games released during those 7 years did better than 16 in many ways… well it sucks, and you’re not certain if the next game will do better and you’ll wait almost a decade again to see the result.
At least this isn’t the only Final Fantasy around, and I’m curious to see your thoughts on FF7 Rebirth when you do a video on it eventually.

I can only speak for myself but what turned me away is reading interviews, usually interviews get excited for a game but every interview I read made me feel like the game wasn’t made for me and I ultimately decided “I’ll just catch it on a sale this doesn’t seem like $70 to me”

You are the textbook definition of being up your own ass

I have trouble listening to someone say that there’s not much connective tissue between final fantasy games. That may be true after 10, but the main bulk of the series (1-10) are all *so* much more cohesive than modern square fans want to give them credit for. Structure, pacing, music, mechanics, they are just as similar as they are different to each other, that’s what made them special.

*Now* they’re square’s call of duty if cod took 7-10 years to make. Their only goal is to appeal to the broadest audience possible.

Rebirth >>>> FF 16

1:13:49
The game explains that reason Jill stays with the Iron Kingdom is because if she disobeys them, they will continue to murder and rape the women and children. We see this before she fights Clive, when that one soldier put her sword against that girl’s neck and ordered her to fight. She wouldn’t bear feeling responsible for what could happen to them. Not to mention summoning Shiva always felt like a curse and was taxing on her body

For me as a FFXIV players XVI felt like a 2nd home. But I have to admit as much as I loved the idea of “magic users are special and precious!”, which was the normal tone in all previous FFs turned upside down, I didn’t like the brutally dark outcome 😅 I don’t like not being able to save my favorites (right, 14? You spoiled us rotten 😂) so I sometimes got frustrated seeing characters die and I wished for more happily ever after feeling I’m used to from 14. Especially Dion killed me slowly 😔 so I ended the game on a pretty bitter note but I still love the entire game as such ❤

Find The Flame Is a real headbanger, but the music feels so much overused, most boss fights sound the same…

can’t wait to watch this in 4 years when FF16 comes out for PC.

Happen to chance upon your video in my recommendation. Great reviews and thoughts on the game, going to check out your other videos too. Can’t wait to hear about your reviews for Rebirth once you’re done with it. Here’s a sub!

All I know is FF16>Rebirth.

Thank you for this excellent analysis! One thing that really stuck with me about what you said was when you pointed out that this game feels lonely, and this is so much of why the vestiges of FFXIV really don’t work here. I played 16 when it released, and went from adoring my first ten or so hours to really starting to begrudge it in the back half or even 2/3. The funny thing is, when I finished 16 I wound up getting to Heavensward… I went from feeling the Realm Reborn slog to actually really liking Heavensward and the Dragonsong War quite a bit more than FF16. Maybe it was the fact that Estinien and Alphinaud felt like my buiddies, but I think it was also helped by the multiplayer nature of the game. I just felt so much more connected to other fans and to the NPCs there than I ever did when playing 16. Since that point, I’ve caught up on FF14 and landed on the realization that, while I was underwhelmed by 16 in spite of its strengths, 14 and 15 rank as two of my favorite FF titles of all time. I’ve realized that the feeling of camaraderie, whether with other players or with party members, is crucial to my personal enjoyment of a game. I 100% agree with your last point about 16 being an objectively better-designed game, but I’m one of those people who just likes 15 (and 14, especially with the Scions’ development as of Shadowbringers) better.

You should review Xenoblade series if you like Final Fantasy series.

It took me a few days to get around to it, but I’ve finally watched this full video. Honestly, I haven’t been able to keep up with video-games as a whole for a year or two because of, well, life, I guess. And even then I can’t say I was really interested in FFXVI, personally. Still, I *have* been very curious to know what this game’s all about. You did a really good job at painting a clear picture of that. I felt all the highs and the lows as you went through them and I came away understanding why the reception to this game was such a wild mix of fans and detractors.

Thanks for all the time you poured into this video, and I’m sorry this entry askewed the timer you’ve been maintaining for REFFOID. I think it’s okay, though. I know it’s still a very, very close calculation, and if there’s nothing that can be done about it, that’s good enough for me. I’m sure the rest of the people who enjoy REFFOID will feel similarly. I hope you’re able to truly solidify your opinion of this game whenever you go back to try out New Game+, and I hope you enjoy yourself doing so.

In any case, this was another fantastic installment in REFFOID, (I also just noticed I’ve been a member for 10 months as of today, and it’s nuts to me that its already been that long,) and I’m excited to hear you talk about Ever Crisis next time! I mean… most specifically First Soldier, to be honest, but still! Ever Crisis as an idea, packaging all of the FFVII compilation together in one place sounds awesome to me! I just… really hope the *type* of game it is doesn’t hold it back too much from that. I guess I’ll hear your opinion on it soon! Thanks again for all you do!

great video as always , i love this game v much , i also felt like the game felt action/fast paced (combat) however still felt slow ? it’s hard to explain but i think u also felt that ? but i could be wrong don’t wanna put word in ur mouth.

i also agree that 16 didn’t do to stand on its own in a lot of ways but i loved the story of 16 , i loved how it was more pushing boundaries in storytelling in ways that u mentioned (character spoilers, themes)

Yippie