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I bought it and am 23hours in and am loving it. It’s a bit dry sometimes but I didn’t expect anything big since it’s my first final fantasy game.

@robyhentz9870
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I still turns into smeagol every time this fucking game is mentioned

I become irrational, I hate it, I can’t bear this game

I never got frustrated like this before, ever in my life

I was too harsh with the boys in FF XV

I’m so mad I didn’t watch this review before I got 20 hours in and learned it actually doesn’t get better.

It’s weird how much tastes can diverge. I never played the original FF7 or really any FF game. I tried FF7 remake and thought it was awful. It had some good aspects but the pacing and story were outright terrible. Then I played FF16 and it was one of the best written stories I’ve seen in a game in a while and the thing it did the best was the execution of the spectacle of the boss fights. Quite literally the best cinematic boss fights I’ve ever seen in any game.

I think it has a lot to do with expectations. Me, never having played Final Fantasy was much more willing to accept a new formula whereas someone who has played a lot of Final Fantasy would feel like they were shortchanged, that they went in for a Final Fantasy game and got something that doesn’t fit that narrative. Though, as I understand it, a lot of FF7 fans hated the remake because it also heavily diverged from the original.

It’s weird. I feel like I shouldn’t like this game. I generally like games that are gameplay first and I generally don’t like cut-scene heavy games. Can’t stand CDPR games because of the ridiculous amount of dialogue. But this game just hits for some reason. This game gave me a YS 8 vibe. Lots of cutscenes and a decent combat system but a storyline and presentation and a cast of characters that I just loved from start to finish. I even loved all the fetch quests. There is no precedent for me liking fetch quests but for some reason I liked it here. I beat it twice in a row. I was so invested in the story of these characters and this world. It was a game I couldn’t stop thinking about after it was over.

The biggest mistake was the MMO fatch quests that feels I am playing MMO and not main line FF game 😕

I never even finished it because I got bored. Know what else had that distinction from last year? Starfield. Piss easy game with a story I expected more from but the pacing just turned me off. Hard to invest in too much with two time skips in a rather short period of time.

Came here after watching your dragon age review. Was on the fence with dragon age because I wanted to try it, but then heard you mention you played ff16. After 1000% agreeing with you on every aspect of this review and amazingly say why you do like FF, for its gameplay and not shallow name drops, I can safely say I trust your input. I always hate when people say I just want turn based, when ff is more than that and has had gameplay that tried to evolve. And again agree that even if it didn’t always work out I admired the effort to try. FF16 is the definition of a sanitized video game. Has great polish and nothing else. Thank you for both reviews and I am def subbing now. If I try dragon age…who knows. I’ll probably wait for a sale, but I’m not running to buy it.

I’ve spent about 30 hours playing the game so far and, when I look at the list of main quests, I’m like 3/4 in or so. I honestly cannot wait for the game to be over. For a game that has nothing interesting to say or offer (besides visuals, I guess), it is far, *far* too long. It doesn’t exactly help that the game feels like a slog to get through, either. When a game is engaging on the other hand (I was super invested in Death Stranding, I *loved* watching the cutscenes), I don’t mind it being a long game or it having plentiful/long cutscenes. But this is not that.

So far, I can recall exactly two moments that were actually interesting to watch unfold (reunions…) and that’s about it. Everything else just blends together.

Anyway, this game is probably the most disappointing title I’ve played in the last few years. I’d rather play XV again and I *didn’t even really like that one!* But at least it had an entertaining character dynamic between the boys and it was just more engaging overall (driving the car, side-activities like fishing and all that, exploration on its own, etc.). I really hope that FFXVII is going to be a Final Fantasy for me again…

As a full time working parent, I appreciate linear games much more now. I don’t want collectathon FOMO. Please, customize my party for me, I’d love that. This game is what I am looking as as older more mature gamer.

I didn’t even think the political machinations were particularly interesting. I enjoyed the first 40% of the game, but after that, I was bored and pushing myself to play. Stopped before the final dungeon because I just wasn’t having any fun. I still don’t understand how the items/equipment system made in into the final version of the game. They’re so vestigial…they’re just there for some reason. The game is WAY too easy. And honestly, I think Yoshi-P’s output is way overrated. FXIV has the same problems- the story is mostly pretty dull and padded out with busy work.

Thank you for saying what needed to be said. As both a gamer and a game dev, I loathe the mass’ mindless consumption of soulless slop. It ruins games for everyone and makes successfully developing a good game more and more difficult. The two greatest enemies to gaming are:
1. Corporate greed
2. Mainstream gamers

I am glad this was referenced in the veilguard video. I loved this game so its unlikely I will agree with this reviewer for veilguard.

It started good. Halfway through it was worse FF game ever. My god what an empty boring and repetitive game. Boring GOT plot. No teammates no rpg elements. Just press square and then watch cutscenes

3:31 I can understand wanting to spice up a franchise, but you don’t want to leave behind your core audience

I put about 20 hours into this game and i stopped cuz I got bored. The combat is cool and it looks great. Those huge boss battles look amazing but something just didn’t hit with me. While I’m not a fan of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, i preferred the combat in that game to this one.

I agree to those things in intro. While I enjoyed this game much more than XV, which is the worst in my opinion, you can see YoshiP calculated mind in it. As player you can choose only from those options that they carefully crafted for you. No builds for character, deep but very repetitive combat. While story and worldbuilding was great, rest needed a lot of work.

40Hrs into the game and you just told me all the points I was thinking myself. Yes this is a mediocre adventure which can be considered in a steam sale. Good review

This game is boring AF.

This one is an odd review for me. I deliberately avoided reviews and such for FF16 specifically before I experienced it myself recently (PC player) and I’m glad I did. I feel like if I had watched this prior to playing it, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the game as much as I did.

I really loved the game, to the point that I was very eager to start NG+ right after the story. And what’s funny is, there was never a point in the video that I disagree in, except on the characters part, I think the characters were great mostly and good sometimes.

It made me realize the importance of like mental context since I went into this wanting to like it, and I ended up loving it. I only played FF15 and Stranger of Paradise in terms of FF games, loved both of those as well so I have no attachment to the other FF games. I think this review is very much valid but I am also inclined to say that the review seems like its also coming from someone that wants to hate the game.

One year later, I’d say I agree with your review. My opinion on not just this but FF14 (in terms of gameplay) has taken a 180. FF16 would have been a good movie or TV show. Didn’t have fun with the game part.

FF13 was the last final fantasy game I enjoyed. I hated FF15, and I don’t consider FF16 a final fantasy at all. It might be good but it’s not final fantasy.

never apologize for a blunt review or saying a product is bad, never downplay it cause then it loses legitimacy
it has objective faults that should be said regardless of if the sheep fandom accepts it or not
game is still terrible, Final Fantasy as a brand still in dire straits

they are absolutely WRONG About people wouldnt be into the turn based style of final fantasy. just like when they said that single player games were dead, deep RPG games were dead etc etc etc, “you think you want it, but you actually dont” and every single one of those peopleg ot proven wrong. if they were to release a modern final fantasy game that had the old school turn based combat, it would absolutely blow out their bank accounts, there are probably millions of us who havent touched a final fantasy game since they made the change with FF13 as they chase the “modern audience” when in reaity if they made a turn based game it would bring back us old heads AND the new gamers would get to understand WHY turn based is so beloved.

Hernandez Margaret Lopez Eric White Michelle

God its like im watching a review for Veilguard, late 2024

They say the combat has to be simple for young players but then they do a political story that will also bore them to death. 😅

1 year later, skillup is one of the few reviewers I trust, in part because of this review. The balls to go against the circlejerk and give honest, critical opinions is commendable. And after playing the game I ended up agreeing with all of them, and still don’t understand the level of hype and love behind this game.

FF16 is absolutely amazing. It’s significantly better than FF7 Rebirth.

they NEEEEEED to go back to turn based. let ff7r carry the action combat part of the franchise, but the mainline needs to go back to what made it the prominent rpg franchise in video games. squenix is in denial if they continue to disagree. you were born from dungeons and dragons and baldur’s gate proved what that style can still do. unfortunately, squenix is as incompetent as EA or Ubisoft, maybe even more incompetent since those companies at least make money hand over fist. squenix just isn’t smart.

watched this because the pc port releases in a couple weeks, and i’ve avoided everything about this game for a year. i’m quite worried i’m just going to continue to get angrier at modern final fantasy.

I still can’t understand what people see in this game. It’s bad at being an RPG, it’s bad at being an action game. The closest it gets to being good at anything is as an interactive movie, but the dialogue is so over-dramatized and hokey it’s not great at that, either. I own it, have tried to grind through it three times now, it’s just not very good.

People complaining about long cutscnes, FF has done this since the turn based games, the story is awesome, the game is great, only complaint is besides some of the hunts and bosses its just a bit too easy.

35:37 – BioWare players are having PTSD hearing this.

A bicon? as in a bisexual icon?

The best FF games are VI, IX, VII, X and VIII, in that order

I enjoyed the game. I think the real issue with final fantasy as a series is that there are so many different things people expect. It is hard to make a perfect game that has such high expectations. I liked that the summons were tied to gameplay and story so much. I enjoyed it much more than 15.

Personally I’ve felt that the series went into a direction after 12 that I do not care to follow. Perhaps it is natural with aging, as I am no longer the target audience. Still feels bad though.

Thank you Skillup for your, yet another, extremely based game review despite the hype and noise of the people. You are THE ONLY game reviewer i trust. Ever. I always recommend your channel to my friends. I really appreciate all you and your team does. You are the only, and last reliable game reviewer.

I played the Steam demo earlier this week and then rewatched this review. I don’t understand how people say this is the greatest FF game of all time. I just felt deeply disappointed as I went through the demo.

I comprehend your review and Listen it with patience.For me,it was verily a 10/10 experience.A world where Joy and sorrow co-exists.A place of panache and Elegance.FF series including 16 never ceases to Astonish and Bewitch me with it’s beauty.The combat and action of the game is so gratifying.Sub stories are so touching and heartwarming.Honestly a JRPG cannot be finer

I cMe now to hear your opinion pn this game. Bought it 3-4 months ago but only now started playing. I loved the beginning of the game and the main character Clive but now, 13hrs in, I think I am forcing myself to like it.. bc it’s Final Fantasy, I love those games even when they’re not at their best hahaha but this is very very hard to enjoy.
One detail though: if I am not mistaken you didn’t mention once FF XIII – why?

Why cant we just get a modern turn based FF game…

Ralph and I finally disagree on something. FFXVI is SUCH a banger. Not understanding why you wouldn’t simply recommend it as a FANTASTIC action game with the caveat that it omits a lot of traditional FF elements. But, again, it’s still SUCH a banger. Can’t get behind not recommending because it’s missing thing you like even when it’s a great game.

Even a year later people in the comments are very divided. This is truley a rare love or hate game.

Baldurs Gate 3 really proved that guy wrong about turn based combat 😅

it’s really good

Sex scenes and this level of violence DO NOT belong in a Final Fantasy. While I wish they stayed turned-based, even FFXV was great. I mean, 15 is a great love letter to FF fans.
16 however, I the greatest FF fan on Earth, give it a serious thumbs down. The sex and violence alone destroys any value the game would have had to a FF fan.

Yoshi P’s response to why it can’t be turn based is absolute nonsense. Kids play Pokémon. Kids play the Pokémon tcg. WTF are you smoking? What universe do you exist in?

Hopping in here almost a year later because that’s how long it took me to beat the game as I was having a hard time staying interested, you hit most everything on the head. Just gonna say, when you start the game there is a brief splash screen with Clive and the words FINAL FANTASY XVI and every time I saw in the latter half the game I would like raise an eyebrow because it just did not feel like a Final Fantasy game to me.

the 30fps mode is not even 4k.

I’ve played every mainline FF game since 7 and enjoyed them all, 15 wasnt great but it was still fun in parts and still felt like a FF game. Having enjoyed Skillup content for a few years now and appreciating his reviews I held off on picking up this game on release. However 10 months later, FF16 is on sale so I thought I’d give it a shot. @skillup you have never been MORE RIGHT in a review. This is not only the poorest FF game i’ve ever played but at best it is an extremely mediocre action game. Aside from the striking and polished visuals and the world setting I have no warm feelings towards this game. I’m slogging my way through the story for the first half in the hope it would get better and now only continuing as I feel i have to finish it so I dont feel I’ve totally wasted 30 hours. So so disappointed…. Moral of the story? Keep listening to @skillup, he knows his stuff.

I got this game as a gift , and for that i enjoyed the story and combat but man the game comes to a screeching halts when it comes to exploration,questing, character building.
Can’t believe people touted it as a goty contender.

I like this review, but I feel like almost all of these criticisms could be leveled at FF13. Which I also like.

Doesn’t really contradict any of your points, but I imagine you weren’t a huge fan of 13 either 🙁

I just started playing it yesterday, my complaint so far is the bland facial expressions

Can’t stand cutscenes. People with limited time just want to game!!!

Damn I’m kinda worried we won’t get another Square RPG as a mainline FF game with depth.

yoshi P : I want to attract kids
FF16 : Rated M for mature
Pure clowns. I played old FF when i was a kid. What they want to is broaden the potential customers and since most gamers are low IQ action driven idiots (call of duty proves it) they want to dumb down FF.
But DQ 11 sold 6.5 million, soooooooo….

There is only one thing I disagree about in this video: You’re still giving Stormblood too much credit that expansion was very hot garbage.

After almost 18 hours into this game i think im just gonna quit playing it for now. Everything you said in your review applies to my thoughts on this game. I think if this was a 20 hour game, stripped of almost all side content stuff and this half open world design it could have been so much better. But the way the paces this game is just so unbearable. Such a shame.

Accept the Truth scene still one of the most epic moments in gaming tho.

Wish I’d watched this before I brought the game. Even at a 50% discount, I still feel like I was ripped off. This is not a final fantasy game….

Coming back to this after rebirth and I believe yoshi p was right in saying ff has to change the audience that loves the turn based ff games has to be far smaller times have changed people want to feel engaged hopefully ff16 will be the template going forward but with its faults addressed and built upon

A bit late to the party here, but I 100% agree with everything this reviewer says. Such a disappointing terrible boring game, and I speak as a 32 year old who has loved this franchise their whole life.

Rare miss by Ralph here. This game is one of best in the series.

Exactly, the world, the companions. It felt like a movie, not a videogame.

I bought this game because of all the amazing reviews, wish I would have seen this review first. FF16 is incredibly boring

The main story was incredible in my opinion. Ending made me cry. A story about a man protecting his brother. Not sure why people are hating on it.

Played on your recommendation, doubted for a while, then rolled credits and fell in love. One of the most integrated in terms of story and presentation. Didn’t always love the linear thing, but actually it was necessary for the scope..

>”i will not judge GoW R based on all previous games”.
>”i will not judge FFVII R 1 & 2 based on the original”.
>”i will judge FFXVI based on the previous games.
???

One of those games that’s controversial today, loved in the future.

I F’ing hate all final fantasies after FFX, including FFX-2.

this video aged like fine milk 🤮
after finishing ff7r p1 and now ff7 Rebirth, i have to say i don’t see the difference in compare to FF16, the “open world” so boring in FF7, the side quests not that fun,
FF16 felt to me more like 8/10 game, but by far is more impressive than FF7R P1 and Rebirth, the Ekion vs Ekion, the voice acting, the cut-scenes, the story, the combat…

Wow

After playing rebirth this a massive disappointment

FF7 remake is definetely a priority for Square over this thing.

Hopefully FF17 will be an improvement but I won’t hold my breath. Looks like the series heydays are simply over.

I doubted u when I first saw this. I come back to this review 130+ hrs later and shillup summed up my thoughts exactly. Moments that r like no other but falls short in so many other aspects.

Are you planning a Rebirth review? I love your content!

I’m hoping for a modern, turn based Final Fantasy soon. If they are remaking 10 at some point I pray they keep it turn based and strategic, with high customization in leveling and builds.

The problem with FFXVI is just that, that the “Final Fantasy” name appears in the title.

Squarenix could have named the game differently and it would have been just fine. Because if you remove those core elements that make a Final Fantasy game be what truly is in its true essence, then you no longer have a Final Fantasy game anymore. There is nothing more Anti-Final Fantasy than removing all the main RPG elements from the Game. But do you know what is even worse? To add checkpoints in the middle of Boss fights. That was kind of weird and irritating for me. Like if it wasn’t a Final Fantasy game anymore.

This is something that AC Valhalla has suffered from as well. Ubisoft could have just named that game in a different way and it would have been fine and no division would have ever happened among AC fans; if the game was named differently then it would have been like a cool “Vikings based” videogame, but they instead put “Assassin’s Creed” in the title, in the final release. That fact leaded to a lot of misunderstandings and also a big split and arguments within the fan base of these games. Same goes for the polemic release of “Resident Evil 6”, while it may be a good fast-paced action game, definitely is not a “survival horror” game at its core, therefore, not truly a “Resident Evil” game and that’s why the controversial discussions started with that game among many fans of the Capcom franchise. We can even include here “Dark Souls II” as the least favourite among souls fans in general (I don’t personally think that about DS2), yet this game is still awesome because even if it’s lacking some elements from previous Souls games from FromSoftware, Dark Souls II is still a good and solid game, whether if you like it or not, because yes, the game can lack some stuff, it may not be perfect as a Soul game, but it never betrays itself in those basic and fundamental things that make a Souls game be what truly is at its core and heart. And that’s why, in cases like DS2, gamers and fans can be forgiving and understanding regarding some decisions that some Studios and Developers take before the release of a new game.

I’m a big fan of all these franchises: Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Souls games & FromSoftware games, Assassin’s Creed saga, etc. And it’s really a shame when games are supposed to take a franchise to the next level with the next title and they fail doing so. It was supposed that FFXVI was about to be the “chosen one” in bringing into the table the “next Gen experience” for a Final Fantasy Game, but it has not happened. And yet, not everything seems lost because there is still one Game that can make things so much better! Guess which Game is actually introducing the next Gen experience finally?

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth!

Watching the Showcase of that Game introduced by PlayStation made that very clear for me! It was mind-blowing! It felt like: yes!, that is truly what “next Gen” looks like and what every Final Fantasy Game, Possibilities & World Building should be within this beautiful franchise!

first thing to go was world map, then turn based combat, now even the party is gone. I moved on from final fantasy after x and i’ve come back only for ffvii remake, but its so sad to see how low went this franchise wich i used to love so much. They were the forefront of gaming, now they become bad devil may cry clones.

I bought my PS5 in anticipation for this game….what a disappointment.

i hated 14 so i would hate this, like everything before 14 with 7 being the best ever…

I’m playing through this game now and this game quite possibly the worst or at least in the top 3 worst Final Fantasy games ever made. Final Fantasy XIII is still probably the worst with XV in close competition for this one.

This game is so disappointing on so many fronts, Yoshi-P should be ashamed of what he made and it sort of feels like he is, I mean they basically just watched Game of Thrones (something that already sucks) and made an even worse version of that. I hate the fighting system and the fact that they didn’t give it enough depth to take it through 40+ hours of game play, look at Okami, another game like this, sure Okami is far more charming than this pile of shit ever was, but Okami was another game that wanted to be 80 hours long but didn’t have the necessary depth.

I sort of hate everything about this game, sure the graphics are “detailed” but they also went this this incredibly flat, brown very realistic style, even ones in the past like FFX that had more realistic characters had some level of stylization to the world that made sense, the Moogle makes no sense in this world with the dour, ugly look they went with.

I also absolutely hate the Eikon battles, they are just carnival rides. The fighting system is already incredibly dumbed down from even a basic character action game and yet they decide to dumb it down even more for some moments that are literally just a few commands. It’s also terrible.

The thing is, I could tolerate all of that, I’d be fine with all of it if this game has one single solitary ounce of charm. This game is devoid of any reason at all to care about any character in it, Clive has exactly ONE character trait, SAD, that is all there is to him, SAD. I fucking hate him as a character, he’s up there with Lighting from XIII in how terrible a character he is. There is not one single side character that is worth remembering either. Every single other Final Fantasy has at least one character that everyone who played the game liked (maybe except for XV) but this one doesn’t have a single memorable character anywhere. I mean name one interesting thing about the OH SO INTERESTING character JILL, again a character I have a hard time even remembering one single thing about.

I was joking while playing it that part of the game felt like a souls-like but that would be too generous because that would assume that this pathetic game has a soul.

I just finished FF16. I do like the action based battle system, some parts the story, a few main characters, the Eikon battles, and the music. That’s about it. Although I felt a bit temptation to play the Final Fantasy Mode on NG+, I just couldn’t do that again (contrary to when I played FF7 Remake 3 times). I especially detest the customized weapon system, or the lack of one . 6/10 for me.

17:50 IMHO I think this is kind of a problem with this game. The spectacle is SOOOOO over the top that it’s honestly kind of boring to me. Its like the QTE commands were placed their to make sure you hadn’t been lulled into a semi-conscious trance. It’s kind of like a Micheal Bay Transformers movie. So much style and flash, and yet it’s all so painfully mundane. I don’t hate this game, but as far as mainline FF games, this one is pretty far down in my tier list.

The best thing about this game is how it ousts YoshiP as the mediocre director he always was. Non mmo players aren’t in the cult of CBU3, they’re not as easily fooled.

I deeply regret playing Horizon Forbidden West before I played this one. Had I done the other way around I’m sure I’d have enjoyed FFXVI much more because of how great HFW is, my expectations were unrealistically high.

I waited until I finished the game to watch this video, and I just finished a couple weeks ago. It is crazy that I feel exactly the same as you do about everything. Like, EVERY point you made… YES, I agree. By the time I finished it I just couldn’t believed I wasted that much time doing crap side quests in a boring open world with no party members. The whole slavery allegory got tiresome after about 10 hours. The combat was so basic. I used the same 6 moves the entire game. Just waiting for cooldowns. It felt like I was playing an MMO. I give it a 5/10

Closer to an interactive movie than a video game. I find myself skipping every cutscene just to get back to gameplay sometimes even losing track of important plot points but still not caring enough stop cause I’d rather be hacking and slashing and seeing the beautiful fight scenes. Money and loot feels pointless cause there’s nothing of value to spend it on. So even grinding feels meaningless.

Its funny how they had about 20 hours of cutscenes that told us too little about the world through dialogue naturally that they had to supplement with loads of “Active Time Lore” in every cutscene. Would’ve rather this been an HBO series like it was already masquerading as. Now it’s looking like FF7 Rebirth is going to show what a modern FF can look like with it’s RPG roots intact through the combat and give us a far more engaging open world at the same time. Leave it to Square’s A-Team.

This game was soulless. The combat felt so bad cutscenes were all over the place, and the abilities were not that fun. As a new player to this franchise, i will never touch another final fantasy game.

I agree 100%! The switch to action was great but it feels off and shallow. Its like they left the turn based interaction system in but instead of flashing to turn based, you just button mash. It just feels exausting. I found myself wanting to avoid open space combat rather than wanting to engage. The weapon upgrades are the nost basic linear experince it left me wondering why they even included it. The open semi open world spaces are NOT FUN, at all! The exploration is dry and lame. The only thing that I like are the visuals and the boss battles but that wasnt enough to motivate me to push throigh to the end. I quit after the second time hop forward. I might go back but this game had me bored and sometimes even literally falling asleep.

Absolutely nailed this review

Im about a dozen hours (maybe more) into the game and I’m still wondering if it gets better. I cannot focus on this game for more than 5 minutes at a time.

I didn’t watch this review until I played this game. Thank you for your honest opinion as you are absolutely correct. This is just non-MMO FFXIV with horrendous itemization, really easy difficulty and no progression.

25:18 yup, this is the real ultima😅😅

I really thought skill up was wrong when it came to the game but holy shit the side quests and the cutscenes are horrendous. And the tutorials and screens at the start of every mission slows everything down to a slog. Fuck this game, im only playing it to get to the set pieces

Ben Starr suffered the loss of his father during acting for 16, and used that to help convey Clive’s emotions through the game.

Many developers from Final Fantasy 14 were involved in Final Fantasy 16. This is because other teams at Square Enix are busy (Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Kingdom Hearts 4 and Dragon Quest XII)

To Devil May Cry 5, featuring the same combat director and similar fast-paced, high-action gameplay.

Yuna’s whistle from Final Fantasy X gets used in a prologue cutscene by Clive.

The end credits feature a segment dedicating the game to Stephen Critchlow, Byron’s first voice actor, and Square Enix NA’s Head of Marketing Kevin Kraff (who passed away in July 2022).

The production staff have cited Game of Thrones (specifically the earlier seasons of the show) as a major inspiration.

A minor key rendition of the overworld theme from Final Fantasy plays during various scenes exploring the history and lore of Ultima, first popping up in the chapter “Cloak and Dagger.”

Stephen Critchlow, who died two years before the game’s release, is listed alongside Ewan Bailey in the credits as one of Byron’s voice actors.

* Ben Starr has been a fan of the franchise since Final Fantasy VIII. He first auditioned for a minor role under a code-named script to keep the work a secret, but was asked to read several other lines for the character that would become Clive. After a few days he was told he won the lead role, but it wasn’t until another week later that he found out it was for a new mainline game in his favorite series. To him, becoming Clive was “an overwhelming honor and a terrifying privilege” and the worst part was keeping it a secret for years.
* Stewart Clarke (Dion) is a fan of the series and said he felt privileged to have his character join the ranks of other complexly written dragoons like Kain Highwind and Estinien Varlineau.

A PlayStation 4 version of the game was planned around the time the Awakening trailer for the game was shown, but was cancelled due to the technical limitations of the console.

This is also the first mainline single-player Final Fantasy game whose English voice acting was recorded exclusively in the United Kingdom, following in the footsteps of fellow JRPG franchises like Dragon Quest and Xenoblade Chronicles. Final Fantasy XII was primarily dubbed in the UK with some additional recording done in the USA, while Final Fantasy XIV started out being dubbed in the US before the production moved to the UK beginning with the Heavensward expansion.

* This is the third Final Fantasy game to receive a Mature rating by the ESRB, behind Final Fantasy Type-0 and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the first to receive an 18+ rating by PEGI and the second to receive a D rating by CERO, behind Stranger of Paradise.
* This is the first Final Fantasy game to feature a plot-important openly gay character in Dion, the Dominant of Bahamut.note  Dion even shares a kiss with his lover Terence, which is shown on-screen during one cutscene. This scene ended up getting the game banned in Saudi Arabia when Square Enix refused to remove the characters or the kissing scene.

the older ff games have their flaws too some of them you even attributed to ff16 as “this never happened” … fight a god and then go collect someones pie ? … literally every ff game has that … even your beloved 14 , thats a staple for ff14 its actually a game play loot of killing a eikon then visit the postman … kind of double take im most argumenta ( but not for all )

This game was trash and very few want to admit it.

BG3 might have something to say about “kids won’t play turn based rpgs”

I agree with everything. This game is….pretty dull to play through for 68 campaign missions. Im done. I can’t get past Headwind, it’s sooooo dull and redundant. Such a starl contrast to 7 remake

While I do agree the game does a lot of things wrong, combat gets old fairly quickly, side quests are just annoying, cut scenes are a hell of a slog, but i still found myself so invested in its story and characters. The world and overall story was great.

Final Fantasy used to mean everything to me. 15 left me with an ungodly bad taste in my mouth, and 16 just isn’t something that looks ‘Final Fantasy’ to me. Meanwhile, had an awesome time with the last Dragon Quest game and have replayed it happily. Loving things like Star Ocean Second Story R, Baldur’s Gate 3, and replaying things like Pillars of Eternity. FF16 just looks like vapid, hollow action game dross. No party? No character development? Action battles like DMC? Nah, Let the new generation enjoy this shite, I’ll enjoy games with substance that actually engage me and make me happy without trying to convince me they’re good with nothing but light shows and card tricks.

Looking back on 2023, I’m so glad BG3 came out the same year as FF16. It shows how wrong Yoshi P was about what gamers want and what can succeed in this day and age.

I finally played this game and I am greatly let down. It’s such a straight forward, generic, unexciting game. Unreal how this is what they made after showing how good real time combat could be in a final fantasy with the VII remake. Such a bummer.

Looking at reviews and gameplay footage, what Square Enix has basically given us here is a game in the style of Nier Replicant/Automata. I’m perfectly fine with that considering those two games are some of my all time favourites. What SkillUp failed to mention is, in a day where we have game breaking bugs, glitches and save files mysteriously disappearing, ( Baulders Gate 3) Square Enix has released a game which is practically complete out of the box. That should be commended in my eyes.

I finally finished ff16 and unfortunately I agree on all accounts. Overall the experience felt like a series of epic boss fights connected by an excessively tedious narrative ramble. Almost like two games at odds with each other, as if somebody had haphazardly spliced bits of Bayonetta and Starfield together.

I don’t think any element satisfied the grand expectations the game’s marketing set up for me. The combat is flashy but ultimately feels lacking in depth. The story has abysmal pacing and few memorable characters. Even Clive, while excellently voiced, fumbles in comparison to the likes of Kratos, Geralt, Arthur Morgan or Joel and Ellie. Probably one of the worst, least charismatic, most generic lead villains I’ve encountered in any game. And while the world is rendered beautifully, it too often gives way to drab, grey wastelands and uninspired wilderness.

I was ready to love FF16 from the start, but instead I experienced a creeping dread and ultimately a realisation of disappointment.

Too much was left by the wayside in pursuit of this ‘new modern’ Final Fantasy. Barely a party, barely an rpg, barely any world to really explore. And where innovation was truely needed we got the same old evil god villain shtick. When are JRPG writers finally gonna get a villain idea other than ‘evil god wants to enslave humanity/destroy the world’? I am so over that concept at this point.

I hate to be so harsh, but I can’t fathom some of the decisions that were made here. I truely hope this is an awkward growing pain on a step towards something genuinely creative and fresh that honours the franchise’s history while making bold innovations. But this just ain’t it chief. Clive, Jill, Joshua, Cid and Torgul deserved far better.

The combat might actually be something I like. I wouldn’t even consider myself a casual fan of Final Fantasy. I wasn’t into it at all growing up, I played 7 back when it came out, but not long, I didn’t even complete it. This series never took hold of me. I was never a fan of it’s turn based combat system, even back then. I think that is why I enjoyed the remake of 7 more then the original, cause it had more action combat. Not saying that I don’t enjoy turn based combat at all, I love KOTORs combat, it’s one of my favorite games of all time. Also really enjoyed Baulders Gate 3, so it’s a FF thing I am not into.

I love ff14. I like some parts of FF16. Tried doing the side quest and hunts but at a point of the game, there will be too many side quests but I’m already burned out at 80%. I also don’t like the boss fights having a cut scene fight to press Square or R1. Agreed with a few highs then a slog of lows..

As a final fantasy enjoyer, I love cutscenes. 10/10 game could use more cutscenes though

Hi there,
just saw your video and I wish I had seen this review before I bought the game. I got it while it was on sale (still 50 bucks though) because I really liked how it looked and what was said in the reviews, and also the demo. But as I kept playing it got duller by the hour and I caught myself rolling my eyes at the 20+ minute bossfights, the boring sidequests, and most importantly, the terribly simple, repetitive, and boring combat, itemization and “core gameplay”. I’m impressed by how well you manage to encompass my exact thoughts about every aspect I disliked about the game.
I guess as someone who is “spoiled” by From Soft games I’m truly disappointed by FF16 and probably won’t finish it.
Great review, subbed and liked.

I’m with you. It’s disappointing for me. I actually liked FFXV and I love FFXIV. This just feels like the MSQ of FFXIV, without anything else really. The combat is fun for a couple hours, then it starts getting repetitive. It also doesn’t feel like an RPG. I’m not making any decisions about my character. There’s like no exploration whatsoever. It’s more of an action game where you slowly unlock your full set of abilities throughout the linear “stages.” The story is great, but I want to play a game, not watch a movie. The Eikon levels are visually amazing, but they’re beyond basic in their gameplay. I just got my PS5 and played Jedi: Survivor and Spiderman 2 before this, and yeah, very disappointed after those two. FFXVI feels like a visual novel with some combat moments.

I love this game but I agree with nearly every point you’ve said about the problems with this game. I think what hurts FF16 the most is that we can’t play as different party members in combat. Instead of absorbing Eikon abilities, I would’ve preferred more aggressive combat variety.

So you don’t like that the game went in a different direction than you wanted. It’s more serious, not whimsical anime hijinks at all times. As an RPG and JRPG fan myself, I’m disappointed in this narrow minded viewpoint. They wanted to do something new and different with the series, especially with all the hate bordering on racism that JRPGs usually received for their “Japanese” tropes. I personally adore the dark medieval fantasy route they’ve taken with this game, it’s quite awesome. The dire political and world situation coupled with the personal struggles of the main cast was delightful to see through Clive’s eyes. Clive himself isn’t just a badass god killer man above everyone else, he’s a nobody, a (former) slave, a regular dude. Even as the leader of the resistance he’s just one piece of the whole, ready to be replaced if he dies, by Gav. That’s why he does everyman things, he’s not a king or high lord despite his heritage. It’s a character action game not a tactical game and it’s a game about Clive and his relationships with people. You sound like a child with your complaints about meaningless things like elemental weaknesses. And it has role playing elements everywhere, it just sounds like it isn’t *your* cup of tea

I have mix feeling about this review. On one hand the combat in XVI is mediocre outside the spectacle parts of the game. Yet on the other hand I love the story graphics and summons in this game. XVI also did make me care about FF which I haven’t since X and I’d take this game over an MMO any day of the week. Personally Yoshi should not rule turn base out of future titles and XVI is still not a good as the classic like 6, 4 and 9 but its a huge improvement over XIII XV and there MMOs.

Looking back on this game, it’s honestly baffling that it got such high reviews. The only thing it excels at is spectacle and boss fights. Story is average, characters are bland (except Clive), art direction is uninspired, combat is too simple, exploration is boring, there’s no customization, RPG mechanics are mostly absent and side content is straight garbage.

❄️

This game was a huge disapointment. I played the demo, LOVED IT.
It crashes pretty quickly after.

“Modern audience doesn’t want turn based” HAVE THESE RETARDS NEVER HEARD OF POKEMON?!?

Pokémon is turn based and it’s the most successful game of all time

I haven’t finished the game yet, but for the lack of characters… idk… IMO most JRPGs seem to have a pretty basic stock of archetypes they pull from for their villains and allies. And despite always having like 10 party members available at any time, they always feel derivative of party members in games prior. Western RPGs also have a stock, but it’s a slightly different stock. But it comes to the same net result, where the specific events of a character are different, but the basic archetype is not. Personally, I find this boring and it’s part of why I don’t typically get into long drawn out RPG games anymore because they seem to follow very basic character plots.

What I like about FF16 pulling back from the large cast was that it gave the small cast more room to shine and to flesh out. It makes the relationships formed feel more significant because they’re more focused.

What I am missing though, and you hit on this in your review, is their absence in the combat. Even with the limited cast here, their presence in combat is like… worse than non-existent. Because they are there, and I can see them doing things that in any other game I would want to play off of.

Oh, you just froze this badguy for me in a case of ice? Fucking sweet! I bet I can jump up and crash down on him for massive shatter damage now right?! It’s gonna be fucking amaz….ing….? oh… I guess not…

It feels like the pieces of that more strategic depth are there, but they just aren’t “turned on” so-to-speak…

But otherwise, I’m really enjoying the story and that surprised me. Because by the conclusion of the prologue flashback I was sure I wasn’t going to make it through another hour of gameplay. But idk. It’s pulling me forward in a way I really wasn’t expecting.

I feel like because the cast is so small I can really see the growth and change of the cast over time in a way that I don’t usually see in a way that feels realistic. Because when you have real relationships, you don’t have ten deep and profound, once-in-a-lifetime connections that pull you through the apocalypse. You might have ten close connections, but only two or three of them will have the depth that most RPG/JRPG relationships offer. And so it they always leave me feeling like the “relationships” are checklists for a “high score” rather than authentic connections. So in this game, with the narrowed scope, I think it works well. I also really like Cid and Jill, and I can actively see the impact of their influence on Clive as he grows into the man he is becoming.

They Eikon fights are incredible, and also silly. I think it’s kind of weird to watch this cutscene and then have it punctuated by a “PRESS SQUARE!!!” alert followed by a big yellow 8k damage. Although… to be fair…. one time, I pressed square on accident when I was supposed to press R1, and it changed the scene. Like, they took the time to animate my Eikon failing to do something, and then recovering from that failure to press on. Which I think is REALLY fucking cool.

I tought ACCG is the best reviewer out there. This review and Ghost of Thusima changed my mind, your review actualy convinced me yo pull the trigger and buy a ps5 for Ghost of Thusima alone.

I like that you are honest and you dont blabber the same idea using different phrases.

Happy new year!

Thank you for extremely honest review.
Pretty spot on with the way I’m feeling as well

Coming back to this review after BG3 won basically every award imaginable, it’s amusing how wrong Yoshi P really was about turn-based combat. Escpecially when you realize BG3 is in the top10 games of all time when it comes to peak player count on steam, so there is obviously a huge audience for these types of games. Also, though FFVII remake is a lot more relevant to this discussion (because it’s more recent and it’s a Final Fantasy), Dragon Age Origins did this hybrid combat aswell in 2009, and it worked pretty flawlessly there aswell. FFXVI would’ve been a 100 times better witha combat system like that.

I really don’t want a FF game to be hard. Maybe a FF Tactics game but not a mainline game, not what I’m here for.

However, since you brought up FF10 as one of your favorites, I will remind you to take off the rose colored glasses: usually, there’s a 6 or 7 part rock paper scissors system going on so that even though you’re in a party, only ONE person in your party can deal damage. Maybe 2-3 if Yuna and Lulu summon and you know the elemental weaknesses because you bought the Prima guide because it was 2001.

People talk about the Sphere System opening up, but really, it’s just breaking it in late game, not opening it up.

thank you for saving me the purchase, I am interested to hear what you think about FFXV, I am still on FFX being the best as with you, and Love world of warcraft, this video might make me try FFXIV

I was wondering why some of the main missions felt like side quests. The fact that it’s made by the people who do the online ff

This game just looks incredibly dull. Literally. Nearly every shot of the game shown here is shrouded in darkness with absolutely no visual identity to speak of.

My favorite final fantasy games were 9 and 10. Which are the only ones I ever played l o l But I sure Had a fun time playing them!

I think its one of my least favorite FF games. Im someone that didn’t even mind 13. I thought it had more interesting characters overall and had some actual nuance to the story.

16 just fell flat to me in most ways. Some of the Eikon fights were fun and looked fun, but there’s nothing in this game that will keep me coming back. The characters aren’t that interesting and even when they are, they’re killed off. Characters aren’t given enough chance to shine. Jill and Clives relationship is like cardboard. A 5yr timeskip happens and they’re apparently still deciding whether or not they’re a thing. They’re relationship freezes in those 5yrs. They could’ve skipped 5 months and it wouldn’t have mattered.

I hate how dull and grey the world looks once the clouds roll in. Story wise i get why its like that, but everything starts looking the same and doing side quests in that grey tint is annoying and depressing. Doesn’t help that there’s nothing to explore and everything is just an enough wasteland with some enemies thrown around that can be defeated in a minute depending on your level. Others defeated in a few seconds.

I also didn’t like that there was no core party. Getting to know anything about the other characters relies heavily on whatever side quests the character has and many of them are bare bones nothing. It’s what i love about X, VII, VIII, and XII. You have a group of people on a journey with you. People that you get to know more and more as the story unfolds. Characters that you get to see the emotions of in the moment. More often than not you are on your own in XVI. Even XV with its issues still has a core party and characters that all feel important to each other.it’s why FF doesn’t fully feel like an FF game to me. No core party. No real journey with other people that are there with you for everything.

IT IGNORES THE SUCCES OF THE ENTIRE FF SERIES – you know the actually GOOD games that are the reason FF XVI even exists? What a moronic thing to say. FF is turn based. Use the ATB ffs.

Oh my god the stupid in that ‘gamers these days don’t want turn based gameplay’ comment needs to be slapped out of that developer so hard

I have played 30% of main story and decided this game is not for me. I agree with skilled up that the up and downs of the story is too far apart to keep me engaged in the story.

I like a good narrative but I don’t think some of the cutscenes are necessary, for example party members spend 20secs saying we need to go back to hideaway. Bad pacing is what kills me.

This whole video seems to boil down to “I don’t like change.” 😮

I find it also a very cynical statement from Yoshi P that “those kiddies only play COD”. What about those “kids” that played FF in 90s, then grew up a bit, and now still play video games?
Square Enix forgets a whole generation of gamers. After finishing 7Remake recently, and really liking it, i was looking into if i would like XVI. I think i would not. I was HOPING to like it. But i know myself and the things i value are just not in XVI.

First review I disagree with you on

It has it’s flaws but it’s still better than the XIII trilogy or vanilla XV, imo

Damn. For me a blend of 15 and 16 would have been so ideal. 16 has the combat, political intrigue with multiple factions, the cool looking MC and is more of a single player game. All things I like but 15 has the open world and the better traversal through that world.
I’m kind of torn. Combat is the most important thing to me but right behind that is an open world. It looks to me if you blended the two you’d get something much closer to my ideal game.
I guess FF7 rebirth and Dragons dogma 2 will hit that spot very very well but it would be cool to have something to bite into before they come out.

I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with a review more. Mirrors my own thoughts exactly!

This review express exactly what I’m feeling playing FFXVI right now. Deeply disappointed.

Guys don’t let this yapping fool you. This man constantly hates on the best games and this is no different. FF16 is a masterpiece between its story and combat. There have been 17 other FFs with turn based if that’s what you’re into plus other franchises still use it. This is a welcome change and the story is unforgettable from beginning to end. Calling this game dated is insane.

Trash review. If you don’t like the game that’s fine but you are just nitpicking. Nostalgia should not be a factor when reviewing games, shouldnt care what the other games have done this is a new game.

I am a big fan of skill up and mostly agree with his opinions on games but always respect his honest input of course. I will say, I put off playing this game because a lot of what skill up said I worried I wouldn’t like too and that the length of the game would drag. I started playing the game a few weeks ago. I never got too into other final fantasy games, but I’m a fan of a lot of real time combat focused games(souls-likes are my favorites). The beginning combat gameplay felt very slow and the fights dragged out. But as I got more into the game, especially when I unlocked more eikons, I actually found the combat very satisfying. A good mix of strategy and real time action. There were so many points in the game where I felt like wow… that was insane and the game could totally end here and set up for a sequel. What a journey this game was. I really thoroughly enjoyed it, and that ending… wow😭
I agree that there are some filler parts of the game where you do some fetch questy stuff. But honestly it felt necessary to have a breather between crazy parts. And I would just click through all the dialogue and run to where the objective told me to go on those parts until the next big part of the journey would start. If you play the game like I did not doing any side quest and skipping through all the filler in between quests, this game is INCREDIBLE. I totally understand with skillup being a big fan of other final fantasy’s that this didn’t live up to his expectations. But for me, it exceeded them especially with the story which I was worried would be some weird game of thrones rip off(it wasn’t AT ALL.) I haven’t played baulders gate yet, but I played and finished 6 other games that came out this year(totk, re4 remake, dead space remake, Spiderman 2, pikmin 4, Mario wonder) and this honestly may have been the one I enjoyed the most. It could have just been timing, but it kind of felt like the perfect game for my inner child. If someone is on the fence with this game just try it out! You might not be a fan like skill up, or you might be blown away like I was(and I have very high standards with games that I play in the little time I have in the day to game). Just buy a physical copy on sale and if you don’t like it put it on eBay! Okay, I’m done

I feel like that cynical stance towards the playerbase and turn based combat sadly permeates the entire game. There’s no meaningful depth to the combat, and no consequences to any choices the player makes. Neither punishment nor reward. My guess is that dealing with the MMO playerbase for a decade has worn down Yoshi-P and conditioned him to avoiding any elements that might alienate some players or make them feel like they can’t play “the way they want”. As a result, the game is just bland and uniform.

If there was ever a review I regret not listening to its this one. I absolutely hated this game. I think its legitimately one of the worst paced games in recent memory. The main story is awesome but it is like the game goes out of its way to give you so much horrendously boring thinga to do before you get to enjoy the 5 to 10min of awesomeness it has for you.

I seriously have no idea how this game is so highly rated.

Sorry to say skill up but this is one of the worst reviews I have seen from you.Almost everything you said bad about ff16 can be aplied to ff7r.

I didn’t see it at the time, but skillup was right about this game, 100%.

As an avid Zelda fan born out of the Ninendo vs Sony wars in the 90s – I’ve always had grudging admiration for the FF series – great stories but the chess-style ‘combat’ was never for me next to Zelda’s RT action artistry. I’ve always preferred Real time.
But FF16 ahem, _finally_ changes that. I’ve mained Cloud in SSBU as I love the character only. But now finally, I can enjoy a FF game!!

Have they tried something new yes, is it as good as ff7 remake no, but i am glad they are experimenting with new things and innovating.story good, combat good, difficult its to easy, customisation and rpg elements materia items etc this is poor. Overall ign gave it a 9 its a 7 or an 8

which Final Fantasy game has the best hair?

I just want a lightning trilogy remaster and for ffxv to get its cancelled dlc and a proper ps5 gold edition bundle.

I never liked final fantasy games I’m more into action games so I really love this game so far. Decent story and amazing combat

I couldn’t agree more with this review.

I really appreciate your honest reviews and while I don’t always agree, at the very least, I’m always left with a solid, trustworthy perspective from the other side.

The criticisms you have with this game are so obnoxious knowing you’re viewing it from a turn based og fan mindset. Saying side characters were dull is the biggest lie imaginable. Idk how you keep believing that. This isn’t a full rpg. It’s an action game or action rpg. It’s been that way since its reveal. Idk why fans expected heavy rpg elements when many videos and trailers gave you a clear answer it’s not trying to be like previous FF games. Then again I’m not surprised since this is coming from the person that lied to people about how Forza Horizon 3 isn’t a good game unless you “pay up to its micro transactions” back in 2016. Which the game had none to begin with. Your reviews have improved since then sure but your takes are still as disagreeable as ever

Just finished this game,

Never played a Final Fantasy game before.

My favorite games are the likes of STALKER, Half-Life, V:TMB and now Final Fantasy XVI.

I decided to give it a go cause I just bought a PS5 so I downloaded the demo assuming I wouldn’t really enjoy it that much, but it ended up being one of the best demo’s I’ve ever played and completing it after 2 hours I went straight to the shops and bought the full game and came back home and played it.

I loved the story so much it kept me emotionally invested till the end. I have never felt so connected to any characters in a video game before, the characters, the acting, the dialogue, the story and the music are all top notch.

First time ive gone against your advice and bought a game and…yeah, you were right bro.

Finally, an honest review.

Finished the game a couple weeks ago so I’ve come back to see your review and I’m sorry to say I had much the same reaction.

In your conclusion you talked a lot about the evolution of FF games and for me this is 100% of what I care about. I knew that with every FF new game there would be something exciting and new to dig into along with some old things to love. In 16 the only thing I loved was the story, in 15 the only thing I loved was the story. Even though I’ve played a huge number of FF titles, I hate to say unless there is some major shift and novelty injected back into these games this will be the last one I play.

This game made me want to play Final Fantasy X again.

Should do 2 videos a review for the game without trying to slot it in as what you think a ffx game should be and a another video on what you think a ffx game should be 😂. I am really enjoying the game although your critisims are not wrong, its a great single player game if not really an ffx game

This game is the definition of mid. Its boring and generic played it for about 49 minutes at release what a waste of time money and effort.

The side quests were dull but they expanded on the world and characters, and made the pacing of events seem more realistic. I’d recommend doing some but not all of them.

They’re also kind of like shaving and riding your horse in RDR2.

finally had the opportunity to play this game, and everything in this review was spot on. i purposely avoided any reviews and spoilers before playing so i can have my fresh eyes and after playing the game i was super disappointed, it was not as bad as ff15 but looking past the only things this game did well (the world building, eye candy graphics and the battle system to a point) this game was a dud. makes me wonder if most of the reviews that gave this a favorable review were not really classic ff fans, but rather just new AAA games fans.

I think you pretty much nailed my criticisms after finally playing the game myself.

It feels rather conflicted to me.

It wants to be an RPG, then completely half-asses the RPG mechanics, itemization and equipment progress is ass, lots of side-quests with non-existent rewards, and lackluster, not worthwhile world exploration.

It wants to be an character action-game, but trying to be an RPG makes it a super long game with combat prowess (getting new eikons) growing at a complete snails pace. The combat and game length feel horribly mismatched as a result. Constantly being funneled from combat arena to combat arena might’ve worked in a shorter action game like DMC5. It doesn’t work in a 50 hour long game that is so devoid any form of variety.

You get new combat options in DMC, Bayo, other character actions at a pretty quick rate. In this game there’s 5-10 hours between each one.

Also, DMC, Bayo, and even the entire KH series have far more interesting and nuanced enemies than this game. Those games have varied enemies that might require a different approach to defeat them. The generic enemies in this game are just not designed at all. They’re just there to get in the way. They sort of tried to do something with them like the enemies that cast magic or block but its still so horribly mundane. Even the slightly bigger enemies like bigger goblins, that soldier that spits fire, or some of the hunts are boring and barely react to your attacks at all and can all beaten with minimal effort.

Y’know if the game at least tried to have interesting combat scenarios it wouldn’t feel so devoid of fun. Like KH2 is a mainly battle focused game but that game has you doing all sorts of different combat challenges throughout the story. Like having to defend the hollow bastion gate, defeating Demyx’s water clones, some escort missions here and there, and more. FF16 does nothing like this in its main story or side-quests. It’s always just “defeat this generic set of enemies” nothing interesting or varied at all which is strange for a battle focused game of this length.

Despite all this, I still think the combat is solid. It’s definitely not bad. Just extremely repetitive, severely lacking in variety, and lacks interesting enemies.

The thing is, even Devil May Cry 1-4 did level design better than 16. There were some puzzle and platforming elements here and there. Like DMC4 had you playing with that spinner thing in the ice castle. To me, DMC5 was the first game in the series game that felt way more “shuttered from combat arena to arena” which I disliked personally but even that game had a tiny bit of platforming here and there.

16 just doesn’t bother trying anything like that at all. well except for maybe that first time you explore ruins with Jill and had to trigger switches… which immediately resulted in more bland battling.

Finished the game earlier this month. Good story imo but the gameplay gets so fucking stale. the biggest problem imo is no variety at all. the entire game is literally just battles and fetch quests. no worthwhile exploration, no actual dungeon or level design, no unique or interesting combat encounters aside from the icon battles, no minigames. my mind was growing numb by the end. the combat itself is pretty good but every battles are so samey and easy it all sort of blends together. just about every single side-quests is either a fetch quests or a kill monster quest or both put together. i don’t know why CBU3 was thinking this alone would carry a 50 hour long game. don’t think i’ve ever played a game so devoid of soul from a gameplay standpoint.

Sadly I think Ralph hasnt finished the game – there are 9 skill slots (not 6), there ARE crafting recipes albeit very limited, Monster Hunts and Accessories that have certain effects. All things one can mention in a spoiler-free review.
Besides that: absolutely spot on analysis.

SkillUp you hit this nail straight on it’s head. I did not believe. I bought the game, played, got wowed by the magnificent icon battles then gave up after the second low occured after these moments.
You review is spot on. Caveat Emptor to all those who are still unsure.

Completely off-base in your review, pretty obvious you didn’t play through the whole game. It does have its problems, and I’d give it 7.5-8/10, but it’s far better that FF15 in stort and character development/interactions.

But I guess you have to get bait-clicks and views, appeal to the obnoxious contrarians who were hating on this game since November 2022, huh?

FF16 is trying too hard to be another adult and grim Game of Throne & Soul-esque game. But they forgot that FF shines best when its cast was a bunch of teenagers & old man adventuring together.

I genuinely hope Kingdom Hearts don’t fall into this trap again. If i want to play a grim game i’d play DarkSouls.

Finally someone who will speak the truth about this game. I have honestly been so disappointed with FF16, gameplay was bad but the story was decent until the last 10m then it dived off a cliff into a pool of crap.

I doubt you’ll see this, but I just wanted to tell you that after being upset at this review when it first came out, I actually played the game and found it to be an atrocious mess.
Honestly, rewatching this video, you were too kind to it.

the summoning fights are basically that one QTE intro sequence in FF13-2 😂 why even bother dude

FF 16 was just hot garbage as expected unfortunately. Really wanted this game to bring back that magic the older ones just “oozed”

Honestly an accurate review. Only just getting around to this game now and it’s been a disappointment. The pacing of the game is poor. I’ve found myself just turning it off and going to bed instead of wanting to make it to the next big event or moment. The itemisation seems pointless. Exploration is pointless. Side quests are dull. The story goes from intriguing to dull so often that it makes me loose enthusiasm for the parts of the story I was enjoying. I’ve finished every main series game to date. I plan to finish this one. But playing this game after BG3 makes this a tough slog in comparison.

Found many reviews with similar views. This one has by far the highest views. Im a disappointed, bitter old man, happy that the disappointed opinion caught some weight in a single video. Hope Square takes note. I agree with everything.

I had hoped that I wouldn’t find myself agreeing so much with this review; but now, having played 16, All of the criticisms leveled here are accurate and kind of damning. The clincher for me was when I realized they were really going to re-use the same “meet with the town leader, do quests for them so they give you a badge in order to get through a gate”. This lack of creativity in the MAIN QUEST design is awful.

IMO, FF16 is a game for people who play games for the story and graphics and are not interested to see how far the medium can go.

My replies are now open for all your hate comments.

IMO FF 6 thru 10 was the peak of this series. Have not played FF7 remake but i wish the series went back to traditional turn based. The above just looks like any other open world combat game. Yawn

I loved the game and I agree with you. It’s a good game, but it could’ve been better.

They should’ve implemented the hardest difficulty from the start (instead of NG+) and naybe even some sort of Ultimaniac Mode, but it would’ve fucked up the Hunts. Crafting in NG+ is much better, but it depends on loot from previous runs insted of forcing you to choose what to upgrade with materials.

I’m waiting for the DLC.

The FF style is special and iconic, not all games should be like god of war or the Witcher! Personally I believe we will always need a new game with battle arena and cool action and cutscenes and a good battle music ! FF is special and has no obligation to be something different by following the western style, I agree the side quests are mediocre but I think its a common issue with almost all open world games

I love FF16, and yet I totally agree with most of what you said

I think most of your criticisms land on a single thing, the combat system. From it being repetitive, lack of gear, lack of customization, lack of party, lack of leveling being relevant, lack of overall strategy

I just wish they go back to FFs being turn-based RPGs

FF XVI CHARACTER CAST > FF XV CHARACTER CAST (while XVI still did not unfold the full potential of their designed characters)
FF XVI COMBAT SYSTEM > FF XV COMBAT SYSTEM (both combat systems are still not satisfying the community)
FF XVI SOUNDTRACK > FF XV SOUNDTRACK (both titles soundtrack had been good, though)
FF XVI STORYLINE > FF XV STORYLINE (both titles storylines are average)
FF XVI GRAPHICS > FF XV GRAPHICS
FF XVI EXPLORATION < FF XV (both titles treasure chest game was too random) FF XVI SIDEQUESTS < FF XV SIDEQUESTS (both titles side quest game had been boring, except Pitioss Ruins in XV) FF XVI DISCUSSION >>> FF XV DISCUSSION

FF XVI is the better project and more interesting, but still not the Final Fantasy title, the community wants to experience.

I love FF16. I love how serious it is, the other FFs had the blessing of taking place in their respective worlds “after” the horrible time frame of and harsh lives they had to live. Clive and company crawled so homies like Tidus and Cloud could do their thing

This game fucking blows. What an absolute major disapointment. ff13 has more engaging plot and comabt than this.

I played only the start of the game, I fought and defeated the Marlboro, and it hated it. Running around dodging to fly in, hit a few times, and back to dodging felt INCREDIBLY tedious, not fun. I wasn’t excited, I was tired. Combine that feeling with literally ZERO RPG elements, no gear, no upgrades, no nothing, I felt like the ONLY thing I had to play for, the only thing I had to deal with this tedious combat system for, was for cutscenes on a story that was trying to grab me, but needed a lot more time, time I didn’t feel very compelled to give it, because combat was such a chore. I also hate that you have no real party members, you have these NPCs “fighting” with you, doing 1% of your total damage just to add more shit on the screen, why can’t I swap between them like in FF7R? Ultimately, I stopped shortly after that fight I mentioned, some story stuff happened, they gave me control of the kid, and I was like, meh, I’m bored, I’m gonna play something else and I never came back to it. I don’t want Devil May Fantasy, I want Final Fantasy.

no RPG IN A FKN FF????

Didn’t know this game even came out and I’ve been a fan since FF7 😂

FF 10 and 12 are masterpieces that Square can never replicate.

I love this game, but there are definitely quirks and things you have to put up with and I can very clearly see why someone wouldn’t like it nearly as much. I think part of the thing that made me love it is that I was fine with this being more of a third-person action game. A lot of people went into this game just wanting a Final Fantasy game more like the older ones, but it seems that people like me who went in expecting exactly what was advertised (an FF game styled as a mainstream third-person action game) and welcoming it with open arms seemed to enjoy the game far more.

The story in FF16 to me was simply breathtaking. The story, voice acting and characters completely carry the game. I agree with pretty much every negative point you made, but the story, world, characters and voice acting are THAT good that it’s still nearly a 10/10 for me. I ugly cried at the ending, that has NEVER happened to me before.

So when you started to talk down on the characters, I genuinely could not understand the reasoning because for me the characters have never been so deep as they are in this game. In other FF games they can be very flat or tropy imo. Cid hands down is the best Cid and imo the best character in the game. Uncle Byron is awesome, I loved Joshua as well by the end. Only lacking character is Jill imo. So I’m kind of baffled by this criticism of “lack of party”.

I 100% the game, even finished NG+. I give it a 7.5/10. Fun game but wish I woulda waited for a sale.

Its pretty hilarious knowing that FF16 was produced with such a cynical mindset towards turn-based gameplay but then months later, Baldur’s Gate 3 came out and completely outshined it

EDIT: And Baldur’s Gate 3 won 6 out 10 awards at the VGA, including best of RPG and Game of the Year 2023 lol

I had more fun with FF16 than 15. I don`t give a crap for mmo ffs And ff12 is also political. . So we shall wait for 17 what it can be.

Lol this game is garbage!

Great characters n story that’s what I miss havnt played a decent ff game since 12tbh excluding 7 remake

i just finished this game and this review is 100% correct. i think a lot of other people who reviewed this game just didn’t finish it

i heard some shit about this review but after watching it i completely agree with him. i love ff16 but hes not wrong. its the least repayable ff game I’ve ever played. i enjoyed ff15 and older ff games a lot more when it came to gameplay. the rpg aspect is super important and ff16 really doesn’t have that and goes hard and soft a lot. Skill Up you have yourself a new subscriber bro. mad respect for your honesty.

I bought finally this game, and having no real experience of FF before (I started FF7 remake, but it was not for me). I am blown away with FF16 so far.

I really couldn’t enjoy 16. I tried, even went back to it weeks later. But I completely agree with you in everything. Honestly the magic of Final Fantasy is lost in this game for me. Could not have fun with it at all. 🙁 Very gutted as a long time FF fan

First 50% was ok, then i gave up from boredom 🙁

“Thank you for your service, here’s 100 gold and 0 xp”. Absolutely sent me it’s so true 😂

I will say, I like the solo controllable character aspect because having too many members and having to cycle through ppl you don’t want to just cause, isn’t fun for me.

Wow the take of the chef developer about what “kids these days” like sounds ironically a lot like what developerss and executives said 15 years ago and what turned out not to be true. It is is an amazingly simplistic and dated take.

Just finished the game. Competed all the side quests and hunts, and crafted the legendary gear. This is the best, most honest review I’ve seen yet, unfortunately.

I find your complaint about party members, and the supposed lack of side characters, very odd considering the huge number of side characters that you constantly interact with and carry out quests for. Saying the cast of FF16 is lacking, because most of then don’t actively join you in battle, is like saying the cast of Mass Effect are lacking because you only take two of them out with you (and generally stick with them for most of the game). They still have a huge amount of character, diologue, and impact on the story.

I dragged SO HARD through this game all the way to the end… and I really felt like I wasted my time. There were good points in the journey, but it just wasn’t worthwhile!

I do sometimes wish we would get the old turn based game style back. But I do like how FF has kinda just started making every game feel different since FF13.
My favourite in the franchise are Tactics, 7,9,10, 13, 15. I feel like everyone has different tastes for what they like in a FF game. Personally I hated the FF7 remake, the combat just felt bad to me and wished they had just kept it turn based, it would have been perfect since we haven’t had a turn based game in over a decade.
I feel like I will try to get this on sale eventually.

I agree with this pretty much word for word. The fact that it’s just not an RPG is pretty eqregious. Not having actual party members was such a huge mistake. But to not even have meaningful equipment or strategy on top of that was just…bleh.

He is completely right. I play a lot of games, but had to stop this. The times when the sidequests start, I get so incredibly bored that I just stopped to play this game altogether. I totally do not understand how anyone would have made these stupid sidequests, that absolutely do nothing to advance the story or character (maybe a little tiny bit of worldbuilding).

This is something I complained about in 14, you play as a Warrior of Light, essentially a god figure as far as that world is concerned. And there are side quests where you deliver mail or stop petty squabbling between two merchants. And that type of thing breaks immersion so hard. I wish games would stop making you the all important figure of the universe and then tell you to mop someone elses floor seconds later. Just pick one.

Most boring ‘game’ of all time LMFAO

played ff 8,9,10 probably thats why cannot force myself to play this one

They should release a DLC FF16 fighting games where you can select playing as icons. Could be an alternate timeline or something and it would be like Primal Rage with absolute brutality and awesome combat.

Could still have the 3D fighting aspect and maybe take inspiration from the Dragonball fighting game franchise if they want to do flying as I think they’ve done it the best.

This is review is so spot on. And cutscenes are fine, but the vast bulk of cutscenes in this game are literally just people standing around talking, or just two characters talking back and forth to one another and they just go on, and on, and on, and ON. so. much. TALKING.

Just picked this up. So far it’s ok. The writing feels a bit overwrought. So far the action combat feels ok, but I think this idea they have to change a series to give it broader appeal is a trap. Capcom did the same thing with Resident Evil and eventually they kind of alienated the fans they had. I am surprised Square is doing this again when they previously admitted they didn’t think people liked games like Bravely Default and that even niche games can be successful. That trying to give everything mass appeal is foolhardy.

I aknowledge the criticism. I just want to show you my thinking. I like the game. But the game lacking things doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s just another take on the game. You can’t complain the quarry for not having customizations. Lets say ff16 is game a. You complain it doesn’t have features like game b or c. Let the game a‘ be game a. You know what I mean ? If you like game b and c, you don’t have to like game a. I like it and I’m open for all these games. Let it be a b or c

Basically hit every mark on the problems I have with this game. I would add that on top of the lack of exploration, the fact that there are no big cities that you get to explore on your own time outside of being railroaded through in the story was extremely disappointing. I really wanted to take the time to absorb the atmosphere of the cities but they let you have none of that, no a single city. Another would be the music. I remember two good songs, but outside of that? What other songs have a hummable tune that gets stuck in your head? I feel like every final fantasy game, aside from 15 had that. A truly incredible soundtrack to get lost into. After I beat this game I felt no need to look up the songs like I did for every game I’ve played prior.

Finally someone else said it

You make a new Final Fantasy be more action oriented and then make the game 75% cut scenes. What the hell was the point then?

Thanks for saving me money bro. Never read up on this game and was on the fence if i wanted to. Now i can save my money for something better.

“Nobody wants turn based anymore”

Baldurs gate 3: oh really?

Yoshi P said that when he traveled the world, fans would always say that FF is turn based and anime like. So they gave a description of what FF is, and he took that as a negative? He didn’t give us any examples of the negative aspects of what fans thought. The example he did give us about what fans thought was not negative. If fans really did have such a problem with turn based, anime like games, why is the anime still there. And why has turn based stayed profitable?

I really enjoyed the game but in the end I didn’t feel as drawn to the entire game and didn’t feel as emotional as I was when I was playing/finished FFXV. Still a dope af game but I find FFXV a more compelling experience with your bro’s on the road exploring the world.

Yoshi p is great at polishing games but terrible at innovation. He copies everything from western design while adding ff graphics. Thus it doesn’t feel like an ff game.

You were honest in how you felt about the game and that’s commendable. It’s the reason why I’ve been watching your channel for all these years.

I’m 40 hours into ff16 and I must say it’s lacking so badly compared to past titles. World map feels so dull, can’t go in any buildings really, no armor attributes worth mentioning, no different types of weapons. Can’t even equip other characters. God I can go on and on…. only neat thing was the summon battles.

This is what I expected after FF15. Why did you expect anything more?

After two renowned directors failing to make an amazing game with XV being undercooked and messy, and XVI being good but not feeling like a AAA title and not being incredible, please square, just give our man Yoko Taro XVII. It will be absolutely bonkers, if certainly unorthodox and qnnoying to many

I spent 150 hours on FF16 and platinumed it.
I fully agree with Skillup here. 6/10, flawed masterpiece for me.
I fully blame CBU3 being chosen to direct this (they shouldn’t go outside MMOs) and lack of funding which has gone to FF7 remakes.

Loved Cid, Clive and spoiler partner from late game but I completely agree with this review. It is a wierd game for me because it’s like a 6 or 7 out of 10 for me from am objective sense but I’ve still not enjoyed a game at this score like this as much before. I love huge parts of the story but hate parts that fall short almost as much (mom)

They split their fanbase. Turn based, MMO, Action. Not a smart move actually.

43 minutes of Skill Up recosidering that maybe FFXV was more “Final Fantasy” then FFXVI. I loved this video XD

Can;t believe this is the video that killed the xvi hype…

16 is the first FF game ever that has grabbed me and not let go.

I agree with everithing you said, yet I really liked it, I see it as a separate gem in the FF universe….kinda like Metal Gear Revengance in the Metal Gear franchise. Only 2 things I really hated was the ending and Odin fight not escalating.

I liked ff7 remake, I put down ff16.

Ff11 and ff14 are ff games in name only, imo.

The lows between the highs (which are the story peaks where the dominants confront each other) could have been covered by a interesting and involved itemization or exploration system. Every chest you find every loot you get from a tough boss every beautiful location you discover is just whatever it has no influence on the game whatsoever. After i finished everything the game had to offer including sidequests hunts and exploring all areas to the point of the Bahamut fight i just couldnt continue the super boring useless grind inbetween (which is probably just a completionist problem) which mad me drop it there, a choice i never did with a FF before except 13 which i didnt like for different reasons. But its refreshing to see someone pointing out the extreme lows between the amazing highs. Good job.

This guy really really gets it.

Idk man I played ff7 remake being my first ever ff experience and it ended up being one of my favorite games I’ve ever played the hybrid turn based system seemed perfect (20yrs old) the combat was amazing especially when playing as yuffie as they improved it even further with her character I’m excited to see what they do for rebirth

Interesting take from Yoshi P on going away from turn based combat, yet Yakuza took the direct opposite mentality of going from instant action to turn based for the first time and it ended up working.

Couldnt disagree more with this take and I am a FF fan for a long time. Also, making almost 1 hour long reviews for every game doesnt mean those are good or enjoyable.

Honestly I feel bad for the younger generations. They will never experience masterclass releases like FFVII, FFVIII and FFX. The golden era of FF games.

I knew this game would be trash glad i didnt spend money on it Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is where its at and what people should be excited for

As I’m struggling to finish this, I thought I’d finally check out this review… holy shit is it SO ON POINT.
I say this as someone who’s played this franchise since the very first on NES, I wanted so badly for this to be everything. Outside of key moments and the eikon battles, it’s just so dull.

The pacing and progression in this game drops off a Cliff halfway through.

Am I the only one raising an eyebrow at the “75% of this game is literally cutscenes”?

Officially there are 11 hours of cutscenes – which in a 40 hour game is closer to 25% (and not far from previous FF titles). So where does the 75% number come from? 🤨

Tales of arise is the true ffvii

After finishing this game I can say this review was completely on point.I think there are a lot of fun popcorn moments throughout, but the game feels like it drags on because almost every aspect gameplay is braindead outside of trying to maximize stagger damage vs health damage, and the characters near the end are just there. I think people will obviously enjoy it, but I felt like the entire game was very surface level.

Just my two cents having recently finished the game and being my first final fantasy, gameplay was very straightforward nothing crazy but enjoyable, what really drew me in and even made me consider playing it was the story, I am a huge sucker for medieval fantasy settings and this was great, it definitely has opened my mind to other final fantasy games even though I know they’re different but just having the story hit so hard made me really want to give the rest of the franchise a try, thanks for the great video

I’ve returned to this review 2 months on and 40 hrs later. Skill Up was right in his assessment and courageous in going against the grain here.

FF16 sucks. Its combat is ok, it’s action set pieces are a spectacle – but everything else is dated and tedious. The demo was great but unfortunately everything went downhill from there. Towards the end, I skipped through all side quests, skipped all the cutscenes and dialogue just to fast track myself to completion. It was a chore. I’ve since deleted the game from my PS5 and never intend to return to it.

Skill Up – you may have taken a short term hammering for this review. But in the long term – your credibility as a reviewer will be enhanced from your brutal honesty. Compared to other reviewers – I actually believe you sunk in the hours – and as a result, similar to myself – wish you could have them back.

I waited until after i beat this game to watch this review. Currently, it’s my GOTYSF. For some context, i’m both an action game fan and an RPG fan (both turn based combat and non-turn based; my current #2 GOTYSF is Octopath Traveler 2) but not necessarily the biggest FF fan. I like 10 and really like 7 Remake, but just about every other FF game from the PS1 era onward i feel less strongly about, or just didn’t really care for at all. And i don’t do MMOs. That being said, many of the points you brought up here i absolutely agree with. There are a number of missed opportunities when it comes to the rewards and equipment variety. The story does get a bit dry in the middle section. The longer i played the game, the more fed up i got with the MMO fetch quests. But the payoff at the end, once you have your full deck of Eikon abilities available to you, i honestly don’t know if i’ve ever had that much fun playing an action game. At the very least, i can put this up there with DMC3 and 5. And it’s absolutely a better game in this genre than GOW Ragnarok; the pacing in that game is so much more frustrating and the unnecessary over-the-shoulder camera made the combat feel clunkier and more claustrophobic than it should’ve been. I had every intention of doing a NG+ at some point, since i skipped a bunch of stuff on my first playthrough (arcade mode, chronolith trials, most of the hunt board) but i’ll likely be jumping into that a lot sooner than i thought i would.

This is why Dragon Quest has overtaken FF. The core of good party members is still there and the games are truly beautiful fantasy worlds. FF XVI looks too dark to me. Very similar tone to FFXV which is disappointing

I’ll do the same thing I did for ff15, wait for a deep sale.

I finished this game last week, and as a huge FF fan, I’m still extremely disappointed by it. Forget the “is this a Final Fantasy” discourse, this is just straight up not a good video game, FF or not. I agree with most of the review, although I wasn’t even impressed with the locations. Very bland game, admittedly with some spectacular scenes sprinkled in. No RPG elements, no humor, no fun. This ain’t it. I hope that future FFs won’t be like this. At least Rebirth is coming, which will be on a completely different level (like Remake already was).

14 was bad 😊

The action combat combined with the many, many cutscenes that drag after the first time through, not a good mix. Best review I’ve seen of this title.

Could not get pass the 12 hours of the game. The combat is way too easy. The characters aren’t interesting. The lore barely gets any explanation. It’s not a final fantasy. This is just anime bayonetta nonsense. Oh wait. Bayonetta has fun characters and challenging combat. So it’s not even a Bayonetta clone. The kaiju summon fights are cool looking but don’t require much strategy to win

I know you got flack for this review, but I could not agree more.

The 95% of good critic reviews you were referring to at the start of the video was journalists who get paid in advertising, and “influencers'” on YouTube who get free copies of games from the devs and invites to gaming events.

EDIT: Also, it’s weird hearing you describe how this game could be better with deeper combat, world, quests, and party mechanics, and you’re essentially just describing the “Tales of” games. You should probably play those.

After playing arround 40h of FF16.. all I can say is this. FF16 is a scam. It’s a halfbaked game with minimum functionality, repetitive combat and very dumb story. I want my money back.

Idk what he’s taking about I’m 15 hours in and it’s been pretty non stop fun. I’m assuming it probably slows down later in game?

This review really tarnishes the game and paints it in bad light for no reason. It is a very solid video game that reminds me of the golden age of gaming. Best game I’ve played in years.

I was waiting untill I finished FF16 before watching this review because I was so sensitive regarding spoilers (Skillup usually do a good job of avoiding spoilers, but watching this will impact my YT algorithm). I am now about 80% through the game, and I just didn’t care anymore. I will finish the game, but I am left greatly disappointed in its weak/predictable story, weak character development outside of Clive, no rpg elements, and mindlessly action mechanics/difficulty. I like the attempt of politics and geographical history, but it’s not deep and sophisticated enough to really capture me. Nonetheless, I’ve decided to watch this review ahead of finishing the game, because again, I just don’t care anymore. After watching this review, I agree with everything Skillup have said here 10000%. Amongst all the glowing reviews, he still stood strong and gave his honest opinion, which for me, was entirely spot on. Just another reason why he’s the best reviewer in the game (pun intended).

They want 100 dollars Canadian after taxes for this, shitty frame rate, 75% a movie square you can fuck off. make this 60.

I dont agree about having “party members” use other eikon’s powers. It does not make Clive unique. It will just make every dominant… the same and boring. And also why no mention about the music? Also your video has points but “You expected a lot, or your expectations was not what the game is” That’s really what this review is. I agree that I wish there was more. But when you review things, “review without personal bias and do it as is”… a good game or a bad game.

I initially disregarded your review when the game came out, I thought I’d play the game and find out for myself and… I agree with everything you had to say about it, especially with regards to how pointless exploration is. I really wanted to like FF16 because It’s my favorite franchise but it left me feeling so disappointed.

Final Fantasy is my favorite franchise of all time, and I actually agree with everything you have said about this game. The only thing I disagree with is that I think the side characters are actually pretty good, not the best but certainly not terrible. Cid is amazing and Gav and Otto are really cool. I think Jill was a solid character as well. For me, despite all the massive problems of this game, what mattered was the impact it left for me. Those highs of the Eikon battles, the struggles along the way that Clive faced. The ending and the story I was a part of. That all meant a lot to me despite how poor so much of the game was. I enjoyed my time with this game, I’m glad it was made. But I certainly hope that FF17 will learn from this and deliver a much better game.

Final fantasy snoozeteen

Disagree with almost everything.😓 this is the most fun Final Fantasy I ever played. easily beat FF7 remake for me.

Yoshi-P should probably take a look at how well Baldur’s Gate 3 is doing. Turn Based combat isn’t out of style yet.

I enjoy BG3 more than this DMC reskin

after playing Baldurs Gate 3…damn, imagine FF in this style.

I’m glad I’m not the only one that felt like this game was a flashy slog to get through 😕 It’s a shame they ruined it trying to appease the wrong crowd

What a bunch of BS this is.

1) Some of the Best narratively Party Members of all time. The Party is Clive, Cid, Jill, Joshua, and Torgal. Plus Guests.

2) Exploration is there with ABSOLUTELY meaningful results. I am 100% sure someone like you did not do the travelling merchant storyline.

3) Itemization is amazing. The accessories alongside the very varied builds make for entirely different playstyles unlike all other FINAL FANTASY Instalments.

4) XIV’s MSQ is DEFINITELY NOT 90% Cutscenes. YOU played it that way if so.

5) Sidequests in XVI are perfect. Literally. So many personal and human arcs with amazing characters and stories thay have lasting effects for the player, the characters and the world itself. Martelle and Bohumil 🙂

6) I agree that the game needed something to do during the adventure like a card game or something else.

7) Your video will show as an idiotic piece in due time.

8) Sakaguchi called XVI the Ultimate FINAL FANTASY.

9) Lmao, Xenoblade and Persona during an argument about sales vs FINAL FANTASY. They are small and irrelevant.

10) 19:43 I PROMISE you XVI DOES get it right.

11) Every single FINAL FANTASY is linear. Most more than XVI.

12) You may say that about Side Quests but FACTS ALWAYS win. SCORES of people “pushed through them” (as if this term is applicable lol). XVI has one of the highest Single Player game Story completion rates of all time. This is a fact. 🙂

13) ALL Sidequests that people give you in every game EVER is a Fetch Quest or Battle Quest. EVER.

14) XVI has PLENTY of Humour. Did you even see ANY Event between Cid, Gav, Clive? Did you do the Quest about the 2 thieves that used you? What about the myriad ingame side stories of NPCs that just iddly chat?
What about the Lady and her men in our Hideout???
Yeah, I didn’t think so.

15) 25:45 XVI is an Action RPG. Not a Character Action game. Also, it’s mechanically and strategically DEEPER than ALL previous Main FINAL FANTASY Instalments outside XII and XIV.

16) XVI IS AN ACTION RPG, NOT A CHARACTER ACTION GAME.
GTFO OF YOUR MIND.

17) 21:10 “Oh God it’s ekshauusting”.

LMAO WTF is this stupid video.

18) Thankfully, people are not idiots outside of online GAMAR circles.

19) Performance is perfect in Graphics Mode though.

20) All this stupid rant and ZERO mention of the Masterpiece OST.

All in all, what a disingenuous piece of video crap.

PS: 40:40 – 40:50 XVI has literally ALL of the things you mention there LMAO.
Most of them in better versions than other Instalments too.

And YES, the name Cid and Crystals alongside other staples DEFINITELY make a FINAL FANTASY Instalment, as FINAL FANTASY is NOT tied to mechanics, but Themes.

XVI is ALREADY a Classic, amazing return to the FF I-VI Style of Experiences, and will be loved for generations to come. Unlike you. 🙂

Fin.

I’m not a reviewer, so I don’t really have to explain my opinion.
This game sucks, it sucks joy and time out of you and offers nothing worthwhile in return.

Damn , imagine this budget with a traditional FF game with a FF9 stylized artstyle.

I mean, I was never able to get into any of the Final Fantasy games except for this one. So, I think the game might strike a different chord for players who weren’t able to get into it before. I loved Final Fantasy 16

Real talk, I’m sick and tired of almost every new FF game coming out and being all like “Bold new vision for FF!”, “Bold new direction!”, “An evolution of the franchise!”.

Like, can we stop with this “Need to evolve.” bullshit and just find and stick with one solid formula from here on out? This is making Final Fantasy have a worse identity crisis than both Resident Evil and Sonic the freaking Hedgehog combined for God’s sake.

They’ve done nothing, NOTHING, in the past 20 years that was “Bold” or “Evolutionary” in a good way other than with Stranger of Paradise when it comes to the former, and even that was mainly because of Team Ninja’s involvement in the game too.

There is more depth in the single ending frame of Once Upon A Time In America than in all of the games those suffering from childhood nostalgia hold most dear.

This review was wonderfully cathartic for me. As a lifelong Final Fantasy fan, I agree 100% with all of these criticisms. The massive amount of extremely dull content and lack of RPG elements really soured the overall experience for me.

I feel fortunate that I enjoyed the game a little bit more on NG+ FF mode, but I think it was in some part because I came at it with much lower expectations than in my first run.

In many regards, they have a great foundation here that could be built upon to give more fans what they love about Final Fantasy. We know how much Yoshi-P listens to the community, so maybe there is a sliver of hope they could release a free ‘Directors Cut’ patch that would offer a mode to only play through the high quality content or, better yet, an ‘RPG’ mode that would add the itemization, character building, and tactical elements we’ve come to love in the series. I’m not getting my hopes up, but at the very least they might listen to this constructive criticism and apply it to the nearly inevitable DLC.

I really enjoyed the game overall, but I definitely felt that criticism regarding the party feel being lost. I think for the most-part the combat and story is simple yet enjoyable. My favorite part of the game though was the world and feel, I always felt immersed and engrossed in the goings-on, politics and atmosphere of the game. The soundtrack was really solid too imo! That all being said, FF16 isn’t my first FF but it’s definitely one of, so I may be a bit biased in that sense

First few chapters I was enamored. Then I just could not pick this boring shi up again.

I’m struggling to finish it. I’m determined but.. my enthusiasm has ended.

24:26 Dang Clive, okay. Took beating his ass a little too literally there

As a first time playing final fantasy I enjoy it. I enjoyed so much I got platinum on my second play through. 8/10 very good but not perfect.

LIke FFXIV, it’s mired in outdated design principles and boring as shit. FFXV was better than this, a lot better.

FFXI feels like the deadbeat bastard lovechild of XII and XV.
I would sooner revisit X-2, XIII-2 or XIII-3 again.

Thanks for being brutally honest I agree with everything you said after beating the game . I was so hyped before it was released but ended up disappointed.

37 hours in and I have arrived at basically the same conclusion. I can’t finish it. It now feels like a chore to play. Such amazing highs let down by some of the worst pacing I’ve ever encountered in a video game. If I was to rate it I’d give it a 7/10. It’s massively flawed .

Eh, FF16 is my game of the year, I’m 152 hours in after beating the story 3 times and getting the platinum and still playing it.

I think Yoshi P’s comment of “kids these days don’t like turn-based combat” (obviously paraphrased) has aged exceptionally poorly now that we’re seeing the numbers Baldur’s Gate 3 is doing.

incredible review!

I’m definitely in the crowd who adored the game. I make no bones about that😅

However, I do concede that there were so many things that could have been done better- and I wonder what game we COULD have had, if only they had been considered or used.

I don’t agree in terms of the side characters, sure it would have been awesome to switch between Clive, Gav, Jill, and Joshua on the fly like in FF7R. It would have been great if the RPG elements were left in (or maybe offered in an alternate game mode?). But the cast I really adored. I care more about Gav, Cid, Byron and Charon than I have for main characters in some other FF games.

The story uses the colourful cast over a vast political chessboard. I was dying to get to the next cutscene to see what happened next, and what crazy boss fights it would lead to.

The boss fights, while not difficult, are epic spectacles, and I think if that’s what you want and are there for going in- it’s going to blow your mind. There are bosses in this game that had my heart in my mouth the entire time, and landing the final blow let me finally relax in my chair for the next segment in the story, through the cinematics.

But yeah, I think the lack of equipment variations, or customisation was my biggest disappointment. The abilities were great, but wouldn’t it have been awesome to have some monsters that you could learn single abilities from? Like imagine you could have done Typhon’s eye laser? Or cast Doom like the Ahriman does? Throw a Behemoth Meteor? Or get the ability to straight up Bomb-explode after beating King bomb?
It would also be sick if weapons had different damage patterns, and could be upgraded. If they didn’t want to do this there is one way they could have varied that would have been super easy. The charge move. Holding square. If that had been different for each weapon and you could upgrade them all evenly- that would have been so much better

I think the fact I loved the game -despite- all that’s wrong with it is testament to the things it absolutely does get right. This is a great video in that it got me to look objectively at it and accept a lot of home truths.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to fight Bahamut again.

Yeah it was good … but them going full combat to “satisfy and appeal to the new generation” is honestly fucking infuriating because the true fans of Final Fantasy aren’t looking for an full on action game. This wasn’t a Final Fantasy game … it was a DMC game with FF lore.
Know your base and your roots or the next Final Fantasy game IS going to truly end up being the final fantasy …

They said they want to make FF appeal to the “next generation”. Except the new generation won’t play it anyway. They are playing CoD and GTA and don’t care about FF.

FF16 is a mind-numbing protracted slog that lacks depth in both its story and gameplay.

This is an insane take to me. I have never liked final fantasy. Never played 7 as a kid and never played anything other than the last open world one which I really didn’t like but ff16 has been an absolute joy of an action game. I always wanted to like FF games but always hated the turn based combat. So a combination of the cool worlds mixed with amazing combat was a dream come true. Staying with turn based is just stupid and was mainly that way in the beginning because technology just was not up to the task of real time. And to make final fantasy fully not turn based was such an amazing choice and made this game just so much fun to play while still keeping the final fantasy core and story telling that makes it memorable. This is a bizarre video and I just do not understand the negative takes here….

I held off on watching this (or any review) until I had completed it, but I 100% agree with you. I loved the basic story and Clive, but I felt completely unrewarded for doing every side quest and crafting the best gear. By the end I just hoped that 100% the side quests would add more value or cut scenes to the conclusion, but all they do is round out some details… and not even all the details I wanted to know about major story beats.

I know I’m not the gamer my brothers are, but I felt combat was unrewarding and I found myself trying to be as efficient as possible with magic. Clive’s inherent abilities make for extremely boring and repetitive loops on top of all the other repetitive loops the game presents.

i didnt even finish the game, it was so boring. i couldnt even make it halfway in. i feel like this is some kind of deathloop situation except even the audience likes this thing, HOW? ITS SO BORING OUTSIDE OF BOMBASTIC STORY MOMENTS WITH BIG EXPLOSIONS

Well.. this review aged well. A month in, and there’s no unique experience to have, whether you play it or just flat out watch a youtube playthrough. I can say that the Bahamut and final boss fight felt very “FINAL FANTASY”, but other than that, this really isn’t that good of a game. It’s a good movie though.

While I respect your opinion, I think it’s disappointing how biased you went into this experience. A lot of what you criticized can almost 1:1 be applied to FF7Remake, a game that you supposedly loved., and that makes it hard for me to take this review seriously.

70 hours in and I have to agree with everything you said.

This “review” reeks of vengeance and entitlement. “This game is not the game *I* wanted so it’s bad, and fuck you Yoshi P for making me look like a fool when I asked about JRPGs…”

I disagreed with you at first (Before I beat the game) But now I think everything you’ve said was 100% Facts the game for me went from a 9/10 to a 7 to 6/10 by the end of it.

This is a really good take and I share your thoughts exactly. I also like the fact that they placed one moogle in the game for pretty much no reason. I can imagine them being like “Oh crap yeh, its a FF game, better stick a moogle in it somewhere”. I hope the franchise can bring back some of the things that we love FF for.

It’s funny people who disagree with this review have no rebuttals –
Just “You’re wrong”
And their praise of this game is always so shallow
“Best game, cool cinematics, flashy combat”

Seeing how disconnected the FF dev team are with their audience and relying heavily on what’s trending nowadays, I wouldn’t be so surprised if the next FF game went back to turn based because they saw how much money Honkai Star Rail was making

Just completed the game – 100% with you SkillUp, fantastic review

I finished the game today. I was turned off by the lack of real exploration, a party system besides just Torgal your dog and the lack also of some customization.

Those flaws aside i cant help but feel like this story was one of the best stories ive ever experienced in a video game. For me it still feels like an epic 9/10

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 questing taught me that side quests don’t need to give a mind blowing reward if the reward is simply a well written (and well directed) narrative. I hope more games take from it’s example.

Also, if you’re just done doing the quest thing, you’re just done. Doesn’t require a 10 minute handshake afterwards.

Homie really thinks he’s special for being differnet😂 what a tubby loser

while i agree with your thoughts on the game saying that God of War is a better example of action combat is just ridiculous

You’re wrong

Honestly you were way too kind to this game. 90% of this game is a tedious chore.

Finished the game today and yeah, I agree with most of the criticism. However, I still felt entertained by the game, solid 7.5/10 if you stick to the main quest and take it for what it is. My biggest complaints are general pacing and sidequests. I’m fine with the combat, but I also wouldn’t mind going back to a party system for FF17. Once again this channel proves to be a reliable source for honest reviews. Cheers

I stopped playing this game. If the combat had been more nuanced or had a higher skill ceiling, then I could accept every other disappointment. The greatest failing of this game is that it tries to be an action game with a combat system that doesn’t have much to offer. Simple controls, no creativity, and based mostly on abilities on cooldown timers. At some point you’re just staring at enemy HP bars and wishing they’d go down faster.

Just finished the game last night. I started off really enjoying it, but by the end I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I think Ralph gave a completely transparent review of this game. I have all the same thoughts.

I loved this game! What an amazing journey.

The game will not age as well as this review will.

Funny how this video resounded so perfectly with me at the beggining of the game, and as I went on it became clearer and clearer that you haven’t finished it 🙂

As a casual action game player and someone who loved DMC5 and a few older FF titles, had some immense hype for this game, then got past the first 10 hours of the game and found myself falling asleep during certain cutscenes and the gameplay left a lot to be desired compared to something like DMC5. Honestly prefer thinking games or deep choice driven RPGs these days which is why I’m hype as fuck for Baldur’s Gate 3. FF didn’t have much for me there on that front. Guess if you want Final Fantasy fused with Game of Thrones and a relatively tame action game, this is up your alley but that didn’t carry me very far throughout the game. Enjoyed FF7 Remake a helluva a lot more than this one. One of the first times a highly reviewed game left me disagreeing with the consensus.

Hey, just finished the game recently and watched your video, really good overview of everything and I agree with a whole lot of it. Some things of note as that I would add though in response:

– I think your idea of a party being so essential to FF is really true, it’s absolutely true that say FFX with Lulu, Wakka, Yuna etc everybody together is what made it special. However I think what is missing from your appraisal of FF16, is that the folks that you called hangers-on ARE in fact intended to be those party members. Cid, Jill, Joshua, Torgal, Gav, Charon, Blackthrone, Mid ARE your party in the game and receive quite a bit of characterization/cutscenes etc. Most of all of them do join you in battle, but only in the same way that ppl join you in Kingdom Hearts, which isn’t as interesting as controlling them, that I completely agree, but they def are still there as a party. Nearly at every point in the game, you have at least 2 people fighting alongside you (granted one of them is your dog haha). If you stay still and watch them fight, you’ll see some awesome phoenix blasts from Joshua, thunder strikes from Cid, etc, which are all super cool, just not controlled. Are they as likeable as previous characters like Lulu or Riku?, I would agree no, but that’s mainly because I like the anime aesthetic much more than realistic medieval normie aesthetic. But I’d have to admit that all those characters above got just as much characterization as ppl such as say Selphie, Zell, Irvine, Yuffie, anybody from FF6 and earlier because they are in the limited pixel era, etc. They are just a whole lot less interesting/cool because of being realistic as opposed to anime/Nomura style, with the exception of Clive and Mid who a bit veer into that anime character style.

– The idea of cutscenes being a bad thing – this I can’t really get behind because they are in fact the entire point of FF games, imo of course. Sure there has always been the combat/items/things to do etc in FF games, but the primary thing I would show up for is the story, which #1 way that is presented is through cutscenes. I def agree that they could have done perhaps more of these cutscenes in a way where you are still controlling the character/feeling dynamic vs just watching a film – yet they actually do quite a lot, at any point where Clive and co are still talking while you are walking around/fighting/etc, or any time that NPCs begin talking as you just walk near them, those ARE a form of cutscene/exposition where you are still controlling. They just aren’t nearly as cinematic/cool/filmlike as where there are dedicated cutscenes though, and hence why I think they still lean heavily into using them for the main serious character and plot moments, because the cutscene lets you fully focus on that moment in the most dramatic form, as opposed to fighting/etc at the same time competing with your attention. But of course with the Eikon battles they achieve both. I do get it’s crazy what large percentage of a “game” aka something you play are cutscenes, but again they are the main/best part of FF games imo, as they have been for years like in FF14 Shadowbringers, etc.

– The itemization/rewards serious issues you talked about, that I completely agree with. It feels pretty bad to walk towards and collect a shiny on the field to be rewarded with “2 gil”. I think they could’ve solved this easily enough without requiring much change from action genre/still being super basic RPG elements, by simply giving throwable/usable expendible items that work in combat, like bombs, magic shards that explode, etc all basically glorified grenades/powerups that you can use in combat as in say Elden Ring. No other complex RPG system with elements/statuses/etc would be needed (even though I of course agree with you it would’ve been better with those things), it would still be just straight up action game but including action-based items, by just giving the player something fun they could find and throw at/use/cast at monsters, and having all types of flavors corresponding to each area (fire bomb, ice bomb, earth bomb, etc), different strengths and so on. Then there would feel like a still overall shallow but at least fun point to opening chests/picking up shinies in the field, knowing that you’d be able to use them as a quick damaging and flashy/cool looking item. So yes itemization was to me the most glaring failure I agree with you, and as some other reviewers said they should have either fully removed items other than health spheres (like in Kingdom Hearts), or gone more interesting/creative with action-based items if they were going to include them, rather than the bland half-way method they went with.

Thanks again for the video, cheers

Got plenty of time to write a comment, seeming there’s another cutscene, no one should ever say a bad thing about ff15 again. I’m just waiting for the side quest where you have to clean up a pile of torgals crap. There’s not one sense of achievement in this game, apart from making it through the cutscenes.

Imagine being salty that you got called out once by Yoshi p and now have a hate boner for square lol

15 was my favorite this one’s good to tho

Having now almost finished this game – this review is spot on. Combat is good but OMG the time wasted by old school quest mechanics are so dumb. I cant understand the high reviews when some of the main line quests require you simply walk between two different NPCs in the same bloody area to have a quick chat before going back to the quest giver. What a farking waste of time. I also think of the plot lore is overwrought and needlessly complex. Comparisons to Game of Thrones are laughable. Again the combat is really good and I rate it but this game needed an editor.

I’m at the 55% waypoint according to my PS5 and I’m done with the game.

After beating FF16, I disagree with this, just like I disagree with you lost judgment review

So as i understand…. Shortly this entire video: Final Fantasy 16 do exactly like the other games but not and bad. The story of Final fantasy 16 only proceeds forward when the cutscenes plays.(Yeah?? like any other game??? Ohh and other games did better?? What??) Final Fantasy 16 is bad because the fight system is not like the it was in the previous 14 Final fantasy. Final Fantasy 16 is bad because it has boring RPG sidequests what other RPG games did better? Like what? You could pick up things in style in other games? Bro you are a Bearer in the game… A Tool… A useless nonhuman according to the story? What do you expect? Like people gonna trust a nonhuman tool or what?…… And later in the game you can do interesting sidequests. like the new scout, the blacksmith missions, Missions with Torgal etc. This entire video feels like you played just the story without anything else and you criticise the game because you did 3 sidequest at the start.

I love Final Fantasy. 7 shaped my video gaming high school years. I won’t watch other reviews. I’m not buying this game.

why do we tell oscar to go spend time with his aunt when she died almost at the beginning of the game?

The combat system here is literally a million times better than in god of war 2018 and Ragnarok’s. If anyone else wasn’t as impressed with GoW after hearing Skillup praise their combat systems and you’re a fan of DMC style character action games, definitely give FF16 a shot. The game def has its problems and writing and sidequests can be rly rly shitty but it has very enjoyable (if not slightly too easy) combat. Def nailed combat feel much better than most other action games since Devil May Cry 5.

I def agree that the surrounding party characters are pretty ass. I still enjoyed a lot of the story and the boss fights were sick. I enjoyed this game nearly as much it not slightly more than FF15 and FF7Remake. I almost view this game as like a fun anime-style medieval fantasy uncharted-style set piece blockbuster action game. It does that pretty damn well.

I’ve never watched a review that more accurately encapsulated my feelings LOL

I personally really enjoyed the game for it’s story, and it’s combat, which though not particularly deep, is still very satisfying. Unlike you, however, I am a new FF player, so I don’t have any prior experiences, or expectations, therefore I see your points, but they mostly don’t feel relevant to me.

Given the fact that FF16 was a game made to push past the barrier of JRPG where everything has to be a perfect match to its predecessors with clunky game combat, excessive amounts of content to explore like fishing, hunting, cooking, and even the bare minimum like building your current party, FF16 does the complete opposite and instead looks to involve more story elements rather than Role play mechanics that FF15 was mostly all about, the game doesn’t need all of these elements and it’s fine for it to be more of a story based game with its drama and lore, but the people who are dogging on this game for the simple fact that it doesn’t have more FF JRPG elements most likely didn’t enjoy FF15 either when it was first released. Nonetheless, The game does its job, it’s not made for the typical hardcore FF gamer that enjoys min maxing characters to speed run super bosses and doing minimal side quests like Chocobo racing and fishing, but what FF16 does instead is paint an epic picture of what the FF universe is all about and that’s storytelling, world building, and overall a great spectacle to enjoy. Will others agree, probably not. The typical response will always be “it’s not a FF game because it doesn’t feel like an FF game.” Or whatever the fuck that means.

This was just a long slow movie that wasnt interesting for me, give me more gameplay and a fun sory were the characters actually enjoy life.

Everyone is praising the combat but i find it so meh… I can’t really understand why… I love combat in the new god of war games, Horizon, star wars survivor, Elden ring. But FF15 feels boring to me

I’m struggling with it. While the presentation of the story is impressive technically, I’m just bored to tears. Everything is so humorless, dull, and edgy. I just don’t think it’s compelling enough to demand *so* much of the show here.

Shill is right, if the story was woven into the gameplay experience in any interesting way, it might not feel like such a chore to push through.