I don’t have a huge stake in FF, I’ve played some, skipped others. This game was fun but boy did it drag.

Wait until you get into the sidequests, 100%ing this game is extremely boring.
Also, one of the many problems is that it isn’t really an Action RPG, it’s just Action. RPG elements are mostly fake, meaningless.

Sadly, the battle system does not increase in depth at all. Weapon and armor upgrades are just boring number increases through and through. You’ll see why most people don’t even regard FFXVI as an RPG at all. The story also has a ton of problems later on, especially in regards as to how it pays off (or rather fails to pay off) some of the main characters’ arcs.

So they’re on 16 now… Sounds like a good movie.

Been pretty excited for this one since it released last year and was very excited when the PC port was officially confirmed and the demo was launched on Steam. Personally I found it to be a decent amount of fun, not the most complex early on but I did see promise in the skill trees, and was shocked by how well it ran; while my GPU is pretty good (3060) my processor is quite old at this point and the game only had some stuttering at the beginning that cleared up by the time I got to the Morbol. One thing I will say is I’m a might disappointed that the link between Ifrit and Clive was spoiled in the FF14 crossover but it was also pretty easy to figure out during the opening portion we saw in the demo so meh.

It’s not unreal engine, it’s a unique in-house engine, not luminous doe.

This is one of those games where the first impression does not match the rest of the game.
Also why I’m looking forward to see how it changed for you.

Absolutely loved this game, the story really grabbed me

ctb is the best battle system for a jrpg. (don’t) fite me (because you can’t change my mind).

free comment.

I really enjoyed the game overall but man the story falls off hard in the last act and it’s so unfortunate

Cam pans are now a joy on PC. I cant play with 30fps. This stuttery mess provokes a dizzyness over time. Even 60 is not enough and that looks terrible. Now crisp dlaa 4k without motion blur over 80-110 fps with fast responsive cam pans.. its a joy with a 4090.

the button mashing can get you through your first playthrough, the game is piss easy on normal, but you can channel your dmc experience if you want to, there is only one combo but you can break it up and mix up as you please. Basically the game gets difficult on Ultimaniac so you’ll have to finish the game first.

For those that didn’t like the change were the ones who skipped FF11 and FF14. Those so called fans of the series never had the taste of or chance to acclimate to the changes from turn-based combat. More over, the type of story being told in FF16 needed to action-based due to the mature and most often dramatic scenes the game has. Going into turn-based combat would have been jarring and nonsensical.

People loved this game, I personally dropped it after about 20ish hours as the combat got too repetitive for me. Wish I liked it more though, hope you enjoy it!

Demo didn’t run well for me sadly

Loved the first 8 or so hours of this game and hated everything after that. Combat got so monotonous and the story really tanked for me.

Incredible game
People can finally play it at 60fps lol

Spoiler alert! The long cinematics don’t get shorter lol

I do like an ARPG and a JRPG and a CRPG (I’m a souls addict AND have played Planescape and FF10 multiple times) but I’m still unsure about the direction FF is taking. Similar to Dragon Age, they seem to be moving towards something they feel will have more mainstream appeal, which I understand but those *older* styles still sell big numbers. Also, this is being made by one of the guys behind Devil May Cry and I have ALWAYS sucked at those games, my fingers were never any good at fast button pressing combo combat and I worry this will mean Final Fantasy is no longer a game for me. Looking forward to your review, even though this wont run on my rickety PC or my Xbox.

Already pkayed it on PS5 but im hoping it runs well on the steam deck. The combat is casual enough for handheld.

Looking forward to both your first impressions as well as full review. I wasn’t sold on ff15, but having the battle director from DMC did make me more curious about it.

Great game but the exploration is a bit weak. There’s very little rewards in things to interact with out in the beautiful world.

This will be the first Final Fantasy game I’ve played since FFX/X-2. It looking more akin to a character action game piqued my interest

FF16 is the worst FF game, worse even than FF15. Combat system seem nice, but keep in mind that this style of combat is suited for games that take 8-12h to finish. Spending 40+ hours doing the same old combos is excruciating experience. Having only one party member and basically setting into preffered option of summons early on means there is almost no build customization throughout the game.

Side quest are most boring, basic fetch quest, while other than then there is only simplified monster hunting, which also doesn’t pose much challenge.

The only good thing about the game is the music duing eidolon fights, which are really epic, set pieces, but other than that, the game is at most 6/10.

I love this game so much. A great Final Fantasy.

I thought this game was terrible. Such a disappointment

I will say, without spoilers, it can get less button mashy due to a combination of power creep and play style as the game progresses.

The composer of this game is awesome.

If the reports that this game started developing since 2015 are true, that means Masayoshi Soken had to create the themes while going through his cancer treatment.

Wow! Did not expect to see a Final Fantasy game here.

Devil May Fantasy Cry: Crystals and Feelings

Makes sense that the PC port is good, the producer also made FF14, and he knows a large part of his studios fanbase is on the PC. Looking forward to playing it myself.

This being an ARPG, Clair Obscur now has a lot more space to shine.

So excited!! This game is my birthday present to myself. If only it was out today instead
Ty for the video!!!

This game is garbage, and a disgrace to final fantasy.

Game is great if you don’t mind it being arpg. Story is fine, though i didn’t like the direction it took at the very end, devolving into a simple “ultimate evil awakened” trope, should have left it at politics. Gameplay does get much better with each unlocked element, i didn’t tire of it, but it takes some time to get swinging. Music is superb, as well as va. And the best thing is a spectacle of boss fights, very epic.

Excited for this. demo was a blast. I didnt play that much FF. My first was FFX. I adored it. Tried about every FF game since, only liked ff7 remake. Think i will rly like this one.
I like turnbased and action games like dmc etc. combat seems just servicable. seems it will be repetitive and with a lack of depth, also not much rpg-systems.
This seems more about the cinematic experience with great visuals,, music, characters, story etc. Which FF is mostly about, for me.
Bit worried about the pacing.. but think it will be worth it.

There was a patch for this demo. Before patch perf was pretty bad, way more stuttering. Dlss was broken so it looked bad as well. Replayed the demo yesterday, looks and runs so much better now. Still, perf fluctuates too much and just seems unoptimized., but its playable. On 3060 ti 1440 dlss balanced. med (graph fifelity+shadows)/rest high settings. Mostly 60-75 fps. some 50 dips+stutters.

It has 30 fps locked cutscenes. Which is horrendous. wish they stop doing this bs. There is a mod to unlock cutscene fps for the demo, which i rly think will be there a few hours after launch. Cutscenes fluctuate between 45-117 fps for me, so still not great, but less stutter and better then locked 30.

Think i wll have a nagging feeling at times. “Just wish perf was a bit more stable”. ” Wish the combat and rpg-systems had more depth”. ” Man this pacing..”
But i think it will be playable, enjoyable and a rly good cinematic fun ride.
HF all.

DMC 16

Didn’t took you for a Final Fantasy fan! It was a nice surprise!

I hated this game. The combat boiled down to “use skills on cooldown” and the missions were just go talk to this person who tells you to go talk to this person who tells you some kids know where it is. Great voice acting tho

I’m an og fan of ff being raised on it. And I really wanted to like this game but it’s such a waste of time in between story segments.

Am i the only one that had some serious problems with this game? I would much, MUCH rather have a game half this length that removes all of the incredibly boring filler crap. The pacing of this game was really bad and its because they wanted their game to be so many hours long. Barf

I liked the story more than most FF games, but the combat was not enjoyable.

A character action game disguised as an action rpg

I enjoyed it when I played it, but when I think back on it I actually loved it

This was one of my favorite games of all of last year. I got the platinum for this on PS5. I’ll eventually get this on Steam as well just to experience it on PC, but I’ll wait until a steam sale or whenever the price drops closer to $25-$30

Great game but pacing was pretty weird. Also 2nd half of the game was a bit lackluster

I have zero interest in this particular game, but knowing JRPGs have started to get good PC ports is encouraging after so many years of low effort terrible versions.

I’ve only ever platinumed two games, this and Ghosts of Tsushima. Both 10/10s for me!

Did he not play the other section of demo?

Bruh you should really just play FF7R. It’s great.

action rpg is one of the worst trends in modern gaming…literally 50% of all games need to be action button mashers for some reason

The combat is like dmc v but like wayyyyyy worse clunkier and simplistic the game is ridiculously linear and feels super outdated but the story and graphics and art design in general are really superb i love alot about this the grimier darker vibe is soo good and long overdue for ff

Graphics, VA, music, boss fights – good
everything else – bad

The sides quests are awful

30 FPS CGI videos. Great. At least, for the demo is a 60 FPS fix out. FSR3 does make the game look not good. A lot of ghosting effects. Frame Generation 2 does a better job.

I honestly thought the game’s story and acting was kind of stale; also lacking originality. I feel like they spent their whole time working on the fighting, but not much else.

The combat does get very stale unfortunately.

Final Devil May Fantasy Cry 16.
I’m let’s say ‘iffy’ to put it lightly, about truning mainline FF titles into full blown action games, but in this case that doesn’t even matter, since they use Denuvo on PC, which is an instant ‘no thank you’ form me, personally.

Personally im hoping the combat system can be modded a bit to make it more fun. Its kinda annoying the game restricts you to just a handful of abilities and some are just objectively better and stronger. But some are just more fun to use, you get Garuda first and it gets outclassed very quickly, but the grab and talon abilities look and feel great. And i love the counter you get from Titan, especially with the punch rush.

The combat feels very basic, its even more simplistic than the Platinum Transformers/Korra/TMNT games. FF16 desperately needs delay based and directional combos a la DMC. After a while it felt like i was just cycling my abilities like it was an MMO. I understand this game’s combat is pretty different than “traditional” Final Fantasy so they probably made it more simple on purpose, but as someone who lives and breathes action games, I just wasnt pushed or felt fulfilled with the combat. The first hour of Hi Fi Rush is more combat complex than all of FF16.

Glad this is finally coming to PC and I look forward to seeing the full review. Unfortunately, I need to work on the games I’ve already purchased and haven’t played yet first, but I do look forward to playing it at some point.

I was hooked on the game! For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a classic JRPG or action-packed, as long as the story and characters are good. People these days are so picky, they always complain there’s nothing new, but then they complain when things change. It’s like, make up your mind!

I’m curious for the final review. I played it on PS5 and there’s a particular point where I believe the game’s quality takes a sharp turn for the worse, and by the end I wanted my money back.

Man i love this game!

Game’s not using Unreal Engine mate.

My Lord and Saviour, Yoshi-P!

Loved this game. Ending wasn’t great and most side quests are fetch orientated. Even still had a lot of fun with it

Would love to see your full review, my favourite (and first) Final Fantasy is IX, gone back years later and still love it.

“Eikons INSTEAD of Summons” you said you’ve played every Final Fantasy but didn’t realize at this point that every FF where the Summons are relevant to the Lore/Plot they have a different name: Espers for VI, Guardian Force for VII, Eidolons for IX, Aeons for X and so on. They didn’t “change” for XVI, it’s just a standard of the series.

I loved the game

it must be hell for final fantasy fans, its the same damn button mashing game.

I love that you are reviewing this game! I completely loved it

This is not Unreal Engine, dude.
Its Square horrible demanding Propretary Engine. Hopefully they will never use this engine again.

Way too linear for a FF game IMO.

Im about 10 hours in and im not enjoying the gameplay. Its a little too repetitive. The arena style fights get a little stale when youre mostly mashing buttons. I miss the turn based. Will keep playing though because I want to see these boss fights everyone keeps talking about.

Hard mode was a boring slog – bashing that Titan for 20 minutes all the while falling into the abyss was no fun at all. And overall the game was rather boring due to outdated area design and very limited combat meta. Thankfully FF7 remakes exist to remind me not all is lost with these series.

I enjoyed it a good bit. Sometimes I felt like I should be doing a little more damage to things lol beautiful game though. And Cid is the man.

I played this at launch last year because of how good the demo was. It was the first FF game I ever played front to back with the only other ones I’ve played being 90% of FF7R and a couple hours of FFXIV.

I loved it out the gate but it ultimately became the most disappointing AAA game I played last year. The fist half – 2/3 of the game was amazing, but the lack of any real progression or RPG elements, combat getting stale, mostly lame side quests, and how the story completely falls off the rails for no real reason, it all just felt apart towards the end. Game just got too long for its own good.

*SPOILER FREE*
It’s a good game. It’s not perfect, but I really enjoyed it. I was rooting for it for GOTY last year… until I played Balder’s Gate 3. It’s not that good, but that’s an awfully high bar. Anyway, I am looking forward to your full review.

Really looking forward to FFXVI on pc hoping that some good soul will make a mod to increase difficulty from the start, fixing what seems to be the main problem of this game.

02:44 correction – it doesn’t use Unreal Engine. It’s proprietary.

Also, you don’t put “the” in front, it’s just “Unreal Engine”.

This became my favourite final fantasy. Enjoyed it way more than the ff7 remakes

the reason it took this long to get a pc port is because they had a stupid timed exclusivity deal for FF titles with PlayStation didn’t square enix complain about how this wasn’t paying off for them and going forward they will not be doing it anymore. i personally just wish the pc port had more pc features / setting like ultrawide options

I liked this game a lot for the fact that its a 50 hours action game with reallt cool combat, story and bosses. I don’t think we’ve ever had an action game of this scope before.

16 truly has some of the highest highs ever

This is the first Final Fantasy game i ever played.. i know. I know.. anyway i loved it.. ended up getting crisis core, remake, and rebirth. I love all of them.

Seems SquEnix discovered that PC releases can be quite lucrative.

Biggest Issue for FF16 is its too damn easy. The FF Mode difficulty is only NG+ and even by then, you are high enough level and enough skills to even make that a bit of a breeze. Just finished NG+ FF mode on PS5. The game was brilliant and i loved it, but its just not a challenge.

The story in this game was awesome and crafting combos was super fun. Only issue I have at this point after a few playthroughs is the side quest ‘dumps’ the game does. Personally it didnt bother on a first playthrough but on repeats it can get annoying.

unless they will fix the 30fps lock in cut scenes (which is every time you get control taken away, not just the cinematics) then
i won’t be able to play this game. The effect of moving from 100+fps to come crashing down to a broken looking and juddering 30fps is just intolerable to me. This first time it happened I thought that the game really was broken and about to crash to desk top. I can’t believe that square seem willing to launch the game with the cut scenes in this kind of state.

I played the game on PS5 and its a very fun game. My biggest complaints are about the combat system because it isn’t even action-rpg combat. I don’t think i’ve ever played a game with combat like this, It feels closer to a 2d fighting game than anything else – where the only approach is to be skillful at reacting in time and pressing combo buttons.

There are no weaknesses, items don’t seem to matter, there is no way to meaningfully status effect enemies, there is no way to control the ground and use the environment. Even an simple action-rpg like witcher 3 has overwhelmingly more feature rich combat system than this. There is really nothing to it other than twitchy-reflex and button presses. It isn’t an action-rpg in any sense that i am familar with.

But you can use all of the ‘cheat’ rings to largely turn off the combat system allowing the rest of the game to be enjoyed.

I love FFXIV, I look forward to seeing how Yoshi-P, and his team do another Final Fantasy game.

Unfortunately I felt the game was incredibly lacking in the combat department. Not enough new mechanics/weapons etc to keep it interesting imo

So i personally haven’t played any FF games or the Nier and Drakengard series but in the last month i just listened to their stories thanks to a lot of very in depth youtubers and i must say i marveled at how ingenious some plots are and at the same time how twisted and dark some stories are and boy the Japanese writers certainly have a knack at making sad storyies with serious twisted takes on sins and sad stories. I loved the stories they built and how they interconnect.

Your views on the story are roughly what mine were at this time. I thought the game was terrible and uninteresting but the story was intriguing and presented in possibly the most spectacular way

Then just beyond the demo I realised this was the worst final fantasy game ever made. Horrific gameplay, progression, quests. Story abysmal. Dialogue like chat gpt wrote it. Characters. Dull and predictable. Just a horrible horrible experience from beginning to end. Wonder what you’ll find at that point 😊

Most hype boss battles in any video game.

Was a huge step down from 15.

This comment might poisen the well a bit. So you might want to come back after playing different dificulties.

My biggest problem with FF16 was the fight to fight gameplalay even when i was overleveled it felt like enemies have 20-100% to much health. And when you unlock the highest dificulty it increases even more and everything gets way to tanky. I stayed not for the gameplay, I stayed for the world.

The Bahamut boss fight in space is the best boss fight of all time. Change my mind.

It’s goty 2023 for me. lol
BG3 is a better game sure but I like FFXVI more.

People may like/dislike the game, but one thing they really nail it. man, the VA are incredible.

Looking forward to playing this one as well. Bought on ps5 but performance mode was noticeably lower quality than quality mode (heh) but couldn’t stand 30 fps

Less is more for me. Great game

Im curious to see your opinion on the whole sidequest issue with this game 😅… this is not my favorite game at all but I kinda wonder if the image quality/perf improvements on PC can make it feel better to play.. on PS5 anything that wasnt a cutscene frankly looked bad and the performance wasnt there either

Story is actually really good. The combat gets repetitive though, with all the available moves considered.

I played this on PS5 last year and it was awesome. The RPG elements are a bit lacking but everything else is amazing

2:42 I don’t believe this game is on unreal engine. The game engine is simply known as being a Proprietary Engine. Unlike FF7 Remake series this game doesn’t use Unreal.

Fantastical YouTube Jazz 🎶 version 16

Japanese Game of Thrones with DMC gameplay. The only thing it has in common with Final Fantasy is the name.

Hey Mortym I don’t think this game uses Unreal Engine, it should be their proprietary engine.

It’s a relaxing game to play if you just want to chill. Side quests 8/10, main story 10/10. I have played and 100% ever mainline FF games since May 2023. That includes FF1-10, 10-2, 12, 13, 13-2, Lightning Returns, 15, 16, 7 Remake/Rebirth and Crisis Core. I can accept change but I would still like at least some side games that are turn based if they don’t want to make any more turn based mainline games.
NG+ aka Final Fantasy Mode is required for 100% and that’s a lot more fun because you started off with every skill in the game and you have a new level cap and your gear actually gets stronger if you collect duplicates of it. Thats how it promotes redoing quests or hunts.

I just cant stand how drawn out combat is in this. Even in god of war it completely put me off.

You are one resilient and hard working man. Someone give him ALL the medals!!! 🏅 🎖️ 🥇

Probably my favourite recent release curious as to how the PC version goes.

The best ff within the last decade. Enjoy

Man I hope they fix the damn ps5 performance mode 😡

Loved everything about it, except the ending

Most hardworking and honest reviewer on YouTube! Thank you

Wonder how this review will go, I had huge issues with the demo despite having the best rig you can own. If it ends up performing properly I’d be happy enough.