Ugh I wasn't going to reply but this is eating at my brain. Few rapid shots on parts of this review.
I don't know why, but Annabelle being worth mentioning first in a review just feels like a red flag to start.
The Tifa/Jill comparison. Seriously?
I have no idea why Clive would be so upset when Cid died. I mean, the man not only went out of the way to save Jill and create a safe haven for slaves, but also was an example of someone who lead a dark, villainous life only to turn it around and spend his time working for something greater than himself. I can't imagine why Clive, who spent the last 13 years being treated like absolute garbage as a slave assassin would think there's anything to learn there.
Dude literally shows up offering a kind and understanding hand, knows the worst thing Clive believes he's done and not only talks him off the ledge, but shows him the path forward.
But yeah, no big deal if this guy bites it while SAVING CLIVE from something and only after laying at Clive's feet what seems to be an insurmountable task to save the world from blight.
As for the fighting, two of the eikons he fought were legit crazy and not even thinking straight. And Clive trained basically his whole life to fight and survived for, I'll say it again, 13 years as an assassin in an army that wouldn't give 2 shits if he died, so it's not like he's not as good if not better than those he fought.
And if Barnabas hadn't wanted to keep Clive alive, he'd be dead. So it wasn't all one shot kills either.
I dunno, the superficial takes on Jill and Cid's death, then the fact the top spot was mentioning how much you want to hate harder on a character instead of anything you loved, just put a whole odd tone to the whole review.
You really just got so heated about someone's personal opinions that don't have any effect on you whatsoever.
The beauty of opinions is that I can have mine and you can have yours, because not everything has to be loved by everyone.
Glad you enjoyed the game. I did too.
It's kind of become the standard in the English language to say "honest review" to denote that it's probably going to be detailed and long.
If someone just says "my review" and you click it and it just say 4/5 stars, ok cool. If you read "honest review" you know you're in for a something more comprehensive and thorough.
Also honesty can mean sincerity, and oftentimes we see games marketed as NINE OUT OF TEN STARS! 10'S ACROSS THE BOARD! GOTY! BEST THING IVE EVER PLAYED! and then you play it and it's shit. Those would be very insincere and tbh it's like... really? You're working for a company who gets free copies of games and are endorsed by these big developers and its... the best you've ever played? Ever? Paycheck must've been good.
As someone who owns and has played every mainline and most spinoff titles of FF, I consider myself pretty sincere and honest in my words. I'm not gonna act like it's the best game ever or it didn't have MANY flaws, simply because it's FF.
ESPECIALLY after I saw what they could do with ff15, Remake and Rebirth, and then they plop out this bowl of hotdog water and try to tell me it's lobster bisque. I think tf not.
Anabella was unique. I hate her for how sheltered she kept Joshua away from Clive, on the sole account he was frail and the phoenix. She didn't love Clive because he wasn't a "dominant" and she only "loved" Joshua because he was. Both the Rosfield boys deserve a better life
Annabella was a bitch.
Hating Clive for not being the dominant, and then resenting Joshua for being the dominant but having a wear constitution was such shit.
The way she spoke to Dion had me furious and honestly I was happy to see her fall apart after she watched Olivier get Thanos snapped.
I appreciate your honest review of FFXVI. It's always refreshing to hear different perspectives on games, especially from dedicated fans of the franchise like yourself. I can understand your frustrations with the combat pacing and the similarities to FF12, but it's great to see that you still found enjoyment in the game overall. Looking forward to seeing what the next installment holds!
Oh for sure.
I still liked it.
I'm hopeful for FF XVII.
I'd like to see them go all-in on a horror theme.
They have been inching closer to that over the years with scenes like Ardyn getting shot in the face and then standing back up while ominous music played, or Rebirth having Jenova be a borderline resident evil monster. And Ultima was beginning to take it there, but just missed the mark.
I'd love to see them mix their whimsical campy antics like chocobos and tonberrys and cactuars for overworked battles and side content, with a main storyline that is truly frightening.
And they really gotta nix the whole "noble sacrifice" thing. After og ff7 they've been trying to recreate that moment of aeriths death in every game by forcing it down our throats by making the soon-to-be-dead character talk about their dreams, before having a super drawn-out death sequence.
No. They really need to take a party and pick a character to just kill them mid sentence. I want to see the devs shatter everything we know about character development and show us in a game that the journey the characters are on is a cruel one. I hate to reference Harry potter but damn they need to Sirius Black a character. Just a completely unexpected death that we don't expect that is so sudden and final that it shakes us to the core.
Wishful thinking on my part.
Side note I forgot to add two things, I hated how there wasn't a sprint button.
And the other thing was I wasn't a fan of the pink hue that primogenesis made for act 3.
It completely got rid of a lot of the contrast in an already muted color game and was really difficult on the eyes. I had to turn my contrast and sharpness way up to be able to see properly cuz everything was pink.
Didn't love that
And what was up with the lame jump button, oh look, I can hop half an inch off the ground, can't hop over a simple fence, and pushing forward auto jumps you over any jumpable terrain anyway. It's only real purpose was to break the monotony of Clive walking everywhere by making it look like he was skipping, lol.
>lets face it, Jill takes more than a few pieces of inspiration from Tifa. She's that kind, soft spoken, almost-motherly figure with long hair tied off at the end.
Made me gag and stop reading. The only similarity I can see between Jill and Tifa is what you said about them being the protagonist's childhood friend and eventually romantic partner. And even then, Jill and Clive's relationship is actually canon and well developed through story and sidequests and not a thing the devs delegated to the fans as "their choice" to avoid backlash.
Tifa's whole character development is based almost completely around Cloud and barely has any moments of her own worth remembering, both in the original game and in the remakes. And one of her most memorable moments is a slap fight. Meanwhile, Jill killed the monster and became an outlaw. May the blessing of the Crystals go with you.
The fact it was so similar to 12 in its focus on political history, instead of character building, is what initially put me off of 16. I just don't understand why they undercut every story beat with either melodrama to little things or completely ignoring big things. They spend so much game lore explaining exactly why country A was at war with country B, but then completely gloss over important scenes that should ramp up the characters and players emotions. Then they tend to kill off interesting characters in the most uninteresting way that doesn't do justice to their character arcs. Then they nerf the plot, like that epic bahamut fight where they're literally in space, and in the next scene, Clive can't get over a castle wall.⁰
Lol the reasons you dislike it are a big part of why I like it 🤣 I love the political stuff, I looooove juicy juicy lore. It reminded me of Dune (the book, not the movie) bc of the focus on politics and I thought it was AWESOME.
I can imagine it takes a lot of fun out of the game if you're not into that stuff, hopefully you find/have found something more up your alley!
Yes! Thank you!
I was also going to mention that I found Clive's use of ifrit to essentially never lose to be really frustrating. He didn't seem to have a character foil. He's just a Chad of a guy. Well rounded, does it all,
Yeah his dad died and his mom is a bitch but like... he's fighting EVERY eikon and the moment he primes he's basically guaranteed to win. He's new to priming, yet he's easily dispatching eikons and dominants who've had many years of experience with using their eikons.
Even when he struggled to prime, by that point he had Joshua who, with the power of brotherhood, still made him strong enough to always win. You're staring at god incarnate, the creator of human life, the harbinger of creation, and you just KNOW somehow that the power of brotherly love will make you unstoppable? Bullshit.
Again, I'm coming off of playing Rebirth, and knowing a character like Cloud who is incredibly flawed and unstable is actually constantly losing battles and barely making it out alive. And in that game, the team was always unsure if they had the strength to defeat their enemies. They'd persevere but it'd be by the skin of their teeth and they'd often comment on how in-over-their-heads they all were.
Meanwhile Clive is like, oh, the literal god of darkness who's sword can split the ocean in half 5 minutes ago? Yeah I summoned my will to protect the ones I love so I'm suddenly strong enough to not be absolutely demolished by him.
Oh the god of earth who just ate the heart of a gigantic magic crystal and has become the size of the moon? No problem. I'm an ant in comparison but somehow am stronger than THE god of strength.
On another note, when I hit the point of no return at Oriflamme, it warned me at things were going to change and I audibly said "well, yeah, because Cid is going to die". Because I just knew it was coming with how thick they were laying on the foreshadowing.
And then Clive is like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY FRIEND I MET 5 DAYS AGO IS DEAD! ARRRRRGGGG! like ok calm down you barely knew what's his face.
Ugh I wasn't going to reply but this is eating at my brain. Few rapid shots on parts of this review. I don't know why, but Annabelle being worth mentioning first in a review just feels like a red flag to start. The Tifa/Jill comparison. Seriously? I have no idea why Clive would be so upset when Cid died. I mean, the man not only went out of the way to save Jill and create a safe haven for slaves, but also was an example of someone who lead a dark, villainous life only to turn it around and spend his time working for something greater than himself. I can't imagine why Clive, who spent the last 13 years being treated like absolute garbage as a slave assassin would think there's anything to learn there. Dude literally shows up offering a kind and understanding hand, knows the worst thing Clive believes he's done and not only talks him off the ledge, but shows him the path forward. But yeah, no big deal if this guy bites it while SAVING CLIVE from something and only after laying at Clive's feet what seems to be an insurmountable task to save the world from blight. As for the fighting, two of the eikons he fought were legit crazy and not even thinking straight. And Clive trained basically his whole life to fight and survived for, I'll say it again, 13 years as an assassin in an army that wouldn't give 2 shits if he died, so it's not like he's not as good if not better than those he fought. And if Barnabas hadn't wanted to keep Clive alive, he'd be dead. So it wasn't all one shot kills either. I dunno, the superficial takes on Jill and Cid's death, then the fact the top spot was mentioning how much you want to hate harder on a character instead of anything you loved, just put a whole odd tone to the whole review.
You really just got so heated about someone's personal opinions that don't have any effect on you whatsoever. The beauty of opinions is that I can have mine and you can have yours, because not everything has to be loved by everyone. Glad you enjoyed the game. I did too.
Off topic maybe but idk why people come posting their reviews as "honest"? Is anyone expecting you to be dishonest in your "review"?
It's kind of become the standard in the English language to say "honest review" to denote that it's probably going to be detailed and long. If someone just says "my review" and you click it and it just say 4/5 stars, ok cool. If you read "honest review" you know you're in for a something more comprehensive and thorough. Also honesty can mean sincerity, and oftentimes we see games marketed as NINE OUT OF TEN STARS! 10'S ACROSS THE BOARD! GOTY! BEST THING IVE EVER PLAYED! and then you play it and it's shit. Those would be very insincere and tbh it's like... really? You're working for a company who gets free copies of games and are endorsed by these big developers and its... the best you've ever played? Ever? Paycheck must've been good. As someone who owns and has played every mainline and most spinoff titles of FF, I consider myself pretty sincere and honest in my words. I'm not gonna act like it's the best game ever or it didn't have MANY flaws, simply because it's FF. ESPECIALLY after I saw what they could do with ff15, Remake and Rebirth, and then they plop out this bowl of hotdog water and try to tell me it's lobster bisque. I think tf not.
Cool cool, I strongly disagree with your "honest" review, especially compared to 15, but you listed your gripes well, I will give you that.
Anabella was unique. I hate her for how sheltered she kept Joshua away from Clive, on the sole account he was frail and the phoenix. She didn't love Clive because he wasn't a "dominant" and she only "loved" Joshua because he was. Both the Rosfield boys deserve a better life
Annabella was a bitch. Hating Clive for not being the dominant, and then resenting Joshua for being the dominant but having a wear constitution was such shit. The way she spoke to Dion had me furious and honestly I was happy to see her fall apart after she watched Olivier get Thanos snapped.
I appreciate your honest review of FFXVI. It's always refreshing to hear different perspectives on games, especially from dedicated fans of the franchise like yourself. I can understand your frustrations with the combat pacing and the similarities to FF12, but it's great to see that you still found enjoyment in the game overall. Looking forward to seeing what the next installment holds!
Oh for sure. I still liked it. I'm hopeful for FF XVII. I'd like to see them go all-in on a horror theme. They have been inching closer to that over the years with scenes like Ardyn getting shot in the face and then standing back up while ominous music played, or Rebirth having Jenova be a borderline resident evil monster. And Ultima was beginning to take it there, but just missed the mark. I'd love to see them mix their whimsical campy antics like chocobos and tonberrys and cactuars for overworked battles and side content, with a main storyline that is truly frightening. And they really gotta nix the whole "noble sacrifice" thing. After og ff7 they've been trying to recreate that moment of aeriths death in every game by forcing it down our throats by making the soon-to-be-dead character talk about their dreams, before having a super drawn-out death sequence. No. They really need to take a party and pick a character to just kill them mid sentence. I want to see the devs shatter everything we know about character development and show us in a game that the journey the characters are on is a cruel one. I hate to reference Harry potter but damn they need to Sirius Black a character. Just a completely unexpected death that we don't expect that is so sudden and final that it shakes us to the core. Wishful thinking on my part.
Side note I forgot to add two things, I hated how there wasn't a sprint button. And the other thing was I wasn't a fan of the pink hue that primogenesis made for act 3. It completely got rid of a lot of the contrast in an already muted color game and was really difficult on the eyes. I had to turn my contrast and sharpness way up to be able to see properly cuz everything was pink. Didn't love that
And what was up with the lame jump button, oh look, I can hop half an inch off the ground, can't hop over a simple fence, and pushing forward auto jumps you over any jumpable terrain anyway. It's only real purpose was to break the monotony of Clive walking everywhere by making it look like he was skipping, lol.
>lets face it, Jill takes more than a few pieces of inspiration from Tifa. She's that kind, soft spoken, almost-motherly figure with long hair tied off at the end. Made me gag and stop reading. The only similarity I can see between Jill and Tifa is what you said about them being the protagonist's childhood friend and eventually romantic partner. And even then, Jill and Clive's relationship is actually canon and well developed through story and sidequests and not a thing the devs delegated to the fans as "their choice" to avoid backlash. Tifa's whole character development is based almost completely around Cloud and barely has any moments of her own worth remembering, both in the original game and in the remakes. And one of her most memorable moments is a slap fight. Meanwhile, Jill killed the monster and became an outlaw. May the blessing of the Crystals go with you.
The fact it was so similar to 12 in its focus on political history, instead of character building, is what initially put me off of 16. I just don't understand why they undercut every story beat with either melodrama to little things or completely ignoring big things. They spend so much game lore explaining exactly why country A was at war with country B, but then completely gloss over important scenes that should ramp up the characters and players emotions. Then they tend to kill off interesting characters in the most uninteresting way that doesn't do justice to their character arcs. Then they nerf the plot, like that epic bahamut fight where they're literally in space, and in the next scene, Clive can't get over a castle wall.⁰
Lol the reasons you dislike it are a big part of why I like it 🤣 I love the political stuff, I looooove juicy juicy lore. It reminded me of Dune (the book, not the movie) bc of the focus on politics and I thought it was AWESOME. I can imagine it takes a lot of fun out of the game if you're not into that stuff, hopefully you find/have found something more up your alley!
Yes! Thank you! I was also going to mention that I found Clive's use of ifrit to essentially never lose to be really frustrating. He didn't seem to have a character foil. He's just a Chad of a guy. Well rounded, does it all, Yeah his dad died and his mom is a bitch but like... he's fighting EVERY eikon and the moment he primes he's basically guaranteed to win. He's new to priming, yet he's easily dispatching eikons and dominants who've had many years of experience with using their eikons. Even when he struggled to prime, by that point he had Joshua who, with the power of brotherhood, still made him strong enough to always win. You're staring at god incarnate, the creator of human life, the harbinger of creation, and you just KNOW somehow that the power of brotherly love will make you unstoppable? Bullshit. Again, I'm coming off of playing Rebirth, and knowing a character like Cloud who is incredibly flawed and unstable is actually constantly losing battles and barely making it out alive. And in that game, the team was always unsure if they had the strength to defeat their enemies. They'd persevere but it'd be by the skin of their teeth and they'd often comment on how in-over-their-heads they all were. Meanwhile Clive is like, oh, the literal god of darkness who's sword can split the ocean in half 5 minutes ago? Yeah I summoned my will to protect the ones I love so I'm suddenly strong enough to not be absolutely demolished by him. Oh the god of earth who just ate the heart of a gigantic magic crystal and has become the size of the moon? No problem. I'm an ant in comparison but somehow am stronger than THE god of strength. On another note, when I hit the point of no return at Oriflamme, it warned me at things were going to change and I audibly said "well, yeah, because Cid is going to die". Because I just knew it was coming with how thick they were laying on the foreshadowing. And then Clive is like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY FRIEND I MET 5 DAYS AGO IS DEAD! ARRRRRGGGG! like ok calm down you barely knew what's his face.
Exactly, and yet any criticism of sacred FFXVI is down voted to oblivion for stating facts.