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Post by Wizzard_Ook on Jul 4, 2023 20:14:09 GMT
I’m only 8 hours or so in, just done the couple of story beats in the first wider map sections you get to (on my way back to the starting town). Took me a little while to get into the game, but I’m really getting into it now. Actually liking it a lot.
I can understand those that can’t connect with FF16. It’s a massive, radical departure from what’s come before (even if, as mentioned above it’s has been pushing in this direction for a while) . However, it’s kind of rekindling what i think many people fell in love with in the ps1 days? The spectacle in this is astonishingly good, its something that the series has lacked for a very long time. When 7, 8 & 9 released on the PS1, there was a thrill seeing what the game was going to deliver next. The summons! The plot! The characters! The FMV’s! Those games were so far ahead of their time, but, slowly the industry caught up and the series has found it self in a bit of no man’s land.Even left behind in many ways. It’s hasn’t quite been the big juggernaut it once was. But I think this game recaptures that. It’s nuts.
Beyond the spectacle is an engaging story and well defined characters , and in a world of millions of open world games, I’m actually thankful for its linearity. It’s settling into a nice loop. Sure the rpg elements have practically been removed from the game but I’m enjoying just upgrading my equipment every so often.
And the combat system. Well it’s chef kiss. It’s glorious. Easy to pick up but it makes you feel eurphoric.
Having said that, FF16 is in a weird position, where *maybe* it should have been a side game to one of the previous numbered entries (and i wonder if it started development as one) yet it is the most coherent, well put together and polished entry for some time. You can’t have a side enty being the best the franchise has been for a good while! The developers should be applauded for having the balls to try something new and, so far, they have pretty much nailed it.
And ultimately, underneath the bravado, it feels very Final Fantasy.
I’m curious how this game will develop and how I will feel about it 20/30 hours down the line, and even 6 months, 1 year, a decade on from now. It’s something!
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Psiloc
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Post by Psiloc on Jul 5, 2023 11:46:07 GMT
Final Fantasy hasn't been that traditional turn-based affair most people identify it with since FFX-2, what? 20 years ago? I'd rather this that the last handful of mainline titles that have all had a severe identity crisis as they tried to move the series over to be action focused. This at least knows exactly what it wants to be from the outset and succeeds as a result. Hard agree. I miss turn based FF like everyone else, but yeah, at least this one knows what it is and isn’t a tedious half way house |
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Post by richyroo on Jul 5, 2023 11:52:46 GMT
Yep. As much as I love turned based systems with a party full of characters, I have gone into this knowing that is not what I am getting. The game knows what it wants to be and it sticks to it, and for that I am enjoying it immensely.
I also love how linear this is. Linear games are just so much more focused with less padding. They make for a much more exciting and fun experience. All my fav games of this year so far have been linear, Dead Space, RE4, FFXVI etc. I am mostly done with open world games now with a few exceptions (Starfield, Cyberpunk expansion).
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Jul 5, 2023 12:14:14 GMT
I did like reading one person's user review that said the side quests in XVI aren't as rewarding as Starfield's. A game that isn't even out.
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Psiloc
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Post by Psiloc on Jul 5, 2023 14:20:04 GMT
This made me miss a day of work! For some reason, my brain completely invented the fact that I'd booked today off so I could stay up playing this. Found out at 15:00 that people had been chasing me all day. If anyone can suggest any bullshit as to why I missed 6 hours of emails and Teams "where are you" messages that would be great I've got my disciplinary for this tomorrow |
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Frog
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Post by Frog on Jul 5, 2023 15:04:02 GMT
What excuse did you give them? I would have said I was up vomiting all night and crashed out by about 6am. Didn't even hear the alarm go off.
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Jul 5, 2023 15:30:47 GMT
Just show them the Garuda fight, they'll understand.
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Solid-SCB-
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Post by Solid-SCB- on Jul 5, 2023 18:00:34 GMT
Just done what was quite possibly the best boss fight I've ever had in a game. The PS5's game completion percentage thing only had me at 60-odd percent when I loaded it up as well!
This is probably my favourite game so far this gen, but for any spectacular balls up they've made in the last third of the game.
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Post by Wizzard_Ook on Jul 5, 2023 18:06:36 GMT
This game has West Country accents. Game is an instant 10/10. Proper Job.
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Post by The12thMonkey on Jul 5, 2023 18:18:03 GMT
I hear my not-quite London accent so over-represented in British-English VA (and, worse, other nationalities attempting to be), that to hear all the usual suspect accents executed well, and then to find scouse and geordie in there as well... chef's kiss.
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Frog
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Post by Frog on Jul 5, 2023 19:22:31 GMT
Just done what was quite possibly the best boss fight I've ever had in a game. The PS5's game completion percentage thing only had me at 60-odd percent when I loaded it up as well! This is probably my favourite game so far this gen, but for any spectacular balls up they've made in the last third of the game. Was it someone quite tall? |
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Solid-SCB-
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Post by Solid-SCB- on Jul 5, 2023 19:32:08 GMT
That's the one. I had to stop myself going to that replay stage stone.
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Jul 6, 2023 6:48:47 GMT
Game has a new update that allows you to toggle motion blur settings and new controller schemes. Some say fps in performance mode feels better but its not confirmed, just word of mouth.
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Psiloc
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Post by Psiloc on Jul 6, 2023 10:40:30 GMT
This made me miss a day of work! For some reason, my brain completely invented the fact that I'd booked today off so I could stay up playing this. Found out at 15:00 that people had been chasing me all day. If anyone can suggest any bullshit as to why I missed 6 hours of emails and Teams "where are you" messages that would be great I've got my disciplinary for this tomorrow Written warning. Got to keep my nose clean for 3 months |
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hicksy
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Post by hicksy on Jul 6, 2023 10:55:32 GMT
Good work! Fair exchange! 
/motion blur off
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Post by richyroo on Jul 6, 2023 14:46:54 GMT
Game has a new update that allows you to toggle motion blur settings and new controller schemes. Some say fps in performance mode feels better but its not confirmed, just word of mouth.
Oh bollocks. Just as I am now used to 30fps. I am reluctant to switch back to 60fps and have to get used to 30 all over again because 60 is still not stable.
Will definitely be turning off motion blur. Hopefully i wont feel like I have cataracts in both eyes any more.
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Post by The12thMonkey on Jul 6, 2023 15:55:15 GMT
The update is fine.... except that resuming from the menu now insists on the SE / CBU3 / and auto-save spalsh screens before you get into the game, instead of straight into the action. So it's added an utterly pointless 10 seconds to the load time.
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hicksy
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Post by hicksy on Jul 6, 2023 19:51:48 GMT
If anyone is testing out the Performance mode after the new patch any comments on if the frame rate is now quite stable or not would be appreciated cheers (EG post seems to suggest it’s a bit better but still not great with noticeable drops in busy areas?)
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Post by richyroo on Jul 6, 2023 21:09:30 GMT
I won't get to play until Friday night now, but I will test performance mode in multiple areas and report back.
I don't have any tools to measure performance except my eyeball and brain, but it should be fairly evident if it's improved or not.
EDIT.
Just got 5 mins playtime in. Didn't need any more time with it to know that performance is still shit in 60fps mode. Keep it in quality mode.
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Post by One_Vurfed_Gwrx on Jul 7, 2023 11:25:44 GMT
The update is fine.... except that resuming from the menu now insists on the SE / CBU3 / and auto-save spalsh screens before you get into the game, instead of straight into the action. So it's added an utterly pointless 10 seconds to the load time. I had hoped that this was a one off after the patch... I enjoyed how quickly you could get into the game once PS5 was prepped. |
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Post by richyroo on Jul 10, 2023 6:57:55 GMT
Think I nearly blew my eardrums out last night because of the epic music, had my headphones up way too loud on one of the boss fights.
I started playing at 7pm and had to turn it off just coming up to midnight. I think I was transfixed the whole time, not even sure I went to make a drink.
Epic stuff, had goosebumps a lot of the time. Can't really say anymore as trying to keep it spoiler free.
The only downside is that there were 2 to 3 hours of shitty quests and sidequests leading into that particular part, but the player probably needed some downtime for what was to come.
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Jul 10, 2023 7:02:11 GMT
Played through some pretty wild moments last night, only to surmise from the PS5 tracker that Im 37% through the main story and thus that was essentially the end of the first third of the game. Good lord
If I had any complaint at this stage I guess I would say that the game overall feels a little easy? Lesser enemies don't seem to attack me all that much, don't really do that much damage if I do get hit and I have 4 potions, 3 hi potions to depend upon, which I can use at any point even on the ground or grabbed by an enemy. Most of the game is me styling on enemies that aren't really fighting back a lot. I could replace my gear with low level ones but it will only make the fight go on longer as opposed to making it harder. I do understand that the game has to be catered to a wider audience and there is fun in being able to style on enemies, but I guess I would like an option where enemies maybe hit harder and are more aggressive as a difficulty option from the start. Arcade mode seems to be where my challenge lies, trying to get that S rank.
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Solid-SCB-
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Post by Solid-SCB- on Jul 10, 2023 8:40:37 GMT
Yeah, I haven't died once and I'm now at 82% and have done every side quest it's thrown at me. Closest I've come is on a couple of the enemies on the bounty board and even then I had a bagful of potions to spare.
Hopefully NG+ or the Arcade Mode offer something as I will definitely be replaying after I've finished.
Struggling to think of a game that has ever had better boss fights overall. Mechanically and in terms of challenge there probably are better out there but for sense of scale and power fantasy it even makes stuff like God of War look like playground fights in comparison.
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Psiloc
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Post by Psiloc on Jul 10, 2023 8:52:29 GMT
Conversely I stumbled across an S class hunt the other night that one shotted me
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Solid-SCB-
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Post by Solid-SCB- on Jul 10, 2023 9:08:51 GMT
Ha, I haven't had the balls to try an S-Class fight yet. I did see one standing ominously in the background as I was navigating to the next story beat but I gave it an (extremely) wide berth.
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Psiloc
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Post by Psiloc on Jul 10, 2023 9:12:23 GMT
Disappointingly I'm not feeling quite as gripped by the game as everyone else seems to be. I only mean it in a small way though - the game is clearly fantastic and an easy recommendation. But there is a tiny little bit of something missing and I don't know what it is. I've not found it hard to put the controller down and go do something else
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Post by richyroo on Jul 10, 2023 9:40:35 GMT
Psiloc For me, its definitely the Game of Thrones vibes that I am enjoying the most. I am completely invested in the characters and the world, this is what is driving me as I cannot wait to see what happens next. I have been using the active time lore A LOT, reading up about things. When you unlock a certain character, you can speak with her and you can view so much info relating to the events in the world along with all major characters. Its all really well presented as well, it really helps you to keep track of events and to keep you invested.
I agree with everyone else though, the game is very easy. I think I have only died once, and that was because I found a high level bounty before I was ready. It doesn't matter too much though, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey. In game says i am about 74% through and I will be sad when it is over.
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Post by richyroo on Jul 10, 2023 9:52:28 GMT
If anyone is starting this game new, I would have one piece of advice for them.
DO NOT bother exploring in this game. Every single area in the game you will eventually go to through side quests or bounty hunts. Many a time I have thought, "I'll just go over there", to only find nothing and then later return in a side quest.
There really is no point to exploration. I wish I had known this before I started playing.
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Solid-SCB-
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Post by Solid-SCB- on Jul 10, 2023 10:01:39 GMT
Sidequests have taken a lot of flak. While most of them, to be fair, are pretty much go here/kill this; there are some fairly substantial side stories with multiple parts to them. Some of them are really quite good and add to the game's world in a meaningful way.
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Psiloc
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Post by Psiloc on Jul 10, 2023 10:24:40 GMT
I don't really know what my problem is. It's objectively a great game. You could easily argue it's the most competent single player one since the golden era.
I'll tell you one small thing I have missed since the old days - the sense of a journey. The old games you started at point A and then took a meandering path to a final destination of some sort, discovering new places and meeting new people along the way and it felt like you as the player were on the very same journey. The newer games are all built around the idea of fast travel from the get go; even based around a hub in this one. Not that there's anything wrong with that, since basically all modern RPGs do the same thing, but I think there is something to be said for the magic of the unexpected adventure
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